Friday, August 8, 2025

Polaris of Enlightenment

Israeli settlers: “All Palestinian children are Hamas”

The situation in Gaza

Published 27 June 2025
– By Editorial Staff
When asked about his views on large parts of Gaza lying in ruins today, a settler responds that he "wants to finish the job".
2 minute read

During Israel’s ongoing invasion of Gaza, Israeli settlers gathered in a festive-like atmosphere at the border of the bombarded area.

When Norway-based Afghan journalist Yama Wolasmal interviewed them, several expressed their support for a total expulsion of the Palestinian population – and claimed that even children should be considered terrorists and members of Hamas.

– I can see how children are terrorists as well, explains one of the settlers when asked if he considers children innocent in the war.

– I can’t have as next door neighbors Nazis, says another.

– All the children are Hamas and they will be very happy to see all of us burned all over the world and they will destroy the whole world, and the christian world together with that.

Many of the Jewish settlers belong to an ideological movement that, for religious and nationalist reasons, completely rejects the idea of a Palestinian state. Instead, they advocate for full Israeli control over the entire area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea – often through violent expulsion of Palestinians.

“A creative solution”

The movement has increased its influence under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rule, particularly through his alliance with far-right and deeply religious parties that openly support the settlers’ agenda. In practice, many settlers operate outside the law, and there are recurring reports of violence, harassment, and even murder of Palestinian civilians. Despite extensive international criticism, these abuses rarely lead to legal consequences.

Yama Wolasmal visited settlers near the Gaza border, where several of them described their vision for the future: a Gaza completely without Palestinians. One of the interviewees believes that the Palestinian people as a whole bear responsibility for Hamas’s attacks on October 7, 2023:

– They are accomplices of the crime, they are supportive of it and they were part of it and we just have to say again it is not going to happen again.

He confirms that the Jewish settler movement wants to take over all of Gaza, but could not answer what should happen to the more than two million Palestinians currently living there:

– Lets find some creative solution. We don’t want them to die, and that’s different from what they want. We want them to be displaced, 100%, so lets work together.

“We want to finish the job”

When the journalist notes that large parts of Gaza are already in ruins, he responds:

– We want to finish the job.

Despite several settlers openly advocating for ethnic cleansing, they claim they are not extreme, and testimonies about attacks on Palestinian families, burned houses, and cars are dismissed as false.

Instead, they describe war and ethnic cleansing as potentially necessary – a path to lasting peace – and point to Germany during World War II as a historical example.

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Swedish minister praises Israel’s destruction of Gaza: “Doing the whole world a service”

The genocide in Gaza

Published 6 August 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Swedish politician Ebba Busch and her party's support for Israel continues to be virtually limitless - despite warnings of ethnic cleansing, genocide and war crimes.
3 minute read

While increasing voices condemn the Israeli invasion of Gaza as an ongoing genocide and Prime Minister Netanyahu openly speaks of occupying the entire area, Swedish Christian Democrat leader Ebba Busch chooses instead to praise Israel’s war.

— Israel is doing the whole world a service, she declares, pointing to Hamas as solely responsible for the suffering and destruction in the region.

The statement comes after the Swedish government announced it wants to freeze the EU’s trade agreement with Israel, in an attempt to increase pressure to get humanitarian aid into Gaza. But the decision has met with criticism, particularly from the Christian Democrats – a party that has long acted as one of Israel’s most loyal defenders in Swedish politics, support that seems unaffected by whatever war crimes or crimes against humanity Israel has been accused of.

Busch herself expresses some reservation about the government’s line, arguing that the message was presented in an unbalanced way:

— The focus became one-sided, she claims.

In a Facebook post, the Christian Democrat leader writes that the government’s position may be reconsidered:

“If Israel does more or if it turns out that there is no basis for Israel bearing a great responsibility for the emergency aid not getting through, there is no reason to maintain the government’s position”.

She adds that “it is unambiguous that Hamas bears the great responsibility for the war and the human suffering in Gaza”.

“Need to increase pressure on Hamas”

While Israel’s invasion and bombings have led to tens of thousands of killed women and children, extensive civilian devastation and harsh international condemnations, Busch chooses to fully defend the country’s actions.

— The root of the war we see between Israel and Hamas is precisely Hamas. It was Hamas that started this war with the terrible terrorist act almost two years ago. It is Hamas that chooses to continue holding hostages, it is Hamas that chooses not to sign peace agreements. And we need to increase pressure on Hamas to lay down their weapons, she says.

— Israel is doing the whole world a service in trying to neutralize Hamas and trying to dissolve Hamas.

When asked if she stands behind the government’s message about working to freeze the trade agreement, Busch answers:

— We have opened up for the far-reaching measure of putting higher economic pressure on Israel, if it is the case that Israel is not doing everything within reason’s limits to let humanitarian support through.

Won’t comment on occupation plans

Recently, the Jerusalem Post reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to occupy the entire Gaza Strip. Busch, however, does not want to reveal whether she supports these plans or not.

— I haven’t seen that and then I don’t want to comment on it.

The government’s message has also stirred emotions domestically. The very pro-Israeli Sweden Democrats’ party leader Jimmie Åkesson called the decision a “disaster” in a post on X. Ebba Busch, however, does not want to answer whether the Sweden Democrats can be given influence over foreign policy going forward:

— Now we have the agreement that we have now, she says.

A poem about the children in Gaza while the world watches

The genocide in Gaza

The children cry from hunger and dream of peace – but the world remains silent. Swedish artist and poet Malin Sellergren depicts the unbearable reality of children in this poem.

Published 5 August 2025
2 minute read

Daily terror, daily pain,
children cry in Gaza’s rain.
Six thousand trucks with food denied,
they starve while waiting on the side.

The bombs fall hard, the homes are gone,
on the cold ground they sleep until dawn.
At night they scream from endless fear,
by day they cry with hunger near.

When will this torment find its end?
When will the broken hearts still find mend?
No bread to eat, no life to live,
a mother’s boy had love to give.

He thought, I made it, almost there!
but bullets struck and stilled his air.
So many tried for food that day,
the soldiers came and shot their way.

And in the streets, so many fall,
just children, innocent through all.
For they were born in Palestine,
their lives erased, erased in line.

The world’s afraid, its leaders weak,
they whisper low, but dare not speak.
Sanctions stall, while time runs thin,
should we boycott oranges… or tangerines?

Yet weapons flow from west to east,
while crumbs are dropped, a guilty feast.
Millions starve, their hope is small,
the world looks on, and does not call.

No one dares to say “Enough!”
Israel’s hand is far too tough.
And those who speak are smeared with hate,
their voices drowned, their words too late.

Meanwhile children pay the price,
their lives are bartered, sacrificed.
Leaders claim this land their own,
they crush the seeds the kids have sown.

But still, among the ash and flame,
the children whisper freedom’s name.
Though caught in Gaza on the street
some of their hearts still beat.

 

Malin Sellergren, PoeticArtstories

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.

Investigation: Children systematically shot dead in Gaza

The genocide in Gaza

Published 4 August 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Palestinian children in Gaza are killed almost routinely - and not infrequently by Israeli snipers.
2 minute read

A new investigation by the British public broadcaster BBC highlights the extent of deadly violence against children in Gaza since the invasion began in autumn 2023.

The investigation has documented 168 cases where children were shot dead, of which 95 were hit in the head or chest, and concludes that the majority of victims were younger than 12 years old when they were killed.

The investigation is based on interviews with doctors, eyewitnesses and human rights organizations as well as hundreds of photos, videos, medical documents and autopsy records. It covers the period from October 2023 to July 2025.

In 57 of the cases where children were killed by shots to the head or chest, the Israeli army is identified as responsible, according to consistent witness testimonies and documentation. Two cases have been linked to Palestinian actors, while the remaining 36 remain unclear.

Notably, several of the deaths occurred in areas designated as safe by Israeli authorities. Among the documented cases is two-year-old Layan, who according to reports was killed together with her father, as well as six-year-old Mira, who was shot in the back by a sniper in an evacuation corridor marked as “safe”.

Several children are also reported to have been shot while playing outside their tents in temporary protection zones or trying to make their way through evacuation routes.

Human shields

When BBC confronted the Israeli military with its findings, a spokesperson responded that “unintended or erroneous harm may occur in the course of combat” and in the case of six-year-old Mira, the military said that the fact that someone was harmed “does not necessarily indicate a violation of the law”.

According to Gaza’s health ministry, over 50,000 children have been killed or injured by Israeli fire since October 2023.

The UN agency UNRWA, which is responsible for support to Palestinian refugees, has in several reports accused Israeli forces of deliberately shooting unarmed children. In a statement, UNRWA states that the equivalent of “a classroom of children” is killed every day in Gaza.

Previously, the Israeli military has also repeatedly been accused of using Palestinian civilians – including children – as human shields during searches of buildings and ruins – an action that has put them in mortal danger.

The use of this “tactic” has also been confirmed by Israeli soldiers.

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