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Middle East Eye
6 days ago
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
Israel's plan for 'full control' of Gaza heralds a new Nakba - so the West is panicking: Opinion by Jonathan Cook
Western leaders are now expressing 'outrage', as the media call it, at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to 'take full control' of Gaza and 'occupy' it. At some point in the future, Israel is apparently ready to hand the enclave over to outside forces unconnected to the Palestinan people. The Israeli cabinet agreed last Friday on the first step: a takeover of Gaza City, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are huddled in the ruins, being starved to death. The city will be encircled, systematically depopulated and destroyed, with survivors presumably herded southwards to a 'humanitarian city' - Israel's new term for a concentration camp - where they will be penned up, awaiting death or expulsion. At the weekend, foreign ministers from the UK, Germany, Italy, Australia and other western nations issued a joint statement decrying the move, warning it would 'aggravate the catastrophic humanitarian situation, endanger the lives of the hostages, and further risk the mass displacement of civilians'. Germany, Israel's most fervent backer in Europe and its second-biggest arms supplier, is apparently so dismayed that it has vowed to 'suspend' - that is, delay - weapons shipments that have helped Israel to murder and maim hundreds of thousands of Palestinians over the past 22 months. Netanyahu is not likely to be too perturbed. Doubtless, Washington will step in and pick up any slack for its main client state in the oil-rich Middle East. Meanwhile, Netanyahu has once again shifted the West's all-too-belated focus on the indisputable proof of Israel's ongoing genocidal actions - evidenced by Gaza's skeletal children - to an entirely different story. Now, the front pages are all about the Israeli prime minister's strategy in launching another 'ground operation', how much pushback he is getting from his military commanders, what the implications will be for the Israelis still held captive in the enclave, whether the Israeli army is now overstretched, and whether Hamas can ever be 'defeated' and the enclave 'demilitarised'. We are returning once again to logistical analyses of the genocide - analyses whose premises ignore the genocide itself. Might that not be integral to Netanyahu's strategy?
Middle East Eye
6 days ago
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
Israel's plan for 'full control' of Gaza heralds a new Nakba - so the West is panicking
If you thought western capitals were finally losing patience with Israel's engineering of a famine in Gaza nearly two years into the genocide, you may be disappointed. As ever, events have moved on - even if the extreme hunger and malnourishment of the two million people of Gaza have not abated. Western leaders are now expressing 'outrage', as the media call it, at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to 'take full control' of Gaza and 'occupy' it. At some point in the future, Israel is apparently ready to hand the enclave over to outside forces unconnected to the Palestinan people. The Israeli cabinet agreed last Friday on the first step: a takeover of Gaza City, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are huddled in the ruins, being starved to death. The city will be encircled, systematically depopulated and destroyed, with survivors presumably herded southwards to a 'humanitarian city' - Israel's new term for a concentration camp - where they will be penned up, awaiting death or expulsion. At the weekend, foreign ministers from the UK, Germany, Italy, Australia and other western nations issued a joint statement decrying the move, warning it would 'aggravate the catastrophic humanitarian situation, endanger the lives of the hostages, and further risk the mass displacement of civilians'. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Germany, Israel's most fervent backer in Europe and its second-biggest arms supplier, is apparently so dismayed that it has vowed to 'suspend' - that is, delay - weapons shipments that have helped Israel to murder and maim hundreds of thousands of Palestinians over the past 22 months. Netanyahu is not likely to be too perturbed. Doubtless, Washington will step in and pick up any slack for its main client state in the oil-rich Middle East. Follow Middle East Eye's live coverage of the Israel-Palestine war Meanwhile, Netanyahu has once again shifted the West's all-too-belated focus on the indisputable proof of Israel's ongoing genocidal actions - evidenced by Gaza's skeletal children - to an entirely different story. Now, the front pages are all about the Israeli prime minister's strategy in launching another 'ground operation', how much pushback he is getting from his military commanders, what the implications will be for the Israelis still held captive in the enclave, whether the Israeli army is now overstretched, and whether Hamas can ever be 'defeated' and the enclave 'demilitarised'. We are returning once again to logistical analyses of the genocide - analyses whose premises ignore the genocide itself. Might that not be integral to Netanyahu's strategy? Life and death It ought to be shocking that Germany has been provoked into stopping its arming of Israel - assuming it follows through - not because of months of images of Gaza's skin-and-bones children that echo those from Auschwitz, but only because Israel has declared that it wants to 'take control' of Gaza. It should be noted, of course, that Israel never stopped controlling Gaza and the rest of the Palestinian territories - in contravention of the fundamentals of international law, as the International Court of Justice ruled last year. Israel has had absolute control over the lives and deaths of Gaza's people every day since its occupation of the tiny coastal enclave many decades ago. But on 7 October 2023, thousands of Palestinian fighters briefly broke out of the besieged prison camp they and their families had endured after Israel momentarily dropped its guard. The promise of Palestinian statehood was always treated by the West as little more than a threat - and one directed at Palestinian leaders Gaza has long been a prison that the Israeli military illegally controlled by land, sea and air, determining who could enter and leave. It kept Gaza's economy throttled, and put the enclave's population 'on a diet' that saw rocketing malnourishment among its children long before the current starvation campaign. Trapped behind a highly militarised fence since the early 1990s, unable to access their own coastal waters, and with Israeli drones constantly surveilling them and raining down death from the air, the people of Gaza viewed it more as a modernised concentration camp. But Germany and the rest of the West were fine supporting all that. They have continued selling Israel arms, providing it with special trading status, and offering diplomatic cover. Only as Israel carries through to a logical conclusion its settler-colonial agenda of replacing the native Palestinian people with Jews, is it apparently time for the West to vent its rhetorical 'outrage'. Two-state trickery Why the pushback now? In part, it is because Netanyahu is pulling the rug out from under their cherished, decades-long pretext for supporting Israel's ever-greater criminality: the fabled two-state solution. Israel conspired in that trickery with the signing of the Oslo Accords in the mid-1990s. The goal was never the realisation of a two-state solution. Rather, Oslo created a 'diplomatic horizon' for 'final status issues' - which, like the physical horizon, always remained equally distant, however much ostensible movement there was on the ground. Lisa Nandy, Britain's culture secretary, peddled precisely this same deceit last week as she extolled the virtues of the two-state solution. She told Sky News: 'Our message to the Palestinian people is very, very clear: There is hope on the horizon.' Every Palestinian understood her real message, which could be paraphrased as: 'We've lied to you about a Palestinian state for decades, and we've allowed a genocide to unfold before the world's eyes for the past two years. But hey, trust us this time. We're on your side.' How murder of Al Jazeera journalists is part of Israel's Gaza occupation strategy Read More » In truth, the promise of Palestinian statehood was always treated by the West as little more than a threat - and one directed at Palestinian leaders. Palestinian officials must be more obedient, quieter. They had to first prove their willingness to police Israel's occupation on Israel's behalf by repressing their own people. Hamas, of course, failed that test in Gaza. But Mahmoud Abbas, head of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the occupied West Bank, bent over backwards to reassure his examiners, casting as 'sacred' his lightly armed security forces' so-called 'cooperation' with Israel. In reality, they are there to do its dirty work. Nonetheless, despite the PA's endless good behaviour, Israel has continued to expel ordinary Palestinians from their land, then steal that land - which was supposed to form the basis of a Palestinian state - and hand it over to extremist Jewish settlers backed by the Israeli army. Former US President Barack Obama briefly and feebly tried to halt what the West misleadingly calls Jewish 'settlement expansion' - in reality, the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians - but rolled over at the first sign of intransigence from Netanyahu. Israel has stepped up the process of ethnic cleansing in the occupied West Bank even more aggressively over the past two years, while global attention has been on Gaza - with the Israeli newspaper Haaretz warning this week that settlers had been given "free rein'. A small window into the impunity granted to settlers as they wage their campaign of violence to depopulate Palestinian communities was highlighted at the weekend, when B'Tselem released footage of a Palestinian activist, Awdah Hathaleen, inadvertently filming his own killing. Extremist settler Yinon Levi was released on grounds of self-defence, even though the video shows him singling out Hathaleen from afar, taking aim and shooting. Alibi gone It is noticeable that, having stopped making reference to Palestinian statehood for many years, western leaders have revived their interest only now - as Israel is making a two-state solution unrealisable. That was graphically illustrated by footage broadcast this month by ITV. Shot from an aid plane, it showed the wholesale destruction of Gaza - its homes, schools, hospitals, universities, bakeries, shops, mosques and churches gone. Gaza is in ruins. Its reconstruction will take decades. Occupied East Jerusalem and its holy sites were long ago seized and Judaised by Israel, with western assent. Suddenly, western capitals are noticing that the last remnants of the proposed Palestinian state are about to be swallowed whole by Israel, too. Germany recently warned Israel that it must not take 'any further steps toward annexing the West Bank'. US President Donald Trump is on his own path. But this is the moment when other major western powers - led by France, Britain and Canada - have started threatening to recognise a Palestinian state, even as the possibility of such a state has been obliterated by Israel. Australia announced it would join them this week after its foreign minister, a few days earlier, said the quiet part out loud, warning: "There is a risk there will be no Palestine left to recognise if the international community don't move to create that pathway to a two-state solution." That is something they dare not countenance, because with it goes their alibi for supporting all these years the apartheid state of Israel, now deep into the final stages of a genocide in Gaza. That was why British Prime Minister Keir Starmer desperately switched tack recently. Instead of dangling recognition of Palestinian statehood as a carrot encouraging Palestinians to be more obedient - British policy for decades - he wielded it as a threat, and a largely hollow one, against Israel. He would recognise a Palestinian state if Israel refused to agree to a ceasefire in Gaza and proceeded with the West Bank's annexation. In other words, Starmer backed recognising a state of Palestine - after Israel has gone ahead with its complete erasure. Extracting concessions Still, France and Britain's recognition threat is not simply too late. It serves two other purposes. Firstly, it provides a new alibi for inaction. There are plenty of far more effective ways for the West to halt Israel's genocide. Western capitals could embargo arms sales, stop intelligence sharing, impose economic sanctions, sever ties with Israeli institutions, expel Israeli ambassadors, and downgrade diplomatic relations. They are choosing to do none of those things. And secondly, recognition is designed to extract from the Palestinians 'concessions' that will make them even more vulnerable to Israeli violence. In the West's view, the 'good Palestinians' are those who recognise and lay down before the state committing genocide against them According to France's foreign affairs minister, Jean-Noel Barrot: 'Recognising a State of Palestine today means standing with the Palestinians who have chosen non-violence, who have renounced terrorism, and are prepared to recognise Israel.' In other words, in the West's view, the 'good Palestinians' are those who recognise and lay down before the state committing genocide against them. Western leaders have long envisioned a Palestinian state only on condition that it is demilitarised. Recognition this time is premised on Hamas agreeing to disarm and its departure from Gaza, leaving Abbas to take on the enclave and presumably continue the 'sacred' mission of 'cooperating" with a genocidal Israeli army. As part of the price for recognition, all 22 members of the Arab League publicly condemned Hamas and demanded its removal from Gaza. Boot on Gaza's neck How does all of this fit with Netanyahu's 'ground offensive'? Israel isn't 'taking over' Gaza, as he claims. Its boot has been on the enclave's neck for decades. While western capitals contemplate a two-state solution, Israel is preparing a final mass ethnic cleansing campaign in Gaza. Starmer's government, for one, knew this was coming. Flight data shows that the UK has been constantly operating surveillance missions over Gaza on Israel's behalf from the Royal Air Force base Akrotiri on Cyprus. Downing Street has been following the enclave's erasure step by step. Netanyahu's plan is to encircle, besiege and bomb the last remaining populated areas in northern and central Gaza, and drive Palestinians towards a giant holding pen - misnamed a 'humanitarian city' - alongside the enclave's short border with Egypt. Israel will then probably employ the same contractors it has been using elsewhere in Gaza to go street to street to bulldoze or blow up any surviving buildings. Why Gaza's genocide ranks among the gravest horrors of human history Read More » The next stage, given the trajectory of the last two years, is not difficult to predict. Locked up in their dystopian 'humanitarian city', the people of Gaza will continue to be starved and bombed whenever Israel claims it has identified a Hamas fighter in their midst, until Egypt or other Arab states can be persuaded to take them in, as a further 'humanitarian' gesture. Then, the only matter to be settled will be what happens to the real estate: build some version of Trump's gleaming 'Riviera' scheme, or construct another tawdry patchwork of Jewish settlements of the kind envisioned by Netanyahu's openly fascist allies, Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir. There is a well-established template to be drawn on, one that was used in 1948 during Israel's violent creation. Palestinians were driven from their cities and villages, in what was then called Palestine, across the borders into neighbouring states. The new state of Israel, backed by western powers, then set about methodically destroying every home in those hundreds of villages. Over subsequent years, they were landscaped either with forests or exclusive Jewish communities, often engaged in farming, to make Palestinian return impossible and stifle any memory of Israel's crimes. Generations of western politicians, intellectuals and cultural figures have celebrated all of this. Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and former Austrian President Heinz Fischer are among those who went to Israel in their youth to work on these farming communities. Most came back as emissaries for a Jewish state built on the ruins of a Palestinian homeland. An emptied Gaza can be similarly re-landscaped. But it is much harder to imagine that this time the world will forget or forgive the crimes committed by Israel - or those who enabled them. The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.
Irish Independent
27-05-2025
- Politics
- Irish Independent
Confusion after Israel dismisses claim of Hamas peace deal being agreed
©Reuters A proposal by US special envoy Steve Witkoff for a Gaza ceasefire was, according to a Palestinan official yesterday, accepted by Hamas – only for this claim to be immediately rubbished by both Mr Witkoff and Israeli officials. Mr Witkoff rejected the notion Hamas had accepted his offer for a hostage deal and a ceasefire in Gaza, telling Reuters what he had seen was 'completely unacceptable' and the proposal being discussed was not the same as his. Register for free to read this story Register and create a profile to get access to our free stories. You'll also unlock more free stories each week.
Winnipeg Free Press
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
No valedictory speech at University of Manitoba medical school convocation after 2024 controversy
The 101 students who officially became doctors Thursday morning at the University of Manitoba's medical school convocation celebrated their accomplishment by tossing their graduation caps in the air and posed for photos with friends and family in much the same way as classes have done forever. But the Class of 2025 left the Bannatyne campus ceremony without having heard from their elected valedictorian. The long-held tradition for that new physician to address the gathering was eliminated from this year's program in a measure the university said has been in the works for years. But it came as a surprise to some members of the graduating class who believe the decision was made in response to last year's convocation, in which Dr. Gem Newman delivered a speech that included a call for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas militants who govern the Gaza Strip. In his speech, Newman alleged Israel's military was deliberately targeting Palestinan hospitals. And he condemned medical associations for their silence on the conflict. The address, shared on social media, created waves well beyond the ceremony itself, including professional complaints and a statement from the Max Rady College of Medicine dean calling it 'disrespectful.' The philanthropist behind the largest-ever personal donation to the university described Newman's remarks as 'hateful lies' in a letter to the U of M. The university later took down a video of the convocation from its YouTube page. The decision to scale back medical school graduation ceremonies was years in the making, in an effort to get it more in line with convocations that take place at the Fort Garry campus, which don't feature valedictorian speeches. The medical school ceremony will be moved to the main U of M campus next year, said Rady Faculty of Health communications and marketing director Ilana Simon. Last year's controversy did not factor into the university's decision, she said, noting that the valedictorian will be able to deliver a speech at a dinner Friday organized by the graduates. One graduating doctor told the Free Press she believed last year's speech was a factor in the university's decision. 'As a graduate of the class, we voted, we nominated valedictorian, we voted for them. Everyone was extremely excited for our valedictorian to give the speech. I actually found out this morning… this was a big shock to everyone in our class,' said the doctor, who did not want to be identified, citing concerns about future employment prospects. 'The announcement wasn't made to any of us. It seems like all this had to be hush-hush.' She said Friday's dinner is a paid event that not every grad attends. 'The fact that someone had the honour of being elected valedictorian… chosen by their class, I think it's super disrespectful to the person that was supposed to give the speech, and super disrespectful to the class of 2025 for not letting their voices be heard,' she said. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS 101 students officially became doctors Thursday morning at the University of Manitoba's medical school convocation at the U of M Bannatyne campus on Thursday. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS 101 students officially became doctors Thursday morning at the University of Manitoba's medical school convocation at the U of M Bannatyne campus on Thursday. A medical resident who graduated with Newman in 2024 and was in the audience Thursday decried the change as censorship. 'I think it's academically censoring student voices, and I don't agree with it… I think that it is direct consequences of what happened last year, and they're not letting graduates speak,' she said. Newman did not attend Thursday's convocation — he is currently on rotation in southern Manitoba and Roseau River Anishinabe First Nation — but told the Free Press he had heard there would not be a valedictory address. 'It seems more likely to me that this is a calculated move to prevent any student expression that might not align with the university's goals, whether those are educational, political, fundraising, etc.,' he said. He described the fallout last year as emotionally and financially taxing. About two dozen complaints about the speech were lodged with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba, he said, and all have been resolved 'without any finding of wrongdoing on (his) part.' Consulting lawyers was costly, and he had to respond to the complaints on top of his workload as a medical resident. He said he and his family experienced intense harassment, including from a fellow doctor through Manitoba's internal medical messaging system. He does not regret giving the speech the way he did, but said the result was 'extremely hard.' 'In some senses, I regret that it fell to me to say what I did, but I don't regret what I said, because it was the right thing to do,' he said. Regardless of whether the change was planned in advance, making it for the class that followed Newman's was not appropriate, said Erik Thomson, president of the University of Manitoba Faculty Association, which represents approximately 1,200 employees, including professors and librarians. 'It wasn't a courageous decision to cancel the valedictorian's speech the year after there was a controversy,' Thomson said. 'The University of Manitoba is not demonstrating courage in promoting freedom of expression or trusting that its students have discretion and judgment, which is disconcerting in a faculty of medicine.' Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. A report published in March from the Canadian Association of University Teachers (of which UMFA is a member) on academic freedom in Canada after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel — which triggered the ongoing conflict — included Newman's speech in its findings and described allegations of censorship from universities and colleges as 'disturbing.' 'Institutions have a positive obligation to resist external pressures, whether from governments, donors, or interest groups,' the report reads. 'If institutions accede to external pressures and demands for political censorship instead of encouraging the utmost freedom of discussion, they abdicate their responsibility for protecting their central mission of education, research, and service to the broader society and to the public good.' — With files from Maggie Macintosh Manitoba's newest doctors come from all walks of life. No one knows this better than 42-year-old Dr. Angela Zwaagstra, who graduated Thursday morning at the University of Manitoba Rady Faculty of Health Sciences. 'I come out of foster care… and the advice that I was given was, 'Don't get pregnant,'' she told the Free Press after the ceremony. 'No one thought that I would be able to go on to university, or certainly not become a doctor.' A foster parent and stay-at-home mom, she decided to go back to school, driving herself to campus from her home in Steinbach every day. She earned a degree in psychology, and began studying for the Medical College Admission Test. Eight years of hard work later, she has her degree in medicine. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS Graduate Angela Zwaagstra poses for a photo with dean Peter Nickerson at the Max Rady College of Medicine convocation ceremonies. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS Graduate Angela Zwaagstra poses for a photo with dean Peter Nickerson at the Max Rady College of Medicine convocation ceremonies. About 10 per cent of her graduating class came from, as she describes it, a 'non-traditional' route — or students who didn't directly pursue medicine after their bachelor's degrees. 'I think that because we have experience outside of just being university students, we bring a lot of maturity and wisdom that some of the other students are going to have to learn over time,' she said. She was joined Thursday by her family. She plans to work as a family physician in Steinbach and hopes to focus on women's care; she is considering additional study to specialize in gynecology. 'It was a very long journey, and I'm so proud that I was able to be here, that my family was able to be here, and that all the people behind me are going to be able to follow me, as well,' she said. Medical degrees were conferred on 101 graduates on Thursday morning. An additional 87 graduates in dentistry, dental hygiene and pharmacy recived their degrees in an afternoon convocation. 'You are all about to be incredibly busy, not that you haven't been for the last four years, and you may struggle to find time to reflect on your place in the world and how you can affect change in our medical system,' U of M president Michael Bennaroch told the doctors. 'But try to find time to see the big picture and reflect on how you can make us better. You're about to be at the centre of so much. Be proud to take your place there.' This year's honorary degree was given to Sister Lesley Sacouman, a retired nun who devoted her life to supporting youth and newcomers in need. Sacouman founded the House of Peace, a non-profit that provides safe housing for newcomer women, and co-founded long-standing neighbourhood drop-in centre Rossbrook House. 'Graduates, in medicine — your chosen vocation — life and death are your inseparable, identical, twin companions,' she told the graduates. 'Each day, greet them, befriend them with all your mind and all your heart. I promise you, they will ground you and empower you to live and die satiated with life.' She described herself as a 'person with limited academic status,' and encouraged graduates to use their new positions to uplift their communities. 'Do no harm,' she said. 'Take off your shoes, for you are standing on holy ground.' — Malak Abas Malak AbasReporter Malak Abas is a city reporter at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg's North End, she led the campus paper at the University of Manitoba before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Malak. Every piece of reporting Malak produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
The Star
08-05-2025
- Politics
- The Star
'Hunger never seen before' grips Gaza, UNRWA warns
A Palestinan boy sits amid destroyed houses, in Gaza City, May 1, 2025. -- REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa GENEVA (Bernama-Anadolu): Hunger in Gaza has reached unprecedented levels, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) warned on Thursday, describing the situation as "hunger never seen before.", Anadolu Ajansi (AA) reported. "Gaza has become a land of desperation," the UNRWA said on X, as the humanitarian crisis continues to worsen under the ongoing siege and hostilities. The agency called for immediate action, urging all parties to lift the blockade, allow the unrestricted flow of humanitarian supplies, and resume the ceasefire. It also reiterated demands for the release of hostages. "Hunger in Gaza is spreading and deepening, deliberate and man-made," it stated. The conflict has devastated essential services and supply lines, leaving hundreds of thousands at risk of famine as humanitarian aid to the enclave is on pause by Israel since March 2. The Israeli army has launched a brutal military onslaught on Gaza, killing more than 52,600 people, mostly women and children, since Oct 7, 2023. The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave. -- Bernama-Anadolu
