#us embassy in iraq

[vyorei]

Well what does the US expect when they stand with ethnic cleansers and assist them in their slaughter?

[head-post]

US embassy in Baghdad hit by rocket fire

The vicinity of the US embassy in the specially protected Green Zone in central Baghdad came under rocket fire on Thursday, an Iraqi security source told local media.

It was not immediately clear whether the embassy’s air defence systems were activated or whether there was damage. Pentagon deputy spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said that 66 US troops were wounded in a series of attacks on bases in Iraq and Syria. Local media reported:

“Explosions were heard near the US embassy in Baghdad and alarm sirens were activated inside the building. According to preliminary information, several rockets were fired in the vicinity of the embassy.”

US forces at military bases in Iraq and Syria have faced more than 70 attacks since mid-October claimed by an umbrella organisation of Iraqi Shi’ite Muslim armed groups, though diplomatic missions have been spared.

Learn more HERE

[multithinker]

Why the Iraq War Authorization Remains a Concern

Today, the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee delves into a critical issue: the need to reform and modernize the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF). This legislation, initially enacted in response to the 9/11 attacks, continues to serve as the primary legal basis for U.S. global counterterrorism operations, even after more than two decades. However, amid this forthcoming…

[sayruq]

There has been major developments in the region in the past few days that indicates regional war is imminent. Again the tweets and articles will be in chronological order.

American war ships are in the Mediterranean and Red Seas. Russia responded to that by sending planes to the Black Sea and China by sending warships to Kuwait.

We got our usual back and forth on the ground operation in Gaza

The American media is not really reporting these recent attacks on their military bases. In fact, the military is downplaying the strength of the responses by Yemeni and Syrian groups to the Gaza genocide. This is either because they want to avoid regional war or because they want to be better prepared for regional war.

This statement below seems to indicate that Iran is coming to the conclusion that open warfare is the only thing that will deter America and Israel

As for Yemen, they've declared Israeli ships will be targeted if the attack on Gaza continues (you'll see later that this is no empty threat)

By the way, Israel bombed an Egyptian military site along the border and claimed it was an accident. The Egyptian people have been calling for their government to intervene militarily and I don't think this will ease the pressure.

On the 22nd, Israel sent a small team to infiltrate Gaza. They didn't get very far

They're also struggling against Hezbollah

This meeting by the Russian foreign minister is a big deal as you'll see later

America responds to the escalating tension by deploying 'defensive systems' all over West Asia. It risks stretching itself too thin as multiple countries are already involved in the Palestian resistance with countries like Egypt and Jordan facing internal pressure to do something about the Gazan genocide

Republican Mitch McConnell has recently called Iran, Russia and China 'the new axis of evil'. It seems this is the new angle that the West has chosen because Rishi Sunak has also been comparing Hamas to Russia. This can only lead to Russia getting close to Iran which would ultimately help Hamas.

The situation in Iraq continues to deteriorate as America evacuates its embassy and warns its citizens not to use the Baghdad International Airport due to attacks by Iraqi military groups.

Here we have an Israeli commander admitting that Israel is largely on the defensive against Hezbollah and their soldiers are both traumatised and disheartened. Remember, Hezbollah has yet to officially enter the war

Blinken said that the US 'will be prepared' if Iran escalates its attacks which gives weight to that idea that the US is only trying to deescalate because its not ready yet.

A few hours ago, American bases in Syria were targeted. It's becoming clear that a major goal in the plan to defeat Israel is removing America from the picture in the region

The White House then blames Iran for the attack

More military bases targeted in Iraq

Meanwhile IDF is trying to infiltrate Gaza again. Reminder that a ground operation means that Hezbollah will officially enter the war and begun using its vast numbers of missiles and rockets. They're also attacking the West Bank, the resistance fighters have ambushed them

Yemen follows through on the threats it made by attacking a US warship with drones

Ansarullah claims there was a direct hit but the US Navy says that all drones were intercepted (using days old pictures).

So what now? First, do not expect a ceasefire. Tbh the Palestinian resistance hasn't even called for ceasefire, just an exchange of hostages.

Second of all, America itself does not believe that Israel can win this war so let's all stop acting like Palestine has already lost

Thirdly, regional war is looking more and more like reality

[criminalmindsgonewrong]

how I percieve Hotchniss:

as requested by @em-prentiss

emily:

tropes: action girl, blue blood, lady in a powersuit, back from the dead, brainy brunette, dark and troubled past, honour before reason, sarcasm personified, reckless and sexy

she/her

libra sun, scorpio moon, leo rising

bisexual 

born 12th october 1970

chaotic neutral

ENFJ personality type

cat person

only child - and very much gives only child energy

red is her favourite colour

body count: "private, thank you very much!"

her favourite movie of all time is 'Carrie' - but she can't resist a good old mystery novel

has some secret skills she doesn't really talk about or use until she needs them; plays the piano, did ballet until she was 15, can horseback ride.

her favourite book of all time is 'Jane Eyre'

dog ears her books to save her pages - either that or uses literally anything as a bookmark. argues that it makes her books look 'loved'

her favourite meal is a good cheeseburger (although she'll tell you its some kind of fancy pasta)

chews her nails when she's stressed

grew up in multiple embassies across the world including: UK, Iraq, Russia, Italy, France, Greece, Spain, and Egypt.

mommy issues galore although she'd never admit it

daddy issues, too, while we're at it.

absentee father who was 'working' all the time - only 'working' meant having affairs and avoiding their home as much as possible

her parents only put on the show of a functional, happy marriage for elizabeth's career, a charade emily was also expected to play a part in. she did so until she went away to college

her dad died when she was 23

nomadic lifestyle all her life due to her mom's job - finds it hard to settle down as a result

has a little box of mementos from each of the places she's lived, trinkets that would be of no value to anyone else but mean a lot to her

has a few small, discreet tattoos

multi-lingual but not a show off about it - sometimes dreams in italian

is also multilingual in sarcasm and often uses it to diffuse tense situations.

had an abortion when she was 15 - doesn't regret it but has always wondered. marks the day each year, even if it's just with a prayer. it's the only time she prays

✨️ religious trauma ✨️ 

rebelled against her mother as a teenager and their relationship has never really recovered

spoilt, privileged lifestyle 

likes her luxuries as a result and doesn't shy away from them 

never had too many close friends growing up - due to the moving around a lot

bit of a wild girl at college, there's not really a sexual position or an illegal substance she hasn't tried at least once (except the ones you inject, she's not insane)

still sneaks the occasional cigarette

cannot abide by any rule she considers arbitrary

loves a good horror movie, the gorier the better but the supernatural ones freak her out

has a secret passion for classical music when she’s stressed - particularly beethoven and bach

emily has a love for fine wine and is something of an amateur connoisseur, able to tell the difference between a good vintage and a cheap bottle. she and rossi bond over this.

her passion for coffee, however, is much more lax and she can drink even the roughest of instant crap. 

can also whip up a mean martini

she’s a cat person but never had a pet growing up due to all the moving around.

emily’s guilty pleasure is reality TV—she finds it oddly comforting and a way to unwind from the seriousness of her day-to-day life.

often doodles when she's on the phone—her notebooks are full of random sketches.

loves an indoor plant but finds it incredibly difficult to keep them alive

fucking loves technology and is slightly addicted to TikTok. has to limit her own screen time.

speaking of TikTok, she's totally on BookTok and loved the ACOTAR series.

loves spicy foods - often challenges herself to try the hottest dish on the menu.

bit of an adrenaline junkie, whether in her home or professional life. overly impulsive sometimes as a result

what she wears:

aaron:

tropes: badass in a nice suit, stoic leader, chronic hero syndrome, highest kill count, death glare, grumpy to her sunshine, deadpan snarker

he/him

scorpio sun, taurus moon, virgo rising

heterosexual

born 2nd november 1965

lawful good

ISTJ personality type

dog person

bodycount: 2

favourite colour is navy blue

eldest son, his brother, sean, is 11 years younger than him

his favourite book is 'one hundred years of solitude'

prioritizes his fitness and likes to take on fitness challenges to keep himself healthy

lonely childhood even though he had a little brother

abusive, drunk for a father

emotionally absent mother who was trying to deal with her own trauma

his mom died when he was 25

his dad is still alive out there somewhere but they're not in contact, and aaron has no intention of being

had to be the strong one for his little brother

comes from a pretty poor background, has built himself up to be and have everything he is and has 

always felt like more of a father than a brother to Sean because of their age gap, and the fact that he practically raised him

loves to go camping and be in the wilderness

a morning person - likes to get up and out of the house as early as possible

a very neat person - you'd be forgiven for thinking he was in the military (he never was) by the way he makes his bed and stacks his clothes

collected coins as a kid, something he never grew out of. has a very well organised collection he values greatly

keeps his books neat and tidy - always uses a bookmark

loves an old western, likes an action movie, horrors make him uncomfy and he's a secret sucker for a rom-com

reluctant green thumb and often ends up taking care of the plants that emily brings home and gives up on or gets distracted from

has a soft spot for old-school jazz and sometimes listens to it when he needs to decompress.

he's a surprisingly good cook, which is a skill he honed while having to take care of his brother, although the recipes were a lot more basic back then

still has his parents wedding rings, a fact about himself that he wrestles with since he doubts they were ever in love

prefers handwritten notes to digital reminders, is a very tactile person. never really fell in love with his phone.

hums softly when he's concentrating, a habit he's more often than not completely unaware of, and emily finds it adorable

keeps a stash of chocolate in his drawer in the office - stocks it with emily's favourites

wears his grandfather's class ring. it's the only family heirloom he has, and sometimes he feels guilty for not giving it to sean

has a collection of old vinyls from the 70s

visits the same diner every saturday for breakfast. after getting together with emily, the visits become less frequent but they still go now and then. aaron says they have the best eggs. emily thinks they're just ok, but she likes to see him happy

aaron isn't a big drinker; he'll have a few beers on a night out, or a whiskey after work occasionally, but he very rarely engages in any binge drinking. emily's only seen him really drunk a handful of times throughout their relationship.

he is, however, partial to the occasional cigar and although emily sneaks her own cigarette now and then, she can't stand the smell of them.

what he wears:

Hotchniss:

the only time hotch is not a morning person is when emily is in his bed, then he never wants to leave the comfort of the covers and the warmth of her body

hotch will watch a horror movie with emily with a straight face, but hate it the whole way through. emily will pretend to be into his action movies, and doesn't let him know she's actually bored out of her mind. their middle ground is a good western or a rom-com.

their first big fight is over a clash between their idea of 'tidy' - emily is laid back, doesn't mind a bit of clutter. aaron is...borderline ocd. they fall out over her having left a towel on the floor...again.

they are very well matched at chess, and often their games can go on for weeks in between cases and life. currently emily is winning by two games.

aaron would rather to repairs around the house himself, where as emily is used to throwing money at a problem and making it go away. they try to compromise but they're away so often for work that more often than not, emily wins because aaron just doesn't have the time, but when he does take on a project he loves the manual labour, and emily loves to sit back and watch x

it was his dream to restore a classical care so emily bought him one for his 50th birthday and its his pride and joy. he painted it red just for her

emily reads before bed and aaron does the crossword, with his glasses perched on the end of his nose and emily thinks it's the cutest thing.

emily's love of spicy foods means that more often than not aaron has to resign himself to buying her two meals when the spiciest dish on the menu is just 'a little too spicy' - he doesn't mind, really

they're both incredibly competitive. emily gets sweary and loud when she's in competition, aaron gets smug and smirky and that drives emily up the wall. their second biggest fight, ever, was over a game of monopoly. it's been banned in their household ever since.

emily takes aaron to a ranch for one of his birthdays - to celebrate his love for an old western, and because she thinks he'll love it! turns out aaron hotchner is terrified of horses. emily spent the first day riding and trying to convince him to do the same, and after that they just enjoyed the views and each other's company, and the horses, but from afar.

emily often teases hotch about his love for organization and can’t resist occasionally hiding a few items just to see his reaction. he pretends to be frustrated but secretly finds her antics adorable.

surprisingly, when they go on vacation, it's emily who wants their days planned down to the moment so that they don't miss anything, and aaron who just - finally- wants to relax and 'go with the flow'. emily finds this version of her husband disconcerting.

emily loves to surprise hotch with impromptu weekend getaways. he pretends to grumble about the lack of planning and the expense of it all but secretly enjoys the surprises and the thought she puts into them.

financially, aaron and emily grew up in two very different places. aaron watched his mother scrimp and save every penny to try and provide for him and sean, when she was lucid. when she wasn't, he had to figure it out himself. he's worked since the age of 14. emily had everything in life given to her on a silver platter and, even now, occasionally spends out of her trust fund. aaron gets frustrated by spending that he sees as frivolous and emily has to remind him that they're well off - she still has her trust fund, even if neither of them were working. it's infrequently a source of contention between them, though.

they dated before emily's 'death', before paris. he visited her in paris, where their flame sparked again but when she came back to the team nothing happened. then beth happened. then emily left again.

they stayed in contact while she was in london and eventually realised they were miserable without each other. emily moves back to the states, returns to the BAU and they get back together.

they marry that same year. it's a really small ceremony, attended only by the team, jack and sean. neither of their surviving parents are invited.

they started a two-person book club where they choose a book to read each month and discuss it over dinner. they always donate one copy - whether to charity or a friend. sometimes both if they agree that the book sucked.

they create the 'hotchner cup' which is a trophy that they play for every family game night. it's an old, tarnished badge of hotch's with 'Hotchner' written across it super-glued to an old ballet trophy of emily's. it's currently in emily's possession...due to the chess situation.

emily's a cat person and hotch loves dogs. as a compromise, they have one of each.

when emily has their kids, they share the position of Unit Chief at the BAU and alternate shifts, so someone's always at home with the kids. it's their one rule; the kids never get left alone.

they have three kids together, ava, livvy and alex. jack is aaron's son from his previous marriage to haley, and emily loves him like her own.

they share a home office and walking into it is hysterical; there are two desks and it's immediately obvious whose is whose because aaron's is meticulously organised and emily's is a mess.

aaron always dreads his weeks 'on' at work, because he knows he's going into his desk being an absolute mess. emily is the same because she says whenever he cleans up, he puts her stuff away and she can't find anything. she prefers her 'organised chaos'.

even though emily is a luxury resort kind of girl, aaron forces the family to take an annual camping trip. every year, emily complains about it; alex and ava follow her suit. jack and livvy love the camping trip like their father. even though emily and the kids complain, they also secretly love it.

they take an annual family photo during every camping trip

every year they all celebrate haley's birthday together with a special meal; homemade lasagne followed by apple pie and ice cream, both favourites of haley.

when it comes to parenting, there's no doubt who's the strict parent. emily definitely takes a more relaxed approach than her husband.

however, when it comes to bullying or the kids being in danger, emily has to be kept in check. more than once she's threatened to pull her badge on a kid - or parent - at school. more than once, she's had to be talked down by her husband, and sometimes the kids.

when aaron eventually retires early, he takes up teaching at the academy. they still have lunch together most days.

after aaron retires, emily takes on the role of unit chief by herself and eventually progresses to section chief, which is more of a bureaucratic role than she ever imagined for herself, but it means she gets home to her family every night.

Hotchniss tropes:

grumpy x sunshine rich girl x poor boy he's her boss mutual pining will they/won't they jealousy trope friends to lovers 'touch her and you die'

Photos Aaron takes of Emily:

Photos Emily takes of Aaron:

Joint camera roll:

How Hotchniss text:

Hotchniss playlist:

[matan4il]

Update post:

Most of this will be about the unprecedented attack of the Islamist regime of Iran against Israel, but first I have to take a second to mourn a 14 year old boy, who was murdered in a Palestinian attack on Friday. At around 6 in the morning, teenager Binyamin Achimeir led his sheep herd out of the farm he lives in, but a few hours later, the sheep returned to the farm without him. At first, it was feared that he had some accident, or was dehydrated, and thousands of people voluntarily joined the search for him. On Saturday, at around noon, the IDF found his body, with signs of brutal violence on it. Based on the forensic evidence, he was murdered by several Palestinian terrorists, and he fought back. The army is still hunting down the murderers. May Binyamin's memory be a blessing.

Right, back to the Islamist regime of Iran's attack on Israel. I posted about it as soon as the news started being aired here, in case someone didn't know about it. The news broke past the normal time when people watch news on TV in Israel, I noticed it by chance right before I was about to turn in for the night. I'm physically okay, but I didn't get that much sleep, I had to wake up early to take care of some stuff, so I AM very tired, which is why I'm not going to do the usual thing I do, which is to look for English journalistic sources for everything, but I have no doubt even the stuff I won't look up can all be easily found online.

On a personal note, I can tell you that at 1:43 in the morning I heard the first explosion, but no sirens went off. A few more explosions followed, and only then did we hear the sirens. It was scary, for a moment we couldn't tell whether we're hearing explosions of missiles from neighboring areas, or whether something went wrong with the sirens, and we need to hurry into the bomb shelter. It seems like in Jerusalem specifically there was some issue with the sirens, I heard a reporter mention it. Also, the alert app didn't go off, even though it should have, at the latest when the sirens did.

This is what the Temple Mount looked like from an Iranian attack that could have easily destroyed the al-Aqsa mosque (it's not in the frame, but it's right next to where this was filmed):

Quick background: Iran is the biggest financier of anti-Israel terrorism for decades now, including funding Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, all of which have been a part of a continuous attack on Israel since Oct 7 as Iran's proxies. Iran has sent its own military seniors to help and instruct those local terrorists, in places like Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. Israel has eliminated them whenever possible, this is not something new. On Apr 1, Israel carried out such a strike, in which it targeted 7 Iranian army seniors in Damascus, Syria's capital. Iran claimed Israel targeted the Iranian consulate in this city, but diplomatic buildings are all publicly listed. Iran has an embassy in Damascus (in a separate location) and no consulates. That's why the magnitude of Iran's response to this has taken Israel by surprise, because the Israeli strike wasn't that out of the ordinary. In fact, the US assassination of Iran's military commander, Qasem Soleimani, back in 2018, was a far graver blow for the Iranian regime, and yet it did not lead to an attack as massive as the one launched against Israel last night.

It is now known that some of the attack waves against Israel were intercepted by other countries, including The US, the UK, France and Jordan. It's been said that there's at least one more Arab country that helped in intercepting Iran's attack, but it can't be publicized. Many countries denounced Iran for attacking Israel.

We don't have numbers regarding the full size of the attack. Out of all the countries who participated in curtailing this attack, we know that the US has intercepted at least 70 suicide drones and 3 cruise missiles, while Israel has intercepted at least 185 suicide drones, 36 cruise missile and 110 ballistic missiles (that last one is the missile type that causes the most damage). Israel's interceptions are said to have been 99% successful, but like I said, no defence system is perfect. A small number of ballistic missiles did land inside Israel. One hit an Israeli air Force base in the south. There's over 30 people who got injured when rushing to the bomb shelter in the middle of the night (elderly people, including Holocaust survivors, have died from such injuries), and over 30 more ended up in hospital due to severe mental health reactions. On top of that, there's a 7 years old Muslim Bedouine girl who was injured by interceptors debris. A friend of her family that I heard being interviewed said the family wanted to go to the communal bomb shelter, but before they even had a chance to make it out of the house, the girl was hit by the debris piercing into their home, and she is suffering from severe head injuries. The hospital is currently fighting for her life.

The estimate of how much it cost Israel to defend its citizens from this one attack last night is 5 BILLION shekels (which is over 1.3 BILLION US dollars). That's for one night.

Israel will respond. According to one reporter I heard, that was decided as soon as it was clear how big the attack is, so this isn't about how much damage Iran caused, it's about how it crossed several red lines. This is the first time Iran itself attacked Israel itself, it's not an attack on an extension of Israel, nor was it done by using proxy terrorists. Israel has had terrorist organizations attacking it continuously since 2001, but this is the first attack from a fellow sovereign country since Iraq (led by tyrant Saddam Hussein) in 1991, so that in itself is crossing a red line. The size of the attack is also considered an escalation on Iran's part. In 2019, Iran launched a smaller scaled suicde drone attack on Saudi Arabia, and the latter's western allies refused to launch a counter attack, which led to these countries being seen as unreliable, and some Middle Eastern countries renewed their ties with Iran. That's why how it would seen in the Middle East if Israel doesn't react to an even bigger attack, and how it might drive more moderate countries to grow closer to Iran, is another consideration in why Israel must respond. Not to mention that launching such a mass attack basically caused a paralysis of the country once the first intel became known. For example, all educational activity (schools, universities, you name it) has been canceled, Israel's air space had to be closed, every single ambulance across the country had to be manned, and so on. That is not something any country can simply shrug off. Not to mention, Israel financially can't afford this reality to become normalized.

Not to mention, Israel tried to contain Hamas, PIJ and Hezbollah's rocket attacks for decades. What we got for it was the invasion and massacre on Oct 7. The lesson for most Israelis is that containing mass attacks on our population only leads to worse ones.

That said, there's also no desire here of getting dragged into a war on another front while we're still in the middle of one in Gaza and with Iran's proxies on several more fronts. So, Israel is looking for a balanced response, one that won't let this mass attack slide, but hopefully doesn't make matters much worse.

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

[zvaigzdelasas]

The Arab Weekly - US embassy in Baghdad struck with mortars as militia attacks in Iraq and Syria escalate

Approximately seven mortar rounds landed in the US Embassy compound in Baghdad during an attack Friday, a US military official told Reuters, in what appeared to be the largest attack of its kind in recent memory. US forces in Iraq and Syria were also targeted with rockets and drones at least five more times on Friday; three times at separate bases in Syria, and twice at the Ain al-Asad airbase west of Baghdad, a different US defence official said. The attacks were the most recorded against US forces in the region in a single day since mid-October, when Iran-aligned militias started targeting US assets in Iraq and Syria over Washington’s backing of Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza.

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, in a call with Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shiaa Al-Sudani, condemned the attacks and singled out Iran-aligned armed groups Kataib Hezbollah and Harakat Hezbollah al Nujaba for the recent targetting of US personnel. “The United States reserves the right to respond decisively against those groups,” Austin told Sudani, according to a Pentagon statement summarising the call. The embassy attack marked the first time it had been fired on in more than a year, apparently widening the range of targets. Dozens of military bases housing US forces have been attacked, increasing fears of a broadening regional conflict.

No group [yet] claimed responsibility[...]

The US military official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, left open the possibility that more projectiles were fired at the embassy compound but did not land within it. The US officials said Friday’s attacks caused no injuries, and the embassy attack caused very minor damage.[...]

State media said the attack damaged the headquarters of an Iraqi security agency. Sheikh Ali Damoush, a senior official in the Lebanese group Hezbollah, said in a Friday sermon that attacks by Iran-aligned groups across the Middle East aim to apply pressure for a halt to Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip. He did not refer specifically to Friday’s attack. US forces in Iraq and Syria have been attacked at least 84 times since October 17, the defense official said.

The US has responded with a series of strikes that have killed at least 15 militants in Iraq and up to seven in Syria. The State Department called on the Iraqi security forces to immediately investigate and arrest the perpetrators. “The many Iran-aligned militias that operate freely in Iraq threaten the security and stability of Iraq, our personnel, and our partners in the region,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement.

“The Iraqi government has repeatedly committed to protect diplomatic missions as well as U.S. military personnel, who are present in the country at Iraq’s invitation. This is non-negotiable, as is our right to self-defence,” Miller added.[...]

[Prime Minister Sudani] said that undermining Iraq’s stability, reputation and targeting places Iraq has committed to protect were acts of terrorism. The head of militia Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada, one of the main factions that has been targeting US forces in the region, said in a social media post that he rejected “stopping or easing operations” while “Zionist crimes continue in Gaza.”

The powerful Iraqi militia Kataeb Hezbollah said on Saturday that the rocket attack on the US embassy in Baghdad was “just the beginning of a new phase of fighting” and threatened to continue “operations against the US occupation” in Iraq.[...]

Kataeb Hezbollah, classified as a terrorist group by Washington, is part of the Islamic Resistance of Iraq militia, which has claimed more than 80 attacks against US posts in Iraq and Syria since the outbreak of the war in Gaza. However, the attack on the US embassy marked a serious escalation of these actions.

9 Dec 23

[eretzyisrael]

by Ben Cohen

The French Catholic priest who developed an international reputation for his pioneering research into the Nazi “Holocaust by bullets” in Ukraine has spoken out forcefully against the antisemitic attitudes coloring criticism of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

“I always say: if there were no Jews in Israel, few people would look out for the Palestinians,” Father Patrick Desbois told the French language service of Israeli broadcaster i24 on Tuesday.

Desbois has dedicated his life to researching the Holocaust, fighting antisemitism, and furthering relations between Catholics and Jews. In 2004 he helped found Yahad-In Unum, a project whose mission is to investigate the mass executions of Jews and Roma in Ukraine and Belarus between 1941 and 1944. In the process, Desbois and his team located the graves of more than 1 million Jews throughout Eastern Europe and interviewed scores of witnesses.

Desbois was particularly irked by repeated claims on social media over the Christmas holiday that Jesus himself would be persecuted by Israel were he still alive.

“If he had lived in 1942, Jesus would have been deported to Auschwitz, and if he had been born today, he would be the target of missiles or be a hostage in Gaza,” Desbois remarked, referring to the seizure of more than 200 people during the Oct. 7 pogrom carried out by Hamas terrorists in southern Israel.

Desbois insisted that the motive behind such messages was political, not religious.

“What we see in Bethlehem today, this need to affirm that Jesus was not Jewish, is political,” he argued. “Hamas has always officially supported Christians, but not in Gaza.”

He added that the “Islamists are always with us, except when we are at home; at home, we try to survive.”

Desbois also voiced concern about the alleged participation of Hamas terrorists in the oppression of Iraq’s Yazidi minority in 2014 at the hands of ISIS.

“I do not forget, either, and we never talk about it, that the Palestinians in Gaza, who were not locked in cages as we believe, were circulating a lot, and a number participated in the genocide of the Yazidi minority in Iraq in 2014 alongside the jihadists,” said Desbois, whose efforts have encompassed advocacy on their behalf. “Others also participated in the Yazidi slave trade.”

In an extensive interview with The Algemeiner in 2018, Desbois articulated his view that the fundamental goal of antisemitism has not changed since the Nazi era.

“The Nazis wanted to eliminate every last Jew, even the babies and the old people,” he said. Now, he continued, “they say to the Jews, ‘get out of France,’ ‘get out of Germany,’ ‘get out of Britain,’ ‘get out of Palestine.’ And at the end, who will stay?”

[psychotrenny]

I reckon a lot of Yanks really overstate the actual material importance of 9/11 and it's fallout. At most you could say that it helped to accelerate trends that had been progressing for decades (like the creation of a surveillance state or the privatization of military functions) or intensified- at least in terms of open expression- features of the nation that had been present for most of its existence (like Jingoism and xenophobia). It's not as though the US became any more Imperialistic even if we focus only on West Asia and North Africa. They'd been couping and bombing the region for the entire Cold War and showed no signs of stopping in the 90s. After the US ambassador April Glaspie helped to instigate the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait President Bush used it as a pretense to unleash a devestating war on Iraq and (while maintaining crippling sanctions) much of the US military-political establishment was salivating at the idea of a round two. Like hell before they figured out the culprits behind the 9/11 attacks many officials were trying to pin it on Saddam Hussein-they were pretty much planning the Iraq war before the Afghanistan one.

Al Qaeda had been on the US's radar since their 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya-later that year President Clinton had used the false pretence of an Al Qaeda nerve gas manufacturing operation to blow up a Sudanese medicine factory to distract from a domestic political scandal. Like the biggest thing that 9/11 changed was the US's own self perception as the general public was forced to reckon with the impacts of their nations imperialism and the hatred this engendered in the rest of the world, but this only really led to a doubling down of pre-existing attitudes of exceptionalism and superiority and the righteous application of brutality to any that resisted.

But even as domestic attitudes changes it's not as though foreign policy did all that much. The USA had been using torture as a tactic for a long time (just look at Operation Condor or the Phoneix Program) they just now felt a lot less shame in admitting it. And it's not as if the post 9/11 waves of paranoia and hatred these attacks generated were without precedent; in many ways Islamic Terrorists became a convenient replacement for Communists or (looking back even further) "Indians" in the USamerican psyche. Hell it's not as though pre 9/11 attitudes towards the Islamic world were all that positive either (at most you could say the hatred was a lot less active and intense).

I'll admit that I'm looking at this from a much more detached perspective than many others-I'm not a Yank and I'm too young to remember the attacks when they happened. So I'm sure for USamericans the attacks and the social changes they engendered felt like the most shocking things imaginable. But in the grand scheme of things they didn't matter all that much; at most they just pushed the US further along a path they had been on for a long time and showed no signs of straying from. Even if you went back in time and personally stopped the hijackings I doubt the world of today would look all that different. Certainly wouldn't feel any different for the billions of people suffering under the USamerican imperial yoke just as they had been before

[girlactionfigure]

*ISRAEL REALTIME* - "Connecting the World to Israel in Realtime"

🔻Anti-genocide peace rockets fired from Gaza today (2) at Sderot, and friendly neighbor welcoming rockets and friendly homicide drones were fired by Hezbollah at Kiryat Shmona (3), Arab al-Aramsha, and Katzrin today.

▪️From Wednesday to Friday, 70 buses with "pilgrims" crossed the Iraqi-Syrian border. It is clear that these are not pilgrims, but Iranian and Iraqi fighters who cross into the territory of Syria and Lebanon.

▪️ABOUT ALL THE WARNINGS OF WAR IN THE NORTH.. The IDF does not inform the public or countries near and far about future military operations that it intends to launch into an operation or war.  The messages you have been hearing are NOT from the IDF, but rather efforts of the political echelon to deliver a message to Hezbollah that Israel is getting serious.  And in response you get the opposite, the item above, Iran moving militia fighters closer.

▪️Houthis: American and British ships (war and merchant) became legitimate targets after their attacks on Yemen.

▪️4 U.S. bases attacked in Syria and Iraq overnight.

▪️ANGRY SOLDIERS SAY.. he media does not reflect the reality, we are mowing them down in Gaza!!  According to US estimates, Hamas had approximately 25,000 terrorists before the October 7 war, and that the IDF has eliminated about 10,000 Hamas fighters since Oct. 7 with thousands more are missing and wounded.

▪️JUDEA-SHOMRON STATs.. since the beginning of the war, over 2,950 wanted persons have been arrested throughout the Judea and Samaria Division and the Bekaa and Valleys Division, over 1,350 of whom are associated with the terrorist organization Hamas.

▪️FRANCE has joined the suspend-UNWRA club.

▪️Heavy snow on Mt. Hermon, the site is closed.

▪️(How info spreads…)  Min. Of Foreign Affairs contacted foreign embassies in Israel and checked whether they have generators and satellite phones for backup in case of long power outages.  And noting that all these facilities are in Tel Aviv, Hertzilya or Jerusalem - that spreads the thought “what does the government know that they would ask such a question?”

▪️Noting 10 days after “medication” was delivered with the promise of delivery to hostages - with evidence.  No evidence provided.  Remember the last deal, visits by the Red Cross… never happened.  Why do we keep doing this?

▪️NBC news says Biden administration considering slowing down arms shipments to Israel to force Netanyahu to follow U.S. orders to reduce fighting in Gaza.  WHERE ARE THE BABIES?

▪️Min. Of National Security signs regulations automatically extending gun licenses that would expire in Q1, 2024 for months.

▪️IDF: Two reserve units are withdrawing from Gaza, one reserve unit is DEPLOYING to Gaza.

[psychologeek]

Jewish History and Zionism.

Or: why you gotta be so difficult about that tiny piece of land?

Ft. Britain, Ottoman empire, the Age of Enlightenment, and helll lot of racism.

(But like. That was obvious.)

ToC:

Britain, shortly (or: the problem with "but they created Israel!!")

Indigenous

Jews in the 19th century

The ottoman empire (pt.1 - geography and maps)

Bibliography (cited articles)

Edit: I changed/removed things that were spesificly for the person I had this discussion with, as they show understanding of what was problematic with their og comment, and regrets it.

~

A. This was not about you personally. It was about the way Jewish pain is constantly generalized and turn into something for "the world". Somehow, Jewish tragedies are either ignored or "a lesson for the world".

B. My problem with the term was that by saying "as a FELLOW JEW" you claim relationship to the community and kinship which you later use to dismiss cultural and community issues. You are Jewish (as your mother). My issue is that the only usage you seem to have is to make claims. This is... disturbing, seeing claimed made while ignoring the historical background. (AKA 2,000 years of exile, enslavement, oppressions and murders).

~

1. Britain:

The British were involved in the creation of The Jewish State, Israel by the “Balfour Declaration”. The League of Nations is a predecessor to the United Nations.

Yes, the British were involved in the creation of the Jewish state. As well as the Emirate of Trans-Jordan (1921-1946) - later became "Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan" (est. 1946). Also in the creation of India, Pakistan, and many other countries no one seem to have an issue with.

Also the france were involved in the creation of Lebanon, Algeria, Lybia, etc.

(The world was mostly controlled by EMPIRES. So yes. When an empire fall apart, sometimes there is an involvement in what happens next.)

Focusing on a certain group and judging them and their actions by different standards then others is. Uh. Pretty racist view, you know?

Britanica:

Alarmed by the extent of Arab opposition, the British government issued a White Paper in June 1922 declaring that Great Britain did “not contemplate that Palestine as a whole should be converted into a Jewish National Home, but that such a Home should be founded in Palestine.” Immigration would not exceed the economic absorptive capacity of the country, and steps would be taken to set up a legislative council. These proposals were rejected by the Arabs, both because they constituted a large majority of the total mandate population and therefore wished to dominate the instruments of government and rapidly gain independence and because, they argued, the proposals allowed Jewish immigration, which had a political objective, to be regulated by an economic criterion.

This is the area of the "British Mandate of Palestine". Brits had separated it and gave 2/3 and claimed it a different reign.

As for governing - The Hashemite emir Abdullah, elder son of Britain's wartime Arab ally Hussein bin Ali, was placed on the throne of Transjordan. 

Yet, for some reason, no one ever said anything like "from the river to Iraq, all the land will be back."

Hi, guess what is it called when there are laws that forbid and heavily reduce members of a spesific group from living in certain areas?

(Strangely, no such boundary was set on the immigration of Muslims, Christians, or any other kind of people. Only jews.)

Source: Israel embassy

In 1920, the Council of the League of Nations appointed Britain as the Mandatory entrusted with the administration of the Land of Israel. The borders of the land, as a separate country, were defined for the first time in many centuries. Until then, under the Ottoman Empire, the land's boundaries had not been defined because it was part of other large Ottoman districts like the district of Damascus and was not a distinct political unit. The term name "Palestine" that was chosen for this Mandate was based on the term name "Palestina" that was given to the country by the Roman Empire in the second century CE. The territory of the British Mandate included land on both sides of the Jordan River, encompassing the present-day countries of Israel and Jordan. About 77% of this Mandate was east of the river Jordan River, and in 1921, Great Britain created there a separate administrative entity called Transjordan. The changed mandate took effect in 1923

2. Indigenous

Here's another part I want to dig in deeper:

"(the arabs) constituted a large majority of the total mandate population" -

The Arabs. Notice the name? I wonder how they got there. A true mystery. Green: Arab Peninsula. Red: area in question.

Hebrew was spoken in the area long before Muhammad and the Muslim empire.

I grew up near a 2,000 year old burial cave. The stories I learnt about my heritage happened in places I knew, with names I understood the meaning of.

This is the equivalent of calling for land back in Pennsylvania in the name of  Pennsylvania Dutch.

3. Jews in the 19th century

Part of the reason for low Jewish population in the area was that unlike any other people, Jews were legally prohibited from living in the area. Now, some background: in general, the Ottoman empire was a pretty descent place for Jews, comparing to other places. Sure, had to pay extra taxes and not allowed to live in places, but you can mostly know you won't be exiled once the authorities felt like (looking at you Britain, Yemen, Spain, Morocco, and more). The 19th century had marked a rise in nationalism (results to the Fall of Empires in the 20th century). It also saw the coin of a new term: "antisemism".

This came to describe Jew-hatred that isn't focused on the religious part ("they killed Jesus"/"They kept faith for themselves"), but seem to have a more "neutral" reason. Even scientific, as "they are naturally inferior" (see "the race theory", Eugenics, and more.) If you see similarities with Romanis in Europe and Black people in America - yes. This wasn't just about Jews - it was a general trend due to the so called "Age of Enlightenment" in Europe.

Part of the things that happened to/in the Jewish Community in the 19th century including:

1860: Foundation of "Alliance Israélite Universelle" an international Jewish (charity) organization.

First mass Aliya (immigration to Israel) of Yemeni jews in 1882/Jewish year of תרמ"ב (aka "אעלה בתמר")

1827 (Russia): the "cantonists' Decree"

The "okaz" (regulation, instruction) of the emperor from the end of August 1827, which imposed an obligation on the communities to provide the monarchy with a fixed quota of rookie soldiers, stunned the Jewish population. The terrible tragedy of the kidnapping of Israeli children (from the age of twelve according to the law, but actually even from the age of eight) for military training is known in the history of Russian Jews, and has even been commemorated in literature. The service in the Nikolai army, which lasted twenty-five years, was counted from the age of eighteen, and the years of "education" of the minor abductees, the "cantonists", were not included in it, as these years were out of the calculation. The purpose of the government in this decree was to convert the Jews to their religion and to mix them with the Pravoslav Christian Russian population.

(translated from: Maor, Y., 1981)

1881-2: Sufot Banegev - mass Pogroms of jews in south-east Russia (Ukraine, Poland) after Tzar Nikolai's murder. The Jews were accused of the murder. I was unable to find any information in English, but here's one in Hebrew ("today in history"). (I might be able to get one in Russian if you know that.)

May Laws (link to online version of the Jewish Encyclopedia.)

During the 1880s - founding of multiple "Lovers of Zion" organisations in Russia.

The assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881 ushered in a painful new era. The pogroms after his death were followed by the notorious 'May Laws' of 1882 which stepped up economic discrimination against the Jews. The stirring among the Jewish community, both physical and intellectual, was heightened. Many more of them started to leave, mainly for America, and not a few began to think seriously about Jewish nationalism, with the result that the 'Lovers of Zion' Movement gained momentum. Some of them, whether for reasons of sheer physical safety or nationalism or a combination of both, thought of finding a home in the Ottoman Empire. (Mandel, 1974)

1894 (France): The Dreyfus affair

Theodore Herzl, a Jewish Journalist, was there as a reporter. He said this was the moment he realised jews As a journalist in France, Herzl became extremely upset during the Dreyfus affair, in which a Jewish army officer was falsely accused and convicted of espionage. The only solution to the problem of the Jews, he decided, was to create a Jewish state. Although Dreyfus was ultimately pardoned (in 1906), the episode revealed that emancipation would be an incomplete and ongoing process.

1896 (Vienna): Theodore Herzl published his book "Der Judenstaat: Versuch einer modernen Lösung der Judenfrage" (The Jews’ State: An Attempt at a Modern Solution to the Jewish Question)

Herzl published this work, Der Judenstaat, to galvanize his fellow Jews into action. He asserts that emancipation itself caused antisemitism, since it failed as a movement. He concludes that Jews cannot continue to live among other nations since their presence inevitably gives rise to hostility. Herzl’s answer was for Jews to organize a mass migration to a territory of their own.

1897: the First Zionist Congress of the Zionist Organization. The official goal of Zionism (Basel Program) read: "Zionism seeks to establish a home in Palestine for the Jewish people, secured under public law."

As we can see, the 19 century wasn't good to jews, especially in Russia (and I mean Russia of that time - which included the area of Ukraine, and parts of Poland). Starting with a legal forced children-kidnapping. During the 80s, massive pogroms, on long time and area, had spread terror among the Jewish communities. The authorities' refusal to assist and victim blaming weren't uncommon, but not in those masses. 2.4 million jews had left Russia during those years, mostly to the USA, Canada, and Argentina (115.000 ppl). 3% (~73,000 ppl) had immigrated to Israel.

Also a worldwide rise in nationalism*, that was also used as a reason for jew-hatred (bc what bring ppl together better than having the same enemy?). In France, the Dreyfus affair made Herzl realise that the emancipation (jewish semi-autonomous areas, a-la Reservations in usa) wouldn't work. It won't help to prevent the systematic and cultural discrimination. Eventually inventing *modern day* Zionism - secular consept. (not to be confused with Hibat Ztiyon/"Zion Loving" - which was an old Jewish consept since the first exile, 6th century BCE.

*Nationalism, as itself, wasn't a bad thing. It was a big part of decolonisation (as different groups in the empire demanded to have their own autonomy.)

4. Ottoman empire (Geography and MAPS)

Let's skip a few thousand miles away, to the Ottoman empire.

First thing we need to know is - how the map looked like, back then?

The empire was divided into different areas, that all had sub-areas, et al. For better understanding, think about it like USA's country vs. state. Vs. reign.

The empire was divided into different EYALETS (aka beylerbeyiliks. after 1860s- Vilayet), that contained several Sanjcks, that contained several Kazas.

This is a map of the empire in 1875, as it already started to fade:

Two more maps for better understanding of spesific areas

The Damascus Eyalet in 1795 (red):

(the north-west (top-left) is Sidon/Beirut/Sefad Eyalet. Do you see the Sea of the Galilee? It's the little dot in the middle).

1896:

Authority areas kept changing. This is another map, showing Vilayets (Syria, Beirut, Aleppo) and their Sanjaks (+independent Sanjak of Jerusalem).

I'm pretty sure that this one is the simplified version:

Why do I show it?

Well, first of all - definitions. Making sure we all know what area we're talking about. During the years, "Filistin"/"Palestine"/"Paleshet" used to refer to many areas: from almost all the southern levant to a coast reign, about the size of modern-day Gaza Strip.

Secondly? Our next part, about the Jews and the empire. Especially the 1881 declaration by the Council of Ministers that

"[Jewish] immigrants [would] be able to settle as scattered groups throughout Turkey, excluding Palestine".

(Mandel, 1974)

I wonder why..

~

I've been working on it for days, so I'll post this now and add the second part, in which I'll explain this last bit and continue, later.

Next part: immigration, Zionism, and the breaking point in the Jewish-Arab relationship (no, not 1948. It was 1929.)

Bibliography:

Mandel, Neville J. ( 1974). "Ottoman Policy and Restrictions on Jewish Settlement in Palestine: 1881-1908: Part I" (PDF). Middle Eastern Studies. 10 (3). Taylor & Francis, Ltd.: 312–332. Retrieved 29 March 2024.

Maor, Y. (1981). The “Sufot Banegev” as a Factor in the Rise of Nationalism among the Jewish Intelligentsia / ה"סופות בנגב" כגורם להתעוררות התודעה הלאומית בקרב המשכילים היהודיים. Proceedings of the World Congress of Jewish Studies / דברי הקונגרס העולמי למדעי היהדות, ח, 1–12. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23526296)

[athena5898]

Today in Lebanon, hundreds of one-way communication pagers exploded nearly simultaneously, wounding 3,000 people, hundreds of them in serious condition, and leading to the martyrdom of 9. These one-way pagers, which do not have GPS capabilities, exploded inside homes, markets, and vehicles, leading to car crashes in some cases. People from all sects of life were wounded in the horrific zionist terrorist attack, including children and the elderly. Lebanese residents watched in horror as chaos unfolded around them, wounding innocent people in every possible place imaginable. The first martyr was a 10-year-old girl, and health workers were also martyred and wounded. While the attack targeted Hezbollah members—i.e. doctors, teachers, taxi drivers, and volunteers, in addition to fighters—the entire popular cradle that supports the resistance was targeted. Inside of bakeries, hospitals, embassies, and markets, the wounded lay bleeding. US-funded zionist terrorism knows no bounds, from Gaza to Lebanon to Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Iran, and elsewhere, amidst deafening international silence and complicity. Over 100 hospitals were filled, prompting Iraq, Iran, Syria, and the Palestinian Authority to offer medical assistance to bleeding Lebanon, either by planning to send medical aid or opening hospitals to Lebanese residents. Iran seeks to provide a field hospital and evacuate the wounded. Among the wounded in the indiscriminate zionist terrorist attack was the Iranian ambassador Mojtaba Amani (who is in stable condition). While the exact cause and mechanism of the explosion is not yet known, "israel" is fully responsible. Reports have suggested that the severity of the wounds indicates that very potent explosives (such as PETN) were planted in the pagers in advance. Another theory is that the pagers were intentionally overheated to induce explosions of their lithium batteries. Investigations are ongoing into the exact mechanism, which seemed to affect only more recently-obtained pagers, causing the attack through drones. Resistance factions from across the region expressed their solidarity with Lebanon, confident that a response is coming. The Iraqi Kataeb Hezbollah stated that the entity will pay a multiplied price, and offered all their resources to Lebanon. The fighters remain steadfast, unwavering in their support of Palestine. The Lebanese Hezbollah promised, after investigations confirming the "israeli" role in the attack: "This treacherous and criminal enemy will certainly receive its just punishment for this sinful aggression, from where it expects it or not, and Allah is witness to what we say."

[workersolidarity]

🇵🇸🇮🇱 🚨 UPDATE ON THE WAR ON GAZA AND ISRAEL'S ETHNIC CLEANSING OPERATIONS TARGETING PALESTINIAN CIVILIANS

• Israeli Occupation Forces were responsible for 10 major massacres in just 10 hours in the Gaza Strip, killing 231 civilians

• Hezbollah launched two Burkan rockets towards an Israeli Military outpost

• Palestinian Resistance launched an Ayyash 250mm long-range rocket towards Eilat settlement

• In response to the recent speech by Hezbollah Commander Nasrallah, multiple Western officials have made attempts to contact Hezbollah's leadership for clarification on the speech's details

• Israeli Occupation Forces claims they have intercepted a missile fired on the occupied Jordan Valley using a high-altitude Hetz/Arrow system interceptor

• Rockets were fired from Southern Lebanon towards Israeli positions, activating the Iron Dome air defenses

• According to representatives of Hamas' military wing, al-Qassam Brigades, Resistance Forces have damaged or destroyed 24 Israeli armored vehicles and tanks

• Channel 12 Zionist media reports confrontations occurring between the family members of Israeli hostages and Israeli Police in front of Prime Minister Netanyahu's resident in occupied al-Quds

• Arab country envoys and foreign ministers are feuding with United States Secretary of State Antony Blinkin over their support for a ceasfire

• Hezbollah Brigades of Iraq say US Secretary of State Antony Blinkin is not welcome to Iraq, and he will be met with escalation if arrives

• Security Official for the Hezbollah Brigades of Iraq, Abu al-Askari says Resistance Forces will work to disrupt US interests in the region if the Massacres on Gaza don't stop

• Abu al-Askari also said his forces will arrive in an “non-peaceful” way to shut down the American embassy in Iraq and said that the forced removal of American troops from the area is inevitable

• 🚨💥Al-Mayadeen News correspondant reports that Israeli air strikes that targeted al-Shati Refugee Camp in the west of Gaza resulted in "shortness of breath, pain in the throat, and a feeling of nausea and drowsiness."

• Israeli Occupation Forces have launched 15 raids and strikes in the vicinity of the Indonesian Palestinian Friendship Hospital in Bait Lahia, northern Gaza

• According to Gaza's Ministry of Health, large numbers of civilians are trapped under the rubble in the al-Maghazi Refugee Camp in central Gaza after an Israeli air strike targeted the residential neighborhood

• Israeli Occupation Forces raid the village of Qasra, southeast of Nablus in the West Bank

• occupation forces bombed the bridge linking Nuseirat Refugee Camp with the village of al-Mughraqa in Central Gaza

• East of Khan Yunis, in the al-Farahin area Qassam Resistance Forces managed to destroy two Zionist armored vehicles using the domestically produced Yassin 105mm rockets

• al-Qassam Brigades ambush targets and destroys two Israeli Merkava tanks penetrating the Khan Yunis area of central Gaza

• Occupation Forces stormed the city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank

• Clashes recorded between Occupation Forces and the Palestinian Resistance after an attempted raid on a home in Abu Dis, east of occupied al-Quds

• Israeli occupation snipers seen on top of buildings during the raid on Jenin

• More intense shelling was later recorded around the proximity of the Indonesian Hospital 🏥 in the northern Gaza Strip

• Israeli media confirms an explosive device detonated in an occupation bulldozer being used in the raid on Jenin

• Hezbollah fires ATGMs from southern Lebanon towards the Israeli "Misgav Am" military site northwest of Kiryat Shmona

• Al-Quds Brigades: an occupation bulldozer was destroyed using a domestically produced "al-Tamer" explosive device

• Israeli Occupation Forces injured a young Palestinian man during clashes at his besieged home in Abu Dis, east of al-Quds

• Israeli Occupation Forces continued collective punishment against Palestinians by bombing a water well and two water reservoirs in the Tal al-Zaatar area, affecting up to 70'000 people with water shortages

• 50 were killed and another 100 missing under the rubble after the Israeli air strike that targeted the al-Maghazi Refugee Camp in central Gaza

• Islamic Resistance of Lebanon downed an Israeli Military drone flying over southern Lebanon

• Israeli Occupation Forces have committed 24 massacres in 24 hours, killing a confirmed 243 with many more trapped under the rubble

• Al-Qassam Brigades announced the destruction of another Israeli Merkava tank penetrating Gaza in the area southwest of Tal al-Hawa using the Yassin 105mm rocket

• According to Gaza's Ministry of Health, 9'770 Palestinians have been killed since October 7th, including 4'800 children and 2'550 women

• Palestinian Authority Traitor President Mahmoud Abbas in a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinkin says the Palestinian Authority is ready to “fully assume our responsibilities within the framework of a comprehensive political solution that includes all of the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip."

#source1

#source2

@WorkerSolidarityNews

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Michael Kosnar and Ryan J. Reilly at NBC News:

WASHINGTON — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange plans to plead guilty to a conspiracy charge this week as part of a plea deal with the U.S. Justice Department that will allow him to go free after having spent five years in a British prison, according to court documents. Assange was charged by criminal information — which typically signifies a plea deal — with conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defense information, the court documents say. A letter from Justice Department official Matthew McKenzie to U.S. District Judge Ramona Manglona of the Northern Mariana Islands District said that Assange would appear in court at 9 a.m. local time Wednesday (7 p.m. ET Tuesday) to plead guilty and that the Justice Department expects Assange will return to Australia, his country of citizenship, after the proceedings.

U.S. charges against Assange stem from one of the largest publications of classified information in American history, which took place during President Barack Obama's first term. Starting in late 2009, according to the government, Assange conspired with Chelsea Manning, a military intelligence analyst, to use his WikiLeaks website to disclose tens of thousands of activity reports about the war in Afghanistan, hundreds of thousands of reports about the war in Iraq, hundreds of thousands of State Department cables and assessment briefs of detainees at the U.S. detention camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

Court documents revealing Assange's plea deal were filed Monday evening in U.S. District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory in the Pacific Ocean. Assange was expected to appear in that court and to be sentenced to 62 months, with credit for time served in British prison, meaning he would be free to return to Australia, where he was born. “This was an independent decision made by the Department of Justice and there was no White House involvement in the plea deal decision,” National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement Monday evening.

Assange has been held in the high-security Belmarsh Prison on the outskirts of London for five years, and he previously spent seven years in self-exile at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London — where he reportedly fathered two children — until his asylum was withdrawn and he was forcibly carried out of the embassy and arrested in April 2019. A superseding indictment was returned more than five years ago, in May 2019, and a second superseding indictment was returned in June 2020.

Assange has been fighting extradition for more than a decade: first in connection with a sex crimes case in Sweden, then in connection with the case against him in the United States. In March, the High Court in London gave him permission for a full hearing on his appeal as he sought assurances that he could rely upon the First Amendment at a trial in the U.S. In May, two judges on the High Court said he could have a full hearing on whether he would be discriminated against in the U.S. because he is a foreign national. A hearing on the issue of Assange's free speech rights had been scheduled for July 9-10. WikiLeaks also published hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee that upended the 2016 presidential race. Russian intelligence officers were subsequently indicted in connection with the hacking in 2018 in a case brought by then-special counsel Robert Mueller. At a joint news conference with then-President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin days later, Trump contradicted the indictment and the intelligence community, saying Putin was "extremely strong and powerful in his denial" that Russians interfered in the 2016 election to help him win.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will return to Australia after he reached a plea deal with the US by pleading guilty.

[captain-price-unofficially]

C-RAM shoots down a rocket fired at the US embassy in Baghdad, Iraq. 29 Oct 2023

[matan4il]

Daily update post:

I heard a report that every day, Hamas steals at least a few aid trucks with food, and as we've seen in multiple pics, vids and testimonies from angry Gazans, the terrorists don't hesitate to use force against civilians to do so. A few days ago, a Hamas "policeman" shot and killed a young man trying to get some humanitarian aid. The young man's family was angry enough to burn tired outside a Hamas police station in the city of Rafah.

The leader of Hamas in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, published a letter to his terrorists, in which he lies about how well Hamas is doing in the war (Israel estimates that at least 8,000 of its members have been killed, and that there is no organized Hamas command in northern Gaza anymore), while promising he won't surrender.

Just a reminder, that if Hamas surrendered, the war would be over immediately, and there'd be not one more Palestinian, civilian or otherwise, killed. What Sinwar is saying, is that despite being painted by certain westerners as a Palestinian liberation movement, it refuses to save any Palestinian lives. Same goes for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the second strongest terrorist group in Gaza after Hamas.

Sometimes, the terrorist puppets and their financial masters disagree on what false excuse to give, regarding why they jointly made sure Jews would be massacred. Iran said it was one of the responses for the assassination of Iranian military senior Soleimani (by the US, in 2020), while Hamas denied this claim, and said that the massacre was to protect the Al-Aqsa mosque... (right, 'coz Jewish babies murdered in their crib in the south, born to the most left wing, peace seeking families in Israel, were SUCH a threat to the mosque in Jerusalem. This is the same false excuse Islamists have used repeatedly, like in May 2021, going all the way back to its invention in 1929 by the Nazi collaborator Amin al-Husseini, at a time when there was no State of Israel). Apparently, even the worst of terrorists, and the biggest financiers of terrorism, don't think the west will respond well to the more truthful, "We just want to kill all Jews."

There was a blast next to the Israeli embassy in India, and now Indian news outlets report that there was a letter found nearby, which tied the attack to Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza.

Dawn Lev and Matan Peretz, two funny Israeli Jews, answer some very serious questions, that were the most searched ones on Google when it comes to Hamas.

If it helps Dawn, I laughed. XD

While Iran is funding the attacks on Israel from Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, the cyber attacks on Israel (including on Israeli hospitals), and has reportedly attacked an Israeli-related ship at least once directly, it has also increased its levels of Uranium enrichment, which is what they need to build nuclear weapons. We should all be VERY concerned.

Here is an op ed, with yet another testimony regarding the systematic rape, torture and abuse carried out by Hamas on Oct 7. I found it hard not to post all of it, but if I did have to highlight only one part, this would probably be it:

This is 26 years old Shaul Greenglick:

For the Eurovision fans, he was a very talented candidate for this year's contest in Sweden, who auditioned on Dec 3 to represent our country. He was on leave from the army, so he performed while still in uniform. He was killed yesterday in Gaza. This is his audition, where he got to show off his stunning voice:

This is 33 years old Maor Lavi:

Two days ago, he was interviewed on Israeli TV, because he had an urgent mission. While fighting in Gaza, they found a Hanukkiah in one house. As there are no Jews living there, it was most likely stolen during the Oct 7 massacre. Maor wanted to share the story, so he could find the family that owned the Hanukkiah and give it back to them. Yesterday, he was killed in Gaza, too. This is the Facebook post that Maor published in the hope of finding the rightful owners:

May their memories be a blessing.

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