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AU Financial Review
7 days ago
- Politics
- AU Financial Review
On Israel and Gaza, a question of intent
Operation Gideon's Chariots, Israel's latest assault on Gaza, began on the night of May 16. Sometimes the names of military operations carry a message. Gideon was the biblical liberator of Israel from its oppressors, who led a small force of 300 men to defeat the mighty host of the Midianites. 'Gideon's Chariots' expresses the traditional narrative that Israel is the underdog fighting for survival. It is a myth. Israel is one of the most highly militarised and technically advanced states in the world. In terms of GDP per head, it is also one of the richest. It is an undeclared nuclear power. At $US37 billion ($57 billion), its defence budget is by far the biggest in the Middle East, after Saudi Arabia's. Its security is implicitly guaranteed by the United States, which contributes more than $US3 billion a year to its defence.
New Statesman
16-07-2025
- Politics
- New Statesman
A question of intent
'Operation 'Gideon's Chariots', Israel's latest assault on Gaza, began on the night of 16 May 2025. Sometimes the names of military operations carry a message. Gideon was the biblical liberator of Israel from its oppressors, who led a small force of 300 men to defeat the mighty host of the Midianites. 'Gideon's Chariots' expresses the traditional narrative that Israel is the underdog fighting for survival. It is a myth. Israel is one of the most highly militarised and technically advanced states in the world. In terms of GDP per head it is also one of the richest. It is an undeclared nuclear power. At $37bn, its defence budget is by far the biggest in the Middle East, after Saudi Arabia's. Its security is implicitly guaranteed by the United States, which contributes over $3bn a year to its defence. By comparison, Gaza was one of the world's poorest territories even before the destruction recently visited upon it. It has no armed forces apart from Hamas terrorists and a handful of other local militias. It is virtually defenceless against tanks and aircraft. Israel is in a position to do whatever it likes to Gaza, and it does. Hamas's professed ambition may be to eliminate the state of Israel, but it has no more chance of achieving it than a gnat has of killing an elephant. Israel once enjoyed a great deal of moral capital. The Holocaust and the long Jewish experience of persecution aroused sympathy across the West. The idealism surrounding the foundation of the Israeli state and the remarkable social, intellectual and economic achievements of Israel since then were rightly admired. This soft power was politically valuable to Israel. It masked the historic injustice inflicted on the indigenous population of Palestine at the foundation of Israel, when they were cleared out in order to make way for a Jewish state. That moral capital has now been largely dissipated. International hostility to Israel is particularly strong among the world's young, who will dominate its international outlook in the next generation. Anti-Semitism exists, but it is not the main reason for this significant shift of opinion. It has happened because of the way in which Israel has chosen to deploy its overwhelming strength against the vulnerable population of Gaza. This has already provoked the issue of arrest warrants against Benjamin Netanyahu and the former defence minister Yoav Gallant by the International Criminal Court, which is a serious and impartial court whatever the US government may say. Serious criticisms have been made of Israel's conduct in Gaza by the United Nations, and countries such as Britain, France, South Africa, Australia and Canada. Many countries have imposed total or partial arms embargoes. There is a strong case that Israel is guilty of war crimes. As a matter of international law, Israel has a right to defend itself, but the methods which it uses are circumscribed by treaty. Israel has signed up to the Geneva Conventions of 1949. The Fourth Convention contains extensive protections for civilian populations caught in a war zone. It forbids attacks on hospitals in any circumstances, unless the hospitals are themselves being used to commit acts of war (articles 18 and 19). It forbids the destruction of private property except where this is 'rendered absolutely necessary by military operations' (article 53). As an occupying power in relation to most of Gaza, Israel is bound to ensure that food and medical supplies are provided to the population (article 55). The permanent displacement of the population is strictly forbidden (article 49). These provisions have been supplemented by a substantial body of binding customary law. International humanitarian law, the generic name given to this body of law, has been codified by the International Committee of the Red Cross in a way that is generally regarded as impartial and authoritative. Military operations must not be directed against civilian targets. This includes towns, cities and villages, residential areas and specific installations such as hospitals, water processing facilities, power plants and other facilities essential to the survival of the civilian population. Indiscriminate attacks are forbidden, including area bombardment and the use of weapons whose effects are uncontrollable. Starvation is specifically banned as a method of warfare. All forms of ethnic cleansing are ruled out. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe Of all the rules of international humanitarian law the most important is the rule which requires proportionality in warfare. The International Committee of the Red Cross expresses it as follows: 'Launching an attack which may be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination thereof, which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated, is prohibited.' This means that some military operations are unacceptable although they may have an important military purpose and bring real military advantages, because the civilian casualties would simply be too high. It is easy to dismiss these principles as the dreams of unworldly professors and the misplaced idealism of lawyers. But that would be a serious mistake. They are included in the military manuals of most civilised states, including Israel's. They are based on a realistic assessment that war is unavoidable but can be at least partly humanised. This is a major achievement of our world and marks a significant advance in the regulation of warfare, drawing on the catastrophic experiences of the Second World War. We cannot really want to return to the barbarism of the area bombing of cities, the indiscriminate slaughter of civilians, the deliberate mass starvation of populations and the vast forced population transfers which characterised that conflict. We cannot without hypocrisy criticise the wholesale violation of civilised standards by Russia in Ukraine, and tacitly endorse them when practised by Israel in Gaza. At the outset, the declared object of Israeli military operations in Gaza was to destroy Hamas. The problem with this has always been that although much of the leadership of Hamas and some of its installations are identifiable, Hamas is not an organised and disciplined combatant force like a uniformed army. It is a paramilitary movement dispersed among the civilian population like needles in a haystack. It can be destroyed, if at all, only by burning the entire haystack. Yet every sprig of straw in the haystack is a human life. The destruction of Hamas is probably unachievable by any amount of violence, but it is certainly unachievable without a grossly disproportionate effect on human life. Hamas's attacks on 7 October 2023 killed 1,195 people. According to the Gaza health authorities (part of the Hamas administration) 57,645 Palestinians have so far been killed in Israeli military operations. In addition, over 180 journalists are reported to have died and over 224 humanitarian aid workers, 179 of them employees of the United Nations' relief organisation UNWRA, which Israel will no longer allow to operate in Gaza. These figures do not include indirect casualties from preventable disease and malnutrition caused by war. Most of the victims have been identified by name. A proportion of them are no doubt Hamas fighters. Assessments are necessarily conjectural, but plausible estimates suggest that Hamas may account for 20 per cent of the casualties. United Nations agencies estimate that about 70 per cent have been women and children. The casualties include those caused by grotesque acts of violence such as the bombing of hospitals full of patients, many of whom cannot be moved, because there are said to be Hamas command centres underneath them; or the destruction by bombing of entire apartment blocks whose residents are said to include some Hamas operatives. As of January 2025, more than nine-tenths of residential buildings in Gaza had been destroyed or badly damaged. These figures may be criticised at the margins, but they have been verified by reputable academic studies and responsible agencies of the United Nations. They are not just propaganda or figments of anti-Semitic imaginations. The total blockade of Gaza announced by Netanyahu on 2 March 2025 began to cause famine within a fortnight. It was thought likely to lead ultimately to the most extreme case of man-made famine since the Second World War. The defence minister, Israel Katz, explained in April 2025: 'Israel's policy is clear: no humanitarian aid will enter Gaza and blocking this aid is one of the main pressure levers preventing Hamas from using it as a tool with the population.' It would be hard to imagine a clearer statement that starvation was being used as a weapon of war. In May, Israel qualified the policy by setting up a system of food distribution from militarised 'hubs' organised by its own tame organisation, the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. That system has largely broken down and was never capable of feeding more than part of the population. Meanwhile, the United Nations Human Rights Agency has recorded nearly 800 Palestinians killed while gathering at distribution hubs, hoping for food. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz recently reported, on the basis of interviews with soldiers, that this has been done on the express orders of senior officers of the Israel Defence Forces. I have no ideological position on this conflict. I approach it simply as lawyer and a historian. But I sometimes wonder what Israel's defenders would regard as unacceptable, if the current level of Israeli violence in Gaza is not enough. It is impossible for any decent person to be unmoved by the scale of arbitrarily imposed human suffering, or the spectacle of a powerful army brutally assaulting a population already on its knees. This is not self-defence. It is not even the kind of collateral damage which can be unavoidable in war. It is collective punishment, in other words revenge, visited not just on Hamas but on an entire population. It is, in short, a war crime. Is it also genocide? That is a more difficult question. Genocide is defined by the Genocide Convention of 1951 (to which Israel is party) as acting with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, by killing its members, causing them serious bodily or mental harm or deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction in whole or in part. Because genocide depends on intent, there will always be room for argument about whether it is happening. Recently, a new war aim has emerged alongside the original plan to destroy Hamas. This is nothing less than the wholesale displacement of the population of Gaza to third countries. The Israeli minister of national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, is a long-standing advocate of ethnic cleansing. The finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, is another. He announced at a public press conference on 6 May 2025, shortly after the decision to launch Operation Gideon's Chariots, that 'Gaza will be entirely destroyed.' He went on to explain that Palestinians would be herded into a Hamas-free zone, and from there would leave 'in great numbers' to third countries. These two men were recently sanctioned by Britain and four other countries 'in their personal capacity'. But they were not speaking in their personal capacity, and cannot so easily be distinguished from the rest of the Israeli government. Both of them are leaders of minor far-right parties in the Knesset belonging to Netanyahu's coalition. They have the rest of the cabinet over a barrel, because Netanyahu's coalition government has a small majority, and without their support it will fall. So the government cannot afford to depart too far from their policy positions. A week after Smotrich's remarks, Netanyahu, giving evidence to a Knesset committee, reported that Israel was destroying more and more housing so that the population would have nowhere to return to and would have to leave Gaza. More recently, on 7 July, the defence minister, Israel Katz, briefed Israeli media that it was proposed to incarcerate Palestinians in a vast camp to be built on the ruins of Rafah, pending their departure for other countries. Statements like these from the prime minister and senior ministers in his cabinet have to be considered together with the sheer scale of the human casualties and the indiscriminate physical destruction inflicted on their orders. The most plausible explanation of current Israeli policy is that its object is to induce Palestinians as an ethnic group to leave the Gaza Strip for other countries by bombing, shooting and starving them if they remain. A court would be likely to regard that as genocide. One of the main barriers to clear thinking about Gaza is the fact that debate is muffled by two dangerous falsehoods. One is the idea that this story began with the Hamas attack of 7 October 2023; the other is that any attack on Israel's treatment of the Palestinians is anti-Semitic. A fortnight after the attack, António Guterres, the secretary-general of the United Nations, pointed out in the Security Council that it 'did not happen in a vacuum'. It followed 56 years in which the Palestinians in Gaza had suffered 'suffocating occupation… their land steadily devoured by settlements and plagued by violence, their economy stifled, their people displaced and their homes demolished.' He was expressing the self-evident truth that if you persistently treat people like that, hatred, violence and terrorism will eventually be the response. The Israeli ambassador objected to his attempt to 'understand' terrorism and demanded his resignation on the ground that his words were an anti-Semitic blood libel. This neatly encapsulated both falsehoods. The tragedy is that what Israel is doing in Gaza is not even in its own interest, although it may be in the personal interest of Netanyahu if it helps him to stay in power. Hamas is, among other things, an idea. It is an idea which will not disappear and which Israel will have to live with, for it will never have peace until it learns to recognise and accommodate the natural attachment of Palestinians as well as Israelis to their land. That will involve considerable concessions by Israel, but the alternative will be worse. The Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023 was unforgivable, and it is sometimes said that to understand it is tantamount to justifying it. 'Tout comprendre, c'est tout pardonner,' says Princess Bolkonsky in War and Peace. I would put it the other way round. That which we cannot forgive, we have a duty to understand. Otherwise we will get more of it. Related
Jordan News
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Jordan News
Hamas: After 640 Days of War, the Occupation Has Failed to Break Gaza's Will - Jordan News
Hamas declared on Tuesday that the military and political realities after 640 days of the Israeli war on Gaza have made it clear to the entire world that the occupation has utterly failed to break Gaza's will or subdue its resistance. اضافة اعلان In its statement, Hamas said the slogans of a 'crushing defeat' and the 'complete eradication' of the movement had collapsed in the face of explosive tunnels, complex resistance ambushes, and the illusion of freeing captives by force was shattered under relentless resistance strikes. The statement added that "Gideon" armored vehicles were burned in Beit Hanoun and Khan Younis, with their crews killed, while the resistance continues to fight bravely and with parity, despite hunger and siege, as the occupation continues to commit massacres against civilians and innocents. Hamas stressed that the resistance has forced Israel to admit its failure and the impossibility of simultaneously achieving the release of captives and defeating the resistance. It said the axes of Israeli incursion have turned into death traps, from which soldiers do not emerge unharmed. The group emphasized that Israel's persistent attempts to forcibly displace Palestinians and impose ethnic cleansing have been met with heroic steadfastness by the people, who resisted death, hunger, and bombardment, and rejected having their future dictated by intelligence rooms or political dictates. Hamas concluded by stating that this comprehensive failure — militarily, politically, and morally — exposes the falsehood of the Zionist propaganda machine, reaffirming that this battle was never just about weapons and rockets, but also a battle of consciousness, willpower, and resilience. Since October 7, 2023, Israel — with U.S. support — has waged what has been described as a genocide in Gaza, involving widespread killing, starvation, destruction, and displacement, in defiance of international appeals and binding orders from the International Court of Justice to stop. The war has resulted in around 194,000 Palestinians killed or injured, most of them children and women, with over 11,000 missing, hundreds of thousands displaced, and famine claiming the lives of many — including children — amid widespread devastation.
Yahoo
29-06-2025
- Yahoo
A Puppy Was Burned in Boiling Water After a Mother-Daughter Argument, but Nobody Will Face Charges, Prosecutor Says
A puppy named Gideon suffered "severe burns" from boiling bath water after a mom and her daughter got into an argument in their Detroit home on Jan. 21 The mom accused her daughter, 19, of purposefully burning the pup, but later revised her story There is not enough evidence in the case to charge the 19-year-old, a prosecutor announced on June 27 to community outcryA Detroit woman's months-old puppy suffered severe burns from boiling bath water shortly after she got in a heated argument with her teenage daughter. Now, a prosecutor has announced that no one will face charges for injuring the dog as there is simply not enough evidence. The altercation occurred in the early hours of Jan. 21, with officers reporting to a Detroit home after a 19-year-old woman called 911 to report that her mother was 'intoxicated and antagonizing her,' Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said in a June 27 press release. The mom was relocated overnight to another location, and later that morning, police received another 911 call — this time from the mother. When the mother returned home, one of her dogs — a male Jack Russell Terrier named Gideon, who was around 4 to 5 months old at the time — 'was crying with severe burns on its body,' Worthy said. Police later described the condition of the animal on that day as in 'deep distress with burns on its legs and face.' 'She said she called the police because her 19-year-old daughter threw her dog in a tub of hot water,' the prosecutor said. 'She was not home at the time it happened, but thought her daughter did it because they had an argument earlier.' According to Worthy, the mom's younger daughter, 13, told police she 'heard the dog crying and saw it run down the stairs with severe burns screaming,' and believed him to be too small to jump into the tub on his own — which is what her older sister claims occurred. The 19-year-old told police that she ran water, left it in the tub and was upstairs when Gideon entered the water and screamed, the prosecutor said. Her boyfriend then lifted the puppy out of the water, she claimed. A third daughter, who was not involved in the situation, got help for the dog from Detroit Animal Welfare Group (DAWG), Worthy said. DAWG is a volunteer-run group dedicated to helping 'neglected, sick and homeless animals,' per its website. With the group's assistance, Gideon was admitted to an animal hospital, treated for 10 days and released to a foster home, where he continued outpatient care for two weeks. He 'was treated for pain, refusal to walk, weight loss, bacterial infections, necrotic skin and third-degree burns,' Worthy said. DAWG also held fundraisers for Gideon's medical expenses, and shared the pup's story on social media. The group gave frequent updates on his condition, including his first bath after the incident, his fur growing back and the first time he used his still-healing paws to play. In June, DAWG shared that Gideon had made progress overcoming his 'trauma' by willingly stepping into a puddle. Worthy was alerted to Gideon's situation in February through social media reports, and launched an investigation into the claims of abuse, she said in the June 27 press release. But, the prosecutor explained, there was simply not enough evidence to raise charges against the 19-year-old daughter, or anyone else. A veterinary expert who specializes in animal cruelty was consulted in the investigation, per Worthy, and concluded that Gideon did not jump into the tub of his own volition. The expert determined that he "was likely placed into the tub hind limbs first, followed by his forelimbs, and remained there for seconds or minutes when he was removed from the tub,' Worthy said. 'As a result, Gideon's injuries caused severe, long-lasting pain, were life-threatening and required extensive and expensive medical care.' Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Everyone involved was also interviewed by investigators, except for the 13-year-old daughter, whom the mom failed to produce twice, Worthy said. And the mom later changed her statement, revising her story to match her 19-year-old daughter's account, according to the prosecutor. As a result, investigators 'concluded that the facts and evidence do not support that a case against the 19-year-old can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. That is the required legal standard in a criminal case,' the press release states. 'The recommendation was made to Prosecutor Worthy to deny the warrant request. Prosecutor Worthy reviewed the case and determined that the facts and evidence did not support charging. The warrant request is accordingly denied for insufficient evidence to prosecute.' Following the announcement of Worthy's decision, community members shared their outrage on social media and protested the decision in person, per DAWG. The Detroit-area group also shared its plans to take legal action. 'This is the most horrific case of animal abuse we have seen, and we have a private attorney who will prosecute the abuser,' the group wrote on Facebook. 'We are in absolute disbelief that they have chosen not to prosecute.' Anticipating the backlash, Worthy shared a lengthy statement about 'the passion of animal lovers' along with her June 27 announcement. 'We understand that there will be many who will be very displeased with our decision to deny charges today,' she wrote in part. 'These will be some of the same people who disparaged us for taking our time to do a complete investigation. But what is right is right. What is just is just. Sometimes our charging decisions will upset others. But ultimately, we must charge what we can prove." "We must be able to prove who did this horrible injustice," Worthy concluded, "and we cannot do that in this case.' Read the original article on People
Daily Mail
28-06-2025
- Daily Mail
Fury as severely-burned puppy named Gideon is nearly left for dead... and no one will be charged
A severely-burned Jack Russell Terrier puppy named Gideon captured hearts worldwide - but despite his agony, prosecutors won't press charges. The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office in Michigan announced Friday that no one will be held responsible for the horrific injuries suffered by Gideon, who was allegedly placed into a tub of scalding water in a Detroit home during a heated family argument. 'I'm so upset,' Kelly LaBonty, Director of the Detroit Animal Welfare Group (DAWG) told Click on Detroit. 'How can you not prosecute that? How can you not? I just can't even believe it.' The case has drawn international attention and inspired widespread protests. But prosecutors now say the evidence does not support charges that could hold up in court. The disturbing incident began in the early hours of January 12, when a 19-year-old woman called 911 to report that her mother was drunk and antagonizing her at their home on Maddelien Street in Detroit. Officers arrived and made the mother leave, sending her across the street to stay with her son. But just hours later, the mother called 911 to report that her puppy - later identified as Gideon - had been badly burned. She initially said she didn't witness what happened, but minutes later called again and claimed her daughter had thrown the dog into hot water. 'This is a dangerous person that's out here - someone who can do that to an animal,' LaBonty said. 'They need to be behind bars.' By the time police arrived back at the home, Gideon was in visible distress, suffering from burns on his legs and face. Officers noted that the mother had not directly witnessed the incident. The 19-year-old daughter claimed Gideon had jumped into a bath she'd run earlier. Her boyfriend, who had been upstairs at the time, confirmed they heard the dog scream and then pulled him from the water. A 13-year-old sister also said she'd heard Gideon crying and saw him burned - but told officers the puppy was too small to jump into the tub on his own. According to court documents, a veterinary expert later examined Gideon and determined the burn pattern did not match a dog jumping into a tub. Instead, the injuries suggested Gideon had been placed hind legs first into the scalding water, then remained there for several seconds - or even minutes. Gideon was treated at a veterinary hospital for 10 days, then transferred to a foster home where he continued outpatient care. His injuries were extensive: third-degree burns, necrotic skin, bacterial infections, weight loss, refusal to walk, and extreme pain. Still, prosecutors say they can't determine beyond a reasonable doubt who hurt him. 'People are correct about this: Gideon… suffered horrific abuse,' said Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy in a lengthy statement. 'But in every crime, we must be able to prove WHO did it. We are not able to do that in this case.' The decision not to prosecute has enraged DAWG and animal lovers around the world, many of whom have followed Gideon's recovery closely. His story has spread as far as the UK, Australia, and Africa. 'There's a police report with the mother stating what happened,' said LaBonty. 'There's evidence. I just don't understand. This is why it happens all the time.' More than 1,500 people showed up to meet Gideon at a restaurant fundraiser. Others have sent gifts and letters from across the U.S., including Tennessee, Illinois, and Pennsylvania. Online posts have flooded the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office with demands for justice. But Worthy stood by the decision. 'We must charge what we can prove,' she said. 'We must be able to prove who did this horrible injustice, and we cannot do that in this case.' The investigation, which began in late February and continued through early June, included interviews with multiple family members. Prosecutors say inconsistencies and the family's shared living arrangements raised concerns of a coordinated story. Key witnesses, including a younger sibling, were never made available for forensic interviews. 'Some think we should've just rounded up everyone in the house and charged them all,' Worthy said. 'We are certainly not going to arrest and charge everyone that we think are responsible - that must be backed up by evidence.' Despite the disappointment, LaBonty and DAWG vow to continue fighting for animal abuse victims like Gideon. 'I hope we obviously get prosecution for Gideon and not just a slap on the wrist,' she said earlier in the investigation. 'We have to be the voice for all the animals. It's not just Gideon. Gideon's just a small part of the story.' For now, the case is closed - but the outrage isn't. 'This is serious,' LaBonty said. 'And the system failed him.'
