Conflict between Palestine and Israel escalates
- Thread starter dreng3
- Start date
The Trump of Doom has a good, religious overtone, IMHO.
A classic Israeli Ceasefire; the enemy ceases while Israel gets to keep firing
So just in case there are any doubts about how Trump stands on Israel :
The first thing his new ambassador to the UN did was claiming that Israel has the right to the West bank.
And they also retracted all sanctions on extremist settler groups and similar criminals that the Biden administration enacted.
The first thing his new ambassador to the UN did was claiming that Israel has the right to the West bank.
And they also retracted all sanctions on extremist settler groups and similar criminals that the Biden administration enacted.
For anyone who has been paying attention, this is entirely unsurprising. Trump literally ran on claiming that he was the "most Pro-Israel" politician in history, and claiming that even such token opposition as seen in Harris/Biden's "pretty please" approach to Netanyahu's campaign meant that a Biden (and later Harris) victory would mean the end of Israel, even implying that they'd institute another Holocaust. "And you know, you go back through history, this is like just before the Holocaust. If you look, it’s the same thing", and that people who vote for Biden or Harris "hate everything about Israel and they should be ashamed of themselves"
He has not been subtle about this.
He's consistently conflated Hamas with Palestine in his rhetoric and has displayed such contempt for the Palestinian people he has taken to describing his political opponents as "like a Palestinian" as a means of throwing shade at them. Back in May, he bragged to his donors that he will "crush" pro-palestinian protests on US campuses, and deport the protestors (which, mind you, are primarily US citizens).
Hell, in his debate with Biden, Trump's stated position was quite explicitly that the US was wrong to hold Israel back. "Actually, Israel is the one (that wants to keep going), and you should let them go and let them finish the job. He (Biden) doesn’t want to do it. He's become like a Palestinian but they don't like him because he's a very bad Palestinian. He's a weak one". His explicit position was that Israel needed to "Have victory, get your victory, and get it over with", with the closest he's come to criticizing the matter being to say that the fact that it was taking so long was making Israel "lose the PR war".
And both he and his Congressional allies have been very unabashed in saying that Israel needs to be given more support (and worldwide at that) rather than being held accountable for Gaza, with Lindsay Graham being particularly egregious because he apparently thought it was a good idea to cite goddamn Hiroshima and Nagasaki as a relevant "right decision".
So again, this is very unsurprising. Hell, Israel even announced their confidence that Trump would support their annexation of the West Bank back in November.
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The Israeli government is also preventing another group of health workers from entering the enclave, as thousands of Palestinians seek treatment.
Jan 25
Only days into Israel’s ceasefire with Hamas, 11 American doctors and nurses say the Israeli government is blocking them from leaving Gaza and returning to the United States.
The doctors, who entered Gaza on Jan. 9 with authorization and clearance from the Israeli government, were set to leave the enclave on Wednesday. But Israel denied their planned exit, telling the group they couldn’t leave due to an unspecified “incident” at a security checkpoint, affected doctors and a colleague in the US told Zeteo.
It’s unclear what incident Israel was referring to. COGAT, the Israeli agency that coordinates humanitarian aid entering Gaza, did not immediately answer specific questions about the group. One doctor said the only major incident the group was aware of involved Israeli forces firing on Palestinians returning to their homes in Rafah.
The group, part of the humanitarian organization Rahma, is currently stuck in northern Gaza and was also told by Israel they cannot even move to the south to leave the Strip “due to certain operational considerations that are currently in consideration regarding the activities on these days.”
Shehzad Batliwala, one of the trapped doctors, told Zeteo that many in the group are “needed to provide critical care to US citizens and others back home.”
The doctors and nurses hope they can leave in the coming days. After the delay, Batliwala said Israel initially told the group they wouldn’t be able to leave until next Tuesday, but has since suggested they may be able to leave on Sunday. In any case, the doctors and their advocates said they would remain skeptical until they’ve successfully left Gaza.
Another Team Prevented From Entering
At the same time, the doctors say Israel is also preventing another Rahma team of doctors, who are part of a larger convoy of health workers, from entering Gaza. They were also told that an “incident” occurred near the Kerem Shalom crossing on the Gaza-Israel border, leaving it closed for both entry and exit. They were forced to leave Israel and return to Jordan. It’s unclear if and when they may be allowed to enter.
“Denying entry to humanitarian workers, especially during a ceasefire period, makes no sense given the dire healthcare and humanitarian needs on the ground,” Batliwala said. “As someone currently in Gaza, I can confirm that there are patients urgently awaiting follow-up and surgical intervention, none of which is happening due to these restrictions.”
A young boy holds the hand of an injured man at the al-Ahli Baptist Hospital after an Israeli attack in Gaza on Jan. 16, 2025. Photo by Abdalrahman T. A. Abusalama/Anadolu via Getty Images
Dr. Adam Hamawy, a US Army combat surgeon veteran – whom Sen. Tammy Duckworth credits with saving her life after she was wounded two decades ago during the Iraq War – is among the convoy of medical professionals trying to enter Gaza. Hamawy, who was also among a team of doctors temporarily barred from leaving Gaza in May, told Zeteo that Israel has “continued to hinder entry and exit of medical and humanitarian workers since the beginning of this genocide.”
The convoy, led by the UN and Rahma, includes some 50 people. At least 14 are American, Hamawy said.
Test for Trump
Israel's decision to block the groups underscores the fragility of the first phase of a long-awaited ceasefire agreement, the first test for newly-elected President Donald Trump in the region. While the bombs have largely stopped in Gaza, Israeli forces have still continued its killing – particularly in the West Bank. Among the tens of thousands of people Israeli forces have killed, hundreds have been medical workers and volunteers – including American World Central Kitchen worker Jacob Flickinger.
Israel’s actions also renew concerns about the US government’s commitment to ensuring the Israeli government protects Americans in both Gaza and the West Bank. In the last year, the US continued to send billions in US military aid and provide diplomatic cover despite Israel’s actions against US citizens, including the killing of 26-year-old American Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, who was shot dead by an Israeli soldier in the occupied West Bank last September.
The State Department and White House did not respond to a request for comment. Zeteo also reached out to the offices of senators representing the states where the doctors trapped in Gaza hail, including Texas’ Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, California’s Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, Florida’s Rick Scott and Ashley Moody, Colorado’s Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, Ohio’s Bernie Moreno, and Arizona’s Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego.
Only Hickenlooper’s office responded, saying they are “in contact with a Colorado doctor in Gaza as well as with the US Embassy.”
The pettiness of foreign policy-laundering propaganda knows no bounds.
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2000ib bombs have resumed shipment to Israel from the US, after being stopped in May/June 2024.
Trump has now suggested Gaza be "cleaned out", with all people being forcibly relocated to neighbouring countries like Jordan and Egypt.
Trump has now suggested Gaza be "cleaned out", with all people being forcibly relocated to neighbouring countries like Jordan and Egypt.
What is it called when you say you are going to cleanse a specific ethnic group from an area? If it doesn't have a name, we should name it something like...Racial Washing or something like that. We'll workshop the name and figure something out.