#war to prevent southern independence

[kramlabs]

Books that will forever change your worldview

[opencommunion]

"The Congo’s strategic location in the middle of Africa and its fabulous natural endowment of minerals and other resources have since 1884 ensured that it would serve as a theatre for the playing out of the economic and strategic interests of outsiders: the colonial powers during the scramble for Africa; the superpowers during the Cold War; and neighbouring African states in the post-Cold War era. To prevent a direct confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union, the Security Council deployed from 1960 to 1964 what was then the largest and most ambitious operation ever undertaken by the UN, with nearly 20,000 troops at its peak strength plus a large contingent of civilian personnel for nation-building tasks.

This latter aspect of the Opération des Nations unies au Congo (ONUC) was a function of the fragile political revolution ... The Congo won its independence from Belgium on 30 June 1960. Patrice Lumumba’s MNC-L and its coalition of radical nationalist parties had captured a majority of seats in the lower house of parliament in the pre-independence elections in May. Lumumba became prime minister and head of government, while the Abako leader Joseph Kasa-Vubu became the ceremonial head of state. The victory of a militantly nationalist leader with a strong national constituency was viewed as a major impediment to the Belgian neocolonialist strategy and a threat to the global interests of the Western alliance.

Within two weeks of the proclamation of independence, Prime Minister Lumumba was faced with both a nationwide mutiny by the army and a secessionist movement in the province of Katanga bankrolled by Western mining interests. Both revolts were instigated by the Belgians, who also intervened militarily on 10 July, a day before the Katanga secession was announced. In the hopes of obtaining the evacuation of Belgian troops and white mercenaries, and thus ending the Katanga secession, Lumumba made a successful appeal to the UN Security Council to send a UN peacekeeping force to the Congo. However, the UN secretary-general, Dag Hammarskjöld, interpreted the UN mandate in accordance with Western neocolonialist interests and the US Cold War imperative of preventing Soviet expansion in the Third World. This led to a bitter dispute between Lumumba and Hammarskjöld, which resulted in the US- and Belgian-led initiative to assassinate the first and democratically elected prime minister of the Congo.

... Brussels’ failure to prevent a radical nationalist such as Lumumba from becoming prime minister created a crisis for the imperialist countries, which were determined to have a decolonization favourable to their economic and strategic interests with the help of more conservative African leaders. With Belgium’s failure to transfer power in an orderly fashion to a well-groomed moderate leadership group that could be expected to advance Western interests in Central and Southern Africa, the crisis of decolonization in the Congo required US and UN interventions. Working hand in hand, Washington, New York and Brussels succeeded in eliminating Lumumba and his radical followers from the political scene."

Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja, The Congo from Leopold to Kabila: A People's History, 2002

[matan4il]

Daily update post:

Today, people in Israel are really loving Germany. If you're wondering why, it's related to SA's lawsuit against Israel at the ICJ. While the US, the UK and Canada all said that SA's accusation against Israel is baseless, Germany is actually putting its money where its mouth is. Instead of just saying the accusation is not rooted in reality, Germany has asked to join the lawsuit as a third party on Israel's side, protesting the misuse of the convention for the prevention and punishment of genocide. For the record, in the wake of the Holocaust, Israel was one of the countries pushing for the adoption of this convention, and one of the first to sign it. It's unbelievable poetic justice, that it's the Germans now coming to the defence of the Jewish state.

Yesterday, an independent Palestinian terrorist attack was carried out, one Israeli was injured, 3 terrorists were eliminated as they were breaking into a Jewish community. The man who was injured had identifies the cuts in the barbed wire fence, was hit by bullets, but was able to alert Israeli security forces, who stopped the attack. Two of the terrorists were 16 years old, the third was 19 years old. Firearms, knives and an axe were found on them. Here's CCTV footage of them while they were breaking into the community:

As the international coalition's forces have moved from defensive to offensive measures against the Houthis (the Iranian funded terrorists from Yemen), Israel is preparing for possible retribution carried out against our people, especially the southern city of Eilat.

The Israeli hostages in Gaza have not had their medications for 99 days. The Red Cross has refused to take these meds from the families, saying that while Hamas doesn't allow it, they can't pass anything to the hostages anyway. Now there's talk about Qatar possibly forcing Hamas to allow it, maybe as a part of some deal. We'll see. There's a lot of cases where reports from Qatar say Hamas have agreed to this or that (mostly in terms of agreeing to a new hostage deal), and then it turns out it was just the Qataris' suggestions to Hamas, being reported as if Hamas had accepted them. Against this backdrop, the Palestinian Red Crescent has reported it continues to provide ambulatory, mobile medical services to Palestinians who can't make it to hospitals, including giving them their meds.

Meanwhile, SA is proving once more that anti-Zionism is the new antisemitism, because it is being used to hurt Jews worldwide, by removing the Jewish captain, David Teeger, from the national cricket team under the excuse that there are anti-Israel protests against him.

Blinken says that Saudi Arabia is still interested in normalization (meaning, a peace agreement) with Israel. I'm going to be honest, I don't think it's a coincidence that it took the Saudis this long to say it. If Israel had folded, and stopped its war against Hamas, I suspect the Saudis would have taken this to mean that Israel is not strong enough to be an ally against Iran. The fact that the war continues, despite international pressure to stop (and effectively surrender to Iranian-funded Hamas), gives moderate Arab states hope that an alliance with Israel against Iran won't fail them and crumble at the first sign of trouble. I believe that's something that hasn't been talked about enough, how moderate Arab countries have been watching this war with Hamas, and how destructive it would be, if Hamas would have won. And any scenario where Hamas still exists and rules Gaza, even in a limited capacity, would be understood as their victory.

Jewish students at Harvard are suing the university for its longstanding failure to fight antisemitism, including in allowing antisemitic material to be taught in class. This is a reminder that the issue was never Claudine Gay specifically, there's a much bigger problem at hand in Harvard and other western universities, and her resignation is just the first step. I'm glad Jewish students are taking this initiative, to force Harvard to take more steps.

The Israeli Air Force has drawn this imitation of the yellow ribbon, worn as a part of the call to release the Israeli hostages, in the skies of Gaza (pic taken from inside southern Israel):

This is 71 years old Uri ben Tzvi.

I got to watch an interview with him. Uri survived the Hamas massacre on Oct 7 at kibbutz Be'eri, he and his wife hid together for hours, including 3.5 hours during which terrorists were rampaging through their home. Two hours later, they were saved thanks to their son, an IDF officer in an elite unit, who managed to make it out of his own home, and join security forces. But Uri recounted how almost any noise makes him jump now, and how almost all of his age group was wiped out. When he goes to the dining hall (kibbutzim are communal, everyone eats meals together), his friends that he used to sit with are no longer there. He insisted that Oct 7 was a kind of Holocaust, as Jewish kids were once again hiding in closets, terrified for their lives.

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

[slotumn]

On today's edition of 3H worldbuilding that makes the setting even bleaker:

Headcanons about/overview of intra-Fódlan forced displacements throughout history

Nabatean exodus from everywhere north of current day Garreg Mach to the south, caused by genocide; my headcanons that the various other "saints" aside from the Five Saints were all Nabateans in disguise

Adrestia-Faerghus population exchange after Faerghan independence, mediated by Church; I'd wager that over centuries under imperial rule, plenty of ethnic Adrestians went up north and plenty of ethnic Faerghans came down south and mingled, but to make the independence process "cleaner" and "prevent future conflicts," they forced people to move (it sucked, many died in the process)

Ethnic cleansing of Adrestians in Leicester during Leicester rebellion; as there are no records of any treaties that ended this and instead just said that Faerghus annexed Leicester, I assume this was a violent shitshow. Also due to precedent of number 3, Faerghan government would also have been perfectly fine with continuing to kill/expell Adrestians in order to solidify their control over the region (little did they know this would backfire on them)

Ethnic cleansing of Faerghans in Leicester during Crescent Moon War; also a violent shitshow, remember that this war went on for 20 years and probably took on the form of multiple civil wars within each territory rather than a big organized Leicester vs Faerghus clash, which probably made death tolls worse. I think there wouldn't even have been any official treaty/plan for population transfer like with Adrestia-Faerghus, as instead of mutually expelling people under a treaty, Leicester probably just exterminated Faerghans until Faerghus couldn't justify controlling them anymore and went "ok fine have your independence"

Ethnic Leicesterians in Adrestia/Faerghus being killed or sent to Leicester alongside/in response the above two, although the degree to which the movement was forced varies compared to most others on the list; plenty moved to Leicester voluntarily for economic reasons

Faerghan (Machian?) exodus to Leicester or outside of Fódlan + Adrestians moving into western Kingdom and southern Leicester during Unification War; top down on the Empire's part to solidify/justify control over those areas

The recently moved Faerghans in Leicester and Adrestians in western Kingdom/south Leicester (alongside Faerghan/Adrestian minorities who managed to stay in the other lands through the previous waves of displacement) getting kicked right back out after/near the end of the Unification War, depending in the route; led or started by violent mobs but allowed/encouraged by authorities

Displacement/transfers/immigration waves outside of Fódlan/Fódlanis

Elites exodus to Dagda, caused by defeat in War of Heroes; confirmed in Balthus and Hapi paralogue

Srengi exodus further north or across Whitehorn to Almyra, caused by Faerghan land seizure, but also Faerghans from Gautier moving across Whitehorn Sea to Almyra because of the ongoing conflict

Some people from Southern Church moved not to Eastern Church but further abroad (Almyra? Morfis?)

There are probably some Leicesterians who moved to Almyra during Crescent Moon War, although there probably was/continues to be immigration for economic reasons

If there was an Almyran minority in Leicester at any point they mostly got killed/expelled/forcibly assimilated after the big Almyran invasion

Probably a sizeable Brigidan population in Dagda? Maybe some in Adrestia after the most recent subjugation, although it's far more limited compared to Dagda due to Fódlani isolationism

I'd put Duscurians here but the implication seems to be that enough didn't survive to flee elsewhere post-Tragedy

I'd also put the Sothis vs Agarthans war somewhere but that just seems to have been near-annihilation for both sides

All this does assume that Adrestians/Faerghans/Leicesterians consider themselves to be different ethnicities from one another, rather than everyone being "Fódlani." But I think that's more likely to be the case than not; dev interview said Fódlan is about 2/3 size of Europe, which is about Europe minus Russia, and there's certainly more than one ethnicity in there. As a matter of fact I'd actually think that there are further divisions than just Adrestian/Faerghan/Leicesterian, ex: Machians and possibly people in different territories of Leicester consider themselves to be different ethnicities. (I think Adrestians for the most part all consider themselves Adrestian though, due to how old the Empire is)

I like to think that there aren't any more forced displacements/ethnic cleansing post-unification (esp when Byleth is ruler) since it's all one country now, but the real problem would be the fact the worst of it already happened and they gotta figure out how to give reparations for that + not make the resentment split the nation apart again. All while the economy is in the shitters because they just got out of a continent-wide war.

Really I think that would be the biggest post-war challenge no matter the route; the "you were fighting and killing them until recently, now you gotta rule over them and integrate them into the nation." Especially because, again, I don't think the Adrestians/Faerghans/Leicesterians, including the laypeople, would have good sentiments towards one another post-Unification War. Like I think they already didn't like one another before, but the war re-opened every single past ethnic resentment/made the simmering tensions underneath the veneer of peace explode.

[llyfrenfys]

Sooner or later I've gotta make a better post regarding the appropriation of indigenous terminology by proponents of (certain kinds of) Welsh nationalism. But for now here's a very whistle-stop version of that post. I have a degree in Celtic Studies so these topics are very near and dear to my heart.

[Note: I wrote this post originally during a migraine. I'm revisiting the draft while I'm ill but hopefully can fix this up into something somewhat understandable. As always, this is only a very brief description of the history and I strongly reccomend reading about these topics in your own time to develop a deeper understanding of them. These are topics not even well known in Britain, but if you can spend a short time just to read this, you can help to combat misinformation about British (particularly Welsh) history - and that could aid in preventing the misappropriation of history in the long run. Diolch eto for reading!]

Very often, (certain) Welsh nationalists use terminology that positions the Welsh as if they are an 'indigenous' population who have been 'colonised'. They use language (which in this climate) heavily draws upon the language typically used for peoples who are the victims of British colonialism (of which Wales was an active participant). There's multiple issues with this and many of them lie in whether its appropriate to use this language (regardless of its accuracy or not) as a country which was actively involved in the colonisation of much of the world. What I mean in short is that additional language is needed which doesn't step on the toes of endangered cultures and groups directly affected by British colonialism.

Wales not only participated in British colonialism as a whole (alongside Scotland, Ireland* and England) but itself colonised parts of patagonia in Argentina.

I can't think of any similar terminology to 'indigenous' or 'colonised' which would also get the idea which is meant across. 'Native' in certain contexts is permissible, e.g. 'native speaker' in the context of a Welsh speaker. But in other contexts other than langauge, things get tricky when you argue 'nativeness' (this is a topic I will come back to - especially re. Celtic as a language descriptor vs Celtic as a so-called ethnicity). When (certain) Welsh nationalists talk about being 'indigenous' , being 'native' or 'colonised' what is meant by that?

(Map of the expansion of the Bronze Age Bell Beaker culture circa 2400 BC in Britain and Ireland) - from this map

What makes a Welsh person 'indigenous' to this island that doesn't immediately disqualify other peoples who also have a deep history here? Historically, the island of Britain has been lived on by many, many peoples.

In the Bronze Age you had the arrival of the Bell Beaker people. Then in the Iron-Age, you had tribes speaking (mostly) Brittonic. I say mostly, because we have direct evidence that in the Iron Age Gaulish speaking tribes also moved to parts of Britain but later became integrated with the rest of the population (which, I will add, were not a united peoples but a scattering of different groups who often went to war against each other). Then the Romans invaded Britain (and much of Western Europe) and over time integrated into the local population. So now Britain is Romano-British. Eventually the Western Roman Empire collapses and Britain enters into the sub-Roman Britain phase of its existence. Kingdoms begin to form, with the population speaking Brittonic and British-Latin. So you have different kingdoms in (what would become Wales) and in (what would become Northern England and Southern Scotland) you have more Brittonic-speaking kingdoms.

These kingdoms were also not a united peoples. They shared a language - but it's like claiming that Ancient Greeks were a united people simply because they all spoke Greek. Sparta, Athens, Cornith etc. were independent of each other and the same is true of the kingdoms of the Hen Ogledd (the Old North) and the kingdoms of Wales. They all had a common language but also went to war with each other sometimes. Eventually, the Brittonic language began to diverge into different languages. Namely, Old Welsh and Cumbric (the language spoken in what is today Cumbria, Lancashire, Northumberland and Southern Scotland). The two languages were still very closely related but had diverged by a certain point.

At the same time this is happening, Anglo-Saxons begin to arrive in what is now Kent. They form kingdoms and the Britons living there are either displaced or become absorbed into the Anglo-Saxon populace. Then the Norse rock up and conduct viking raids around the coast before finally settling in parts of the country and forming their own territories.

So now Britain has several groups living on the island (keeping in mind even before settlement from the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse that the British kingdoms were already composed of different groups themselves). Northern Scotland was also having a time re: Picts, Gaels and Britons - but we'll gloss over that for brevity. Also, Ireland was also raiding the Welsh coast at this time too.

Then the Normans rock up and in 1066 William the Conqueror, well, conquers. More history happens after this point but I will try and keep this as brief and as non-messy as I can.

So, to recap:

One of the earliest cultures in Britain was the Bell Beaker people in the Bronze Age. They had their lands settled by the Iron Age Britons ('Celts'). Then the Romans came and the 'Celts' became Romano-Britons. After the Western Roman Empire collapses the remaining population forms kingdoms with distinct political identities. These kingdoms eventually find themselves fighting the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse. Then the Normans turn up and so on and so forth.

So- which group is the original native group to Britain? (Trick question - this question cannot be satisfactorily answered in favour of one group without leaning into claims of historicity which the other groups can also claim).

Which brings me to modern Welsh identity and those who came before.

Something I see in Welsh nationalist groups is a claim to the legacy (or even claims of direct descendance from) the Iron Age Britons (commonly called Celts for shorthand, but as I said before I'm gonna get back to that point). And this narrative is what the "Welsh people are native to Britain" argument is based off of.

It may seem like #praxis to argue the Welsh people are the true inhabitants of Britain and the English are evil invaders. But you have to make *several* logical leaps to get to that point if you're genuinely arguing that point.

For starters, many more people than just the Britons (read: Romano Britons/early Brittonic kingdoms) have called Britain home since the Early Middle Ages. For example, there's the settlement of Scotland by the Gaels, the Irish settlement of certain parts of costal Wales. You have (much later) Roma and traveller groups, Jewish diaspora and many more diverse cultures and peoples existing in Britain at this time. The Romano-British population, which developed into the Early Middle Ages kingdoms of Wales and the Hen Ogledd, was also multicultural. Many black Romans started families with white Britons. By the sub-Roman period, Britain was ethnically and culturally diverse.

But those who argue in favour of a such thing as 'Celtic ethnicity' in order to support the idea Britons (and only Britons) were native to these islands typically imagine that history as white. White Brits, white Romans, white Gaels. When we know this isn't true. Did you know that the Northernmost Ancient Egyptian temple in the world is in Yorkshire because Roman Egyptians in the military brought their religion with them? Mary Beard did a fantastic documentary about a Roman Soldier from modern day Syria who was stationed at Hadrian's Wall who started a family with a British woman. Point is, that some people like to imagine a purely white Britain that they can pine for. And I'm afraid it simply isn't true. The version of history many white supremacists look to simply didn't exist.

I'll quickly bring up one last point before I draw this to a close. And it's about Celtic as a linguistic term vs Celtic as a so-called ethnicity. You see, any first year Celtic Student would tell you that there is no such thing as 'Celts'. Crazy, I know from people studying *Celtic* studies. But hear me out - there is good reasoning why (beyond language groups) Celtic is not a good term for describing an ethnic group. Much of it relates to what I've already mentioned, but we categorise Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Mann, Cornwall and Brittany as Celtic not because of the ethnicity of the people living there (which I've mentioned is pretty diverse) but because they are all places where Celtic languages are spoken. It wasn't until Edward Llwyd (d. 1709) that the term Celtic was coined to describe these languages. Up until that point, nobody was thinking of Irish and Welsh as related because the languages do not sound like they have a common origin. By extension, people didn't think of the Welsh and Irish as being the same peoples (or Celtic) either. Its only in the modern day there is a sense of Celtic identity. The Iron Age Britons were not going around calling themselves Celts. There was no common Celtic identity. But very often people argue Celticness based on a pseudohistory which insists on a false and misleading interpretation of history. Whether or not Celticness exists now is a different matter entirely. But it sure does not rest upon race or ethnicity as a qualifier. This is quite foundational stuff to first year and above Celtic Scholars, but is not generally well known outside of academia because the misinformation is quite strong. So if you read is far, diolch mawr and please share this with anyone you think might be interested in it. Any amount of knowledge of these things would greatly improve understanding of what it means to be Welsh and what it means to speak a Celtic language.

Lastly,

all of that begs us to ask the question:

What does it mean to claim nativeness in a Western European context?

More under the cut

What does it mean to claim nativeness in a Western European context? Especially in a Western Europe post-colonialism.

It means, to me, to claim what isn't our right to claim. To argue and make our points with language that isn't ours and isn't designed to be ours. That this language of indigeneity may sound appealing, but is it improper to use this terminology when our country was directly responsible for the atrocities in which this very language became relevant?

What do we do in response to the misinterpretation of our culture instead of relying on language of indigeneity? These are the questions I want to leave you with and invite you to share your thoughts on. How do we build a Wales which advocates for itself without relying upon inaccurate language which betrays a reliance upon the ahistorical to make its point?

What kind of Wales do we want to live in?

[capybaracorn]

Gaza’s mass graves: Is the truth being uncovered?

Calls for an independent inquiry are mounting as more burial sites are found across Gaza, but experts say bringing the truth to light will take time.

At least 392 bodies were recovered at the Nasser Medical Complex in the southern Gaza Strip [AFP]

(11th of May 2024)

Palestinian emergency workers continue to uncover mass graves in and around three hospitals in the Gaza Strip, months after Israeli forces laid siege to them, claiming they were being used as Hamas command centres.

More than 500 bodies have been recovered with Palestinian officials saying several of them showed signs of mutilation and torture amounting to war crimes. Israel’s military has rejected the allegations as “baseless”, saying the bodies were buried by Palestinians during the fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas in the area.

The United Nations, the United States and the European Union have called for an independent investigation to determine the truth and ensure accountability. UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said: “It’s important that all forensic evidence be well preserved.”

But as Israel intensifies its assault on the southern city of Rafah, having closed the crossing into Egypt and preventing any possible deployment of forensic teams or equipment into Gaza, burial sites are being dug up and evidence haphazardly collected.

Experts said the disturbance of sites where proof of war crimes might lie will make the search for truth harder – yet not all hopes for justice are lost.

How is evidence being collected from the mass graves?

Three mass graves have been found at the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, three at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City and one at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya.

Mohammad Zaanin, a member of the Palestinian Civil Defence in Gaza, told Al Jazeera on Thursday that a fourth gravesite containing 42 bodies had been found at al-Shifa Hospital. The bodies were decomposed and unrecognisable, but some had IDs on them or were identified by relatives from clothing remnants.

Civil Defence teams have been documenting the remains through photos and videos, working with little protective gear and no forensic equipment. “We have some body bags and a little equipment to protect our hands and noses, but in reality, this is a local effort, and it puts a lot of pressure on our team,” Zaanin said.

Thani Nimr Abdel Rahman, who works with the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights in Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp and has visited the burial sites at al-Shifa Hospital, said she witnessed the ground being excavated using bulldozers.

Before the dead are reburied at a new site, relatives of the missing search for pieces of clothing around the remains for a sign of their loved ones. At times, the corpses have been left unattended. “The dogs came to devour the bodies, and the smell was deadly,” Abdel Rahman told Al Jazeera. “[This work] requires more capabilities and forensic experts, none of which are available in Gaza.”

Has evidence of war crimes been found?

Several Civil Defence members have claimed to have found evidence of ill treatment, including torture, extrajudicial executions and unlawful killings of noncombatants that could amount to war crimes.

Rami Dababesh, a member of the Civil Defence team who took part in the exhumation work at al-Shifa Hospital, told Al Jazeera that his team had found “headless corpses”. Paramedic Adel al-Mashharawi said he saw bodies of children and women dressed in hospital garments.

Civil Defence member Mohammed Mughier said at least 10 of the bodies had been found with bound hands while others still had medical tubes attached to them. He added that additional forensic examination was needed on about 20 bodies of people who they suspect had been “buried alive”.

Yamen Abu Sulaiman, the head of the Civil Defence in Khan Younis, said some of the bodies found at the Nasser Medical Complex had been “stacked together” and showed indications of field executions having taken place. At least 392 bodies were recovered at this site alone.

Is the evidence gathered reliable?

Mass grave investigations are typically a highly complex, lengthy and expensive process, requiring significant expertise and resources. The overarching operating principle underpinning the forensic scientific approach is “do no harm” because interference with the site may prejudice the evidence.

“The first reaction from pretty much everyone is to dig the bodies up because it’s a very emotional thing,” Stefan Schmitt, a forensic scientist at Florida International University who has investigated mass graves in multiple conflicts, told Al Jazeera.

“But bodies are safer underground when it comes to identifying them and determining what happened. Particularly in this case, where the truth is so incredibly important and where all sides are propagating their own version of the events, it’s especially important to be able to determine what really took place.”

[See article for embedded video]

Digging up bodies, especially using invasive methods such as bulldozers, wipes out clues that could help determine responsibility and archaeological evidence that could reveal when a grave was dug and with what tools, Schmitt said.

Every exhumation also scatters evidence as decomposing body parts are left behind in the original burial site. Once a corpse is moved and reburied, information on where it came from can be lost.

Inaccurate information may also be added as part of the documentation process. Schmitt said misidentification by grieving relatives who are psychologically inclined to want closure is frequent in the context of war. Claims of bodies having been decapitated or buried alive were also hard to back up without autopsies being carried out.

Photographic and video evidence alone may not be sufficient to remedy confusion. For visual evidence to be viewed as reliable, a chain of custody must be ensured, Schmitt said.

The process of documentation must give a clear sense of the exhumation process both spatially and in regards to timing with pictures containing information including metadata and geolocation taken in a sequence. Shots must be framed to feature landmarks before zooming in on the details. The information is then methodically collected in a spreadsheet, from which each entry is hyperlinked to the relevant visual data.

“I have been shown pictures that came from Gaza, but I couldn’t see the chain of custody. I don’t know where they’re coming from,” Schmitt said, adding that this means he has consequently unable to give an expert opinion on what they show.

“What is happening right now is destroying evidence. I know that that’s not deliberate, but it plays into the hands of those that don’t want the truth to be told.”

Can international organisations help?

The UN has called for “a clear, transparent and credible investigation” of mass graves in Gaza. The EU backed the call, saying the discovery of bodies at the hospitals “creates the impression that there might have been violations of international human rights” while the US said it wanted the matter to be “thoroughly and transparently investigated”.

It is unclear which organisation would heed the call, or who in the future might take up the hefty task of investigating.

UN human rights spokesperson Jeremy Laurence told Al Jazeera the international body was not providing support in evidence gathering at burial sites in Gaza “because it requires specific expertise that does not exist on the ground”.

[See article for embedded video]

Is there any hope of justice for victims?

As the Rafah border crossing with Egypt remains closed, the prospects of foreign investigators being sent in to investigate allegations of war crimes appear slim.

However, not all hope for justice is lost. “What you have got, as opposed to what you haven’t got, might itself be extremely revealing,” said Geoffrey Nice, a British barrister who led the prosecution in the trial of Serbian politician Slobodan Milosevic at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague.

“Because you haven’t got it all doesn’t mean you haven’t got enough,” Nice told Al Jazeera about forensic scientific evidence.

In the former Yugoslavia, remains were dug up for decades, and DNA testing ensured identification even many years after the events. “Efforts on identification never end, and there is a huge body of evidence. Never worry about what you haven’t got. Use what you have got,” the barrister added.

Evidence gathered at the mass graves could point to specific offences or be merged into a broader inquiry into war crimes. An unbiased judiciary and investigatory organisation may be set up, but this will take decades of work and cost a large sum of money, requiring the support of wealthy countries.

According to Nice, should a tribunal for Gaza be set up, “it would not be sensible to have participating members from any countries that supported Israel with weapons.”

“The Israel-Gaza conflict is hopelessly sensitive. The funding body, be it the EU or someone else, has got to be prepared after having funded it to have absolutely no further engagement except when asked,” he added.

Is justice being pursued elsewhere?

Legal proceedings are also already ongoing at top courts. The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague is overseeing an active investigation into the atrocities on October 7 by Hamas and the response by the Israeli military. The office of the prosecutor has jurisdiction in the Palestinian territories but has not made any public comments about the discovery of mass graves.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ), a separate court, is considering a case brought by South Africa in which Israel stands accused of committing genocide in Gaza. It will take several years to reach a verdict, during which time, the court is expected to investigate a litany of alleged offences.

Among key provisional measures issued to prevent the crime of genocide, the ICJ ordered Israeli authorities to “take effective measures to prevent the destruction and ensure the preservation of evidence” related to the allegations. It also ordered unimpeded access to humanitarian aid, which humanitarian organisations said has been blocked since the offensive in Rafah began.

“If the general conclusion of any court is that what is going on in Gaza is beyond the limits of warfare, then it is not difficult to track the chain of command back to the top,” Nice said.

Then, the barrister added, “you can start to see if there is individual responsibility.”

[See article for embedded video]

[silicacid]

Al Jazeera journalist Samer Abudaqa killed in Israeli attack in Gaza

Al Jazeera Arabic journalist Samer Abudaqa has been killed and his colleague Wael Dahdouh was wounded in an Israeli attack in Khan Younis, southern Gaza.

Cameraman Abudaqa and correspondent Dahdouh were reporting at Farhana school in Khan Younis when they were hit by an Israeli strike on Friday.

Rescue teams were unable to immediately reach Abudaqa and others at the site due to Israeli bombardment.

“Rescuers just managed to retrieve the cameraman Samer Abudaqa’s body,” a spokesperson for the media network said.

Dahdouh was hit by shrapnel on his upper arm, and managed to reach Nasser hospital where he was treated for minor injuries.

Witnesses said earlier there was heavy shelling in the area around the school.

Wael Dahdouh says the network’s crew was accompanying civil defence rescuers on a mission to evacuate a family after its home was bombed.

“We captured the devastating destruction and reached places that had not been reached by any camera lens since the Israeli ground operation started,” Dahdouh said from his hospital bed.

As the Al Jazeera journalists were heading back on foot because the areas were not accessible by car, Dahdouh said “something big” happened that knocked him to the ground.

After the explosion, Dahdouh said he pressed on his wounds and walked out of the area to get help, but by the time he reached an ambulance, medics said they could not return to the site of the attack because it was too dangerous.

Subsequent efforts to coordinate a safe passage to send rescuers for Abudaqa were delayed, Dahdouh said, adding that one ambulance that tried to reach the cameraman came under fire.

Many Palestinians from the central and northern parts of Gaza have sought shelter in Khan Younis since the war began in October. Many have now been pushed further south towards the strip’s southernmost city of Rafah after Israel intensified its military operations in Khan Younis.

The attack comes amid violent clashes between Palestinian fighters and the Israeli army in locations across Gaza. Residents reported fighting in Shujayea, Sheikh Radwan, Zeitoun, Tuffah, and Beit Hanoon in north Gaza, east of Maghazi in central Gaza and in the centre and northern fringes of Khan Younis, according to the Reuters news service.

The Al Jazeera Media Network condemned the attack and extended its condolences to Abudaqa’s family in Gaza and Belgium.

“The Network holds Israel accountable for systematically targeting and killing Al Jazeera journalists and their families,” a statement read.

“In today’s bombing in Khan Younis, Israeli drones fired missiles at a school where civilians sought refuge, resulting in indiscriminate casualties,” the network said.

“Following Samer’s injury, he was left to bleed to death for over 5 hours, as Israeli forces prevented ambulances and rescue workers from reaching him, denying the much-needed emergency treatment,” the statement added.

In late October, Wael Dahdouh lost four of his family members in an Israeli air raid.

His family had been seeking refuge in Nuseirat camp in the centre of Gaza when their home was bombed by Israeli forces, killing his wife, Um Hamza, his 15-year-old son, Mahmoud, his seven-year-old daughter, Sham, and his grandson, Adam, who died in hospital hours later.

Calls for accountability

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said it was “deeply saddened” and called for an independent investigation into the attack.

The press freedom group says the conflict in Gaza is the deadliest for journalists it has ever recorded.

“We’re outraged by the high price, I would say the extreme price, that Palestinian journalists are paying,” the CPJ’s Carlos Martinez de la Serna told Al Jazeera, adding that there was a “clear prevailing sense of impunity.”

“We need international, independent investigations to assess all these killings and those responsible need to be accountable,” said de la Serna. “It’s essential to remember that journalists under international humanitarian law are civilians, and the obligation on all parties involved in the war is to protect them, and what we’re seeing, is that journalists are being killed.”

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said it was “shocked” at the attack.

“We condemn the attack and reiterate our demand that journalists’ lives must be safeguarded,” it said in a post on X.

An IFJ report published last week found that 72 percent of journalists who died on the job this year were killed in the Gaza war.

‘A professional, strong team’

The two journalists have worked together with Al Jazeera Arabic since before the war.

“[Samer] and Wael make up a very professional, strong team on the ground, documenting everything and bringing all the facts and live pictures of what the Palestinian people have been going through,” Hani Mahmoud said.

“But particularly with this war, given its intensity in scale and magnitude and the sheer amount of destruction, they have been at the forefront of covering every little detail that one might have forgotten about,” he added.

[workersolidarity]

[ 📹 Scenes of the massive devastation wrought on Khan Yunis, a city in the southern Gaza Strip, following months of Israeli bombardment, in addition to an invasion by the Israeli occupation forces (IOF), and their eventual withdrawal from the city. 📈 The death toll continues to rise in the Gaza genocide, now with an official count of over 34'262 Palestinians killed, while another 77'229 have been wounded over the previous six months.]

🇮🇱⚔️🇵🇸 🚀🏘️💥🚑 🚨

MASSIVE BOMBING IN GAZA CAUSES MASS DISPLACEMENT, SOUTH AFRICA DEMANDS INVESTIGATION INTO MASS GRAVES ON 201ST DAY OF GENOCIDE

On the 201st day of "Israel's" ongoing special genocide operation in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) committed a total of six new massacres of Palestinian families, resulting in the deaths of no less than 79 Palestinians, mostly women and children, while another 86 others were wounded over the previous 24-hours.

Gaza's Ministry of Health added that ambulance and paramedic crews are still unable to reach many of the victims of the Israeli occupation's bombing and shelling, with many bodies remaining trapped under the rubble or strewn across Gaza's streets.

Following the discovery of hundreds of decomposing corpses of Palestinian civilians at the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis over the last several days, the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation (SADIRC) called for "comprehensive investigations to ensure justice and accountability."

“Israel continues to disregard the rulings by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and UN resolutions unabated amid the unrelenting bombardment of Gaza, particularly the ICJ’s ruling which granted South Africa’s urgent request of March 6 for further provisional measures to prevent Israel from causing irreparable harm to the rights invoked by South Africa under the 1948 Genocide Convention in respect of the ongoing siege of Gaza,” the department said in a statement on Wednesday.

The department lombasted the Israeli occupation's failure to comply with orders given by the International Court of Justice at The Hague (ICJ), in the Netherlands, where South Africa accused the Zionist entity of "acts of genocide," leading the ICJ to order provisional measures to ensure Palestinian's right to life, basic healthcare services, and basic needs like food and potable water.

South Africa said the lack of accountability for the Israeli occupation has become increasingly clear, pointing to comments made by the United Nations Special Rapporteur that "Israel's" war on the "right to health" of Palestinians has resulted in the obliteration of Gaza's healthcare system.

“We further concur with the UN’s special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, when she recently highlighted the continuation of Israel's impunity and exceptionalism is no longer viable, especially in light of the binding UN Security Council resolution 2728 which called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza."

“In this respect, we call on the international community to act to bring the perpetrators to justice and ensure accountability for the victims and their families," the department added.

On top of South Africa's demands for an International investigation into the Nasser hospital massacre, the United Nations Human Rights High-Commissioner, Volker Türk, also called for an independent investigation into reports mass graves found at Nasser and Al-Shifa Hospitals, saying there needs to be "independent, effective and transparent investigations into the deaths."

"Given the prevailing climate of impunity, this should include international investigators," Türk said, adding that "hospitals are entitled to very special protection under International humanitarian law. And the intentional killing of civilians, detainees and others who are hors de combat is a war crime."

In other news, the German Foreign and Development ministries issued a joint statement on Wednesday in which they stated that Germany intended to resume funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine, more commonly known as UNRWA.

Previously, authorities with the Israeli occupation accused the aid organization of employing Palestinians with connections to Hamas and the Resistance's deadly attacks on illegal Israeli settlements and military bases lining the Gaza Strip on October 7th, 2023.

"The German government has dealt intensively with the allegations made by Israel against UNRWA and has been in close contact with the Israeli government, the United Nations and other international donors," the two departments said in their statement.

The German government said their concern stems from the fact that other International aid organizations were dependent on "UNRWA's operational structures" in Gaza, adding that ensuring humanitarian aid reached the enclave was "more important than ever" given the current situation.

The German government also urged UNRWA to implement recommendations made in a report following a German investigation into the claims which identified "neutrality issues" at the aid organization.

"In support of these reforms, the German government will soon continue its cooperation with UNRWA in Gaza, as Australia, Canada, Sweden and Japan, among others, have already done so," the joint statement added.

While the international community called for investigations into mass graves and renewed funding for UNRWA, the Hebrew media published reports stating that authorities with the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) have conducted all the necessary preparations for an invasion of Rafah, claiming they were ready to launch the operation at a moment's notice upon the occupation government's approval.

The occupation army added that it would begin ground operations in Rafah "very soon," starting with the evacuation of over 1.4 million Palestinians packed into the city, having been displaced by the occupation's genocide from various sectors of the Gaza Strip.

A report in the Hebrew media said the plan would begin by forcing over a million Palestinians to evacuate over the next four to five weeks, herded into tent complexes that they claim have been erected by "International aid organizations," a plan the Israeli occupation says it presented to its allies and other agencies in the region.

Subsequently, the plan will move forward in several stages, based on a "regional division" into defined areas, where at each stage, the Israeli occupation army will "inform the local population" before making advances, giving the Palestinian population a chance to evacuate.

The IOF also announced on Wednesday the recruitment of two reserve brigades to "continue the defense and attack mission in the Gaza Strip under the command of Division 99."

According to a report on the occupation's plans, the 2nd Reserve Brigade of the 146th Division, along with the 679th Reserve Brigade belonging to the 210th Division, will be transferred from the north of the occupied Palestinian territories, near the border with Lebanon, to the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, the slaughter in the Gaza Strip continues to escalate, with a deadly renewal of the occupation army's bombardment on the northern Gaza Strip, in addition to various sectors of the enclave.

Occupation Forces demanded that residents of Beit Lahiya, a town in the northern Gaza Strip, leave their homes and migrate towards Gaza City and the Jabalia Refugee Camp, where six months of intense bombardment has left both the ancient city and refugee camp in ruins, beginning a whole new exodus of displaced Palestinian families.

Around 50'000 Palestinians had just returned to their damaged homes, hoping to rebuild, only to be told a short time later that they would have to evacuate once again, under threat of Israeli slaughter and bombardment.

At the same time, Zionist warplanes launched a series of firebelts on Beit Lahiya, demolishing large numbers of civilian homes, as well as a mosque, killing at least three civilians and wounding many others, while occupation artillery shelling concentrated on the town of Beit Hanoun, also in Gaza's far north.

Additionally, occupation fighter jets bombed a residential home belonging to the Dardouna family in the Al-Salam area, east of Jabalia, while yet another bombing of the Shteiwi family home in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza City, resulted in the deaths of two Palestinians and also wounded a large number of civilians.

Several civilians were also wounded following a strike on the Al-Shujaiya neighborhood of Gaza City, when an IOF reconnaissance aircraft fired a missile which fragmented upon its explosion, hitting a number of Palestinians who were on the ground at the time.

Occupation warplanes also demolished the Al-Raed Tower in a firebelt on Al-Jalaa Street on Tuesday night.

The Zionist bombardment also hammered the central Gaza Strip overnight, with an occupation airstrike targeting a gathering of civilians near the Hyper Mall in the Nuseirat Refugee Camp, resulting in the deaths of four Palestinians, while yet another strike targeted agricultural land in the Trans Al-Baba area of Al-Zawaida.

Occupation artillery forces also shelled the eastern neighborhoods of the Al-Bureij Refugee Camp, while another air raid targeted the vicinity of the Al-Salhi Towers in the New Camp, north of Al-Nuseirat. Similarly, two more additional raids targeted the Wadi Gaza area.

In Khan Yunis, Civil Defense crews continued to recover the bodies of those killed and dumped into mass graves by the IOF at the Nasser Medical Complex, announcing on Wednesday morning the discovery of 51 additional bodies of various ages and categories, 30 of whom had been identified, while the rest remain unknown.

This brings the total number of bodies discovered at the Nasser complex to 324, while 9 more bodies were recovered from various areas of Khan Yunis.

In the meantime, occupation forces bombed a residential building belonging to the Al-Bahasba family east of Rafah City, in the southern Gaza Strip, killing at least three civilians, including a father and his two sons.

As a result of "Israel's" ongoing special genocide operation in the Gaza Strip, the death toll among the population of Gaza has now risen to exceed 34'262 Palestinians killed, including over 14'690 children and 9'680 women, while another 77'229 others have been wounded since the start of the current round of Zionist aggression, beginning with the events of October 7th, 2023.

April 24th, 2024

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@WorkerSolidarityNews

[girlactionfigure]

🔅Tue morning - ISRAEL REALTIME - Connecting to Israel in Realtime

🔻AIR ATTACKS.. 

Suicide Drones - from Hezbollah, Lebanon - at Southern Golan: Hamat gader, Avnei Eitan, Eliad, Afik, Bnei Yehuda and Givat Yoav, Gshur, Haspin, Kfar Haruv, Mevo Hama, Metzar, Neot Golan, Nov, Natur, Ramat Magshimim, Bnei Yehuda Industrial Zone 

Rockets - from Hezbollah, Lebanon - at Beit Hillel, Iftach, Mevuot Hermon Regional Council, Ramot Naftali

❗️Cruise Missile - from Shia Militias, Iraq - target was intercepted over Syrian airspace.

❗️IRAN WARNS THE US?  0:45 a.m. Iranian Foreign Minister Amir Abd Allahian urgently summons the Swiss ambassador (communication channel to the US) and delivers an urgent message to the Americans.

This morning an Iranian source claims, the message to the US was do not interfere (in Iran's response).

The USA after a few hours officially announces that we have nothing to do with the attack.

▪️US BASE ATTACKED.. The US base in al-Tanf in southeastern Syria was attacked by suicide drones.

▪️ISRAEL ATTACKING SYRIA.. The Al Mayadeen network reports on an Israeli artillery attack in southern Syria, in the area of ​​the Daraa district.

A short time ago several shells fell on lands in the Quneitra region.

▪️SHIA MILITIAS (IRAQ) SAY ATTACKED TEL NOF AIR FORCE BASE (Rishon L’Ziyon).. The Shiite militias in Iraq claim: early in the morning we attacked the Tel Nof base with an unmanned aerial vehicle.  They may have sent one, it never made it to Israel.

▪️US DEFENDS AL JAZEERA.. Israel is (finally!) completing a law to allow the closure of foreign media in Israel that is damaging national security.  US response: The US State Department on Al Jazeera: We support the independent, free press, everywhere in the world - much of what we know about what happened in Gaza is because of reporters who were there doing their jobs, including Al Jazeera reporters.

▪️PROTESTS AND PROTESTS.. Analysis (not ours): . There is a renewed effort to inflame with protests, with the focus of hostage return and also ultra-orthodox draft - with an odd mixture of a subset of distraught families of hostages, Kaplan anti-coalition protestors, Brothers in Arms movement. 

However a strong public consensus that exists in a solid way regarding the goals of the war and the importance of internal unity in Israel.  Energies are very far from there in the level of reception of the message and especially in the ability to sway the masses.

The fact that official Israel is doing everything in its power to leave no stone unturned in the (for now barren) negotiations with Hamas prevents the widening of the internal fissures and leaves the protests, for the time being, circumscribed and limited. (Yossi Eliezer)

Related: There was a small ultra-orthodox counter-draft protest yesterday, shutting down highway 4 outside Bnei Brak.

[athena5898]

🚨 The supposed zionist plan for an invasion of Lebanon (and Syria): Today, Al-Akhbar editor-in-chief Ibrahim Al-Amin published a bombshell report regarding leaked "israeli" plans for an aggression against Lebanon, in light of constant threats by zionist leaders to do so and assurances about the return of over 100,000 settlers displaced from northern occupied Palestine.

Western diplomatic efforts to separate the Gaza and Lebanon fronts have failed, with Hezbollah rejecting proposals to reach a ceasefire agreement independent of the Gaza genocide war, according to the source citing envoys. This is despite numerous efforts and threats by western envoys to Lebanon, using the pretext of "returning settlers" to justify a larger war. Such ridiculous proposals included demilitarization of the south, large deployment of UNFIL forces, and disarmament up to 10km from the border (https://t.me/RNN_Backup/44495).

Envoys suggested that the likelihood of an aggression on Lebanon increases "day by day," stating that American efforts to prevent it are futile.

The report describes that "israel" is planning military maneuvers targeting both Lebanese and Syrian territories, aiming to cut off Hezbollah’s land supply routes (whether through Syria or Iraq) and sever the connection between the Bekaa and the south. In order to do this, it requires a ground operation to invade southern Lebanon and southwestern Syria, "advancing eastwards toward the heart of Lebanon to cut off the route between the Bekaa and the south."

According to the sources, IOF plans include striking Syrian forces to weaken their ability to assist Hezbollah, and encouraging Syrian opposition forces to escalate operations against the Syrian Arab Army.

Further, Lebanese factions hostile to Hezbollah are meeting with Syrian opposition groups, discussing the potential role of Syrian opposition in a possible "israeli" war against Hezbollah; these talks (which were held in Germany, Turkey, and elsewhere and whose members are known) have focused on Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Syrian opposition groups. They seek to play on sectarian chords to incite refugees against the Lebanese resistance, under assurances of regime change in Syria. American intelligence also suggests Lebanese politicians inciting against Syrian refugees could face U.S. sanctions, as part of broader efforts to manipulate regional dynamics against Hezbollah. Lastly, there are worries of Syrian opposition groups that previously had ties with "israel" to express readiness to cooperate with the IOF in this potential offensive (one such opposition member now lives in a zionist settlement in the Golan).

[squarebracket-trickster]

Author Ask Tag Game

A huge SORRY and thank you to @mjparkerwriting for tagging me in this waaaaay back in August (what the heck - how did this happen haha).

What is the main lesson of your story (e.g. kindness, diversity, anti-war), and why did you choose it?

That sometimes being a strong, independent woman isn't enough. Sometimes we can't succeed alone or even with the help of loyal friends. Sometimes it really does take structural, systemic change and that change doesn't happen in a single life time.

As for why I chose this theme... I didn't really. I started with a premise (princess runs away from arranged marriage and accidentally falls in love with guy she was betrothed to). When I turned that premise into a plot with stakes I decided to have something that pressured the protagonist to go back to her marriage. The thing I chose was needing to prevent a war. The theme just kind of emerged from the tension between her saving her people and not being trapped in a marriage she didn't want.

2. What did you use as inspiration for your worldbuilding (like real-life cultures, animals, famous media, websites, etc.)?

Southern England (loosely) in 1333 AD and some other cultures that would have been in contact with, bordering, or having diaspora in England (Wales, France, Breton, Al Andalusia, Persia, Byzantine Empire, Jewish diaspora, and like one thing from Scotland).

Other inspirations include a few Shakespeare comedies, how Tolkien uses English speech patterns to indicate social class, the Robin Hood myth, and Tennyson's poem "The Splendour Falls".

4. How many chapters is your story going to have?

Draft 2 had 15 chapters averaging between 3000-5000 words. I've already broken up one of those chapters in draft 3 and will probably break up more. So, at least 16? But I might split them all in half if I decide they are too many pages when I finally change the page size of my manuscript from standard word doc to book-sized. So maybe around 30?

6. When and why did you start writing?

The immersive daydreamer who loves to read to fandom to CinemaSins to film and tv show critique YouTube to writing advice YouTube to I'm gonna write my daydreams down so I can reread them for fun to I want to try my hand at a properly structured novel (but it's just for me) to dammit, I've put so much work in I want to polish this and publish it one day Pipeline is very, very real.

7. Do you have any words of encouragement for fellow writers of writeblr? What other writers on Tumblr do you follow?

You can edit a bad draft. It is so much easier to fix something than to make something from scratch. Your first draft is not an adequate reflection of your abilities as a writer - neither is your second, neither is your third. Asking for help is a skill, rewriting is a skill, workshopping is a skill, googling writing advice is a skill, taking a break is a skill. Your novel isn't your best work until it's done - feedback, and breaks, and months of writer's block and all. Push through. You're not a bad writer, or a good one for that matter, until there is a finished product to judge. I know looking at an unfinished draft riddled with problems can be demoralizing but you will find those problems and you will fix them. Just be patient.

I'm gonna steal MJ's idea and tag seven of my "other writers" - seven because that's how many questions are on in tag game.

@zeenimf, @ambiguouspuzuma, @macabremoons, @lexiklecksi, @sleepyowlwrites (though you've probably been tagged 1000 times in this haha), @stesierra, @ettawritesnstudies

[kramlabs]

Now do North vs South, NATO vs BRICS, BlackRock (and the Ukronazi’s) vs Russia, Israel vs Gaza, Israel vs Lebanon, Israel vs Yemen, Israel vs Syria, Israel vs Iran….

[romanceyourdemons]

gunfight at the ok corral (1957) is a film about the unsurpassed relationship between two men, which means it is worth keeping an eye on the way it portrays women. there are several women in the film—kate fisher, laura denbow, and virgil earp’s wife—all of them “belonging” to one of the male main characters. the women are nominally independent, with kate fisher being a woman of loose morals who enters romantic relationships with men for financial support, laura denbow being threateningly (to the men) independent and a “real lady,” and virgil’s wife being a dutiful housewife; however, on the level of the narrative, all three are functionally identical. they all only exist to cling to their men and urge them to refrain from violence, and to be pushed reluctantly aside as the men leave to take part in the violence so encouraged and rewarded by the story. in high noon (1952), the female lead also serves as a force pulling the male lead away from the violence he feels honor-bound to engage in; in that case, however, the character is given depth elaborating on why she feels so strongly against violence, and the entire community is also opposed to the male lead’s violent actions. in this film, opposition to violence even when “warranted” by honor is presented as a gendered trait. the american civil war exists in the background of this film, not as the genesis of a deep dichotomy of identity defining the dynamics of the old west, as in the historical tombstone where the cowherds were former confederate and the townspeople were former union, but rather as a faceless experience of violence that bound together all the men of a generation, and prevented women from understanding the meanings of honor and slaughter like men do. (it does bear noting that the film has one acknowledgement of the cultural and ideological dimension of the civil war, by embodying in the sympathetic figure of doc holliday the stereotype of the disgraced but still noble southern gentleman making his way in the west.) in the context of the film, created a decade after the end of wwii, the paradigm of war as a generation-unifying and gender-dividing fact likely was a familiar and compelling one to its audience. this violence-related gender divide in westerns would not be challenged until the spaghetti and other revisionist westerns of the late 1960s, such as once upon a time in the west (1968). for the period before that, as exemplified in gunfight at the ok corral (1957), female characters were by and large relegated to the figures of helpless and uncomprehending pacifists, regardless of how their character is nominally shaped

[matan4il]

Daily update post:

An armed drone hit a school in Eilat. Seven kids had to be taken to a hospital. We still don't officially know who sent the attack drone, or how it wasn't intercepted. The options are that it was either sent from Yemen (less likely), from the ISIS terrorists in Sinai (Egypt) or from Jordan. Just a reminder: Eilat has a population of 51,000 and it has absorbed at least 60,000 of the evacuated Israelis who had survived Hamas' massacre.

In an independent terrorist attack, Palestinians fired at an Israeli car, wounding two adults (one severely and one moderately), but thankfully missing the baby who was also in the vehicle.

The Mossad (the Israeli equivalent of the CIA) helped authorities in Brazil prevent a Hezbollah terrorist attack against Jews there. In 1994, Hezbollah successfully carried out a terrorist attack against a Jewish community center in Argentina, killing 85 people and injuring over 300. Hezbollah is currently still attacking Jewish communities in Israel's north with rockets and drones.

Yesterday, for the first time in decades, Jews prayed in the ancient, 1,500 years old synagogue in Gaza (yes, older than the Arab colonization of the Land of Israel). Here's a delegation of archeologists examining the mosaic floor of the synagogue:

The mosaic includes the image of the Jewish King David, playing a lyre, with his name appearing in Hebrew letters.

The IDF has explicitly put out the message for Gazans today, that if Hamas is stopping them from evacuating, they can turn to the Israeli army for help.

Hamas' second in command in Gaza, Khalil al-Haja, told the New York Times, that the purpose of the massacre wasn't to bring prosperity to Gaza, it's to create a permanent state of war for Israel on all of its borders (meaning by facilitating a regional war, forcing other Middle Eastern elements to join the war against Israel).

HonestReporting is an NGO that was established in 2000 to combat the anti-Israel bias in many news outlets (it happened because a pic of an Israeli policeman saving a Jewish American tourist from Arabs attacking him, was published by the New York Times as the pic of an Israeli policeman attacking a Palestinian).

Now, HonestReporting has published a report on Gazan journalists, who provided materials for Reuters, AP, CNN and the New York Times, and were there for Hamas' massacre, on the border of Israel, early in the morning on Saturday (Israel's day of rest). HR is posing the question of how did these journalists know to be present there, at that time. HR is also pointing out that they entered Israel together with Hamas' terrorists, raising ethical questions about their presence and inaction at the scene of these horrors as they were happening. Following the report, HR was also sent a pic of one of these journalists been kissed on the cheek by Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas in Gaza.

I find it so touching when people from backgrounds hostile to Israel, still manage to look beyond that, and see us as people. This is the bridge to the peace that I personally still wanna believe we'll have in this region one day:

Israeli police is putting together a case against the Hamas terrorists who executed the massacre, and who were caught alive. So far, over 700 testimonies of survivors have been collected, as well as tens of thousands of digital files. The terrorists' interrogations will also be included. Some of these have been published. One thing that they recounted is that they were given religious permission to murder women, children and babies. They also said that the purpose of the rapes and beheadings was to terrify the Israeli public. Lastly, they admitted that the plan was to make it from southern Israel to the central region, too (where Tel Aviv and Jerusalem are).

This is Avihu Mori, he was recognized as a mental health patient, due to severe PTSD. Every time Palestinian rockets were fired into Israel, his family said he would start falling apart, and acting illogically. During the current war, it happened again, he ran away, crossed the border into Gaza and was killed there.

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

[tieflingkisser]

Israel’s block of AP transmission shows how ambiguity in law could restrict war coverage

Israel’s shutdown and seizure of an Associated Press video camera that provided a live glimpse into Gaza alarmed many journalists, who worried Tuesday about wider implications for coverage of a war largely fought out of the world’s sight to begin with. After widespread condemnation, including a call by the Biden administration for Israel to back off, authorities returned the AP’s equipment late Tuesday. Israel had justified its move by saying the agency violated a new media law that bans Al Jazeera, since the Qatari satellite channel is one of thousands of customers that receive live AP video. By early Wednesday, the AP’s live video of Gaza was back up in Israel. The camera confiscated earlier, located in the southern Israeli town of Sderot, was not the only one the AP operated in Israel or Gaza — the company would not say how many it uses regularly — nor is the AP the only news organization to do so. Agence France-Presse confirmed it has frequently used such cameras in Israel and also sells its images to Al Jazeera. “Israel’s move to restrict AP’s work today is extremely concerning and a clear attack on press freedom,” said Phil Chetwynd, AFP’s global news director. News organizations expressed worry about the potential ambiguity in how Israel’s law could be enforced. What, they asked, prevents Israel from shutting down the news cooperative’s operations in the country altogether? “It also could allow Israel to block media coverage of virtually any news event on vague security grounds,” Israel’s Foreign Press Association said in a statement.

[...]

The country “seems to be grasping at anything that hurts Al Jazeera,” said Thomas Kent, former president and CEO of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and an international consultant on media ethics. Its latest step damages a reputable news organization at a time the country would seem to want independent news coverage, Kent said. A democracy acting in this way also sends a disturbing signal to authoritarian countries, he said. “You have to look at the larger picture,” said Kent, also a former standards editor and international correspondent at the AP. “They’re giving fuel to other countries that would love to seize equipment and shut down transmissions.” The move against the AP set off a debate within Israel. Yair Lapid, opposition leader to the Netanyahu government, called it an “act of madness.” Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, who accused the AP of violating the country’s law, said it clearly states that any device used to deliver content to Al Jazeera could be seized. “We will continue to act decisively against anyone who tries to harm our soldiers and the security of the state, even if you don’t like it,” Karhi responded to Lapid on X.

[mariacallous]

A major part of U.S. President Joe Biden’s transformational plan for the Middle East—more like a Hail Mary than a real plan—is to see Saudi Arabia and Israel normalize their relations. To make it happen, Washington would have to provide Riyadh, among other things, with a formal defense pact. Israel, per Saudi wishes, would have to take irrevocable steps to help create an independent Palestinian state.

With a prime minister overtly opposed to such an endgame, Israel is unlikely to fulfill its end of this bargain anytime soon. It is not even done with its current war against Hamas. It has threatened to invade Rafah in southern Gaza to go after whatever is left of the militant group’s warfighting capacity—an outcome that would prolong this war, sabotage any hope for a cease-fire and a hostage exchange, and exacerbate the already enormous suffering of the Palestinian people.

When it comes to the creation of a Palestinian state, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rarely missed an opportunity to register his opposition. As always, he is singularly focused on ensuring his political survival by appeasing an angry Israeli public with an ongoing war, knowing that when the shooting stops, they will punish him for failing to prevent Hamas’s attack on Oct. 7, 2023. Except that Israeli victory on the battlefield is proving more and more elusive due to Hamas’s staying power, the challenges of urban combat, and growing international pressure on Israel to end its military operations.

Yet, despite Israel standing in the way of a trilateral deal, it seems that the United States and Saudi Arabia have made great progress on their own. There is now talk of a “plan B” that could exclude Israel, the terms of which—according to some of the excited press coverage—include a U.S. defense pact, U.S. help in Saudi civil nuclear energy development, and systematic collaboration on the areas of artificial intelligence and other important technologies. Such a plan B seems promising on the surface, but on closer scrutiny, it is a non-starter.

“We have done intense work together over the last months,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said this week while in Saudi Arabia. “The work that Saudi Arabia and the United States have been doing together in terms of our own agreements, I think, is potentially very close to completion.” Echoing his U.S. counterpart, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan said an agreement was “very, very close.”

Why Washington and Riyadh might want to move forward without Israel is perfectly understandable. After all, what if Israel never agrees to a two-state solution? Yet a bilateral U.S.-Saudi deal, at least in its currently described version, simply will not work. The reason is simple: For Riyadh to obtain a formal defense pact from Washington, Congress would have to be on board to ratify it, and U.S. lawmakers, especially Republicans, will not lift a finger unless the issue of Israeli normalization is on the table.

Indeed, the biggest reason why there is bipartisan consensus on this megadeal with Saudi Arabia, rightly or wrongly, is because Israel would get the ultimate prize of Saudi recognition. Take that away, and the whole thing falls apart, despite the other Saudi deliverables, which include Riyadh distancing itself from China, cooperating on energy output, and jointly investing in technologies that matter to the United States.

Advocates of a bilateral agreement might ask: What if Biden uses his executive authorities and reaches a defense deal with Saudi Arabia without having it ratified by Congress? He certainly could, and it would look like the security arrangement the United States signed last September with Bahrain—called the Comprehensive Security Integration and Prosperity Agreement. The United States also could offer the kingdom “major non-NATO ally” status (which Bahrain already enjoys), expedited U.S. weapons shipments, and enhanced cooperation on a range of defense and security areas.

However, that is not what Saudi Arabia wants or at least what it has said it wants. Riyadh has insisted, quite rightly, on an official defense pact with the United States—meaning a treaty alliance similar to what Washington has with Japan, South Korea, or the Philippines—because it would solidify, formalize, and legalize the U.S. security commitment to the kingdom. The Saudis definitely want something more ambitious than what Bahrain got. They also want it in writing and codified in law because they understand that a new U.S. administration, or simply a changed attitude from a sitting president, could easily terminate the deal.

Saudi Arabia also worries about how Iran, its top adversary, might perceive a defense deal with the United States that is not sufficiently robust. For Riyadh to decide to openly bolster its security cooperation with Washington, and as a result possibly alienate and jeopardize its normalization accord with Iran, the reward would have to be worth the risk. In other words, Saudi Arabia seeks a defense pact with the United States that is credible enough in the eyes of both friends and foes.

Such credibility requires political commitment and military power. The former would signal in no uncertain terms to Riyadh, and importantly to Tehran, that the United States would come to the aid of the kingdom should it be attacked, as it was by Iran in September 2019. The latter would bring to bear the necessary military capabilities and consultative mechanisms to support the defense pact.

Saudi Arabia does not want to end up in the worst of all worlds: marginally improving its security relationship with the United States while also drawing the ire of Iran. The whole point of Riyadh pressing for a defense pact with Washington is to prevent a war with Iran or defend against Iranian aggression should it happen again. And the only way to get that from the United States is by guaranteeing a U.S. security commitment.

Which brings us back to Congress and its crucial role. Without Saudi normalization with Israel, Congress is unlikely to endorse a formal defense pact with the kingdom. And without the latter, Saudi Arabia might decide that it is better off staying put than risk provoking Iran.

So long as Netanyahu and his government, the most right-wing in Israel’s history, are in power, it is hard to see how this three-way deal, at least the way it has been conceived and advertised, could materialize.

The irony is that by normalizing with Saudi Arabia, Netanyahu could achieve the kind of strategic accomplishment he so desperately needs right now: recognition by the largest economy in the Middle East and the leader of the Muslim world—something the Israeli public would celebrate. But he presides over an Israeli cabinet whose views on the Palestinian issue are even more extreme than his own and obstruct any such opportunity with the Saudis.

It is possible that Riyadh and Washington would entertain a more limited deal and enhance their cooperation on issues other than defense, including AI, semiconductors, autonomous systems, and maybe civilian nuclear energy. But it would not be the transformative deal that Biden hopes to sell to the American public or one that Saudi Arabia really covets. Nor would it commit the Saudis to demonstrably restraining their cooperation with China—a challenging proposition given the deep economic linkages between the two countries. It would be just another minimalist bilateral agreement, with none of the strategic effects or benefits that both parties seek.