Israeli-American plan seems intended to kill off any hope of a two-state solution by deporting population of Gaza
Praying for Armageddon
', available on YouTube.
They may be a tad disappointed that their political idol,
Donald Trump
, is now claiming to have brought lasting peace to the Middle East and that
Binyamin Netanyahu
is nominating Trump for the Nobel peace prize.
It now appears the
Israeli
defence minister, Israel Katz is proposing the
Israel Defense Forces
will herd all the two million Palestinians living in the
Gaza Strip
into a camp erected on the site of the ruined city of Rafah at the southern end of the strip, and that they will designate that camp as a 'humanitarian city' with no right of exit except by migration to foreign states. Those entering the ghetto camp will be vetted to make sure they are not
Hamas
activists (in which case they will be dealt with elsewhere).
But the rest of the Gaza Strip will be made Arab-free (with the possible exception perhaps of richer Gulf Arabs who may choose to holiday briefly on the 'new riviera' envisaged by Trump, Jared Kushner and the Israeli government, for the rest of Gaza).
READ MORE
Netanyahu openly claims to be in negotiation for the mass clearance of Gaza to neighbouring Arab states; Trump predicts that 'good things' will happen in that context
Hand in hand with the ghettoisation of the Arabs in Gaza, the Israeli government is intent on annexing the occupied territories of the West Bank. Increasing pressure on the West Bank's Palestinian population involves mass displacement of the Arab population. The
United Nations
reported in June about the extent of this displacement. Forty thousand Palestinians have been displaced from long-established refugee camps in the northern West Bank including Tulkarem and Jenin, and more than 6,000 have had their homes demolished in reprisal actions (a martial law tactic practised and perfected in Ireland by the British in the Irish War of Independence and bequeathed to the Israelis in the aftermath of the ending of the British mandate in Palestine in 1948).
[
Ireland has a proud history of opposing anti-Semitism
Opens in new window
]
The latest accelerated Israeli clearance involves removing forcibly the Palestinian population of 1,200
from a chunk of the West Bank known as Masafer Yatta, to create a new military firing range area of 32 square kilometres in the occupied territories.
The Israeli-American plan seems to be nakedly intended to kill off any hope of a two-state solution by the deportation of the population of Gaza. Netanyahu claims the two allies are progressing negotiations with unnamed Arab states to receive the Gazans as migrants from the planned 'humanitarian city' at ruined Rafah.
Netanyahu openly claims to be in negotiation for the mass clearance of Gaza to neighbouring Arab states; Trump predicts that 'good things' will happen in that context.
At the moment, about six million Arabs live between the Jordan river and the Mediterranean Sea. That is demographically unmanageable for the 7.2 million Israeli Jews (including 500,000 West Bank settlers).
By deporting two million Palestinian Arabs from Gaza, and making preparations for ethnically cleansing most of the West Bank, the land described as Greater Israel including Gaza, Judea and Samaria (aka the West Bank) could all be kept as a majority Jewish state – even in the face of greater fertility rates among its Arab population. That appears to be the US-Israeli long-term strategy – the lasting peace for which the Israelis propose Trump as a Nobel Prize winner.
All this flouts all notions of international law. All this amounts to a programme of war crimes. All this is happening before our eyes.
But what, you ask, about the unforgivable Hamas atrocities of October 7th, 2023? They were and are atrocities. They were and are unforgivable. Hamas, so carefully, consistently and cynically nurtured by right-wing Israeli politicians as an 'asset' to weaken the West Bank Palestinian administration's claim for statehood, does not deserve to survive. Its ideology is poisonous; its agenda is criminal – annihilation of Israel. These alone demand its deposition.
But none of that justifies what has been done – or is planned to be done – to millions of innocent civilian women and children in Gaza and the West Bank. October 7th, 2023, did not justify two years of slaughter. Fifty-seven thousand Palestinians in Gaza have been slaughtered. And unless the two million survivors in the Gaza Strip are now forcibly displaced and deported, Israel apparently has no answer.
In Biblical terms, are we not now back to the absurd notion of the divinely justified and ordained genocide of men, women and children described in the Book of Joshua at chapters six to 11, and the mass exile of entire peoples?
Forget fundamentalism. Is enlightened Christianity preaching love or Armageddon?
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RTÉ News
28 minutes ago
- RTÉ News
Netanyahu expected to convene security cabinet meeting
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to convene a meeting of his security cabinet later today, amid reports he is preparing to order a full military occupation of Gaza. The proposals have been sharply criticised by the United Nations and aid groups. They are also facing opposition from within Israel, with reports that some military leaders are against any such escalation, while families of Israeli hostages fear it will put the lives of their loved ones at risk. It comes as an EU assessment found significant obstructive factors are undermining humanitarian operations in Gaza. The EU's foreign policy and humanitarian arms updated member countries late last night on the status of an agreement reached with Israel last month on boosting humanitarian access to Gaza. An EU official said late last night that there were some positive developments regarding fuel delivery, the reopening of some routes, and an upward trend in the number of daily trucks entering the enclave and the repair of some vital infrastructure. However, the official added that "significant obstructive factors continue to undermine humanitarian operations and aid delivery to Gaza, notably the lack of a safe operating environment to allow the distribution of aid at scale." The Israeli government is under growing pressure to bring the war in Gaza to an end, with concern mounting after the United Nations warned that famine was unfolding in the territory of more than two million Palestinians. The October 2023 attack by Hamas that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, the majority of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas's 2023 attack, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. The Israeli offensive has killed at least 61,158 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to figures from the Gaza health ministry, which are considered reliable by the United Nations.
RTÉ News
28 minutes ago
- RTÉ News
Former Superman star Dean Cain to join ICE 'ASAP'
The American actor Dean Cain, best known for his starring role in the television series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, has said he is joining United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as an agent "ASAP". US entertainment trade publication Variety reports that in an interview on Fox News' Jesse Watters Primetime on Wednesday, the 59-year-old said: "I put out a recruitment video yesterday, I'm actually a sworn deputy sheriff and a reserve police officer. "I wasn't part of ICE, but once I put that out there and you put a little blurb on your show, it went crazy. "So now I've spoken with some officials over at ICE, and I will be sworn in as an ICE agent, ASAP." Cain told the show that America is "built on patriots stepping up, whether it was popular or not". He described joining ICE as "the right thing" to do. "We have a broken immigration system," he continued. "Congress needs to fix it, but in the interim, President Trump ran on this. He is delivering on this. This is what people voted for. It's what I voted for, and he's going to see it through, and I'll do my part and help make sure it happens." US President Donald Trump was elected to a second term with broad support for his promise to crack down on the entry and presence of undocumented migrants in the country. He has pledged to deport record numbers of people in the country illegally and lock down the US-Mexico border, setting a goal for ICE to arrest at least 3,000 migrants per day. But the sweeping immigration crackdown has also included people legally residing in the country, some with permanent residence, and has led to legal challenges, condemnation from human rights groups, and protests in US cities. Speaking to celebrity website TMZ, Cain said "the American way" is "tremendously immigrant-friendly", adding that "there are rules". In a previous Variety profile, Cain said he had been friends with US President Donald Trump "forever", describing him as "one of the most empathetic, wonderful, generous people you'll ever meet".
Irish Times
an hour ago
- Irish Times
Corporation tax take defies tariff fears even as Apple bows to Trump
Corporation taxes jumped fourfold in July compared to the same month last year even as the Government grows increasingly concerned about the multinational companies driving those revenues. Meanwhile, writes Eoin Burke-Kennedy, VAT receipts proved more modest than expected raising concerns about consumer spending. Apple agreed to spend another $100 billion on expanding its US manufacturing footprint as US President Donald Trump said he would impose a 100 per cent tariff on imports that include semiconductors, though would exempt companies moving production back to the United States. It comes as the 15 per cent tariff on US imports from the European Union kick in today. Meanwhile, as President Trump returns to the notion of supertariffs of the pharma sector, Eoin Burke-Kennedy examines what the latest pharma threats mean for Ireland? The future of accessories retailer Claire's is uncertain after the parent of the 20 Irish stores filed again for bankruptcy protection in the US. Conor Pope writes that restructuring firm Interpath which was tasked with finding a buyer for the European operation struggled to find a financial backer. READ MORE Sticking with retail, Hammerson's Irish boss, Connor Owens , who is credited with revitalising the group's Irish operations, has been headhunted by the new US owners of the Blanchardstown Centre to run its business here. Barry O'Halloran reports. A factory worker whose employer forced him to retire at 65 despite his contract having no such stipulation has been awarded €18,000 by the Labour Court. The Irish are buying back into foreign holidays as Central Bank data shows that credit and debit card users spent more on hotels abroad than in Ireland in June for the first time since 2022. Ian Curran has the details. Tourism Ireland spent over €2.4 million on a campaign to attract environmentally conscious visitors who were looking for a 'slower paced, more immersive holiday' and, according to early data it has been a success. Ken Foxe reports. In her Net Results column, Ciara O'Brien looks at the belated rise of femtech , noting that there is clearly money to be made catering to a group that comprises 51 per cent of the population and 48 per cent of the workforce. Meanwhile, Emmet Ryan looks at Big Tech's focus on partnering with major sporting events and wonders whether it will transform how we watch sports? Conscious of the limitations of Ireland's online banking offering, Niall Dennehy applied his background in banking, telecoms and digital payments to develop NestFi , an app that allows an extended family and friends invest in the future of a child. Finally, in our Inside Business podcast this week, host Ciarán Hancock talks to Siobhán Maguire about Revenue's recent wake-up call to influencers about how those freebies on which they build their brand are, in fact, taxable. If you'd like to read more about the issues that affect your finances try signing up to On the Money , the weekly newsletter from our personal finance team, which will be issued every Friday to Irish Times subscribers.
