CrossFireArarbia

Israeli Army Sinks in The Mud of Gaza – Maariv

CrossFireArabia
August 30, 2024

Israeli army is on the verge of “sinking in the mud of Gaza,” the Israeli daily Maariv reported Thursday.

“In this black August, some 15 Israeli soldiers were killed in battles in Gaza and the north (with Lebanon), and this is the price of a war of attrition,” reported the daily.

“August will be remembered as one of the bloodiest months,” continued Maariv.

It further added that Israel “insists on maintaining the Philadelphi Corridor and the Netzarim Passage in the name of security, and this is currently the main point of contention in the negotiations.”

Israeli army close to sinking in mud of Gaza: Local media
‘August will be remembered as one of the bloodiest months,’ reports daily Maariv#News #DailyNews #LiveNews #WorldNews #World pic.twitter.com/axxPFyCRQO
— Breaking News (@FastNews77) August 29, 2024

For months, the US, Qatar and Egypt have been trying to reach an agreement between Israel and Hamas to ensure a prisoner exchange and a cease-fire and allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza. But mediation efforts have been stalled due to Netanyahu’s refusal to meet Hamas’ demands to stop the war.

“In a few weeks, the seasons will change, and the rain will come. Before we sink into the quagmire, let’s take a moment… and truly consider security alternatives to close negotiations, release the hostages, and cease the fire.”

According to the army’s figure, at least 703 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the beginning of the war on 7 October, 2023, including 339 in the ground battles in the Gaza Strip that began on 27 of that month.

Israel has continued its brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip following a Hamas attack on despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire.

The onslaught has resulted in more than 40,500 Palestinian deaths, mostly women and children, and over 93,700 injuries, according to local health authorities.

An ongoing blockade of Gaza has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine, leaving much of the region in ruins.

Israel faces accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which has ordered a halt to military operations in the southern city of Rafah, where over one million Palestinians had sought refuge before the area was invaded on May 6 according to Anadolu, the Turkish news agency.

Culture

‘Stop Dehumanizing Us’ Palestinian Filmmakers Tell Hollywood

CrossFireArabia
August 30, 2024

More than 65 Palestinian filmmakers signed a strongly-worded letter in which they accused Hollywood of “dehumanizing” Palestinians on screen over decades.

They added this has helped to enable the ongoing devastation in Gaza.

More than 65 Palestinian filmmakers have signed a strongly-worded letter in which they accuse Hollywood of “dehumanizing” Palestinians on screen over decades, saying this has helped enable the ongoing devastation in Gaza.

More details: https://t.co/eNrJLUMDkj pic.twitter.com/BVZByiUgnN
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) August 29, 2024

Two-time Oscar nominee Hany Abu Assad, acclaimed director Elia Suleiman, recent BAFTA winner Farah Nabulsi, multiple-award winners including Michel Khleifi, Mai Masri, Najwa Najjar, and the 22-strong list of directors behind the compilation of shorts “From Ground Zero,” Palestine‘s current submission to the Oscars — are among those who signed the letter, first reported by Variety on Wednesday.

The filmmakers have expressed outrage and what it described as the “inhumanity and racism shown by some in the Western entertainment industry towards our people, even during this most difficult of times.”

The letter marks the first collaborative initiative by Palestinian filmmakers since the start of the Israeli genocide war on Gaza soon after 7 October, 2023.

Despite its fierce criticism of Hollywood, the filmmakers in the letter thanked the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for “standing up to pressure and insisting on freedom of expression,” by refusing attempts to disqualify a Gaza-focused documentary from the 2024 Emmy nominations.

Almost 70 Palestinian filmmakers have signed a letter in which they accuse Hollywood of “dehumanising” Palestinians on screen over decades, a factor they assert has helped enable the ongoing devastation in Gaza. https://t.co/e6Ke27ilPY
— Variety (@Variety) August 28, 2024

The Peabody Award-winning “It’s Bisan From Gaza and I’m Still Alive,” by Palestinian journalist, activist, and filmmaker Bisan Owda chronicling her family’s plight as they flee Israeli bombardment of their home, is nominated for the News and Documentary Emmys for Outstanding Hard News Feature Story: Short Form.

However, there were calls by a US-based pro-Israel group for the nomination to be rescinded, with a letter signed by the likes of Debra Messing, Sherry Lansing, Rick Rosen, and Haim Saba falsely accusing Owda of having ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a United States-designated terrorist group.

"We've never seen destruction like this, even in the 'end of the world' movies."

The clip is part of a short film by Palestinian filmmaker Bisan Owda on how Israel has destroyed the city of Khan Younis. pic.twitter.com/INP29hybpF
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) July 4, 2024

In response, NATAS president Adam Sharp said that Owda’s nomination would not be rescinded, writing in a letter that the organization had been “unable to corroborate these reports” of Owda’s alleged involvement and “found no grounds, to date, upon which to overturn the editorial judgment of the independent journalists who reviewed the material.”

“Trying to censor Bisan’s voice is only the latest repressive attempt to deny Palestinians the right to reclaim our narrative, share our history, and in this case bring attention to the atrocities our people are facing in the hopes that we can bring an end to them,” said the filmmakers.

“We well understand the power of image and cinema, and for far too long we have been outraged at the inhumanity and racism shown by some in the Western entertainment industry towards our people, even during this most difficult of times,” they added in the letter.

“Through our films, we have tried to present alternative narratives, depictions, and images to reverse the stereotypical, dehumanizing “worthless, disposable beings” image which enables the whitewashing and/or justification of the crimes perpetrated for decades against Palestinians. But why must we always put on our “boxing gloves” to defend our art against ruthless censorship that targets us merely on the basis of our identity, not our creativity?”

The filmmakers have called on “our international colleagues in the film industry, visionaries for the kind of world we would like to live in, to speak out against this genocide and the erasure, racism and censorship that enable it.”

They have also called their colleagues “to do everything humanly possible to stop and end complicity with this unspeakable horror; and to stand against working with production companies that are deeply complicit in dehumanizing Palestinians, or whitewashing and justifying Israel’s crimes against us,” according to the Quds News Network.

News

Israel Destroys Gaza’s Fishing Sector at $150 Million Loss

CrossFireArabia
August 29, 2024

Since the start of Israel’s inhumane blockade, which began even before 2007, fishing has been a vital source of livelihood for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Now, as Israel perpetrates its genocide, it has driven over two million people to the shores of the enclave, but denying them the ability to fish.

Israeli boats have killed dozens of Palestinians attempting to sail amidst the severe food scarcity, using starvation as a deliberate tactic.

Israel has destroyed its once vibrant fishing sector. Israeli mass bombardment since 7 October, 2023 has killed 170 fishermen – seven of them were shot and killed this week – while the Gaza port and all the boats destroyed with losses pegged at $150 million.

News

Borrell Calls For Possible EU Sanctions Against Israeli Ministers

CrossFireArabia
August 29, 2024

The EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said, Thursday, he asked the bloc members if they want to impose sanctions on some Israeli ministers for “hate messages” against Palestinians in ciolation of international law.

At the start of a European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels, Borrell told reporters that he has begun asking EU member states “if they consider [it] appropriate to include in our list of sanctions some Israeli ministers [who] have been engaged in unacceptable hate messages against Palestinians and proposing things that clearly go against international law”.

Borrell did not name any of the Israeli ministers to whom he was referring or specify which messages he had in mind according to the Quds News Network.

The European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell calls on the bloc’s 27-member states to impose sanctions on a number of Israeli ministers for their "hate" speeches against Palestinians, while calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza amid reports of… pic.twitter.com/SWDANCg5vV
— The New Region (@thenewregion) August 29, 2024

In recent weeks, he has publicly criticized National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich for statements he has described as “sinister” and “an incitement to war crimes” as they have publicly called for Israel to expand illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and push more Palestinians out of Gaza.

Belgium’s Deputy Prime Minister Petra De Sutter said she will offer full support for the imposition of sanctions on Ben-Gvir and Smotrich during the meeting.

“Genocidal policies and statements should not go unpunished,” she said in a post on X.

Ireland, one of the EU’s most pro-Palestinian members said, Thursday, it backed Borrell’s suggestion.

“We will be supporting Josep Borrell’s recommendation for sanctions in respect of settler organizations in the West Bank who are facilitating [the] expansion of settlements and also to Israeli ministers,” Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin told reporters as he arrived at the Brussels meeting.

Smotrich has previously caused outrage, including from the EU, for saying that “it might be justified and moral” to starve the two million Palestinians in Gaza as well as for calling for the expulsion of Palestinians from the coastal enclave.

Ben-Gvir has also drawn anger for advocating the resettlement of Palestinians outside Gaza and for saying his right to move around the occupied West Bank outweighed those of the Palestinians living there. The extremist minister also called for an increase in the military pressure and starving people as the only way to release Israeli prisoners.

Following Borrell’s remarks, Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz, said his government is “now working with our friends in Europe to prevent the adoption of resolutions against Israel” at the meeting of EU’s top diplomats.

“The message we are conveying is clear: In a reality where Israel is faced with the threats of Iran and its proxy terrorist organizations – the free world must stand by Israel, and not act against it,” he wrote on X.

Analyses

Palestinians: Down But By No Means Beaten!

CrossFireArabia
August 29, 2024

Palestinian analysts confirm the military operation launched by the Israeli occupation on the camps in the northern occupied West Bank – “Summer Camps” – aim to eradicate the resistance through excess force and the destruction of their popular base and is considered more dangerous than the “Defensive Shield” operation it carried out in the occupied West Bank in 2002.

Palestinian political analyst Ismat Mansour stressed the most dangerous thing about the last Israeli military operation emanates from what Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said about evacuating the residents of the camps to humanitarian places to carry out cleansing operations,” a sentence also made by the army spokesman when the operation was launched.

Israeli 🇮🇱 bulldozers destroying the streets of Jenin 🇵🇸

Jenin is in the West Bank. Hamas are not in the West Bank 🇵🇸

It’s just never been ‘defence’
It’s always been oppression
It’s always been genocide

It’s a land grab

In front of the whole world.pic.twitter.com/q6TT5Lrk3V
— Howard Beckett (@BeckettUnite) August 28, 2024

“The goal of these military operations are clear, and represented in destroying the Palestinian infrastructure and turning the camps into uninhabitable places with creeping and gradual ethnic cleansing,” Mansour told Quds Press.

Mansour attributed these plans to the declared programs of the Israeli occupation government and “its structure, ideology, and agenda – highlighted by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to resolve the conflict,” in reference to the aim to annex the West Bank to the occupation state.

Therefore Mansour called for “the necessity of working to find a unified collective plan that mobilizes all [Palestinian] energies to confront this criminal mentality.”

Expert Azzam Abu Al-Adas considers the current Israeli military operation in the West Bank is far “more dangerous than that of the Operation Defensive Shield carried by the Jewish army in 2002.”

He pointed out “when Operation Defensive Shield was executed, the Palestinian factions were present in the West Bank and existed in terms of infrastructure, finance, and military, and had the ability to rebuild their forces and compensate for losses. Now, the factions have been dismantled financially, militarily, and socially.”

“Operation Defensive Shield was carried out at a time when the number of settlers in the West Bank was barely 70,000, and now it is 800,000, which means that eliminating the resistance will increase the encroachment of the army and settlers,” according to his thinking.

Abu Shujaa the Tulkarem Brigade commander ascends as a Martyr to meet his God today after a cowardly israeli attack on Nour Shams Camp in the West Bank.

He talks about his Martyrdom in this interview and his words are profound:

"But this doesn't matter whether they assassinate… pic.twitter.com/kiPLnNvxNp
— Suppressed News. (@SuppressedNws) August 29, 2024

Abu Al-Adas pointed out head of the Israeli government of occupation Benjamin Netanyahu, “is in dire need of a victory, and since he failed to achieve it in Gaza, he will claim this such an image in the West Bank raise his popularity, especially among the settlers and will increase his chances in the upcoming elections, which he intends to run for.”

“In 2002, the occupation was still living under the shock of the then prime minister Ariel Sharon who entered Al-Aqsa Mosque in 2000, and Al-Aqsa Mosque was out of the game, but now if Israel succeeds in eliminating the resistance act it means the building of the synagogue which Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir talked about and displacing the people of Jerusalem” becomes more real.

The occupation forces began a large-scale military operation targeting resistance fighters in Jenin, Tulkarm and Tubas in the northern West Bank at dawn Wednesday, where large Israeli forces invaded all areas, cities and camps in the northern West Bank from several axes, calling it operation “Summer Camps”.

The Israeli media reported the military operation is the largest since Operation Defensive Shield in 2002, and carried out with the Israeli warplanes, army, Israeli Internal Security Service (Shabak) and other undercover forces with the use of helicopters and fighter jets extensively.

Israel is preparing a genocide for the west bank.

Those that said advocated pacifism over resistance , this is where it leads. We resist to exist. pic.twitter.com/dYzYdSjOPz
— Syrian Girl 🇸🇾 (@Partisangirl) August 28, 2024

Operation Defensive Shield was a military operation carried out by Israel to occupy and attack areas of the Palestinian Authority, after the Palestinian soldier Abdul Basit Odeh carried out the Park Hotel operation, which is considered one of the largest suicide operations in the history of the Palestinian resistance.

For Israel the main goal of the operation was to eliminate the second Palestinian Intifada which began in 2000 after Sharon, as prime minister, stormed the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque.

“Operation Defensive Shield” was launched on 29 March, 2002 and ended on 10 May.