Monday, August 25, 2025

Polaris of Enlightenment

Israeli security chiefs urge end to invasion: “Driven by messianic zealots”

The genocide in Gaza

Published 4 August 2025
– By Editorial Staff
A large number of former Israeli security chiefs believe that Israel is being harmed by the Netanyahu government's continued warfare.
4 minute read

Israel’s war in Gaza must come to an immediate end – that is the demand from 19 former high-ranking leaders of the country’s military and intelligence services.

They argue that the invasion has long lacked military purpose and is now driven by political forces with religiously fanatical motives.

Although the Israeli government describes its invasion of Gaza as a defensive war against Hamas, increasing international voices have pointed out that the Israelis are engaging in ethnic cleansing and genocide and intend to permanently displace the Palestinian population and take over their land.

Now a number of Israel’s most experienced former military and security chiefs are joining the condemnations. In a joint video, 19 former high-ranking officials from the defense forces, intelligence services and police call for an immediate end to the war.

They argue that the war could have been concluded long ago – but that it is now being continued for political and religiously fanatical reasons, not out of military necessity.

Among the signatories are former Prime Minister and IDF (Israel Defense Forces) chief Ehud Barak, as well as former defense chiefs of staff Moshe Ya’alon and Dan Halutz, former Shin Bet (Israeli internal security service) directors Yoram Cohen, Ami Ayalon and Nadav Argaman, and former Mossad (Israeli foreign intelligence service) chief Tamir Pardo.

“Achieved all military objectives”

— We have a duty to stand up and say what we need to say. This war started as a just war. It was a defensive war. But once we achieved all its military objectives, once we achieved a brilliant military victory against all our enemies, this war stopped being a just war. It is leading the State of Israel to the loss of its security and identity, says Ami Ayalon in the video.

A narrator’s voice opens the film by emphasizing the weight of the participants’ collective experience and explains that the men now demanding an end to the war have all operated in Israel’s innermost circles and been involved in the most sensitive decision-making processes.

— Together, they have more than a thousand years’ experience in national security and diplomacy, it is proclaimed.

The message in the video is clear: the war could have been ended long ago, and must now be replaced with a permanent ceasefire and an agreement that leads to the release of the approximately 50 remaining Israeli hostages in one comprehensive deal.

“On the precipice of defeat”

Former military intelligence chief Amos Malka says that Israel is “well over a year past the point when we could have ended the war with a sufficient operational result”.

— We are now mostly offsetting losses, states Nadav Argaman.

— We are on the precipice of defeat, warns Tamir Pardo.

He directs sharp criticism at the Israeli war strategy and the humanitarian catastrophe created in Gaza:

— What the world sees today is of our own creation. We are hiding behind a lie that we wrought. This lie was sold to the Israeli public, and the world has long since understood that it doesn’t reflect the real picture.

“The minority controls the policy”

Moshe Ya’alon points to what he describes as a religiously extremist power constellation controlling the government’s actions:

— There are moments that represent a black flag in which one must stand firm and say: This far and no further. Right now, we have a government that the messianic zealots have pulled in a certain, irrational direction.

— They are a minority – but the problem is that the minority controls the policy, adds Yoram Cohen.

He also criticizes the idea of total victory over Hamas as a dangerous illusion:

— Anyone who believes Israel can reach every terrorist and every pit and every weapon, and at the same time bring our hostages home, is entertaining a fantasy.

Urging others to take a stand

In their closing message, the security veterans turn to those who now hold their former positions within the defense and intelligence establishments. They are urged to take a stand and dare to speak out.

— They must bravely stand up before the prime minister and before the cabinet and say their piece about this war and its futility, says Nadav Argaman.

— It is their duty to say what they can do and what cannot be done, even if someone really wants it.

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Swedish pensions finance Israeli white phosphorus manufacturer

The situation in Gaza

Published 22 August 2025
– By Editorial Staff
An Israeli M109 Doher fires a shell. The self-propelled artillery system is one of several that can fire ammunition containing white phosphorus.
2 minute read

Sjunde AP-fonden (Seventh AP Fund) owns shares worth €9 million in Israeli ICL Group, which manufactures white phosphorus. Human rights organizations have long warned about the company’s links to war crimes against civilians – and now the fund’s officials claim they will review the investment.

Swedish public radio Sveriges Radio Ekot reveals that Swedish pension funds are invested in the Israeli company ICL Group, a manufacturer of white phosphorus that has previously received harsh criticism from several human rights organizations.

The investigation shows that the Seventh AP Fund (one of Sweden’s national pension funds) owns shares worth €9 million in the company. During 2025, the pension fund’s holdings have also increased from 1.2 million to 1.6 million shares.

White phosphorus may be used in conflict zones under international law to illuminate targets or create smoke screens. However, the substance is prohibited for use in ammunition near civilians as it causes severe burns.

Israel has been accused by several human rights organizations of using white phosphorus in densely populated areas during attacks in Gaza. According to the radio station, it is not established whether phosphorus from ICL Group specifically was used in these attacks, but the company has previously listed the U.S. Army – which has close cooperation with Israel – as a customer.

“Difficult to verify”

Mikael Lindh Hök, communications director at the Seventh AP Fund, says that they do not plan to immediately sell the holdings, but that the investment will be reviewed.

— If it’s true and you can actually verify that their product, in this case white phosphorus, is used by the Israeli military in the conflicts, then that is grounds for blacklisting, as it constitutes a violation of human rights, he says.

Lindh Hök simultaneously points to the difficulties in obtaining evidence.

— But there we have the problem that it has been very difficult to verify this, as there are contradictory reports. No one has admitted, so to speak, that they have used it. But if we manage to get it verified, then that is grounds for exclusion.

Amnesty: Suspicions are enough

He emphasizes that the fund manages money for six million Swedes and therefore requires clear evidence before acting.

— Then we want to get it verified so that it doesn’t become arbitrary. Sometimes it can be a rumor that a company has violated something, and then it later emerges that it hasn’t violated an international convention. And since we are the default option for six million Swedes, we have set the threshold at: what international conventions has Sweden signed? he explains further.

Astri Sjoner, political advisor at Norwegian Amnesty, believes that the suspicions alone should be enough to act.

— Now several parties have pointed out that they suspect it is this company’s white phosphorus that has been used in Israel’s warfare in Gaza. When there is this type of suspicion, it is important that those who invest in it take on extra responsibility to assess the risk of human rights violations.

Secret propaganda unit justifies Israel’s journalist killings

The genocide in Gaza

Published 20 August 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Between 186 and 270 journalists are reported to have been killed in Gaza since October 2023 - more than in any other war.
4 minute read

Israel operates a secret military unit whose task is to find or create connections between journalists and Hamas to legitimize deadly attacks.

Intelligence sources tell the Israeli publications +972 Magazine and Local Call how the unit manipulates and distorts intelligence material as international criticism of journalist killings increases.

The so-called “legitimization unit” was established after Hamas’ attack on October 7, 2023. According to three intelligence sources who confirmed the unit’s existence, its main task is not security but pure PR – to try by all means to justify Israel’s warfare in Gaza as international criticism grows.

The unit works systematically to find or create narratives that can defend Israeli military operations and bombings: evidence of Hamas’ use of civilian buildings, documentation of failed Palestinian rocket launches that killed their own civilians, and above all – attempts to smear journalists reporting from Gaza by linking them to Hamas.

An intelligence source reveals the unit’s cynical method: When international criticism against Israel increases, the unit is ordered to produce intelligence material that can be used to silence the criticism.

— If the global media is talking about Israel killing innocent journalists, then immediately there’s a push to find one journalist who might not be so innocent – as if that somehow makes killing the other 20 acceptable, says the source.

Fabricated accusations

It is Israel’s political leadership that directs the unit’s priorities, and the information is used strategically to secure continued American support. Intelligence officers have been explicitly told that their work is crucial for being able to prolong the war.

— The team regularly collected intelligence that could be used for hasbara – say, a stockpile of  weapons in a school — anything that could bolster Israel’s international legitimacy to keep fighting. The idea was to allow the military to operate without pressure, so countries like America wouldn’t stop supplying weapons, explains a source.

The unit has repeatedly manipulated or fabricated intelligence to portray journalists as legitimate military targets. In at least one documented case, they tried to falsely present a journalist as a Hamas operative.

— They were eager to label him as a target, as a terrorist – to say it’s okay to attack him. They said: during the day he’s a journalist, at night he’s a platoon commander, reports a source.

The journalist is said to have been saved only because the manipulation was discovered before any attack could be carried out.

Systematic manipulation

The manipulation continued with Al Jazeera journalist Anas Al-Sharif, who was killed in August after a coordinated smear campaign. The “evidence” the army presented showed activity that had ceased in 2017 – long before the current war. Despite this, the documents were used to justify his execution.

The same applies to the case of journalist Ismail Al-Ghoul, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in July 2024 along with his cameraman in Gaza City.

A month later, the army claimed he was an “military wing operative and Nukhba terrorist”, referring to a document from 2021 allegedly retrieved from a “Hamas computer.” But that document stated he received his military rank in 2007 – when he was only 10 years old, and seven years before he was allegedly recruited to Hamas.

Deadliest war for journalists

The unit’s work also became evident after the controversial explosion at Al-Ahli Hospital in October 2023. To deflect blame from Israel, the army released what they claimed was an intercepted conversation between Hamas members.

A Palestinian human rights activist was shocked when he recognized his own voice – from a completely harmless conversation with a friend. He had never been a Hamas member, but his voice was used to manipulate world opinion.

— It’s very much not in Unit 8200’s DNA to expose our capabilities for something as vague as public opinion, admits a source about the desperate and internally criticized publication.

The result of this systematic disinformation campaign is devastating for reporters on the ground: So far, at least 186 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza since October 2023 according to the Committee to Protect Journalists – the deadliest period for journalists anywhere in modern history.

Other organizations have made higher estimates and claim that nearly 300 journalists have been killed during the Israeli invasion – journalists who were often singled out as militants or terrorists, but where concrete evidence for this has rarely been presented.

Record number of aid workers killed in 2024 – half in Gaza

The genocide in Gaza

Published 20 August 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Aid workers from UNRWA in Gaza, where nearly half of this year's 383 killed aid workers lost their lives.
3 minute read

383 aid workers were killed in the world’s crisis zones during 2024, the highest number ever recorded. Nearly half of them fell victim during the Israeli invasion of Gaza.

The figures were presented on Tuesday by the UN’s humanitarian office OCHA on World Humanitarian Day – the annual day to honor people who risk their lives to help others in crisis situations.

UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher calls the development a wake-up call and demands that the international community act to protect both civilians and aid workers.

— Attacks on this scale, with zero accountability, are a shameful indictment of international inaction and apathy, Fletcher said in a statement.

According to the Aid Worker Security Database, which has compiled statistics since 1997, the number of killed aid workers increased from 293 in 2023 to 383 in 2024. Over 180 of these were killed in Gaza.

Most victims were local staff who were attacked either while working or in their homes. Many were working to help their own communities when they were killed.

No improvement in sight

A total of 599 major attacks against aid workers were reported last year, a sharp increase from 420 attacks the year before. In addition to those killed, 308 aid workers were injured, 125 were kidnapped, and 45 were imprisoned.

Developments so far this year show no signs of improvement. During the past seven-plus months, 245 major attacks have already taken place and 265 aid workers have been killed.

One of the year’s most horrific incidents occurred in Rafah in southern Gaza on March 23. Israeli troops opened fire before dawn and killed 15 healthcare workers and rescue workers who were traveling in clearly marked vehicles. The troops then drove bulldozers over the bodies and destroyed vehicles and buried everything in a mass grave. UN and rescue workers could not reach the site until a week later.

— Even one attack against a humanitarian colleague is an attack on all of us and on the people we serve. Violence against aid workers is not inevitable. It must end, Tom Fletcher said.

Government forces most common perpetrators

Violence against aid workers increased in 21 countries during 2024. According to the database, government forces and their allies were the most common perpetrators.

The Palestinian territories top the grim statistics with 194 major attacks, followed by Sudan with 64, South Sudan with 47, Nigeria with 31, and Congo with 27.

Regarding the number of killed, Sudan comes in second place after Gaza and the West Bank. 60 aid workers were killed there during 2024, more than double the 25 deaths the year before. The civil war in the country continues to rage.

Also in Lebanon, where Israel and Hezbollah fought a war last year, 20 aid workers were killed – compared to none at all in 2023. Ethiopia and Syria each had 14 killed, roughly double the previous year. In Ukraine, 13 aid workers were killed, up from 6 in 2023.

— As the humanitarian community, we demand – again – that those with power and influence act for humanity, protect civilians and aid workers and hold perpetrators to account, and hold perpetrators accountable, Tom Fletcher said.

Israel wants to expel Palestinians to Africa

The genocide in Gaza

Published 13 August 2025
– By Editorial Staff
South Sudan's leader Salva Kiir Mayardit is reportedly willing to accept Palestinians in order to strengthen ties with Israel and the United States.
3 minute read

Israel has initiated discussions with South Sudan about expelling Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to the war-torn East African country.

The plans are described as an attempt at mass expulsion and ethnic cleansing following Israel’s 22-month-long invasion and have drawn strong criticism for violating international law and humanitarian principles.

Six sources with insight confirm to Associated Press that talks are ongoing, but it remains unclear how far they have actually progressed. The proposal involves moving Palestinians from one starvation zone to another, which according to analysts risks worsening the already very difficult humanitarian situation for Gaza’s population.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pushing for what he himself claims is “voluntary migration”, and has previously proposed similar arrangements with other African countries.

— I think that the right thing to do, even according to the laws of war as I know them, is to allow the population to leave, and then you go in with all your might against the enemy who remains there, Netanyahu said in an interview with Israeli TV channel i24 on Tuesday.

“Needs allies”

Palestinians and human rights organizations reject the plans, however, stating that it practically amounts to ethnic cleansing, where Israel could annex all of Gaza and reestablish Jewish settlements – a demand from far-right ministers in the government. Many Palestinians also fear they would never be allowed to return to their homeland.

For South Sudan, which has struggled with civil war, corruption and famine since independence in 2011, the agreement is seen as a way to strengthen ties with Israel and Trump. The country’s leadership hopes for eased sanctions and improved relations with the US.

— Cash-strapped South Sudan needs any ally, financial gain and diplomatic security it can get, says journalist Peter Martell, author of the book First Raise a Flag, which is about the African nation.

An Israeli delegation plans to visit the African country to investigate whether it is possible to establish camps for Palestinians, according to Joe Szlavik, founder of a lobbying company that works with the country.

Analysts point out that Israel is likely prepared to finance temporary camps in the country, but Edmund Yakani, leader of a South Sudanese civil society organization, warns of the consequences.

— South Sudan should not become a dumping ground for people. And it should not accept to take people as negotiating chips to improve relations, says Yakani.

Discussions with more African countries

Egypt opposes the plans to forcibly relocate Palestinians from Gaza. They are concerned that this would lead to increased refugee flows from Gaza, which would negatively affect their own country.

Israel and the US have previously held talks with Sudan, Somalia and the self-declared region of Somaliland, all of which are struggling with war and famine. However, it is unclear how far these discussions have progressed.

Critics argue that the proposal to expel Palestinians from Gaza not only violates international law, but also ignores their right to their land.

Even though many Palestinians would likely consider leaving Gaza temporarily due to war and famine, South Sudan is also considered a particularly poor alternative – not only because the country is poor, chaotic and dysfunctional – but also because bloody ethnic and religious conflicts have long been ongoing in the region.

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