Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Israeli airstrikes hit Syrian Presidential Palace and General Staff HQ in Damascus, more targets in Sweida; 350 dead as Trump asks Israel to stop and HTS troops begin to withdraw

2025-07-17

[X] Follow up to yesterday’s adventures:

BREAKING:

Powerful Israeli airstrikes hit the Syrian Presidential Palace and the Syrian General Staff HQ in Damascus pic.twitter.com/yxE0VfJExl
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) July 16, 2025

The Druze number around 1.2 million people, with the majority living in Syria (about 700,000), followed by Lebanon (approximately 300,000), and around 150,000 in Israel.

They are an offshoot of Islam but hold beliefs that set them apart: they do not recognize Muhammad as a… pic.twitter.com/UypHohJ3Oj
— Brother Rachid الأخ رشيد (@BrotherRasheed) July 16, 2025

… do not recognize Muhammad as a prophet, and they believe that Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah was God incarnate who disappeared and will return. Because of these beliefs, many Muslims consider the Druze to be kuffar (unbelievers) who should be eliminated.

The Druze faith originated in Egypt but quickly came under threat, forcing its followers to flee and settle in the mountains of Syria, Lebanon, and later Israel. Even today, they face the threat of extinction, as radical groups continue to view them as infidels who must either convert—or be killed.

More, courtesy of Grom the Affective:

Israel warns Syria, reinforces military presence on border as 248 Druze in Sweida confirmed killed
[Ynet] Israel has issued another warning to the Syrian regime and reinforced its military presence along the northern border as tensions continue to escalate over the deadly crackdown on Druze civilians in Syria’s Sweida province.
Speak to me again about the new moderate (USDOS beloved) Syrian regime.
According to the latest figures, 248 Druze have been killed since the outbreak of violence, which peaked when forces loyal to President Ahmad al-Sharaa (also known as Abu Mohammad al-Julani) entered Sweida — marking their first presence there since the fall of the Assad regime.

Starting Tuesday, the IDF deployed reinforcements to the Syrian border, including a company of Golani infantry cadets, three Border Police companies, and military police units. The move is aimed at addressing potential border protests like the one seen Monday in Majdal Shams, and not counterterrorism scenarios. The IDF requested additional police reinforcements for the area but has not yet received them.

Northern Command expects more demonstrations and attempts to breach the border fence by Druze citizens from northern Israel. The army has updated protocols following a widely circulated video showing soldiers passively observing as dozens of Druze from Israel breached the fence and crossed toward the Syrian village of Khader to reach family members.
Nobody in the IDF is going to use force on Druze - most of whom are IDF veterans.
Overnight reports indicated renewed attacks in Sweida. In response, Defense Minister Israel Katz warned that Israel will escalate its military action if Syrian forces do not withdraw.

"The Syrian regime must leave the Druze in Sweida alone and pull back its forces," he said. "As we’ve made clear, Israel will not abandon the Druze in Syria and will enforce the demilitarization policy we’ve adopted. The IDF will continue striking regime forces until they retreat from the area and will soon raise the level of its responses if the message is not understood."

Rubio: ‘We think we’re on our way toward a real deescalation’ between Israel, Syria
[IsraelTimes] US secretary of state says clashes in Druze-majority area of Sweida led to ‘misunderstanding’ between Israel and Sharaa regime; UN, EU and others demand end to Israeli strikes.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio

...The diminutive 13-year-old Republican U.S. Senator from Florida, Secretary of State in the second Trump administration...
said Wednesday that Washington hoped within hours to ease tensions in Syria, as the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
, United Nations
...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks...
and regional powers called on Israel to cease its strikes on government targets and regime loyalists clashing with Syrian Druze.

"In the next few hours, we hope to see some real progress to end what you’ve been seeing over the last couple of hours," Rubio told news hounds in the Oval Office as US President Donald Trump
...Oh, noze! Not him!...
nodded.

Trump and Israel have sought to normalize relations agreements between Israel and the regime of interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, head of the former al-Qaeda affiliate that toppled long-time Syrian leader Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Horror of Homs...
in December.

The violence in Sweida, a majority-Druze city in Syria’s south, appeared to throw a wrench in the normalization efforts, as the IDF struck targets including the Syrian army headquarters and presidential palace in what Israel said was a warning to leave the Druze alone.

"We’ve been engaged with them all morning long and all night long — with both sides — and we think we’re on our way toward a real deescalation and then hopefully get back on track and helping Syria build the country and arriving at a situation in the Middle East that is far more stable," he said.

US State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said that the United States was asking Syrian government forces to pull out of the flashpoint area.

According to a US official cited by the Axios news site, the Trump administration asked Israel on Wednesday to halt its strikes and engage in dialogue with Damascus. It was the second such request in as many days, with Monday’s apparently having fallen on deaf ears.

However,
by candlelight every wench is handsome...
Bruce declined to comment on whether the United States wanted Israel to stop its strikes.

Syrian government forces entered Sweida on Tuesday with the stated aim of overseeing a ceasefire agreed on with Druze community leaders after festivities with local Bedouin tribes left more than 100 people dead.

However,
by candlelight every wench is handsome...
witnesses reported that the government forces joined with the Bedouins in attacking Druze fighters and civilians in a bloody rampage through the city.

In total, there were some 350 dead as of early Thursday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based war monitor.

In total, there were some 350 dead as of early Thursday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based war monitor.

Amid the violence, the IDF said it struck over 160 targets in Syria, mostly in the area of Sweida, including government tanks and machine guns headed there. The military also said it was bolstering forces in the Golan Heights, on the Syrian border, in preparation for days of potential conflict.

Meanwhile,
...back at the railroad tracks, Little Nell tried to kick her bound feet and scream post the snotty handkerchief Scarface Al had stuff into her mouth...
hundreds of Druze rushed across the border from Israel on Wednesday, vowing to protect their community in Syria. The IDF said the number of Israeli civilians in Syria was roughly 1,000 and that troops were working to bring them back.

Earlier from the Times of Israel:

Syrian gov’t forces begin withdrawing from Sweida as Israel vows to protect Druze
Withdrawal follows announcement of truce, which a Druze spiritual leader says includes ‘full integration of the province’ into Syrian state, though other community leaders reject it.

Syria announced it had begun withdrawing its army from Druze-majority Sweida city on Wednesday night after agreeing to a new ceasefire that it said would bring a complete halt to its military operations there, even as some Druze leaders rejected the arrangement and Israel vowed to protect the minority.

The announcement came after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said parties to the sectarian conflict that has raged since the weekend “have agreed on specific steps” for a truce. A previous truce announced Tuesday appeared to have little effect on the ground in the southern region, where more than 300 people have been killed, according to a monitor.

According to the text of the new ceasefire agreement, published by Syria’s interior ministry, there will be a “total and immediate halt to all military operations,” as well as the formation of a committee comprising government officials and Druze spiritual leaders to supervise its implementation.

The country’s defense ministry later said it had “begun withdrawing from the city of Sweida in implementation of the terms of the adopted agreement after the end of the sweep of the city for outlaw groups.”

The ministry’s statement made no mention of the withdrawal of any other government security forces deployed to the city.

Syria’s President Ahmad al-Sharaa, head of the former al-Qaeda affiliate that toppled the country’s longtime leader Bashar al-Assad in December, condemned the violations and vowed to punish the perpetrators.

“These criminal and illegal actions cannot be accepted under any circumstances, and completely contradict the principles that the Syrian state is built on,” he said in a statement Wednesday.

SYRIAN WITHDRAWAL
In a video carried by Syrian state television, Sheikh Youssef Jarboua, one of Syria’s three main Druze spiritual leaders, read out the 10 points of the ceasefire agreement, which also included “the full integration of the province” of Sweida into the Syrian state.

Until now, Druze areas have been controlled by fighters from the minority community. After Assad’s ouster, some Druze fighters said they were ready to integrate into the new security forces.

The text of the ceasefire indicates that no harm will come to civilians or their property, after witnesses and a monitor reported abuses in recent days including summary executions and looting on the part of government forces and their allies.

It also indicated a joint committee of Druze and the regime would be established to investigate the “crimes and legal violations” that occurred during the events in the area. All detainees arrested during the unrest would be released, according to the agreement as read by Jarboua.

SOHR that since clashes erupted on Sunday, 79 Druze fighters were killed along with 55 civilians, 27 of them in “summary executions by members of the defense and interior ministries,” while 189 defense and interior ministry personnel and 18 Bedouin fighters were also killed. Earlier, the monitor had said the death toll was 300.

According to SOHR, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria, 15 defense and interior ministry personnel were killed in the Israeli strikes in southern Syria. Additionally, Syria’s Health Ministry said that a series of Israeli strikes targeting the army and Defense Ministry headquarters in Damascus earlier Wednesday killed one person and wounded another 18.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

1 in 10 Gazan children tested in UNRWA clinics malnourished, agency says

2025-07-16

[IsraelTimes] Refugee agency says rates of condition rising, acute malnutrition rarely seen in Strip before war; UN says 875 slain at aid points in past 6 weeks, most of them at GHF sites

One in 10 children screened in clinics run by the United Nations
...where theory meets practice and practice loses...
refugee agency in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
since 2024 has been malnourished, the agency said on Tuesday, as European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
foreign ministers pressed Israel for an update on an agreement to boost aid into the enclave through UN channels.

"Our health teams are confirming that malnutrition rates are increasing in Gaza, especially since the siege was tightened more than four months ago on the second of March," UNRWA’s director of communications, Juliette Touma, told news hounds in Geneva via a video link from Amman, Jordan.

Since January 2024, UNRWA said it had screened more than 240,000 boys and girls under the age of 5 in its clinics, adding that before the war, acute malnutrition was rarely seen in the Gaza Strip.

"One nurse that we spoke to told us that in the past, he only saw these cases of malnutrition in textbooks and documentaries," Touma said. "Medicine, nutrition supplies, hygiene material, fuel are all rapidly running out."

Israel has accused UNRWA of providing cover for Hamas
Hamas

..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
murderous Moslems and, earlier this year, banned the agency from operating on Israeli soil or contacting officials.

The announcement came after UNICEF said Monday that last month, more than 5,800 children were diagnosed with malnutrition in Gaza, including more than 1,000 children with severe, acute malnutrition. It said it was an increase for the fourth month in a row.

Starting in March, Israel blocked deliveries of food and other crucial supplies into Gaza for more than two months, leading to warnings of famine across the territory, devastated by Israeli bombings since the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, which sparked the war.

Israel lifted the blockade at the end of May amid a renewed offensive in the Strip, whose declared purpose is to take over 75 percent of the Strip in order to defeat Hamas and secure the release of the hostages seized by the terror group on October 7.

As part of the resumption of aid, and in an effort to circumvent Hamas, the Israeli- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has opened four distribution sites in south and central Gaza.

AT LEAST 875 PEOPLE KILLED NEAR AID SITES, UN SAYS
The UN human-rights office said on Tuesday it had recorded at least 875 killings within the past six weeks at aid points in Gaza run by the GHF and near convoys run by other relief groups, including the United Nations.

The majority of those killed were in the vicinity of GHF sites, while the remaining 201 were killed on the routes of other aid convoys.

"The data we have is based on our own information gathering through various reliable sources, including medical human rights
...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions...
and humanitarian organizations," Thameen al-Kheetan, a spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, told news hounds in Geneva.

The GHF did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the UN figures.

GHF has faced harsh criticism from the UN and aid organizations, which charge that it fails to meet the needs of Gaza’s population. Gazooks have reported near-daily incidents in which groups trying to reach GHF facilities are shot at by Israeli forces, leading to mass casualties.

Israel, which accuses Hamas of hoarding aid, has also accused the terror group of attacking Gazook aid seekers near GHF sites and falsifying corpse counts. However,
there's more than one way to stuff a chicken...
Israel has also acknowledged that "several" Paleostinian civilians have been killed near the aid distribution sites.

Link

Europe

EU holds off on sanctioning Israel over Gaza war

2025-07-16

[IsraelTimes] But EU officials say they’ll reconsider sanctions at next meeting in two weeks if Israel doesn’t implement pledged steps on Gaza aid, release of withheld tax funds from the PA

European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas announced Tuesday that the EU decided against adopting punitive measures against Israel over its military conduct in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
, following a meeting of EU foreign ministers to discuss the matter.

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar hailed the news as "an important diplomatic victory," saying his office had been working aggressively to convince countries in the bloc not to join an effort pushed by Ireland, Spain and other countries for sanctions against Israel over its conduct in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.

Speaking to news hounds after the Brussels meeting, Kallas reiterated that there were"positive signs" regarding Israel’s implementation of its agreement with the EU last week to increase aid to Gaza, but said "more concrete steps" were needed.

Taking the sanction threat seriously, Israel reached an agreement with the EU on a series of steps to boost aid on July 10. They included the reopening of several aid corridors, including routes through Egypt and Jordan, and several other crossing points in northern and southern Gaza. The deal will provide for at least 150 trucks to enter Gaza daily — far less than the 500 that were entering the Strip before the war but more than double the daily average over the past two months, during which the humanitarian crisis has continued to deteriorate.

Kallas said the EU will closely monitor Israel’s implementation of the agreement and will update member states on Jerusalem’s compliance when foreign ministers meet again in two weeks. If Israel fails to implement the promised steps, the bloc will reconsider punitive measures against Jerusalem.

Kallas has put forward 10 potential options after an EU review determined that Israel is in breach of a cooperation deal between the two sides on human rights
...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless...
grounds over its conduct in Gaza and the West Bank.

Israel faces numerous war crimes allegations in Gaza amid the fighting against Hamas
Hamas

..one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,...
, where it has denied claims of intentionally targeting civilians, and has been hit with mounting Western sanctions over its failure to crack down on settler violence in the West Bank.

The measures proposed by Kallas range from suspending the entire accord to curbing trade ties, sanctioning Israeli ministers, imposing an arms embargo and halting visa-free travel.

Despite growing anger over the devastation in Gaza, EU states remain divided over Israel, and there was no critical mass for taking any of the moves against it at this week’s meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

"We will keep these options on the table and stand ready to act," Kallas insisted.

The more far-reaching steps are unlikely to secure the necessary votes, but the fact that the steps are even being seriously considered has been unprecedented.

The bloc only agreed to review the cooperation deal after Israel relaunched military operations in Gaza following the collapse of a ceasefire in March.

The EU will also tie its decision on sanctions to the situation in the West Bank, and Brussels raised with Israeli officials a demand for Jerusalem to release tax revenues that are being withheld from the Paleostinian Authority, in violation of the Oslo Accords, two EU officials told The Times of Israel

The PA says that Israel is withholding roughly NIS 2.5 billion shekels ($742 million) in funds that belong to Ramallah. Israel collects customs revenues on the PA’s behalf and is supposed to transfer them to Ramallah on a monthly basis.

Israel has been withholding a portion of those funds, which it says amounts to the sum of the stipends that the PA pays to the families of security prisoners and slain terrorists. PA President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....>
signed a decree in February ending the policy, though Israel has been dismissive of the move.

Israel has also been withholding a portion of the tax revenues that it says amount to the sum of the funds that the PA uses to pay civil servants in Gaza, which Jerusalem claims are at risk of reaching Hamas.

Moreover, since May, when the UK issued sanctions against far-right Israeli ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir, Jerusalem stopped transferring the monthly customs revenues entirely, robbing the PA of roughly NIS 900 million ($267 million) in funds.

The move by Smotrich once again has the PA at risk of financial collapse, with Ramallah unable to pay its employees for June. Previous months saw PA employees only receiving a portion of their salaries due to Ramallah’s dire financial situation.

A spokesperson for one of the PA’s ministries told The Times of Israel that many workers are not showing up to the office, as they cannot afford the cost of travel or don’t have time to wait hours at Israeli checkpoints, which have significantly hampered Paleostinian transit throughout the West Bank.

An EU diplomat said Israel’s delegation indicated during this week’s high-level meeting of EU foreign ministers that Jerusalem would release some of the PA’s funds — likely the tax revenues that have been withheld since May.

However,
corruption finds a dozen alibis for its evil deeds...
a Foreign Ministry spokesperson denied that any commitment was made on the matter.

A spokesperson for Smotrich — whose approval is needed to release the PA funds — did not respond to queries on the matter.

Sa’ar still celebrated Kallas’s decision, writing in a post on X that it was the result of a "complex, grueling, and multi-front diplomatic battle."

"The attempt to impose sanctions on a democratic country defending itself against efforts to destroy it is outrageous," Sa’ar said, thanking Israel’s allies in Europa
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
who helped thwart the punitive measures.

Throughout the Brussels summit, some Israel-friendly EU allies, including the Czech Republic and Hungary, voiced support for Israel and pushed back against proposed sanctions. In messages reposted by Sa’ar on X, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó and Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský reaffirmed their backing.

Lipavský said in a phone call with Sa’ar, "It is in the EU’s interest to maintain influence in a turbulent region, not withdraw from it," and expressed hope for a ceasefire and the full resumption of aid to Gaza.

Szijjártó, who met with Sa’ar in Brussels, said, "There will be strong pressure on us in Brussels to sanction Israeli settlers. That would be the wrong move. This is the time for diplomacy, not sanctions."

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Abbas urges Hamas to free hostages, says it won’t rule postwar Gaza

2025-07-14

[IsraelTimes] Meeting former UK PM Tony Blair in Amman, PA president calls on terror group to cede its arms and let PA take over governing Strip

Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....>
urged Hamas
Hamas

..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
to release the hostages it is holding and hand over its weapons to the PA, stressing that the terror group "will not rule the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
Strip" after the war there ends.

In a meeting in Amman on Sunday with British former prime minister Tony Blair, Abbas also called for the release of Paleostinian prisoners from Israeli jails, an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and unhindered entry of humanitarian aid

to the Strip, according to the PA’s official news agency WAFA.

Abbas also called for the PA to be given control of the enclave, a notion long rejected by Israel. He further stressed the need to implement a two-state solution to the Israeli-Paleostinian conflict based on the Arab Peace Initiative and called for an international peace conference to be held in New York, the report said.

Though Abbas has in the past called for the hostages to be released, an end to the war, and for the PA to takeover governing Gaza, it was only last month that, for the first time, he condemned the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel during which the hostages were kidnapped. The attack, which killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, triggered the ongoing war.

At the time, Abbas also said that Hamas must not be permitted to rule Gaza and should hand over its weapons to the Paleostinian Security Services.

Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are holding 50 hostages, including 49 of the 251 kidnapped by Hamas-led murderous Moslems on October 7, 2023. They include the bodies of at least 28 confirmed dead by the IDF. Twenty are believed to be alive, and there are grave concerns for the well-being of two others, Israeli officials have said. Hamas is also holding the body of an IDF soldier killed in Gaza in 2014.

Hamas seized control of Gaza from the PA in 2007 during a bloody coup. The terror group and Abba’s Fatah secularist party, which dominates the West Bank-based PA, have remained at odds ever since.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has vowed to vanquish Hamas, has thus far ruled out any role for the PA in Gaza, but failed to advance any alternative amid pressure from his far-right partners, who want to establish settlements in the Strip.

The PA is largely seen as ineffectual and corrupt. It has not held general elections since 2006, and presidential elections since 2005.

Blair left office in 2007, then became an envoy for the Middle East Quartet — the United Nations
...a formerly good idea gone bad...
, the United States, the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
, and Russia — set up in 2002 to mediate peace between Israel and the Paleostinians. He established the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, a non-profit organization, in 2016. In January 2024, the institute denied as "a lie" a Hebrew media report linking him to talks for the resettlement of Paleostinians from Gaza to other countries.

US President Donald Trump
...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US...
has touted a highly disputed initiative to relocate Paleostinians out of the coastal enclave to other countries. Netanyahu has openly backed the plan, which has been flatly rejected by Paleostinians.

Link

Arabia

Search ends for those missing since Yemen’s Houthis sank ship in Red Sea last week

2025-07-14

[IsraelTimes] The search for those missing after Yemen’s Houthi rebels sank a ship in the Red Sea has ended as at least four people are presumed dead and 11 others remain unaccounted for, the private security firms involved say.

The announcement comes as satellite photos show long, trailing oil slicks from where the bulk carrier Eternity C sank, as well as another where the sinking of the bulk carrier Magic Seas by the Iranian-backed Houthis took place.

Both ships were attacked over a week ago by the rebels as part of their campaign targeting vessels over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip that’s upended shipping in the Red Sea, through which $1 trillion of goods usually passes a year.

The private security firms Ambrey and Diaplous Group ran the search for those missing from the Eternity C, which had a three-man security team aboard but requested no escort from either the US Navy or a European Union force in the region. The ship came under attack July 7 and faced hours of Houthi assaults by small arms and bomb-carrying drones before ultimately sinking in the Red Sea.

Ten people were recovered alive from the attack, including eight Filipino crew members and a Greek and Indian from the vessel’s security team, the EU’s Operation Aspides said. At least four are presumed to have been killed in the attack, leaving 11 others missing, the EU mission has said.

The Houthis claimed to have taken some mariners after the attack, but have offered no evidence of that. The US Embassy in Yemen said it believed the rebels had “kidnapped” some of the crew.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Gaza war, regional updates

2025-07-14

[X]

🧵Gaza war, regional updates:
👉27 killed in Gaza, including at water distribution points
👉Malnutrition cases rising in Gaza: UNRWA
👉Israel arrests Palestinians in West Bank raids

🔴 Live blog:https://t.co/SJUmeJPTwt
— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) July 13, 2025

IDF admits error in deadly strike on water delivery site as truce talks stay jammed

[IsraelTimes] Israel’s military said Sunday that a strike near a Gaza water distribution point that reportedly killed several children was an accident, as Israeli aircraft pounded targets across the Strip.

The strike, which the Israel Defense Forces attributed to a "technical malfunction," came as negotiations on a ceasefire and hostage release deal continued to stall, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly set to convene top ministers and defense brass in a bid to find a way to break the logjam.

Gazook health officials at al-Awda Hospital said the strike that hit a water distribution point in Nuseirat refugee camp killed 10 people, including six children.

The IDF admitted it had erred while targeting an operative from the Paleostinian Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
terror group.

"Due to a technical malfunction in the munition, it struck dozens of meters away from the intended target," the IDF said, adding that it had opened an investigation and that it "makes every effort to minimize harm to uninvolved civilians."

Ramadan Nassar, a witness who lives in the area, told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named that around 20 children and 14 adults had been lined up to get water. He said Paleostinians walk some 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) to fetch water from the area.

Water shortages in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
have worsened sharply in recent weeks, with fuel shortages causing desalination and sanitation facilities to close, making people dependent on collection centers where they can fill up their plastic containers.

More than a dozen people were also reported killed near an aid distribution site on Sunday, with eyewitnesses describing shots to victims’ heads and bodies. The Israeli military said its troops had fired warning shots, but that its review of the incident had found no evidence of anyone hurt by its soldiers’ fire.

Negotiations toward a ceasefire in Gaza have stalled primarily over when the war will end and to what extent the IDF will withdraw during the truce.

Paleostine al-Youm, an Islamic Jihad-affiliated news outlet, quoted a senior Hamas
Hamas

..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
official Sunday saying negotiations had reached a critical stage and signaling the Paleostinian group could walk away if the logjam was not cleared in the coming hours.

Channel 12 news reported Sunday that Netanyahu would convene a meeting of senior defense officials and several government ministers that night in a bid to break the impasse, focusing on a new proposal for the troops’ redeployment in Gaza and the direction of talks.

IDF brass has told the government that it is close to achieving the goals of its recent offensive, and US President Donald Trump
...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US...
has repeatedly urged an end to the 21-month-old war. Polls show most Israelis support a deal to free the hostages still held by Hamas and end the war.

During his recent visit to Washington, DC, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed optimism about a deal. But in a video posted to social media Sunday afternoon, he blamed Hamas for obstructing an agreement, saying Israel had accepted the outline proposed by Trump’s chief envoy, Steve Witkoff.

"We accepted it, Hamas refused it," Netanyahu said, adding that he "won’t accept" a deal that allows Hamas to stay in Gaza and rearm."

The deal currently being negotiated in the Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
i capital would see 10 living hostages released in an initial 60-day stage, along with the remains of 18 deceased captives.

Netanyahu has insisted the war cannot end until Hamas is no longer able to rule Gaza or pose a threat to Israel, vowing to achieve both that goal and the return of all 50 hostages still being held in the Strip.

The IDF is waiting for the government to make a decision regarding the war as the military nears completion of its Gideon’s Chariots offensive, launched in mid-May. In late June, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said the military would soon "reach the lines" set by the offensive, in which the IDF aimed to take control of 75 percent of Gaza.

Jordan announced Sunday morning that a local charity had sent 50 trucks of aid to Gaza. The shipment came after the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
announced last week that a deal had been reached to reopen several aid corridors, including humanitarian routes through Egypt and Jordan.

A group of United Nations
...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships...
agencies warned, meanwhile, that a fuel shortage had reached "critical levels" in Gaza, threatening aid operations, hospital care and already chronic food insecurity.

On Sunday, in a rare incident, an Israeli soldier driving on a road in Israeli territory near Gaza was lightly maimed by a stray Israeli bullet.

Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 451. The toll includes two coppers and three Defense Ministry civilian contractors.

Link

Iraq

Kurdish fighters burn weapons Friday, signal end to armed struggle against Turkey

2025-07-13

[Rudaw] In a striking and symbolic gesture, fighters from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) set their weapons ablaze on Friday, signalling an end to more than four decades of armed struggle for Kurdish rights in ~~The Sick Man of Europe~~ Turkey
<del>The Sick Man of Europe</del> Turkey

<del>The Sick Man of Europe</del> Turkey

...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire...
The disarmament, marked by a bonfire reminiscent of Newroz - the Kurdish New Year once banned in Turkey - was held near a cave in Kurdistan Region’s rugged mountains in northern Iraq, the same historic site where Kurdish intellectuals printed an outlawed newspaper more than a century ago.

As the flames consumed the rifles, many in attendance viewed it not just as a tactical move, but as the possible turning point in a long and costly war. The fighters’ disarmament came in response to a rare video message from their jugged
Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up!
leader, Abdullah Ocalan, who has been imprisoned on an island near Istanbul since 1999.

In his statement, Ocalan - long a symbol of the Kurdish nationalist cause - declared that the time for armed struggle had passed, citing new efforts by Turkey to acknowledge Kurdish identity and culture.

"The PKK, for the sake of the people, says we want peace, we want tranquility," said Shame Shingal, a mother whose daughter remains among the ranks of the PKK. "And this has filled us with joy."

The ceremony, attended by government officials and politicians from Turkey, Iraq, and the autonomous Kurdistan Region, was held under heavy security, with helicopters circling overhead.

Among those present was Mohammed Penjwini, a prominent Kurdish intellectual and longtime friend of Ocalan. He voiced cautious optimism, noting that previous peace efforts had failed due to interference by what he called the "Deep State" - a reference to shadowy nationalist elements within Turkey’s bureaucracy and military.

"The hope today is that this process - unlike the previous one, which took four or five years and was ultimately derailed - will succeed," Penjwini said. "Because the leader of the Deep State, Mr. [Devlet] Bahceli, has embraced it. That is the only hope for its success."

Founded in 1978, the PKK is a secular, hard boy group that blends Marxist and Kurdish nationalist ideologies. It has waged a long and bloody insurgency against the Ottoman Turkish state, a conflict that has claimed more than 40,000 lives, most of them Kurdish. Turkey, a NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants...
member, the US and European Union'>European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
have designated the PKK as a terrorist organization.

The group’s decision to relinquish its arms - even if only symbolically for now - has been met with measured approval from analysts, peace advocates and even Ottoman Turkish government officials.

The fighters returned to their mountainous hideouts unarmed, a move seen by some as a genuine step toward lasting peace. Still, skepticism remains. Much will depend on how Ottoman Turkish authorities respond in the weeks and months ahead, and whether a roadmap can be forged to eventually bring the fighters down from the mountains for good.

Turkey continues strikes on PKK despite disarmament, says monitor

[Rudaw] Turkey has continued its attacks on alleged Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) positions on Saturday, a day after the PKK symbolically destroyed weapons as part of peace negotiations with Ankara, according to a group monitoring the conflict.

“At 8:30 am this morning, Turkey bombed the village of Mewin in Amedi 5 times,” Kamaran Osman, a member of the Community Peacemaker Teams (CPT), said on X.

“Since the beginning of this month, Turkey has carried out 12 artillery attacks,” he added.

Amedi is situated about 70 kilometers north of Duhok city and just 15 kilometers from the Turkish border. The area has been a frontline in the conflict between Turkish forces and the PKK.

On Friday, in a striking and symbolic gesture, a group of fighters from the PKK set their weapons ablaze, signalling an end to more than four decades of armed struggle for Kurdish rights in Turkey. Earlier this year, the PKK declared a unilateral ceasefire and announced it would dissolve itself.

On Saturday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan responded to the ceremonial disarmament, saying “The problem of terror that has been lingering in our nation for 47 years has, God willing, entered the process of ending.”

Despite months of negotiations for peace, Turkish attacks in the Kurdistan Region saw an eight percent increase from May through June, according to a CPT report released on Friday. Nearly all 98 percent of these strikes were concentrated within Duhok province, particularly in the Amedi district.

“Turkish military strikes have remained steady and concentrated - though notably, no civilian casualties have been reported - since their surge in May,” said the report.

The conflict has devastated hundreds of villages in the Kurdistan Region and northern Iraq, some have been completely abandoned.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Doha talks stuck on IDF withdrawal; Palestinian officials say discussions nearing collapse

2025-07-13

Here we go again.

[IsraelTimes] Hamas rejects proposal showing continued Israeli control over parts of Gaza, including Rafah buffer zone, sources tell ToI

No significant progress has been made in the ongoing hostage negotiations in Doha since Wednesday, an Arab diplomat and a second source familiar with the negotiations told The Times of Israel on Friday, as Palestinian officials said the talks were on the verge of collapse.

The result of the negotiations will either be a hudna that Hamas will quickly break or no ceasefire at all. Thus far they have not progressed beyond none at all, in which Israel is happy to oblige them. But the ritual, accompanied by a soundtrack of hysterical anti-Bibi protesters at home and Jew-hating protesters around the world, has become excessively tiresome.

While Israel agreed to ease some of its demands regarding the redeployment of its troops during the 60-day truce under discussion following US pressure, the new series of maps depicting the partial withdrawal of IDF troops was not sufficient to satisfy Hamas, the two sources said.

The new maps still envision Israel maintaining control of roughly one-third of Gaza’s territory, including a three-kilometer (1.86-mile) buffer zone in Rafah to create a highly controversial “humanitarian city” to which Gaza’s entire population will be herded, checked for weapons and be barred from leaving as Israel will seek to encourage their emigration outside of the Strip.

Channel 12 reported that Hamas agreed to expand the buffer zone Israel wants to create along much of the Gaza perimeter from 700 meters to one kilometer. However, Israel is still demanding that it be expanded to as much as two kilometers.

Amid the apparent stalemate on the issue, the US is urging Hamas to move on to discuss other remaining issues — something the terror group has refused to do until disagreements regarding Israel’s partial withdrawal from Gaza are solved.

“The negotiations in Doha are facing a setback and complex difficulties due to Israel’s insistence, as of Friday, on presenting a map of withdrawal, which is actually a map of redeployment and repositioning of the Israeli army rather than a genuine withdrawal,” a Palestinian official told AFP on Saturday.

“Hamas’s delegation will not accept the Israeli maps… as they essentially legitimize the reoccupation of approximately half of the Gaza Strip and turn Gaza into isolated zones with no crossings or freedom of movement,” the source said.

FAFO: this is what losing the war looks like, guys. Next time don’t start a war you are guaranteed to lose.

Palestinian officials told the BBC and AFP that negotiations in Doha between Israel and Hamas are on the verge of collapse and are being held up by Israel’s proposals to keep troops in the Strip.

That’s one way to look at it…

One Palestinian official told the BBC that Israel “bought time” with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington to meet US President Donald Trump, and that the decision to send a team to Qatar without a strong mandate was an act to deliberately stall the discussions.

Another way to see it is that The war would end the moment Hamas returned all the hostages, laid down their arms, and marched themselves out of the Gaza Strip — so much cheaper and easier than working to 10/7, so we know y’all are capable of it.

Israel’s delegation to Doha does not include the senior-most officials who have been involved in talks — Mossad chief David Barnea, acting Shin Bet head “Shin,” and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, Army Radio reported earlier this week.

Gaza is only one of the fronts of this war, so the big guys have much more than Hamas on their plates

A Palestinian official told AFP that Israel was “stalling and obstructing the agreement to continue the war of extermination.”

Another said mediators had asked both sides to postpone the talks until the arrival of Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, in Doha. It is unclear if or when that will happen.

The second Palestinian source told AFP that “some progress” had been made in the latest talks on plans for releasing Palestinian prisoners held by Israel and getting more aid to Gaza.

GHF: ISRAEL SHOULD MEET ITS COMMITMENT TO LET NEW AID SITES OPEN
Meanwhile, the controversial Israel- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation issued a statement Friday asking Israel to abide by its commitment to allow the opening of additional distribution sites.

“GHF also continues to press the Government of Israel to live up to its commitment to allow us to open additional sites, including in the north of Gaza,” GHF said.

The statement also welcomed reports of an agreement between Israel and the European Union to scale up humanitarian aid in Gaza, along with ongoing negotiations for a ceasefire in the Strip.

Since late May, Israel has handed authority over aid distribution in Gaza to the GHF, in a stated effort to prevent aid supplies from reaching Hamas.

Israel and the United States have publicly urged the UN to work through the GHF, but the UN has refused.

Link

Africa North

Scandal in Benghazi: Marshal Haftar expels European ministers from Libya

2025-07-12

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Leonid Tsukanov

[REGNUM] A delegation of EU ministers led by European Commissioner for Migration Magnus Brunner recently arrived at Libya's Benghazi airport to discuss the fight against illegal migration with local officials.

However, upon arrival, the European guests were suddenly declared persona non grata and banned from entering.

How interesting.

Moreover, this was done not by the central government in Tripoli, but by the “alternative cabinet” that controls the east of the country.

The central government in Tripoli controls about the central business district in Tripoli, as I recall — we haven’t been playing close attention to them as not much has been happening there.

The diplomatic row seems to herald a quick end to Brussels' balancing act between the two centers of power in Libya. However, Europe is in no hurry to make the first move, rightly fearing that it will only make things worse.

TWO HEADS
Dual power in Libya is not a new phenomenon. After the overthrow of the country's leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, the country plunged into a protracted civil war from which it has not been able to emerge to this day.

By the mid-2010s, two centers of power had emerged in Libya.

One is in the capital Tripoli, which claims to be legitimate and enjoys the support of the UN, Turkey and a number of Western countries. It is led by Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah.

The other is in Tobruk, in the east of the country, challenging the legitimacy of Tripoli and relying on the support of some of its European neighbors (such as Italy and Spain) and Egypt. Its face is the commander of the local armed forces, Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar
...Self-proclaimed Field Marshal, served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy, so it's kind of hard to describe him as a Qadaffy holdover. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all. Actually, he is, but slowly...
The governments of Tripoli and Tobruk exist side by side, periodically engaging in armed clashes. At the same time, they appoint their ministers and conclude international agreements on the development of mineral resources and the delimitation of territorial waters (often mutually exclusive or contradictory).

The attempts of the world community to weld the East and West into a single “transitional cabinet” have led to nothing – their views on the future of the country are too different.

However, the European Union, as one of Libya's major neighbours, has to find ways to coexist with the divided country, responding to the threats it poses as best it can.

A SORE POINT
Thousands of residents of Africa and the Middle East flee to the Old World through the “Libyan corridor” every year, hoping to receive refugee status in the EU or at least move to safer places.

Many of them die along the way, especially off the coast of Italy and Greece, where the currents are too strong. In the last six months alone, at least 700 cases of illegal migrants dying on the water have been recorded, about 60% of them in Italian territorial waters.

Rome and Brussels, still suffering from the consequences of the previous migration crisis of 2015, are trying to combat the influx of migrants, cut off illegal routes and centrally send captured illegal immigrants back to their historical homeland.

But they cannot defeat the attack without help from the other side, that is, from Libya. High-ranking European officials have to go there every now and then for consultations. Moreover, they have to interact with both Tripoli and Tobruk at the same time - observing the same politeness.

Eurosceptics, while seeing this behavior as “undermining the legitimacy” of the UN-endorsed government, turn a blind eye to the situation: Haftar’s forces control about 40% of Libya’s coastal area.

Some of the settlements in the east (for example, the village of Kurat Makrun near Benghazi) have repeatedly appeared in the testimonies of surviving illegals. And the timely closure of these channels would help strengthen trust in the alternative government and its leaders.

However, contrary to expectations, Europe's recent attempts to coordinate with Tobruk have ended in a major diplomatic scandal.

GOT CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE
As soon as the European officials led by Brunner arrived in Benghazi, they were immediately accused of "disregarding the sovereignty" of Libya and violating entry rules. On behalf of Haftar, the delegates were protested and informed of the need to immediately leave the country without the right to return.

The scandal is made even more acute by the fact that among the expelled European officials were representatives of countries with which the alternative government had fairly warm relations.

For example, Matteo Piantedosi, head of the Italian Interior Ministry, was sanctioned. During the period of the most intense rivalry between Tripoli and Tobruk, he (then still the head of the Interior Minister's administration) participated in the development of a number of peacekeeping initiatives. For example, in the involvement of Libyan tribal militias to stabilize the domestic political situation, prevent smuggling and illegal migration.

The "border initiative" of Piantedosi and his colleagues played into the hands of not only Tripoli, but also Tobruk, since the work of the border detachments, recruited from the Tubu and Tuaregs, was financed from the European pocket and excluded rebellion in the rear.

Greece was also a tactical ally of the Eastern forces for some time, trying to annoy Turkey with the help of Tobruk. Its Minister of the Interior was also labeled non grata, which enraged Athens. The country's authorities declared that they would not tolerate diplomatic manipulation and would demand explanations from the East.

THE ROOT OF THE SCANDAL
Probably the reason for such a cold reception of yesterday's friends lies in the decision of European officials to upset the established balance and hold consultations first in Tripoli, and only then with Tobruk.

Until now, EU delegates had always started negotiations with “non-state actors” in order to take their position into account in subsequent contacts with opponents and find a compromise.

Moreover, this time Tripoli clearly violated the status quo: Prime Minister Dbeibah announced the development of new mechanisms for regulating migration in Libya, which, among other things, would expand the powers of the Libyan coast guard and allow it to operate even in those waters that were formally controlled by the east.

Until recently, this approach seemed advantageous to the EU, as it would allow interaction with the Libyan coastguard on a one-stop-shop basis, via Tripoli, and would also take the burden off Tobruk.

Moreover, officials in the east regularly complained to Brussels about the lack of personnel and resources for continuous monitoring of the coast.

However, from Tobruk’s point of view, Dbeibah’s initiative created a threat of constant provocations from Tripoli for the alternative Libyan government, including attempts to accuse Haftar’s supporters of organizing “migrant routes” to the Old World.

Both Brussels and Tripoli are now somewhat confused by what happened in Benghazi. However, this is more likely the calm before the storm.

European sceptics are calling on EU leaders to cut ties with the alternative leadership and focus on interaction with Tripoli, including in the hope that Haftar, deprived of external support, will quickly back down.

On the other hand, such tactics are fraught with a new round of armed struggle between the east and west of Libya - and an attempt by Tobruk to gain legitimacy by force. Especially since one of the conditions for ending the previous clashes was precisely the obligation of external forces to communicate not only with Tripoli.

Moreover, the east of the country is well aware of the effectiveness of the “migration bogeyman” and in response to increased pressure they may open their coastline to “caravans to Europe.” Or at least create such a conviction in their opponents.

Greece was the first to come under attack, being the one most outraged by the diplomatic scandal: the very next day after the incident in Benghazi, local media began writing about blackmail by the Haftar government. Allegedly, Tobruk demanded several billion dollars from Athens, threatening to “flood” the country with illegals in case of refusal.

And although the claims of blackmail may turn out to be rumors sponsored by Haftar's opponents, Europe took this as a signal and is in no hurry to sever ties with eastern Libya.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Israel, EU agree to boost Gaza aid: ‘More trucks, more crossings, and more routes’

2025-07-11

[IsraelTimes] Israel to open several aid corridors, including through Egypt and Jordan, allow bakeries and kitchens to reopen, ensure security for aid workers, repair vital infrastructure

Israel and the European Union'>European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
have agreed upon "significant steps" to increase the flow of humanitarian aid

into the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
Strip "in the coming days," EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas announced Thursday.

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar confirmed the agreement, saying the security cabinet decided last Sunday on measures "to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza," including "more trucks, more crossings, and more routes for the humanitarian efforts."

Speaking alongside Austrian Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger and German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephu, Sa’ar thanked his counterparts "for the fruitful dialogue that we are conducting — with you and the EU — on the humanitarian issue."

The discussions are "based on an understanding of human needs and of the threat that Hamas
Hamas

..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
and the Gaza Strip have posed to Israel over the past 20 years," added Sa’ar, saying, "this dialogue is important and it will continue."

The announcements by Sa’ar and Kallas confirmed an earlier report by Bloomberg, which said that a deal had been reached enabling the reopening of several aid corridors, including humanitarian routes through Egypt and Jordan, and several other crossing points in northern and southern Gaza.

"These measures are or will be implemented in the coming days, with the common understanding that aid at scale must be delivered directly to the population and that measures will continue to be taken to ensure that there is no aid diversion to Hamas," Kallas said.

According to the top European diplomat, the agreement will see a "substantial increase" in the daily entry of trucks supplying food and non-food items; the opening of several crossing points in northern and southern Gaza; the reopening of humanitarian routes through Egypt and Jordan; resumed operations of bakeries and public kitchens in Gaza; resumed fuel deliveries to humanitarian facilities "up to an operational level"; security for aid workers; and reparations on works for "vital infrastructure like the resumption of the power supply to the water desalination facility."

"The EU stands ready to coordinate with all relevant humanitarian stakeholders, United Nations
...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense...
agencies and NGOs on the ground, to ensure swift implementation of those urgent steps," added Kallas, adding that the EU "calls again for an immediate ceasefire" and release of all hostages.

Since late May, Israel has handed authority over aid distribution in Gaza to the Israel- and United States-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in a stated effort to prevent aid supplies from reaching Hamas. The GHF’s operations have been strongly criticized by the international community for failing to address the humanitarian needs in Gaza.

It is unclear under which bodies the expanded aid measures will be operated.

The EU has been increasingly critical of the humanitarian situation in Gaza amid Israel’s war against Hamas, which began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led bully boyz murdered some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in southern Israel and took 251 hostages.

Israel has said that it respects international law and that operations in Gaza are necessary to destroy Hamas.

The EU is Israel’s biggest commercial partner, with 42.6 billion euros ($48.2 billion) traded in goods in 2024. Trade in services reached 25.6 billion euros in 2023.

More than 100 aid groups and other organizations, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, last month urged Brussels to suspend the EU-Israel association agreement "at least in part."

Spain has also called for the agreement to be suspended, while Germany has come out against such a move.

Suspending the EU-Israel accord outright would require unanimity among member states — something diplomats have said from the outset was virtually impossible.

Halting diplomatic dialogue with Israel — a measure that was already rejected last year — also requires backing from all EU countries.

Trade measures could instead be adopted with a qualified majority, diplomats have said, cautioning, however, that agreeing on those might also prove tricky.

Link

Europe

The European Union: No Friend of the United States, Democracy, or Free Speech

2025-07-11

[AmericanThinker] The United States and the European Union (EU) are often portrayed as natural allies, bound by shared values, history, and mutual economic interests. Yet behind this facade lies the reality that the EU repeatedly acts to undermine American power, prosperity, and principles. Far from being a loyal friend, the EU is a strategic competitor, an economic rival, and a political bloc hostile to democracy and free speech.

Moreover, U.S. leaders like Clinton, Obama, and Biden often aligned themselves closely with the EU and its globalist ideology, and, at least as seen from the British view, do so at the expense of our and American sovereignty, national interests, and constitutional freedoms. In doing so, these leaders facilitated not only the EU’s rise—nobody in Britain will forget Obama’s threat just before we voted to leave the rotten, corrupt EU—but also undermined the democratic foundations and free speech traditions valued by our conservative American friends.

The EU is a supranational political entity with ambitions that run counter to American interests and the principles of self-governance. It is an organization that stifles democratic expression, disregards the will of the people in the member nations, and suppresses dissent. It has long used its regulatory clout to pursue policies that harm American industries, the most glaring example being the Airbus-Boeing dispute in which the EU provided illegal subsidies to Airbus, enabling it to undercut Boeing on the global stage. Despite WTO rulings condemning these subsidies, the EU has consistently prioritized protecting its own industries (mostly French and German) over fair competition.

In the technology sector, the EU has waged regulatory warfare against American tech giants. Under the guise of privacy protection and consumer rights, it has implemented sweeping rules such as the General Data Protection Regulation and issued multi-billion-euro fines against U.S. companies, including Google, Amazon, and Apple. While concerns over data privacy are legitimate, the EU’s hypocritical regulatory approach is motivated by protectionism and a desire to weaken U.S. technological dominance.

Beyond economics, the EU repeatedly seeks to position itself as a counterbalance to U.S. global leadership. During the 2003 Iraq War, key EU members like France and Germany led international opposition to the U.S.-led coalition, undermining American diplomatic efforts and fueling global anti-American sentiment.

...Perhaps the most alarming aspect of the EU’s trajectory is its hostility toward democracy and free speech, principles supposedly enshrined in Western political culture. While the EU lectures the world on human rights and democratic values, it has repeatedly shown disdain for democracy by ignoring or overturning referendum results and trying to change national election results.

...President Obama took Clinton’s globalist orientation to new heights. His presidency represented the most ideologically aligned American leadership the EU had ever encountered. Obama’s enthusiastic endorsement of the Paris Climate Accord, a framework largely shaped by EU priorities, exemplified his readiness to subordinate U.S. economic interests to globalist objectives by imposing burdensome environmental restrictions on American industry while giving major polluters like China and India a free pass.

...So, beneath the public declarations of partnership, the European Union has emerged as a strategic rival to the United States, a political entity hostile to democracy and free speech, and a promoter of globalist policies that erode national sovereignty.

Friendship is measured not by shared platitudes but by respect for sovereignty, democracy, and liberty. By that measure, the EU is no friend of the United States, and neither were Clinton and Obama.

Link

Europe

Solar becomes number one energy provider in Europe

2025-07-11

Possibly not their wisest decision…

[GEO.TV] Solar energy has become the number one source of electricity in Europa
Europa

...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
for the first time, according to new research.

A report by the Ember group, a UK-based energy think tank, shows that solar panels generated more power than any other source across the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
in June, making up 22.1 percent of the total electricity mix.

That placed it ahead of nuclear power on 21.8 percent and wind turbines on 15.8 percent, according to the British-based institution. Gas accounted for 14.4 percent and hydropower 12.8 percent.

Ember said that at least 13 countries broke their national record for solar power production.

Wind power production also hit a new record for Europe, and coal has never accounted for such a low share of Europe's electricity output — Ember estimated it at 6.1 percent across the continent, down from 8.8 percent in 2024.

But with demand for electricity rising, the use of coal in the first half of 2025 was still higher than in the same period in 2024, Ember said. Electricity demand in the first six months was more than two percent higher than last year.

Link

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