“Disgusting speech, Shameful Session” Netanyahu in Congress  

Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, described Netanyahu’s speech as disgusting in a shameful session of the US Congress, which accepted to host and give a platform to the war criminal Netanyahu, who is committing crimes of genocide, ethnic cleansing, collective punishment and starvation in Gaza as reported in the Jo24.net website.

Barghouti added that the civilization he speaks of led to the martyrdom of 48,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including 17,000 children, amputation of the hands and feet of 1,200 Palestinian children and the displacement of two million Palestinians after the demolition of their homes.

He said: “This is not civilization, but decadence.”

Barghouti said Netanyahu’s speech was full of lies, even surpassing the Nazi propagandist Goebbels, especially when he claimed that Israel was delivering aid to the residents of the Gaza Strip while the whole world know that is a lie.

“Unfortunately, the US Congress witnessed a disgusting speech by Netanyahu in a shameful session in support of a war criminal, which was boycotted by honorable American representatives who are not subject to the Israeli lobby’s money, and thousands of supporters of the Palestinian struggle demonstrated against it, including thousands of American Jewish protesters who refuse to support Israel with weapons and who call for the freedom of Palestine.”

Barghouti pointed out Netanyahu has made himself and Israel a symbol of reactionism, fundamentalist racism, and a barbaric colonial mentality, and has practiced dangerous propaganda to spread Islamophobia.

Barghouti warned of the danger of Netanyahu’s plan of what he call “the next day for Gaza,” which includes “continuing the aggression against Gaza, maintaining the Israeli occupation there, establishing an entity that is an agent of the occupation…and continuing to use normalization with Arab countries to liquidate the Palestinian issue and restructure Palestinian consciousness to submit to the occupation.”

Barghouti stressed confronting Netanyahu’s vision would be through the rapid implementation of what was stated in the Beijing Declaration, especially the formation of a national reconciliation government that would foil Netanyahu’s tricks and plans and consolidate the unity of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Jerusalem,” he concluded.

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Japanese Activists ‘Keep Heat on’ Against Gaza Genocide

Palestinian flags are waving in Japan at full speed in solidarity with the people of Gaza and against the Israeli carnage.

Demonstrations are taking place by Japanese people, activists and ordinary folk outside the Shinjuku station in Tokyo to show their abhorrence against the current Israeli genocide against the people of Gaza..

Chants of solidarity were made loud and clear outside the busy station with “free the river to the sea Palestine will be free.”

The station has been the place for the “die-in protest” with many passersby joining in to condemn Israel’s 10-month war on Gaza that sees no end because of the intransigence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his extreme rightwing government.

Hand-cuffed and blind-folded pro-Palestine activists protested to show in a dramatic way the suffering of the Palestinian people both inside Gaza and inside prison where Israel holds more than 9000 of them in terrible conditions.

The Japanese “die-in protests” are on-going to focus the plight of the people of Gaza and the slaughter they are being subjected to the Israeli military.

The streets of Tokyo last month saw the carnage from an apparent massacre, with the bodies of dozens of victims strewn across the ground, their bodies lying prone or twisted, many of them marked by the signs of blood wrote Anadolu.

But it was instead a “die-in,” a scene to evoke the suffering in the embattled enclave of Gaza, recreated half a world away to protest the plight of Palestinians in the face of a months-long Israeli assault, the Turkish news agency maintained.

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Hagari, Netanyahu Clash Over Hamas Resurfaces

Its being put this way: “A new clash is developing between Netanyahu and Hagari” as one blogger put it.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is angered by spokesman of the Israeli army Daniel Hagari who told the American ABC News channel that Israel would still be fighting Hamas five years from now.

Later Israel’s Channel 14 reported that Netanyahu strongly criticized Hagari in a closed meet of the Israeli government.

The clash between the two is trending on social media. Another blogger put it this way saying Hagari has “admitted to the American media that his army was unable to eliminate Hamas no matter how long lasted.

His comments are being widely distributed. Hagari told ABC’s Mike Gutman: “Will you and me be talking five years from now about Hamas as a terror organization in Gaza? The answer is yes.”

Israel Hayom said Hagari presented a candid assessment and it contrasts sharply with the “optimistic rhetoric” of Netanyahu “who continues to promise a swift defeat of Hamas.” The paper said Hagari’s comments suggest “a more complex and challenging road ahead for the Israeli forces in Gaza.”

The widening rift between Hagari and Netanyahu is increasing especially because the comments of the Rear Admiral about his earlier comments last month about the impossible task of destroying Hamas, quoted as saying:

This business of destroying Hamas, making Hamas disappear – it’s simply throwing sand in the eyes of the public,” he said. “Hamas is an idea, Hamas is a party. It’s rooted in the hearts of the people – whoever thinks we can eliminate Hamas is wrong.”

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Israeli Maariv: There is no Alternative to Hamas in Gaza

Any alternative to the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) is not realistic, as it has sovereignty and rule over the Gaza Strip, Israeli daily newspaper Maariv wrote about  Israel’s options for the so-call “day after” in the enclave.

The newspaper stated Gaza is not the West Bank, explaining years after the Israeli invasion of the West Bank in 2002, the Israeli army is still waging ongoing battles with the Palestinians there.

The big difference is according to Maariv the military cells in the Palestinian Authority areas are not the party that controls security and civil affairs there; nor is it the “lions’ den,” nor even any other organization responsible for the daily life of the population.

It added unlike the cities and villages in the West Bank, the synergy between the military and civilian sides of Hamas in Gaza not only did it not disappear, but was not even dented, neither during the air aggression attack phase nor even after in the ground operation Israel waged on the Strip.

The daily referred to the issue of distributing aid in Gaza, which the Israeli government has repeatedly discussed but with no results. Israel does not want Hamas to be responsible for such aid but at the same time, it has no alternatives Maariv stated.

Maariv  explained Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not have any answer or plan for a civilian alternative for the residents of the Gaza Strip, he never had! “Netanyahu only knows he does not want the Palestinian Authority to be in Gaza, because that mean embarking on the path that  would directly lead to a political process based on the two-state solution.”

The daily pointed out “no force, body or state will agree to set foot in Gaza, neither physically nor with a commitment on paper, as long as Hamas remains in the field, alive, sovereign and actively distributing food to the tents of the displaced.”

There is no alternative for Hamas,  the newspaper stated, adding Israel stands in confusion regarding the day after plan and “there is no better way to describe the current situation than to say it’s a ‘dead end’. Hamas controls Gaza, because there is no alternative.”

Maariv  quoted an anonymous senior Israeli officer as saying in one of the closed hearings of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in the Knesset that eElections will be held in Israel before Netanyahu present to the public an alternative plan to controlling Gaza.

The Hebrew daily called on him to admit  the truth, say it out loud that there is no realistic alternative, and Hamas will remain in Gaza.

It added even if Netanyahu loudly announces he is withdrawing his opposition to the Palestinian Authority as part of an alternative solution to Gaza, this would not change the reality.

The newspaper concluded Hamas leaders are pinning their hope on a prisoner exchange deal that will allow them to expel the Israeli army from the enclave, so that the movement will have sovereignty and rule, as it was before the war began.

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Itzhak Brik  Says Netanyahu is Lying on Gaza

Reserve Israeli general Itzhak Brik is a tireless critic of the government of Benjamin Netanyahu. He says “what is happening in Gaza is a big disgrace. We are losing a lot, and [Netanyahu] throws dust in the eyes,” the Quds News Network quotes him saying.

“The IDF realizes that Hamas cannot be defeated and soldiers are being sent to their deaths. Herzi Helevi wants to stay in his position until the end of his term; he is deceptive,” he adds.

“…officers, brigade commanders, and soldiers talk to me daily from the field, informing me of what is happening every minute. Yesterday, an officer spoke to me and said, ‘Brik, keep going strong with what you are doing.’ He is in Rafah now and told me that I am truthful in every word I say,” Brik told Israel’s Channel 7.

In reference to statements made by government about the war he said “they deceive the public and don’t tell the truth…we are not winning.  We do not confront Hamas, they don’t even stand in front of us.

All the statements that the army killed 100 here, and 200 there are incorrect. The [Hamas] fighters are underground; they come out, launch rockets and return. They are blowing up houses and using explosives against us and we are being killed,” the retired General said.

“There is no such closure of the tunnels that reach Sinai. These tunnels which they call Hames’s oxygen tubes have been used to transport weapons and combat equipment and the army claims to have controlled the Philadelphi Route and closed the tunnels is not true.

To close these tunnels, a canal 9km long and 50 meters deep must be dug because these tunnels are located 50 meters underground and all weapons and equipment come through them. The army does not intend to dig a canal 9km long and 50 meters deep,” he says.

Are they deceiving us? The army chief of staff said that the army is close to victory in Rafah, the Channel 7 interviewer interjects.

“They are clearly deceiving the public and lying to them,” Brik says.

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