Biden can’t say no to Israel, in spite of its flagrant violations of int’l law – Day 375

Compilation of news reports – IAK staff 

Israeli attacks killed at least 65 more Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and injured 140, the Health Ministry in the enclave said on Wednesday.

A Lebanese ministry statement said that 27 people were killed and 185 others injured in Israeli attacks in the last 24 hours.

 RECOMMENDED READING: Shaaban Al-Dalou, Burned Alive in Gaza, Would Have Been 20 Today

An investigation by The New York Times found that Israeli soldiers and intelligence agents, throughout the war in Gaza, have regularly forced captured Palestinians like Mr. Shubeir to conduct life-threatening reconnaissance missions to avoid putting Israeli soldiers at risk on the battlefield.

While the extent and scale of such operations are unknown, the practice, illegal under both Israeli and international law, has been used by at least 11 squads in five cities in Gaza, often with the involvement of officers from Israeli intelligence agencies.

Palestinian detainees have been coerced to explore places in Gaza where the Israeli military believes that Hamas militants have prepared an ambush or a booby trap. The practice has gradually become more widespread since the start of the war last October.

Detainees have been forced to scout and film inside tunnel networks where soldiers believed fighters were still hiding. They have entered buildings rigged with mines to find hidden explosives. They have been told to pick up or move objects like generators and water tanks that Israeli soldiers feared concealed tunnel entrances or booby traps.

The Times interviewed seven Israeli soldiers who observed or participated in the practice and presented it as routine, commonplace and organized, conducted with considerable logistical support and the knowledge of superiors on the battlefield.

The Times also spoke to eight soldiers and officials briefed on the practice who all spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss a military secret. Maj. Gen. Tamir Hayman, a former chief of military intelligence who is routinely briefed by top military and defense officials on the conduct of the war, confirmed the use of one version of the practice.

And three Palestinians gave on-the-record accounts about being used as human shields…

(Read the full investigation here.)

ANADOLU AGENCY ADDS: State Department Matthew Miller told reporters that the report is “incredibly disturbing.”

“If the facts presented in that report are true, they’re completely unacceptable. There is no reason, there can be no justification ever for the use of civilians as human shields.”Miller said if the allegations are true, they would violate both international law and the Israeli army’s own code of conduct.

He said that it is “entirely appropriate” for Israelis to investigate the claims and called for accountability if the investigations confirm the violations.

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Israel’s destruction of northern Gaza continues

Anadolu Agency reports:

The Israeli army on Wednesday set Palestinian homes on fire in the area west of Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, part of a prolonged ethnic cleansing operation that has persisted for 12 days amid the ongoing genocide since Oct.7, 2023.

Israeli forces advancing into the Be’er al-Na’ja area continued to burn residential buildings belonging to Palestinians, witnesses told Anadolu.

They reported that many homes and properties were engulfed in flames, resulting in substantial material losses, although no injuries were immediately reported.

News from the Lebanon front

At least six people were killed, including the mayor of Nabatieh Ahmad Kahil, and 43 were injured during heavy Israeli airstrikes that hit the municipality building of the southern Lebanese city on 16 October. Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati described it as a deliberate strike against “a municipal council meeting focused on addressing the city’s relief and service needs.”

Also in Lebanon, an Israeli tank on Wednesday fired at the UN peacekeeping watchtower in a “direct and apparently deliberate” strike in southern Lebanon. in Kafr Kila of southern Lebanon, according to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

Two cameras were destroyed, and the tower was damaged, the peacekeeping force confirmed, describing it as a “direct and apparently deliberate” attack on the UNIFIL position.

The Lebanese Health Ministry said it was notified on Monday of a potential cholera case in the northern region of Akkar and verified the infection on Wednesday.

Israeli forces wiped out a historic southern Lebanese border village on Wednesday, the first operation of its kind, sparking outrage in the country.

Videos showed a series of massive explosions in Mhaibib, home to the 2,100-year-old shrine of Prophet Benjamin, were widely shared online, supposedly taken by Israeli soldiers from a distance.

Pillars of smoke filled the air amid the sounds of loud explosions, as Israeli soldiers were heard celebrating as the village was reduced to rubble, according to reports.

NOTE: Annexation of land – that is, the proclamation of sovereignty over the territory of another State – is a violation of international law.

Biden Deploys B-2 Stealth Bombers to Attack Yemen Without Congressional Approval

Common Dreams reports:

The Biden administration on Wednesday deployed B-2 stealth bombers to launch multiple airstrikes on Yemen, attacks that underscored the United States’ deep involvement in a deadly regional war that is threatening to engulf the entire Middle East.

CENTCOM said its assessment of the damage does not thus far “indicate civilian casualties.” The U.S. military has routinely refused to investigate, acknowledge, or apologize for killing civilians in Yemen and elsewhere in the world.

The Houthis have repeatedly attacked vessels in the Red Sea this year in what they say is an effort to stop Israel’s decimation of the Gaza Strip. The Biden administration has, in turn, bombed Yemen multiple times this year, strikes that progressive U.S. lawmakers have denounced as dangerous as well as illegal given that the White House did not seek congressional authorization, as required by the Constitution.

The strikes on one of the poorest nations in the world, Austin said, were “a unique demonstration of the United States’ ability to target facilities that our adversaries seek to keep out of reach, no matter how deeply buried underground, hardened, or fortified”—a message that observers interpreted as a warning to Iran.

AL JAZEERA ADDS: Yemen’s Houthis have promised to retaliate after the US conducted multiple strikes on weapons storage facilities in areas controlled by the group.

Biden envoy: We will not hold back anything Israel wants

Politico reports:

The top U.S. official working on the humanitarian situation in Gaza told aid groups in August that the U.S. would not consider withholding weapons from Israel for blocking food and medicine from entering the enclave — a rare admission by someone in the administration.

At the Aug. 29 meeting in Washington, Lise Grande told the leaders of more than a dozen aid organizations that the U.S. could potentially consider other tactics to convince Israel to allow life-saving aid into Gaza — such as applying pressure through the United Nations, but stressed that the administration would continue to support Israel and would not delay or stop weapons shipments.

That account is based on conversations with three people in the meeting and two others who were briefed on it, along with a set of detailed notes from the encounter reviewed by POLITICO.

A humanitarian aid official who attended the meeting said Grande noted that Israel is one in a “tight circle of very few allies” that the U.S. will not oppose, nor will it “hold anything back that they want.”

While Grande’s statements were made more than a month ago, her candid assessment of the odds of the U.S. taking action on weapons for Israel raises questions about the seriousness of recent Biden administration threats to do just that.

These German politicians support Israeli genocide

The Cradle reports:

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on 16 October promised that Germany would “always” continue delivering arms to Israel for its war against Lebanon and the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.

“There are [weapons] deliveries and there will always be further deliveries. Israel can rely on that,” Scholz said in remarks to parliament.

“Israel can rely on our solidarity – now and in the future,” he stressed.

A German Foreign Ministry official has also said that the EU country sees “no sign of genocide” in Gaza – although earlier this year, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that it is “plausible” Israel violated the Genocide Convention during its brutal campaign in Gaza.

Last year, Germany approved arms exports to Israel worth $363.5 million, a 10-fold increase from 2022.

Addressing the German parliament, Germany’s Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, justified Israel’s targeting of civilians in Gaza. ‘Self-defense means not only attacking terrorists* but destroying them. When Hamas terrorists hide behind people, behind schools… civilian places lose their protected status because terrorists abuse it.’

Human rights lawyer Craig Mokhiber explains that this assumption is false. The former senior UN human rights official told MEMO that Israel’s claim to a right to ‘self-defense’ in Gaza has no standing in international law. WATCH: