Wednesday, July 9, 2025

Polaris of Enlightenment

Israel bans UN rapporteur

The situation in Gaza

Published 16 February 2024
– By Editorial Staff
Israel demands that the UN disassociate itself from the rapporteur, Francesca Albanese, and dismiss her.
2 minute read

Israel’s Interior and Foreign Ministries announce that they will no longer allow Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian Territories, to enter the country.

They claim that Ms. Albanese has expressed “anti-Semitic” views justifying Hamas’s massacre of Israelis on October 7, and therefore demand that the UN dismiss her.

Albanese has been denied an entry visa by the Israeli Interior Ministry for several months – but she is also officially banned from entering the country, a ban that has no time limit.

The background includes a post on X (formerly Twitter) in which she argues that Hamas’s bloody attacks on October 7 were a “response to Israel’s oppression” – a view that has not gone down well with Israeli leaders.

“The ‘greatest anti-Semitic massacre of our century’? No, Mr. Emmanuel Macron. The victims of 7/10 were not killed because of their Judaism, but in response to Israeli oppression. France and the international community did nothing to stop it. My respect to the victims” she wrote in response to an article about the French president’s attention to the victims.

Israel demands disassociation

Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz and Interior Minister Moshe Arbel said in a joint statement that “the era of Jews being silent is over” and demanded that the UN disassociate itself from the remarks and fire Albanese.

“If the UN wants to return to being a relevant body, its leaders must publicly disavow the anti-Semitic words of the ‘Special Envoy’ – and fire her permanently. Preventing her from entering Israel might remind her of the real reason why Hamas slaughtered babies, women and adults”, it added.

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Israel wants to relocate entire Gaza population

The situation in Gaza

Published yesterday 12:56
– By Editorial Staff
Israel Katz orders the Israeli military to establish a concentrated zone for the population in Gaza.
2 minute read

The Netanyahu government in Israel has announced through Defense Minister Israel Katz that the Israeli military will establish a controlled area at the border with Egypt. The stated goal is to concentrate Gaza’s entire population in the area, which they are calling a “humanitarian city”.

The Israeli military IDF will guard the new area in the city to be built on the ruins of the bombed city of Rafah in southern Gaza, according to the Israeli government’s plans as reported by Israeli newspapers including Haaretz and Jerusalem Post. According to Katz, planning for the construction could begin during the 60-day ceasefire currently being negotiated.

The stated goal is to gather Gaza’s entire population in the limited zone at the border with Egypt. Katz states that the plan is for people entering the area to be thoroughly screened to ensure they are not connected to Hamas, and that once they enter the area, they will not be allowed to leave again. The advantage for them of entering there, officials explain, is that the area will not be attacked by the Israeli military, and basic necessities will be available.

The project is justified by Katz, like Israel’s Gaza policy in general, as aimed at reducing the influence of the Islamist resistance movement Hamas.

International warnings of ethnic cleansing

A large number of countries have long accused Israel of pursuing an ethnic cleansing project in Gaza, and UN Secretary-General António Guterres has also warned that the intention from the Israeli side appears to be to drive out the Palestinian population.

The intention might be for the Palestinians to leave Gaza, for others to occupy it, Guterres stated during the COP16 conference in Colombia in October last year.

– We will do everything possible to help them remain there and to avoid ethnic cleansing that might occur if there is not strong determination from the international community, he continued.

Swedish doctor in Gaza: “A haze of blood”

The situation in Gaza

Published 7 July 2025
– By Editorial Staff
2 minute read

Foreign journalists are not allowed to enter Gaza, but continued reports are coming from healthcare workers about a catastrophic humanitarian situation. Swedish doctor Märit Halmin is one of 300 reportedly working at a field hospital and entered with a UN convoy.

It becomes like a haze of blood, gunshot wounds, explosion injuries, amputations, she says.

I don’t really have words to describe it, I had followed the news reporting before I came here and thought I would be prepared but it’s so terrible, she tells Swedish public radio P1.

When I entered Gaza and was driven here it was almost like a moonscape, there are no buildings. There are just piles of rubble and debris, dust and sand from destroyed concrete. Everything is destroyed, she recounts.

“Bizarre and brutal injuries”

Halmin has previously been deployed in Yemen and Syria, but says the proportions in Gaza are completely different with masses of injured civilians streaming in with very severe injuries.

I can’t even distinguish the individual patients because there are so many coming in with such bizarre and brutal injuries. It becomes like a haze of blood, gunshot wounds, explosion injuries, amputations, she says.

Help exists – but doesn’t get in

The doctor reports that there is a shortage of all types of resources, where the field hospitals have to improvise extensively and assist each other with the equipment they have, and she states that even her healthcare colleagues are severely malnourished.

I think the main problem right now is perhaps not that too little help is being sent but that somehow there’s a silent acceptance that the help doesn’t get in because of the blockade that exists against Gaza.

US approves $510 million weapons sale to Israel

The situation in Gaza

Published 1 July 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Crew aboard USS John C. Stennis prepares to move MK-82/BLU 111 bombs.
1 minute read

The United States has approved a $510 million weapons sale to Israel, including thousands of bomb guidance systems, the Pentagon announces. The deliveries come as Israel faces repeated accusations of committing genocide in Gaza, partially carried out using American bombs.

In a statement, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said the sale includes 3,845 Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) guidance systems and additional guidance systems for the MK 82 bomb.

“The United States is committed to the security of Israel”, the DSCA stated, adding that the sale “is vital to US national interests”.

The prime contractor is Boeing, based in St. Charles, Missouri.

The deal comes at a time of increased international scrutiny of US military support for Israel, as civilian casualties in Gaza continue to rise due to Israeli bombing campaigns.

Priest in West Bank’s last Christian village: “We live under constant fire from settlers”

The situation in Gaza

Published 29 June 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Today, Taybeh has approximately 1,300 inhabitants, and the village has maintained a Christian presence for at least 1,500 years.
3 minute read

Violence is escalating in the West Bank – including in Taybeh, the very last entirely Christian village in the region. Here, residents have experienced firsthand how extreme Jewish settlers are intensifying their attacks against Palestinian communities in the area.

– We live under constant fire from settlers, and under the crossfire of the Israeli occupation army, says Bashar Fawadleh to AsiaNews.

Fawadleh has been the parish priest at the Church of the Redeemer, which belongs to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, since 2021. He reports that the violence has forced more than ten Christian families to leave Taybeh since October 2024.

Taybeh, with approximately 1,300 residents, is located about 30 kilometers north of Jerusalem and 15 kilometers northeast of Ramallah in the West Bank. The village is surrounded by both Palestinian communities and several Jewish settlements. During the past week, residents, both Latin Catholic and Greek Orthodox, have experienced an escalation in attacks.

On Tuesday, June 25, dozens of masked settlers attacked the nearby village of Kafr Malik. According to journalist Ihab Hassan, the attack was carried out with support from the Israeli army. The settlers reportedly shot at civilians and set fire to cars and houses – three people were killed and nine were injured, one seriously.

Refuse to abandon their homes

Parish priest Fawadleh describes the situation in the village as desperate. In a statement to news agency ACIMENA, he says:

– Yesterday (Wednesday) evening, settlers attacked homes in the Karamelo roundabout, an area at the eastern entrance to the village

– The incident coincided with an attack by dozens of settlers on the village of Kafr Malik, which is near us, and which led to the death of three martyrs and the burning of many vehicles and homes.

Despite the violence, he says Taybeh’s residents refuse to yield or abandon their homes:

– We are living in very difficult conditions, but we are not afraid to remain in our land. We are not afraid of those who kill. We are a people who love our land and will never abandon it.

Aim to ethnically cleanse the area

The situation in the West Bank has been unstable since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, and settler attacks have escalated in recent months. According to analysts, extremist Jewish settler groups are trying to drive out both Muslims and Christians from areas they consider “the promised land”.

At the same time, radical settlers have gained political strength. Through their influence in the government – particularly via the Jewish Power and Religious Zionist parties – their agenda has gained increased traction.

Both parties are part of the coalition led by Benjamin Netanyahu and have pushed for expansion of settlements, increased arming of settlers, and a tougher stance against Palestinians in the West Bank.

Recently, The Nordic Times reported how Jewish settlers near the Gaza border openly advocate for ethnic cleansing, wanting all Palestinians to be expelled – so they can take over the area themselves.

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