The Middle East

[Adam 375]

3 hours ago, MsKreed said:

And that is the issue that's been un-resolved since 1948 when Palestinians (PLO, then Hamas) began their campaign to exist 'from the river to the sea' by attempting to eradicate Israel.  

Without defending reports of indiscriminate bombing by the IDF, one must be careful not to let that be used as reason to condone the barbaric acts that Hamas has carried out on large scale....like the f%$k-sticks like "Queers for Palestine" marching across campuses and "protesting" by disrupting traffic, etc. 

(Warning: this video link contains extremely graphic descriptions of incidents that the NY Times has investigated and independently verified...Weaponized Sexual Violence).

there are plenty of videos and verified stories of Israeli "settlers" assualting  and displacing palestinian land owners, their crops being raided and then destroyed all while IDF or police look on and do nothing, or children being detained for years on little more than "because we say-so" as well as IDF provoking and intimidating women/children just because they can, long before 10/7. there MUST be a distinction between civilian and combatants and realizing this is difficult at best concerning the tactics of hamas cowards; carpet bombing areas that you tell folks are safe, or shooting people surrendering( even the hostages they are supposedly doing this for) are certainly not actions conducive to de-escalating or being rid of radicalization. i do not excuse nor condone the actions of 10/7 nor ANY other barbarism. im simply tired of hearing Israel use past wrongs of others as justification for theirs that are ongoing and claiming/being given the moral high ground for what would be considered crimes against humanity if many other Nations were doing the same

[TTL News 308]

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TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Thousands of Israeli soldiers are being shifted out of the Gaza Strip, the military said Monday, in the first significant drawdown of troops since the war began as forces continued to bear down on the main city in the southern half of the enclave.

The troop movement could signal that fighting is being scaled back in some areas of Gaza, particularly in the northern half where the military has said it is close to assuming operational control. Israel has been under pressure from its chief ally, the United States, to begin to switch to lower-intensity fighting. 

Word of the drawdown came ahead of a visit by Secretary of State Antony Blinken to the region and after the Biden administration bypassed Congress for the second timethis month to approve an emergency weapons sale to Israel.

 

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[TTL News 308]

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Israel was on high alert Wednesday for an escalation with Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah militia after the strike in the Lebanese capital killed Saleh Arouri, the most senior Hamas member slain since the war in Gaza erupted nearly three months ago.

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[TTL News 308]

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JERUSALEM (AP) — Hezbollah has struck an air traffic control base in northern Israel, the Israeli military said Sunday, and warned of “another war” with the Iran-backed militant group.

The increase in fighting across the border with Lebanon as Israel battles Hamas militants in Gaza gave new urgency to U.S. diplomatic efforts as Secretary of State Antony Blinken prepared to visit Israel on his latest Mideast tour.

“This is a conflict that could easily metastasize, causing even more insecurity and even more suffering,” Blinken told reporters after talks in Qatar, a key mediator.

 

AP News

[Chris 2,178]

I can’t believe it hasn’t exploded into a full tilt regional war yet. 

[Ann 264]

4 hours ago, Chris said:

I can’t believe it hasn’t exploded into a full tilt regional war yet. 

And I’m praying it doesn’t.

[KarenK 384]

5 hours ago, Chris said:

I can’t believe it hasn’t exploded into a full tilt regional war yet. 

I can't help but think that they are really trying to drag the US in doing whatever it takes. 

[Chris 2,178]

I'm not even sure where to put this. I guess here works:

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Yemen’s Houthi rebels vowed fierce retaliation Friday for American and British strikes against them, further raising the prospect of a wider conflict in a region already beset by Israel’s war in Gaza.

The bombardment — launched in response to a recent campaign of drone and missile attacks on commercial ships in the vital Red Sea — killed at least five people and wounded six, the Houthis said.

As the bombing lit the predawn sky over multiple sites held by the Iranian-backed rebels, it forced the world to again focus on Yemen’s yearslong war, which began when the Houthis seized the country’s capital.

 

AP News

[MsKreed 1,186]

51 minutes ago, Chris said:

Yemen’s Houthi rebels vowed fierce retaliation Friday for American and British strikes against them, further raising the prospect of a wider conflict in a region already beset by Israel’s war in Gaza.

The bombardment — launched in response to a recent campaign of drone and missile attacks on commercial ships in the vital Red Sea

Orwell would be proud of how widespread the NewSpeak has become. 

Some of my earliest memories  of "World News" all the way back in the 1970s surround the PLO, Yasser Afarat, etc. From the 1972 Olympic massacre to planes being hijacked on an almost weekly basis....and continued through the 80s and 90s. A continuation of the same conflicts that had been going on since the 1920s and 30s (decades before Israel was created).

The American Embassy in Iran, Leon Klinghoffer, Pan Am Flight 103.

The "Palestinians" and various Iranian proxy groups dedicated to "freeing/liberating" them (Houthi, Hezbollah and Hamas) change names every now and then, but follow the same tactics have been been in practice since the 1920s and 30s......attacking civilian targets and claiming they were the ones being oppressed.

The entire terrorist playbook is a constant stream of "retaliating" against aggressions they claim to be victims of.....aggression that's in responses to their own aggression. 

Edited January 12 by MsKreed

[KarenK 384]

Maybe it's just me, but I feel like these things are ramping up the closer to the elections we get.  They seem to be targeting things that they know will force the USA's hand in some way (or at least Biden said he felt he had no choice).  To me it's like an attempt to discredit and make Biden look bad to the people who have to vote.

[MsKreed 1,186]

There has been an increasing “voice” that questions Israel’s legitimacy for decades. I witnessed some of that on campus in September 2001. There were people offering “justification” for attacking civilians, because as a democracy, the civilians were fair targets who are directly responsible for the actions of their government representatives. That wasn’t at UC Berkley....it was Mansfield PA.

But, for the most part, US support for Israel and the Jewish population has been pretty much an uncontested “given” since WWII (and even moreso since 1967)....and the opposing ideas like I saw at Mansfield were rhetorical (and respectful) debate among a small minority.

I think a lot of people (including the Biden administration) were unprepared for how much active support there currently is for Hamas in the US.....Strong and vocal, threatening support (some with violent proclivity) from the Progressive “base” in Congress as well as college campuses, etc.

Edited January 12 by MsKreed

[Adam 375]

10 hours ago, MsKreed said:

....attacking civilian targets and claiming they were the ones being oppressed.

The entire terrorist playbook is a constant stream of "retaliating" against aggressions they claim to be victims of.....aggression that's in responses to their own aggression. 

one could argue that hardcore Zionist factions of Israeli Gov are currently taking pages out that playbook and amping them up a bit...

Conflating Palestinians with Hamas is kind of disturbing; the Entire population is not and likely could not be members of the terrorist group. How about we just say ALL muslims are terrorists or all whites are racists then? While each and everyone of them should be dropping the dime on suspected/known members, keep in mind that for the average "civilian" spends their energy and days just trying to scratch out a survival level-living. Now add in that they are being "evacuated" into ghettos while their homes/land being bombed to shit and/or stolen; Israel may not be openly saying "from the river to the sea" but their actions certainly are screaming it, so with Israel's "right to exist"  superseding that very right of others, (over 20k dead including women and children), one could argue Israel is currently engaging in terrorism too

[Chris 2,178]

Read it here.

[TTL News 308]

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The UN relief agency operating in Gaza said Friday that Israel had accused some of its staff of being involved in the October 7 attacks, and that their contracts would be “immediately” terminated.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNWRA) Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said Israeli authorities provided the agency “with information” alleging several of its employees participated in Hamas’ murderous rampage into southern Israel, when the militant group killed at least 1,200 people and abducted more than 250 others.

An investigation is being launched into the alleged involvement of the employees and those involved will be held accountable “including through criminal prosecution,” added Lazzarini. The commissioner-general said he made the decision in order to protect the agency’s ability to deliver humanitarian aid.

 

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[Ann 264]

If true, why am I not surprised.

[Adam 375]

6 hours ago, Ann said:

If true, why am I not surprised.

and if false, would anyone be equally surprised?

It IS blatant extermination that is occurring there; 26k Palestinians dead so far, Estimates show around 35k members of the hamas "military", so once the dead reach that number, then will Israel be satisfied? or will they still feel the need to defend themselves to get another 35k Palestinians just to be sure?

im sorry but herding entire populations into "safe areas" just to bomb those same areas, not once, but multiple times while absolutely destroying buildings of any description. Soldiers killing/shooting people that are clearly no threat along with statements made by those in Israeli Gov argue against simple defense of Nation in=mho

[MsKreed 1,186]

18 hours ago, Ann said:

If true, why am I not surprised.

Me neither.

Call me cynical....but the most convincing argument for me isn’t the he “said/she said” narratives from Israel and Hamas.

The fact that it’s a UN agency is what makes them suspect in my eyes. Maintaining conflict among the very nations that fund them is a cash cow that has allowed the UN to thrive (and grows richer and more powerful) for decades. 

As of October 6th....the Saudis and other Arab nations were on board to facilitate normalized solutions for the region.  I imagine that progress toward sustained peaceful relations could have caused less "need" (and hence a loss of revenue) for UNWRA, as well as a whole bunch more UN "aid" programs. Can't have that.

Edited January 27 by MsKreed

[Ann 264]

Perhaps it is time to abolish the UN.  Each country has its Ambassadors and Government officials like our Secretary of State.  Maybe it is time for direct negotiations.  Let the UN’s headquarters move to another Country.  I don’t see what good they do at this point in time.

[MsKreed 1,186]

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Military officials have released the identities of three Army Reserve soldiers killed in a one-way drone attack that occurred Sunday at a U.S. military base in northeastern Jordan near the country’s borders with Syria and Iraq.

The three fallen troops were all members of the Army Reserve’s 718th Engineer Company. Their names, according to Defense Department and Army releases, are: Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, 46, a resident of Carrollton, Georgia; Spc. Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24, of Waycross, Georgia; and Spc. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, 23, of Savannah, Georgia.

Rivers, who hailed form Willingboro, New Jersey, joined the Reserve as an electrician in 2011, according to the Army release. He previously deployed to Iraq in 2018 as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the anti-ISIS effort. His individual awards included an Army Achievement Medal in addition to service and campaign ribbons.

Sanders enlisted as a horizontal construction engineer in 2019, the Army said. She deployed to Djibouti in 2021, earning numerous service and campaign ribbons.

Moffett, who also joined the Reserve in 2019 as a horizontal construction engineer, was on her first deployment, the release said.

All three soldiers were assigned to the 718th Engineer Company in 2023 ahead of the deployment. Sanders and Moffett previously served in another engineer unit based in the south Georgia town of Tifton.

At least 34 other service members were injured in the attack, including eight who required medical evacuation from Jordan, said Central Command. Iran-backed militia groups, supported by the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps, launched the drone, according to U.S. officials.

The drone hit the soldiers’ housing units, the Army release said, adding that an investigation into their deaths is underway.

 

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[Chris 2,178]

If we don’t get drawn into an all out regional war, it’ll be a miracle.

[TTL News 308]

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Hamas has proposed a 135-day cease-fire plan that would include the release of remaining militant-held hostages, withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip and an end to the war that has killed tens of thousands and left the enclave in ruins.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were meeting to discuss the plan Wednesday, exactly four months after a Hamas-led assault on Israeli border communities ignited the conflict.

Netanyahu's office released a brief statement saying the proposal details "are being thoroughly evaluated." But Netanyahu has repeatedly said that Israeli forces will oversee security in Gaza, even after the war. Israel's Channel 13quoted a senior Israeli official it did not name as saying the Hamas proposal is unacceptable and a debate within the government involves whether to reject the plan outright or enter into negotiations.

 

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[Adam 375]

10 hours ago, Twin Tiers Living said:

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AAAND of course Israel shot it down. much more territory to grab i guess. 

 

[MsKreed 1,186]

More reason to distrust the UN  and its “Relief” organization (UNRWA):

AP News - Israel unveils tunnels underneath Gaza City headquarters of UN agency for Palestinian refugees

This is not (as AOC and Tlaib would have us believe) just a dozen rogue aid workers sympathizing with the Palestinian’s plight.

It’s evidence of a large scale effort by UNRWA to create and perpetuate a “need” for its own services (and unlimited funding).......by purposefully engaging in activities intended to pour gasoline on the fire that is the Israeli-Hamas conflict.  

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At one point, journalists were able to gaze upward from the tunnel, through a hole, and make eye contact with soldiers standing in a courtyard within the UNRWA facility.

Inside one of the UNRWA buildings, journalists saw a room full of computers with wires stretching down into the ground. Soldiers then showed them a room in the underground tunnel where they claimed the wires connected.

That underground room bore a wall of electrical cabinets with multicolored buttons and was lined with dozens of cables. The military claimed the room served as a hub powering tunnel infrastructure in the area.

“Twenty meters above us is the UNRWA headquarters,” said Lt. Col. Ido, whose last name was redacted by the military. “This is the electricity room, you can see all around here. The batteries, the electricity on walls, everything is conducted from here, all the energy for the tunnels which you walked though them are powered from here.”

 

 

[TTL News 308]

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RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli forces stormed the main hospital in southern Gaza on Thursday, hours after Israeli fire killed a patient and wounded six others inside the complex. The Israeli army said it was a limited operation seeking the remains of hostages taken by Hamas. 

The raid came a day after the army sought to evacuate thousands of displaced people who had taken shelter at Nasser Hospital in the city of Khan Younis, the focus of Israel’s offensive against Hamas in recent weeks. The war shows no sign of ending, and the risk of a broader conflict is growing as Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah step up attacks after a particularly deadly exchange on Wednesday.

The military said it had “credible intelligence” that Hamas had held hostages at the hospital and that the remains of hostages might still be inside. Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the chief military spokesperson, said forces were conducting a “precise and limited” operation there and would not forcibly evacuate medics or patients. Israel accuses Hamas of using hospitals and other civilian structures to shield its fighters.

 

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[Adam 375]

10 hours ago, Twin Tiers Living said:

and would not forcibly evacuate medics or patients.

nope, just kill or wound them....

at this point nobody can say this is solely about hostages or Israeli National security; this is "from the river to the sea" just more "subtle". for a cease-fire, return of prisoners( some could say hostages) and an eventual withdrawal of Israeli forces they could have ALL the Israeli hostages returned...instead it seems more extermination is preferred.