Gaza: Israel’s War Insanity to Last For 7 More Months

• CrossFireArabia
• May 30, 2024

The Israeli National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi says he expects the war on Gaza to last for seven more months.

“We are expecting another seven months of fighting in the Gaza Strip,” he says.

One blogger called this on the X platform as Israel’s “unchecked insanity…” adding “this will only further isolate Israel and costs Biden” the coming US presidential elections in November. But besides, he points out, Biden has “already lost.”

This piece of news has set many on the social media talking despite the fact that Israeli army military officers have already said this war on Gaza could go on till 2026 or even 2027 because of the tough fighting of Hamas and the other Palestinian groups that include Islamic Jihad.

Kenneth Roth, a past Human Rights Watch Executive Director and is now a visiting professor at Prinston University says the reason fot Hanegbi’s comment is he wants Donald Trump to get back into the White House and for Netanyahu to be kept out of prison because of the corruption charges he faces.

But that might be jumping the gun especially on the Trump front who may not be interested in forking out billions of dollars to keep this genocidal war on Gaza going as the Israelis would claim and which is what the Biden administration is doing through its air and sea bridge of mass bombs and military hardware to Israel.

Hanegbi, described as a “Netanyahu yes man” and like his prime minister may be in a state of illusion, saying Israel wants “another seven months of fighting so as to deepen our achievement and achieve what we define” as the destruction of Hamas.

His illusion is stemming from the fact that Hamas and the Palestinian resistance in Gaza remains strong and the fact they are putting up a hard fight with Israeli soldiers getting killed by the day.

This is not to say anything about the fact that Hamas missiles and batteries are targeting Israeli tanks and troop carriers by the day with estimations so far, that the Islamist movement has destroyed and/or partially destroyed up to 1500 tanks and other vehicles on the streets of Gaza.

These numbers keep going up daily despite the Israeli sensors to control what goes out to the media.

Gadi Eisenkot also of the Isreali war cabinet says the idea that Hamas could be beaten, a view put forward by Netanyahu is sowing false illusions. Rather than attempting to end the existence of Hamas, Eisenkot says Netanyahu should be finding ways of bringing the hostages back home which are down to 125 killed through Israeli bombings on different residential areas in the Gaza Strip.

Hanegbi’s comment however continues to trend on the social media platforms. One says the Israeli war on Gaza like the war in Ukraine are part of prolonged conflicts that are likely to last for years and will generate new conflicts.

Dr Asmar is an Amman-based writer covering Middle East Affairs.

Ireland, Spain, Norway Recognize Palestine

• CrossFireArabia
• May 29, 2024

It maybe a new dawn for Palestinian statehood as Ireland, Norway, and Spain formally recognize Palestine as an independent state.

This decision comes at a time when Israel is waging a bloody war on Gaza since 7 October, 2023 when over 36,000 civilians have been killed.

Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said on X: “Today’s Government decision authorizes the establishment of full diplomatic relations with the State of Palestine,” as carried by the Anadolu Turkish news agency.

“Recognition of Palestine is not the end of a process; it is the beginning,” Martin emphasized, highlighting “our long-standing development cooperation programme.

The three European countries decided to recongnize Palestine as an independent official state for impact and ueging other countries in the world to follow suit.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said: “This is a historic decision that has a single goal — to contribute to achieving peace between Israelis and Palestinians,” Anadolu reported.

“We recognized Palestine because it’s the time to do so. We can’t wait any longer,” said Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares, commenting on the government’s decision.

When asked how he would respond to Israel’s recent diplomatic attacks against Spain, Albares told journalists on Tuesday that Madrid will deliver a “coordinated, serene and firm response,” alongside Norway and Ireland.

On Tuesday, Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz compared Spain’s Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Diaz to the leaders of Hamas and Iran, posting on X that she is calling for the “elimination of Israel,” even though she has insisted that she believes in a two-state solution.

On the other hand, Norway’s recognition was announced by Foreign Minister Espen Eide in a statement.

“Today, when Norway officially recognizes Palestine as a state, is a milestone in the relationship between Norway and Palestine,” he said.

‘Tent Massacre’ is Israel’s Latest Crime of Crimes

• CrossFireArabia
• May 28, 2024

The new massacre in Rafah shows the length of depravity of the Israeli army when 45 people were killed when they were asleep and 249 burned alive.

The tent massacre that occurred in Rafah, Sunday, is being called as the “crime of crimes” by ex-UNRWA spokesperson Chris Gunness.

This is yet another horrifying massacre which Israeli warplanes carried out on displaced civilians mostly women, children and the old who were fast sleep. Eight American-made 2000-pound bombs reigned down on them jolting into shock while sending many to their graves.

The result was massive explosions in the tent camp that led to extensive fires, the burning of tents and the churred bodies that ensured.  The sum total of deaths where 45 and 249 injured with extensive burns.

The massive attack on a makeshift displacement center run by UNRWA was in Tal Al Sultan which the Israelis previously designated as safe area but in Gaza nowhere is safe.

It was a horrible sight. The area was totally devastated with the smell of burning human flesh flowing as survivors went from one tent to another searching for their relatives and whimpering at the ones they lost.  

There were more ugliness. One report spoke of a child’s head and legs decapitated and were entire families were wiped out. This is a really massacre under a horrified world.

“Her head was cut off. I can’t recognize her,” one man mourns of one of his female relatives as he supplicates to God on the night of the massacre.

Tents were melting and the people’s bodies were also melting…” one eyewitness who arrived at the Kuwaiti hospital in Rafah said.

The scene was out of a book of horror stories.  French president Emmanuel Macron was outraged at the new massacre. So was Turkish president  Recep Tayyip Erdogan, calling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “barbaric” and that Turkey will do “everything possible to hold these barbarians and murders accountable.”

Spain, a country that just officially recognized an independent Palestinian state, and under its Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares expressed his horror at the Rafah tent massacre.

But he wasn’t the only one. Canada, a staunch Israeli ally, also expressed its abhorrence at the massacre. “We are horrified by the strikes that killed Palestinian civilians in Rafah,” Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly wrote on the social media platform X and as quoted by the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Condemnation of the Israeli massacre has come from all over the world. The Europeans are particularly angry as lead by EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell who expressed his dismay at the strikes on the Tel Al Sultan tent camp while writing on his X account

“Horrified by news coming out of Rafah on Israeli strikes killing dozens od displaced persons including small children. I condemn this in the strongest terms. There is no safe place in Gaza. These attacks must stop immediately.”

President of the European Council Charles Michel also said it was horrendous to see innocent civilians killed on the Israel attack on the tent camp of displaced persons in Rafah and called on the Israeli government to fully respect the International Court of Justice and to stop its military offensive on Rafah.

In a bid to contain the international heat on him Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later called the Rafah massacre as a “tragic mishap”. He told the Knesset the Israei army was looking for Hamas fighters and that “despite our efforts not to hurt them [civilians] there was a tragic mishap. We are investigatinh the incident.”

Such language speaks of sheer hipocracy because the daily civilian death toll now stands at over 36,000 people with 81,000 injured, since Israel started the war on the Gaza Strip after 7 October, 2023.

This is besides the fact Netabyhu insists on sending the troops in Rafah despite the fact that there has been over 100 attacks on this small city just in the past two weeks.  

One finally commented “Israel’s bloodbath on Rafah…marks a new nadir in its savagery against Palestinians.” He says everyday a new threshold of savagery is crossed, just when we think we can’t see anything more heinous but Israel keeps going to greater depth.

Egyptian Soldier Killed in Israeli Clash on Rafah Crossing

• CrossFireArabia
• May 27, 2024

In an unusual development Egyptian soldiers fired on Israeli soldiers at the Rafah Crossing in Gaza on Monday. Israeli soldiers returned fire it was reported. But then a clash ensued between members of the two armies that resulted in the killing of one Israel soldier.

This piece of news was quickly quashed by the Israeli military censors according to the Al Jazeera Arabic channel but it was soon all over the social media with Israel’s Channel 13 and Channel 14 quickly confirming the news on the southern border of Gaza.

This is breaking news with the Israeli army saying it is opening up a full investigation into the incident that is almost certain to sour the already tense relations between Israel and Egypt over the possible invasion of Rafah by the Israeli army and which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists on.

No injuries were reported at the time but then clashes but it was later reported one Egyptian soldier killed and at least several injured. The Egyptian side said it was two in the middle of a full investigation to see exactly what happened.