Latest news with #Resistance
Irish Times
4 days ago
- Politics
- Irish Times
A Genocide Foretold: Reporting on Survival and Resistance in Occupied Palestine - a lucid, at times hectoring, short read
A Genocide Foretold: Reporting on Survival and Resistance in Occupied Palestine Author : Chris Hedges ISBN-13 : 978-1911710226 Publisher : Seven Stories Press Guideline Price : £14.99 Journalist and one-time New York Times correspondent Chris Hedges tackles the war in Gaza , taking a wide-angle look, similar to several other recent publications on the matter. Like many journalists who have covered the Israel-Palestine conflict, Hedges wound up with his sympathies firmly with the Palestinians. His reporting these days, which he combines with his role as a Presbyterian minister, is decidedly more partisan than in the days when he worked for the Times, though not, to be fair, lacking in objectivity. The book's subtitle gives the promise of reporting from Palestine , though there are only a few chapters of that, beginning with the first, where Hedges recounts time spent in the West Bank last year. Even then, he relies heavily on long extracts from his friend Atef Abu Seif's Don't Look Left, a diary, published last year, of Abu Seif's experience of living in Gaza during the first 80 days of Israeli attacks. You presume Abu Seif was happy to have large tracts of his text lifted; those who have already read his book might, however, feel a bit short-changed. The rest of the book is analysis of the decades that have got us to this pass. Hedges looks at the deleterious effects of the occupation of the West Bank and the history of Zionism, which, he says, never had any intention other than dispossession of the Palestinians. He also outlines the murky way in which the Israel lobby in the United States targets and smears pro-Palestinian activists through initiatives such as the Canary Mission and the Maccabee Task Force, using targeted Facebook ads. While the ads are often effective in a localised sense, the Israel lobby also acknowledges it is fighting a losing battle for the hearts and minds of Americans on the subject of Israel-Palestine. READ MORE Hedges makes an impassioned argument for the Palestinians and also excoriates the cowardice and indolence of authorities in the United States (he has little to say about Europe) in their blind support for Israel and their countenancing of the harassment and vilification of pro-Palestinian sympathisers. [ Israeli-American plan seems intended to kill off any hope of a two-state solution by deporting population of Gaza Opens in new window ] A Genocide Foretold is a lucid, if at times hectoring, short book, even if, it must be said, it does not have a great deal to separate it from the many on the same subject that have been recently published.
Al Manar
5 days ago
- Politics
- Al Manar
Yemeni Armed Forces Target ‘Israel's' Main Airport with Hypersonic Ballistic Missile
The Yemeni Armed Forces announced Sunday that they conducted a military operation targeting Israel's main a statement, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, the spokesperson for the YAF, reported that the Rocket Force targeted al-Lydd Airport, also known as Ben Gurion Airport, located near Tel Aviv. Saree stated the attack was carried out using a Palestine-2 hypersonic ballistic missile. Statement by the Yemeni Armed Forces: A military operation targeted Lod Airport in the occupied Yafa area with a hypersonic ballistic missile of the 'Palestine-2' type. — سبأ (@alsyasiah) July 6, 2025 According to Saree, the operation successfully achieved its objective, resulting in a halt to air traffic and causing millions of Israeli settlers to seek shelter. The spokesperson added that the operation was in support of the oppressed Palestinian people and their Resistance fighters, and in response to the ongoing genocide committed by 'Israel' in the Gaza Strip. The Yemeni Armed Forces affirm that their operations will continue until the Israeli aggression on Gaza is halted and the blockade imposed on the Palestinian enclave is lifted, Saree stressed, underscoring the YAF's full readiness to respond to any developments in the coming days.
Khabar Agency
6 days ago
- Politics
- Khabar Agency
National Resistance Thwarts Largest Smuggling Operation of Iranian Weapons to Houthi Militia
The National Resistance announced on Thursday that it had thwarted one of the largest smuggling operations of Iranian weapons to the Houthi militia. The high-profile operation was carried out by its naval forces and intelligence units in mid-June in the Red Sea. In a statement, the military media of the National Resistance reported that the operation took place on **June 27**, resulting in the seizure of a smuggling vessel named **"Al-Sharwa."** The ship was carrying a massive shipment of advanced weapons, estimated at **750 tons**, sent by Iran's Revolutionary Guards to their proxy, the Houthi militia in Yemen. The statement added that the confiscated weapons included: - **Air defense and missile systems** (naval and aerial) - **Attack and reconnaissance drones** - **Advanced radar systems** - **Launching systems** - **Eavesdropping devices** - **Konkurs anti-tank missiles** - **B10 cannons** - **Advanced sniper rifles** - **Tracking lenses** - **Large quantities of ammunition** (including Kalashnikov and "Shiki" rounds) and other military equipment. The Resistance emphasized that this smuggling operation exposes **Iran's ongoing scheme to arm the terrorist Houthi militia**, debunking the group's claims of having "domestic military manufacturing capabilities." It also reveals the extent of the threat posed by the Iranian regime to **international navigation in the Red Sea** through its armed proxies. The statement noted that the weapons were **tightly concealed**: strategic systems were disassembled and hidden inside **electric generators and industrial machinery**, while ammunition was stashed within **large battery compartments** to mislead maritime surveillance units. The military media detailed that the operation began with **precise intelligence tracking** of a suspicious vessel departing from the **coast of the Horn of Africa**, operated by smugglers linked to the Houthi militia. Naval forces of the Resistance then intercepted the ship **west of the international maritime route in the Red Sea**, towing it to a secure area where the cargo was unloaded and documented. The National Resistance stated that it would soon release **confessions from the ship's crew** and broadcast footage showing samples of the seized weapons and equipment.
Scoop
16-07-2025
- Politics
- Scoop
Vive La Resistance! The Heroes Who Oppose Genocide
Nobody has a bad word to say about the French Resistance in World War II, right? Who would criticise a group confronting fascism, right? Yet this month the UK group Palestine Action has been proscribed as a terrorist organisation by their government for their non-violent direct action against UK-based industries supplying technology to fuel Israel's destruction of the Palestinian people. Are they terrorists or the very best of us in the West? Stéphane Hessel, a leading member of the French Resistance, survived time in Nazi concentration camps, including Buchenwald. After the war he was one of the co-authors of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), a pillar of international law to this day. The Declaration affirms the inherent dignity and equal rights of all humans. In later years Hessel (d.2013), who was Jewish, saw the treatment of the Palestinians as an affront to this and repeatedly called Israel out for crimes against humanity. Hessel argued people needed to be outraged just as he and his fellow fighters had been during the war. In 2010 he said: 'Today, my strongest feeling of indignation is over Palestine, both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The starting point of my outrage was the appeal launched by courageous Israelis to the Diaspora: you, our older siblings, come and see where our leaders are taking this country and how they are forgetting the fundamental human values of Judaism.' In his book Indignez-vous (Time for Outrage!) he called for a 'peaceful insurrection' and pointed to some of the non-violent forms of protests Palestinians had used over the years. 'The Israeli authorities have described these marches as 'nonviolent terrorism.' Not bad… One would have to be Israeli to describe nonviolence as terrorism.' How wrong Stéphane Hessel was on this point. The British Parliament has just proscribed Palestine Action as terrorists despite them having never attacked anyone, never used weapons but only undertaken destruction of property linked to the arms industry. Does Palestine Action really bear resemblance to Al Qaeda or ISIS, or Israel's Stern Gang or the IDF? Or, like the French Resistance, will they eventually be recognized as heroes of our time? Will Hollywood romanticize them in their usual tardy way in 50 years time? In respect to the Palestinians, Hessel was clear that resistance could take many forms: 'We must recognize that when a country is occupied by infinitely superior military means, the popular reaction cannot be only nonviolent,' he said. In his time, he lived by those words. Resistance - a precious band of brothers and sisters Here's a statistic that should make you think. In the Second World War less than 2% of French people played any active role in the Resistance. Most people just sat back and got on with their lives whether they liked the Germans or didn't. The Jews and others were dealt to, stamped on and shipped out, while most of the French could trundle on unharassed. The heavy lifting of resistance was done by a small band of brothers and sisters who took it to the enemy. History salutes them, as we now salute the Suffragettes, the anti-Apartheid activists, the American civil rights groups and Irish liberation fighters. We're living through something similar now – and our governments are the bad guys. I first learned that shocking fact about the composition of the Resistance from my history teacher at L'Université de Franche-Comté, in France in the 1980s. He was the distinguished historian Antoine Casanova, a specialist on Napoleon, Corsica and the Resistance. Perhaps the low level of resistance is not surprising. Most of the people who put their bodies on the line in Occupied France during WWII were either communists or Jews. Good on them. Jewish people made up as much as 20% of the French Resistance despite numbering only about 1% of the population. This massive over-representation can, understandably, be explained as recognition of the existential threat they faced – but many were also passionate communists or socialists, the ideological enemies of the racist, fascist ideology of their occupiers. Looking at the Israeli State today, many of those same Jewish Resistance fighters would instantly recognize the racism and fascism that they opposed in the 1940s. We should remember our leaders tell us we share values with Israel. For anyone not in the United Kingdom (where it is illegal to show any support for Palestine Action) I highly recommend the recently released documentary To Kill A War Machine which gives an absolutely riveting account of both the direct action the group has undertaken and the moral and ideological underpinnings of their actions. Having seen the documentary I can see why the British Labour government is doing everything in its power to silence and censor them. They really do expose who the true terrorists are. Stéphane Hessel would be proud of Palestine Action. This week a former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made clear what is going on in Gaza. The 'humanitarian city' Israel is planning to build on the ruins of Rafah would be, in his words, a concentration camp. Others have described it as a Warsaw-ghetto or a death camp. Olmert says Israel is clearly committing war crimes in both Gaza and the West Bank and that the concentration camp for the Gazan population would mark a further escalation. It would go beyond ethnic cleansing and take the Jewish State of Israel shoulder-to-shoulder with other regimes that built such camps. Israel, we should never forget, is our close ally. Millions of people have hit the streets in Western countries. A majority clearly repudiate what the US and Israel are doing. But the big Western countries continue to enable the racist, fascist genocidal state of Israel to do its evil work. Lesser powers of the white-dominated broederbond, like Australia and New Zealand, also provide valuable support. Until our populations in the West mobilise in sufficient numbers to force change on our increasingly criminal ruling elites, the heavy-lifting done by groups like Palestine Action will remain powerful forms of the resistance. I grew up in the Catholic faith. One of the lines indelibly printed on my consciousness was: 'Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.' Palestine Action is doing that. Francesca Albanese is doing that. Justice for Palestine and Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa are doing this. The real question, the burning question each of us must answer is – given there is no middle ground, there is no fence to sit on when it comes to genocide – whose side are you on? And what are you going to do about it? Vive la Resistance. Vive the defenders of the Palestinian cause. Rest in Peace Stéphane Hessel. Le temps passe, le souvenir reste. Eugene Doyle Eugene Doyle is a writer based in Wellington. He has written extensively on the Middle East, as well as peace and security issues in the Asia Pacific region. He hosts the public policy platform
Al Mayadeen
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Mayadeen
Al-Qassam vows ongoing Resistance in response to Al-Aqsa aggression
Abu Obeida, the military spokesperson for Al-Qassam Brigades, affirmed on Thursday that Resistance fighters remain steadfast and continue carrying out major operations against Israeli occupation forces and settlers from al-Khalil to Jenin. The actions come in direct response to the escalating aggression on Al-Aqsa Mosque. In a statement posted on his Telegram channel, Abu Obeida said the operations come as 'a direct response to the escalating crimes committed by the enemy army and its settlers, which have turned the lives of Palestinians into hell.' The Al-Qassam spokesperson also called on Palestinian youth across the West Bank and al-Quds to intensify resistance efforts and to rise against the aggressors, urging action to deter occupation forces and settlers from committing more crimes and advancing plots to annex the West Bank. Abu Obeida concluded by warning of the consequences of inaction, calling for an uprising 'before what remains of Palestine slips away from our people's hands.'According to Israeli rights group B'Tselem, Israeli offensives have displaced tens of thousands of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including from Tulkarm, Nur Shams, and Jenin camps. The organization estimates that over 40,000 Palestinians have been forcibly uprooted in 2024 alone. The Israeli military claimed the demolitions are aimed at combating Palestinian Resistance groups and said the destruction was "operationally necessary" to allow troops to move freely. However, the demolitions have triggered widespread international condemnation and raised alarms over what many see as an organized effort to annex the West Bank, which "Israel" occupied in the 1967 war. This week, Reuters witnesses saw bulldozers clearing away debris from flattened homes and expanding roads surrounded by rubble. Residents scrambled to pile salvaged furniture, bedding, and cooking utensils onto trucks. Tulkarm Governor Abdullah Kamil said demolitions have surged in recent weeks, with 106 homes and 104 other buildings destroyed in Tulkarm and Nur Shams camps. Read more: IOF turn West Bank's Sinjil into 'big prison' amid ongoing aggression
