#gadi eisenkot

[vyorei]

Just tear each other apart and disappear

[news4dzhozhar]

[dialogue-queered]

20 January 2024

Extract 1: A senior minister in the Israeli war cabinet has said that only a ceasefire deal can win the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, and that Israel is unlikely to achieve its aim of “total victory” over the militant Islamist group.

Gadi Eisenkot, a former chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, launched a blistering attack on the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the campaign against Hamas and failure to take responsibility for the failures that led to the bloody attack into Israel in October that triggered the current conflict.

Extract 2: In a thinly veiled criticism of Netanyahu, Eisenkot said strategic decisions about the war’s direction must be made urgently, and that a discussion about an endgame should have begun immediately after the war began.

The former general also dismissed suggestions that the military had delivered a decisive blow against Hamas. “Whoever speaks of absolute defeat [of Hamas] is not speaking the truth,” Eisenkot said in the interview. “That is why we should not tell stories … Today, the situation already in the Gaza Strip is such that the goals of the war have not yet been achieved.”

Extract 3: Netanyahu’s opponents accuse him of delaying any discussion of postwar scenarios in order to avoid looming investigations of governmental failures, keep his coalition intact and put off elections.

When asked if Netanyahu might be prolonging the war for political gain, Eisenkot paused before answering: “I hope not.”

[uboat53]

“We need to go to the polls and have an election in the next few months, in order to renew the trust as currently there is no trust. The state of Israel is a democracy and needs to ask itself, after such a serious event, how do we go forward with a leadership that is responsible for such an absolute failure?” -- Israeli war cabinet minister Gadi Eisenkot

Source

[workersolidarity]

[ 📹 The dead and wounded are recovered by local residents after a bombing conducted by the Israeli occupation army targeted a house this morning near the European Gaza Hospital in Khan Yunis, in the south of Gaza. ]

🇮🇱⚔️🇵🇸 🚀🏘️💥🚑 🚨

248 DAYS OF "ISRAEL'S" GENOCIDE IN GAZA: GANTZ AND EISENKOT RESIGN FROM UNITY WAR CABINET, US-MADE SMALL DIAMETER BOMB USED IN LATEST MASSACRES, THIRD OF AMERICAN JEWS NOW SAY "ISRAEL" COMMITTING A GENOCIDE IN GAZA, MASSACRES CONTINUE ANOTHER DAY

On 248th day of the Israeli occupation's ongoing special genocide operation in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) committed a total of 5 new massacres of Palestinian families, resulting in the deaths of no less than 40 Palestinian civilians, mostly women and children, while another 218 others were wounded over the previous 24-hours.

It should be noted that as a result of the constant Israeli bombardment of Gaza's healthcare system, infrastructure, residential and commercial buildings, local paramedic and civil defense crews are unable to recover countless hundreds, even thousands, of victims who remain trapped under the rubble, or who's bodies remain strewn across the streets of Gaza.

This leaves the official death toll vastly undercounted as Gaza's healthcare officials are unable to accurately tally those killed and maimed in this genocide, which must be kept in mind when considering the scale of the mass murder.

Ministers Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot submitted their resignations from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's war cabinet on Monday, citing the Prime Minister's handling of the war in Gaza.

The move leaves Netanyahu and his Likud party with a slim majority that continues to allow the Prime Minister to retain control for the time being.

In identical letters submitted to the Prime Minister, Gantz and Eisenkot left room for their eventual return to the fold, writing that "if a broad unity government is established that will work for the state of israel, for all that comes from that, we will also mobilize to be part of it."

The two ministers, who joined Netanyahu's war cabinet at the start of the genocide in Gaza, claimed they were leaving the government due to the "foreign and political considerations" of the Prime Minister.

Gantz and Eisenkot's resignation explains how Netanyahu was “preventing us from advancing to the real victory," adding that "recently we have witnessed that the decisions made by the government and by you [Netanyahu] are not necessarily motivated by national considerations and the good of the country. foreign and political considerations have infiltrated the discussion rooms and influence the decision-making."

The two ministers said they will continue to support any "correct action" that the Netanyahu administration makes, and that they could possibly return "as soon as a responsible outline is brought in for the return of the abductees, we will be ready to provide all the necessary support in order to enable its transfer and for the duration of its implementation."

Concluding the resignation letter, Minister Eisenkot added in the last line that "hopefully for change, for israel to be strong and just, a legacy and future worthy of our people," while Minister Gantz added that he "had the privilege of serving the state of israel in its difficult time!"

In other news, with large-scale destruction and massive casualties inflicted on Palestinians in recent Israeli operations in the Gaza Strip, a report published in the American media looks into the munitions being used by the Zionist regime.

According to the report, it was revealed that the Israeli occupation army has been using the American-made GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb, a "precision-guided" munition, during military operations in densely populated civilian neighborhoods, resulting in the deaths of dozens of Palestinians, during recent operations like the one on Saturday to recover 4 hostages from the Al-Nuseirat Refugee Camp, in central Gaza, that killed at least 274 civilians and wounded 698 others.

The report cites two different weapons experts as saying their appears to be an increase in the use of American-made bombs since the start of the year, when compared with the start of the Israeli occupation's genocidal war in Gaza, when just 10% of Israeli airstrikes involved such bombs.

As the recent assaults and massacres in Gaza illustrated, the report says, even relatively small bombs, when dropped on densely populated residential areas, can inflict enormous civilian casualties.

In the published article, an Amnesty International arms expert named Brian Kastner is quoted as saying, "The thing is, even using a smaller weapon or using a precision-guided weapon doesn't mean you're not killing civilians, doesn't mean that all your strikes are suddenly legal,”

Additionally, the report states that at the start of the war, the Israeli occupation army launched a large-scale invasion of Gazan cities using tanks, artillery, and American-made 2'000lbs bunker-busting dumb-bombs, inflicting astounding damage and huge casualties, and sparking an international uproar and condemnations.

The report determines that since then, the Biden administration has pressured the Israeli regime to shift it's combat strategy towards low-intensity operations and targeted raids, which now relies more heavily of munitions such has those used in the Nuseirat Camp massacre like the GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb, which weighs 250lbs, including 37lbs of explosives, and is typically launched from Israeli warplanes.

The report also states that current and former American authorities say the Israeli occupation does not typically share information about its use of the GBU-39 or other munitions with the US State Dept., which created its own system to track civilian deaths caused by the American-made bombs.

The newspaper also adds that the Israeli occupation has been using the GBU-39 since 2008, and has launched the bomb as part of military actions taken previously in Gaza, Syria, and Lebanon.

The bomb has a range of approximately 40 miles, and are a guided munition that uses the Global Positioning System (GPS).

Since 2012, the United States has delivered at least 9'550 GBU-39 bombs to the Israeli entity, including 1'000 of the shells that were shipped to the occupation last Fall in an expedited order following the events of October 7th, according to data published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

The report added that most Israeli and American attack aircraft can carry eight GBU-39 Small Diameter Bombs at a time, with each capable of being directed independently to different targets.

In more news, nearly 1/3rd of American Jews agree with the statement that "Israel" is committing "genocide" in the Gaza Strip, while 60% support the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

The survey was conducted by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, a privately-run far-right Israeli think-tank, and was carried out between May 9th and 11th of this year, including the opinions of 511 American Jews.

“Approximately one-third of respondents agreed with the accusation that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, while about half disagreed,” the study said.

The survey found that 17.4% of American Jews strongly agreed that "Israel" was committing a "genocide" in Gaza, while 12.5% agreed with the accusations. Another 24.8% disagreed, while 26.6% disagreed strongly, and another 18.5% neither agreed nor disagreed.

Further, the survey concluded that over 51% of American Jews supported the Biden administration's decision to withhold certain arms shipments to the Israeli entity during its offensive on the city of Rafah, south of Gaza.

According to that section of the polling, 22.5% of respondents strongly supported the decision, while 29.9% supported it, 11.7% opposed the decision and another 10.5% strongly opposed it. Additionally, 25.2% neither supported nor opposed the Biden administration's decision.

Further, the polling looked at American Jewish support for Student protests raging in the country. According to the survey, 34.4% of American Jews viewed the campus protests as "anti-war and pro-peace", while 28.3% said they saw the protests as purely "anti-Israel". Another 25.3% said they thought the protests were both anti-war and anti-Israel, while 11.9% said they were neither.

As for solving the Palestine issue, 60% of American Jews considered a Two-state solution as the “the best way to peace, with varying conditions related to demilitarization and recognition of Israel as a Jewish state.”

The same poll found that 11.5% supported an unconditional independent Palestinian State, while 24% backed a Palestinian state under the condition that it recognizes "Israel" as a "Jewish State."

Additionally, 16.8% supported a "confederation" between "Israel" and a Palestinian State with "security arrangements", 4.8% support the idea of a Palestinian "tribal" emirates, and 3.1% support integrating Palestinians into "Israel".

Just 5.8% opposed the establishment of a Palestinian State and another 8.8% had no opinion.

Meanwhile, the mass murder continued in Gaza after another weekend filled with Israeli massacres of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

On Sunday, at least 35 Palestinians were killed, and dozens of others wounded, as a result of the Israeli bombardment of residential neighborhoods in Gaza.

Occupation warplanes bombed a residential house in Gaza City on Sunday, killing 6 civilians, including women and children, according to local medical sources.

Similarly, Zionist fighter jets bombed a house belonging to the Al-Shafi'i family in Camp-2 of the Nuseirat Camp, in the central Gaza Strip, resulting in the deaths of three brothers.

In another horrific war crime, Zionist warplanes bombed a shelter housing displaced Palestinian families in the Bureij Refugee Camp, in the central Gaza Strip, killing four civilians and wounding a number of others.

Another series of occupation airstrikes targeted two homes in the Al-Nuseirat Camp and Deir al-Balah, both in central Gaza, assassinating 7 Palestinians and wounding several others.

Local reporting stated that another Israeli bombing targeted a residential house in the vicinity of the Akila station in Deir al-Balah, resulting in a number of casualties, while Zionist forces also detonated a number of residential buildings in the Abu al-Ajen neighborhood, east of Deir al-Balah.

North of Gaza, medical sources at the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City reported the deaths of four Palestinians, and several wounded civilians, who arrived at the hospital following an occupation bombing of the Kassab family home, in the Al-Daraj neighborhood of Gaza City, adjacent to the Al-Daraj Clinic in the center of the city.

In another bombing, occupation fighter jets bombed a house in the Al-Shujaiya neighborhood, east of Gaza City, resulting in the deaths of two civilians and wounding a number of others.

Another report detailed the deaths of four citizens after the occupation army bombed a residential house in the Al-Maghazi Refugee Camp, in the central Gaza Strip, while south of Gaza, occupation artillery shelling and bombing targeted areas of Al-Khirba, Musabah, Al-Hashash, Khirbet al-Adas, and Oreiba in the city of Rafah.

Meanwhile, Al-Awda Hospital, north of Gaza, reporting receiving 6 bodies and 22 wounded resulting from renewed Israeli airstrikes on the central Nuseirat Camp on Sunday afternoon.

The Israeli occupation also fired artillery shells along the shore of Gaza City, while artillery shelling was also fired in the direction of civilian homes in the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood, southwest of the city, in addition to the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, southeast of the city.

In the meantime, Israeli bombing and shelling also hammered Rafah and Khan Yunis on Monday morning, killing at least 5 Palestinians and wounding many others.

According to local sources, 5 dead bodies and at least 30 wounded arrived at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis, south of Gaza, after occupation bombing targeted the city of Rafah, where all hospitals have closed, including artillery shelling near the Al-Alam roundabout, west of the city.

Zionist warplanes also bombed the tents of displaced civilian families near the Al-Mawasi area, in the Khan Yunis Governate.

Similarly, occupation aircraft bombed a house in the town of Al-Fokhari, east of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, killing three civilians and wounding several others.

As a result of the Israeli occupation's ongoing special genocide operation in the Gaza Strip, the infinitely rising death toll now exceeds 37'124 Palestinians killed, including over 15'000 children and upwards of 10'000 women, while another 84'712 others have been wounded since the start of the current round of Zionist aggression, beginning with the events of October 7th, 2023.

June 10th, 2024.

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@WorkerSolidarityNews

[probablyasocialecologist]

The fixation on the morality of the offensive that included atrocities committed against Israeli civilians has a depoliticizing effect because it eschews a massive power imbalance, which shapes the current crisis. My insistence on context, which echoes nearly every Palestinian intervention, is to illuminate that there are root causes of this sensational violence. If we contextualize the civilian harm and the violation of the rules of engagement—including Israel’s manifold violations and its civilian harm—what we should be examining is, what is the framework, the underlying violence that characterizes everything that happens? And that framework is the crime of apartheid: a sustained seventy-five years of settler colonial removal, fifty-six years of occupation, and sixteen years of siege. Apartheid is, and will continue to be, the greatest crime against humanity in this instance. Because after this episode is over, and surely it will be, the regular daily warfare against Palestinians continues, as it has for decades. But this warfare does not get registered as such, because it’s read as what Teju Cole calls “cold violence”: the slow, daily degradations of living under occupation. But Israel conducts a tremendous amount of outright violence against Palestinians as well: look at the murder of the journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in Jenin in May 2022, the 2020 murder of my cousin Ahmad Erekat at a West Bank checkpoint, the settler incursions into Hawara, and the aerial and ground invasions against the Jenin refugee camp this summer.

And what is ironic is that even as us Palestinians are being cast as inherently violent, we’ve also historically been the source of spectacular nonviolent protests. Think of May 2018, when young Palestinians organized the Great March of Return. We saw thirty to forty thousand Palestinians at the Gaza perimeter, demanding the right to return home, to lift the siege. And they were shot down like birds at a 300 meter distance by Israeli snipers: 50 were murdered and more than 1,700 wounded. They posed no harm to Israeli military infrastructure or to Israeli civilians. And Israel itself admitted that they were using indiscriminate, disproportionate force: the decision to shoot these nonviolent marchers came directly from then–IDF commander-in-chief Gadi Eisenkot. They are admitting to war crimes and the intentions to commit them before Palestinians have even mobilized.

[evilwickedme]

(image description in alt text)

@wyf-of-bathe I actually love this question because it's definitely something I feel like doesn't really get addressed! I tried to answer it last night and my connection timed out just as I was saving the draft and it fucked off unfortunately, but let's give it another try.

Ok so important figured to know:

Obviously, President Biden, the current head of the USAmerican government

Also obviously, Bibi Netanyahu, the current prime minister of Israel, member of the war cabinet

Yoav Gallant, current Minister of Defense in Israel, member of the war cabinet

Benny Gantz, a minister without a portfolio, entered the government when the war started in order to join the war cabinet

Gadi Eisenkot, another minister without a portfolio of the same party as Gantz, also joined the government to join the war cabinet

Itamar Ben Gvir and Betzalel Smotrich, extreme right wing ministers (Minister of National Security and Finance Minister, respectively). Not in the war cabinet

There are other members of the Biden government that are in practice important to the relationship between Israel and the USA, but aren't important to general understanding of what's going on, so I won't name them

Same for members of the IDF

I'm going to try to paint a general picture of the development of relations between the Biden administration and Israel over the last seven months since October seventh. Considering I am a human being I might get certain dates wrong; please forgive me, I will try to be as accurate as possible.

October seventh, as I'm sure most people here know, is the start of this narrative. Following the brutal attack on Israel by Hamas and PLJ, with the attack on land happening in the Israeli south and the rockets reaching as far as Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Netanya, leading to the deaths of 1200 people and kidnapping of 250 Israeli citizens, member of the IDF, and foreign workers, the majority of them women, children, and the elderly, Israel launched a counter offensive on Gaza. At the time worldwide sympathies were mostly on Israel's side, especially as the number of deaths and severe injuries rose as well as the brutal nature of the attack became clearer. The Biden administration immediately contacted the Israeli government assuring them they were on their side, and offering aid, including armaments. Biden even visits Israel, the first US president to do so during wartime. Biden personally meets with several families of hostages, especially those which are American citizens.

The US was also extremely involved in the process to achieve the first (and so far only) hostage deal/ceasire between Hamas and Israel in late November, alongside Qatar and Egypt. 112 people total were released during this deal in exchange for several days of ceasefire and humanitarian aid, but when Hamas insisted on returning dead bodies instead of live women and children as per the agreement, the ceasefire fell apart and the war resumed.

Following this the IDF attacks expanded from Gaza City to Khan Younis, at which point talks between Biden and Bibi were becoming increasing tense. While the US continued to support Israel in public and continued to veto various resolutions in the UN which did not call for the immediate return of the hostages alongside the end of the war, the phone calls between Biden and Bibi made it clear that the Israeli government had no clear plan for what is referred to as "the day after", and as the death toll in Gaza continued to rise and the majority of the population became refugees the American government became more and more concerned with the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza. Biden often ended up essentially chastasing Bibi for both of these, and asked Israel to come up with a plan for who will take control of the Gaza Strip following the end of the war, as well as putting particular emphasis on letting more humanitarian aid cross the border into Gaza.

Bibi and Gallant's relationship also becomes strained as they disagree on what the war efforts should look like, such as Gallant calling for entering Rafah, something that would ruin Bibi's relationship with the USA permanently at this point. Biden continuously asks for the IDF's plans to clear Rafah before attacking there and is unimpressed with the response.

A concurrent focus of the Israeli government as well as the families of the hostages was to get medication to the hostages, many of whom are known to have received grievous injuries on October seventh or who have conditions that require regular medication. Especially the elderly men, who at this point are about a third to half of the hostages still remaining in captivity. A mini deal is reached to bring in to Gaza a large amount of medication in exchange for Red Cross access as well as medication being given to the hostages. This access was not given, even though the medication did enter. Oddly enough, while obviously all the other intermediaries were involved, France was also involved in this one, and many summits since then have also taken place in Paris.

Following this the US abstaining rather than vetoing a UN resolution calling for ceasefire, as it while not conditioning it on the return of the hostages did still call for their return (hence not a veto, but also not voting for it). This was incredibly bad timing as just then Bibi was supposed to send a team to the US to explain and discuss the current war plans with the USAmerican, but this abstaining led to Bibi pulling the plug on that.

As this is happening, Bibi was calling for the war cabinet to convene less and less, and was sharing essentially no information with its members. The war efforts are still focused on Khan Younis, but frankly, the army is rapidly running out of things to do. Hostage deal negotiations are going nowhere. However the only reason Bibi even still has a government is because of Ben Gvir and Smotrich's presence, and they continually threaten a. to veto any hostage deal which involves the end of the war and b. to leave the government if the war is ended. Bibi puts extreme restrictions on the negotiating team, as well as constantly pulling them out. The relationship between Bibi and Biden continues to worsen, and the US continues to pressure for more and more aid to come in.

Then, without warning, Gantz gets on a plane to Washington. This is extremely unprecedented and frankly out of line, but ultimately in my opinion a good move; it temporarily improved relations between the US and Israel, as well as finally revealed the strained relationship that had been worsening for months to Gantz and Eisenkot, who had somehow (and this is frankly ridiculous, it was constantly on the news) completely missed how terrible this relationship had gotten.

Gantz and Eisenkot are constantly pushing forpre cabinet meetings, which Bibi does occasionally call. These debates are frustrating and circular. Biden continues to be disappointed with the lack of planning for Rafah and the day after, as Gallant continues to clarify that the IDF is ready to act on Rafah anytime, should Bibi actually decide to do so.

Things take another turn for the worse on Bibi's side when the US starts dropping aid and creating the harbor without consulting Israel. Meanwhile the US starts to put sanctions on Israeli citizens who commit acts of terror in the West Bank, and following what is actually a several year investigation, also against the Netzah Yehuda Battalion, a Haredi majority battalion known for committing acts of terror against Palestinians in the West Bank as well.

If this seems bad for Israel, it's because it is. As much as people on this website love to claim that Biden is "supporting a genocide", the truth is Biden is an old school diplomat. Israel is a long standing ally of the US, and the Trump style of making grand statements in front of crowds is considerably less effective than the constant pressure Biden is putting on Israel behind closed doors. This pressure is why the aid to Gaza is constantly increasing! No, it's not enough, but it is increasing. This pressure is also why until this week, following the sudden rockets shot at south Israel once more, Israel did not enter Rafah.

The current situation is more of the same. The US continues to be involved in the negotiations with Hamas for a hostage deal/ceasefire, which I detailed in a post a couple of days ago; their involvement is even more important now that Qatar has dropped out. Biden continues to pressure Israel to avoid activities in Rafah, and recently threatened to forbid the use of American weapons and armaments if it becomes more serious. There have been no new sanctions for a while, but I don't think the US would hesitate if that came up. The Biden administration, including both Kamala Harris and Biden himself, has started even criticizing the IDF on television!

What do I think is going to happen next? Personally I genuinely have no idea. Best case scenario, the current negotiations for a ceasefire/hostage deal succeed, and the IDF pulls out of Gaza, while somehow managing to replace Hamas as the people in charge in the Strip, followed by Bibi's resignation. This is not going to happen. The definitive victory Bibi keeps promising is not in reach, and if the IDF go for it without essentially emptying Rafah over the course of weeks or even months (currently a few hundred thousand out of 1.9 million (!) Gazans have fled to Khan Younis), the US is going to follow through on their threat and forbid the use of their armaments (the worst case scenario). The best case scenario that could actually happen is a hostage deal that leads to several months of ceasefire followed by a POSSIBLE cessation of the war, and Hamas continuing to control Gaza. The issue of who will take control of the Rafah crossing is also on the table, as Israel is interested in building a subterranean wall on the Egyptian border like the one that exists on the Israeli border. I suspect it'll be Egypt, which views the possible escape of Gazans into Egypt as a security threat; but this will probably lead to fucking riots in the street in Egypt, where public opinion is on the side of the Palestinians and often also pro Hamas, which will lead to the end of current Egyptian president el-Sisi's career.

Another issue I should have brought up and forgot to was the normalization process between Israel and Saudi Arabia, which the US and Biden were overseeing before the start of the war. It was progressing really well til October seventh; while it is getting back on track, following October seventh and the way the Palestinian issue has been brought to the forefront, the normalization can no longer go through without Bibi giving lip service to the possible future of a Palestinian state, the two state solution that Biden believes in. Bibi will simply not do this. Even if he wasn't a right wing nut job would never do that, it would definitely guarantee Ben Gvir and Smotrich's exit from the government, and Bibi's government falling immediately.

I think I've covered the main points (in uh... So many words. Probably too many words.) I'm currently not taking any more questions on i/p, I'll let y'all know when the inbox is "open" so to speak. If this was helpful to you and you feel like supporting me, my ko-fi is linked in my bio.

[girlactionfigure]

Cleared for publication:

Israeli forces in recent days retreived the bodies of Eden Zechariah and Warrant Officer Ziv Dado from Hamas in Gaza.

Both were abducted by Gaza terrorists on October 7.

Eden, 28, was taken from the Nova music festival.

Ziv, 36, was on duty at the time.

It is believed that both were wounded and died early in their captivity.

During the operation to retreive their bodies, 2 IDF soldiers were killed, including Gal Eisenkot, son of War Cabinet minister Gadi Eisenkot.

[mariacallous]

On Sunday, June 9, Israeli minister Benny Gantz, a member of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war cabinet and Netanyahu’s main putative challenger for the position of prime minister, resigned from the government along with his fellow party member Gadi Eisenkot. The resignation comes at an awkward time for the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden, which has been making a significant effort to promote a cease-fire and hostage release deal, proposed by Israel, outlined by Biden in a speech on May 31, and adopted by the U.N. Security Council as Resolution 2735. Gantz and Eisenkot, major proponents of such a deal within the Israel war cabinet, are now out of decisionmaking circles. Should Hamas’s leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, accept the deal, which he has not so far, Netanyahu would now have heightened political incentive to balk at his own proposal. But the resignation may also serve to catalyze political changes in Israel that may hasten a change of leadership, something the Biden administration would welcome. While there is no guarantee that Gantz’s resignation will bring Israel’s elections any closer, it was a necessary step for any major political change.

The Israeli war cabinet is formed

As the details and magnitude of the October 7 terrorist attack became clear, there were immediate calls in Israel for a national emergency government that would include centrist opposition leaders alongside Netanyahu. Israelis shared a sense of historic crisis and were prepared for a major war. The official leader of the opposition, Yair Lapid, offered to join the cabinet, but he demanded that Netanyahu exclude Betzalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, two far-right ministers, from his security cabinet. Netanyahu refused, with the rationale that after the emergency government eventually dissolved, he would have lost his base. It was an early sign that politics would continue to play a substantial role in the prime minister’s decisions, even in the depths of the crisis.

Gantz, the other major opposition leader, joined the cabinet nonetheless, satisfied instead by the creation of a “mini” war cabinet that excluded the two far-right ministers from the management of the war.

In the Israeli system, the prime minister is not the commander in chief of the military. Rather, the cabinet serves in that role, as a committee, with most powers bestowed on a smaller security cabinet (formally, the “ministerial committee for national security affairs”) of which Smotrich and Ben-Gvir are members. Netanyahu and Gantz thus formed an ad-hoc forum, the mini-war cabinet, with three official members: Netanyahu, Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant of Netanyahu’s own Likud party, and Gantz. They were joined by three observers, Eisenkot; Ron Dermer, Netanyahu’s confidante and former ambassador to the United States; and Aryeh Deri, the most veteran minister and leader of the Shas party. Notably absent were the far-right ministers.

Resignations and consequences

Gantz and Eisenkot joined the emergency cabinet on a temporary basis, for the duration of the war’s initial phases, and with the public expectation that they might resign by the end of 2023 or early 2024. Months past that, their resignations now have implications for Israeli policy and politics.

By May, as tensions with the Biden administration over Israel’s Gaza strategy had grown, Gallant publicly called out Netanyahu and criticized the latter’s lack of strategy for what Gaza might look like after Hamas. Without defined strategic goals, no operational or tactical objectives could succeed. Gallant demanded that Netanyahu state that he does not plan for a return to Israeli occupation, as existed before the Oslo II Accords of 1994. This dramatic challenge to Netanyahu also created an opening for Gantz.

In May, Gantz finally signaled his intent to resign. He laid out conditions for his staying in the government and set an ultimatum that he would leave if they were not met, which Netanyahu rebuffed the same day. In policy terms, his most notable demand echoed Gallant, demanding that Netanyahu elucidate the beginning of a strategy for the day after in Gaza.

Gantz, Gallant, and Eisenkot are all retired generals with a long, shared history in the military. Ganz is the former chief of staff of the military, a high-profile role that is more influential in Israel than the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is in the United States, for example. As the only lieutenant general in the Israeli military and the commander of everyone in uniform, the chief of staff commands a great deal of attention from a public who face, in theory, universal conscription. When Gantz was appointed to the top military post in 2011, he was, in fact, the second choice of the cabinet. Netanyahu, the prime minister at the time, and then-Defense Minister Ehud Barak had preferred Gallant, who was considered more hawkish on Iran, but was disqualified by a public committee due to ethical concerns. Eisenkot was appointed as Gantz’s deputy in 2013 and eventually succeeded him at the top military post. 

Now in government and civilian clothes, the former generals were at times allies in the war cabinet, despite representing different parties. Their demand for strategic thinking about the day after also reflected their desire to see some role, even if limited, for the secular, West Bank-based Palestinian Authority (PA) in Gaza, which Netanyahu has rejected. The centrist ministers’ departures weaken that prospect, possibly strengthening the hands of Smotrich and Ben-Gvir, who would prefer to see the collapse of the PA altogether.

Elections are not imminent … probably

The resignations also had political motivations. Gantz has led Netanyahu in the polls ever since October 7, but his lead has narrowed significantly. If elections were held today, polls now suggest the possibility of an inconclusive election, though still with a clear advantage to the opposition. If these were the results of the next election, Gantz would need to cobble together a coalition reminiscent of the coalition headed by Lapid and Naftali Bennett, an act of political acrobatics that only held together for slightly over a year.

Elections are not scheduled for over two years, however. Even with Gantz’s resignation, Netanyahu’s original coalition, which consists of 64 out of 120 members of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, still holds a clear majority. It could fracture in different scenarios, but none of them is very likely in the short term.

First, with Gantz’s and Eisenkot’s resignations, centrist Likud members, such as Gallant, may opt to defect and try to replace Netanyahu. This would be a very risky move for them politically, but it may become more likely if demonstrations against the government, already growing, return to the large scale that Israel had seen before October 6. Gantz’s presence in the government, and especially the war’s continuation, made the environment less conducive to such public pressure until now.

Netanyahu’s far-right partners may also bring about his downfall if he veers to the center. In particular, they have already warned that should Hamas accept the cease-fire and Netanyahu move forward with the deal (a “surrender,” as Smotrich termed it), they would topple the government. This, of course, makes such a scenario less likely.

Finally, there is a small chance that Netanyahu’s Haredi partners, who are the most conservative religiously but not the most hawkish in terms of national security, might destabilize his coalition. Haredi men are exempt from military service, due to political maneuvering, a highly emotive grievance for the majority of Jewish Israelis who do serve, especially in a time of war and bereavement. With the Supreme Court now demanding a legislative basis for the exemption, Netanyahu’s coalition is struggling to put one in place. Seeing a political opening, Gantz made conscription, in some form, one of his central demands of Netanyahu. Should such a legal standing not be found, the Haredim may follow through on their threats to resign, though they are unlikely to get a better deal with another prime minister later, and so have incentives to remain.

One final option remains: Netanyahu could call for elections himself if he found an opportune moment or excuse. Netanyahu has identified his opposition to a Palestinian state as a winning ticket in a population traumatized by October 7 and loath to take any security risks in negotiations with Palestinians. Netanyahu would hope to portray himself as the one man able to withstand international pressure on Palestinian sovereignty. He will undoubtedly hope to return to the theme of his recent election campaigns, portraying himself as being “in a league of his own” in global diplomacy. One opportunity for a campaign image of Netanyahu on the global stage will come soon, currently scheduled for July 24, when he speaks before a joint session of Congress.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Bethan McKernan at The Guardian:

The Israeli politician and former military chief Benny Gantz has followed through on a threat to resign from Benjamin Netanyahu’s emergency war cabinet, leaving the prime minister more reliant than ever on far-right elements of his coalition government. Gantz, a major Netanyahu rival, former defence minister and leader of the centre-right National Unity party, joined the three-man war cabinet as a minister without portfolio in the aftermath of Hamas’s 7 October attack, a move he said was for the sake of the country’s unity. But as Israel’s war effort in Gaza dragged on, disagreements over strategy and how best to bring the 250 Israeli hostages home spilled into the open, culminating in Gantz accusing the prime minister of pushing strategic considerations such as a hostage deal aside for his own political survival. Last month, he gave Netanyahu an ultimatum of 8 June to present concrete “day after” plans for the Gaza Strip.

Gantz delayed his resignation speech by a day after the unexpected rescue of four Israeli hostages in an operation that the health ministry in Gaza said killed 274 people and injured another 696. The withdrawal of his party also means Gadi Eisenkot, an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) general and war cabinet observer, and the minister without portfolio, Chili Tropper, are also stepping down. “Netanyahu is preventing us from progressing towards a true victory,” Gantz said in a televised address on Sunday night. “For this reason we are leaving the emergency government today, with a heavy heart, yet wholeheartedly.”

Gantz also called on Netanyahu to set a date for elections, adding: “Do not let our nation tear apart.” The move does not immediately pose a threat to Netanyahu, as the prime minister still controls a majority coalition in parliament. It does, however, affect the Israeli government’s respectability on the international stage; centrist Gantz is well liked in Washington, where he was seen as a useful brake on Netanyahu, and his absence means the prime minister’s far-right allies are likely to now have more sway over the trajectory of the war in Gaza and the growing threat of war with Hezbollah in Lebanon. Bezalel Smotrich, the far-right finance minister, slammed Gantz, saying “there is no less stately act than resigning from a government in time of war” as “the kidnapped are still dying in the Hamas tunnels”, and the extremist national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has already asked Netanyahu for Gantz’s seat on the war cabinet. Both ministers have repeatedly threatened to withdraw from the coalition if Israel makes any concessions to Hamas in a hostage and ceasefire deal.

[...] Netanyahu and his defence minister, Yoav Gallant, are the only two remaining members of the war cabinet, and also often do not see eye to eye. The prime minister is now said to be considering shuttering the war cabinet and reverting to a former model in which security issues are first discussed in a limited forum before being presented to regular cabinet meetings, in which he seeks ministerial approval. The longtime prime minister, facing corruption charges as well as scrutiny over the security failures that led to 7 October, is widely believed to see staying in office as his best chance of escaping prosecution. He also needs to parry an internal challenge from the two ultra-Orthodox parties in his coalition over the issue of military conscription.

Benny Gantz resigns from Israel’s war cabinet.

[etaali]

İsrailli yetkili: savaş amaçlarından hiçbirine ulaşmadık

Netanyahu’nun savaş kabinesinin eski üyesi “Gadi Eisenkot” şunu itiraf etti: Siyonist rejim şu anda geridedir

Siyonist rejimin Knesset üyesi ve bu rejimin eski genelkurmay başkanı bir basın toplantısında şunu itiraf etti: İsrail Gazze’de açıklanmış olan savaş hedeflerinden hiçbirine ulaşmamıştır.

Parstoday’ın bildirdiğine göre bu basın toplantısında “Eisenkot” Siyonist rejimin başbakanı “Benyamin Netanyahu”nun performansını şiddetlice eleştirdi.

Bu Siyonist yetkili İsrail’in Gazze’deki yenilgisini itiraf ederek şunları bildirdi: Siyasi ve partisel nedenlerden ötürü Netanyahu, esir takası anlaşması teklifini uygulamamaya karar vermiştir.

[starwhoopsass]

Israel’s Netanyahu dissolved the war cabinet

(source, Al Jazeera)

What was the Israeli war cabinet?

The war cabinet was formed on October 11 after Israel declared war on Gaza in response to a Hamas-led attack on October 7. The cabinet was set up as a smaller body within the security cabinet, which was part of the wider coalition cabinet. It comprised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his principal rival, former general Benny Gantz, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, and three observers: government ministers Aryeh Deri and Gadi Eisenkot, and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer. The war cabinet was intended to make quick decisions about the conduct of the war, which would then be sent for approval by the wider cabinet

Why was it scrapped?

On June 9, Gantz and observer Eisenkot, both of the National Unity Party, quit the war cabinet over the lack of a plan for Gaza beyond the current assault. Speaking on Sunday evening, Netanyahu reportedly told the security cabinet: “There is no more war cabinet”, one member present told the Israeli press. “It was part of the coalition agreement with Gantz, at his demand. The moment Gantz left, there is no such forum anymore,” Netanyahu is said to have continued. Gantz’s departure increased the pressure from National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who were both lobbying to join the inner war cabinet. In a letter to Netanyahu dated Thursday, Ben-Gvir wrote that the Israeli war had been “conducted in secret”, over the past eight months, through “limited forums that change their names and definitions in a loop, all for the purpose of sole control over decisions and avoiding discussion of other positions that would challenge the old conception”.

What now?

According to Netanyahu, the war cabinet will be replaced by a reduced kitchen cabinet, in which sensitive discussions and consultations can be conducted. According to the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, the new body will include Gallant, Dermer, and National Security Council head Tzachi Hanegbi.

[t-jfh]

Israeli strikes east of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

(Photo: Agence France-Presse — Getty Images)

Invading Rafah Doesn’t Help Israel

It may be in Netanyahu’s interest to flatten Rafah, because anything that prolongs the war keeps him in office, but it’s not in Israel’s interest.

For starters, the premise of those favoring a Rafah invasion is that the assault might be bloody but would enable the complete destruction of Hamas. But I’ve been arguing since the beginning of this war that Israel is unlikely to eradicate Hamas, any more than the United States eradicated the Taliban in Afghanistan, the Vietcong in Vietnam or violent militias in Iraq.

Gadi Eisenkot, a former chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces and a member of the current Israeli war cabinet, also warned earlier this year that talk of the “absolute defeat” of Hamas is a “tall tale.” Likewise, Secretary of State Antony Blinken argued that invading Rafah will not eliminate Hamas fighters or end the insurgency — so it looks as if the demolition of Rafah would mostly just kill more Palestinians, risk the lives of Israeli hostages, further inflame Gazans to seek vengeance and advance the growing isolation of Israel in ways that undermine its long-term security.

Opinion by Nicholas Kristof

The New York Times - May 18, 2024

•

•

Smoke rising after a strike in Jabaliya in the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday.

(Photo: Agence France-Presse — Getty Images)

A Palestinian man carrying the body of a child from the rubble of a collapsed building after a strike in Nuseirat, central Gaza, on Tuesday.

(Photo: Agence France-Presse — Getty Images)

An Israeli military helicopter lifts wounded soldiers near the border with northern Gaza on Tuesday.

(Photo: Atef Safadi / EPA, via Shutterstock)

A Palestinian woman being comforted as she grieves over the body of her child after a strike in Nuseirat, central Gaza, on Tuesday.

(Photo: Agence France-Presse — Getty Images)

Israeli Military Leaders See Danger in Lack of a Plan to Govern Gaza

As Hamas reappears in places Israel’s troops had cleared, Israeli commanders say their government’s failure to plan for stabilizing and administering Gaza will leave a perilous power vacuum.

By Damien Cave and Adam Rasgon

The New York Times - May 14, 2024

•

[doorhine]

"Latest updates

Yemen’s Houthi rebels say standing by Palestinians is a “religious and moral duty”, even as US-UK strikes target the group for its attacks on ships headed towards Israel.

The Palestinian football team will play its first game at the Asian Cup against the backdrop of the war.

An Israeli army strike overnight hit a house in Rafah killing 14 Palestinians, including a two-year-old girl. More than 100 Palestinians have been killed there in the last 24 hours.

Israel has carried out overnight raids in various towns across the occupied West Bank such as al-Mazra’a al-Gharbiya, northwest of Ramallah; Biddya, west of Salfit; and Nablus. Israel also deployed bulldozers in Jenin in the occupied West Bank.

Two sisters of Saleh al-Arouri, the senior Hamas official killed in Beirut, are among several people arrested in West Bank raids overnight, according to Wafa.

Israeli war cabinet ministers Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot attended a protest demanding the release of captives held by Hamas in Gaza.

Two Paltel employees are among dozens killed in Israeli raids on Gaza on Saturday, as the strip faces a new telecommunications blackout."

[dialogue-queered]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/11/10/israel-dahiya-doctrine-disproportionate-strategy-military-gaza-idf/

Ishan Tharoor

10 November 2023

Comment:

While the statistics are dated, this is an influential discussion of the way Israeli national security precepts and assumptions appear to have been translated into military tactics among some top officials - an approach termed the 'Dahiya Doctrine'

Article:

A few days after Hamas’s horrific Oct. 7 rampage through southern Israel, a top Israeli military official was blunt about his nation’s military response. Israeli security officials repeatedly stress the steps they take to minimize civilian harm and claim they are only striking legitimate military targets. In recent days, Daniel Hagari, spokesman of the Israel Defense Forces, accused Hamas of “cynically” deploying its assets in civilian areas and near critical infrastructure, like hospitals. But when speaking in the offensive’s early stage, Hagari revealed that the “emphasis” of the IDF’s reprisal was “on damage and not on accuracy.”

At that time, Israeli warplanes had already dumped hundreds of tons of bombs on targets in the Gaza Strip. The ongoing campaign in the month since has claimed more than 10,000 lives in the besieged territory, including those of more than 4,000 children. It’s triggered a humanitarian crisis, displacing the bulk of Gaza’s 2.3 million people and driving tens of thousands into a desperate search for food, safety and water. Hunger and disease stalk Gaza’s blasted neighborhoods. Aid agencies place little hope in Israel’s latest decision to offer four-hour “pauses” in its operations so that residents in north Gaza can trek southward.

There are reams of commentary on what Israel’s strategy and endgame may be as it seeks to nullify the long-standing threat posed by Hamas and purge the Islamist militant faction from its Gaza redoubts. But looming behind it — and implicit in Hagari’s “emphasis” on damage over accuracy — is a long-standing Israeli military doctrine that appears to be in play now.

The so-called “Dahiya Doctrine” took shape in the wake of the bruising 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Dahiya refers to the southern Beirut suburbs where Hezbollah maintained its strongholds and which were pummeled by Israeli jets after hostilities began when Hezbollah fighters abducted two Israeli soldiers.The onslaught then took Hezbollah by surprise, whose senior leadership had not expected to see their headquarters turned into rubble nor had planned for such a relentless bombardment. “I said that we shouldn’t exaggerate, that Israel will just retaliate a bit, bomb a couple of targets and that would be the end of it,” a Hezbollah operative told former Washington Post reporter Anthony Shadid in 2006.

The doctrine that emerged out of the conflict was most famously articulated by IDF commander Gadi Eisenkot. “We will wield disproportionate power against every village from which shots are fired on Israel, and cause immense damage and destruction. From our perspective, these are military bases,” he told an Israeli newspaper in 2008. “This isn’t a suggestion. This is a plan that has already been authorized.”

Around the same time, former Israeli colonel Gabriel Siboni wrote a report under the aegis of Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies that argued the necessary response to militant provocations from Lebanon, Syria or Gaza were “disproportionate” strikes that aim only secondarily to hit the enemy’s capacity to launch rockets or other attacks. Rather, the goal should be to inflict lasting damage, no matter the civilian consequences, as a future deterrent.

“With an outbreak of hostilities, the IDF will need to act immediately, decisively, and with force that is disproportionate to the enemy’s actions and the threat it poses,” he wrote. “Such a response aims at inflicting damage and meting out punishment to an extent that will demand long and expensive reconstruction processes.”

The doctrine appeared to be in operation during a round of hostilities between Hamas in Gaza and Israel at the end of 2008 and beginning of 2009. A U.N.-commissioned report regarding that conflict, which saw the deaths of more than 1,400 Palestinians and Israelis, determined that Israel’s campaign was “a deliberately disproportionate attack designed to punish, humiliate and terrorize a civilian population, radically

diminish its local economic capacity both to work and to provide for itself, and to force upon it an ever increasing sense of dependency and vulnerability.”

The doctrine endured in the years since. “Israeli military correspondents and security analysts repeatedly reported that the Dahiya doctrine was Israel’s strategy throughout the war in Gaza this past summer,” observed Palestinian American scholar Rashid Khalidi in the fall of 2014, after another Israeli campaign left more than 1,460 civilians dead, including almost 500 children. “Let us be frank: this is actually less of a strategic doctrine than it is an explicit outline of collective punishment and probable war crimes.”

He added: “Not surprisingly, one found little mention of the Dahiya doctrine whether in statements by U.S. politicians, or in the reporting of the war by most of the mainstream American media, which dwelt on the description of Israel’s actions as ‘self-defense.’”

In the present environment, Israel’s right to self-defense has indeed been championed by lawmakers and commentators across the West. Given the unprecedented scale and horror of the Oct. 7 attack, there appears to be a hardened consensus in Israel that its military should do whatever it takes to neutralize Hamas. To that end, a host of Israeli politicians have called for the wholesale destruction of Gaza, the depopulation of the territory and even its resettlement by Israel.

Eisenkot is now a member of Israel’s unity “war cabinet.” No Israeli politician or security official has explicitly invoked the “Dahiya doctrine” as a template for the destruction unleashed in Gaza.

“I don’t think this doctrine applies today,” Siboni, now of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, told French newspaper Le Monde last month, arguing that everything Israel is targeting are explicitly military targets.

Siboni added that Israel’s efforts to coax Palestinians in northern Gaza to flee to the south was a sign of its humanitarian approach. “As for those who remain, too bad,” he told Le Monde. “They choose to put their lives on the line.”

[workersolidarity]

[ 📹 Smoke billows out from the Al-Shujaiya neighborhood, east of Gaza City, during the Israeli occupation forces' bombardment of the residential neighborhood, coinciding with Israeli tanks and armored vehicles penetrating the neighborhood, destroying as much of it as possible while killing as many Palestinians as possible. 📈 The current death toll in Gaza now exceeds 37'877 Palestinians killed and over 86'969 wounded since the start of the genocide on October 7th. ]

🇮🇱⚔️🇵🇸 🚀🏘️💥🚑 🚨

268 DAYS OF ISRAELI GENOCIDE: US REWORDING TRUCE PROPOSAL, LOOKING FOR AGREEMENT, ZIONIST SOLDIER SERIOUSLY WOUNDED IN BATTLES, SMOTRICH DEFENDS COLONIAL OUTPOST, CALLS PALESTINIAN STATE A THREAT TO OCCUPATION, GENOCIDE CONTINUES WITH OFFENSIVE IN GAZA CITY

On 268th day of the Israeli occupation's ongoing special genocide operation in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) committed a total of 3 new massacres of Palestinian families, resulting in the deaths of no less than 43 Palestinian civilians, mostly women and children, while another 111 others were wounded over the previous 24-hours.

It should be noted that as a result of the constant Israeli bombardment of Gaza's healthcare system, infrastructure, residential and commercial buildings, local paramedic and civil defense crews are unable to recover countless hundreds, even thousands, of victims who remain trapped under the rubble, or who's bodies remain strewn across the streets of Gaza.

This leaves the official death toll vastly undercounted as Gaza's healthcare officials are unable to accurately tally those killed and maimed in this genocide, which must be kept in mind when considering the scale of the mass murder.

Zionist Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, spoke out on Sunday to defend the Israeli occupation's decision to formally recognize and legalize several illegal colonial settlements in the occupied West Bank of Palestine, and going further, called the establishment of a Palestinian state “an immediate, existential danger to the State of Israel.”

Speaking from a conference co-sponsored by the Hebrew newspaper Makor Rishon, the hardline extremist Minister claimed that Iran seeks to use a nuclear umbrella as cover for conventional military attacks on the Zionist entity, using proxies to fire tens of thousands of missiles.

"The Iranian regime has an orderly plan for the conventional destruction of the State of Israel,” he says, asserting that a Palestinian state in the West Bank would “multiply Gaza twenty times and place it in an area that topographically and geographically dominates the entire State of Israel.”

The racist comments suggest the cause of the Israeli entity's genocidal war is not to defend the territorial integrity or safety of Israeli citizens, but is instead designed to cause demographic devestation to Gaza's Palestinian population, so that Arab populations cannot overtake the Jewish population of Israeli-occupied Palestine.

Going on to complain of leftist and media criticism of the Zionist cabinet's decision to take steps against the Islamic city of Ramallah, Smotrich continued by saying "and unfortunately and absurdly, even today, after October 7 and after the Iranian plan is known, there are those who strive for this collective suicide with all their might."

"The Arabs of the West Bank can, God forbid, turn Kfar Saba into Kfar Aza, Ra’anana into Be’eri, Netanya into Nahal Oz and Tel Aviv into Sderot within hours,” Smotrich continued, slamming more moderate politicians like Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot who previously resigned from the hastily-formed unity War Cabinet at the start of the Israeli occupation's genocide in Gaza.

Smotrich went on to congratulate American candidate for President, Donald Trump, on his declaration opposing the formation of a Palestinian state during the Presidential debate on Friday.

Smotrich also said Israeli citizens must “free ourselves from the messianic thinking that characterized the left and the Israeli security establishment over the last decades since Oslo,” calling for the “toppling [of] the regime in Iran," which Smotrich called a “primary goal” and accusing Tehran of seeking to use Arab Israelis to threaten the country from within.

In the meantime, in other news on Sunday, June 30th, the United States is looking to re-word the language of President Biden's hostage exchange and peace proposal, seeking to find agreement between the warring parties in the Gaza Strip, and hoping to prevent a war on the Zionist entity's north with Hezbollah.

Citing three sources, US media outlet Axios reported that the Biden administration is working with its partners in Qatar and Egypt to alter the language of Article 8 of Biden's peace proposal; a part of the proposal that regulates the format for negotiations between the Palestinian Resistance factions and the Israeli entity in the first stages of the agreement, in order to set conditions for the second stage of the deal, which seeks to reach a "sustainable calm" in the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian resistance wants negotiations instead to focus only on the number and identity of detained Palestinians to be released from Israeli prisoner torture dungeons, in return for all the remaining, living Israeli soldiers or male hostages being held in the Strip.

The Zionist entity, however, wants the ability to raise the issue of the demilitarization of the Palestinian Resistance in Gaza, along with other issues, during the first stages of negotiations.

Meanwhile, behind the scenes, Axios' sources told the news outlet that US officials drafted new language for Article 8 in order to bridge the gap between the Israeli Occupation and Hamas, and are pushing Qatar and Egypt to pressure Hamas into accepting the new proposal.

"The U.S. is working very hard to find a formula that will allow reaching a deal," a source with direct knowledge of the talks told Axios, while another source said that if Hamas agrees to the new language presented by the United States, "it will allow [it] to close the deal."

In more news from the Israeli entity, the Ministerial Committee for Legislation has proposed a new bill which would "severely curb" the Israeli Shin Bet security service's ability to hold Jewish Israeli citizens in administrative detention (without bringing charges), while reserving its right to hold Palestinian Arabs in detention.

Administrative detention allows the Zionist entity to hold Israeli and Palestinian citizens in prison, including, commonly, Palestinian children, without charges or evidence of a crime, and to hold them indefinitely without trial.

The tool is typically used when Israeli intelligence agencies suggest a citizen is engaged in terroristic activities, but do not have evidence that would stand up in a court of law.

The proposed legislation would forbid the use of the practice of administrative detention or restraining orders against Israeli citizens, unless they are known members of a defined terrorist group, which would have to be reviewed and approved by the Committee.

The bill is aimed at preventing the administrative detention of right-wing Israeli extremists accused of plotting, or suspected of committing, attacks against Palestinians.

Speaking about the proposed legislation, and spinning it as a human rights issue, spokesperson for the far-right Religious Zionism Party, MK Simcha Rothman, said "The current bill seeks to strengthen the protection of human rights in Israel by establishing a stricter procedure for issuing administrative arrest warrants against the country’s citizens."

Rothman asserted that the bill is a "basic and democratic demand," and complained of the fact that there are those who "are trying to portray it as if it is a proposal dealing with Jews or Arabs, when in fact the proposal does not differentiate between Jewish and Arab citizens of the State of Israel and states that the use of this tool will be limited when it comes to citizens of the State of Israel regardless of religion, race or gender.”

"The first obligation of a state is to the lives and freedom of its citizens, therefore, the use of the tool of administrative detention against the citizens of the state must be done in the most limited way possible,” he insisted.

The bill will be debated in the Knesset Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee, chaired by the far-right Rothman, and has also been welcomed by the similarly fascist National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir.

Meanwhile, the genocide continues in the Gaza Strip, while resistance forces in Gaza continue confrontations with the invading occupation forces as they push deeper into the Al-Shujaiya neighborhood of Gaza City.

Israeli media reported today that a Zionist soldier with the 890th Paratrooper Brigades was seriously wounded during fighting in the Al-Shujaiya neighborhood on Saturday following the army's invasion of the area, which they claim is due to the supposed regrouping of the Hamas resistance movement, along with claimed intelligence on the Resistance group's infrastructure in the area.

At the same time, the Israeli occupation forces continued bombing and shelling civilian homes and public infrastructure across the Gaza Strip, killing and wounding dozens of Palestinians.

In just one example of the crimes of the Zionist entity, the Israeli occupation army bombed a residential home belonging to the Za'rab family, west of the city of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, slaughtering 6 civilians, including children, and wounding several others.

At the same time, Occupation artillery forces bombed civilian neighborhoods south of Rafah, wounding a number of Palestinians, while also shelling central Rafah, with explosions heard coming from the Tal al-Sultan and Saudi neighborhoods, west of the city.

Zionist fighter jets also bombarded the towns of Abasan and Al-Khuza'a, east of the city of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip.

Israeli warplanes went on to bomb a residential apartment in the Al-Daraj neighborhood, east of Gaza City, amid continued raids of various areas of the city.

Israeli occupation artillery detatchments also shelled residential homes in the vicinity of Barcelona Park in the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood, southwest of Gaza City, with smoke visibly rising from the area.

Simultaneously, Zionist warplanes conducted intense raids on the Al-Tuffah and Al-Shujaiya neighborhoods, east of Gaza City, along with targeting of the Al-Sabra neighborhood of the city, coinciding with violent artillery shelling of residential homes, which resulted in a number of casualties who were unable to be transported to hospital due to the continued bombardment by the occupation army.

According to Palestinian correspondants on the ground in Gaza City, armored vehicles of the Zionist army penetrated the Al-Shujaiya neighborhood, east of the city, and are currently besieging civilian families in their homes around the Martyr's Mosque area, while Occupation drones fire bullets and missiles at anything that moves.

Elsewhere in Gaza, occupation artillery shelling targeted the Al-Waha area of Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, killing two civilians on Sunday, while two others were killed as a result of an occupation airstrike on the Al-Tuffah neighborhood of Gaza City.

Zionist armored bulldozers were also seen tearing up and burning agricultural lands in northern Gaza, ensuring continued starvation and dependence on international aid, while south of Gaza, occupation tanks penetrate the project area, east of Rafah, coinciding with artillery shelling after occupation forces bulldozed homes in the Al-Shakoush area of the city.

As a result of the Israeli occupation's ongoing war of extermination in the Gaza Strip, the endlessly rising death toll now exceeds 37'877 Palestinians killed, including at least 10'000 women and over 15'000 children, while another 86'969 others have been wounded since the start of the current round of Zionist aggression, beginning with the events of October 7th, 2023.

June 30th, 2024

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@WorkerSolidarityNews