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

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.

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.

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Washington sends Israel more city-busting bombs to level Rafah

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U.S. Deployed Air Targeting Team to Israel, Document Suggests

TARGETING INTELLIGENCE — THE information used to conduct airstrikes and fire long-range artillery weapons — has played a central role in Israel’s siege of Gaza. A document obtained through the Freedom of Information Act suggests that the U.S. Air Force sent officers specializing in this exact form of intelligence to Israel in late November.

U.S. Deployed Air Targeting Team to Israel, Document Suggests (archived)

If true, this is disturbing! The Hague Invasion Act doesn’t cover the ICJ, from what I can tell. /s

US Foreign Policy Is a Scam Built on Corruption

US foreign policy seems to be utterly irrational. The US gets into one disastrous war after another — Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Ukraine, and Gaza. In recent days, the US stands globally isolated in its support of Israel’s genocidal actions against the Palestinians, voting against a UN General Assembly resolution for a Gaza ceasefire backed by 153 countries with 89% of the world population, and opposed by just the US and 9 small countries with less than 1% of the world population.

US Foreign Policy Is a Scam Built on Corruption

White House Says The U.S. Intelligence Community Was Not Aware Of Hamas’ Plan To Attack Israel

His comments come after the New York Times reported that Israeli officials obtained the plans more than a year before the Oct. 7 attack occurred.

White House Says The U.S. Intelligence Community Was Not Aware Of Hamas’ Plan To Attack Israel

Related:

Israel’s Women Border Troops Say Their Warnings On Hamas Were Ignored

Israeli intelligence ‘dismissed’ detailed warning of Hamas raid

Milei to meet with his masters

Argentina’s right-wing president-elect to meet with top Biden adviser

Milei’s meetings in Washington ”are protocol-driven to explain the economic plan: fiscal adjustment, monetary reform, state reform and deregulation,” a Milei spokesperson, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to talk on the record, said. “It is not in search of financing.”

Related:

Babies die, patients shot as Israel besieges hospitals in Gaza’s north

Rumble

Israel has besieged hospitals in the northern half of the Gaza Strip since Thursday.

Medical facilities have been “under relentless bombardment” for the past 24 hours, Doctors Without Borders said on Saturday.

Babies die, patients shot as Israel besieges hospitals in Gaza’s north

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