Tag: Israel Defense Forces

Palestine Land Day 2024 will have a very different feel about it

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

We are approaching the 48th commemoration of Palestine Land Day, and there is no doubt that 30 March will have very different feel about it this year, with the Palestinians in Gaza being killed and starved in defense of their land against the brutal Zionist military offensive over almost six months, during which the Gaza Strip has been systematically destroyed. Civilian infrastructure has been targeted by Israel, including homes, hospitals, schools, places of worship and governmental and non-government institutions. UNRWA buildings have also been targeted and destroyed. In every practical sense of the word, Gaza is uninhabitable.

Palestine Land Day 2024 will have a very different feel about it

U.S. Pushes to Shape Israel’s Rafah Operation, Not Stop It + Washington sends Israel more city-busting bombs to level Rafah

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

U.S. Pushes to Shape Israel’s Rafah Operation, Not Stop It

Rafah has been at the center of a growing rift between Israeli and U.S. political leaders. Those tensions boiled over on Monday, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled a visit to Washington by top aides to discuss U.S. concerns over the planned offensive on Rafah, where Hamas fighters are making a final stand. The tit-for-tat move was in response to the U.S. abstaining from a United Nations Security Council resolution that called for an immediate cease-fire while also demanding the release of hostages.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, however, proceeded with his meetings at the White House and Pentagon on Monday and Tuesday, which had been previously scheduled. Gallant is part of Israel’s three-member war cabinet that includes Netanyahu and Benny Gantz, the prime minister’s chief political rival.

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Both sides also agreed that the Hamas battalions in Rafah must be dislodged so that the militants cannot attempt a comeback or continue to smuggle weapons into the enclave, which are prerequisites for ending the war and paving the way for a new political authority in Gaza. And that means trying to find ways to work with Israel on its Rafah strategy, for lack of better options.

Related:

Washington sends Israel more city-busting bombs to level Rafah

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The Gaza Maritime Route Was Netanyahu’s Idea, Maritime Aid Corridor Will Advance the Overthrow of Hamas, & When Will US boots be on the Ground in Gaza?

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Diplomatic source to ‘Post’: Gaza maritime route was Netanyahu’s idea

According to the source, on October 22, two weeks following the war’s outbreak, Netanyahu discussed with President Biden the concept of “delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza via the sea, contingent on an Israeli inspection in Cyprus.”

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Years before the Gaza war, Israel Katz, now the Foreign Minister, had drawn up plans for a maritime route via Cyprus involving a floating island.

The project was never executed. But he revived it after the war began on October 7. 

Related:

Gallant: Maritime Aid Corridor Will Advance Overthrow of Hamas

“The process is designed to facilitate aid directly to civilians and in this way, it advances [our goal] of overthrowing Hamas’ rule in Gaza,” the minister said.

“We will facilitate aid via the maritime route that is coordinated with the United States (security and humanitarian aspects), with the assistance of the United Arab Emirates on the civilian side,” he said. “It will include the appropriate inspections in Cyprus, and the goods will be brought by international organizations with American assistance.”

Air, sea, and land: When will US boots be on the ground in Gaza? Authored by Yonah Jeremy Bob*

Then suddenly, last Thursday, US President Joe Biden announced that the US would also supply maritime aid to Gaza, including building a makeshift artificial port off the coast.

This already imposes a long-term US military footprint in Israeli-Gaza territorial waters rather than a “mere” series of fly-throughs.

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How hard would it be for a small complement of US Marines accompanying the aid deliveries to travel a kilometer or so into Gaza and to place themselves squarely in the middle of where Israel does not want them?

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Moreover, US forces have been and are already on the ground.

US generals and counter-terror experts have been in and out of Israel since the start of the war, including visits to Gaza.

There are also a variety of US military personnel regularly in Israel on military and intelligence exchange programs.

US attempts to reform the PA

Speaking of intelligence, multiple times when a decision was made to try to improve and reform the Palestinian Authority security forces, it was the CIA and US special forces who came to the West Bank and Gaza to help train and prepare these forces.

It seems quite likely that the Jewish state, at some point, will ask Washington to perform the same service again in Gaza.

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A broader version could involve a US-led peacekeeping force handling internal Gaza security for an indefinite period until enough Gazan Palestinians disconnected from Hamas can be convinced that taking on this role will not lead to them being slaughtered later by a resurgent Hamas.

From this perspective, the question about US forces on the ground in Gaza seems less of an if than it does a when, how many, and under more or less coordinated circumstances with Israel.

*Yonah Jeremy Bob was raised in Baltimore and graduated from Columbia University and Boston University Law School, respectively. He previously worked for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Israeli Military International Law Division, and the Israeli Justice Ministry. – Wikipedia

How Cyprus is used to facilitate genocide

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)
How Cyprus is used to facilitate genocide

Activists claim the UK and US use Cyprus as an “unsinkable warship” as recent conflicts in the Middle East spark renewed controversy over British military bases on the Mediterranean island.

UK ‘bases of death’ in Cyprus see controversy amid Middle East conflicts

Previously:

U.S. Spies Have ‘Wide Range’ of Facilities on UK’s Cyprus Base Near Gaza and Share Intelligence with Israel Daily

Israeli Group to Study MDMA Therapy for October 7 Survivors With PTSD

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Israeli Group to Study MDMA Therapy for October 7 Survivors With PTSD

A group of 400 Israeli survivors of the October 7 Hamas attack, including civilians, released hostages, and soldiers, could be offered MDMA-assisted psychotherapy in a potentially trailblazing study to commence later this year.

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“Our goal is to create a therapy model that can serve universally, with the intention and prayer to help people,” said Dr. Keren Tzarfaty, CEO and co-founder of MAPS Israel, which is already running trials evaluating MDMA-assisted therapy for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and eating disorders. “We hope it will demonstrate high levels of safety and effectiveness and enable us to offer the program in other places over the region and the world, not only to treat PTSD, but to help people open their hearts and expand their minds.”

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Dr. Rick Doblin, founding president of the U.S.-based MAPS and a longtime advocate for using psychedelic therapy in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, said that the study would serve as a seminal piece of research into whether psychedelic-assisted therapy can help large groups of traumatized people.

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Israel gets closer to prohibiting foreign press

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Israel has moved a step closer to potentially banning Al Jazeera after accusing one of its reporters, Mohamed Washah, of working for Hamas. The Israeli parliament voted 25-4 to advance the ‘Al Jazeera Law,’ a bill that would allow the temporary outlawing of foreign media outlets designated as harmful to state security by the defense ministry. The legislation, colloquially known as the ‘Al Jazeera Law,’ specifically targets the Qatar-based network.

Israel gets closer to prohibiting foreign press