CrossFireArabia
Sarah, Independent Lebanese geopolitical commentator, wrote:
Merry Christmas from Saint Georges of Derdghaiya in South Lebanon.
This ancient Church, which has stood for over 300 years, was bombed and reduced to rubble by Israel.
Nine innocent civilians, seeking refuge within its sacred walls, were killed in cold blood.
CrossFireArabia
The Israeli army on Tuesday committed at least 12 more violations of cease-fire in Lebanon that took effect last month to end more than a year of cross-border warfare with Hezbollah, state media reported.
According to the official Lebanese National News Agency (NNA), the violations concentrated in the districts of Tyre, Marjayoun and Hasbaiyya in southern Lebanon, and in the districts of Rachaiya and Western Bekaa in the country’s east.
The violations included airstrikes, drones and fighter jets flights, destruction of homes, bulldozing streets and artillery shelling according to Anadolu.
In the Tyre district, an Israeli drone strike targeted a car in the town of Majdalzoun that left three people injured.
The Israeli army also bulldozed a number of roads and destroyed a home in the town of Naqoura. Several homes were also destroyed in the town of Kfarkela.
While artillery struck the towns of Kfarshouba, Halta and Sheba in the Hasbaiyya district, warplanes flew over the districts of Rachaiya and Western Bekaa at a medium altitude.
Lebanese authorities have reported around 248 Israeli violations of the truce since it came into force on Nov. 27.
Since then, according to an Anadolu tally based on Health Ministry figures, at least 30 people have been killed and 37 others injured in Israeli attacks.
Under the terms of the cease-fire, Israel is required to withdraw its forces south of the Blue Line – a de facto border – in phases, while the Lebanese army is to deploy in southern Lebanon within 60 days.
Over 4,000 people were killed and more than 16,500 injured in Israeli attacks in Lebanon, and over 1 million others displaced since October 2023, according to Lebanese health authorities.
CrossFireArabia
If all the criticism directed at Israel’s current prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, fails to unseat him, then there is something deeply troubling about Israeli democracy—it is fundamentally dysfunctional.
Netanyahu has been the most influential architect of Israel’s policies and politics since 1996, when he first became prime minister.
He has often been quoted as saying, “Israel has no negotiating partner on the Palestinian side.”
Yet, we should ask: Where is the negotiating partner on the Israeli side?
Since taking office, Netanyahu has waged wars against nearly all of Israel’s neighbours, particularly Lebanon, Gaza, the occupied West Bank, and Syria and the occasional bouts with Iraq and Iran.
If we tally all the conflicts under his leadership, they exceed ten, many of them prolonged and devastating.
The cumulative cost, both in human lives and property, is staggering—over $500 billion lost and at least 100,000 people killed.
Netanyahu has systematically violated agreements, expropriated land for illegal settlements, and sanctioned the destruction and pillaging of homes, hospitals, schools and infrastructure.
His policies have included uprooting trees, destroying livelihoods, and killing tens of thousands of civilians, including children and women.
He stands as an indicted war criminal and is currently being tried in Israeli courts on charges of bribery, fraud, and abuse of power.
Many respected Israeli voices—authors, journalists, political analysts, human rights activists, lawyers, peace advocates, as well as his political allies and adversaries—express anger and even sometimes contempt for him, criticising his deceit and betrayal.
Every time Netanyahu insisted on engaging in dialogue with the late King Hussein or King Abdullah II, shortly after his army would commit grave atrocities against Palestinian civilians in the occupied territories.
Thus creating the false impression of a sequitur relationship between the meeting and the atrocities.
He even welcomed the Israeli guard who killed two Jordanians at the Israeli embassy in Amman with open arms, celebrating him instead of subjecting him to trial, despite Jordan’s accepting the murderer’s return to Israel, out of respect for the international diplomatic protocols.
Why does Netanyahu continue to act with such impunity? His actions appear to be deeply influenced by the ideology of his father, Benzion Netanyahu.
Born in Warsaw, Poland, Benzion served as the secretary and close aide to Ze’ev Jabotinsky, who instilled in him—and later his son Benjamin—the principles of revisionist Zionism.
It is exceedingly difficult to make peace with the proponents of the maximalist and revisionist branch of Zionism, which was established by the extremist Abba Ahimeir.
Although Benzion was a historian specializing in the history of Jews In Spain—a history rich with examples of tolerance and coexistence between Muslims and Jews under Islamic rule—he chose to become a disciple and propagator of revisionist Zionism. He became a staunch spokesperson for this ideology in the United States.
To better understand the radicalisation of Netanyahu and his father, one need look no further than the statements made by their mentor, Jabotinsky.
The following quotes are sourced from betarus.org, a well-known Zionist website:
1.“We, the Zionists, all applaud, day and night, the iron wall.”
This is the same iron wall that neo-historian Avi Shlaim described as being created to hammer Arab heads against, until they agree to Zionist claims to their lands.
2.“We hold that Zionism is moral and just, and since it is moral and just, [that means] justice must be done, regardless of whether Joseph, Simon, Ivan, or Ahmet (Ahmad) agree with it or not.”
3.Finally, Jabotinsky declared, “We were not created in order to teach morals and manners to our enemies. We want to hit back at anyone who harms us—only someone who can hate his enemies can be a faithful friend to those who love him.”
With sentiments like these, what chances does a serious, just, and lasting peace—or perhaps any peace at all—have?
Dr Jawad Al Anani, a former Jordanian government minister, contributed this piece to The Jordan Times.
CrossFireArabia
The Israeli army was behind one-third of all unnatural journalist deaths globally in 2024, according to a report released Thursday by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
The RSF’s annual report on the state of press freedom highlighted the alarming risks faced by journalists worldwide. It revealed that 550 journalists were detained, 55 held hostage, and 95 reported missing this year.
A total of 54 journalists were killed in 2024, the highest figure in the past five years, with most deaths occurring in conflict zones. Of those, one in three were killed during Israeli bombardments, including 16 in Gaza and two in Lebanon.
Since October 2023, more than 145 journalists have been killed in Gaza, with at least 35 deliberately targeted or killed while on duty by Israeli forces, the report stated.
RSF said it has compelling evidence that dozens of journalists in Gaza and Lebanon were targeted due to their profession, adding that it has submitted four war crime complaints against the Israeli army to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Israel has also emerged as the world’s third-largest jailer of journalists this year, according to the report.
Commenting on the killings, RSF Director-General Thibaut Bruttin said: “Most of these reporters’ identities were easily verifiable, and their status should have offered them protection. Yet, they were killed in deliberate attacks by Israel, ignoring international conventions.”
Bruttin also criticized the ban on foreign media entering Gaza, describing it as a critical blow to press freedom. “In 2024, Gaza became the most dangerous place for journalists, where even the practice of journalism faces the threat of extinction,” he said.
CrossFireArabia
Israel’s Army Radio stated that Israel made 150 air attacks on sites, dubbed military depots, in different parts of Syria during the past 48 hours. Sunday, and in the light of the departure of the Baath regime, lead by the now ex-president Bashar Al Assad, who was given asylum in Moscow with his family, the Israeli occupation army announced that they are fighting in four fronts: Gaza, West Bank, Lebanon, and Syria.
Israel increased its “trigger-happy” approach on Syria once it realized that the Al Assad regime has been deposed and an opposition alliance of at least 30 groups lead by Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (HTS) has taken over the country, starting Saturday, and installed a new government in Damascus.
