by Oui
Sat Aug 10th, 2024 at 08:20:05 AM EST
Fatah condemns 'heinous' attack on Gaza City school | Al Jazeera - today |
The Palestinian National Liberation Movement, Fatah, has condemned the Israeli military's attack on a school in Gaza City which has killed more than 100 people, labelling it a "heinous bloody massacre" and saying it represents the "peak of terrorism and criminality".
Displaced Palestinians gather in the yard of Gaza City's al-Tabin school after it was hit by multiple Israeli strikes, killing more than 100 people, on August 10 [Omar al-Qattaa/AFP]
People check the damage inside al-Tabin school in Gaza City on August 10 [Omar al-Qattaa/AFP]
"Committing these massacres confirms beyond a shadow of a doubt its efforts to exterminate our people through the policy of cumulative killing and mass massacres that make living consciences tremble," it said in a statement.
Fatah called on the international community and human rights organisations to "intervene immediately and stop the systematic war of extermination against our people".
Displaced Palestinians watch as first responders prepare to transport the bodies of people killed in the Gaza City school on August 10 [Omar al-Qattaa/AFP]
IDF Human Rights Violations 'Remediated'
On Friday, August 9, State Department spokesmen
Matthew Miller announced that Secretary of State
Antony Blinken had determined that the Government
of Israel had "effectively remediated" gross violations
of human rights by the IDF's Netzah Yehuda Battalion.
Blinken's determination, accordingly, renders the unit
eligible for U.S. security assistance pursuant to the
governing statute, the so-called Leahy law.
US declares controversial Israeli battalion eligible for assistance | Al Jazeera |
State Department says concerns over alleged rights violations have been ’effectively remediated'.
The unit involved, the Netzah Yehuda battalion, can continue to receive U.S. security assistance, spokesperson Matthew Miller said.
US declares controversial Israeli battalion eligible for assistance | Al Jazeera - 10 Aug 2024 |
State Department says concerns over alleged rights violations have been ’effectively remediated'.
Under federal regulations known as the Leahy Law, the US is required to cut off assistance to military units involved in gross violations of human rights, but critics say that the US has long failed to apply the rule to Israel.
The law focuses on four categories of abuses in its definition of gross violations of human rights: extrajudicial killings, torture, rape as a weapon of war and enforced disappearances.
In a column for the legal forum Just Security, Charles Blaha, who directed the office of the State Department tasked with enforcing the Leahy Law from 2016 to 2023, said that today's decision "appears directly contrary to the Leahy Law".
"The decision strongly suggests that the US position is likely a result, in significant part, of pressure by Prime Minister Netanyahu. Months ago, when news broke that the State Department was considering Netzah Yehuda for ineligibility, Netanyahu expressed outrage and vowed to oppose application of the law," the column reads.
"Against that backdrop, the Secretary's decision sends a terrible message to Israel and others: that pressure on US officials works, and that Israel is essentially de facto exempt from US law."
Gantz, Gallant press Blinken not to sanction IDF unit as US stays mum | TOI - 13 April 2024 |
Israeli ministers say move undermines Israel's legitimacy, has no justification; statements from Washington on their calls make no mention of subject
Both Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and war cabinet minister Benny Gantz held separate talks with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken late Sunday as they sought to dissuade Washington from going ahead with reported plans to slap sanctions on an Israeli military unit with a checkered rights record, Israeli officials said.
War cabinet member Benny Gantz stated, "The Netzah Yehuda battalion is an inseparable part of the Israel Defense Forces. It is subject to military law and is responsible for operating in full compliance with international law."
He added, "I have great appreciation for our American friends, but the decision to impose sanctions on an IDF unit and its soldiers sets a dangerous precedent and conveys the wrong message to our shared enemies during wartime."
State Department readouts on the calls made no mention of the Israeli concerns, using vague language to portray the talks as the latest in a series of conversations on Gaza and other challenges.
Nine months of protesting a new outpost : seven killed and dozens injured in the town of Beita | B'tselem - 28 Feb 2022 |
Last May, Israel established the settlement outpost of Evyatar on top of Jabal Sabih - a hill near Nablus in the northern West Bank. The outpost was built on land that belongs to the towns of Beita and Qabalan and to the village of Yatma. Since then, the residents of these communities have not had a single day's peace. Nine months without respite; nine months of fear and loss, and of people killed, wounded and detained.
Since the outpost was established, Israeli forces have killed nine Palestinians from these communities. Eight were shot to death during or near the demonstrations against the land grab; the ninth, a plumber from Beita, was shot and killed near the town's water mains. As B'Tselem's field researcher in the area, my heart broke every time I investigated yet another killing.
I cannot forget Sa'id, the father of 16-year-old Muhammad Hamayel, who sobbed, "Who will give me back my eldest son? My son, who was killed defending the hill? They killed him in cold blood! What did he do to make a soldier, armed to the teeth, point his rifle at him, shoot him and take him away from me forever.
I will always remember Mai, the mother of 15-year-old Ahmad Bani Shamsah. "My son hung a Palestinian flag on an olive tree near the outpost and ran away so the soldiers wouldn't catch him," she told me. "But they didn't even think to run after him, they simply shot him. What crime did he commit to make them kill him like that? They killed my joy, the smiles we used to share when we talked about his dreams. They killed my dream of seeing him grow into a strong, handsome young man. They didn't only shoot him, they shot me, too. They killed me along with him."
Inside Netzah Yehuda Battalion, Israel's army unit bracing for US sanctions | Al Monitor - 22 April 2024 |
The battalion has been at the center of several incidents of right-wing extremism and violence against Palestinians.
The most infamous took place in January 2022, when Palestinian-American Omar As'ad 78, died after being detained, handcuffed, blindfolded and later abandoned in near-freezing conditions by Netzah Yehuda soldiers. [IDF investigation: died of natural causes]
As'ad's death prompted international uproar and Washington demanded an investigation after a preliminary inquiry found that the soldiers falsely claimed they were instructed to handcuff him. The IDF admitted wrongdoing and sanctioned the three commanders of the unit, but no soldiers were charged over the affair.
Biden vows G7 response, 'ironclad' US support for Israel after Iran attacks | Al Jazeera - 14 April 2024 |
BROKEN PROMISES AS GAZA GENOCIDE WORSENS BY DISEASE
Extremist settler ministers Ben Gvir and Smotrich laughing at elder Biden
US accuses Israeli far-right minister of `misleading' Gaza ceasefire comments | FT |
The White House has issued an unusually forthright rebuke of Bezalel Smotrich, Israel's far-right finance minister, who has been an outspoken critic of a Gaza ceasefire deal that Washington is urgently trying to finalise.
The outburst from Washington comes as the US is preparing to defend Israel from a potential Iranian retaliatory attack after Hizbollah's military chief Fuad Shukr was killed by an Israeli strike in Beirut, and Hamas's political leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran.
Smotrich was "saying this as President [Joe] Biden is actually directing the United States military to the Middle East to directly defend Israel against a potential attack from Iran or other Iranian backed terrorist groups", said Kirby.
