View of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) building during a strike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, on July 26, 2018. Photo by Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90 *** Local Caption *** אונר"א
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Swiss diplomat Phillipe Lazzarini, head of United Nations Relief and Works Agency will now face a torrent of pressure from donor nations to conduct sweeping policy change in light of the war.
This is especially true regarding UNRWA schools, which for the past 25 years have used the Palestinian Authority curriculum to indoctrinate Palestinian Arab children to conquer all of Palestine by force of arms, a goal hardly appropriate to a UN agency.
Policies which the UNRWA commissioner will have to cope with.
UNRWA textbooks which do not match UN values of peaceful reconciliation. The agency has reintroduced a new schoolbook which features Dalal el Mugrabi – whose terror squad commandeered a bus and murdered 38 passengers, including 13 children – as a role model for UNRWA pupils. In the new UNRWA text, Dalal is portrayed in full terror garb, followed by a lesson plan which presents her life story for adulation and emulation. The commissioner would have confiscate such textbooks.
UNRWA contracts for exclusive use of Palestinian Authority schoolbooks in Judea, Samaria, Jerusalem and Gaza. Like all UN agencies, UNRWA is supposed to run schools based on the UN slogan “Peace Begins Here.” PA education, however, runs schools based on the ideology of the Palestine Liberation Organization: Conquest of Palestine by force of arms. The new commissioner must cancel the UNRWA-PA contract.
UNRWAschools are adorned with posters and murals of “martyrs” who died while murdering Jews. The new UNRWA commissioner can order the removal of all violent images in agency facilities.
El Kutla youth clubs in UNRWA schools inspire pupils with the mantra of the armed struggle from a young age. The new UNRWA commissioner can order El Kutla clubs to cease and desist from violent incitement.
Military parades frequent UNRWA premises. The new commissioner can order an end to military parades in any UNRWA facility.
Hamas terror groups present candidates to lead the agency’s teachers and workers unions. The new UNRWA commissioner can demand that any agency employee who runs on a “Hamas ticket” be barred from the payroll. Even the UN defines Hamas as a terrorist organization.
Nakba events are scheduled again for this May 15, the day when the PLO mourns the defeat of the Arab armies that invaded Israel in 1948. These rallies call for the violent overthrow of the Jewish state/. The new UNRWA commissioner can issue a directive to refrain from any call to violence at the Nakba ceremonies in UNRWA facilities.
Popular Gazan singer Mohammad Assaf, claiming to be “UNRWA Youth Ambassador,” whips up crowds to violence. The new UNRWA Commissioner can issue a policy statement that the agency dissociates itself from Assaf and his message.
Memorial Events for Arabs killed in the act of murder occur in UNRWA schools. The new UNRWA commissioner can cancel such ceremonies.
Fiscal Transparency. With a flow of $1.6 billion in donations from 67 nations and 32 NGOs, much of which arrives in cash, the UNRWA commissioner must ensure that all funds and equipment are used for humanitarian needs – and not stolen, transferred to the hands of terror groups or sold on the open market. The time has come for the UNRWA commissioner to put an end to cash payments, which makes donor transparency nearly impossible.
Export of UNRWA school texts. Using the diplomatic pouch of donor nations, the agency exports schoolbooks promoting the “right of return” and the replacement of Israel with “Palestine.” The New UNRWA commissioner can put an end to this.
Obfuscation of the UNRWA financial situation. At no time has UNRWA ever specified how it spends its budget. The new commissioner could immediately publicize an accounting of expenditures.
Non-recognition of Israel on the map. UNRWA distributes world and regional maps which obliterate Israel and replace all Israeli locations with Arab names. Should Israel, a UN member in good standing, not appear on a map issued by a UN agency? The UNRWA commissioner can now make it his business to ensure that all maps show all members of the UN, including
14 . Arms training summer camps. For the past twenty years, thousands of UNRWA students aged 9-16 have participated in summer camps that feature arms training with live weapons. With summer now approaching, the new UNRWA commissioner can act to curb arms training of “child soldiers,” which flies in the face of UN resolutions that protect the health and well-being of children.
15. An end to the transformation of UNRWA schools into arsenals of weapons, ammunition and missiles, as witnessed during the current war. The time has come for an arms inspection of all UNRWA facilities, especially UNRWA schools in Bethlehem and Jerusalem, which were not overrun by the IDF.
Organization of a systematic UNRWA emigration center, to help UNRWA residents to relocate and start their lives anew, to provide an alternative to the “right of return” as the only option for their future.
A post script on US UNRWA policy
The US- UNRWA accord, signed by the US and UNRWA on July 14th, 2021was one a most positive and constructive initiatives of US Middle East Foreign Policy
For the first time, a major donor nation set conditions to fund UNRWA These mandatory conditions were such that UNRWA could only gain access to hundreds of millions of US aid dollars after UNRWA would agree to delete its war education curriculum.
In August, 2021, our news and research agency asked the UNRWA spokeswoman if UNRWA would indeed change its curriculum in light of the US-UNRWA accord .
“Absolutely not” said the UNRWA spokesperson.
As a result, the US-UNRWA accord was enforced, to the letter of the law. Since UNRWA would not delete its curriculum, d not a penny of allocated US aid flowed to UNRWA for the past two years.
This US-UNRWA accord was enforced, to the law.
Last week, as Israel examines policies to implement after the current was, I was invited to testify about the US-UNRWA accord at the Knesset parliamentary committee for security and foreign affairs.
After I completed testimony about the enforcement of that accord, which meant no UNRWA access to US funds for UNRWA until there will be a change in the UNRWA syllabus , a rep. of the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs contradicted my reassurances and informed Knesset members that the US Congress that Israel had been informed that the US would no longer abide by the US-UNRWA accord. In other words, the US will now allow funds to flow to UNRWA, without any constraints.
A new era of UNRWA indoctrination to the right of return via the armed struggle will now ensue.
The writer is head of Israel Resource News Agency at the Center for Near East Policy Research, located at the Beit Agron Center in Jerusalem. He has provided hands on news coverage of UNRWA”” since December 1987, assisted by a team of Jewish and Arab journalists. as producing 24 short films shot on location, along with two books, GENESIS OF THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY and UNRWA; ROADBLOCK TO PEACE, along hundreds of news articles.
UNRWA wspiera terrorystów, kształci dzieci na terrorystów i pozwala, żeby w jej obiektach znajdowały się oddziały bojowników i wyrzutnie rakiet. ONZ ponosi za to odpowiedzialność, pozwalając, aby to trwało.
UNRWA nie ukrywa faktu, że jej 30 tysięcy pracowników działa jako żołnierze na wojnie z Żydami.
Nadszedł czas, aby wziąć pod uwagę początki UNRWA, zainicjowanej przez mediatora ONZ z 1948 r., Folke Bernadotte, który jako pierwszy przedstawił „niezbywalne prawo powrotu do Palestyny” jako przeciwwagę żydowskich aspiracji powrotu do Syjonu, później uchwalone przez Izrael jako konstytucyjne Prawo Powrotu, które pozwala wszystkim Żydom na wjazd do Izraela.
Nadszedł czas, aby zdjąć rękawiczki i ostatecznie zdefiniować UNRWA jako wrogą organizację oraz zbadać odpowiedzialność karną Komisarza Generalnego UNRWA, który ponosi bezpośrednią odpowiedzialność za ogromne ilości broni w szkołach UNRWA, odkryte przez IDF. Poinformowało o tym szerzej wznowione przez oficera IDF w służbie czynnej Lobby Izraelskiego Knesetu Na Rzecz Zmiany Polityki UNRWA.
Dochodzenie karne dotyczące UNRWA w Hadze powinno się skupić się na jej bezpośrednim zaangażowaniu w działania terrorystyczne.
Wystarczy, że jeden członek Knesetu zwróci się do wydziału badawczego Knesetu o zebranie dowodów w celu przedstawienia ich Sekretarzowi Generalnemu ONZ z zarzutami popełnienia zbrodni wojennych przez UNRWA. To rozpocznie drogę w kierunku prezentacji sprawy w Hadze.
Należałoby poprosić przynajmniej jednego darczyńcę UNRWA o reaktywację uśpionej RWG –REFUGEE WORKING GROUP, by jako darczyńcy UNRWA nadzorowali budżet UNRWA wynoszący 1,6 miliarda dolarów, przy czym ogromna ilość środków otrzymywana jest w gotówce i nie jest rozliczana.
Zrewitalizowana RWG zbadałaby przejrzystość wykorzystania 1,6 miliarda dolarów rocznych darowizn od 68 krajów-darczyńców i 33 organizacji – większość z nich, jak wspomniano powyżej, w gotówce i nierozliczona – tak, by fundusze dla UNRWA nie trafiały już do kufrów organizacji terrorystycznych, które obecnie kontrolują skarbiec UNRWA.
RWG zostałaby poproszona o sprawdzenie pracowników UNRWA powiązanych z Hamasem, Islamskim Dżihadem lub Fatahem, zgodnie z prawami krajów-darczyńców, które zabraniają udzielania pomocy jakimkolwiek podmiotom terrorystycznym.
Ponieważ UNRWA ponosi odpowiedzialność za twierdzenie, że istnieje ponad 5 milionów potomków arabskich uchodźców z wojny 1948 r., którzy nadal nazywają siebie uchodźcami, logiczne wydaje się stosowanie zasad działania jedynej innej organizacji ONZ zajmującej się uchodźcami w całej reszcie świata, UNHCR – Wysoka Komisja ONZ ds. Uchodźców – w celu promowania trwałych przesiedleń czwartego i piątego pokolenia uchodźców, którzy przez ostatnie siedem dekad żyli jako „wieczni uchodźcy”.
Polityka UNRWA zawsze zakładała, że przesiedlenie palestyńskich uchodźców arabskich z wojny 1948 r. zaszkodzi ich mitycznemu „prawu do powrotu”, które zostało wzmocnione tysiącami graffiti rozsianych we wszystkich placówkach UNRWA, wzywających do dżihadu i pochwały męczenników i morderców. Dzieje się tak podczas promowania „prawa do powrotu” przy użyciu broni, wraz z nowym programem nauczania UNRWA, opartym na dżihadzie, gloryfikowaniu męczenników i podżeganiu przeciwko Żydom.
Nie ma usprawiedliwienia dla indoktrynacji dzieci w szkołach ONZ do przemocy, ponieważ motto edukacji ONZ brzmi: „Pokój zaczyna się tutaj”, a 58% budżetu UNRWA wydawane jest na „edukację” UNRWA.
Nie ma powodu, dla którego odnowiona RWG nie mogłaby również żądać dokładnej kontroli czy nie ma broni we wszystkich obiektach UNRWA, zaprzestania wszelkich szkoleń wojskowych uczniów UNRWA i usunięcia wszelkich tekstów AP wychwalających masową morderczynię, Dalal Al Mugrabi oraz innych terrorystów we wszystkich szkołach UNRWA.
Dziennikarz kierujący Israel Resource News Agency oraz Center for Near East Policy Research. Autor książki Where has all the flour gone: The whims and waste of UNRWA refugee policy. Bedein nakręcił również wiele filmów.
David Bedein has spent nearly forty years focusing his journalistic efforts on UNRWA, the United Nations arm tasked with the health, welfare, and education of Palestinian refugees. The UN does not try to resettle Palestinian refugees the way it does refugees from any other place in the world. Further, refugee status for Palestinians is inherited, which is also unique among the refugees. Over the years, David and his team of both Jewish and Arab investigators have documented how UNRWA money goes unaccounted for, and how their schools teach children to hate and to want to kill jews.
David’s many videos, films, and books on the topic can be found at his website: https://israelbehindthenews.com/
In the episode David mentions sharing an example of a woman who is lauded as a hero in UNRWA school books for killing 34 Jews. Here is the link to that text: https://israelbehindthenews.com/2021/11/30/dalal-al-mughrabi-a-murderous-terrorist-as-a-role-model-in-palestinian-authority-schoolbooks-used-by-unrwa-2/
“From Paris to the Hague sees the return of the same old plague.”
In 1894, Alfred Dreyfus, a French Jewish army officer, was put on trial and convicted of treason. His conviction and subsequent exile to Devil’s Island unleashed a tsunami of Jew hate in France. Mobs of French citizens screaming inciting anti-Jewish slogans rampaged throughout the country, and most of the media whipped up hysteria against Dreyfus and his supporters.
Notwithstanding the heroic efforts of the likes of Emile Zola and others to show that this was a miscarriage of justice, the French legal authorities resisted every attempt to reverse their guilty verdict. In fact, it was only in 1906 that the real truth prevailed, and Dreyfus was exonerated. Of course, by that time, the damage had been done, and the virulent virus of Judeophobia was only temporarily subdued.
Even without the benefit of social media and the internet, the campaign against Jews spread like wildfire with mobs shouting “death to the Jews” and physical attacks breaking out.
It was this spectacle that convinced Theodore Herzl, an assimilated Austrian Jewish journalist, that there was no future for Jews in Europe anymore and that their only salvation lay in re-establishing Jewish sovereignty in the Promised Land. He reasoned that only there could the Jewish People regain respect and be able to defend themselves against the plague of hate that permeated the continent of Europe.
Herzl also assumed that once Jews had regained independence in their ancestral homeland antisemitism would disappear and an era of tolerance towards Jews would blossom forth.
If he were alive today, he would surely rue this rash assumption.
Instead of disappearing and being discredited, anti-Jew hate has morphed into anti-Zionism, which in turn has mutated into delegitimisation of the Jewish State. Far from diminishing and waning, the age-old virus has resurfaced with a vengeance and virulence unseen since Dreyfus and the Shoah.
The similarities between what transpired in 1894 and what is unfolding in 2024 are eerily identifiable.
We can see the same legal and judicial kangaroo courts listening to the wildest accusations, which are presented as factual evidence of the guilt of the accused. In 1894 it was a Jew by the name of Dreyfus in the dock. Today it is the Jewish State of Israel in the same dock at the International Court of Justice at The Hague.
Back then, it was a corrupt, Jew-hating military establishment backed by a virulent anti-Jewish press and Church-sponsored political parties that guaranteed that the guilt of Dreyfus would be determined well before the Court had even begun to decide its verdict.
Today, we have the spectacle of a corrupt and failed state acting as a cheerleader for a genocidal terror group, accusing the Jewish victim of genocide because it has the audacity to fight back.
The ICJ is the United Nations’ highest legal authority. The automatic bias against Israel is guaranteed given that out of 193 members of the General Assembly only 84 are classified as free and democratic. This can be seen in the sheer overwhelming number of resolutions passed annually that condemn the Jewish State.
The fifteen judges of the ICJ are chosen by the UN, which should alert one to potential looming problems. The current judges are citizens of the following nations:
USA (chief judge)
Russia
Slovakia
France
Morocco
Somalia
China
Uganda
India
Jamaica
Lebanon
Japan
Germany
Australia
Brazil
While there is no doubt that these men and women are jurists of the highest integrity, one has to wonder what sort of considerations other than legal will come into play when they consider their rulings. Some of them represent countries where human rights are a fiction and Governments dictate what people must think. Others must surely be mindful that their country is held hostage by terror groups. At least two countries represented have already either attacked their neighbour or are threatening to do so.
Will those judges be prepared to “buck” their Government’s policies and potential consequences in dismissing South Africa’s absurd libel of genocide?
Legal experts maintain that it could take years for a final decision to be forthcoming; in the meantime, however, the Court will issue interim rulings which could very well tar Israel with enough mud so as to brand the country guilty on all counts in the eyes of the immoral majority at the UN.
If this scenario eventuates, it is guaranteed that the mindless mobs and their willing accomplices will be in full cry. Just as the Dreyfus trial unleashed a torrent of bile and murderous intent, this ICJ farce will, thanks to malevolent media and pernicious political double standards, whip up a similar tsunami.
Double standards are the hallmark of those for whom “the penny still hasn’t dropped.”
It certainly has not dropped as far as the Australian Foreign Minister is concerned. She has made a flying visit to Israel, Jordan, the “occupied Palestinian territories” (her description) and the UAE.
One does not need to be a genius to interpret the double-speak articulated during her odyssey in the region. Her frantic efforts at trying to attribute a moral equivalency between Hamas kidnapping Israeli civilians, engaging in rape, torture and decapitation and “illegal settlers” (her definition again) terrorising innocent Arabs will set the tone of her visit. The former pogroms carried out by a terrorist group with a genocidal agenda bears no relationship to a latter small handful of criminals taking the law into their own hands.
The Australian Prime Minister explained that “due to time constraints” the Foreign Minister shamefully would not visit the sites of the Hamas massacres. Instead, her photo opportunities with hostage families and then Arab families allegedly attacked by “settlers” no doubt is intended to “balance” the incidents. A bigger example of double standards would be hard to find. Needless to say, singing the same old discredited chorus about “settlements” being an impediment to peace is a mandatory part of her visit.
Part and parcel of the prevailing double standards include lecturing Israel on civilian deaths in Gaza while ignoring Hamas’s use of civilians as human shields and “graciously” allowing Israel to defend itself while admonishing it for attempting to demolish the terror infrastructures.
The “icing on the cake” is her pilgrimage to Ramallah, where in a meeting with the PA Prime Minister, she “requested” that Australian aid not be used for nefarious purposes. Did she actually demand that the PA/PLO/Fatah stop paying stipends to those who murder Israelis? The annual payment of US$350 million is about to increase because Abbas has determined that terrorists incarcerated in Israel as a result of the Hamas pogroms will be eligible to benefit.
In Jordan, where the authorities blame Israel for every sin under the sun, the Australian Foreign Minister happily agreed that something must be done to restrain the warmongering Israelis.
Australian taxpayers will be delighted to know that their Government will be throwing more of their money into the coffers of UNRWA, whose schools are breeding grounds for poisoning the minds of the next generation of young Muslims against Jews and Israel. Additional money is pledged for Gaza, where previous aid was used to construct terror tunnels. Even more taxpayers’ money is going to flow to the Red Cross, which has done absolutely nothing to safeguard the health and safety of the Israeli hostages.
The bottom line is that headlines will be generated, and the Foreign Minister will be able to return to Australia and prove to the anti-Israel progressives of her party that she has done her bit to further peace.
It is these sorts of delusional gestures that prove that Penny Wong has got it wrong again. In this display of Shakespearean drama, it could very well be described as a case of “Love’s Labor’s Lost.”
Meanwhile, we await the next act in the tempest being enacted on the stage at The Hague.
View of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) building during a strike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, on July 26, 2018. Photo by Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90 *** Local Caption *** אונר"א
עזה
בניין
שביתה
The US- UNRWA accord, signed by the US and UNRWA on July 14th, 2021was one of the most positive and constructive initiatives of US Middle East Foreign Policy
For the first time, a major donor nation set conditions to fund UNRWAThe conditions were such that UNRWA could gain access to hundreds of millions of US aid dollars only after UNRWA would agree to delete its war education curriculum. Our news and research agency went through process and asked the UNRWAspokeswoman if UNRWA would change its currricum. “Absolutely not” saidthe UNRWA spokesperson. As a result, the US-UNRWA accord was enforced, to the letter of thelawSince UNRWA would not delete its curriculum and not a penny of allocatedUS aid flowed to UNRWA for the past two years.
This US-UNRWA accord was enforced, . Last week, as Israel searches its way for policies to implement after the Gaza war, I was invited to testify about the US-UNRWAaccord at the Knesset parliamentary committee for security andfoeign affairs. After I completed testimony, a rep. of the Israel Ministry of ForeignAffairs informed Knesset members that the US Congress has tol Israel that the US would no longer abide by the US-UNRWAaccord. In other words, the US now allows funds to flow to UNRWA, withnoconstraints.
A new era of Unrwa incitement is now at hand.
For the past 15 years, I’ve held the unique position of running the sole agency documenting UNRWA summer camps. Assisted by three Arab journalists and three Jewish journalists with a deep understanding of Arab culture, my mission has been to share the unsettling realities witnessed since I first covered UNRWA in 1987.
Each summer, the UNRWA camps engage in simulations depicting the violence they believe is necessary for reclaiming and returning to Palestine. The so-called “fun games” revolve around preparing for the perceived war to liberate Palestine. Shockingly, children at UNRWA summer camps practice activities such as kidnapping soldiers, burning IDF vehicles, and handling short-lived weapons.
Recently, I presented the compiled footage of UNRWA summer camps at the Knesset. Members were visibly disturbed to witness that the simulation games the children learned at these camps seemed all too real, especially given the events of October 7, when thousands of Arab youngsters suddenly entered the Negev.
While most journalists find joy in their achievements, my scoop of the century brings me no pleasure. The evidence points to UNRWA directing the war, with Hamas acting as the agent. The films and footage captured at UNRWA summer camps will serve as a valuable resource for generations of investigators examining the events of October 7 that caught the world by surprise.
The perplexing question arises: How is it possible that no one seemed to know that UNRWA used its summer camps to train an army of young people for guerrilla warfare aimed at undermining Jews? This conflict between UNRWA and the Jews traces back to the very genesis of the Jewish State.
Launched in 1948, UNRWA operated on a war-like footing, grounded in the principle of the precise right of return, as articulated by Count Folke Bernadotte, the Swedish diplomat and UN mediator during the first truce of the 1948 war. Resenting Israel’s Law of Return, Bernadotte conceptualized the RIGHT OF RETURN, implying that Jews should hand back the Negev and the Galilee, territories acquired in the 1948 war but not included in the November 29, 1948 partition resolution.
The assassination of Bernadotte on September 17, 1948, did not extinguish his vision of the right of return. His death created a legacy leading to the formation of 59 Arab refugee camps with a school system dedicated to preserving the idea of the right of return by force of arms.
On August 1, 2000, UNRWA formally adopted the “right of return” curriculum of the Palestinian Authority. Now, it has transformed into the “right of return” by force of arms, as witnessed on October 7, 2023. Astonishingly, not a single nation calls for the removal of such a lethal curriculum.
Israeli troops have destroyed a massive underground weapons centre used by Hamas to manufacture and distribute rockets.
The 36th division uncovered dozens of tunnels divided into workshops to build missiles beneath Salah a-Din road in central Gaza, according to the Israeli Defence Force (IDF).
Footage released by the Israeli military shows dozens of missiles mounted on workbenches and lined up along the walls of a tunnel, surrounded by what appears to be manufacturing equipment and trolleys.
Hamas were said to have used the hub to distribute weapons to fighters across the Gaza Strip.
One of the tunnels uncovered led into the home of a senior Hamas official responsible for weapons production, the IDF said.
The IDF said that in addition to “hundreds of long-range rockets”, troops seized chemical containers, Hamas propaganda, and other equipment during their raid on the underground network, which is thought to stretch for hundreds of miles in its entirety.
04:37 PM GMT
That’s all for now
Thanks for following our coverage of the Israel-Hamas war and tensions in the Middle East. We’ll be back tomorrow with the latest updates.
04:35 PM GMT
Hamas ‘rebuilding northern battalions’ as Israel moves south
Hamas is quietly attempting to rebuild battalions that were shattered by Israel earlier in the war as attention shifts to the southern part of the Gaza Strip, according to reports.
The terrorist group has been reappointing officials to senior positions in its northern division as the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) reduces the size of its reserve forces.
Dismantling the a-Shati, Shujaiyeh and Jabalya battalions was a key objective at the start of the war. Security sources told Haaretz, the Israeli newspaper, that Hamas has begun appointing commanders to replace those killed in the fighting.
Herzl Halevi, the IDF’s chief of staff, has apparently warned political leaders that its military successes will be eroded because of a lack of strategy after hostilities conclude.
“We may have to operate again in areas where we have already completed the fighting,” he added.
04:26 PM GMT
‘Hezbollah is ready to listen’
Iran-backed Hezbollah has rebuffed Washington’s proposals to avert an escalating conflict with Israel, according to Lebanese officials.
The group is said to regard ideas presented to Beirut last week, such as pulling its troops back from the border, as unrealistic. However, a senior figure said: “Hezbollah is ready to listen.”
04:19 PM GMT
Pictures: Israeli Defence Forces active across Gaza and Lebanon
IDF troops operate in the Gaza Strip – IDF Handout
IDF troops operate in the Gaza Strip – IDF Handout
Smoke billows following Israeli strikes on the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila – HASSAN FNEICH/AFP via Getty Images
04:12 PM GMT
EU calls for permanent Gaza ceasefire
The European Parliament has passed a motion calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
Its resolution, which is non-binding and passed by 312 to 131 votes, also appeals for renewed efforts towards a political solution provided that all hostages are released and Hamas is dismantled.
04:00 PM GMT
US vessel hit travelling through Gulf of Aden
The first images have emerged of the damage inflicted on a merchant vessel by Houthi attacks near the Red Sea.
Photos released by the Indian navy show the charred stern of the MV Genco Picardy, a US-owned bulk carrier struck by a drone launched from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen on Wednesday.
A section of railing has been destroyed and a metal grille is shown hanging loose.
Houthi attacks around the Red Sea have caused wheat shipments going through the Suez Canal to collapse by 40 per cent, the World Trade Organisation estimates (WTO).
Cargo ships have been targeted by drones and missiles launched from Houthi-controlled parts of Yemen, meaning just 0.5 million tonnes of wheat passed through the vital trade route in the first half of January.
03:17 PM GMT
First images released of Houthi damage to US ship
A US-owned cargo ship damaged in a Houthi drone attack – @indiannavy
India’s navy has released images of a Houthi drone strike on a US-owned ship near the Red Sea.
MV Genco Picardy, a bulk carrier passing through the Gulf of Aden, sent out a distress call after the fire broke out onboard yesterday evening.
Photos from the Indian navy, which scrambled a warship in response, show the stern of the vessel is charred, a section of railing destroyed and a metal grille hanging loose.
A navy spokesperson said: “After a thorough inspection [commandos] have rendered the area safe for further transit. The vessel is proceeding to the next port of call.”
The Houthi strike is the latest in a series of attacks on merchant vessels in the Red Sea and nearby region, which has thrown shipping into chaos on the crucial trade route.
02:43 PM GMT
EU to clamp down on Hamas with new sanctions
The European Union is to bring in sanctions against Hamas next week in response to the group’s massacre of Israeli civilians in October.
Christophe Lemoine, French foreign ministry spokesman, said Brussels will adopt “a regime of sanctions against Hamas” that will target “individuals and transfers of funds”.
02:24 PM GMT
Pictured: Activists protest Germany’s support for Israel with Swastika poster
A Palestinian activist carries a Swastika poster in protest at Germany’s support for Israel – AP Photo/Nasser Nasser
02:15 PM GMT
US reassigns Houthis as terror group three years after militia was delisted
The United States has designated the Houthis as a terrorist group nearly three years after the Iran-backed militia was taken off its list of proscribed organisations.
Announcing the move, which comes into force in 30 days, the State Department said Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping had “endangered mariners, disrupted the free flow of commerce, and interfered with navigational rights and freedoms”.
It added: “The Houthis must be held accountable for their actions, but it should not be at the expense of Yemeni civilians.”
Read David Millward’s full article on the Biden administration’s about-turn here.
01:55 PM GMT
Watch: US hits Houthi-controlled Yemen in latest round of airstrikes
01:40 PM GMT
‘Stopping putting people’s lives at risk’, Sunak tells Houthis
Rishi Sunak has called on Houthi rebels to end their “illegal” attacks on cargo ship after a US-owned vessel was attacked by a drone.
Speaking during a press conference in Downing Street, the Prime Minister said the disruption to the vital trade route – which has continued despite the intervention of a US-led coalition – is concerning”.
He told reporters: “The rise in attacks on commercial shipping is both illegal and causing enormous disruption to the global economy and putting innocent lives at risk.
“It was right that we took action to protect both interests and lives. And together with allies, we have been very clear in our condemnation of their behaviour.
“We will continue to urge them to desist from carrying out what are illegal attacks, putting people’s lives at risk.”
01:05 PM GMT
Dead hostage’s family accuses government of removing critical gravestone
The family of a dead Israel Defense Forces soldier who was kidnapped on Oct 7 have accused the Israeli government of removing a gravestone which called them a “failure”.
The stone on the grave of the late Ron Sherman had read: “Kidnapped, abandoned and sacrificed in Gaza, by the government of failure.”
Ma’ayan Sherman, his mother, has accused the defence ministry of removing the stone from his resting place in a military cemetery.
She replaced it on Thursday with one reading: “I’m asking forgiveness for the abandonment, your brutal kidnapping, the fact that you were sacrificed for political gain after the biggest failure in the history of the State of Israel which you loved so much.”
The Israeli government is yet to comment.
12:20 PM GMT
Report: Hamas rebuilding northern battalions
Hamas is working to quietly rebuild battalions that were shattered by Israel earlier in the war as attention shifts to the southern part of the Gaza Strip, according to reports.
The terrorist group has been reappointing officials to senior positions in its northern division as the IDF reduces the size of its reserve forces, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports. Dismantling the Hamas battalions was a key objective at the start of the war.
12:05 PM GMT
‘Aerial target’ heading for Israel intercepted near Eilat
Israel said it had intercepted a “suspicious aerial target” that was approaching the southern city of Eilat.
The IDF said in a statement: “An interceptor was launched in the area of the Red Sea toward a suspicious aerial target that was approaching Israeli territory.
“Sirens were sounded in the area of Eilat following the launch of the interceptor. The incident has concluded and there is no risk of a security incident.”
Eilat, on the Red Sea, has been a frequent target of attacks by Iranian-backed Houthis, in response to Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.
11:53 AM GMT
‘Hot Houthi pirate’ tells followers to focus on ‘a free Palestine’
A Yemeni social media influencer dubbed the “hot Houthi pirate” has told his admirers to stop gushing over his good looks.
Rashid Al Haddad has gone viral on social media after sharing footage of himself aboard hijacked container ships. Online commenters have nicknamed him “Timhouthi Chalamet”, because of his resemblance to Timothée Chalamet, the American actor.
But he has now asked his tens of thousands of followers to focus their attention on the war in Gaza – not the way he looks.
IDF fighter jets carried out airstrikes on Hezbollah in the village of Odaisseh in southern Lebanon, according to Israeli media.
Troops also struck Kafr Kila and Marjaayoun in the same region.
The IDF said two projectiles were fired from Lebanon at the Arab al-Aramshe area earlier today, which both landed in open areas without causing damage.
11:23 AM GMT
Pictured: US-owned ship continues journey after Houthi attack
MV Genco Picardy after a fire broke out onboard following a Houthi drone strike – @indiannavy
11:08 AM GMT
Israel must let Gazans return home, Jordan minister says
Israel should allow displaced Palestinians in Gaza to return to their homes, Jordan’s Foreign Minister has said.
Ayman Safadi added that it the war in Gaza needed to be brought to a close and avert escalating violence across the wider Middle East region.
He said: “With regard to the current priorities, they are clear: ending the aggression in Gaza, letting in sufficient permanent humanitarian aid to all parts of the Strip, south and north, stopping the destruction, and working immediately for the return of displaced Gazans to their areas and homes.”
10:48 AM GMT
Israel ‘has lost trust in the peace process’
Iran’s “empire of evil” is to blame for the instability gripping the Middle East, the Israeli president has said.
In comments reported by The Times of Israel, Isaac Herzog stressed that “the war is not only between Israel and Hamas”, adding: “The world has to face it point blank: There is an empire of evil emanating from Iran.”
Mr Herzog also said that Israel had “lost trust in the peace processes because they see that terror is glorified by our neighbours”.
“Nobody is in his right mind is willing now to think about what will be the right solution of the peace agreements,” he continued. “Everyone wants to know that he will not be attacked in the same way from north or south or east.”
10:20 AM GMT
Israel ‘praying’ for medicine to reach hostages
Isaac Herzog, Israel’s president, talks at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland – STEFAN WERMUTH/BLOOMBERG
Isaac Herzog, the Israeli President, is “praying” that emergency medicine will reach hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
“We are praying that all the medication …. will reach them, but that’s only the beginning,” he told the World Economic Forum in Davos, sitting next to a picture of the youngest of the 132 hostages, one-year-old Kfir Bibas.
10:05 AM GMT
Israel is more likely to face two-front war, says IDF chief
Israel is increasingly likely to be drawn into a war in Lebanon, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) chief of staff has said.
Lt Gen Herzi Halevi told troops in northern Israel that the IDF is “increasing readiness for fighting in Lebanon, we have a lot of lessons from the fighting in Gaza, many of them are very relevant to fighting in Lebanon.”
According to The Times of Israel, he added: “I don’t know when the war in the north [will happen]. I can tell you that the likelihood of it happening in the coming months is much higher than it was in the past.
“I can tell you that I think we are starting it with many more advantages.”
09:42 AM GMT
Cameron: Iran must stop supplying Houthis
09:38 AM GMT
‘It’s celebrating for someone who isn’t here’
Family members have marked the first birthday of Kfir Bibas, the youngest Israeli held by Hamas militants in Gaza, in a sombre ceremony in Tel Aviv.
On Tuesday, they gathered at the Bibas’ home in Kibbutz Nir Oz near Gaza, blowing up orange balloons to hang on the walls to cover bullet holes and filling his former classroom with birthday decorations.
Yossi Schneider, a cousin of Kfir’s mother, Shiri, told Israel’s Channel 12 TV: “It’s celebrating for someone who isn’t here.
“He’s supposed to be out here on the grass of the kibbutz, with balloons on the trees, with family and high-fives and presents and love and hugs, and none of those things will be there.”
09:18 AM GMT
US launches fourth round of air strikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen
US forces launched a wave of strikes on Houthis in Yemen on Wednesday, the fourth time in less than a week that it has targeted the rebel group.
Officials said the US targeted 14 Houthi missiles that were loaded to be fired from Yemen.
In a statement, US Central Command said the Houthi missiles presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and American Navy ships in the region.
Read the full story on the latest US strike on the Houthis here.
08:55 AM GMT
Pakistan’s military on ‘high alert’ as tensions rise
Pakistan’s armed forces are on “extremely high alert” and will respond to any further Iranian attacks with force, a security official has told Reuters.
08:52 AM GMT
Pakistan launches retaliatory missile strike at Iran
Pakistan has launched missiles at Iran’s “terrorist hideouts” in response to an Iranian strike late on Tuesday.
Iranian state television said three women and four children had been killed in the attack, which took place in the Sistan-Baluchestan province.
Pakistan said it respected Iran’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity”, but had taken the action to “protect and defend its national security against all threats”.
08:48 AM GMT
Pictures: Ambulance arrives at Gaza refugee camp as war drags on
Israeli soldiers prepare to check a Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance at the entrance of the Tulkarm reugee camp – MARCO LONGARI/AFP via Getty Images
An unidentified piece of military equipment wedged between two houses of Al Nusairat refugee camp in the Gaza Strip – MOHAMMED SABER/EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCK
08:42 AM GMT
US-owned bulk carrier hit by Houthi drone
Houthi rebels struck a US-owned vessel in the Gulf of Aden with a drone launched from Yemen, according to a statement from the US military.
The attack did not cause any injuries and the ship is still seaworthy, despite “some damage”. Other reports indicate that the gangway was hit in the strike.
08:24 AM GMT
Morning
Hello and welcome to the live blog. We’ll be bringing you all the coverage from developments as the Israel-Hamas war enters its 104th day and tensions rise in the Middle East.
Masked Hamas militants hold weapons during a protest against Israel's attacks on the Gaza Strip, in Gaza City, Monday, March 3, 2008. In the early hours of Monday, Palestinians counted nine separate Israeli airstrikes on weapons manufacturing and storage facilities, a Hamas headquarters and groups of gunmen, all over Gaza. Five Palestinians were killed in the strikes, all of them Hamas militants, Hamas said. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra) *** Local Caption *** ??? ??????
The advantage of learning the Torah laws that apply to every human being is that there are hard and fast Divine rules that apply everywhere all the time.
All human beings are forbidden to murder because it is the destruction of the Divine Image. (Bereishis (Genesis 9:6))
Yet, every year, you and I directly and intentionally fund murder around the world.
Yes, our tax dollars fund the murdering Marxist terror regime in the Holy Land which calls itself the Palestinian Authority, the PLO, Hamas and dozens of other stage names.
These terror organizations murder, maim and rob more Arabs than Jews on an ongoing basis.
And we pay for it through hundreds of millions of dollars funded by and approved by our representatives in the United States Congress.
And, the State of Israel also sends millions monthly to the terror regime directly undermining the very lives of the residents of the Holy Land.
One of the great challenges we face is that the State of Israel encourages and demands this funding of terror. In 2020, when Qatar cut off funding to Hamas, the head of Israeli intelligence flew to Qatar to demand that Qatar continue funding Hamas!
I experienced this personally when I went to Washington, D.C., and met with Senator Inhofe to state that the Torah forbids funding these terror regimes and that as a US taxpayer, I want none of my money to go to terror and murder. He told me that he agrees with me, but what can he do if two weeks earlier sitting in the same chair as me was Ariel Sharon, then Prime Minister of Israel, telling Senator Inhofe that it was in the State of Israel’s best interest for the United States to fund the Marxist terrorists and encouraging Senator Inhofe to vote for terror funding legislation.
“Rabbi,” he lamented, “how can I go against the Prime Minister of Israel who is telling me that funding terrorists is best for Israel?”
“Senator,” I answered, “funding terror is against G-d Al-mighty’s Will, it’s against America and its against the residents of the Holy Land. You must vote according to that and not according to what the Government of Israel misleads you to violate G-d Al-mighty’s Will and go against the best interest of America and human beings everywhere.”
Funding has only increased since then, with increasing murder the intended and actual result.
I remain responsible for the use of my money and my money is being used to murder thousands and being used to plan the murder of many more, may G-d Al-mighty save them and us.
And, you are responsible also, my friend.
One of my righteous American students took this call to heart and launched a campaign to stop the use of our money for murder.
And, to stop the discussion of a “Two State Solution”, the formalization of an internationally endorsed Marxist terror apparatus to war against the Arabs of the West Bank and Gaza and Jordan and Israel.
Tragically, the One State Solution as it is currently operated is not serving the well-being, safety and security of the Jews and Arabs living in and around the Holy Land. But the Two State Solution accelerates the Marxist terror revolution giving the Marxist armies a direct ‘recognized’ and ‘approved’ operating based in the Holy Land.
For civilization to survive, we must not only not ourselves be murderers, we must not fund murder and we must not let others murder.
G-d Al-mighty promises all men and all nations great blessing when men live according to His Divine Loving Guidance. Life is so beautiful and so simple.
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