The History of the Arab-Israeli Conflict

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/canada-said-to-foil-iranian-plot-to-assassinate-renowned-jewish-jurist-irwin-cotler/
Canadian authorities have foiled an Iranian attempt to assassinate renowned Jewish jurist Irwin Cotler, a former Canadian justice minister and attorney general, the Globe and Mail reports.
The source said Royal Canadian Mounted Police had been tracking two suspects, but could not say if they had been detained or had left the country.
Cotler is recognized as an expert on matters of free speech, freedom of religion, minority rights, peace law and war crimes justice. He has close ties to Israel.
According to the report, Cotler has been under 24/7 RCMP protection since the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre in Israel that killed some 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage.
Dave

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce8ygyem84jo

Human Rights Watch (HRW) reports that there has been a forcible transfer of Palestinians and that these displacement is part of state policy of Israel. HRW also reports that Israel’s actions meet the definition of ethnic cleaning. However Israel denies the report and claims it is, “false and detached from reality”.

Equally HRW has also accused Hamas of using Palestinian civilians as human shields by operating in civilian infostructure.

The report finds evidence that up to 130,000 people have been displaced by the IDF in the past five week in northern Gaza. The HRW states that in order for displacement to be lawful, civilians need to be moved safely and provided with essential supplies. They must also be able to return to their homes after. HRW reports that satellite imagery shows the IDF has created permanent destruction of buildings and land which does not follow the conditions of lawful displacement. HRW also includes that the IDF has, “repeatedly struck designated evacuation routes and safe zones”. The Israeli government ministers have also been cited saying that Gaza’s ;and would lessen and be handed to Israeli settlers.

UN General Assembly special committee released a report that states that Israeli warfare is, “consistent with the characteristics of genocide, with mass civilian casualties and life-threatening conditions intentionally imposed on Palestinians there”. In response, Israel has continually denied that their military is committing genocide in Gaza. About 1.9 million people – 90% of Gaza’s population – have fled their homes over the past year, and 79% of the territory is under Israeli-issued evacuation orders, according to the UN.

Ayiana

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-11-13/us-israel-aid-responsibilities-to-war-torn-gaza/104592994

American military support for Israel will continue for the time-being, 30 days after the Biden administration issued an ultimatum to the Netanyahu government to improve humanitarian conditions in the war-torn Gaza Strip.
“But if you look at the November numbers, we are holding steady at around 50 trucks per day to northern Gaza and 150 per day to the rest of Gaza.”
Almost 39,000 tonnes of aid was taken into the territory in October this year, down from its peak of about 137,000 tonnes in April this year.
UNRWA director of relief and social service Roger Hearn has just left Gaza, and said it is “unrecognisable”.
The Australian has been travelling to the territory for more than 20 years, and his latest trip is seared into his memory.
He said only 17 per cent of food needed for Gaza is currently getting in.
“Yet we have trucks that have been lined up in the Sinai Desert [in Egypt] and stuck in Ashdod port in Israel for months and months and months,” Mr Hearn said.
“That, for me, is the absolute devastating factor — that we could feed the entire Gaza strip for months to come, but we can’t get that food in.”
Dave

Israeli authorities on Sunday urged citizens to skip Thursday’s France-Israel soccer game in Paris. Following a match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and local Ajax. Israeli officials said 10 citizens were injured in the violence, apparently committed by local Arab and Muslim gangs; hundreds of additional Israelis huddled in their hotels for hours, fearing they could be attacked.
The Dutch government condemned the attacks as antisemitic, as did US President Joe Biden, whose envoy for combating antisemitism called them “terribly reminiscent of a classic pogrom.”
Macron to attend Thursday’s Nations League match, for which 4,000 police officers will be deployed, a week after mass violence broke out against Israelis after game in Amsterdam
Dave
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-urges-citizens-not-to-attend-paris-soccer-game-against-french-national-team/

https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/05/middleeast/netanyahu-yoav-gallant-intl-latam/index.html

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has fired Defense Minister Yoav Gallant after months of clashes over domestic politics and Israel’s war efforts.
Israel Katz, currently the foreign minister, will become defense minister. Gideon Sa’ar will replace Katz as foreign minister, the prime minister’s office said Tuesday. Neither has extensive military experience, though Katz has served in the cabinet throughout the war.
“There isn’t and won’t be forgiveness for abandoning the hostages,” he said. “This will be a ‘mark of Cain’ that the Israeli society bears, as well as those leading through this wrong path.”

Demonstrations erupted in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Protestors outside Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem shouted “shame!” In Tel Aviv, protesters blocked a main highway while families of hostages held in Gaza chanted “Bibi is a traitor,” using the prime minister’s nickname.

Dave

https://www.jpost.com/international/article-826732

Norway wants the International Court of Justice to issue an advisory opinion on Israel’s decision to shut down the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which provides humanitarian services to Palestinian Refugees in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza.

Store said that Norway would first seek a UN General Assembly resolution requesting an ICJ opinion. The international community has a collective responsibility to help Palestinians, he said.

He noted that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had already warned Israel against taking such a step, in a letter he wrote Israel earlier this month detailing actions Israel had to take to improve humanitarian conditions in Gaza or risk restricted military assistance.
UNRWA operates under a mandate from the UN General Assembly and only that body can shut it down. Israel, however, has the power to close its operations in the territory it controls, and on Monday night, it passed legislation that would shutter the organization within 90 days.

Dave

Houthi rebels launch drones towards Israeli city of Ashkelon
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have confirmed that they carried out a drone attack on southern Israel on Tuesday morning.

A Houthi military statement read:

The UAV (drone) force of the Yemeni Armed Forces carried out a specific military operation targeting the industrial zone of the Israeli enemy in the Ashkelon region.

The Houthis claimed the attack “was carried out with a number of drones that have successfully achieved their objectives”.

Israel’s military said earlier that the drone “fell in an open area” of Ashkelon, just north of the Gaza Strip.

The Houthi rebels, who have being attacking ships crossing the Red Sea since last November, say they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and in support of Lebanon against Israeli attacks.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/oct/29/middle-east-israel-unrwa-gaza-un-lebanon-hamas-hezbollah#top-of-blog

Israel’s parliament on Tuesday approved the bill banning the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestinian refugees from working in Israel, despite objections from the United States.
The ban on the UN agency — which has provided essential aid and assistance across Palestinian territories and to Palestinian refugees elsewhere for more than seven decades — is a blow to humanitarian work in Gaza.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong has hit out at the Israeli parliament’s decision to ban the United Nations Relief and Works Agency from operating in the nation.
Wong’s comments came after Australia issued a joint statement on Sunday, alongside foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea and the UK, urging Israel not to go through with the UNRWA ban.
“UNRWA does life-saving work. Australia opposes the Israeli Knesset’s decision to severely restrict UNRWA’s work,” Wong said on social media.

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/unrwa-ban-wong-opposes-israels-decision-to-restrict-un-agencys-life-saving-work/nypkbjqgi
Dave

Israel launches air strikes in Tehran the capital of Iran in response to what the Israeli military called “months of continuous attacks” from Tehran and its proxies. It comes after Tehran launched almost 200 ballistic missiles towards Israel on 1 October. The IDF’s confirmation of strikes on Iran followed earlier reports by Iranian state media of several explosions in and around the capital, and Iranian state media confirmed that explosions were heard in the west of Tehran.. The US states that the strike was an exercise of self-defence on Israels part. Tehran said it had attacked Israel in retaliation for what it called the “violation of Iran’s sovereignty and the martyrdom” of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh. US defense official stressed that there had been no US involvement in the Israeli strikes on Saturday.

Megan G

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yr5ek4r8ro

Israel has carried out at least four air strikes on the historic Lebanese port city of Tyre, hours after expanding its evacuation orders to cover several central neighbourhoods.
The Israeli military said it targeted command-and-control centres of Hezbollah, including its Southern Front headquarters.
The military also said it had killed the Hezbollah sector commanders for the southern areas of Jibchit, Jouaiya and Qana in air strikes over the past several days, and that its troops had killed about 70 Hezbollah fighters during operations inside southern Lebanon to dismantle the group’s infrastructure and weapons caches.
Rocket alert sirens sounded in Tel Aviv, prompting senior US officials travelling with Secretary of State Antony Blinken to be ushered to a safe room in their hotel. It is not known whether or not Blinken himself was also forced to shelter.

Another rocket barrage hit two factory buildings in the northern Israeli towns of Acre and Kiryat Bialik, causing damage but no injuries.

Later, Hezbollah confirmed that Hashem Safieddine, who had been expected to become the group’s next leader, was killed in an Israeli air strike in southern Beirut on 4 October.

Dave
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y387ne93po