Table of Contents
Israel’s Resumed Genocide
Israel resumed its genocidal military operation in the Gaza Strip early on Tuesday, March 18, with a massive overnight bombardment that killed 404 Palestinians before midday, including 263 women and children, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
Among the dead were 130 children killed by Israeli airstrikes on shelters where the children were sleeping with their families, according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
By Wednesday, at least 436 Palestinians had been killed in strikes across Gaza, two-thirds of whom were women and children.
The resumption of Israel’s indiscriminate bombardment of Gaza follows brazen Israeli violations of a ceasefire agreement with Hamas that went into effect on January 19—one day before the inauguration of President Donald Trump.
The government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also took this action despite Hamas honoring its commitment under phase one of the ceasefire to release 33 Israeli hostages captured on October 7, 2023, in exchange for more than 1,700 Palestinian prisoners.
Israel had also agreed under the ceasefire deal to ease its illegal blockade of Gaza and facilitate the entry of 600 trucks per day of desperately needed humanitarian aid.
Israel’s genocide in Gaza has been perpetrated in retaliation for the killing of about 1,200 Israelis and the kidnapping of 251 people (including foreign nationals) in the October 7 incursion into Israel that Hamas called “Operation Al Aqsa Flood”.
Since then, Israel has killed over 48,577 Palestinians—mostly women and children—and systematically targeted Gaza’s civilian infrastructure, including its health care system, schools, and agricultural lands; 69% of all structures have been destroyed or damaged, including 92% of Gaza’s total housing stock.
As of February 24, according to the Israeli government, 140 hostages had been returned alive since October 20, 2023, when two American citizens, Judith and Natalie Raanan, became the first hostages to be released; 7 hostages had been rescued alive by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF); and the bodies of 45 deceased hostages had been returned.
With the release of 33 hostages in total from the start of the ceasefire on January 19 until Israel’s resumed bombardment on March 18, the number of hostages reportedly still held alive in Gaza was reduced to 24, with 35 bodies of deceased hostages also yet to be returned.
On March 2, both parties were supposed to have entered phase two of the ceasefire, which entailed negotiations to work out the details of a broader agreement for a permanent cessation of hostilities, full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, and return of all remaining hostages.
Instead, Israel chose that day to reimpose its illegal blockade of humanitarian aid, including food, medicines, and fuel—a brazen violation of its obligations under the ceasefire agreement (as well as Israel’s legal obligations under international humanitarian law as the Occupying Power in Gaza).
Israel’s decision to unilaterally end the ceasefire and resume the genocide followed encouragement from US President Donald Trump to do precisely that, and the White House immediately confirmed that Israel had consulted with and received approval for its actions from the Trump administration.
The Trump administration, like the Biden administration before it, has acted in violation the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (or the Genocide Convention) with its complicity in Israel’s Gaza genocide.
America’s “newspaper of record”, the New York Times, has also performed its typical function of manufacturing Americans’ consent for the longstanding non-partisan US government policy of supporting Israel’s crimes against the Palestinians.
To that end, the Times has shamelessly mischaracterized what it called a “break down” of the ceasefire in order to facilitate the demonstrably false narrative propagated by the US and Israeli governments that Hamas was the party principally responsible by refusing to negotiate an extension of the agreement.
In truth, the action for which both Netanyahu and Trump blamed Hamas was its refusal to accede to their mutual demand to renegotiate the existing ceasefire. The sin committed by Hamas was to insist on sticking to the original agreement.
It was the Israeli prime minister who chose to violate that ceasefire agreement because genocide-advocating members of his ruling coalition threatened to withdraw their support and force a new election, which would spell the end of Netanyahu’s political career.
Netanyahu’s decision to resume the genocide has divided Israel society because, although polls have shown that nearly all Israelis support the genocide, many—including families of hostages still held captive in Gaza—have criticized Netanyahu for prioritizing his own political survival and bloodlust over securing the release of their loved ones.
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Excellent! There is no bottom on either the depravity of the victim emeritus tribe or the suffocating hypocrisy and criminality of Pax Americana otherwise known as Murder Inc.
We are ruled by psychopaths, sociopaths, and narcissists. It would help if Americans would stop voting them into power.
I voted for a person who I believe is not a psychopath or a sociopath but they didn’t win. I think narcissism if a requirement for those aspiring to be public servants, unfortunately.
A desire to use force to manipulate and control other people is pretty much part of the job description.
It’s been a long time since I’ve commented on a Jeremy Hammond article. Well, there was another one recently.
Jeremy is an excellent writer and a smart guy, maybe even a little charming, but he is entirely wrong on many counts. He makes huge errors in every article he puts forth. I wonder if he doesn’t know or if he purposely lies. I know he successfully fools many people; he is easy to believe if you don’t know your facts. If I had the time and the inclination, I would start listing his falsehoods, but why? This is his business, and he would enjoy being in an online debate or argument and he has the time. I have other things to do.
I suppose many of his writers agree with him because they are predisposed thusly.
After the end of the Ottoman Empire, Arabs received 99% of the Middle East, and Israel received less than one percent. At some point, Arabs felt the one percent was too much. The hatred of Jews came started about the time the release of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a fake book released by Russian police officers which said Jews wanted to control the world. When you consider that there are less than 16 million Jews in the world of 8.2 billion, including two billion Muslims, the claim is and has always been laughable.
I mention this because at the end of it all, doesn’t it all lead to the fabrication that Jews stole Arab land? Gaza is just one more event to be used as a propaganda tool. Nothing could be further from the truth. It was the Security Council of the Principal Allied Powers that had legal ownership of the Ottoman Empire Middle East land after WW1. They also had the right of disposition and not only gave Jews what was then Palestine, but they created Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq.
Israel holds legal title to the land, and still has title to Gaza! The idea of occupation is ludicrous, though much of the world believes it. You cannot occupy your own land, and while Palestinians are the de facto (in fact, right or wrong) owners of Gaza due to the Israeli withdrawal in 2005, Israel is the de jure (in law) title holder.
I will share a few facts. The Jewish people took control of the land now called Israel without firing a shot, without violence, and with the support of top Arab leaders of the time.*
* In March 1918, Al-Qibla, the daily newspaper in Mecca, quoted King Hussein of Hedjaz.
“Palestine was a sacred and beloved homeland for its original sons, and the
return of these exiles to their homeland” would be beneficial to the region.”
* “No true Arab can be suspicious or afraid of Jewish nationalism. . . . We are demanding
Arab freedom, and we would show ourselves unworthy of it if we did not now, as I
do, say to the Jews—welcome back home.” Emir Faisal 1919
* “Those good Jews, who have brought to the Muslim Arabs, civilization and peace, and have spread wealth and prosperity to the land of Palestine, have not hurt anyone and have not taken anything by force, and nevertheless, the Muslims have declared holy war against them and have not hesitated to slaughter their children and their women despite the fact that England is in Palestine, and France is in Syria.”
Sulieman al Assad, 1936, was the grandfather of Syrian tyrant Bashar al Assad, who co-signed a letter to France’s then President.
Jeremy will never tell an honest story. He has been conducting this verbal war against Israel for at least a decade. It’s the fabric of who he is, it forms the basis of his business, which is too bad because he is a fine writer. But there were fine writers throughout history who supported evil. I feel Jeremy is one of them.
By all means, read him and hear what he has to say. But keep your eyes and ears open and remain skeptical. He is not an honest broker; I can’t know if he understands that this is his status.
Oh, Barry, I can’t say I’ve missed ya.
Because that’s what reason demands. If you claim I’m so wrong, then show me where I’ve erred on any points of fact or logic.
The fact that you refuse to do so tells us everything we need to know about your inability to do so.
You are the liar here.
Your claim that Britain had legal ownership of Palestine after WWI is false.
Your claim that Britain granted legal ownership to the Jews is therefore also false.
By the end of the Mandate, Jews owned only about 7% of the land in Palestine. Arabs owned more land in every single district.
The Jewish supremacist state of Israel was established by ethnically cleansing most of the Arab population from their homes in Palestine.
Those are the facts.
You are incapable of dealing with those facts because you are a liar and a hypocrite.