politics

Israeli Finance Minister Denounced for Calling for ‘Total Annihilation’ of Gaza

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Original article by JULIA CONLEY republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Bezalel Smotrich, Israeli finance minister, speaks during a rally with supporters in the southern Israeli city of Sderot on October 26, 2022. 
(Photo: Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP via Getty Images)

“But… did he say it on a college campus? Otherwise, it’s just not news. Sorry, them’s the rules,” said one journalist sardonically.

In just the latest example of a top Israeli official openly calling for the elimination of Gaza and the 2.3 million Palestinians who live there, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Tuesday demanded the destruction of cities and refugee camps in the blockaded enclave.

“There are no half measures,” said Smotrich at a government meeting. “Rafah, Deir al-Balah, Nuseirat—total annihilation.”

“‘You will blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven,'” he added, quoting the biblical story of the nation of Amalek, whose people God commanded the Israelites to exterminate and which right-wing Israeli leaders have long invoked to justify the killing of Palestinians.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also referenced Amalek in the first weeks of Israel’s current escalation against Gaza; Smotrich’s comments came as he and other government officials pushed Netanyahu to forge ahead with a planned attack on the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1.5 million people have been displaced as other cities across Gaza have been decimated by Israeli forces.

Ibrahim Hooper, national communications director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), called on President Joe Biden to stop condemning thousands of U.S. college students who have demanded a cease-fire and an end to military aid for Israel and direct his ire toward the Israeli government, which he has repeatedly insisted is targeting Hamas despite its genocidal statements and indiscriminate attacks.

“In case the Israeli government’s genocidal intent in Gaza was unclear to anyone despite its daily war crimes against the Palestinian people, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s words should serve as another wake-up call,” said Hooper. “The intent of the Netanyahu government has always been Palestinian land without Palestinians, and violence has always been the route to achieve that heinous goal. Instead of condemning college students, President Biden must condemn Israeli leaders for making and acting on their genocidal threats.”

In recent months, Israeli officials have stated that the “migration” of Gaza residents is their ultimate goal in relentlessly attacking the enclave, that all Palestinians in Gaza are “responsible” for a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel in October and are legitimate targets, that the enclave should be “flattened,” and that the Israel Defense Forces is fighting “human animals.”

Journalist Mehdi Hasan sardonically suggested that Smotrich’s comments will be deemed acceptable by the Biden administration, members of Congress, and the U.S. corporate media because he didn’t “say it on a college campus.”

“Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a member of the security cabinet, ought to be fired immediately over his latest remarks,” read an editorial in Haaretz Tuesday night that was published as police in New York were storming Columbia University to arrest students. “That’s how any properly run country would act, and all the more so a country against which the International Court of Justice in The Hague has issued provisional measures requiring it to refrain from genocide, including one requiring it to deal properly with incitement to genocide.”

Smotrich and others have objected to what National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir on Tuesday called a “reckless” deal that would allow for the release of scores of Israeli hostages being held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners who have long been detained in Israeli jails. The deal would include a 40-day halt in fighting.

CAIR also pointed out Tuesday that five units of Israel’s security forces have been accused of committing a “gross violation of human rights,” according to a U.S. State Department analysis.

“Our nation’s repeated claim that it supports international law and human rights,” said national executive director Nihad Awad, “is a cruel illusion.”

Original article by JULIA CONLEY republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Continue ReadingIsraeli Finance Minister Denounced for Calling for ‘Total Annihilation’ of Gaza

UK BLOCKS DETAILS ON ISRAEL MILITARY TRAINING IN BRITAIN

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https://www.declassifieduk.org/uk-blocks-details-on-israel-military-training-in-britain/

An Israeli F-15 takes off from RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire on Exercise Cobra Warrior in 2019. (Photo: John Lambeth / Alamy)

The UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) is refusing to give parliament any information about the Israeli military personnel currently being trained in Britain.

In February, the government admitted that “there are currently six Israeli Armed Forces officers posted in the UK”. It added that “Israel is represented by Armed Forces personnel in its Embassy in the UK, and as participants in UK defence-led training courses”.

Yet when asked this week by Alba MP Kenny MacAskill about the ranks of these personnel and where they are posted, defence minister Leo Docherty, Grant Shapps’ deputy, refused to say. 

He replied in a written answer to parliament: “This information is being withheld in order to protect personal information and to avoid prejudicing relations between the United Kingdom and another State”.

The MoD also refused to say how many British military personnel are currently stationed in Israel. 

Docherty again replied evasively, writing: “The UK has a number of Armed Forces personnel across the Middle East, working closely with partners to carry out defence engagement and to uphold regional stability. I cannot go into specifics for operational security purposes.”

The UK government is clearly imposing a blackout on providing much information to the public about its support for Israel as it continues its mass attacks on Palestinians in Gaza.

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https://www.declassifieduk.org/uk-blocks-details-on-israel-military-training-in-britain/

Continue ReadingUK BLOCKS DETAILS ON ISRAEL MILITARY TRAINING IN BRITAIN

Netanyahu vows to attack Rafah regardless of ceasefire deal

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/netanyahu-vows-attack-rafah-regardless-ceasefire-deal

Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, Gaza Strip, April 29, 2024

ISRAELI Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed today to follow through on his pledge to attack Rafah, the southern Gaza city where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have sought refuge from Israel’s military campaign.

Mr Netanyahu said Israel would enter Rafah to destroy Hamas forces there “with or without a deal” emerging from internationally mediated talks aimed at securing a ceasefire in the seven-month-long conflict.

The deal is meant to free the remaining hostages taken during the Hamas assault on October 7, when about 1,200 people were killed.

Since then, Israel’s retaliation has killed at least 34,454 Palestinians in Gaza.

“The idea that we will stop the war before achieving all of its goals is out of the question. We will enter Rafah and we will eliminate Hamas’s battalions there — with a deal or without a deal — to achieve total victory,” Mr Netanyahu said at a meeting with families of the hostages, according to a statement from his office.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/netanyahu-vows-attack-rafah-regardless-ceasefire-deal

Continue ReadingNetanyahu vows to attack Rafah regardless of ceasefire deal

Number of homeless children in England reaches record high

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/04/number-of-homeless-children-in-england-reaches-record-high/. Many articles from Left FootForward featured today.

A record 145,800 children are now homeless in England, the government’s latest quarterly homelessness stats have shown, highlighting once more the sheer scale of the housing crisis in the country.

The number of children living in temporary accommodation is now at the highest ever level recorded and up 15% on last year.

Almost 320,000 households were assessed as homeless or at risk of homelessness – also a  record high, while the number of households threatened with homelessness and owed a prevention duty because of a section 21 notice is the highest on record, at 25,910 over the last year. It was only last week that the government failed to set a date for banning section 21 no-fault eviction notices, which continue to have devastating impacts for low-income and vulnerable households up and down the country.

Reacting to the record figures, Matt Downie, chief executive at Crisis, said: “Today’s statistics need to be a wake-up call. We are failing to stop people being forced into homelessness and we are failing to help them back out. These are the appalling consequences of our failure to get a grip on this crisis.

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/04/number-of-homeless-children-in-england-reaches-record-high/. Many articles from Left FootForward featured today.

Continue ReadingNumber of homeless children in England reaches record high

Trade unionists block 4 sites involved in arms supplies to Israel on International Workers’ Day

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/05/trade-unionists-block-4-sites-involved-in-arms-supplies-to-israel-on-international-workers-day/. Many articles feeatured from LeftFootForward today.

‘If arms company bosses and Britain’s political elite won’t impose an arms embargo, we, the workers, will enforce it from below’

This May Day, over 1,000 workers across Britain have mobilised to blockade four sites involved in the supply of arms to Israel, in a response to calls from Palestinian trade unions.

In solidarity with Palestinian workers as the onslaught on Gaza reaches its 208th day, trade unionists in Britain have blocked entry to the UK Department of Business and Trade in London and three BAE Israeli arms factories in Scotland, Wales and Lancashire to protest the government’s refusal to suspend the sale of UK arms to Israel. 

BAE Systems has been targeted as the UK’s leading military goods manufacturer which profits from arming Israel, while workers have blocked the UK Trade Department in support of civil servants who have expressed fears that they could be complicit in war crimes in Gaza if Israel is found to have broken international law. 

Civil servants’ union PCS is considering bringing legal action to prevent their members being forced to carry out potentially unlawful acts, after staff requested to “cease work immediately” on arms export licences to Israel. 

Canada, the Netherlands, Japan, Spain and Belgium have suspended the sale of arms to Israel, while the British government continues to refuse. It comes as a legal challenge over the British government’s role in allowing weapons to be sent to Israel has been given the go-ahead to be heard in the High Court later this year.

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/05/trade-unionists-block-4-sites-involved-in-arms-supplies-to-israel-on-international-workers-day/. Many articles feeatured from LeftFootForward today.

Continue ReadingTrade unionists block 4 sites involved in arms supplies to Israel on International Workers’ Day