Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) on Wednesday noon seized a Palestinian house south of Al Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem and handed it to the settlers after forcing its inhabitants to leave at gunpoint.

Local sources said that the crews of the occupation authorities, guarded by a military force, began unloading the contents of a house in the neighborhood of Batn Al-Hawa in the central district of the town of Silwan south of the Aqsa Mosque, before being handed over to a settlement association.

Israel has no other option but to launch a "war" against Hamas, the Israeli defense minister has recently claimed, calling it the last resort. Modern history shows, however, that Israel has resorted to force quite frequently.

"Wars are only conducted when there is no choice, and now there is no choice," Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman told the Israeli Parliament on Tuesday. But it looks like Israel believed many times that it severely lacked options throughout the last two decades, as it has launched more than half a dozen major military operations since the beginning of the 21st century.

Totally under the radar of a news cycle consumed by the Pulp Fiction in Istanbul saga and the ever-mutating US-China trade war, leaders from no less than 51 Asian and European nations met in Brussels on Friday to talk about developing some measure of global stability.The day before in Brussels had been lost on yet another unresolved soap opera - Brexit, with no credible deal in sight.

The Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), established in 1996, lists 53 partners - 30 European nations, 21 Asian nations, the EU and the ASEAN Secretariat. Members, apart from the whole EU, include three BRICS nations (China, Russia, India), Japan, Australia and New Zealand - attesting to its importance.

Even though ASEM's decisions are not binding, the 12th summit could not have happened at a more crucial juncture, according to diplomats, in terms of the pressing need for some sanity in international law and relations.

Even with the EU focused on Brexit, the fallout of migration and Italy's open defiance of Brussels in raising its budget deficit; and Asia worried about inter-Korean dialogue, US bombers flying over the South China Sea ahead of an ASEAN summit, and the Rohingya crisis, they still managed to conduct meaningful discussions.

After all, Eurasia-wide trade already tops trans-Pacific trade, and the gap will continue to grow.

They discussed connectivity and trade and investment, but also sustainable development policies, climate change, terrorism, nuclear non-proliferation, cyber-security and, last but not least, the theme that galvanizes right-wing populism: migration.

Arguably the key consensus point of the Asia-Europe entente cordiale is the need to preserve the WTO - for all its faults still hailed as the only rules-based mechanism capable of arbitrating the proliferation of trade wars.

In parallel, the EU is advancing business as usual, signing a free-trade agreement with Singapore and another one with Vietnam and finalizing the terms of a trade deal with Japan.

Earlier, the Syrian Foreign Ministry accused the US-Led coalition of violating international law and killing civilians in a letter to the UN following airstrikes in Deir Ez-Zor province.

The international coalition led by the United States launched another airstrike on the village of al-Sousse in the Syrian province of Deir Ez-Zor, which resulted casualties and injuries among civilians, the Syrian news agency SANA reported, citing local sources.

"The coalition announcing the fight against the terrorist group Daesh conducted a series of bombings of residential areas in the village of al-Sousse and its environs in the southeast of the province of Deir Ez-Zor," the agency reported.

Having killed more than 200 Palestinians since March, the IDF has apparently decided to show its more humane side, alerting advocacy groups to the plight of a lowly tortoise nearly murdered by Hamas "arson balloons."

The official Twitter account of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Wednesday bemoaned the near-death of a tortoise allegedly rescued in the aftermath of a Hamas "arson balloon" attack - which has become more frequent in recent weeks.

"Look at what this Israeli firefighter found among the devastation caused by the arson balloons that Hamas launches from Gaza into Israel. 8,000+ acres burnt, 1000s of animals killed - Hamas must be held accountable," the tweet read, tagging Greenpeace and animal rights group PETA. An accompanying video shows a small tortoise walking through a patch of charred soil, before being scooped up by an Israeli firefighter.

An employee of a leading Washington DC think tank has reportedly taken credit for the resent purge of alternative media by Facebook and Twitter, claiming it to be necessary to fight against 'fake news' from Russia and China.

In the latest act of apparent censorship of political speech online, US-based tech giants this month shut down hundreds of user accounts. Some belonged to well-established alternative media outlets with hundreds of thousands of followers, like The Free Thought Project or The Anti Media. A senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund, a leading think tank advocating US global supremacy, seems to have at least partially taken credit for this.

"Russia, China, and other foreign states take advantage of our open political system," Jamie Fly said.

"They can invent stories that get repeated and spread through different sites. So we are just starting to push back. Just this last week Facebook began starting to take down sites. So this is just the beginning."

In a rare televised interview senior White House advisor and the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner explained yesterday how he plans to move forward with his Middle East peace plan, despite collapsed relations with the Palestinian negotiations team. Speaking to Van Jones at CNN's CITIZEN forum in New York City, Kushner spent most of the nearly one-hour conversation on the criminal justice system, including his father's incarceration, and Saudi Arabia. But when Jones asked how it would be possible to achieve a major peace accord when the White House is no longer in contact with Palestinian negotiators, Kushner's comments suggested getting the current leadership on board may not be key at this point.


Kushner said, "Look, I've gotten to know the Palestinians leadership, I've to to know a lot of Palestinians leaders who are not necessarily in the exiting leadership, but our sense is that when we put our plan out if there is reasonable leadership and if it is a reasonable plan, then they will come to the table and try to fight for how to create the best opportunity and the best outcome for their people."

"We're hopeful that we will find leadership that will be willing to do that," Kushner added, "bold leadership."

Israel is left with no choice but to unleash a military action against Hamas militants, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman has threatened. The bellicose tirade comes amid reports the IDF are amassing tanks along the Gaza border.

"Wars are only conducted when there is no choice, and now there is no choice," Lieberman told the parliament. Apparently anything less than the "toughest response" to Hamas is not being considered as Tel Aviv had "exhausted the other options."

Speculation about a potential offensive on Gaza has been swirling for several days, as the IDF stationed around 60 tanks and armored personnel carriers near the Palestinian border in what may be the largest military deployment since 2014's Operation Protective Edge.

The death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul hasn't hindered the kingdom in signing $50 billion worth of contracts at an investment conference in Riyadh on Tuesday.

The deals were signed in oil, gas, infrastructure, and other sectors at the Saudi international business forum, dubbed the 'Davos in the desert'. Companies involved in the deals include Total, Hyundai, Schlumberger, Baker Hughes, and others.

Saudi oil giant Aramco clinched agreements with 15 international partners worth more than $34 billion. Saudi Arabia's crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, received a standing ovation despite being suspected of playing a role in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Passionate comment reflects widespread outrage about 'meme ban'.

YouTube says that new EU copyright rules could force it to ban people from uploading their own videos.

It says that the new directive puts its entire creative community at risk and that the new rules could "drastically change the internet that you see today".

The comments from YouTube boss Susan Wojcicki‏ are just one part of widespread outrage about the new rules, which campaigners have referred to as the 'meme ban'.