NoW UPDATE: GAZA

GAZA—On 25 March, the UNSC (United Nations Security Council) issued a resolution demanding a ceasefire in Gaza during Ramadan and for the “immediate release of hostages and for ensuring humanitarian access to Gaza”.  The vote was 14 yeas and 1 abstention. All ten, non-permanent SC members (E-10) voted in favour of the resolution, as did four permanent members (France, Britain, China, and Russia) with the fifth, the United States, abstaining. Note: each permanent member has veto power over any resolution brought before the SC. The vote comes after four previous Security Council ceasefire votes since 7 October. Of these, three were vetoed by the U.S. and one vetoed by Russia and China (who found the language in the proposal too vague to actually demand a ceasefire from Israel). And contrary to what UN ambassador for the United States Linda Thomas-Greenfield and U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said after the successful fifth ceasefire vote, the UNSC resolution is indeed binding, “in accordance with Article 25 of the UN Charter which was ratified by the US.” (Al Jazeera). In other words, it becomes a statute in international law. That’s what a resolution voted on and passed by the Security Council is supposed to do. Duh!

Both Thomas-Greenfield and Miller claimed the UNSC "Resolution-2728" was non-binding, that is, Israel did not have to comply with the SC’s decision. Wrong. Israel is obligated under the UN charter to obey the Council’s order, and the Security Council is obligated to find a mechanism to enforce it. (What about stopping oil shipments via Turkey to Israel? Weapon sales? What about sanctions?)

Furthermore, on 28 March the ICJ (International Court of Justice), which is an institution founded by—but separate from—the United Nations, issued a new order:*

 

“…in view of the worsening conditions of life faced by Palestinians in Gaza, in particular the spread of famine and starvation, [Israel shall take] all necessary and effective measures to ensure, without delay, in full cooperation with the United Nations, the unhindered provision at scale by all concerned of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to Palestinians throughout Gaza”. (ICJ)

 

WHILE Israel has scaled back its bombing and shelling of Gaza somewhat, there is still the ugly matter of people inside the enclave suffering acute food insecurity. Cases of death by starvation, in northern Gaza particularly, are becoming daily occurrences with the infirm, elderly and, of course, children most at risk. There is simply not enough food and medical supplies entering Gaza due to onerous Israeli inspection procedures, as well as radical Israeli settlers protesting at the entrance gates and slowing down or stalling altogether relief trucks from entering.

A FURTHER PROBLEM is the chaotic conditions within Gaza itself, with over 60% of the infrastructure (roads, sewage, water, hydro, public buildings, schools, hospitals, homes) destroyed by Israeli bombs and shelling. Relief agencies can’t get to those in need rapidly enough or at all. And we are reminded that UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) operations have been stopped due to claims by Israel that members of the agency aided Hamas militants on 7 October. However, no reliable proof has been forthcoming from the Netanyahu government, yet funding for the agency was stopped by several Western governments, including Canada (which has since resumed its funding) solely on this unsubstantiated assertion. Legislation pending in the U.S. will curtail until next year that country's UNRWA support to the tune of hundreds of million of dollars. 

 

    JLOTS vessel en route.

And even if members of the relief organization had somehow aided Hamas, should the entire operation be shut down? UNRWA was the largest relief agency in Gaza, with thousands of staff and has operated there for decades. Hamas, it must be remembered, is also a political party, chosen by Gazans in a fair election several years ago. It runs (or ran) governmental services in Gaza, and it would be surprising, indeed, if UNRWA staff had nothing to do with Hamas in the course of their work. As well as providing daily food aid to Gazans, UNRWA operated schools there. Other relief agencies like the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, World Central Kitchens, Oxfam, Médecines Sans Frontières are there but hopelessly understaffed and in no way able to bring in and distribute food, potable water, and medical aid to adequately address the humanitarian crisis unfolding before our eyes. 

 

    Example of proposed JLOTS quay.

IN RECENT WEEKS there have been air drops of supplies from the US and other countries like France and Jordon into Gaza that Israel allows to fly in (wholly inadequate to the task, of course), as well as a temporary pier being constructed by a relief charity “World Central Kitchen” (WCK)⁺ run by celebrity chef, Jose Andres. The charity is bringing barge loads of food into Gaza, with the Israeli military set to distribute it. Incidentally, the jetty being built south of the Gazan city of Jabalia, uses rubble from the houses and buildings destroyed in Israel’s relentless bombing and shelling campaign, now in its sixth month. Palestinians, whose destroyed houses the construction crews excavate for their work, are not consulted whether they wish their former homes to be used in this manner. Grotesquely, it is quite possible that the remains of individuals killed in the bombing and buried in the rubble will be become part of WCK’s temporary jetty.

AND SPEAKING of quays, the United States is sending a Joint Logistics Over-The-Shore (JLOTS) construction convoy to build another “temporary offshore maritime pier” where aid ships can dock, and relief supplies can be offloaded.

ONCE COMPLETED in late May or early June, the facility could, theoretically, scale up relief efforts to begin to address the food and medical supply needs of a large number of Gazans. Problem is, people are starving now.

 

OKAY. I’m sorry I made you read all that—all the blather about court cases, and international law, logistic difficulties during a famine, and wowser pier engineering feats, etc. Let’s make it simple:

 

👉God did not grant the Jewish people a homeland in the Levant.

👉ISRAEL is a settler-colonial, apartheid state. It has been so since its inception in 1948 and certainly after the 1967 war when it annexed the Golan Heights, West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.

👉The United States could stop this bloodbath in a heartbeat by cutting off arms shipments and money to Israel. Easy peasey. 

👉Zionism is a political, not a religious, set of doctrines, first articulated by Theodor Hertzl in the late 1890s. It cloaks its racism in a thin veneer of religiosity.

👉Zionism’s core tenet is that the biblical lands of Palestine belong to people of the Jewish faith, “from the river to the sea”. It is a racist ideology that today promotes Jewish-Israeli exceptionalism and superiority over Palestinian Arabs. Joe Biden proudly calls himself a "Zionist."

It's disturbing to realize that a majority of Israelis favour what the IDF (Israel Defense Force) is doing in Gaza. And cabinet is behind the military operation 100%.

👉The idea of Jews ‘reinhabiting’ Palestine had been around since the Nineteenth Century. The secret Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1917 divided up the Ottoman Empire between France, Britain, and Russia, in anticipation of an eventual victory over Germany and its allies.

    British Mandate c. 1920

👉The 1917 Balfour Declaration promoted as British policy a Jewish “home” in Palestine. BTW, the wording is precise here—it did not call for a Jewish state. Only a 'home' for Jews in Palestine. After WWI, Britain administered the territory, and facilitated Jewish immigration to Palestine over the objections of the indigenous Arab communities living there, who comprised 90% of the population, with Jews a mere 10% at the start of the British Mandate in 1920. By 1935, the Jewish population had risen to 27%. Conflict between Arabs, Jews and the British army continued throughout the 25 years or so the British ruled Palestine until the state of Israel was recognized by the United Nations in 1948.¹ 

 

    Pre-WWII Proposed Palestine Borders

👉The years between the world wars saw thousands of deaths through conflicts between Jewish and Arab militias, culminating in the 1947-48 civil war that saw the ethnic cleansing of around 750,000 Palestinian Arabs from their towns and villages, many ending up in Jordon, Syria, Lebanon, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. 

👉This period is known as the “Nakba”, an Arabic word meaning “The Catastrophe”. The Gaza Strip was administered by Egypt until the 1967 War when Israel made it part of their territory.  

👉When elections were held in the Palestinian territories in 2007, the West Bank voted for the Fatah party while the Hamas party was elected in Gaza.

👉In 2008, due to its security concerns with Hamas, Israel blockaded Gaza, preventing any viable Palestinian state from developing in the enclave. The blockade remains in place to this day.

👉A small percentage of Gazans crossed daily to work in Israel. There were local businesses in Gaza but unemployment levels were among the highest in the world. There are young Palestinians who have spent their entire lives behind the walls in Gaza. It has no functioning port for international trade and its airport was destroyed by Israel in 2008.

👉Israel controls all humanitarian aid and supplies into Gaza which has been described as the “world’s largest open-air prison.”

👉Israel has conducted five major military operations into Gaza since the 2008 blockade, which are euphemistically referred to as “mowing the lawn”. Previously, the longest operation was in 2014 lasting 50 days. Today’s brutal assault is in its sixth month.

👉To be clear, since the 1967 War, and arguably earlier, Israel’s intention was always to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from 'their' land. All of them.

👉On 7 October, Hamas militias attacked Israel kibbutzim and military posts, killing upwards of 1200 people, and taking around 250 hostages. In their response to the attack, the hard-right Israeli government saw this as an opportunity to make their ethnic cleansing goals a reality, especially since the majority of its population, like Americans did after 9/11, demanded retribution.

👉At last count, some 33,000, mostly women and children (65-70% of total deaths), have been killed by Israeli bombing and shelling with over 75,000 injured. This is a low estimate given there are 1000s still missing and presumed buried under the rubble. Much of the enclave lay in ruins, with its population forced into the southern city of Rafah and environs. Israel does not intend they ever return to their homes.

👉Israel is razing Gaza to the ground, making it unlivable, with much of its critical infrastructure and homes turned to rubble. And they will do the same in the West Bank.

👉Starvation is a near-term probability, especially in northern Gaza where more than 300,000 Palestinians remain.

👉The use of starvation as a tactic in war is a war crime. 

👉A dock is being built on the Gazan shore to bring in relief supplies in by sea while hundreds of relief trucks are lined up in Egypt at the Rafah border crossing ready to bring in food, water, and medical supplies now.

 

👉The docks [The U.S. will build a larger quay. ETC is early June.] being built will eventually be used to ship Palestinians from their homeland into Europe or parts unknown. Gazans will become this century's "Boat People."

👉For decades, Israel has ignored UN calls to return to the pre-1967 borders and leave occupied Palestinian lands. It ignores the UN and, with American backing, it continues doing so. It seems like the Security Council's rulings, the ICJ's deliberations, all the diplomatic wrangling and hand wringing are for naught, that they are "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." (Macbeth) But, given time, they may yet turn Israel from the dark path it has taken. World opinion is turning against it. 

👉Meanwhile, Zionist Israel continues to attrit and immure the population of Gaza, even as radical settlers gleefully begin parceling out Gazan land for condos and beach front property.

👉As it commits genocide and ethnic cleansing in Gaza, it denies it commits genocide and ethnic cleansing.

👉And the future? MAYBE Israel makes their land an exclusively Jewish state "from the river to the sea." In doing so it becomes a pariah state, shunned by the world community. MAYBE it plans to wait-it-out until the world forgets what they did and then it's back to business as usual. Or MAYBE this whole clusterfuk goes pear-shaped and a larger, regional war is ignited. Then all bets are off.

👉Whatever the outcome, it's likely Gaza will be turned "into a parking lot" and Palestinian Gazans driven from their homeland. 

 

Cheers, Jake. ______________________________________

 

* Recall that on 29 December 2023, South Africa made an application with the World Court accusing Israel of the crime of genocide. The ICJ is currently in the process of weighing all the evidence and will make a ruling, perhaps later this year. On 26 January 2024, the Court issued its preliminary findings, saying it would take up South Africa’s submission and begin deliberations on the question of Israel’s complicity in genocide. It also issued provisional measures, essentially ‘cease and desist’ orders for Israel (stop killing civilians, let humanitarian aid in, stop destroying infrastructure, etc.)  The ICJ’s 28 March “new order”, is a modification to its “provisional measures” decree to address the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Israel will ignore the ICJ's ruling as it has ignored the 25 March United Nations Security Council's resolution.

 

^{+ UPDATE: A CWK (Central World Kitchen) convoy was struck by either an Israeli drone or missile, last night. April Fools! Seven aid workers were killed returning to their warehouse from the new dock the relief organization had built. CWK is suspending its Gaza operations. PM Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, say it was an accident and promise an investigation into the incident. 💥 [Looks like a bulls-eye to me. Just sayin'. Ed.]}

1.One reason the British took this part of the Levant for their spoils after WWI was to keep Egypt and the Suez Canal within their sphere of influence. The Great Powers of the time divided up the Middle East (and just about everywhere else) between them and there’s been problems in the region ever since. 

 

[I should mention Yemen's Houthis who are blocking access to the Suez Canal for ships that are Israel-bound, as well as vessels of countries that attack them (US, UK).  Ships are forced to go around Africa to reach ports in Europe and beyond, or use land routes, raising costs up and down the supply chains. (Yemen is also blocking Indian Ocean traffic.)

OF all the nations of the world, only Yemen and South Africa are taking action to challenge Israel's genocidal rampage in Gaza directly. One commentator quipped that Yemen was following  the "Responsibility-to-Protect"  principle, using missiles and drones to stop the mass killings and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, i.e., the Houthis are acting within the framework of international law. It's interesting that the United States is currently bombing Yemen, one of only two countries in the world acting to prevent genocide. 👍

South Africa uses the law to combat this gross injustice we witness every day. It has made a complaint before the ICJ (International Court of Justice) accusing Israel of genocide in its assault on Gaza. It also is compiling a brief to present to the ICC (International Criminal Court) charging individuals with warcrimes.👍 Deeds matter. Words matter. Ed.] 

 

    

   

 

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QUOTES: DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

 

 

RANT: YCMTSU!

 

I’M SURE we all recall last September’s face-plant the Trudeau government performed when the entire House of Commons in Ottawa gave a standing ovation (twice!) for a former WWII Nazi member of the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Galician), one Yaroslav Hunka, who was invited by the Speaker of the House to be “recognized” in parliament for his efforts “fighting Russia” in WWII. (Yaroslav actually fought against the USSR, but I digress.) Charitably, one assumes the vetting process was lax in both the Speaker’s office and the PMO when checking this character’s past. Problem was, the elderly Ukrainian Canadian was a former Nazi—not a Neo-Nazi, but a dyed-in-the-wool real Nazi, whose SS division he joined, was “…made up of Ukrainian volunteers […] responsible for atrocities against Poles, Jews, and the Soviet resistance.” (RT) One hopes ignorance of Hunka’s past was the reason our governing elites ‘beclowned’ themselves in this manner, or else it was an equally embarrassing lack historical knowledge. For the record: The USSR (now Russia) and Germany signed a non-aggression pact in 1939 which lasted until 1941 when Hitler made the fatal mistake of attacking the Slavic giant. Hunka joined the SS 1^st Galician division in 1943. He was eighteen years old. He must have known what the Waffen SS was about, he’d trained in Germany after all. So, for at least two years he was part of an army that participated in war crimes. We don’t know what he did prior to joining, but I’m sure choir practice didn’t rank high among his daily routines.

 

LAST YEAR, Poland requested Hunka’s extradition so he could stand trial for genocide, but Canada doesn’t have a formal extradition treaty with the Poles and the request was denied. Russia’s request for Hunka’s extradition was also denied this February on similar grounds. In both cases it would mean a legal and paperwork quagmire that might take years to slog through, and Hunka, at 99, would probably not live to see the process completed. Russia has not rescinded its extradition request for the nonagenarian Nazi as a matter of form. And the gormless Trudeau government would rather drink hot tar than carry out any kind of diplomatic negotiation with the Russians.

 

   Yaroslav  Hunka

BUT that’s not the end of this FUBAR! Ukraine, specifically the Ternopil Region administration in western Ukraine, earlier this month gave Hunka the “Yaroslav Stetsko” medal (his niece accepting the award for him) for his “significant personal contribution to the provision of assistance to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, active charity and public activity.” (RT) Yaroslav Stetsko was a chief administer in the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN-B) led by Stepan Bandera, who, during WWII, collaborated with the Nazis in the early stages of the German invasion of the Soviet Union. In Western Ukraine, Nazi-collaborator and war criminal Bandera is honoured by many as a Ukrainian hero. There is a reason why one of Russia’s goals in launching its “special military operation” against Ukraine in 2022 was “denazification” of the country. That the Kiev regime allows one of its oblasts (it's like a province) to give a medal to an ex-Nazi, is another 'red flag' for Russia. After all, the then-USSR bled mightily at the hands of the Nazi regime in WWII, losing over 24,000,000 soldiers and civilians during the four years of war battling Germany, far more than any other country in the conflict.

 

TODAY, THERE IS A PROBLEM in Ukraine, particularly its western half, with Neo-Naziism seen with groups like the Azov battalion, a militia which has been incorporated into the regular Ukrainian military, while its political wing is active in Ukraine’s parliament. And it's a problem that Russia, quite rightly, wants to see go away. Note that, prior to Russia’s invasion, the Azov militia was considered by many in the West to be rife with Neo-Nazi ideology. For example, complaints were made around Canada's participation in training activities with the Azov Regiment. A short, helpful article in The Maple examines the changing media portrayal of the Azov batallion, from Neo-Nazis to squeaky clean Ukrainian nationalists:

 

“The shameless shift toward sympathetic coverage of the Azov Regiment is another useful reminder that Canadian media are perfectly happy to valorize anyone, including Nazis, so long as doing so serves the West’s interests. These media outlets should be continuously reminded of their coddling of fascists, including if, and when, the grim consequences of it play out over the coming years in blowback. [Like the blowback that came from Islamic “freedom fighters” supported by the United States in Afghanistan against the USSR in the 1980s, and how they later morphed into the Taliban. Oopsie!]

 

AND FINALLY, in early March, in Oakville Ontario, a cenotaph dedicated to the 14^th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, a Nazi military unit “predominantly composed of Ukrainian soldiers during World War II” was removed from the St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Cemetery, following complaints from the public and from Jewish community groups. Groups like the Friends of Simon Wisenthal Centre (FSWC) have been complaining for years about the monument, and I guess it took last fall's cock-up in Ottawa to compel the builders of the monument to remove it. Where to? Who knows.

A final point: Apparently, there are similar monuments in Edmonton cemeteries. It will be interesting to see if there is enough public pressure in Alberta to have these highly inappropriate memorials removed. It should be noted there is a large Ukrainian diaspora* in Western Canada.

 

Cheers, Jake.___________________________________

 

* There's more to this story here and here which provide a complex history of migration and changing ideologies, and the formation of various associations, committees, lobby groups and political organizations among the worldwide Ukrainian diaspora, particularly after WWII. Today, Canada has the second-largest Ukrainian population after Russia. Ukrainians have been coming to Canada since the late nineteenth century with large waves coming in the the 1930's and post-WWII when Ukrainian-Canadians made 2.2% of the population. Today, it's nearly 4%. Of those coming after WWII, many came with strong Ukrainian nationalist sentiments, including strong anti-communism beliefs. Stepan Bandera represented for many a hero who fought for Ukrainian independence during the war, and remains a hero despite his obvious collaboration with Nazi forces and his own organization's cited examples of pogroms and other war crimes. His problematic legacy lives on today.

 

      

 

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