Resistance factions leaders meet with IRGC leaders in Tehran on the sidelines of the funeral ceremony for Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on May 23, 2024. (Al Mayadeen)
The attendees discussed the political, social, and military conditions in Gaza, Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, and the role of the Axis of Resistance.
A meeting was held between a group of Resistance factions and the chief of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) Major General Hossein Salami and the IRGC Quds Force Commander Brigadier General Esmail Qaani on the sidelines of the funeral ceremony for the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his companions, Al Mayadeen‘s correspondent in Tehran reported.
The Resistance factions comprised Hamas, the Islamic Jihad Movement, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Hezbollah, Ansar Allah in Yemen, and the Islamic Resistance in Iraq.
In the meeting, the political, social, and military conditions in Gaza, Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, and the role of the Axis of Resistance amid the ongoing Israeli genocide in the Strip were discussed.
The attendees stressed the importance of the continuation of freedom fighting and struggle in cooperation between all the Resistance factions in the region until the Palestinian Resistance emerges victorious.
Ismail Haniyeh met with Sayyed Ali Khamenei
Iranian leader Sayyed Ali Khamenei led the funeral prayer on May 22 for the nation’s President Ebrahim Raisi and his accompanying delegation, who died in a tragic copter crash on May 20. Hundreds of thousands of Iranians gathered in the streets of Tehran to mourn on the designated official day of mourning.
Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the political bureau of the Palestinian Resistance Movement Hamas, also held a separate meeting with Sayyed Ali Khamenei.
Representing the state and people of Palestine, Haniyeh conveyed his condolences to the Iranian leader and the Iranian people for the tragic loss of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and their companions in the helicopter crash.
Meanwhile, the Iranian leader reciprocated by expressing gratitude for the sympathy extended by the Palestinian people, particularly those in Gaza, and offered condolences for the martyrdom of Haniyeh’s children.
Highlighting the remarkable resilience of the Gaza populace, which has garnered global support, he noted the unexpected solidarity, such as US student Intifada —a testament to the unprecedented levels of support garnered by the Palestinian cause.
“No one would have believed that one day people in Japan hold demonstrations and chant in favor of Palestine in Persian,” Sayyed Khamenei stressed.
He emphasized that Iran’s acting president, Mohammad Mokhber, tasked with the country’s executive affairs as per the constitution, will uphold the policies and principles regarding Palestine established by the late President Ebrahim Raisi with equal dedication and vigor.
It is noteworthy that Ismail Haniyeh was the only figure who was permitted to speak at the funeral.
Haniyeh offered condolences on behalf of the Palestinian people and resistance factions
Haniyeh delivered a speech during the funeral ceremony at Tehran University on May 22, offering condolences on behalf of the Palestinian people, the Resistance factions in the land of Palestine, and Gaza.
Haniyeh said that the late president assured him, during their meeting last Ramadan, that “the Palestinian cause is at the core of the nation’s causes, and that resistance is a strategic option for the liberation project.”
He added that Raisi also stressed that “Iran will continue to support the Palestinian Resistance until the aspirations of the [Palestinian] people and the nation are achieved” and that “Operation Al-Aqsa flood is an earthquake that struck the Zionist entity and caused a historic transformation worldwide.”
Haniyeh, from Tehran, stressed that “Gaza will pursue resistance until all the land, with blessed al-Quds in its core is liberated,” adding, “We are reassured, in the presence of the leaders of the Axis of Resistance, that the Republic will tread on the same policy and principles under the auspices of its leader in supporting Palestine and the Resistance.”
Khorasan bids Pres. Raisi farewell in ceremony attended by millions
The funeral procession for the late President Ebrahim Raisi commenced today in the city of Birjand, the capital of South Khorasan Province.
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) May 23, 2024
The body of the Iranian President has been transported to the final stop of the funeral ceremony in Birjand, the capital of Khorasan Province, before he is buried in the shrine of Imam Ali Ibn Mousa al-Reza in Mashhad.
Millions of Iranians and others who traveled to Iran from various countries have been taking part in the funeral ceremony which has been going on for two days.
Ireland, Spain and Norway will officially recognize Palestine as a state in a move announced on Wednesday.
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said the decision was based on peace, justice and democracy and was essential for the peace process.
He added that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “still playing deaf ears… he is still bombing hospitals and schools and punishing women and children with hunger and cold.”
“This recognition is not against Israel, is not against the Jews. It is not in favor of Hamas which is something that has been said. This recognition is not against anyone, it is in favor or peace and coexistence.”
Meanwhile, Ireland’s Prime Minister Simon Harris highlighted the “appalling” conditions in Gaza as well as the starvation and humanitarian catastrophe.
“A two-state solution is the only way out of the generational cycles of violence, retaliation and resentment…”
"Today, Ireland, Norway and Spain are announcing that we recognize the state of Palestine."
Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris says this is a "historic day for Palestine" as we trust that more countries will join us in the coming weeks. pic.twitter.com/15ZPf6kPGz
The Irish Foreign Minister, Micheál Martin, has confirmed Ireland’s move will take place on May 28.
“Today, we state clearly our unambiguous support for the equal right to security, dignity, and self-determination for the Palestinian and Israeli peoples,” Martin said.
For their part, Norway’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister also announced their country would recognize Palestine as a state from 28 May, with the territorial demarcation between Palestine and the Zionist entity to be based on the borders from before 4 June 1967.
BREAKING: Norway's prime minister says Norway is formally recognizing Palestine as a state. Israel says it recalls ambassadors from Ireland and Norway over recognition of a Palestinian state. pic.twitter.com/0n6PmvZu19
In a written statement, Norway’s prime minister said Palestinians have a “fundamental, independent right to self-determination” and Israelis and Palestinians have a “right to live in peace in their respective states”.
European Union members Slovenia and Malta have also indicated in recent weeks that they plan to make the recognition also, arguing it is essential for lasting peace in the region.
Reactions
Following the announcement on Wednesday, the Zionist entity said it was recalling its envoys to Ireland and Norway for “urgent consultations”.
“I am sending Ireland and Norway a clear message: Israel will not back down against those who undermine its sovereignty and endanger its security,” Israeli foreign minister said.
Hamas, on its part, welcomed the move by the three European countries, considering the recognition as a “step towards recognizing the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.”
In this photo provided by Fars News Agency, mourners gather around a truck carrying coffins of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his companions who passed in their helicopter crash on Sunday in a mountainous region of the country’s northwest, during a funeral ceremony at the city of Tabriz, Iran, Tuesday, May 21, 2024. (Fars News Agency via AP)
The Iranian capital, Tehran, bid farewell to the bodies of Sayyed Ebrahim Raisi, his Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and their companions, in attendance of officials and crowds of Iranian people who headed en masse to the capital to take part in the funeral services.
As part of the funeral ceremony, the leader of the Islamic Revolution and the Islamic Republic Sayyed Ali Khamenei led the prayers over the bodies at the University of Tehran.
Among the officials who took part in the funeral services in Tehran were the head of the Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, and the Deputy Secretary-General of Hezbollah Sheikh Naim Qassem. The burial ceremony will also take place in the presence of high-level foreign delegations in Tehran, at 4:00 pm.
Haniyeh offers condolences on behalf of the Palestinian people
Haniyeh delivered a speech during the funeral ceremony at Tehran University, offering condolences on behalf of the Palestinian people, the Resistance factions in the land of Palestine, and Gaza.
Haniyeh said that the late president assured him, during their meeting last Ramadan, that “the Palestinian cause is at the core of the nation’s causes, and that resistance is a strategic option for the liberation project.”
He added that Raisi also stressed that “Iran will continue to support the Palestinian Resistance until the aspirations of the [Palestinian] people and the nation are achieved,” and that “Operation Al-Aqsa flood is an earthquake that struck the Zionist entity and caused a historic transformation worldwide.”
Haniyeh, from Tehran, stressed that “Gaza will pursue resistance until all the land, with blessed al-Quds in its core is liberated,” adding, “We are reassured, in the presence of the leaders of the Axis of Resistance, that the Republic will tread on the same policy and principles under the auspices of its leader in supporting Palestine and the Resistance.”
From Tabriz to Qom, a solemn funeral attended by millions
The bodies of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and their companions arrived Tuesday at the Imam Khomeini Mosque in Tehran ahead of being laid to rest on Wednesday morning.
The Iranian city of Qom mourned Raisi and his companions in a solemn procession, recognizing their efforts and expressing grief over their loss.
The first stop in Qom was the Fatima Masumeh Shrine, where millions of people gathered in wait since the early morning hours for the arrival of their bodies.
The funeral procession then proceeded through the streets of the city of Qom, arriving at the Jamkaran Mosque.
The city of Tabriz, the capital of Iran’s East Azerbaijan Province, bid farewell on Tuesday to President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and their companions.
At the first funeral procession stop, hundreds of thousands of Iranians gathered to bid farewell to the bodies of the deceased.
Following Tabriz, Qom, and Tehran, their final destination is in Mashhad where they will be laid to rest next to the shrine of Imam Ali Ibn Mousa al-Rida.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi alongside Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and accompanying officials passed away in the tragic helicopter crash in Iran’s East Azerbaijan Province, according to an official statement by Iranian state media.
After locating the helicopter carrying the Iranian President and accompanying officials on Monday morning, Iran’s Red Crescent Society (IRCS) issued a preliminary statement noting that there was “no sign of life” found near the wreckage locations.
This announcement came over 16 hours after the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps reported they had lost contact with the helicopter carrying the officials. Since then, at least 73 rapid response and rescue teams from the provinces of East Azarbaijan, Tehran, Alborz, Ardabil, Zanjan, and West Azarbaijan were involved in the search and rescue operations led by the Iranian RCS.
Additionally, countries such as Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Russia participated in the search and rescue efforts in the province.
According to Iranian state media, the President’s helicopter crashed against a mountaintop in the Varzaqan region on Sunday while returning from a ceremony to inaugurate a dam on Iran’s border with the Azerbaijan Republic. Iranian state TV mentioned that the helicopter was one of three carrying Raisi and his accompanying delegation of senior officials, which also included Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and the Friday Prayer Imam of Tabriz, among other officials.
Following the incident, Iranian leader Sayyed Ali Khamenei extended his condolences to the people of Iran over the “martyrdom-like” passing of President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and their companions who died in a helicopter crash on Sunday.
“With deep sorrow and regret, I have received the bitter news of the martyrdom of the people’s President, the competent, hard-working Haj Sayyed Ebrahim Raisi, and his esteemed entourage,” Sayyed Khamenei said addressing the nation as posted on his X account.
Eveyone should pray for the health of these people who are serving the Iranian nation. The nation doesn't need to be worried or anxious as the administration of the country will not be disrupted at all.
Following the incident, Mohammad Mokhbar was appointed as Iran’s acting president.
As for the minister of foreign affairs’ duties, they will be carried out by Ali Bagheri Kani, who is assistant minister of foreign affairs, after he was appointed acting minister of foreign affairs.
Following the appointment of Mokhbar as acting president, the Three Powers Committee in Iran agreed to hold presidential elections in the country on June 28, followed by the appointment of a new president on July 8.
EDITORS NOTE: Graphic content / TOPSHOT – Injured Palestinians are transported to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah following Israeli bombardment of al-Bureij in the eastern Gaza Strip on May 21, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the militant group Hamas. (Photo by AFP)
Since October 7th, Israeli occupation forces have maintained their relentless attacks on Gaza, resulting in numerous casualties and widespread destruction. On the 228th day of aggression, multiple Palestinian lives have been lost, including women and children, with many more injured or missing.
A Palestinian youth lost his mother by an Israeli air strike in Beit Lahya north of Gaza. pic.twitter.com/dIsRQuZ3wY
Israeli raids and artillery shelling targeted various areas including Beit Lahia, Khan Younis, Nuseirat Camp, al-Bureij Camp, and Jabalia refugee camp, along with al-Zaytoun Neighborhood, Rafah city, and Sheikh Ajlin. The violence has escalated in recent hours, with homes being bombed and innocent civilians bearing the brunt of the attacks.
In a sad incident, a little girl lost her life after the oxygen machine at Martyr Kamal Adwan Hospital was stopped due to the ongoing siege. This heartbreaking event underscores the dire humanitarian situation facing the people of Gaza amidst the continued Israeli onslaught.
The arrival of a martyr girl and several other injured children to the Baptist Hospital coming from Jabalia camp. pic.twitter.com/QYHc1hHEbD
The Iranian leader announces five days of national mourning over the passing of the Iranian president and his foreign minister, along with their companions in the helicopter crash.
Iranian leader Sayyed Ali Khamenei extended his condolences to the people of Iran over the “martyrdom-like” passing of President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and their companions who died in a helicopter crash on Sunday.
“With deep sorrow and regret, I have received the bitter news of the martyrdom of the people’s President, the competent, hard-working Haj Sayyed Ebrahim Raisi, and his esteemed entourage,” Sayyed Khamenei said addressing the nation as posted on his X account.
The leader of the Islamic revolution added that the Iranian nation lost a “sincere, devoted, and valuable servant.”
“During the entire period that this great, self-sacrificing man held various responsibilities, both during his presidency and before that, he was fully dedicated to serving the people and Islam nonstop,” adding that “our honorable Raisi worked tirelessly.”
“For him, the well-being & satisfaction of the people, which was a sign of God’s satisfaction, took precedence over everything else, & the hurt he suffered due to the ingratitude & taunts of some ill-wishers didn’t deter him from his continuous efforts for progress & improvement.”
He continued, “Prominent figures such as the Tabriz Friday Prayer Leader, Hujjat al-Islam Ale-Hashem; the diligent, active Foreign Minister, Mr. Amir-Abdollahian; and other individuals who were accompanying them also passed away in this bitter tragedy.”
The Iranian leader also announced five days of national mourning, adding that the tragic incident happened when Raeisi and his team were making an attempt to serve the Iranian people.
As per Article 131 of the Iranian Constitution, Vice President Mohammad Mokhber was assigned to manage the executive branch. The acting president, along with the heads of the legislative and judicial branches, are required to arrange for the election of a new president within a maximum of 50 days.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi alongside Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and accompanying officials passed away in the tragic helicopter crash in Iran’s East Azerbaijan Province.
This announcement came over 16 hours after the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps reported they had lost contact with the helicopter carrying the officials. Since then, at least 73 rapid response and rescue teams from the provinces of East Azarbaijan, Tehran, Alborz, Ardabil, Zanjan, and West Azarbaijan were involved in the search and rescue operations led by the Iranian RCS.
The Bodies of martyr President Ebrahim Raisi and his companions arrive in Tehran ahead of being laid to rest on Wednesday morning.
The bodies of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and their companions arrived Tuesday at the Imam Khomeini Mosque in Tehran ahead of being laid to rest on Wednesday morning.
The Iranian city of Qom mourned the martyrs in a solemn procession, recognizing their efforts and expressing grief over their loss.
The first stop in Qom was the shrine of Fatima Masumeh Shrine, where the bodies of the martyrs were awaited by millions of people who had gathered since the early morning hours.
The funeral procession then proceeded through the streets of the city of Qom, arriving at the Jamkaran Mosque.
The city of Tabriz, the capital of Iran’s East Azerbaijan Province, bid farewell on Tuesday to President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and their companions.
At the first funeral stop, hundreds of thousands of Iranians gathered to bid farewell to the bodies of the deceased.
Following Tabriz, the bodies will be taken to Qom, then to the capital, Tehran, before reaching their final destination in Mashhad. There, they will be laid to rest next to the shrine of Imam Ali Ibn Mousa al-Rida.
Al Mayadeen’s correspondent conveyed the prevailing atmosphere of sorrow in Mashhad and other Iranian cities and provinces. She confirmed that testimonials from the people corroborate the late Iranian president’s dedication to the country’s youth and prospects, his closeness to the Iranian populace, notably his visits to engage with them and hear their demands.
Sayyed Khamenei’s message
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi alongside Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and accompanying officials have passed away in the tragic helicopter crash in Iran’s East Azerbaijan Province, according to an official statement by Iranian state media.
After locating the helicopter carrying the Iranian President and accompanying officials on Monday morning, Iran’s Red Crescent Society (IRCS) issued a preliminary statement noting that there was “no sign of life” found near the wreckage locations.
Following the incident, Iranian Leader Sayyed Ali Khamenei extended his condolences to the people of Iran over the “martyrdom-like” passing of President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and their companions who died in a helicopter crash on Sunday.
“With deep sorrow and regret, I have received the bitter news of the martyrdom of the people’s President, the competent, hard-working Haj Sayyed Ebrahim Raisi, and his esteemed entourage,” Sayyed Khamenei said addressing the nation as posted on his X account.
As for the minister of foreign affairs’ duties, they will be carried out by Ali Bagheri Kani, who is assistant minister of foreign affairs, after he was appointed acting minister of foreign affairs.
Following the appointment of Mokhbar as acting president, the Three Powers Committee in Iran agreed to hold presidential elections in the country on June 28, followed by the appointment of a new president on July 8.
Despite public disagreements between Washington and Tel Aviv over Gaza, ongoing US–Israel weapon supplies suggest that the discord is more media spectacle than policy shift.
With Israel appearing determined to launch a large-scale military operation in Rafah to reverse its current image of defeat in Gaza, another public confrontation – between US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – intensified last week.
Biden claims to have halted the shipment of precision weapons to Israel to prevent a large operation in southern Gaza, where around 1.3 million displaced Palestinian civilians have sought shelter, while Netanyahu threatens to continue the war without Washington’s help.
In a CNN interview last week, the US president said, “I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities – that deal with that problem.”
To which Netanyahu responded that same evening, in a podcast discussion with American Jewish journalist Dan Senor, “If we have to stand alone, we will do so, because I’m the prime minister of Israel, the one and only Jewish state, and we will not go down.”
At first glance, the growing tensions between the two allies playing out in the political and media arenas seemed promising for those parties keen on ending the Palestinian bloodshed seven months after Tel Aviv launched its brutal assault on Gaza.
But the Israeli premier, who has often been caught on camera boasting about Israel’s control over the US political scene, may have won this round. Within just a few days, Biden’s warnings and threats all but dissipated.
It began with a flurry of American politicians hitting the TV circuit to lambast their sitting president for veering from Israel’s war agenda, with some US media outlets describing Biden’s decision as “encouraging antisemitism.”
US ambassador to Tel Aviv, Jack Lew, following the script of his Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, confirmed on Sunday that “fundamentally, nothing has changed in the basic relationship” – that only one batch of US munitions was frozen, but everything else continues to flow “ordinarily.”
And Biden’s meek initiative ended decisively on Tuesday when his administration informed Congress that it is planning a $1 billion weapons transfer to Israel.
Netanyahu certainly knew how to turn the screws.
Confirmation of the status quo
As this was the first rhetorical confrontation between the US and Israel since the Gaza war’s onset, many Arab and western media outlets interpreted the intensity of the exchanges as a result of growing divergence between a Biden administration concerned “for the lives of civilians” and a Netanyahu government seeking to restore the deterrent power it lost on 7 October with Operation Al-Aqsa Flood and Iran’s 13 April retaliatory strikes.
Speaking to The Cradle, Australia-based political analyst Hussein al-Dirani says:
“The American administration is primarily responsible for the war of extermination practiced by the Zionist forces against the Palestinians now, in the past, and in the future, and the entity is nothing but one of the arms of American evil in the Arab and Islamic region. Biden can, within one day or less, stop this massacre through an order to the leaders of the aggression to the effect: ‘Stop the war now,’ and it will stop immediately.“
The west’s commitment to Zionism
The roots of today’s conflict remain an age-old one: the implantation of the Israeli entity into West Asia, a project of global Zionism originating from the “Herzl Conference” at the end of the 19th century.
For decades, no American or European political leader has had the option of ending support for Israel. The global Israel lobby, now deeply entrenched in western political, academic, media, and finance institutions, aims to protect the existence of Israel at all costs, stabilize it in the region, and push Arab countries to normalize relations with Tel Aviv, explains Yemeni political journalist Osama Sari.
Sari, who is editor-in-chief of the Yemeni Press Agency, tells The Cradle that Biden cannot abandon Israel at this stage, with the contentious US presidential election looming in November and facing great domestic pressure from anti-war US youths and key minority voters.
Some observers believe that Biden’s threat to cut off offensive weapons to Israel was a feint to score points with his restless, disenchanted electorate and to prod Israel into re-opening negotiations for a Gaza ceasefire, which Tel Aviv recently rejected.
Others, like analyst Dirani, contend that Biden’s political ploys cannot effectively influence the presidential contest because Biden and his chief competition, former US President Donald Trump, are both known, longtime, to-the-wall supporters of Israel.
Theatrics of US-Israel’ tensions’
Biden’s short-lived media strategy intended to market the idea that Washington is dissatisfied with Netanyahu’s intransigence and his insistence on invading Rafah to commit even more massacres – turning global and US public opinion further against Israel – despite Hamas agreeing to a ceasefire under the Egyptian–Qatari proposal.
Rhetoric and posturing aside, the US position toward Gaza does not fundamentally differ from Israel’s and may even be more impulsive and irrational. Had it not been for unprecedented amounts of US military support from day one of this round of conflict, the Gaza war would have stalled a good six months earlier. Israel would also not have been able to withstand Iran’s retaliatory response in April without the US military leading all defensive operations, nor even hope to thwart the combined military operations of the region’s Axis of Resistance.
In the UN Security Council, the US has a long history of using its veto power to shield Israel. Out of the 262 vetoed resolutions since the UN’s inception in 1945, Washington has wielded its veto 116 times on issues related to Palestine.
It used this power 80 times to prevent condemnation of Israel and 36 times against laws supporting Palestinian rights, with the latest veto coming down just a month ago.
The White House and the State Department also consistently provide cover for Israel, claiming absurdly that the occupation state is defending itself by international law and that the US has not observed any violations in Gaza despite the Palestinian death toll exceeding 35,000 and the number of wounded surpassing 78,000.
Whose red lines?
This unquestioning support of Israel, despite mumblings in some Beltway corridors that Tel Aviv is becoming a “US liability,” begs the question of whether there is any US red line for malign Israeli behaviors. Yemeni editor Sari doesn’t see the Americans drawing any lines for Israel, no matter the crime:
“Until now, no international party has been able to classify Biden’s red lines. His attempt to suggest that it was an invasion of Rafah is not convincing at all. The entity has not left any red lines since the beginning of its aggression against Gaza, and its crimes affected hundreds of patients in the hospitals it stormed.“
In fact, Sari adds, “This point does not reflect real seriousness, as Biden and Blinken stated in November that there were no red lines that would prevent military support for Israel against Hamas.”
Journalist Dirani agrees, reflecting growing Arab opinion that the US is only stage-managing matters and shows little intent to pressure Tel Aviv into a resolution of this brutal war:
“Biden wants to tell Netanyahu that instead of committing 100 massacres a day in Rafah, he should commit 90 massacres. This is why he did not reach 100, meaning that the massacres should be commensurate with America’s brutality and not with Netanyahu’s well-known brutality.“
Dirani further assesses, based on their statements, that all Resistance Axis factions understand the US is complicit in the Gaza genocide and is ultimately the root cause of all tragedies, scourges, and wars in the region.
Finger-pointing aside, this perception of US complicity in Gaza is growing fast in global discourse. Efforts to divest from and boycott Israel are on the rise; many of these targets are weapons factories and transport and logistics firms.
If Israel proceeds with an invasion of Rafah, the repercussions could be severe, leading to the wholesale collapse of US interests in West Asia. As Yemen’s waterway blockades, Iranian strikes, and strategic military operations and salvos from Lebanon’s Hezbollah, the Palestinian resistance, and the Iraqi resistance have demonstrated, today it is the leaders of the Axis who are setting those red lines, not western powers.
The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of The Cradle.
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The Iranian ambassador to the United Nations dismissed the Israeli regime’s accusation that proxies operate under Iran’s directive in the region, saying such allegations are made to obscure and justify the Zionist regime’s acts of aggression and destabilizing measures.
In a letter to President of the UN Security Council Pedro Comissario Afonso and UNSecretary General Antonio Guterres on May 7, Saeed Iravani categorically rejected the allegations that the representative of the Israeli regime has made against Iran.
He said the Israeli envoy has “resorted once more to lies and misinformation to make unfounded accusations against the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
“Contrary to unfounded claims, Iran has consistently upheld international law, adhered to the principles of the UN Charter, and complied with UN Security Council resolutions. Moreover, Iran has played an active role in promoting international peace and security through its constructive involvement across multiple spheres,” Iravani said.
“Iran made a clear position that the action taken on 13 April 2024 was conducted directly and officially from Iran in response to the Israeli recurring military aggressions, particularly its armed attack on 1 April 2024 against Iranian diplomatic premises in Damascus, the Syrian Arab Republic. Iran’s action was necessary, legitimate, and fully in line with its inherent right to self-defense under the UN Charter. The action only targeted military objectives and was carried out carefully and with prior notification to prevent civilian harm. I wish to emphasize that no resistance groups were involved in Iran’s legitimate action and any assertions to the contrary are rejected,” the envoy added.
“In contrast to Israel’s assertions, Iran does not have proxies in the region, and no individual, group, or nation operates under Iran’s directive. Additionally, resistance groups are not proxies; they are legitimate groups and their actions are lawful, and engaged only in fighting against Israeli occupation and aggression in Gaza and other occupied territories in Palestine, as well as against occupied forces in other nations in the region. Therefore, Israel’s attempt to label them as ‘proxies’ is only to obscure and justify its own acts of aggression and destabilizing actions in the region,” he stated.
“It is indisputable that the Israeli regime, characterized by a long history and record of blatant violations of international law, the UN Charter, and UNSC resolutions, remains the primary and longstanding threat to international peace and security. Any cynical attempt by this regime to obscure this reality through disinformation, smear campaigns, or unsubstantiated accusations against others is both futile and groundless. The Israeli regime cannot deny its direct and full responsibility for the ongoing massacre and humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza in defiance of UNSC resolutions. An obvious example of the Israeli regime’s persistent disregard for UNSC resolutions is exemplified in the Security Council’s resolution 2728 (2024), which urgently demands an immediate UNSC resolutions in the Gaza Strip. Despite clear demands from the Security Council, the occupying regime persists in its ruthless warfare against the Palestinian people and its military attacks in Rafah in blatant contempt for the Security Council’s demands,” the Iranian ambassador said.
“The occupying regime must finally bear full responsibility for the consequences of its actions and the Security Council must address Israel’s persistent destabilizing and irresponsible actions, as well as its atrocities against the Palestinian people and other nations in the region. These actions pose a genuine threat to both regional and international peace and security, demanding immediate attention and decisive action from the Security Council,” he added.
The State Department said it had confirmed “individual incidents of gross violations of human rights” against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank before the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October.
VT Condemns the ETHNIC CLEANSING OF PALESTINIANS by USA/Israel
$ 280 BILLION US TAXPAYER DOLLARS INVESTED since 1948 in US/Israeli Ethnic Cleansing and Occupation Operation; $ 150B direct “aid” and $ 130B in “Offense” contracts
Source: Embassy of Israel, Washington, D.C. and US Department of State.
The US has found five Israeli units guilty of gross , the State Department said on Monday.
The State Department said it had confirmed “individual incidents of gross violations of human rights” against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank before the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October.
“After a careful process, we found five Israeli units responsible for individual incidents of gross violations of human rights. All of these were incidents much before October 7th and none took place in Gaza,” State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said Monday.
“Four of these units have effectively remediated these violations, which is what we expect partners to do… For a remaining unit, we continue to be in consultations and engagements with the government of Israel.”
Patel said the findings would not impact arms transfers.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken had signalled that a review of Israeli military units was underway.
Blinken said last week the State Department was conducting investigations under the Leahy law, which prohibits sending military aid to foreign security forces that violate human rights, adding : “I think it’s fair to say that you’ll see results very soon. I’ve made determinations. You can expect to see them in the days ahead.”
ABC News reported on Friday that the Biden administration had found at least three military units guilty of human rights violations but decided not to withhold military aid to the units because it believed Israel was addressing the findings.
The US has been investigating Netzah Yehuda, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish military battalion in the Israeli army, over human rights violations in the occupied West Bank.
A US State Department panel recommended months ago that Blinken blacklist a number of Israeli military and police units following a review into rights abuses against Palestinians, according to a report last week in ProPublica.
Hezbollah shot down an Israeli unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with a surface-to-air missile on Monday as Zionist circles consider the incident as dangerous development.
In a statement, Hezbollah’s Military Media announced it had downed a medium-size Israeli Hermes 450 over the Iqlim Al-Tuffah area, near Nabatieh in south Lebanon.
“In support of our steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and in reinforcement of their courageous and honorable resistance, the Islamic Resistance’s air defense unit shot down at 09:20 on Monday, February 26, 2024, an Israeli drone of Hermes 450 type with a surface-to-air missile above the area of Iqlim Al-Tuffah, and it was observed falling with the naked eye,” the statement read.
“The Islamic Resistance asserts that its fighters will relentlessly surveil and counter hostile aircraft, thwarting their aggressive pursuit with unwavering determination,” the statement added.
Earlier, Local media reported that an Israeli aircraft was downed in south Lebanon, with videos circulating on social media showing an aircraft on fire and spiraling out of control.
Israeli media reported that sirens sounded in an industrial zone near Afula due to the launch of an interceptor missile.
The Israeli occupation army then confirmed one of its drones was shot down by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
It said: “The David’s Sling medium-range air defense system successfully intercepted a surface-to-air missile fired by Hezbollah at an Israeli drone, but a short while later a second missile struck the aircraft.”
Hermes 450 UAV (photo from archive)
The Hermes 450 is the third largest UAV. It is an Israeli medium-sized multi-payload UAV designed for tactical long endurance missions. Made by Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems, the drone’s primary mission is reconnaissance, surveillance and communications relay.
Al-Manar prepared this inforgraphic that illustrates the spesifications of the downed Israeli drone.
Scenes of the Islamic Resistance shooting down an Israeli enemy Elbit Hermes 450 multi-purpose drone that violated Lebanese airspace at dawn today, Saturday, 11/18/2023.
Dangerous Development
Israeli circles described the incident in Iqlim AL-Tuffah as a dangerous development.
Military analyst in Israeli channel 14 said Hezbollah’s downing of an Israeli drone over the Lebanese territory is a dangerous incident.
For his part, Amir Bohbot, Israeli Walla news’ defense correspondent said: “Hezbollah calmly crossing red line (by downing Israeli aircraft).”
More Operations
Meanwhile, Hezbollah went ahead with its pro-Gaza operations against Israeli border sites. Before dawn on Monday (at 03:10), the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted an Israeli force at Al-Baghdadi site and its vicinity with missile weapons, achieving a direct hit, a statement released by Hezbollah Military Media Center read.
Another statement issued by the group announced that the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted at 12:00 on Monday an Israeli gathering in the vicinity of Hadb Yarin with missile weapons, resulting in a direct hit.
Later at 12:10, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted Israeli settlement in Shtula with missile weapons, Hezbollah’s Military Media Center said in a statement.
Israeli media confirmed the strike on Shtula, reporting that an Israeli was hurt by a missile shrapnel.
In the fifth Hezbollah strike for Monday, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted at 13:15 Branit Barracks with missile weapons, achieving a direct hit, another statement read.
“In response to the Zionist aggression on the outskirts of Baalbeck city in the Bekaa and the attacks on villages and civilian homes, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted the Command headquarters of the Golan Division in Nafah with sixty Katyusha rockets at 04:00 pm on Monday, February 26, 2024.,” Hezbollah military media affirmed in its sixth statement.
Hezbollah military media’s seventh statement maintained that the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted at 04:15 pm on Monday, February 26, 2024 Al-Radar site with rocketry weapons, achieving direct hits.
Islamic Resistance fighters targeted at 04:20 pm on Monday, February 26, 2024 Ruwaisat Al-Alam site in the occupied Lebanese Shebaa Farms with missile weapons, achieving direct hits, Hezbollah military media’s eighth statement mentioned
Late on Sunday, the Military Media Center issued a video showing Hezbollah strikes targeting Israeli gatherings across the border between Lebanon and occupied Palestine. The strikes were dated according to the video on February 24, 2024.
Ahmed AbdulKareem is a Yemeni journalist based in Sana’a. He covers the war in Yemen for MintPress News as well as local Yemeni media.
Ahmed AbdulKareem
In the courtyard of Yemen’s famous Al Shaeb Mosque, guards of honor stood at attention accompanied by the melody of military music as the funeral ceremony of Yemeni marines killed in the latest round of U.S. and UK strikes commenced. The mourners, many of whom traveled from the countryside to attend, walked alongside a long convoy carrying the bodies of 17 victims as it made its way through the streets of Sana’a. Mourners held aloft photos of the deceased or thrust their rifles into the air while chanting slogans condemning the United States. Several banners peppered the crowd, emblazoned with the label given to those who gave their lives in what many view as a struggle in defense of Palestine: “Martyrs on the road to al-Quds (Jerusalem).”
Seventeen pickup trucks ensconced in green drapes bore the bodies. They were escorted by family members alongside thousands of mourners leaving Sana’a for the hometowns of the victims who hailed from various regions of Yemen. The scene unfolded last Sunday when thousands of angry Yemenis took to the streets of Sana’a and other cities to hold a funeral for those killed by the attacks. “Retribution against American soldiers… We will not abandon our revenge,” some mourners proclaimed.
In Bani Matar, 70 kilometers west of Sanaa towards the Hodeida Road, the mothers of Ziad Ajlan and Hashem Al-Sawari watched the convoy from a rooftop as it carried along the bodies of their sons. Ziad and Hashem were not involved in the fighting; they were among a number of civilians killed in attacks launched by the U.S. Navy on the Yemeni mainland one week ago. My son was martyred on the road to al-Quds,” Ziad’s mother said proudly. “We will not be broken, and we will not abandon Gaza.”
U.S. and British officials maintain that their attacks target “Houthi” military positions – ammunition stores and missile launch sites, but the reality of the ground tells a different story. Yemeni civilians say they are blind and indiscriminate and often leave civilians maimed or killed. Assuming the U.S. and UK are acting in good faith, it is clear that their intelligence information is lacking. A truck belonging to a farmer carrying plastic pipes was targeted in an airstrike outside the city of Saada last week. It is believed that the pipes were mistaken for missiles.
This story has repeated itself ad nauseam throughout Yemen since the end of December when the multinational “Operation Prosperity Guardian” (OIR) was launched in a thus-far failed attempt to protect ships linked with Israel from Ansar Allah. This week alone, as many as 40 strikes were launched by the U.S. and the UK, most targeting the coastal city of Hodeida.
Coffins of Asnar Allah fighters killed in the U.S.-led strikes on Yemen are transported during a mass funeral in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 10, 2024. Osamah Abdulrahman | AP
THE FOG OF WAR
The danger of Washington’s attacks on Yemen’s mainland lies not only in exposing civilians to danger but has the potential to spark retaliatory measures taken by Ansar Allah should pressure from the public and family members of victims continue to mount.
On December 29, when U.S. forces killed 10 Yemeni sailors aboard three ships in the Red Sea, Ansar Allah refrained from retaliating. But when American and British bombs peppered mainland Yemen the next month, striking major cities with over 100 precision-guided missiles, leaving civilians dead and maimed, Ansar Allah reacted, carrying out a barrage of retaliatory attacks.
Some Yemeni officials have even hinted that two U.S. Navy Seals that the U.S. government claims drowned while boarding a boat smuggling weapons into Yemen were actually killed in combat. It is not known whether the soldiers were killed in attacks by Ansar Allah ballistic missiles or drones or during a failed commando operation as the U.S. claims, but what is clear is that the U.S. is covering its losses and information about the deaths of the Seals has been highly politicized.
In fact, many of the details surrounding hostilities between the U.S. and Ansar Allah have been cast in a heavy fog of war, and it will likely be years before the truth is revealed. What is certain is that Ansar Allah has caused direct material damage to U.S. military vessels, targeting numerous times with advanced missiles and drones launched. In the wake of every such attack, a statement was issued, reaffirming Ansar Allah’s right to take revenge for those killed in American and British bombing raids.
On January 31, the Ansar Allah announced that the American destroyer, the USS Gravely, was hit by several anti-ship missiles. In the wake of the attack, US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that the Gravely had shot down an advanced anti-ship cruise missile. Later, reports emerged that the destroyer in question and other Western military assets in the area had failed to intercept the missile until it got within “4 seconds from hitting the U.S. warship.”
On January 25, Ansar Allah said that it had clashed with American destroyers in the Gulf of Aden and Bab al-Mandab for two hours. One U.S. Navy vessel was directly hit after a failed interception attempt, according to Ansar Allah, who have been improving their capabilities since 2014, after a failed Saudi-led and U.S.-backed bombing campaign left the country in tatters.
This undated photograph released by CENTCOM shows the vessel that was being boarded by US Navy Seals near Yemen in a raid that saw two commandos go missing
MANUFACTURING CONSENT
Although President Joe Biden has repeatedly claimed that the United States does not seek to expand the war in the Middle East, the actions of the US military are undoubtedly making the situation in the Red Sea more tense. In the wake of American airstrikes targeting Hodeida on Thursday – for the ninth time that day alone, Ansar Allah Armed Forces spokesperson Brigadier Yahya Saree revealed that the group would take “further measures” within its legitimate right to self-defense in response to the repeated U.S.-UK aggression. In the same statement, Saree announced that the Barbados-flagged British Bulk Carrier ship, the LYCAVITOS, was targeted by naval missiles while sailing in the Gulf of Aden, raising questions about the actual deterrence factor of America’s escalatory approach.
Prior to that, the leader of Ansar Allah, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, the leader of the revolution that the U.S.-backed Yemeni government in 2014, confirmed that any escalation on Ansar Allah’s part would be against Israel and to confront American and British aggression and would not target the interests of ordinary Westerners. The comment came in response to claims circulated in the media that Ansar Allah could sabotage a network of underwater internet cables that run through the Red Sea. “We do not plan to target submarine cables, and we have no intention of doing so, and what is reported in the media is a lie aimed at distorting our humanitarian position on the war on Gaza,” he said. Many Western media outlets promoted the claim, raising fears over the safety of infrastructure critical to the functioning of the Western Internet and the transmission of financial data. Yemen is strategically located, as internet lines connecting entire continents pass near it.
Airstrikes and claims that internet access may be cut off may be the tip of the escalatory iceberg, according to the government of Sana’a. The Minister of Information, Daifallah al-Shami, held a press conference on Thursday announcing that they have information that the UAE is seeking to recruit agents from multiple foreign nationalities in cooperation with Al-Qaeda and ISIS to target ships in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea in order to confuse and distort operations carried out by Ansar Allah in support of Gaza. According to al-Shami, the move is supported by the U.S.
“WE WILL NOT ABANDON GAZA”
Contrary to what is being promoted in much of the Western media, which has taken the line that Ansar Allah’s Red Sea blockade has nothing to do with the ongoing genocide in Gaza, a review of the targets of Ansar Allah’s attacks makes their motivations clear. On October 19, Ansar Allah fired drones and missiles at Israel’s southern Eliat Port. In mid-November, the naval forces seized an Israeli ship headed towards occupied Palestine. Shortly after, Ansar Allah publically announced that the Israeli-linked ship would not be allowed to pass through the Baba al-Mandab Strait. Later, they announced that the ban on shipping would extend to all vessels attempting to reach Eliat Port. All of these measures were in support of a single, repeatedly declared goal, which was to pressure Israel to stop its war on Gaza and allow food and water to enter the besieged strip.
With visible sadness and anger, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi enumerated in a televised speech on Tuesday the reasons that motivate Yemen to continue operations to prevent international navigation supporting Israel in the Red Sea – the continued mass killing of the Gazans, renewed American support for Israel, including with lethal weapons and the use of internationally banned weapons against civilians in Gaza, including white phosphorus.
Al-Houthi said that “the Yemeni military’s retaliatory strikes in the Red Sea had proven to be effective as it led to the almost complete closure of the port of Umm al-Rashrash (the name of Eliat before Israel annexed it), and all food supply chains to Israel that were passing through the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab stopped by 70%, and prices in the Israeli market rose by 30-50% after ships were forced to divert course through the Cape of Good Hope.” Israel, he noted, was one of the largest beneficiaries of maritime trade, with imports in 2022 reaching to $133 billion “thanks to the Red Sea.”
Responding to those who question the feasibility of Ansar Allah’s position, Al-Houthi said that “Yemeni operations have caused repercussions for ship insurance,” noting that insurers are now refusing to insure ships heading towards the ports of occupied Palestine. “Not only that,” he added, “but insurance companies require Israeli and American ships to pay additional amounts of up to 50%.”
“Our operations at sea led to a decline in Israel’s total imports of products by 25% during the past months,” Al-Houthi said, “The Israeli Ministry of Economy and Industry admitted that the Red Sea operations harmed its trade relations with 14 countries.”
Amid threats of escalation and even whispers of a Western-led ground invasion of Yemen, Ansar Allah has reiterated its commitment to its mission. Mobilization, military training, demonstrations, and other activities will be continued as long as the aggression against Gaza continues, it has reaffirmed, saying that operations at sea will continue until Israel “allows food and medical supplies and the delivery of basic needs into Gaza.” “The U.S. and UK will not achieve their goals through aggression against our country, and the only solution is to stop the aggression and deliver food and medicine to the people of Gaza,” Al-Houthi vowed.
Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah sent a message of condolence to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei, over the martyrdom of President Ebrahim Raisi and his companions.
On behalf of Hezbollah, its fighters, the families of its martyrs and wounded, and the general public of the resistance in Lebanon, Sayyed Nasrallah extended his deepest condolences and heartfelt sympathy to His Eminence on the occasion of the martyrdom of this group of righteous leaders, foremost among them His Eminence Ayatollah Sayyed Ebrahim Raisi, the devoted and loyal fighter President of the Islamic Republic, Foreign Minister Dr. Hussein Amir Abdollahian, the flag bearer of defending the resistance in all international forums, His Eminence Ayatollah Al-Hashem, Imam Khamenei’s representative in East Azerbaijan, Governor Rahmati, and their companions.
“We share with you all the feelings and meanings of loss of those noble leaders at this sensitive stage, as you lead the Islamic nation in its bitter struggle against the forces of arrogance as well hegemony and the American and Zionist occupation of our sanctities, lands, and peoples.”
“Your blessed presence and wise, guided, and courageous leadership condole and inspire us along with all the oppressed, the resistance fighters, and the fighters on the path of righteousness with hope.”
“I ask Allah Almighty to prolong your noble life, strengthen your pure heart to bear the pain of losing those loyal and sincere leaders, and bestow patience, solace, and great reward upon their noble and honorable families, our dear and great Iranian people, and all the esteemed officials of the Islamic Republic, God willing,” Sayyed Nasrallah’s message added, “May Allah bring near the joy and victory, grant those righteous martyrs with His Vast Mercy and unite them with our masters, the Messenger of Allah and his Pure Family, peace be upon them all.”
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and members of the accompanying delegation, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian, have been martyred after a helicopter carrying him and his entourage crashed in Varzaqan region in the northwestern province of East Azarbaijan.
New secrets revealed: Who targeted the Iranian president’s plane? Was it shot down by a foreign intelligence agency?
Major plane crash: The hypothesis of a planned accident that explodes the region has been proven.. Military general: A dividing line and Iran will not remain silent!
The students of over 70 American universities expressed in their graduation ceremony the noblest feelings of the conscience of the American people.
But what Biden doesn’t know is that he and his entire system will not be able in the near future to guarantee the security of “Israel”, because he and the Zionist entity will not be able to kill the growing consciousness among American and Western young men and women toward the rights of the Palestinian people in their homeland and of the gross injustices committed against these people during the last eight decades. These young students of men and women in American and Western universities who are taking noble stands in support of helpless Palestinians are going to be the rulers in the future when Biden and his like-minded people will no longer be there and when the innocent blood of all these martyrs of children, women, journalists, scientists, doctors, and others will come to fruition in restoring the just and inalienable rights of the Palestinians, which were undermined by tyrants, occupiers, and terrorists, as well as their supporters for decades.
In his letter to the head of the Zionist entity on the 76th occasion of Nakbah (which they call “Independence Day”), Biden said, “My commitment to the security of Israel is solid and it is necessary that we work together,” adding, “The commitment of the United States to the security of Israel is unshaken.” This statement renders all of Biden’s alleged efforts in the course of working for peace in the region and creating a better future for all its people meaningless. After all, the absolute commitment of the United States to the security of “Israel”, drowning it with money and armaments to perpetrate genocide, and using the VETO in the Security Council to prevent anyone from taking it to task is the most important factor that enabled this entity to perpetrate horrendous genocide against the Palestinian people that has no parallel in modern history.
There is no doubt that Biden and his aides, who are not even embarrassed to say, “We found no evidence of Israel committing genocide” and who give shameful, illogical, and contradictory statements… there is no doubt that they are basing their hopes on conspiratorial partners who are prepared to cooperate with them to inflict more injustice on these great Palestinian people and to complement other unlawful accords that they historically seek in their desperate attempts to silence those people who truly belong to their homeland and who are prepared to pay sacrifices to keep their rights on it.
But what Biden and his followers are going to discover is that the Palestinian cause is no longer reliant on their will and they are no longer able to trade the rights of the Palestinian people with some short-sighted personal advantages. The Palestinian cause has reached today a very crucial juncture in which it has transcended from being a regional, Arab, or even Islamic cause to being a human cause that moves and influences free consciences everywhere in the world. It also plants awareness in the minds of the youth, which will certainly be translated into action that ends the occupation and Western tyranny and inspires a new future not only for Palestinians but for humanity at large. The Palestinian cause will liberate the international will from injustice and tyranny and will contribute to the emergence of a multipolar world systemin which neither the US nor its Western partners will be able to facilitate the perpetration of all these crimes against humanity under the sight and hearing of the entire world.
The students of the Faculty of Liberal Arts at Minnesota University, along with the students of Colombia University and 70 other American universities expressed in their graduation ceremony the noblest feelings of the conscience of American people. Each one of them carried a board greeting Gaza, calling for an end to the genocide, chanting: “Palestine is free from the river to the sea,” Each one of them held the board in front of them so that it could be seen before they walked to receive their degrees. There is no doubt that their brave and noble stand in support of people who are facing the most heinous types of injustice is more important than the degree they were awarded. The degrees do not define them; they define the degrees, define themselves, and give merit to the best traits of the American people. As the degrees prove their academic capabilities and performance, their courageous and noble stand in support of a people who suffer today from horrifying injustice is a very honorable stand, which they and their children would be proud of. Those young men and women are going to be the governors in the future, and they will undoubtedly absolve themselves from the shameful legacy of successive American administrations, especially Biden’s, and open a new page that represents acclaimed American values. In every domain in the US, the first thing they stress is the principle of a “win-win” situation, except with regard to the Arab cause, in which they commit themselves to the security of the Zionist entity at the expense of the lands, lives, and the very existence of the Arabs in their homeland.
From this perspective, we can understand the statement of Josep Borrell, the high representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs, when he said that the United States is showing fatigue in its Middle East diplomacy in seeking a solution. The principal cause for this fatigue is that American diplomacy seeks to abrogate Palestinian rights in their homeland and is bent on calling that a solution. That is why all Western media promoted the Israeli maxim of “eliminating Hamas”, while the true intention or plan was to wage a war of genocide against all Palestinians. That is also why the Zionists refused every version submitted by mediators because they are bent on this genocide against all Palestinian people and all their resistance to occupation. The genocide was perpetrated against all Palestinian people and all their institutions, schools, universities, hospitals, mosques, churches, bakeries, and anything that helps to make life possible.
That is why what the Zionists had perpetrated in Gaza and Palestine, in general, is an international issue and no longer only an Arab or Islamic one. Just as the struggle to liberate South Africa from Apartheid was an international cause, so is Palestine today. South Africa honored its history by submitting a case to the International Court of Justice to take punitive measures against “Israel” and shed light on the danger of what was committed against Palestinian civilians. Leaders in Latin America also took honorable stands in support of the Palestinians, and 143 countries in the General Assembly voted to grant Palestine full UN membership.
What is required today from all sectors and all international syndicates and professional unions is action, each in their domain to bring “Israel” to task, expel it from international forums, register the names of those who were victims of this genocide, and lead a legal case in international courts against “Israel”. The Israelis have killed athletes and their trainers and referees. They killed over a 100 academicians, professors, and researchers. They killed hundreds of doctors and medical staff. International organizations in all these fields and other fields should boycott the Israeli entity, isolate it, and drag it to the International Court of Justice for all these crimes.
There is no doubt that the US and Western countries in general have morally fallen to the abyss during this horrifying aggression on Gaza. The only ones who restored some of the hope in our hearts are those brave and noble university students, as well as the officials and Jewish people who resigned from their posts in protest of the genocide and in defense of the Palestinian people and of what is left of their countries’ credibility.
When real names and numbers of those killed in Gaza are released, world forces will move on guided by the experience and example of South Africa. By then, Biden and his aides will be in the dark pages of history, and only those who fought, resisted, and persisted in defending their homelands and those who supported them will shine in history pages forever. That is when the world would have moved beyond the ugly imperialist, Zionist system to a much safer and happier multipolar world.
The opinions mentioned in this article do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Al mayadeen, but rather express the opinion of its writer exclusively.
A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and senior officials went missing on Sunday after Iranian media reported hard landing in northwestern province of East Azarbaijan, with security and military forces staring a large-scale rescue operation amid bad weather conditions.
President Raisi was returning from a ceremony to open a dam on Iran’s border with Azerbaijan when his helicopter made hard landing in Varzaqan region on Sunday.
Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, Governor of East Azarbaijan Province Malek Rahmati, Tabriz Friday prayer leader Hojjatoleslam Al Hashem and a number of others were also on board the helicopter.
Iranian media reported that rescue and relief teams have been dispatched to the area and search operations were underway.
Here are some of the first images from Raisi search operation. Thick fog and heavy rain have reduced visibility to under 5 meters, severely slowing down search operations in the mountainous, forested area. pic.twitter.com/o4OdUHNG8X
Foggy weather and the impassability of the area has made the search operations difficult.
Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi has confirmed to the national TV that one of the copters of the president’s convoy had a hard landing.
“Various rescue groups are moving towards the site, but due to the fog and bad weather, it may take time to reach the area. The work is under control,” Vahidi said.
“There have been contacts with [the president’s] companions, but given that the area is mountainous and it is difficult to establish contacts, we hope that the rescue teams will reach the site of the incident sooner and give us more information,” the interior minister added.
Local Iranian media have reported that it is heavily raining in the area in Varzaghan District and it is hard for the rescue and search teams to walk in the dense fog.
An illustration showing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the American flag as well as the logo of the International Criminal Court (ICC). (Illustrated by Hady Dbouq)
This is how ICC arrest warrants work, their importance, why Netanyahu might not get away with murder this time, and how the US has continued to be a hypocrite.
Here’s an idea for a potential bedtime story: There once was a very very bad man leading an over 200-day genocide against the people of Palestine in Gaza, they called him Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also known as “Bibi”. In conformity with a belief popular among Israeli settlers who stole Palestinian land over 75 years ago supported by some bad bad imperialist countries, Bibi thought he was above the law.
You cannot entirely blame him as the world helped enable this belief by constantly overlooking the fact that Palestine is occupied, its people are being forced out of their homes, murdered, raped, tortured, detained and the list of horrible crimes goes on. Until one day Bibi sensed that there might be a chance he was not actually above the law as word spread about the International Criminal Court (ICC) potentially slapping him, alongside other bad men, with arrest warrants.
Bibi then rushed to his beloved mother, let’s call her the United States. He cried for help in a video online asking “free leaders of the world to stand against the ICC outrageous assault” and his mother threatened to retaliate against the court.
So far, this story does not have an end as it will determined by what happens next, and how everything plays out and unfolds.
On a serious note, however, here is a deeper legal and political dive into the importance of such arrest warrants and why it might be hard for Netanyahu to get away with murder this time with a sprinkle of US hypocrisy.
The legal process in the court includes six stages:
Preliminary examinations
Investigations
The pre-trial stage
The trial stage
The appeals stage
The enforcement of the sentence.
On 17 November 2023, the Chief Prosecutor of the Court, Karim Khan, issued a statement announcing that based on a referral five Court States Parties: South Africa, Bangladesh, Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Comoros, and Djibouti, his office confirms that it is investigating the situation in the State of Palestine.
Khan said that this investigation began on March 3, 2021, and includes actions committed in Gaza, the West Bank, and the eastern part of al-Quds since June 13, 2014, that can amount to crimes listed in the Rome Statute. The Chief Prosecutor said that this investigation is ongoing and “extends to the escalation of hostilities and violence since the attacks that took place on 7 October 2023.”
Why the arrest warrants are vital
In the investigation stage of the legal process, the Prosecution can request the ICC judges from the pre-trial chamber, after piling up evidence and identifying a suspect, to issue an arrest warrant against the latter to summon for appearance that is if the suspect is willing to cooperate with the court and appear voluntarily.
Article 63 of the Rome Statute says that the accused, labeled as a suspect at the pre-trial stage, should be present during the trial. This means that the judicial process cannot begin without the presence of the accused and in turn, without the arrest of the suspect, their summon, or voluntary presence.
So, for the Court to actually be able to move to the hearings stage following the investigation stage, it is legally required to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu and other individuals it has deemed as suspects in the case. Knowing that “Israel” lied at the International Court of Justice before in front of the whole world and that it still to this day denies all crimes it has committed in Gaza, one would expect it not to be cooperative with the Court, especially amid recent statements attempting to discredit the Court and throw in “the right of self-defense” again.
Primarily, the power to execute the arrest warrants is vested in the States which are part of the Court. According to Article 59 of the Statute any State Party that has gotten a request for provisional arrest or for arrest and surrender “shall immediately take steps to arrest the person in question in accordance
with its laws and the provisions of Part 9.”
According to Article 86 of the Rome Statute, “States Parties shall, in accordance with the provisions of this Statute, cooperate fully with the Court in its investigation and prosecution of crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court.”
Not only that but according to Article 88 of the Statute, “States Parties shall ensure that there are procedures available under their national law for all of the forms of cooperation which are specified under” Part 9 of the Statute which addresses international cooperation and judicial assistant. Article 89 also addresses how States should comply with requests for arrest and surrender by the Court.
All of these provisions mean that even if Netanyahu does not cooperate with the Court any State that is a member of the Court should cooperate with the latter and aid in executing the arrest warrant which would limit Netanyahu’s movements and put further pressure on him especially since arrest warrants remain in effect until otherwise ordered by the Court.
The responsibility does not fall on State Parties only as the Court can also ask non-state Parties for assistance in the arrest of the suspect especially if the trigger behind the Court’s jurisdiction is the United Nations Security Council as all relevant UN Member States are bonded by the duty to cooperate even if they are not a State Party to the Rome Statute.
Article 20 of the Rome Statute addresses the Ne bis in idem also known as the principle of complementarity which means that the ICC can practice its jurisdiction when the national courts have failed or are unwilling to investigate the crimes within the jurisdiction of the court.
First things first, the fact that the Court is in the investigations phase means that it probably already decided that there are not any genuine national proceedings. Why? Well, according to the Court itself during the preliminary examinations phase, the Office of the Prosecutor must decide whether there is “sufficient evidence of crimes of sufficient gravity falling within the ICC’s jurisdiction, whether there are genuine national proceedings, and whether opening an investigation would serve the interests of justice and of the victims.”
So this implies that the Court decided on all of the above including that there are not “genuine national proceedings.”
On the other hand, how reliable are the Courts of the occupation in this sense? And no, this is not coming from the fact that it is quite literally an occupation, but from actual live examples of how Netanyahu has attempted to overhaul the occupation’s “legal system” or how he was even exempted from accountability.
In three cases filed in 2019, Netanyahu has been charged with fraud, bribery, and breach of trust also known as cases 1,000, 2,000, and 4,000.
In March 2023, the Knesset approved a law that gave Benjamin Netanyahu immunity from prosecution on criminal charges. This law prevents a sitting Prime Minister from being dismissed from office and announced as incapable of fulfilling their duties.
In July 2023, the Knesset also passed the “reasonableness law” which took away the power of occupation’s the Supreme Court to declare government decisions unreasonable. Who was the Prime Minister back then? It was Benjamin Netanyahu. It was widely announced and reported as Netanyahu trying to overhaul the occupation’s “legal system”.
These are to name a few of how much power and influence he has in occupied Palestine. They cannot even hold him accountable for such crimes, how would they hold him accountable for a genocide they approve of?
Irrelevance of official capacity
But would he not benefit from his capacity as an official? Well, according to Article 27 (1) of the Rome Statute, the latter applies equally to “all persons without any distinction based on official capacity.”
Not only this but it also specifies that the “official capacity as a Head of State or Government, a member of a Government or parliament, an elected representative, or a government official shall in no case exempt a person from criminal responsibility” under the Statute, and should not even affect the sentence.
The most important part is immunities. Section 2 of the same Article says that immunities or special procedural rules linked to the official capacity of a person under both national and international law “shall not bar the Court from exercising its jurisdiction over such a person.”
Some legal scholars might argue that this only applies to State Parties of the ICC, or might argue based on special mission immunity or certain precedents, however, an article by Hugh King, Judges’ Clerk to the High Court of New Zealand at Auckland, addresses this issue and mentions the case of Prosecutor v Charles Ghankay Taylor, specifically submissions of the Amicus Curiae on Head of State immunity by Philippe Sands and Alison Macdonald.
King says that international tribunals mentioned by Sand and Macdonald all have one thing in common and that is “consent of States whose nationals were being tried.” So, he says, this consent alongside the constitutive basis of an international tribunal explains why international tribunals can actually try State officials and overlook immunities.
Referencing the examples that happened in international tribunals again, King said that Statutes can steer away from the rules set by customary international law rules on immunities because they were “were adopted by the Security Council under Chapter VII of the Charter, and as such, bind all UN member States.”
According to Article 103 of the UN Charter also mentioned by King, the obligations of all member states under the Charter prevail over any other obligation through a different international agreement. This means, as he said, that UN member States therefore indirectly have consented to waiving their immunities.
“Mother” is a hypocrite
In 1943 the United Nations War Crimes Commission(UNWCC) was established in London with a satellite office in China by seventeen allied nations, including China and India, before the end of World War II and it had its main focus on war crimes.
Guess who was deeply involved in its creation and work? The United States of America which back then supported launching a permanent international criminal tribunal through a multilateral treaty.
In 1945, the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg was created, also by deep US involvement, to try German wartime leaders for crimes against peace, crimes against humanity, and war crimes and it specifically stated that individuals are accountable are accountable for international crimes regardless of their official position. It was followed by another similar tribunal a year later to try crimes by Japanese leaders.
In 1993, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia was established which of course, once again, the US had a deep involvement in and even took part in forming its statute and other essential documents. This also applied to the establishment of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in 1994.
In 1995, the US was part of the Ad Hoc Committee on the establishment of the ICC and then later took part in a preparatory session before the Rome conference and the conference itself as it even aided in drafting the Rome Statute but then ended up voting against it.
In 1999, the US was quick to draft a Foreign Relations Authorization Act including prohibitions against sending any US financial support to the ICC and the extradition of any US citizen to a foreign country that may surrender them to the ICC.
But in 2000, it aided in drafting the ICC Rules of Procedure and Evidence alongside the Elements of Crimes part of the Rome Statute. It then signed the Rome Statute but did not ratify it and declared in 2002 that it had no intention of ratifying it.
This back and forth went on for years after as the US took part in creating the basis of a Court it clearly refuses to be a part of and for obvious reasons that were evident in a pattern of US behavior over the years utilizing international organizations, laws, courts for its benefit then standing against them when they scratch those benefits, just like it is currently doing in the case of “Israel.”
As previously mentioned, it is still not clear how the bedtime story will end, but in one way or another, it might not look very good for the US and “Israel” even away from all the legal and political talk, “You reap what you sow” has always come true and if there is one thing you can learn from How to Get Away with Murder is that, you do not.
Embracing Netanyahu does not constitute a foreign policy
Philip M. Giraldi, Ph.D., is Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest, a 501(c)3 tax deductible educational foundation (Federal ID Number #52-1739023) that seeks a more interests-based U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Website is councilforthenationalinterest.org, address is P.O. Box 2157, Purcellville VA 20134 and its email is inform@cnionline.org.
It is extremely difficult to discern what might be the thinking behind the clueless President Joe Biden and his Blinken-Austin-Mayorkas foreign-policy-plus national security team. Or rather, the problem is that there does not appear to be any thinking about it at all if one measures it by what benefits it brings to the American people. It all actually seems to derive from a desire to construct a narrative that will win the presidential election coming up in November, which will fortunately be run against a deeply flawed GOP candidate named Donald J. Trump. But look at what is on the Biden record: the country’s southern border with Mexico is a porous as a Swiss cheese, allowing literally millions of illegal immigrants into the USA since Biden took office; Washington is both de facto and de jure simultaneously fighting and losing two unnecessary wars involving nuclear powers which has cost a nearly bankrupt Treasury well into the hundreds of billions of dollars; and the White House is needlessly sanctioning non-hostile competitors like China while also making illegal popular social media sites like TikTok which have committed the sin of reporting and disseminating accurate narratives about good old “best friend and closest ally” Israel. Predictably, neither of the assertions about the value of the Jewish state is true, nor is it a democracy, but who cares when you’re having fun shooting people and spending someone else’s money?
Oh, and just try to exercise your first amendment free speech rights by demonstrating against Israel’s slaughter of upwards of 40,000 Palestinian civilians using US provided weapons and you will be hit on the head by a cop, possibly arrested, and even expelled from college! If you want to see where this is all going, check out reports of the recent FBI detention and interrogation of distinguished Israeli historian Ilan Pappe seeking to enter the US through the Detroit International Airport. Pappe is a critic of the Netanyahu government and of US policy so he was held, questioned in detailed about his contacts, and had his phone copied before being allowed to proceed. Meanwhile, a group of top federal judges have signed a letter stating that they will strike back against the demonstrating students by refusing to hire any graduates of Columbia University Law School as law clerks. And there even is a bill currently before Congress that would empower the government to label the foreign protesters “antisemites and terrorism supporters” and deport them, with some going to Gaza with the expectation that they would be killed, possibly by the mighty Israel Defense Forces (IDF)! It would be a startling new development to punish those whose crime consists mostly of trespass even given the rather loose ethical boundaries established by the war on terror and the Antisemitism Awareness Act! Or indeed one might follow the Senatorial route led by a chirping Lindsey Graham who recommends dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza to kill everyone who has survived the Israeli onslaught. The area then might be developed after the radiation dies down for those splendid seaside villas for Jews only suggested by the esteemed Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner.
To be sure, Joe sometimes mumbles something that might just be viewed positively, like his recent blocking on humanitarian grounds of a consignment of bunker buster bombs on their way to Israel due to Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence that, no matter what, he would invade Rafah to completely destroy Hamas and whoever else might happen to get in his way. Joe predictably reversed that decision last Tuesday, approving a $1 billion supply of munitions after he came under pressure from the Israelis and their many friends in the US, to include a host of Israel-loving GOP congressmen who have carried their fight on behalf of the Jewish state to The Hague, where the International Criminal Court (ICC) is being directly threatened with American wrath lest it try to punish Israeli leaders for their genocide in Gaza. As Bill Astore put it “Last week, President Biden appeared to have strapped on a temporary spine in delaying shipments of ‘offensive’ weaponry to Israel for its murderous invasion of Rafah in Gaza. That spine had a short duration as Biden announced [Tuesday] renewed shipments of tank and mortar rounds to Israel.” Congress has also gotten into the game with the GOP controlled House of Representatives having passed a bill that would compel the White House to continue all arms shipments to Israel. Joe might also be thinking of political contributions, as American Jews donate the majority of Democratic Party funding, as well guaranteeing a friendly media in his campaign as they dominate both the news and the entertainment industries. See, Joe can figure some things out all by himself every once in a while!
Here’s the problem with Joe, apart from the roughly $12 million in gift-donations from Jewish/Israeli sources that he has obtained in his political career. His tactical thinking does not extend beyond his personal interests, to include his corrupt children, a trait very much like that which is possessed by his good buddy Netanyahu who is facing corruption charges of his own in Israel. Joe believes he is much cleverer than he actually is and thinks that an occasional mild verbal criticism of the Israeli behavior will convince his target audience of voters that he really is concerned about the continuing death toll in Gaza, where the Israelis have already been taking initial steps in their attack on Rafah by using their tanks to penetrate into the targeted zone to destroy and kill.
And as for the reported completion and initial functioning of the floating pier connected to Gaza constructed by US military engineers, it will not dramatically change reality on the ground even though Biden is claiming that it will enable the entry of much needed food and medical aid. Israel will still “security” control what is allowed to enter into Gaza proper while Netanyahu is seeing the pier as a bridge to nowhere, usable primarily to export excess Palestinians to foreign lands that are either willing or unwilling to accept them. And its existence creates some interesting possibilities. As it presumably will be logistically supported on the pier itself by US-based personnel, Netanyahu might well be tempted to stage a false flag attack blamed on Hamas to kill a few Americans and lock Biden into Israel’s right-wing Gaza policies from now on. Bear in mind that, in reality, Biden could care less if all the Palestinians might be “disappeared” just as he would like to see any and all critics of Israel be subjected to the harshest punishments, including prison and denial of basic rights as well as being stripped of government benefits. He has called the protesters “lawbreakers” and spreaders of “chaos” and congress is currently investigating the alleged “subversive organizers” of the “anti-Israel terrorists.”
Biden and company, as well as Trump, who is advising the Israeli government to “finish the job” with the Palestinians, clearly have no actual red lines that must not be crossed when it comes to Israel. The war of extermination of the Gazans has been accompanied by a more hidden war being conducted by the Jewish settlers on the West Bank, which has been largely under Israeli occupation since 1967. The frequently armed settlers have been attacking unarmed Palestinians, destroying their homes and businesses, ruining their crops and vineyards, and even killing them on occasion. Israeli police and army standing by do nothing to stop the fun and even frequently participate themselves by arresting and beating Palestinians who are guilty only of being Palestinian. Hundreds of Palestinians have been arrested without charges apart from “preventive detention” since the troubles began in October and the jails are overflowing. The clear intention, verbalized without any shame by senior Israeli government officials like Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, is to produce a Greater Israel cleansed of Arabs. And Biden, who pretends to favor a two-state solution to the unrest, helps the process along by vetoing UN resolutions that would help create separate sovereignty for Palestine.
Some of the most outrageous recent developments have been the settlers’ interfering with shipments of food and medicines entering into Gaza, a point that a faux-sympathetic Biden stresses repeatedly when pontificating regarding bringing aid to the starving people who are trapped with nowhere to go inside the enclave. The Israel clampdown even includes the Mediterranean Sea being blocked off by the Israeli navy which shoots any desperate Gazans who try to go close to the water so they can fish for food. In the most recent incidents, observed by the standing-by but inert Israeli army and police, truckloads of food were blocked, the drivers and aid workers removed and beaten, and the food was destroyed and burned before the trucks were treated likewise. In another incident settlers dumped huge boulders on one of the access roads to a checkpoint leading into Gaza, rendering it impassible and blocking any aid. Journalists and aid workers are meanwhile being killed by the army to prevent any reporting of what is going on while the US State Department refuses to condemn the activity. Biden called the interference with assistance convoys “outrageous” but has done nothing whatsoever about it, nor has he followed up on pledges to sanction Israelis who attack Palestinians or their property on the West Bank.
The whole problem is that Israel is a monster, an apartheid state that somehow feels it is empowered by God and the United States to kill all its neighbors and rob the American taxpayer to pay for and equip the slaughter. Israel is backed by an all-powerful US domestic lobby that includes unlimited Jewish money and activist Zionist groups like the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) led by the hideous Jonathan Greenblatt and the venerable American Israel Political Affairs Committee (AIPAC), both of which are now busy raising money to defeat all congress critters who have ever criticized the Jewish state. ADL and AIPAC are also linked to “that old time religion” knucklehead Christian Zionists concentrated in the Republican Party who have their Scofield Bibles firmly embedded between their ears where their brains are supposed be. A partial solution would be to make the Jewish-Zionist groups register as foreign government agents directed by Israel under the the terms of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), which is exactly what they are, but that will never happen. President John F. Kennedy tried to register the predecessor group to AIPAC and many believe he paid the ultimate price for that affront as well as for his bid to stop Israel’s nuclear weapons program.
So, my fellow Americans, what should we do? Well, we should do whatever we can, which includes speaking out about how we have been sold out by our leaders and opinion makers, and we should continue to do that even knowing that they will try to silence us by destroying free speech in this country. It is all we have left and we should continue to oppose what is happening. The first step however, is to get rid of politicians like Joe and Donald, who have been completely corrupted by more than fifty years in the “system” and are totally sold out and irresponsible in their behavior. There are honest politicians and journalists out there and we just have to find them, support them and get them elected and in positions where they will be able to bring about change in how things are done in Washington! One might call it the New American Revolution to restore our rights and free us from foreign oppression!
A report by a local independent human rights group details the recent experiences of three boys in the West Bank.
VT Condemns the ETHNIC CLEANSING OF PALESTINIANS by USA/Israel
$ 280 BILLION US TAXPAYER DOLLARS INVESTED since 1948 in US/Israeli Ethnic Cleansing and Occupation Operation; $ 150B direct “aid” and $ 130B in “Offense” contracts
Source: Embassy of Israel, Washington, D.C. and US Department of State.
Israeli and U.S. claims that civilian casualties in Gaza are the result of Hamas’ use of “human shields” have figured prominently in Israel’s defense of the skyrocketing death toll in the enclave, but a report by a local independent human rights group details the recent experiences of three boys in the West Bank, who say they were used to shield Israeli forces from potential harm during their raid on a refugee camp.
Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCIP) on Monday released its interviews with three boys in Tulkarem refugee camp, which was attacked by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on May 6.
The three boys—Karam, 13; Mohammad, 12; and Ibrahim, 14—gave nearly identical accounts of being forced to walk ahead of the IDF soldiers as they raided residential buildings, ensuring they would be attacked by any armed people instead of the Israeli forces.
The soldiers also positioned their guns on the shoulders of two of the boys before firing the weapons, and subjected all of them to beatings.
Karam told DCIP that about 30 IDF soldiers entered his family’s apartment with a “huge military dog” during the Tulkarem attack and isolated his family in one room, selecting Karam to come with them as they raided the rest of the building.
The “forced Karam to walk in front of them, open the doors to each room, and enter it before them,” DCIP reported. “While they were walking, one soldier placed his rifle on Karam’s right shoulder and fired two shots toward an apartment in the building.”
Mohammad told the group the IDF soldiers ignored his mother’s pleas as they ordered his family to leave his apartment, keeping Mohammad with them.
“I was left alone with the soldiers after they ordered my mother and siblings to go up to the fourth floor of the building. I started crying and shaking in fear because I did not know what they would do to me. They were armed, masked, and had frightening appearances. They had a huge military dog that made terrifying sounds,” Mohammad told DCIP.
“After that, the soldiers told me to knock on the doors of the apartments in the building, while they were standing behind me at a fairly short distance, and to ask the residents to come out, and this is what I did,” he said. “When we reached the door of one of the apartments, there was no one inside, so the soldiers blew up the door and forced me to go inside alone and check and search it. After I told them that it was empty, they entered it, while I remained held by one of the soldiers at the door.”
Ibrahim was forced to walk in front of the soldiers after they interrogated him about “the whereabouts of wanted men,” slapped and kicked him, and cuffed his hands behind his back with a plastic tie.
“At first, I thought they wanted to arrest me, but they told me to walk in front of them in the alleys of the Sawalma neighborhood in the camp,” said Ibrahim. “They would hide in the alleys and tell me to see if there was anyone around. After that, they untied my hands, and whenever we passed a house or building, they would instruct me to enter and ask the residents to come out. Then they would raid those houses and tell me to open the doors into different rooms.”
DCIP’s report, saidAl Jazeera journalist Sana Saeed, indicates how “every Palestinian child is seen as a threat, as disposable,” by the IDF and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
“Israeli treatment of Palestinian children, the way they see them as well as how they abuse their bodies, is genocidal,” said Saeed.
As Ben Burgis wrote at Jacobin in November, “accusations that [Hamas fighters] ‘use civilians as human shields’ rarely seem to be meant quite so literally” as reports of the IDF’s practices. “More often, what the accusation amounts to is simply that Hamas fighters and military equipment—or sometimes even just people linked to Hamas’ political wing—tend to be located in areas with lots of civilians.”
But as in the cases of the three boys at Tulkarem, “there is extensive evidence of the IDF quite literally engaging in human shielding—forcing Palestinian civilians to approach houses for them because they’ll be less likely to be shot at than Israeli soldiers, for example,” wrote Burgis.
“Israel’s High Court banned the practice in 2005, but Israeli human rights group B’Tselem reports that ‘soldiers continue to occasionally use Palestinians as human shields even after the court ruling, especially during military operations,’” he added.
Ayed Abu Eqtaish, the accountability program director at DCIP, condemned the IDF practices described by Karam, Mohammad, and Ibrahim.
“International law is explicit and absolutely prohibits the use of children as human shields by armed forces or armed groups,” said Abu Eqtaish. “Israeli forces intentionally putting a child in grave danger in order to shield themselves constitutes a war crime.”
In support of the Palestinian people and resistance in Gaza and in light of the Israeli aggression on the various South Lebanon villages, the Islamic Resistance continued striking the Zionist occupation sites near Lebanon border.
Hezbollah military media issued consecutive statements to illustrate the attacks and their outcomes.
The first statement mentioned that, in response to the assassination carried out by the “Israeli” enemy in the vicinity of the town of Qana, the Islamic Resistance launched an aerial attack on Friday, May 17, 2024.
“The attack involved a number of assault drones targeting the newly established command headquarters of the 411th Artillery Battalion in Ga’aton, hitting the tents where officers and soldiers are settled and stationed accurately, and leaving a number of them dead and wounded.”
The second statement maintained that, in response to the “Israeli” enemy’s aggression that targeted the village of Al-Najjariyeh, resulting in the martyrdom of civilians early Friday, May 17, 2024, the Islamic Resistance targeted Tsnobar Logistical Base in the occupied Golan Heights with 50 Katyusha rockets.
According to the third statement, the Islamic Resistance targeted enemy bunkers in Al-Zaoura with a barrage of Katyusha rockets that hit their targets, in response to the “Israeli” enemy’s aggression that targeted the village of Hula with artillery bombardment today, May 17, 2024.
The fourth statement mentioned that the Islamic Resistance targeted Al-Raheb site with artillery shells at 02:50 pm on Friday, 17th of May, 2024.
Islamic Resistance fighters targeted the Jal Al-Allam site with missile and artillery weapons at 03:15 pm on Friday, 17th of May 2024, according to the fifth statement.
The sixth statement maintained that the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted the Bayad Blida site with artillery shells at 04:00 pm on Friday, 17th of May 2024.
The seventh statement maintained that the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted Al-Malikyah site with artillery shells at 04:00 pm on Friday, 17th of May 2024.
The eighth statement indicated that the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted at 04:30 pm on Friday, 17th of May 2024, the spy equipment in Branit barracks with appropriate weapons, hitting it directly.
The ninth statement emphasized that the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted at 05:30 pm on Friday, 17th of May 2024, Al-Malikyah site with artillery shells.
The tenth statement noted that Hezbollah fighters targeted at 06:30 pm on Friday, 17th of May 2024, Zibdin site in the occupied Lebanese Shebaa Farms with missiles, hitting it directly.
Hezbollah Military Media Department issued a statement to mourn the fighter Hussein Khodr Mahdi who embraced martyrdom all the way to Al-Quds.
Meanwhile, the Israeli war jets raided several towns in South Lebanon, including Al-Najjariyeh, Yaroun, Adaissah, Deir Siriane, And Kfar Hamam.
In support of the resilient Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and in reinforcement of their brave and honorable resistance, the Islamic Resistancecarried out a number of operations against the positions and deployments of the “Israeli” enemy army along the Lebanese-Palestinian borders on Thursday, May 16, 2024, as follows:
– Eastern Sector:
1- At 10:00 am, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted the command headquarters of the Golan Brigade 210 in Nafah, the air defense barracks in Kela, and the artillery barracks to support the northern region in Yoav with a missile attack with more than 60 Katyusha rockets, in response to the “Israeli” enemy’s attacks last night on the Bekaa region.
2- At 1:38 pm, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted Al-Mutela site and its garrisons, and its vehicles with an assault armed drone equipped with two “S5” missiles. Upon reaching its designated point, it launched its missiles at one of its vehicles and the personnel gathered around it, resulting in casualties among them, leaving them dead and wounded. Then, it continued its assault on its intended target and accurately hit it.
3- At 5:07 pm, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted Al-Marj site with artillery shells and hitting it directly.
4- At 5:30 pm, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted Al-Samaqa site in the occupied Lebanese hills of Kfar Shuba with rocket weapons and hitting it directly.
5- At 6:15 pm, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted surveillance equipment mounted on a crane on Al-Tayhat Hill with appropriate weapons and hitting it directly, resulting in its destruction.
6- At 6:50 pm, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted industrial facilities belonging to the “Israeli” Ministry of War (Elbit Company for Military Industries) – David Cohen Factory in Tel Hai (north of Kiryat Shmona) specialized in producing electronic systems for the “Israeli” army with assault drone attacks, in response to the “Israeli” enemy’s attacks on industrial facilities in the Bekaa region.
7- At 10:50 pm, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted an “Israeli” enemy technical team while maintaining the surveillance equipment previously targeted in Ramim barracks with artillery shells.
– Western Sector:
1- At 8:35 am, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted the newly established surveillance equipment at Addir site with appropriate weapons and hitting it directly.
2- At 11:00 am, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted Zar’it barracks and the equipment crane, and the newly established surveillance equipment in the barracks with guided weapons and artillery shells.
3- At 11:10 am, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted the newly established surveillance equipment at Jal Al-Allam site with appropriate weapons and hitting it directly.
4- At 11:10 am, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted the surveillance equipment at Ramya site with appropriate weapons and hitting it directly.
5- At 5:15 pm, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted the surveillance equipment at Jal Al-Deir site with appropriate weapons, hitting it directly, leading to its destruction.
6- At 5:30 pm, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted the deployment of “Israeli” enemy soldiers in the vicinity of Jal Al-Allam site with Burkan rockets and artillery shells.
A worker clears piles of spilled food parcels scattered across the ground in a lorry park after Israeli settlers attacked Gaza aid trucks. (AFP/Getty Images)
The incident, which unfolded in broad daylight, has rightfully sparked international condemnation, shedding light on the dire circumstances faced by Palestinians under Israeli occupation.
Palestinian truck drivers delivering aid to Gaza recounted “barbaric” scenes as their vehicles were obstructed and vandalized by Israeli settlers, hindering the delivery of vital humanitarian supplies to a population facing severe hunger.
The attack, which occurred on Monday at the Tarqumiya checkpoint in the occupied West Bank, saw drivers and contractors targeted. They also asserted that Israeli soldiers escorting the convoy did nothing to prevent the assault.
The incident drew international condemnation after videos on social media showed Israeli settlers throwing boxes of essential supplies to the ground and setting at least one vehicle on fire.
Yazid al-Zoubi, 26, stated that the convoy consisted of 50 to 60 trucks.
“We were carrying oil, sugar, and other things and driving from the Tarqumiya crossing,” he said, as quoted by The Guardian. “We left in a convoy with an army vehicle in front of us and an army vehicle behind us, and we took a special army road that civilians could not cross. Suddenly, after 20 minutes on the road, near the crossing, we were surprised by at least 400 settlers. They attacked us. The rest of the drivers and I escaped from the vehicles after the settlers starting throwing stones at us.’’
BREAKING: Settlers block Aid truck and ATTACK driver.
Much needed aid was headed to Gaza, where there's a severe food shortage and people have died of hunger.
Yesterday, Settler mobs destroyed Aid. Today they decided to beat up the driver.
Zoubi recounted that the situation escalated when settlers began smashing the lorries’ windscreens and puncturing their tires. They then climbed onto the vehicles and tossed food packages onto the road.
This comes although aid agencies have reported famine conditions in Gaza, attributing them to Israeli restrictions on aid entering the territory. Humanitarian officials state that Gaza’s population requires at least 500 truckloads of food, fuel, and other essentials daily, but they have received only a small portion of that, with weeks going by without one truck of aid coming into the enclave.
During Monday’s attack, Zoubi said the Israeli soldiers escorting the convoy stood by and watched as the settlers went on a rampage.
“Even though they were present and watching what was happening. The army was at the service of the settlers,’’ he stressed.
Zoubi mentioned that the drivers initially fled the scene but were attacked by armed settlers when they returned later to collect their belongings.
‘’At that point the army gathered us and ordered us to raise our hands on the walls,” he stated. “The settlers were free to terrorize us. I have never been attacked so brutally before.”
“The state of terror I experienced is indescribable. Even now I have nightmares at night. My psychological state is broken, I cannot think properly, I can’t sleep. I cannot work. We are not smugglers. We agreed to transport goods legally from the crossing under the watch and supervision of the Israeli authorities.”
“What happened is serious”
Haitham Abu Khairo, who was also part of the aid convoy and owned one of the vandalized trucks, reported losing approximately 250,000 Israeli shekels (£53,700) in the attack, as per The Guardian.
“I managed to escape but what happened is serious,” he stressed.
The violence has reportedly led dozens of Palestinian drivers to refuse to transport supplies to Gaza. Adel Amer, a member of a West Bank haulers’ union, said, as quoted by Reuters, that around 15 trucks were damaged in the attack, with total damages amounting to approximately £1.6 million.
This month, the UK and EU imposed sanctions on Israeli settlers, including those accused of violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. The US has also sanctioned a few individuals and organizations connected to attacks on Palestinian civilians, with the initial measures announced in February and expanded twice in March and April.
Israeli police claimed that the incident is currently under investigation.
Not an isolated incident
Monday’s attack was claimed by a settler group called Order 9. This incident is not the first attempt by Israeli settlers to obstruct the flow of much-needed aid to Gaza amid the ongoing genocide. Last week, demonstrators blocked a road near the desert town of Mitzpe Ramon in protest against aid lorries entering Gaza.
Settlers attacked and injured a Palestinian and burned his truck north of Ramallah after thinking he was carrying aid to the Gaza Strip pic.twitter.com/GiYFOIl0yN
Throughout this year, violence frequently broke out at crossings from “Israel” into Gaza, disrupting aid shipments to the territory. In March, the International Court of Justice instructed “Israel” to ensure unimpeded access of food aid into Gaza.
In support of the Palestinian people and resistance in Gaza and in light of the Israeli aggression on the various South Lebanon villages, the Islamic Resistance continued striking the Zionist occupation sites near Lebanon border.
Hezbollah military media issued consecutive statements to illustrate the attacks and their outcomes.
The first statement mentioned that, in response to the assassination carried out by the “Israeli” enemy in the south, the Islamic Resistance fighters attacked on Wednesday, May 15, 2024, the command headquarters of Brigade 91 in Branit Barracks with heavy Burkan missiles, hitting it directly and destroying part of it.
The second statement maintained that, in response to the assassination carried out by the “Israeli” enemy in the south, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted, on Wednesday, May 15, 2024, the headquarters of the Air Surveillance Unit at Meron Base with tens of Katyusha rockets, heavy missiles, and artillery shells, hitting its previous and newly acquired equipment, and disabling parts of it completely.
According to the third statement, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted, at 12:00 noon on Wednesday, May 15, 2024, the newly established technical systems and espionage equipment at Al-Radar site in the occupied Lebanese Shebaa Farms with appropriate weapons, causing direct hits, and their destruction.
The fourth statement maintained that Islamic Resistance fighters targeted on Wednesday, May 15, 2024, at 16:58, Al-Sammaqa site in the occupied Lebanese Kfarshouba Hills with missiles, hitting the target directly.
Islamic Resistance fighters targeted on Wednesday, May 15, 2024, at 17:00, the Israeli occupation’s maritime site in Ras Al-Naqoura with artillery shells, hitting it directly, according to the fifth statement.
The sixth statement affirmed that, in response to the assassinations carried out by the “Israeli” enemy, the Islamic Resistance fighters launched an aerial attack using a number of assault drones on the Ilania base west of Tiberias city, targeting part of the comprehensive surveillance and detection system of the air force.
“They precisely hit their designated targets, achieving their objectives in this limited operation.”
“Times of Israel” reporter indicated that the strike carried out by Hezbollah is considered the deepest since the beginning of the war.
“Israel Hayom” newspaper mentioned that a fire broke out in the Golani Junction area after the explosion of a suicide drone.
Earlier on Tuesday, Hezbollah Military Media issued a statement to mourn its fighter Hussein Ibrahim Makki who embraced martyrdom all the way to Al-Quds in an Israeli air strike on a car in Tyre, South Lebanon.
In support of the steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and their valiant and honorable resistance, the Islamic Resistance carried out a number of operations against the “Israeli” army’s sites and deployments on the Lebanese-Palestinian border on Tuesday, 14-05-2024, as follows:
– Eastern Sector:
1- At 16:00, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted the command headquarters of Brigade 801 in the Ma’ale Golani barracks with rocket weapons.
2- At 16:50, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted Al-Samaqa site in the occupied Lebanese Kafr Shuba hills with artillery shells, achieving a direct hit.
– Western Sector:
1- At 13:10, after continuous tracking of the movement of the surveillance balloon that the enemy raises above Adamit settlement for monitoring and spying on Lebanon, and after determining its management and control location, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted three of its related objectives consecutively with rocket weapons. These targets were its launch base, which was destroyed causing the balloon to escape, its control vehicle, which was completely destroyed, and its management crew, who were directly hit, resulting in casualties among them, leaving them dead and wounded.
2- At 14:35, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted buildings used by “Israeli” soldiers in Al-Malikiya settlement with appropriate weapons, in response to the “Israeli” enemy’s attacks on steadfast southern villages and civilian homes.
3- At 15:15, the Islamic Resistance fighters targeted buildings used by “Israeli” soldiers in Avivim settlement with appropriate weapons, in response to the “Israeli” enemy’s attacks on steadfast southern villages and civilian homes, the latest being in the town of Yaroun.”
Though there was no indication that he would become a military mastermind, Mohammad Deif grew up like many other Palestinians under the Israeli occupation in conditions that would radicalize him to become what he is today.
Mohmmad Deif is a name that is no stranger to headlines and media discussions at a time when he coordinated and dealt what is arguably the most devastating blow to the Israeli occupation since its inception, Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, giving hope to the Arab and all the righteous people that “Israel” was not that invincible entity it has proclaimed to be.
While picking holes in the Israeli occupation’s deterrence has been his profession for decades at this point, little is known about the Resistance leader who has put Hamas at the top of the list of threats to the very existence of the Israeli occupation through his strategic prowess and admirable patience that culminated in the Palestinian cause receiving more worldwide and regional support than it ever has.
Early life
Mohammad Masri, better known as Mohammad Deif, the leader of Hamas’ military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, was born in 1965 in Gaza’s Khan Younis refugee camp, whose establishment was the result of the Palestinian Nakba of 1948. His family was forcibly displaced from the village of al-Qubayba along with the hundreds of thousands of others who were forced to seek refuge elsewhere in light of the Zionist mobster massacres that took place during the Nakba.
Though there was no indication that he would become the military mastermind he is today, Deif grew up like many other Palestinians who were displaced by the Israeli occupation – in a dire and destitute environment as his family was forced to make a home out of a tin shack in the refugee camp, a situation that would go on to radicalize numerous Palestinian Resistance leaders.
At just the age of two, Deif’s country was further ravaged by the Israeli occupation, as it occupied the Gaza Strip during the 1967 war and subsequently subjected all the refugees that had fled its brutality to direct military rule, detaining, arresting, and even executing anyone they thought was ever so slightly “suspicious”, as per their definition of suspicion, which would further radicalize the young Resistance-leader-to-be as he grew up surrounded by extrajudicial arrests and killings at the hands of an occupying force that knew no bounds.
This is evident in the fact that mere meters away lived some of the most notable Palestinian figures, including Hamas leader Yahya al-Sinwar and the former chief of Fatah in Gaza, Mohammed Dahlan, with whom Deif grew up being friends.
Deif grew up pursuing his education and helping his father, who was an upholsterer in an impoverished, newly-established refugee camp that was under military rule, which didn’t quite offer many fruitful career paths. However, that did not stop Deif from dreaming big and pursuing a degree in science at the Islamic University of Gaza, where he studied physics, chemistry, and biology.
He also trod a path that no one expected to lead him to be the leader of one of the world’s most renowned Resistance factions, as he headed the University’s entertainment committee and performed in numerous comedies.
Early political career and imprisonment
At the time, he was not affiliated with any political organization, but it was only a matter of time before he joined the Fatah Resistance movement, one of the only two Resistance factions in Palestine at the time. Though it is unclear when exactly he joined Fatah, it is likely that he was influenced by his childhood friend, Mohammad Dahlan, to join the organization at a time when it still engaged in armed Resistance against the Israeli occupation on a wider scale.
He stayed as part of Fatah for numerous years, but little is known about his activity at the time up until he wound up joining Hamas during the first Intifada, which began in 1987 and saw paramount violence practiced by the Israeli occupation against Palestinians.
Israeli occupation forces arrested Deif in 1989, shortly after he joined Hamas. He was detained without trial on the charge that he was cooperating with Hamas’ military wing, which saw him spend 16 months in prison. He eventually earned his freedom after he refused to cooperate with the Israeli occupation forces or admit to any of the charges filed against him.
Deif was later arrested by the Palestinian Authority in May 2000, but he managed to garner his liberty once again with the start of the Second Intifada, which was a pivotal point in the development of Hamas’ capabilities, wherein the Resistance group carried out a string of operations that cost the Israeli occupation hundreds of casualties.
Little did the Israeli occupation know that his time in prison in the 90s would lead to the creation of what would later become the al-Qassam Brigades.
Putting al-Qassam on the map
Deif agreed with martyrs Zakaria Chourbaji and Salah Shehade to form a group independent of Hamas to capture Israeli soldiers in order to trade them with Palestinian detainees and force concessions out of the Israeli occupation.
His release following his 1989 detention coincided with the emergence of the al-Qassam Brigades – named after Sheikh Ezzeddine al-Qassam, one of the most notable leaders of the Arab struggle for independence against the British and French mandatory rule in the Levant – as a prominent force in the Palestinian struggle for liberation after it made headlines over the slew of operations it carried out against Israeli occupation forces.
In light of the prominence garnered by the Resistance faction, Deif, along with several al-Qassam commanders, traveled to the occupied West Bank, where he stayed for several years and supervised the founding of the al-Qassam’s West Bank branch before emerging as the leader of the al-Qassam Brigades in 2002.
As a leader, Deif masterminded numerous successful operations against Israeli occupation forces, including the capture of Israeli soldier Nachshon Wachsman, whose killing disturbed the ongoing Oslo Accord talks between the Israeli occupation and the Palestine Liberation Organization.The talks were heavily opposed by the Palestinian people and Resistance as “peace” talks with an occupying force could not be seen as a legitimate option for liberation and would only lead to further subjugation.
In the wake of the 1996 assassination of Resistance icon Yahya Ayyash, a prominent military leader nicknamed The Engineer for his contributions to the advancement of the Resistance’s IED manufacturing capabilities, Deif planned a string of Resistance operations in retaliation for his killing, including the Jaffa Road bus bombings, which killed more than 50 Israelis in total.
Deif played a key role in the advancement of Hamas’ weaponry and tactics, including its seemingly never-ending stream of rockets and its vast tunnel network, which has left the Israeli occupation puzzled despite spending months on the ground in Gaza. This put him high up on the Israeli occupation’s wanted lists, and his ranking only rose with time as his contributions to the cause increased.
Life in the shadows
It is not at all odd that little is known about the Resistance leader’s early life, for he did not aspire to be renowned, spending his time in the shadows to develop Hamas to be the force to be reckoned with as it is today. Even to this day, only two or three pictures of his have surfaced, as he seeks to keep as much of his life veiled as possible, for it is a matter of life or death due to the Israeli occupation’s pursuit of the leader.
Deif in Arabic means “guest”, which pretty much sums up how he has been living for decades, going back to his nomadic Levantine roots and shifting from one place to another swiftly without leaving a trace so as to evade Israeli occupation forces, which made him all the more popular as a hero surrounded by an unparalleled mystique.
He was so mysterious, in fact, that Israeli journalist Shlomi Eldar, who interviewed numerous Hamas members, speculates that the Israeli Shin Bet intelligence agency “would not recognize him if they passed by him on the street.”
Deif has never appeared in the media, and the only known photo of him until a few months ago was one dating back to May 14, 2000, likely a mugshot taken when he was arrested by the Palestinian Authority. Israeli occupation forces published a new image a few months ago of who they claimed was Deif, but that remains unconfirmed.
Up until December 2023 and to this very day, Deif only communicated with the remainder of the world via written statements, videos with him masked, or voice recordings, such as the one where he announced the launch of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7. His secrecy and conscientiousness have made it impossible for the Israeli occupation forces to track him thus far.
Attempted assassinations
It goes without saying that all these precautions are for a reason, as Deif, one of the most wanted men by the Israeli occupation, has been subjected to a slew of attempted assassinations, the latest being in 2023. In total, Deif has had nine assassination attempts carried out against him, only five of which have been declared.
The first was before he assumed the leadership of the al-Qassam Brigades in 2001, and the second, the most famous of all, was in 2002 when Israeli occupation forces launched a direct strike on his car, and video footage from the scene showed Deif covered in blood and being dragged away.
There were another two attempts in 2003 and 2006, when both times, Israeli occupation forces bombed a house hosting a meeting of Hamas’ top leaders.
He managed to keep his activities completely underground for eight years, working hard out of the sight of the Israeli occupation. Come 2014 and the Israeli onslaught on Gaza, Israeli occupation forces attempted to assassinate him by launching an airstrike on a house in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in Gaza, and he survived yet again before being designated as a “terrorist” by the United States a year later in 2015.
Spending another six years shrouded in the shadows without “Israel” being able to reach him, Israeli occupation forces attempted to assassinate the military leader twice in one week in 2021 during the Battle of Seif al-Quds, yet both attempts were unsuccessful.
2023 also saw what might have been two assassination attempts; “might have” due to the fact that the home of Deif’s father was the target of an Israeli airstrike in October, killing his brother and two other family members, but it is unclear whether this airstrike was aimed at assassinating Deif or was just an act of blind vengeance carried out by the Israeli occupation over Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, which took place mere days ahead of the strike.
The second 2023 assassination was earlier in the year, and it was revealed in an exclusive report obtained by Al Mayadeen. On May 23, news started circulating that The Times of Israel quoted a tweet posted by the head of the Shin Bet saying that the intelligence agency had wasted a “valuable catch” in the Gaza Strip. The news was found to not have been published in The Times of Israel, to begin with. It was published on numerous other websites before being pulled.
The Palestinian security forces in Gaza detected suspicious movement that night in an area west of Gaza City, and it was communicated via radio that two civilians were traveling on foot near an important security point, sources in the Palestinian Resistance told Al Mayadeen of the night the news story was circulated.
Israeli occupation forces monitored the conversation taking place between the Palestinian security personnel. A unit of security forces arrived at the location, and the cryptic conversation between its personnel and the persons who were communicating via radio was closely monitored by the Israeli forces.
After deliberations between the personnel and the unit, it was revealed that there were two individuals who had identification codes that indicated they were in the close circle of Hamas’ command. The two individuals in question were Mohammad Deif and another person.
Some 90 seconds after the identification codes were exchanged, no less than 20 UAVs filled up the area’s airspace, though no strike took place because Israeli occupation forces could not manage to pinpoint the location of the commander of Hamas’ armed wing.
However, instead of landing the Israelis a “valuable catch”, it made their aspiration of assassinating Deif all the more difficult to attain, for it increased the Resistance leadership’s cautiousness, as since the incident took place, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar has refrained from any in-person meeting with any Arab or foreign guest who visits the Gaza Strip, resorting instead to exchanging letters with them so as to avoid a scenario similar to martyr Ahmad Jaabari‘s assassination.
Aftermath
While the Israeli occupation failed over and over again over the course of more than two decades to assassinate one of the top leaders in the Axis of Resistance, the assassination attempts reportedly had devastating side effects on Deif’s health. It is claimed that the 2006 assassination attempt led Deif to spend several months in Egypt in pursuit of treatment for his skull following serious head injuries sustained from one of the strikes, forcing him to take tranquilizers daily to treat the chronic headaches this injury has caused.
Moreover, it is believed that he has, over the course of the failed assassination attempts, lost an eye and sustained severe injuries to more than one limb, forcing him to rely on a wheelchair for movement. None of these claims were substantiated by the Israeli occupation nor were they confirmed by the Hamas Resistance movement. The aforementioned uncorroborated December 2023 footage, however, showed Deif normally using both his arms and both his legs and walking around without much difficulty aside from a slight limp.
The man who moved the world
Despite emerging from destitute conditions and growing up through hardship and under a brutal occupying regime, Mohammad Deif, like a select few of the people who managed to become leaders in the Axis of Resistance, still made something out of himself and the Palestinian cause, keeping it a core cause for the whole world, or at least for the righteous.
Deif’s impact on the world, let alone Palestine, is tremendous, as the massive operations carried out by Hamas under his command have brought the Palestinian cause to the limelight again and again over the years, giving it prominence on the international stage, especially Hamas’ two most recent battles, the Battle of Seif Al-Quds and Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, both of which caused an uproar in the world as a whole, letting the chant for liberating Palestine echo in every corner of the world with no exceptions.
The reverberations of Deif’s contributions will be felt for centuries to come, and he, not only as a military commander but also as a Palestinian icon shrouded in mystique almost as a folk hero, will forever live in the minds of the Israelis, as his actions will ultimately, whether today or in decades, lead to the liberation of Palestine as he continues to lay the groundwork for a comprehensive Resistance movement that will ultimately, with aid from key regional players like Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Yemen’s Ansar Allah, and the Islamic Republic of Iran, uproot the malign colonial entity of “Israel” from West Asia and reinstate the Arab identity of Palestine as a sovereign nation whose capital is unequivocally al-Quds.
Leaked files obtained by MintPress News detail the intensive interest taken in Palestinians both within and without the country by British intelligence operatives and Foreign Office-funded and directed cutouts over many years. Collectively, the material leaves little room for doubt that the British government has long sought to covertly surveil, infiltrate, and manipulate Palestinians for malign ends while exploiting their suffering to serve London’s geopolitical objectives.
Throughout the Syrian proxy conflict, British intelligence ran expansive psychological warfare programs, targeting the local population and Western citizens. The objective was to destabilize Bashar Assad’s government and convince domestic and foreign audiences, including overseas governments and international bodies, that the Western-backed Free Syrian Army was a moderate, legitimate alternative and flood media globally with pro-opposition propaganda. A corrupt constellation of private contractors staffed by British military veterans and “former” spies delivered these clandestine campaigns.
Innovative Communications & Strategies (InCoStrat) was a particularly prolific participant in this effort. The firm was founded by Paul Tilley, Britain’s former Ministry of Defence head of communications for West Asia, and Emma Winberg, a longtime MI6 officer, who subsequently married now-deceased White Helmets founder James Lemesurier. The leaked documents reveal that in Syria, she was tasked with the “management and development” of a local “network of interlocutors, key leaders and local coordinators”:
“[This network is] able to assist in the development of messages and influence through word of mouth, in difficult to reach areas. The knowledge gained through these interactions will generate the contextual understanding that provides the foundation for our communication campaigns, our ability to assess their effect and to provide detailed atmospheric reports that inform HMG of the developing situation in Syria.”
Winberg is described as Britain’s “lead on engagement with the Syrian armed opposition in Istanbul” while serving as a Foreign Office “Political-Military Officer” in Turkey from 2013 onwards. She cultivated “an extensive range of contacts in north and eastern Syria,” meaning she was “trusted and respected by moderate opposition leadership figures.” This may account for why InCoStrat avowedly “maintained a perfect record of safety and security for its staff” in the country, even while the company secretly operated in “areas under ISIS control.”
Winberg harvested so much crucial intelligence in this role that her resultant insights represented a “core contribution” to British, European and US understanding and assessment of armed groups in Syria. Intriguingly, she was transferred to Istanbul directly from the British consulate in Jerusalem, a vital regional base of operations for MI6. While there, she reported on “violent extremist organizations” active in Gaza, “including during Operation Cloud Pillar” in November 2012, for which she was “commended internally.”
Cloud Pillar saw Israeli Occupation Forces massacre almost 200 Palestinian civilians after assassinating high-ranking Hamas commander Ahmed Jabari. This was in keeping with MI6’s strategy to “degrade the capabilities” of “rejectionists” of the pro-Zionist Palestine Authority. Winberg’s close-range view of these events made her a compelling candidate for overseeing London’s contribution to the proxy war from the perspective of her employers in British intelligence. Moreover, she was not alone among InCoStrat operatives in secretly surveilling Palestinian resistance firsthand.
One company staffer managed a $25 million “small grants programme to directly support community stabilisation, engage youth, and moderate actors in the Palestinian Territories” for US intelligence cutout USAID, 2005 – 2007. This placed them on the frontline of the Zionist entity’s embarrassing defeat by Lebanon’s Hezbollah in the summer of 2006 and concurrent “military incursion” in Gaza.
Along the way, they “reported on the political, economic, and security situation” locally, “including extensive reporting during internal instability in Gaza.” Meanwhile, another InCoStrat operative’s CV boasts that they “travelled and studied in Israel and Palestine, focusing on religious political movements,” then “studied Palestinian refugees in Syria before the uprising.” After that, they “worked with and trained Syrian activists in several different organisations.”
‘IMPROVED CONDITIONS’
It is a supremely striking feature that multiple InCoStrat operatives went straight from intently “studying” Palestinian refugees and armed groups to cloak-and-dagger management of the “moderate” Syrian opposition. In this context, what are we to make of the fact that British intelligence cutouts have, for many years, been heavily active in Lebanon’s Palestinian refugee camps? Around 300,000 Palestinian refugees inhabit Lebanon, roughly half of them in camps administered by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
Living conditions are appalling, with overcrowding, poverty, and rampant unemployment. Discrimination towards Palestinian refugees at both a public and state level is commonplace. This intensified significantly due to untold numbers of displaced people – among them many Palestinians – pouring into Lebanon from neighboring Syria as a result of the grinding, 11-year Western proxy war against Damascus. Such a milieu inevitably produces a wide array of grievances among refugees, which can be malignly exploited by British intelligence.
Residents watch a protest by a Palestinian resistance movement at the Shatila Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut, May 11, 2024. Hassan Ammar | AP
Since 2009, Foreign Office contractor ARK—founded and run by MI6 operative Alistair Harris—has operated in Lebanon’s 12 Palestinian refugee camps. In leaked files, the company boasts of its “granular understanding” of the camps’ internal political, economic, ideological, religious and everyday dynamics. ARK’s voluminous “local contacts” have “access throughout all camps and gatherings.” This means that community-level discussions and activities of all residents can be influenced and spied upon, as required.
Such everyday, real-life insight is augmented by “daily monitoring of neighborhood-level WhatsApp groups.” Meanwhile, local engagement with a social media platform created by ARK, Nastopia, is heavily monitored. The page, run by a 24-strong team of ARK-trained “youth reporters,” is intended to increase demand for “community engagement and improved conditions” among camp residents. It promotes covertly Foreign Office-financed projects in the camps as “success stories” while serving “as a forum for online and offline discussion about social injustices [and] virtual space to talk about topics considered taboo in the camps.”
ARK has spearheaded various community initiatives elsewhere in the “offline” realm. These include repairing and restoring streets and cemeteries, recycling, promoting small businesses, providing welfare to disadvantaged and disabled residents, managing nurseries and daycare centers, and even launching a local coffee shop. The leaked files describe this as “a popular place for youth to gather and promote civic engagement in their community and a shared Palestinian identity that bridges factional differences.” ‘
CONTENTIOUS POLITICS
Insidious surveillance and manipulation components of these projects aside, one might reasonably argue that given the harsh internal environments of Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, any effort to regenerate and improve conditions for residents of all ages and create a sense of community is a net positive. Yet, the ultimate purpose of these projects is to create a secret army of anti-government activists, which can be activated to stir up trouble if and when British intelligence wishes.
Of course, the leaked documents do not frame that objective in such terms. One file refers to the value of highlighting “success stories” in the camps as “enhancing the audience’s confidence in their own ability to contribute to social change.” In other words, encouraging Palestinian refugees to take matters into their own hands. This intention is articulated far more emphatically in a leaked March 2019 study conducted by ARK.
The document identified a segment of Beirut’s diverse population that could be united in opposition to Lebanon’s government and therefore mobilized to “affect positive social change” on their own initiative. The ideal target group was comprised of individuals who disavowed violence but not “other forms of contentious politics” and could be “influenced” to engage in certain “behaviors,” such as protests, leafleting campaigns, and other community initiatives. The analysis explicitly characterized Palestinian refugees as an “important part” of such an effort.
Therefore, ARK pledged to both covertly and overtly promote the message that “change is possible and ordinary citizens have a role to play in achieving change” through propaganda campaigns and civil society initiatives. These would “highlight where change has been achieved or where threats to Lebanon’s stability have been countered.” In turn, the broader population of Lebanon would be well-educated on how “barriers” to reform can be overcome via direct popular action.
Seven months after ARK produced this study, large-scale protests engulfed the streets of Beirut. Western media immediately spoke of “revolution” in the country. Few outlets acknowledged that the unrest had begun in July of that year, when thousands of refugees inhabiting several camps commenced mass demonstrations, demanding reforms to local employment laws that barred them from numerous professions.
Coincidentally, in one leaked document, ARK boasts of how the company “takes pride” in ensuring refugees recruited to its illicit schemes receive “annual leave, sick leave, and health insurance,” despite this not being “legally necessary” due to local legislation “discriminating against Palestinians.”
‘FUTURE TRANSITIONAL SYRIA’
Lebanon was a critical organizing nucleus for the Syrian opposition, which ARK directed and embedded with before the “revolution” started. A document circulated among anti-Assad elements in Beirut in May 2011, secretly intercepted by Syrian security services, set out a blueprint for events in the uprising to date and precisely what would subsequently transpire in Damascus.
The opposition proposed convening mass demonstrations in every major Syrian city so security forces “will lose control of all regions,” be “taken unaware,” and become “exhausted and distracted.” This, along with “honest officers and soldiers” joining “the ranks of the revolution,” would make “toppling down the regime” straightforward. Any crackdown on these protests was forecast to precipitate a Western “military strike,” ala Libya. The opposition foresaw major news outlets playing a significant role:
“Everyone should be confident that with the continuation of demonstrations today, media channels will have no choice but to cover the events…Al Jazeera will be late due to considerations of mutual interests. But we have Al Arabiya and Western media channels who will come forward, and we will all see the change of tone in covering the events and demonstrations will be aired on all channels and they will have wide coverage.“
The Assad government did not choose to publicize this bombshell file for unclear reasons. It only became publicly available – and translated into English – through the work of the Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA). The organization was spun out of ARK in May 2011 to prosecute Syrian officials for war crimes. Its first act was to covertly train opposition activists “in basic international criminal and humanitarian law” in service of a “domestic justice process in a future transitional Syria.”
As the foreign-fomented crisis escalated into an all-out proxy war, CIJA began employing extremist groups to smuggle sensitive documentation out of abandoned government buildings in opposition-occupied areas of Syria, paying these factions – including al-Nusra Front and ISIS – vast sums for their services. While generating enormous amounts of fawning media coverage, the Commission convicted just two Syrian officials of war crimes, and only after the pair voluntarily defected and made numerous incriminating statements to their Western handlers.
An FSA fighter holds a bullet riddled poster of President Assad in Aleppo, Syria, March 30, 2013. Sebastiano Tomada | SIPA
This failure is, of course, attributable to the collapse of the British and US regime change project in Syria. Indeed, the success of CIJA’s business model was wholly contingent on the violent overthrow of Assad and his government. The fact that the Commission was founded before the Syrian Arab Army was even formally deployed to Damascus amply demonstrates that CIJA and ARK had substantial grounds to believe that decisive Western intervention would be forthcoming at the earliest stages of the ‘peaceful revolution.’
Per the intercepted document, so too did opposition activists in Lebanon in May 2011 – the same month CIJA was founded – which, of course, referenced then-ongoing NATO airstrikes on Libya. While such intervention didn’t arrive as expected, arms and fighters promptly began flowing from Tripoli to Syria after that, in direct coordination with MI6. Many insurgents were former members of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), who were freed from prison four years earlier by Muammar Gaddafi after an intervention from one of the group’s founders, Noman Benotman.
Benotman claimed to have rejected political violence, embraced pacifism and democracy, and pledged to deradicalize the jailed LIFG fighters in return for their release. In 2010, he became President of the UK government-funded Quilliam Foundation, the world’s first “counter-extremism” think tank. In this position, he was instrumental in securing high-level defections from Gaddafi’s government during the civil war. The organization’s avowed contribution to the NATO effort intensified existing suspicions about the spectral interests it might be serving.
After Quilliam shut down in April 2021, veteran journalist Ian Cobain made a startling disclosure. The Foundation had been secretly established by the Office for Security and Counterterrorism (OSCT), a shadowy British intelligence agency. London’s spies had initially planned to fund the venture covertly, “with money appearing to come in from a Middle Eastern benefactor, but channeled by MI6.” Instead, overt government financing was granted, a move “eventually judged within Whitehall to have been a mistake.” An OSCT source lamented:
“Should have run it from within the agencies. They do this sort of stuff all the time. And you never find out.”
Palestinian-focused civil society organizations and initiatives are frequently constructed by British intelligence without participants or broader local populations learning the true sponsors and purposes they serve. With Israel openly planning to reconstruct a politically “moderate,” Hamas-free Gaza post-genocide, it is incumbent to reflect on how any proposed replacement leaders will almost inevitably be one way or another “graduates” of MI6-sponsored programs and, therefore, British assets, whether knowingly or not.
“The basic steps of this action plan is 15th of May is a special day of commemoration of all victims of Palestinians from 1948 until today. And Nakba is continuing today as well.”
Former Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has made a formal plea to world leaders to declare May 15 a day of global mourning to mark the Nakba or Great Catastrophe when the creation of Israel in 1948 led to the mass ethnic cleansing of Palestine.
“The flags must be lowered and there should be one day of mourning everywhere in the world. Secondly, we are calling them to organize a UN General Assembly meeting, summit level, not ambassador level, summit level,” Davutoğlu told The Palestine Chronicle on the sidelines of the first Global Anti-Apartheid Conference on Palestine held in Johannesburg from May 10 – 12.
He explained that last November, a group of 139 intellectuals, former statesmen and Nobel Prize winners met “to defend Palestinians against genocide in Gaza.”
Amongst the participants were Richard Falk, former UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the occupied Palestinian Territories; Professor Noura Erakat, human rights attorney; and Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Laureate (1976), and Member of Russell Tribunal, Northern Ireland.
The meeting resulted in the Declaration of Global Conscience established in December, and a call was made to world leaders.
"The basic steps of this action plan is 15th of May is a special day of commemoration of all victims of Palestinians from 1948 until today. And Nakba is continuing today as well.
“So we are making a call to world leaders that this day should be accepted as a day of global… pic.twitter.com/u2NLRNCDBl
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) May 15, 2024
“I declared this in (the) Turkish Parliament” last month, Davutoğlu said. “The basic steps of this action plan is 15th of May is a special day of commemoration of all victims of Palestinians from 1948 until today. And Nakba is continuing today as well.”
He added: “So we are making a call to world leaders that this day should be accepted as a day of global mourning in all the countries who supported Gazan people against genocide.”
UN General Assembly Summit
Davutoğlu, who is also the former Turkish Foreign Minister, said: “All the leaders supporting Palestine, they should go to UN General Assembly summit 15th of May.”
Letters, he explained, were sent “to almost all the leaders, President Ramaphosa, President Lula, leaders of all pro-Palestinian as well as UN Security Council members. Colombia, Bolivia, Chile, Algeria, Russia, China, many of them.”
In this UN General Assembly meeting, at summit level, “a resolution should be taken to mandate UNICEF to take care of children in Gaza, to mandate World Health Organization to take care of health services in Gaza, mandating UNHCR refugees, UN High Commission for Refugees to take care of refugees in and out Gaza, and UNHCR Human Rights Council to take (a) stand regarding human rights violations in Gaza.”
The World FAO, Food and Agriculture Organization, he added, could prepare a report on famine and food shortage in Gaza.
“Such a meeting, global level, would change the situation on the ground,” he stressed. “In the same UN General Assembly meeting, a delegation should be formed to be sent to Gaza to prepare a report and a working team could be established on the ground.”
Davutoğlu stated: “So this is basically our initiative and I hope there will be some leadership to bring this to (the) UN platform. We wrote these letters to secretaries, generals of OIC, Arab League, UN as well, and 15th of May should not be a day of commemoration in an ordinary way this year. There should be a special action plan for Nakba Day.”
‘Issue of Humanity’
Asked whether the Turkish government is participating in this initiative, Davutoğlu said he had sent a letter to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, adding “I made a call to him as well.”
He said he also spoke to Hakan Fidan, the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The former chief advisor to Erdogan, said that in the first week following Israel’s launch of its military assault on the Gaza Strip, he had called for the government to “stop all trade” with Tel Aviv, “to ban Turkish airspace for Israeli flights, and to have an active position stand to apply to the ICJ.”
“Unfortunately, Turkiye didn’t do it and fortunately, South Africa did,” he said.
“For me, this is not a Turkish issue, this is not an Arab issue, this is not even just a Muslim issue, this is an issue of humanity. Those who are supporting Gaza and Palestine, they are supporting human values.”
Davutoğlu was one of the keynote speakers at the conference attended by delegates from more than a dozen countries which aimed “to set the basis for the mobilisation of a Global Anti-Apartheid Movement to hold Israel accountable for its crimes against the Palestinian people, and to work to dismantle Israeli apartheid.”
The Johannesburg Declaration on Israel’s Settler-Colonialism, Apartheid and Genocide, was issued at the conclusion of the conference on Sunday.
It declared that “The war prosecuted for decades by Israel and its genocidal enablers is not only against the Palestinian people, it is against humanity as a whole.”
The Declaration called “for the immediate release of all Palestinian political prisoners, detainees and hostages, and demand an end to arbitrary arrest, administrative detention, abductions, and torture of prisoners.”
It condemned governments “that have enabled or been complicit with the Zionist project, which – from Balfour to Biden – remain complicit even as Israel perpetrates a genocide and violates international law with impunity.”
“We are committed to isolate apartheid Israel by intensifying consumer, academic, sports, arts, and cultural boycotts and escalating the campaign for economic and financial sanctions,” it stated.
The movement will “prioritize blocking its shipping routes, campaigning for an arms embargo against Israel, targeting those supporting, funding, supplying weapons to and joining the Israeli Occupation Forces, and expelling Israel from international sporting, cultural and academic bodies.”
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 35,233 Palestinians have been killed, and 79,141 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
– Nurah Tape is a South Africa-based journalist. She is an editor with The Palestine Chronicle.
Students near the remnants of an encampment of tents in Harvard Yard, on the campus of Harvard University, Tuesday, May 14, 2024, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (AP)
The student protest group Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine says that a pre-condition of the decamping is that the administration will take back suspensions.
After Harvard agreed to discuss student concerns on the university’s endowment concerning “Israel”, protesters against the Israeli war on Gaza took down their tents in the university yard on May 14.
Harvard oversees the biggest academic endowment in the world, amounting to around $50 billion, and invests part of it in funds and companies, some of which are linked to “Israel”.
In a statement on Instagram, the student protest group Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine (HOOP coalition) said that after surviving beyond the student move-out, the encampment has come to an end, however, “the struggle for Palestinian liberation goes on.”
They added that they built the “Liberated Zone in Harvard Yard as a model of the world we want to see: one that proudly affirms Palestinian liberation rather than elimination.”
The students highlighted how every day they sustained their encampment, their organizing capacity was strengthened, adding that they forced the “question of Palestine on an institution that has historically refused it.”
HOOP: Harvard turned Yard into ‘surveillance state’
HOOP went on to describe how Harvard attempted to quietly “choke” them out from closing its gates to the public, to even turning Harvard Yard into a “surveillance state.”
According to the students, a pre-condition of the decamping is that the administration would take back student suspensions, adding that it has also offered them meetings regarding disclosure and divestment with members of the Harvard Management Company, alongside talks about the launch of a Center for Palestine Studies at Harvard.
HOOP emphasized that they are “under no illusions,” as they know that these meetings are not divestment wins but are rather attempts to “pacify” them from full disclosure and divestment, however, that will not work.
They ended their statement by saying “Harvard beware: the Liberated Zone is everywhere.”
Harvard University Interim President Alan Garber agreed to meet with the students and answer their questions.
Protests in support of Gaza are ongoing
The director of Al Mayadeen‘s office in Geneva reported that student protests at Swiss universities are still taking place in support of Gaza and condemnation of Israeli crimes.
In addition, Herald Square in New York City has witnessed a massive demonstration in support of Palestine.
Harvard Law student gov. urged university to divest from ‘Israel’
The Harvard Law School (HLS) Student Government passed a resolution on March 29 urging the university to completely divest from any organization that supports the Israeli war on Gaza.
The measure urged the Harvard Management Company (HMC), which manages the school’s $50 billion endowment, “to divest completely from weapons manufacturers, firms, academic programs, corporations, and all other institutions that aid the ongoing occupation of Palestine and the genocide of Palestinians.”
The HLS Student Government alludes to Harvard’s commitment of nearly $200 million in businesses linked to the Israeli occupation military and illegal settlements in Palestine, similar to HMC’s prior divestment from South African apartheid and the tobacco industry in 1990.
The resolution’s author, Swap Agrawal, expressed that some Palestinian students at the school have “lost dozens of family members in the ongoing genocide,” noting that students reported feeling strongly that it was “necessary to put pressure on things to change.”
He added that students are deeply concerned that money held in trust may be funding this genocide, emphasizing that the resolution was affected by the International Court of Justice’s statement in January, which found it “plausible” that “Israel” had violated the Genocide Convention.
After the resolution vote, which had 12 supporters, four opponents, and three abstentions, two board members resigned, stating that they did so because they “strongly disagree” with it.
UPROOTED PALESTINIANS: SALAM ALQUDS ALAYKUM 