Calm in Red Sea linked to ceasefire in Gaza

Iranian ambassador to Beijing, Mohsen Bakhtiar, has asserted that clashes in the Red Sea are a direct result of Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, noting that situation in the strategic waterway will only become stable once the regime ceases its crimes against Palestinians.

The diplomat emphasized that if the United States and its allies genuinely seek peace, security, and stability in the region, they must prioritize an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

Bakhtiar made the remarks during an interview with Chinese Phoenix TV. He highlighted Iran's efforts from the outset of the conflict to halt the Israeli onslaught. However, he accused the Zionist regime and its supporters of obstructing these efforts and facilitating the ongoing genocide.

Bakhtiar argued that the US vetoing of draft resolutions calling for a ceasefire in Gaza has led to the escalation of tensions in the region, particularly in the Red Sea.

He condemned Israel's indiscriminate killing of thousands of innocent civilians, including attacks on mosques, churches, and hospitals.

Yemen’s armed forces began targeting Israeli ships and Israel-bound vessels passing through the Red Sea shortly after the regime began its latest round of attacks against Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip. Sana’a has said that it would stop the attacks once Israel ends the devastating war in Gaza.

The Arab country also began targeting American and British ships after London and Washington started to directly attack Yemeni soil in support of Israel instead of turning the screw on Zionists.  

The Iranian envoy to China also addressed Israel's April 01, 2024 attack on Iran’s consulate in Damascus. He criticized Western states for refusing to condemn the barbaric act.

“European states and G7 leaders failed to condemn this heinous act while they pretend to be champions of human rights and international law,” he said. 

On a positive note, Bakhtiar emphasized the deep and longstanding ties between Iran and China. He said centuries of amicable relations between the two countries and their people can help Tehran and Beijing further elevate cooperation and collaboration in different areas. 

 

Joe Biden’s genocide

The United States needs a president who won’t cede control of its foreign policy to an authoritarian, genocidal apartheid state, but who will instead work diligently for peace.

Joe Biden has continued the long tradition of American presidents who wage war in the name of keeping the peace and who violently displace people in the name of freedom.

It’s time for a new definition of what it means to be an American. It’s time to commit to the service of people, planet, and peace.

There is no red line for Biden with Israel, in fact there never was.

For 224 days Biden has repeatedly delivered material support for Israel’s brutality against Gaza.

Biden has now made it clear that he won’t stop for any reason.

The US government’s complicity in this genocide is a stain on all the Americans, but this will always be remembered as Joe Biden’s genocide.

The foreign ministers of 13 countries – including most of the G7 – issued statements calling on Israel to open the Rafah gate and allow aid into Gaza; the United States was not among them.

Five days after the invasion of Rafah, Biden made headlines announcing a “pause” on a single shipment of 3500 bombs to Israel, stating he was “concerned” the bombs would be used in Gaza.

Rafah was supposed to be Biden’s red line for Israel.

This “pause” (already too little and far too late) was meant to be proof that he meant it, but that was a lie.

It took five long, agonizing days for Joe Biden to act: after Israel unilaterally rejected a ceasefire agreement that would have resulted in a return of all hostages, invaded Rafah and began firing tanks at starving Palestinians huddled in tents, aid organizations and the UN and its allies and millions of Americans spoke out and demanded a halt on weapons to Israel.

Just days after delaying a few thousand bombs from shipping out, Biden is rushing weapons to Israel worth billion dollars.

Panama flagged oil tanker attacked off Yemen

According to Reuters, a Panamanian-flagged crude oil tanker was attacked near Yemen's Red Sea port city of Mocha, British security firm Ambrey said on Saturday.

Ambrey said a radio communication indicated the ship was hit by a missile and that there was a fire onboard about 10 nautical miles southwest of Mokha.

It had received assistance and one of its steering units was functional, Ambrey added, citing information it had received but without giving more details.

Other vessels in the vicinity were advised to exercise caution, Ambrey added in an advisory note.

Separately, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said earlier on Saturday that a vessel in the Red Sea was struck by an unknown object and sustained slight damage.

"The vessel and crew are safe and continuing to its next port of call," UKMTO said in an advisory note on the incident 98 nautical miles south of Yemen's Hodeidah port.

 

Abandon Biden

As public anger grows over Israel’s assault on the Palestinian people, US government officials and mainstream media are desperately trying to control the narrative.

Speaking about the student protests in New York, CNN anchor Kasie Hunt said late last month: “Some pretty stunning images coming to us overnight … We also are just learning at this hour that banners have been hung from the hall. They read ‘Hind’s Hall’ and ‘Intifada’. Hind is a reference to a woman who was killed in Gaza. Intifada, of course, a reference to uprising, violent struggles the Palestinians has had over the years against Israel.”

Where does one even begin? Someone purporting to be a journalist apparently won’t even pretend to make an effort to check on a story that went around the world, when a five-year-old Palestinian girl, Hind Rajab, called out from a besieged car where several family members had just been killed. 

As the young girl waited for help to arrive, the two Palestinian Red Crescent medics coming to her aid were also killed by Israeli fire. Hind’s last words to emergency service workers over the phone, before a volley of bullets was heard, were: “The tank is next to us. We are in the car and next to the tank.”

CNN later tweeted saying that Hunt “misspoke and corrected herself on the show immediately after”.

As for intifada, the iconic images of the First Intifada – launched in December 1987 after an Israeli vehicle hit and killed four Palestinians in Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp – were those of boys and young men armed with rocks and slingshots, facing down Israeli tanks, snipers and bulldozers. 

The Second Intifada, which began in September 2000, was accompanied by another iconic image: that of a father, Jamal al-Durrah, clutching his 12-year-old son in an attempt to shield him from Israeli gunfire. The boy was hit and died soon afterwards.

More than 10,000 children were wounded during the Second Intifada, and nearly 5,000 Palestinians of all ages were killed. Durrah has lost more family members since Israel declared war on Gaza last October. 

Apparently “violence” is only something committed against Israel, while Palestinians mostly “die” rather than being “killed”, according to the vagaries of western mainstream media syntax. 

On that same CNN segment, New Yorker journalist Evan Osnos told Hunt, “There was an interesting moment last week. You were beginning to see university administrators come to an idea, a principle. You saw the president of Princeton say the goal should be the maximum expression without intimidation or obstruction … This is something else, because students, Jewish students on campus at Columbia, are going to wake up this morning and say this does not satisfy that standard.” 

Even though many campus protesters are themselves Jewish, these comments suggest that “Jewish students” are only those to whom harm is caused by pro-Palestinian demonstrators – not those who are outraged by Zionist manipulation and the instrumentalization of their very identity and history in order to carry out a genocide.

This is not even to mention the anger and disappointment that many people feel at seeing university presidents and government officials calling on fully armed police to protect the policies of a foreign government, rather than the rights of US citizens.

Much depends on whether Israel can be stopped. It is the US that holds almost all the leverage

Such grotesque twisting of reality does not take place in a vacuum, but rather infects every nook and cranny of US propaganda and mainstream rhetoric, imagery, culture and institutional norms, as more and more aspects of “public life” face a relentless assault by corporate and governmental power. 

The irony is that as this has taken place, and as the truly ignominious Antisemitism Awareness Act has been passed by the US House of Representatives to put another nail in the coffin of the First Amendment, more Americans than ever are aware of the atrocities being committed against Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. 

Perhaps more importantly, they understand that these atrocities are paid for by US tax dollars, and fully supported by a political class that has given up any pretence of representing its constituents.

The desperate attempt to expand the definition of “antisemitism” in the US and Europe, while imposing new legal codes to prevent scrutiny of Israel’s actions, is a last-ditch effort by western powers and their representatives to maintain control over the narrative. But as they have abandoned their constituencies, their constituencies are abandoning them.

As the sitting US president mumbles a warning for Israel not to invade Haifa (instead of Rafah), or goes on about an uncle who was allegedly eaten by cannibals during the Second World War, an increasing portion of the US ruling class – from university presidents to mainstream journalists – find themselves in the position that Joe Biden was in as a candidate: hunkered down in their bunkers, as public contempt rises.

This disappearance of almost any stable reference point in the public sphere is truly a precarious moment in the life of the nation, and seems like a harbinger of some kind of dystopian totalitarianism – many aspects of which are already present. 

While all state and corporate power remains focused on further fragmenting and demonizing the populace, keeping everyone at each other’s throats and inventing new classes of victims, we can only hope that some glimmer of human commonality will finally emerge, before this century is plunged into a catastrophic spiral of killing and destruction like that of the previous century. 

Much depends on whether Israel can be stopped. It is the US that holds almost all the leverage, and this is where more pressure must be placed. 

Courtesy: Information Clearing House

Iran has no regional proxies, says envoy

The Iranian ambassador to the United Nations disavowed claims leveled by the Israeli regime that Tehran has regional proxies by which it makes operations in the region, adding that such allegations are made to obscure and justify the Zionist regime’s acts of aggression and destabilizing measures.

In a letter to President of the UN Security Council Pedro Comissario Afonso and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres dated May 07, 2024 Saeed Iravani categorically rejected the allegations that the representative of the Israeli regime has made against Iran.

The full text of the letter from Iravani is as follows:

I am writing to you in response to the letter dated April 19, 2024 from the representative of the Israeli regime to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council (S/2024/324), wherein the representative of the Israeli regime resorted once more to lies and misinformation to make unfounded accusations against the Islamic Republic of Iran. Further to our letters dated April 13 and 30, (S/2024/305-S/2024/349), I would like to emphasize the following:

The Islamic Republic of Iran rejects unequivocally and strongly all unfounded accusations in the aforementioned letter.

Contrary to unfounded claims, Iran has consistently upheld international law, adhered to the principles of the UN Charter, and complied with UN Security Council resolutions.

Moreover, Iran has played an active role in promoting international peace and security through its constructive involvement across multiple spheres.

In the letters dated April 13 and 30 (S/2024/305-S/2024/349), the Islamic Republic of Iran made a clear position that the action taken on April 13, was conducted directly and officially from Iran in response to the Israeli recurring military aggressions, particularly its armed attack on April 01 against Iranian diplomatic premises in Damascus, the Syrian Arab Republic.

Iran’s action was necessary, legitimate, and fully in line with its inherent right to self-defense under the UN Charter.

The action only targeted military objectives and was carried out carefully and with prior notification to prevent civilian harm.

I wish to emphasize that no resistance groups were involved in Iran's legitimate action and any assertions to the contrary are rejected.

In contrast to Israel's assertions, Iran does not have proxies in the region, and no individual, group, or nation operates under Iran's directive.

Additionally, resistance groups are not proxies; they are legitimate groups and their actions are lawful, and engaged only in fighting against Israeli occupation and aggression in Gaza and other occupied territories in Palestine, as well as against occupied forces in other nations in the region.

Israel's attempt to label them as "proxies" is only to obscure and justify its own acts of aggression and destabilizing actions in the region.

It is indisputable that the Israeli regime, characterized by a long history and record of blatant violations of international law, the UN Charter, and UNSC resolutions, remains the primary and longstanding threat to international peace and security.

Any cynical attempt by this regime to obscure this reality through disinformation, smear campaigns, or unsubstantiated accusations against others is both futile and groundless. The Israeli regime cannot deny its direct and full responsibility for the ongoing massacre and humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza in defiance of UNSC resolutions.

An obvious example of the Israeli regime's persistent disregard for UNSC resolutions is exemplified in the Security Council’s resolution 2728 (2024), which urgently demands an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

Despite clear demands from the Security Council, the occupying regime persists in its ruthless warfare against the Palestinian people and its military attacks in Rafah in blatant contempt for the Security Council's demands.

The occupying regime must finally bear full responsibility for the consequences of its actions and the Security Council must address Israel's persistent destabilizing and irresponsible actions, as well as its atrocities against the Palestinian people and other nations in the region.

These actions pose a genuine threat to both regional and international peace and security, demanding immediate attention and decisive action from the Security Council.

I wish to take this opportunity to strongly condemn and unequivocally reject the baseless accusations and inflammatory rhetoric statements made by the Israeli regime’s representative against my Country and Iranian high-ranking officials during the UN General Assembly debate held on May 01, addressing the United States veto of the Security Council draft resolution on the State of Palestine's full membership in the United Nations.

The aim of such baseless allegations and hate speech as well as blaming the UN and its officials is merely an attempt to divert international attention away from the ongoing heinous atrocities and acts of genocide perpetrated by this apartheid regime against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.

Iran calls on Islamic countries to sever ties with Israel

The Iranian Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, has urged the OIC members to cut ties with the Israeli regime and put severe embargos on the commercial and arms dealings with the regime in order to stop its genocidal crimes against Gaza.

Delivering a speech at the 15th edition of the Islamic Summit of Heads of State and Governments of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in the Gambia on Saturday, he said that “beyond doubt, this time period will also pass by, despite all its hardships and adversities for the Palestinian nation.”

“However, the manner and quality of the role that is played by us, Muslim states, in the face of this crisis will go down in history,” the top diplomat added.

“Undoubtedly, severance of diplomatic and economic ties and imposition of practical arms and trade embargo on Israel serves as an important means of cessation of its genocide in Gaza and atrocities in the West Bank and the Noble al-Quds.”

Amir Abdollahian stressed that what the resistance did in the course of time proved that its elimination was nothing but an illusion.

“The Israeli regime is not a legitimate government. It is only an occupying apartheid power,” he said, adding, “Passage of time is not going to lend legitimacy to an occupying power.”

“There is no doubt that severing diplomatic and economic relations and practical arms and trade embargo is an important tool in stopping Israel’s genocide in Gaza and its crimes in the West Bank and Al-Quds Al-Sharif. We sincerely appreciate the Muslim and freedom-loving governments and countries that took action in this direction,” he continued. 

Iran’s top diplomat also noted that the realization of stable and just peace and security in the region is only feasible through the end of the occupation of Palestine, Syria and Lebanon, the return of Palestinian refugees to their homeland and guaranteeing the reinstitution of their right to self-determination.

He pointed out that the public opinion of the world and especially the Islamic world strongly expects us to come up with important recommendations and measures as the result of this Summit.

The foreign minister then proposed the following measures:

1. Emphasizing the establishment of an immediate, complete, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in all areas of Gaza, including in Rafah and even the West Bank;

2. The complete lifting of the human blockade of Gaza;

3. Exchange of prisoners;

4. Obligating the Israeli regime to conduct an immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of all military forces and their equipment from Gaza and securing an international guarantee for the safe return of the people to their areas and places;

5. Imposing an immediate arms and trade embargo against the Israeli regime;

6. Supporting the provisional binding order of the International Court of Justice and providing the ground for the trial and punishment of all the commanders and the perpetrators of Israeli crimes. To ensure peace and security in the region and the Islamic world, the rogue and occupying Israeli regime must be stopped, brought to justice and punished.

He highlighted that Tehran believes that in line with the efforts to materialize the motto of enhancing unity and solidarity through dialogue for sustainable development;

First, by focusing and investing in human resources, technology and infrastructure, Islamic nations may very well utilize their great capacity to achieve the goals of sustainable development of Muslim nations.

Second, in order to deepen the level of cooperation and spread sustainable and all-round development, the network of economic, technical, developmental, commercial and financial-monetary cooperation between Islamic countries should be further strengthened in the context of targeted and joint agreements and mechanisms.

Third, creating a dedicated platform within the framework of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to share knowledge, expertise and resources related to sustainable development is necessary for the realization of the development plans of Muslim nations.

Fourth, it is a necessity to promote the economic and commercial integration between the member countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in order to achieve the goals of sustainable development, based on our values.

Fifth, making use of technological initiatives and innovations and the expansion of scientific research in order to advance the agenda of achieving sustainable development goals within the framework of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation requires the devising an appropriate mechanism.

 

Understanding Middle East grand bargain

The Biden administration and Saudi Arabia are finalizing an agreement for United States security guarantees and civilian nuclear assistance, even as an Israel-Saudi normalization deal envisioned as part of a Middle East “grand bargain” remains elusive, reports Reuters.

A working draft lays out principles and proposals aimed at putting back on track a US-led effort to reshape the volatile region that was derailed by Hamas’ October 07, 2023 attack on Israel and the outbreak of war in Gaza.

It appears to be a long-shot strategy that faces numerous obstacles, not least the uncertainty over how the Gaza conflict will unfold.

The US and Saudi negotiators have, for now, prioritized a bilateral security accord that would then be part of a wider package presented to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who would have to decide whether to make concessions to secure historic ties with Riyadh.

“We’re very close to reaching an agreement” on the US-Saudi portion of the package, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Thursday, predicting that details could be ironed out “in very short order.”

That part of the plan is likely to call for formal US guarantees to defend the kingdom as well as Saudi access to more advanced US weaponry in return for halting Chinese arms purchases and restricting Beijing’s investment in the country.

The US-Saudi security accord is also expected to involve sharing emerging technologies with Riyadh, including artificial intelligence.

The terms are expected to be finalized within weeks.

The conditions that Netanyahu will face to join a broader deal are expected to include winding down the war in Gaza and agreeing on a pathway to Palestinian statehood, both of which Netanyahu has steadfastly resisted.

US officials hope Netanyahu will not want to pass up the historic opportunity to open relations with Saudi Arabia, guardian of Islam’s holiest sites, but are mindful of the domestic political pressures he is under, including keeping Israel’s most right-wing government ever from collapsing.

A broader pact giving the world's biggest oil exporter US military protection together with normalization with Israel would unite two long-time foes and bind Riyadh to Washington at a time when China is making inroads in the region.

A normalization deal would also bolster Israel's defenses against arch-foe Iran and give US President Joe Biden a diplomatic victory ahead of the November 05, 2024 presidential election.

Overhanging these efforts is Netanyahu’s threat to launch a military offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians are sheltering, despite US entreaties to refrain from an operation that could mean further heavy civilian casualties.

Can someone shut up Bezalel Smotrich?

It is highly disgusting that Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Tuesday openly demanded the the elimination of blockaded Gaza enclave, destruction of cities and refugee camps where 2.3 million Palestinians are still battling their survival.

"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 US college students who have demanded a ceasefire 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."

 

Hamas making military history

After six months of brutal fighting and the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis, multiple Israeli and western commentators have argued that Hamas is winning the war and making military history in the process.

Sir Tom Phillips, a former British diplomat who served as Ambassador to Israel and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, wrote on April 09 2024 in Haaretz that Hamas had succeeded in its objective of obtaining the release of as many Palestinians held in Israeli prisons as possible, and of re-asserting themselves as a force to be reckoned with.

He added that Hamas had survived the IDF onslaught for longer than any war Israel has ever fought, and in doing so, they have thoroughly dented Israel’s much vaunted deterrent status. In brief, and with daunting potential long-term consequences for Israel, the IDF no longer looks invincible.

Hamas has blocked a potential normalization deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel, which looked inevitable before the war began on October 07, 2023, and put the Palestinian issue back squarely on the international map after years of the Palestinian Authority (PA) failing to do so.

A final victory for Hamas, Phillip notes, is the “head-spinning speed of Israel’s post October 07 delegitimization in the eyes of many in the world.”

On April 08, Israeli journalist Amos Harel wrote in Haaretz that Israel’s primary goals in Khan Yunis haven’t been achieved.

Following the withdrawal of the 98th Division from the southern Gaza city, Harel noted that the Israeli army’s two goals were the capture of top Hamas officials in Gaza and the rescue of the Israeli captives currently held by the Palestinian Resistance in Gaza.

“The public should be told the truth. The enormous death and destruction the IDF is leaving behind in Gaza, alongside quite a few losses on our side, aren’t currently bringing us any closer to achieving the war’s goals,” he concluded.

In an analysis in Yedioth Ahronoth, Israeli political analyst Nadav Eyal explained that Israel had wished to restore its power of deterrence, eliminate Hamas, and free the captives held by Hamas in Gaza. But none of these objectives have been achieved.

“Israel’s failure is not based on presenting the goals of the war – which were fully supported by all Western countries. The failure lies entirely in the execution,” Eyal wrote, adding that war is not won just by killing. A complementary political act is needed.

The first failure, according to the report, was the civilian suffering in Gaza.

“Those who want to overthrow the rule of Hamas in Gaza do not conduct a Roman-style revenge campaign; carry out a protective wall or retaliatory action as if it were the 1950s.”

The Israeli commentator also blamed Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu for his attitude towards Washington.

“Netanyahu’s public and evil confrontation with the Biden administration only emphasized Israel’s weakness,” he said.

Eyal also noted that Israel had become isolated in the international community and that even its allies in Washington and Brussels were beginning to turn against it.

“Not only has Israel lost support in most of the West, and is very close to an arms embargo from Europe, even among its great ally, the tectonic plates are in motion.”

On March 27, Israeli intelligence officials also noted the change in Washington. They told The Telegraph that the Israeli government’s stated goal to eradicate Hamas in the Gaza Strip has become unachievable after the US turned its back on Tel Aviv by abstaining during a UN Security Council (UNSC) vote earlier in the week.

“If you’d asked me this a month ago, I would definitely say yes we can eliminate Hamas because, at that time, the Americans were backing Israel,” an Israeli intelligence official told the British daily, reportedly suggesting this assessment had now changed.

The US doesn’t support going into Rafah, which they did before, so the cards right now are not good, meaning Israel has to do something dramatic and drastic to change the momentum and climate, highlighting that pressure is mounting on Israel to reach some sort of a deal, which means Hamas could survive. Both Hamas and the Iranians are playing on that.”

According to the official, the belief inside the Israeli security apparatus is that Hamas is focused on surviving until the summer, when the US election campaign will go into full gear.

Speaking on the Turkish channel Haber Global, military analyst and retired colonel Eray Gucuer also suggested Hamas is winning the war while discussing the Israeli withdrawal from Khan Yunis ahead of a presumed assault on Rafah.

“If the Israeli army really is in a situation where it could not attack Rafah except by withdrawing its brigade from Khan Yunis, this means that it effectively lost the ground war.”

“Israel, in this war, almost completely destroyed Gaza and killed thousands of civilians. However, the Qassam Brigades still exist. Until this moment, it has military superiority on the ground … no one with military experience can hide his admiration for the amazing tactics adopted by Al-Qassam… Indeed, they are writing history.”

“Imagine, since the beginning of the war in Gaza and until today, we still hear about Beit Hanoun and Ben Lahia, Al-Nasr neighborhood, and Al-Zaytoun neighborhood. Why? Because the Qassam operatives invented a tactic for the first time in my life that I have seen in the history of guerrilla wars,” he concluded.

 

Courtesy: Information clearing House

Some people still believe Israel should eliminate Hamas

I was shocked to read an article that instead of retreating from its principles, the West should assertively support Israel's efforts to safeguard its citizens while seeking avenues for a lasting peace that addresses the legitimate grievances of both Israelis and Palestinians.

It says, the prevailing narrative in Western circles characterizes Israel's actions in Palestine as an unjustified onslaught, primarily due to the significant civilian casualties in Gaza. This perception, though flawed, is not unexpected, given Western society's empathy for the oppressed and its Judeo-Christian roots.

The critics are critical of West's abrupt shift from unwavering support to threatening withdrawal unless a ceasefire is agreed upon has jeopardized Israel's mission to dismantle Hamas.

They insist that despite concerns about the coherence of Israel's campaign, its goal to neutralize Hamas as a military force is both rational and achievable, having already incapacitated a significant portion of Hamas's arsenal. However, eliminating Hamas's network of fighters, often embedded within civilian areas, presents complex challenges and risks civilian casualties due to Hamas's use of human shields.

The supporters of Israel say that contrary to the liberal argument that wars against terror are futile, history demonstrates that military action can undermine terrorist ideologies. Hamas's defeat is not only technically possible but crucial for Israel and the broader Western world.

They accuse that since seizing control of Gaza in 2007, Hamas has evolved into a sophisticated terror organization capable of destabilizing the Middle East and posing a threat to Israel's security.

They insist, allowing Hamas to prevail would normalize terrorism as a viable political strategy and intensify internal conflicts within Israel. Additionally, it could divert attention from addressing larger security threats in the region, such as Iran's nuclear ambitions.

While Israel faces legitimate criticisms, such as restrictions on Palestinian movement and settlement expansion, these actions are primarily driven by security concerns rather than colonial ambitions.

They say by wavering in its support for Israel's right to self-defense, the West undermines its leadership role and succumbs to moral cowardice.

They claim it is crucial to recognize Israel's complex security challenges and refrain from pressuring for premature ceasefires that could leave Hamas intact and perpetuate the cycle of violence.

 

Why Pelosi remained silent for six months?

Representative Nancy Pelosi, the former speaker of the House of Representatives and a key ally of Joe Biden, signed a letter on Friday from dozens of congressional Democrats to the president and Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging a halt to weapons transfers to Israel.

The letter by Pelosi and 36 other Democrats came after Israel on April 01 killed seven aid workers of World Central Kitchen (WCK) in Gaza. Most probably if six of the aid workers had not been citizens of the US and its allies, Pelosi and other Democrats would not have objected to the shipment of arms to Israel.

The death of the six WCK staff who bravely defied all risks to deliver food to the starved people in northern Gazans is an unfortunate and unforgettable event.

The question is why no official voice came from Pelosi during six months of Israel’s genocide against the defenseless Palestinian citizens in Gaza.

She raised objections to sending arms to Israel after a dual American-Canadian national, three Brits, an Australian, and a Pole were killed in the Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza, where starvation and famine are more rampant.

"In light of the recent strike against aid workers and the ever-worsening humanitarian crisis, we believe it is unjustifiable to approve these weapons transfers," the letter said.

Pelosi is well aware that since October 07 Israel has killed over 33,000 people, which shows that on average 183 Palestinians have been massacred per day. This is without counting thousands of bodies buried under rubble and those who have lost limbs or got paralyzed for life.

There is a question how Pelosi as a mother has been feeling about Palestinian mothers who are seeing their children go without food and water and being dismembered and massacred by the US-supplied fighter jets.

How many more children and women should have been killed by mostly American-made weapons until Pelosi and 36 fellow Democrats talk about the ever-worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza?

It is highly unlikely that Biden and his inner circle would listen to Pelosi and other co-signers of the letter on weapons transfers to Israel because Biden has been boasting that he is a Zionist and If there were not an Israel, we'd have to invent one. 

The Biden administration is not backing calls for an independent, third-party investigation into the Israeli strike that killed the WCK aid workers.

As House speaker Pelosi stood strong against Donald Trump’s reckless foreign policy and rash behavior when he was president but she reacted too late to the hell that Israel has created in Gaza and only when six aid workers of the US-based WCK were killed in the besieged coastal enclave.

 

Protesters demand Netanyahu’s resignation

Protesters once again took to the streets of Tel Aviv, Caesarea and Haifa on Saturday, demanding resignation of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and early elections. The situation underlines fears that the war in Gaza could spread into a broader regional conflict.

Demonstrators also called for the release of all Israeli hostages held in Gaza ahead of the six-month mark of hostilities.

Many people waved Israeli flags and held up signs with images of hostages, calling on the government to bring them home alive.

In Tel Aviv, protesters were heard chanting: “We are not afraid; you destroyed the country, and we will fix it. We want them (hostages) back alive and not in coffins.”

Other protesters were seen by a CNN team on the ground holding flags and banners, with one reading, “The government that destroyed the country and tore the nation apart.”

Another banner called for the “division of religion and state,” and one stated that “Netanyahu is dangerous to Israel.”

Protesters in Haifa called the government a failure, saying Netanyahu is “guilty, guilty, guilty.”

“Elections now!” read one banner held by a protester.

Meanwhile, a protester was arrested for punching and injuring a police officer during an anti-government rally in Tel Aviv on Saturday, Israeli police said in a statement.

The Israel Police also warned protesters not to light bonfires as demonstrators march through the streets, saying it can be “life-threatening” around the crowd.

“We will act with zero tolerance towards those who disrupt the order and behave violently towards police officers,” authorities said in a statement.

With the war in Gaza raging for six months the patience of Israel’s allies is running out. As the death toll in the enclave continues to climb, it’s becoming increasingly clear that Israel has no viable plan for how to end the war or what comes next.

The determination to continue pursuing Hamas in Gaza despite the horrific humanitarian consequences is leaving Israel increasingly isolated on the global stage, with its government facing pressure from all sides.

Multiple international organizations have warned Israel may be committing genocide, and even the country’s closest allies are now openly criticizing Netanyahu. Calls to halt arms shipments to Israel are growing in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Netanyahu and his government are under mounting pressure at home, with protesters back on the streets in large numbers calling for his resignation.

Israel launched the war immediately after the deadly October 07, 2023 attacks by Hamas. At that time, the Israeli government said the operation had two goals: eliminating Hamas and bringing back the hostages taken by the militants to Gaza. Six months into the conflict, neither goal has been reached.

Also, speaking from a funeral procession Saturday for a slain military officer, Iran’s highest-ranking commander vowed that an Israeli strike on its embassy complex in Damascus will not go unanswered. The remarks come as the US braces for a significant Iranian attack on US or Israeli assets in the Middle East, according to a senior administration official.

Al Quds Day observed worldwide

Millions of people across the world held huge rallies to mark ‘Al Quds Day’ to express solidarity with Palestinian people and condemn Israeli crimes. This year Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip has attached specific significance. 

The event observed on the last Friday of Ramadan is commemorated by Palestinian supporters every year.  

In Pakistan, political parties including Jamaat-e-Islami and Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen staged rallies across the country in support of the Palestinians and against the Israeli killing in Gaza. 

The protests were held in different cities including Karachi, Quetta, Muzaffarabad, Kashmore, Bhalwal, Parachinar, Chichawatni, Rajanpur and Jacobabad.

On the occasion, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called on the international community to exert pressure on Israel to halt its oppression of the Palestinian people in Gaza.

He underscored Pakistan's unwavering support for Palestine, advocating for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

The premier pointed to decades-long Israeli occupation of Palestine and denounced the international community’s silence in the face of human rights violations by the regime. 

On the outskirts of Srinagar in Indian controlled Kashmir, Muslims slammed the Israeli massacres in Gaza. They called for ending the Israeli violence and genocide in the Palestinian territory. 

A massive rally also took place in Mumbai, India. The protesters expressed support for the Palestinians and their cause. They also slammed the Israeli genocide in Gaza which has left 33,000 people dead since October 07, 2023.

Indonesia was also the scene of protests against Israel on Al Quds Day. The protesters denounced the regime’s war of genocide on Gaza. They blamed the US for standing by the regime.

The demonstrators displayed a poster depicting President Joe Biden as a clown during a rally outside the US embassy in Jakarta.

Malaysians also rallied to express solidarity with Palestinian people and the cause of Palestine.  

In Thailand, people took part in a rally in support of Palestinians in front of the Israeli embassy in Bangkok. 

Bahrainis demand closure of Israeli embassy. Theycame on the streets to voice support for Palestinians, particularly the residents of the Gaza Strip. They condemned the Israeli brutality against the Gazans. 

The protesters called for the closure of the Israeli embassy in Manama and the expulsion of the regime’s diplomats from the Arab country. 

Bahrain and the Israeli regime established diplomatic relations in 2020 as part of the United States-brokered Abraham Accords.

Millions of Yemenis also marked Al Quds Day. Protesters in the capital Sana'a condemned Israel’s brutal war on Gaza. 

In a statement, the protesters said the Palestinian nation has been subjected to the US-Israeli genocide for six months. 

The statement called on all Arab and Islamic countries to fulfill their responsibilities in the face of the savagery of the US and the Israeli regime.

Other countries in the Arab world including Iraq and Jordan saw huge protests on Al Quds Day. 

Protesters in Tanzania's coastal city of Dar es Salaam also rallied as they were holding the Palestinian flag. The protesters chanted anti-Israeli slogans and condemned the regime’s vicious crimes against Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.

Al Quds Day rallies in Nigeria turned deadly as police clashed with protesters. Reports suggest security forces killed several people in the city of Kaduna who were protesting against the Israeli crimes. 

Police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse the pro-Palestine demonstrators.

Europe also saw rallies marking International Quds Day. In Britain, demonstrators gathered outside the Home Office in Marsham Street before heading into Horseferry Road, along Millbank, past the front of the Houses of Parliament and finishing in Whitehall where speeches were delivered. Prior to the rallies, more than 500 officers were deployed in central London.

In Poland, protesters held banners as they gathered to spend night near the US Consulate in Krakow to protest against Israeli attacks in Gaza.

 

Biden’s scaled down Iftar dinner

The White House held a scaled-down Iftar dinner to celebrate Ramadan, after some invitees turned the president down over frustrations in the Muslim community over his policy toward Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

US President Joe Biden met with Muslim leaders before having a small dinner with senior Muslim officials in his administration, first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband.

“President Biden will host a meeting with Muslim community leaders to discuss issues of importance to the community,” the White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters, explaining these leaders would rather have a meeting than a dinner.

The White House “adjusted the format to be responsive,” she said.

One of the attendees, Dr Thaer Ahmad, an emergency room doctor who spent at least three weeks in Gaza, told CNN that he walked out of Tuesday’s meeting before it ended.

“Out of respect for my community, out of respect for all of the people who have suffered and who have been killed in the process, I needed to walk out of the meeting,” Ahmad said.

Ahmad, who said he was the only Palestinian-American in the meeting, said “there wasn’t a lot of response” from Biden.

“He actually said he understood, and I walked away,” Ahmad told CNN.

The event is a sharp contrast to last May when Biden hosted a reception for Eid. Dozens of attendees cheered Biden at the White House as he told the crowd: “It’s your house.”

Muslim members of Congress who attended that event included Representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, who is Palestinian American.

They are now among the biggest critics of Biden’s Gaza policy.

Emgage Action, a Muslim American advocacy group, said it declined an invitation to Tuesday’s dinner, citing Biden’s “continued unconditional military aid to Israel,” which they say has led to a “humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions.”

Many Muslims, Arabs and anti-war activists have been angry with the administration’s support for Israel and its military offensive in Gaza that has killed tens of thousands and caused a starvation crisis in the narrow coastal enclave of about 2.3 million people.

Israel is the leading recipient of US foreign aid, and the US vetoed multiple votes at the United Nations calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza assault that began after the Hamas attacked Israel on October 7.

Muslim and anti-war groups held a protest Iftar in Lafayette Park near the White House. They distributed dates and water bottles to break the fast at sunset.

 

Iran accuses Israel of bombing its embassy in Syria

According to Reuters, suspected Israeli warplanes bombed Iran's embassy in Syria on Monday in a strike that Iran said killed seven of its military advisers, including three senior commanders, and that marked a major escalation in Israel's war with its regional adversaries.

Reuters reporters at the site in the Mezzeh district of Damascus saw emergency workers clambering atop rubble of a destroyed building inside the diplomatic compound, adjacent to the main Iranian embassy building. Emergency vehicles were parked outside. An Iranian flag hung from a pole by the debris.

"We strongly condemn this atrocious terrorist attack that targeted the Iranian consulate building in Damascus and killed a number of innocents," said Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad who was seen at the site along with Syria's interior minister.

Iran's ambassador to Syria said the strike hit a consular building in the embassy compound and that his residence was on the top two floors.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said in a statement that seven Iranian military advisers died in the strike including Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander in its Quds Force, which is an elite foreign espionage and paramilitary arm.

Israel has long targeted Iran's military installations in Syria and those of its proxies, but Monday's attack was the first time Israel hit the vast embassy compound itself.

Israel has ramped up those strikes in parallel with its campaign against Iran-backed Palestinian group Hamas.

More than 32,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's offensive in Gaza, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Israel' military has escalated airstrikes in Syria against Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Iranian-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, both of which support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Israel typically does not discuss attacks by its forces on Syria. Asked about the strike, an Israeli military spokesperson said, "We do not comment on reports in the foreign media".

The New York Times cited four unnamed Israeli officials as acknowledging Israel had carried out the attack.

Iran's UN mission described the strike as a "flagrant violation of the United Nations Charter, international law, and the foundational principle of the inviolability of diplomatic and consular premises."

Saying the strike was "a significant threat to regional peace and security," the Iranian mission urged the UN Security Council to condemn the attack and said Tehran reserved the right "to take a decisive response."

Hezbollah, the Lebanese group seen as Iran's most powerful armed proxy in the region, vowed to retaliate. "This crime will not pass without the enemy receiving punishment and revenge," the group said in a statement.

Muslim nations including Iraq, Jordan, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates also condemned the attack, as did Russia.

Earlier, Iran's ambassador to Syria Hossein Akbari, who was unharmed, told Iranian state TV that five to seven people, including diplomats, were killed and Tehran's response would be "harsh".

Iranian state media said Tehran believed Zahedi was the target of the attack. His deputy and another senior commander were also killed along with four others.

Iran's Arabic Language Al Alam Television said that Zahedi was a military adviser in Syria who served as the head of the Quds Force in Lebanon and Syria until 2016.

Enough is Enough, Muslims must stop trading with United State and its allies, immediately

Since October 2023 Israel has killed nearly 35,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children. It has been using munitions mainly supplied by the United States of America and its allies.

The US has also vetoed resolutions seeking ceasefire in Gaza.

Lately, the super power has approved sending more munitions to facilitate genocide by Israel in Gaza.

During these days Muslim countries have done nothing except requesting United States and its allies to request Israel to stop killing.

Enough is enough; the time has come for the joint army of Muslim countries to attack Israel.

If they are afraid of taking military action against Israel, they should suspend trade with the United States and its allies immediately, at the least.

On top priority Muslim countries should stop selling oil to United States and all those countries which are supplying munitions to Israel to kill Gazans  

Stopping military operations in Gaza

Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a meeting in Jeddah on Wednesday.

During the meeting, they discussed the latest regional and international developments, foremost of which were the developments in the Gaza Strip. The efforts to stop military operations in Gaza, and dealing with its security and humanitarian repercussions were figured high in their talks.

The entire population in Gaza is experiencing high levels of acute food shortage, with around 1.1 million people or half the population living through catastrophic food insecurity.

Famine is now projected and imminent in the North Gaza and Gaza Governorates and is expected to become manifest during the projection period from mid-March 2024 to May 2024.

The famine is projected to occur in Gaza’s northern governorates if conflict escalates, including the impending ground offensive in the southern city of Rafah, and if the hostilities continue to obstruct the flow of humanitarian aid to parts of Gaza where people in need reside.

Some households face massive food shortages, being in the phase four and five categories and the latest data shows that people are resorting to eating animal fodder, scavenging or begging.

“There is an imminent risk of famine in North of Gaza and a risk of famine across the [Gaza] Strip,” Nour Shawaf, the MENA policy adviser at Oxfam, told Al Jazeera.

The Crown Prince and Blinken also reviewed bilateral relations and areas of cooperation between the two countries and issues of mutual concern.

The meeting was attended by Minister of Defense Prince Khalid bin Salman, Saudi Ambassador to the United States Princess Reema bint Bandar, Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal bin Farhan, and Minister of State, Cabinet Member and National Security Advisor Dr. Musaed Al-Aiban, as well as the US Secretary of State’s accompanying delegation.

Supply Lines: Red Sea Update

According to the Bloomberg, Red Sea shipping diversions may last a few more months, and some people think they could go on even longer.

That’s among the takeaways from the CEO of Hapag-Lloyd, the world’s No. 5 container line, in an interview Thursday on Bloomberg TV. Rolf Habben Jansen was speaking as the Hamburg, Germany-based company announced 2023 earnings that showed a steep drop in revenue and profits from a year earlier.

Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea have disrupted supply chains since mid-December 2023, forcing carriers to change routes and redo schedules — adjustments that have helped absorb excess capacity.

As a result, they’re burning more fuel and taking longer to deliver, with some needing to purchase more containers given the extended routes. The added costs are getting past along to customers.

The longer routes around southern Africa initially boosted spot container rates but those are coming down, Jansen said. “The services are stabilizing, which also means that the market is getting calmer.”

He indicated, though, that there’s no telling when the Red Sea will be safe enough to transit again.

“We hope that we’re going to be able to go back through in a couple of months,” Jansen said. “But I know there are also people that think that it will last quite a while longer.”

In the medium term, excess capacity may return to weigh on freight rates. Hapag-Lloyd expects the market to remain difficult for carriers given the large number of ship deliveries this year, Jansen said in the company’s 2023 annual report.

Sharing that view was Zim Integrated Shipping CEO Eli Glickman, who spoke on a conference call on Wednesday. “Once the Red Sea crisis is resolved, we will likely revert to the supply-demand scenario that began to play out in ‘23, setting up a more challenging third and fourth quarter of 2024 for the industry, including us,” he said.

It’s not just the shipping companies facing a tough environment. World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told Bloomberg in an interview that “the risks are all on the downside.”

But corporate supply chains have gotten more resilient and flexible. Here’s a rundown of comments that a few big shippers and a major port operator have offered this week:

Samsonite CFO Reza Taleghani: “So if you think about things you read about in the news, shipping delays, Red Sea, et cetera, we are just fine. We have inventory exactly where we need it to be. All of our facilities, even if there is a week or two delays, not that big of a deal.”

Adidas CEO Bjorn Gulden: “We have a little bit of headwind in freight in the first half because of the Red Sea situation, and as you know, if the freight companies have a chance to do something they increase prices. That should normalize and then the rest of everything that has to do with margin is going in the right direction.”

Williams-Sonoma CEO Laura Alber: “When a problem comes along, they’re real. The Red Sea disruption is pretty terrible. However, it is not costing us any more money. So far it is costing us about 10 days of delivery, give or take. And as I mentioned last time, we padded the deliveries to our customers once we heard about it, so we didn't disappoint them.”

DP World Group Chairman Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem: “Despite the uncertain start to 2024 with the ongoing Red Sea crisis, our portfolio has continued to demonstrate resilience. The outlook remains uncertain due to the challenging geopolitical and economic environment.”

 

Yemen hits Israeli vessel and US warships

The spokesperson for the Sanaa government’s armed forces has announced that Ansarullah has carried out more operations in support of Gaza, targeting an Israeli container ship and US warships.

The latest attacks come as US officials acknowledge the American and British bombardment of Yemen over the past seven weeks has been made difficult due to insufficient US intelligence on Ansarullah’s arsenal and capabilities. 

Earlier, the British security firm Ambrey said a container ship was struck and issued a distress signal. The vessel was identified as a Liberia-flagged, Israeli-affiliated container ship en route to Djibouti. 

“The vessel was listed as operated by the Israeli company ZIM Integrated Shipping Services,” Ambrey added.  

Ansarullah said the targeting of the Israeli container ship occurred alongside the execution of a qualitative operation involving ballistic missiles, drones against several American warships in the Red Sea.

Ansarullah’s military spokesman, Colonel Yahya Saree, noted in a brief statement that Ansarullah’s armed forces struck the Israeli ship MSC SKY in the Arabian Sea using several naval missiles, confirming that the hit was accurate and direct.

In a press release, the Container Group MSC acknowledged one of its vessels has been hit by a missile while sailing in waters off Yemen. 

The Swiss headquartered operator MSC stated on Tuesday that the Israeli container ship will proceed with its voyage to Djibouti for further assessment after being struck by a missile on March 04 near Yemen’s southern region of Aden. 

The statement further read, “The missile caused a small fire that has been extinguished while no crew were injured.”

Saree revealed that the targeting of the Israeli ship came after the execution of what he described as a qualitative operation during which the Yemeni missile force and air force launched a number of ballistic missiles and drones against several American warships in the Red Sea. 

Saree pointed out that these operations show the capability of Ansarullah’s armed forces to target both combat and non-combat ships simultaneously.

He emphasized that the movement’s operations are escalating and ongoing in the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Aden, and the Bab el Mandeb strait, with the aim of preventing Israeli navigation or vessels heading to the occupied Palestinian ports until the cessation of Israeli aggression and the lifting of the blockade on the Palestinian people of Gaza.

He affirmed that the Yemeni armed forces will not hesitate to carry out more military operations in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea against all hostile targets in defense of Yemen, and as a confirmation of support for the Palestinian people in Gaza.

Ansarullah reiterated its commitment to ensuring the safe movement of navigation in the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea, and the Bab el Mandeb strait for all ships, except Israeli vessels and those heading to the occupied ports, until the cessation of aggression on Gaza. 

Recently, the targets have also included American and British ships and warships due to the US-British aggression on Yemen. 

The Sanaa government has blacklisted the US and Britain as states hostile to Yemen. 

The American and British militaries responded to the Yemeni naval embargo on Israeli navigation in the Red Sea on January 12 by bombing sites across Yemeni provinces that Washington says belong to Ansarullah in a bid to deter the movement from its maritime operations. 

The airstrikes by the US and the UK have continued on a regular basis over the past seven weeks but have failed to deter the Sana’a government from enforcing a ban on Israeli navigation. 

Instead, US and British warships and vessels have found themselves the target of Ansarullah’s range of fire. 

Current and former American officials have told the Financial Times that the US military’s attempts to halt Yemen-based operations in the Red Sea are being strongly hindered by insufficient intelligence about Ansarullah’s arsenal and its full capabilities.

Washington has also been unable to assess the damage caused by its airstrikes on Yemen, according to the paper. 

Ted Singer, a recently retired senior CIA official, told the Financial Times that acquiring on-the-ground intelligence has been more difficult since the U.S. evacuated its embassy in Sanaa in 2015. 

Just days ago, the Ansarullah leader Seyyed Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, warned the Israeli regime, the US, and Britain of surprises that will begin soon, while emphasizing that Yemenis continue to prevent ships heading to the occupier entity through Bab el Mandeb until the aggression on Gaza stops and the blockade is lifted.

The Sana government's foreign ministry says all Yemeni-based naval operations will come to a halt as soon as a ceasefire is reached in Gaza, and humanitarian aid is allowed into the enclave. 

 

US Veterans Demand Termination of Weapons Sales to Israel

 In a letter to the Inspector General of the US State Department, a national veterans’ organization has demanded the State Department terminate weapons shipments to Israel and called on the Inspector General to investigate alleged criminal acts by senior Biden administration officials in violation of US law, including ratified treaties, which are the supreme law of the land. 

Josh Paul, former State Department senior official who resigned over weapons shipments to Israel said, “The Secretary and all relevant officials under his purview should take this letter from Veterans for Peace (VFP) with the utmost seriousness. It is a stark reminder of the importance of abiding by the laws and policies that relate to arms transfers.” 

Mike Ferner, VFP National Director said, “Just as any good soldier can recognize when they are given an unlawful order, we believe some State Department staff are horrified at the orders they’re given and will decide to uphold the law, find the courage to speak out and demand an end to the carnage.

VFP enthusiastically supports Josh Paul for what he did and we believe the public does, too. The IDF has killed over 30,000 Palestinians and is utterly destroying Gaza. These actions amount to genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, and VFP wants them investigated.” 

“Unless no one in the entire US State Department has seen the news in the last four months, they have to be aware of Israel’s illegal activity. But just in case, our letter to the Inspector General spells it out in chapter and verse. We believe the State Department – from the Secretary down to every staff person working on arms transfers to Israel – is in criminal violation of U.S. statutes regarding how U.S. weaponry can be used. There’s no ‘Israel exception’ that makes it okay for U.S. weapons to be used in genocide even if it’s labeled self-defense,” Ferner concluded. 

The letter from Veterans For Peace alleges violations by the US government and its officials of: 

• The Conventional Arms Transfer Policy, which prohibits US weapons transfers when it’s likely they will be used by Israel to commit genocide; crimes against humanity; and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, including attacks intentionally directed against civilian objects or civilians protected or other serious violations of international humanitarian or human rights law, including serious acts of gender-based violence or serious acts of violence against children. Dozens of authoritative complaints and referrals made by hospital administrators in Gaza, as well as by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Palestine Authority, South Africa, Turkey, Medicins san Frontieres, UNRWA, UNICEF, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the Norwegian Refugee Council and the World Food Program, have confirmed that there is an ongoing human rights and humanitarian disaster due to Israel’s cutoff of water and electricity, deliberate destruction of sewage infrastructure and delaying of aid shipments by Israeli forces. 

• The Foreign Assistance Act, which forbids the provision of assistance to a government which “engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights.” 

• Arms Export Control Act, which says countries that receive US military aid can only use weapons for legitimate self-defense and internal security. Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza goes way beyond self-defense and internal security. 

• The US War Crimes Act, which forbids grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, including willful killing, torture or inhuman treatment, willfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health, and unlawful deportation or transfer, perpetrated by the Israeli Occupying Forces. 

• The Leahy Law, which prohibits the US Government from using funds for assistance to units of foreign security forces where there is credible information implicating that unit in the commission of gross violations of human rights. 

• The Genocide Convention Implementation Act, which was enacted to implement U.S. obligations under the Genocide Convention, provides for criminal penalties for individuals who commit or incite others to commit genocide. 

Human rights attorney, Terry Lodge, who drafted the VFP letter, pointed out what he called, “The State Department’s double standard to determine war criminality,” citing a December 6, 2023, determination by Secretary Blinken, “that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of Sudan had ‘committed crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.’ As horrible as the crimes of the RSF may be, they pale compared to what Israel is doing in Gaza.” 

Veterans For Peace has over 100 chapters in the US and since 1985 has exposed the true costs of war and militarism. Its goal is to abolish war as an instrument of national policy.