Israel & Palestine: Two-state solution is the only path to peace

[dsanchez]

100% with Kerry on this. He said this 7 years ago, too bad the situation didn't change much since then :(

[dsanchez]

Good interview on the current situation

[dsanchez]

South Africa brought Israel to the ICJ:

[dsanchez]

Great journalism in action

[dsanchez]

Bassem Youssef always to the point:

[dsanchez]

The Hague's ICJ will delivers its Order in the case South Africa v. Israel in a few minutes:

https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1eaJbgwXkPqxX

[Ulrich]

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-68162920

Israelis who dealt with the bodies of victims of Hamas's 7 October attacks on Israel have told British MPs and peers that there was "deliberate, systematic genital mutilation" of female victims and that there was "no question" that some had been sexually assaulted.

Business Secretary and Minister for Women Kemi Badenoch said all the reports must be fully investigated and sexual violence must be condemned. "Rape is not resistance," she stated.

Hamas has denied its gunmen sexually assaulted women during the attacks.

But a senior Israeli police officer said her force had "clear evidence" that rape and other acts of sexual violence had been committed on a scale large enough to define it as a crime against humanity.

[dsanchez]

Yanis was due to deliver this speech to a Congress on Palestine in Berlin today but the German police broke up the congress and stopped it from broadcasting:

[Ulrich]

the German police broke up the congress

The reason for this was very clear, by the way. One bloke who supports Hamas terrorists, is not allowed any political activity within Germany:

https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/regional/berlin/palaestina-kongress-berlin-100.html

Innensenatorin Iris Spranger (SPD) hatte zuvor ein konsequentes Vorgehen der Polizei im Zusammenhang mit dem "Palästina-Kongress" angekündigt. Sie sagte dem rbb, es gebe klare Auflagen für die Veranstaltung und diese müssten eingehalten werden. Sollten bei dem Kongress Hass und Hetze verbreitet werden, werde die Veranstaltung sofort aufgelöst. Man werde insbesondere dann konsequent einschreiten, wenn Teilnehmer das Existenzrecht Israels infrage stellen würden.

Bei der Veranstaltung war eine Videobotschaft des palästinensischen Autors Salman Abu Sitta abgespielt worden. Gegen Abu Sitta liegen ein Einreiseverbot nach Deutschland sowie ein politisches Betätigungsverbot vor. Der inzwischen 86-Jährige soll nach Medienberichten Anfang des Jahres in einem Blog geschrieben haben, dass er an dem Überfall der Hamas teilgenommen hätte, wenn er jünger gewesen wäre.

In other news:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68810053

Iran has launched hundreds of aerial drones and missiles at Israel, marking a widely anticipated reprisal attack.

It is the first such direct clash between the two enemies, who have been engaged in a years-long shadow war, with Iran using proxy forces.

The Israeli military said Israel and other countries had intercepted more than 300 cruise missiles and drones, mostly outside Israeli airspace.

US President Joe Biden said "we helped Israel take down nearly all" of them.

The name "Iran" says it all: "I ran". 

[Ulrich]

This interview is very good (get it translated):

https://www.iz3w.org/artikel/saba-nur-cheema-linke-antisemitismus-antimuslimischer-rassismus

Der Nahostkonflikt war schon immer eine Projektionsfläche, bei der man sich jeweils auf der moralisch richtigen Seite wähnt. Man überträgt ein dichotomes Weltbild, in dem es entweder Kolonisatoren oder Unterdrückte, letztlich Gut oder Böse gibt, auf diesen Kontext. Viele Menschen haben falsche oder unzureichende Kenntnisse über die Geschichte der Region, einschließlich des Glaubens, dass vor 1948 keine Jüdinnen und Juden dort gelebt hätten. Aus dieser Sicht sieht man Israel als Kolonialstaat und die indigene Bevölkerung sind die Palästinenser*innen. Daraus wird dann geschlossen, dass Israel als neokolonialer Staat abgeschafft und bekämpft werden muss. In großen Teilen des muslimischen und migrantischen Milieus und der Linken gab es daher keine bis wenig Empathie für die israelischen Opfer des Massakers vom 7. Oktober. Viele schwiegen zu dem Massaker am 7. Oktober und fanden dann erst für Israels militärische Antwort dramatische Begriffe wie ,Genozid' oder ,Vergleiche mit dem Warschauer Ghetto'. Und dann gibt es leider nicht wenige in der Linken, die die Hamas als Widerstandsorganisation oder das Massaker vom 7. Oktober als Befreiungsaktion bewerten.

Gleichzeitig fehlte es gerade anfänglich auch in der deutschen Politik an Empathie gegenüber der Zivilbevölkerung in Gaza, während man volle Unterstützung für das israelische Militärvorgehen äußerte. Die politische Unfähigkeit und Unbeholfenheit, klare Aussagen zu zivilen Opfern und dem Leid in Gaza zu treffen, schafft eine gesellschaftliche Kluft. Dass es in einer Migrationsgesellschaft unterschiedliche Perspektiven gibt, wird ausgeblendet. Es wird nicht ernstgenommen, dass Menschen etwa Angehörige vor Ort haben und auch trauern wollen.

[dsanchez]

In other news:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68810053

Iran has launched hundreds of aerial drones and missiles at Israel, marking a widely anticipated reprisal attack.

It is the first such direct clash between the two enemies, who have been engaged in a years-long shadow war, with Iran using proxy forces.

The Israeli military said Israel and other countries had intercepted more than 300 cruise missiles and drones, mostly outside Israeli airspace.

US President Joe Biden said "we helped Israel take down nearly all" of them.

Iran's response to their consulate attack in Syria by Israel was expected. Under international law, that attack was considered an act of war. If a US consulate was bombed by, let's say Peru, US would have the right to bomb back Peru:

https://press.un.org/en/2024/sc15650.doc.htm
https://www.vox.com/world-politics/2024/4/13/24129726/israel-iran-drone-missile-retaliation

[dsanchez]

the German police broke up the congress

The reason for this was very clear, by the way. One bloke who supports Hamas terrorists, is not allowed any political activity within Germany:

Fair enough, but probably they could have banned this person (which I think they did) and leave the congress continue. For instance, there was no reason to ban Yanis' speech.

[dsanchez]

Parsi on Iran's response to Israel attack to their consulate:

There is a historical example that shows that the Iranian retaliation against Israel could perhaps have been evaded.

The US, UK, and France prevented the UN Security Council from condemning the Israeli attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus despite it being a flagrant violation of international law. The Iranians have hinted that had the UNSC strongly condemned Israel, Iran might have refrained from retaliating against it. Most observers have dismissed the Iranian claim, assessing that Tehran would have acted anyway.

But there is a historical example involving Iran and an attack on an Iranian consulate in which the UNSC acted swiftly and prevented an Iranian retaliation.

It was September 1998. The Taliban had just taken Mazar-e Sharif in Afghanistan and attacked the Iranian consulate there, executing several Iranian diplomats. I was working for the Swedish Permanent UN Mission at the time and Sweden was not only in the UNSC, it held the presidency of the Council that month.

The Iranian demand on Sweden was clear: Although Iran had mobilized on the border to Afghanistan and was ready to attack, a strong condemnation by the UNSC and its presidency could provide Iran with a face-saving exit and the larger war could be avoided.
Sweden ensured that the attack on the consulate - a flagrant violation of the Vienna Convention - was appropriately condemned, and Iran never retaliated against the Taliban militarily, despite the Taliban's clear aggression.

In both cases, an Iranian consulate had been attacked and several Iranian officials had been killed. In both cases, Iran did not want to go to war. But in one case, the UNSC condemned the aggression and Iranian retaliation was evaded. On the other, the US, UK, and France put their support for Israel above international law and prevented the UNSC from condemning the attack, and we are now in the middle of the Iranian retaliation.

Certainly, the 1998 episode does not prove that Iran's retaliation against Israel today could have been prevented. But it does suggest that there was an opportunity to de-escalate that the US/UK/FR ignored or dismissed.

Then again, that fits perfectly with Biden's record of the past 7 months as opportunity after opportunity to de-escalate and end the war in Gaza has been actively dismissed by him.

[dsanchez]

Good article about yesterday's events:

This weekend's air raids in the Middle East set a lot of records. Iran carried out its first ever direct attack on Israel from Iranian territory, launching an unprecedentedly large swarm of drones and missiles against Israeli military bases. And for the first time in history, U.S. troops engaged in direct combat in defense of Israeli territory.

https://reason.com/2024/04/14/biden-sends-u-s-forces-to-protect-israels-borders-for-the-first-time-ever/

[Ulrich]

Fair enough, but probably they could have banned this person (which I think they did) and leave the congress continue.

No, I'll try & translate the sentence for you, the Inner Senator of Berlin had said:
"there are clear conditions the congress has to comply with, otherwise it will be ended".

They had a banned person make a video speech - hence the consequences.