Just International

Netanyahu knows he needs this war to shore up support. Iran should not give him what he wants

By Seyed Hossein Mousavian

The situation in the Middle East has now deteriorated so far that the US could be dragged into a regional war. The Israeli assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, after the top Hamas leader had travelled to attend the inauguration of Iran’s new president, has sparked fears of retaliation. Earlier this week, Britain, France and Germany issued a joint statement calling on Iran and its allies to refrain from attacking Israel. “If the US and western countries really want to prevent war and insecurity in the region, they should convince this regime to stop the genocide and attacks in Gaza and accept a ceasefire,” Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, told the French president, Emmanuel Macron.

Israel carried out this assassination with the apparent intention of drawing the US into a war with Iran. The scale of Iran’s response will determine whether the US gets involved. President Biden does not expect Iran to carry out a retaliatory strike if a deal is reached to end the war in Gaza, but he has not exactly helped by selling $20bn worth of weapons to Israel, one of the largest military packages since the beginning of the Gaza war. Neither Israel nor the US truly wants a war with Iran but, as Biden said in a recent interview, there is “every reason” for people to think Netanyahu is deliberately prolonging the war in Gaza for political reasons. Netanyahu has lost support globally and within Israel. As soon as the war ends, he will probably be forced out of office and face trial for corruption.

Understandably, Iran needs its response to be significant enough that it’s seen as a deterrent. But in crafting its response, it must avoid sparking a war with the US. Both sides would suffer serious losses, and the region would become even more volatile. There is also Pezeshkian’s reputation to think of. He won support from Iran’s public on a reformist platform focused on improving the country’s social and economic situation and its foreign relations, including with the US and Europe. Netanyahu intended to eliminate his chances. Iran must not play into his hands.

Just as it should tread carefully around its domestic politics, Israel should also avoid disrupting America’s domestic political equations before the November election. Netanyahu views a second Trump presidency as a boon to his agenda. He convinced Trump to withdraw the US from the US-Iran nuclear deal, allowing Iran to position itself so that it could produce enough material for a bomb within a weeks instead of a year. Trump then designated Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organisation, and in a widely controversial move, chose to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

The most important issue that is helping to drive the crisis in the Middle East is Palestine. Since the war began on 7 October, at least 39,677 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza. More than 90,000 Palestinians have been injured and more than 80% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been driven from their home by Israeli strikes. The true death toll could could eventually exceed 186,000, according to a study published in the Lancet. Martin Griffiths, former UN under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs, has described the war as “the worst in my 50 years of experience” – worse than the scenes he witnessed in Syria, worse even than the horrors of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.

If Iran is to advocate for Palestinian rights, rather than launching a direct military strike on Israel as it did back in April, it should use the existing levers of international law, such as the recent UN security council resolution that called for an immediate ceasefire, and the historic ruling issued by the International Court of Justice. On 19 July, the ICJ declared that Israel must end its unlawful presence in the occupied Palestinian territory and evacuate all Israeli settlers as rapidly as possible. It also insisted that all states and international organisations, including the UN, are under an obligation not to give aid or assistance that would help maintain the continued occupation of Palestinian territory.

There are three major steps that would help secure peace in the region. The first and most important would be a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. The US is the only country with the leverage to push Netanyahu to accept a sustainable ceasefire, and it should use this. Rather than a direct retaliatory military strike on Israel, Iran should focus on how to hold Netanyahu accountable. In that way, its response to the killing of Haniyeh could strengthen international support for a free Palestine and an immediate ceasefire. And if the international criminal court issues arrest warrants for Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders, Iran can make every effort to have them brought to justice.

The second step is for Washington to welcome Iran’s election of a president committed to ending more than 40 years of hostility with the US. If the US elects a president with a similar commitment, the two sides should work together to revive the Iran nuclear deal, end decades of dangerous regional confrontations, and bring about a ceasefire between Iran and Israel. Last but not least, an essential step would be to get the UN security council to establish a forum for dialogue and cooperation between Iran and its Arab neighbours around the Persian Gulf. Together, these three steps are the best way of de-escalating tensions, preventing a regional war and achieving lasting peace and stability in the region.

Seyed Hossein Mousavian is a Middle East security and nuclear policy specialist at Princeton University and a former head of Iran’s national security foreign relations committee.

16 August 2024

Source: theguardian.com

Five eminent citizens Call from Dhaka, Colombo and Kathmandu for an end to Indian interference

By Ramakrishnan

On 5 August Sheikh Hasinaof Bangladesh resigned from the post of prime minister and went to India. The next day the parliament was dissolved. On 8 August the interim government headed by Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus (aged 84) was formed.Requested to reurn from Paris Olympics,even before it closed, he did so on Aug 8. Yunus on Aug 11 said in Dhaka, Bangladesh is “experiencing a student-led revolution..There is no doubt about it..because the business of the whole governmment collapsed.” The Central Bank Governor and the Chief justice, and five other judges resigned. The CJ Obaidul Hassan was “just  a  hangman,”

said Yunus.

Five eminent personalities of three countries in a statement on August 10 Saturday called upon India to refrain from interfering in their respective polities in the wake of recent changes in Bangladesh.

The personalities are : Firdous Azim, professor of English, member of Naripokkho (a feminist organisation) in Bangladesh, Kanak Mani Dixit, writer and founding editor Himal Southasian in Kathmandu, Lakshman Gunasekara, journalist, social activist in Colombo, Manzoor Hasan, Centre for Peace and Justice, BRAC University in Dhaka and Sushil Pyakurel, former Commissioner, National Human Rights Commission in Kathmandu.

The statement is published verbatim:

We, five citizens of Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, come together in the context of momentous changes in Bangladesh, to demand that the government of India desist from interfering in our respective polities. Over the decades, intervention by New Delhi’s political, bureaucratic and intelligence operatives in Colombo, Dhaka and Kathmandu, has contributed to the unending political instability in our countries and has empowered autocratic regimes.

India’s interference weakens the neighbouring democracies and compromises their socio-economic advancement. It contradicts the Panchsheel principle of peaceful coexistence once advocated by India and belies the Narendra Modi government’s much-publicised ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy.

Furthermore, it is beneficial to India’s own interest in seeing South Asia as a whole achieve political stability and peace, which will in turn benefit India’s own economy and enhance its international standing.

While Bangladesh’s citizens have been grateful for Indian assistance at the time of liberation in 1971, in the decades since, New Delhi has sought to guide Dhaka’s politics for its own purposes.

These include the diversion of river waters as the upper riparian state, access to the Indian Northeast through Bangladeshi territory, and the use of Bangladesh as a sizeable market for Indian goods. New Delhi actively worked to prop up the autocratic regime of Sheikh Hasina over the last decade and received political and economic concessions in return.

New Delhi actively worked to prop up the autocratic regime of Sheikh Hasina over the last decade and received political and economic concessions in return.

New Delhi’s interventionism in Sri Lanka peaked with the deployment of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in the late 1980s, meant first and foremost to protect India’s ‘national interest’ amidst the Tamil insurgency. Before and since the time of the IPKF, Sri Lanka has had to repeatedly wrestle with New Delhi’s encroachment in its politics. In addition, lately New Delhi authorities have been actively pushing Indian business conglomerates onto the island.

While India once intervened in Nepal’s politics through proactive politicians and diplomats, it now does so also through intelligence agencies and Hindutva activists of the RSS.

New Delhi has lately been engaged in manufacturing consent within Nepal’s polity in order to maintain control over Nepal’s water resources.

A significant coercive action was the blockade imposed on Nepal in 2015, even as the country was reeling from an earthquake, following the promulgation of the constitution that was not to New Delhi’s liking.

In each of our countries, there exist politicians and political parties that put self-interest before national needs and have been receptive to New Delhi’s interventionist moves.

However, we are perplexed by the inability of Indian policymakers to appreciate the fact that such interference creates layers of animosity against India that does not dissipate easily.

As has happened in the case of Bangladesh, these interventionist plans ultimately fall apart, but New Delhi will move from one folly to the next.

Mistakes are repeated in neighbourhood policy because New Delhi’s academia and media tend not to keep independent watch on their government’s assumptions and actions, unquestioningly following the dictates of the external affairs and home ministries.

A rigorous and introspective study of its South Asia policy, including an evaluation of past misadventures, would benefit India and the entire subcontinent.

India’s regional presence would be more benign if New Delhi were to view neighbouring countries through the eyes of its own border regions, peoples and economies.

Some of New Delhi’s sense of vulnerability with regard to each of our countries is based on geography: Sri Lanka’s strategic positioning south of the peninsula, Nepal’s placement along the Himalayan range, and Bangladesh’s location between the mainland and the Northeast.

None of these factors would be seen as problematic, however, if New Delhi’s policymakers understood that our societies wish only the best for India, its government and people.

 Much of the public acrimony directed at India is but a reaction to New Delhi’s interference in internal affairs.

New Delhi also seems to fear Chinese involvement in each of our countries, as if there were a coordinated plan at play to encircle India. To begin with, New Delhi must accept the sovereign right of each neighbour to deal with Beijing on its own accord, much as New Delhi does.

We find it incongruous that China has become India’s largest trading partner even as New Delhi seeks to prevent the neighbours’ links with Beijing.

We insist that Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka are not and should not be in the sphere of influence of China, India or any other power, and that the alarm in New Delhi is misplaced.

We recognise that the Maldives and Bhutan too suffer from New Delhi’s efforts to be the decisive player in their internal and external affairs. The hostility between Islamabad and New Delhi has been distressing and constant, and it impacts not only the societies and economies of South Asia’s two largest countries but also holds hostage the agenda of upliftment across all our countries.

New Delhi can contribute to stable polities and long-lasting peace in South Asia by abandoning its overt and covert interference in the internal affairs of its neighbours.

India should be supportive of the democratic aspirations of South Asia’s peoples and let them build their individual paths to the future.

(Emphases added)

Courtesy : Prothom Alo English Desk

First published: 10 Aug 2024.

Ramakrishnan is a political observer, a regular contributor to countercurrents.org

15 August 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

Fate of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina: Lesson for oppressive Arab dictators helping Israeli genocide in Gaza

By Latheef  Farook

Will the Arab dictators  face the same fate as  the Bangladesh former  Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina who was forced  to flee, due to their shameful betrayal of Palestinians slaughtered by Israel with US- British, French and German supplied weapons and  support.

Iran led shiite Houthis and  Hisbullah  sacrifice their lives to   defend Palestinians while Saudi led Sunni regimes  side with Israel and facilitate the  genocide of Palstinians.

Despite   immense  wealth ,moral , religious and humanitarian obligations   Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan , UAE and other Arab  countries refused  to give even a bottle of water or a  parcel  of food  to Palestinians massacred by Israel almost on a daily basis for the past   eleven months . .

Most Arab dictators hail from families installed in power by British,French and Zionist Jews  in the aftermath of World War 1 when the Ottoman Empire was defeated to serve  their western masters. These dictators  are secular , hostile to Islam and Muslims , corrupt ,oppressive  and  cut away from their  people who remain voiceless.

They need US-European and Israel to  protect   their regimes from their own people. They maintains unofficial ties with Israel though they are quick to deny any official or covert ties with Israel. This include Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates,Egypt Jordan,Oman. Morocco, Bahrain and Sudan.

For example Morocco  allowed an Israeli warship to dock in the port of Tangier to allow its crew to replenish fuel and food supplies en route from the US, after the Spanish government refused the vessel permission to use its ports.

In the same way United Arab Emirates, a Muslim country ,tried  for weeks to bribe     South Africa, a non Muslim country, to withdraw  its   case against Israel   in the International Court of Justice .

Due to their severe violations of international human rights law, Arab dictators would not face Israel before the ICJ or ICC to avoid facing similar charges.  This include Egypt, SaudiArabiaAlgeriaTunisiaJordanUAESyria, Somalia, SudanIraqOmanKuwaitLebanonLibyaMoroccoYemen, and the Palestinian Authority .

UAE has positioned itself as the primary regional ally of Israel.Media outlets and online platforms linked to the UAE have initiated a significant campaign backing Israel while seeking to vilify Palestinian resistance groups.

In another development Shites Houthis   blocked  Red Sea  route to Israel.  However Sunni regimes helped Israel   using the land route   that begins from Dubai and passes through Saudi Arabia and Jordan to transport cargo  to bypass the Houthi blockade in the Red Sea.”

The land corridor is a key concern for the US and European   powers. It is aimed at positioning the Israeli port of Haifa as a major gateway to Europe, altering the political and economic map of the region by bypassing the Red Sea and furthering Israel’s integration into the Gulf states’ economies.

Amid the gruesome Gaza war, passions are running high throughout the Arab world. Huge Palestine solidarity protests have been occurring across the region, and this terrifies many ruling elites who fear the Palestinian issue. They are hostile Islamically oriented Hamas   and   EgyptJordan, and Saudi Arabia  clamped down on pro-Palestine protests.

Most Arab states are generally allergic to popular protests,” said Marina Calculli, a Columbia University research fellow  . “They fear   allowing protests of solidarity towards Palestinians could encourage protests against the government and their policies in other fields.”

“Arab states today do not like Palestinian nationalism because Palestinian nationalism is a source of popular mobilization on the Arab street,”  said  Nader Hashemi, the director of the Prince Alwaleed Center for Christian-Muslim Understanding at Georgetown University’.

Meanwhile diverting the world attenti0n from its genocide in Gaza, Israel has organized the worst ever anti Muslim campaign destablising Britain.  The deputy mayor of Jerusalem, Arieh King, was  accused of attempting to stoke far-right riots and tensions in the UK after posting repeatedly about the violence in recent days.

On Sunday 4 August, as anti-Muslim and racist mob attacks wracked cities and towns across the UK, King posted a cartoon image showing a brown Muslim-looking man with a beard and skullcap embracing a white British police officer, who has his arms around the Muslim.

Senior Conservative MP Robert Jenrick has been slammed by Muslim MPs and civil society groups for calling for Muslims who recite “Allahu Akbar”, meaning “God is great”,  in loud to be immediately arrested. Jenrick served as immigration minister from 2022 to 2023 in Rishi Sunak’s government  which supplied weapons to Israel to kill Palestinians and destroy Gaza.

British columnist David Hearst said an unholy alliance between fascists and far right Zionists fuelled anti Muslim riots in UK. He added that for years, far-right politicians and commentators have dripped racist poison into the well of Britain’s public discourse, leading to this toxic moment

However up to date no Arab country, including Saudi Arabia, claiming to be the guardian of Islam and Muslims, condemned violence against Muslims and  tried  to   counter distorting  and  insulting Islam in Britain. These dictatorships managed to keep their people oppressed  for almost a century. The question is how long they will be able to   serve US-European and Israeli interests against  their own people.

Meanwhile US and Israel together with their Egyptian stooge   El Sisi , and perhaps other stooges, are  trying to  impose Palestinian stooge Mahmoud Abbas to rule Gaza once the  slaughter of Palestinian in Gaza stops.

However new Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar  warned  Arab countries friendly with U.S. and Israel against planned peacekeeping forces deployment in postwar Gaza and also made it clear that Hamas won’t cede the enclave to pro-West Israeli stooge  Palestinian Authority once the war ends. Sinwar sent a message to Egyptian mediators calling for complete withdrawal of Israeli forces and release of Palestinian prisoners as part of the potential ceasefire deal.

Latheef  Farook is a journalist from Sri Lanka

14 August 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

Power Struggle in Iran After the Assassinations

By Akbar E. Torbat

On May 19, 2024, Iran’s President, Ebrahim Raisi, met the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, at the Giz Galasi Dam along the two countries’ borders to inaugurate the hydroelectric complex there. In his return en route to Tabriz, the helicopter carrying Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and other companions crashed. While the Islamic Republic’s officials have refused to provide transparent information about the cause of the helicopter crash, speculations about it are still ongoing.

Some observers in Iran have hypothesized that Raisi’s helicopter possibly crashed in a “deliberate accident.” Government officials have indicated that the results of additional investigations will be reported soon. Yet, the spokesperson of the judicial branch recently dodged the reporters’ questions regarding the latest report of the crash.

A day after the inauguration of the new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, on July 30, Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas’s political office, was assassinated in Tehran. The official report by Tasnim News stated that Haniyeh was killed by a short-range projectile fired from outside the building. In contrast, on August 5, the Jewish Chronicle reported that Haniyeh’s assassination was managed by an explosive device placed under his bed. Two Iranians recruited by the Mossad from the Ansar al-Mahdi security unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps planted the device.

After the assassination of Haniyeh, the possibility of an “intentional crash” of Raisi’s helicopter has once again been raised. We must be very naïve to believe that the crash of the Raisi helicopter was an accident and had not been carefully planned.

Some Iranians referred to the friendly relations between the Republic of Azerbaijan and Israel, claiming a possibility of Israel’s involvement in the crash. Israeli journalist Edi Cohen wrote about the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh on X social media and warned the Iranian authorities: “Did you understand who targeted the helicopter?” The Iranian Intelligence minister is traditionally a mullah who is chosen by Leader Ali Khamenei and commonly lacks professional experience and knowledge of espionage in the digital age. In 2022, Ali Yunesi, a former Intelligence Minister, warned that Mossad had infiltrated many parts of the country. Cases of intelligence failure have been reported on a few occasions. In 2017, Catherine Shakdaman, a Jewish journalist disguised as a converted Shia, went to Iran and established friendly relations with some top government authorities in Tehran. She wrote some articles for the Iranian media and then left Iran. In 2022, it was reported that she had been a Mossad spy. Also, Ali Reza Akbari, a deputy defense minister, had been recruited by the British to leak certain sensitive information to them. Akbari was later convicted as a spy and was hanged in January 2023.

Even though most Iranians disliked Ebrahim Raisi for his role in the execution of about 5000 political prisoners in 1988, he succeeded in strengthening Iran’s relations with the East. That was after his predecessor, Hassan Rouhani’s rapprochement with the West and lifting of economic sanctions completely failed. Under the Raisi administration, Iran was admitted as a full member of SCO, and it joined BRICS. Masoud Pezeshkian, who succeeded Raisi, favors reviving rapprochement with the West.

Pezeshkian chose Mohammad Javad Zarif as the Strategic Vice President and Head of the Presidential Strategic Studies Center to select the nominees for his cabinet. By appointment of Zarif, reformists thought a cabinet could be formed in their favor to benefit from the possible removal of the sanctions. Zarif presented a list of the prospective cabinet nominees. However, only a few of those on the list were chosen after consultation with the Leader. Moreover, Zarif had become an ideal stooge of the American top Democrats who liked him to be a future leader in Iran. Fundamentalists (principalists) felt that Zarif’s presence in the government would weaken their power and pushed for his removal. They used an interpretation of a law regarding employment in sensitive government positions to pressure him to resign. Zarif’s children are American citizens, as they were born in the United States, which is related to that law. As a result, Zarif resigned from his position and said he would return to his university teaching job.

Currently, there is a power struggle between the two sides of the regime. The fundamentalists want to retaliate to punish Israel for the latest assassination, while the reformists insist on restraint and ask for the removal of the economic sanctions.

Akbar E. Torbat is the author of “Politics of Oil and Nuclear Technology in Iran,” Palgrave Macmillan (2020).

15 August 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

Returning Gaza Student Protesters Face Punitive Welcome

By Phil Pasquini

As university and college students prepare to return to campus for the new school year, many find themselves in legal limbo for their participation in the anti-Genocide student encampments protesting Israel’s war in Gaza at the end of the last school year.

On August 14, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) and Palestine Legal held a press conference to discuss how universities are punishing returning students for their participation in the protests.

CAIR today named three universities as “institutions of particular concern,” ie. George Washington University (GW) in Washington, DC, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.

As an example of punishment for their involvement in protests, some student protesters who were arrested at GW, according a Washington Post article on August 10, would have to agree to accept certain conditions in order to return and “…may be able to have their charges dropped — but only if they accepted a deal that would restrict their access to campus for six months.”

The list of strict conditions was reported as “not being able to enter dining halls, nor study sessions in the library. No meeting up with friends for coffee.” And that, “students would only be allowed to go to and from their residence and classes, with exceptions for accessing the hospital or using the metro.”

The conditions as set forth in the agreement constitute a form of “house arrest” while using the term “may” for the dropping of charges, still leaves students with no guarantee that will in fact be the case. Additionally, the condition of denying such access to educational resources for some students at the private university who pay tuition as high as $70,000 a year is both punitive and discriminatory in nature and without merit.

In disallowing access to those resources, the university has created two classes of students by discriminating against those who have participated in the protests.

Dylan Sabah, staff attorney for Palestine Legal, spoke of how “For years university administrations under pressure from donors and outside lobby groups have sought to suppress Palestine advocacy on their campuses.” And in so doing, he iterated how civil and constructional rights of students have been violated.

Going further, he told of how some universities have allowed “outside actors” to gain access to their campuses to harass and “dox” students and that some have banned entire student groups including Jewish and Palestinian as well as others for engaging in “protected political expression in demanding an end to the genocide and an end to support for Israel.”

Out of student frustration of not being heard by administrations, students began their protests in setting up encampments to demand a ceasefire and an end to the university’s complicity in the genocide.

Those actions in turn saw administrations respond by calling in police to break up the encampments, with police brutalizing and arresting students, faculty and staff. Sabah commented further noting that that reaction is a “profound embarrassment to these universities who pretend to support free expression and political engagement.”

In closing, he said the universities “…remain committed in silencing dissent and protecting the interest of the powerful against the righteous anger of the many.” He suggested that institutions should join in with their students to be “on the right side of history.”

Chris Godshall-Bennett, Legal Director of the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee, accused universities of a “disturbing phenomenon of students begin leveled with extreme discipline charges…prior to any hearing being conducted.” He named GW as a “particularly brutal example” of punishment where students were brought before student conduct panels having already had their housing revoked in advance.

He followed by describing those students engaged in the protests and encampments as the “Beating heart of American solidarity for Palestine.”

In closing, Corey Saylor, CAIR Research and Advocacy Director, announced that its  “Unhostile Campus Campaign,” titled “Hostile” concerning the “Targeting of Anti-Genocide protesters while enabling Anti-Palestinian Racism and Islamophobia” has been mailed to 600 university administrators across the country.

The analysis exposes the role that universities have played in targeting students protesting the Israeli government’s ongoing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

He suggested that “While campuses welcome back students we should celebrate and protect such students, not focus on harsh punishments for protesters.”

Although today’s announcement covered only three universities, Saylor promised that in the weeks ahead CAIR would be adding other institutions of higher learning to their “institutions of particular concern” list.

Report and photo by Phil Pasquini

© 2024 nuzeink all rights reserved worldwide

15 August 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

The bloodiest face of its genocide: Israel has killed 2,100 Palestinian infants and toddlers in Gaza

By Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor

Palestinian Territory – The Israeli army has killed 2,100 Palestinian infants and toddlers under the age of two, out of the about 17,000 children it has killed in the Gaza Strip since the start of its genocide on 7 October 2023.

The number of Palestinian children—whether infants or children in general—killed by the Israeli army is horrifying, and the rate of their killing is unprecedented in the history of modern wars. It also represents a dangerous trend based on the dehumanisation of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Israel’s military targets Palestinians and their children daily, methodically, and widely in the most heinous and brutal ways possible, and virtually without pause for 10 consecutive months.

Due to the Israeli bombing of homes, buildings, residential neighbourhoods, shelter centres, and displacement tents, many children have lost their heads and limbs. This is a flagrant violation of the rules of distinction, proportionality, military necessity, i.e. the legal and moral obligation to take the necessary precautions to minimise the deaths of civilians and children.

The Euro-Med Monitor field team documented today, Tuesday 13 August, the killing of four-day-old twins Aser and Aysal Muhammad Abu al-Qumsan. The twins were killed this morning, along with their mother Juman and their grandmother, in an Israeli bombing that targeted a residential flat in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

After leaving the apartment to obtain a birth certificate for his two newborn children, the father of the infants returned to discover that all of his family members—including the twins’ grandmother—had been killed in an Israeli attack on the building.

Despite its advanced technological capabilities, the Israeli army targets houses and shelter centres knowing full well that they house civilians, including women and children. Nevertheless, it bombs these targets with highly destructive bombs and missiles, aiming to cause as many civilian deaths and severe injuries as possible. This is demonstrated by the Israeli army’s systematic, widespread, and repeated targeting of civilians in the Gaza Strip, as well as its use of highly destructive and indiscriminate weapons, particularly against areas with dense populations of civilians.

The case of the two babies Aser and Aysal are not unique; daily reports of child victims, including infants, are made in the Strip.

One of the most notable testimonies has been from 42-year-old Abdul Hafez Al-Najjar, the father of a child named Ahmed, who was among the many victims of an Israeli massacre on 26 May. The massacre targeted displaced people living in tents in the Barksat area, west of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. Ahmed, along with three of his brothers and their mother, was among a host of other victims that were all beheaded and killed. Ahmed’s father told the Euro-Med team: “My child Ahmed was very beautiful. He was a year and a half old. He was beheaded in the Israeli bombing. His head was separated from his body. When I saw him, I felt distressed. He was buried without his head.”

According to the Euro-Med Monitor team, an Israeli airstrike on Rafah’s Al-Salam neighbourhood, in the southern Gaza Strip, killed another set of twin infants on 3 March. Six-month-old Wissam and Naeem Abu Anza were killed by the strike, along with their father and 11 other family members.

The mother of Wissam and Naeem, Rania Abu Anza, stated that she struggled for 10 years to become a mother before eventually giving birth to the two babies. “They implanted three embryos in me, two of them remained, and there they were,” she explained. “They bombed the house, killing my husband, my kids, and the rest of the family in the massacre.” Ten days ago marked six months since the death of the twins.

Shaimaa Al-Ghoul, meanwhile, was nine months pregnant when her home in the southern city of Rafah was bombed on 12 February. Her husband and two sons, Mohammed and Janan, were killed, and she suffered injuries from shrapnel that entered her abdomen, pierced her uterus, and ultimately lodged in the fetus.

Al-Ghoul stated that prior to her husband and two children’s deaths, her husband, Abdullah Abu Jazar, had made her “dates, sweets, and a [gift] bag in celebration of his expected newborn”. She said that she did give birth to a child, whom she named Abdullah, after his father, but the boy only lived one day. Baby Abduallah died from the wound caused by the shrapnel that had entered his mother. Thus, Al-Ghoul lost her husband and three children.

Euro-Med Monitor notes that numerous unborn children have died in hospitals over the past 10 months due to a lack of oxygen and electricity, inadequate care, and hospital targeting.

Israel continues to kill thousands of Palestinian men and women in the Gaza Strip, most of them in their reproductive age, including pregnant women, and thousands of children, including infants and toddlers. According to the meaning contained in the description of genocidal acts under Article (2) of the Convention on the Prevention of the Crime of Genocide, there is no doubt that Israel’s systematic and widespread killings of Palestinian civilians, who make up at least 92% of the total number of deaths due to the genocide, will have a negative impact on the population growth rates and reproductive capacity of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip for generations to come. Approximately 50,000 Palestinians, including thousands trapped under the rubble for long enough periods of time that they are now presumed dead, have been killed by Israel since 7 October. In addition, 88,000 other Palestinians have been wounded by Israel since then. These deaths and injuries will undoubtedly affect the Palestinians as a national and ethnic group for several generations.

Every day, infant deaths in the Gaza Strip are reported as a direct result of Israeli crimes that are legally classified as acts of genocide, including starvation, thirst, blocking the entry of basic supplies like milk, and deprivation of medical care. The majority of these infant deaths are not included in the official victim count released by the Palestinian Ministry of Health, as there is no specific system to identify such victims.

Due to Israel’s crime of genocide, ongoing for the past 10 months, Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip are being denied their fundamental rights and are not being protected in any way by international law. They have become primary, direct, and deliberate targets of the Israeli army, and have even been subject to premeditated killings and direct executions.

Aside from being arbitrarily detained, Palestinian children have also been the victims of crimes of sexual assault; forced disappearance; torture and other forms of inhumane treatment; starvation; siege; severe psychological harm; deprivation of education due to the widespread destruction of schools; and denial of access to healthcare and other necessities of life. Many Palestinian children are also victims of family dispersion, and have lost parental care.

One of the main objectives of Israel’s genocide is to leave a lasting legacy of these crimes that will affect the victims for the rest of their lives. The majority of Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip have experienced psychological trauma that will likely be difficult to treat: Thousands of children have lost one or both parents; have had limbs amputated; have suffered severe burns or other serious injuries; and/or have suffered from hunger, malnutrition, and dehydration; all of which will have a detrimental impact on their physical and psychological development.

Most children in the Gaza Strip have lost their homes, their financial security, and members of their families, in addition to being deprived of an education. This will have serious, far-reaching consequences on their futures and their ability to enjoy their other rights, making them more vulnerable to poverty, unemployment, and exploitation. The Israeli military attacks on the Strip have caused the widespread destruction of civilian objects, including homes, private property, livelihoods, production, and the economic and commercial system, forcing Palestinians to migrate, whether directly or indirectly.

The international community must act swiftly and decisively to put an end to the crime of genocide, safeguard the lives of all Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip, prevent Israel from converting the Strip into the world’s largest cemetery for children in modern history, and end the egregious double standards that are applied to Israel and its powerful Western backers and allies.

Israel and its backers must be held accountable for blatantly violating international humanitarian law by killing and targeting Palestinian children and denying them access to food, shelter, clothing, and medical assistance, including vaccinations, as specified in the Geneva Conventions and their two 1977 Protocols—protocols which should enable them to realise their rights.

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor is a Geneva-based independent organization with regional offices across the MENA region and Europe

14 August 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

Palestine: The path forward

By Mazin Qumsiyeh

Over the past 45 years, I have been active on the streets and on the internet for our people struggle for return and self-determination in the face of a most brutal and merciless colonial regime. I read thousands of books and wrote a few myself. I read tens of thousands of research and analytical papers (and wrote hundreds myself). The problem of our country can actually be described very briefly. Its solution (remedies) can also be described briefly. Implementing the solution would be doable and is the only way to avoid a catastrophic world war.

So briefly, we have 15 million indigenous Palestinians, over 8 million of us are intentionally made refugees or displaced people (and that number increases daily). So far over 250,000 Palestinians were killed or perished prematurely thanks to genocidal policies since 1948. A million were injured and another million imprisoned since 1948. The perpetrator Jews fell under the spell of an idea called Zionism that tries to convince people that Jewishness is a nationality (Constantinian Judaism as called by Marc Ellis) and thus that Jews as a collective not only have a right to this ancient land but have an exclusive right to it. Gathering as many Jews as possible from around the world to take over indigenous land was done by force of arms and forces of lobbies around the world that go Western Governments to adopt this project of ethnic cleansing and genocide (and ecoside and scholasticide!).

The main problems faced by this colonial project are 1) that it arrived at colonialism a bit late after colonialism lost its appeal (the shiny city on a hill, promised land, inferior races and all that), 2) A stubborn resistance of the local people (Christian, Muslim, Bahai, Druz etc) who would not simply go away (see my book on this http://qumsiyeh.org/popularresistanceinpalestine/), and 3) difficulty to control information in the 21st century (e.g. live feed of genocidal acts).

The main support for the Zionist project and why it persisted so long were several (not in any particular order): 1) very good hasbara /propaganda disseminated largely through well controlled western corporate media and Hollywood creating an illusion (pop culture) that Israel is a democracy, that it is redemptive and good for Jews, and that it is defending itself against barbarism, 2) A well-oiled Zionist network willing to do anything to advance the cause including bribery, blackmail, and arms twisting in other ways, 3) A policy of creation and support of Arab and Muslim autocratic “leaders” willing to support the project to keep their seats. These three pillars have received significant blows thanks to the obvious intentional and ongoing genocide and a global (including Arab and Muslim awakening). But the pillars for now seem to hold though shaky. My thought is that the pounding at those pillars must increase significantly to end this nightmare for humanity and to avoid a catastrophic world war (where ALL will be losers). What are the hammers pounding that need to be strengthened?

1) Resistance: naturally in colonial anti-colonial struggles, most of the resistance is unarmed and some of it armed. International law recognizes not only a right to resistance but obligation to resist. This includes the imperative of building institutions of sumud (resilience/resistance) on the ground like our own institution (palestinenature.org) and hundreds more. Over the past 150 years, it has been shown that killing more Palestinians creates more (and even smarter/more innovative) resistance (again see my book on this http://qumsiyeh.org/popularresistanceinpalestine/).

2) Support by all people of conscience around the world. This includes things like Boycotts, Divestments, and Sanction (See bdsmovement.net), media work, civil disobedience and more.

3) Truth telling: Putting out the real narrative of what is happening and dispelling the myths and lies including about colonizers “right to defend themselves”, nature of racist apartheid regimes, and the myths of a “two-state solution”. For the latter, see my 2004 book http://qumsiyeh.org/sharingthelandofcanaan/

4) Dismantling the support network of colonialism. This includes exposing al individuals and entities that support Zionism including the “Palestinian Authority” (PA). The PA was created by the “Oslo accords” and supposed to be interim for 5 years but is now 30 year old and had made “Israel” economically and diplomatically successful while destroying our society methodically. This is now the most profitable colonial occupation in history. Undermining this rigged system is an imperative as is pushing for the alternative “decolonization” and anti-apartheid struggle. That is much harder for colonialist to cope with. See books by Edward Said on this.

Note I did not add a fifth point about the UN, International laws or conventions since their implementation depends on mechanisms where the US can and has used veto power on those thus giving Israel impunity. The jury is still out on whether such mechanisms or even statements by human rights organizations have utility beyond their public relations value. The four points above should suffice in synergy to hammer more at the three above listed pillars of Zionist colonial support. This is our human path which is away from the Zionist path which leads to world annihilation and self-fulfilling prophesy of Armageddon. We still can save humanity but the window is closing so we must act urgently. Your thoughts are appreciated.

Finally a poem with translation

أتظن أنك عندمـــا أحـــرقتنــي ورقصت كالشيطان فوق رفاتي
وتركتنـــي للذاريــات تـذرنــي كحلاً لعين الشمس في الفلـوات
أتظـن أنك قـد طــمست هويتي ومحــــوت تاريخي ومعتقـــداتي
عبثا تحاول …. لا فنـــاء لثائر أنــــا كالقيامـــه ذات يـــــوم آت
أنا مثـل عيـسى عــائد وبقــــوة مــن كــل عاصـــفة ألـم شتـاتي
سأعــود أقدم عاشــــق متمــرد سأعـود أعظـم أعظم الثــــورات
سأعود بالتوراة والإنجيـل والــ قـــرآن والتسـبــيح والصـــلواتي
سأعـود بالأديـان ديــناً واحـــداً خــــــال مـــن الأحقـاد والنعرات
رجل من الأخدود ما من عودتي بـد … أنا كل الزمــــــان الآتــي
مهذل الصقور
My rough translation (Poet Mohthel AlSqour)

Do you think that when you burned me And danced like devil over my remains
And left me for thrashers to thrash me Shades to the eyes of the sun in sockets
Do you think you have suppressed my identity And erased my beliefs and my history
In vain you try – no extinguishing a revolutionary I, like the resurrection, one day coming
I am like Jesus coming back strong and from each storm gathers mself
I will come back – oldest revolting lover and back as the gloriest of highest revolutions
I will be back with the Torah, the Injil* and the Quran and the tasbih** and the prayers
I will be back with all religions as one religion devoid of hatred and divisiveness
A man from the trench inevitable my return.. I am all the coming times …

*= new testament
**=glorification of god/supplication

Mazin Qumsiyeh, A bedouin in cyberspace, a villager at home.Professor, Founder, and (volunteer) Director Palestine Museum of Natural History, Palestine Institute of Biodiversity and Sustainability, Bethlehem University, Occupied Palestine

12 August 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

186,000 Killed: Gaza Genocide Enabled by Massive Zionist & Western Lying By Omission & Lying By Commission

By Dr Gideon Polya

On 5 July 2024 the leading medical journal The Lancet published an expertly argued estimate of over  186,000 deaths from violence and imposed deprivation in the Jewish Israeli-imposed Gaza Massacre and Gaza Genocide. However while over 100 Alternative media have reported  this, Zionist-perverted Western Mainstream media have overwhelmingly ignored this carnage. The Gaza Genocide is being enabled by massive Zionist and Western lying by omissions and  lying by commission.

The core ethos of Humanity is Kindness and Truth but this is grossly violated by racist Zionist lying that is advanced by the Zionist-subverted US and by the Zionist-subverted West in general. Indeed “zero tolerance for racism”, “zero tolerance for lying”, “bear witness “ and “never again to anyone” are the key moral imperatives from  the  WW2 Jewish Holocaust (5-6 million killed), from other WW2 holocausts, namely (deaths from violence and imposed deprivation in brackets) the WW2 European Holocaust (30 million), Soviet Holocaust (22 million), Polish Holocaust (6 million), Chinese Holocaust (35-40 million) and the WW2 Bengali Holocaust (WW2 Indian Holocaust, WW2 Bengal Famine; 6-7 million Indians deliberately starved to death by the British with food-denying Australian complicity), and indeed from some 70 genocide and holocaust atrocities [1-12].

As an anti-racist humanist I am inescapably compelled  to “bear witness” to all of these atrocities, in particular because I come from a severely WW2 Jewish Holocaust-impacted Ashkenazi Jewish Hungarian family. However in stark contrast  these key moral imperatives are ignored by serial war criminal,  genocide-complicit  and genocide-ignoring America and its Western allies, including US lackey Australia. Indeed these Western countries largely ignore all holocausts except for the WW2 Jewish Holocaust which they falsely refer to as “The Holocaust”.

For several decades I have been “bearing witness” to deaths from violence and imposed deprivation in countries invaded by the US Alliance but have been rendered largely “invisible”  in my own country, Australia, through traitorous and egregious Zionist defamation  and via other “gate-keepers” in Zionist-subverted, Zionist- perverted and US lackey Australia. I nevertheless “bear witness” in decent Alternative media in Australia and abroad (for links to my extensive related writing see [8, 11, 12]). The Australian and Western Mainstream presstitutes ignoring huge deaths from imposed deprivation [2] are simply guilty of egregious and racist lying by omission that is intolerable to decent, science-informed and humane people. Lying by omission is far, far worse than repugnant lying by commission because the latter at least permits public refutation and public debate (subject to Mainstream gate-keepers of course). In science there is zero tolerance for lying.

(A). US, Western and US lackey Australian lying by omission over the Gaza Genocide.

Despite my imposed “invisibility” in Australia I also write numerous carefully composed Letters to major Australian Mainstream media of which nearly all are rejected and represent a huge testament to what Zionist- and US-subverted Australian Mainstream media do not want Australians to see, read, know about or think about. After The Lancet published an estimate of 186,000 Gazans killed by Jewish Israelis [13] this was overwhelmingly ignored by Western Mainstream media [14-18].  I have written numerous  Letters to Australian Mainstream media about this horrendous reality but the Silence is Deafening.  By way of example, such rejected Letters from August 2024 are reproduced below, this revealing horrific US, Western and US lackey Australian lying by omission about the Gaza Genocide:

(1). 186,000 Gazans killed including 136,000 children (2 August 2024): “The Australian Labor Government claims that its primary job is to protect Australians but the cowardly and racist reality is otherwise: (1) while it  took extraordinary  steps (including  electronic  tracking bracelets) to protect Australians from several refugees with serious criminal convictions for rape or murder,  it has done nothing to protect Australians from ( hundreds? thousands?) of returning dual Australian-Israeli citizens involved in the mass murder of Palestinians in Gaza (The Lancet reports 186,000 killed violently and through imposed deprivation, including about 136,000 children, 17,000 women and 33,000 men); (2) it has told tens of thousands of Australian residents and citizens in Lebanon to leave but has not told Apartheid Israel not to bomb, kill or mangle Australians in Lebanon nor warn of dire economic, diplomatic and financial consequences if it does (the Value of a Statistical Life for an Australian is about A$5 million); (3) it made no complaint  when an Australian, his resident wife and his Australian brother were killed by the Israelis in Lebanon in December 2023, but instead smeared them; (4) it ignores the fate in Gaza of thousands of relatives  of Australians. Silence is complicity. Anti-racist Australians will put Labor last.”

(2). Genocide-ignoring and genocide-complicit Mainstream Australian media and politicians (6 August 2024): “The Gaza Genocide-complicit Australian Labor Government  on Intelligence advice has warned that a terrorist “incident” in Australia is now “probable”,  has explicitly implicated the Far Right, has inexplicitly and objectionably implicated Muslims and pro-Palestinian human rights protesters, and has expressed concern that young people are being “radicalized” by non-Mainstream on-line content leading to rejection of Mainstream media and politicians. Indeed the Labor Government proposes Internet censorship and banning under-16 year olds accessing social media. Rejection of the Mainstream by the young is thoroughly  justified e.g. on 5 July the  respected medical journal The Lancet reported that while violent deaths in Gaza total 37,000 (excluding deaths under rubble), deaths from violence and imposed deprivation may exceed 186,000. No Australian Mainstream media (including the SBS and ABC [Australia’s equivalent of the UK BBC] ) have reported this except for The Guardian.  Conversely this was widely reported by over 100 humane Alternative media in Australia and abroad. I have been researching avoidable deaths from imposed deprivation for 30 years as reported in hundreds of  detailed and documented articles and numerous huge books but, like the 186,000, have been rendered invisible in Australia. Peace is the only way but silence kills and silence  is complicity.”

(3). Comparing the WW2 Jewish  Holocaust, the Australian Aboriginal Genocide and the Palestinian Genocide (8 August 2024):  “Genocide ignoring and holocaust ignoring are far, far worse than repugnant genocide denial and holocaust denial because the latter at least permit refutation and debate. Denial of the WW2 Jewish Holocaust (about 6 million deaths from violence and imposed deprivation) is criminalized in several European countries. However genocide denial is entrenched in Australia where the life expectancy gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians is about 9 years (for males) and 8 years (for females), and in the post-1788  Aboriginal Genocide Indigenous deaths from violence (0.1 million) and imposed deprivation total about 2 million. Similarly the life expectancy gap between Occupied Indigenous Palestinians and Israelis is about 10 years and Indigenous Palestinian deaths from violence (0.1 million) and imposed deprivation in the century-long Palestinian Genocide also total about 2 million. The commonalities of these 3 atrocities are settler colonialist invasion, theft, genocidal racism and egregious mendacity. The taxpayer-funded ABC forbids use of “genocide” and “apartheid” to describe the Apartheid Israel-imposed Palestinian Genocide and will not report the shocking  estimation in the leading medical journal The Lancet (5/7/24) of 186,000 Gazan deaths from violence and imposed deprivation in the horrific and ongoing Gaza Genocide. Silence is complicity.”

(4). Zionist-perverted  US Alliance Nagasaki memorial boycott and comparing the Gaza Genocide with WW2 atrocities (10 August 2024): “Ambassadors for the UK, US, Canada, Australia and for the EU have contemptibly boycotted attendance at the memorial for the 70,000 victims of the 9 August 1945 Nagasaki atomic bombing that occurred shortly after the US  atomic bombing of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945 that killed 140,000. The reason? The Mayor of Nagasaki declined to invite the Ambassador for the State of Israel that according to the top medical journal The Lancet (5/7/2024) has killed over 186,000 Occupied Indigenous Palestinians in Gaza in the last 10 months. It is estimated that these 186,000 deaths include 45,000 violent deaths (including 8,000 killed under rubble) and deaths of 149,000 from imposed deprivation, 136,000 children, 33,000 men, 17,000 women, 500 health care professionals and 150 journalists. The Gaza Genocide (186,000 killed so far) bears comparison with some other horrendous atrocities (deaths in brackets): the fire-bombing of Tokyo (100,000), genocide of Hungarian Jews (200,000), Hiroshima and Nagasaki  (210,000), and the Warsaw Ghetto (400,000). The US provided the bombs, and the US lackey Australian Labor Government is complicit in this atrocity in 20 ways. Anti-racist Australians will put Labor last.  Silence is complicity e.g. the taxpayer-funded ABC [Australia’s equivalent of the UK BBC] won’t report the 186,000 Gaza deaths.

(B). US, Western and US lackey Australian lying by commission over the Gaza Genocide.

The core ethos of Humanity is Kindness and Truth but this is grossly violated by racist Zionist lying. For a comprehensive summary of egregious, intolerable  and unforgivable lying by commission for Apartheid Israel by Zionists and by pro-Zionist Western Mainstream journalist, editor, politician, academic and commentariat  presstitutes  see Gideon Polya, “Gaza Massacre: 35 Ways Zionist-perverted US, Australia & West Lie For Child-killing, Neo-Nazi Apartheid Israel”, Global Research, 24 November 2023: https://www.globalresearch.ca/35-zionist-lies-child-killing-neo-nazi-apartheid-israel/5841145 [19]:

“Space does not permit detailed and documented refutation of each Lie here but item #13 gives an example of such refutation. For an extremely detailed and documented refutation of each of these 35 Zionist lies in an over 9,000-word and 109-reference analysis see Gideon Polya, “Gaza Massacre: 35 Ways Zionist-perverted US, Australia & West Lie For Child-killing, Neo-Nazi Apartheid Israel”, Countercurrents, 23 November 2023: https://countercurrents.org/2023/11/gaza-massacre-35-ways-zionist-perverted-us-australia-west-lie-for-child-killing-neo-nazi-apartheid-israel/ [20].  [However Google the title of this detailed article in inverted commas  and this Countercurrents article fails to appear except as quoted or republished in other articles – egregious Google censorship.]

(1) The Lie that “Israel is a Jewish state” (333,000 Google Search results).

(2) The Lie that “Israel is a democracy” (261,000).

(3)  The Lie that “Israel is a liberal democracy” (54,000).

(4) The Lie that “Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East” (36,000).

(5) The Lie that “Israel has the most moral army” (5,000).

(6) The Lie that “Israel is the home of the Jewish people” (95,000).

(7) The Lie that “Israel is not an apartheid state” (34,000).

(8) The Lie involved in describing the WW2 Jewish Holocaust as “The Holocaust” (47,000,000).

(9) The Lie involved in falsely weaponizing “Anti-Semitism” (25,000,000) against humane critics of Apartheid Israel.

(10) The Lie involved in falsely weaponizing the “Jewish Holocaust” (1,160,000) against humane critics of Apartheid Israel.

(11) The Lies involved in supporting the all-European, anti-Jewish anti-Semitic, anti-Arab anti-Semitic and holocaust-denying “International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance” (159,000) or “IHRA” (2,330, 000).

(12) The Lies involved in supporting the “IHRA definition of antisemitism” (66,000).

(13) The Lie involved in conflating “Zionism” (14,000,000), “Israel” (3,270,000,000) and the “State of Israel” (34,100,000)  with “all Jews” (2,770,000). Refutation: A large body of anti-racist Jews are opposed to the Apartheid and genocidal racism policies of Apartheid Israel. For example, 25% of US Jews surveyed acknowledge that Israel is an Apartheid state.

(14) The Lie that “anti-Zionism is antisemitism” (16,000).

(15) The Lie that “Israel-Nazi comparison” (600) is antisemitism.

(16) The Lie involved in asserting that comments on “Jewish wealth” (77,000) are anti-Semitic.

(17) The Lie that pejorative noting of “Jewish support for Israel” (19,000) is anti-Semitic.

(18) The Lie that support for “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” (355,000) aka “BDS” (89,000,000) against Apartheid Israel and all its supporters is anti-Semitic.

(19) The Lie that supporting boycotts of Zionist businesses is akin to the Nazi “boycott of Jewish businesses” (26,000).

(20) The Lie that asserting “Jewish influence” (269,000) and “Jewish power” (618,000) is anti-Semitic.

(21) The Lie that Jews have a “right to Palestine” (1, 570,000).

(22) The Lie that “Hamas is a terrorist organization” (279,000).

(23) The Lie of a “Hamas terrorist massacre” (2,700) and “Hamas massacre of children” (7,000) on 7 October 2023.

(24) The Lie that opposing a “Jewish state” (5,820,000) in Palestine is anti-Semitic.

(25) The Lie that “Palestine” (497,000,000) and “Palestinians” (568,000,000) do not exist.

(26) The Lie that as an Occupying Power “Israel has the right to defend itself” (270,000) in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

(27) The Lie that “Palestinian armed resistance” (17,000) is unlawful and terrorism.

(28) The Lie that “Israel is civilized” (2,000).

(29) The Lies that “Hamas is barbaric” (4,000) and “Palestinians are barbaric” (2,000).

(30) The Lie of the false descriptive “Palestinian Territories” (56,400,000) instead of the correct “Occupied Palestinian Territories”  (1,700,000).

(31) The Lie that use of the term “final solution” (17,700,000) is anti-Semitic.

(32) The Lie that “Israeli settlements are legal” (2,000).

(33) The Lie of a “two-state solution” (9,300,000) that is now dead because 90% of Palestine has been ethnically cleansed of Indigenous Palestinians.

(34) The Lie that “anti-Semitism” (25,400,000) and “antisemitism” (65,000,000)  only refer to anti-Jewish prejudice, with this minimizing “anti-Jewish anti-Semitism” (16,800) and ignoring horrendously deadly and ongoing “anti-Arab anti-Semitism” (3,600) in genocidal US wars on Arab and Muslim countries (see the huge books by Gideon Polya, “US-imposed Post-9/11 Muslim Holocaust & Muslim Genocide”, “Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950”, and “Jane Austen and the Black Hole of British History”).

(35) The massive Lying by Zionists and pro-Zionists that almost completely ignores “anti-racist Jews” (800).”

Final comments and conclusions.

Please disseminate this with attribution to everyone you can because the lying US Empire Mainstream presstitutes certainly won’t. Silence is complicity and overwhelmingly US, Australian and Western Mainstream media  won’t  report the 186,000 Gaza deaths estimated by the top medical journal The Lancet. Child-killing America  provides the bombs for the ongoing Gaza Genocide, and the US lackey Australian Labor Government is complicit in this atrocity in 20 ways [21]. Anti-racist Australians will put Labor last in Australia’s compulsory and preferential voting system. Peace is the only way but silence kills and silence is complicity. Decent people around the World must respond to this unforgivable  Gaza Genocide atrocity by (a) relentlessly informing  everyone they can forever, and (b) imposing rigorous Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against genocidally racist and neo-Nazi Apartheid Israel and against all people, politicians, parties,  collectives, corporations and countries supporting this child-, mother- and women-killing pariah state.

References. 

[1]. Gideon Maxwell Polya, “Free Palestine. End Apartheid Israel, Human Rights Denial, Gaza Massacre, Child Killing, Occupation and Palestinian Genocide”,  761 pages, Korsgaard Publishing, 2024.

[2]. Gideon Polya, “Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950”, Korsgaard Publishing, 2021.

[3]. Gideon Polya, “Jane Austen and the Black Hole of British History. Colonial rapacity, holocaust denial and the crisis in biological sustainability”, 3rd edition, Korsgaard Publishing, 2022.

[4]. Gideon Polya, “US-imposed Post-9/11 Muslim Holocaust & Muslim Genocide”, Korsgaard Publishing, 2020.

[5]. “Report genocide”: https://sites.google.com/site/reportgenocide/ .

[6]. Gideon Polya, “Racist Mainstream Ignores “US-Imposed Post-9/11 Muslim Holocaust & Muslim Genocide””, Countercurrents, 17 July 2020: https://countercurrents.org/2020/07/racist-mainstream-ignores-us-imposed-post-9-11-muslim-holocaust-muslim-genocide/ .

[7]. Gideon Polya in Soren Korsgaard (editor), “The Most Dangerous Book Ever Published: Deadly Deception Exposed!”, Korsgaard Publishing, 2020.

[8].” Gideon Polya Countercurrents Articles”, Palestinian Genocide Essays: https://sites.google.com/site/palestinegenocideessays/gideon-polya-countercurrents-articles .

[9]. “Palestinian Genocide Essays”: https://sites.google.com/site/palestinegenocideessays/home .

[10]. “Palestinian Genocide”: https://sites.google.com/site/palestiniangenocide/ .

[11]. “Gideon Polya”: https://sites.google.com/site/drgideonpolya/home .

[12]. “Countercurrents articles by Gideon Polya”, Gideon Polya: https://sites.google.com/site/drgideonpolya/countercurrents-articles .

[13]. Rasha Khatib, Martin McKee, and Salim Yusuf, “ Counting the dead in Gaza: difficult but essential”, The Lancet, 5 July 2024: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)01169-3/fulltext .

[14]. Gideon Polya,  “US Lackey Australian Labor Government Betrays Humanity Over Existential Nuclear Threat: Put Labor Last”, Countercurrents, 26 July 2024: https://countercurrents.org/2024/07/us-lackey-australian-labor-government-betrays-humanity-over-existential-nuclear-threat-put-labor-last/ .

[15]. Gideon Polya, “Racist & Lying Australian & Western Mainstream Disappear 186,000 Gaza Genocide Deaths”, Countercurrents, 18 July 2024: https://countercurrents.org/2024/07/racist-lying-australian-western-mainstream-disappear-186000-gaza-genocide-deaths/ .

[16]. Gideon Polya, “Zionist-Perverted Western Mainstream Media Ignore 186,000 Palestinian Deaths In Apartheid Israeli Gaza Genocide”, Countercurrents, 15 July 2024: https://countercurrents.org/2024/07/zionist-perverted-western-mainstream-media-ignore-186000-palestinian-deaths-in-apartheid-israeli-gaza-genocide/ .

[17]. “The Lancet: 186,000 Palestinians Killed By Violence And Imposed Deprivation In Gaza Genocide”, Countercurrents, 9 July 2024: https://countercurrents.org/2024/07/the-lancet-186000-palestinians-killed-by-violence-and-imposed-deprivation-in-gaza-genocide/ .

[18]. Gideon Polya, “Proof: Orwellian Australian Mainstream Media & Politicians Lie For Genocidally Racist Apartheid Israel”, Countercurrents, 31 July 2024:  https://countercurrents.org/2024/07/proof-orwellian-australian-mainstream-media-politicians-lie-for-genocidally-racist-apartheid-israel/ .

[19]. Gideon Polya, “Gaza Massacre: 35 Ways Zionist-perverted US, Australia & West Lie For Child-killing, Neo-Nazi Apartheid Israel”, Global Research, 24 November 2023: https://www.globalresearch.ca/35-zionist-lies-child-killing-neo-nazi-apartheid-israel/5841145 .

[20]. Gideon Polya, “Gaza Massacre: 35 Ways Zionist-perverted US, Australia & West Lie For Child-killing, Neo-Nazi Apartheid Israel”, Countercurrents, 23 November 2023: https://countercurrents.org/2023/11/gaza-massacre-35-ways-zionist-perverted-us-australia-west-lie-for-child-killing-neo-nazi-apartheid-israel/ .

[21]. Gideon Polya, “20 Ways Anti-Semitic Australian Labor Government Complicit In Jewish Israeli Gaza Genocide”, Countercurrents, 5 March 2024: https://countercurrents.org/2024/03/20-ways-anti-semitic-australian-labor-government-complicit-in-jewish-israeli-gaza-genocide/ .

Dr Gideon Polya taught science students at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia over 4 decades. He published some 130 works in a 5 decade scientific career, notably a huge pharmacological reference text “Biochemical Targets of Plant Bioactive Compounds” (2003).

12 August 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

UN Special Rapporteur on Torture should be dismissed for bias and deliberate failure to perform duties

By Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor

Palestinian Territory – Concerns have risen about the behaviour and performance of Ms. Alice Jill Edwards, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. She should be removed from office for failing to carry out her assigned responsibilities and not addressing, in an unbiased and efficient manner, the serious crimes committed against Palestinian detainees and prisoners in Israeli jails and detention facilities.

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor reiterated in a letter dated 8 August to Mr. Omar Zniber, President of the UN Human Rights Council, the necessity for objectivity and credibility in the work of the Council’s Special Procedures, including special rapporteurs. These individuals are appointed to their positions by the Human Rights Council, an intergovernmental body tasked with promoting and defending human rights worldwide to secure human rights globally and guarantee justice, accountability, and equity.

The letter reads: “We are compelled to express our profound disappointment with Ms. Alice Jill Edwards in her capacity as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, for failing to fulfill her mandate and execute her duties with the required objectivity and impartiality. We are deeply concerned that such wrongful conduct is eroding the credibility of the United Nations, and specifically undermining the fundamental values upheld by the UN Human Rights Council, including impartiality, integrity, and accountability.”

“Ms. Edwards’s apparent failure to address the horrifying, widespread, and systematic crimes against Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli detention centers and prisons, especially since October 7, 2023, raises serious concerns about her integrity in fulfilling her role. This lapse not only undermines the credibility of her mandate but also casts doubt on its relevance and effectiveness in addressing the gravest relevant violations at a time when it is most needed during this critical and unprecedented crisis.”

Regarding the state of Israel and Palestine, UN rapporteur Edwards alarmingly has failed to uphold the necessary human rights norms and to defend victims of international crimes and human rights violations in conformity with international law standards.

Despite the dire conditions endured by Palestinian prisoners and detainees and the overwhelming and credible evidence of systematic and widespread torture and severe assaults committed by Israel—particularly against those from Gaza—Edwards has remained silent. She has failed to report on, publicly acknowledge, or draw the international community’s attention to the severity of these violations.

Evidence of torture and ill-treatment was provided by numerous UN mechanisms, bodies, and independent experts, such as the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, Israel, and other special rapporteurs. This is in addition to reports from international and local human rights organisations, foreign media, and even Israeli media, all of which have detailed the endured by Palestinian detainees and prisoners, including rape, sexual assault, and other forms of violence, to the point where these abuses are considered crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Despite her announcement on 8 March 2023 of an investigation into the torture and ill-treatment of Palestinian detainees in Israel, Edwards has yet to disclose the status or findings, if any, of the investigation after more than five months.

Compared to her handling of other violations files in similar countries and cases, such as China and Iran, UN rapporteur Edwards’s refusal to voice her opinions or denounce the systematic and widespread crimes committed by Israel against Palestinian prisoners and detainees shows blatant bias and the application of a double standard.

Edwards has expressed her condemnation of the 7 October attack on multiple occasions; however, she never denounced Israel’s grave crimes against the Palestinian people, including genocide, since that time.

In a statement released on 23 May, Edwards urges the Israeli government to investigate allegations of torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment against Palestinian detainees since 7 October 2023. She cited estimates that suggest that thousands of Palestinians, including minors, have been held in detention. Edwards’ statements and demands were limited to asking the Israeli government to launch an independent investigation into claims of torture and other ill-treatment against Palestinians and to hold those responsible accountable; these limited demands raise numerous questions regarding potential bias and Edwards’ genuine commitment to addressing the suffering of Palestinians, her credibility in ensuring accountability, and her dedication to providing reparations to victims.

First, her appeal to the Israeli government is particularly troubling given the historical evidence that the Israeli judicial system has frequently been both unwilling and unable to investigate, prosecute, and hold accountable Israeli militants and settlers for their crimes against Palestinians. To illustrate, it has been established that between 2017 and 2021, fewer than one percent of complaints about the conduct of the Israeli military towards Palestinians were investigated and prosecuted. Second, unlike the complaint mechanisms of the human rights treaty monitoring bodies, the Special Rapporteur does not require the exhaustion of domestic remedies to act.

Edwards’ statement also failed to mention the serious crimes that already have been proven to have been committed against Palestinian prisoners and detainees, including murder, killing under torture, rape, and other sexual assaults. Instead, it only addressed allegations of people being beaten and kept in cells for extended periods while blindfolded and handcuffed, deprived of sleep, and threatened.

In her letter to Israel, Edwards exposed a shameful, wilful minimisation of the suffering that Palestinian inmates endure, particularly with regard to the problem of sexual assault, rape, and gang rape, that ignores and diminishes the significance of the evidence that has been provided to Israel in support of these incidents.

Despite the lack of substantial evidence to date, the term sexual violence was cited 15 times in her letter to the State of Palestine concerning alleged violations by Palestinian factions on 7 October. In stark contrast, sexual abuse was mentioned only once in her letter to Israel, where it was described as sexual harassment rather than sexual violence, despite compelling evidence of the systematic occurrence of sexual violence against Palestinian detainees and prisoners.

Similarly, rape was cited 11 times in the letter to Palestine, but only once in her letter to Israel, which referred only to the threat of rape rather than to the act itself, despite the fact that rape has become a systematic form of Israeli abuse of prisoners and detainees. Furthermore, Ms. Edwards limited her discussion of rape threats to Palestinian detainees from the West Bank, excluding those from the Gaza Strip.

In the letter to Palestine, Edwards addressed sexual violence and rape allegations head-on, clearly expressing her position. In her letter to Israel, however, she is perceived to have deliberately downplayed or omitted critical information regarding the situation of Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

In her letter to Palestine, Edwards repeatedly called for the immediate and unconditional release of Israeli hostages. In contrast, her letter to Israel did not contain a single request for the release of Palestinian detainees who are being held arbitrarily or without charge.

In her letter to Israel, Edwards requested permission to visit Israel but excluded the occupied Palestinian territories from her request. Notably, in her letter to Palestine, she also did not request nor mention the need for any visit. This discrepancy further suggests bias and calls into question her intention to thoroughly address violations, given her failure to seek interviews with Palestinian victims and their families.

In her letter to Israel, Edwards addressed some of the Israeli legislation that justifies violations against Palestinian prisoners and detainees, such as the Unlawful Combatants and Administrative Detention Laws. However, she did not explicitly state that these laws contravene international humanitarian and human rights law, nor did she acknowledge their role in depriving Palestinians of fundamental rights, including the presumption of innocence, the right to a fair trial, and the ability to prepare an effective legal defence. Furthermore, she did not call for the repeal of these laws, missing an opportunity to directly challenge their legality and impact.

Ms. Edwards failed to warn and remind Israel that it is committing the crime of enforced disappearance by hiding Palestinian detainees and prisoners and refusing to reveal their whereabouts or fate. The rapporteur, in fact, chose not to acknowledge or categorize these violations as crimes of forced disappearance.

Moreover, in her letter to Palestine, Ms. Edwards extensively addressed events from 7 October, including those unrelated to the capture of prisoners and hostages, such as indiscriminate rocket fire from the Gaza Strip into Israel. However, in her letter to Israel, she did not address the massacres committed by Israel against civilians in Gaza, including indiscriminate rockets fired against civilians in Gaza.

Edwards’ approach clearly frames the situation in Gaza as primarily an Israeli response to the 7 October attack. She explicitly titled her letter to Israel and centred her inquiry into allegations of torture and ill-treatment of Palestinian detainees as “Israel’s response to attacks by Hamas and other armed groups on October 7, 2023.” This framing indicates clearly that she perceives the events in Gaza primarily through the framework of self-defense and retaliation, while neglecting the grave crimes committed by Israel against Palestinians in Gaza, which breach all established principles of international law.

Edwards began her letter to Israel by extending her sincere condolences to the Government of Israel, as well as to the families and friends of those who lost their lives or were injured on 7 October. In blatant contrast, her letter to the State of Palestine contained no expressions of sympathy for the tens of thousands of civilians, mostly women and children, killed by Israeli assault against the Gaza Strip since 7 October. This disparity highlights a notable inconsistency in her approach, reflecting a lack of balanced empathy in addressing the humanitarian impact on both sides.

In the period since 7 October, nearly all Special Procedures, with almost the exception of her own, have released multiple and joint public statements addressing issues related to Israeli violations, including those related to Edwards’ mandate, namely, the torture and ill-treatment of Palestinians in Israeli prisons and detention centres. However, she has made no similar statements, nor has she endorsed or signed any of these reports.

It is important to note that our concerns date back to Edwards’ appointment in 2022, since she has consistently overlooked the issue of Palestinian detainees and prisoners. Despite the severe conditions and denial of legal protections these persons faced before 7 October, she has not addressed Israeli detention practices prior to that date. Furthermore, she has failed to contextualize Israel’s detention policies within their broader historical framework, neglecting their role in entrenching Israeli colonialism and perpetuating an apartheid system.

Moreover, Edwards has shown a notable lack of engagement with Palestinian civil society organisations, which are essential for gathering relevant evidence for her mandate. This neglect not only compromises the impartiality expected of any UN Special Rapporteur but also undermines the accuracy and thoroughness of her investigations and the collection of information from all parties on the basis of equality and impartiality.

As a result, this bias and lack of objectivity erode the credibility of the UN. Positions like Edwards’ exacerbate human rights violations, enable leaders and perpetrators to evade accountability, and deny victims their rights to justice and redress.

It is now well-established that thousands of Palestinian detainees and prisoners are subjected to severe, systematic, and widespread torture, ill-treatment, rape, and other forms of sexual violence, particularly since 7 October 2023, at the hands of the Israeli army and the Israel Prison Service. Given the gravity of the situation and the collaboration of all of Israel’s state systems, including the judiciary, in either ignoring, endorsing, or openly condoning these crimes, it is unrealistic to expect that the Israeli authorities will hold those responsible accountable genuinely and effectively. The ongoing genocide over the past ten months confirms that leaving the matter in the hands of the Israeli authorities, as Ms. Edwards has done, is not only inadequate but also unjust. It allows for impunity and denies victims their fundamental rights.

Therefore, the Human Rights Council must dismiss Alice Jill Edwards from her position as the Special Rapporteur on Torture for her failure to fulfill her mandate impartially and effectively, and appoint a New Special Rapporteur who demonstrates integrity, impartiality, and a steadfast commitment to the global principles of human rights, irrespective of the race, ethnicity, or nationality of either the perpetrators or the victims.

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor is a Geneva-based independent organization with regional offices across the MENA region and Europe

12 August 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

Sudan: 16 months of a war on women that must cease

By Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor

Geneva – As the war in Sudan reaches its 16th month, the disproportionate impact on women and girls persists and must be addressed. They are paying the highest price, facing displacement, unlawful detention, home confinement, hunger amid a looming famine, increased gender-based violence, and reduced access to essential services, including for sexual and reproductive needs, as direct consequences of the ongoing war.

The power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) that broke out in Khartoum in April 2023 rapidly spread to other parts of the country, triggering widespread sexual and gender-based violence, forced displacements, unlawful detention, confinement of civilians, and pillage, with overlapping consequences on women and girls specifically.

The war has already led to extreme levels of displacement, both internally and across Sudan’s borders. Over 2 million people90% of whom are women and children, with one-fifth being young children experiencing acute malnutrition—have fled Sudan to neighbouring countries, including 484,000 to Chad. The vast majority of the displaced remain in Sudan, living with host communities.

Today, with more than 9.9 million internally displaced people (IDPs), Sudan is facing the largest internal displacement crisis in the world, and there is a growing risk that the violence will soon produce the world’s largest hunger crisis as well. According to the latest data from United Nations Women, more than half of all IDPs are women and girls, and more than 7,000 new mothers could die in the coming months if their nutritional and health needs remain unmet.

Sixteen months of war have effectively created a devastating “war on women” that manifests itself in multiple and intersecting ways.

Since the outbreak of war in mid-April 2023, there has been an escalation in sexual violence against women. The widespread use of sexual violence as a weapon of war, including trafficking and sexual exploitation, has been common since the start of the conflict. Warring parties have subjected women and girls, aged from 9 to 60, to various forms of sexual violence, such as forced and child marriage, and prolonged captivity in conditions of sexual slavery.

Members of both warring parties have sexually assaulted women and girls also in front of their own family members, creating additional trauma for both the survivors and the witnesses, in addition to the potential stigma and other grim social consequences. In certain cases, the victim’s relatives acquiesced to the forced or child marriage, in the hope that this might protect the victim of abuse socially and/or financially.

All of the ongoing violence is worsened by the lack of emergency post-rape health care, psychosocial support, and other vital services, due to warring parties’ attacks on healthcare facilities and medical personnel, restrictions on civilians’ movement, ongoing fighting, unlawful restrictions on medical supplies, and the willful obstruction of aid. The physical and psychological scarring to survivors is immensely damaging, and, in certain cases, the injuries have even led to the victim’s death.

The conflict’s economic impact also exacerbates the conditions of internally displaced Sudanese women, who have lost their jobs, property, housing, freedom, and sources of income, and are forced to seek external aid, particularly in rural areas. The war has further marginalised many women, stripping them of livelihood opportunities and pushing many towards the risk of sexual exploitation and abuse as a last resort measure to support themselves and their families.

Even in the neighbouring countries of asylum, the conflict-driven vulnerability of refugee women and girls has been exacerbated by a lack of adequate assistance and limited infrastructure, leading to health and safety risks, physical harm, exploitation, and abuse, as well as GBV risks including sexual exploitation at border areas and in refugee camps.

A lack of privacy and security characterises many temporary shelters inside and outside of Sudan. Along the border of South Sudan and Uganda, for instance, or at the Metema Transit Centre and Kumer Settlement in Ethiopia, there is only one latrine available per 100 people, and the daily water allowance per person falls below global standards.

“Rape and other forms of conflict-related sexual violence against women and girls, including acts intended to humiliate, dominate, or instill fear, can no longer considered an inevitable byproduct of armed conflict or a lesser crime,” said Michela Pugliese, legal researcher at Euro-Med Monitor. “They are war crimes, and must be held to account and acknowledged as such,”

Continued Pugliese: “Sudanese women and girls have paid the highest price of this war, facing displacement, hunger, increased gender-based violence and sexual assaults, and reduced access to essential services, including for sexual and reproductive needs, as direct attacks on their bodies.

“Even in temporary shelters, women haven’t been able to find the assurance of security; a so-called ‘measure of protection’ cannot be identified as such if it doesn’t take into consideration the gendered dimension of safety,” she added.

Euro-Med Monitor stresses the obligation of conflict parties to refrain from using sexual violence as a weapon of war, recalling UN Security Council Resolutions 1325 (2000), 1820 (2008), 1888 (2009), 1889 (2009), 1960 (2010), 2106 (2013), 2122 (2013), 2242 (2015), and 2467 (2019) on Women, Peace and Security.

In particular, Euro-Med Monitor calls on all parties to the conflict to halt the fighting and respect international humanitarian law, including by enforcing a zero-tolerance policy for sexual violence, protecting healthcare facilities and medical personnel and facilitating humanitarian access, including to GBV response services. Euro-Med Monitor also calls on the United Nations and the African Union to urgently authorise an Independent International Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) for Sudan, giving it a mandate that includes the prevention and documentation of conflict-related sexual violence as well as assistance to survivors; to strengthen access to justice; identify those responsible and advance accountability and reparations; as well as support the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation related to crimes taking place across Sudan.

Euro-Med Monitor emphasises that international partners and donors must invest in local, women-led organisations on the ground in order to fully address the gender dimensions of the crisis in Sudan and in neighbouring refugee-hosting countries. The international community must listen to Sudanese women and ensure their full, direct, and meaningful participation in relevant international fora for humanitarian plans and conflict resolution, especially as United States and Western policies in the resource-rich country have contributed to the creation of the crisis.

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor is a Geneva-based independent organization with regional offices across the MENA region and Europe

13 August 2024

Source: countercurrents.org