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With unwavering US support, Israel resumes its genocidal assault on Gaza

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Original article by Aseel Saleh republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Night airstrike on Gaza in 2024. Photo: Wafa

Israel resumed its genocidal violence against the people of Gaza a day before the Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu was set to stand trial for corruption and face rallies against his move to dismiss the Shin Bet chief.

Israel resumed its genocidal aggression on Gaza in the early hours of Tuesday, March 18, with a series of airstrikes that killed over 400 Palestinians, many of them women and children. Hundreds more were injured.

Shortly after the attacks were launched, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told Fox News that Israel consulted the United States on its intention to launch aerial attacks on the besieged enclave.

“As President Trump has made it clear – Hamas, the Houthis, Iran, all those who seek to terrorize not just Israel, but also the United States of America, will see a price to pay. All hell will break loose,” Leavitt emphasized.

Israel determined to continue its genocide

Briefly after the deadly assaults took place in Gaza, Israeli officials delivered statements that confirmed Israel’s intention to proceed with the genocide indefinitely.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a recorded speech on Tuesday that the airstrikes, which targeted Gaza, are “only the beginning” and that all ceasefire talks going forward will be held “under fire”.

Meanwhile, Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened that if Hamas does not release all Israeli captives, “blows will only increase and intensify”.

The resumption of the genocide came after Israel obstructed negotiations on the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire and prisoners for captives swap deal. It also followed more than two weeks of Israel’s full blockade on humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.

It’s worth noting that Israel reportedly committed hundreds of violations of the ceasefire agreement in its first phase, which included:

  • killing civilians
  • home demolitions
  • land bulldozing
  • preventing displaced persons from returning to their home regions
  • military advances beyond the agreed-upon withdrawal lines
  • obstructing reconstruction
  • airspace violations
  • delaying prisoners’ releases

Despite these violations, Hamas continued to accelerate their end of the agreement, releasing more captives than promised in an effort to begin second-phase negotiations in good faith.

Reactions to the resumption of the war 

All major Palestinian factions have categorically condemned Israel’s unilateral violation of the ceasefire deal and demanded that the deal’s guarantors and mediators, as well as the rest of the international community take immediate action to stop the return to genocide.

Hamas

For its part, Hamas vehemently condemned Israel’s actions and accused the Trump administration of being complicit in Israel’s resumption of the genocide in Gaza. “The US administration’s admission that it was informed in advance of the Zionist aggression confirms its direct complicity in the war of extermination against our people,” it said in a statement.

“This admission once again reveals America’s blatant complicity and bias towards the occupation, and exposes the falsity of its claims about its commitment to calm,” Hamas added.

“With its unlimited political and military support for the occupation, Washington bears full responsibility for the massacres and killing of women and children in Gaza,” the movement stressed, calling upon the international community to take urgent action “to hold the occupation and its supporters accountable for these crimes against humanity.”

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) held the US accountable as well, labelling it as a partner in the massacres committed by Israel against the Palestinians in Gaza.

Islamic Jihad 

For its part, the Islamic Jihad movement confirmed that “the renewed aggression will neither give Israel the upper hand over the resistance nor extricate Netanyahu and his regime from the crises they are escaping from. Rather, it will further weaken them and accumulate more failures, leaving them humiliated and submissive.”

Ansar Allah

The Supreme Political Council of Ansar Allah in Yemen issued a statement holding Israel and the US “fully responsible for violating the ceasefire agreement, thwarting all efforts to move to the second phase, remilitarizing the seas, and escalating tensions in the region.”

The council further warned the two countries “to bear the consequences and repercussions, no matter how severe.”

Ansar Allah’s response was not limited to issuing a statement, as the armed forces affiliated with the movement targeted Israel’s Nevatim airbase in the southern occupied territories on Tuesday, using a Palestine-2 hypersonic ballistic missile.

Hezbollah

Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah issued a statement, denouncing the “US full partnership” and the “shameful silence” of the international community to the decision of “Netanyahu’s terrorist government to turn against the ceasefire and resume the war.”

The Lebanese resistance group pointed out that the renewed aggression “confirms that this rogue entity and the US administration do not respect any commitments and agreements and that they are two sides of the same coin that thirsts for blood and knows only the rhetoric of killing and destruction.”

International condemnation

A number of countries also condemned the resumption of the aggression, or expressed their concern about the repercussions of the escalation in the region, including: China, Russia, Egypt, Qatar, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Türkiye, France, United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, and Australia.

The United Nations, including Secretary-General António Guterres, sharply condemned Israel’s aggression, with Guterres saying he was “outraged” by the airstrikes.

People’s movements and organizations across the globe that have been mobilizing for the past 16 months against Israel’s genocide in Gaza also responded to Israel’s attacks and called for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

The International Peoples’ Assembly (IPA) condemned that, “The US has directly supported Israel’s renewed aggression, offering unlimited political and military backing while pushing for further escalation with inflammatory rhetoric and threats. This aggression extends beyond Palestine, with attacks on Yemen, fueling regional tensions and conflict. Meanwhile, the international community remains silent and fails to act on these escalating violations.“ The IPA called for people across the world to mobilize from March 18 to 30 “to reject the escalation of Zionist aggression on the people of Gaza and to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people”.

On March 18, people in major cities in the United States, Morocco, Italy, and other countries, were already on the streets demanding an arms embargo on Israel and a return to the ceasefire.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad mourn leaders, including IJ spokesperson Abu Hamza

Hamas announced in a statement on Tuesday that a number of its governmental leaders were killed in the Israeli attacks across the war-torn strip.

The movement confirmed in a press statement that among those assassinated were the Head of Government Issam al-Dallis, Deputy Minister of Justice Ahmed al-Hitta, Deputy Minister of Interior Major General Mahmoud Abu Wafa, and Director General of the Internal Security Service Major General Bahjat Abu Sultan.

Meanwhile, the Islamic Jihad movement announced the assassination of its iconic masked spokesperson and leader, Naji Abu Seif, who was long known by his nom de guerre Abu Hamza.

Naji Abu Seif aka Abu Hamza was killed in Israeli airstrikes on March 18.

Mourning Abu Hamza, the movement said in a statement: “The martyred spokesperson was known as a voice of the resistance, fearing no reproach in his devotion to Allah, eloquent in his speech, and courageous in his heroic positions in defense of the resistance and the rights of our people, never wavering in his stance.”

Netanyahu resumed the war to evade his own political crisis

Several analysts suggest that Netanyahu resorted to resuming the war on Gaza to escape from an imminent political impasse, especially as he was set to testify in his corruption trial on Tuesday.

Taking the resumption of the war as a pretext, Netanyahu submitted a delay request to the concerned court saying: “Hours ago, the IDF commenced a military operation in the Gaza Strip. This morning at 11, an urgent security consultation will take place that will include the prime minister, defense minister and heads of the IDF security apparatus.”

Some consider the war option was also a savior for Netanyahu, as mass demonstrations were planned to take place in Jerusalem during the week to protest his declared intention to fire the chief of the Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet) Ronen Bar.

Original article by Aseel Saleh republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

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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
Continue ReadingWith unwavering US support, Israel resumes its genocidal assault on Gaza

Will Trump’s entire presidency be as damaging as his first month?

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Original article by Paul Rogers republished from Open Democracy under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. 

Ater a disastrous press conference, it may be Trump, not Zelenskyy, who needs to watch his back
 | Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

From blowing up at Zelenskyy to fast-tracking Executive Orders, what can we learn from Trump’s recent behaviour?

Donald Trump’s presidency has barely entered its second month, and the change he has brought about has already been so significant and so rapid that it is hard to imagine how his administration will evolve in the long term.

The substantial changes are, in part, due to the extensive planning done in anticipation of his winning a second term. The 900-page Project 2025 put together by the Heritage Foundation has provided a blueprint for Trump’s far-right conservatism that, combined with the decision to act very fast, has allowed him to already issue more than sixty Executive Orders – catching opponents off-guard.

Looking to the future may be better helped by understanding both Trump’s behaviour and his overall outlook on life, with two recent examples pointing the way. Some commentators see the president as an unpredictable figurehead who is hardly able to direct affairs, but that doesn’t face up to his being the locus of power for now and, in any case, he has plenty of determined advisers who have been waiting years for his second presidency.

The first example of Trump’s behaviour was shown by his reaction to a tragedy that happened just after his inauguration, when an American Airlines flight and a US Army helicopter collided and crashed into the Potomac River close to Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, DC. All 67 people on board the two aircraft were killed.

While the cause of the crash is still under investigation, within hours Trump had blamed the diversity-linked hiring policies of previous Democrat administrations, claiming they had lowered personnel standards in air traffic control. A tragedy became an occasion for immediate political point scoring.

More recently, we have seen Trump use social media to promote the new ‘Trump Gaza’. The president shared a bizarre AI-generated video in which the area had been ethnically cleansed of its Palestinian population and transformed into “the Riviera of the Middle East”. Perhaps most telling is the full-colour representation of the main street, which Trump envisages as being dominated by a 60-foot high golden statue of himself.

Together, these instances point to someone who is comprehensively self-obsessed. He might be seen as an egotist or narcissist but certainly has an element of the solipsist in his make-up as well. He is, in other words, beyond egocentric.

But Trump’s impact on the world stage has to reckon with how the world is already changing, especially the rise of the global oligarchy, with vast power concentrated in the hands of a few hundred super-rich individuals. It’s clear that the president views these people as the true exemplars of success – he has formed a singularly powerful group of them around him.

Most notable among Trump’s circle of favoured oligarchs is Elon Musk, who supported his 2024 election campaign to the tune of $277m and has since been given an unofficial role in government and attended Cabinet meetings and Oval Office press conferences.

The wealth of Musk and two other oligarchs close to Trump, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, extends to $905bn, as US Senator Bernie Sanders reminded us last month. Writing in the Guardian, Sanders pointed out that this is “more wealth than the bottom half of American society – 170 million people”, adding that “since Trump’s election their wealth has grown by $217bn”.

This is in line with the findings in Oxfam’s 2025 Davos Report, which last week reported that while the number of people in poverty has remained near stagnant for the past 35 years, extreme wealth is surging. Four more people become billionaires each week, and the world is now on course to have five trillionaires and well over four thousand billionaires within the next decade.

The rising global oligarchy is not easily mapped with precision. Some members of the super-rich stay well out of the public eye, a few become patrons of the arts and philanthropists, but many others are heavily involved in the use of political power.

Though a degree of oligarchic power is evident in many countries worldwide, there are particular concentrations in a handful of nations, particularly Russia, China, India and the US – where Mark Twain’s quip about having “the best government money can buy” still stands.

Between Trump’s personality and his billionaire associates, the best guide to the next four years is to simply assume that ‘self’ and ‘wealth’ will be the president’s constant driving forces. It is not a happy prospect and will require persistent opposition, combined with repeated expressions of more positive ways forward. But is there anything that might limit him as he works to remake the US?

The first answer might just be his very associates. Many incredibly wealthy people are used to getting their own way, which could easily lead to disagreements sufficient to unbalance the administration. That will be much to the dislike and anger of Trump, who may well end up causing great disruption as he finds and disposes of the scapegoats who can keep the blame well away from him.

Then there is internal opposition stemming from numerous legal challenges that are already being mounted, many of them in recognition of the mass use of executive orders, which may undermine the authority of Article II of the US constitution.

Trump is also likely to run into problems due to the huge and vast array of experience and knowledge that will have been lost as a result of his administration’s decision to fire many thousands of federal employees from the Internal Revenue Service, Department of Energy, the Department of Agriculture, the Forestry Service, National Parks, US AID and elsewhere. This is eventually likely to lead to numerous mistakes and delays right across government.

Then there is the matter of US foreign policy, where the ‘Trump Gaza’ fiasco is the clearest possible indicator that Trump just does not have a clue how many people feel. Beyond that, though, is the question of Trump’s view of Vladimir Putin. It is becoming uncomfortably clear that either the Russian president has some kind of hold over Trump or else Trump really does see him as simply another very powerful and hugely rich person just like himself – a kindred spirit in a new oligarchic world of disorder.

This leads to one other question: how long will Trump even be in the White House? A clue may come from Friday’s notorious press conference with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. People across the world will have seen clips of Zelenskyy being hung out to dry by Trump and his vice-president, JD Vance, but watching the entire 45-minute video, not just the blow-up, reveals a rather different element.

The conference was largely good-natured for the first 35 minutes, with Zelenskyy comfortably holding his own and Trump even praising Ukraine while doing his usual trick of claiming to be the greatest American since George Washington. It is only at the end that Vance moves in aggressively on Zelensky in a manner seemingly designed to get Trump to lose his cool.

Perhaps it is Trump, not Zelensky, who should be worried when reflecting on the experience – and who should watch his back. It may have been on the last day of February but Vance’s behaviour was not too far from the Ides of March.

Original article by Paul Rogers republished from Open Democracy under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. 

Continue ReadingWill Trump’s entire presidency be as damaging as his first month?

Gaza ceasefire hangs by a thread as Israel blocks delivery of all supplies

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/gaza-ceasefire-hangs-thread-israel-blocks-delivery-all-supplies

Palestinians sit at a large table surrounded by the rubble of destroyed homes and buildings as they gather for iftar, the fast-breaking meal, on the first day of Ramadan in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, March 1, 2025

THE ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas was hanging by a thread today after Israel blockaded all goods and supplies reaching Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli representatives also warned of “additional consequences” if Hamas doesn’t accept a new proposal to extend the fragile ceasefire.

Hamas has accused Israel of trying to derail the existing ceasefire agreement and said its decision to cut off aid was “cheap extortion, a war crime and a blatant attack” on the truce, which began in January after more than a year of negotiations.

Both sides stopped short of saying the ceasefire had ended.

The first phase of the ceasefire, which included a surge in humanitarian assistance, expired on Saturday. The two sides have yet to negotiate the second phase, in which Hamas was to release dozens of remaining hostages in return for an Israeli withdrawal and a lasting ceasefire.

An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the decision to suspend aid was made in co-ordination with the United States.

…

Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/gaza-ceasefire-hangs-thread-israel-blocks-delivery-all-supplies

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
Continue ReadingGaza ceasefire hangs by a thread as Israel blocks delivery of all supplies

Huge MK-84 bombs arrive in Israel after US lifts ban

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/huge-mk-84-bombs-arrive-in-israel-after-us-lifts-ban

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio (left) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands during a news conference at the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem, Israel, February 16, 2025

ISRAEL received a shipment of heavy MK-84 bombs from the United States after President Donald Trump lifted a block imposed by his predecessor, the Defence Ministry said yesterday.

The unguided 2,000-pound bombs can tear through concrete and metal, creating a wide blast radius.

Exports of these munitions were held up by the Biden administration over concerns about their impact on densely populated areas in Gaza.

Defence Minister Israel Katz said the new munitions shipment was a “significant asset” for the Israeli Air Force and demonstrated the “strong alliance” between Israel and the US.

The delivery comes amid concerns over whether the ceasefire for Israel’s war on Gaza will hold.

…

Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/huge-mk-84-bombs-arrive-in-israel-after-us-lifts-ban

Climate Science Denier Donald Trump says Burn, Baby, Burn.
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.
Continue ReadingHuge MK-84 bombs arrive in Israel after US lifts ban

100+ Groups ‘Decry and Oppose’ Trump Push to Ethnically Cleanse Gaza

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Original article by Jessica Corbett republished form Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Displaced Palestinian children sit on a sand mound overlooking tents set up amid destroyed buildings in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on February 6, 2025.
 (Photo: Bashar Taleb/AFP via Getty Images)

“Palestine is not just an idea—it is a place. It is a homeland to the Palestinian people,” the coalition wrote.

A coalition of over 100 organizations on Monday forcefully denounced U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to ethnically cleanse the Gaza Strip of Palestinians and take over the coastal enclave recently decimated by an Israeli military campaign conducted with American weapons.

Led by A New Policy—a group founded by Biden administration officials who resigned in protest—and the Quaker organization Friends Committee on National Legislation, the coalition said that “we are deeply alarmed by President Trump’s recent statements, tracing them back to January 25, just days after the Republican returned to power.

“We, the undersigned organizations, decry and oppose any effort or initiative, and any calls for, the forcible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, and support the joint statement of Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, the Palestinian Authority, and the Arab League that similarly rejected any such steps, the coalition wrote, citing the Fourth Geneva Convention.

The letter highlights the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in the 1940s during the formation of the modern state of Israel, which Palestinians call the Nakba, Arabic for catastrophe; that since 2006, Gaza “has been in a state of siege,” with residents enduring repeated bombardment and restrictions on necessities; and that since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, they have faced what various experts have found to be a plausible case of genocide, with over 48,000 people killed.

“Through this all, the Palestinians in Gaza have stood with remarkable dignity and perseverance, insisting throughout the immense suffering and loss that they will never abandon their homeland,” the letter continues, echoing recent remarks from residents. “We are deeply concerned by clear statements of intent from Israeli government officials over the past year concerning the creation of new Israeli settlements within the Gaza Strip, which further reinforce the intent of ethnic cleansing.”

“The United States has no right to dictate to the Palestinian people in Gaza to leave, and direct other countries to participate in their displacement. We are also aware that even a temporary external displacement could be used by Israel to enact permanent exile,” the letter says. “While we agree that the short and medium-term humanitarian needs of the people of Gaza may be difficult to meet given the nearly complete destruction that Israel has wrought, if the necessary services cannot be provided in Gaza, the people of Gaza must be able to access them elsewhere within the historic borders of Palestine and must be able to return.”

The coalition also expressed alarm over “an uptick in settler violence” and deadly Israel Defense Forces operations in the illegally occupied West Bank, writing that “these actions are part and parcel of a strategy that seeks to make not just Gaza, but all Palestinian areas across historic Palestine, unlivable for the Palestinian people, and are thus contributory to a process of ethnic cleansing.”

“Palestine is not just an idea—it is a place. It is a homeland to the Palestinian people,” the groups stressed. “To participate in, facilitate, or endorse their removal from it would violate every precept of international law, devastate the rules-based international order that protects us all, do irreversible harm to America’s global influence, and be an act of unconscionable immorality.”

The letter concludes with a poem from Palestinian Mahmoud Darwish, who wrote:

My country is not a suitcase
I am not a traveler
I am the lover and the land is the beloved.
The archaeologist is busy analyzing stones.
In the rubble of legends he searches for his own eyes
to show
that I am a sightless vagrant on the road
with not one letter in civilization’s alphabet.
Meanwhile in my own time I plant my trees.
I sing of my love.

In addition to the coalition leaders, signatories to the letter include ActionAid USA, CodePink, Democracy for the Arab World Now, Demand Progress Education Fund, Democratic Socialists of America, IfNotNow Movement, Just Foreign Policy, Madre, National Iranian American Council, Oil Change International, Peace Action, Progressive Democrats of America, and September 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, and U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights.

The letter came amid a fresh wave of alarm over Trump’s latest comments about Gaza and Palestinians, which aired Monday morning on “Fox & Friends.” He said: “We’ll build safe communities a little bit away from where they are, where all of this danger is. In the meantime, I would own this—think of it as a real estate development for the future. It would be a beautiful piece of land.”

Asked by Fox News‘ Bret Baier whether Palestinians would have the right to return to Gaza, the president said, “No, they wouldn’t.”

The letter also came as Hamas on Monday suspended its next planned release of hostages taken in October 2023, citing Israel’s deadly violations of a fragile cease-fire deal that took effect last month.

Original article by Jessica Corbett republished form Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

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.

Continue Reading100+ Groups ‘Decry and Oppose’ Trump Push to Ethnically Cleanse Gaza