IDF Kills 24, Wounds 93 Palestinians in Gaza

Gaza’s Government Media Office accused Israeli forces of committing “two brutal massacres” overnight by bombing a mosque and a school-turned-shelter and killing at least 24 Palestinians. Some 93 others were wounded in the attacks in central Gaza.

The targeted buildings were identified as the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Ibn Rushd School. Both were housing hundreds of displaced people.

The bombings followed 27 Israeli attacks on 27 homes and displacement centres across the Gaza Strip in the past 48 hours.

Almost 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza during the war. Half of the dead are women and children. Almost 90% of Gaza’s residents are now displaced, amid widespread destruction.

This weekend tens of thousands of people all over the world protested against the Likud-run government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a man indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague for war crimes. Time and space permits only a sampling of the outrage. The Israeli government and its supporters will disparage these thousands and thousands of demonstrators as “Hamas lovers,” “antisemites,” “useful idiots of Iran,” “terrorism supporters,” et cetera et cetera, but rational people know the reality, despite the unfounded accusations, aspersions, rhetoric, and hate speech emanating from Jerusalem and the repetitive, nauseating, droning talking points we’re forced to hear or read in the West.

Police put out a fire after a self-proclaimed journalist self immolated during a pro-Palestinian rally outside the White House in Washington on 5 Oct [Seth Herald / Reuters]

Protesters march during a pro-Palestine rally in Melbourne, Australia on Sunday 6 Oct. (Photo: AAP)

Berlin, Germany [Christian Mang/ Reuters]

Madrid, Spain [Ana Beltran / Reuters]

Copenhagen, Denmark [Ritzau Scanpix / Thomas Traasdahl via Reuters]

Jakarta, Indonesia [Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana/ Reuters]

Copyright Michel Euler/Copyright 2024 The AP. All rights reserved.

A protester waves a flag reading ‘Death to NATO fascists!’ during a pro-Palestinian gathering in Belgrade, 5 Oct 2024 Darko Vojinovic/Copyright 2024 The AP. All rights reserved.

President Biden has only a few months left in the White House while his legacy is being effectively corroded by war-monger Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, despite President Biden’s brilliant handling of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Biden Administration deployed a stellar cast in Secretary of State Antony Blinken and CIA Director William Burns to negotiate for a ceasefire and release the hostages, but they were thwarted by Netanyahu. Many Democrats openly suspect that Netanyahu is interfering with the US election by refusing to “seal a deal” or reach a ceasefire to make President Biden look ineffective and thereby help Donald Trump against Kamala Harris this November. Many Arab-Americans have already decided to support Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein, which could siphon off Democratic votes in Arizona, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

Sources:

(1) Update Live: Israel bombs Beirut, kills 21 Palestinians in attack on Gaza mosque (aljazeera.com)

Thousands join pro-Palestine rallies across Europe as anniversary of Gaza war nears | Euronews

President Biden ‘doesn’t know’ if Netanyahu is trying to influence US election | Euronews

Israeli Settlers Seizing Occupied West Bank Land Under Cover of War; 623 Palestinians Killed Over Past Two Years

Palestinian Alice Kisiya (R), whose family land was taken over by armed Israeli settlers, confronts a settler in the area of al-Makhrour in the occupied West Bank, near Beit Jala, on 22 Aug 2024 (AFP/Hazem Bader)

Over the past year, while much of the world’s attention has been focused on the war on Gaza, several residents of Umm Safa – a picturesque village just 12km north of Ramallah – have been driven from their homes by armed settlers, often aided by the Israeli army.

Settler violence is not a new phenomenon in the occupied West Bank, where large swathes of territory are under Israeli civil and military control. But since the war on Gaza erupted, land seizures and violent attacks aimed at forcing Palestinians to abandon their homes have spiked. The attacks have coincided with sweeping movement restrictions that have seen Palestinians denied access to cities, towns, and villages.

Omar Hamed (17, L) and Jihad Abu Alia (25, R) were killed by Israeli settlers. (Source: BBC News)

In recent months, the settlers – emboldened by the election of far-right leaders of the settlement movement – began levelling the al-Shami and Ras mountains near Umm Safa, with the aim of turning the area into a settlement outpost.

Residents said that when they approached Israeli authorities for help, they were rebuffed and told to return with documents proving their legal ownership of the lands.

After an extensive search, they presented documents dating back hundreds of years to the Ottoman era, showing that they were, in fact, the legal owners.

Hussein Khasib lives in constant fear, knowing he and his family could be next.

“We went to the Israeli civil administration, hoping it would prevent the settlers from seizing our lands. In the end, they [the Israeli officials] told us that the lands were state property and we couldn’t use them,” Khasib reported.

‘The terrorism carried out by settler militias is why many Bedouin communities left,’ said Hassan Malihat, Director of the al-Baidar Organization for the Defense of Bedouin Rights 

You can easily see the difference from this dated map comparing the West Bank population in 1967 to 2017. The situation for Palestinians have since worsened.

In 1995, the Oslo Agreement divided the West Bank into three zones known as Areas A, B, and C. 

Area C, which comprises around 60 percent of the West Bank, was meant to be “gradually transferred to Palestinian jurisdiction”. But after a failed peace process in which Israel refused to end its occupation and withdraw militarily, the area remains under full Israeli military and civil control.

Khasib said that the lands currently being levelled were just 15m away from his home. Since the settlers started their construction works, he and his brothers received notices ordering them to demolish their homes.

“Every day, we live in hell,” a distraught Khasib said.

“We don’t sleep at night because they aren’t content with just bulldozing [the land] but also attacking our homes. They want us to leave so they can take over the entire mountain.”

According to the village council in Umm Safa, Israeli settlers have sought to connect the settlements of Halamish (Neve Tzuf) and Ateret, which were established after hundreds of Palestinians were evicted from their ancestral lands. Around 600 dunams (60 hectares) of village land were also confiscated in the 1990s to build the main road leading to the settlements.

There are only 720 Palestinians left in Umm Safa, many of whom lack the land to build new homes. Meanwhile, Israel has closed the village’s eastern and western entrances, severely restricting civilian and commercial movement. The situation in Umm Safa is not new and is part of a broader push by settlers and the Israeli government to take advantage of the war in Gaza to increase pressure on Palestinian communities to flee.

Earlier this year, Israeli authorities approved the seizure of 12.7 sq km of land in the Jordan Valley, indicating it was the largest single appropriation approved since the 1993 Oslo Accords.

Israeli settlers gather in the West Bank village of Umm Safa on 26 Sep 2024, as construction begins to level Palestinian land (Fayha Shalash / MEE)

As reported here on Coriolanus, the Biden Administration sanctioned a handful of these extremist terrorist Settlers, but clearly this minor gesture has been ineffective.
 
Sources:

Israeli settlers are seizing occupied West Bank land under the cover of war | Middle East Eye
Deadly West Bank settler attacks on Palestinians follow Israeli boy’s killing (bbc.com)

Israel Expands Bombardment of Lebanon; Thousands Flee Widening War

Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched what the IDF called a “limited ground operation” into southern Lebanon. Russian President Vladimir Putin called his invasion of Ukraine a “special military operation.”

88 Countries of La Francophonie called for an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon.  

People inspect the rubble of buildings levelled by Israeli strikes, which killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in the Haret Hreik neighborhood of Beirut’s southern suburbs, on 29 Sep 2024 (AFP). Who is going to pay to reconstruct Lebanon and its infrastructure after this carnage?

Powerful new explosions rocked Beirut’s southern suburbs late Saturday as Israel expanded its bombardment in Lebanon, striking a Palestinian refugee camp deep in the north for the first time as it targeted both alleged Hezbollah and Hamas fighters.

Thousands of people in Lebanon, including Palestinian refugees, continued to flee the widening conflict in the region, while rallies were held around the world marking the approaching anniversary of the start of the war in Gaza.

At least 1,400 Lebanese, including civilians, medics and Hezbollah fighters, have been killed and 1.2 million driven from their homes in less than two weeks. Israel says it aims to drive the militant group away from shared borders so displaced Israelis can return to their homes.

The fighting is the worst since Israel and Hezbollah fought a brief war in 2006. Nine Israeli soldiers have been killed in the ground clashes that Israel says have killed 440 Hezbollah fighters.

Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, told reporters in Damascus that “we are trying to reach a cease-fire in Gaza and in Lebanon.” The minister did not name the countries putting forward initiatives, saying they include regional states and some outside the Middle East.

At least six people in Lebanon were killed in more than a dozen Israeli airstrikes overnight and into Saturday. Nearly 375,000 people have fled from Lebanon into Syria in less than two weeks.

People carry luggage as they cross into Syria by foot through a crater caused by Israeli airstrikes aiming to block Beirut-Damascus highway at the Masnaa Border Crossing, in the eastern Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, 5 Oct 2024. Hundreds continued to cross the border on foot.

“We were on the road for two days,” said Issa Hilal, one of many Syrian refugees in Lebanon who are now heading back. “The roads were very crowded … it was very difficult. We almost died getting here.”

Other displaced families now shelter alongside Beirut’s famous seaside Corniche, their wind-flapped tents just steps from luxury homes. “We don’t care if we die, but we don’t want to die at the hands of Netanyahu,” said Om Ali Mcheik.

Three hospitals in south Lebanon were forced to close after Israeli bombings struck two and the other ran out of supplies, displacing a number of doctors from the area and creating concerns around the state of the Lebanese health sector.

Marjayoun governmental hospital and the Salah Ghandour hospital in Bint Jbeil, large healthcare centres along the eastern and western sections of the Lebanese borders, announced their closure after their premises were struck, killing seven and wounding 14 healthcare workers.

“The main hospital of the entrance was targeted as paramedics were approaching. Seven were killed, five were wounded. We considered this a message, so we decided to close,” said Dr Mones Kalakish, the director of Marjayoun governmental hospital. He added that because of the frequent targeting of paramedics in south Lebanon, wounded people had not been able to reach the hospital for the past three days.

“There was no warning to the hospital before they struck. The warning didn’t come over the telephone, it came via bombing,” Kalakish said.

Mays al-Jabal governmental hospital, 700 meters from the Israel-Lebanon border, said hospital staff could no longer perform their role due to a cutoff of supplies.

“Medical supplies, diesel, electricity, none of it was available. Unifil was bringing us water, and now they are unable to move. How can a hospital operate without water?” said Dr Halim Saad, the director of Mays al-Jabal hospital’s medical services.

More than 50 healthcare workers have been killed since 23 Sep, when Israel started an intense aerial campaign in south Lebanon and the Bekaa valley. Paramedics all over the country have been killed and injured by Israeli airstrikes, including in a medical centre in central Beirut, where nine were killed in a strike on Thursday.

97 paramedics had been killed since fighting between Hezbollah and Israel started last year – a number which has grown over the past two days.

The displacement of medical workers due to Israeli bombing has created problems across the country at a time when the number of people wounded by Israeli strikes regularly exceeds 100 a day. The health system in Lebanon, and particularly in the south, is fragile after five years of economic crisis and almost a year of war.

At Rafik Hariri University Hospital in Beirut, the largest public hospital in Lebanon, officials said Israeli bombing of nearby Dahiyeh, a southern suburb, had displaced some of its staff, leaving some unable to come to work. The hospital has opened a dorm on its campus to accommodate some of its more vital staff and tried to find housing in safe areas for others.

There is a concern among hospital staff that work conditions in the Beirut hospital could become dangerous, as news of hospitals and paramedics being bombed spreads.

“A person who does not have big responsibilities, they might think to leave. I can’t blame them, they have their own security, own family, own life,” Dr Jihad Saade, the chief executive of Rafik Hariri University Hospital, said. Until now, the hospital has been operating normally.

Displacement of medical staff has primarily affected south Lebanon, where Israeli bombing is more frequent. It is unclear how many people still remain in the south, after Israel ordered people in about 70 villages to evacuate.

More than 2,000 people have been killed and more than 9,535 wounded since fighting started in Lebanon, most of them since 23 Sep.

Sources:

Israel expands its bombardment in Lebanon; thousands flee widening war (voanews.com)

Beirut’s Dahiyeh left deserted and destroyed after brutal Israeli bombardment | Middle East Eye

Three hospitals in Lebanon forced to close amid Israeli bombing | Lebanon | The Guardian

Macron says 88 French-speaking countries have called for ceasefire in Lebanon | Euronews

Kiev: Russia Has Executed 93 Ukrainian POWs Since Start of Invasion

A Russia-backed rebel sniper wears a mask in Debaltseve, Ukraine. Photo: Vadim Ghirda / AP

Ukraine has documented evidence related to the execution of 93 Ukrainian prisoners of war related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

80 percent of the executions occurred this year.

On 1 Oct, the Prosecutor-General’s Office announced it had opened an investigation into what it described as the “largest mass execution” of Ukrainian prisoners of war by Russian troops since the start of Moscow’s full-scale invasion in Feb 2022.

According to an official statement published on the office’s Telegram channel, Russian forces recently killed 16 Ukrainian “prisoners of war” near the villages of Mykolayivka and Sukhiy Yar in the Pokrovsk district of the Donetsk region.

Videos circulated on various Telegram channels appear to show Ukrainian soldiers, freshly captured by Russian troops, emerging from a forested area.

After the prisoners were lined up, Russian soldiers appear to open fire. The videos then appear to show Russian soldiers approaching those who were only wounded and shooting them again at close range with machine guns.

Under international humanitarian law, executing soldiers who have surrendered is considered a war crime.

Kiev alerted the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross over the deaths, citing violations of the Geneva Conventions, which govern the treatment of prisoners of war.

In March, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine published a report that recorded the execution of at least 32 Ukrainian prisoners of war in 12 separate cases from Dec 2023 to Feb 2024.
 
 
Sources:

Kyiv Says Russia Has Executed 93 Ukrainian POWs Since Start Of War (rferl.org)

Ukraine-OHCHR-40th-periodic-report.pdf
 

Vietnam-era Veterans Exposed to Nerve Agents and Hallucinogens in Secret Military Tests Seek Years of Back Benefits

Test subjects in an undated photo enter a chamber where they were exposed to chemical agents as part of military experiments at Edgewood Arsenal in Maryland. (US Army photo)

Vietnam-era veterans exposed to nerve agents and hallucinogenic drugs in a classified military research program more than 50 years ago are appealing for retroactive disability benefits after a federal court ruling found their constitutional rights were violated.

Now in their 70s and early 80s, the veterans were sworn to silence and restricted from reporting the debilitating health effects from the program, which included paralysis, cancer, depression, and psychosis. They were also restricted from obtaining disability compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

“I never knew what I was given in those tests,” said Frank Rochelle (76) of North Carolina, a former Army corporal whose service from 1968-1970 included a tour in Vietnam. “When I went to file a VA claim, I was told that the tests I took part in had never happened. The records were sealed. I had no way to prove my case.”

But a 2023 court ruling is enabling Rochelle and other service members for the first time to obtain VA disability compensation retroactive to their date of discharge. An estimated 3,000 to 5,000 veterans who participated as human test subjects in classified studies that the US Army Chemical Corps conducted at Edgewood Arsenal in Maryland are believed to be alive today.

The facility was established in 1948 primarily as a center for researching chemical warfare agents, but military equipment, protective clothing and pharmaceuticals also were tested at the facility. The Vietnam-era veterans were considered volunteers in classified studies that began in 1956. They signed consent agreements prior to participating in experiments but said later they were not informed of the risks.

About 7,000 military personnel participated in the tests until the Army disbanded the program in 1975, according to the DoD. Edgewood Arsenal now functions as the Army’s center for research, tests and development in chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear defense.

The court found the secrecy agreements that the participants signed, which carried the threat of criminal penalty if violated, effectively denied them due process and disability compensation to which they were entitled.

“This decision importantly opens a pathway for all veterans who are under a secrecy agreement to pursue their claims, whether they are Edgewood Arsenal vets or not,” he said.

Rochelle’s case is pending a higher review in the U.S. Veterans Court of Appeals, which has already ordered retroactive compensation this year in three other cases involving Edgewood veterans.

Jones said though the VA states it now has a process in place for Edgewood Arsenal veterans to file to receive benefits, the agency continues to delay decisions and deny their claims.

The VA does not have figures on how many Vietnam-era veterans have submitted claims for retroactive payments related to illnesses and injuries from serving as test subjects at the Edgewood Arsenal.

In 2023, Army veteran Bob Taylor of Idaho was the first veteran to receive disability compensation retroactive to his military discharge for illnesses and injuries that he suffered after participating in the classified research project.

Taylor’s attorneys first argued in US Court of Appeals for Veterans that he was entitled to compensation back to his discharge date of 1971. Taylor, who served from 1969-1971, has been diagnosed with multiple cancers, depression, insomnia, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

He and other Edgewood veterans said they thought they had volunteered to test military equipment in the 1960s and 1970s but were directed instead to military research labs for human trials using chemical substances they received in gas chambers, by injection and other means.

Taylor was exposed to at least three highly poisonous chemical agents during the Edgewood experiments. Some of the agents were known only by numbered references with the prefix “EA” for Edgewood Arsenal.

They were EA-3580, a form of sarin gas; EA-3547, a derivative of tear gas, and scopolamine, a highly toxic chemical test as a “truth serum” but that can cause psychosis.

The service-connected illnesses and injuries of Taylor and other veterans from the experiments were not recognized by the VA until the secrecy agreements were partially lifted by the DoD in 2006.

“We were lied to about our reasons for going to Edgewood. We thought that the Army was testing equipment to better the forces,” said Rochelle, whose medical problems from his experiences at Edgewood made him “unemployable,” according to VA records. “This has been ignored for 30 to 50 years.”

Source:

Vietnam-era veterans exposed to nerve agents and hallucinogens in secret military tests seek years of back benefits | Stars and Stripes

Gang Kills 70 People in Haiti’s Pont Sondé

Google Maps.

An attack by the notorious Gran Grif gang in the town of Pont Sondé, Haiti, left at least 70 people dead on Thursday, after gunmen armed with automatic rifles opened fire. Among the victims were ten women and three infants.

“As the attacks unfolded, gang members reportedly set fire to at least 45 houses and 34 vehicles, forcing a number of residents to flee,” said a UN official.

The attack comes in the wider context of indiscriminate gang violence across Haiti, leading to an alarming escalation of human rights violations and large-scale internal displacement.

Over 700,000 people have been forced to flee their homes, making Haiti the country with the largest number of displacements globally due to crime-related violence. Mass displacement has led to widespread insecurity in the nation, with almost half of Haiti’s 11.9 million civilians in dire need of humanitarian assistance. The gang violence against the Haitian population has spread from the capital, Port-au-Prince, to isolated rural areas. The pervasive assaults include sexual violence, kidnapping, looting, roadblocks to intimidate and rob civilians and forced recruitment by armed gangs.

Jimmy “Barbeque” Cherizier (C) is a powerful criminal leader who leads an alliance of gangs in Port-au-Prince. A former police officer, he is openly defiant and does not wear a mask like thousands of gang members in Haiti.

Despite the growing urgency of the crisis, funding for Haiti’s humanitarian response remains critically low and the 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan asking for $674 million is currently only 39 per cent funded.

Kenyan police officer who is part of a UN-backed multinational force takes a selfie after landing in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, 16 July 2024. Another 200 police officers from Kenya arrived for a UN-backed mission led by the East African country to battle violent gangs that have taken over parts of the Caribbean country. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

Sources:

Gang attack in Haiti’s Pont Sondé leaves 70 dead | UN News

Haiti: Horrifying gang attacks leave at least 70 dead | OHCHR

Donald Trump Says He’d Change Name of Fort Liberty, NC Back to Fort Bragg if Elected

Fort Liberty, NC sign greets visitors to the base. This is the home of the 82nd Airborne Division (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)

Former President Donald Trump said he would change the name of Fort Liberty back to Fort Bragg if he’s elected. Trump made the remarks on Friday night during a town hall in Fayetteville, NC, which is near the military installation.

“I walked in — the first question that I asked — should we change the name from Fort Liberty back to Fort Bragg? First question,” he said as the crowd cheered. “Right, so here’s what we do — we get elected, I’m doing it. I’m doing it.”

The renaming of Fort Bragg was part of a controversial three-year process to strip the names of Confederate leaders who took up arms against the US in the Civil War from Army installations. It was part of an effort initiated by top Pentagon officials in 2020.

Congress mandated the Naming Commission in a 2021 annual Pentagon policy bill, giving it the task of identifying items in the Defense Department inventory associated with the Confederacy. Among the items that the commission studied were the names of nine Army installations honoring Confederate generals, including Fort Bragg.

Then-President Trump vetoed the bill, disapproving of the effort to remove Confederate names from the military. Congress overrode the veto, making the changes law. Fort Bragg was renamed Fort Liberty in 2023. Changing the name of Fort Liberty would require congressional approval.

Instead of providing his supporters with a plan or policy on how to deal with global climate change and the hurricanes that have damaged the Carolinas, the ex-President is concerned about changing the name of a US Army base back to honor a traitorous Confederate Army General. You wonder if this brontosaurus knows the Civil War ended in 1865, the racist, slave-owning Confederacy lost, and that Americans have more pressing needs like universal health insurance, flood re-insurance programs, or logical gun control measures?

Cartoon courtesy of theweek.com.

Previous reporting:

• Final Army base stripped of Confederate name as Fort Gordon becomes Fort Eisenhower
• ‘Opportunity to make ourselves better’: Fort Bragg becomes Fort Liberty
• ‘Our name may be changing, but our mission is not’: Army’s Fort Benning is now Fort Moore
• When Fort Benning becomes Fort Moore, it will ‘honor the Army family’

Source:

Trump says he’d change name of Fort Liberty back to Fort Bragg if elected | Stars and Stripes

This is not a mirage.

Sendai Daikannon (仙台大観音)  is the eighth-tallest statue in the world at 100m (330 ft). She is the tallest statue of a goddess in Japan.

This incredible statue in Sendai, Japan, represents a bodhisattva, a person who is on the path towards bodhi (‘awakening’) or Buddhahood. At the time of its completion in 1991, it was the tallest statue in the world.

With all of the war criminals running amok creating death, destruction, and misery, some world leaders could use a bit of enlightenment or a “bodhi”.

Sendai, Japan.

Sources:

Daikanmiji Temple, Sendai Daikannon | Daikanmitsuji-Sendai-Daikannon | Sendai-DaikannonSendai Daikannon – Wikipedia