Israel/Palestine Thread

The underlying naval blockade is illegal, as maintained by the UN Human Rights Council and the ICRC, so therefore the military has zero jurisdiction in international waters. Without jurisdiction, boarding a foreign ship and forcing civilians into Israeli territory is a lawless, state-sanctioned abduction.

So kidnapping or "abduction" if you prefer

If Israel are claiming to target only Hamas, they are either incredibly bad at aiming or they are working off terrible intel.
Are we supposed to believe every building here had a Hamas operative?

But as we saw in Iran, they certainly can target individuals if they have to.

No you are right, they don't want them exterminated, they want to make their lands so inhospitable (or be thrown off them) so that they "voluntarily emigrate" as has been espoused numerous times by the heads in the Israeli government.

There's no "IF" about it.

https://www.un.org/unispal/document/report-of-the-commission-of-inquiry-israel-gender-based-violence-13march2025/

220. Israel has systematically used sexual, reproductive and other forms of gender-based violence since 7 October 2023. The Commission concludes that there has been a large increase in sexual and gender-based crimes perpetrated against Palestinians by members of the ISF since 7 October 2023, intended to retaliate and punish them collectively for the attacks carried out by the military wing of Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups in southern Israel on 7 October.

221. Palestinian men and boys have been subjected to specific persecutory acts intended to punish them collectively. The way in which these often-sexual acts are committed, including their filming, photographing and dissemination online, in conjunction with similar cases being documented in several locations, shows that forced public stripping and nudity, as well as sexualised torture and ill-treatment, are part of the persecutory attack against men and boys committed to punish, humiliate and intimidate Palestinian men and boys into subjugation.

222. Israeli detention is characterized by widespread and systematic abuse and sexual and gender-based violence. These practices have increased significantly in severity and frequency since 7 October 2023, following orders and statements of the Minister for National Security Ben Gvir who is in charge of prisons. The mistreatment of Palestinian detainees by Israeli authorities is a result of an intentional policy that utilises sexual, reproductive and other forms of gender-based violence to humiliate and degrade Palestinians in detention. This was observed across several facilities, temporary holding locations, during interrogation and while in transit.

223. The frequency, prevalence and severity of sexual and gender-based crimes perpetrated across the Occupied Palestinian Territory leads the Commission to conclude that sexual and gender-based violence is increasingly used as a method of war by Israel to destabilize, dominate, oppress and destroy the Palestinian people. The Commission documented a pattern of sexual violence, including cases of rape and other forms of sexual violence, torture and other inhumane acts that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Plus, as @dmcdona pointed out, there's literally video of them raping a man with an iron bar. But I'm sure you'll find a way to casually dismiss this as always.

Thank you for the uploaded Video - former UNRWA chief spokesperson Chris Guinness puts it in historical context. I've learned a new term, when Chris ended with a hopeful message about the spirit of Palestinians… He went on to say it’s wrong to talk about the final solution for the Palestinians but "thinks that there are many Israelis and Americans in their “Hitlerian mindset” who would love to see this as the final solution for the Palestinians."

The Israeli narrative that Chris brought up : I think it was Hasbara propaganda that was calculated, wilful and manipulative in order to whip up a frenzy of rage after 7/10, to justify Israeli atrocities (the ongoing genocide on Palestinians). Some media outlets, without verified evidence, carried stories of these purported grave crimes of 40 decapitated babies. I feel noone needed to embellish the horror of what happened on that day with fake news. It desecrates the memory of all the victims. RIP

People might not have sighted a lengthy article published in the New York Times on 30 November 2023, about how Israeli officials had obtained Hamas’ battle plan (40pp blueprint) a year before 7/10 happened (this is supported by interviews, documents, and decrypted emails...). NB: no date was set.

NYT staff Ronen Bergman and Adam Goldman reported Hamas followed this battle plan with shocking precision, point by point. E.G., the blueprint called for a barrage of rockets at the outset, drones to neutralise the security cameras and fully automatic machine guns along the border separating Gaza and Israel; and “gunmen to pour into Israel en masse in paragliders, on motorcycles and on foot”.

Three months before the attacks, a veteran analyst with the elite Unit 8200, Israel’s signals intelligence agency, warned that Hamas had conducted a days training exercise that was identical with what was contained in the blueprint. A colonel in the Gaza division brushed aside her concerns, according to viewed (corroborated) translated emails. The veteran analyst then refuted that the scenario was “imaginary.” She said the plan was devised to start a war. Adding, “It’s not just a raid on a village.”

A viewed 2016 (sic) Ministry of Defence memo stated that Hamas intended to enter Israel and would most likely occupy one community, or communities, and take hostages. You couldn’t make it up.

Times of Israel published on 9 October 2023:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/egypt-intelligence-official-says-israel-ignored-repeated-warnings-of-something-big/

“In one of the said warnings, Egypt’s Intelligence Minister General Abbas Kamel personally called Netanyahu only 10 days before the massive attack that Gazans were likely to do “something unusual, a terrible operation,” according to the Ynet news site. ⬅️ ⬅️

“Unnamed Egyptian officials told the site they were shocked by Netanyahu’s indifference to the news and said the premier told the minister the military was “submerged” in troubles in the West Bank.

well given she was and is therefore correct, not sure why you would have a problem with her stating the truth?

do you condone international piracy and illegally bringing someone to a country against their will?

ultimately yes, and not to mention theft as well in the case of stealing the boats and illegally taking them to israel.

the navel blockade is illegal as well of course so that excuse is out the window for them as well.

What's funny is you are in no position to lecture anyone about denying genocide.

Also even if i subscribed to your idea that Israel is just a wholly innocent party responding to provocation, that does not absolve them of blame for committing a litany of war crimes in response. That's not how it works under international law

It definitely is a case of who is doing it, because if the same war crimes were being carried out against Israelis by another state, you wouldn't be pointing out that perhaps the country had no choice but to respond in that fashion because they felt it was total war and that they were provoked into doing so.

UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese

A preliminary injunction (preliminary findings) was made by Washington DC District Judge Richard J Leon, blocking US sanctions on travel and banking bans for Francesca, as this “likely” violates Francesca’s First Amendment rights (protected speech). Judge Leon underlined protecting freedom of speech is “always” in the public interest.

The plaintiffs are Francesca’s husband Cali and minor L.C., who is their daughter, and has US citizenship. The two plaintiffs asked for a preliminary injunction on their ‘First Amendment and IEEPA claims alone’.

I note the MEMORANDUM OPINION May __ 2026 [Dkt. #3], and I’m speculating concerns of plaintiffs might be ongoing. And note therein the plaintiffs have standing. We’ll be hearing more...

[Richard J Leon, US District Judge] ‘Federal judge blocks US sanctions against UN expert on occupied Palestinian territories’
‘Trump officials likely violated Francesca Albanese’s rights by imposing measures after she criticized Israel, says judge’
Guardian staff and agencies, Thu 14 May 2026
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/13/un-francesca-albanese-sanctions

"A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked US sanctions against Francesca Albanese, a UN expert on the Palestinian territories, finding that the Trump administration likely violated her free speech rights by imposing the measures after she criticized US ally Israel’s war on Gaza.

“Albanese has done nothing more than speak!” Leon wrote in his opinion. “It is undisputed that her recommendations have no binding effect on the ICC’s actions-they are nothing more than her opinion.”

^^^ Francesca did call for arrest warrants to be issued - naming Ben-Gvir, Smotrich and defence minister Israel Katz in a UN Press Release dated 23 March 2026:

“Member states must meet their legal obligations to prevent and punish genocide, torture and other serious violations of international law,” she said, including by investigating and issuing arrest warrants for those responsible, such as Itamar Ben-Gvir, Bezalel Smotrich and Israel Katz.“