Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

[Teufel]

And Americans wonder why many people around the world hate them...

lol, no we don't.

As for the ICC, considering some 40 miles from it Jews were being openly chased and beaten in the streets in a manner not seen in Europe since the Nazi era, please spare me your smug self-righteous fiction that "the world" is in any position to judge the United States of America.

Especially when there was an actual genocide being carried out against Muslims in Xinjiang, the ICC didn't do anything.

Link

Published Dec. 15, 2020

The International Criminal Court has decided not to pursue an investigation into China’s mass detention of Muslims, a setback for activists eager to hold Beijing accountable for persecution of ethnic and religious minorities.

Prosecutors in The Hague said on Monday that they would not, for the moment, investigate allegations that China had committed genocide and crimes against humanity regarding the Uighurs, a predominantly Muslim ethnic group, because the alleged crimes took place in China, which is not a party to the court.

And vast swathes of the Muslim world either didn't care or licked China's boots during it.

But the main reasons why Muslims suffer in silence is that the Muslim-majority countries that raged against Rushdie, Jyllands-Posten and Charlie Hebdo have decided to stay silent. They use the idea of Muslim solidarity only when it suits them.

In July 2019, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Algeria and other Muslim-majority states that pose as defenders of the faith helped to block a western motion at the United Nations calling for China to allow “independent international observers” into the Xinjiang region. Iran issues occasional criticisms but wants Chinese support in its struggle against the Trump administration and so keeps its complaints coded. Their hypocrisy is almost funny, if you take your humour black. Iran, Egypt, Syria and dozens of other countries that could not tolerate a magical realist novel can live with the mass sterilisation of Muslim women. They will give concentration camps a conniving wink of approval, but draw the line at cartoons in a Danish newspaper.

Or when Assad and his Iranian and Hezbollah allies were committing actual genocide against Muslims and the ICC didn't do anything.

Link

But Syria, like the United States, is not party to the ICC, meaning Assad would have to be referred to the ICC by the U.N. Security Council. Russia has publicly stated its opposition to punishing Assad for any alleged war crimes, meaning it would almost certainly veto such an action — as it already did in January.

South Africa brought genocide charges in another court and is calling on everyone abide by the ICC and arrest Netanyahu, but when they had an actual genocider in their midst they let him go.

South Africa, which has brought a case against Israel at the International Court of Justice accusing it of genocide, welcomed the decision, and urged "all state parties to act in accordance with their obligations in the Rome Statute".

South Africa failed to honour an ICC arrest warrant against the Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir when he visited the country in June 2015.

I could do this all day in an early Festivus rant. That's not to say Israel gets a pass for any and all conduct in the fighting, but it is to say the ICC and the rest of the world can kiss my red, white, and blue ass. They have no moral authority; they willfully gave it up time and time again. And when one of their primary charges is Israel weaponized starvation despite sending several hundred thousand tons of food into Gaza their case needs some work.

 

[Ultra Magnus13]

lol, no we don't.

View attachment 24562

As for the ICC, considering some 40 miles from it Jews were being openly chased and beaten in the streets in a manner not seen in Europe since the Nazi era, please spare me your smug self-righteous fiction that "the world" is in any position to judge the United States of America.

Especially when there was an actual genocide being carried out against Muslims in Xinjiang, the ICC didn't do anything.

Link




And vast swathes of the Muslim world either didn't care or licked China's boots during it.



Or when Assad and his Iranian and Hezbollah allies were committing actual genocide against Muslims and the ICC didn't do anything.

Link



South Africa brought genocide charges in another court and is calling on everyone abide by the ICC and arrest Netanyahu, but when they had an actual genocider in their midst they let him go.



I could do this all day in an early Festivus rant. That's not to say Israel gets a pass for any and all conduct in the fighting, but it is to say the ICC and the rest of the world can kiss my red, white, and blue ass. They have no moral authority; they willfully gave it up time and time again. And when one of their primary charges is Israel weaponized starvation despite sending several hundred thousand tons of food into Gaza their case needs some work.

Yeah the ICC is beyond a joke. If they end up on the right side of something it's almost certainly on accident.

 

[wonko the sane?]

Better to be accidentally right than maliciously wrong?

 

[Teufel]

Netanyahu recommends Cabinet votes yes on ceasefire deal with Hezbollah.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has gone on record tonight to say his government will greenlight the US-brokered ceasefire deal for Lebanon. Going on national TV after a meeting of his security cabinet, he listed the reasons why it made sense for Israel’s interests.

It will now go before the full cabinet whose approval is expected to be a formality. Lebanon’s foreign minister has already said he supports the deal.

Under the terms of the deal, both Israel and Hezbollah are to withdraw their forces from south Lebanon over a 60-day period, with Hezbollah staying north of the Litani River, around 19 miles (30km) north of the border.

To fill the security vacuum, a bolstered Lebanese national army and troops from UNIFIL, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, are due to fill in behind them.

Critically for Israel, the deal allows it to intervene militarily in Lebanon if it detects an immediate threat from Hezbollah. In the case of a less immediate threat, such as the detection of a tunnel south of the Litani, Israel will report this to a five-nation committee, the defacto guarantors, overseen by the US.

Still developing, but seems very likely to happen even if some of the extreme members of his coalition grouse about it.

 

[wonko the sane?]

So... back to business as before? Cause wasn't this the conditions that existed before the conflict with lebanon started?

 

[Thylacine 2000]

Yes. It is a return to pre- Oct.7th status, with the Lebanese military and UNIFIL supposedly responsible for keeping Hezbollah out of the southern buffer zone. Now that Hezbollah has been decimated, maybe they'll actually try for once..... no, I don't think so either.

x.com

x.com

He was right about that at least.

 

[Rhinox]

True. A return to the old status quo after all this death just makes everything so meaningless. How many people died just so we can kick the can back down the road here?

 

[wonko the sane?]

Without even looking at the conditions internationally: which of the three involved governments here (lebanon, gaza and isreal, just so we're clear.) actually wants peace?

Kicking the can is about all that's feasible until more of the leader-ish types start kicking the bucket. And I don't mean assassination, but a lot of the "old guard" need to go away before things can change in any meaningful way.

 

[Rhinox]

I get that, but I think we'll have even more problems with the next generation. They've been raised in war and know nothing but war. Why would they want peace with people they've been conditioned to hate since the womb?

 

[wonko the sane?]

I get that, but I think we'll have even more problems with the next generation. They've been raised in war and know nothing but war. Why would they want peace with people they've been conditioned to hate since the womb?

Ideology is beaten with education; But yeah, good luck going to school when you're being bombed or hunted.

Part of the problem is also that we (as a species.) has spent so long kicking the can down the road that I don't think we know what else the can can do.

 

[Pale Rider]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1859361281678909710

 

[SHIELD Agent 47]

lol, no we don't.

View attachment 24562

 

[Teufel]

Assad's regime has fallen and he has fled to Moscow.

Link

The Assad family has lost control of Syria after more than 50 years of a brutal dictatorship. In the face of an astonishingly swift rebel offensive, President Bashar al-Assad and his family fled to Moscow and were granted political asylum, an official source in Russia told CNN.

October 7th was a horrible disaster for Israel, but it wound up unleashing utter devastation on Iran's "Axis of Resistance" as one after another of those dominoes topple. One of the all time hug around and find out moments in history. It would be a good time for some reflection by Israel's enemies that the Jews are not "going back to Poland" and they can't destroy the country so maybe they should pursue peace. Although after 70+ years of losing they seem committed to continue losing.

 

[Ungnome]

Teufel, I wouldn't celebrate just yet. While I'm glad that Assad is gone I do fear that his regime will end up being replaced by a radical Islamic theocracy once the dust settles. One of the primary factions in the rebellion is essentially the Syrian version of Al Qaeda after all. I do hope something saner takes its place, though.

 

[Teufel]

In the context of the Israeli/Iranian conflict whatever replaces Assad is unlikely to be another ally to Iran, especially after Iran and its proxy Hezbollah sent forces their to massacre Syrians. And the inability of Iran or Hezbollah to effectively prop Assad up or reinforce him is partially a consequence of Oct 7 and their fighting on behalf of Hamas. So I was just sticking to that.

Beyond that it's an open question. Theocracy, slightly "moderated" Islamic flavor of rule, protracted civil war now that Assad's not there to unite the rebels.

 

[Ungnome]

I'll agree in the near term it is a win on two fronts. Russia has lost an ally as has Iran.

 

[PrimalxConvoy]

Teufel, I wouldn't celebrate just yet. While I'm glad that Assad is gone I do fear that his regime will end up being replaced by a radical Islamic theocracy once the dust settles. One of the primary factions in the rebellion is essentially the Syrian version of Al Qaeda after all. I do hope something saner takes its place, though.

A BBC article had one Syrian saying they were trying to evacuate Syria as they're Christians and are worried that the Al-Qaida affiliated rebels won't keep their word about their safety.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

We'll find out. There's definitely factions in the Middle East that would like to move on from all this madness.

 

[Ungnome]

Indeed there are. There are still a LOT of people entrenched in violent fundamentalism in the region, though.

 

[Thylacine 2000]

Ireland to ask ICJ to expand genocide definition in South Africa case against Israel

"By legally intervening in South Africa’s case, Ireland will be asking the ICJ to broaden its interpretation of what constitutes the commission of genocide by a State," the announcement read.

m.jpost.com

Ireland will be asking the ICJ to broaden its interpretation of what constitutes the commission of genocide by a State.... We are concerned that a very narrow interpretation of what constitutes genocide leads to a culture of impunity in which the protection of civilians is minimized.

If you can't find enough evidence to prove the case, change the definitions to match whatever you found. Presto! No different from Trump using a sharpie to make up a new hurricane path.