Israel/Hamas War - Ceasefire

[Toggenburgsaregreat]

Each Saturday we are seeing demonstrations in London where people are marching with placards and calling for a ceasefire in the Hamas/Israel war.

However, it is difficult to know how the supporters of Palestine think this can be achieved? (Interestingly, no calls for Hamas to cease hostilities and return the hostages were heard - so is this really a call for unilateral disarmament?)

And who should Israel negotiate a ceasefire with? Hamas, ISIS, ISSP, The Muslim Brotherhood - all of these groups/any of these groups?

What is it the supporters of Palestine actually want?

Agreed, he is unpopular but his war and his opposition to anything other than "perpetual occupation and injustice" are not!

Why should the rest of the world care?

Racist, fascist right-wing Israelis do not, literally, get to blackmail the entire rest of the world with "but, but, but, ... if you do not let us be cruel and racist, we will become even more cruel and racist!". That is toddler tantrum levels of "politics" - a.k.a. "the Bibi Netanyahu Playbook 101".

You cannot just "democratically decide" to sacrifice everyone else for your mistaken notions of supremacy!

If some Israelis cannot bring themselves to accept that other people are as worthy and as valuable as them then I am afraid these people will need to be subjected to increasing levels of pressure until they find their own despicable views too uncomfortable to defend. And if that means "sanctioning the entire country", well, ... then so be it!

Yeah. I’ve been criticising US position “I give you aid whilst I sell Israel weapons” for a while.
UN had finally be able to seek a ceasefire and doesn’t look like Israel is happy with US

From x
The UN Security Council has passed a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza during Ramadan.

The resolution calls for the release of all hostages on all sides.

Russia attempted to put the word "permanent" into the text but the US voted against it.

The resolution

I'm glad to hear this @EasterIssland I wonder what leverage countries can use to bring it about. Very surprised the US did not veto, but hopefully it's a step forward to peace.

Colombia calls nations worldwide to break relations with Israel if Israel violates the newly-adopted UN ceasefire.

“I invite the nations of the world to ensure that if Israel breaks this ceasefire, diplomatic relations will be broken with that country.”

Israel’s reaction

Interesting, a minister has just resigned from Netanyahu's government:

Two hours after Netanyahu announced he canceled the delegation, conservative minister Gideon Saar said he is resigning and that his party is leaving the emergency government.

• Saar's resignation will increase pressure on minister Benny Gantz to do the same.
• If the centrist Gantz leaves, Netanyahu will remain with his original radical right-wing coalition and will have significantly less maneuvering space internationally.

https://www.axios.com/2024/03/25/netanyahu-biden-white-house-crisis-israel-politics

From the Guardian.

‘Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US envoy to the UN, said: “Certain key edits were ignored, including our requests to add a condemnation of Hamas, and we did not agree with everything in the resolution. For that reason we were unfortunately not able to vote yes. However, as I’ve said before, we fully support some of the critical objectives in this non-binding resolution.”
Her claim that it was non-binding was quickly challenged by UN scholars. Resolutions passed by the UN security council are generally considered legally binding, particularly when the text demands action, reflecting the unequivocal will of the international community. In its own defeated resolution last week, the US had avoided the word “demands”, but rather called it “imperative” to have a ceasefire and a hostage release.

Also, tomorrow there will be a report by Francesca Albanese, she says three out of five conditions of genocide have been met.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/25/israel-gaza-un-rights-expert-arms-embargo-genocide

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/mar/26/middle-east-crisis-live-israel-cancels-us-talks-on-rafah-offensive-after-un-ceasefire-vote

The Guardian reports Israel has withdrawn from the ceasefire negotiations in Qatar.

For anyone who wants to watch her presentation (about to start): https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1w/k1w2zo4yxw

@HeidiInTheBigCity I can't get the link to work properly...

Try the live schedule, then navigate from there!

To be fair, I watched the entire meeting yesterday. The main thing that the Israeli representative was annoyed about was the lack of condemnation of Hamas. Would it be sp difficult to condemn a proscribed terrorist group for the attack? He said they condemn other terrorist attacks but not that one.

Maybe that might help a bit?

Well, previous drafts included that - the US vetoed those (because Israel was, apparently, even more outraged at not getting to carpet bomb Gaza) ...

Emotive language doesn't help. Obviously they didn't veto because no carpet bombing was allowed.

Calm, peaceful language between negotiating parties might work though. Glad you're not negotiating. If included before, then why not include now. Strange and a simple adjustment which is accurate.

Pretty odd that they are not prepared to condemn a proscribed terrorist organisation whose most recent major atrocity included the pre-meditated mass torture and rape of women and girls.

The resolution seems to have backfired in practical terms, with Israel now pulling of the Qatari ceasefire negotiations.

It’s possibly because it would start a back and forth of all the atrocities that each have committed against eachother. This issue did not begin on October 7th.

I think the US not using their veto was largely symbolic of their growing frustration with Netanyahu and his government.
They have tried with words over and over again and now have finally taken action. Its not a massive step by any means mind you but its a step nonetheless

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68920131

I'm surprised by this. Netanyahu was frothing at the mouth at the prospect of destroying Rafah and everyone in it. I'm confused as to what's changed.

@ConnieCounter domestic pressure to negotiate a deal that will see the hostages being released and the threat of ICC issuing an arrest warrant against him is my guess.
The US is doing everything in their power to protect Netanyahu including threatening to sanction the ICC if they go ahead with the warrants

Well Netenyahu has just announced he'll go into Rafah with or without a deal and won't stop even if hostages are released.

What will it take for the US to stop endless support? Israel continues to undermine everything the US say.