Blinken ‘willing’ to join persecution of ICC officials
The Cradle, May 22 2024
Blinken said that he is willing to help Congress impose sanctions against International Criminal Court officials over their request for arrest warrants against Israeli officials, Reuters reports on May 22. At a Senate hearing, US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told Blinken that he wanted Washington to impose sanctions against the ICC as a response to the arrest warrant requests. The senator told Blinken:
I want to take actions, not just words. Will you support bipartisan effort to sanction the ICC, not only for the outrage against Israel but to protect, in the future, our own interest?
Blinken responded:
I welcome working with you on that.
During his announcement of the arrest warrants on Monday, ICC prosecutor Karim Khan said that he had reasonable grounds to believe that the Israeli prime minister and the defense chief, alongside three Hamas leaders, are responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity. At an earlier hearing on Tuesday, Blinken called the decision of the ICC “profoundly wrongheaded,” adding it would complicate the goal of reaching a hostage deal. Biden vocally denounced the ICC arrest warrants, saying that it is “outrageous” to put the top US ally and Hamas on equal footing. Biden said in a statement:
Let me be clear. Whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas.
He reaffirmed again later that day during a White House reception honoring Jewish American Heritage Month:
It’s clear Israel wants to do all it can to ensure civilian protection. Let me be clear. What’s happening is not genocide.
At least 35.7k Palestinians have been killed as a result of Israel’s war on Gaza, including over 15k children. The US has nonetheless continued to facilitate the Israeli war on the besieged enclave. The White House has recently told Congress that it has planned a $1b new weapons package for Israel, following its decision to withhold a previous weapons shipment over aggressions against Rafah.
Social upheaval will lead Israel to collapse in coming years: Study
The Cradle, May 22 2024
A new study by Israeli government administration experts Eugene Kandel and Ron Tzur says that Israel will not make it to its 100th anniversary as a state, particularly due to deep divisions plaguing its society and political landscape, as reported by Haaretz. They wrote:
After the government’s attempt to weaken the judiciary last year, followed by Hamas’ massacre in the south, a picture of total failure in the systems, management and operations of the administration has emerged. In the business-as-usual scenario in the political configuration today, there is a considerable likelihood that Israel will not be able to exist as a sovereign Jewish state in the coming decades. In the Israeli political regime today, there is no possibility of ending the internal war. After the terrible disaster (Oct 7) and the functional breakdown it reflected, it is no longer possible to act within the same framework and expect better results.
Kandel and Tzur highlight that Israel is divided into three main camps that clash in order to “impose their world view on the state,” according to Haaretz. They also note three main existential challenges: The economic challenge, the clash of values, and the fact that very few notice these dangers. The three camps mentioned earlier are as follows. The first are those of the Jewish-democratic-liberal state who wish to live in a western-style democracy. Kandel and Tzur say that the majority of Israelis, including Arab Israelis and many religious Jews, identify with this “tribe.” The second are those who support a religious state ruled by the Torah, who would prefer Rabbinic law over democracy. This camp is made up of the ultra-Orthodox. The third are those who are against a Jewish state and prefer a state for all citizens. Kandel and Tzur say most of the Arab community prefers this type of state.
There’s no possibility of these three camps agreeing on a “social contract,” they write, adding that the divides can no longer be bridged. The two experts say that after Netanyahu’s attempt at overhauling the Israeli judiciary last year, it became clear that “the conceptions of identity and the visions of the two main Jewish groups clash and are even irreconcilable.” Another phenomenon discussed in the study is one that is widely talked about: mass immigration. Specifically, Kandel and Tzur believe mass immigration will start with the Israeli elites. Without its elites, Israel will face downfall both socio-economically and in terms of security. The departure of the elites will result in the end of Israel’s economic growth. They write:
This type of process can bubble for years, but if it happens, it is likely to be acute and fast, similar to a bank run. When the decision to leave comes, there is an advantage to do so before the big wave. It will be easier for the first ones to leave without financial damage, while those who try to immigrate late will bear losses when the economy shrinks, the value of their assets decreases, and restrictions are placed on transferring money abroad. These are the people who drive high-tech, medicine, academia and significant parts of the defense establishment. Most of them have attractive employment opportunities abroad, and some have already considered immigration options. Many politicians have said on the Knesset podium that the country could manage without the pilots, the high-tech people and the members of other ‘elite’ groups. Today, more than ever, the arrogance of these statements is clear, because Israel’s existential backbone depends on a relatively small group of people. Without it, it’s simply not possible to sustain a country here over time. Oct 7 showed the terrible cost of the enemy’s perception that Israel is weak. A further weakening could invite much more extreme and severe security challenges, even potentially resulting in the collapse of Israel and the end of the Zionist dream.
Uncertainties have been more evident in recent years. A poll released in April last year shows that a majority of Israelis are fearful about the future of their state. The idea of mass immigration highlighted by Kandel and Tzur in the new study is something that Israelis have pondered for years: whether or not Israel will reach a stage where not only its elites but its entire population will flee in a ‘Reverse Aliyah,’ or mass emigration of Jews.
Kandel and Tzur are not the first Israelis to judge that their state may not last. Former Israeli general and prime minister Ehud Barak said in an interview in 2022 that Israel could cease to exist before its eighth decade, citing ancient Jewish kingdoms whose rule began to disintegrate after 80 years of power. This idea is well known among Israelis as the curse of the eighth decade. More recently, historian Ilan Pappe, speaking with Democracy Now!, shared his hopes for the “collapse of the Zionist project.”
Top Israeli security official leads hundreds in raid of Al-Aqsa Mosque
The Cradle, May 22 2024
Hundreds of settlers stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on the morning of May 22, accompanied by heavy security forces and Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir. An official source told Al Jazeera that the number of those who stormed the Mosque’s compound totaled 327 settlers, including 127 extremist settlers. Quds News Network wrote on social media:
In a provocative act against Muslims and countries recognizing Palestine, the far-right Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, storms Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem.
Ben Gvir performed the act surrounded by heavy security forces, video evidence that has circulated showed one of his companions performing Talmudic rituals in the mosque’s compound. In a social media post accompanying a video of the far-right minister at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Ben Gvir wrote:
This morning I went up to the Temple Mount, the holiest place for the people of Israel and which belongs only to the State of Israel. I made it clear: the countries that recognized a Palestinian state this morning want to give a reward to the kidnappers of the female observers and their many supporters in Gaza. We will not allow any surrender that would even include a declaration of a Palestinian state. Hamas must be totally annihilated.
News broke on Wednesday that Norway, Ireland, and Spain announced their formal recognition of a Palestinian State, to which Israel recalled its ambassadors to Dublin and Oslo.
Hamas released a statement condemning the actions of the Israeli security minister, saying:
We call upon our Palestinian people in Al-Quds, the West Bank, and the occupied interior to confront the systematic Judaization campaign against the Al-Aqsa Mosque, to intensify their presence there, to journey to it, and to stand as a strong barrier against all attempts to desecrate and Judaize it. We also urge the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to move effectively against the imminent zionist threat to the Al-Aqsa Mosque and all our Islamic and Christian sanctities.
On Tuesday, Ben Gvir also made comments urging the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, saying that Israel should work towards the “encouragement of voluntary emigration” of Palestinians from Gaza as the last and “most important step for Israel to fully occupy and build settlements in the strip. He said during an interview with the ultra-Orthodox Israeli news outlet Kikar HaShabbat:
If the emigration happens, and hundreds of thousands leave, you’ll be able to bring more and more and more people in. I would love to live in Gaza if possible.
Israeli troops push deeper into Rafah under cover of relentless bombing
The Cradle, May 22 2024
Israeli forces pushed deeper into Rafah on May 22, as Tel Aviv continues to relentlessly bomb the southernmost city along with other areas of Gaza. Tanks took up deeper positions on Wednesday, moving further west along the southern fence on the border with Egypt and reaching the edge of the Al-Yabna neighborhood in central Rafah. The Israeli troops have been unable to advance deeper into the Al-Yabna neighborhood as of yet and are facing heavy resistance. Fighters from Hamas’ armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, said in a statement on Wednesday:
The fighters targeted a Zionist Merkava tank with an Al-Yassin 105 shell in the Brazil neighborhood, southeast of the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.
The Qassam Brigades announced several other operations against Israeli troops in Rafah that day. The Israeli advance deeper into Rafah came following a night of fierce battles with the resistance in the area. Israel began its operation in Rafah on May 7, seizing the city’s border crossing with Egypt and advancing towards the city under indiscriminate bombardment. The operation has severely hindered efforts to bring aid into Gaza. The army also continues to face heavy resistance in the northern Gaza Strip, particularly in areas in which it had previously operated and had said months earlier that Hamas had been “dismantled.” The Qassam Brigades said on 22 May:
In a complex operation, the Mujahideen were able to ensnare a Zionist foot force of 10 soldiers in an evening ambush after targeting it with hand grenades. Immediately upon the presence of the rescue force, our mujahideen detonated a Shuath device near it, killing and wounding members of the forces near the agricultural school north of Beit Hanoun, in the north.
Fighting is still ongoing in the northern city of Jabalia as well, where Israeli forces have recently been taking increasingly heavy losses. Israeli bombardment continues as clashes rage across the strip. According to WAFA:
Dozens of Palestinian civilians were killed on Wednesday morning and others injured after the Israeli occupation forces bombed various areas of the Gaza Strip.
These areas include Jabalia and Al-Zaytoun neighborhood in the north, Deir al-Balah and Nuseirat in central Gaza, and Rafah in the south.
UNRWA suspends food distribution in besieged Rafah
The Cradle, May 22 2024
UNRWA announced on May 21 that food distribution in Rafah is suspended due to the lack of supplies and security concerns. The UN agency said via a social media post:
As a result of the ongoing military operation in eastern Rafah, the UNRWA distribution center and WFP warehouse, both in Rafah, are now inaccessible. Food distributions in Rafah, southern Gaza, are currently suspended due to lack of supplies and insecurity.
The humanitarian situation in Rafah has worsened as Israel has increased its aggressions on the southernmost Gaza city. In an earlier situation report published on Tuesday, UNRWA said:
Only 7 out of 24 UNRWA health centers are operational. In the last ten days, they have not received any medical supplies due to Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossing closures/disruptions.
Nearly one million internally displaced Palestinians who sought sanctuary in Rafah have been forced to flee once again due to Israeli threats. Some of those displaced have gone back to seeking refuge in the ruins of Khan Yunis and other destroyed cities that UNRWA claims “are in no way fit for them to live in.” UNRWA spokesperson in Rafah, Louise Wateridge, said via a social media post:
Families have moved as far west as possible, now reaching the shore and along the beach. Inland in Rafah is now a ghost town. It’s hard to believe there were over 1 million people sheltering here just a week ago.
UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths told reporters on the sidelines of meetings with officials in Doha that the situation in Rafah could be “apocalyptic” due to the lack of supplies. Griffiths said:
If fuel runs out, aid doesn’t get to the people where they need it. That famine, which we have talked about for so long and which is looming, will not be looming anymore. It will be present. I think our worry, as citizens of the international community, is that the consequence is going to be really, really hard. Hard, difficult, and apocalyptic.
Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said during a meeting with the US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Monday that Tel Aviv is seeking to expand its Rafah operations, coming despite widespread international condemnation. A statement from Gallant’s office quoted him as saying in the meeting:
We are committed to broadening the ground operation in Rafah to the end of dismantling Hamas and recovering the hostages.
Republican bill seeks benefits for US nationals serving in Israeli army
The Cradle, May 22 2024
Two US Republican lawmakers have proposed a bill to extend employment and economic protections of US military personnel to US citizens enlisted in the Israeli forces on May 17. The safeguards pursued by Representatives Guy Reschenthaler and Max Miller stand in sharp contrast to the treatment urged for citizens of other nations who join Israel’s military ranks. Reschenthaler remarked:
Over 20k American citizens are currently defending Israel from Hamas terrorists.
If the legislation were passed, it would broaden certain protections to encompass US citizens serving in the Israeli military. These protections encompass safeguarding against foreclosure and rental property repossession and lowering interest rates on loans acquired prior to military service. They also aim to shield these individuals from default judgments in legal matters and afford them job rights and employment benefits akin to those received by US veterans. According to a February report by the WaPo, an estimated 23,380 US citizens currently serve in the Israeli military. Since Oct 7, 21 US nationals serving in the Israeli army have been killed in Gaza and during cross-border exchanges with Hezbollah in the south of Lebanon.
Numerous Republicans in Congress have strongly backed Israel’s military operations in Gaza, where Israeli forces have been responsible for the deaths of over 35k Palestinians, the destruction of civilian infrastructure, attacks on hospitals and schools, and the fatalities of healthcare workers and journalists. During the same week, the Biden administration notified Congress of its intention to conduct a $1b weapons transfer to Israel. This marks the initial announcement of an arms shipment by Washington since it halted a previous shipment to Israel due to apprehensions around its activities in the southern city of Rafah in Gaza. The arms package includes $700m for tank ammunition, $500m for tactical vehicles, and $60m for mortar rounds.
No aid unloaded at US pier has reached Gaza: Pentagon
The Cradle, May 22 2024
The Pentagon said on May 21 that none of the humanitarian aid has been unloaded off of Washington’s floating pier on the coast of Gaza, as the US says it is working with the UN and Israel to identify safe routes into the besieged enclave. Pentagon spox Maj-Gen Patrick Ryder, said on Tuesday that the US, Israel and the UN are working to determine “alternative routes” for the delivery of over 500 tons of aid that has been transported to the Gaza pier since last week. The announcement comes after desperate Palestinians, stricken by famine as a result of Israel’s war, tried intercepting a number of trucks carrying aid from the pier over the weekend, according to Ryder. In response to a question on whether any aid has been delivered to starving Gazans in the besieged strip, Ryder said:
As of today, I do not believe so. We do anticipate that assistance will be distributed in the coming days, of course, conditions permitting. Fully appreciating the desperation, it is very important that this aid get to the people who need it most, that’s going to continue to be the focus. I understand, you know, the focus on why is this not working, or why is that not working, but what we’re focused on is how we can work to ensure that the Palestinian people get the aid. We do anticipate that assistance will be distributed in the coming days, of course, conditions permitting.
An unnamed US official told CNN:
The Defense Department and UN are still working to determine how much aid can be held at the staging area inside Gaza at any given time.
The failure of Washington’s project comes as aid is piling up on the border with Egypt, as the Rafah crossing remains shut by Israel due to its ongoing operation in the southernmost city, which has severely hindered efforts to deliver assistance to desperate Gazans. All other crossings are controlled by Israel, and the small amounts of aid entering the strip are severely below what is required. The UN World Food Program (WFP) said in early May that northern Gaza is now facing “full-blown” famine. The US army announced on May 16 that it had completed the installation of the temporary pier on Gaza’s shore. Aid shipments began trickling onto the Gaza shore via the US port the following day, on May 17.
Israel has repeatedly targeted starving Palestinians seeking aid in Gaza since the start of the war, including several incidents in late February and early March, which saw Gazans lined up for flour getting gunned down by Israeli forces, which have conducted at least eight airstrikes on aid workers and facilities in Gaza since October despite direct communication with the groups, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report released on May 14. Seven aid workers from the World Central Kitchen (WCK) were killed in an Israeli strike early last month.
Norway, Spain, Ireland to formally recognize Palestinian statehood
The Cradle, May 22 2024
Norway, Ireland, and Spain announced on May 22 that they will formally recognize Palestine as a state next week, drawing the ire of Israel as the country immediately recalled its ambassadors to Dublin and Oslo. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said on Wednesday.:
There cannot be peace in the Middle East if there is no recognition. In the midst of a war, with tens of thousands killed and injured, we must keep alive the only alternative that offers a political solution for Israelis and Palestinians alike: Two states living side by side, in peace and security.
Shortly after Oslo’s announcement, Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris said his country would also recognize a Palestinian state. Harris said at a news conference:
Today, Ireland, Norway and Spain are announcing that we recognize the state of Palestine. I’m confident that further countries will join us in taking this important step in the coming weeks.
Foreign Minister Micheal Martin tweeted that the recognition will become official on 28 May:
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez followed suit, announcing Wednesday that the country’s council of ministers would also recognize an independent Palestinian state on May 28. He accused Netanyahu of putting the two-state solution in “danger” with his policy of “pain and destruction” in Gaza.
In response to the news, Tel Aviv immediately recalled its ambassadors to Ireland and Norway and pledged to recall its envoy to Spain. The foreign ministry also summoned the ambassadors from the three European nations to “reprimand” them. Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz called the show of support for Palestinians a “folly,” adding that recognizing Palestinian statehood sends “a message to the Palestinians and the world: Terrorism pays.”
Palestinian officials welcomed the announcement by three European nations, with Hamas stating:
We welcome the announcement by Norway, Ireland, and Spain of recognition of the State of Palestine, and we consider it an important step on the path to consolidating our right to our land and establishing our independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.
The Secretary-General of the PLO said via social media:
A historical moment, in which the free world triumphs for truth and justice after long decades of Palestinian national struggle, suffering, pain, occupation, racism, murder, oppression, abuse and destruction to which the people of Palestine were subjected.
Nine European countries (Bulgaria, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, Sweden, Malta and Cyprus) have already recognized Palestine as a state.
Hamas’ military ability remains largely ‘intact’: US intelligence
The Cradle, May 22 2024
US media reported on May 21, citing intelligence estimates, that only about a third of the fighters from Hamas’ armed wing have been killed by Israel, while the majority of the group’s extensive tunnel network remains intact. Politico reported on Wednesday, citing US intelligence:
Although Hamas’ communications and military abilities have been degraded, only 30% to 35% of its fighters, those who were a part of Hamas before the Oct 7 attack, have been killed and about 65% of its tunnels are still intact.
Washington has been “increasingly concerned that Hamas has been able to recruit during wartime, thousands over the last several months,” allowing it “to withstand months of Israeli offensives,” according to a person familiar with the intelligence. Israel has previously claimed that around 12k Hamas fighters out of its supposed 30k have been killed, something the resistance group denies.
The Politico report comes just days after a Joint Chiefs chair General CQ Brown criticized Israel for failing to prevent Hamas’ return to prominence in areas where the Israeli army had operated. Last week, US Deputy Sec State Kurt Campbell said that a “total victory” for Israel is not “likely or possible” in this war, adding that Tel Aviv is “struggling over what the theory of victory is” in Gaza.
Israel claimed in early January that all of Hamas’ battalions were dismantled in northern Gaza, including in the northern city of Jabalia, where Israeli forces are now operating once again and are taking heavy losses during battles with the Palestinian resistance, including Hamas’ Qassam Brigades and other groups.
The resistance remains entrenched in several other areas across Gaza, particularly in the southernmost city of Rafah, which Israel had labeled Hamas’ final stronghold and where troops are also facing heavy resistance since Tel Aviv defied months of international warnings and launched an operation in the besieged city. Fighters continue to emerge from tunnels to ambush soldiers with RPGs and explosive devices and have recently stepped up the tactic of rigging buildings with bombs and detonating them with Israeli troops inside.
At the start of the war, Israel said its goal was to “eliminate” Hamas. Nearly eight months into the fighting, the group remains nowhere near elimination. Experts, including Israeli and western analysts, have said that Israel has failed to achieve all its goals in the Gaza Strip, including wiping out the resistance and freeing prisoners held by Hamas.
Niqnaq 