‘Raisi gave Iran its current strength and power’: Interim President
The Cradle, May 27 2024
Iran’s acting President Mohammad Mokhber spoke to the nation’s new parliament on May 27 in his first public speech since the death of former president Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash. Mokhber’s speech comes in light of Iran’s preparation for a presidential snap election. Mokhber said during his address:
It is very difficult for me to appear in this parliament instead of our dear martyr president, Ayatollah Raisi. I had a close relationship with the martyr Raisi for several years. He had outstanding personal qualities that led to this popularity that the people show today.
Mokhber emphasized Raisi’s actions that made his term as president so successful, stating:
Martyr Ayatollah Raisi believed in the serious frameworks of the Islamic system and the values of the Islamic Revolution from the bottom of his heart. He also believed in preserving the regime’s red lines and cared about them; this was very effective in his success.
Mokhber commented on the Islamic Republic’s economic stability under Raisi, highlighting Iran’s oil production, a key sector in its economy. Despite sanctions targeting Tehran, daily oil production is set to increase from 3.3 million barrels to more than 3.6 million barrels. He noted that even after Operation True Promise, there were no changes to the nation’s foreign currency and that it had little negative effect on Tehran. Mokhber said in his speech:
Three countries were hit. We hit Israel, people find that figures and indexes are the same in the morning when they wake up, the price of hard currency is the same, inflation is the same, liquidity is the same, and the market is full of people’s needs. This strength, this settlement, and this power is not a usual thing; they all were because of guidance by the supreme leader and the sincere efforts of Ayatollah Raisi.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei inaugurated the nation’s twelfth parliament, stressing the importance of continuing to strengthen Iran’s religious democracy and describing it as a “great divine gift” to the people of Iran. Khamenei said:
Each new Parliament has the potential to bring a fresh glow to the nation’s bright horizon, adding to the hopes and motivation of the people. The combination of new representatives with skill and experience sends the clear message that the House of the People, by drawing upon its constitutional authority and by being committed to its heavy responsibility as one of the country’s institutions, will be able to combine innovation and modernity with maturity and prudence, safeguarding the processes of legislation and preventing turbulence, chaos, and stagnation.
Mokhber, in comments made on Sunday, reaffirmed Iran’s goal of supporting resistance movements, especially Palestinian resistance, against US and Israeli hegemony in West Asia would remain upheld by the new government.
Israel ‘cannot exist’ without Palestinian state: Saudi FM
The Cradle, May 27 2024
It is “absolutely necessary” that Israel accepts that it cannot exist without the existence of a Palestinian state, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan told reporters in Brussels on May 26 while affirming Palestinians’ right to self-determination. Bin Farhan said on Sunday night:
I firmly believe that a two-state solution with the establishment of a credible Palestinian State serves the interest of the Palestinians and delivers their right to self-determination. Israel doesn’t get to decide whether or not the Palestinians have a right to self-determination. It is also in the interest of Israel and delivers the security that Israel needs and deserves.
The foreign minister’s comments came as several European countries have unilaterally recognized Palestinian statehood. Bin Farhan said:
Norway, Ireland, and Spain’s recognition of Palestinian statehood is not just symbolic. It reemphasizes the viability of the two-state solution. So we encourage others to do so.
The Saudi foreign minister met in Brussels with EU Foreign Policy chief Borrell, who stated that “the two-state solution is not a painful concession that Israel” must make, nor is it “a security threat” to Israel. Many Western and European countries had in the past argued that Palestinian statehood should be recognized only after the establishment of such a state through the process of negotiations with Israel.
However, the Jerusalem Post notes that the Israeli government’s vocal opposition to any Palestinian state has led some European countries to change their position and recognize Palestinian statehood unilaterally. Meanwhile, the US and Saudi Arabia continue to discuss a defense pact, which the US has offered as part of a package to entice the kingdom to normalize ties with Israel. Saudi Arabia has said no normalization with Israel is possible until a credible pathway to a Palestinian state has been established.
The Times of Israel reported that the US is expected to lift a ban on the sale of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia in the coming weeks as part of the ongoing negotiations. On Wednesday, Blinken said the US and Saudi Arabia were very close to reaching agreements on nuclear energy, security, and defense cooperation as part of a broader normalization deal with Israel. The White House has made Saudi–Israeli normalization an important objective. Biden hopes to reach a deal before the upcoming presidential election.
Israeli, Egyptian troops exchange fire at Rafah crossing
The Cradle, May 27 2024
Israeli media reported on May 27 that Israeli forces killed at least one Egyptian soldier in an exchange of fire at the Rafah border crossing in Gaza. Channel 14 reported:
Egyptian security forces fired on an Israeli truck at the Rafah crossing. Israeli soldiers responded to this with gunfire.
Maariv reported one Egyptian soldier was killed in the exchange before contact was made with the Egyptians to cease fire. Israeli sources told the Hebrew newspaper:
What happened is a violation of the peace agreement with Egypt.
The two countries signed a peace agreement in 1979 and have coordinated closely to control the Gaza–Egypt border. Israel’s Channel 7 confirmed that there were no casualties on the part of Israeli forces during the clash. The i24 News website reported that several other Egyptian soldiers may have been injured. The Egyptian military spokesman confirmed the death of one Egyptian soldier. The spokesman said:
The Egyptian Armed Forces are conducting an investigation by the competent authorities into the shooting incident in the Rafah border area, which led to the martyrdom of one of the personnel in charge of security.
Relations between Egypt and Israel have worsened since the start of the war on Oct 7. Israeli leaders have expressed their desire to forcibly expel Gaza’s 2.3 million people to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi condemned the plans. On May 6, Israeli troops occupied the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, effectively blocking the entry of humanitarian aid as part of the broader Israeli ground campaign in Rafah. The flow of aid to Palestinians in Gaza, who face starvation and famine in addition to Israeli bombardment, has slowed to a trickle as a result. In February, Egypt deployed 40 tanks to the Gaza border in anticipation of an Israeli assault on Rafah and possible mass displacement of Palestinians from the border city.
Yemen working ‘day and night’ to end injustice in Gaza: Ansarallah
The Cradle, May 27 2024
An official from Yemen’s Ansarallah resistance movement said in an interview on May 26 that the group’s maritime operations against Israeli-linked shipping fall in line with global demands to stop the Israeli genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Nasr al-Din Amer, the deputy head of Ansarallah’s media authority, told Mondoweiss:
Our operations at sea are consistent with what is demanded by most countries in the world, who are demanding an end to the aggression and the lifting of the siege on Gaza, while the Americans and the British stand in the shameful position that is contrary to what the world is calling for, and therefore they have no right to talk about the law at all. We believe that the famine currently occurring in Gaza is sufficient to provoke the feelings of the entire world, and therefore we are working day and night to develop and expand our operations to lift this injustice and stop these crimes against the people of Gaza. The extent of the oppression of the Palestinian people, which is unparalleled in the world at the present time, requires us to do everything we can to support them and stop this oppression. This is part of our religion, our belief, and our humanity as well. What is strange are the positions of others who are silent and negligent, and not our religious, moral, and humanitarian positions.
He highlighted that Ansarallah, which is militarily aligned with the Armed Forces of Yemen’s Sanaa government, one of three parallel governments in the country, enjoys widespread popular support for its operations against Israeli maritime interests. In recent months, reports have shown that many of those opposed to Ansarallah during the several years of war in Yemen have now grown closer to the group as a result of its operations. Amer also rejected claims made in the west that Ansarallah serves as a proxy for Iranian interests in Yemen, adding that the Islamic Republic is a “peer” and rejecting the idea of a “subservient relationship.”
Since November, Sanaa’s forces have been carrying out attacks against Israeli-linked ships or ships bound for Israeli ports in the Red Sea, Arab Sea, and Gulf of Aden. It made clear early on that these operations would persist until the war in Gaza is brought to an end and until sufficient levels of aid reach the besieged Palestinian population in the strip, something that has yet to happen. These attacks were expanded to include US and British vessels following the start of a brutal bombing campaign led by Washington and London against Yemen in January. Sanaa said in March that it expanded its operations to include any vessel linked to or bound for Israel in the Indian Ocean and has since announced several operations there. Early this month, it vowed to expand its blockade to the Mediterranean Sea and has made good on its promise. Spokesman Yahya Saree said on May 24 that the Yemeni army targeted three Israeli-linked vessels in three different seas, including the Mediterranean Sea.
Hamas says Washington to blame for Rafah massacres
The Cradle, May 27 2024
In an interview with Sputnik on May 27, Hamas media relations officer Mahmoud Taha pinned the blame for the Rafah massacre on Washington. Taha told the Russian news outlet:
The US and Biden are directly responsible for Israel’s massacre in Rafah camp.
During the late hours of Sunday, Israeli fighter jets dropped at least six missiles on the tents of internally displaced Palestinians in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, killing at least 40 and injuring dozens more.
All the acts we have witnessed of the Israeli army on television screens against civilians and displaced people is within the framework of the implementation of Netanyahu’s plan and his continuation of genocide against the Palestinian people. The Israeli army is committing these massacres to justify its failure in the military battle. The movement will respond to all these crimes and cause Tel Aviv to incur more losses amongst its military, and will continue the confrontation until the Israeli army is removed from Palestine.
When asked about the negotiation process, Taha said that Israel is actively working to hinder any prospect of a deal. Taha said:
From the beginning, the Hamas movement showed great flexibility in dealing with mediators and also agreed to the paper that was recently presented.
Rafah was considered a safe zone for Palestinians up until early May, when the Israeli army forced nearly one million to flee the camps to take refuge in the ruins of surrounding cities. Following the attack on Rafah, US Congressman Ro Khanna said in a tweet:
Netanyahu must immediately halt the military offensive into Rafah. The horrific loss of innocent lives today with the bombing of a refugee camp underscores the moral urgency of stopping the Rafah campaign.
Other top US officials, including Biden, remained silent. Shortly after Israel’s attack, Palestinian resistance groups and government officials issued statements condemning the act. A statement by Gaza’s Media Office read:
In the past 24 hours, the Israeli occupation army has focused on bombing and targeting more than 10 displacement centers belonging to UNRWA in the areas of Jabalia, Nusseirat, Gaza, and Rafah. These centers house tens of thousands of displaced civilians, especially children and women.
Hamas’ official statement following the massacre said:
We hold the US administration and President Biden in particular [fully responsible] for this massacre, which the Zionist entity would not have committed without the US support and green light for it to invade Rafah, despite its crowdedness with displaced citizens.
The PFLP also issued a statement saying:
This crime comes as a result of the American cover, which war criminal and genocide architect Joseph Biden ensured to provide to the occupation army and its government, and [its] continuous support for the extermination of our people and his full partnership in all war crimes.
On Friday, the International Court of Justice made explicit demands to Israel to halt its military offensive in Rafah, saying that the current situation risks “irreparable damage” to the rights of the Palestinian people.
Top EU official accused at ICC of ‘complicity’ in Gaza genocide
The Cradle, May 27 2024
The Geneva International Peace Research Institute (GIPRI) has submitted a request to the International Criminal Court to investigate the President of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, for complicity in Israeli war crimes in the Gaza Strip. A communication submitted by GIPRI on 22 May details:
Through facts and evidence, that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the current president of the European Commission is complicit in a number of violations of international humanitarian law, amounting to crimes within the jurisdiction of the ICC, committed by the Israeli armed forces against Palestinian civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including the Gaza Strip. This communication, endorsed by various human rights groups and prominent academics and experts in international criminal law, calls the Prosecutor to initiate investigations on the basis of the information provided against Mrs Ursula von der Leyen.
GIPRI notes that Von der Leyen is complicit in violations of articles 6, 7, and 8 of the ICC Rome Statute, including military, economic, diplomatic, and political support to Israel. It adds:
Mrs von der Leyen had knowledge of participating, by aiding and abetting, in the commission of the relevant crimes, and has been instrumental in securing the provision of means, under the form of military support, to the IDF.
It also notes Von der Leyen’s “unconditional” political support and “encouragement and moral support” to Israel and its army.
Mrs von der Leyen cannot escape the simple fact that she knew of such crimes, or at the very least she knew of the plausibility of such crimes, as determined by the ICJ in its Order on provisional measures of Jan 26 2024 as regards genocide.
The president of the EU commission has been repeatedly criticized over the months for showing continued unconditional support for Israel, including by the bloc’s own Foreign Policy chief, Josep Borrell. Calls to investigate her role in the Gaza genocide come as the ICC faces the threat of US sanctions for seeking arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant. The US “should punish the ICC and put Karim Khan back in his place,” said Mike Johnson, Republican Speaker of the US House of Representatives, on May 23.
Nearly 9k Palestinians detained in West Bank since Oct 7
The Cradle, May 27 2024
The Israeli army arrested around 20 Palestinians from May 25-26, bringing the total number of arrests in the occupied West Bank since Oct 7 to over 8,875. The Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners Club jointly issued a statement, revealing that the total arrests since Oct 7 have surpassed 8,875. According to WAFA, the arrests over the weekend took place across several areas in the West Bank, including Jenin, Bethlehem, Hebron, Nablus, Ramallah and Jerusalem.
During the arrest campaign, Israeli settlers, accompanied by police, entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied Jerusalem on the morning of May 26. Local reports also indicate that the arrest raids caused widespread destruction of property. The reports added that local enforcement was stationed at the gates of Al-Aqsa Mosque and prevented tens of worshippers from entering. Additionally, Israeli forces distributed demolition notices on the same day for commercial shops along the road connecting the Jaba and Qalandia military checkpoints, situated north of occupied Jerusalem, and for a bridge linking the towns of Jaba and Al-Ram.
Simultaneously with the conflict in Gaza, Israeli settlers have increased their assaults on Palestinians in the West Bank. The IOF has also heightened its operations in the occupied West Bank, leading to 518 deaths, 5k injuries, and numerous arrests. Earlier this month, in a similar incident, the IOF detained 25 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, killing six civilians in the process. According to a local statement, the IOF physically assaulted and mistreated Palestinians, as well as damaging their property. Detention drives are often marked by increasing incidents of mistreatment, physical assaults, and intimidation directed at the detainees and their families. This encompasses the demolition of residences along with the seizure of vehicles, funds, and valuables like jewelry.
Northern Israeli settlement severs ties with Tel Aviv, demands army withdrawal: Report
The Cradle, May 27 2024
The local authority in Israel’s northern settlement of Margaliot has announced severing communication with the Israeli government and has called on the army to withdraw from the area in protest of Tel Aviv’s inability to protect settlers in the north from Hezbollah. Al Jazeera’s correspondent reported on May 27:
The local authority in Margaliot in the Upper Galilee announces the cessation of communication with the Israeli government. The local authority in Margaliot asks the army to withdraw its forces in protest of the government’s neglect of the residents of the north.
Eitan Davidi, Chairman of Margaliot settlement, said:
The Margaliot settlement has decided to sever contact with the Israeli government and withdraw all soldiers from Margaliot. A notification has been sent to the termination officer. Additionally, we are closing the settlement’s operations center and gates. No one, including the military, will be allowed to enter or leave the settlement. The emergency squad will find another place to stay. Margaliot does not need protection from Hezbollah but from the Israeli government, which is crushing the settlement with its decisions. Margaliot is directly harmed by the government decisions, causing more damage than Hezbollah’s anti-tank missiles.
The report comes as Hezbollah continues to target the settlements and military sites in Israel’s north in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance and in response to Israeli bombardment of the south of Lebanon. Hezbollah attacked on May 27 “a building used by enemy soldiers in the Margaliot colony” and “achieved confirmed injuries,” the resistance group said in a statement on Monday. Hezbollah also announced a guided missile and artillery shell attack on the Malikiya site in the Galilee that day. Fires had broken out and spread for over an hour near the Malikiya site on Sunday afternoon after an attack launched from Lebanon.
The Lebanese resistance has stepped up its operations in recent days, as tens of thousands of Israeli settlers from the north remain dispersed across hotels and apartments across Israel. The heads of local councils in the northern settlements have been increasingly frustrated with the army’s inability to push Hezbollah away from the border and deter its attacks, which the group has said it will not stop until the war in Gaza is brought to an end.
Settler communities from the north announced earlier this month a plan to secede from Israel and establish an independent State of Galilee in protest of Netanyahu’s lack of urgency in returning them to their homes. The frustration has been building for several months. Businesses in the north have been shut down, and the Israeli economy has suffered significant losses. The head of the Mateh Asher settler council in the Galilee, Moshe Davidovitz, said on Sunday after Hamas’ Qassam Brigades fired rockets towards Tel Aviv:
Ten rockets fell in the center of the country, and the media is in an uproar. The country is in turmoil. Every day, dozens of rockets are fired towards the conflict zone settlements and the Galilee, including anti-tank missiles and suicide drones, and the country remains silent. Once again, it’s proof that the north is not being counted.
EU officials demand Israel comply with ICJ order
The Cradle, May 27 2024
EU diplomats on May 27 urged Israel to comply with an order from the International Court of Justice to “immediately halt” its offensive in Rafah, as attacks on shelters for displaced civilians have killed hundreds of Palestinians over the past three days. Speaking ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said:
Everybody agrees that the rulings of the International Court of Justice are binding, and they have to be implemented.
These comments were echoed by German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and her Spanish counterpart José Manuel Albares, who said the European ministers would discuss how to “take the right measures to enforce that decision.” Albares also participated in a joint news conference with the Norwegian and Irish foreign ministers. The three nations are set to officially recognize Palestinian statehood on Tuesday. Ireland’s Foreign Minister Micheal Martin told reporters:
We have recognized both the State of Israel and the State of Palestine precisely because we want to see a future of normalized relations between the two peoples. There can be no military solution to this conflict. And I refute absolutely any group using violence or terrorism to try and eliminate the State of Israel or to eliminate the State of Palestine as an idea or as a reality.
On Friday, the ICJ ordered Israel to immediately halt its military offensive in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah and allow for the “unhindered entry” of humanitarian aid to the enclave. Moreover, the World Court also ordered Israeli authorities to allow “unimpeded access” to Gaza to UN genocide investigators. In response to the ruling, Israel intensified its onslaught across the strip, bombing schools and tent compounds for displaced civilians. As the violence spiked on Sunday night, UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese took to social media to demand sanctions against Tel Aviv.
Nearly eight months into the Israeli genocide in Gaza, a handful of European nations have started to distance themselves from Tel Aviv as officials increasingly question the country’s complete disregard for international law. Borrell said on Friday while addressing a European University Institute event in Florence:
We will have to choose between our support to the international institutions and the rule of law or our support for Israel.
Israeli jets open fire on Rafah ‘safe zone,’ killing dozens
The Cradle, May 27 2024
At least 40 Palestinians were killed on May 26 in Israeli airstrikes on the camps in Rafah.
The Israeli attack on Sunday evening, which was carried out with over six missiles, left several women and children dead.
https://twitter.com/Bernadotte22/status/1794968791903809919
WAFA reported:
At least 40 were killed and others injured after occupation forces targeted, with at least eight missiles, tents of people sheltering in a displacement camp that was recently established near the UNRWA warehouses northwest of Rafah.
According to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, the people inside the tents, mostly women and children, were burned alive as a result of the attack. The area targeted had been designated as a safe zone by Israel and was sheltering thousands of displaced Palestinians.
It was one of several displacement centers targeted by Israeli forces that day, including in the northern city of Jabalia and Nuseirat in central Gaza, with the attacks resulting in the deaths and injuries of over 190 Palestinians on Sunday, according to Gaza’s Government Media Office, which said:
The Israeli occupation army bombed more than 10 displacement centers within 24 hours, the last of which was committing a horrific massacre in the UNRWA Barkasat center northwest of the Rafah governorate, which claimed the lives of more than 40 martyrs. We call on the International Criminal Court and all international courts to pursue the war criminals of the Israeli occupation, the war criminals of the Americans, the German war criminals, and all other war criminals involved.
Israel claimed it hit a Hamas compound in northwestern Rafah’s Tel al-Sultan area and said the strike was carried out “within international law.” It added that it was probing reports that fires spread and caused injuries inside a displacement camp. The latest massacre in Rafah came two days after the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to halt its military offensive in Rafah as part of the ongoing genocide case filed by South Africa. It also comes as the ICC faces the threat of US sanctions for its recent decision to seek arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant.
Niqnaq 