geneva_convenience

In a new sign of the link between armed militants ists in Syria and the Israeli occupation, a leader of the armed groups fighting in Syria confirmed that "Israel" and the armed groups "are united in fighting a common enemy, which is Iran."

In response to a question about "the role that Israel and the United States should play in Syria," Abu Abdo stated that the militants "expect a coordinated effort to eliminate the enemy."

He continued, "if we do not know how to seize this historic opportunity, the situation will worsen," also expressing "respect for Israel and the United States, and solidarity with their actions against Iran."

The Assembly – which brings together parliamentarians from the 46 nations of the Council of Europe – also called on the US to investigate the alleged war crimes and human rights violations disclosed by him and Wikileaks.

Its failure to do so, combined with the harsh treatment of Mr Assange and Ms Manning, creates a perception that the US government’s purpose in prosecuting Mr Assange was “to hide the wrongdoing of state agents rather than to protect national security”.

While in the past, the interests of the United States and the Zionist entity may have slightly differed, October 7, 2023, put both on a path of complete alignment. There are two primary factors to keep in mind here when considering this analysis and why it makes sense: The role of Zionist financial power in the US political system and the strategic goals of the American leadership.

What Hamas did was completely destroy the illusion of Israeli security, deterrence, and, by extension, the American projection of regional power. The war shattered the hopes for achieving the US’ desired trade route that would have run through the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and then occupied Palestine. It also raised the question: If this is what Hamas, on its own, can do, just how powerful is the Axis of Resistance led by Iran?

Suddenly, overnight, it appeared as if the US role as the dominant power in West Asia was collapsing before our very eyes, that the Zionist regime was in demise, and that Iran was the dominant force regionally. The US could not accept this outcome and decided to work with the Israelis to completely undo what occurred that day.

If you attempt to analyze the course of the war over the past 13 months through a purely Israeli lens, what they have done makes no sense. The decision to continue its genocide past the period of the first few months has in fact crippled the regime. Nearly a million settlers have left, their sense of security has been robbed from them, the already divided society has fractured further, their political system is in disarray, their economy is crumbling, and their "international legitimacy" is gone; only held up by their closest Western allies.

Yet, the struggle shouldn’t be read in this way. The true power lies not in “Tel Aviv” but in Washington.

If you read many analyses put forth by self-professed experts, they present a narrative that the Israeli PM is an irrational actor running an extremist coalition but is being tamed by the United States. This is the kind of fictional presentation of events presented through the likes of Bob Woodward’s recent best-selling book “War”. It attempts to put blame on the alleged independent actions of the Israelis, while the US Biden administration has been there to try and calm the situation down through tirelessly working toward the passage of aid into the Gaza Strip and diplomacy aimed at sparing the entire region from a catastrophic war.

The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP), a UK-based rights group, announced on Monday that it had answered Albanese's call for evidence ahead of a report to the UN Human Rights Council on "how the private sector has contributed to establishing and maintain Israel’s presence" in the occupied territories.

The ICJP said its submission explains the case studies of four charities, including Trinity College Cambridge and the UK arm of the Jewish National Fund.

Middle East Eye revealed in February that the prestigious Cambridge college, which is one of Britain's wealthiest landowners, had $78,089 invested in Israel's largest arms company, Elbit Systems.

MEE also reported that Cambridge College had millions of dollars invested in other companies arming, supporting and profiting from Israel's war on Gaza.

Israel’s population is projected to grow to 11.1 million by 2030, 13.2 million by 2040, and 15.2 million by 2048. That’s why hanging on to the West Bank is such a contentious issue…’lebensraum.’

These people need places to live in a nation short of land mass. Compare Israel to its neighbor Jordan, which has a smaller population, yet about five times the land area. If Israel is to maintain its agricultrural industry its exploding population will to grow up, in high rise apartment complexes, as well as out, possibly into Judea and Samaria.

Palestinian women have been sexually assaulted by Israeli soldiers throughout the past 75 years, but researchers say they are only beginning to speak out about their experiences as incidents have mounted since the 7 October attacks.

The cases are so similar, despite happening in different locations and involving different branches of the Israeli military and police, that those documenting them suspect a directive has been handed down.

“You hear these women being sexually assaulted and strip-searched and beaten on their genitals in the West Bank, in Jerusalem and in Gaza, being treated by different bodies of the Israeli system but also being sexually assaulted in the same way,” Kefaya Khraim told Middle East Eye.

It wasn’t always the case that Khraim and her colleague, Amal Abusrour, who both work at the Ramallah-based Women's Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling and spoke at length with MEE during a recent visit to London, would hear so many stories.

For decades, many Palestinian women have kept sexual violence they’ve experienced at the hands of Israeli soldiers to themselves, not even sharing it with their closest friends or family.

Byrne joined Meta in September 2021.

She and her team helped draft the rulebook that applies to the world’s most diabolical people and groups: the Ku Klux Klan, cartels, and of course, terrorists. Meta bans these so-called Dangerous Organizations and Individuals, or DOI, from using its platforms, but further prohibits its billions of users from engaging in “glorification,” “support,” or “representation” of anyone on the list.

Byrne’s job was not only to keep dangerous organizations off Meta properties, but also to prevent their message from spreading across the internet and spilling into the real world. The ambiguity and subjectivity inherent to these terms has made the “DOI” policy a perennial source of over-enforcement and controversy.

A full copy of the secret list obtained by The Intercept in 2021 showed it was disproportionately comprised of Muslim, Arab, and southeast Asian entities, hewing closely to the foreign policy crosshairs of the United States. Much of the list is copied directly from federal blacklists like the Treasury Department’s Specially Designated Global Terrorist roster.

Byrne tried to focus on initiatives and targets that she could feel good about, like efforts to block violent white supremacists from using the company’s VR platform or running Facebook ads. At first she was pleased to see that Meta’s in-house list went further than the federal roster in designating white supremacist organizations like the Klan — or the Azov Battalion.

She was also unsure of whether Meta was up to the task of maintaining a privatized terror roster. “We had this huge problem where we had all of these groups and we didn’t really have … any sort of ongoing check or list of evidence of whether or not these groups were terrorists,” she said, a characterization the company rejected.

Byrne quickly found that the blacklist was flexible. "Meta’s censorship systems are “basically an extension of the government...”

Ukraine lost an area equivalent to the size of New York City to Russian forces in November – the worst monthly figure for Ukrainian defenders since September 2022.

After the full-scale invasion in February 2022, Russia gained ground quickly before being pushed back in a Ukrainian counteroffensive. Last year, with the conflict mostly at a stalemate, Institute for the Study of War (ISW) data shows that Russian forces took 2,233 sq km (862 sq miles) of territory. Already in 2024 they have taken about 2,656 sq km.

The area seized by the Russians in November amounts 1,202 sq km, roughly the same size as New York City. But experts have argued that a large proportion of the land is rural and not of huge strategic or operational value. Russian forces have mostly encircled but not yet taken major cities, and few major rail or road arteries have been severed recently.

Russian control of Ukrainian territory has increased from 17.4% in November 2023 to 17.9% as of 30 November 2024.