August 24, 2025

Ex-defense minister Ya'alon says Katz admitting to war crimes by threatening to destroy Gaza City

Today, 4:57 am

Former defense minister and chief of staff Moshe Ya’alon charges that Defense Minister Israel Katz admitted to “committing a war crime” in the Gaza Strip when he threatened on Friday to turn Gaza City into “Rafah and Beit Hanoun” — two cities that have been largely turned to rubble by Israeli military activity — during the IDF’s planned takeover of the city.

Katz said on Friday that “the gates of hell will soon open over Hamas murderers and rapists in Gaza — unless they agree to Israel’s conditions for ending the war, primarily the release of all hostages and their disarmament.”
Now, Ya’alon asserts that these comments are “an admission to committing a war crime — the evacuation of the residents and the destruction of their homes.

“The intention to carry this out in Gaza City is clearly an illegal order,” says the ex-defense official, calling for Israel’s legal authorities to intervene and prevent the Gaza City operation from going ahead, saying that only they will be able to prevent soldiers from having to obey “a clearly illegal order.”

“It is in your power to stop the moral and ethical deterioration of our country, which pledged ‘never again!'” implores Ya’alon.
“It is already clear to anyone with eyes in their heads that the messianic, evasive and corrupt government does not serve the country, but rather its grip on power, while neglecting the hostages, sacrificing soldiers, and destroying the country and its future,” he adds.

Ya’alon, a former member of the ruling Likud party, has been a fierce critic of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu since he was ousted as defense minister in 2016.

In November last year, he warned that Israel was heading down a path of ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip.

Source : https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/ex-defense-min-yaalon-says-katz-admitting-to-war-crimes-by-threatening-to-destroy-gaza-city/

August 22, 2025

Antisemitism Is Netanyahu's Secret Weapon

Carolina Landsmann
Aug 22, 2025

Antisemitism isn't Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's enemy but his loyal ally, his secret weapon. Haaretz editor-in-chief Aluf Benn is right that "Authoritarian and messianic regimes are not frightened by external pressure – they thrive on it." But, contrary to what he wrote, the accelerated emigration of educated and liberal Israelis in recent years is not a "clear gain" for Netanyahu. That's because Israel is neither Iran nor Russia. A tiny country surrounded by enemies, it does not have the privilege of falling behind. It cannot afford to lose its educated and liberal residents. It must have technological superiority. And it must preserve its special status in the world in order to preserve and expand its alliances.

This is where antisemitism enters the picture. In response to the domino effect of countries recognizing a Palestinian state, Netanyahu sent furious letters this week to French President Emmanuel Macron and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
He accused Albanese of not knowing how to deal with what he said was "a campaign of intimidation, vandalism and violence against Jews" that in Australia "has intensified under your watch." He accused Macron of pouring "fuel on this antisemitic fire." What manipulations, Oh la la.

Netanyahu seeks to identify every protest against Israel with antisemitism. In his letter to Macron, he noted that El Al's offices in Paris were spray-painted with the slogans "El Al genocide airline" and "Free Palestine." This was a political protest aimed directly at the national carrier of a country whose actions in the Gaza Strip are being called genocide around the world. Antisemitism? Only for someone who has made identifying Israel with Judaism the cornerstone of his strategy – Netanyahu.

This identification isn't naive; it's calculated. Contrary to what he says, Netanyahu isn't interested in suppressing the spread of antisemitism, but in fanning it. Yes, you need to read that several times to digest the fact that such things are being said in all seriousness about Israel's prime minister.

Continued @
https://archive.md/6Hgin

August 7, 2025

Smotrich appears in picture next to 'Death to Arabs' graffiti, disavows message

Today, 12:05 pm

Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich disavows calls to kill Arabs after the Samaria Regional Council distributes a photograph of him visiting the former West Bank settlement of Sa-Nur in which he can be seen standing and smiling next to graffiti reading “death to Arabs.”

Smotrich’s office says in a statement that the slur was only noticed “after the photo was distributed and of course we completely disavow” its message.

The picture was taken this morning, as Smotrich visited the site to mark 20 years since its evacuation. The Samaria Regional Council, whose leader Yossi Dagan is also in the picture, later sent out a second press release with the graffiti cropped out.

Smotrich’s office says the media shouldn’t be concerned by “stupid graffiti that no one noticed” but by the minister’s drive to “reverse the expulsion from northern Samaria and resettle Sa-Nur.”

Condemning Smotrich, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid asks, “What in God’s name does the government expect us to say to the world when a photo is published of a senior minister smiling next to the inscription ‘Death to Arabs’?”

In May, Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed that the government had approved the construction of 22 new West Bank settlements, including Sa-Nur and Homesh, which were forcibly cleared in 2005 alongside Israel’s disengagement from the Gaza Strip.

Source : https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/smotrich-appears-in-picture-next-to-death-to-arabs-graffiti-disavows-message/

August 7, 2025

Gaza takeover plan said set to last 4-5 months, focus on Gaza City, Strip's center

Security cabinet expected to okay phased proposal despite top generals’ warnings this would endanger hostages; it would drive a million Palestinians southward, while boosting aid

Today, 5:30 am

Israel was expected Thursday to approve a phased plan to conquer vast new areas of the Gaza Strip, potentially over five months, newly displacing around a million Palestinians and despite warnings from top military officials that this would endanger the lives of hostages being held in those areas, according to various Hebrew media reports Wednesday.

The plan is reportedly aimed at destroying what remains of the Hamas terror group and pressuring it to free the 50 hostages it is still holding, around 20 of them alive, after recent talks for a deal broke down. It would begin with taking over Gaza City and camps in the central Strip, driving around half of the enclave’s population southward toward the Mawasi humanitarian zone.

Despite a few ministers potentially opposing the plan, multiple reports said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would likely secure a majority within the high-level security cabinet to support the plan when it convenes at 6 p.m. Thursday.

Continued @ https://www.timesofisrael.com/gaza-takeover-plan-said-set-to-last-4-5-months-focus-on-gaza-city-strips-center/

August 3, 2025

On Temple Mount, Ben Gvir calls for Gaza takeover, 'voluntary emigration' of Palestinians

Today, 11:15 am

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir calls for Israel to conquer the Gaza Strip and “encourage voluntary emigration” of Palestinians from the territory, in a video statement from the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

“From [the Temple Mount] — the place where we’ve proven sovereignty is possible — we must send a message: conquer all of Gaza, declare sovereignty over the entire Strip, eliminate every Hamas member, and encourage voluntary emigration. This is the only way that we will return the hostages and win the war,” he says in the video posted to his personal Twitter account.

The far-right minister adds that “Hamas’ horrific videos” are meant to pressure Israel, referring to harrowing videos of hostages Rom Braslavski and Evyatar David, both appearing emaciated, released by Hamas in recent days.

Earlier in the visit, Ben Gvir was seen joining a prayer minyan and leading the “Amida” prayer, marking the first time a government minister has openly prayed at the site, where Jews are forbidden from praying under the longtime status quo agreement between Israel and Jordan.

Source : https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/on-temple-mount-ben-gvir-calls-for-gaza-takeover-voluntary-emigration-of-palestinians/

July 30, 2025

Opposition leaders fume, demand firing of minister who called hostages 'prisoners of war'

Today, 1:22 pm

Opposition leaders slam Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu for suggesting that Israel define the 50 remaining Gaza hostages as “prisoners of war” rather than hostages, arguing that such rhetoric endangers the hostages’ lives.

Speaking with Radio Kol Chai this morning, Eliyahu, a member of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, said that “the hostages should be defined as prisoners of war. Prisoners of war are only dealt with at the end of the victory. First, Hamas should be defeated.”

“After proposing to drop an atomic bomb on Gaza, and wipe out Gaza, now Amichay Eliyahu proposes abandoning the hostages to their deaths,” declares Opposition Leader Yair Lapid. “If he is not fired today, then the Israeli government is admitting to abandoning the hostages.”

Blue and White-National Unity chief Benny Gantz declares on X that “Israelis kidnapped in the greatest failure in the state’s history are not prisoners of war, and the very comparison endangers their lives and plays into Hamas’s narrative.”

“Also, in order to destroy Hamas’s rule and face all the challenges ahead, we must act to return all the hostages in a single comprehensive framework,” he adds.

“Amichay Eliyahu is simply saying openly what the government is doing and hiding. They decided long ago to sacrifice the hostages and prolong the war indefinitely. For them, this is a time of miracles,” writes Democrats head Yair Golan, in an apparent reference to Settlements and National Projects Minister Orit Strock’s statement last summer that the war had been “like a time of miracles” for the settlement movement.

“The vast majority of Israelis want to live in security and have the hostages back home. The Ben Gvir and Smotrich government wants messianic visions of expulsion, erasure, and settlement. We must fight these people and send them home,” Golan declares.

Source : https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/opposition-leaders-fume-demand-firing-of-minister-who-called-hostages-prisoners-of-war/

July 29, 2025

Israel Is Becoming a Pariah State. We Need Massive Nonviolent Civil Disobedience Until Netanyahu Is Ousted

There can be no compromise between the destroyers of Israel and its defenders. The only course of action that could still save the country from becoming democracy's corpse is a total shutdown of the country until the Netanyahu government is replaced or the prime minister resigns

By Ehud Barak
Jul 27, 2025

This is an emergency call asking people to courageously confront reality and take action to stop the landslide. The Israel of the Declaration of Independence and the Zionist vision is collapsing. The emergency requires us to answer five key questions.

What is happening to us? Who is responsible for this? What action should be taken and what is the desired result? Who should call for action and who should lead it? Who should take action to achieve the objective?

Regarding the first question, an absolute majority of the country's citizens realize what is happening. We have a wonderful people and a military that has performed magnificently against Hezbollah, Iran and Syria.

But we are stuck in a war of deception in the Gaza Strip. Blood is flowing, families and businesses of reservists are collapsing, and a bill to legalize draft dodging is being pushed by the government under pressure from the ultra-Orthodox. The government's attempt to weaken the judiciary and the crushing of the country's gatekeepers are proceeding apace.

Continued @ https://archive.md/PqYBb

Source : Haaretz .

July 29, 2025

In first, two major Israeli human rights groups accuse Israel of 'genocide' in Gaza

B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights on Monday published a report accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza, becoming the first major Israeli human rights organizations to join a list of international groups making the charge.

“An examination of Israel’s policy in the Gaza Strip and its horrific outcomes, together with statements by senior Israeli politicians and military commanders about the goals of the attack, leads to the unequivocal conclusion that Israel is taking coordinated, deliberate action to destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip,” reads a statement presenting the report. “In other words: Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. ”

A growing number of Israel’s international critics have accused it of genocide in its war against Hamas — some even in the days immediately following the terror group’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages and sparked the fighting.

Major human rights organizations such as Amnesty International have endorsed the charge as the death toll in Gaza has mounted. But this is the first time that leading Israeli human rights watchdogs have made the accusation.

Continued @
https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-first-two-major-israeli-human-rights-groups-accuse-israel-of-genocide-in-gaza/

Link also to full report from B’Tselem on "" Our Genocide " @

https://www.btselem.org/publications/202507_our_genocide

July 5, 2025

Entire Bedouin community flees West Bank hamlet after enduring repeated settler attacks

Today, 3:47 am

An entire Bedouin community fled their village north of Jericho on Thursday night, succumbing to repeated attacks by Israeli settlers from surrounding illegal outposts, Peace Now reports.

Hundreds of Mu’arjat residents are now looking for a home elsewhere, the settlement watchdog says.

In recent months, settlers from nearby outposts routinely harassed Mu’arjat residents, blocking grazing, issuing threats, attacking people and stealing livestock, according to Peace Now.

On Wednesday, settlers established a new outpost several feet outside the community school. The family living nearby was forced to flee, and their property was looted, according to the watchdog.

Source : https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/entire-bedouin-community-flees-hamlet-after-enduring-repeated-settler-attacks/

Link to Peace Now settlement watch :
https://peacenow.org.il/en//category/settlements

June 26, 2025

Aryeh Deri says October 7 'saved the nation of Israel,' avoiding deadlier attack and exposing Iran

Shas chairman MK Aryeh Deri says in a TV interview that the events of October 7, 2023 “saved the nation of Israel.”

“I see in this what the Prophet Isaiah said in his prophecy — ‘For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great compassion will I gather thee,'” the Sephardic ultra-Orthodox lawmaker tells right-wing Channel 14’s “The Patriots,” in remarks quoted by Haaretz.

“For a truly small moment, on October 7, God forsook us. We took an awful blow, that until now we haven’t recovered from. So many casualties, we still have hostages there — but it saved the nation of Israel.

(snip)

“God performed one more big miracle: that Trump was elected,” he continues. “Without October 7, without Trump, and without Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — we wouldn’t have been able to do it,” he says, referring to the ongoing campaign against Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

Source : https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/aryeh-deri-says-october-7-saved-the-nation-of-israel-avoiding-deadlier-attack-and-exposing-iran/