As Israel invades Syria, Pope Francis proclaims, “Enough wars, enough violence!” – Day 428

Pope unveils nativity scene with baby Jesus wrapped in Palestinian keffiyeh

Pope Francis unveiled the annual nativity scene at the Vatican on Saturday, which this year featured baby Jesus dressed in a Palestinian keffiyeh.

The scene, crafted by Palestinian artists from Bethlehem, features a Bethlehem Star with the Latin and Arabic inscription: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill to all people.” It also includes figures of the Holy Family carved from olive wood.

The keffiyeh is a traditional head and face covering worn by many around the Middle East. The Palestinian keffiyeh is seen as a national symbol and is emblematic of the struggle against Israeli occupation.

The nativity scene was organized with the Palestinian Presidential Committee for Church Affairs, the Palestinian Embassy to the Vatican, and Dar Al-Kalima University in collaboration with the Beitcharilo Center.

Pope Francis was also joined by Ramzi Khouri, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization Executive Committee and head of the Palestinian Presidential Committee for Church Affairs.

The Pope also presented two Palestinian children, who were representing the committee, with a Bethlehem star, which is seen as a reminder of the plight Palestinian children are currently facing.

After the nativity was shown, a mass for peace and a ceasefire in Palestine was held at the Angeli Chapel. It was led by Ibrahim Faltas, Deputy Custodian of the Holy Land, alongside Father Ibrahim Shomali and Monsignor Marco.

Pope Francis has been vocal about Israel’s current war on Gaza and has called for an end to the onslaught.

“Enough wars, enough violence! Did you know that one of the most profitable industries here is weapons manufacturing? Profit from killing. Enough wars!” he said at the event.

“As our eyes fill with tears, we lift up our prayers for peace, that peace may reign over the entire world, and for all people whom God loves.”

The Pope recently became a target of pro-Israel figures after calling for an investigation into whether Israel’s war on Gaza amounts to genocide. He also decried the deaths of children in the Palestinian territory and Israel’s attacks on a Gaza church.

Netanyahu extends ‘hand of peace’ to Syrians as Israeli jets strike Damascus

UPDATE: Israel’s army chief of staff Herzl Halevi has now declared Syria a “fourth fighting front,” added to Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon.

Halevi said that the Israeli army has deployed ground forces into Syria, along with the Air Force and intelligence services have joined the operations.

He claimed the forces were “defending Israel to a great extent.”

During a visit to the border area with Syria on 8 December, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Tel Aviv will “send a hand of peace” to all Syrians, several hours after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government and as Israel’s military invaded Syria and pounded it with airstrikes.

“This is a historic day for the Middle East. The collapse of the Assad regime, the tyranny in Damascus, offers great opportunity but also is fraught with significant dangers,” Netanyahu said.

“We send a hand of peace to all those beyond our border in Syria: to the Druze, to the Kurds, to the Christians, and to the Muslims who want to live in peace with Israel,” he added.

The comments came after Israel deployed tanks and troops to occupy the UN-monitored buffer zone in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights – also pushing into and occupying the unoccupied part of Mount Hermon.

Throughout Sunday afternoon, Israeli jets launched heavy air raids across the capital, Damascus, and other sites across Syria – targeting Syrian army sites, intelligence infrastructure, and weapons depots.

Dozens of Israeli airstrikes hit the Mazzeh Military Airport along with customs and intelligence buildings, the security square, the scientific research facility in Damascus, and defense laboratories.

Israel also officially withdrew from the 1974 Disengagement between Israel and Syria, the deal signed indirectly between Syria and Israel that officially ended the 1973 Arab–Israeli war. Israeli troops have now entered areas they have not been in since 1974.

Netanyahu’s comments follow the storming of Syria’s capital by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) extremists, after the cities of Aleppo, Hama, and Homs fell to the militants in less than two weeks.

There is documented evidence of Israel’s collaboration with the extremist opposition in Syria. Israel gave direct support to the Syrian Al-Qaeda affiliate, the Nusra Front – which became HTS in 2017 following a Qatari-sponsored rebranding.

The Israeli premier also said on Sunday that the fall of Syria is a “direct result of the blows we have inflicted on Iran and Hezbollah, the main supporters of the Assad regime,” taking credit for the collapse of the Syrian government.

Israel continues killing citizens in south Lebanon as ceasefire violations persist

Three people were killed on 8 December in an Israeli raid that targeted the Debbin area in the southern Lebanese town of Marjayoun, as Tel Aviv continues to violate the ceasefire with Lebanon since it took effect last month.

“Three civilian martyrs fell in the Israeli raid that targeted the lower Al-Arid neighborhood in Debbin,” reported Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) correspondent in Marjayoun.

The attack came one day after four people were killed and six wounded in an Israeli airstrike on the southern town of Beit Lif.

“Rescue teams have stopped working due to the lack of the necessary equipment to remove the rubble,” NNA reported on Saturday.

The Lebanese outlet had reported last week that Israel has violated the ceasefire 129 times [other sources have reported even higher numbers] – after twelve violations were committed in a single day on Wednesday.

‘Cowboy Method’ – Netanyahu and Smotrich’s Annexation Strategy

Israeli media has been abuzz with recent statements by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who announced that Israel confiscated 24,000 dunums of West Bank land.

For Palestinians, however, this revelation comes as no surprise, as land confiscation operations occur almost daily, brazenly seizing their lands in broad daylight.

This year’s confiscations alone are equivalent to half of all the lands confiscated over the past 30 years, a development widely regarded as a disaster, yet met with little to no international response.

In the town of Aqraba, located east of Nablus and encompassing vast lands connected to the Jordan Valley, the situation is dire.

Since the current extremist Israeli government came to power two years ago, more than 25,000 dunums of Aqraba’s lands have been confiscated for settlement expansion.

Salah Bani Jaber, the mayor of Aqraba, told The Palestine Chronicle that in addition to confiscation, “settlers employ what is known as the ‘cowboy method,’ where they release their cows into Palestinian pastures. Once the cattle graze on the land, the settlers claim ownership of it.”

This practice has become the norm across Palestinian villages. According to documents from human rights organizations and experts, settlers act with the full financial backing of the Israeli government, not as individuals.

These land confiscation operations are accompanied by systematic attacks on Palestinians, as the Israeli army routinely expels Palestinian farmers from their lands and facilitates illegal Jewish settler harassment.

Thousands of attacks have been recorded this year alone, preventing Palestinians from accessing more than half a million dunums of agricultural land.

Furthermore, more than 9,600 Palestinian trees, predominantly olive trees, have been destroyed, uprooted, or poisoned, according to data from The Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission.

NOTE: Israel has illegally built around 280 settlements on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, which are home to more than 700,000 illegal settlers. Israeli settlements and settlers on Palestinian land are a violation of international law, and considered by many Palestinians to be the main barrier to any lasting peace agreement. 

Settlers, moreover, have a history of violence against Palestinians, often with the assistance of Israeli military forces.

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In 2018, The Intercept that Israel was ‘expanding’ noted the Israeli goal to establish a ‘buffer zone’ in southern… pic.twitter.com/CRyPkquknf

— William Van Wagenen (@WVanwagenen) December 8, 2024

STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – DECEMBER 8, 2024: