Israel/Palestine Thread

There were reports two or three days ago that Ben-gvir's son was injured - I think in Lebanon. I think it was a Haaretz report. Not heard anything about netanyahus brother.

Edit - the report I saw was Smotrich's son

Agreed - Israel ensures that bad news is not reported…

This is probably the most insightful opinion piece on Israel I've read.

Seems many are realising that Israel is a perpetual warmonger.

Haaretz:

"The Israeli home front is no longer being evaluated solely on whether it obeys the instructions and manages not to die.

Now it is being evaluated on whether it does so with enthusiasm, resilience and without a negative effect on morale…

In the new vision being offered to us, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's 'super-Sparta,' a citizen is not a person with rights, fears, doubts and opinions, but rather a tiny cog in the perpetual war machine.

In such a society, the desire for a sane life is seen as an almost eccentric indulgence.

Instead of war being an exceptional means, meant to preserve life, life becomes raw material meant to sustain war"

Yoana Gonen

It's not just the IDF on the rampage in the West Bank -

"The European Union and United Kingdom have demanded that Israel halt a surge in violence by Jewish settlers against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank that has taken place since the start of the country's war with Iran.

Six Palestinians have been killed during attacks by settlers across the West Bank over the past 11 days, according to the United Nations."

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c620vwl97vyo

I worried about that on Day 1 of the war. International press still banned which says it all.

This will embolden others to carry out war crimes - not that the threat of legal action ever stopped it before of course.

I guess if the IDF can snipe children, throwing some kittens off a roof is a somewhat lower level of depravity.

Some quotes from the Beeb report (posted by @Odhinn) on IDF soldiers sodomising a prisoner.

I suppose an alleged war criminal (at large) would have course no difficulty in calling the perpetrators "heroic".

Prime Minister Netanyahu hailed the end of what he called the "blood libel".

"The State of Israel must hunt down its enemies - not its heroic fighters," he said.

Sari Bashi, executive director of the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, a non-governmental organisation, accused the military of a whitewash.

"Israel's military advocate general just gave his soldiers license to rape - so long as the victim is Palestinian," she told the Associated Press.

She said the decision was "the latest in a long line of actions that whitewash abuses against detainees whose frequency and severity have worsened" since 7 October 2023.

This is interesting.

Is Herzog signalling his intention to refuse to pardon the alleged war criminal (at large)?

This is one to watch - with popcorn.

Haaretz:

In his first press conference since the war with Iran kicked off almost two weeks ago, PM Netanyahu called on President Herzog to grant him a pardon and end his ongoing corruption trial. Netanyahu said that Herzog "simply needs to do the right thing" and bring the case to a close so he can focus on the war and regional diplomacy, saying "I would like to be completely unencumbered."

When Netanyahu submitted his pardon request to Herzog in November, the Israeli presidentdescribed it as "extraordinary." For his part, President Trump weighed in once again last week – after calling on Herzog to grant the pardon multiple times over the past several months – and told Axios that the Israeli president was "a disgrace" for failing to act.

Herzog responded on Friday, saying that he had expected Netanyahu to condemn Trump's most recent remarks. Speaking at the site of an Iranian missile hit in northern Israel, Herzog implied that Trump's intervention was "a blunt attack on the symbols of governance and sovereignty of the State of Israel" and said that "our honor, independence and sovereignty are not for sale to anyone."

"From the river to the sea" in full swing:

Haaretz:

In the West Bank, settlers on Wednesday set up caravans for the first time in the area designated for a new settlement on Mount Ebal, north of the Palestinian city of Nablus.

According to the settler-led local council, the settlement is part of the "One Million in Samaria" plan, which aims to raise the Jewish population in the area to one million by 2050.