For all those premature babies fighting for life in Al Shifa …. A Voice
https://www.edvardmunch.org/the-scream.jsp

Posted by: Don Firineach | Nov 15 2023 10:02 utc | 4

“…..,Israel is sustained by lies. The lie that Israel wants a just and equitable peace and will support a Palestinian state. The lie that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. The lie that Israel is an “outpost of Western civilization in a sea of barbarism.” The lie that Israel respects the rule of law and human rights.
Israel’s atrocities against the Palestinians are always greeted with lies. I heard them. I recorded them. I published them in my stories for The New York Times when I was the paper’s Middle East Bureau Chief……”
https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/israels-culture-of-deceit

Posted by: Exile | Nov 15 2023 10:06 utc | 6

Back in 1983, when Israel still ruled Gaza, they built a secure underground operating room and tunnel network beneath Shifa hospital
One of the specialties of the Zionist Jew is his ability to “bend reality”.
An ability to create facts on the ground as the foundations of future lies.

We know they have weapons of mass destruction because we sold it to them!
We know they have bunkers under hospitals because we built the bunkers!
We know they’re terrorists because we trained them and funded them!

Hence: They are lying even when they are telling the truth.

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Nov 15 2023 10:15 utc | 8

Israel admits no Israeli prisoners were found in Al-Shifa hospital stormed by Israeli occupation forces in northern Gaza. The US & western officials who supported & recycled the Israeli information about the hospital containing Hamas HQ & prisoners lied & lost all credibility. E. Magnier

Posted by: Maracatu | Nov 15 2023 10:24 utc | 10

This kind of lame excuse / ratonilzation for bombing a hospital devaluse human life itself, from the top to the very bottem of society.
Yet the Israelis seem totaly blind, obliveous and lacking in any insight as to how the rest of the sane world watches in horror.
The UK and US are even more culpable for encoaraging the Jewish Israeli govenment.

Posted by: Mark2 | Nov 15 2023 10:25 utc | 12

Vanessa Beeley’s telegram channel usually has the fastest updates on the events. She has worked extensively in Syria. Lebanon and Palestine and has a lot of contacts.
Al Jazeera has a lot of shorts reports on youtube.
Israeli tropps entered the hospital courtyard with their tanks. The hospital has been under siege for four days with no food, water, fuel entering. Israeli troops shot at anyone trying to leave. Now they have stormed the hospital although there is nobody there with arms to resist. Just doctors, patients and people sheltering there.
Emergency Supervisor at Al-Shifa Medical Complex tells Al Jazeera:
⭕ The situation in the hospital is tragic, and we are losing more lives everyday
⭕ The last night was terrifying for children, women and the sick
⭕ The Israeli occupation has brought bullets, bombs, shelling, and terror to children and infants
⭕ The Israeli occupation detained many of the displaced people, blindfolded and stripped them of their clothes, and they took them to an unknown destination
⭕ The occupation blew up most of the hospital gates, and shrapnel scattered among those present
⭕ Before the Israeli army stormed the hospital, heavy gunfire had been fired, and we heard hundreds of explosions
⭕ All the people in the hospital are civilians, and we all know each other, and there is no armed person there
Just in case anyone needs a reminder from 2008, Eva Bartlett’s account
https://ingaza.wordpress.com/photos-and-videos-zionist-massacre-of-gaza-2008-2009/

Posted by: pq | Nov 15 2023 10:26 utc | 14

Short Video inside the Hospital
“The Israeli army opened fire on the medics of the al-Shifa hospital in the Gaza Strip – Al Mayadeen TV channel.
According to the channel, during the storming of the building, the Israeli military demanded that the doctors leave the building and provided an allegedly safe corridor to leave the medical facility, but soon after opened fire on the medical workers. The same information was provided by the director general of hospitals in the Gaza Strip.”
via https://t.me/VanessaBeeley/20908
and
https://twitter.com/ChristineJameis/status/1724703488611877044

Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | Nov 15 2023 11:05 utc | 16

I bet 100 to 1 that nothing Hamas is present in the well known bunker beneath the Shifa hospital.

I, however, am certain that they will “find” weapons and all sorts of incriminating evidence, including a copy of Mein Kampf and no doubt, as someone said, Hitler’s passport. They’ve already yesterday laid a load of arms from a tunnel next (?) to the hospital.
But I think they’re going to have trouble convincing people that the material is not ‘planted’.

Posted by: laguerre | Nov 15 2023 11:05 utc | 18

Erdogan: ‘Israel is a terror state’
“Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Israel is a “terror state” committing war crimes and violating international law in Gaza.
Speaking to lawmakers in parliament, Erdogan also called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to announce whether Israel had nuclear bombs or not.”
https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/erdogan-israel-terror-state
………………………….
Israel and the international community bear responsibility for al-Shifa raid, minister says
38 minutes ago
The Palestinian health minister, Dr Mai al-Kaila, said on Wednesday that the “Israeli occupation and the international community bear the responsibility for the lives lost, including patients, medical staff, and displaced persons in al-Shifa Medical Complex.”
She called the raid on the hospital a “flagrant violation of international law” and a “crime against humanity”.
Kaila added that the storming came after a series of “crimes committed by Israeli forces, including imposing a siege, bombing and shelling aimed towards wounded, displaced and medical teams”.
The minister stated that so far, Israeli forces have killed 198 medical staff members since the start of the war, destroyed 55 ambulances, and put 25 hospitals totally out of service.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/israel-palestine-hamas-war-gaza-live-invasion

Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | Nov 15 2023 11:08 utc | 20

Thanks b. You put in a lot of research on various issues. Much appreciated.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Nov 15 2023 11:09 utc | 22

Video – Panic at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza where 1000s of Palestinian people, including journalists, have sought refuge
The Zionist army stormsed Al-Shifa Hospital to defeat the sick, wounded, injured, displaced, doctors, and nurses, and to take control over a medical place devoid of fuel and oxygen, after failing to confront the heroic resistance fighters in the field.
https://t.me/VanessaBeeley/20903
Al Jazeera: Doctors inside the Al Shifa Medical Complex have told the invading Israeli army they may enter the buildings of the complex to search them, but that the doctors themselves cannot leave — as the army is demanding — because that means a death sentence to hundreds of patients, including children, who are in need of their care.
Israeli occupation forces once again raid the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza city. According to medical personnel reporting to Al Jazeera, they raided the internal medicine and kidney building at the hospital.
🚨 ALERT
Almost 9 thousand people, including patients and wounded, are on the territory of the Al-Shifa medical complex in the Gaza Strip. The press service of the enclave authorities reported this on their Facebook page.
🚨 According to medical personnel, occupation forces demand that all displaced people inside the Al Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza must leave, while simultaneously shooting at anyone moving outside of the hospital.
@FiorellaInMoscow
[ typical of Israelis ]

Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | Nov 15 2023 11:14 utc | 24

####
But I think they’re going to have trouble convincing people that the material is not ‘planted’.
Posted by: laguerre | Nov 15 2023 11:05 utc | 9
You are wrong.
They will believe anything even if clearly staged.

Posted by: Mario | Nov 15 2023 11:17 utc | 26

The Israelis may be blind but so are many critics. Netanyahu is USAs man. He seems to have more influence than the Biden administration says the well-informed Douglas Macregor, like a great majority does. Ie its the wag the dog meme.
But that is misleading.
The top-layer in Israel IS a US layer. Therefore it is another branch of the US that may have more influence in Washington than the Biden branch.
I dont know if Macregor would be allowed to say Israels leadership is an american btranch if that would be his opinion.
Similarwise our western governments and our whole parliaments are USAs representatives here.
They dont work for the people.
It shouldnt come as a shock that this is also true for Israel.
Recently there is a row in the UK where BBC is critisised for its support for Hamas while the King is on the opposite side
Typically this would be interpreted as the King being under the influence of jewish lobbies.
Problem with that interpretation is that british elites created the whole thing during the beginning of the victorian era so the Kings behaviour is consistent with the original plan. Entirely thought out in the interest of the British empire not even marginally meant to be for the benefit of the jews.
The jews were simply to be used not helped.
And those british elites were not hiding that they were antisemites in common parlance.
This was consistent with the idea of attempting to purge the jews from Europe.
However it was more insidious since it was more precisely about attempting to purge them from Britains main rivals.
BBC however is just another arm of the ruling hydra and needs to pretend there are some moral scruples to be found.
This puts more pressure on the seemingliy jewish side of the clash.
But that side isnt really jewish but actually fully aligned with the imperial agenda: To produce perpetual wars.
Granted, this may be expressed with greater precision and nuances but it captures some of the misunderstandings and opens for more intelligent debate.

Posted by: petergrfstrm | Nov 15 2023 11:20 utc | 28

Posted by: Mario | Nov 15 2023 11:17 utc | 13
I meant in proportion, more than usual.

Posted by: laguerre | Nov 15 2023 11:23 utc | 30

On Monday evening 11/13, the national evening broadcast of ABC in the US had its reporter Matt Guttman touring the alleged Hamas Al Shifa HQ escorted by an Israeli Rear Admiral. It’s a small basement room with what might be a hole in the floor. The Israeli assures the reporter that a single empty rickety chair had been used to tie up a hostage—they will do forensics to prove it, says the earnest soldier. There are four or five ancient rifles on the floor of another room for added proof. https://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/israeli-military-tour-attacked-gaza-hospital-104901490

Posted by: mjh | Nov 15 2023 11:24 utc | 32

Could the Al Shifa Medical Complex assault by the IOF be a major turning point, geopolitically?
By RT report

Israel launches raid on Gaza’s largest hospital
US officials have backed the country’s allegations that militants are stationed within the complex
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has launched an operation against al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza, the Palestinian enclave’s largest medical complex. IDF officials say the facility has been used for military purposes by Hamas, a claim rejected by the armed group.
The IDF announced the raid early Wednesday morning, saying it would carry out a “precise and targeted operation” against Hamas fighters within a “specified area in the Shifa Hospital,” also accusing the group of using “human shields” there.
“In recent weeks, the IDF has publicly warned time and again that Hamas’ continued military use of the Shifa hospital jeopardizes its protected status under international law, and enabled ample time to stop this unlawful abuse of the hospital,” the military added.
On Tuesday, IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said the Israeli Army considers Gaza hospitals to be legitimate military targets, and reiterated claims that Palestinian forces maintain a command center in underground tunnels below al-Shifa.
Hamas later denounced the IDF raid, saying it would hold both Israel and the US “fully responsible for the repercussions of the occupation army’s storming of the Shifa Medical Complex.” The militants accused US officials of peddling a “false narrative” that would enable “more massacres against civilians,” after the White House backed Israeli claims that Hamas was using the hospital for military purposes.
In comments to reporters on Tuesday, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said US intelligence had confirmed that “Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad members operate a command and control [center] from al-Shifa,” claiming the groups have “stored weapons there.”
However, Kirby stressed that Washington does not support Israeli airstrikes on the complex, stating that civilians at the site “deserve not to be caught in the crossfire.”
Gaza’s Health Ministry said it was informed of the IDF raid in advance, and that Israeli forces had warned those inside the hospital “not to be near the windows,” according to ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra.
The director of al-Shifa Hospital, Mohammad Abu Salmiya, described dire conditions at the facility in comments to AFP on Tuesday night, saying staff had been forced to bury at least 179 dead bodies in a “mass grave.”
“There are bodies littered in the hospital complex, and there is no longer electricity at the morgues,” Salmiya said, adding that seven babies and 29 intensive care patients were among those buried in the hospital courtyard.

Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | Nov 15 2023 11:32 utc | 34

https://twitter.com/QudsNen/status/1724723551989588182
Meanwhile Israelis post themselves destroying everything: cars, warehouseses with medical supplies etc.
Yesterday there were questions around whether / how to talk to friends. I would ask:
1. Is paying for genocide the best use of our tax dollars? (Even if your country does not directly aid Israel, the UN, WHO etc. pick up the bills to rebuild everything Israel has bombed in the past in 2008, 2012, 2014, 2021). They break it, we pay for it. Basically we pay for resistance ideologies to emerge.
2. Do you support apartheid generally? “the right to exercise national self-determination” in Israel is “unique to the Jewish people.” Jewish Basic Law
3. Do you think any country which commits war crimes ought to be held accountable?
https://ccrjustice.org/sites/default/files/attach/2023/10/Israels-Unfolding-Crime_ww.pdf
4. How do you explain defiance of the Additional Protocol of the Geneva Convention about the rights of indigenous people to resist occupation especially under conditions of racism? (see point 1 above). What in your opinion is the difference between a French or Italian or other resistance fighter in WWII and Palestinians other than ethnicity?
The United Nations GA affirms Palestinians rights to resist Israeli military occupation, including through armed struggle. “The situations referred to in the preceding paragraph include armed conflicts in which peoples are fighting against colonial domination and alien occupation and against racist régimes in the exercise of their right of self-determination”. https://treaties.un.org/doc/publication/unts/volume%201125/volume-1125-i-17512-english.pdf
In a previous thread I mentioned I have nothing to boycott other than grapefruit. Thanks to all who helped out with BDS companies. If I do buy something I will check. Because I’ve always been a bit of an anti-consumer I rarely more than basic food and almost no consumer durables. People are the most precious assets in my life. Good friends are irreplaceable. In my situation the most effective BDS actions I can take are talking to friends and figuring out who is worth my time and energy.
This isn’t just about Palestinians but about humanity’s collective future. The only way for a better future is if Israel is held accountable NOW. If every red line is crossed now, how can we expect better in the future?
I see so much about why doesn’t someone (especially regional Arab / Muslim neighbours) do “something”??
How can we expect others to do something when we don’t even want to risk something ourselves? I can agree to disagree on anything but it’s the first time in my life I am witnessing such a brutal genocide LIVE. The astonishing thing about the entire Zionist enterprise starting from the mid 19th century is that every crime and statement of genocidal and ethnic cleansing intent is documented in black and white. People who support Israel are either uninformed or they support genocide (from cowardice or enthusiasm).
Yesterday I saw a video of a 12 year old who was badly burned. Israel is using new and banned weapons. These kids are not even able to get proper treatment. When we can debate genocide with friends, only then can genocide perpetrators be held accountable.

Posted by: pq | Nov 15 2023 11:33 utc | 36

Via RT updates:

15 November 2023
11:30 GMT
Palestinian Health Minister Mai Al-Kaila has denounced Israel’s storming of Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza as “a new crime against humanity, medical staff, and patients” while warning of a potential “massacre” inside the facility.
She also condemned the silence of “some countries” about the raid, suggesting that they had “encouraged the Israeli occupation” of the compound in “flagrant violation of international law.”
Al-Shifa Hospital Director Mohammad Abu Salmiya earlier said that a total of 179 bodies had been buried in the facility’s courtyard. He added that this number included seven babies and 29 patients who died after the complex ran out of fuel.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the conflict has so far claimed the lives of more than 11,000 Palestinians and more than 1,200 Israelis, with more than 1.6 million people displaced inside the enclave.
08:08 GMT
The Palestine Red Crescent has said it managed to evacuate “the patients, the wounded, their families, and the medical teams” from Al-Quds Hospital, the second-largest medical facility in Gaza. Local officials had previously said the compound had been put out of service due to a lack of fuel and electricity, with fighting taking place nearby.
The non-profit noted that “it became impossible to continue providing the necessary medical care under these conditions,” adding that patients were being transported to southern hospitals. However, medical facilities in that region are now suffering from the same problems as Al-Quds, it noted.
06:55 GMT
The Israel Defense Forces said its tank crews have successfully delivered incubators, baby food, and medical supplies to the Al-Shifa Hospital.
The military also claimed to have engaged Hamas operatives inside the complex, killing several militants. It added that Israeli soldiers found explosive devices in the area.
06:25 GMT
Ashraf al-Qudra, a spokesman for the Gaza Health Ministry, insisted that there were no military personnel, but rather “only doctors, patients and displaced people” inside the al-Shifa hospital, which was stormed by Israeli troops. The official estimated the number of Israeli soldiers inside the facility at “dozens.”
“We have nothing to fear or hide,” he insisted.
Israeli officials have said that during the “precise and targeted operation against Hamas” in the area, they tried to “mitigate” the impact among civilians, noting that the raiding parties included medics and Arab speakers.
Still, Israeli army spokesman Peter Lerner admitted in an interview with CNN that the conditions on the ground made the operations “challenging.”
06:23 GMT
Dr. Munir al-Bursh, the general director of hospitals in Gaza, claimed that Israeli soldiers had searched the basement of al-Shifa hospital after storming the facility.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, he said that some people in the compound were shot at as they tried to leave the hospital corridor, which had supposedly been declared safe. However, al-Bursh would not say whether any of those present had been killed or injured.
He also insisted that “not a single bullet” was fired from the hospital at IDF forces.

Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | Nov 15 2023 11:43 utc | 38

Anti Jews have published a list of Israeli companies to boycott
https://www.betterworld.info/conflict-regions/israel-palestine/boycott-divestment-sanctions-bds/boycott-israeli-goods

Posted by: Exile | Nov 15 2023 11:51 utc | 40

People should stop complaining about the war in Gaza.
You see, apparently it’s a war for LGBT rights!
I didn’t realise this.
What are a few dozen bombed out hospitals and a few thousand dead children if you’re fighting for LGBT rights?

Posted by: anon | Nov 15 2023 12:13 utc | 42

International Orthodox Christian Charities -helping in the Holy Land Page
https://support.iocc.org/site/Donation2;jsessionid=00000000.app30040a?df_id=9203&mfc_pref=T&9203.donation=form1&_ga=2.65239150.1377803809.1700050877-386275209.1700050877&_gl=1*13nzhno*_ga*Mzg2Mjc1MjA5LjE3MDAwNTA4Nzc.*_ga_SVBZY4RPJP*MTcwMDA1MDg3Ny4xLjAuMTcwMDA1MDg3Ny42MC4wLjA.&NONCE_TOKEN=0D50E45B301EF877B298719475D03837

Posted by: Exile | Nov 15 2023 12:23 utc | 44

This is what we get if we give facism free speech. The end result is enevitable.
Ther are alot of people in the US, england and else where enjoying the violence contained in these hospital videos. It gives them a sence of power, freedom to do any thing they like, take any thing they like, without consequence.
We need to stop them or it will iur turn next.
I’m all for free speech, but for people who condone this, no no no, not here not any where.

Posted by: Mark2 | Nov 15 2023 12:23 utc | 46

I was blocked for saying BDS Israel like south africa . On a msm comment section. It seems BDS is now officially a hate crime hate speech.

Posted by: Hankster | Nov 15 2023 12:30 utc | 48

Mark2 @ 23 “This is what we get if we give fascism free speech”.
Oh, the irony.
This is what we get when we give anti-semitism free speech. Everyone at MoA should be banned.
See how it works, Mark? Censorship is a double-edged sword. Especially given it’s TPTB and the MSM who get to define what words mean. Promoting the banning of “fascists” is fine until you end up being defined as a “fascist” yourself. You should champion free speech, however uncomfortable you might find it.

Posted by: ADB | Nov 15 2023 13:00 utc | 50

BDS now.

Posted by: Not Ewe | Nov 15 2023 13:01 utc | 52

Re-posted from yesterday’s thread.
Emerging comments on the technicalities of war crimes–emphasis on Israel’s war crimes–may be surfacing as an important reference point in the discussion of what’s happening:
Scott Ritter today [Nov 14] on Napolitano ends by mentioning International Humanitarian Law regarding collective punishment, which action Israel is using and has used as with previously against Lebanon. Specifically, but without going into it, he refers to two principles: 1) the principle of distinction; and 2) the principle of proportionality. It is clear by these alone that Israel and the US and its supporters are in violation of IHL and these principles.
The first indicates that non-combatant from combatant must be determined, and it is not “lawful” to destroy non-combatant infrastructure, with some minor exceptions. As to 2) the principle of proportionality applies to military versus civilian damage and what’s “reasonable” in terms of military objectives and gain.
As Ritter indicates the case is clear. “Collective punishment” violates International Humanitarian Law, and what better example of hideous violation is there than in this hospital complex we’ve been discussing. Such as this is what stands behind world opinion on this matter at this time and is now coming forth into legal actions and arguments.
Article today at Al Jazeera:
According to international law:
“The limits are drawn by the principles of distinction and proportionality: An army has the duty to target only the enemy, even if this means facing greater risks to minimise civilian casualties; and to weigh the military value of each attack against the civilian casualties that are likely to result from it.
“Weller, [a] Cambridge professor, noted that even if military activity were to be proven and the site therefore became liable to attack, patients and staff must be given the opportunity to evacuate.
“Once more, it doesn’t mean that all the civilians in it are removed from the protection of humanitarian law more generally. There would still have to be a calculation of proportionality in terms of civilian damage and military gain,” Weller said.
“The very fact that we have seen 44 [Israeli] soldiers killed in this conflict and almost 11,000 [Palestinian] civilians gives an indication that the calculation of proportionality in Gaza has left the bounds of reasonableness.”
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/13/what-is-a-human-shield-and-why-is-israel-using-the-term-in-gaza

Posted by: botete | Nov 15 2023 13:02 utc | 54

ADB @ 25
You think mass murderers and those condoning mass murder should be allowed to incoarage it ?

Posted by: Mark2 | Nov 15 2023 13:14 utc | 56

Ritter’s description of War Crimes is strictly correct. However, his framework is between 2 belligerent powers. In Gaza, this is not the case.
In Gaza, the conflict is between a occupying power and a local uprising. In this situation, the burden of restraint is significant greater on the occupying power. Essentially the occupying power can only use Police style tactics to put down the local uprising.
As General MacArthur notably said, when handing down the death sentence to General Yamashita :

The soldier, be he friend or foe, is charged with the protection of the weak and unarmed. It is the very essence and reason for his being. When he violates this sacred trust, he not only profanes his entire cult but threatens the very fabric of international society.

Gen. Yamashita was found guilty of allowing his soldiers to run amok in occupied Manila in a frenzy of reprisals and worse.

Posted by: Exile | Nov 15 2023 13:14 utc | 58

Ritter’s description of War Crimes is strictly correct. However, his framework is between 2 belligerent powers. In Gaza, this is not the case.
In Gaza, the conflict is between a occupying power and a local uprising. In this situation, the burden of restraint is significant greater on the occupying power. Essentially the occupying power can only use Police style tactics to put down the local uprising.
As General MacArthur notably said, when handing down the death sentence to General Yamashita :

The soldier, be he friend or foe, is charged with the protection of the weak and unarmed. It is the very essence and reason for his being. When he violates this sacred trust, he not only profanes his entire cult but threatens the very fabric of international society.

Gen. Yamashita was found guilty of allowing his soldiers to run amok in occupied Manila in a frenzy of reprisals and worse.

Posted by: Exile | Nov 15 2023 13:14 utc | 60

I bet 100 to 1 that nothing Hamas is present in the well known bunker beneath the Shifa hospital.
I take the bet! I bet 100 rubles that Hamas is present. I would be more than happy to lose that bet. If you win, you will have to tell me to which Russian organisation I will have to send my 100 Rubles. If you will lose (hopefully not!), I will tell you to which Russian organisation to send your 10’000 rubles.

Posted by: Naive | Nov 15 2023 13:14 utc | 62

Note the bet is a trick. Of course the political wing of Hamas is present in the hospital. Just like in an English Hospital members of National Health might have an office.However, the military wing of Hamas (Al Qassembrigades ) is a whole another question .
For example : The Likud considers a Hamas run kindergarten a legitimate military target.

Posted by: Exile | Nov 15 2023 13:20 utc | 64

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cVwk5E2JEOI
The most cowardly way of fighting: in case anyone has not yet figured out why Israel has specifically targeted every hospital in North Gaza. Look at the maps in this video.
It is to accelerate the Nakba 2.0 and speed up the genocide rate by denying healthcare to the injured.
On his Twitter, Max Blumenthal adds:
The Israeli army has failed to find tunnels or weapons stockpiled in Rantisi hospital. Instead, it has turned up a pack of diapers and a calendar listing the days of the week. The presentation has become a laughingstock, except among the cretinous and narrowing base of support for Israel’s exterminationist operation. But it has served a larger purpose, helping Israel obscure its real motives for attacking and occupying the three major hospitals in northern Gaza. These hospitals have provided oases for tens of thousands of displaced civilians whose homes were destroyed. Israel is determined to force them south, pushing them toward Rafah to generate pressure on Egypt to take them in. Eliminating these hospitals also allows Israel to manufacture a humanitarian crisis and ratchet up the pressure on Egypt to accept masses of sick and wounded refugees at hospitals of its own. Israel deploys desperate artifice to paint Al-Shifa, Al-Rantisi and Quds hospitals as secret military command posts, when in fact, it sees them as obstacles to the next Nakba.

Posted by: pq | Nov 15 2023 13:22 utc | 66

Today: Al Ahram
13:00 Fuel that entered Gaza from Egypt through the Rafah border crossing on Wednesday was “not at all enough”, the United Nations agency for supporting Palestinian refugees said.
“This is the equivalent of half a truck! Not at all enough. Much more is needed. Fuel is being used as weapon of war, this must stop,” UNRWA said on X, formerly Twitter.
In a separate post, UNRWA confirmed receiving 23,027 litres (6,083 gallons) of fuel, saying it met only “nine percent” of what the agency needs daily to sustain lifesaving work.
Comment: There are no words in any language that can express the full meaning, effects and consequences of this complete failure of the world order, all states, leaders and peoples.
Credit to the resistance, the agencies still trying to function in Gaza and the honest reporters.
Everyone else – eternal shame should befall you/us and may there be a book documenting your/our inhumanity for all generations to come.
I hope these new generations, if the human world survives, will create a totally different way of thinking, understanding, acting and deciding on life on this planet.
The US criminal, political, moral responsibility for all that is happening in Gaza is clear as day, documented and irrefutable, in court and any type forum, formal or not.
Take just the following:
Hamas: 12.11.23 –
We calls on international institutions in Gaza to go to the Al-Shifa Complex to protect it.
(https://www.palestinechronicle.com/gaza-live-blog-israel-continues-to-target-schools-hospitals-clashes-in-gaza-netanyahu-rejects-international-pressure-day-37/)
13.11. 23 – 13.11.2023
WHITE HOUSE: Israel has the right to target the leadership of Hamas, but it must pay attention to civilian casualties, especially hospitals.
14.11.23
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said US intelligence had confirmed that “Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad members operate a command and control [center] from al-Shifa,” claiming the groups have “stored weapons there.”
However, Kirby stressed that Washington does not support Israeli airstrikes on the complex, stating that civilians at the site “deserve not to be caught in the crossfire.”
14/15.11. 23
Israeli forces storm al-Shifa hospital.
Just in case it is not clear to someone out there – the White House in no uncertain terms publicly gives reason for attacking al-Alshifa, which means it condones an attack on theHospital, and the Israelis storm the Hospital.

Posted by: JB | Nov 15 2023 13:27 utc | 68

@Exile comment 30
Excellent addition on Ritter. However, you imply the case is not 2 belligerent powers. Surely, Hamas is a belligerent power? How would these be defined?

Posted by: botete | Nov 15 2023 13:27 utc | 70

Versus the big demonstrations for Israel yesterday we have this:
“More than 400 US officials from 40 government agencies have sent a letter to President Biden criticizing his unconditional support for Israel’s war in Gaza in the latest example of dissent from within the US government.
“The letter says that the “overwhelming majority of Americans support a ceasefire,” citing a poll from Data For Progress that found 66% of voters believe the US should push for a ceasefire, including 80% of Democrats. “Furthermore, Americans do not want the US military to be drawn into another costly and senseless war in the Middle East,” the letter says.
“Biden’s full-throated support for the brutal war has drawn three dissent memos from State Department employees and an open letter signed by more than 1,000 employees of the US Agency for International Development (USAID).”
https://news.antiwar.com/2023/11/14/over-400-us-officials-sign-letter-criticizing-bidens-israel-policy/

Posted by: botete | Nov 15 2023 13:30 utc | 72

When we can debate genocide with friends, only then can genocide perpetrators be held accountable.
Posted by: pq | Nov 15 2023 11:33 utc | 18
Yes. I am much troubled also and I guess all this is about levels of integration.
Few of our friends can stand this pressure.

Posted by: Baile | Nov 15 2023 13:42 utc | 74

….. @Exile comment 30
Excellent addition on Ritter. However, you imply the case is not 2 belligerent powers. Surely, Hamas is a belligerent power? How would these be defined?
Posted by: botete | Nov 15 2023 13:27 utc….,,,
Great question since Gaza might be construed to be a grey area. Tel Aviv likes to portray Gaza as a sovereign indepdent entity. Therefore Hamas as the government in Gaza would be a belligerent power according to Tel Aviv. However, no one accepts Tel Aviv’s position.
Some useful texts:
U.S. Field Manual 1956 Law of Land Wafare
https://www.moore.army.mil/infantry/DoctrineSupplement/ATP3-21.8/PDFs/fm27_10.pdf
Nuremberg and Vietnam by Telford Taylor
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_and_Vietnam
Just and Unjust Wars by Michael Walzer ( he is Jewish so there are some ethno-centric faux pas and the expected racist hate against Christian’s and Muslims, but generally useful primer)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_and_Unjust_Wars

Posted by: Exile | Nov 15 2023 13:44 utc | 76

Before, where were the WMDs in Iraq?
Now, where are the things said to be under that hospital?
Same people. Same “sources” feeding lies to serve criminal aggression.

Posted by: Mark Thomason | Nov 15 2023 13:45 utc | 78

I gotta respect the myriad ways that “the keepers of global and shared values based on the United Nations Charter” misplace precision in order to dissemble police duties from “national security” and genocide “in substantial part” from implementation of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
This
Now, look. If wikiwtf is be believed, Israel’s administrators discarded blueprints of al Shifa Hospital Complex and every opportunity—scheduled or not—to inspect the premises for, ahem, unauthorized alterations.
If the Wall Street Journal is to be believed, Israel’s administrators discarded maps of Hamas’ “tunnel system” under Gaza and every opportunity to inspect junctions for, ahem, unauthorized alterations and destroy them.
Until now. The urgency of now necessitates indiscriminate loss of life animating Gaza’s “infrastructure of violence” in order to arrest, if not execute, individual Hamas “commanders” purportedly geo-located by cell phone signal.
Over all, I don’t wonder why the DOD’s sales team has abruptly shifted value-proposition messages from “surgical” ballistics to low-cost, heavy-weight bombs of mass destruction.

Posted by: sln2002 | Nov 15 2023 13:45 utc | 80

….. I15:05 Al-Qassam Brigades fighters strike Israeli tank and bulldozer with two Tandem shells in northwestern Gaza…….
Tally now 84 MBTs knocked out.

Posted by: Exile | Nov 15 2023 13:48 utc | 82

@pq #33
Blumenthal is spot on.

Posted by: Don Firineach | Nov 15 2023 14:02 utc | 84

Surely, Hamas is a belligerent power? How would these be defined?
Posted by: botete | Nov 15 2023 13:27 utc
https://www.ejiltalk.org/classifying-the-gaza-conflict-under-international-humanitarian-law-a-complicated-matter/
It’s all kind of pointless because Israel ignores international law anyway.
Craig Mokhiber the UN guy who resigned makes the point that international humanitarian law has not been enforced on Israel since 1948

Posted by: Pq | Nov 15 2023 14:05 utc | 86

I bet 100 to 1 that nothing Hamas is present in the well known bunker beneath the Shifa hospital.
I take the bet! I bet 100 rubles that Hamas is present. I would be more than happy to lose that bet. If you win, you will have to tell me to which Russian organisation I will have to send my 100 Rubles. If you will lose (hopefully not!), I will tell you to which Russian organisation to send your 10’000 rubles.
Posted by: Naive | Nov 15 2023 13:14 utc | 31
That was my reaction too.
Be sure to post when the bet is resolved, although technically you should clarify “Hamas is or was present”

Posted by: william paul | Nov 15 2023 14:10 utc | 88

The reason the ‘brave’ IOF is targeting hospitals, schools and other civilian infrastructure and soft targets is that they can’t shoot back. It’s what gutless little creeps do. And it sure beats the heck out of fighting HAMAS face to face – something they’ve yet to summon the courage to ATTEMPT.
…….
Also this Gaza campaign balderdash reminds me of the early noughties when Robt Fisk was reporting on Israel-AmeriKKKa’s FWOT. After the Yanks had finished bragging about demolishing the tunnels and caves at Tora Bora, Fisk was interviewed on abc.net.au/Lateline (a program cancelled by the Lib-Lab duopoly in 2013). He said “It’s no mystery that the Americans found the tunnel complex so quickly – they built the whole bloody thing!”

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Nov 15 2023 14:13 utc | 90

@Exile no. 38
Thank you for links to these valuable documents. What I’ve read so far echoes this comment from your post at no. 30, which particularly struck me:
“As General MacArthur notably said, when handing down the death sentence to General Yamashita :
The soldier, be he friend or foe, is charged with the protection of the weak and unarmed. It is the very essence and reason for his being. When he violates this sacred trust, he not only profanes his entire cult but threatens the very fabric of international society.”

Posted by: botete | Nov 15 2023 14:13 utc | 92

The news media is full of it.
https://news.google.com/search?q=antisemitism&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen (I archived this link)
The accusatory word “antisemitism” is being used to enable genocide.
Let that sink in.
The accusatory word “antisemitism” is being used to enable genocide.
—
—
In the future.
“Antisemitism, you say? That accusation has been used to enable genocide, what crime are you enabling today?”

Posted by: librul | Nov 15 2023 14:15 utc | 94

“Hamas is or was present”
Posted by: william paul | Nov 15 2023 14:10 utc | 44
LOL!
Hamas is gah, is everywhere.
~ ancient secular bibble, “Nones” 1:23

Posted by: sln2002 | Nov 15 2023 14:20 utc | 96

I can’t help suspecting that Hamas is playing a game here in which suicide is an integral part of the operation. Of course, for whatever reason, the entire brigade was ironically withdrawn from the most insecure border in the world to help these criminal, violent settlers commit their crimes.
That a few disagreeable “ravers” had to be sacrificed for the greater agenda is as obvious as Srebrenica was going to fall in 1995. But the ethnic cleansing there was only partially successful. People returned.
I don’t want to whitewash this horror against the civilian population which is undoubtfully an ethnic cleansing operation of seismic proportions, still realism is more helpful if a basis for talks is to be achieved at all. And there, b, it doesn’t help to doubt whether there is an HQ under the hospital or not. Everyone uses Red Crescent / Red Cross as a cover. I’ve been seeing this for over 30 years. Civilians are since 50 years the victims of war. This is not the case in Ukraine where the Russian army is careful to avoid civilian casualties. So it’s more a Faludscha style mass killings.
The reality is simpler: never attack if you know the consequences are suicidal and by continuing fighting you put those people into the “meat grinder” you intend to fight for.
Yes the un-justice since the 75 years existence of Israel, is so grave, still what I mean is and what everybody practising a marshal-art sport knows is that responsibility is also to sometimes better to take something in than to be blind like Don Quixote. If you are too weak and start an argument anyway, you are only helping those who claim they were only defending themselves against you. If this then becomes the standard, we can throw ethics in the garbage can because because looking back, history teaches us that the bully always wins and then hoping for better / more favourable opportunities for a rematch is just a cycle.

Posted by: LMAA | Nov 15 2023 14:21 utc | 98

Senior Israeli official: “The entrance to Shifa is first of all a symbol that there is no place where we will not reach. We didn’t think we would find abductees, but we would certainly locate and dismantle Hamas ‘ capabilities. The target in Shifa is also the Hamas tunnels under the hospital

https://www.mako.co.il/news-military/6361323ddea5a810/Article-b124ea2e7bfcb81027.htm?sCh=31750a2610f26110&pId=173113802
Hamas capabilities …

Posted by: b | Nov 15 2023 14:30 utc | 100