Apple accused of giving worker donations to Israeli soldiers, settlements
The Cradle, Jun 12 2024
In an open letter, Apple employees and shareholders are urging the company to stop matching employee donations to entities linked to Israeli military actions in Gaza and the establishment of illegal settlements in the West Bank, according to a report published by The Intercept on Jun 11. Echoing an earlier plea for a ceasefire, the letter calls on Apple to “promptly investigate and cease matching donations to all organizations that further illegal settlements in occupied territories and support the IOF.”
Like several other prominent corporations, Apple’s staff members are typically permitted to make donations to NGOs. However, Apple is predominantly politically aligned with Israel. According to the report, Apple has previously provided donations to Israeli soldiers and made hefty contributions to groups that facilitate funds for settlement expansion programs in the occupied West Bank, among them, the One Israel Fund, the Jewish National Fund, and HaYovel. As of now, Apple has declined to comment on the matter.
In New York, a proposed legislative measure known as the “Not On Our Dime Act” aims to restrict the fundraising activities of nonprofit groups within the state for illegal settlements. This initiative seeks to hold such organizations accountable by potentially subjecting them to legal consequences or revocation of their nonprofit status.
According to Diala Shamas, a senior attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights, companies typically rely on their 501(c)(3) status, which allows them to make “charitable donations” to NGOs in the fields of science, education, religion, public safety, sports, and human rights. However, Shamas clarified that regardless of the status of the Israeli-linked foundations, these entities are complicit in assisting war crimes in the Gaza Strip, therefore making it illegal for Apple to make such contributions. She said:
Apple should ensure that it is not sending funds to any of these organizations, especially now when there’s no shortage of evidence or information about the unlawful activities of the settlement movement in the West Bank.
The report also notes that Apple’s donation matching programs include ‘Friends of the IOF,’ a nonprofit entity designated for raising funds for Israeli military service members. This organization says it has transferred $34.5m in donations to the Israeli military within the initial weeks of Israel’s brutal war on Gaza.
In April, a number of Apple employees revealed that colleagues who showed any form of support for Palestinians following the onset of Israel’s bombing campaign in the Gaza Strip, such as involvement with pro-Palestine group Apples4Ceasefire or wearing pins, bracelets, and kuffiyehs frequently faced disciplinary measures or termination of their employment.
Blinken blasts Hamas for not accepting Israeli ceasefire deal ‘as it is’
The Cradle, Jun 12 2024
Blinken addressed Hamas’ response to the Israeli ceasefire plan on Jun 12, saying that some of the requests by the Palestinian resistance were “workable” while others were not. The US official said:
Hamas could have answered with a single word: yes. Instead, Hamas waited nearly two weeks and requested numerous changes.
Blinken noted that more people “will suffer” because of the group’s actions. Although he did not provide details about Hamas’s proposed amendments, he said mediators would continue to try to “close the deal” in the upcoming days. Blinken said:
It’s not like the world stood still for those 12 days. People were suffering for those 12 days.
This was just a few days removed from Israel’s latest massacre of hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza, conducted with the assistance of the US army. Blinken claimed:
The longer this goes on, the more people will suffer. It’s time for the haggling to stop and for the ceasefire to start. It’s as simple as that. Israel accepted the proposal as it was and as it is, and Hamas didn’t. If Hamas continues to say no, I think it will be clear to everyone around the world that it’s on them and that they made a choice to continue a war that they started.
The US official ignored the multiple statements from top Israeli officials saying that the genocidal war in Gaza will not end under any circumstances until Hamas is “destroyed.”
Blinken also alleged that the proposal presented by Israel two weeks ago is virtually the same as the one accepted by the Palestinian resistance in early May. However, the terms of the agreement accepted by Hamas call for a permanent ceasefire and the end of the nearly 20-year-long Israeli siege of Gaza, while the Israeli proposal does neither. Blinken added:
We are determined to try to bridge the gaps, and I believe those gaps are bridgeable. Doesn’t mean they will be bridged because again, it ultimately depends on people saying yes.
Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan recently revealed to Al Mayadeen the details of the Palestinian group’s response to the Israeli ceasefire plan. Hamdan said:
Our response is our commitment to what we previously committed to, a ceasefire and withdrawal from Gaza. I believe the American administration is trying to give Israel a chance and is aligned with it, and the disagreement is only tactical. Hamas welcomed the UNSCR because it includes a ceasefire, relief for the Palestinians and negotiations. I believe that the resistance fronts are harmonizing towards a single goal, and as Sayyed Nasrallah said, the outcome will be victory.
Fierce Hezbollah strikes hammer Israeli army HQs, key defense factory
The Cradle, Jun 12 2024
Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah continued its retaliatory strikes in northern Israel on Jun 12, hitting several Israeli bases, military sites, and at least one major defense factory. According to a statement from the group, their rocket and missile salvos hit the Ruwaisat al-Qarn Base in the occupied Shebaa Farms and the Ramtha and Al-Samaqa military sites in the occupied Kfar Shuba Hills. Hezbollah rockets also struck the Israeli army’s command headquarters of the Northern Corps in Ein Zeitim base and the reserve command headquarters at the standby base of the Galilee Division and its warehouses in Amiad settlement. Other major sites hit by Hezbollah on Wednesday morning included the Meron Strategic Air Command and Control Base, the Ramya military and Al-Raheb military sites, and the Zarit army barracks. The wave of attacks also hit the Plasan military factory in the Sasa settlement, which specializes in robotics and the manufacture of armored vehicles for the Israeli army.
Plasan works as an integrated partner and contractor with major Israeli companies such as Elbit Systems, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Lockheed MartinLMT, and others. Wednesday’s operations by the Lebanese resistance have been described by Israeli media as the “largest” since the start of cross-border hostilities on 8 October, with estimates saying Hezbollah fired over 200 rockets over a few hours. Furthermore, Hezbollah’s attacks once again sparked fires across Israel’s largely-abandoned northern settlements. The massive wave of attacks were launched by Hezbollah in retaliation for the targeted assassination of commander Talib Sami Abdallah. The head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council, Hashem Safieddine, said on Wednesday:
If the Israeli enemy is screaming and moaning from what it’s suffering in northern Palestine, let it prepare to cry and wail. Martyr Talib Abdallah is one of the heroes of Jul 2006 war, and it is natural that he would be a permanent target. The enemy is still in its foolishness, and has not learned from all the past experiences when it believes that assassinating leaders weakens the resistance, but experience has proven that the more leaders are martyred, the more steadfast and entrenched the resistance becomes. Operations against Israel will increase in intensity, strength, quantity and quality. The enemy will see who the brothers and sons of Abu Talib are.
In response to Wednesday’s barrage from Lebanon, Israeli jets and drones have bombed several sites in the south of the country.
Israel mulls ‘punitive measures’ against UN over blacklisting: Report
The Cradle, Jun 12 2024
Israeli authorities are discussing “far-reaching” punitive measures against UN agencies operating in the Palestinian Territories and Israel, according to an Jun 11 report from the Financial Times. Citing five people familiar with the discussions, the business daily says some of these measures may include the expulsion of UN staff as tensions between Israel and international organizations fester. One Israeli official said regarding the UN agencies:
They need to be concerned.
The Israeli cabinet discussed a range of actions against the UN agencies on Sunday and Monday. While no final decision was made, some measures included the “slow-roll” or complete rejection of UN staff visa renewals, boycotts by the Israeli government of key UN officials, and the termination and expulsion of UN missions. Tel Aviv’s hostility towards the UN was made worse after Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced the organization would add Israel to a blacklist of countries and entities harming children in conflict zones. Israeli ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan described the blacklisting as “shameful,” with other officials vowing to retaliate against UN bodies who have worked in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories for decades. Potential targets for Israel’s “punitive measures” include UNICEF, UN OCHA, and the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, the main political arm of UN efforts in Palestine and Israel and a key figure in de-escalating tensions and securing ceasefires between the two. One of the sources familiar with the discussions told FT:
Who do they think will work with them to get aid into Gaza? Who do they think will rebuild Gaza after the war? If they want to do it themselves, then let them!
Earlier this year, Israel publicly accused staffers from UNRWA of having direct ties with Hamas and the Oct 7 Operation Al-Aqsa Flood. UNRWA staff members reported being tortured by Israeli soldiers into falsely admitting that they were involved in the Palestinian resistance’s operation. In May, Guterres revealed that since the beginning of the war, more than 190 UN staff members had been killed in Gaza.
Israel guilty of ‘extermination, torture, sexual violence’ in Gaza: UN probe
The Cradle, Jun 12 2024
The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry (CoI) on Jun 12 concluded that Israeli authorities are guilty of “war crimes and crimes against humanity” committed during the eight-month-long campaign of genocide in Gaza. During its investigation, the CoI found:
Israel is responsible for the war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare, murder or willful killing, intentionally directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects, forcible transfer, sexual violence, torture and inhuman or cruel treatment, arbitrary detention and outrages upon personal dignity, and the crimes against humanity of extermination, gender persecution targeting Palestinian men and boys, murder, forcible transfer.
The CoI was established by the UNHRC in 2021 to investigate widespread violations of international humanitarian and human rights law by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories. Wednesday’s report details:
The massive number of civilian casualties and destruction of civilian infrastructure in Gaza is “the inevitable result of a strategy undertaken with the intent to cause maximum damage, disregarding the principles of distinction, proportionality, and adequate precautions.
Furthermore, the probe determined that inflammatory statements by Israeli officials “amounted to incitement and may constitute other serious international crimes,” adding that direct and public incitement to genocide is a crime under international law whenever perpetrated. The COI also condemned Israel’s continued attacks on civilian evacuation routes and “safe areas” and said:
Israel has weaponized the siege and used the provision of life-sustaining necessities, including by severing water, food, electricity, fuel, and humanitarian assistance, for strategic and political gains.
In the occupied West Bank, the COI found that Israel committed “acts of sexual violence, torture and inhuman or cruel treatment and outrages upon personal dignity, all of which are war crimes.” Moreover, the commission determined that Tel Aviv “permitted, fostered, and instigated” a pattern of settler aggression directed against Palestinian communities. The CoI finally urged the Israeli government to implement a ceasefire immediately, lift the blockade of Gaza, allow the unimpeded entry of humanitarian aid, cease attacks on civilians and infrastructure, and “comply fully” with the rulings of the International Court of Justice. Navi Pillay, chair of the commission, said in a press release:
Israel must immediately stop its military operations and attacks in Gaza, including the assault on Rafah, which has cost the lives of hundreds of civilians and again displaced hundreds of thousands of people to unsafe locations without basic services and humanitarian assistance.
Elsewhere in Wednesday’s report, the CoI accused the Palestinian resistance in Gaza of having “deliberately killed, injured, mistreated, took hostages, and committed sexual and gender-based violence” during the Oct 7 Operation Al-Aqsa Flood. Pillay added in her statement:
Indiscriminate firing of thousands of projectiles towards Israeli towns and cities resulting in death and injury of civilians are also violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. Hamas and Palestinian armed groups must immediately cease rocket attacks and release all hostages. The taking of hostages constitutes a war crime.
Nevertheless, the COI probe into the events of Oct 7 also accused Israeli authorities of failing “to protect civilians in southern Israel on almost every front.” In response to the damning accusations, Israel’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Meirav Eilon Shahar, accused the COI of long-standing “systematic anti-Israeli discrimination.” The report, which is due to be presented to the UNHRC next week, comes just days after the UN secretary-general announced plans to include Israel in a blacklist of nations and extremist armed groups harming children in conflict zones.
Hezbollah rains down rockets deep inside Israel after killing of top commander
The Cradle, Jun 12 2024
Hundreds of Israeli settlers in the besieged northern region were sent fleeing into bomb shelters during the early hours of Jun 12 as Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah launched several waves of rocket and missile salvos in retaliation for the overnight killing of top commander Talib Sami Abdallah, also known as Abu Talib, who was killed in the Israeli bombing of the town of Jwaya, southern Lebanon, which resulted in a total of 4 deaths.
Local reports identified Abu Talib as the highest-ranking Hezbollah field commander to be killed by Israel since Oct 7. Hezbollah said in a statement issued on Wednesday morning:
As part of the response to the assassination carried out by the zionist enemy in the town of Jwaya and the injury of civilians, the fighters of the Islamic Resistance targeted the Plasan factory for military industries specialized in armoring and protecting machinery and vehicles of the enemy army in the Sasa settlement with guided missiles, hitting it directly.
According to Israeli media, Hezbollah’s retaliatory attack reached as far as the city of Tiberias and has so far involved at least 160 projectiles. Rocket sirens continued to blare into the morning across northern Israel as the Lebanese resistance kept up its wave of attacks.
Citing sources in the resistance, Haaretz said Wednesday’s attack is the “most extensive” since the start of cross-border hostilities on Oct 8. As a result of the impacts, several fires were sparked across the region. The latest targeted assassination of a resistance commander inside Lebanon came just one day after Israeli airstrikes hit the Hermel District of northeastern Lebanon in what was described as the deepest strike inside the country since the start of the war. Ongoing Hezbollah attacks in northern Israel have succeeded in “blinding” the Israeli army by destroying vital intelligence facilities.
Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged fire since Oct 8, one day after the genocidal war in Gaza began. Israel has regularly threatened to invade Lebanon after Hezbollah attacks successfully destroyed significant Israeli military infrastructure and forced the evacuation of most settlers from the border area. Many have stated they will not return to the northern settlements even after the war ends, threatening Israel’s effort to colonize its north region further.
Niqnaq 