Iraq veteran, a former officer in the Marines and an "urban warfare expert" John Spencer argues that #Israel has taken unprecedented measures to avoid civilian casualties in its current conflict with Hamas in Gaza.
Spencer details the many warnings, safe corridors, pauses in fighting, and precision munitions Israel uses to protect civilians, even when that may hinder its military objectives. He contends no military has ever gone to such lengths to prevent civilian harm, and that Hamas is fully to blame for endangering and exploiting #Gaza's civilian population.
Spencer concludes Israel cannot be reasonably accused of indifference to civilian casualties given its historic efforts to enable their evacuation and avoid collateral damage.
#UN / Saudi foreign ministry cautions against the 'extremely dangerous repercussions' of Israel 'targeting' Rafah
Saudi Arabia’s statement on #Israel’s impending attack on #Rafah:
“This continued violation of international law and international humanitarian law confirms the necessity of convening the UN security council urgently to prevent Israel from causing an imminent humanitarian catastrophe for which everyone who supports the aggression bears responsibility.”
#UN / Israel appears to be in breach of ICJ orders on Gaza
Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on occupied Palestinian territory, has stated that #Israel appears to be in breach of orders issued by the International Court of Justice on January 26th. The #ICJ required Israel to take immediate steps to improve humanitarian conditions and cease activities that could constitute genocide against Palestinians. However, violence and demolition of infrastructure has continued in Gaza, worsening harsh living conditions.
At least 1,755 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the ICJ ruling. Israel has blocked delivery of aid and incitement against Palestinians persists, violating the court's orders. Yet Israel maintains it is committed to international law and defending itself against Hamas attacks. Legal experts say the lack of compliance tests the authority of the ICJ and places obligation on states assisting Israel. Overall, Israel's actions in #Gaza increasingly face accusations of illegally defying international judicial rulings.
[…] Kate Ferguson from Protection Approaches, a British NGO, told the #UK foreign affairs select committee this week why the #US and UK response to the ICJ case matters: “You cannot have approaches to mass atrocity crimes that are inconsistent. Inconsistency is the enabling factor for impunity everywhere.”
#Israel / U.S. Government Threatens Sanctions on IDF Soldiers in the occupied West Bank
The Biden administration has threatened sanctions on IDF soldiers operating in the West Bank, according to a report on #Kan11 News.
Following recent talks between senior State Department officials and #Biden administration members, the State Department produced a report expressing displeasure with the lack of enforcement in the West Bank against settler violence. This comes after the U.S. received a list of violent incidents involving IDF soldiers and officers. As a result, the U.S. warned of major entanglement potential for #IDF units in the West Bank.
The report states that an inter-ministry discussion in Israel will be held to formulate a response. The U.S. cautioned that if Israel does not provide a satisfactory answer within 60 days, sanctions will be imposed on soldiers.
#Gaza / #IDF Investigation Finds High Probability That Hostage Was Killed During Air Force Bombing
[…] Fighter jet attacked the building with a heavy bomb, knowing that the explosion would also affect the adjacent building. The destruction of the building led to a partial collapse of several nearby structures, including the one where it is now known the hostages were being held.
[…] According to Argamani, who was most likely told what to say by her #Hamas captors, all three of the hostages were in a building next to a building bombed by the IAF. She further states that her captors took her and Svirsky to a different location, adding that two days later he was shot by the IDF.
[…] The IDF Spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, denied that Svirsky was killed by Israeli army gunfire.
Two questions:
If IDF targeted the wrong building and killed civilians, or knew in advance of high collateral damage, not to mention they were tipped by the Hamas of where it is keeping its hostages (near by, as reported by Noa Argamani), maybe there’s no such thing as “precision targeting” after all? Just bombing for the sake of killing as many people as possible, including hostages…
The Hebrew edition has a slightly different version of what IDF believes: the hostage killed “might have been shot by a Hamas militant when attempting to escape” … a much more forgiving version as far as IDF is concerned, if true …
#MediaBias / Media Weigh Ethics Over Access for Military Embeds to Gaza
“It’s incredibly frustrating that we don’t have more access to Gaza, […] The question we have to ask ourselves is, is the freedom to report that we give up counterbalanced by the rare opportunity to get our own eyes on even part of the situation there?” — Steve Hendrix, Jerusalem bureau chief for The Washington Post
[…] Currently, the only way for journalists to enter the #Gaza Strip is by embedding with the #IDF. But that access is restricted and risks skewing an audience’s understanding of the conflict, according to some reporters and analysts.
#IsraelUSAHamasWar / Rubble from Bone: Tom Stevenson writes about Operation Iron Swords
[…] Israeli tactics have little in common with standard counterinsurgency doctrine or rules of engagement. The war on #Gaza is at its core retributive: an act of collective punishment. Like all punishment, to ask whether or not it ‘works’ misses the point that punishment is often an end in itself. But the conduct of the war also has an orgiastic quality. The celebrations of the killing by Israel’s political leaders; the fantastic schemes for the removal of Palestinians to Sinai, or Europe, or Congo; the public figures signing bombs to be dropped on what’s left of Gaza; the gleeful recordings made by individual soldiers – all combine malice and mirth.
#IDF / Israeli Army Investigating Dozens of Suspected Violations of International Law by Its Soldiers in Gaza
IDF is beginning to investigate itself. Apparently nobody thought dropping dumb bomb, bunker busters and using white phosphorus might kill scores of innocent civilians, or constitute a war crime.
[…] The investigation is being carried out against the backdrop of South Africa's application to the #ICJ in The Hague accusing Israel of committing #genocide against the Palestinians in #Gaza. Israel denies the charge. In less than a month, Israel is required to submit a report to the court on its operations in Gaza and to detail how Israel and the IDF react when suspicions arise of actions that are contrary to international law.
Key cases to be investigated
Flowing up of the building housing the University of Palestine near Gaza City in January. Fatal shooting by IDF soldiers of three Israeli hostages. The deaths of dozens of civilians in a strike aimed at killing Ibrahim Biari, the Hamas Jabalya battalion commander. The deaths of 21 IDF reservist soldiers in the Gaza Strip following a missile strike and explosion of explosive material in the building they were stationed in.
#UNRWA / Israel’s evidence of UNRWA Hamas allegations examined
Reminder: in a dossier just six pages long, #Israel has alleged that 12 of the agency’s more than thirteen thousand staff in Gaza were involved in the 7th October attacks, leading nations including the #UK and the #US to withdraw their financial support.
---- partial transcript of first part of the report ----
Children in Gaza are hungry, and the fear is that they are about to get hungrier. Donors to UNRWA, the main UN agency that supports Palestinians, including the UK, withdrew their funding 10 days ago, because of allegations in a confidential Israeli document that this program has now seen. The document repeats an allegation the IDF has made many times that the "Hamas terrorist organization" has been methodically and deliberately in placing its terrorist infrastructure in a wide range of UN facilities and assets, but provides no evidence to support its explosive new claim that unruly staff were involved in the terror attacks on Israel, just stating: "From intelligence information, documents and identity cards seized during the course of the fighting, it is now possible to flag around 190 Hamas and PIJ terrorist operatives who serve as UNRWA employees. More than 10 UNRWA staffers took part in the events of the 7th of October. Israel gave the document to Donas just after the International Court of Justice, in The Hague, made an interim ruling on a charge of genocide against Israel.
"Israel must take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance.""
Christopher Gunness (UNRWA spokesperson 2007-19): It is utterly shocking that the Donner who accuse UNRWA of instrumentalizing aid as they have done are themselves weaponizing UNRWA. It is a violation of international humanitarian law. It is a violation of international principles. It is a violation of the ruling by the ICJ, which says nobody should squeeze international humanitarian aid --- what Britain and others done is squeeze the aid --- and it is a violation of the genocide convention because it will devastate the lives of 1.2 million people who are on UNRWA's food lines even before the 7th of October, and that is going to get longer. It will undoubtedly, if unsuspended, lead to mass starvation.
Apart from emergency aid, UNRWA runs schools, hospitals and other services for 5.9 million Palestinian refugees across the Middle East. It employs 13,000 Gazans, all of whose names have been checked against a UN terrorism list and has recently as last May were vetted and approved by Israel. UNRWA immediately fired the staff members named in the document and mounted an investigation.
Josep Borrell (EU Foreign Policy Chief): UNRWA is playing a critical role, it is true that the Israeli government has been very critical, not now from many times ago, but we cannot punish 2 million people by depriving them of the support the donors providing.
The Israeli Prime Minister, who met a UN delegation last week, is angry that UN reports about the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza were cited as evidence in the genocide hearing, adding to his anger that UNRWA staff allegedly took part in acts of terror.
Binyamin Netanyahu (unindicted war criminal as of now): I think it's time that the international community in the UN itself understand that UNRWA's mission has to end.
Today, UNRWA released photographs, they say, show a food aid truck in #Gaza, which was hit by Israeli naval gunfire. The Israelis haven't yet commented.
In Gaza, the suffering never seems to end. Today, the UN Secretary General announced an investigation into UNRWA to be headed by a former French foreign minister. If UNRWA were forced to close, another organization would have to step in. Under international law, in the West Bank and Gaza, the occupying power, which is Israel, would be held responsible.
#UNRWA / Israel’s evidence of UNRWA Hamas allegations examined
Reminder: in a dossier just six pages long, #Israel has alleged that 12 of the agency’s more than thirteen thousand staff in Gaza were involved in the 7th October attacks, leading nations including the #UK and the #US to withdraw their financial support.
---- partial transcript of first part of the report ----
Children in Gaza are hungry, and the fear is that they are about to get hungrier. Donors to UNRWA, the main UN agency that supports Palestinians, including the UK, withdrew their funding 10 days ago, because of allegations in a confidential Israeli document that this program has now seen. The document repeats an allegation the IDF has made many times that the "Hamas terrorist organization" has been methodically and deliberately in placing its terrorist infrastructure in a wide range of UN facilities and assets, but provides no evidence to support its explosive new claim that unruly staff were involved in the terror attacks on Israel, just stating: "From intelligence information, documents and identity cards seized during the course of the fighting, it is now possible to flag around 190 Hamas and PIJ terrorist operatives who serve as UNRWA employees. More than 10 UNRWA staffers took part in the events of the 7th of October. Israel gave the document to Donas just after the International Court of Justice, in The Hague, made an interim ruling on a charge of genocide against Israel.
"Israel must take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance.""
Christopher Gunness (UNRWA spokesperson 2007-19): It is utterly shocking that the Donner who accuse UNRWA of instrumentalizing aid as they have done are themselves weaponizing UNRWA. It is a violation of international humanitarian law. It is a violation of international principles. It is a violation of the ruling by the ICJ, which says nobody should squeeze international humanitarian aid --- what Britain and others done is squeeze the aid --- and it is a violation of the genocide convention because it will devastate the lives of 1.2 million people who are on UNRWA's food lines even before the 7th of October, and that is going to get longer. It will undoubtedly, if unsuspended, lead to mass starvation.
Apart from emergency aid, UNRWA runs schools, hospitals and other services for 5.9 million Palestinian refugees across the Middle East. It employs 13,000 Gazans, all of whose names have been checked against a UN terrorism list and has recently as last May were vetted and approved by Israel. UNRWA immediately fired the staff members named in the document and mounted an investigation.
Josep Borrell (EU Foreign Policy Chief): UNRWA is playing a critical role, it is true that the Israeli government has been very critical, not now from many times ago, but we cannot punish 2 million people by depriving them of the support the donors providing.
The Israeli Prime Minister, who met a UN delegation last week, is angry that UN reports about the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza were cited as evidence in the genocide hearing, adding to his anger that UNRWA staff allegedly took part in acts of terror.
Binyamin Netanyahu (unindicted war criminal as of now): I think it's time that the international community in the UN itself understand that UNRWA's mission has to end.
Today, UNRWA released photographs, they say, show a food aid truck in #Gaza, which was hit by Israeli naval gunfire. The Israelis haven't yet commented.
In Gaza, the suffering never seems to end. Today, the UN Secretary General announced an investigation into UNRWA to be headed by a former French foreign minister. If UNRWA were forced to close, another organization would have to step in. Under international law, in the West Bank and Gaza, the occupying power, which is Israel, would be held responsible.
#Israel / "Israeli Voice Index" Israel Democracy Institute survey results [January 2024]
59% of Jewish Israelis oppose a deal that would lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state with guarantees from the US and peace agreements with Arab states such as Saudi Arabia; when asked to choose, 51% of Israelis said they think the main goal of the war should be bringing the hostages home and 36% think it should be toppling Hamas; half of Israelis think the ICJ ruling, issuing temporary measures, to be harsh.
Topics covered in this report:
The national mood
Israel’s success in ensuring the security of its citizens
The main goal of the war
The timing of investigations into the events of October 7
The ruling by the International Court of Justice in The Hague
The legal advisor of the #Haifa Municipality, Attorney Yemima Klein, sent a letter yesterday (Sunday) to the CEO of Beit Hagefen, Asaf Ron, urgently requesting to convene a meeting of the center's board of directors, regarding holding an event launching the book "#Apeirogon". Beit Hagefen is an Arab-Jewish cultural center, which was founded as a pioneer in the field of intercultural dialogue in 1963, and operates in the fields of culture, art, education and tourism.
[…] The book is a fictionalised account of the men, one Israeli, one Palestinian, whose daughters were killed near Jerusalem 10 years apart. Rami Elhanan, who is Israeli, lost his teenager Smadar to a suicide bombing that occurred while she was shopping with friends in 1997. Abir, the 10-year-old daughter of Bassam Aramin, who is Palestinian, was fatally shot by an Israeli soldier in 2007. https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/colum-mccann-on-israel-palestine-i-was-completely-ignorant-of-what-was-going-on-1.4178491
[…] In a letter sent by the families of those murdered in the attack on Moriah Boulevard on February 1 to Mayor Einat Kalisch-Rotem, they wrote: "We are bereaved families who lost our children and loved ones in the bombing of bus 37 in Haifa in March 2003. We protest against the book launch event of ‘Apeirogon’ at Beit Hagefen on February 15. In our opinion, the event is controversial, and incitement is incitement."
[…] The legal advisor demands that the board examine the appropriateness of holding the event in two respects. The first is that according to her the event has a "commercial nature in municipal property".
[…] The second aspect relates to "concerns of harming the public of casualties of hostilities in the city of Haifa." The letter of inquiry from the legal advisor was accompanied by an appeal from the families of those killed in the attack on Moriah Boulevard.
#Israel / The Knesset is mulling new legislation targeting Palestinian educators
The new bill proposed by MKs Amit Halevi [Likud] and Zvika Fogel (of fascist Otzma Yehudit] seeks to expand the definition of terrorism and make it easier to fire and defund teachers accused of "supporting terrorism".
The proposed bill seem to mark educators, especially Palestinian Israelis, as suspects without cause. But it is also unnecessary since existing laws already allow disciplining teachers supporting terrorism, and there are barely any cases requiring intervention. Security officials confirm Israeli educators [Palestinian or Jewish] don't need additional oversight.
The article's author, Oshrat Elmaliakh, believes the bill's real goal is intimidating Palestinian Israeli teachers, and restricting their free speech, but in fact threatens the whole education system. It will weaken educators and increases distrust and fear in society... or maybe that's its purpose?
Here's a full translation of the article.
[...] The bill, initiated by MKs Amit Halevi (Likud) and Zvika Fogel (Jewish Power), seeks to expand the definition of an act of terror in order to allow budgets to be withheld from educational institutions. Additionally, it aims to change the accepted procedure for firing, in a way that violates existing employment agreements of teachers. Such procedures, which previously required the approval of the Attorney General or were discussed in a Labor Court, become in the proposal "to the satisfaction" of the Director General of the Ministry of Education.
This is an unambiguous two-faced step, in which the elected parliament in the country marks an entire population of educators as suspected of supporting and inciting terror. In recent months, we have seen how social media posts were taken out of context and led to accusations of supporting terror. We saw persecution and incitement against educators that were found to be baseless - for example, in the case of teacher Meir Baruchin. If the new bill passes, we can expect to see more such cases.
Moreover, this is a completely unnecessary bill. All professional entities, including the Shin Bet, have emphasized over and over in discussions on the proposal that the education workforce does not require monitoring and scrutiny on suspicion of terror and incitement, and that only isolated cases were dealt with in the past year. And in any case, the existing law already provides a response that allows supervision, suspension and even dismissal of an educator convicted of supporting terror and incitement.
On its face, the proposal is supposed to apply to the entire population, and was also promoted that way. But it is enough to look at the examples presented by the legislator in the discussions and read the explanatory notes of the proposal to understand the legislator's intent: it marks Arab education workers, and fans the phenomenon of persecution and incitement against them.
So if there is already a legal solution to the problem presented, and in any case there are almost no such cases that require treatment, why are MKs insisting on promoting the bill? It appears that it serves one purpose: to intimidate education workers in general, and Arabs in particular, in a way that threatens their freedom of expression - and poses a danger to the entire education system and students.
Instead of continuing to fuel hatred and divide, the Education Committee could promote educational discourse on the role of educators in this complex and ongoing crisis. It can provide tools for dialogue, strengthening solidarity and social resilience, and it can promote a program to integrate Arab teachers in Jewish schools, which will help reduce unemployment among this population, meet the dire shortage of teachers and also significantly contribute to familiarity between Jews and Arabs in Israel. Familiarity is the basis for dispelling fears and alienation. This is the first and necessary step towards creating a shared society for Arabs and Jews, to a situation where we can hear each other without a sense of threat or anxiety, and an opportunity to raise a generation that will not be afraid of each other.
Instead, the Knesset chooses to promote legislation that weakens educators and enhances distrust, fear and estrangement in society. This is a populist bill that will cause real damage. The education system needs strengthening and rehabilitation, not unnecessary political bludgeoning.