Houthi group says 10 fighters killed by US in spillover of Gaza crisis; ‘major escalation so far unlikely’

By Deng Xiaoci | Global Times | January 1, 2024

The Red Sea – one of the world’s most important shipping lanes that links markets in Europe with Asia – saw another bloody incident on Sunday with Yemen’s Houthi group stating that 10 of its fighters were killed by US naval forces while they were preventing Israel-related ships from passing through the Red Sea, in solidarity and support for the Palestinian people.

Analysts said the new clash in the waters of the Red Sea is a spillover of the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and although it is unlikely to lead to a major escalation of tensions or the outbreak of a new war in the region, the US should understand that the key to fundamentally addressing the Red Sea issue lies in easing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.

According to the Xinhua News Agency on Sunday, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said that US forces attacked three boats belonging to the Houthi group. The spokesman said the US “bears the consequences of this crime,” and that the “military movements in the Red Sea to protect Israeli ships will not prevent Yemen (Houthi militia) from performing its humanitarian duty in support of Palestine and Gaza.”

According to Al Jazeera on Sunday, helicopters from two US warships – the USS Eisenhower and USS Gravely – shot at the “Iranian-backed Houthi small boats” in self-defense on Sunday morning while responding to an SOS call from the Singapore-flagged vessel Maersk Hangzhou, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said.

The US helicopters sank three of the boats, killing several of their crew, it said.

Zhu Yongbiao, director of the Center for Afghanistan Studies in Lanzhou University, told the Global Times on Monday that after the Sunday turmoil, Houthi forces may continue to carry out small-scale actions, but it is unlikely that they will directly retaliate against or launch aggressive counterattacks on US forces.

The use of small boats for harassment may decrease, and more drones and missiles will be used for this purpose, while direct confrontations are very unlikely, the analyst said. “Such an event will not directly lead to an escalation, as the US military is still in a defensive mode and has not actively struck the Houthi forces. The Sunday event is a major one but not severe enough to become a turning point.”

The US on December 19 announced a global naval task force to safeguard shipping in the contentious waters, through which some 12 percent of global trade passes, according to reports from Al Jazeera.

Chinese observers pointed out that the clash in the Red Sea is actually a spillover of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “To fundamentally solve it, it is necessary for the Israeli-Palestinian issue to be significantly eased, including the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. Even if aggressive military strategies are adopted, the US may achieve good results in the short term, but they are not a permanent solution, as the root cause lies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” they said.

The Sunday incident came shortly after UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement via his spokesperson that he was gravely concerned about the further spillover of the conflict, which could have devastating consequences for the entire region, citing continuing attacks by armed groups in Iraq and Syria, as well as the Houthi attacks against vessels in the Red Sea, which have escalated in recent days, according to a transcript of the statement.

The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics said Sunday that more Palestinians were killed in conflicts in 2023 than in any other year since 1948.　According to the bureau, 22,404 Palestinians died in 2023, and 22,141 of them were killed since the outbreak of the conflict between Israel and the Hamas on October 7, 2023.

Europe under the unbearable yoke and heavy burden of the United States

By Viktor Mikhin – New Eastern Outlook – 01.01.2024

The latest round of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the current carnage inflicted by Israel on all Palestinians in Gaza, will continue for some time and end in another tragedy for the Palestinians. But in the long run, all these events will lead to huge negative consequences that all peoples of the Middle East, including the Israelis, will be experiencing for a long time. But while none of the parties in the world will benefit from the disaster, “European countries will particularly pay a higher price for the ongoing conflict,” notes the Iranian publication Tehran Times. Although the leaders of the European states are well aware of the erroneous nature of current US policy, they, like true American puppets, are forced to blindly and unconditionally follow Washington’s course.

History shows that there have been many cases where European countries have paid the price for US policy mistakes over the past two decades. One such striking example may be Europe’s erroneous policy towards the peaceful nuclear development issue of Iran. Until 2012, European countries were among Iran’s most important economic partners, if not the largest, and Iran was a very important market for European products. Iranians preferred German electronics and cars to similar products from elsewhere. But because of the illegal US sanctions against Iran, European companies withdrew from the Iranian market and eventually paid a heavy price for the loss of a very profitable and promising Iranian market. Today, the economic presence of European countries and their companies in Iran are almost non-existent.

The second such example could be the heavy-handed and brazen interference of the United States in the internal affairs of the Middle East over the past two decades. The Middle East, although not really peaceful, remained generally stable in the 1990s and early 2000s. Therefore, European countries were very ambitious in promoting economic integration with their Middle Eastern neighbors, since the security situation was acceptable. The Barcelona process of the 1990s was such a program for the integration of Europe and its neighbors on the other side of the Mediterranean Sea. But the first two decades of the 21st century witnessed the United States often intervening militarily in the internal affairs of a number of countries in the Middle East, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria. As a result of constant military actions, the states and peoples of the Middle East have been experiencing enormous regional upheavals for more than two decades, and, by all accounts, this region is the most turbulent in the world.

Several regional and non-regional players have, quite naturally, various disagreements with the United States in the field of strategy, ideology, politics and economy. However, it is the European countries that have been most seriously affected by the instability, since they are the immediate neighbors of the Middle East. The stream of refugees has increased the economic and social burden and caused divisions both at domestic and EU interstate levels. And in the distant future, they will face even more negative consequences, as European politicians will have to solve even more difficult tasks just to survive.

The third example could be the latest conflict between Israel and Palestine. The war, the carnage unleashed by Israel in the Gaza Strip, has already led to a very serious humanitarian catastrophe, since about 20,000 Palestinians have died so far, about two thirds of whom are women and children, and more than two million have been displaced and become homeless. If the war continues, there will be a more serious humanitarian catastrophe for both the Palestinians and other peoples of the region. More refugees are likely to arrive in European countries, which will add new difficulties to their economies. As some European politicians travel to Israel to demonstrate their support for Tel Aviv’s hardline policies, Muslims in these countries will become increasingly dissatisfied with the course of politicians. There will be new divisions within the EU, as some countries do not share the views of those who support Israel’s unwise policy of destroying the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip.

In general, if one knows his history, the United States has been making mistakes in the region, while the European countries have kept paying a high price for them. Then there is the question of whether the elites in Europe understand the scenario and the rationale behind it. The answer is a resounding yes. In fact, the various political concepts initiated by Europe have sufficiently indicated that Europeans are well aware of their aforementioned problem. But at the same time, they continue to make the same mistakes over and over again, or, as a Russian saying goes, they keep stepping on the same rake. Indeed, if God wants to punish someone, he takes away his mind.

In the early 2000s, European leaders proposed the concept of “negotiation diplomacy,” which, in their opinion, could allow them to shape the Middle East through an approach different from the United States’ policy of force. Thus, in 2003, French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder fiercely and decisively opposed the attempts of the United States to brazenly invade Iraq by falsifying documents and deceiving the world community. Over time, they were proved to be right, although they failed to stop the war, or rather the massacre of the civilian population of Iraq.

In the same year, three foreign ministers — of France, Germany and the United Kingdom — made a joint visit to Iran to find a solution to the Iranian peaceful nuclear development issue through their diplomacy, as opposed to the US approaches to economic sanctions and military pressure. The efforts of the European trio also proved to be correct, although they failed to change the US sanctions approach to solving the Iranian problem.

In 2010, the EU proposed a different concept of strategic autonomy, and the term itself indicated its intention to distance itself from the United States and reduce its dependence on the Americans in security matters. But, unfortunately, during this period, Europe did not make sufficient efforts to demonstrate the autonomous aspect of its policy. Instead, some European countries even sided with the United States in a policy that ultimately led to the infringement of their economic and security interests, as mentioned above.

It is true that Atlantic relations with Europe were based on cultural and historical ties, and they have not changed for a long time. But, on the other hand, European countries have really different interests. The Middle East is an immediate neighbor of Europe, yet is far removed from the United States, and anything bad that happens in the Middle East can negatively affect Europe. Logically speaking, it is unreasonable that the EU will always support the United States in all its risky plans.

Moreover, the current US policy towards the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, with millions of Palestinians already forced to leave their homes, obviously undermines justice, which should be one of the fundamental principles of the international order. The continuation of such a crisis will undermine the image not only of the United States, but also to an even greater extent of Europe, which neighbors the Middle East. In any case, it is high time for European leaders to develop a reasonable approach, balancing justice and its Atlantic obligations. Otherwise, if history is anything to go by, mistakes made under pressure from the United States can force Europe to pay an even higher and unaffordable price.

PFLP announces death of captive Israeli soldier in Gaza after failed rescue

The Cradle | December 31, 2023

An Israeli soldier held captive by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in Gaza was killed in an Israeli air strike, the spokesman for the armed wing of the Palestinian resistance group announced on 30 December.

In his first speech since the beginning of the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation, Martyr Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades spokesman Abu Jamal announced the death of the Israeli captive, adding that the air strike took place following a failed attempt by Israeli special forces to free him and which was confronted by the PLFP fighters.

Abu Jamal said the airstrike was called in to cover the retreat of the Israeli forces, and lightly wounded the PLFP fighters who were responsible for the captive.

The spokesperson gave no details of when the soldier had been taken captive, or where he was being held in Gaza. He said the group is still holding the soldier’s body.

Abu Jamal also announced the PLFP had destroyed or disabled 95 Israeli army vehicles during the ongoing ground invasion of Gaza. He also announced the group obtained a laptop and flash drives with sensitive information and private data during the attack on 7 October on Israeli military bases and settlements surrounding Gaza. He said Martyr Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades continue to benefit from this information in their operations.

Because the Israeli airstrike killed the Israeli soldier, it is possible the Israeli military may have invoked a controversial policy known as the “Hannibal Directive.”

The policy was established in 1986 following the capture of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The Times of Israel described how the “directive allows soldiers to use potentially massive amounts of force to prevent a soldier from falling into the hands of the enemy. This includes the possibility of endangering the life of the soldier in question in order to prevent his capture.”

“Some officers, however, understand the order to mean that soldiers ought to deliberately kill their comrade in order to stop him from being taken prisoner, not that they may accidentally injure or kill him in their attempt,” the paper added.

The directive is meant to prevent Israel’s enemies from gaining leverage and forcing concessions from it in the form of prisoner exchanges.

Following the launch of the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on 7 October, the PFLP announced that, “This is the day when the nature of the struggle and the dignity of the Arab nation are reclaimed,” while declaring the resistance is “determined to achieve a strategic victory over this enemy in a battle that will open the door to return and redefine the history of Palestine and the region.”

US sinks Yemeni boats enforcing Red Sea blockade against Israel

The Cradle | December 31, 2023

US Navy helicopters sank three Yemeni naval boats in the Red Sea, killing ten, a statement from the Ansarallah-led Yemeni Armed Forces said on 31 December.

According to the statement, the Yemeni navy fighters were killed “performing their humanitarian and moral duty” to prevent Israeli-linked ships or those heading to Israeli ports from passing through the Red Sea, “in solidarity and support for the Palestinian people.”

Since the beginning of the war on Gaza on 7 October, Yemeni armed forces have attacked over 15 commercial ships either headed to Israeli ports or whose owners have links to Israel, in an effort to stop Israel’s ongoing bombing campaign on Gaza, which many view as genocide.

The statement continued, saying “The Yemeni armed forces, while bleeding in the midst of the battle to support the Al-Aqsa Flood, accept these martyrs for the sake of Palestine and confirm that the American enemy bears the consequences of this crime and its repercussions.”

The statement added that Yemeni naval forces “succeeded in carrying out a military operation targeting the Maersk Hangzhou container ship, which was heading to the ports of occupied Palestine, with appropriate naval missiles.”

The operation came after the ship’s crew refused to respond to warning calls from the Yemeni naval forces.

Regarding the incident, US Central Command said the crew of the USS Gravely destroyer first shot down two anti-ship ballistic missiles fired at the Singapore-flagged Maersk Hangzhou on Saturday. US forces shot down the missiles after the vessel reported getting hit by a missile earlier that evening as it sailed through the southern Red Sea.

Four small boats then attacked the same cargo ship with small arms fire early Sunday while commandos tried to board the vessel, the US Navy said.

Next, the USS Gravely and helicopters from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier responded to the Maersk Hangzhou’s distress call and issued verbal warnings to the attackers, who responded by firing on the helicopters.

US Navy helicopters then opened fire, sinking three of the four boats and killing the people on board while the fourth boat fled the area, the US Central Command said.

The US escalation comes as the UK military prepares to launch a wave of air strikes against Yemen.

The Times of London reported on 31 December that “Under the plans the UK would join with the US and possibly another European country to unleash a salvo of missiles against pre-planned targets, either in the sea or in Yemen itself,” where the Ansarallah-led Yemeni armed forces are based.”

The Times reported that according to government sources, the “co-ordinated strikes could involve RAF warplanes for the first time or HMS Diamond, a Type 45 destroyer which successfully destroyed an attack drone with a Sea Viper missile in the Red Sea earlier this month.”

One more Canadian action to support Israel’s slaughter in Gaza

By Yves Engler | December 31, 2023

The symbolism of joining a military force to combat a government challenging Israel’s genocide is stark. But, criticism of Canada’s role in the US led Red Sea coalition has largely come from hawks wanting more. As I’ll detail, they are likely underplaying Canada’s assistance for what could significantly escalate fighting in the region.

In solidarity with Palestinians being brutalized, the Houthis in Yemen have seized multiple tanker ships connected to Israel. They’ve stated that they will stop vessels with cargo bound for Israel or owned by Israeli firms. A senior Houthi official, Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, announced that their attacks will end if Israel’s “crimes in Gaza stop and food, medicines and fuel are allowed to reach its besieged population.”

In response to the Houthis actions some major shipping firms have said they won’t load Israel bound cargo. Others have stopped shipping through the Red Sea.

The Houthis actions pressure Israel to stop the slaughter in Gaza. But, Washington is seeking to insulate the Jewish supremacist state from this pressure by building a multinational operation to protect commercial vessels traversing the Red Sea. Canada has joined Operation Prosperity Guardian and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently discussed the matter with Israeli minister Benny Gantz. According to Ynetnews, “The two also discussed ‘the need to strengthen regional architecture, focusing on naval power, to confront the threat of Iran’s proxies, the Houthis, who endanger the global economy with their terrorist acts in the Red Sea.’”

(Control over waterways has long been a source of Israeli vulnerability and one reason Tel Aviv has tried to draw the US and other Western nations into the region. In the lead up to Israel invading its neighbors in 1967 Canada hyped Egypt’s blocking of Israeli ships, which legitimated Israeli aggression. At the time Ottawa also supported a British and US proposal to establish a maritime force to protect Israeli shipping through the Strait of Tiran.)

Canada’s initially stated contribution to Operation Protection Guardian is only three officers. But, Canadian troops already assist the US across the region. In recent years a handful of Canadian troops have been stationed at US bases in Bahrain and Qatar while a ‘detachment’ of Canadians in Saudi Arabia has helped operate US AWACS spy planes. 

Canada has a small military base in Kuwait. A few hundred Canadians have been stationed there in recent years to support the special forces deployed in Iraq as well as Canadian intelligence and air-to-air refuelling aircraft. Through NORAD hundreds of Canadian soldiers assist the US with monitoring the region.

Since 2002 Canada has had a regular naval presence in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf. The stated aim of Operation ARTEMIS is “to help stop terrorism and to make Middle Eastern waters more secure. These include the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Gulf of Oman and the Indian Ocean.” During 2019 HMCS Regina commanded the 33-nation Combined Maritime Forces naval coalition patrolling the region. Two months ago HMCS Montreal returned to Halifax after sailing in the region.

Canada has a history of belligerent naval deployments in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf. In the lead up to the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq Canadian naval vessels led maritime interdiction efforts off the coast of Iraq. As such, Ottawa had legal opinion suggesting it was technically at war with that country. Canadian warships also deployed when the US bombed Iraq in 1998 and during the early 1990s war.

The Houthis’ willingness to directly oppose Israel’s policy helps explain why the US and Canada supported Saudi Arabia’s brutal seven-year war against them. In 2016 the Trudeau government justified permits for a massive armoured vehicle sale to the Kingdom on the grounds their fight against the Houthis was “countering instability in Yemen.” Then Global Affairs minister Stephane Dion signed a directive okaying the permits on the grounds “The acquisition of state-of-the-art armoured vehicles will assist Saudi Arabia in these goals, which are consistent with Canada’s defence interests in the Middle East.” Additionally, Ottawa repeatedly criticized the Houthis over the fighting while expressing support for the Saudi-backed President of Yemen Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi.

Today Canada has officially joined a military coalition combating one of the few governments/groups offering substantial solidarity to the Palestinians. It’s just one of the innumerable ways Canada has enabled Israel’s horrors.

But the US’ Red Sea coalition isn’t simply anti-Palestinian. It heightens the risk of a major regional war, which some Israeli officials want. That country has repeatedly bombed Lebanon and Syria in recent days and assassinated Iranian general Sayyed Razi Mousavi.

Despite the potential for escalation, Ottawa prefers to join the US campaign to suppress the Houthis than pressure Israel to end its slaughter. Shame.

Israel targets UNRWA to expel it from Gaza, change territory’s demographics: Palestinian Foreign Ministry

Press TV – December 31, 2023

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry says Israel has been targeting the UN agency for Palestinian refugees across the Gaza Strip to force it to leave the territory and change Gaza’s demographic characteristics.

The ministry made the remarks in a statement on Saturday concerning the Israeli regime’s attacks on employees and facilities of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

According to the ministry, since the beginning of Israel’s genocidal war against Gaza on October 7, the regime has killed hundreds of the agency’s employees, destroyed its centers and schools, and obstructed its work and ability to perform its tasks, especially in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.

It added that the regime’s assaults on the UN agency are also in line with Israel’s plans to forcefully displace the people of Gaza and change demographic characteristics of the coastal territory.

“Such Israeli plans directly target the Palestinian issue and the rights of our people, most notably the right of return [to their homeland], and are an integral part of an official Israeli policy aimed at liquidating the Palestinian issue,” the ministry noted.

It added that apart from the official goals declared for the regime’s war on Gaza by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he is using genocide of Palestinian civilians as a means to achieve other strategic goals, which are gradually unfolding with each passing day.

Israel’s genocide in Gaza has so far killed at least 21,672 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured over 56,000 others.

The regime has also cut off the flow of basic supplies such as water, electricity, medicines, and fuel, to one of the world’s most densely-populated territories that houses over two million Palestinians.

Amid ongoing genocide in Gaza, systematic Israeli theft occurring in Palestinian civilian homes

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor | December 29, 2023

The Israeli army has unleashed its soldiers in the Gaza Strip to not only kill, but to engage in immoral activities such as property theft and looting during raids on Palestinian civilian homes, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said in a statement issued Friday.

Euro-Med Monitor reported on a number of cases that show Israeli soldiers participating in and witnessing the deliberate theft of the assets and money of Palestinian civilians, including laptop computers, gold, and large quantities of cash. Israel’s army has been conducting ground military operations in the Gaza Strip since October, the rights group said. These operations have included raiding homes, storming residential areas, and conducting arbitrary arrest campaigns against civilians.

According to testimonies gathered by Euro-Med Monitor, the Israeli army’s crimes extend beyond arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances, and field executions. They also involve the intentional destruction of property, the theft of personal belongings, and the looting and burning of homes—all part of a systematic strategy that is evidently based on collective punishment of the Palestinian people.

Based on the testimonies it has been documenting, the Euro-Med Monitor team stated that its preliminary estimates suggest that the Israeli army may have looted valuable possessions worth tens of millions of dollars, in addition to stealing personal belongings from Palestinian civilians.

Palestinian Thabet Salim, 40, told Euro-Med Monitor’s team that he and his two sons were taken into custody by the Israeli army from their house in the Zaytoun neighbourhood, in the south of Gaza City, and that members of the army had pilfered all of the gold and cash that was on hand. Salim said that he had been released alone two days ago, while his sons’ fate remains unknown.

“The amount of money the soldiers took from my house is worth more than 10,000 US dollars,” Salim declared, “plus nearly the same amount of gold from my wife, and the wife of my eldest son.”

A woman named Umm Muhammad Gharbiyya, who lives in the Al-Shuja’iya neighbourhood, east of Gaza City, told the Euro-Med Monitor team that the Israeli forces forcibly took her gold jewellery after violently breaking into her family’s house earlier this month. Her husband and oldest son were also arrested during the raid.

Hussein Al-Tanani, a resident of the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood in the north of Gaza City, said that they were surprised to find their house had been raided by the Israeli army following their escape to a nearby United Nations school in order to seek shelter from Israeli attacks. A computer and large amounts of cash had been stolen, while a big mess  was left inside the house.

The testimonies gathered by Euro-Med Monitor teams confirm reports by the Israeli Military Intelligence Directorate’s so-called “intelligence collection and technical spoils” unit that were published by Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth on 15 December. The reports say that the Israeli army “seized” sums of money exceeding five million Israeli shekels (about $1,351,350 USD).

Euro-Med Monitor reported that the aforementioned amount of money is likely only a small portion of the unreported thefts carried out by Israeli forces. At the same time, footage swept social media (its date as well as the precise context of the incident could not be verified by the time of this publication) showing three Israeli soldiers personally selling gold jewellery in a West Bank store after stealing it from a house in the Gaza Strip.

Israel’s soldiers themselves have published videos on social media platforms documenting their deliberate sabotage of civilian homes in the Gaza Strip, Euro-Med Monitor pointed out, or their spraying of racist Zionist slogans on walls, in addition to bragging about seizing Palestinians’ money and valuable possessions.

Alia Al-Najjar, 34, affirmed in press statements that she recognised some of her own gold jewellery, which she had previously kept with her mother’s belongings, in one of the videos published by Israeli soldiers. Among the items Al-Najjar saw in the video was a bracelet she had purchased with her first teaching salary, which was a unique 24-carat gold leaf-shaped piece.

She said that in the video clip, an Israeli soldier displays her bracelet inside Al-Najjar’s mother’s cloth purse, which also holds other gold pieces and cherished items. She made a comment on the video, calling the soldiers “thieves” before the poster removed the video.

Another Israeli soldier appears in a video clip showing off a silver necklace that says “Made in Gaza” and promising to give it to his girlfriend, while additional footage shows a different soldier carrying a guitar and singing above the debris of demolished homes in the Gaza Strip.

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor called for a comprehensive and impartial international investigation to be launched into the grave Israeli violations against the residents of the Gaza Strip and their property, and for the international community to take urgent measures to ensure that Israel is held legally accountable.

Detained Palestinians in Gaza reveal torture by Israel forces

MEMO | December 30, 2023

Palestinians taken hostage by Israeli soldiers during a ground operation in the Ez-Zeytun neighborhood to the east of the besieged Gaza Strip, have alleged that they were subjected to various forms of torture by military personnel, Anadolu Agency reports.

Those detained during Israel’s Oct. 27 ground operation in the neighborhood spoke to Anadolu after their release.

They described enduring threats and brutal torture, including severe beatings, electric shocks and hanging by their legs for hours, during the time they were detained.

Blindfolded, taken to unknown locations

Cihad Yasin, 43, said his detention was terrifying and brutal.

Yasin told Anadolu that the Israeli army detained him for 11 days and he was tortured with electric shocks.

He was chained and endured severe and lasting torture.

Yasin stated that Israeli forces blindfolded and transported Palestinians to unknown locations.

Israeli soldiers detained people, keeping them bound without food for two days, he said.

Yasin said Israeli soldiers sprayed unknown substances on them that attracted insects.

Emphasizing that the soldiers took them to different unknown places, he said: “Later, they left us naked outdoors in the cold.”

Yasin revealed that due to torture, including electric shocks, the detainees could not sleep and were forced to remain on their knees until midnight.

He mentioned being woken up by soldiers in the early morning after they managed to sleep for a few hours.

Stressing that Israeli soldiers gave them bad food with mold, he said, they were forced to ingest hallucination-inducing pills.

“I still suffer headaches and dizziness from beatings and pills. No news about my family in Gaza; worried about their safety,” he added.

Israeli soldiers were given spoiled and moldy food

Mahmud el-Alul, another detainee who was released in the Ez-Zeytun neighborhood, said soldiers gave them spoiled food.

Al-Alul said soldiers brought three pieces of spoiled bread for each detainee. Despite having their hands and feet tied, they would place the bread in front of them.

“We couldn’t take and eat it. During my week of detention, I refused to eat due to the spoiled food and remained hungry,” he said.

“Israeli soldiers refused to untie our hands and feet when we needed to use the restroom,” he said.

Detainees faced torture for talking among themselves

Alul said soldiers subjected him and others to severe beatings and described being forced to stay on their knees with hands tied for six hours at the beginning of the detention.

He recounted being marched to different areas in Israel for at least six hours, during which soldiers brutally beat those who could not recall their ID numbers and punished detainees who spoke among themselves by hanging them by their feet for hours.

Severe attacks launched on Ez-Zeytun neighborhood

Due to the attacks on the Ez-Zeytun neighborhood, forcibly displaced Palestinian Hanan Avde told Anadolu that Israeli forces suddenly attacked homes in the early morning, even though there were people inside.

“We thought our house would collapse on us. Later, women and children started screaming in fear. We heard Israeli soldiers instructing us to come out of the house one by one. Israeli soldiers didn’t allow us to take any bags or belongings with us,” said Avde, adding that the soldiers separated women and children from the men.

Despite the cold weather, they told men to remove their clothes, confiscated their IDs, phones and money, then took them outside, said Avde.

Later they heard gunshots but they have no information about the fate of the men, he said.

Avde pointed out that Israeli soldiers detained children, including a 16-year-old, and she was threatened with death when she tried to resist.

Detainees forcibly displaced

Avde revealed that Israeli forces forced women and children with white flags to move to the southern Gaza Strip.

Blindfolded, they were taken to the Al-Kuwait intersection near the checkpoint, where Israeli military vehicles and bulldozers were present.

One of the soldiers at the checkpoint randomly selected women for interrogation while instructing others to quickly leave the area. He left the women as late-night conflict sounds echoed from everywhere, she said.

Avde mentioned that her husband was released after being detained in the attack on Ez-Zeytun neighborhood, but she still does not know the fate of her child.

“My husband had some health issues before the attacks. His health deteriorated further due to the brutal torture during detention. He is currently hospitalized at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital,” she added.

Why are Canadian taxpayers subsidizing Israel’s military?

By Yves Engler | December 29, 2023

Critics say Israel is an army with a country, but it is the apartheid state’s supporters who confirm it. Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University has once again launched an initiative to promote the Israeli military even though it violates charity regulations and risks the group’s special tax status.

In a recent end of year fundraising appeal, a group officially dedicated to the “Advancement of Education” sent its members “Supporting Our Student Soldiers”. The CFHU appeal notes: “The We Are One campaign provides scholarships and academic assistance to our returning IDF soldiers who are courageously fighting in the ongoing war. … Let’s unite to provide education and healing for our IDF warriors, demonstrating our unwavering commitment to their success and recovery.”

With branches in seven Canadian cities, CFHU has instigated a number of other initiatives to support the apartheid state’s military. In 2018 the CFHU branch in the nation’s capital “launched the Ottawa Scholarship Fund in support of reserve duty soldiers studying at The Hebrew University.” At the event, according to CFHU’s annual report, “four students shared their inspiring stories from their military service and explained what it means to be a reserve duty soldier in the IDF.”

A 2019 story on the website of an organization set up by famed liquor bootlegger Alan Bronfman in 1944 noted, “Help CFHU send former IDF combat soldiers to university” while an ongoing funding pitch says, “Donate in support of CFHU’s scholarship campaign for soldiers studying at Hebrew University”. In July 2021 wealthy Calgarian Lenny Shapiro financed a number of CFHU “scholarships for students who have served in the IDF.” CFHU and Hebrew University (HU) matched a portion of Shapiro’s unspecified contribution.

CFHU has partnered with the Duvdevan Foundation on a number of scholarships and public relations initiatives. According to the Duvdevan Foundation, “the Duvdevan Unit was established in June 1986, with the understanding that a specific and intelligent warfare method needed to be developed to deal with Judea and Samaria’s [West Bank] security incidents.” CFHU has organized a number of fundraisers centered on presentations by former soldiers in a unit that regularly kills Palestinians.

To get a sense of how deeply the “charity” is enmeshed with the Israeli military, CFHU meetings have begun with messages from top Israeli Generals.

Beyond instigating initiatives that assist the Israeli military, CFHU funnels many millions of dollars in tax deductible donations to a university that has significant and long-standing ties to the occupation force. A month ago it launched an “Enhanced Extensive Aid Package to HU students serving in the IDF” and a few weeks earlier released a video “message from some our students who are on the front lines” killing Palestinians. During Israel’s violent outburst in 2002 the Jerusalem based school awarded scholarships to students who signed up for IDF combat units and it operates a training centre for military intelligence officers. To maintain the IDF’s technological edge, cadets have studied for degrees in physics, math or computer science at HU for over 40 years. The university provides the IDF with academic information on students enrolled in the Talpiot program. In a story on Talpiot Jason Gewirtz writes, “the opening years of the program saw the students first and foremost as soldiers…. They wore uniforms to their classes at Hebrew University and took shifts guarding Talpiot’s section of the Hebrew University campus.”

In 2019 HU began offering a three-year training for future IDF intelligence officers. Students in the Havatzalot program live in a former university residence only accessible by biometric identification. Regular university employees need advanced permission to enter the area.

Assisting a foreign military violates Canada Revenue Agency rules. According to CRA guidelines, “increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of Canada’s armed forces is charitable, but supporting the armed forces of another country is not.”

Yet between 2017 and 2021 CFHU raised $75 million in tax deductible donations. According to Blumbergs’ list of Canadian charities with the “largest assets in 2019” CFHU had $77 million.

The Canada Revenue Agency must revoke Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University’s charitable status. The public shouldn’t be subsidizing a group illegally supporting a military slaughtering tens of thousands.

Israel again turns down US request to transfer tax money collected in Palestine

MEMO | December 29, 2023

Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Friday once again turned down US request to transfer tax money collected by Tel Aviv to the Palestinian Authority as the allies remain divided on the issue, Anadolu Agency reports.

Not a single shekel (Israeli currency) will be sent to Gaza as long as “I am Finance Minister,” Smotrich said in a statement.

He has a high respect for the US, whom he describes as Israel’s best ally in the world, but the minister said, “We will never abandon our fate to others.”

“This is not an extremist position. This is a position which desires life, and which is required by the situation,” the right-wing minister added.

Since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza on 7 October, Smotrich repeatedly voiced absolute rejection of fully transferring the Palestinian taxes that Israel collects for the Palestinian Authority.

In November, he conditionally approved the transfer of taxes to Palestinians by deducting the amount allocated to Gaza by the Palestinian Authority.

On Thursday, the American Axios website reported that US President Joe Biden had “a difficult conversation” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about withholding part of the tax revenue of the Palestinian Authority.

Axios cited a US official, who said the US administration is concerned that “an economic collapse of the Palestinian Authority could lead to a violent escalation in the occupied West Bank as a result of it not being able to pay its security forces their salaries.”

The tax revenues – known in Palestine and Israel as maqasa – are collected by the Israeli government on behalf of the Palestinian Authority on Palestinian imports and exports and Israel in return earns a commission of 3%.

The revenues are estimated to total around $188 million every month and represent the main source of income for the Palestinian Authority.

The Palestinian government uses these funds to pay the salaries of public employees and retirees, who number 140,000 and 53,000, respectively.

Why Are Israelis Obsessed with Killing Palestinian Children?

KEVIN BARRETT • DECEMBER 29, 2023

Kevin Barrett is editor at Veterans Today who joins us. Welcome to the program, Kevin Barrett. I’m not too sure whether I should talk about the reference that the Osama Hamdan, the senior Hamas leader there, made to the Israeli regime force who wanted to kill children or to the other aspect of this war. But let’s start with that one in particular, which is pretty gruesome and pretty shocking. Why do you think the Israeli soldiers are acting in that way unless they’re being maybe instructed to kill babies? But then again, isn’t that part of their psyche in terms of the training that they received in the past in their military?

Yes, the Israeli military is notorious for deliberately targeting and murdering children. Chris Hedges wrote about that in his famous article “A Gaza Diary” from 15 years ago, maybe 20, I think, actually. And he described how he had been in war zones and witnessed atrocities before, but until he went to Gaza, he had never seen soldiers barking out obscene insults over their bullhorns in order to lure Palestinian children within range of their gun sights so that they could be shot for sport. And he witnessed that happen to several Palestinian children. It’s a common occurrence. The sport shooting of children is a regular part of what the Israeli Defense Forces do. And they never face any kind of justice. Because it’s open season on Palestinian childfen.

The Israeli Defense Forces hand out t-shirts that say, “one shot, two kills,” and they show a pregnant Palestinian woman with a target on her belly.

They are proud of killing children. Ayelet Shaked, the former Justice Minister, is notorious for calling for the mass murder of Palestinian children. She called them “little snakes.” And she said Israel should also kill their mothers. So there is something deep in the Israeli psyche that is twisted, mentally ill. They hate Palestinian children and want to kill them.

In this current war in Gaza there are mainstream Western reports attesting to the fact that Israel soldiers have been lured into ambushes by the resistance fighters broadcasting recorded sounds of children. The Israelis are always going to want to kill the children. That lures them into the ambush. And the Israeli military even admitted to this. So these are psychotic, genocidal child killers. And they are terrorists.

The Palestinian side is rationally calculating a military operation and trying to diplomatically negotiate a solution. The Israeli side is just psychotic and genocidal and they want to exterminate Amalek, as Netanyahu said, referring to the Hebrew Bible ordering the complete extermination of every man, woman, child and baby and even animal.

So there’s something deeply wrong with the Israeli psyche.

So when you take a look at the future here, what are we looking at? At this point we are hearing about the losses that the Israeli regime forces are suffering on the ground, but it’s not to the point where I don’t think they’re going to throw the white flag in. So are we looking at a war of attrition here? Are we looking at a long ways to go when it comes to this genocidal war?

It’s really just a matter of how long the world puts up with genocide. And the longer it waits, the worse it will look in the eyes of history.

I have no idea at what point the proverbial straw will break the camel’s back and the relevant forces in the world will shift enough to the point that the Zionists feel that they have no choice but to stop the genocide.

It could be a combination of things: Pressure from the Ansarullah forces of Yemen, who have been heroically targeting Israeli shipping and imposing their own blockade on the Israelis, who are of course themselves imposing a genocidal blockade on food, water, and medicine and fuel in Gaza. So that’s the biggest factor that’s got the Americans concerned about the possibility of a wider war. Naturally Netanyahu wants a wider war, because his whole political career, and maybe his staying out of jail, depends on his keeping the war going, and seeing how much mass murder of civilians he can get away with.

The resistance forces have been good at managing things to avoid the escalation that could lead to something utterly disastrous for the region. At this point Yemen is the only country meaningfully pressuring the US to put an end to this genocide.

Hamas: Meshaal did not say we will recognise Israel

MEMO | December 29, 2023

An official source in Hamas yesterday denied statements attributed to the movement’s former head, Khaled Meshaal, on the possibility of recognising Israel.

“The journalist in the French Le Figaro newspaper, Georges Malbrunot, included a set of his personal opinions and his own comments regarding the recognition of Israel, during an interview with Meshaal,” the source said in a statement on Wednesday.

The source added that Malbrunot’s article is far from Meshaal’s clear and specific statements, in which he affirmed “the refusal to recognise the Zionist entity”.

Hamas attached the text of Meshaal’s statements.

“Our clear position is not to recognise the legitimacy of the occupation; we took a lesson from the Oslo Accords,” Meshaal said in the text, adding: “In 1993, the PLO leadership recognised Israel, which did not give it anything in return.”

“Through the 2017 document, Hamas confirmed its position in national consensus with the Palestinian factions regarding the establishment of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital and the right of return and without us recognising Israel. As for the issue of the truce, it is negotiable,” he added.