Results in the Days Ahead

No results.

Literally - nothing.

"Oh yes, gross violations oh human rights occurred, but it's okay because it's Israel and they say they are going to super duper do something about it."

Blinken needs to be hounded at every possible opportunity to explain what these serious measures are that Israel has taken. Because he will have bupkes. Zilch. Nada. Just "trust these human rights violators. They say they are dealing with it - and if that's not good enough for you, you're anti-semitic."

If I were King of the World - I would abdicate immediately because no one person should have that much power. But the temptation to ensure that Blinken never sees the outside of a very small jail cell for the rest of his natural life would be very hard to resist.

The Kids These Days are Alright for Blogging

As an old - I totally get the impulse to look at "kids these days" and think about how naive and ignorant they are. About how they are so out of touch with the "real world" and how they just don't understand how things actually work. Kids these days, amirite!

This past week, Gaza protests exploded across the US and other parts of the world.

This weekend will likely be the start of the Rafah ground invasion that everyone has ben saying will be disastrous.

We are at yet another precipice of "it is going to get worse" and it is soul crushingly sad and maddeningly frustrating - this is the best I've got at finding a silver lining. Just noting that at least some people understand what is going on and are willing to act on it.

Blogging the Days Ahead

I told you to expect it.

Rumour has it that Blinken is going to designate one IDF group, the Netzah Yehuda Battalion, as ineligible to receive US military aid. For context, while Israel does have conscription, Netzah Yehuda does not have any draftees but instead is an all volunteer unit with members recruited out of Israel's far right ultra-orthodox religious sects. This part of Israel society has been exempt from mandatory military service - something they are looking to change now - so it's this battalion that represents where the IDF is headed.

There's some reporting about how Netzah Yehuda is responsible for 20% of the crimes where the IDF got indictments against their soldiers (this is prior to October 7) - but this isn't a useful statistic. The IDF almost NEVER holds their soldiers responsible for anything. This 20% actually represents 2 cases out of 11 from over the span of five years (2017 to 2021 inclusive). That said, the work done by Yesh Din on this is very useful as they provide a synopsis for each of the 11 cases.

In February 2019, five soldiers and an officer with the rank of lieutenant from the 97th Netzah Yehuda Battalion were put on trial. According to the indictments, the soldiers punched a father and son who had been detained and beat them with various objects. The victims were handcuffed and blindfolded at the time. One of the soldiers filmed the abuse and the military court cleared the footage for publication. The five soldiers were convicted of aggravated physical abuse, negligent harm, and misconduct. As part of a plea bargain, the military court sentenced three of the soldiers to six months in prison and a demotion. Another soldier convicted of the detainees’ abuse was sentenced to five and a half months in prison and a demotion, and the fifth soldier was sentenced to two months in prison and a demotion. The military court sentenced the officer to 60 days in prison and a demotion to the rank of private.

There's that harsh military discipline we expect from the IDF. /s Of note - these guys were not booted from the military and may very well be serving in Gaza at this very moment. Here's the other case:

Three indictments were filed in 2021 against three soldiers of the 97th Netzah Yehuda Battalion for aggravated physical abuse with a conspirator. According to the indictments, the three soldiers beat and physically abused a detained Palestinian. One of the soldiers pressed his weapon to the detainee’s head and threatened him, saying, “How about I shoot you...”. The other two soldiers relentlessly punched the detainee and beat him with their weapons while he was handcuffed, blindfolded, and lying on the floor of the military vehicle. Corporal H.A.K. was convicted of aggravated physical abuse with a conspirator and sentenced to 165 days in prison, a suspended prison term and a demotion. Sergeant S. A. was convicted of aggravated physical abuse with a conspirator, obstruction of justice and misconduct. He was sentenced to 135 days in prison, a suspended prison term and a demotion. Despite the serious charges, one of the indictments (Court-Martial Case Central (District) 282/21) was canceled. Yesh Din has no information about the reason for the cancellation.

Anyways, the 20% isn't particularly meaningful. From that time frame, 1,260 complaints about abuse of Palestinians were filed - and 11 resulted in indictments. For reference, this time frame (2017 to 2021) would have included the Great March of Return.

Anyways, the point I would like to bring up is - how the fuck can this be applied to one unit and one unit only? It would be reasonable if this was a rogue unit that went off the rails - but it isn't. It's the model unit for future Israeli military operations. And it is an inseparable part of the IDF. If the US has problems with what Netzah Yehuda has done, then their issue is with the government of Israel - not with that one unit. And to support that assertion, let me cite each of the three members of the war cabinet:

Netanyahu:

The U.S. is reportedly considering sanctions against the Netzah Yehuda, an Israeli Defense Force unit linked to violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday he would fight the sanctions “with all my strength”—joining liberal and conservative members of the Knesset in condemning the possible move shortly after the U.S. approved a $26 billion aid package for the Israeli military.

Gallant: 

“The entire defense establishment, the IDF and the State of Israel support you, appreciate you and strengthen you in your operations to protect the State of Israel,” Gallant told the Netzah Yehuda troops, according to his office.

And Gantz: 

The ‘Netzah Yehuda’ battalion is an inseparable part of the Israel Defense Forces. It is subject to military law and is responsible for operating in full compliance with International law.

I suppose the follow-up question to Blinken would be - given the huge chasm between how the US views Netzah Yehuda and how the State of Israel sees them - why do you place any value whatsoever on Israeli investigations into wrongdoing? Quite obviously, the Israeli standard for this sort of thing is unbelievably deficient. 

Sometimes the Genocide Justification Slips Right by You

It's one of those blue-check powered long tweets, so it hardly seems worth pointing out if it - but there's an important point here I feel has to be made.  Here's the tweet. I'll summarize his argument:

Protests against the Viet Nam War were legitimate and you can tell because they did not unfurl the flag of the enemy or cheer for the Viet Cong. These things are not true of the pro-Palestine protests where there are Palestine flags everywhere.

A lot of people have hit back on him by pointing out that Viet Nam War protests did in fact feature support for the Viet Cong and NVA. He sidesteps this by saying that those flags and cheers were fringe extremists - whereas Palestine flags are rampant at current rallies.

But no one is noting the actual problem with his argument. And that is that he is a genocidal fucking monster. Let me clarify the point.

Palestine =/= Hamas..

The flag of Palestine is not the flag of Hamas. It is not the flag of "the enemy" - it is the flag of the victims. But here we have this shitbag fucking asshole trying to conflate the two. He's saying that the flag of Palestine is the flag of terrorism. He's saying that all Palestinians are terrorists and therefore are legitimate targets. He is echoing Israeli President Isaac Herzog's genocidal claim that there is no such thing as an innocent Gazan. It's genocidal and he should feel deep shame for having put it into the public.

Expect Blogging in the Days Ahead

So Blinken has responded to the ProPublica article by saying he's made "determinations" and we'll see them in the days ahead. Just for context - some of the violations in those reports Blinken has been sitting on pre-date October 7.  It's just that the massively increased shipments of bombs and munitions since then have made these "determinations" much more urgent - as in "sit in a briefcase for months and only act when news leaks out and gets reported" urgent.

While we're on the topic of what Blinken sees in the "days ahead"....

November 29. 2023

There are important questions about its governance, its security, its reconstruction.  A few – a couple of weeks ago in Tokyo I laid out some basic principles that we see as being necessary.  But also, the day after the day after, which is how do we get on a clear path to meeting the legitimate political aspirations of the Palestinian people, which really, in our judgment, is the only way to durable peace, durable security for everyone, starting with Israel and Israelis. 

But these are conversations that we’ll pursue in the days ahead, in the weeks ahead, in the months ahead.

Followed by 

January 6, 2024

Third, we will focus on the steps that remain to make sure that October 7th never happens again and that we get on a path to a sustainable, peaceful, secure future for everyone.  That starts with the work that’s going to be necessary in Gaza itself to rebuild, to have security, to have Palestinian-led governance...

So the work that needs to be done to get on that first path, the steps that need to be taken, the commitments that countries need to make – this is what we’ll be talking about in the days ahead.

How's that going? The UNSC voted on full admission of Palestine to the UN this past week. 12 votes in favour, two abstentions, and the US vetoed it.

January 7, 2024

So, through all of these lines of effort, we’re determined to do everything we possibly can to ameliorate the situation for men, women, and children in Gaza when it comes to food, when it comes to humanitarian assistance more broadly.  This is an effort that’s absolutely essential, and it is imperative – imperative – that we maximize assistance to people in need.  Not only do we get it to Gaza and into Gaza, but once it’s in Gaza, that it can be effectively distributed to people who need it everywhere in Gaza.  We’ll be working on that in the days ahead as well. 

Since that time, USAID confirmed that Northern Gaza is in famine and Israel was forced to allow more aid in after hunting down foreign aid workers and slaughtering them like animals - but got around this by only letting through half empty trucks.

Actually, let me let Anthony Blinken totally gloss over three months of "days ahead" with his statement on April 9, 2024.

Just yesterday, more than 400 trucks were cleared to go into Gaza, and that is the most since October 7th on any given day.  But what matters is results, and sustained results, and this is what we will be looking at very carefully in the days ahead.

Again - half empty trucks. Also, still below the minimum number that aid agencies are saying would be the absolute minimum requirement (500 per day).

I think you get the idea.  "Days ahead" means - don't bug me, I'm busy covering up for a genocide. There are a lot of these "days ahead" statements that are just plain ludicrously comical, so I will end off with the most egregious one I found. This one is from October 13, 2023:

I mentioned as well that we’re very actively engaged with UN relief agencies, with the ICRC, with others to address the acute humanitarian needs of people in Gaza – to protect them from harm and make sure that they have the ability to get what they need.  We need to ensure, for example, that there are safe areas in Gaza for civilians.  We’re working through the details on that, and more to be said in the days ahead, but that’s a priority for us.

Edit: fixed a link 

Pay No Attention to the Genocide Behind the Curtain

A reminder - Iran's retaliatory strike for the bombing of an embassy has resulted in one injured girl and reported damage only to a military air base. And while the US is frantically waving its arms in order to head off any escalation in the Middle East, they will not be able to prevent their top spokesmonsters from whining constantly about Iran. Because they need the cover.

I already noted the Wash Post story about Israel's bullshit about the murder of Hind Rajab, her family, and the paramedics sent in to save her.

Earlier this week, it was noted that the former Israeli general in charge of the WCK air strike investigation is the CEO of the company that made the missiles which killed the aid workers.

On Tuesday, UNRWA released a report on how Israel treats Palestinian detainees and prisoners.

Yesterday, there was this ProPublica article about how the special Leahy Law committee for Israel has recommended sanctions against Israeli military and police units.

All while Gaza starves. The famine continues - and Israel's claims to have increased aid are being debunked by noting that while it may be more trucks going through, the trucks themselves are half empty.

But don't worry about that. What about Iran! I mean if you think this pesky genocide thing is more important than what Iran did then you are the monster.

One final note - from Jon Stewart's bit on Monday. All of this is "justified" by claiming that this is about the very existence of Israel. If the US does not fully support genocide, then all those terror-loving Arabs surrounding the Only Democracy in the Middle East will do a million 9-11's and eradicate Israel. A totally not racist belief at all. /s

The Daily Show noted that the Iranian attack was intercepted with assistance from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Yemen.

Very Serious and Believable Blogging Investigations

Way back at the end of January, we were all captured by the story of Hind Rajab.  The five year old girl stuck in a car with the dead bodies of her family, begging to be rescued over the phone. A rescue mission was organized and two paramedics went out to get her, only to be killed 50 metres away from the car. Hind was also killed. The IDF did not allow the bodies to be retrieved for twelve days.

The IDF of course denied any involvement in the killing. They also denied that they were in communication with the paramedic team and had okayed the rescue. And the US said - okay this is good enough for us.

Late in February, Al Jazeera published a story showing satellite images of Israeli tanks near the car, despite the IDF claiming that none of their vehicles were in the area. But it's Al Jazeera so the State department ghouls just ignored it.

Now, it's the Wash Post. They've confirmed the satellite imagery. They spoke with various munitions experts. They looked at video from the recovery team, twelve days after the killing when the IDF finally allowed access, and identified a munitions fragment of in the video as a 120 mm tank round compatible with the IDF Merkova tank - and by its serial number, as a round made by the US in November 1996. They confirmed that the ambulance rescue mission was coordinated with COGAT.

Matt Miller says that they are going to ask Israel for comment. Waiting for someone to ask Miller if any of this affects the faith they have in Israel's "investigations".