Palestine SitRep: Lebanese Resistance Causes Enemy Losses – Is Ready To Fight Off Attacks

January 5, 2024

At Naked Capitalism Yves Smith is taking another recommendable look at the situation in and around Palestine:

Israel Shifts to Targeted Escalation, With Justification for Entry into Lebanon One Likely Aim

After the assassination of Saleh al-Arouri, the deputy head of Hamas’ political wing, in Beirut the situation at the border will probably escalate:

Alastair Crooke reported that Israel residents of in the north who had evacuated or otherwise fled demanded that they not be able to see Lebanese forces from the border. They told by the government that they would be able to return by the end of January, which seems a tall order (I did find corroboration in a print source but due to the state of search, cannot find it again). Given that Lebanon would never agreed to effectively cede territory to improve the mental health of these nearby Israeli neighbors, that commitment would imply an invasion, which is how Crooke read it.

Scott Ritter appears to have seen similar demands, but depicted them as mere threat display, that Israel would not dare attempt an incursion because it was pretty sure to lose. As Ritter had early described, Israel lost its last two war games against Hamas and Hezbollah, even with the US joining the war. Ritter has also described how much better Hezbollah has gotten since 2006, when it beat Israel, while Israel’s forces, per Ritter, are third rate. And Hezbollah has a tunnel network that makes Hamas’ look like a poor cousin.
…
Aside from the successful Beirut attack amounting to a real blow and a morale booster for Israel, it also seems to be setting up the spin that a widening of the war in Lebanon would be the result of Hezbollah escalation, as opposed to as Israel initiative (hoping for a response to provocation as cover). For example, see the DW headline: Hezbollah’s revenge for Beirut killing: Will it lead to war?

One wonders why Israel seems to be committing itself to an invasion of Lebanon. Is this strictly domestically driven, that it is politically unacceptable for Israel to have abandoned border towns? That Israel is worried about waning US support, witness the pressure to dial down (at least optically) Israel’s campaign in Gaza? Aljazeera articulates one widespread view, that Netanyahu is strongly motivated to keep the war at a high pitch, although he probably has some rabid allies:
…

Yes, Netanyahoo has some reasons to keep the war running by escalating it. But it is probably not because he fears an investigation into how it came to the war, as Aljazeerah implies. Such investigations can be fudged. But Netanyahoo has a higher (to him) personal interest.

A piece published two days ago by the Washington Post catches the essence of his motivation:

Splits are increasingly visible within the emergency war cabinet in which Netanyahu shares power with his political rival, former IDF chief of staff Benny Gantz, among others. Gantz and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant have declined to appear with Netanyahu at some recent news conferences. Both have expressed more openness to the ideas pushed by Biden for a postwar government in Gaza that relies on a restored Palestinian Authority, a notion that Netanyahu and the more extremist members of his coalition have dismissed.

Gantz, whose popularity has soared, has said that politics and investigations into the failures of Oct. 7 should wait until the war eases. As some troops withdraw from Gaza, political observers are watching closely for any sign that he might be ready to make a move.

Gantz could trigger new elections by persuading five members of the coalition, many of whom have criticized Netanyahu, to join a no-confidence vote.

“The minute Gantz felt like he could leave the war cabinet, that snowball would start rolling,” Talshir said. “That is beginning to feel more possible as the situation in Gaza is stabilizing.”

“Of course,” she added, “if we have a second front with Hezbollah, it would all change again.”

Netanyahoo wants to stay in power. At any price. As soon as he is out of office the prosecutors will relaunch the dormant bribe cases against him and his wive. Both are likely to end up in jail. Given that alternative, a war in Lebanon, even one which Israel is likely to lose, may well look like a good option. But the best case for such a war would involve some U.S. promise to have his back in that war and to come to his help should the adventure go as bad as it is likely to be become.

Will Biden promise such support? I doubt it.

Today Hizbullah's Secretary General Hassan Nasralla has given another speech.

He emphasized the successes of the campaign which Hizbullah started on October 8 2023, a day after Hamas' latest revolt against Israel, along the Lebanese border with Palestine.

On the longer than 100 kilometer front all Israeli military bases have been targeted, as well as its settlements, with a total of 670 operations.
48 border posts have been targeted 495 times as well as 50 posts behind the borderline.
17 settlements, where Israeli soldiers went into hiding, have also been attacked.
Technical surveillance equipment with a cost above a $100 million has been destroyed.
The resistance published 90 videos and photos that showed the destruction of Israeli tanks and other vehicles.
Israeli media is silent about the resistance successes.
The eight Israeli hospitals nearest to the border have taken in some 2,000 wounded soldiers.
230-300,000 settlers have fled from northern Israel.
120,000 Israeli soldiers have to stay in the north to secure the border.

Nasrallah also empathized that the various resistance members can bring advantages to their respected homelands (Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen).

Since 1948 it was Israel that displaced Lebanese people and built security zones on Lebanese land. Today the settlers are fleeing and Israel is building a security belt on its side of the border.
Should the situation in Lebanon escalate it will have a chance to regain all its land that Israel still occupies.
In Iraq the resistance now has a chance to again kick the U.S. out. The U.S. claims to be there to fight ISIS but ISIS is a U.S. product.
In Yemen the resistance is winning international applause and respect for its Ansar Islam (Houthi) government.
All resistance countries are in danger of Israeli attacks should the resistance in Gaza be defeated. Helping Gaza is thereby in the interest of all those countries.

Nasrallah closed his speech with the typical greetings to the martyrs and their families.

All together Nasrallah was in a good mood. He seems to think that Israel is currently deterred from attacking Lebanon.

But even if it were to attack Lebanon Hizbullah would use it as an opportunity to better its position.

Posted by b on January 5, 2024 at 16:13 UTC | Permalink

Comments

Pacifica Advocate | Jan 6 2024 5:33 utc | 147
Re Jews and slave trading,
see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Rodrigues_Lamego
First European slave traders seem to have been Marrano/Converso Jews.

Following the War of the Portuguese Succession, the Iberian Union (1580–1640) was formed whereby the Habsburg Spanish Empire took control of Portugal. The Portuguese had established important trade routes in West Africa as part of the Portuguese Empire since the 15th century and their merchants, including Sephardic Jews started the Atlantic slave trade, whereby African slaves purchased from West African traders were brought to work sugar cane and other plantations in Portuguese America. This period, known as the “first Atlantic system”, lasted from 1502 until 1580. After the Union, the Spanish wanted to expand slavery in their American domains and so awarded an asiento, an official monopoly licence, to certain experienced traders who had knowledge of West Africa; the two main groups competing for the asiento were the Portuguese Sephardic conversos and the Genoese. Marrano slave trading families other than Rodrigues de Lamego that formed part of this international network were: Fernandes de Elvas, Jiménez, Noronha, Mendes, Pallos Dias, Caballero, Jorge and Caldeira.[5]
It is this position that was awarded to Manuel Rodrigues de Lamego from 1623 until 1631.[2] To attain this he beat off competition from Elena Rodrigues Solís, the widow of former holder António Fernandes de Elvas.[6] Rodrigues de Lamego had gained a foothold in the Atlantic slave trade as contratodore for the trade in the Portuguese West African territory of Angola.[6] His network included converso friends and relations who were bankers in Brazil and other parts of Europe, including the United Provinces of the Netherlands.[6] The sitting king of Spain, Philip IV, was favourable to the converso merchants, granting all Portuguese-born the right to trade anywhere in the Spanish Empire since 1627. Similarly sympathetic was his Prime Minister, the Count-Duke of Olivares (who had a measure of converso ancestry himself through Lope Conchillos). During the tenure of Manuel Rodrigues de Lamego, ships were allowed to register at Lisbon and not just Seville.[6] This earned him the ire of the less well off Old Christian families in Seville, who struggled to compete and lobbied the Spanish Inquisition in the contest: Manuel’s brother António was subject to an auto-da-fé for “Judaising”.[6] While Manuel Rodrigues de Lamego held the asiento, fifty-nine ships were licensed for Africa, where around eight-thousand African slaves were purchased from West African merchants, mostly from Luanda.[6] As in previous times, the two main places in the Spanish Americas that slaves from Africa were brought were Cartagena de Indias (in modern Colombia) and Veracruz (in modern Mexico)[1] from here they were distributed out towards what is today Venezuela, the Antilles and Lima (through Portobello and Panama) then by land to Upper Peru and Potosí. This transportation itself is estimated to have caused more deaths than the Atlantic crossing itself.[7]

Clicking on links of various family names mentioned in the articles on Marranos and reading about those families and their connections gives produces a fascinating picture of the extent of and the power and influence of Marrano families in the financial management and administration of the Spanish empire and also of the pan-European Marrano network, especially between Spain the Netherlands.

Posted by: Jane | Jan 6 2024 14:18 utc | 201

Honzo | Jan 5 2024 19:37 utc | 72
“Wow!Concise, scary and unfortunately, quite accurate.” canuck@93
Utter nonsense.
Equating Anarchism with fascism is simply sectarian slandering, a game played by dilettantes looking for excuses not to engage politically.
As to the inclusion of Trotskyism, a faction within Communism, together with fascism that is the sort of stuff that earns you a bonus in MI6.
Honzo makes a series of assertions about movements of which he has heard or read but clearly knows nothing.
As to canuck if he has ever read a page written by Marx I will eat the CN Tower- a pair of pseudo intellectual poseurs.
“Anarchism, Trotskyism, and Fascism are all petite bourgeois ideologies in the Marxist schema, and neocons are a particular expression of petite bourgeois ‘climbing.’ In all cases, ‘believers’ align themselves with the interests of the big bourgeoisie when those conflict with the interests of the working class.”
Posted by: Honzo | Jan 5 2024 19:37 utc | 72
Posted by: bevin | Jan 5 2024 23:40 utc | 102
It is not Marx I read but Marx/Engels as they both wrote the ‘Communist Manifesto”- you are sloppy there.
Since I am an ‘intellectual poseur’ I find it difficult to write concise statements but I will try: one of the main suppositions of the Marx/Engels theory that only the rich capitalist countries would become Communist first. Unfortunately, for the theory, the least industrialized country, Russia, was the first to go communist.
One wonders that if the first plank of the theory is so wrong headed what about the rest of the malarkey?
The Left/Right continuum is faulty. In reality the construction is not a line but a circle: with the Far Right and the Far Right (think Louis XVI v Stalin) on the top of the circle are both repressive regimes-both suppressing free will and free speech.
Opposite these repressive regimes on the opposite side of the circle is the center-that’s where governments would more justly rule.
I understand bevin, that you needed to pad your rather measly rebuttal with dramatic effect “I will eat the CN Tower if Canuk read The Communist Manifesto”.
I have read it yet I won’t hold you to your ill conceived vow; I believe you have been intellectually humiliated enough on this issue.

Posted by: canuck | Jan 6 2024 14:28 utc | 202

Seems the Merkava was God’s gift to Hamas. Each tank has a crew of three and can carry six soldiers….that’s nine per can. With well over 150 cans getting crushed, dinged, and dented, each tank could well hold 9 crispy critters, no wonder the occupiers, panties in hand, are retreating. Not a job for little girly boys.
Cheers M

Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Jan 6 2024 15:04 utc | 203

@ Posted by: Jane | Jan 6 2024 14:18 utc | 201
Although all nations and religions practiced slavery for centuries, it is not accurate that the first European slave traders have been Jews.
What we now call North Atlantic slave trade started in the mid-14th century after Ottomans conquered Eastern Europe and Balkans. Therefore, Christian Europeans lost their main source of slaves and sought new ones out of the reach of Muslims.
So Portuguese stablished the colony of São Tomé in 1493.
The island was uninhabited before the arrival of the Portuguese sometime around 1470. São Tomé, situated about 40 kilometres (25 mi) north of the equator, had a climate wet enough to grow sugarcane in wild abundance.
In 1497, 2,000 Jewish children, eight years old and under, were taken from the Iberian peninsula, to receive catholic education, following the national policy of conversion to Catholicism. The nearby African Kingdom of Kongo eventually became a source of slave labour.
Therefore, the first slaves exploited to stablish North Atlantic slave trade were Jews, mostly children.
Obviously, it doesn’t mean that Jews never participated in slave trade.

Posted by: Sentience | Jan 6 2024 15:05 utc | 204

Sentience@200….would you admit to being a racist……. Zionist?

Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Jan 6 2024 15:08 utc | 205

Posted by: Jonathan W | Jan 6 2024 15:23 utc | 206

“Noga Arbell, a former Israeli foreign ministry official, called for the “destruction” of the UN agency providing relief to Palestinian refugees.
In footage shared by Israeli media, she was seen stating: “It will not be possible to win the war if we do not destroy UNRWA. And this destruction must begin immediately.”
Her comments align with an Israeli parliamentary group lobbying to cease global funding for UNRWA, alleging it serves as a tool for Hamas, as reported by the Israel Hayom newspaper.”
(Ahram blog)
Does anyone doubt they would bomb any UN peace corps?

Posted by: Minaa | Jan 6 2024 15:25 utc | 207

I do not admit that the dog in the manger has the final right to the manger even though he may have lain there for a very long time. I do not admit that right. I do not admit, for instance, that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America, or the black people of Australia. I do not admit that a wrong has been done to those people by the fact that a stronger race, a higher grade race, or, at any rate, a more worldly-wise race, to put it that way, has come in and taken their place.’
Posted by: Sentience | Jan 6 2024 14:07 utc | 200
I’ve always found that line of thinking interesting.
The first thing I usually ask, and it’s usually enough to collapse the mentality of the kind of nutjob who actually believes this piece of sophistry by W.C is:

“Yeah, but what if the White Man is not the superior race you speak of? Is it fine if a stronger race, a higher grade race, or, at any rate, a more worldly-wise race comes along one day and boots the White Race out of his ‘ancestral lands’ as we see happening in the UK and EU and indeed the USA as we speak? Does this ‘principle’ apply to our brothers of the darker persuasion too? If so – I’m all for it!”

(The response is usually some argument in favour of white supremacy.)
The Analogy I usually make, which matches this ideology perfectly in my opinion is something along these lines:

I do not admit that the father who built the family home has the final right to the family home even though he may have lived there for a very long time. I do not admit that the owner of this bank account has done a better job of managing this money than someone else who came along and took the account and managed the money better. I do not admit that I can satisfy my wife better than any other man on earth, indeed there are probably millions of men who could do a better job of satisfying my wife than I can. I do not admit that right. I do not admit that a man is a better father to his children if a man of higher grade race, or, at any rate, a more worldly-wise race, to put it that way, has come in and taken his children and acted as father to his children.”

There’s always an argument for why some other guy could be a better lover to your wife and and father to your children. There’s always an argument for why some nation across the seas would probably be a better slave-master to your nation than your own leaders and probably better running your life for you than you are.
The question is always is this rule applicable to the White Man too? If so, white man, the Yellow Man is coming for you …

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Jan 6 2024 15:29 utc | 208

Israel assassinated Aruri because the US told them not to initiate a war with Lebanon, so they limited their attack to the Hamas and the resistance, thinking that would put Hezbullah in the position of either not responding, or of themselves triggering the wider war. In other words, they thought Hezb would act with the enraged mentality mirroring their own. But the response has been: No. We will restore the balance with a thought-out response, and it will be up to you if you want to trigger a war, which will be very costly for you. In other words, this has been the playing-out of the two mentalities.
Secondly, the latest speech, along with the visit of Hochstein to Israel, outline a different path for Israel to get peace on the border: Peace in exchange for concessions on all the occupied lands along the border from Ras Tanoura in the east to Sheba Farms in the west.
This is the gist of what is reported and analyzed in Al-Akhbar, the best-informed of the public sources.

Posted by: Badger | Jan 6 2024 15:41 utc | 209

What we now call North Atlantic slave trade started in the mid-14th century . . .
Posted by: Sentience | Jan 6 2024 15:05 utc | 204
================
What you (“we” ((:-)) call the North Atlantic slave trade cannot by definition be what is generally called the “Atlantic slave trade” or the “transatlantic slave trade,” as the latter refers to the trade between the Old and New Worlds.
Of course for centuries prior to 1492 slaves of all colors and confessions were taken in various ways by many actors—including raids on coastal communities and capturing sailors who had been impressed into service in the first place—and traded throughout Europe, SW Asia, and India.

Posted by: Jane | Jan 6 2024 16:00 utc | 210

Methane Dome?
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/air-forces-giant-missile-detecting-balloon-spotted-along-lebanese-border/

Air force’s giant missile-detecting balloon spotted along Lebanese border
Residents of northern Israel and southern Lebanon have spotted the Israeli Air Force’s new giant missile-detecting balloon, which has largely been out of service during the past year and a half.
The detection system, dubbed “Elevated Sensor,” or “Sky Dew” in Israel, is deployed at high altitudes to detect incoming long-range missiles, cruise missiles and drones.
The system is not yet operational and has seen significant setbacks with its deployment.
…

Posted by: anon2020 | Jan 6 2024 16:34 utc | 211

https://twitter.com/IrnaEnglish/status/1742478425892306952
– South Africa will win the genocide case against Israel.
– The Biden administration will be condemned by the International Court of Justice (@CIJ_ICJ) for complicity in genocide.
Says Francis Boyle, a professor of international law and the first lawyer to win a case at the ICJ under the Genocide Convention.

Posted by: sarz | Jan 6 2024 17:24 utc | 212

Posted by: sarz | Jan 6 2024 17:25 utc | 213

Netanyahoo wants to stay in power. At any price.
This statement is in my opinion completely wrong. Everybody seems to believe that Netanyahu is a corrupt power hungry, selfish and opportunistic politician. This is very far from the truth. Corruption is a fact that cannot be denied but the reasons behind this corruption are that it is useful to advance an agenda. He is willing to risk his career, image, and personal freedom in the service of the advancement of this agenda.
The self serving opportunistic image of his that is being widely portrayed is a very counter-productive simplification that does a great disservice to any attempt to understand current actions and predict future moves.
Posted by: Lebanese | Jan 6 2024 12:38 utc | 197
I agree totally.
This widespread cliché, that passes as analysis, that wars are started and prolonged because this leader or that wants to stay in power or deflect public scrutiny from some or other of his problems is meaningless and useless.
It’s intellectual laziness, which has generally taken over the western mind, and beyond.
It’s the same as – the US is behind everything that takes place anywhere, or, whomever the US/West criticize MUST be a good guy, so the established truth about the “good guy” must be a lie, and so forth.
I do not waste my time any more on such “analysis”, but spend it on looking into serious research and analysis which delve into the full context and all relevant facts and elements of any given issue or events, and in particular – wars.

Posted by: JB | Jan 6 2024 18:08 utc | 214

I will now have to re-evaluate my view about … Scott Ritter!
Posted by: Ed | Jan 6 2024 0:14 utc | 111
I agreed when he thought Ukraine’s collapse was imminent in September Russia had other plans.
Otherwise his track record is spotless in my view.
He informed me on potential implications of Russian missile production.

Posted by: David G Horsman | Jan 6 2024 18:49 utc | 215

https://twitter.com/decensorednews/status/1743422637781512339
Posted by: Menz | Jan 6 2024 8:06 utc | 165
===============
Thanks for this link!
So glad that Blumenthal and Mate socked it to this WaPo dame.
One other point—just a small point, perhaps—but it sure seemed like she used the other call as an excuse to avoid answering Blum and Mate’s questions.
She could very easily have told her other caller, whom she left hanging on the line for about 5 mins anyhow, that she was on another important call and would call the second caller back in ten minutes.
Her formula of “talking through things” also sounds like psychobabble to me. Like, Blumenthal and Mate have a problem and she would be glad to help them understand by talking them through it. She was flustered at the idea that she was the one being challenged.
She probably wanted to get rid of them so that she could consult her superiors and find out what to say.

Posted by: Jane | Jan 6 2024 19:07 utc | 216

Amid Israeli Destruction in Gaza, a New Crime Against Humanity Emerges: Domicide
Observers of Israel’s fierce bombing campaign in Gaza are invoking the term ‘domicide.’ Will the deliberate and systematic destruction of homes and basic infrastructure soon be legally defined as a crime against humanity – and where does this leave Israel?
(Haaretz)
Posted by: Jonathan W | Jan 6 2024 15:23 utc | 206
==========
It should be defined as a crime against humanity.
Because it is.
Great idea for sign. Stop the Gaza genocide and domicide.

Posted by: Jane | Jan 6 2024 19:11 utc | 217

Not a lot of detail to Mount Meron receiving 62 missiles. best I’ve seen so far
https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/why-did-hezbollah-strike-the-israeli–meron–intelligence–a

Posted by: paxmark1 | Jan 6 2024 19:22 utc | 218

@Lebanese, JB
Well let’s hear the intellectually non-lazy analysis to explain the motives underlying the current actions and explain the future. N is facing corruption charges and will go to a trial when he leaves govt. This is a factual observation.
Beyond the most popular explanation of wanting to provoke other regional players, drag the US in etc.
Also, everyone who stands up to the US is a “good guy” is a strawman argument.
The US are forever criticizing every GCC leader, never heard a good word about any them, they seem to be on everybody’s most hated / evil list.
As are Taliban, Modi and Anwaar Kakar.
Same applies to many Central Asian and African leaders.
Xi, Putin, Khamenei are polarising to say the least although Putin probably has more cheerleaders than anyone else here on MoA (I don’t think he’s “good”. Maybe for Russia but certainly he’s not going to lift a finger to help Palestine beyond protecting Russian interests related to Syria, Iran and alternatives to dollar trade).
Do enlighten those of us who don’t think in terms of fairy tale good evil but are nonetheless accused of doing so.
For example, South Africa has made a courageous decision backed within 12 hours by 57 OIC countries which means there was a lot of strategic coordination in the background. Is this about morality and goodness? Or the experience of these countries with imperialism and a desire to get out from under the yoke to get on with their own national objectives.
Replacing condescension with the brilliant insight that is missing would be much appreciated.

Posted by: Pq | Jan 6 2024 19:26 utc | 219

To add to #219
The issue is not good Vs evil but rather respect for international law and its consistent application.
We have seen the subversion of international law by the “rules based order”. We see the projection of military power by NATO in areas nowhere near the North Atlantic while the reverse is not true.
We see weaponization of the current financial system in which USD, £ and € play a dominant role, again because of the ability to set artificially higher value against their own printing presses.
Look at the CFA Franc in Africa which is complete robbery .
In the case of Israel Palestine, international law has consistently been undermined, in favour of sham political processes, first Oslo and the 20 years of the Quartet I’f Russia, EU, US and UN but no NAM e.g.
The double standards and hypocrisy come from the Collective Waste.

Posted by: Pq | Jan 6 2024 19:41 utc | 220

South Africa will win the genocide case against Israel… Says Francis Boyle, a professor of
@ sarz | Jan 6 2024 17:24 utc | 212
Having (prematurely?) given up on international law some time ago, I’m continually impressed with the names of folks lauding SA’s ICJ “application” — their 84-page genocide indictment of 48. Craig Murray and John Mearsheimer are also excited about prospects for this lawsuit:
https://scheerpost.com/2024/01/05/john-mearsheimer-genocide-in-gaza/
Marjorie Cohn wrote this excellent summary:
https://truthout.org/articles/israel-is-terrified-the-world-court-will-decide-its-committing-genocide/

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Jan 6 2024 20:12 utc | 221

I was thinking, Israel as an ethno state was created in 1948, nearly two decades before the US Civil Rights movement outlawed “separate but equal.” Am I wrong to think Israel could or never have legally happened post the Civil Rights movement?

Posted by: Willow | Jan 6 2024 22:14 utc | 222

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Jan 6 2024 20:12 utc | 221
Good reads, thanks.

Posted by: Forest | Jan 6 2024 22:21 utc | 223

Posted by: Willow | Jan 6 2024 22:14 utc | 222
The local PBS station had a documentary on Fannie Lou Hamer.
Very inspirational. I had not known of Hamer.

Posted by: Forest | Jan 6 2024 22:25 utc | 224

From Prof Michel Chossudovsky:
A Message to Israeli, U.S. and NATO Soldiers and Pilots: It’s Genocide, “Disobey Unlawful Orders, Abandon the Battlefield”
https://www.globalresearch.ca/this-christmas-i-have-tears-in-my-eyes/5844151

Posted by: JB | Jan 6 2024 22:50 utc | 225

Posted by: bevin | Jan 6 2024 22:59 utc | 226

The way it works for “Gowd’s Own” in Plalestine:
Tadhg
@TadhgHickey
‘Rome Bargains’
Dir. @SwanIGuess
Feat. @_ThomasLawrance
& Marianna Frau
https://twitter.com/TadhgHickey/status/1743267807486153081

Posted by: Menz | Jan 6 2024 23:04 utc | 227

Not a lot of detail to Mount Meron receiving 62 missiles. best I’ve seen so far
Posted by: paxmark1 | Jan 6 2024 19:22 utc | 218
The question that really gets me gnawing my nails is why Hezbollah didn’t hit it much sooner, and why the other coordination base is still running …

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Jan 7 2024 0:22 utc | 228

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Jan 7 2024 0:22 utc | 228
IMO, Hezbollah will not escalate hostilities for a couple of reasons:
1. Safeguading its position in Lebanon is a priority – by entering cabinet it signaled its intention to become a national institution rather than an international one. Nasrallah has repeatedly stated that Hezbollah is, first and foremost, committed to Lebanese National interests:
“We come to the issue of commitment to the interests of the country. This is one of the criteria of patriotism. Committing to the interests of the country – I talked about this before; we were at the dialogue table in 2006 when someone told us that ‘you serve Iran’s interests’.
I repeated this in several speeches, and now I will repeat it and tell all the Lebanese – these television channels, newspapers, and social media are present – bring me one piece of evidence during the Forty Springs, i.e., 40 years [since Hezbollah’s founding] that prove Hezbollah carried out something in the service of Iran and not Lebanon. Provide me with only one proof. I do not want two but one. Yet, they don’t have one proof.
Therefore, the leaders were all present at the table, and the one who accused me was also there, and he could not present a single proof.” https://english.alahednews.com.lb/69213/385
Hezbollah’s current modus operandi is one of deterrence rather than war-fighting.
2. In his 3 November address, he was very careful to frame the present conflict as one planned by Hamas alone; implying that the only red line line for Hezbollah is if Israel launches a preemptive attack on Lebanon, it would react proportionally.

Posted by: Menz | Jan 7 2024 1:34 utc | 229

Arch,
The other thing I wanted to mention, I do not believe we should get your hopes too high on the outcome of the South African ICJ case of genocide against Israel but lets all cross our fingers that the SA case succeeds. Watch Norman Finkelstein provide his analysis and prediction based on Realpolitik, he is a Professor of Political Studies and most qualified to comment on anything Palestinian:
Akunjee 🖋
@mohammedakunjee
Norman Finkelstein provides his analysis and prediction on South Africa’s ICJ case of Genocide against Israel. – worth a listen.
https://twitter.com/mohammedakunjee/status/1743665609794019391?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

Posted by: Menz | Jan 7 2024 1:56 utc | 230

@ Menz | Jan 7 2024 1:56 utc | 230
I expect the SA case to fail, despite its obvious merits, and precisely for the reason NF details. But that’s okay; the court can’t enforce its judgments, and a negative ruling will discredit an institution that is more than ripe for the discrediting.

Posted by: malenkov | Jan 7 2024 2:35 utc | 231

I’m not convinced by the idea that Netanyahu is motivated by fear of prison. I think his motivation is frustration with his father’s abstract and ineffectual intellectual approach to Zionism.
My reasoning is that it’s 100% obvious that genocide is totally incompatible with Israel’s future existence and Judaism’s future existence. It’s like he’s saying:
” This is what your intellectual blathering about Jewish supremacy looks like inreality. Either do it, if you are sure of your religious convictions, or stop masturbating about Jewish supremacy in your ivory tower world which is totally disconnected to the real world”.
There is only one solution to Jewish supremacy, which is to give them a large space far from any neighbours.
What Bibi is saying is that the mythological, eschatological dream is incompatible with the geopolitical location of Israel. They must either drop their exceptionalism and be a normal country, or go make a monastery in some remote corner of the world.
I see him entirely as a rebel against Jewish isolationism, trying to get his co- religionists to be normal and have normal relations with neighbours.
If Israel is destroyed in its current form, Netanyahu will die a happy man.
Zionism is totally toxic and it doesn’t help to have USUK pushing you into depravity. I personally think Netanyahu is trying to convince the Zionists of the impossibility of their fantasies being realised.
The reality is that Christian , Muslim and Confucian values predominate in the world and Jews must accept their minority status and irrelevance in order to survive.

Posted by: Giyane | Jan 7 2024 2:35 utc | 232

@ Canuck 202
How did I know you’d reference the communist manifesto, a piece of commissioned propaganda, as the one work of Marxism you’ve read.
He’s right, you’re a poser.

Posted by: Canuck Cracker | Jan 7 2024 2:36 utc | 233

The ICJ action puts the ICC in check. To let it go through and succeed the ICJ is to ‘notarize’ a crime for future prosecution, meaning nowhere will be safe evermore. To then ignore it in the ICC shows that institution to be a farce for one-way abuse. To pull shenanigans to make it fail in the ICJ reveals undue influence corruptive tendrils. To “pro-actively litigate it” in the ICC, as Scotland Yard (UK) is doing — with my cynicism expecting the UK to run cover for Israel by investigating and purposely failing their case — again shows a double standard in the ICC, AND reveals undue influence within the UK.
All results lead to revelation and diminishment of the corrupted. Even in failure it wins. And it is such a threat that it cannot be ignored, it demands more resources be wasted on it. The cost benefit analysis shows it to be a high return attempt with beneficial side effects regardless of success.

Posted by: titmouse | Jan 7 2024 2:38 utc | 234

@ Arch Bungle | Jan 6 2024 15:29 utc | 208

If so, white man, the Yellow Man is coming for you …

Oh, no, shades of Jack London and The Yellow Peril!

Posted by: majoab | Jan 7 2024 2:50 utc | 235

To “pro-actively litigate it” in the ICC, as Scotland Yard (UK) is doing — with my cynicism expecting the UK to run cover for Israel by investigating and purposely failing their case — again shows a double standard in the ICC, AND reveals undue influence within the UK.
Posted by: titmouse | Jan 7 2024 2:38 utc | 234
Thanks, this is very insightful. I was puzzling for a while, wondering where Scotland Yard all of a sudden discovered the moral bone in it’s body.

It should have been obvious though – Scotland Yard never made a peep about war crimes or international law until South Africa’s ICJ case came about. What convenient timing …

It’s clear: Scotland Yard’s ICC case is an attempt to muddy the waters around the ICJ case – perhaps delay the ICJ case by insisting the ICC case take place before the ICJ one …

Of course, it’s completely misguided … Unless TPTB plan to offer up Netanyahoo as a sacrificial lamb (or more precisely “sin goat”) to the ICC in the hope that all Izzrael’s war crimes can be dumped onto Netanyahoo.

Yet, even that will not absolve Izzrael of the charges against it in the ICJ … So I’m not sure what sense that ploy would make, if indeed it is a ploy.
Indeed, if this Scotland Yard investigation is a ploy, they might end up getting hoisted on their own petard by being force to pursue it to completion in the ICC alongside the ICJ case.

In which case the S.Y investigation seems like a desperate and miguided forced error on the part of TPTB.

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Jan 7 2024 2:54 utc | 236

Oh, no, shades of Jack London and The Yellow Peril!
Posted by: majoab | Jan 7 2024 2:50 utc | 235
Of course, Yellow Peril might not be the appropriate term anymore *hint* *hint* …

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Jan 7 2024 2:56 utc | 237

I was just reading how Israel dropped a bomb on a house.
A single “house” . Killed 17, 12 were children, wounded many others. Was a “house” of refugees.
If if they “suspected” “Hamas terrorist” were there, are they saying they are so inept, or cowardly they could send a raid team in to infiltrate a “house”. ??
These genocidal nut bars really need to be locked up.
This is just one event of many of the cowardly, terrorist acts of these people.

Posted by: Trubind1 | Jan 7 2024 2:58 utc | 238

Menz @ 230, re Finkelstein’s analysis.
Finkelstein obviously knows a lot more than I do.
Nevertheless I question his premises.
His main premise is that the judeges are so politicized that their own judgments will purely reflect the political stances of their home countries re Israel.
There is a difference between a diplomat, who always must represent his nation’s interests and follow orders from command central, and a judge. A judiciary is supposed to be indepedent. Finkelstein states that only “politics” are relevant.
I hope that these judges’ “job description” is to achieve justice in the case presented to them according to international law. Not treat a serious charge concerning a catastrophe—a savage genocide & domicide—that is taking place in full view of the whole world as merely a political football.
Second is his premise that if the judge of certain countries find this charge plausible, then their nations could also be accused of genocide. China and Russia have been accused of genocide. Has anyone brought formal charges to test the case?
This premise seems to ride on the assumption that all charges are the same and interchangeable. If that is the case, then it more ore less neutralizes the whole idea of a court, an investigation, and judges who weigh actual evidence and legal arguments.
A mere accusation = guilty as accused?
That is nonsense. The whole point of a court is to hear evidence an adversarial legal arguments—charges and defenses—-and to make a judgment.
To me Finkelstein’s two premises, taken together, pretty much castrate the ICJ and the idea of a court of justice, whether domestic, national, or international. If there is no such thing as an independent international judiciary, the judges might as well pack their bags and go home.
[[Quite apart from the fact that these justices surely are smart enough to grasp that history will judge them, too.]]

Posted by: Jane | Jan 7 2024 3:07 utc | 239

Posted by: Menz | Jan 7 2024 1:56 utc | 230
Posted by: malenkov | Jan 7 2024 2:35 utc | 231
I’m with malenkov on this one:
If the ICJ fails to produce a verdict of genocide and mandates to intervene it will discredit itself leaving the RoTW free to discard any obligations they’ve made to the ICJ conventions.
IF the ICJ produces a judgement in favour of the Palestinians – Good. Yes it’s power to enforce anything is limit but one more nail in the empire coffin is progress.
The worst outcomes:
– The case never reaches the ICJ.
– The ICJ produces no provisional mandates to stop the genocide
– The ICJ drags the process out over months to years (while Izzrael happily creates facts on the ground in Gaza and the W.B … i.e “eats the evidence as well as the victims of the crime”).
What could push dishonest actors in the ICJ to make a rapid determination:
Ansarullah, Hezbollah, Jamaa Islamiya, Hashd Al Shaabi etc. escalate the pressure on Izzrael to such an extent that the only way to calm things down is to produce a judgement for intervention as a mask to save Izzrael’s ass.

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Jan 7 2024 3:09 utc | 240

IMO, Hezbollah will not escalate hostilities for a couple of reasons:
Posted by: Menz | Jan 7 2024 1:34 utc | 229
All valid reasons and in line with Hezbollah’s historical statements.
However, Hezbollah may not for much longer have a choice in the matter:
The Izzraelis have stated an intention to move Lebanese forces north of the Litani river. They need the Litani river.
Regardless of any current conflicts around the Palestinian issue itself, Hezbollah is aware of a day of reckoning that will come when Izzrael tries to realize ‘Eretz Israel’ including the Litani. Moreover, Hezbollah still needs to fulfil it’s promise to liberate the Shebaa farms and the Lebanese villages occupied by the IDf (e.g Gajar).
Hezbollah may choose to wait for Izzrael to come to it, or it may choose to go to Izzrael.

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Jan 7 2024 3:21 utc | 241

[[Quite apart from the fact that these justices surely are smart enough to grasp that history will judge them, too.]]
Posted by: Jane | Jan 7 2024 3:07 utc | 239
____
Well, even in the unlikely event that a goodly number of the judges aren’t politicized hacks, it would all boil down to: Risk the condemnation of history at some time in the distant future, or risk one’s well-being, and that of one’s loved ones, now?
As John Bolton once so trenchantly put it, “We know where your kids live.”

Posted by: malenkov | Jan 7 2024 3:47 utc | 242

Addendum to previous: Mysterious airplane or car crashes. Suicide by two bullets to the back of the skull. Slow mysterious poisoning. Manufactured sex scandals.
And so forth.
Hell hath no fury like CIA or Mossad scorned.

Posted by: malenkov | Jan 7 2024 3:53 utc | 243

Posted by: Menz | Jan 7 2024 1:56 utc | 230
Posted by: malenkov | Jan 7 2024 2:35 utc | 231
Posted by: Arch Bungle | Jan 7 2024 3:09 utc | 240
I’ve just had a listen to the Izzraeli spokesorganism (Eylon Levy’s) response to the South African case.
He states that Izzrael will appear before the court to debunk the charges.
If Izzrael truly intends to appear before the entire world in a court of law and explain away genocide, ethnic cleansing, mass murder, domicide and dozens of other war crimes, and if truly the ICJ intends to black hole the verdict it would be a stunning – an egregious – reveal of incompetence, corruption and cynicism of the court and the international system of ‘laws and conventions’.
If Izzrael had lays low and simply ignores the court it might have a chance of manipulating things from behind the scenes but to publicly appear to make an argument in favour of genocide would literally upend the entire global moral order:
– If Izzrael “wins” it’s argument before the court it would essentially legitimize genocide and ethnic cleansing for all countries in the world.
– Or if not for others and only Izzrael: get the System of International Law to hold Izzrael as a privileged group above all humankind by allowing them genocidal privileges not permitted to other nations
Either way, the vision of Izzrael proclaiming before all the world that it is above the laws, morals and conventions of mere mortals will certainly bring about the disintegration of any legitimacy of the international legal system (to the extent such a thing even exists – and I have my doubts!).
Re:
Posted by: malenkov | Jan 7 2024 3:47 utc | 242

As John Bolton once so trenchantly put it, “We know where your kids live.”

I don’t think they can play that game this time. The judges are all accountable to their own countries as well as being accountable to the ICJ. They are also (to whatever extent) protected by their home countries, a threat against an ICJ judge is essentially a threat against his/her home state.
Yes, some countries will be amenable to pressure and incentives but it will become very obvious which is which and most of these countries are outside of the Western sphere of total control and could be prevailed upon by China and Russia.

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Jan 7 2024 4:06 utc | 244

Any minute now, Augusto PiPi, genocidal and the other zionist crackheads that infest the forums are going creep out and celebrate the the fact that baby Zacharia was blown to bits by God’s Chosen People before he even had his last nappy change:

Strike killed at least five people… including baby Zakaria who was just 5-day-old”
UN OCHA Representative, Gemma Connell, spoke with the BBC on Tuesday, where she said that the strikes at Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis killed baby Zakaria and spoke of “horrifying and heart-shattering” scenes.

Israeli strike kills five people, including 5-day-old baby
My message to:
1. The Zionists.
2. The Zionist Jews.
3. The Jews who do not explicitly condemn Izzrael and Israeli actions
4. The Jews who silently support zionism and Izzrael
May you, your children, your ancestors and your god boil in shit for all eternity.
May Palestinians grow olive trees over your graves for ten thousand years hence, long after your history has been expunged from the rectum of human memory.

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Jan 7 2024 4:21 utc | 245

Hezbollah Rejects French, U.S. Call For Ceasefire; Launches ‘Direct Attacks’ On Israeli Positions
Looks like the Zionists are hurting and have run screaming to Uncle Sam and Aunt France …

Lebanon’s Hezbollah group has reportedly refused a ceasefire with Israel amid clashes. Al Jazeera reported U.S. and France began mediation efforts amid ongoing clashes. The report said that Hezbollah is not interested in ceasing the hostilities with Israel. Al Jazeera report added that Israel was also not in favor of a ceasefire with Lebanon. …

Al Jazeera report added that Israel was also not in favor of a ceasefire with Lebanon.
Well, of course they would not want to appear in favor.

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Jan 7 2024 4:49 utc | 246

re: Posted by: Arch Bungle | Jan 7 2024 4:49 utc | 246
When all that failed, they sent top dog EU Borrell, another decrypt “leader”. He met will Lebanon “acting Prime Minister”, the Lebanon Defense Minister, and even a representative group of Hezbollah.
It was hard to read through the tea leaves of the “need to de-escalate” & “and imperative the war doesn’t expand” and how he’s told “Israel the same thing”. Sounds like trying to “assure” all, how he is gonna make sure Resolution 1701 whereby Israel was supposed to remove all their forces from Southern Lebanon (years ago) and so on, that he’d make sure that happens, and who knows what other deals or “assurances”, bribes or threats, but his “visit” came upon the US/France “initiatives”.
Interesting to me, reading the “Al-Manar timeline” of events… it appears Hezbollah attacked Israel @ 6:05 — 8ish, 1:00ish, and 5ish. Five times on Saturday as Borrell was “visiting”.
I’m sensing Nasarallah was un-impressed.

Posted by: Trubind1 | Jan 7 2024 5:18 utc | 247

Posted by: Jane | Jan 7 2024 3:07 utc | 239
Thank you Jane, for that well considered reply. I pray that you are right.
Since that post, I have discovered that the ICJ had approached South African, Dikgang Moseneke, to join the bench of 15 permanent judges in an ad hoc capacity. As well, once elected, “a Member of the Court is a delegate neither of the government of his own country nor of that of any other State. Unlike most other organs of international organizations”.
Thank you for your eye opening reply.

Posted by: Menz | Jan 7 2024 5:41 utc | 248

There is only one solution to Jewish supremacy, which is to give them a large space far from any neighbours.
@ Giyane | Jan 7 2024 2:35 utc | 232
Relocating the entire zionist entity and citizenry to the melting Arctic Sea Ice seems a most palatable solution.

Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | Jan 7 2024 6:24 utc | 249

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Jan 7 2024 4:21 utc | 245
Tragic about true civilians that die in war. All deaths in Gaza are on hamas who don’t care about gazans.
I have been vocal for peace and life, however many at moa are for war and death based on falsehoods and preposterous idealisms.

Posted by: Genocidal | Jan 7 2024 6:36 utc | 250

Checkout wikipedia- Arab slave trade refers to various periods in which a slave trade has been carried out under the auspices of Arab peoples or Arab countries.
Examples include:
Trans-Saharan slave trade
Indian Ocean slave trade
Red Sea slave trade
Barbary slave trade
Slavery in Tunisia
Slavery in Libya
Slavery in Sudan
Slavery in Mauritania
Slavery in Yemen

Posted by: Genocidal | Jan 7 2024 6:41 utc | 251

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Jan 7 2024 3:21 utc | 241
The village of Ghajar is Lebanese territory occupied by Israel. Hezbollah’s position is clear: “There will not be a quiet solution to this issue”.

Posted by: Menz | Jan 7 2024 7:02 utc | 252

Posted by: Menz | Jan 7 2024 7:02 utc | 253

ZH has a posting up withthe title
Hezbollah Strikes Israel Intel Base With 60+ Rockets As “Initial Response” To Hamas Leader Assassination
the quotes

Hezbollah on Saturday initiated what it announced as “an initial response” to Israel’s assassination by drone of Hamas deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri, which happened in a south Beirut neighborhood last week.
The Lebanese paramilitary group backed by Iran unleashed large salvos of missiles that bombarded military bases as well as communities in northern Israel (many of which have long been evacuated), triggering alert sirens among some 90 towns and settlements.
The Hezbollah statement declared that the assault was “part of the initial response to the crime of assassinating the great leader Sheikh Saleh al-Arouri.”
The Israel Defense Forces in a follow-up statement said some 40 rockets were fired from Lebanon at the Mount Meron area in particular, which contains a crucial IDF base which reportedly has overseen Israeli operations against Syria.
Hezbollah indicated it launched 62 “various types of missiles” against the Meron air control base as part of Saturday’s retaliatory attacks, however, Israel said there were no casualties in the aftermath.
…..
Later in the day Saturday, the IDF said it launched multiple airstrikes on Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon in response, and released footage showing attacks on buildings and rural sites said to include a “terrorist squad, launch site, military buildings and terrorist infrastructure.”

Posted by: psychohistorian | Jan 7 2024 7:03 utc | 254

@ Genocidal | Jan 7 2024 6:41 utc | 251
Racist zionist fascist hasbara psychopathic shill. Blocked.

Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | Jan 7 2024 7:14 utc | 255

The Cradle has a posting up about the effectiveness of the Houthi’s
https://new.thecradle.co/articles/maersk-suspends-red-sea-journeys-as-us-led-coalition-flounders

Posted by: psychohistorian | Jan 7 2024 7:15 utc | 256

Checkout wikipedia- Arab slave trade refers to various periods in which a slave trade has been carried out under the auspices of Arab peoples or Arab countries.
Posted by: Genocidal | Jan 7 2024 6:41 utc | 251
Wrong thread, moron.

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Jan 7 2024 7:18 utc | 257

I have been vocal for peace and life,
Posted by: Genocidal | Jan 7 2024 6:36 utc | 250
No, you’ve been vocal for genocide, ethnic cleansing, Jewish colonial occupations. That’s what you’re known for here on MoA.

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Jan 7 2024 7:20 utc | 258

Relocating the entire zionist entity and citizenry to the melting Arctic Sea Ice seems a most palatable solution.
Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | Jan 7 2024 6:24 utc | 249
They can join Elon and the elites on Mars.

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Jan 7 2024 7:23 utc | 259

“When the Quarrel Is Jewish”
Atrocity Propaganda, Moral Idealism, and the West
Marshall Yeats • January 5, 2024
https://www.unz.com/article/when-the-quarrel-is-jewish/
(Some interesting contemporary accounts of English investigations into the 19th century ethnic riots in Poland-Ukraine )

Posted by: Exile | Jan 7 2024 7:45 utc | 260

As John Bolton once so trenchantly put it, “We know where your kids live.”
Posted by: malenkov | Jan 7 2024 3:47 utc | 242
Don’t Bolton and company have any kids? Be careful what you wish for Johnnie boy.

Posted by: Jonathan W | Jan 7 2024 7:52 utc | 261

Kudos to Bolton for summarizing the US diplomacy and foreign policy. Same for Israel I guess.

Posted by: Jonathan W | Jan 7 2024 7:56 utc | 262

Posted by: Jonathan W | Jan 7 2024 7:52 utc | 261
i think Bolton splits into 2 parts every few years and then the two parts fight and the winner eats the loser.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Jan 7 2024 8:08 utc | 263

When Bolton opens his mouth he sounds like a capricious old man that suffers constantly from irritable bowel syndrome.

Posted by: Menz | Jan 7 2024 8:29 utc | 264

It’s not only about Bolton. Don’t the US diplomatic corps have their kids with them? Is Netanyahu’s son still in the US?

Posted by: Jonathan W | Jan 7 2024 8:35 utc | 265

Posted by: anon2020 | Jan 6 2024 16:34 utc | 211
When the balloon goes up…

Posted by: Lev Davidovich | Jan 7 2024 9:22 utc | 266

@ Canuck 202
How did I know you’d reference the communist manifesto, a piece of commissioned propaganda, as the one work of Marxism you’ve read.
He’s right, you’re a poser.
Posted by: Canuck Cracker | Jan 7 2024 2:36 utc | 233
Incorrect.
I have been labelled by bevin as an ‘intellectual poseur’-not as a simple dyed in the wool , ‘poser’-get your facts and language straight.
And you, with your copy cat moniker, what would you call yourself? A “Poser’s poser”?
Anyways, have a good day fellow fake Canuk.

Posted by: canuck | Jan 7 2024 11:31 utc | 267

“If Izzrael truly intends to appear before the entire world in a court of law and explain away genocide, ethnic cleansing, mass murder, domicide and dozens of other war crimes, and if truly the ICJ intends to black hole the verdict it would be a stunning – an egregious – reveal of incompetence, corruption and cynicism of the court and the international system of ‘laws and conventions’.
If Izzrael had lays low and simply ignores the court it might have a chance of manipulating things from behind the scenes but to publicly appear to make an argument in favour of genocide would literally upend the entire global moral order:”
Posted by: Arch Bungle | Jan 7 2024 4:06 utc | 244
I agree Arch-by appearing before the court Israel gives legitimacy to the court.

Posted by: canuck | Jan 7 2024 11:39 utc | 268

i think Bolton splits into 2 parts every few years and then the two parts fight and the winner eats the loser.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Jan 7 2024 8:08 utc | 263
____
No, unfortunately. Both parts get high-level positions inside the Beltway … and so on.

Posted by: malenkov | Jan 7 2024 11:41 utc | 269

Posted by: canuck | Jan 7 2024 11:52 utc | 270

Re: ICJ lawsuit
Washington and Tel Aviv will do everything to prevent the lawsuit from coming to trial on some technicality. The current President of the Court is a US State Department lifer, she’ll help kill the lawsuit from inside.

Posted by: Exile | Jan 7 2024 12:06 utc | 271

fyi,
https://twitter.com/AlanRMacLeod/status/1742940997536174452
Alan MacLeod @AlanRMacLeod
🤯 The craziest thing about the Jeffrey Epstein list is that Israel has killed more than 22,000 people in Gaza and forced 1.9 million people from their homes. 🤯
—
https://twitter.com/AchmatX/status/1743262524500303931
Achmat X @AchmatX
I don’t think y’all grasp what is happening in South Africa. Black people that survived apartheid went on to become judges and lawyers and are now defending Palestinians against the country that sent South Africa weapons during apartheid!

Posted by: michaelj72 | Jan 7 2024 12:13 utc | 272

@exile 271
Seems Donoghue replaced Buergenthal whose primary qualification to be on the court was that he is a Holocaust survivor….and he was the only dissenter to the 2004 ICJ opinion on THE WALL. Just another brick in the wall.

Posted by: Pq | Jan 7 2024 12:16 utc | 273

Willow | Jan 6 2024 22:14 utc | 222
1948 was also the year that the Nationalist Party, campaigning on an Apartheid platform, won power in South Africa, which then , over years, declared its independence from the UK, becoming a Republic.
It was also the year that Strom Thurmond ran for the Presidency of the US on a Dixiecrat, winning the electoral votes of several southern states.
Thurmond later became a Republican and, if I am not mistaken, was one of Joe Biden’s mentors in the Senate.
Posted by: bevin | Jan 6 2024 22:59 utc | 226
It get’s worse:
“Soon after Thurmond’s death it was revealed that at the age of 22 he had fathered a daughter out of wedlock. The mother was a 16-year-old African American maid who worked for his family.” (1)
1.https://www.britannica.com/biography/Strom-Thurmond

Posted by: canuck | Jan 7 2024 12:31 utc | 274

https://t.me/geromanat/17386

— 🛑 Israeli channel:
“There’s a weird and scary atmosphere in the Golan & northern border with Lebanon.”

Posted by: anon2020 | Jan 7 2024 13:11 utc | 275

@ Jane | Jan 6 2024 14:18 utc | 201
Thanks for that.

Posted by: Pacifica Advocate | Jan 7 2024 13:29 utc | 276

Genocidal @ 251.
Genocidal is such a dork. I hate to waste time responding to her/his idiotic posts.
But at the same time they do offer easy plays to move the ball down the field.
The only reason I can see for Genocidal’s introduction of this “slave trading” topic here is to imply that Arabs are moral reprobates and therefore have no human rights and it is OK for Zionists to steal Palestinians’ land, ethnic-cleanse them, destroy their homes, steal their personal belongings and savings, and genocide them.
The first sentence of the Wiki entry referenced:
“Arab slave trade refers to various periods in which a slave trade has been carried out under the auspices of Arab peoples or Arab countries.”
Note that by this “under auspices” definition basically all Arabs are implicated if any individuals or groups labeled “Arab” participated in the slave trade (see bolded phrase).
In truth, I think one can safely assume that only certain people who can be labeled Arab participated in trading in slaves.
For some reason there is no Wikipedia entry for “Jewish Slave Trade,” despite the fact that Jews qua Jews (either professed or cryptos) were most definitely engaging in slave trading for centuries, and at a more advanced level of commercial sophistication than most likely any Arabs cruising around the Barbary Coast or the Indian Ocean. (They might have subcontracted to “Arabs” some of their slave trading—the on-site collecting of small groups of slaves, to be consolidated into larger shipments to the New World.)
I wonder why not—why no Wiki entry “Jewish Slave Trade”?
Could it be because that would be “antisemitic”? Because it might, similarly to “Arab Slave Trade,” imply or be taken to imply by “anti-anti-semites” that all slave trading by any individual Jews or consortia of Jews implicates all Jews in trading slaves?
Of course that is why.
Not only is Genocidal a racist dork, but as earlier stated, she/he is also stupid. Just get lost.

Posted by: Jane | Jan 7 2024 14:30 utc | 277

Posted by: Jane | Jan 7 2024 14:35 utc | 278

The current President of the Court is a US State Department lifer, she’ll help kill the lawsuit from inside.
Posted by: Exile | Jan 7 2024 12:06 utc | 271
Aren’t judges from directly involved countries supposed to recuse themselves due to potential conflict of interest?
Even the South African judge should recuse himself, to be consistent.

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Jan 7 2024 14:38 utc | 279

Posted by: Jane | Jan 7 2024 14:35 utc | 278
well the US signed the Geneva conventions and then trashed them in various ways. i think there is so much public opposition to the genocide that practically they are forced into it, but no guarantees.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Jan 7 2024 14:38 utc | 280

Not only is Genocidal a racist dork, but as earlier stated, she/he is also stupid. Just get lost.
Posted by: Jane | Jan 7 2024 14:30 utc | 277
Well said, but as you’ve doubtless realised now, you’re casting pearls before swine.

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Jan 7 2024 14:39 utc | 281

Even the South African judge should recuse himself, to be consistent.
Posted by: Arch Bungle | Jan 7 2024 14:38 utc | 279
There is no South African judge on the ICJ. As things move ahead, both Israel and South Africa would have the right to appoint an ad hoc judge so the panel would be 17 and not 15.

Posted by: pq | Jan 7 2024 14:55 utc | 282

“Now tell us, who said that about Scott Ritter on this thread?”
Ed | Jan 6 2024 2:32 utc | 125
Good eye Ed. Interesting tactics appear here these days.

Posted by: David G Horsman | Jan 7 2024 14:57 utc | 283

Karlof your recent article was really something. Public opinion in West Asia is united and it’s at least possible it could make the difference this time. I hope so.
https://karlof1.substack.com/p/palestine-update-crooke-and-sharmine
You know, it seems to me that MBS has a golden opportunity here that aligns with his persistent attempts to improve his and SA’s image. He’s already seen his image improve by stopping the normalization of relations.
What do you and the barflies expect he will do if this escalates?

Posted by: David G Horsman | Jan 7 2024 15:24 utc | 284

“Now tell us, who said that about Scott Ritter on this thread?”
Ed | Jan 6 2024 2:32 utc | 125
Good eye Ed. Interesting tactics appear here these days.
Posted by: David G Horsman | Jan 7 2024 14:57 utc | 283
————————————————————————————
Good eye to you too David. Hope to see you around.

Posted by: Ed | Jan 7 2024 15:44 utc | 285

This does not seem to be a problem for Ritter, though, as he will keep making more big statements about other conflicts, pleasing his (cough) fangirls online…
Meanwhile, Israel gears for a long-term, Hamas-balls-crushing operations in Gaza. I’d love to know how Ritter would have reacted when told, in October, that we would be where we are now.
I have stopped taking Ritter seriously a long time ago. He only wants to excite his cheerleaders.
Posted by: Augusto Pi | Jan 5 2024 16:29 utc | 1
—————————————————————-
By the way David, and others, I did overlook this comment by Pi at #1. in my comment at #125. Someone pointed it out, but I was away.
I have always been a fan of Scott Ritter, and still am. I knew that the scandal was pay back by the intelligence community for exposing the lies and crimes of the Bush / Cheney Administration leading up to the Iraq war; and since the premise for the war was based on a deliberate lie (fixed according to one British / UN scientists, Dr. David Kelly who was found suicided a brief time later), the blood of every dead Iraqi killed during the US war on Iraq is on the hands of the of Bush/ Cheney regime and the US Congress person who voted for that war.
My point about Ritter today is that his statements about how Hamas is “winning” seems to exceed reality; but I do hope that I am wrong.

Posted by: Ed | Jan 7 2024 16:22 utc | 286

I agree Arch-by appearing before the court Israel gives legitimacy to the court.
Posted by: canuck | Jan 7 2024 11:39 utc | 268
==================
But do they have a choice?
They are signatories to whatever legal instrument (convention? treaty?) created the ICJ. Right?
Doesn’t that automatically mean that they accept the legitimacy of the court?
Posted by: Jane | Jan 7 2024 14:35 utc | 278
You are right Jane; however, if they present their case in court and lose they can’t as easily say its a “Kangaroo court” .
By being present they give more legitimacy to the ruling.

Posted by: canuck | Jan 7 2024 19:26 utc | 287

Posted by: canuck | Jan 7 2024 19:31 utc | 288

Posted by: canuck | Jan 7 2024 19:31 utc | 288
And they were about to become irrelevant as Israel normalized relations regionally.

Posted by: David G Horsman | Jan 7 2024 19:50 utc | 289

Well said, but as you’ve doubtless realised now, you’re casting pearls before swine.
Posted by: Arch Bungle | Jan 7 2024 14:39 utc | 281
===============
Well, as I said, it was an opportunity to make a point.
The larger point being that bonafide historians are intimidated away from practicing the history trade on patterns in Jewish history.

Posted by: Jane | Jan 7 2024 19:55 utc | 290

And they were about to become irrelevant as Israel normalized relations regionally.
Posted by: David G Horsman | Jan 7 2024 19:50 utc | 289
——————————————————————————-
Well, they are not “irrelevant” now are they Horseman?

Posted by: Ed | Jan 7 2024 22:31 utc | 291

There is substantial documentation of Arab “colonization” of Palestine. They intermarried with indigenous peoples already there. Residents of Palestine were called Palestinian ARABS.
Btw consensus genetic studies of ashkanazi Jews show they are close relatives of the peoples of the levant including Palestinians – but there was also plenty of intermarriage by ashkanazis. This makes the war more the tragic – cousins killing each other. I say make love love, not war.

Posted by: Genocidal | Jan 8 2024 5:48 utc | 292

Moa is in denial of major involvement of ARABS in the slave trade. You all can not read herring this by blaming Jews. Moa is also in denial of Arab colonizing and imperialism and you all can’t blame that on Jews. My point is moa seeks dirt on Jews but does not see the much worse sh-t all over the moa favored people. Of course 2 wrongs don’t make a right, but don’t be liers,deniers and hypocrites.

Posted by: Genocidal | Jan 8 2024 5:59 utc | 293

It is “red herring”, Genocidal. Which is exactly like your whole past slave trade deflection from the current event genocide. 😉 We all saw and know what you are doing and can easily read your allegiances. Your hasbara “explanation” (read: immoral justification acrobatics) is quite transparent and self-condemning.
Get your own house in order before any more silly what-about-isms, hmm? 🙂 Your soul is lost, next you will lose everything you sold it for. Deals with the Devil always has Its debts come due, and no technicalities will allow you escape. Return to humanity penitent.

Posted by: titmouse | Jan 8 2024 9:54 utc | 294

This is mostly driven by Netanyahu survival needs. The only thing between him and disgrace are ultra-right colonists, that must be foaming from their mouths about being driven from their lebanon border settlements.
Those folks are even crazier and fanatic than Netanyahu himself. If he doesn’t appease them, he is fucked.

Posted by: Marcos E | Jan 8 2024 14:36 utc | 295

“Well, they are not “irrelevant” now are they Horseman?”
Posted by: Ed | Jan 7 2024 22:31 utc | 291
Exactly Ed and this is the central to Scott Ritter’s initial views on the war. And…
They baited the US into a quagmire.
They showed the weakness of Israel’s military. Not a joke mind you, but not strong enough to take Gaza never mind the entire region. That’s clearly being discussed.
With the changes caused by drone and missle technology, they’re pretty sure they can now win.
Finally, they have made the depraved theofascist regime running Israel, and the overall attitude of it’s people, a huge topic all over the world.
Israel has lost what little support it had. It has already lost.
Times have changed.

Posted by: David G Horsman | Jan 8 2024 15:01 utc | 296

Back to Main