Hamas strike on Israel - mod warning in OP updated 19/10/23

What should he be in jail for? Are we in the realms of just jailing people we might disagree with now? 🤔

ISRAEL, prime minister up in court again for corruption,starvation of 2 million people happening as I write. News is Trumps new plane etc ,sick is not the word .world is gone twilight zone .

There will not be any peace if Nethanyu and Likud stay in power. We see the evidence for this from what is happening in the West Bank.

They are implacably opposed to a two state solution. If they stay in power they won't want to see a moderate opposition take hold in Gaza, so it's far more likely a variant of Hamas will emerge in that scenario. In fact they will facilitate such a rise if they see the prospect of a two state solution emerging.

Complicity in genocide

Israel have never wanted a 2 state solution. They always wanted Gaza for themselves and they will achieve that. Gaza was an open air prison for 20 years before the war. Israel controlled everything and it wasn't a great place to live (obviously a lot worse today) because of the Israeli blockade. They had hoped the Palestinians left before the war because of the dire economic and living conditions. Some posters denied that Israel wanted to settle Gaza but they don't post anymore. Extreme naivety.

Encouragingly, Trump spoke a lot on the flight to Saudi about getting aid, food and medicines into Gaza ASAP. Hopefully he follows through on this. One got the impression from the questions and replies he is not overly overly pushed what the creep in Tel Aviv thinks about this.

The worst, there is no way for me to describe them without a ban

Is the close relationship between Israel and the US starting to show cracks? At least the US is meeting with hostage families and providing commitments to them - that their own leader won't. And Israel is now openly criticising Trump.

Also of note, given the hostage release yesterday, one might have thought Israel would perhaps reciprocate somehow (let some aid in, a one day ceasefire or similar) but no, per the @2smiggy post, not a chance.

I also recall all the posts here saying that as soon as the hostages were released, the war would end. Of course, not all the hostages have been released yet but there is no sign of anything reciprocal from Israel. But that is of no surprise. It never was. Israel's goals is clear - they've said it themselves. Ethnically cleanse Gaza either by starvation or mass deportation - i.e. Genocide.

I do sense and change in the mood music though - not from Israel, but from a lot of other countries who are now openly criticising them. I think these people see that mass starvation in Gaza is days away and they cannot condone that.

U.S. special envoys Steve Witkoff and Adam Boehler met with hostages' relatives at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv. After the two-hour meeting, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said "both officials emphasized their personal commitment to bringing back all 58 remaining hostages – both the living and the deceased." Earlier, Witkoff met with Edan Alexander, the American-Israeli dual national released from Hamas captivity on Monday.

Hamas said in a statement that Alexander's release was "the result of serious contacts with the American administration and the efforts of mediators," rejecting Israeli claims that military pressure was a factor. "Edan Alexander's return confirms that serious negotiations and a hostage deal are the way to return the prisoners and stop the war," Hamas said.

Israeli Regional Cooperation Minister David Amsalem said Alexander's release was "carried out improperly, to say the least" and criticized the U.S., calling Trump "unpredictable." He added, "I came to the conclusion a long time ago that we shouldn't trust anyone, including our closest friends. This is certainly food for thought."

If the Palestinians best hope is Donald Trump then things look extremely bleak for them.

Amazing how Israel can constantly claim that they know where HAMAS are when they bomb hospitals and refugee camps and murder innocents. But have no idea where the hostages are.

Lying bastards.

'We bombed Hamas.'

'How do you know it was Hamas?'

'We bombed them.'

There have been no backstories, no personal details… it is just numbers which clearly people have got used to it

It's curious logic; when Putler's army of actual genocidal murdering thugs invaded Ukraine - unprovoked - Western countries opened their borders to Ukrainian refugees with little fanfare. At no point did anyone in the West say "oh no, we had better not allow anyone from the Donbass region of Ukraine to come here in case we been seen as a collaborator with Putin"

So Europe 'stepped up to the plate' so to speak and allowed Ukrainian refugees to flee.

Yet if countries outside of Israel-Palestine (which occupy 99.5% of the MENA region) refuse to take in refugees, they have the excuse of not "wanting to be a Genocide Collaborator."

How is it that Ukrainians - rightly - were allowed to seek refugee status in other countries in the same region, but the 'Palestinians' are not?

Interesting. Many supporters of Israel are adamant that they are not committing Genocide and point to the fact that the ICJ have not determined that, yet. But it seems that the Russian army is definitely committing Genocide. That's a very selective viewpoint. But not surprising.

In terms of the Palestinians currently being starved to death in Gaza by Israel, how would you propose they flee their homeland? Jump into their 4x4s and drive away? Hop on board their yachts and sail away? Book a ticket on the next available scheduled flight out of Gaza City? Or do you expect those Nations willing to take them in fly in their rescue missions and get pummelled by Iron Dome, the Israeli air force or the IDF? By doing so of course, they would be accused of facilitating the ethic cleansing of Gaza

You might explain why Israel won't offer them refuge - its a 10km walk from Northern Gaza to Ashkelon and the logistics are very simple. So why won't Israel do it? We all know why.

They do have backstories and names. But recall that Israel has banned all International press from Gaza and those that remain have either been killed or on the list to be neutralised.

Fergal Keane popped another article up on the Beeb yesterday - another powerful piece: