ICC To issue Warrants to Arrest Netanyahu Gallant Hamas Mossad Asset Leader Yahya Sinwar Is Doing Its Job BY BERNIE SANDERS

 ICCToissueWarrantsToArrestNetanyahuGallantHamasMossadAssetLeaderYahya =SinwarIsDoingItsJobBYBERNIE SANDERS

45 Plus And Another 6 Plus Palestinians Murdered In Gaza By Israel's Defence Force Under Orders Of Netanyahu And Gallant INLTV.co.uk INLTVWorld News 28thMay 2024.

Official portrait of Vice President Joe Biden in his West ...

USA President Joe Biden Involved in War Crimes by supplying Bombs that Helped Israel's Netanyahu And Gallant burn alive Palestinian women and children in Gaza

Palestinian Women and Children In Gaza Burnt Alive by USA Bombs Supplied by USA President Joe Biden

International Outrage Over International Law Crimes Committed by USA President Joe Biden and Israel's Netanyahu And Gallant

"These Israeli Air Strikes on innocent women and children which has caused over 45 to be killed and over 180 injured are outrageous.. it is hell on earth now in Gaza..."..  Emmanuel Macron, President of France

"They have now gone too far .., this  Slaughter of Genocide of the Palestinian People in Gaza and the West Bank using USA supplied weapons has to immediately stop"....  says Donald Trump to his friends 

"These Israeli Air Strikes on innocent women and children which has caused over 45 to be killed and over 180 injured are outrageous.. it is hell on earth now in Gaza..."..  Emmanuel Macron, President of France

 Israel's Prime Minister and Benjamin Netanyahu And Israel's Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant. who was a former Military General , ordered the IDF to shot to kill  .....  two Medical Workers at the Rafah Hospital in Gaza. forcing the Rafah Hospital To Shut Down, and after the murder of over 40 Palestinians in Rafah, who were burnt alive ....... including a pregnant woman ...... so the 100 plus injured in the same Rafah Bombing of innocent displaced Palestinian Civilians who were living in tents, including many women and children, could not receive medical treatment at the Rafah Hospital... INLTV World News 28th May 2024

A Few Minutes with… Yoav Galant - Mishpacha Magazine

 Yoav Gallant Is a well known war criminal who is the Military head of a terrorist organisation operating in Israel, who has been named an an inditement application made by  ICC Prosecutor Karim A.A. Karim KC to  the ICC, for a warrant for his arrest to be issued for his alleged war crimes including murder of innocent Palestinian civilians many of whom were women and children and starvation as a weapon of war

Yoav Gallant (Hebrewיוֹאָב גָּלַנְטְ‎; born 8 November 1958) is an Israeli politician and retired military general. A member of the Knesset for Likud, he has served as Minister of Defense since 2022. Gallant is a former commander of the Southern Command in the Israel Defense Forces. In January 2015, he entered politics, joining the new Kulanu party. After being elected to the Knesset, he was appointed Minister of Construction. At the end of 2018, he joined Likud. Gallant also previously held the posts of Minister of Aliyah and Integration and Minister of Education.

Who Really is Yahya Sinwar and Where Is Yahya Sinwar?

INLTVNews exposes Joe Biden US President Provided The Bombs That Israel's Netanyahu And Gallant Used To Murder And Injure A Further 100 Plus Palestinians Civilians In Gaza Women and Children Burnt Alive 27th May 2024

ICJ rules Israel must ‘immediately halt’ offensive in Rafah | Israel-Palestine conflict | Al Jazeera

Another Over 100 People Murdered And Injured By Israeli Air Strike In Gaza 27th May 2024 INLTV.co.uk

INL News Media and Publishing Group

All media, subscriptions, submissions, publishing, donation and advertising enquiries please

Email: INL News Group Admin Manager  at

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

UN halts Rafah food distribution due to shortages and hostilities

David Gritten,BBC News

Two thousand aid trucks stuck at Rafah border, aid group warns

Dan Johnson,BBC News

Three-quarters of Gaza marked as IDF evacuation zones, BBC finds

20th May 2024 By Ahmed Nour, Abdirahim Saeed,BBC Arabic
 
ICJ rules Israel must ‘immediately halt’ offensive in Rafah | Israel-Palestine conflict | Al Jazeera
The International Court of Justice has ruled that Israel must immediately halt its offensive in Rafah and allow unimpeded access to investigate allegations of genocide.

The UN’s top court is ordering Israel to immediately halt its offensive on Rafah, open the border crossing to let aid to flow freely into Gaza and to allow unimpeded access for investigators over allegations of genocide in Palestine. Israel said it is acting on its right to defend itself and called charges of genocide outrageous.

 

The International Court of Justice called on Israel to end its operation in Rafah, the southernmost town in Gaza.

Over the last two weeks, Israel has reduced entire neighbourhoods in Rafah to rubble and forcefully displaced hundreds of thousands of people.

What was the ICJ ruling on South Africa’s case against Israel?

According to the court, Israel must stop its offensive on Rafah.

The court was not convinced that Israel had taken sufficient measures to protect civilian life and voted – 13 judges to two – that Israel must take effective measures to enable any UN-backed commission of inquiry to enter Gaza and probe genocide allegations.

The court also reaffirmed its previous January 26 ruling that Israel must scale up aid to Palestinians in Gaza.

“The ICJ is essentially saying: OK, enough,” said Alonso Gurmendi, an international law scholar at King’s College, London.  “It is a pretty substantial order … it [reflects] a loss of patience [with Israel] in my opinion.”

 

What was South Africa’s complaint against Israel?

South Africa initially filed an emergency request for Israel to end its offensive on Rafah, but then broadened its request for a full ceasefire in Gaza.

Will this stop Israel’s attack on Rafah?

Minutes after the ruling came in, reports emerged of Israeli air raids in Rafah.

For now, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not made a formal statement. But analysts believe that Israel will continue to violate the ICJ’s order.

Legal scholars and analysts said Israel refused compliance with earlier ICJ provisional measures on January 26. The ICJ had called on Israel to scale up aid to protect the rights of Palestinians under the genocide convention.

Gurmendi added that the new provisional measure compounds the pressure on Western states that arm Israel.

“How can you justify selling weapons for Israel to use in Rafah? I don’t think you can. I think it is legally impossible,” he said. “So while this [ICJ order] won’t stop the operation in Rafah itself, it builds pressure on the idea that it is OK to just keep selling weapons to Israel.”

What else did the ICJ say?

It ordered Israel to open the Rafah crossing for unhindered provision of aid.

“The order is [legally] binding on Israel. Previous [ICJ] orders [to scale up aid] have already put states on notice that there is an imminent risk of genocide and therefore their duty – under the genocide convention –  to prevent that has already been triggered,” said Heidi Matthews, a legal scholar at York University in Toronto.

“Obviously, some folks will be disappointed that there wasn’t a full ceasefire order. This is still a big move, but it’s not a full ceasefire move,” she added.

Any reaction from Palestine or Palestinian groups?

Hamas welcomed the ICJ rulings. It said in a statement that Israel continues to commit massacres in the Gaza Strip. The group added that it expects the court to eventually issue an order for Israel to stop its war on the entire besieged strip.

“What is happening in Jabalia and other governorates of the Strip is no less criminal and dangerous than what is happening in Rafah.”

“We call on the international community and the United Nations to pressure the occupation to immediately comply with this decision and to seriously and genuinely proceed in translating all UN resolutions that force the Zionist occupation army to stop the genocide it has been committing against our people for more than seven months.”

How did Israel respond?

The response from Israeli officials has been largely defiant.

Many officials repeated prior accusations that the court was aiding “terrorists.”

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that Israel was in a “war for its existence,” adding that stopping the invasion of Rafah was akin to demanding Israel “cease to exist”.

He warned that stopping the assault meant the “enemy will reach the beds of our children and women throughout the country.” He then tweeted that “history will judge who stood by the Nazis of Hamas and ISIS [ISIL].”

Will the ICJ be able to enforce Friday’s ruling?

They have no enforcement power in the UN system. Enforcement relies on members of the court to uphold their obligations under international law and on the UN Security Council.

How does this court hearing differ from the last one?

Both hearings aimed to secure an end to Israel’s devastating war on Gaza. Experts told Al Jazeera that the ICJ’s new orders intensify pressure on Israel and allied states to protect Palestinians and end its war on Gaza, which has killed more than 35,000 people and made the enclave effectively uninhabitable.

Israel's Finance Minister and leader of the Religious Zionist Party Bezalel Smotrich.
Israel’s Finance Minister and leader of the Religious Zionist Party Bezalel Smotrich [Gil Cohen Magen/AFP]

What’s next?

ICJ orders are legally binding. However, the court’s ruling will now be discussed at the UN Security Council, where states can decide to take united action to enforce the court’s orders. Security Council resolutions are also legally binding.

However, the US has a veto, which it has historically used to shield Israel from the consequences of violating international law.

On April 18, the US vetoed a proposed resolution that would have made Palestine the 194th UN member.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/5/24/explainer-icj-rules-israel-must-stop-rafah-operation-whats-next
 

KEEP READING

list of 3 items

Harvard students stage walkout at graduation ceremony 24th May 2024

Hundreds of graduating students at Harvard University staged a walkout during commencement after the school said it would not allow 13 students who took part in Gaza campus protests to graduate.

Weeks earlier, pro-Palestine demonstrators had erected an encampment at the school, similar to other nationwide campus protests that began at Columbia University in April.

Protesters are calling for universities to boycott companies and individuals with ties to Israel amid the ongoing war there.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cxeevn4pe1jo

 

The're Killing Women And Children In Gaza Music and Live Gaza Film Version Two

A song written for everyone to sing around the world in support and memory of the

over 35,000 innocent Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank murdered by Israel's IDF and over 80 ,000 Palestinians  in Gaza and the West Bank badly injured by Israel's IDF  under direct orders of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant

and they both wonder why the main ICC prosecutor has asked the ICC to issue bench warrants against them serious war crimes .... it seems that  the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant seem to be suffering the same mental disease  as the Directors of Eron suffered ... That is Willful Blindness

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9eev88xy59o

Anadolu Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant (L) visits troops near Israel's border with the southern Gaza Strip (7 May 2024)

Their Killing Women and Children In Gaza In Broad Daylight
 
Verse One
The Gaza Israel War...
Why is it happening? ....
The Gaza Isrsel War...
Supported by the major Western Powers ...
 
Verse Two
The Gaza Israel War.
Why is it happening?...
The Palestinians are having to flee their homes..
Before the Israelites drop more bombs..
 
Chorus
 
Their killing women and children in Gaza..
In broad daylight..
Their killing women and children in Gaza..
Who are not even in the fight...
 
Middle Eight
People are watching their TV Screens..of..
Thousands of innocent women and children being murdered...
As though it was just another violent movie....
 They haven't yet seen..
 
 
Verse Three
The Gaza Israel War..
Why is it hapenning?..
All the woundered and sick are having to be...
Moved their Gaza Hospital Beds...
Before another rocket hits their beds.
Map
Map
AFP File photo showing displaced Palestinian children carrying containers with food in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip (19 May 2024)
Unrwa said food warehouses and distribution centres in eastern Rafah were inaccessible because of the Israeli military operation
Map showing access restrictions in the Gaza Strip (16 May 2024)

Israel's defence minister rejects ICC prosecutor’s request for warrants

21st May 2024 David Gritten,BBC News
Yoav Gallant (L) stressed that Israeli forces were fighting in Gaza “in accordance with international law"

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has rejected the arrest warrants sought by the International Criminal Court's prosecutor for him and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Mr Gallant said the prosecutor, Karim Khan, had drawn a "despicable" parallel between Israel and the Palestinian armed group Hamas and attempted to deny his country's right to self-defence.

Mr Khan also accused Hamas’s Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar, military chief Mohammed Deif and political leader Ismail Haniyeh.

He said on Monday that he had "reasonable grounds" to believe the five men bore "criminal responsibility" for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during the war in Gaza.

Mr Netanyahu and Hamas also reacted with outrage to the announcement.

If the ICC’s judges decide to issue the arrest warrants, it will be up to its 124 member states - who do not include Israel or its ally, the US - to decide whether or not to enforce them.

The US said the move against Israel’s leaders was “outrageous”, while the UK described it as “deeply unhelpful”. But France expressed support for the ICC and its “fight against impunity”.

Mr Khan’s case against the leaders of Hamas and Israel stems from the events of 7 October, when Hamas gunmen attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 252 others back to Gaza as hostages.

Israel responded to the attack by launching a military campaign to eliminate Hamas, during which at least 35,640 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

Mr Khan accused the Hamas leaders of crimes against humanity and war crimes including extermination, murder, the taking of hostages, rape and torture.

For the Israeli leaders, the accusations included deliberate attacks on civilians, and the use of starvation as a weapon of war, as well as extermination and murder.

"International law and the laws of armed conflict apply to all," Mr Khan said. "No foot soldier, no commander, no civilian leader - no-one - can act with impunity.”

In a statement, Mr Gallant insisted that Israeli forces were fighting in Gaza “in accordance with international law, while taking unprecedented measures to facilitate humanitarian aid”.

“I stand with, support, and commend our troops, who are defending our people and fulfilling the extraordinary privilege and obligation of defending ourselves, by ourselves,” he said.

He added: “The attempt made by the ICC prosecutor Karim Khan to turn things around will not succeed - the parallel he has drawn between the Hamas terrorist organization and the State of Israel is despicable.”

Mr Gallant reiterated that Israel was not a signatory of the Rome Statute, the ICC’s founding treaty, and did not recognise its authority.

“Karim Khan's attempt to deny the State of Israel the right to defend herself and ensure the release of the hostages held in Gaza must be rejected explicitly.”

There was no immediate response from Mr Khan to the remarks or to the statement made by Mr Netanyahu, who denounced the warrant applications for him and Mr Gallant as a “moral outrage of historic proportions”.

Hamas - which is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Israel, the US, UK and other countries - demanded the “cancellation of all arrest warrants issued against leaders of the Palestinian resistance” and denounced what it called Mr Khan's "attempts... to equate the victim with the executioner".

The group also complained that the application for warrants against Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant had come “seven months late”, and that other Israeli political and military leaders had not been named alongside them.

The Israeli government also urged on Tuesday “the nations of the civilised, free world - nations who despise terrorists and anyone who supports them - to stand by Israel”.

“Make sure the ICC understands where you stand,” spokesman Tal Heinrich told a briefing.

“Oppose the prosecutor's decision and declare that, even if warrants are issued, you do not intend to enforce them. Because this is not about our leaders. It's about our survival."

The US ambassador to Israel, Jack Lew, said there was no comparison between "actions taken by a democratic government here with the behaviour of a terrorist organisation that is fighting in a way that has created these conditions".

“I don't think that a day has gone by that I haven't worked with either the prime minister or the defence minister or somebody in their immediate circle on how you get humanitarian assistance to starving people," he told a conference, according to Reuters news agency.

Speaking to reporters in Vienna, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also branded Mr Khan’s decision as a “deeply unhelpful development”.

"There is no moral equivalence between a democratic state exercising its lawful right to self-defence and the terrorist group Hamas."

Italy’s Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani, said it was “truly singular, I would say unacceptable, to equate a government legitimately elected by the people in a democracy with a terrorist organisation”.

And Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala described the allegations against Israeli leaders as “appalling and completely unacceptable”.

However, their reaction contrasted sharply with those of other European countries.

French foreign ministry put out a statement late on Monday voicing support for the ICC, “its independence and the fight against impunity in every situation”.

Belgium’s Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib also said it prioritised the fight against impunity and that “crimes committed in Gaza must be prosecuted at the highest level, regardless of the perpetrators”.

The German foreign ministry said it respected the ICC’s “independence and the conduct of proceedings”, but warned that the simultaneous warrant requests had “resulted in an incorrect implication of equivalence”.

A European Union spokesman said it supported the ICC’s “central role in bringing justice to victims in all situations under its jurisdiction” and that the bloc would be “taking note of” the rulings of the court’s judges to Mr Khan’s applications.

100 Plus Dead After Israeli Troops Open Fire On DESPERATE Palestinians In Food Lines

Corporations Control Our Governments

Heres How Aaro Bastani meets Matt Kennard Downstream

Palestinian community mourns 7 children killed in Gaza airstrike BBC News

Medics treat three wounded Palestinian children at Al-Aqsa Hospital following an Israeli air attack, in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on October 24 [Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto via Getty Images]

Gaza has become a ‘graveyard’ for children amid Israeli attacks: UN

Did Israels Mossad Have Prior Knowledge Of The 7th Oct 2023 Hamas Attack On Israel

An average of 420 Palestinian children have been killed or injured every day in the Gaza Strip since October 7.

Israeli Airstrike Kills 4 Palestinian Boys Playing Soccer NBC News

Did Israel's Mossad Have Prior Knowledge Of The 7th Oct 2023 Hamas Attack On Israel?

Gazan freelance AP-CNN- journalist Hassan Eslaiah Video

 

The ICC is Doing Its Job BY BERNIE SANDERS

Sen. Bernie Sanders on Tuesday night spoke on the floor of the U.S. Senate about the decision of the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor to seek arrest warrants for Hamas and Israeli leaders amidst the ongoing humanitarian disaster in Gaza. Sanders’ remarks, as prepared for delivery, are below and can be watched here.

There has been a lot of attention and controversy attached to a recent action by the international criminal court, the ICC.

The core purpose of the ICC is to prosecute the most serious international crimes: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression. I believe it is very important that all of us support accountability for these crimes and the important mission of the ICC.

Last year the ICC declared that President Vladimir Putin of Russia was in violation of international law and that he was a war criminal.

The ICC issued arrest warrants for Putin and one of his senior officials saying there are reasonable grounds to believe that they had committed the war crime of unlawful deportation and transfer of population for their systematic kidnapping of thousands and thousands of Ukrainian children.

I supported the ICC decision, and, in fact, that is the tip of the iceberg of what Putin has done in Ukraine. Putin started the mostly destructive war in Europe since World War II. He has bombed civilians and devastated civilian infrastructure, killing at least 30,000 civilians and displacing millions more. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian and Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded as a result of Putin’s horrific invasion of Ukraine.

On that occasion, when the ICC declared Putin a war criminal, the United States government welcomed the ICC decision. A White House spokesperson said “there is no doubt that Russia is committing war crimes and atrocities in Ukraine, and we have been clear that those responsible must be held accountable. The ICC prosecutor is an independent actor and makes his own prosecutorial decisions based on the evidence before him. We support accountability for perpetrators of war crimes.” That is what a U.S. government spokesperson said in March 2023, and I agree. In my view, Mr. Putin is in fact a war criminal.

We live in a world of increasing division, tension, and hostility. Around the globe, countries are dramatically increasing their military budgets. More countries are attempting to gain nuclear weapons and other dangerous weapons systems. It is in times like these that we most need international law. Without it, we will have an even more violent world where might makes right and where war criminals can act with impunity.

In recent years, the ICC has attempted to hold governments and political leaders accountable for crimes against humanity. That is what they do, and that is what they are supposed to do. All wars are terrible, and very often civilian casualties are unavoidable. But after the horrors of the second World War, countries throughout the world came together to try to establish rules to govern the conduct of war and to limit civilian casualties. The ICC’s role is to enforce these limits.

On Tuesday, the ICC prosecutor announced that he was requesting arrest warrants for three top Hamas leaders, including Yahya Sinwar, the group’s leader in Gaza.

To my mind, Sinwar and his Hamas accomplices are clearly war criminals. The horrific October 7th terrorist attack on Israel began this war and included the mass murder of 1,200 innocent men, women, and children, the taking of hundreds of hostages, and sexual violence against captives. These war crimes are well documented, and very few people would dispute the merits of those charges.

The ICC prosecutor also asked for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Gallant. The ICC charges focus on the use of starvation of civilians as a method of war as well as intentional attacks against the civilian population. Those are the charges. The use of starvation of civilians as a method of war – clearly a war crime – as well as intentional attacks against the civilian population.

Specifically, the prosecutor says that Netanyahu is responsible for “depriving [civilians] of objects indispensable to their survival, including willfully impeding relief supplies as provided for under the Geneva Conventions.”

Now, many people here in the Beltway, in Washington, have responded negatively to this decision from the ICC prosecutor. It seems that some folks here were comfortable with what the ICC did in terms of Putin and in terms of Sinwar, but not with Netanyahu. Some have argued that it is unfair to compare the democratically elected head of the Israeli government to Putin, who runs an authoritarian system, or Sinwar, the head of a terrorist organization.

But that is not what the ICC has done. In fact, the ICC prosecutor has looked at what each of these leaders has done – looked at their actions – and then compared those actions to established standards of international law. In other words, the ICC is not making some claim of equivalence, as some have charged, but is in fact holding both sides in this current war to the same standard.

Yes, democratically elected officials can commit war crimes. Let me repeat: democratically elected officials can commit war crimes.

The ICC is doing its job. It’s doing what it is supposed to do. We cannot only apply international law when it is convenient. And the independent panel of international legal experts the ICC appointed to help with this case unanimously – unanimously – agreed with the charges.

People may be uncomfortable to see the Prime Minister of Israel charged with war crimes, but let us take a hard look at what he has actually done. And we must determine whether his actions meet the standards of being a war crime.

In seven and a half months, more than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed and almost 80,000 injured. Thousands more are still under the rubble, but their bodies have not been fully identified. Some 60% of the victims are women, children, or the elderly. More than 250 aid workers have been killed, including 193 U.N. staff, more than any previous conflict.

There are 2.2 million people living in Gaza, and more than 1.7 million of them have been forced from their homes – 75% of the population. I’m trying to think of my own state, what it would be like if three-quarters of the people were driven out of their homes. These are by and large poor people. In the last few weeks, more than 900,000 have been displaced – many of them chased out of one place, chased to another place, gone to another place. Many of these people are children, Gaza has a young population. Many of them are elderly. Many of them are sick. These are people who have been forced out of their homes and moved, and moved again, often without adequate food, without adequate water supplies, and certainly without adequate health care.

When we talk about war crimes, talk about attacks on civilians, let’s understand: Gaza’s housing stock has been demolished. Again, I try to think of my own state, what it would mean if 60% of the housing was destroyed. Now, if these people who have been chased their homes, displaced from their homes, are ever able to return to their communities, where are they going to live? Over 60% of the housing units in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, including 221,000 housing units that have been completely destroyed, leaving more than a million people homeless. Entire neighborhoods have been wiped out both by bombing and planned detonations of explosive charges.

Looking at the war, we understand that Hamas is a difficult enemy that often uses civilians to protect their own people. But what we’re talking about over 60% of the housing units in Gaza have been destroyed. It’s hard to believe that there was a terrorist in every one of those buildings.

Israel has destroyed the civilian infrastructure of Gaza. You know, wiped out their ability to have electricity. Virtually no electricity in Gaza right now, virtually no clean water, and raw sewage is running through the streets, spreading disease. Now, if that’s not an attack on civilians, I don’t know what is.

The healthcare system in Gaza has been systematically annihilated, 21 hospitals have been made inoperable. In fact, of the 36 hospitals in Gaza, only four have not been damaged by bombardment, raided by the Israeli military, or closed. More than 400 healthcare workers have been killed.

Well, what do we say when we have a war in which the healthcare system is annihilated at a time when you have tens and tens of thousands of people who are wounded, many of them seriously?

The education system in Gaza has been virtually destroyed. Every one of Gaza’s 12 universities has been bombed. Got that? Every one of the 12 universities in Gaza has been bombed. More than 400 schools have suffered direct hits and 56 schools have been totally destroyed. Today, 625,000 children in Gaza have no access to education at all.

And I’ll tell you something else. When you talk about what’s going on in Gaza, what is not talked about almost at all – I think I read one article on it – I want you to think about the psychic damage being done to children. The children who see housing being destroyed, their parents or relatives being killed, who see drones flying around them, some of which have guns, being pushed out of their homes, deafening noise, inadequate food, inadequate water, pushed, shoved into any place, everyplace. If there is one child in Gaza that does not suffer psychic damage from this horror, I will be very surprised.

As a result of the destruction and Israeli policies restricting the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, more than a million people today face catastrophic levels of hunger and Gaza remains on the brink of famine. Hundreds of thousands of children face starvation. Even now, more than seven months into this war, Israel’s invasion of Rafah has severely disrupted the humanitarian relief operation, closing the two main border crossings and making it almost impossible for the U.N. to access warehouses or distribute aid.

Very little aid has gotten in for more than two weeks, bakeries have had to shut down, and hospitals are running low on fuel. Just today, the U.N. announced that it had been forced to halt all food distribution in Rafah after running out of supplies. The World Food Programme said “humanitarian operations in Gaza are near collapse,” saying that if food and other supplies don’t resume entering Gaza “in massive quantities, famine-like conditions will spread.”

Now, Mr. Netanyahu’s been on TV today, and elsewhere. He denies it all. Ain’t true, says Mr. Netanyahu. He claims that Israel is deeply worried about the civilian population, worried about the children, and that Israel is not blocking humanitarian aid at all. Not at all. Well, it turns out that the United Nations and virtually every other humanitarian group involved in the humanitarian disaster in Gaza strongly disagrees with Mr. Netanyahu.

Now, we can trust the words of a Prime Minister under criminal indictment in Israel, or we can trust the people whose function in life is to provide humanitarian aid.

The U.N. Secretary General says that much more aid is urgently needed to “avert an entirely preventable human-made famine” and that “there is no alternative to the massive use of land routes.”

Cindy McCain, the wife of our former Republican colleague John McCain, who is now the head of the World Food Programme, said of Gaza, “there is famine, full-blown famine in the north and it is moving south.”

A month ago, more than 50 humanitarian organizations called on Israel to allow greater humanitarian access and stop unnecessarily restricting aid. That’s 50 humanitarian organizations. Mr. Netanyahu says one thing, but 50 organizations who are desperately trying to the get food to hungry people say something else. Let the world decide who is telling the truth. And this group of humanitarian organizations included Catholic Relief Services, CARE, Mercy Corps, Oxfam, Save The Children, Refugees International, and scores of other well-respected humanitarian organizations – they say that Netanyahu and his team have blocked humanitarian aid.

Two of our colleagues, Senator Van Hollen and Senator Merkley, visited Rafah in January, and I heard their presentation to the Democratic caucus. Upset by the unreasonable Israeli restrictions on aid, they talked about trucks being inspected and inspected, sent back, that things that should have been allowed to get through were not allowed to get through. They said afterward that the U.S. must, “demand that the Netanyahu government lift the impediments for delivery of basic goods needed to sustain life in Gaza.” Netanyahu denies it, two of our colleagues who were there say that Israel has blocking aid.

The United States government also disagrees with Netanyahu. USAID Administrator Samantha Power said, “food has not flowed in sufficient quantities to avoid this infinite famine in the south and it is giving rise to child deaths in the north.” In March, Secretary of State Blinken said, “the bottom line is food is getting in, but it is insufficient.” In April he said, “there has been progress, but it is not enough. We still need to get more aid in and around Gaza.” In a formal report this month, the State Department said, “Israel did not fully cooperate with the United States government efforts and the United States government-supported international efforts to maximize humanitarian assistance flow to and distribution within Gaza.”

I got a kick out of hearing Mr. Netanyahu this afternoon. He talked about airlifts. My god, they’re supporting air drops, they’re supporting food coming in from the sea. The reason the United States is spending millions of dollars getting food in from the sea is precisely because Israel is blocking the ability to get trucks in! And the reason that Jordan and the other countries and the United States are doing air drops is once again because trucks cannot get through. Netanyahu is taking credit, and yet the reason we’re having to do those things is precisely because of the policies of his government.

President Biden himself has said, “a the major reason that distributing humanitarian aid in Gaza has been so difficult [is] because Israel has not done enough to protect aid workers trying to deliver desperately needed help to civilians… Israel has also not done enough to protect civilians,” President Joe Biden.

So, it is fair to say that most of the world disagrees with Mr. Netanyahu.

Think about all of that destruction. Think about the tens of thousands of civilians killed, the schools and hospitals blown up. Take a look at the pictures of emaciated children starving to death while food sits miles away.

One of the interesting things to my mind is that we don’t see enough of those pictures. And maybe that has something to do with the fact that the Israeli military has killed dozens and dozens and dozens of journalists. I just met with some journalists last week, including a young man who happens to come from my home state of Vermont who had no doubt he was targeted, along with other press people. Big press symbols on their coats, and they were attacked. He was slightly injured, one of his colleagues was killed, and another one was severely injured.

Now, if you add all that stuff up, are these actions war crimes?

Yeah. I believe that they are. I believe that there is substantial evidence that the extreme right-wing Israeli government led by Netanyahu has used starvation as a weapon of war and has clearly targeted civilians and civilian infrastructure.

As I think we all agree, I certainly do, Israel had the right to defend itself against the Hamas terrorist attack of October 7th. But it did not – and this is where we get into the issue of war crimes – yes, you have the right to defend yourselves. Yes, Israel has the right to go after Hamas, very few people doubt that. But Netanyahu and his government do not have the right to wage an all-out war against the children, against the women, against the innocent people of Gaza. And for that, there must be consequences.

What the ICC has done is important for the global community, in the sense that we cannot allow the human race to descend to barbarity. Somebody has got to say: look, war is terrible, and it’s a little bit embarrassing as a human being that we’ve been at war for thousands of years and have not seemed to make much progress at eliminating war. But if there is war, let us learn from what happened in the past and do our best to protect the women, the children, the innocent people. So, Israel had a right to defend itself against a terrible enemy in Hamas, but it does not have the right to wage an all-out war against the people of Gaza.

Now, what the ICC is doing is important for the world. It’s [a message] to leaders all over the world – dictators, people in democratic countries – that if you go to war you cannot wage all-out war against civilians. That’s what the ICC is doing, that’s important. But it is also important, Mr. President, for those of us in the United States. Our nation claims to be the leader of the free world, and at our best we try to mobilize countries to uphold international war and prevent crimes against humanity. That is what we try to do and have done.

But how can or how will the United States be able to criticize any country in the world, whether it is Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, or anyone else – any other country in the world – if we actually believe what Netanyahu is saying?

If we turn our backs and ignore the crimes against humanity that are being committed in Gaza right now, what credibility will we ever have in criticizing the actions of any country, no matter how terrible those actions may be? Because people will say, oh, really? You’re attacking China, Turkey, anybody else, really? You’re really deeply concerned? But apparently for Netanyahu, it’s allowed. We don’t believe you.

And I don’t want to see this great country of ours be in that position. I want to see this country respected all over the world as a country that does believe in human rights, that does believe in international law.

The ICC as I see it is trying to uphold international law and minimum standards of decency. Our government should do no less.

Bernie Sanders is a US Senator, and the ranking member of the Senate budget committee. He represents the state of Vermont, and is the longest-serving independent in the history of Congress.

 Israel’s Proposed Final Solution For The Palestinians V45 Nov 16 2023 Makia Freeman

 

 Amazon.com : computers

Click Here for the best range of Amazon Computers

AmazonComptersGraphicLogo

Acer2023Laptop_AmazonProduct.BennicoMiniPC_AmazonProductHPLapTop2022_AmazonProduct

Click Here for INL News Amazon Best Seller Books

Israel's Genocide Of Palestinian People In Gaza

Israel's Genocide Of Palestinian People In Gaza

Euros News INLTV News

Israel's Genocide Of Palestinian People In Gaza 29th December 2023

Euros News INLTV News

The Ben Gurion Canal project

Israel Leveling Gaza In Preparation To Build Ben Gurion Canal

Israel Leveling Gaza In Preparation To Build Ben Gurion Canal

Euros News INLTV News

Israel Leveling Gaza In Preparation To Build Ben Gurion Canal

Israel Leveling Gaza In Preparation To Build Ben Gurion Canal

Euros News INLTV News

Israel Leveling Gaza In Preparation To Build Ben Gurion Canal

Israel Leveling Gaza In Preparation To Build Ben Gurion Canal

Euros News INLTV News

Israel Leveling Gaza In Preparation To Build Ben Gurion Canal

Israel Leveling Gaza In Preparation To Build Ben Gurion Canal

Euros News INLTV News

Israel Leveling Gaza In Preparation To Build Ben Gurion Canal

Israel Leveling Gaza In Preparation To Build Ben Gurion Canal

Euros News INLTV News

One of the original planned paths would go through the Arabah valley, cut west before the Dead Sea basin through the hills and curves north again to avoid the Gaza Strip

A competitor to the Suez Canal is being planned to cut across Israel and connect the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea.

This canal would give the U.S. and Israel control over a key chokepoint in the world for military ships, grain exports, energy and other commodities.

The planned route of the canal goes right through northern Gaza, and many analysts believe that Gaza is being destroyed and wiped out right now to make way for the construction of this canal, which would bring in billions of dollars a year for Israel (and grant Israel control over its access)

Israel's Ben Gurion Canal Biggest project in the world Explained by The Nikky

Northern Gaza Now Looks Like A Waist Land 24th December 2023

After Constant Bombing By Israel's RDF

 

Palestinian Arab kid hugs an Israeli soldier

Did Israel's Mossad Have Prior Knowledge Of The 7th Oct 2023 Hamas Attack On Israel?

Gazan freelance AP-CNN- journalist Hassan Eslaiah Video