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© Agence France-PresseIn this photo taken on September 5, 2018, Palestinian school children chant slogans and raise the victory gesture over a UN flag during a protest at a United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) school in the Arroub refugee camp near the city of al-Khalil in the occupied West Bank.
The so-called Jerusalem al-Quds Municipal Council approved earlier this week the plan, which will target schools run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in the mostly Arab neighborhood of Shuafat in East Jerusalem al-Quds as well as Anata town, located four kilometers (2.4 miles) northeast of the Old City of Jerusalem al-Quds.
The project will cost 7.1 million Israeli shekels ($2,055,617), and has been supported by Jerusalem al-Quds Mayor Moshe Lion as part of attempts to reduce UNRWA's influence in the occupied city.
© Reuters / Ida Guldbaek Arentsen 10US Air Force's Thule Air Base in Greenland.
"Moscow still considers stability in the region a key factor in the development of the Russian Arctic as a strategically important resource base. Therefore, Russia is interested in the Arctic remaining a 'zone of peace and cooperation," a fresh report by the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS), which was seen by RT, read.
© New York Times Co./Getty ImagesFidel Castro outside the UN in September 1960. The US had admitted to making eight assissination attempts on Castro – though the real figure is probably much higher.
But the killing of Gen Qassem Suleimani, the leader of Iran's elite military Quds force, was in a class all its own. Its uniqueness lay not so much in its method - what difference does it make to the victim if they are eviscerated by aerial drone like Suleimani, or executed following a CIA-backed coup, as was Iraq's ruler in 1963, Abdul Karim Kassem? - but in the brazenness of its execution and the apparently total disregard for either legal niceties or human consequences.
"The US simply isn't in the practice of assassinating senior state officials out in the open like this," said Charles Lister, senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington. "While Suleimani was a brutal figure responsible for a great deal of suffering, and his Quds force was designated by the US as a terrorist organization, there's no escaping that he was arguably the second most powerful man in Iran behind the supreme leader."
Donald Trump's gloating tweets over the killing combined with a sparse effort to justify the action in either domestic or international law has led to the US being accused of the very crimes it normally pins on its enemies. Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, denounced the assassination as an "act of international terrorism".
SOTT Focus: Ukranian Whistleblower Reveals MH-17 Tragedy Was Orchestrated by Poroshenko and British Secret Service
The whistleblower in the 39-minute documentary completely delegitimizes the findings found by the Dutch investigators and world leaders by drawing on classified documents he attained through his own high-ranking position and those close to him, as well as eye witness accounts including from the Donbass volunteers. The responsibility for investigating the tragedy was given to a Dutch-led joint investigation team with the Dutch Safety Board, who claimed that MH-17 was downed by the Donbass volunteers with a Buk surface-to-missile. Prozorov challenges this assertion and questioned why Malaysia, which owned MH-17, was pushed to the periphery of the investigation and priority was given to the Dutch side. This in itself is not damning and does not disprove that the Donbass volunteers were not responsible, but it does demonstrate that there is a clear agenda when a country with direct interest in this tragedy is cast aside.
Interestingly, the Dutch investigators completely disregarded declassified Russian Ministry of Defense information that the missile used to down MH-17 was sent to the Lviv region in Western Ukraine near the Polish border during the Soviet era, the opposite end of the country to Donbass. Prozorov was able to even reveal the serial number of the missile (8-8-6-8-7-2-0). This revelation is complemented by the fact that the Ukrainian military 156 Anti-Aircraft Regiment were operating in Donbass and had BUK vehicles in service in the region, as corroborated by two interviewees who served in the regiment, bringing into question why Dutch investigators ignored such critical information. This comes as it has now been proven, as explained in the documentary, that the alleged Russian Buk movement in Ukraine was faked, with a single still photo being used with a picture of a tractor, a trailer and a Buk vehicle being inserted into the picture.
Comment: See also:
- German detective to reveal new evidence on MH17 crash only if JIT agrees information to be made public
- New MH17 Doc Reveals Evidence Tampering, Dutch Cover-up of Forged Recordings, Hidden Ukrainian Radar Records
- 'Call for Justice' - Investigative Report on Gaping Holes in The Official Story of MH17
- The political forces that led to the shootdown of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17
© WikimediaHassan Rouhani, President of Iran
US-and-allied 'news'-media, such as Reuters, lied about this matter when saying that "While such resolutions are not binding on the government, this one is likely to be heeded: Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi had earlier called on parliament to end foreign troop presence as soon as possible." As MOA had already explained, the assassination was profoundly embarrassing personally to Mahdi, and he "and the whole cabinet supported the resolution." Under such circumstances, there is no way possible that the Prime Minister can reverse himself and his cabinet and the Parliament, on that demand. It's a non-reversible demand. But, later on January 5th, the U.S. State Department nonetheless said,
"While we await further clarification on the legal nature and impact of today's resolution, we strongly urge Iraqi leaders to reconsider the importance of the ongoing economic and security relationship between the two countries and the continued presence of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS."
Comment: SOTT political analyst Joe Quinn also shares a portion of this view, especially with respect to Israel:
What War Was Trump Trying to Stop by Killing Iranian General Soleimani?
The primary reason for Israel's increasing anxiety about Iran is the significant progress that Iran has made in forming political and military alliances inside Iraq (a direct result of the Israel-inspired destruction of the country by the US) and across the wider region, and the fact that it is today the only country in the region with the human and military resources (and intent) to pose a threat to the Jewish state's desire for regional hegemony.
Recently released diplomatic cables dating from 2014-15 detail the extent of Iran's influence inside the Iraqi government, showing how Iranian intelligence officers have co-opted much of the Iraqi government's cabinet, infiltrated its military leadership, and even tapped into a network of sources once run by the CIA. In the 4-5 years since then, Iranian influence has only grown and, from an Israeli perspective, reached a 'red line' point where Iraq could be used as a staging ground for attacks on Israel.
Given this, and Trump's talk of there being "less and less reason" for the US to remain in the Middle East combined with the upcoming Iraqi parliament vote to officially demand the removal of US forces from the country, it's likely that the killing of Soleimani was a negotiated (by Trump) alternative to a relatively imminent, large-scale Israeli attack on Iranian assets in Iraq, and possibly Iran itself. Such an attack would have sparked a real war between Israel and Iran, which would inevitably have drawn in the US. This is, I propose, what Trump meant when he said that "we took action last night to stop a war."
In this scenario, public statements made by Trump administration officials that killing Soleimani was necessary to stop "significant strikes against Americans" in the region can be understood as necessary lies to cover up the truth: that rather than protecting its own immediate interests, the US government was acting to prevent Israel from doing something dangerously irrational that would threaten the lives of millions in the Middle East and beyond.
What US officials privately told their Iranian counterparts soon after the assassination fits this scenario. Rear-Admiral Ali Fadavi, deputy commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, told Iranian state television that "the Americans resorted to diplomatic measures" the very next morning. Fadavi said Washington asked Tehran to respond "in proportion." They "even said that, if you want to get revenge, get revenge in proportion to what we did" which makes the entire situation seem like something of a sordid geopolitical game. This evening, rockets were fired at the US 'green zone' in Baghdad. Perhaps that is Tehran's proportionate response.
Comment: One could be forgiven for thinking some in Israel are looking for escalation considering their actions in the region recently.
In fact, the strategic balance - though sorely tested - had been hanging together. Just to be clear: Iran and Israel both had been keeping - just - within the parameters of unspoken 'red lines' - despite the inflated rhetoric. And both were practicing 'strategic patience'. So the strategic balance seemed more or less sustainable: until its upending with the assassination of Qasem Soleimani and the head of the PMU, Al-Muhandis, ordered by Trump.
© AP Photo / Rodrigo Garrido
To be clear, the existence of a cabal of anti-Trumpist officials within the nation's top law enforcement agencies was exaggerated by Trump's defenders. That said, the FBI did, in fact, make grave errors in its investigation of the Trump campaign's ties to Russia, as demonstrated by the Justice Department Office of Inspector General's report. The FBI violated the rights and privacy of Trump campaign advisor Carter Page, considered evidence against Page the FBI knew to be misleading, and ignored sources that clashed with their preferred narrative of events.
Comment: The past years has seen utter insanity from the left in the US, which has made the right appear pretty sane upon comparison. The thing is few on the right have actually learned from their own bout of insanity during the Bush years. Fortunately, it seems at least one mainstream voice has learned from such lessons:
© Reuters/Goran TomasevicOperation Iraqi Freedom
Though nonbinding, the expulsion vote came after mobs trashed the U.S. embassy in an assault that recalled Tehran 1979.
What provoked Iraq's Parliament into demanding the ouster of all U.S. troops?
First, the five December U.S. strikes on Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces in retaliation for a dozen Kataib Hezbollah rocket attacks on U.S. bases, which killed a contractor and wounded four U.S. soldiers.
Then came President Donald Trump's decision to launch a drone-strike and kill Iranian General Qassem Soleimani at Baghdad International Airport. Killed in the same strike was the Shiite Iraqi leader of Kataib Hezbollah.
During his return flight to Washington Sunday, Trump warned Iraq: Follow through on your demand that all U.S. troops get out, and we will insist that Baghdad repay the money we just spent on a major air base.
© Ebrahim Noroozi/APCoffins of Gen. Qasem Suleimani and those killed in US drone attack on Jan. 6, 2020
The deputy commander of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, was among the Iranian and Iraqi officials killed in a US operation in Baghdad on Friday.
And PMF, which unites some 40 militias and has around 150,000 members, promised that they won't let American "criminals" get away with murder.
"All retaliation options are on the table... no red lines shall hinder our revenge," Jawad Al Telbawi, a commander of one of the factions within the group, told the Independent. "We shall convulse the ground underneath the American army's feet in Iraq. These are not slogans, rather truths in which we believe."
The threat was directed at "fool and a blackmailer" Trump, his administration and the US military, stationed in Iraq, but Telbawi also had plenty to say to ordinary Americans.
Comment: The duel between 'wishful thinking' and 'wishful revenge' has produced a stalemate - tentative at best. With power comes responsibility. The wise decision is for the US to recede and diffuse retaliation while it can.
Sputnik, 8/1/2020: Response will be not less than Iranian retaliation
Iraqi militia commander Qais al-Khazali said:
"The initial Iranian response to the assassination of the martyred commander Soleimani has happened. Now it is time for the initial response to the assassination of the martyred commander Muhandis. And because Iraqis are brave and zealous, their response will not be any less than that of Iran's. That is a promise."
Comment: Israel has so much to gain from this it's sickening. As the ministry noted, every facility steals more of Palestine's share of Jerusalem.They will be able to propagandize Palestine's children to forget all their parents fought and suffered for, and teach them to accept without question the lowest-class position they would occupy in Israeli society. The Right of Return will never exist for them.
- Israeli army continues to demolish Palestinian West Bank schools
- Israel demolishes three Palestinian schools in West Bank days before reopening
- Attacks on Palestinian schools increase as Israel escalates settlement activities
- UN says at least 45 Palestinian schools under Israeli demolition threat
- The unintended consequences of Trump's UNRWA Palestinian budget cuts:
Still, Israel is an equal opportunity oppressor:Israel deprives Christian schools of funding