#house of Ravid

[eternal-3clipse]

Inspired by the song MAYDAY by TheFatRat & Laura Brehm

The Goddess form of Carnation made of stars and storms. I like the idea of ethereal but ultimately indifferent gods. Here is a powerful form for her but one that strips her of her identity, that makes her blend in with the vacuum of space. She becomes something more, but in the process losses what she already had.

[papasmoke]

The framing of the calls to boycott the dinner as if they were being led by American protestors as opposed to, say, Palestinian journalists in Gaza telling their American counterparts not to go, strikes me as disingenuous & intentionally misleading. A couple paragraphs of the article is also just stenography for the White House's reasoning for giving an award to IDF veteran & Biden admin toady Barak Ravid with no analysis on how that ties into the broader complicity of the Biden admin in the targeted killings of over 130 journalists in Gaza.

[eretzyisrael]

by Barak Ravid

One of the main questions raised during a meeting President Biden and Vice President Harris had with their national security team on Monday was whether there is a hostage-release and ceasefire in Gaza deal Hamas would ever agree to, U.S. officials said.

Why it matters: Biden and his top advisers were shocked after Hamas killed six hostages, among them U.S. citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin, and have started to rethink the way forward in the negotiations over the deal.

At the same time, Hamas' new demand to increase the number of Palestinian prisoners released as part of the deal raised even more concerns and questions among U.S. negotiators about whether an agreement is possible, U.S. officials said.

"We still think the deal is the only way to save the lives of the hostages and stop the war. But the executions not only increased our sense of urgency but also called into question Hamas' willingness to do a deal of any kind," a U.S. official said.

Behind the scenes: U.S. officials said one of the main arguments made in the meeting was that after Hamas murdered the hostages, including an American, the U.S. shouldn't push for a proposal that gives Hamas additional concessions and instead focus on applying more pressure and accountability measures against Hamas.

A concern raised in the situation room meeting was that the U.S. could press Israel to reduce Israel Defense Forces deployed along the Egypt-Gaza border or on other issues, only to discover that Hamas doesn't agree to other parts of the deal. That could mean the new offer would only become the foundation for future negotiations that would be more favorable to Hamas, a U.S. official said.

During the situation room meeting, Biden was briefed about the Department of Justice plan to publish indictments against Hamas leaders, which have been sealed since February, one U.S. official said.

On Wednesday, Hamas officials continued to stress that the U.S., Qatar and Egypt need to pressure Israel to agree to its demands.

Driving the news: White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told the families of the U.S. hostages on Sunday that Biden is considering presenting an updated and final proposal for the hostage-release and ceasefire deal this week and asking Israel and Hamas to respond.

But in recent days, the White House appears to be less enthusiastic about that option. Biden's advisers are still holding talks with Qatar and Egypt on the updated proposal but U.S. officials say they don't want to predict the timeline for presenting it.

"The text is basically done except for two paragraphs and the annexes of the prisoner exchange and two maps of IDF deployment in Gaza during the first phase of the deal," a U.S. official said.

"We all feel the urgency but what happened last weekend changed the character of the discussion. But we do want to try and get something together," the U.S. official said.

[sabrsiren]

IMPORTANT ARTICLE (link)

“Israelis” and current/former IOF are writing America’s news and approving stories for air — if you get your news foremost from sources like CNN, New York Times, Washington Post, AP, Axios and others… they commit heinous journalistic malpractice in falsifying information and orientalist, imperialist speculation.

From the article:

“Unit 8200 is Israel’s largest and perhaps most controversial spying organization. It has been responsible for many high-profile espionage and terror operations, including the recent pager attack that injured thousands of Lebanese civilians. As this investigation will reveal, Ravid is far from the only Israeli ex-spy working at top U.S. media outlets, working hard to manufacture Western support for his country’s actions.

[…]

Most of these stories consisted of simply printing anonymous White House or Israeli government sources, making them look good, and distancing President Biden from the horrors of the Israeli attack on Palestine. As such, there was functionally no difference between these and White House press releases. For example, one story the judges picked out was titled “Scoop: Biden tells Bibi 3-day fighting pause could help secure release of some hostages,” and presented the 46th President of the United States as a dedicated humanitarian hellbent on reducing suffering. Another described how “frustrated” Biden was becoming with Netanyahu and the Israeli government.

Protestors had called on reporters to snub the event in solidarity with their fallen counterparts in Gaza (which, at the time of writing, comes to at least 128 journalists). Not only was there no boycott of the event, but organizers gave their highest award to an Israeli intelligence official-turned-reporter who has earned a reputation as perhaps the most dutiful stenographer of power in Washington.

Ravid was personally presented with the award by President Biden, who embraced him like a brother. That a known (former) Israeli spy could hug Biden in such a manner speaks volumes about not only the intimate relationship between the United States and Israel but about the extent to which establishment media holds power to account.

This relentless whitewashing of the Biden administration has drawn widespread mockery online.

“AXIOS EXCLUSIVE: After selling Netanyahu millions of dollars worth of weapons, Biden played —loudly — Taylor Swift’s ‘Bad Blood.’ ‘Everyone could hear it,’ a source close to Biden says,” tweeted X user David Grossman. “Continuing to hand over big piles of cash and weapons, but shaking my head so everyone knows i sort of disagree with it,” quipped comedian Hussein Kesvani, in response to Ravid’s latest article suggesting that Biden has become “increasingly distrustful” of the Israeli government.

Throughout this supposed split between the U.S. and Israel, the Biden administration has continued to voice enthusiastic support for Israeli offensives, block ceasefire resolutions and Palestinian statehood at the U.N., and has sent $18 billion worth of weapons to Israel in the past 12 months. Thus, no matter how questionable these Axios reports are, they serve a vital role for Washington, allowing the Biden administration to distance itself from what international bodies have labeled a genocide. Ravid’s function has been to manufacture consent for the government among elite liberal audiences who read Axios, allowing them to continue to believe that the U.S. is an honest broker for peace in West Asia rather than a key enabler of Israel.

Ravid does not hide his open disdain for Palestinians. In September, he retweeted a post that stated:

“That’s the PaliNazi way…they pocket concessions without giving anything in return and then use those concessions as the baseline for the next round of negotiations. PaliNazis don’t know how to tell the truth.”

Less than one week later, he promoted Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s highly dubious claim that Israeli Defense Forces had found a picture of the children al-Qassam Brigades leader Mohammed Sinwar celebrating in front of a huge picture of planes hitting the World Trade Center. Gallant stated that they had found this picture – clearly trying to falsely associate Palestinians with 9/11 – in a tunnel “where the Sinwar brothers were hiding like rats.”

AN INFAMOUS SPY AGENCY

Founded in 1952, Unit 8200 is the Israeli military’s largest and most controversial division.

Responsible for covert operations, spying, surveillance and cyberwarfare, since October 7, 2023, the group has been at the forefront of the world’s attention. It is widely identified as the organization behind the infamous pager attack on Lebanon, which left at least nine dead and around 3,000 people injured. While many in Israel (and Ravid himself) hailed the operation as a success, it was condemned worldwide as an egregious act of terrorism, including by ex-CIA director Leon Panetta.

Unit 8200 has also constructed an artificial intelligence-powered kill list for Gaza, suggesting tens of thousands of individuals (including women and children) for assassination. This software was the primary targeting mechanism the IDF used in the early months of its attack on the densely populated strip.

Described as Israel’s Harvard, Unit 8200 is one of the most prestigious institutions in the country. The selection process is highly competitive; parents spend fortunes on science and math classes for their children, hoping they will be picked for service there, unlocking a lucrative career in Israel’s burgeoning hi-tech sector.

It also serves as the centerpiece of Israel’s futuristic repressive state apparatus. Using gigantic amounts of data compiled on Palestinians by tracking their every move through face recognition cameras monitoring their calls, messages, emails and personal data, Unit 8200 has created a dystopian dragnet that it uses to surveil, harass and suppress Palestinians.

Unit 8200 compiles dossiers on every Palestinian, including their medical history, sex lives and search histories, so that this information can be used for extortion or blackmail later. If, for example, an individual is cheating on their spouse, desperately needs a medical operation, or is secretly homosexual, this can be used as leverage to turn civilians into informants and spies for Israel. One former Unit 8200 operative said that as part of his training, he was assigned to memorize different Arabic words for “gay” so that he could listen out for them in conversations.

Unit 8200 operatives have gone on to create some of the world’s most downloaded apps and many of the most infamous spying programs, including Pegasus. Pegasus was used to surveil dozens of political leaders around the world, including France’s Emmanuel Macron, South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa, and Pakistan’s Imran Khan.

The Israeli government authorized the sale of Pegasus to the Central Intelligence Agency, as well as some of the most authoritarian governments on the planet. This included Saudi Arabia, who used the software to surveil Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi before he was assassinated by Saudi agents in Türkiye.

A recent MintPress News investigation found that a large proportion of the worldwide VPN market is owned and operated by an Israeli company headed and co-founded by a Unit 8200 alumnus.

Leaving aside Ravid’s comments, the question arises: is it really acceptable that members from a group designed to infiltrate, surveil and target foreign populations, that has produced many of the planet’s most dangerous and invasive spying technology, and is widely to be behind sophisticated international terror attacks, are writing Americans’ news about Israel and Palestine? What would the reaction be if senior figures in U.S. media were outed as intelligence officers for Hezbollah, Hamas, or Russia’s F.S.B.?

NEWS ABOUT ISRAEL, BROUGHT TO YOU BY ISRAEL

Ravid is far from the only influential journalist in America with deep ties to the Israeli state, however. Shachar Peled spent three years as an officer in Unit 8200, leading a team of analysts in surveillance, intelligence and cyberwarfare. She also served as a technology analyst for the Israeli intelligence service, Shin Bet. In 2017, she was hired as a producer and writer by CNN and spent three years putting together segments for Fareed Zakaria and Christiane Amanpour’s shows. Google later hired her to become their Senior Media Specialist.

Another Unit 8200 agent who went on to work for CNN is Tal Heinrich. Heinrich spent three years as a Unit 8200 agent. Between 2014 and 2017, she was the field and news desk producer for CNN’s notoriously pro-Israel Jerusalem Bureau, where she was one of the principal journalists shaping America’s understanding of Operation Protective Edge, Israel’s bombardment of Gaza that killed more than 2,000 people and left hundreds of thousands displaced. Heinrich later left CNN and is now the official spokesperson of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

CNN’s penchant for hiring Israeli state figures continues to this day. Tamar Michaelis, for example, currently works for the network, producing much of its Israel/Palestine content. This is despite having previously served as an official IDF spokesperson in the Israeli Defense Forces.

The New York Times, meanwhile, hired Anat Schwartz, an ex-Israeli Air Force Intelligence officer with zero journalistic experience. Schwartz co-wrote the infamous and now discredited “Screams Without Words” expose, which claimed that Hamas fighters systematically sexually violated Israelis on October 7. Times staff themselves revolted over the lack of evidence and fact-checking in the piece.

Multiple New York Times employees, including star columnist David Brooks, have had children serving in the IDF; even as they report or offer opinions on the region, the Times never disclosed these glaring conflicts of interest to its readers. Nor has it disclosed that it purchased a Jerusalem house for its bureau chief that was stolen from the family of Palestinian intellectual Ghada Karmi in 1948.

Social media companies, too, are filled with former Unit 8200 agents. A 2022 MintPress study found no fewer than 99 former Unit 8200 operatives working for Google.

Facebook also employs dozens of ex-spies from the controversial unit. This includes Emi Palmor, who sits on Meta’s oversight board. This 21-person panel ultimately decides the direction of Facebook, Instagram and Meta’s other offerings, adjudicating on what content to allow, promote, and what to suppress. Meta has been formally condemned for its systematic suppression of Palestinian voices across its platforms by Human Rights Watch, which documented over 1,000 instances of overt anti-Palestinian censorship in October and November 2023 alone. A measure of this bias is highlighted by the fact that, at one point, Instagram automatically inserted the word “terrorist” into the profiles of users who called themselves Palestinian.

Despite the widespread claims by U.S. politicians that it is a hotbed of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic racism, TikTok also employs many former Unit 8200 agents in key positions in its organization. For example, in 2021, it hired Asaf Hochman as its global head of product strategy and operations. Before joining TikTok, Hochman spent over five years as an Israeli spy. He now works for Meta.

CNN staff are under similar pressure. Last October, new C.E.O. Mark Thompson sent out a memo to all staff instructing them to make sure that Hamas (and not Israel) is presented as responsible for the violence, that they must always use the moniker “Hamas-controlled” when discussing the Gaza Health Ministry and their civilian death figures, and barring them from any reporting of Hamas’ viewpoint, which its senior director of news standards and practices told staff was “not newsworthy” and amounted to “inflammatory rhetoric and propaganda.”

Both the Times and CNN have fired multiple journalists over their opposition to Israeli actions or support for Palestinian liberation. In November, the Times’ Jazmine Hughes was forced out after she signed an open letter opposing genocide in Palestine. The newspaper terminated Hosam Salem’s contract the previous year after a pressure campaign from pro-Israel group Honest Reporting. And CNN anchor Marc Lamont Hill was abruptly fired in 2018 for calling for Palestinian liberation in a speech at the United Nations.

Large organizations like Axios, CNN and the New York Times obviously know who they are hiring. These are some of the most sought-after jobs in journalism, and hundreds of applicants are likely applying for each position. The fact that these organizations choose to select Israeli spies above everybody else raises serious questions about their journalistic credibility and their purpose.

Hiring agents from Unit 8200 to produce American news should be as unthinkable as employing Hamas or Hezbollah fighters as reporters. Yet former Israeli spies are entrusted with informing the American public about their country’s ongoing offensives against Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen, Iran and Syria. What does this say about the credibility and biases of our media?

Since Israel could not continue to prosecute this war without American aid, the battle for the American mind is as important as actions on the ground.

And as the propaganda war wages, the lines between journalist and fighter blur. The fact that many of the top journalists supplying us with news about Israel/Palestine are literally former Israeli intelligence agents only underlines this.”

[emphasis my own]

[girlactionfigure]

ISRAEL REALTIME — "Connecting the World to Israel in Realtime"

ISRAEL PROPOSES LENGTHY CEASEFIRE IN EXCHANGE FOR HOSTAGE RELEASE

Israel, through Qatari and Egyptian mediators, has presented Hamas with a multi-phase proposal, offering up to a two-month pause in the fighting. The deal aims to secure the release of all remaining hostages in Gaza. Although not signaling an end to the war, this proposal represents the longest ceasefire duration offered by Israel to Hamas since the conflict's onset.

Key Points:

- More than 130 hostages are still held in Gaza, with some reportedly deceased.

- President Biden's adviser, Brett McGurk, is actively engaging in talks in Egypt and Qatar to advance negotiations for the release of hostages held by Hamas.

- The proposed deal outlines various phases for releasing hostages, prioritizing vulnerable groups initially.

- Israeli officials express cautious optimism about potential progress, emphasizing a readiness to release Palestinian prisoners if Hamas accepts the offer.

- The proposal includes a commitment from Israel to redeploy its forces, allowing the gradual return of Palestinian civilians to specified areas during the ceasefire.

U.S. Perspective:

- U.S. officials suggest that an agreement leading to a ceasefire might be the sole viable path for Gaza.

- White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby affirms President Biden's support for a ceasefire, enabling hostage release and increased humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Israeli Stance:

- Israel clarifies it will not agree to end the war and rejects the release of all 6,000 Palestinian prisoners from its jails.

- Israeli officials anticipate a significant reduction in IDF operations post-ceasefire implementation.

This proposal introduces a substantial diplomatic effort to address the conflict, focusing on a prolonged cessation of hostilities in exchange for tangible progress on the hostage front.

By Barak Ravid from Axios

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Barak Ravid at Axios:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded Thursday to President Biden's threat to suspend military aid if Israel invades Rafah, declaring in a video: "If Israel needs to stand alone, it will stand alone."

Why it matters: Netanyahu's defiance in the face of Biden's "red line" will further exacerbate tensions between the Israeli government and the White House over the war in Gaza.

Driving the news: Biden warned in an interview with CNN Wednesday that if Israel proceeds with an invasion of Rafah, the U.S. will stop supplying it with artillery shells, bombs for fighter jets and other offensive weapons.

Biden's ultimatum was the first time that the president or any other official in his administration has said publicly that an Israeli ground operation in Rafah will result in a halt to the supply of offensive weapons.

Biden's comments came a few days after Axios first reported that the White House had put a weapons shipment to Israel on hold as a signal of its concern about Israel's plans for Rafah, where more than one million Palestinians are sheltering.

What they are saying: In another video in Hebrew released on Thursday, Netanyahu compared the war in Gaza to Israel's war of independence in 1948.

"Back then, there was also an arms embargo on Israel — but we won. Today, we are much stronger… If we need to, we will fight with our fingernails," he said.

In an interview with Dr. Phil released Thursday, Netanyahu said he hopes that he and Biden can overcome the current disagreement — but stressed that Israel will do what it must to defeat Hamas, including in Rafah.

Benny Gantz, a member of the war cabinet and one of Netanyahu's chief rivals, said in a statement that he is sure that the "important U.S. weapons shipments" will be transferred.

The intrigue: Itamar Ben Gvir, Israel's ultranationalist security minister, posted a tweet — which was widely condemned — suggesting that Hamas "loves" Biden.

"The U.S. stood by Israel in its most difficult hour and the attacks against it by irresponsible ministers are ungrateful and motivated by domestic politics," Gantz said.

Cry more, genocidal war criminal Israel Apartheid State "Prime Minister" Benjamin Netanyahu! We the American people are tired of propping up your repressive apartheid regime!

[ashenpumpkin]

So I'm starting a new corner on my blog which is Hebrew songs i like and the lyrics translation for those that want them This is the song "All this time" by Ravid Plotnik, and I'll note that although the song is sung by a male singer, the grammar of the lyrics is that of a female speaker. [Chorus] And all of this time, i was alone All of this time. Every day over again all of this time, i was alone All of this time. i was alone [1st house] Say, do you remember the gang? do you remember the apartment, the laughs? You told me you're in love with me after barely two and a half days. In inner rooms we cried and outside we laughed to the skies. You told me i have a blessing and kissed my hands You said there are no friends in this world, man to man are wolves. How you brought me into your world, and loved me till it hurt. A lot more from all your exes, with whom you were before me. Do you remember Yafo D. left, and a sea of tears in both my eyes I don't know what I don't know why [Chorus] But for all of this time, i was alone all of this time, every day over again [2nd house] Do you remember sitting on the grass on Cirkin? and backpack rides in the rain to the car? Happy with all we have, denying all that isn't good I was Zina the warrior princess, you were Avi "offended"y I would hear Nina simon sing "you don't know what love is" When i tried changing for you, and be the women of your dreams. When you wanted Classy i was Beyoncé, when you wanted hood i was a bimbo When we dreamed to travel the world, if we'd only survive crises, When you told me how your mom went from hospital to hospital to hospital. I don't know what, i don't know why

[Chorus] But for all of this time, i was alone all of this time, every day over again Say do you remember the good? Remember hugs, remember kisses? Because yes there were moments, rare minutes of heartbeats and passions. Now seriously, do you remember the anger, the fights? do you remember walking down the street angry looking jealously at loving couples? remember the good words? how you hoped to hear 'thank you'? remember i cried quietly in the corner of the room hidden and nobody knew? they talk to you about me, all your family and friends I know you loved me, you loved you never did before but life is stronger than us, and you let that bridge fall you talked like an angry and fucked up kid, when you were jealous and insecure. There's no mom and dad, not in the mood for anything, just weed and cigs and I'm getting myself a puff every night like my life is great I was looking for the way to leave you, without being hurtful. Remember panic attacks and sleepless nights where i thought i was going crazy? I loved you at every given moment, even when you were childish i cured your broken heart, and you in return disappeared. [Chorus]

[darkmaga-returns]

By Alan MacLeod / MintPressNews

One year after Oct. 7 attacks, Netanyahu is on a winning streak.” So reads the title of a recent Axios article describing the Israeli prime minister riding on an unbeatable wave of triumphs. These stunning military “successes,” its author Barak Ravid notes, include the bombing of Yemen, the assassinations of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, and the pager attack against Lebanon.

The same author recently went viral for an article that claimed that Israeli attacks against Hezbollah are “not intended to lead to war but are an attempt to reach ‘de-escalation through escalation.’” Users on social media mocked Ravid for this bizarre, Orwellian reasoning. But what almost everybody missed is that Barak Ravid is an Israeli spy – or at least he was until recently. Ravid is a former analyst with Israeli spying agency Unit 8200, and as recently as last year, was still a reservist with the Israeli Defense Forces group.

Unit 8200 is Israel’s largest and perhaps most controversial spying organization. It has been responsible for many high-profile espionage and terror operations, including the recent pager attack that injured thousands of Lebanese civilians. As this investigation will reveal, Ravid is far from the only Israeli ex-spook working at top U.S. media outlets, working hard to manufacture Western support for his country’s actions.

White House Insider

Ravid has quickly become one of the most influential individuals in the Capitol Hill press corps. In April, he won the prestigious White House Press Correspondents’ Award “for overall excellence in White House coverage”—one of the highest awards in American journalism. Judges were impressed by what they described as his “deep, almost intimate levels of sourcing in the U.S. and abroad” and picked out six articles as exemplary pieces of journalism.

Most of these stories consisted of simply printing anonymous White House or Israeli government sources, making them look good, and distancing President Biden from the horrors of the Israeli attack on Palestine. As such, there was functionally no difference between these and White House press releases. For example, one story the judges picked out was titled “Scoop: Biden tells Bibi 3-day fighting pause could help secure release of some hostages,” and presented the 46th President of the United States as a dedicated humanitarian hellbent on reducing suffering. Another described how “frustrated” Biden was becoming with Netanyahu and the Israeli government.

Protestors had called on reporters to snub the event in solidarity with their fallen counterparts in Gaza (which, at the time of writing, comes to at least 128 journalists). Not only was there no boycott of the event, but organizers gave their highest award to an Israeli intelligence official-turned-reporter who has earned a reputation as perhaps the most dutiful stenographer of power in Washington.

Ravid was personally presented with the award by President Biden, who embraced him like a brother. That a known (former) Israeli spy could hug Biden in such a manner speaks volumes about not only the intimate relationship between the United States and Israel but about the extent to which establishment media holds power to account.

[agentfascinateur]

Unit 8200 controlling US propaganda spin

White House Correspondents’ Association award winner, Barak Ravid, CNN producer Shachar Peled and New York Times producer Anat Schwartz are all alumni of Israel’s Unit 8200.

(...)

Unit 8200 has also been widely identified as the group behind last month’s pager attack in Lebanon that injured thousands of civilians.

(...)

Unit 8200 is also reportedly behind Lavender, the AI software that automatically generates kill lists of tens of thousands of Gazans... *And Pegasus.

[andrewtheprophet]

Hamas continues the 42 month war: Revelation 11

Hamas rejects new U.S. proposal for Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal Barak Ravid Hamas on Sunday rejected an updated U.S. proposal for a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza, blaming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for moving the goalposts and the U.S. for indulging him. Why it matters: The White House had claimed significant progress had been made during talks in Doha over the last…

[wushigod]

The Israeli military announced Friday that it has recovered the bodies of three hostages from the Gaza Strip. The hostages were identified as Shani Louk, Amit Bouskila, and Itshak Gelernter, IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a press conference in Tel Aviv. All three were taken hostage on October 7 and were killed while escaping the Nova music festival and their bodies taken into Gaza, the IDF said. “They were celebrating life in the Nova music festival and they were murdered by Hamas,” he said. The bodies were identified by authorities and the families have been informed, Hagari said, adding that the bodies had been transferred to medical professionals for forensic examination. Hagari did not disclose where the bodies were found during the press conference. He said the bodies were recovered during a joint IDF and Shin Bet operation. CNN analyst and Axios reporter Barak Ravid, citing an IDF spokesperson, reported the bodies were found in a tunnel in Gaza. Nissim Louk, father of Shani Louk whose body was one of those recovered also told Israeli media his daughter’s body was very well preserved because it had been kept in a “deep and very cold tunnel”. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his grief in a post on X on Friday. “The heart breaks for the great loss. My wife Sara and I grieve with the families. All our hearts are with them in this hour of grieving,” he said. “We will return all our hostages, the dead and the alive alike. I congratulate our brave forces who, with determined action, have returned our sons and daughters home,” he added. Of the three hostages, only Louk had previously been confirmed dead by the Israeli government. The 23-year-old German-Israeli woman was declared dead by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in late October. A source involved with her identification told CNN Louk’s death was announced after forensic examiners found a bone fragment from her skull. Her lifeless body was seen on video on the back of a Hamas truck after the music festival attack. Louk’s family said they feel some closure now that her body has been recovered. In a statement given to CNN, the family said the IDF came to their house on Friday and informed them that they were able to rescue Louk’s body from a tunnel in Gaza and bring her back to Israel. “Every news like this brings us back to the horrific moment we had to find out that our loving daughter was brutally murdered by Hamas on the 7th of October. However, it is also a relief to get the body back and we are now able to bury her close by. It gives us some kind of closure,” the family said. “We want to remember Shani as the beautiful and peace-loving person she was, who loved music, dancing and life. She brought us and many other people in the world light and the belief in good. This is how we choose to remember Shani,” the statement added. Around 240 people were taken hostage and moved to Gaza during Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel that also killed more than 1,200 people. A little more than 100 were freed during a release deal in November, but the IDF believes there are still 132 hostages being held in Gaza, 128 of whom were taken on October 7. The IDF believed that of those 132 hostages, 40 are believed to be dead, including two who were taken in 2014. A deal to secure the release of the remaining hostages has remained elusive for months, despite rounds of talks between Israeli and Hamas negotiating teams. Last Friday, Hamas militants said Israel’s rejection of a ceasefire plan submitted by mediators at negotiations in Cairo had sent hostage release talks back to “square one.” The statement came a day after the latest round of Gaza truce and hostage deal talks ended in Cairo, without a deal. The militant group also accused Netanyahu of hindering the ceasefire talks, so as to use negotiations as a cover to attack the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

[eternal-3clipse]

Updated Carnation ref,

I worked with her hairstyle and made her purple more pinkish. As well as helping the outfits b/c I’m not use to princess outfits and stuff like that.

Her ties with Lady Raven, the goddess of prophecies and death. Shattered parts of a being dealing with her identities of Goddess vs Remeberence, Priestess vs Princess, & Poet vs Narrator.

The Goddess, the potential to godhood and the power that comes with it. Yet she knows the truth of such power and godhood such omnipotence, the price of personhood. She wishes to be a person.

The Remembrance, a shard of that godhood yet holds the omniscience of it. Yet knowing all, for gods like that means there is no way of acting. No way of acting due to her knowledge.

The Priestess and Princess are outward labels and facades. One due to her religious duties and other of her privilege and birth. One she loves and accepts the other she shuns and feels bad for. She knows how horrible her family is with the poison and familicide for the throne. Her divinity feels I deserved feeling she needs to pay for the monstrous acts of Rhea family and ancestors. The Priestess as a facade is her repentance. Serving her community spiritually and through community service. Most don’t know her face but they do know her wing ears. Her soft angelic voice. Her calming and nurturing nature and wisdom.

[tieflingkisser]

Why Biden’s Threat to Suspend Arms to Israel Is A Scam

President Joe Biden’s pledge to cut off arms to Israel won’t stop its Rafah offensive, won’t save Palestinian lives, and doesn’t meaningfully address the concerns raised by the student protestors. What it has done is sent the news media into a frenzy of hyperbole about the supposed gravity of the president’s remarks. “If they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons,” Biden said in a CNN interview last Wednesday. The statement was confusingly vague — Which weapons specifically? And aren’t the Israelis already in Rafah? But Biden was immediately rewarded with sensational news headlines epitomized by a three-alarm emoji viral post from Axios reporter (and many are saying White House stooge) Barak Ravid. With college protests over the Israel-Hamas war sweeping across the country and a presidential election looming, it’s obvious why Biden might want people to think his warning will influence Israel and protect Palestinian civilian lives in Rafah, where over one million have sought shelter in the last major urban enclave of Gaza. But the significance of his pledge has been wildly overstated, for the following reasons (which I elaborate on below): 

Israel doesn’t need the U.S. weapons to fight in Rafah, 

The arms suspension would take months to be felt,

The deadliest part of the war (for civilians) is already over, and

Israel is already attacking Rafah and has been doing so for weeks.

Israel Isn’t Wanting for Weapons

As to the first point, Israel has made clear that it already has the weapons it needs to conduct military operations in Rafah. “The IDF [Israeli Defense Force] has armaments for the missions it is planning, including missions in Rafah,” said IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari at a press conference on Thursday following Biden’s remarks. “We have what we need.” In fact, since Hamas’s October 7 attack, I can’t find a single example of the IDF saying they’re running out of weapons needed to fight the war. This is not surprising given the over $3 billion per year in military aid the U.S. provides Israel, including via secret weapons stockpiles the U.S. military maintains in the country (see: War Reserve Stockpile Allies-Israel, or WSRA-I, which I reported on here.) All of this is why Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was able to brashly respond to Biden’s warning that Israel would be able to “stand alone” without U.S. support. In fact, Netanyahu has cracked that the effect of the United States not providing “precision” weapons is to increase the prospects of civilian casualties.

Arms Assistance Isn’t Amazon Two-Day Delivery

Even if the Biden administration canceled every arms export to Israel — far beyond what he actually promised, but let’s pretend — their absence would take weeks or even months to affect Israel’s supply of weapons. That’s because foreign military assistance involves a logistics process far more complex than Amazon two-day delivery. As a result, it takes an average of 18 months to award a foreign military sales contract. The lumbering process is so slow the Pentagon convened a “Tiger Team” to help speed up arms exports to Israel, as I reported in December.

[...]

To me, the most ridiculous part of Biden’s pledge is his insistence that Israel isn’t already at war in Rafah, which it has been for weeks and even months. While administration officials usually take care to include qualifiers like that it opposes a “full-scale” invasion of Rafah (whatever that means), Biden forgot to read the fine print during his CNN interview, veering into falsehood.

[eretzyisrael]

by Vijeta Uniyal

Report: Biden Admin halted arms shipment to Israel as a pressure tactic against Rafah invasion

The Biden administration last week halted an ammunition shipment to Israel in a bid to pressure the IDF into abandoning the planned operation in Rafah, Israeli journalist Barak Ravid reported in the new website Axios Sunday.

The revelation comes as Israel’s military offensive against Hamas enters its seventh month. Israel, a key U.S. ally, relies of American-made weapons, ammunition and spare parts for its armed forces.

In recent months, the Biden White House has been threatening to cut shipment of arms and ammunition if Jerusalem did not comply with its demands, including plans to eliminate Hamas leadership cornered in Rafah. According to the The New York Sun on March 18, Washington was “considering leaving Israel short of the armaments it needs to fight Hamas.”

The Axios reported:

The Biden administration last week put a hold on a shipment of U.S.-made ammunition to Israel, two Israeli officials told Axios.(…) The incident raised serious concerns inside the Israeli government and sent officials scrambling to understand why the shipment was held, Israeli officials said. President Biden is facing sharp criticism among Americans who oppose his support of Israel. The administration in February asked Israel to provide assurances that U.S.-made weapons were being used by Israel Defense Forces in Gaza in accordance with international law. Israel provided a signed letter of assurances in March. The Israeli officials said the ammunition shipment to Israel was stopped last week. (…) The White House declined to comment. (…) The Pentagon, the State Department and the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office didn’t immediately respond to questions.

[dertaglichedan]

Biden Urges Israel to Stand Down After Iran's Attack

The United States is urging Israel not to retaliate against Iran after the terrorist-backed country launched dozens of drones on Saturday. 

President Joe Biden made it clear that the U.S. would not join any Israeli offenses against Iran. However, he did praise the nation’s success in intercepting about 300 missiles and drones launched by Tehran. 

“Israel demonstrated a remarkable capacity to defend against and defeat even unprecedented attacks--sending a clear message to its foes that they cannot effectively threaten the security of Israel," Biden said. “While we have not seen attacks on our forces or facilities today, we will remain vigilant to all threats and will not hesitate to take all necessary action to protect our people.”

Top Iranian generals said that the country “achieved its goals” despite the U.S. and its “partners” interfering with the drones. 

This is the first time there has been an attack inside of Israel by Iran. It is unclear whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will listen to Biden and not retaliate which would escalate the situation. 

The Israel Defense Forces said the country is “prepared and ready” with defensive actions. However, according to an  Israeli news website, Biden will not support Israel if it chooses to retaliate. 

US President Joe Biden told Prime Minister Netanyahu in their phone call tonight that the US will not support an Israeli attack on Iran and will not take part in it, a senior White House official said this morning (Sunday).  “You won a victory today. Be content with this victory,” Biden told Netanyahu, according to a senior White House official.  The official in the White House said that when Biden told Netanyahu that the US opposes an Israeli attack on Iran and that it would not take part in such a move, Netanyahu said he understood that. Via Barak Ravid of Wall.

[girlactionfigure]

🔅 After Shabbat - ISRAEL REALTIME - Connecting to Israel in Realtime

PASSOVER is Monday night!

▪️CRAZY ISRAELI POLITICS.. (1) Former Prime Minister Olmert does not rule out a return to politics at the end of the seven-year no-politics-allowed period from the day of his conviction for bribery.

(2) Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert: "If other countries did not cooperate with us, we would have only intercepted 75% of the missiles from Iran.” (( One, likely not true, two, what kind of former prime minister shares information that strengthens your enemies? ))

▪️HAMAS LEAVING QATAR.. Following Qatar leadership's incessant anger and pressure on the leaders of Hamas regarding negotiations on the hostage deal, the Wall Street Journal reports the Hamas leadership is leaving its political headquarters in Qatar, for an unknown destination. One of the destinations that the group is considering is Oman. Another possibility is Turkey as the Hamas leader met with Turkey’s president today.

▪️AIR TRAVEL.. Polish Airline LOT restores flights to Israel.

▪️US TO SANCTION IDF NETZACH YEHUDA BATTALION???  The US Secretary of State will announce within days the imposition of sanctions against the Netzah Yehuda Battalion because of allegations of violence against Palestinians. The American sanctions will prohibit the transfer of American military aid to the battalion, prevent its soldiers and officers from taking part in training with the United States Army, or participating in activities that receive American funding.  (Reporter Barak Ravid)

(( This is more bizarre “we show balance” activity from the administration - Netzach Yehuda’s normal duty station is Judea-Samaria, and right wing Israelis are screaming about the IDF treating the Palestinians with kid gloves. ))

▪️US FUNDING.. combined Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan funding bill passes US House, moving to US Senate but supported by president.