6500 Dead: "Creating a severe humanitarian crisis is a necessary means to achieve the goal. Gaza will become a place where no human being can exist" Israeli Military Official

[Ohlalalalala]

Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people[a] in whole or in part. In 1948, the United Nations Genocide Convention defined genocide as any of five "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group". These five acts were: killing members of the group, causing them serious bodily or mental harm, imposing living conditions intended to destroy the group, preventing births, and forcibly transferring children out of the group. Victims are targeted because of their real or perceived membership of a group, not randomly.[1][2] Wikipedia

Reservist Major General Giora Eiland told Israeli media on Monday that Israel’s actions in “creating a severe humanitarian crisis is a necessary means to achieve the goal. Gaza will become a place where no human being can exist.”

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/25/gaza-is-out-of-fuel-out-of-time-under-israels-bombardment

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2023/10/24/israel-hamas-war-live-fuel-shortfall-could-force-un-to-halt-work-in-gaza-2

Oxfam says starvation is being used as a weapon of war against civilians in Gaza, adding just two percent of usual food has been delivered to the enclave since Israel’s “total siege”.

@ketchup07070 I don't mind this to sound catty but after previous attempts I don't think many countries would line up to take any.

@Stomacharmeleon You're right nobody took them up on it, for various reasons. But desperate people might storm the border, which would be a disaster. And with winter coming and a humanitarian crisis the world will have to talk about taking refugees. We're not going to watch 2m people die, I hope.

@Stomacharmeleon why would countries not want to take in Gazan refugees?

But the point is that is their home. Their land. They should not be forcibly displaced because history tells us that if that happens then its unlikely they will be allowed back
The war does not mean that all infrastructure that makes it inhabitable is destroyed

And that's why Blinken made it clear in his last visit that Israel shouldn't do that in the south how they have done in the north

But his words seem too little and too late

I stand with Israel all the way on this. Hamas are appalling. Hamas started this.
Pakistan is seeing something similar which is one reason it is expelling 1.7m Afghan at the moment and sending them back home to the Taliban because it has suffered so many terrorist attacks by Afghan extremists. It is not just the West and Israel which has these major problems with Hamas and other terrorists.

@ketchup07070 I didn't mean no one took Israel up on it. I mean countries have before and it's ended in tears hence the reluctance to do it again.

In a time when the Gazans and Palestinians are already being dehumanised to say other countries don't want them just adds to this
Why are the majority being punished and branded with the actions of some

It's exactly the same thing that anti semites do to Jewish Israeli people which is also wrong.
They look at the extreme settlers or other extreme groups and say all Israelis are like this and that's why no one likes them

Both are wrong

@Parkingt111 because the three original host countries Jordan, Syria and Egypt already have unwra supported refugees, they are worried they wouldn't be allowed back and they have all had issues with..... terrorists..... that them cause them instability.

@Stomacharmeleon Let's face it. Europe doesn't want more refugees. That's where they'll end up. Egypt said they will send them all to Europe. But it shouldn't happen. like Parking says it's their home. Biden says he doesn't want that but I don't think Netanyahu is listening.

And Pakistan is completely wrong about this and has been called out by Amnesty and the UN, and rightly so. Expelling a population who has made home in your country for various reasons is wrong. Pakistan may have its reasons stemming from its own complex geopolitical standing and also being heavily used by America as a military base to target Afghanistan, which is itself a target of decades games by Russia/USSR. Don't forget the Taliban was created by, financed and armed by America to fight US interests against Russia in the 80s. It's all a big military game of money, power and land control and civilians always play a heavy, heavy price. There is no legitimising cruel removal of a people.

@ketchup07070 I've wondered how this might happen given that the Gaza-Egypt border is very secure - it has a high concrete wall which starving distressed civilians could not breech without 'assistance'. The crossing itself is also easy to close completely and manned by armed Egyptian border guards/soldiers

It's not at all like the Syrian-Turkish border where 100s thousands refugees streamed across not so very long ago

Unless IDF airplanes accidently destroy a large enough section [Egypt would take an extremely 'dim view'] it can't happen like this

Maybe I'm wrong but think a more likely scenario is Egypt opening the crossing under pressure from it's own people who are also watching all this horror unfold and both open and covert political pressure from other nations

Map of the areas Israel has told civilians it will bomb, and to envauate from. Tell me this isn't a genocide

@Efacsen That's good to know. So it couldn't be stormed, but maybe opened if Egypt under pressure. If people did try to breach it the sight of Egyptian guards shooting them would be a PR disaster.

Those poor people. I can’t believe “the West” is doing this in full view of everyone.

One odd thing I’ve noticed is that although it’s on the news a lot no one talks about it at all. Not at work, not at the school gate. And it’s not that everyone isn’t super aware of it - lips tighten and heads shake if it comes up by accident (the radio on, say) - but the subject is immediately changed.

This self-professed UK-born / US-raised Zionist Jew musician who writes for the Times of Israel/Newsweek and jdforward apparently, says the silent bit out loud. At least he is honest, I'll give him that. https://twitter.com/songsofyoni/status/1730465473060393369

To those who reply to me with pictures of the damage and destruction in Gaza as if this is supposed to be something that moves me, you should know how much I really, truly in my heart don't care. In fact, this is what the saying "I couldn't care less" was made for. When I see dead Gazans, I don't see dead Gazans – I see the dead Israelis who came before them. When I see suffering Gazans, I don't see suffering Gazans – I see the suffering Israelis being kept in dark dungeons underground. You see, Hamas's attack on October 7 was so successful that it blinded all of us to anything related to Gaza, Gazans or the troubles of either one. We only see blue and white now. And we are angrier than ever. Our blood is boiling hotter than ever. We care less about Gaza than ever. We care less about world opinion than ever. We want the@IDF
to use more firepower than ever. But most of all, we want our people back more than ever – and will do whatever it takes. Literally, anything. Nothing's off the table. Mercy is a foreign concept that has no application here. The opposite – we want our army to attack with whatever the opposite of mercy is. We're more insistent than ever that the war will continue into southern Gaza until it reaches all the way to Qatar where the Mossad has formally been instructed to draw up plans for taking out the cowardly Hamas leaders hiding like little rats. And every day this war continues, our feelings get stronger. Our anger gets stronger. Our thirst for revenge gets stronger. Our willingness to cause massive damage without the slightest care in the world in our quest to free our people has already gotten so strong – and will continue to get stronger – that Gaza will long for the wars of past which will seem like a trip to Disney in comparison. But most of all, we're more insistent than ever that Palestinians will never have a state anywhere near our borders. Those dreams died along with our people on October 7. There is a time for peace and a time for war. I strongly suggest to all the well-meaning diplomats who keep trying to pressure Israel into peace with the Palestinians to save their energies and focus their efforts elsewhere where they have a chance of success. Because now is a time for war. All-out war. War without mercy. And I'm one of the moderates.

Bloody hell.

He makes Andrew Tate seem like a cuddly fluffy do-gooder

What does stand with Israel mean?

@Xenia

A lot of people on all sides have lost their minds and their humanity. It's very sad and it seems to be without end. One outrage begets another outrage and damaged people go on to create nore damaged people. Forgiveness needs to be in there somewhere but I'm at a loss at how that even starts. But dropping 1 ton-high explosive bombs on one of the most densely populated regions in the world whilst their 'soldiers' can mostly shelter deep underground leads to the inexorable conclusion that it's not just about eradicating Hamas.

From Chris Hedge's latest substack.

This is not a war against Hamas. It is a war against Palestinians.

Israeli strikes are generated at a dizzying rate, many of them from a system called “Habsora” — The Gospel — which is built on artificial intelligence that selects 100 targets a day. The AI-system is described by seven current and former Israeli intelligence officials in an article by Yuval Abraham on the Israeli sites +972 Magazine and Local Call, as facilitating a “mass assassination factory.” Israel, once it locates what it assumes to be a Hamas operative from a cell phone, for example, bombs and shells a wide area around the target, killing and wounding tens, and at times hundreds of Palestinians, the article states.

“According to intelligence sources,” the story reads, “Habsora generates, among other things, automatic recommendations for attacking private residences where people suspected of being Hamas or Islamic Jihad operatives live. Israel then carries out large-scale assassination operations through the heavy shelling of these residential homes.”

https://chrishedges.substack.com/

What happens after Palestine is destroyed?
Will the world look at Israel with respect as the face of the West in the Middle East or consider it as a despot pariah not to be trusted?
It’s all good standing with Israel but when they eventually take Palestine as their own how will that helps Jews across the world. It’s 2023. Wiping Palestine out of existence will be seen and reacted to worldwide.

Thanks for sharing @twilightmoon3 . I think it's better when people are honest, I met Jewish people in Israel like this and I had more respect for them for saying what was in their heart than pretending they cared. It's so incredibly sad though that people who want such good lives for themselves and their dc dont even view Palestinians as humans.
Israel, UK and US have huge reparations to make. The Israeli government have spoken, the UK and US have backed them up. This is a genocide, loud and clear. The world is watching and we bear witness.

There is no legitimising the cruel removal of people.

Yet so many mimimise the fatal way in which Hamas removed people on 7/10. * *

@Thereissomelight

I agree. It is only the hard hitting news shows willing to take this subject on even more than Ukraine. I watched the 'last leg' on children 4 last night and despite 'topical edgy' humour Gaza was not mentioned. I think for a lot of left leaning comedians the Gaza situation has disarmed them and they do not dare to wander into criticism of Israel. Similarly the topic is not exactly fodder for cheery breakfast radio shows.

As for work I think obviously people read the news but having an opinion on a workforce of diverse beliefs may start an inflammatory argument so the subject is best avoided.

Thank you for posting this. This is one of the things I've found really disconcerting. I'm old enough that I'm of the facebook generation, and I have a friendslist full of intelligent, articulate, aware people. Normally, any crisis in the world then they're posting. Brexit? Everyone's profile photo had a ring of EU stars. Ukraine? Blue and yellow flags and solidarity everywhere.

This? Precisely two posts. Both from me. Both fairly bland - one asking for resources on understanding the history, one shared a range of (non-controversial!) links I'd found. Both sunk without a single comment.

I can't believe that they're not listening or aware or watching. But radio silence.

The former Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court says unequivocally, what Israel is doing is genocide.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Palestine/comments/188n5hz/the_former_chief_prosecutor_of_the_international/

Link to full video: