‘In Gaza We Die a 1000 Deaths a Day’
Amnesty Condemns Netanyahu’s Visit to Hungry
Trump, Iran And The ‘Nuclear Fight’
Israel Violates Syria With 11 Air Raids
15 Martyred: Why Does Israel Kill Ambulance Men?
Dr Khairi Janbek
Israel’s War on Palestine
CrossFireArabia- February 25, 2025
Israel’s intensification of its military assault against the northern West Bank and its forced displacement of its Palestinian communities marks a dangerous grave violence and human rights violations.
The Israeli army has been conducting the military operation “Iron Wall” in the northern occupied West Bank since January 21, killing until date more than 56 Palestinians and displacing thousands.
The assault came amid rising tensions in the occupied West Bank, where at least 917 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 7,000 others injured in attacks by the Israeli army and illegal settlers since the start of the Gaza war on October 7, 2023, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
Since the start of the operation several refugee camps have been nearly emptied of their residents, the largest displacement in the occupied territory since the 1967 Mideast war.
Starting in Jenin Camp, the operation has expanded to Tulkarm, Nur Shams, and El Far’a refugee camps witnessing a comprehensive, Israeli -driven war of destruction that led to the forcible displacement of more than 40,000 Palestinian refugees.
Repeated and destructive operations have rendered the northern refugee camps uninhabitable, trapping residents in cyclical displacement. However, in 2024, more than 60 per cent of displacement was a result of Israeli Forces operations, an increasingly dangerous and coercive environment absent any judicial orders.
Daily reports from displaced residents described a pattern where they were led out of their homes by Israeli security forces and drones under the threat of violence.
They were then forced out of their towns with snipers positioned on rooftops around them and houses in their neighborhoods used as posts by Israeli security forces according to the UN Human Rights Office.
“Leave this place and forget the camp. You will never return. Move now before we destroy it completely,” the Israeli security forces threatened the residents.
Other eyewitness testimonies also recounted similar statements by Israeli security force members who reportedly told displaced residents to “forget” and “say goodbye” to their homes, stressing they would not be allowed to return.
One resident reported being told to “go to Jordan.”
Besides, Jenin refugee camp roads were bulldozed recently with new signs apparently giving several streets Hebrew names, UN Human Rights Office said.
This is happening while statements by Israeli officials persist in communicating open plans to annex the region, empty it of Palestinians, and expel them out of the occupied Palestinian territory.
The use of air strikes, armored bulldozers, controlled detonations, and advanced weaponry by the Israeli Forces has become routine, militarised approach that is inconsistent with the law enforcement context of the Occupied West Bank, where there have been at least 38 airstrikes in 2025 alone.
Moreover, on February 19, the Israeli army has prevented thousands of displaced Palestinians from returning to their homes in the Jenin refugee camp and the
Camp stands empty today, evoking memories of the second intifada.
This scene stands to be repeated in other camps.
On the other hand, accompanied by soldiers, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu entered a Palestinian home in the Tulkarem refugee camp in the northern West Bank on February 21, announcing a new military operation in the occupied West Bank.
“We are destroying entire streets, eliminating militants, and I have instructed reinforcements in the West Bank along with additional military operations,” Netanyahu said in a recorded statement from Tulkarem, released by his office.
Earlier on the same day, the Israeli army announced the deployment of three additional battalions to the occupied West Bank following Netanyahu’s directive for a “strong operation.”
All this is a part of a plan to uproot Palestinian refugee camps, similar to the events that took place in Gaza and reminiscent of the 1948 Nakba.
This lines up with Israel’s vision of a war declared since a long time on the UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees which has reached the climax during the war on Gaza.
Under the Knesset laws implemented on January 30, UNRWA no longer has any contact with the Israeli authorities, making it impossible to raise concerns about civilian suffering or the urgent need for the delivery of humanitarian assistance which puts at grave risk the lives of Palestine Refugees and the UNRWA staff that serve them too.
UNRWA reiterates that civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected at all times and that collective punishment is never acceptable.
There are about 912,879 registered Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank, around a quarter of whom live in 19 refugee camps mostly densely populated camps, located next to major towns and others are in rural areas, according to UNRWA.
Israel views these camps as incubators of armed Palestinian struggle, as it seeks to eradicate the refugee issue and the right of return.
Any forcible transfer in or deportation of people from occupied territory is strictly prohibited and amounts to a crime under international law.
Rather than abide by these rules, Israel has openly defied international law time and again, inflicting maximum suffering on civilians in the occupied Palestinian territory and beyond.
Displaced Palestinians must be allowed to return to their homes and Israel must comply with its obligations under international law, which include ending its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as rapidly as possible and evacuate all occupied West Bank settlements.
In the meantime, as the occupying power, Israel must ensure the protection of Palestinians, the supply of their basic needs, and the respect of their full range of human rights.
Najla M. Shahwan is a Palestinian author, researcher and freelance journalist. Author of thirteen books in literature and a children story collection. Chairwoman of the Palestinian Center for Children’s Literature (PCCL). Founder of Jana Woman Cultural Magazine. Recipient of two prizes from the Palestinian Union of Writers.
How Israel Hijacked US Politics
- CrossFireArabia
- February 25, 2025
A combination of pro-Israel advocacy groups and political action committees, including right-wing Christian fundamentalists, neoconservative hawks and weak-kneed liberals, have not only enabled Israel’s genocidal campaign against Palestinians, they have done so much more.
They have silenced congressional debate on decades of Israel’s illegal policies towards Palestinians. Pro-Israel groups and political action committees cry foul whenever their role in this regard is noted. But the tens of millions they have spent to punish critics and create a climate of fear, and their own gloating over their successes, are too well-documented to ignore. The result has been that too many members of Congress have either been cowed into silence or motivated to pass excessively bizarre legislation singling out Israel for special treatment in budgetary matters or for political favours.
— The Jordan Times (@jordantimes) February 25, 2025
The damage done by pro-Israel forces
@jjz1600
Read the full article https://t.co/GwbxUZLqF0 pic.twitter.com/alCk53bLo3
This same coalition of groups from the right and left of American politics has also pressed successive US administrations not only to turn a blind eye to Israeli actions that violate US laws, but also to take an aggressive posture towards other nations who are critical of Israel. These acts have contributed to dismantling the architecture of international diplomacy, laws and covenants developed in the aftermath of the two world wars and have done grave damage to the stature of the US in the world community.
US presidents from Ford to Obama have been pressured by pro-Israel group-inspired congressional letters calling on them to back away from positions critical of Israeli policies. Successive administrations have thus been cowed into silence in the face of Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied territories and other well-documented Israeli violations of international law and human rights. Worse still, in recent years this effort to shield Israel from criticism has led the US to seek to punish UN committees and other international bodies, leaving the US increasingly isolated.
• This same collection of groups and the pressures they have created to distort US policies have also done incalculable damage to Palestinians and Israelis and the prospects for Middle East peace.
The State Department Human Rights report on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories is ignored, even when it has been accurate in its reporting. As a result, Palestinian rights have been systematically violated in contravention of US laws.
• US acquiescence in the face of Israel’s behavior has also contributed to the decline of Israel’s peace movement. Once fairly vibrant, they used to make the case that settlement expansion or violations of rights would damage Israel’s relationship with the US. After decades of evidence that such repercussions would never occur, this movement has faded into irrelevance. Their absence has left the hard right as the dominant force in Israel, with the only serious divisions in Israeli politics being whether the next coalition government include the Ultra-Orthodox or have Netanyahu in command. Palestinians or matters of peace and justice are not on the agenda.
• Since October 7, the coalition of pro-Israel forces, led by right-wing Christian Ideologues and pro-Israel groups in the US, have accelerated their efforts on the home front using congressional pressure and Presidential Executive Orders to dismantle constitutionally protected free speech and academic freedom on college campuses. The expanded definition of antisemitism, which includes legitimate criticism of Israel, is now being enforced to threaten federal funds to universities who do not punish students and faculty for what are now deemed antisemitic activities. The Department of Justice has launched a task force to identify groups and individuals who participated in anti-Israel actions. And right-wing groups have undertaken to identify foreign students and faculty who have been involved in pro-Palestinian protests or against whom Jewish students have issued complaints for anti-Israel remarks. They are reporting them to authorities for deportation, as per another of President Trump’s Executive Orders.
What is deeply disturbing is that equating “anti-Israel” and “pro-Palestinian” with “antisemitism” has created a climate of fear on campuses, impeding free speech and academic freedoms on campuses and public discourse.
And so, while Palestinians are paying with their lives because pressure from pro-Israel groups has silenced criticism of Israeli policies, the damage done by this pressure grows. It has discredited the structures of the international order, humiliated and isolated the US in the eyes of the world, and is now eating away at many of our much-cherished freedoms.
James J. Zogby is president of the Washington-based Arab American Institute and he has a contributed this article to The Jordan Times.
Einstein Says No to Israel
- CrossFireArabia
- February 25, 2025
From Voice of Rabbis:
In 1948 Albert Einstein along with 28 other prominent Jewish leaders wrote a letter to the New York Times…
It stated that the Israeli political party resembled the Nazi Party in its ideology and methods.
Einstein went on to say that he opposed the state of Israel and it was against the religion of Judaism.
Albert Einstein passionately argued against the creators and creation of Israel. He called it a terrorist organisation. He likened them to Nazis and fascists.
Aussie Jews Says No to Ethnic Cleansing
- CrossFireArabia
- February 25, 2025
Proud to be one of 500+ Jews to sign this full page newspaper ad in SMH / the Age calling on Australia to reject calls for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.