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Hamas sent Israel hostage deal proposal, but two sides still far apart, sources say

Barak Ravid
Axios
Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:01 UTC
tel aviv israel hostages
© Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty ImagesRelatives and supporters in Tel Aviv hold placards bearing portraits of Israeli hostages held in Gaza.
Hamas through Qatari and Egyptian mediators gave Israel on Sunday a proposal for a new hostage deal, according to two Israeli officials and one source with knowledge of the proposal.

Israel rejected the proposal, but one of the Israeli officials said the offer shows Hamas is now ready to engage in negotiations on a new hostage deal, even as the fighting in Gaza continues. Hamas has said Israel must end the war before the group would negotiate a new hostage deal.

The proposal included a three-phase process. Each phase would include a pause in fighting for more than a month in exchange for the release of hostages, one of the Israeli officials said.

Comment: See also:

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Bad Guys

No, Biden is not being played by Netanyahu, US imperialist policy is the systematic problem

Finian Cunningham
Strategic Culture Foundation
Sat, 30 Dec 2023 00:01 UTC
biden gaza
We should never forget the order of things, that the Zionist regime is an attack dog for U.S. imperialism.

It is, in my opinion, a crucial mistake to view United States-Israeli relations in terms of individual politicians in Washington and Tel Aviv purportedly manipulating each other.

A recent article by my colleague Alastair Crooke contended that U.S. President "wily Joe Biden" is being outplayed by "the fox", Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Alastair is a seasoned diplomat and his views merit respectful attention.

Comment: See also:

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Star of David

'100-200,000, not two million': Israel's Finance Minister envisions depopulated Gaza


Haaretz
Sun, 31 Dec 2023 00:00 UTC
Smotrich
© Noam Revkin-FentonFinance Minister Bezalel Smotrich
Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich joined a growing list of senior lawmakers who expressed support for large-scale transfer of Gaza's civilian population as a solution to Israel's post-war security concerns...

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that Israel must control the territory in the Gaza Strip and significantly reduce the number of Palestinian residents in Gaza.

In an interview to army radio, the far-right minister said that his "demand" was for the Gaza Strip to stop being a "hotbed where two million people grow up on hatred and aspire to destroy the State of Israel."

Without outlining his preferred method, Smotrich then suggested that the removal of around 90 percent of Gaza's residents would help achieve his goal.

He said:
"If there are 100,000 or 200,000 Arabs in Gaza and not two million, the whole discourse about the day after will be different."
The Religious Zionism party chairman then noted that in order to regain security, Israel must control the Gaza Strip, and that "in order to control the territory militarily over time, you must also have civilian presence there."

Comment: 'You must take those we don't kill.' By complying, lives might be saved...however, it also feeds/endorses/enables Israel to succeed in its end game, making rescue nations complicit. Those token Palestinians remaining...what is their fate? Another elimination round?

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Target

Zelensky promises to 'cut off' Crimea in 2024


RT
Tue, 02 Jan 2024 04:20 UTC
Zelensky
© YouTube/The EconomistUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky
The Russian peninsula will become the conflict's "center of gravity," the Ukrainian leader told The Economist...

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has predicted that his country's armed forces will "isolate" Crimea in 2024. The region, which joined Russia in 2014 following a bloody nationalist coup in Kiev, hosts Moscow's Black Sea fleet.

Kiev will seek to cut off access to the peninsula by destroying the Kerch bridge, which connects it to the Russian mainland, Zelensky claimed. For this purpose, he once again demanded German-made long-range Taurus cruise missiles, which Berlin has so far refused to supply even after France and the UK provided Kiev with Storm Shadow missiles.

Zelensky blamed information leaks for the failure of Kiev's much-hyped summer counteroffensive against Russia, but nevertheless shared new insights into the military's top priorities for 2024, saying in an interview with The Economist that isolating Crimea is "extremely important."

The Ukrainian president reiterated his ambitious goal of eventually restoring the country's 1991 borders, but stopped short of making any promises or setting timelines. The immediate goal, he said, will be "to defend the east" and protect Ukraine's critical infrastructure.

"Russia has to know that for us this is a military object," he said.

Comment: 1. Can't win a war without the will of the people. 2. Shouldn't start a war you can't afford. 3. Begging is never the strong suit.

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Blackbox

WaPo memory-holes Israeli minister's farfetched October 7 rape claim at his request

Wyatt Reed
The Grayzone
Wed, 03 Jan 2024 21:20 UTC
jake sullivan yoav gallant satire washington post
© The GrayzoneU.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Israel Defense Minister Yoav Gallant
A note explaining the retraction of the claim that Hamas militants had specific orders as to "which commander should rape which soldiers" indicates the publication censored itself at the behest of the Israeli government.

The Washington Post has quietly removed an outlandish claim by Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant that Hamas battle plans included specific instructions on which Israeli troops should be raped during their October 7 incursion.

In the original article, which was published on November 12 and promoted as a Washington Post "exclusive," Gallant is quoted as telling the outlet: "We know from interrogations that Hamas came in with detailed plans of their attack, including which commander should rape which soldiers in different places."

A day later, the allegation disappeared from the piece, which had been amended to include the following "correction":

"A previous version of this article included a quote from Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant that was not authorized for publication. The quote has been removed."

Comment: The failure to inform the festival organizers was not 'incomprehensible' if you remember that Israel was looking to create an excuse to invade and level a territory it has long coveted. Israel even trumpeted the event as their "9/11", a false flag marker if there ever was one.

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Bad Guys

German MP: Most Leopard 2 tanks given to Ukraine are no longer working


RT
Wed, 03 Jan 2024 20:56 UTC
leopard 2A6 tank
© Getty Images / Philipp SchulzeGerman and Dutch soldiers show the maintenance of a Leopard 2A6 main battle tank during an exercise in Lower Saxony, Germany, September 25, 2019
A lack of spare parts has left Kiev's Leopard 2A6 tanks stuck in a repair shop, Green Party politician Sebastian Schafer said

Very few of the Leopard 2A6 battle tanks given to Ukraine by Germany remain in service, Green Party MP Sebastian Schafer has claimed. Many of the tanks are battle damaged and spare parts are reportedly in short supply, he added.

Berlin announced the delivery of 18 Leopard 2A6 tanks to Ukraine back in March, after months of pleading from Kiev. Hailed as a 'game-changer' by pro-Ukraine pundits, the 2A6 tanks are among the most modern in Germany's arsenal. However, most are currently sitting inert in a repair shop in Lithuania, Schafer explained in a letter this week to arms companies Rheinmetall and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW), seen by Germany's DPA news agency.
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Info

Best of the Web: Kim Jong-un says North Korea no longer eyeing reunification with South, warns of war 'at any time'


South China Morning Post
Sun, 31 Dec 2023 19:00 UTC
Kim Jong-un
© dpaNorth Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un attends the ninth plenary session of the eighth Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea at the headquarters of the party’s Central Committee. Pyongyang has repeatedly blamed the Seoul government for the deterioration in relations in the past.
North Korea's largely isolated leadership dampened hopes of a rapprochement with the South in 2024, with ruler Kim Jong-un saying he is no longer striving for reunification, in comments at the close of a party meeting on Sunday.

Kim said Pyongyang is no longer aiming for reunification, long a goal shared by both Koreas, which have been in a state of war under international law since the end of the conflict between 1950 and 1953.

"We should not make the mistake again of seeing them as a counterpart for reconciliation and unification, as South Korea has declared us its main enemy," Kim was quoted as saying by state media.

Comment: See also:

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Eye 1

Israel's Supreme Court strikes down controversial judicial overhaul

Sheri Walsh
Yahoo! News
Tue, 02 Jan 2024 01:25 UTC
President of the Supreme Court Esther Hayut and all fifteen justices assemble to hear petitions
© Debbie Hill/ UPIPresident of the Supreme Court Esther Hayut and all fifteen justices assemble to hear petitions against the reasonableness standard law in the High Court in Jerusalem, on September 12, 2023. On Monday, the court announced it had struck down the controversial judicial reform.
Israel's Supreme Court has struck down a controversial amendment to the country's so-called "reasonableness" law, which would have limited judiciary oversight amid Israel's ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza.

The court ruled against the amendment by a nearly split vote of eight to seven, calling it a "severe and unprecedented blow to the core characteristics of the State of Israel as a democratic state."

Israeli lawmakers in the Knesset passed the "reasonableness" law, which would have prevented courts from weighing in on the reasonableness of government and ministerial decisions, in July of 2023. The new law drew celebrations from supporters and massive protests from those who said it "seriously damaged" the "system of checks and balances in the state of Israel," as U.S. President Joe Biden called the vote "unfortunate."
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Info

South Korean opposition leader in intensive care after being stabbed in the neck


France 24
Tue, 02 Jan 2024 13:50 UTC
Lee Jae-myung stabbed
South Korean opposition leader Lee Jae-myung was recovering in intensive care after he was stabbed in the neck on Tuesday by a man who pushed through a crowd pretending to be his supporter, his party said.

Lee was surrounded by journalists when a man lunged and struck him on the left side of his neck, Busan police official Son Je-han said at a press briefing.

Lee was first taken to hospital in Busan, then flown to the capital Seoul where he underwent a two-hour surgery, Kwon Chil-seung of Lee's Democratic Party told reporters.
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Arrow Down

Russia demilitarizing the West: The Times reports Britain's weapons stockpiles reduced to 'nothing'


RT
Mon, 01 Jan 2024 19:45 UTC
britain tanks british ukraine training
© Artur Widak / NurPhoto via Getty ImagesBritish Army Challenger 2 tanks are seen at a training ground in Poland on Sept. 21, 2022.
The paper quoted an unnamed Ukrainian source as saying London is now mostly persuading other nations to donate their arms to Kiev

Britain's weapons stockpiles have been nearly completely emptied out by almost two years of deliveries to Ukraine, The Times has reported. The British newspaper also claimed that the UK, together with other Western European nations, is scrambling to ramp up arms production ahead of the 2024 presidential election in the US.

While London has spent more than £4.6 billion ($5.7 billion) on arming Kiev since February 2022, NATO's deputy supreme allied commander for Europe, Gen. Tim Radford, warned in July that the UK risked losing its status within the US-led bloc. The general cited personnel shortages, among other issues.

Comment: Britain has known about this for over a year, but they just can't let go of the idea that 'Putin mustn't win". This is called being ideologically possessed.

From RT June, 2022
British weapons stockpile drained by Ukraine deliveries

It will take several years to replenish Britain's arsenal, the head of its armed forces admits

It could take years for the UK to replace weapons that it has funneled to Ukraine amid the ongoing conflict with Russia, the chief of the defense staff, Admiral Tony Radakin, has admitted. He made the remarks on Wednesday as he spoke before a parliamentary committee.

Replacing even less sophisticated weapons sent to Ukraine could take "several years" due to constraints on the UK's industrial capacity. The "rate of expenditure" of weapons by the Ukrainian military and Britain's capability to "backfill" them has already become "a significant issue," Radakin said.

"We are then talking in years, because you cannot whistle up with modern weapons a quick production line," the admiral explained.
Yes, you can churn out shells and artillery, but even at the not-super-sophisticated end, even at the modest end of an NLAW weapon, then that's going to take several years to get back to our original stocks.


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