Israel/Palestine Thread

Because these people have partly lifted the veil that obscures the rot beneath.

The ICJ has not yet ruled on the case of Israel committing Genocide. The ruling is expect at the end of 2027 at the earliest, more likely 2028.

A UN Commission found that Israel has committed Genocide in Gaza.

Two senior Israelis, Yoav Gallant an Netanyahu have warrants for their arrest for War Crimes issued by the ICC. Both men are currently listed by the ICC as "at large".

There appears to be five more sealed ICC arrest warrants for Senior Israelis. Two are believed for Ben-Gvir and Smotrich and are believed to be for War Crimes. It is not if or when the warrants will unsealed.

For sure, worldwide opinion on Israel is at an all time low and in this month alone, significant moves have been made to sanction Israel and in particular, more sanctions are being demanded from the EU.

This is probably a lot to do with Orban (Hungary) being voted out on his ear. He was a staunch supporter of Israel and blocked many previous EU moves to sanction them.

Erdogan despises Netanyahu with a public bile rarely seen on the international stage.

UNWRA fires 70 staff to ensure Israel doesn't kill passersby or other agency staff.

Seems Hamas are very much operational and committing their normal atrocities.

Haaretz:

In Gaza, UNRWA said it fired 70 employees who are suspected by Israel of collaborating with Hamas, stressing that the move was not an endorsement of Israeli suspicion or "part of a disciplinary process." The firing, according to the statement, was done in order to prevent agency staff and passersby from becoming collateral damage in case Israel targets the suspected employees.

In early 2024, Israel provided the UN with a list of about 120 UNRWA employees in the Strip that were allegedly directly tied to Hamas. The agency said that evidence against nine of these 120 employees was solid, and that they were either fired or killed in fighting in Gaza.

On Thursday, the UN said it has found evidence that Hamas has killed 108 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 384 others between August 2024 and January 2026, accusing the organization of murder, torture and acts of violence against Gazans for a variety of reasons, including dissent, collaboration with Israel or various crimes.

Shock horror - Smotrich calls for West Bank to be annexed.

"Between the sea and the Jordan there will only be Israeli sovereignty." - Likud Charter

Haaretz straplines (free by email if you sign up)
Israel's finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, who was barred from entering France last week for "actively promoting the annexation of the West Bank," said during a speech at a settlement that Israel should apply sovereignty in the West Bank before the next election, describing the move as "the ultimate response" to what he called an international diplomatic campaign against Israel.

Smotrich's comments come as his party, Religious Zionism, struggles to pass the electoral threshold in election polls.

Last week, after Britain, Canada, France, Australia and Norway announced new sanctions targeting six Israeli right-wing organizations and one far-right activist who "act with impunity in the West Bank," the Israeli government delayed for the third time a tender for 3,401 housing units in the highly contested E1 area, a project Smotrich once described as the answer to the "false Palestinian dream" of having a state.

Can you just imagine the propaganda on Israeli media to somehow validate the continuous discrimination and terrorism against the Palestinians in West Bank and Gaza. The dehumanisation must be off the charts.

You raise a very interesting point of discussion. The future of Israel, like everywhere really, could go in many directions. The upcoming election is possibly one of the most critical ones in a long time, given it's the first one since Oct 7th, and could set (or hopefully reset) the general direction the country is heading in.

I don't think you're being realistic in thinking Israel is in danger of not surviving. It started with a lot less going for it than it has now, even with all the current issues. It will change. It might become smaller (either in physical size or in population), or it might not. The Balance of the population might change in a big way (I think that is the biggest issue it is facing in terms of its long-term well-being). But it will not just disappear.

That sense of security that you refer to is probably the key to understanding the perspective of how this conflict looks to a large number of Israelis. They know that they can't lose a war. They think the consequences will be that most Israelis (them, their families, their neighbours and friends) will be wiped out if they do. That's a strong driver. Whether you agree or disagree with that, it's worth understanding the perspective. Any long-term peace arrangement will have a much better chance of happening, and holding, if these fears can be assuaged.

The security situation in Israel has been considerably worse in the past. It had to fight for its survival right from its founding in 1947. It was touch and go in the 1973 war, and they were lucky not to be overrun. A few small things going a different way could have been catastrophic for them. It's very interesting military history, and well worth reading into. And it's within living memory of a lot of Israelis.

And the main protagonists it faced in their big wars of survival are no longer major threats. They have a peace treaty with Egypt, which has worked as well as anyone could have hoped. They have no conflict with Jordon, and relations are much better than in the past. And now Syria is no longer a military threat (possibly an unforeseen consequence of Hamas's attempt to initiate a multi-front war), since the fall of the Assad regime.

What exactly do you mean by the "zionist regime"? Do you mean the Israeli government? Do you mean the state of Israel? Or something different again?

Israel peacefully co-exists with its neighbours in Egypt and Jordan.