Gaza

@afshinrattansi Today is the 2-year anniversary of the October 7th 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas and other Palestinian resistance organisations. For two years Israel, Western governments and the media have tried to convince you that the militia of an open-air concentration camp with nothing but light arms, caused this level of destruction.

See also: From Israel's own news services: IDF tanks, helicopters, Special Forces - not Hamas - killed 260 civilians at the Supernova Music festival (30/10/2023).

Lieutenant-Colonel Anthony Aguilar, in early August, blew the whistle on how US-supplied food was used to lure starving Palestinians to be murdered by Israeli snipers and tank gunners. At a Senate hearing on Wednesday 3 September, he and former Army intelligence officer Josephine Guilbeau, dressed in their full military uniforms, protested at a US Senate hearing against the United States' support for the genocide in Gaza. Anthony Aguilar said loudly "The United States government is complicit in genocide. You have an obligation to the Constitution of the United States." He and Josephine Guilbeau were immediately seized by security guards and dragged out of the room and down the hallway.

This article looks at the Gaza Marine gas field, a modest 1.1–1.4 trillion cubic feet reserve off Gaza’s coast, often dismissed as too small to fuel conflict between Israel and Palestinians. Yet, its shallow depth, ease of exploitation, and potential to yield $2.4 billion for Gaza’s economy make it a strategic prize, as evidenced by Israel and Egypt’s 2023 development plans sidelining Gazans.

Criticism of one party to the Gaza conflict has been deemed 'hate speech' and illegal by the Australian federal parliament (see embedded Gerard Rennick video below). Somehow, however, the same federal government shows little concern about the actual hate crimes (as opposed to hate speech) being committed in full view of the whole world in Gaza, as in the embedded tweet.

Is Turkey's role in the Middle East, especially regarding its support or provocation of wars and unrest, underestimated? Indeed, it often seems ignored. For instance, during the ongoing genocide against Gaza, much of Israel's oil has come from Azerbaijan, routed through Turkish ports.

Israel’s Knesset has approved a bill criminalising denial of Israel’s version of events of October 7th, those who break this law could face 5 years in prison.

While the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued a warrant for the arrest, for the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, of Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has guaranteed him safe passage to travel to an event to mark the 80th anniversary of the all

(PDF containing transcript can be found here) Genocide is reliant on the dehumanisation of others to justify inhumane action. Since 7 October, we have heard Netanyahu describe Gaza as a city of darkness and ask people to flee or face certain death. Of the Palestinians, Netanyahu says: 'We are facing monsters.

(PDF containing transcript can be found here) I heard you Madam Ambassador, but what nerve you have to come here and defend what your colonial army is doing to th

On 22 Second August, Riyad Mansour (pictured) Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations spoke to the United Nations. In that meeting, Riyad called upon all the Ambassadors to the Security Council to come with him to Gaza to see for themselves how Israel is destroying the housing, hospitals, schools and other infrastructure whilst killing, so far, by one more conseravtive estimate, more than 40,000 unarmed Palestinian civilians. Much, but all of the discussion is

Ione Belare (pictured), Spanish Minister for Social Justice, explains that the world can and must act to stop Israel's plans to kill 1.4 million Palestinians in Rafah. Rafah is right on the southern border of the Gaza Strip next to Egypt and is home to about 1.4 million displaced Palestinians, who have taken refuge there. Israel's planned attack flies in the face of a peace agreement having been reached in Egypt between Israel and Hamas.

What you can do and how you can stay informed.

The United States has an appalling record of meddling in the affairs of other countries, which has often taken the form of outright invasion. The most recent example is its facilitation of Israel's known murder of more than 34,000 Palestinians in Gaza since 7 October last year. And, since he was inaugurated in January 2021, it appears that US President Joe Biden has actually overseen an organised, undeclared, invasion of his own country. Using multiple, government financed NGOs, Biden has facilitated truly massive illegal human traffic from across the globe, via the United States southern border, plus their transport throughout the country. His government has also financed airline passage for many more illegal immigrants. Estimates of how many illegal aliens now reside in the United States are in the order of 25 million. In the embedded video Redacted's Natali and Clayton and their guest J J Carrell rightly label Biden's conduct 'treason'.

In an 8 minute interview posted to YouTube on 30 April 2024, Yama Wolomsal, a Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation anchor, questioned David Mencer, a spokesperson for Israel, about the almost-7-month-old Gaza conflict in which over 34,000 Palestinians are known to have been killed and thousand more are missing, presumed dead, beneath the rubble. By putting to David Mencer facts from authoritative sources including the World Health Organisation, the United Nations, the Gaza Health Ministry and numerous human rights groups, Yama Wolomsal demolished every one of David Mencer's claimed justifications for Israel's war.

Alison Tahmizian Meuse continues with her Twitter/X account @AliTahmizian to report how Armenians are continuing to resist Armenian President Nikol Pashinyan's most recent betrayal of Armenia - his attempt to hand across to Azerbaijan the region of Tavush. (Below is the latest update of 3 May.)

(Updates from 21 April) After years of surrender of territory to the neighbouring Azerbaijan, by President Nikol Pashinyan, Armenians have stood up and opposed Pashinyan's latest betrayal, the attempted handover of Tavush, the region painted red on the map in the north-eastern corner of Armenia. Currently, Ilham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan is allowing the export of oil to the fascist regime of Benjamin Netanyahu which, has, in the six months since 7 October 2023, murdered over 32,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The oil is piped from Baku in Azerbaijan, through Georgia to the north of Armenia, thence through Turkey to its port of Ceyhan, from where it is shipped to Israel. This is in spite or Turkish President Erdogan's supposed opposition to Israel's genocide. In recent nationwide local government elections, Erdogan's so-called "Justice and Development" party was wiped out because of the disgust by Turkish voters at Erdogan's duplicity. Hopefully these protest in Armenia will not only lead to the ouster of President Pashinyan, buy also of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. For further information, please follow the Twitter/X account of Alison Tahmizian Meuse at @AliTahmizian or her embedded posts here.

Some welcome relief for two million people in Gaza as Australian Government restores lifesaving aid. Massive public pressure has greatly contributed to the Government’s decision following Open Letters and history making 22 consecutive weeks of tens of thousands marching in capital cities for the people of Gaza. Australia must pressure for immediate and permanent ceasefire to stop the genocide and end occupation.  

WEDNESDAY 27 MARCH 2024: This important webinar co-sponsored by over 18 organisations will feature Pine Gap expert, Professor Richard Tanter, whose forthcoming paper, "Pine Gap, Gaza and Genocide", will be summarised to spark discussion among the panelists on the role of Pine Gap in colonial violence and surveillance in Australia and Palestine.  

The webinar is moderated by  Dr Amy McQuire, Darumbal and South Sea Islander journalist

In the recent 29 February by-election for the UK seat of Rochdale, George Galloway campaigned against Israel's mass-murder of Palestinians in Gaza and for Julian Assange's freedom. He defeated the two major pro-war parties, Labor and the Conservatives, to become the new MP for Rochdale in the House of Commons. In the attached 18 minute YouTube video, he is interviewed by Syrian-born British journalist Richard Medhurst.

George Galloway has been declared winner of the Rochedale by-election in the United Kingdom. Previously, Galloway had been an elected member of the House of Commons in 1987 for 8 years, in 2005 for 5 years and in 2012 for for 3 years. In all those years George Galloway has been an outspoken supporter of struggles against imperialism, against apartheid in both Israel and South Africa and for the rights of the working classes and underpriveleged at home.

On 29 February 2024, Israeli soldiers machine-gunned crowds of Palestinians in north Gaza while they stood waiting for food to arrive. Something between 80 and 200 Gazans were killed and hundreds are wounded. "How can this still be possible?" a friend wrote in an email sent to me at 02:19 hrs. "You mean, how come our 'democracies' have not responded to calls,  based on our purported shared values, to stop it?" I replied.

Proposed motion: "The need for the Government to cease using one of the most secretive military export systems in the world to hide from the public the export of Australian military equipment to the State of Israel, particularly as the Chief Economist of DFAT has acknowledged that DFAT data showing millions of dollars in 'arms and ammunition' being exported to Israel is credible." (Senator McKim - Australian Green, Tasmania.) Extract from "Matters of Urgency, Israel" [Australian]

The following has been adapted from a leaflet PDF file. (See Appendix for how to print the PDF file, from which this article was adapted.) In the face of overwhelming votes for a ceasefire by both the United Nations General Assembly on 22 December and by several meetings of the UN Security Council, the Israeli ‘Defence’ Forces (IDF) have continued their latest war against the men women, children and babies of the Gaza Strip. This war began on 7 October, 134 days ago. Since then, with aerial bombardment, tank and artillery shells, rocket fire, banned phophorous, bullets - and who knows what else – the IDF have killed as many unarmed Palestinians in Gaza as they were able to. At the outset of this war, Israel also cut off power and stopped supplies of food, water, medicine and other essentials from going into Gaza, thereby causing many to die of starvation, thirst and illness.

This article was inspired by Israeli and western press characterisation of Hamas-tunnels in Gaza, as if they were novel and somehow shameful and outrageous defensive constructions, when Israel itself has plenty.

In this video, journalist Owen Jones summarises South Africa's very detailed and horrific case against Israel for genocide against Gaza.  A ruling by the court could take years that we don't have.