As practically everyone on planet Earth must now know, Donald Trump has become the first former US president to be convicted of felonies after leaving office. The response to the outcome of the trial from Democrats and Republicans has been predictably binary. Democrats have been reveling in the outcome and seem to think that the trial’s conclusion has delivered a final blow to Trump’s credibility and, in turn, his chances of winning the upcoming election. Trump’s supporters, on the other hand, are largely condemning the trial as politically motivated “lawfare” waged by the “radical left” in order to derail Trump’s chances of winning the upcoming election, which might end up galvanizing his base.
I can’t stand Trump, but this is why I don’t post about the criminal charges against him. I’d rather see him, and the rest of them, charged for war crimes! Furthermore, I can understand why his supporters, and even foreigners, see it as lawfare.
Strong waves have swept away a section of the American floating pier off the coast of the Gaza Strip, heading towards the shores of Ashdod, as per Israeli media.
Four boats stabilizing the $320 million structure detached, U.S. Central Command, which is responsible for military operations in the Middle East, said Saturday. Two of them floated northward, eventually landing on the beach in Ashdod, Israel, it said. Two others are now anchored on the beach near the pier, the military said, adding that the dock is still operational despite the damage. It said that no U.S. military personnel would enter Gaza.
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The damage to the dock is only the latest setback in the U.S.’s attempt to deliver aid via the sea for the first time since the war began in October. Shipments at the floating pier began this month and are expected to scale up. Roughly 820 tons of aid were delivered through the floating dock in its first week, the U.S. government’s official international development arm USAID said, a number that is about 20% below the Pentagon’s initial target.
Separately, three U.S. troops were injured on the pier this week in accidents, the Pentagon said, including one seriously. No U.S. troops were injured during Saturday’s incident, the U.S. military said.
To support Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and despite any ideological or political differences, thousands of fighters from four other Palestinian factions have been fighting against the Israeli occupation forces in Gaza since last October.
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“Currently, we are all facing the same catastrophe(…) The Israeli enemy does not differentiate between a Palestinian who follows Fatah and another who belongs to Hamas. For him, everyone is a target. The Israelis want to eradicate the Palestinian people, without exception,” the officials said.
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“Although the Al-Qassam Brigades and the Al-Quds Brigades are the strongest on the ground, fighters from other factions joining the fight has created a balance not only on the field but also politically, especially since Israel has always bragged since the beginning of its war that it is only fighting Hamas, which it described as similar to ISIS, to justify its crimes against all the Palestinian people,” Wasef Erekat, a Ramallah-based Palestinian military expert, told TNA.
“The presence of diversity in the fighters’ ideological and political backgrounds and tactics in confronting the Israeli occupation prevents Israel from being able to commit even more crimes against the Palestinians and debunks their claim that they are only fighting ‘extremists’ and Hamas,” Erekat said.
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“Israel and the United States have long tried to stamp out Palestinian armed resistance and hold Hamas fully responsible for the 7 October attack. They ignored the violations against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, Jerusalem, and Gaza for decades and considered the 7 October attack a ‘crime against humanity’ and mobilised international and, unfortunately, some of the Arab opinion against Hamas,” remarked Iyad al-Qarra, a Gaza-based Palestinian analyst.
In relation to Syria – a long-time ally of Hamas – Mr Meshaal said the party had been forced out of Damascus because it disagreed with how President Bashar al-Assad was dealing with the conflict.
Khaled Mash’al stepped down as leader of Hamas, in 2017.
A massive US naval deployment in a wide arc of the so-called Greater Middle East is under way — stretching from Crete in the Eastern Mediterranean, into the Red Sea and the Bab el Mandeb and into the Gulf of Aden and all the way into the Gulf of Oman. This deterrent display may transform as large scale offensive operations and aims to rework the geopolitical alignments and bring them back to the traditional grooves of intra-regional rivalries in the Gulf region.
Fifty-two crew members on an Israeli-linked ship in the Red Sea were detained by Yemeni naval forces who intercepted and seized the vessel on 19 October, sources told Al-Mayadeen.
Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, has said that Israel cannot claim the right of ‘self-defence’ under international law because Gaza is a territory which it occupies. Her comments came in a speech to the National Press Club in Canberra, Australia.
After all of these steps had been completed, the areas would be declared Free Fire Zones. Anything that was seen moving in these areas day or night was subject to attackby any and all forces that could be brought to bear.
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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