… on a quiet day, I can hear her breathing

Tag: Israel

  • Rubio Touts Trump’s Steadfast Support for Israel as it Blocks Aid to Gaza

    Spread the love

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

    U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio (left) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) greet each other during a joint press conference in Jerusalem on February 16, 2025. (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Poll/AFP via Getty Images)

    Israel is being investigated for alleged genocide at the International Court of Justice, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a fugitive from the International Criminal Court.

    In a Tuesday phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio highlighted the Trump administration’s staunch support for Israel—which includes $4 billion in fresh fast-tracked military assistance—even as the key Mideast ally cuts off lifesaving humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the flattened Gaza Strip.

    U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce summarized Rubio’s call with the right-wing Israeli leader, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza:

    Rubio spoke with… Netanyahu to underscore that the United States’ steadfast support for Israel is a top priority for President [Donald] Trump, as shown by the recent announcement to expedite the delivery of nearly $4 billion in military assistance to Israel. The secretary thanked the prime minister for his cooperation with Special Envoy Steve Witkoff to help free all remaining hostages and extend the cease-fire in Gaza. The secretary also conveyed that he anticipates close coordination in addressing the threats posed by Iran and pursuing opportunities for a stable region.

    Rubio’s call with Netanyahu, which followed the Republican secretary of state’s visit to Israel last month, came just two days after Netanyahu’s government halted all humanitarian aid from entering Gaza. People there are reeling after 15 months of Israeli bombardment, invasion, and siege that have obliterated the coastal enclave, killing at least 48,405 Palestinians, wounding more than 111,000 others, and forcibly displacing, starving, or sickening nearly all of the strip’s approximately 2.3 million people, according to local and international agencies.

    Netanyahu said the aid suspension was carried out “in full coordination with President Trump and his people.”

    On Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened that “the gates of hell will be opened” on Gaza if Hamas, which rules the strip, does not free the dozens of Israeli and international hostages it kidnapped on October 7, 2023. Hamas has delayed their release due to what it claims are hundreds of Israeli violations of a January cease-fire agreement, including deadly attacks on civilians and the aid cutoff.

    Katz, Netanyahu, and other Israeli leaders are among those named in an incitement to genocide complaint filed in January at the ICC by Israeli attorney Omer Shatz. Israel is also under investigation for alleged genocide at the International Court of Justice.

    Bruce’s description of the Rubio-Netanyahu call does not mention the Palestinians or Gaza.

    Last month, Trump proposed a U.S. invasion and takeover of Gaza, which would be ethnically cleansed of Palestinians and transformed into what the president described as “the Riviera of the Middle East.”

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

    Neo-Fascist Climate Science Denier Donald Trump says Burn, Baby, Burn.
    Neo-Fascist Climate Science Denier Donald Trump says Burn, Baby, Burn.
    Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
    Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.

  • Why is an ‘ethical’ investor funding arms companies?

    Spread the love

    https://www.declassifieduk.org/why-is-an-ethical-investor-funding-arms-companies

    Is Norway’s money being invested responsibly? (Photo: Andrzej Rostek / Alamy)

    Scandinavian countries are often held up as models for a better society. None more so than Norway, flush with North Sea oil wealth, which it can invest responsibly.

    The money is put aside in a sovereign wealth fund, owned by the Norwegian government and managed by the country’s central bank, Norges Bank. It is the largest such fund in the world, worth £1.4 trillion.

    Called the Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG), or just the Oil Fund, it is supposed to adhere to ethical guidelines by excluding certain companies from its portfolio.

    That’s if they are involved in serious violations of human rights – especially in conflicts – gross corruption, the production of nuclear weapons and more.

    However, in outright contradiction to these guidelines, the GPFG invests billions of pounds in many of the world’s largest arms companies. In fact, it owns stakes in exactly half of the world’s top 100 arms companies, accumulating at almost £14 billion. 

    This includes arms companies here in the UK that supply Israel – despite Norway recognising the state of Palestine as recently as May 2024 and excluding companies from the GPFG involved in activities violating international law.

    So why is Norwegian money finding its way into Britain’s arms industry, which supplies Israel? 

    Arming Israel

    Among these investments is QinetiQ in which the GPFG holds over £46 million in shares. 

    The British defence tech firm has collaborated with the Israeli military to develop the Watchkeeper drone system, a joint project with Israel’s Elbit Systems, a company dropped from the fund in 2009 for supplying surveillance systems for the separation barrier in the West Bank. 

    …

    Article continues at https://www.declassifieduk.org/why-is-an-ethical-investor-funding-arms-companies

  • Corbyn urges enquiry into Britain’s complicity in Gaza genocide

    Spread the love

    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/corbyn-urges-enquiry-into-britains-complicity-in-gaza-genocide

    A tent camp for displaced Palestinians is set up amid destroyed buildings in the west of Al-Shati camp, west of Gaza City, March 3, 2025

    LAUNCH a full public inquiry into Britain’s complicity in the Gaza genocide, left MP Jeremy Corbyn has told the government.

    The former Labour leader has written to Keir Starmer warning that he will be working with colleagues to “pursue all avenues to establish a public, independent inquiry into the UK’s involvement in Israel’s military assault in Gaza.”

    This probe should “establish exactly what decisions have been taken, how these decisions have been made, and what consequences they have had,” he said.

    Mr Corbyn’s move comes as pro-Palestine campaigners face a growing police clampdown, with several summoned for police interview over purported offences at January’s Gaza demonstration.

    The letter to the Prime Minister cites the precedent of the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war which, though protracted, eventually laid bare the sheer extent of deception undertaken by the Blair government regarding the 2003 aggression.

    …

    “Britain has played a highly influential role in Israel’s military operations,” Mr Corbyn writes, “including the sale of weapons, the supply of intelligence and the use of RAF bases” in Cyprus.

    “Many of us have repeatedly raised objections over the continued sale of F-35 components. We have repeatedly asked for the truth regarding the role of British military bases.

    “And we have repeatedly requested the publication of legal advice behind the government’s currently unknown definition of genocide. Our requests have been met evasion, obstruction and silence, leaving the public in the dark,” he added.

    …

    The original article is at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/corbyn-urges-enquiry-into-britains-complicity-in-gaza-genocide

    Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
    Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA
    UK Foreign Minister David Lammy confirms that UK government and military are active participants in Israel’s genocides and that the F-35 parts that they suspended from supplying to Israel are instead simply diverted via the United States. He says see https://youtu.be/QILgUHrdWRE
    UK Foreign Minister David Lammy confirms that UK government and military are active participants in Israel’s genocides and that the F-35 parts that they suspended from supplying to Israel are instead simply diverted via the United States. He says see https://youtu.be/QILgUHrdWRE

  • Israel cuts off power to 2 desalination plants in Gaza

    Spread the love

    This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 

    Workers from the Gaza Electricity Distribution Company repair the power lines that supply seawater to the desalination plant in Deir al-Balah, Gaza on July 04, 2024 [Ashraf Amra/Anadolu Agency]

    Israel has cut off power to two desalination plants in the Deir Al-Balah area of central Gaza, depriving thousands of Palestinians of water, the local municipality has said.

    In a statement, the Deir Al-Balah Municipality announced that the South Sea Desalination Plant and the Basra Desalination Plant ceased operations after Israeli occupation forces cut off the electricity supply.

    It added that the plants produce about 20,000 cubic meters of desalinated water daily which supply about 70 per cent of the area’s residents with water.

    For his part, Director General of Planning, Water and Sanitation in the Gaza Municipality, Maher Ashour Salem, warned that “the amount of water currently available in the Strip is less than 25 per cent of the normal quantities,” explaining that more than 70 per cent of water had been lost due to Israel’s destruction of the water supply lines.

    He warned of a looming humanitarian disaster if the Israeli water company cuts off the water supply which makes up 80 per cent of the currently available water.

    “The loss of this vital water source will severely affect domestic use, hospitals and shelters, amid almost non-existent alternative water sources as a result of the destruction of more than three-quarters of the water wells in the Gaza Strip,” Salem said.

    The Israeli occupation’s decision came a day after Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, stopped the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, hours after the first phase of the ceasefire with Hamas had ended.

    READ: Israel blocking aid to Gaza as Ramadan begins is ‘reckless act of collective punishment’

    This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 

    Zionist Keir Starmer is quoted "I support Zionism without qualification." He's asked whether that means that he supports Zionism under all circumstances, whatever Zionists do.
    Zionist Keir Starmer is quoted “I support Zionism without qualification.” He’s asked whether that means that he supports Zionism under all circumstances, whatever Zionists do.
    Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
    Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA
    UK Foreign Minister David Lammy confirms that UK government and military are active participants in Israel’s genocides and that the F-35 parts that they suspended from supplying to Israel are instead simply diverted via the United States. He says see https://youtu.be/QILgUHrdWRE
    UK Foreign Minister David Lammy confirms that UK government and military are active participants in Israel’s genocides and that the F-35 parts that they suspended from supplying to Israel are instead simply diverted via the United States. He says see https://youtu.be/QILgUHrdWRE

  • German ministry dismisses lawyer for supporting Gaza, rejecting genocide

    Spread the love

    This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 

    Thousands of people carrying Palestinian flags and banners march as they protest Israel’s attacks on Gaza and Germany’s arms support to Israel in Unter den Linden Street, Berlin, Germany on April 13, 2024 [Halil Sagirkaya/Anadolu via Getty Images]

    The German federal ministry has dismissed a lawyer in Berlin due to her opposition to the Israeli assault on Gaza, the Palestinian Information Centre reported.

    On Saturday lawyer Melanie Schweizer posted a video on X stating: “Yesterday I got fired as a civil servant working at the Federal Ministry in Germany. Why? In a nutshell because I was speaking out against the genocide in Palestine committed by Israel, against the German support thereof, against the violence and crimes happening there.” Highlighting the German government and police’s efforts to silence pro-Palestine voices, she added: “This is where we’re at in Germany. This is a blatant attack on our constitutional rights to freedom.”

    She called on supporters of Gaza to make their stance clear and “keep speaking up, keep using your voice, losing your job is not the worst that can happen to you, losing your life is. Losing your freedom right is.”

    Many European and American companies have previously dismissed employees over their stance on the war on Gaza and their opposition to genocide.

    In October 2024, Microsoft dismissed two employees after they organised a sit-in at its headquarters in Washington, D.C., in solidarity with the victims of the Israeli assault on Gaza.

    On 22 January, the Washington Post reported that Google had dismissed more than 50 employees last year after they protested against the “Nimbus” contract, citing concerns that the technology could support military and intelligence programmes used by the Israeli occupation army in its war on Palestinians in Gaza.

    In September 2024, the Noguchi Museum in New York announced the dismissal of three employees for allegedly violating the dress code by wearing keffiyehs, which have become a symbol of solidarity with the Palestinian cause.

    READ: Protesters show their opposition to Germany’s pro-Israel bias

    This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 

    Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
    Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA