Saturday, February 15, 2025
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Polaris of Enlightenment

Saturday, February 15, 2025

Polaris of Enlightenment

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https://nordictimes.com/world/leaked-un-report-200-un-workers-killed-in-gaza/

World

Leaked UN report: 200 UN workers killed in Gaza

The situation in Gaza

Published 25 July 2024
– By Editorial Staff
UNRWA staff in Gaza.
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A leaked UN report reveals that Israel’s invasion and bombardment of Gaza killed 195 UN workers and 172 family members by the end of June this year.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced strong criticism and widespread protests during his speech to the US Congress on Wednesday. Not least since a leaked secret UN report shows serious war crimes committed by the IDF, dropsitenews reports.

Among the meetings scheduled during Netanyahu’s state visit are those with US President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. However, Ms. Harris has decided not to appear with Mr. Netanyahu during his speech.

– We are watching the situation with concern, said an anonymous US spokesperson.

UN report reveals deaths

According to the UN Crisis Coordination Centre, Israel’s attacks have resulted in a large number of deaths among relatives of staff of various UN agencies. Five deaths are linked to the UN Development Program, four to UNICEF, three to the World Food Program and two to the World Health Organization.

UNRWA – the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees – suffered the greatest loss, with 158 family members killed. In May, the UN announced that 188 UNRWA workers had been killed in Israeli attacks, but the number of their relatives killed was not previously known.

“The UN has suffered heavy losses”, the report said.

The report also shows that attacks against UN personnel continue. Over the weekend, a UN convoy was fired upon by Israeli forces, despite prior coordination with Israeli authorities.

State Department spokesman Matt Miller said on Monday that the US had requested information from Israel about the latest attack on the convoy, adding that he appreciated the “enormous sacrifice and enormous risk humanitarian workers put themselves under”.

The latest UN report is one of a series critical of Israel’s actions in Gaza, with the UN Special Rapporteur saying there are “reasonable grounds to believe” that Israel’s actions may amount to genocide, supported by an earlier ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Violence escalates

On July 22, Israeli forces killed 89 people and injured at least 250 in a new attack on Khan Younis.Bombings in Gaza have continued and much of the territory is virtually uninhabitable. While American support for Israel remains strong in the US, there is also growing opposition to Netanyahu’s visit. Several members of Congress are boycotting his speech, and protests are being planned by groups such as Jewish Voice for Peace. Meanwhile, Hamas officials are also criticizing US policy.

– It reflects that the complicit American policies towards the conflict here is a non-partisan issue and regardless who will win the election the blind and disgraceful support of USA to Israel will continue, said Basem Naim, a spokesman for the US-designated terrorist group Hamas.

According to Matt Miller, Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with a senior UN official this week and discussed the issue.Asked if the U.S. is prepared to impose any kind of consequences if Israel continues to kill aid workers, Miller said, “I don’t have anything to read out on that at this time”.

Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

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https://nordictimes.com/world/israeli-army-shelled-its-own-on-october-7/

World

Israeli army shelled its own on October 7

The situation in Gaza

Published 10 February 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Yoav Gallant was dismissed as Minister of Defense on 5 November.
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Former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant now admits that the Israeli military used the much-criticized Hannibal Directive during the Hamas-led attack on 7 October 2023.

The military protocol allows for the use of lethal force – even if it carries a very high risk of killing hostages – and aims to prevent Israeli prisoners from falling into enemy hands.

– I think that, tactically, in some places, it was given, and in other places, it was not given, and that is a problem, Gallant said in an interview with Israel’s Channel 12.

The policy has long been the subject of harsh criticism, including from Israel, and is believed to have been used unofficially in several conflicts. The directive prioritizes preventing the enemy from gaining an advantage over protecting the lives of its own soldiers.

One version of the directive states that “kidnapping must be stopped by all means, even at the price of striking and harming our own forces”.

Tanks and helicopters

According to figures from Israeli authorities, Hamas killed around 1,100 Israeli soldiers and civilians during the 2023 attack – but Gallant’s admission is interpreted by analysts as meaning that many of these may in fact have been killed by the Israeli military instead.

In connection with the October 7 attacks, the Israeli army deployed helicopters, drones and tanks on its own territory to fight Hamas, and an unknown number of Israelis are believed to have lost their lives during that operation.

Mr. Gallant has not commented on how many of his own citizens may have been killed during the Israeli counter-offensive, but according to witnesses, Israeli attack helicopters were used to fire on civilian targets at the Nova music festival, near the Reím military base.

“Shot at civilians”

An independent international commission concluded last May in a report submitted to the UN Human Rights Council that

“The Commission is aware of allegations that ISF used the “Hannibal Directive” to prevent the capture of Israeli civilians and their transfer to Gaza, even at the cost of killing them. Such allegations were made in relation to ISF actions in the Nova site, including reports of ISF attack helicopters shooting at Israeli civilian cars, resulting in the killing of Israelis”.

“The Commission confirmed the presence of at least eight attack helicopters in various locations on 7 October, but it could not confirm that they shot at civilians or civilian cars, including in the area of the festival. The Commission documented one statement by an ISF tank crew, confirming that the crew had applied the Hannibal Directive by shooting at a vehicle which they suspected was transporting abducted ISF soldiers”.

“The Commission also verified information indicating that, in at least two other cases, ISF had likely applied the Hannibal Directive, resulting in the killing of up to 14 Israeli civilians. One woman was killed by ISF helicopter fire while being abducted from Nir Oz to Gaza by militants. In another case the Commission found that Israeli tank fire killed some or all of the 13 civilian hostages held in a house in Be’eri”.

Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

https://nordictimes.com/world/israeli-defense-minister-europe-should-take-in-gazas-population/

World

Israeli defense minister: Europe should take in Gaza’s population

Population replacement in the West

Published 9 February 2025
– By Editorial Staff
“The people of Gaza should have the right to freedom of movement and migration, as is customary everywhere in the world”, said the Minister of Defense.
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Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz praises Trump’s plans for the US to take control of the Gaza Strip.

He also emphasizes that European countries are legally obliged to take in Gaza’s Palestinian population and that their “hypocrisy will be exposed” if they refuse.

The Nordic Times has previously reported on Trump’s plans to take control of the Gaza Strip and permanently empty the area of Palestinians.

Like Netanyahu, Katz praises the plans, describing them as a “bold initiative”. He also claims that European countries are legally obliged to receive the displaced Palestinians and that he expects this to happen.

“Countries such as Spain, Ireland, Norway, and others, which have falsely accused Israel over its actions in Gaza, are legally obligated to allow Gazans to enter their territory. Their hypocrisy will be exposed if they refuse. Meanwhile, countries like Canada, which has a structured immigration program, have previously expressed willingness to take in residents from Gaza”, he writes.

“The people of Gaza should have the right to freedom of movement and migration, as is customary everywhere in the world”, the Minister of Defense further argues.

Mr. Katz announces that he has instructed the Israeli army to “allow any resident of Gaza who wishes to leave to do so, to any country willing to receive them”. The plan is to deport the Palestinian civilian population, partly via land crossings, but also by ship and airplane.

Unclear how Sweden will be affected

The Swedish government has so far refused to distance itself from or condemn the Israeli genocide in Gaza. Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson will not even answer whether the systematic bombing of Palestinian hospitals falls within the scope of proportionate self-defence.

Instead of pressuring Israel, he has chosen to focus on protecting Israeli interests in Sweden – for example, by monitoring parts of Stockholm with drones around the clock.

Historically, Sweden has also been hit very hard by mass immigration in connection with conflicts and wars in the Middle East – but there is no information yet on how many Palestinians the government plans to accept this time.

Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

https://nordictimes.com/world/trump-us-to-take-over-gaza-and-deport-all-palestinians/

World

Trump: US to take over Gaza – and deport all Palestinians

Donald Trump's USA

Published 6 February 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Trump and Netanyahu during yesterday's press conference.
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In a stunning announcement on Tuesday, President Donald Trump declared that the US will “take over” the entire Gaza Strip, “level the site” and then rebuild it.

The US President also believes that the two million Palestinians currently living in the area must leave Gaza permanently.

– They instead can occupy all of a beautiful area with homes and safety, and they can live out their lives in peace and harmony in other areas or countries, he said at a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

– The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it, too. We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site. Level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings and create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area, the President continued.

Gaza, according to Trump, will be transformed into the “Riviera of the Middle East”. However, it is not mainly Palestinians in Gaza who will benefit from this prosperity – instead, “people from all over the world will live there”.

“Can’t live in Gaza”

Trump wants the entire Palestinian population to be permanently relocated to other countries – such as neighboring Jordan and Egypt.

– We should go to other countries of interest with humanitarian hearts, and there are many of them that want to do this, and build various domains that will ultimately be occupied by the 1.8 million Palestinians living in Gaza.

Forcing the entire Palestinian population to leave their homes forever has, according to the President, great advantages – because in such a scenario they’re “going to have peace” and will not be shot at and killed.

– The only reason the Palestinians want to go back to Gaza is they have no alternative.

“Everyone loves the idea”

He also believes that a US “long-term ownership” of Gaza will “bring great stability” to the region – and that this is a very popular idea back home in the US.

– Everybody I have spoken to loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land.

Asked if the displaced Palestinians will have the right to return in the future, the President says this is not an issue.

– It would be my hope that we could do something really nice, really good, where they wouldn’t want to return. Why would they want to return? That place has been hell.

“Fresh ideas”

Speaking briefly after Trump, Netanyahu praised the US president for his “fresh ideas”.

– I believe, Mr. President, that your willingness to puncture conventional thinking, thinking that has failed time and time and time again, your willingness to think outside the box with fresh ideas will help us achieve all these goals.

Jordan and Egypt have so far resisted taking in millions of displaced Palestinians – but Trump said he still had “a feeling” that the countries’ leaders “will open their hearts and will give us the kind of land that we need to get this done. And people can live in harmony and peace”.

Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

https://nordictimes.com/world/mep-at-the-holocaust-ceremony-in-brussels-let-us-pray-for-the-victims-in-gaza/

World

MEP at the Holocaust ceremony in Brussels: “Let us pray for the victims in Gaza”

The situation in Gaza

Published 31 January 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Grzegorz Braun has recently attracted attention for several controversial actions.
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The European Parliament’s annual minute’s silence for the victims of the Holocaust on Wednesday was interrupted by Polish MEP Grzegorz Braun, who instead focused on Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Gaza.

– Let us pray for the victims of the Jewish genocide in Gaza, Braun declared and then repeated his call once more.

 

– Thank you very much, thank you very much, for your prayers for the victims of the Jewish genocide in Gaza, Braun repeated once more before the minute of silence ended.

According to Braun, he did not interfere with the purpose of the ceremony, but rather wanted to draw attention to how some victims of war crimes and genocide are valued more than others.

“I shared the observation that all victims are apparently equal, but some are more equal than others”, he explained afterwards.

Dragged out of the room

The move was not appreciated by the President, Roberta Metsola, who shortly afterwards ordered Braun to be dragged from the room. Braun’s outburst has been described by critics as “hateful rhetoric”, with Dutch Christian Democrat Bert-Jan Ruissen, among others, calling for Braun to be punished and subjected to the “highest possible sanctions” that the EU body can impose.

Braun is a member of the national conservative party Korona, the “Crown”, and is running for president in Poland later this year. He has come under fire for strong statements against the Jewish lobby and for demolishing a sign for an official press conference on COVID passports when they were launched in Poland.

Perhaps Braun’s most high-profile action in the past was when he used a fire extinguisher to put out a Jewish candlestick (menorah) placed in the Polish Parliament for the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah.

– The people participating in the Satanic cult should be ashamed, he declared in connection with this event.

Following the incident, Mr. Braun was suspended for six months and legal proceedings were initiated. However, Braun later followed up the high-profile action by condemning Jewish racism against European nations in the Polish Parliament.

Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com