See this food, my Government will be taking it out of the mouths of hungry kids at school to fund tax breaks for rich landlords. Pretty cool eh?
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The Daily Blog Open Mic – 29th April 2024
Announce protest actions, general chit chat or give your opinion on issues we haven’t covered for the day.
The Editor doesn’t moderate this blog, 3 volunteers do, they are very lenient to provide you a free speech space but if it’s just deranged abuse or putting words in bloggers mouths to have a pointless argument, we don’t bother publishing.
All in all, TDB gives punters a very, very, very wide space to comment in but we won’t bother with out right lies or gleeful malice. We leave that to the Herald comment section.
EDITORS NOTE: – By the way, here’s a list of shit that will get your comment dumped. Sexist abuse, homophobic abuse, racist abuse, anti-muslim abuse, transphobic abuse, Chemtrails, 9/11 truthers, Qanon lunacy, climate deniers, anti-fluoride fanatics, anti-vaxxer lunatics, 5G conspiracy theories, the virus is a bioweapon, some weird bullshit about the UN taking over the world and ANYONE that links to fucking infowar.
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In Occupied Palestine – 26 April 2024
In Occupied Palestine
Zionism in practice
Israel’s Daily Toll on Palestinian Life, Limb, Liberty and Land
08:00, 26 April until 08:00, 27 April 2024
[Source of statistics: Palestinian Monitoring Group]
Air strikes: Heavy aerial bombardment on buildings, homes and many facilities.
Attacks: All over Gaza, there are air strikes, heavy gunfire, tank and artillery shelling, as well as missiles fired from Israeli forces and military occupation, especially in Khan Yunis. The Israeli Navycontinues to fire missiles, targeting facilities and buildings along the shoreline of the whole of Gaza.
Victims: 32 people killed in Gaza brings the total number of deaths since 7 October to at least 34,388. With another 69 wounded, that figure has risen to 77,437.
What we are seeing in Gaza is a ‘repeat of Auschwitz’
What is happening in Gaza is a “repeat of Auschwitz” and a “collective white imperialist man’s genocide”, according to a prominent human rights activist and genocide scholar. Maung Zarni, nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize this year for his life-long pro-democracy work and research on genocides, believes it is clear that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. The activist and scholar from Myanmar, who has studied genocides and Nazi concentration camps extensively, told Anadolu he has “paid close attention to what has been done by Israel, not just since Oct. 7 … (but) for decades.” Genocide is simply the “destruction of a population or populations under occupation”. “Palestinians have lived under Israeli Occupation for over 50 years,” said Zarni, who has been nominated for a Nobel by 1976 winner, Mairead Corrigan Maguire. “Not just in Gaza, but in all Occupied Territories … There are 3 million Palestinians in West Bank also under Occupation,” he added. “What we are seeing in Gaza is simply mass extermination without the gas chambers,” he said, referring to the brutal Nazi method of killing prisoners in concentration camps during World War II. “You don’t need to destroy a population with gas chambers only. If you are able to carpet bomb … 80 per cent of the living space, the residential area, most schools, hospitals, you are destroying the population.”
West Bank
[Palestinian Monitoring Group]
Israeli Army attack: Jerusalem – evening, Israeli Occupation forces opened fire on a motor vehicle, near the entrance to al-Ram.
Israeli settler attack – agricultural sabotage: Ramallah – 11:45, armed Israeli Occupation settlers invaded al-Mughayir farmland, opening fire on farmers and farmworkers.
Israeli Army attack: Jenin – 13:40, Israeli forces opened fire towards people, in the village of Jalboun.
Israeli Army attack: Jenin – 16:40, the Israeli Army opened fire towards people, in Ya’bad.
Israeli Army attack: Jenin – 22:20, Israeli troops firing live ammunition, stormed Araba.
Israeli Army attack – 2 killed – 2 wounded: Jenin – 02:30, Israeli Occupation forces, stationed at the Salem military checkpoint, opened fire towards people, killing two of them, Mustafa Sultan Mustafa Abed and Ahmed Muhammad Shawahna, as well as wounding two others: Waseem Muhammad Ahmed Abed and Diya Jamal Shawahna.
Israeli Army attack – home invasion – 1 taken prisoner: Tulkarem – 03:40–07:55, the Israeli Army stormed Tulkarem, opening fire on a vehicle and raiding a home, before taking prisoner the owner.
Israeli Army attack: Tulkarem – 19:00, Israeli troops, under the Jbara Bridge, opened fire on a passing vehicle, shattering the rear window.
Israeli Army attack: Qalqiliya – 20:50, the Israeli military opened fire on a vehicle, near the village of al-Funduq.
Israeli settler attack – 1 wounded: Salfit – 18:20, an armed Israeli Occupation settler opened fire on, and hospitalised, one person: Raafat Nael Rayan.
Home invasions – population–control by settlers: Tubas – 14:55, Israeli Occupation settlers raided the Ein al-Hilweh area in the North Jordan Valley and invaded tent–dwellings, terrorising the occupants into leaving.
Home invasion: Qalqiliya – 02:25–04:40, raiding Israeli Occupation forces invaded a home in Kafr Qaddum.
Home invasion: Nablus – 01:35, the Israeli Army raided Aqraba, invading and searching a house.
Home invasions: Hebron – 01:20, Israeli forces raided Surif and invaded a number of homes.
Israeli police and settlers’ mosque violation: Jerusalem – 08:00, settler militants, escorted by Israeli police, invaded the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and molested worshippers.
Israeli Army assault with rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades: Ramallah – 16:05, Israeli Occupation forces fired rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades at people, in the south of the village of al-Mughayir.
Israeli Army population–control assault – rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades: Qalqiliya – 13:10, Israeli forces closed the eastern entrance to the village of Kafr Qaddum, and fired rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades at people protesting against the closure.
Occupation settler raid: Nablus – 13:00, Israeli Occupation settlers raided Madama village.
Occupation settler violence – successful Palestinian Resistance: Bethlehem – Israeli settlers invaded an area in Kisan village and attempted to seize a portable water-storage tank installed on a tractor but were successfully opposed by the Palestinian Resistance.
Occupation settler raid: Hebron – Israeli settlers invaded an archaeological site, in Carmel village.
Occupation settler raid: Hebron – Occupation settlers raided the Ein Hawiya area, on the western side of Husan village.
Raid: Ramallah – 09:25, Israeli Occupation forces raided and patrolled the village of al-Mughayir.
Raid: Ramallah – 12:45-17:45, Israeli forces raided and patrolled the village of Burqa.
Raid: Ramallah – 16:10-17:55, the Israeli Army raided and patrolled the village of al-Nabi Saleh.
Raid: Ramallah – 16:30-17:55, Israeli troops raided and patrolled the village of Deir Qadis.
Raids: Ramallah – 17:45, the Israeli military raided and patrolled Silwad as well as the village of Deir Jarir.
Raid: Ramallah – 18:40–00:30, Israeli soldiers raided and patrolled Ni’lin.
Raids: Ramallah – 07:40, Israeli Occupation forces raided and patrolled Beit Rima as well as the villages of Kafr Ein, Deir Ghassaneh and al-Nabi Saleh.
Raid: Jenin – 08:00, Israeli forces raided and patrolled Ya’bad.
Raid: Jenin – 13:40, the Israeli Army raided and patrolled the village of Jalboun.
Raid: Jenin – 16:05, Israeli troops raided and patrolled the village of al-Jalameh.
Raid: Jenin – 16:40, the Israeli military again raided and patrolled Ya’bad.
Raid: Jenin – 19:45–22:15, Israeli soldiers raided and patrolled the village of al-Taybeh.
Raid: Jenin – 22:20–03:05, Israeli Occupation forces raided Araba and the village of Fahma.
Raids: Jenin – 01:50–03:05, Israeli forces raided and patrolled the villages of Arranah and Deir Ghazaleh.
Raid: Jenin – 01:50, the Israeli Army raided and patrolled the village of al-Jalameh.
Raid: Qalqiliya – 14:50, Israeli troops raided and patrolled Azzun.
Raid: Qalqiliya – 00:30–03:00, the Israeli military raided and patrolled Hablat.
Raid: Qalqiliya – 01:40, Israeli soldiers again raided and patrolled Azzun.
Raids: Qalqiliya – 02:25–04:40, Israeli Occupation forces raided the villages of Kafr Qaddum, Hajjah and al-Fauqa.
Raid: Nablus – 21:20–01:00, Israeli forces raided and patrolled the village of Madama.
Raid: Nablus – 22:00, the Israeli Army raided Asira al-Shamaliya, Sebastia and the village of Ignisnia.
Raid: Nablus – 01:10–03:30, Israeli troops raided and patrolled the village of Burqa.
Raid: Salfit – 15:15, the Israeli military raided and patrolled Burqin.
Raid – population–control: Bethlehem – 11:30, Israeli soldiers raided the village of Husan and forced the shops to close.
Raid: Bethlehem – 12:55, the Israeli military raided and patrolled al-Khadr.
Raids: Bethlehem – 17:00, Israeli soldiers raided and patrolled Beit Jallah and Doha.
Raid: Bethlehem – 18:20-20:30, Israeli Occupation forces raided and patrolled Janata.
Raid: Bethlehem – 20:30, Israeli forces again raided and patrolled the village of Husan.
Raid: Hebron – 09:00-14:00, the Israeli Army raided and patrolled Yatta.
Raid – population–control: Hebron – 12:00, Israeli troops raided the village of Khursa and forced the shops close.
Raid: Hebron – 23:40–04:25, the Israeli military raided and patrolled al-Samou.
Raid: Hebron – 00:50–04:25, Israeli soldiers raided and patrolled al-Dhahiriya.
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More Accountability For Preventable Workplace Deaths This Workers’ Memorial Day – Labour Party
Labour is calling for more accountability for preventable workplace deaths because everybody who goes to work deserves to come home safely.
“International Workers’ Memorial Day is a chance to reflect on those we have lost in New Zealand and think about how we can improve our laws and policies to make sure everyone who goes to work comes home again,” Labour’s workplace relations and safety spokesperson Camilla Belich said.
“This International Workers’ Memorial Day I am calling on the Government and other political parties to support my Member’s Bill, the Crimes (Corporate Homicide) Amendment Bill, which will see much better accountability on companies that are knowingly reckless with health and safety.
“The Bill would introduce a criminal offence of corporate homicide for employers that do not prioritise health and safety at work. Good employers with robust health and safety measures will not be affected.
“Everyone in New Zealand has the right to expect a safe workplace and to be able to come home safely to their family at the end of the day. Sadly, for many people this is not their reality.
“According to the Council of Trade Unions, every week 17 people die as a consequence of their work, and every 15 minutes a worker suffers an injury that requires more than week off work.
“The International Labour Organisation reports that New Zealand has three times the fatality rate of the United Kingdom. We also know that our fatality rate is almost twice that of Australia. These deaths and injuries are preventable and totally unacceptable.
“The scale of our workplaces deaths in New Zealand shows that our current health and safety laws and practices are not working hard enough to protect New Zealanders.
“My Member’s Bill is targeted at employers who know there are risks in their workplaces, fail to address these, and this failure results in a workplace death. The new offence provides that a person or entity will commit the offence if they have a relevant legal duty of care, and engage in conduct that exposes any individual to whom that duty is owed to a risk of death or serious injury, are reckless as to that risk, and their conduct results in the death of the individual.
“This type of offence is common in other countries. The purpose of the Bill is to encourage a good health and safety culture but also to bring accountability and justice to individuals and the families of those wrongly killed at work.
“I also call on the Minister to use her review of the Health and Safety at Work Act to make improvements to workplace safety and ensure that agencies responsible for monitoring health and safety like WorkSafe and the Labour inspectorate are not subject to further cuts in funding and are properly supported through adequate investment to keep New Zealander workplaces safe,” Camilla Belich said.
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Fast-track Approvals Bill Presents A Serious Risk To New Zealand Exporters – Environmental Defence Society
On 1 May, New Zealand’s new free trade agreement with the European Union – our fourth largest trading partner – comes into force. The enforceable commitments by the Parties under its Trade and Sustainable Development Chapter have been described as a significant step up in accountability on key sustainability issues.
This is particularly so in relation to the Parties’ commitment to “refrain from any action or omission which materially defeats the object and purpose of the Paris Agreement”, which is subject to dispute settlement provisions and potentially trade sanctions if breached.
“Our exporters should, therefore, be deeply concerned that the Fast-track Approvals Bill was not assessed for consistency with any of our free trade commitments prior to being introduced to the House,” says Gary Taylor, Chief Executive of the Environmental Defence Society (EDS).
“EDS has conducted its own detailed peer-reviewed analysis of the Bill against those commitments. It concludes that, without significant amendment, the Bill could breach several of the legally binding commitments New Zealand has agreed to under free trade agreements with the UK, EU, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. These include commitments:
- To provide for a high level of environmental protection and continue to improve environmental protections
- Not to weaken, reduce, waive, or otherwise derogate from environmental laws to encourage trade or investment
- To require evidence-based decision-making
- To transparency, including requiring a reasonable opportunity for interested persons, stakeholders and the other Party to review and comment on any proposed measures that might affect the free trade agreement’s environmental provisions or the free trade agreement generally
- To ensuring that all interested persons, including non-governmental organisations, have an early and effective opportunity, and an appropriate time period, to participate in and comment on the environmental impact assessment for activities related to the production (i.e. extraction / mining) of energy goods or raw materials. The definitions of “energy goods” and “raw materials” include coal, oil and gas, and a range of chemicals, minerals and metals
- To effectively implement the multilateral environmental agreements to which New Zealand is a party, including the Paris Agreement and commitments with regard to nationally determined contributions
- Under New Zealand’s free trade agreement with the EU, that obligation specifically “includes the obligation to refrain from any action or omission that materially defeats the object and purpose of the Paris Agreement” – yet there is no requirement under the Bill for projects to demonstrate how they align with New Zealand’s emissions reduction plan, budgets, climate targets, or otherwise support our country’s transition to a low emissions economy. Indeed, supporting petroleum production can be deemed to be nationally or regionally significant for the purposes of fast-track referral eligibility; and
- To:
- Fossil fuel subsidy reform
- Protect and conserve endangered species and promote the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity
- Promote sustainable agriculture and reduce agricultural emissions
- Promote the conservation and sustainable management of forests
- Implement a precautionary, science and ecosystem-based fisheries management system, consistent with international best practice.
“Therefore when we consider, for example, whether the Bill is consistent with our commitments to ensure that New Zealand’s environmental law provides for and encourages a high level of environmental protection and continues to improve its level of environmental protection, we think that the Bill’s pro-development purpose and relegation of environmental safeguards (among other flaws) are plainly inconsistent with that obligation.
“The Bill clearly represents a significant weakening of existing environmental laws. Ministers have said that is to encourage trade. This constitutes an implicit subsidy for our exporters, a point made clearer by additional intentions to weaken freshwater and biodiversity protections to reduce costs to farmers. Free trade agreements are specifically designed to prevent such subsidies.
“In response to the proposition that New Zealand is a relatively small market and there is little risk that a counter-party would pursue enforcement action for non-compliance, we say that is a very low-integrity position for New Zealand to take, akin to ‘we can get away with it’. And it makes it very hard for us to then bring proceedings against our counterparts for any non-compliance on their part.
“It also overlooks the dynamics playing out in key export markets, where producers in those countries, particularly farmers, are struggling economically, are particularly alive to the prospect of unfair competition from foreign export markets and are looking for any justification to shut out our products. It is naïve to assume New Zealand is too small a player to matter.
“There is also the related, more critical danger of reputational harm from law that downplays environmental considerations, including climate change, excludes public input, enables species extinction, and facilitates executive overreach. These key features of the Bill’s design present a significant risk for exporters, who trade heavily on New Zealand’s ‘clean, green’ credentials.
“We need to be alert not just to legal compliance with free trade agreements, but also the perceptions of our offshore customers.
“We already have existing fast-track law that is issuing resource consent decisions within an average of around 90 days and does not imperil our trade relations or enable harm to our natural world. There is no need to place our exporters at risk,” Gary Taylor concluded.
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NZCTU Welcomes Corporate Manslaughter Bill Introduction
NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff is calling on all political parties to support the new Member’s Bill from Labour’s workplace relations and safety spokesperson Camilla Belich MP that would ensure negligent companies are held accountable when their employees are killed at work.
The Crimes (Corporate Homicide) Amendment Bill would introduce a new criminal offence that provides that a person or entity will commit the offence if they have a relevant legal duty of care, and engage in conduct that exposes any individual to whom that duty is owed to a risk of death or serious injury, are reckless as to that risk, and their conduct results in the death of the individual.
“Unions have long been calling for corporate manslaughter legislation. We commend Camilla Belich for showing leadership on this Workers’ Memorial Day by introducing this Bill and fighting to uphold the health and safety of working people,” said Wagstaff.
“This Bill would bring us in line with international best practice, but most importantly, it would save workers’ lives.
“In Aotearoa New Zealand, the rate of workplace death is one of the worst in the developed world. There were 57 workplace fatalities in 2023 and three fatalities in the first 2 weeks of 2024. Every week 17 workers are killed as a consequence of their work.
“It’s a record we should be ashamed of, but it doesn’t have to be this way. This Bill is one of the most effective ways of preventing workplace deaths, as it holds employers accountable if they do not prioritise health and safety at work.
“Everyone deserves good work – work that is safe and secure, well-paid, and contributes to a meaningful and fulfilling life.
“The NZCTU are calling on the Government and all political parties to do the right thing and help ensure everyone is safe at work by supporting this Bill,” said Wagstaff.
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The scale of NZ Police corruption is gasp inducing and demands far more fear from Kiwis
Every time the NZ Police get caught using interrogation techniques that imprison an innocent person, they scream and cry and wail that they have learnt their lesson and won’t frame innocent people for crimes they didn’t commit.
Well, another brilliant expose Stuff has highlighted how often the NZ Police used a corrupted interviewing technique to continue framing people for crimes…
The high-profile homicides and the troubled interview method
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- A controversial interviewing technique has been abandoned by police, but not before it was used in five homicide investigations, and influenced various others.
- The Complex Investigation Phased Engagement Model (CIPEM) extracted a false confession from a suspect in the 2016 killing of Upper Hutt woman Lois Tolley and has been denounced by people working in the justice sector.
- Documents released after the Ombudsman criticised police’s handling of Stuff requests for information reveal other cases in which the technique was deployed or considered.
Anyone reading the Alan Hall case would be shocked at the blatant attempt to frame him for the crime.
You honestly get the perception after reading the reports that the cops simply rounded up the most vulnerable person near the crime and bullied him into answers that were used to frame him while withholding evidence that proved he didn’t do it.
They knew Alan couldn’t have committed the crime, but the simply framed him anyway because their interrogation techniques are manipulative and have little to do with catching the actual criminal and more to do with simply finding a prosecution.
With the recent litany of miscarriage of justice cases, seeing the inside of a corrupted police interrogation process happening in real time now suggests the Police have learned NOTHING from the mistakes and failures of the past, which is what we have been promised every time one of these miscarriages of justice get exposed!
This use of a deeply flawed interrogation model that fell over in court which the Police lied about is just extraordinary!
Detective Superintendent Tom Fitzgerald also was responsible for that other great questionable miscarriage of justice case, the murder of Olivia Hope and Ben Smart.
Based on what we currently have in front of us with this case and the recent miscarriages of justice cases of Peter Ellis, David Dougherty, Scott Watson, Teina Pora, David Lyttle, Mauha Fawcettand Alan Hall you get a terrible feeling that Police are not following the evidence in case, but are merely rounding up the most vulnerable suspects and bullying confessions out of them or twisting the evidence to fit the crime.
What is happening here is a can of very sick and toxic worms are being ripped open while the media’s attention is on the petty and vacant.
What is being exposed here is a rotten process that reeks of corruption. I once thought that maybe as much as 5% of the prison population might be innocent, after looking at what has been starkly revealed in this police interrogation process, I think that number might be closer to 30% of the prison population being innocent.
The scale of NZ Police corruption in using a flawed interview process that tricks people into framing themselves is gasp inducing and demands far more fear from Kiwis, especially when you see the extreme the Police went too hide and lie about the technique.
Sleepy Hobbits of muddle NuZilind are constantly distracted by ‘da Maaaaaaaaaoris is getting too much’ bullshit rather than demanding accountability from the Police Force who are actively framing people for crimes.
This country is so easily manipulated.
Increasingly having independent opinion in a mainstream media environment which mostly echo one another has become more important than ever, so if you value having an independent voice – please donate here.
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MEDIAWATCH: My complaint to the BSA: Fact checking Jack Tame’s Q+A interview with the Israeli Ambassador
Dear BSA and TVNZ
To say last weeks Q+A interview with the Israeli Ambassador was the worst ‘journalism’ TVNZ ever produced doesn’t;t go far enough.
I love Jack Tame, on any given Sunday he presents one of the best TV current affairs shows in the game and I believe he is one of our best interviewers, but even the best can have a terrible day at the office, so terrible I am compelled to complain to the BSA directly.
As a blacklisted from the mainstream media political blogger, I despise the BSA, a panel of media lepers judging a beauty contest, but Jack’s interview was so bad it demands a complaint.
Fact checking this interview thorough the lens of Palestinian Youth Aotearoa is the best way to understand how egregious this interview was:
An incorrect death toll
Yaakoby and Tame both repeated an incorrect death toll for Israelis on 7 October 2023 that has been debunked. Both noted 1,400 people were “butchered” by Hamas. However, the real death toll is closer to 1,139 according to The Guardian, Agence France-Presse, and Al Jazeera, amongst other media outlets. Even with this significant difference of about 20%, the discussion completely ignored the large percentage of those deaths that were reportedly caused by friendly fire by Israeli Defence Forces on their own people (need sources for this).
False accounts of atrocities
During the longform interview, the ambassador promoted factually incorrect allegations that have been debunked due to a lack of evidence, such as instances of decapitation and gang rape. Yaakoby simultaneously denied the death toll of Palestinians which has been verified by many reputable organisations such as the United Nations (UN), the United States of America and independent observers, such as HRW. No one on the TVNZ team challenged these inaccuracies.
Dehumanising statements unchallenged
Tame did not challenge the dehumanising sentiments shared by the Ambassador, when he referred to fighters as beasts, and said that the deaths of 13,000 children was a fair price if Israel achieved its goals. Yaakoby went on to say that Hamas was democratically elected, to support his stance that any number of Palestinians killed is acceptable to secure Israel. We reject the idea that there is any justification for murdering 13,000 children and would like to see this narrative undergo a lot more scrutiny in our local media.
Lack of reference to international law
Tame failed to challenge the Ambassador on claims regarding Israel’s compliance with international law. Specifically, Israel not having the right to defend itself against a territory it occupies, attacking schools and hospitals, and the nature of illegal Israeli settlement expansion.
Dismissal of ICJ Ruling
The suggestion by the Ambassador that the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) ruling that genocide was “plausible” in Gaza was essentially due to the fact that genocide is always plausible, not because Israel was potentially committing genocide. This was another harmful and unfounded statement that went unchallenged.
Lack of questioning on war crimes
Documented evidence of war crimes by Israel – massacres of civilians, medical facilities attacked, paramedics and white flag holders killed, and food and medicines embargoed – went without adequate challenge. Independent observers have verified these crimes.
Lack of factual evidence
Tame allowed the Ambassador to support his claims by stating he has “read reports” or “seen articles” without citing his sources. The way this interview was conducted does not abide by the BSA principles of fairness and balance, nor did Tame exercise journalistic integrity or preparedness.
The two state solution
The Ambassador failed to speak of any viable two state solution, and insisted that increasing settlements in East Jerusalem will not impact peace. The ambassador neglected to address ongoing settler violence across the West Bank as well as efforts by settler groups to purchase land in Gaza. Successive UNSC resolutions and ICJ rulings since 1967 have made it clear that Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian Territories and its settlement expansion are illegal.
The Ambassador went on to suggest that Palestine cannot be recognised as a state, because they first need to have clearly defined borders – something Israel continues to deny them, including through continued settlement building.
Q+A leaving these assertions unchallenged , perpetuates a lack of accountability by Israel in global political discourse.
Critique of NZ foreign policy and position on international security
The Ambassador was critical of New Zealand’s designation of only the military wing of Hezbollah as a terrorist entity, and suggested New Zealand should designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of Iran as a terrorist entity. The IRGC is a state military and, like the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), cannot be designated as a terrorist group under NZ law. This shows a misunderstanding of New Zealand legislation and an unreasonable expectation in a public conversation.
This interview was nothing more than false propaganda and criticism of NZ foreign policy by the Ambassador of a country currently committing an ethnic cleansing war crime.
I love Jack, but sweet Jesus this was an interview that History will judge our journalism on and that judgment will be scathing.
At a time when News is under attack, at a time when misinformation and disinformation are the enemies of Fourth Estate journalism, this Q+A interview fell far short of the obligations of a Public Broadcaster.
Do better!
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US Military Industrial Complex passes $61billion blood money budget for global carnage and Israel’s ethnic cleansing war crime
I fear the US Military Industrial Complex, in its never ending greed for war profits is eating America on a. dangerous collision course in various hot spots around the globe and it once again demands a debate about this new hard right racist beneficiary bashing climate denying Government’s sudden excitement to plunge us into America’s latest war agenda, a debate Chris Luxon is very keen to shut down from ever happening…
Luxon refuses to guarantee public consultation on AUKUS Pillar 2
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has repeatedly dodged questions over whether the government would sign up to AUKUS Pillar 2 without consulting the public.
He was asked to guarantee the New Zealand public would be consulted if the government signed up to the deal.
“Those are things that our officials will work through in the coming months and years, as I’ve said to you,” he said.
He was asked again.
“We’ll work our way through that, all we’re saying at this point is exactly what the previous government said, we’re open to exploring it, we need to understand it, we need to see if there is an opportunity or a role for New Zealand to play, but we’ll work our way through that, and our officials will work their way through that.”
A third question of whether the public would be consulted proved not to be the proverbial charm.
“Again, it’s all too premature,” he said. “In opposition I tried to be as bipartisan as I could with the previous government, and we’ll maintain the same position which is that we’re open to exploring options under Pillar 2 of AUKUS.”
It was put to him the coalition parties had not campaigned on joining AUKUS, so did the government not have a mandate to do so without consulting the public.
“Again, it’s just way too premature. What we’ve got to do is just first and foremost identify whether there is an opportunity or options available for us to explore under Pillar 2,” Luxon said.
…there are rumours that America wants a Naval base in Northland as it extends its influence over the South Pacific…
The $95 billion US foreign military aid bill is currently in the Senate and will be signed off by President Biden soon. Most news coverage has been about the aid for Ukraine and Israel but hidden away in the bill is $8 billion of military aid for countries in the Indo-Pacific region. Aid that includes the following key expenditure:
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- $3.3 billion to build dry docks and facilities to support operating submarines in the region.
- $2 billion in the Foreign Military Financing Programme for allies and security partners.
- $1.9 billion to support defence infrastructure in partner countries.
- $542 million allocated to improve US military capability in the region.
- $ 133 million toward production and development of artillery ammunition and missiles.
Much of the aid is specifically focussed on Taiwan but will ‘trickle down’ throughout the Pacific and the bullet points provide an indication of future planning. The largest budget line is for the development of the capacity to support submarines operating in the region. It reinforces US naval planning for a future conflict in which carrier task groups are vulnerable to Chinese long-range missiles. Therefore, the development or larger, more effective and well-supported submarine forces that are harder to target with missile is a US priority.
…our own Spy Agency was so corrupted by America, they allowed the NSA to use our systems to target and kill America’s enemies and the GCSB are now refusing to answer anymore questions after it was made public that they never had any sign off for that by any civilian official…
Spy agency GCSB refuses to release details of spy deal ‘to protect interests’
…the GCSB are refusing to tell us the people or our political representative what they fuck they were doing in the name of America!
Right now this new Government have sucked us into the vortex of a new war in the Red Sea as Winston sells our independent foreign policy to the American Military Industrial Complex for 3 Magic Beans!
…last week the NZDF kindly informed us that their mission in Yemen will be kinetic and might kill civilians.
Why are NZ taxpayers paying to bomb the poorest country in the middle east in a tactic that almost every single intelligence network tells us will only empower the Houthie?
Luxon doesn’t want us even discussing any of this as he quite kills off NZs independent foreign policy making us a vassal for American Corporate interests.
Looking at the Military Industrial Complex Budget, the risk of inflating already tense geopolitical hotspots continues.
Taiwan: The fear is the China’s economy post their disastrous Covid response has actually been far greater than the West suspects and that Xi needs a nationalist war to force angry Chinese citizens to rally around the leader. Providing more military support for Taiwan and encroaching further into the South Pacific could almost certainly provoke a conflict.
Israel: Israel are currently conducting an ethnic cleansing war crime in real time and America’s decision to gift them billions more in weapons right as Netanyahu is about to green light the invasion of Rafah is a genocide too far. Watch for Iran successfully testing a nuclear weapon before Trump’s election in November.
Ukraine: Trump’s likely election in November will also accelerate the possibility of a nuclear device being used in the Ukrainian conflict. Zelenskyy knows a Trump Presidency would hang Ukraine out for a peace deal with Putin so Zelenskyy’s only play is to use the next ten weaponry from the West to strike deep inside Russia to provoke Putin and escalate the war too a level that it threatens NATO and forces them to side with the Ukraine before Trump can cut all funding.
The war mongers are winning and the peace lovers are dying.
This American Blood budget won’t protect us, it will merely speed up conflict.
Increasingly having independent opinion in a mainstream media environment which mostly echo one another has become more important than ever, so if you value having an independent voice – please donate here.
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MEDIAWATCH: Why Damien Grant is one of our best columnists and why Stuff is worth keeping
I’m glad Damien has finally caught up to my criticism of puberty blockers post the Cass report..
Soooo are we going to talk about puberty blockers for Trans Teens?
…now my permanent guest on The Working Group podcast (the number 1 weekly political podcast that is not funded by NZ on Air), Damien Grant is wrong on most things, indeed the Media Council only last week reminded us of this…
The NZ Media Council upholds complaint about Hamas opinion piece against Stuff
…Damien’s farcical defence of Israel is so ridiculous he may as well be their honorary ambassador to NZ the way John Key is for China and his economic libertarian pronouncements are the chatterings of a fringe political movement with less support than the Hitler Youth, but with a relentless intellectual curiosity, he remains one of the most important Newspaper Columnists in NZ and he proves it again with his post today on Puberty Blockers in the wake of the Cass Report…
Damien Grant: Pay attention to review into gender care for youth
…look.
Damien Grant is a dangerous libertarian lunatic who will be the first up against the wall when the Revolution comes, of that there can be no doubt, but it will be a clean painless shooting because he’s the best Newspaper columnist in the game!
He’s earned a quick death!
I believe a Newspaper Columnist takes the events of the week and provides a deeper more reflective view that contextualises beyond the headlines.
A good columnist makes us rethink our perspectives, makes us laugh and actually adds to the debate.
Damien was one of the few to highlight the horror of Oranga Tamariki’s reverse uplifts and he has criticised the Right with as much passion as he criticises the Left and his refusal to simply accept the demands of the mob make him a worthy critic.
When it comes to the whole Trans debate, I’m old fashioned. I think finding your true self and being comfortable in your own skin is one of the most important journeys of the human experience.
The idea that there are some men who believe they are women and some women who believe they are men and some people who believe they are both and some people who believe they are neither is as uncontroversial to me as the range of human skin, eye and hair colour.
Referring to someone by their preferred pronouns and identity is just basic good will courtesy offered to every fellow citizen.
If a trans person wishes to share a prison cell or locker room with me, I don’t care, but where I get cancelled by the woke is when I also agree that biological women have a right to philosophically and intellectually challenge some of the identity politics dogma that is being used here.
There is a legitimate debate between gender critical feminists and trans activists but what does it say about that debate when gender critical feminists have been pushed all the way over to the side of Posie Parker?
I have many self declaring feminist women who privately tell me they have real misgivings with some of the Trans woke dogma but are terrified of saying anything because the Fourth Wave Feminists, non-binary activists and trans ally vegan mommy bloggers rip them to pieces on social media.
Part of the problem is that the Trans activists themselves have helped make this debate so radioactively toxic with their cancel culture dynamics.
And that’s where the woke have led us, an intellectual war cul de sac where we just hand the Right culture war ammunition.
Puberty blockers ARE an issue but anyone who dares question it receives a Wellington woke kamikaze pile on.
We want to be respectful of people living their true selves, but the cancel culture absurdity of the woke has made the debate impossible.
Unfortunately there is no way any of the middle class Welly Woke will EVER admit any of this despite losing 10 000 voters every single time Shannel Lal opens their mouth.
Let’s hope 50 years from now we can look back on the whole Trans debate and privately remind ourselves that was how to lose a debate.
We need far less cancel culture and far more reasoned debate using science.
That Stuff had the moral strength and ethical courage to publish Damien’s column critical of puberty blockers is a reminder of how genuinely important Stuff are in the media landscape and that this is an important moment for Free Speech.
I don’t agree with everything Stuff prints but I defend their right to print it!
Now watch the Woke go into a death roll trying to destroy Damien, Stuff, Damien’s family, his pets and any children that the Stuff editorial team might have.
This will also be a test for the Political Left.
Are we going to allow these identity politics fanatics to destroy our movement, continue to hand the Right culture war ammunition and alienate voters making a 2026 victory impossible or are we going to step up to them and tell them to fuck off?
That free speech is not hate speech and that we stand with rational scientific analysis beyond cultural fads, ideology and cancel culture!
This is a moment for the Political Left to step up and tell these identity extremists their tactics and their philosophy is warped and broken, and that the adults are taking back control of the movement’s direction.
They can sit quietly on the bus and bitch about it on Mastodon, Bluesky or whatever padded social media echo chamber they like.
LESS THAN 1% OF THE POPULATION ARE TRANS FFS! We can not allow our bloody movement to continually be hijacked by the fringes when 100% of us will be impacted by climate change!
No family in poverty is sitting around the kitchen table cancelling each other for misusing pronouns!
We need a Left movement that looks to common ground Broadchurch solidarity, not a pure temple woke dogma that excludes with its ‘inclusion’.
I salute Stuff for having the courage to publish.
Increasingly having independent opinion in a mainstream media environment which mostly echo one another has become more important than ever, so if you value having an independent voice – please donate here.
If you can’t contribute but want to help, please always feel free to share our blogs on social media.
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This May Day – stand up for your rights! Maritime Union of New Zealand
International Workers Day
Tell the greediest Government in our history:
Workers across the country are united!
Decades of progress can’t be undone in months!
No more job cuts to fund tax cuts for the wealthy!
We can do better! We expect better!
Auckland – Britomart Te Komititanga
Wellington – Midland Park
Christchurch – Bridge of Remembrance
Palmerston North – The Square
Join your friends and colleagues to resist the attack on workers
E t? t?ngata, hui me k?rero
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Ben Morgan’s Pacific Update A simple explanation of this week’s military and political developments in the Pacific
$95 billion US foreign military aid package, includes $ 8 billion for the Pacific
The $95 billion US foreign military aid bill is currently in the Senate and will be signed off by President Biden soon. Most news coverage has been about the aid for Ukraine and Israel but hidden away in the bill is $8 billion of military aid for countries in the Indo-Pacific region. Aid that includes the following key expenditure:
- $3.3 billion to build dry docks and facilities to support operating submarines in the region.
- $2 billion in the Foreign Military Financing Programme for allies and security partners.
- $1.9 billion to support defence infrastructure in partner countries.
- $542 million allocated to improve US military capability in the region.
- $ 133 million toward production and development of artillery ammunition and missiles.
Much of the aid is specifically focussed on Taiwan but will ‘trickle down’ throughout the Pacific and the bullet points provide an indication of future planning. The largest budget line is for the development of the capacity to support submarines operating in the region. It reinforces US naval planning for a future conflict in which carrier task groups are vulnerable to Chinese long-range missiles. Therefore, the development or larger, more effective and well-supported submarine forces that are harder to target with missile is a US priority.
The second key point relates to reinvigorating defence production capacity in the US that will be supported through the Foreign Military Financing Programme. This programme allows select nations to purchase military equipment directly from US companies, using loans or aid from the US. It allows countries like Taiwan to maximise their defence purchasing power, while stimulating the US defence industry.
Finally, the bill includes funding for building infrastructure and purchasing ammunition and missiles. In lay terms, the investment in infrastructure means that the US is helping is allies prepare bases for the future deployment of US and other allied forces to the region. In previous columns we have discussed how Northern Australia’s military infra-structure (bases, accommodation, airfields, hospital, dry docks etc) is rapidly developing to support future US deployments. This is also happening in Taiwan, Philippines, Japan, South Korea, Papua New Guinea and lots of other places in the region.
South China Sea update
On 23 April, a large exercise between the US and Philippines started in the South China Sea. Exercise Balikatan will finish on 10 May and although it is a regular exercise, it is larger than normal this year with about 16,000 service people involved including soldiers from Australia and France. Exercise Balikatan is regular activity designed to demonstrate America’s commitment to supporting Philippines.
China has protested about this year’s exercise, specifically because it involves the deployment of American long-range anti-ship missiles in the Philippines. Although missiles are not being fired as part of the exercise the US is testing deployment plans and will be learning about using high-tech equipment in the tropics.
It is an interesting discussion because it indicates the nature of future conflict in the Pacific. A war that will be dominated by area denial tactics. Both sides aiming to secure base areas for long-range precision-guided missiles that will be used to deny vast areas of ocean to the opposition.
New Zealand to strengthen defence ties with Philippines
Last week New Zealand Prime Minister, Chris Luxon met with Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Security was a key topic for discussion and after the meeting the two leaders issued a joint statement signalling a closer economic and defence relationship developing between the two countries. Prime Minister Luxon stating that: “A key focus of the meeting was defence cooperation, including establishing the legal architecture to allow our defence forces to do more together by the end of this year. “
The Prime Minister’s statement indicates that developing the systems and process to allow for New Zealand and Philippines is a priority and that a full partnership agreement will be probably be developed in the next six months. Diplomatically, New Zealand’s decision to establish a closer relationship with Philippines indicates that the country is supporting collective security objectives in the South China Sea. Philippine’s is engaged in non-military hybrid war with China over territories in the South China Sea. China claiming large areas of the sea and enforcing its claim using para-military forces, even though their claim is not internationally recognised.
In recent weeks, Australia, Japan and the US have demonstrated support for Philippines by sending naval forces to the South China Sea to demonstrate their resolve and deter Chinese escalation. New Zealand entering a defence arrangement with Philippines is probably part of a broader collective security strategy working with the US, Australia, Japan and other partners in the region to support the nation.
Additionally, New Zealand is currently considering joining Pillar 2 of AUKUS, a security partnership that is likely to include the same set of nations and will provide the basis for future inter-operability between their defence forces. Inter-operability that is the basis for effective collective security. Essentially, Pillar 2 of AUKUS is about jointly developing the technology that allows partners to talk to each other, share information digitally, defend their computer networks and on the battlefield to easily use each other’s long-range weapons. AUKUS is a deterrent to aggressive unilateral actions like we are currently seeing in the South China Sea. While New Zealand considers AUKUS membership, the nation should be prepared for diplomatic lobbying and possibly disinformation campaigns aimed at influencing public opinion against any move to join AUKUS, or developing closer defence relationships with other US allies.
Solomon Islands election update
When this article was written vote counting just finished and the politicking to form a government is underway. The Governor General helping to manage the process. In Solomon Islands this period is always very tense as ‘behind the scenes’ negotiations take place and deals are struck between politicians. A process that has little transparency and sometimes ends in violence.
Fortunately, there is a large contingent of New Zealand, Australian, Fijian and Papua New Guinean police and service people ‘on the ground’ meaning that if security issues arise, they should be dealt with quickly and easily.
However, the outcome of the election is likely to be a defining feature of Pacific politics in the near future. Will Manasseh Sogavare win and move the country further into China’s sphere of influence? Or will the nation reject Chinese influence and elect a government that will move the nation back towards Australia’s sphere of influence? Perhaps it will be less binary and a government keen to use the nation’s strategic position to extract benefits from both sides will be elected?
Myanmar update
Previously, we have discussed the importance of Myanmar in the Indo-Pacific region (see ‘The Pacific Region – An Overview’ dated 10 Jan 2024). The nation borders India, China and Thailand and it is currently run by a repressive military junta that is fighting a bloody civil war against a variety of rebel movements. The junta is losing, the Council for Foreign Relations blogging this week that “Already facing a long string of battlefield defeats, defections, and loss of territory, in recent weeks, the Myanmar military seems to have reached a crossroads, in which several events suggest the bottom could be falling out for the junta—and that both Myanmar citizens and outsiders should prepare for an endgame.”
If the junta falls there is likely to be a heavily contested power vacuum. Although China and Russia have supported the junta, Russia’s war in Ukraine means it no-longer has the capacity; and China is increasingly frustrated that the war sometimes ‘spills over’ into Chinese territory.
In the bigger picture if a pro-China faction took power, it could provide China with a new trade route and naval ports on the Indian Ocean, circumventing the US’s strategy of isolating the nation’s access to maritime trade via the Pacific. This would change the balance of power in the Pacific and may increase China’s appetite for risk in places like the South China Sea. Additionally, India and Thailand do not want an unstable neighbour on their border. So, Myanmar remains a place to keep watching closely.
2024 Australian Defence Strategy released
Australia released its 2024 Defence Strategy last week. The document will not be a surprise for regular readers and builds on the 2023 Defence Review reinforcing the need for Australia to change its defence strategies and capabilities.
Australia’s concerns about the current security environment are captured in this quote “Australia’s strategic environment has continued to deteriorate since the release of the Defence Strategic Review, consistent with the trends it identified. The optimism at the end of the Cold War has been replaced by the uncertainty and tensions of entrenched and increasing strategic competition between the US and China. This competition is being framed by an intense contest of narratives and values.” The strategy clearly articulates Australia’s increasing concern about tensions between the US and China.
An observation is that New Zealand, Australia’s neighbour, ally and a nation that shares a long history of cooperation is mentioned only six times and five of those are as a partner. Only once as an ally, on Page 47 the document states “Australia will seek to enhance interoperability with New Zealand and – building on our alliance and long history of close cooperation – jointly pursue security and stability in our region.” New Zealand has only one ally since leaving ANZUS in the 1980s, Australia. Therefore, Australia’s perception of the relationship is an important security issue for New Zealand.
The strategy is designed to be read in conjunction with an Integrated Investment Plan and clearly states the following objectives for the Australian Defence Force (ADF):
- Defend Australia and our immediate region
- Deter through denial any potential adversary’s attempt to project power against Australia through our northern approaches;
- Protect Australia’s economic connection to our region and the world;
- Contribute with our partners to the collective security of the Indo-Pacific; and
- Contribute with our partners to the maintenance of the global rules-based order
The strategy and its objectives were signalled by the 2023 Defence Review and by subsequent announcements. In my opinion, the key points can be summarised as follows;
- Australia is taking the threat of conflict close to home very seriously. Australian planners understand that the proliferation of accurate long-range drones and missiles means that an adversary located in Melanesia could directly attack Australia. Therefore, the security of Australia requires not only the capability to defend Australia but the ability to project combat power into Melanesia. This is why the Australian Army is developing long-range missile units and the Navy is increasing in size and expanding its cruise-missile stocks. Likewise, the planned nuclear powered submarine fleet will provide a deterrent for an adversary trying to achieve an amphibious lodgement in any area that can threaten Australia.
Along with ADF capability development like, re-roling 10th Brigade as a long-range missile unit or purchasing new ships expect to see lots more Australian involvement in Melanesia. Defence agreements, exercises and Melanesian officers training with the ADF.
- The strategic important of alliances and partnerships. Australia’s expanding naval power, including the planned nuclear powered submarine fleet provides an expeditionary force able to deployed far to north. Australia plans to use its naval power working closely with Philippines, Japan, South Korea and the US to deter aggression as far from home as possible.
- Acknowledgement of hybrid war tactics in the Pacific. The strategy states that “Grey-zone activities have also expanded in the Indo-Pacific. In addition to conventional military forces, some countries are employing para-military forces more frequently, including China’s actions in the South China Sea. Threats posed by state and non-state actors in the cyber domain are also multiplying.”
Essentially, the countries that support the international rules-based order like the US, NATO, Australia, Japan, South Korea etc are starting to acknowledge that competition between states or power blocks is no longer defined by clear rules. Instead, there is a large ‘grey zone’ in which hybrid tactics are used and the strategy acknowledges this evolution. A change that is likely to see emphasis on deploying military force as a deterrent to aggression using hybrid tactics.
The full document can be found here:
Melanesian update
A regular update on the Pacific’s least reported trouble spot; Melanesia.
Fijian colonel removed from Deputy Commander position in Australia’s 7th Brigade
In an attempt to ‘bridge the gap’ with Melanesian militaries the ADF appointed senior officers from Fiji and Papua New Guinea to Deputy Command positions in their key operational brigades (units with a strength of a couple of thousand soldiers supported by artillery, armoured vehicles, engineers and logistics).
The recent appointment of Fijian Colonel Penioni Naliva was challenged because of historic allegations of torture. An ADF investigation was initiated and last week the Fiji Times reported the Colonel has been removed from the Deputy Commander position.
Fiji ‘National Counter Terrorism Strategy’ and a ‘Counter Terrorism Bill’ proposed
Fiji’s Deputy Secretary for the Ministry of Home Affairs, Sainitiki Ravuso said last week that the Fiji government is starting to draft a ‘National Counter Terrorism Strategy’ and ‘Counter Terrorism Bill.’ Fijian officials aim to table a draft strategy with Fiji’s Cabinet in June this year.
A ‘National Counter Terrorism Strategy’ and a ‘Counter Terrorism Bill’ are laudable goals. However, counter terrorism laws have a history of being used repressively and with Fiji’s history of coups and political violence it is important that international partners support the nation to develop law that safeguards political rights.
Ben Morgan is a bored Gen Xer, a former Officer in NZDF and TDBs Military Blogger – his work is on substack
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The Daily Blog Open Mic – 28th April 2024
Announce protest actions, general chit chat or give your opinion on issues we haven’t covered for the day.
The Editor doesn’t moderate this blog, 3 volunteers do, they are very lenient to provide you a free speech space but if it’s just deranged abuse or putting words in bloggers mouths to have a pointless argument, we don’t bother publishing.
All in all, TDB gives punters a very, very, very wide space to comment in but we won’t bother with out right lies or gleeful malice. We leave that to the Herald comment section.
EDITORS NOTE: – By the way, here’s a list of shit that will get your comment dumped. Sexist abuse, homophobic abuse, racist abuse, anti-muslim abuse, transphobic abuse, Chemtrails, 9/11 truthers, Qanon lunacy, climate deniers, anti-fluoride fanatics, anti-vaxxer lunatics, 5G conspiracy theories, the virus is a bioweapon, some weird bullshit about the UN taking over the world and ANYONE that links to fucking infowar.
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In Occupied Palestine – 25 April 2024
In Occupied Palestine
Zionism in practice
Israel’s Daily Toll on Palestinian Life, Limb, Liberty and Land
08:00, 25 April until 08:00, 26 April 2024
[Source of statistics: Palestinian Monitoring Group]
Air strikes: Heavy aerial bombardment on buildings, homes and many facilities.
Attacks: All over Gaza, there are air strikes, heavy gunfire, tank and artillery shelling, as well as missiles fired from Israeli forces and military occupation, especially in Khan Yunis. The Israeli Navycontinues to fire missiles, targeting facilities and buildings along the shoreline of the whole of Gaza.
Victims: 51 people killed in Gaza brings the total number of deaths since 7 October to at least 34,356. With another 75 wounded, that figure has risen to 77,368.
OCHA Flash Update #158:
Key Highlights
The World Food Programme warns that without massive and consistent food assistance that can be delivered freely and safely, famine thresholds in Gaza will be breached within the next six weeks; this is the only way to halt famine.
Sixty-five per cent of school buildings used as shelters for displaced people have been directly hit or damaged, highlights a new assessment by the Education Cluster.
Rising temperatures are exacerbating the sanitation crisis and affecting more than 1.7 million internally displaced people who lack adequate shelter and the essentials for survival; one infant girl has reportedly died in Rafah from extreme heat.
Gaza Strip Updates
Israeli bombardment from the air, land, and sea continues to be reported across much of the Gaza Strip, resulting in further civilian casualties, displacement, and destruction of houses and other civilian infrastructure.
Between the afternoons of 24 and 26 April, according to the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza, 94 Palestinians were killed and 139 injured, including 51 killed and 75 injured in the last 24 hours. Between 7 October 2023 and 14:00 on 26 April 2024, at least 34,356 Palestinians were killed in Gaza and 77,368 Palestinians were injured, according to MoH in Gaza.
The following are among the deadliest incidents between 23 and 25 April:
On 23 April, at about 13:00, five Palestinians were reportedly killed and others injured when three houses were hit in western An Nuseirat Refugee Camp in Deir al Balah.
On 23 April, at about 23:00, three Palestinians, including a boy and two men, were reportedly killed and others injured when a house was hit in As Salam neighbourhood in eastern Rafah.
On 24 April, four Palestinians were reportedly killed and others injured when a group of people were hit near Abu Ureiban School in western An Nuseirat Refugee Camp.
On 24 April, at about 17:50, a woman and her two children were reportedly killed when a house was hit in Ash Shati’ (Beach) Camp, west of Gaza city. The woman was a writer and poet.
On 25 April, at about 8:30, four Palestinians were reportedly killed and others injured when a group of Palestinians were hit near Wadi Gaza.
On 25 April, at about 0:10, six Palestinians, including a journalist, were reportedly killed and ten others injured when a house was hit near Deir Yassin school, in Al Junaina neighbourhood in eastern Rafah.
Between the afternoons of 24 and 26 April, no Israeli soldiers were reported killed in Gaza. As of 26 April, 260 soldiers have been killed and 1,584 soldiers have been injured in Gaza since the beginning of the ground operation, according to the Israeli military. In addition, over 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals, including 33 children, have been killed in Israel, the vast majority on 7 October. As of 26 April, Israeli authorities estimate that 133 Israelis and foreign nationals remain captive in Gaza, including fatalities whose bodies are withheld.
Only 165 out of 392 dead bodies (42 per cent) recovered from Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis have been identified, the Palestinian Civil Defense (PCD) reported on 25 April. The remaining 227 bodies could not be identified, according to PCD, including due to changed body markings, mutilation, or significant decomposition exacerbated by the placement of some corpses in plastic bags at a depth of three metres. PCD called for an independent investigation, including the forensic examination of about 20 bodies reportedly believed to have been buried alive, adding that it has found three mass graves: one in front of the morgue, a second behind the morgue, and a third near the haemodialysis building. Referencing the reported discovery of mass graves at both Nasser and Al Shifa hospitals, the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) called for immediate action and expressed readiness to “support all efforts to protect and investigate mass graves and reliably identify human remains.”
“There is reasonable evidence that all three famine thresholds – food insecurity, malnutrition, mortality – will be passed in the next six weeks” in Gaza, and some people are already dying of hunger, warned the Director of the WFP Geneva Office, Gian Carlo Cirri, in a press briefing on 24 April at the launch of the 2024 Global Report on Food Crises by the Global Network Against Food Crises (GNAFC). According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) system, famine occurs when: at least 20 per cent of the population in a given area have an extreme lack of food; at least 30 per cent of children suffer from acute malnutrition; and mortality due to outright starvation or the interaction of malnutrition and disease exceeds two people per 10,000 per day. After nearly seven months of Israeli bombardment, people in Gaza have exhausted all coping strategies to meet even their most basic food needs, stated Cirri; this includes eating animal fodder, begging, or selling their belongings to buy food. The famine threshold for acute malnutrition among children has already likely been surpassed in northern Gaza by mid-March and is projected to be breached in other areas of the Strip by May 2024, the GNAFC report underscores. According to the Nutrition Cluster, 31 per cent of children under the age of two in northern Gaza suffer from severe wasting and more than 346,000 children under the age of five are at the greatest risk of malnutrition and preventable mortality. The only way to halt famine in Gaza is by “rolling out massive and consistent food assistance in conditions that allow humanitarian staff and supplies to move freely and people to access the assistance safely,” stressed WFP senior spokesperson Abeer Etefa in a briefing to the European Parliament on 24 April.
Living conditions in Gaza are “already atrocious” and will only be exacerbated by rising temperatures, as access to fresh water remains scarce and the whole system of solid waste treatment has crumbled, reported the Spokesperson of the UN Secretary-General, Stéphane Dujarric, on 25 April. On 25 April, a five-month-old girl reportedly died in a tent in Rafah due to the extreme heat. Temperatures have reached 40 degrees Celsius and are expected to further increase as the summer advances, worsening an already critical sanitation crisis. “It is like living in a greenhouse,” a displaced man in Rafah told UNRWA, describing conditions in the tent he shares with eight family members. Highlighting the enormity of the humanitarian crisis, UNRWA Communications Officer Louise Wateridge explained that makeshift shelters are everywhere in Rafah and “most families do not even have tents and are living under sheets of scrap plastic, doing everything they can to survive.” Beyond the daily struggle to find clean water and food, “there is a constant fear looming of what may or may not happen tomorrow,” Wateridge noted.
Concerning the potential for an Israeli ground operation in Rafah, UN Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Co–ordinator (SHRC) for Gaza, Sigrid Kaag, warned the Security Council on 24 April that “such action would compound an ongoing humanitarian catastrophe, with consequences for people already displaced and enduring severe hardships and suffering” and that the UN’s ability to deliver would be “constrained.” All parties to the conflict must respect their obligations under international humanitarian law, including by taking constant care to spare civilians and civilian objects. This includes allowing civilians to leave for safer areas. Displaced civilians must also be allowed to return as soon as circumstances allow. Civilians must be protected regardless of whether they move or stay, and they must receive the essentials they need to survive — including food, shelter and health services.
On 25 April, the Municipality of Gaza informed OCHA that it has recently received about 18,000 litres of fuel, enabling it to partially operate 20 water wells out of 75 wells in Gaza city for eight hours a day for a week. Earlier this month, the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) had reported that some 27,000 litres of fuel entered northern Gaza to operate 37 water wells serving some 320,000 people. Forty wells and 42,000 metres of water lines had been damaged since the onset of the hostilities, according to the municipality, and the remaining wells were forced to shut down due to the complete depletion of fuel, after the Israeli authorities cut off the electricity supply. This, coupled with the shutdown of the water line from Israel, which previously provided about a quarter of the city’s water needs, and the destruction of the city’s water desalination plant, has resulted in severe water shortages. In mid-April, PWA and the Municipality of Gaza completed the first phase of repairs to the water line from Israel and reported that additional network inspections and repairs need to be completed before water can be pumped. The municipality has issued an urgent call for the provision of fuel to restore the water supply, to avert health and environmental consequences of water cuts.
Despite rising humanitarian needs, access constraints continue to significantly hinder the ability of humanitarian actors to reach people in need, particularly in northern Gaza. Between 20 and 26 April, 14 out of 23 humanitarian aid missions to northern Gaza were facilitated by Israeli authorities, one was denied, five were impeded (of which four were not fully completed), one was cancelled due to logistical constraints, and two remain pending as of the time of reporting. During the same period, out of 44 humanitarian aid missions to areas in southern Gaza that require co–ordination, 34 were facilitated by Israeli authorities, five were denied, two were impeded, two were cancelled due to logistical constraints, and one remains pending as of the time of reporting.
A new assessment by the Education Cluster, based on satellite imagery collected on 31 March and 1 April, reveals a notable increase in the scale of damage and destruction of schools in the Gaza Strip compared with the 29 February analysis. Nearly 73 per cent of school buildings are now assessed to require full reconstruction or major rehabilitation to be functional again, up from 67 per cent previously identified as directly hit or damaged. In total, out of 563 school buildings, nearly 49 per cent (274) have been “directly hit” and 24 per cent (134) have been “damaged,” the majority in North Gaza and Gaza governorates and 29 per cent are UNRWA schools. An additional 17 per cent (96) of school buildings are classified as “likely or possibly damaged.” Among damaged schools, at least 59 have been destroyed, six of them in March 2024, and 39 have lost at least half of their structures. Schools have been affected multiple times, according to the assessment, with 33 facilities classified as “damaged” at the end of February being directly hit in March. Moreover, of the nearly 60 per cent of school buildings used as IDP shelters, some 65 per cent have been directly hit or damaged, with a marked increase in the number of such schools that have been directly hit as of 1 April compared with 29 February (130 vs. 90). The analysis also corroborates previous evidence gathered by the Cluster that “schools are being used for military operations by the Israeli Security forces including use as detention, interrogation centers and military bases.”
West Bank
On 25 April, Israeli forces shot and killed a 16-year-old Palestinian boy with live ammunition in Ramallah city, later stating that this was in response to stone-throwing by Palestinians at them. During the operation, Israeli forces delivered at least one punitive demolition order against the house of a Palestinian accused of shooting toward vehicles travelling on Old Road 60, killing a Palestinian from East Jerusalem and a Palestinian citizen of Israel. Referring to this incident, Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCIP) stressed: “Under international law, intentional lethal force is only justified in circumstances where a direct threat to life or of serious injury is present. However, investigations and evidence collected by DCIP regularly suggest that Israeli forces use lethal force against Palestinian children in circumstances that may amount to extrajudicial or wilful killings.”
West Bank
[Palestinian Monitoring Group]
Israeli Army attack: Jenin – 00:15, Israeli Occupation forces, firing live ammunition, stormed Qabatiya.
Home invasion and beating-up: Jerusalem – 21:00, Israeli Occupation forces invaded a home, in the village of al-Issawiya, and beat up a resident: Mahmoud Awni Mahmoud.
Home invasion in refugee camp: Nablus – 02:05–05:10, the Israeli Army, firing rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades, raided the Balata refugee camp and searched a house.
Israeli police and settlers’ mosque violation: Jerusalem – 08:00, Israeli settlers, escorted by Israeli police, invaded the Al-Aqsa Mosque and terrorised worshippers.
Israeli Army population–control: Ramallah – morning, Israeli Occupation forces closed both the two entrances to the village of al-Mughayir, to prevent any access or departure.
Israeli Army population–control – agricultural sabotage: Tulkarem – 16:30, Israeli forces stopped a farmer, Abdullah Abdul Rahman Jumaa, working his land near the Einav checkpoint, and took him prisoner.
Israeli Army – stun grenades: Hebron – 18:35, the Israeli Army fired stun grenades at people in the Old City.
Israeli Army mosque violation and population–control: Hebron – Since 24 April, Israeli Occupation forces have kept the Ibrahimi Mosque closed to closed worshippers, in order to enable settlers to celebrate Passover there.
Occupation settler land-grab: Ramallah – 13:25, Israeli Occupation settlers erected a number of tent–dwellings, in the Khalayel area of al-Mughayir, in order to establish a new settlement outpost.
Occupation settler robbery and vandalism: Tubas – 13:05, Israeli settlers stole an electrical transformer connected to solar cells at a family home, in the Khirbet al-Deir area of the North Jordan Valley, while also vandalising tent–dwellings and damaging another family’s electricity generator.
Occupation settler stoning: Nablus – 13:45, Israelis, from the Yitzhar Occupation settlement, stoned nearby passing vehicles.
Occupation settler – agricultural sabotage – terrorism: Bethlehem – evening, Israelis, from the Etzion Occupation settlement, terrorised a farming family and prevented them from working their land, near the village of Jouret al-Shama’a.
Occupation settler and Israeli Government ministerial raid: Hebron – 14:00, a gang of Israelis, led by Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, raided Othniel’s Tomb in al-Shuhada Street.
Occupation settler – arson – agricultural sabotage: Hebron – 16:50, Israeli settlers set fire to crops on farmland, east of Yatta.
Raid: Ramallah – 18:40–19:40, Israeli Occupation forces raided and patrolled the village of Burqa.
Raids: Ramallah – 02:25–05:35, Israeli forces raided the villages of Ein Siniya, Dura al-Qar’ and Jaffna.
Raid – UN refugee camp – 3 taken prisoner: Ramallah – 02:25–05:35, the Israeli Army raided the al-Jalazoun refugee camp, taking prisoner three people.
Raid: Jenin – 18:25, Israeli troops raided and patrolled Ya’bad.
Raid: Jenin – 19:55–23:25, the Israeli military raided and patrolled the village of Tura.
Raids: Jenin – 23:45, Israeli soldiers raided and patrolled Araba, the villages of Kafriyat, Bir al-Basha and the Martyrs’ Triangle.
Raid – 2 taken prisoner: Jenin – 00:15, Israeli Occupation forces raided Qabatiya, taking prisoner two people.
Raids: Qalqiliya – 02:00, Israeli forces raided and patrolled Jayus and Azzun.
Raid: Qalqiliya – 07:15, the Israeli Army raided and patrolled the village of Seir.
Raid: Qalqiliya – dawn, Israeli troops raided and patrolled Kafr Thulth.
Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Nablus – 13:05, the Israeli military raided the city, taking prisoner one person.
Raid – rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades fired: Nablus – 15:30-17:40, Israeli soldiers, firing rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades, raided the village of Osirin.
Raid – 1 taken prisoner – population–control: Nablus – 20:20, Israeli Occupation forces raided the village of Duma and took measurements of a house, in preparation for its demolition. One person was taken prisoner.
Raid: Nablus – 15:30-17:40, Israeli forces raided and patrolled the village of Talfit.
Raid: Nablus – 19:10–22:20, Israeli troops raided and patrolled the village of Tal.
Raid – rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades fired: Nablus – 02:05–05:10, the Israeli Army, firing rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades, raided the city.
Raid: Salfit – 11:30-15:05, Israeli troops raided and patrolled Deir Ballut.
Raid: Salfit – 19:15–22:00, the Israeli military raided and patrolled Kifl Haris.
Raid – 2 taken prisoner – population–control: Salfit – 19:20, Israeli soldiers raided Deir Ballut and invaded a house-under-construction, taking prisoner two residents.
Raid: Salfit – 22:00–23:40, Israeli Occupation forces raided and patrolled al-Zawiya.
Raid: Jericho – 16:40, Israeli forces raided and patrolled the city.
Raid: Bethlehem – 09:15-12:50, the Israeli Army raided and patrolled the village of Artas.
Raid: Bethlehem – 14:45, Israeli troops raided and patrolled al-Khadr.
Raid: Hebron – 11:15-17:55, the Israeli military raided and patrolled the city.
Raid: Hebron – 18:00-19:20, Israeli soldiers raided and patrolled the village of Tabqa.
Raid: Hebron – 21:55–00:20, Israeli Occupation forces raided and patrolled Dura.
Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Hebron – 01:40–03:50, Israeli forces raided Idhna, taking prisoner one person.
Raid: Hebron – 04:45, the Israeli Army raided and patrolled al-Samou.
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