CrossFireArabia
Israel’s Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, attacks War Minister Gallant: “For months, I’ve urged the Prime Minister to dismiss him. The decision must be made in the North, and Gallant is not the right person to lead.”
CrossFireArabia
Lebanese Ambassador Hadi Hachem sharply criticized Israel, Tuesday, for its ongoing military actions against his country in the wake of multiple explosions of pager devices that killed at least nine people and wounded many others, accusing it of violating international law and escalating regional tensions.
Speaking at an emergency session of the UN General Assembly on the legal consequences of Israel’s activities in occupied Palestinian territories, Hachem stressed that Lebanon’s sovereignty has been under attack since Oct. 8, 2023.
“The attacks against southern Lebanon have continued by Israel defying international law and resolutions, including international humanitarian law and the most fundamental humanitarian laws. This Israeli escalation on our territory is being accompanied by a hardening of rhetoric,” he said.
Citing the explosions of wireless communication devices across Lebanon on Tuesday, Hachem described it as an “aggression which rises to a war crime” and warned that it would exacerbate the conflict.
Earlier, at least nine people, including a child, were killed in a mass explosion of the pager devices in areas across Lebanon, according to Lebanese Health Minister Firas Al-Abiad.
He added that around 2,750 other people were also injured, including 200 in critical condition.
Pagers, often used by civilians and health care workers for communication, are small, battery-powered wireless devices that receive text messages, audio and visual signals.
Hachem warned that “with ongoing threats against Lebanon and its people” the Middle East “will become the eye of the cyclone.”
Iran condemns attack on Lebanon
Iran’s permanent representative to the UN, Amir Saeid Iravani, said at the UN General Assembly session that Israel’s “aggression and act of terrorism” targeting civilians in Lebanon has resulted in thousands of injuries, including to Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon.
“We extend our sincere condolences to the families of the victims and the government of Lebanon and strongly condemn this act of sabotage and terrorism by the rogue regime of Israel,” Iravani said.
“The Israeli regime must be held accountable for such aggression and heinous crime,” he added.
Iran’s Permanent Mission to the UN issued a statement to Anadolu regarding the injury of Iran’s Ambassador Lebanon, Mojtaba Emani, following the explosion of communication devices in Lebanon according to Anadolu, the Turkish news agency
The statement said Emani is receiving treatment and is in stable condition.
The mass explosion of pagers came amid an exchange of cross-border attacks between Hezbollah and Israel against the backdrop of a brutal Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip which has killed more than 41,200 people, mostly women and children, following a cross-border attack on Israel by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7 last year.
CrossFireArabia
The Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Education and Higher Education stated 11,001 students were martyred and 17,772 were injured since the beginning of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip and the West Bank on 7 October, 2023.
Israeli aggression
In a statement the Ministry of Education explained, Tuesday, the number of students who were killed in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the Israeli aggression reached more than 10,888, and those injured reached 17,224. This is while 113 students were martyred in the West Bank and 548 others were injured, in addition to 429 arrested.
It also stated that 529 teachers and administrators were killed and 3,686 were injured in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, and more than 129 were arrested in the West Bank,
The Ministry’s statement pointed out that 362 government schools, universities, university buildings, and 65 UNRWA schools were bombed and vandalized in the Gaza Strip with 124 severely damaged and 62 being completely destroyed.
Deprivation
Also 69 schools and 5 universities in the West Bank were also stormed and vandalized, and 133 government schools were used as shelters in the Gaza Strip.
The Ministry of Education confirmed that 718,000 students in the Gaza Strip are still deprived of attending their schools and universities since the beginning of the Israeli war on Gaza, while most students suffer from psychological trauma and face difficult health conditions.
CrossFireArabia
The latest scandal of Israeli officials telling African asylum seekers that they would be given legal status if they served in the Israeli army and fought in the war against Gaza is causing shock waves.
The story first reported in Haaretz and then the other Israeli newspapers is trending on the social media with much commentary.
There are approximately 30,000 African asylum seekers in Israel, primarily young men who are looking for permanent stay in Israel.
Israeli officials have latched on the idea and gave decided to lure them to join the Israeli army to fight in Gaza, and no doubtedly in the brewing war on the Israeli-Lebanese border with Hezbollah despite the risks
Many of these workers, including around 3,500 Sudanese citizens, have sneeked into Israel and hold temporary status granted by Israeli courts due to delays in processing asylum applications.
Although the story have only just come to light, Israeli officials have tried to recruit these workers soon after the war on Gaza started after 7 October, 2023, and have continued eversince, especially in the months when the war become “bloody” for the Israelis.
Sources within Israel’s security establishments show that this initiative, being conducted under the guidance of legal advisers, aims to utilize asylum seekers’ desire for permanent residency to bolster military personnel and exploiting vulnerable people from Africa for these combative and quite often dangerous roles acccording to the Quds News Network.
This is while the Anadolu, ran the Haaretz story saying the Israeli government is telling its asylum seekers from different African countries it would grant them permanent residency if the join the Israeli army and fight in its war against the Palestinians in Gaza.
It added that Israeli defense officials are realizing that they could use the asylum seekers to bolster their military presence in Gaza by exploiting their deep wishes to obtain permanent residence in Israel.
Citing defense officials, the newspaper says these procedures are conducted “in an organized manner, with the guidance of defense establishment legal advisers,” according to the Turkish news agency.
However, “the ethical considerations of recruiting asylum seekers have not been addressed,” and so far, “no asylum seekers who contributed to the war effort have been granted official status.”
“Some people have expressed objections to the practice, arguing that it exploits people who have fled their countries due to war,” according to the Haaretz daily stated, adding that these voices have been silenced.
The South African Foreign Ministry on 18 December, 2023 warned that any South African citizens who join the Israeli army in the ongoing Gaza conflict could face prosecution at home.
The South African government is gravely concerned by reports that some South African citizens and permanent residents have joined or are considering joining the Israeli forces in the war in Gaza and the other Occupied Palestinian Territories, a ministry statement said as reported by Anadolu.
“Such action can potentially contribute to the violation of international law and the commission of further international crimes, thus making them liable for prosecution in South Africa,” it emphasized.
CrossFireArabia
Israeli historian and political scientist Ilan Pape is determined but factually logical in what he says:
“And for me ‘hope’, I want to explain so that nobody misunderstands what it means for me, hope for me, is the end of Israel and the creation of a free Palestine from the river to the sea.”
He says elsewhere and he is quoted in Spanish: “We are in the middle of the last chapter of this Zionist project in Palestine. And the last chapters are violent, they are chapters of decolonization.”
