Schumer on Netanyahu’s plans to invade Rafah, Putin supporting an Iranian nuclear test and the Houthis have a hypersonic missile
The problem Biden immediately created by embracing Netanyahu has finally arrived.
Maybe Biden, a man who has suffered personal loss and grief, thought that embracing Netanyahu was the best way to steer him away from the revenge Hamas had provoked on October 7th.
That strategy might have won if Netanyahu himself weren’t so central to the problem.
Throughout his political career, Netanyahu has provoked Palestinian rage so that he can harvest the political power that militant neurosis creates within a shell shocked Israeli culture that has genocide burnt into its collective memory.
Netanyahu sold his oppressive safety as the only way to protect Israel, but the amputation of all political hope for Gaza and the never ceasing theft of Palestinian land on the West Bank have combined to generate the most far right Zionist Government ever in existence, and the demands of that Government finally snapped all constraints and we are witnessing the result.
The horror of almost 32 000 dead, 74 000 injured and almost 2 million displaced is so far outside the norm…
More children killed in Gaza in four months than in four years of worldwide wars, says UN
More children have been killed in Gaza in just four months of fighting than in four years of armed conflicts around the world combined, the United Nations has said.
The UN says more than 12,300 children died between October and February in the Gaza Strip, mostly in Israeli air strikes, citing its own data and reports from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.
At the same time, the UN’s own calculations show that 12,193 children were killed in fighting in all armed conflicts globally between 2019 and 2022.
…the reality is that Netanyahu requires permanent conflict because the moment there is a pause and the war ends, the Israeli people will turn on Netanyahu and demand accountability for the security failure of October 7th as well as the ethnic cleaning war crime he has committed in his disproportionate response.
Schumer wants Netanyahu gone because the White House has realised Netanyahu is a major part of the problem and his need to escalate is driven by his political insecurity…
Schumer faces backlash after calling for new Israeli elections to oust Netanyahu
Chuck Schumer, the US Senate leader and a top ally of Joe Biden, on Thursday broke with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, over his handling of the invasion of Gaza and called for Israel to hold new elections, in comments that upset its ruling party and allies on Capitol Hill.
The shift by Schumer, the Democratic Senate majority leader and the highest-ranking Jewish official in the United States, came as he continued to press lawmakers to pass a military assistance package for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan, the countries Biden has named as the country’s top national security priorities.
In remarks from the Senate floor, Schumer said he had a longstanding relationship with Netanyahu but believed he “has lost his way by allowing his political survival to take precedence over the best interests of Israel”.
…Netanyahu has responded by doubling down on his Rafar invasion threats…
Netanyahu ‘determined’ to carry out Rafah assault despite pleas from Biden
Israel’s PM says he does not see an alternative to a ground attack on Gaza’s southern city, in a sign of widening disagreement with the US president
…if Netanyahu is insane enough to invade Rafah, he will take his ethnic cleansing war crime to genocidal levels.
If Netanyahu is insane enough to invade Rafah, NZ must expel the Israeli Ambassador.
The ramifications of what has already been caused to the Palestinians are enough to cause an explosion of violence but a Rafar invasion would take things to a new level.
I think we would see an uprising on the West Bank, Hezbollah would engage from Lebanon, the Houthis (who now claim to have a hyper-sonic missile) and even expand to Iran successfully testing a nuclear weapon which I’m sure Putin will consider if NATO Next Gen weaponry breaches Russian territory…
US held secret talks with Iran over Red Sea attacks
Western powers are also concerned about Iran’s nuclear programme as Tehran continues to enrich uranium at levels close to weapons grade.
That had been a focus of the Biden administration before October 7 as it sought to contain the crisis triggered by former president Donald Trump’s unilateral withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal that Iran signed with world powers.
In September, Tehran and Washington agreed to a prisoner swap, and the US unfroze $6bn of Iran’s oil money, which had been stuck in South Korea.
The funds were transferred to an account in Qatar, where their use would be monitored. Alongside that deal, the Biden administration was seeking to agree unwritten de-escalation measures with Tehran, including a cap on its uranium enrichment.
…the question over how far Putin is prepared to give Iran’s nuclear program with the Ukraine War in the background as a means of further destabilising the Middle East opens up the real possibility this would be an escalation to any invasion of Rafar…
The question we are forgetting to ask: How will we handle this once Iran is nuclear?
Americans are debating whether President Biden’s retaliatory strikes against Iranian proxies for killing three U.S. service personnel will deter Iran. But they are asking the wrong question.
The current dispute centers on the best tactical approach to deter the theocratic regime and its Revolutionary Guards. The Biden camp believes that a significant strike in Iran is not worth the risk of entangling America in a full-scale war. The alternative and counterintuitive choice for the administration would be to attack the Islamic Republic directly and reinstate the full force of sanctions to deter the source of most of the mischief currently underway in the Middle East.
…I also think the evidence bridge linking Russia and Iran to nuclear aspirations is well made…
Potential Nuclear Assistance
The form of assistance Russia is most likely to provide in the nuclear space is diplomatic. In the past few months, Moscow has heightened its support for Iran at the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of Governors, and it will likely continue shielding Tehran from referral to the UN Security Council regarding the regime’s noncompliance with nuclear safeguards obligations.
Conceivably, Russia could also contribute to a potential future Iranian nuclear weapons effort by providing technology and know-how, whether covertly or openly. For instance, Russian scientists could help Iran advance its R&D on delivery systems, warhead development, and miniaturization, or collaborate on dual-use research relevant to weaponization. Yet there are many reasons to be skeptical of these scenarios. Besides running counter to Russia’s official stance against Iranian nuclear weapons development, such assistance would antagonize Moscow’s Gulf partners.
That said, the Russian government has not viewed Iran’s potential development of nuclear weapons with the same degree of alarm as the West. Moreover, the Ukraine war may have reshuffled Moscow’s strategic calculus to the point where it views such assistance as a means of undermining U.S. interests in the region. Even if it eschews official assistance, deepened contacts between the two countries and the continued deterioration of Russia’s economy might spur its engineers and scientists to conduct unauthorized work that benefits Iran’s nuclear program, as occurred in the past. That said, this degree of collaboration might be a step too far for Iran given its longstanding distrust of Russia, the risk of exposing its most sensitive projects and secrets, and its continued insistence that it does not have a nuclear weapons program.
On the civilian side, Iran could seek more help in developing its nuclear power industry. Russia built the first Bushehr reactor and is constructing two additional ones. The new reactors are at least two years behind schedule, but Moscow could commit to accelerating construction or offer better financial terms. It could also help with reactor fuel fabrication. If Iran were able to make its own fuel for Bushehr and similar future reactors, it would have a better civilian justification for maintaining an industrial uranium enrichment capacity. Yet Russia currently provides fuel for Bushehr and may not want to put itself out of business, especially as its nuclear industry faces pressure in Europe.
…my point is that there is still so much more horror to come if Israel invades Rafah.
The ease with which this could all spin out of control isn’t being appreciated.
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The idea that Iran has a nuclear weapons program is ridiculous. Iran- unlike the US- is a civilized country. There is no way to fire a nuclear weapon at occupied Yafa- so-called ‘Tel Aviv’- and kill only the home invaders- so-called ‘israelis’. As a civilized, human run country, Iran will not be doing that.
Tell that (if you could have) to Mahsa Amini the young Iranian woman beaten to death by the ‘Morality Police’ for not wearing a hijab ..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Mahsa_Amini
Really? You get all righteous about a woman from Iran, but it’s no problem to have women and children smeared all over buildings in Gaza? Unbelievable.
Your sense of humour is amusing (or did I miss the satire)
It makes a certain sense in one way. Any Arab/Muslim country would find it difficult to use nuclear weapons on Israel without killing hundreds of thousands of Arab Muslims as well. As the Iranians aren’t Arabs, they would probably suffer for it. As for the rest of the post ………… maybe the less said the better.
Yep, Biden has to make that call to Bibi the Butcher and tell him its over…or its on for all money in the form of a regional war.
An immense international solidarity movement has built up in support for Palestinians, and even is there is a Ceasefire Israel is essentially stuffed–in fact if should be wound up as a failed colonist state. Friends of mine say that there are good Israelis that don’t support the slaughter–well it is about time they made themselves more active and visible is all I can say.
More than two thirds of jewish ‘israelis’ (home invaders) say that all humanitarian aid to the Gaza concentration camp should be blocked (as is currently the case) to starve Palestinian children for fun.
https://mondoweiss.net/2024/02/over-2-3-of-jewish-israelis-oppose-humanitarian-aid-to-palestinians-starving-in-gaza/
The remainder is made up of ‘people’ who think that the starvation campaign should be lessened slightly, so they don’t look quite as bad internationally. There are ‘good israelis’- and more and more join those ranks every day, at the hands of Palestine’s military. Our only obligation is to support the Palestinians, so they can make more and more ‘good israelis’.
I agree.
Time they up and refused to do their 2 years in the IDF.
Hamas returned those 100+ Israeli’s abducted 07 October?
Nope.
Hama’s regret the terrible destruction that their actions knowingly prompted upon their own people?
I doubt it.
Woke muppets yet realised the hypocrisy of decrying Israel retaliating to a a terrorist attack while maintaining their acquiescence to the concentration camps in North Korea and China?
Of course not.
Funny how you psychopaths think that that we humans won’t notice the thousands of Palestinians genuinely held hostage and regularly tortured, murdered, and raped in your disgusting prison camps, or the more than 30 thousand you have slaughtered for fun since the Palestinian military broke out of your Gaza concentration camp on October 7.
I have a (disgusting) prison camp?
You would have thought that I would have noticed something like that?
How can you not be aware that you have your own prison camp for fucks sake?
Has Netanyahu acknowledged his role in backing Hamas. No. Actually provided any credible evidence that all these hospitals are command centres? No. Acknowledged all the bullshit around “finding” tunnels the Israelis actually built around El Shafir? No. Does Netanyahu actually want the hostages back? No, because it would remove his remaining justification for slaughtering the people they are trying to get rid of. It’s got nothing to do with “woke” at all. Netanyahu is an arsehole.
Israel returned those 6000 kidnapped from the West bank and other areas yet?
Reality check if you are detained without charge or trial then you have no legal recourse to secure your freedom under international law, ergo you are held against your will which by legal definition is kidnapping.
We can accept that Israel want to punish the attackers from October however no decent person thinks that killing 30 thousand Palestinians mostly women and children who were not involved in the attack is a proportional response. You also have ignored the 75 years of repression of the Palestinians with Israel being the primary aggressor.
It’s hilarious how you zionists pretend that we humans are stupid enough to not know about the tens of thousands of humans you have actually abducted (as opposed to legitimately imprisoning, as the Palestinian resistance did to ‘israelis’), let alone the tens of thousands you beasts have raped, tortured, and murdered.
We already know you consider yourselves better than human beings. It’s funny how you think you’re tricking us.
I imagine that as soon as Israel returns the 20,000 hostages it has, everything will be hunky dory. Fucking idiot.
While the risk from Iran as a theocratic regime is real the very real possibility that the USA could follow the same path is a far greater risk. AlJazerra felt the need to do a 1-hour program on the militant church in the USA & while I know that those churches are wrong in their understanding of scripture that is not much use when they have the votes to get their ideas implemented.
Truth .
The USA is a Christian fascist state.
If Iran wanted Nuclear war-heads it would have had them decades ago ,,,, we are talking about 75 year old technology that any university physics graduate could draw up ….
As for the rouge nation Israel, and it’s long history of breaking international humanitarian laws,,, it’s present war crimes spree is aided by the Western based ‘coalition of the killing’ (including us/our government) ,,,,
Ethnic cleansing ends at Genocide if it’s successful ,,,, and the Zionists are closer than the Nazis ever got.
I’m picking that Israel is going to bomb/destroy the border wall/barrier between Gaza and Egypt ,,,, while simultaneously conducting bombing/mass slaughter of the Palestinian civilians who have been terrorized and corralled into Rafa,,,, creating a flee or die stampede over the border….. Or ‘leaving voluntarily’ as the Zionists would put it.
This is the blue-print for their plan, imo ,,,, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/may/16/sri-lanka-tamil-tigers-conflict , and I’m sure the Zionists have studied it ,,,,
Note the similarities from then and now…. “Humanitarian aid workers were in despair as sporadic reports filtered out of thousands of civilians killed inside the “no fire zone”, the government-designated haven where non-combatants were supposed to be able to escape the fighting. ”
and …. “the country’s armed forces sought to destroy the last pocket of Tamil Tiger fighters in defiance of international pleas for a halt to the fighting and accusations from the UN that they had triggered a bloodbath.”
The Sri Lankans needed western weapons to do what they ended up doing ,,,, and shrugged off/ignored the finger wagging and (fake) concern, from those who provided the means/weapons to conduct their mass murder war crimes. …. and the World let it slide.
Israels past history of violence and ethnic cleansing has largely been ignored and white-washed ,,,, but it’s present use of mass murder as collective punishment is seen by the majority in the world for the debased actions stemming from a criminal ideology that it is ,,,, Zionisim has in no uncertain terms revealed it’s true face,,,,, along with the depravity and lack of humanity/morals from it’s co-offenders and ‘rules based order’ pretenders.
Israels present actions could see it’s past catch up with it https://youtu.be/saM09yo0crU?list=TLPQMjAwMzIwMjRYgW2EODw-Ow&t=1429 ,,,, the violence has always been there.
and deceit ,,, https://rumble.com/v2n9rzq-the-real-truth-of-the-uss-liberty-a-documentary.html ,,,
millions upon millions of Jews and other Untermensch were killed by Nazis and other racist fascists ,,, but it did not end well for Nazi Germany.
If the racist Zionists achieve their ethnic cleansing goal,,,, killing. starving and forcing the removal of (the last) millions of Palestinians …. I do not see it ending well for Israel.
Germany lost all the land it stole from it’s neighbors in Europe for a start ….
“Greater Israel” is the seed of it’s own destruction ….
Indeed- it’s well documented that the zionists did the strategic planning for the Lankan campaign of genocide against the Tamils.
Perhaps sending a small nuke into Iran would send a clear message that further misadventures by the Revolutionary Guard will not be tolerated whilst also letting Putin know that he should consider carefully his options
Two birds, one stone
..but no brain.
“a Rafar invasion … would see an uprising on the West Bank, Hezbollah would engage from Lebanon, the Houthis (who now claim to have a hyper-sonic missile) ..”
I don’t know about any of that, and earnestly hope that we never have the opportunity to find out whether such predictions were right.
However by invoking the name of “Haman” Prime Minister Netanyahu has once again revealed his genocidal intentions. Haman figures in the Book of Esther, which is part of the Protestant Christian canon (Bible) but is actually a work of Jewish secular scripture which makes not a single mention of God and celebrates an act of genocidal slaughter supposedly carried out by the Jews. In the book of Esther, the sovereign role, the dispenser of justice, which normally falls to Jehovah God in divinely inspired Jewish or Christian scriptures, is taken by one “Ahasuerus”, a king of the First Persian (Achaemenid) Empire. In the story (which may be either historical or fictional), the Jews are competing with the house of Haman for the favour of Ahasuerus. Haman plans to kill the Jews, but the Jews find favour with Ahasuerus who authorizes them to kill rise up and kill 75,000 of their enemies, the supporters of Haman, within his empire. So it is no surprise Netanyahu finds his comfort in the Book of Esther. As in the book of Esther, he has authorization from the head of the ruler of the world’s greatest power to slaughter the enemies of the State of Israel. Note however in Esther that right to pre-emptively massacre one’s enemies does not come from God, but from a secular power. That is why Martin Luther suggested that the Book of Esther did not belong in the Christian canon, and why it is not given full standing in the Torah. So Netanyahu is attempting to justify the Gaza genocide on the strength of a secular Jewish nationalist scripture which has nothing to say about God. Some self-professed Christians, such as those in the Destiny Church (who also have a few other non-scriptural beliefs) seem to follow Netanyahu in drawing support from the Book of Esther.
Will this serve Netanyahu well? I think not. By forsaking the rule of God for the patronage of the United States of America he will bring the Jewish people to ruin. It is not only the people of Gaza who will suffer as a result of his actions.