Tag: israel

Israel pulls Mossad negotiators from Qatar after ‘impasse’ over captives | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Israel has pulled its Mossad negotiators from Qatar, which along with Egypt and the United States is mediating talks to secure a renewed pause in the Israel-Hamas war.

“Following the impasse in the negotiations and at the direction of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, David Barnea, head of the Mossad, ordered his team in Doha to return to Israel,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on Saturday.

The statement accused Hamas of not fulfilling its side of an agreement to extend the truce in Gaza. The deal had included the release of all women and children held in Gaza in accordance with a list conveyed to Hamas and agreed upon, the statement said.

Hours later, Hamas said there will be no further prisoner exchange with Israel until the war on Gaza is over.

“Our official stance is there will be no further prisoner swap until the war ends,” deputy head of the group, Saleh al-Arouri, told Al Jazeera.

“Israeli prisoners will not be released until our [Palestinian] prisoners are liberated and after a ceasefire comes into effect.”

“What we have left of Israeli prisoners are soldiers and civilians serving in the army,” he added.

The Hamas official said the group was ready to exchanges the “bodies of dead Israelis in exchange for our own martyrs, but we need time to exhume these bodies”.

“The Israeli occupation insists that we are still holding women and children but we have already released them all,” he said.

Reporting from Doha, Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem said: “Given the fact that the demands now are changing, the Israelis are demanding that Hamas should release women soldiers.”

“To Hamas, that has a different price,” he said, referring to the previous agreement of three Palestinians prisoners released for every captive held in Gaza under the weeklong truce that ended early on Friday. “The main issue is also that Hamas was from the beginning offering all for all – the Israeli captives for all the Palestinian prisoners in Israel.

“Now, we are facing this deadlock with the Israelis withdrawing. This doesn’t mean that negotiations are coming to an end. There may be another mediation and new ideas from different parties,” he said.

The temporary truce between Israel and Hamas collapsed after mediators were unable to extend it. The humanitarian pause saw the release of 80 Israeli captives in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.

Israel and Hamas have traded blame over the truce’s collapse.

Macron in Qatar

Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron said France is “very concerned” by the resumption of violence in Gaza as he landed in Qatar on Saturday to help kick-start a new truce.​​​

Macron said at a press conference at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai that the situation required the doubling-down of efforts to obtain a lasting ceasefire and the freeing of all captives.

He also urged Israel to clarify its goals towards Hamas.

“We are at a moment when Israeli authorities must more precisely define their objectives and their final goal: the total destruction of Hamas – does anyone think it is possible? If this is the case, the war will last 10 years,” he said.

“There is no lasting security for Israel in the region if its security is achieved at the cost of Palestinian lives and thus of the resentment of public opinion in the region. Let’s be collectively lucid,” Macron added.

People chant slogans at a pro-Palestinian rally in Paris on Saturday [Thomas Padilla/AP]

Asked for a response to those remarks, Mark Regev, senior adviser to Netanyahu, told reporters Israel does not want to see Gaza civilians caught in the crossfire as battles resume.

“Israel is targeting Hamas, a brutal terrorist organisation that has committed the most horrific violence against innocent civilians. Israel is making a maximum effort to safeguard Gaza’s civilians,” Regev said.

Jabalia camp hit again

But the civilian death toll continues to mount in the enclave.

At least 100 Palestinians were killed by Israeli air strikes on the Jabalia refugee camp in the north of the strip on Saturday. Rescuers used their bare hands to dig through rubble in search of survivors.

Palestinian authorities said at least 240 people have been killed since the bombings resumed early on Friday.

Fadel Naim, chief doctor at al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, said his morgue has received 30 bodies since Saturday morning, including seven children.

“The planes bombed our houses. Three bombs, three houses destroyed,” Nemr al-Bel, 43, told the Agence France-Presse news agency, adding that he had counted 10 dead in his family and “13 more still under the rubble”.

The United Nations estimated at least 1.7 million people in Gaza – 80 percent of its population – have been displaced since the war began on October 7.

Since then, the Israeli campaign in Gaza has killed more than 15,000 people, most of them civilians. In Israel, the official death toll stands at about 1,200.

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Israel, Palestine and Canada’s ‘schizophrenic foreign policy’ | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Montreal, Canada – More than a month into its bombardment of Gaza, the Israeli military issued a warning: Ground troops had surrounded the largest hospital in the Palestinian enclave, al-Shifa. A raid would be launched “in minutes”.

The impending siege of the Gaza City health complex sparked panic among the thousands of injured patients, medical staff and displaced Palestinians sheltering there.

But amid urgent international pleas to protect Gaza’s hospitals, much of the focus in Canada was on the tougher tone of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

“I have been clear: The price of justice cannot be the continued suffering of all Palestinian civilians. Even wars have rules,” Trudeau said in a news conference on November 14, around the time the al-Shifa raid began.

“I urge the government of Israel to exercise maximum restraint,” he continued, offering his toughest comments since the war began. For weeks, Trudeau had been ignoring calls – and some of Canada’s largest protests in recent memory – demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

“The world is watching. On TV, on social media, we’re hearing the testimonies of doctors, family members, survivors, kids who’ve lost their parents. The world is witnessing this. The killing of women and children – of babies; this has to stop.”

Palestinians wounded in Israeli strikes sit on beds at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on November 25 [Abed Sabah/Reuters]

The response from Tel Aviv was swift. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted publicly to Trudeau’s speech, arguing on social media that the Palestinian group Hamas, not Israel, was responsible for any civilian casualties. Netanyahu pointed to Hamas’s attacks in southern Israel on October 7, one of the events that precipitated the war.

Pro-Israel lobby groups in Canada echoed that argument, saying “the blood of dead babies – Israeli and Palestinian – is on Hamas” and accusing Trudeau of fuelling anti-Semitism.

In the days that followed, Canadian ministers sought to temper Trudeau’s comments.

“The prime minister, quite understandably, is concerned about innocent lives on both sides of that border,” Defence Minister Bill Blair told the Canadian network CTV. “We’ve also been crystal clear: Israel has the right to defend itself.”

The episode is one of many examples in recent weeks of what observers have described as Canada’s “schizophrenic” foreign policy when it comes to Israel and Palestine.

“Whenever [Trudeau] does show any mettle with respect to this, he invariably then steps back from what he said after any sort of criticism coming from either the Israel lobby in Canada or Israeli leaders,” Michael Lynk, a former United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, told Al Jazeera.

Unlike its powerful neighbour and Israel’s foremost backer, the United States, Canada says it aims to tread the middle ground in its policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It supports a two-state solution, opposes illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and says international law must be respected by all parties.

But experts say Canada has two policies when it comes to the conflict: one on paper and one in practice.

They note that Canada has cast UN votes against its own stated positions and opposed Palestinian efforts to seek redress at the International Criminal Court, and argue that it has backed hardline, Israeli policies and failed to hold the country accountable for rights abuses.

“This government, as well as previous Canadian governments, have unfortunately had a blind spot with respect to Israel,” said Farida Deif, Canada director at Human Rights Watch.

She added that Canada’s stance has not changed despite the nearly two-month-long military campaign in Gaza, where bombs have struck hospitals, refugee camps and schools serving as shelters. More than 15,200 Palestinians have been killed.

“What we’ve seen with respect to Canada’s policy on Israel-Palestine is really a lack of coherence, confusion, and essentially not really engaging with the reality on the ground,” she told Al Jazeera. “And the reality on the ground that we’ve seen – that Palestinian organisations, Israeli organisations, international organisations have documented – is the reality of apartheid and persecution.”

So what drives Canada’s position?

Al Jazeera spoke to nearly a dozen human rights advocates, politicians, former officials and other experts about how foreign and domestic calculations influence Ottawa’s stance – and whether public outrage could shift its strategy.



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Israel deserves every bit of the global public criticism it is receiving | Israel-Palestine conflict

The ongoing explosion in public activism in the United States and the world for a ceasefire in Gaza and equal rights for Israelis and Palestinians is a battleground as important as the military face-off over Gaza in this century-old conflict.

It reveals the eroding efficacy of traditional pro-Israel propaganda in the face of more visible and explicitly apartheid policies by Israel and widespread, technically proficient mobilisations by pro-Palestine and pro-justice movements. It also signals how people across the globe recognise the Palestinians’ suffering and their battle for national rights as among the last anti-colonial struggles in the world.

Signs of this trend were visible even before the October 7 Hamas attacks on southern Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and about 240 taken captive. But the unprecedented and brutal Israeli counterrampage against civilians and all institutions of life in Gaza that followed — killing 15,000 people and displacing almost 80 percent of the population — has clarified Israeli policies and their long colonial vintage and turned global sentiment against Israel’s aggressions.

That public pressure in turn forced even backers of the war in the West to reluctantly push for a week’s truce and negotiated exchanges of detainees by Israel and Hamas before the fighting resumed on Friday.

Perhaps the most compelling of the political developments that are now in flux and will shape the world’s view of the war and the configuration of the region has been the steady stream of students and young professionals in the United States and beyond standing up for equal rights for both Palestinians and Israelis. They have done this through global mass actions like demonstrations, legal suits, strikes, media campaigns, and public expressions of support by athletes, artists and others in society.

Not surprisingly, this has sparked countercampaigns by pro-Israel groups in the US and globally to shut down the voices of pro-Palestine activists and to criminalise elements of Palestinian identity itself — like displaying the Palestinian flag or wearing the keffiyeh headdress.

Many public discussions and meetings on the issue have been barred, and people who express any kind of sympathy for Palestine – even if in old social media posts – have been dismissed from their jobs. The ultimate cruelty was Israel banning public shows of joy by families and communities for young Palestinian prisoners freed from Israeli jails during the truce — a ban which, unsurprisingly, most Palestinians ignored.

Many reasons explain why public sentiment in the US and globally has been shifting away from a traditional, heavily pro-Israel stance to a more even-handed position that seeks to end Israel’s occupation and military savagery against Palestinians and demand accountability and redress for the past century of Zionist settler-colonial excesses in all of historic Palestine, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. These include notably Palestinian ethnic cleansing and forced exile, refugeehood, occupation, statelessness and fragmented nationhood.

Rising public support for Palestinian rights reflects Israel’s harsh, often criminal policies, which are now visible for the whole world to see every day – including the brutality in Gaza that jurists and scholars increasingly evaluate in the context of genocide.

Partnerships stitched together by Palestinian activists with progressive groups across the world have also amplified the calls for justice.

This expanded rapidly after the Black Lives Matter movement heightened people’s awareness and focus on social justice demands that persist among subjugated and colonised people in many countries. People across the world have made the connection between history, Zionism, Israel, the Palestinians and the consequences of how the US and United Kingdom totally and enthusiastically support Israel’s actions. Most of the world that suffered and remembers the pain and ignominy of Western colonialism instinctively recognised the Palestinians’ ongoing resistance to Israel as the world’s last anti-colonial struggle and seek to support it in any way they can.

Young people and university students lead this new wave of activism for social justice because on their cell phones and computer screens they see the damage being done to people’s lives everywhere by 19th century-type colonial policies, whether against African Americans in Missouri, Palestinians in Gaza or Jenin, or ethnic minorities in other countries.

When credible reports by international groups like Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch describe Israel’s policies to control Palestinians as apartheid, the world’s conscience – led by its youth and students – kicks into action to rid us of this scourge. Equal rights for Israelis and Palestinians is their goal, as happened in South Africa after decades of nonviolent and occasional military struggle.

Not surprisingly, this global wave of activism for Palestine has elicited some wild accusations that the protests – especially in US universities — are motivated by anti-Semitism or support for Hamas. This reflects more than anything else the desperation of Zionist and pro-Israel groups who recognise and worry that their traditional propaganda in the West is flailing.

Other arguments are being made about why the global wave of action for universal social justice and ending settler-colonial occupations is not sincere. Some say that activists unfairly pick on Israel but ignore other governments that treat people harshly. Others argue that Israel treats its Palestinian citizens well because a few of them are in parliament or that Israel is a good place because it respects LGBTQ rights.

Diversionary propaganda like this will mount, but it will fail as it has been failing in recent years – because the pain, cruelty and criminality of settler-colonial apartheid grab the attention and drive the activism of all decent human beings everywhere who want to work for a better world.

Israel does have many impressive qualities in science, education, agriculture and other fields, but they are drowned out by its soul-grinding settler-colonial apartheid reality we see on television daily.

So we march in the streets for social justice and liberty for all as good people have always done to fix their world’s weaknesses and right its wrongs.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

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Is Israel criminalising Palestinian thoughts too, amid Gaza war? | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Following the October 7 Hamas attack, Israel has been clamping down on pro-Palestinian sentiment within its borders, including passing an amendment to its counterterrorism law that has been criticised for violating civil and human rights.

Much has changed for Jews and Palestinians living inside Israel since the Hamas attack, which killed about 1,200 people, and the subsequent devastation wrought by Israel on Gaza, which has killed more than 14,500 Palestinians, mostly women and children.

Here’s a look at the amendment and how it will affect people living inside Israel:

What is the ‘terrorist content’ amendment?

Israeli politicians began debating a temporary amendment to the counterterrorism law adding “consumption of terrorist materials” as a new criminal offence shortly after the war began.

The Knesset, the Israeli parliament, passed the amendment to the law on November 8 that criminalises “identification” with Hamas and ISIL (ISIS) and carries a maximum penalty of one year in prison. The amendment will be in effect for two years, with the option to extend and add other groups to the list at a later date.

The bill outlines the aim of tackling the phenomenon of “lone-wolf terrorism”, or the radicalisation of individuals not affiliated with any group through consuming content online.

What are the criticisms of the amendment?

Nareman Shehade Zoabi, a lawyer at Adalah, an Israel-based human rights organisation and legal centre, told Al Jazeera it is difficult to tell the severity of the implications of the new law, given its vague nature and the difficulty of understanding what precisely “consumption” means under the law.

“However, this vagueness, together with the exceptions stipulated in the law, clearly reveals the intent to target Palestinians in particular,” she said. “What is extremely concerning is that, in recent days, we have seen the law enforcement authorities in Israel constantly lowering the standard for what can be defined as ‘incitement to terror’ – one form of content prohibited in the law – which has resulted in dozens of outrageous indictments.”

Criminal investigations for such offences usually involve the use of “intrusive tools of surveillance against individuals”, Zoabi said. “We fear that this move is intended to further expand the state’s ability to lock up Palestinians as a means of silencing them.”

Others have criticised the amendment as well.

The Tel Aviv-based Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) said the law “remains unprecedented in democratic countries and may have a chilling effect on freedom of expression”.

Haifa-based Adalah called it “one of the most intrusive and draconian legislative measures ever passed by the Israeli Knesset, since it makes thoughts subject to criminal punishment”.

Are there any safeguards in the new law?

Gur Bligh, a Knesset legal adviser, said the law is not as draconian as critics claim. It includes a provision requiring law enforcement officials to establish that the accused identifies with banned groups.

That, Bligh said, will help avoid “excessive criminalisation”.

But others disagree.

Adalah has called it “one of the most intrusive and draconian legislative measures ever passed by the Israeli Knesset, since it makes thoughts subject to criminal punishment”.

Will the amendment change Israel’s response to pro-Palestinian activities?

There had been reports of people being arrested – and mistreated while detained – for their online activity, including posting on Instagram and liking Facebook content, soon after the war and even before that amendment was passed.

But Israel’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian sentiment has gone much further.

There have been reports of dozens of cases of Palestinian students enrolled in Israeli universities and colleges facing disciplinary action – and sometimes expulsion – over any expression of support for Gaza or raising awareness about Palestinian children being killed by Israeli operations.

Rights groups have also reported instances of Palestinians there losing their jobs and being hit with demotions or suspensions in various sectors, including retail, tech, hospitals and private companies, over support for other Palestinians.

A ban has been imposed on pro-Palestinian and anti-war demonstrations. Lawyers have been warned by the Israeli Bar Association not to publish content online that may be perceived as “incitement to violence”. Members of the Knesset who represent Palestinian political parties have been pressured and threatened with expulsion.

Earlier in November, Israel deported thousands of Palestinian workers from the Gaza Strip who were working inside Israel back to the besieged enclave. They had been abruptly detained without judicial process, having had their work permits revoked, and said they were tortured and insulted in prison.

Does the amendment affect only Palestinians?

The overwhelming majority of crackdowns taking place in Israel following the war have been targeted at Arabs, specifically Palestinians, living in Israel.

But Jewish citizens of Israel have not been spared.

There have been reports of Jewish Israeli activists being targeted by right-wing mobs with what appears to be at least a tacit approval by the state. Shabak, the security services of Israel, is conducting so-called warning talks with Israeli citizens who have spoken or posted online about anything that could be construed as support for Gaza or criticism of the war.

Since the start of the war, Israel more than doubled its number of Palestinian prisoners and conditions in Israeli prisons have significantly deteriorated. Reports and testimonies indicate that Palestinian prisoners have lost a number of limited privileges – like televisions, books, family photos and cooking slabs – that they had gained over decades of struggle, including through hunger strikes.

Rights groups have reported that the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) has considerably restricted access to water, food, medical care, family and lawyer visits, and communal items, is ordering more raids resulting in prisoner beatings, and overcrowding prisons by increasing cell capacities.

The Knesset on October 18 approved an amendment to its “prison ordinance” that effectively allows for the overcrowding of prison cells as the Israeli government arrests more Palestinians.

The amendment legally allows those suspected or convicted of national security-related offences to be placed on mattresses on prison floors.

It was passed as a temporary measure and is slated to remain in effect for three months unless extended. It effectively allows Israeli prisons to take in more inmates even if they are already at full capacity.

Earlier this month, the Israeli Ministry of Interior said it aims to introduce amendments to the counterterrorism and citizenship laws to authorise the revocation of permanent residency or citizenship of an individual who has been convicted of a “terrorism-related” offence.

Israeli media reported on Tuesday that Sports Minister Miki Zohar has requested revocation of citizenship for Ataa Jaber, an Israeli footballer who plays for the Palestinian national team, because he observed a minute of silence during a match against Lebanon last week.

Who is behind the amendments and crackdowns?

Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, one of the most hardline figures in what was already Israel’s most far-right administration under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu even before the war, is believed to be a main driving force behind the crackdowns.

Ben-Gvir was convicted in 2007 – when he was a far-right activist – by a Jerusalem court for “incitement to racism” for carrying signs that, among other things, read “expel the Arab enemy” during demonstrations.

Along with other officials, the minister has been a driver of a policy to significantly increase the number of Israeli civilians who are armed. Days after the Hamas attack, he announced loosening gun controls to allow thousands of assault rifles to be doled out to civilian teams, especially in border towns.

Adalah’s Zoabi noted that since the war began “the most extreme right-wing ministers and lawmakers have been taking advantage of collective feelings of fear and vengeance to advance various measures that entrench Jewish supremacy in Israel”.

“Such measures include efforts to make substantive changes on the ground, like the forcible displacement of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, the arming of Jewish civilians, and the redefinition of the limits of rights and liberties of Palestinians through legislation and governmental policies,” she said.

“These steps are especially alarming when the courts do not make the pretence of curbing the attack on Palestinian rights.”

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US sends ‘bunker buster’ bombs to Israel for war on Gaza, report says | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Apart from ground-penetrating munitions, US has also given Israel several other types of bombs and artillery shells.

The United States has given so-called ‘bunker buster’ bombs and an array of other munitions to Israel for its war on Gaza, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.

Washington has transferred 100 BLU-109 bombs to Israel that are meant to penetrate hardened structures before exploding, the report said, citing unnamed US officials.

The bomb carries a warhead weighing more than 900 kilogrammes (19,80 pounds) and has previously been used by the US in conflicts including the war in Afghanistan.

It is not the only type of ammunition provided by the US to Israel for the war on the besieged enclave, which has so far killed more than 15,000 Palestinians, including at least 6,150 children. The October 7 Hamas attack on Israel that started the war killed 1,200 people.

Unlike the regular arms updates by the US about the war in Ukraine, the Pentagon has remained mostly silent on its level of weapons support for Israel amid international condemnation of Israeli military operations in Gaza.

The WSJ report said a surge of US arms to Israel since the start of the war has included 15,000 bombs and 57,000 155mm artillery shells that have primarily been carried on C-17 military cargo planes.

Washington has also sent more than 5,000 unguided Mk82 bombs, more than 5,400 Mk84 bombs, about 1,000 GBU-39 small-diameter bombs, and approximately 3,000 JDAMs, a guidance kit that turns unguided bombs into precision-guided munitions, it said.

This is on top of the billions of dollars Israel receives each year in US financial support for its military operations.

According to the WSJ, large bombs made by the US have been used in some of the deadliest Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, including a strike that levelled an apartment block in the Jabalia refugee camp, killing more than 100 people. Israel said the attack was justified as it killed a Hamas leader.

Israel’s intense aerial bombing of Gaza restarted shortly after the end of a weeklong truce on Friday that saw dozens of captives held in Gaza exchanged for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. Many dozens of Palestinians have already been killed less than 24 hours after the strikes resumed.

The Israeli army, which has repeatedly been telling Palestinians to evacuate northern Gaza amid its ground operations, said on Saturday that parts of southern Gaza are also a battle zone now. People on the ground and rights groups have repeatedly said there is no safe place in Gaza.

‘Questioning in Congress’

Al Jazeera’s Heidi Zhou-Castro said the report on the delivery of heavy-duty penetration bombs to Israel has raised new questions about continued US arms transfers to the country.

“These are major bombs that the US has used in the past in its wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, but mainly in open areas … Now Israel is using these bombs in a very different environment in Gaza, on a densely populated civilian population,” Zhou-Castro said.

“Many people are now questioning in Congress whether continuing to give these ‘bunker bombs’ is a good idea and also calling for more transparency,” she said.

The penetration bombs could theoretically be used to target the tunnels that Hamas uses to move around personnel and munitions. However, the tunnels are located under a densely populated urban area, which would mean using the bombs would lead to many more civilian casualties.

The US has fully backed the Israeli war efforts in the face of growing international pressure for a total ceasefire. Washington has repeatedly said it has asked Israel to try to limit civilian casualties, even as it lay siege to Gaza’s main hospitals.

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How Democrats are alienating their base by blasting a Gaza war ceasefire | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Washington, DC – Inexplicable. That is how advocates are describing the actions of some Democratic officials who seem to be not only alienating but actively antagonising members of their own party over differing views on the war in Gaza.

Many prominent Democrats, including United States President Joe Biden, have voiced “unwavering” support for Israel’s military offensive in the Palestinian enclave. But that stance has fractured the Democratic base, with polls showing that a majority of Americans support a ceasefire.

That schism was prominently on display in November, when activists held a ceasefire protest outside the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, DC. Democratic Congressman Brad Sherman responded by calling the demonstrators “pro-terrorist”.

“Apparently, these pro-#Hamas demonstrators want #Republicans to prevail in the next Congressional election,” he wrote in a social media post.

He also accused the activists of attempting to break into the building — an allegation refuted by the protest organisers and journalists who were at the scene. The protesters had sought to block an entrance to the headquarters where a reception was unfolding, and police responded by evacuating lawmakers and forcibly dispersing the activists.

But advocates say Sherman’s reaction was one of many instances where Democratic politicians have smeared their constituents over the Gaza war, signalling a disconnect with the party’s base.

‘Major political error’

Beth Miller, the political director at Jewish Voice for Peace Action, an advocacy group, called Democrats’ attacks on ceasefire activists “pathetic” and “shocking”.

“It’s also a major political error,” Miller told Al Jazeera.

She noted that public opinion polls show most Americans — and an overwhelming majority of Democrats — back an end to hostilities in Gaza.

A Reuters/Ipsos survey released last month indicated 68 percent of respondents believed Israel should call a ceasefire and negotiate an end to the war. That number rose to 77 percent among Democrats alone.

“For these members of Congress to not only dismiss it, but to actively attack those people, I think it means that they’re also not reading the political winds of how people will be voting and what they will be demanding in the coming cycle,” Miller said.

The rift between Democratic policy and public opinion has translated into dwindling approval ratings. In October, the Arab American Institute, a think tank, found Arab American support for Biden had dropped 42 percent, reaching an all-time low.

That downward trend was reflected in the wider public as well. A recent NBC poll showed that 70 percent of voters under 34 disapproved of President Joe Biden’s handling of the war.

Usamah Andrabi, communications director at Justice Democrats, a progressive group, said the Democratic Party is showing itself to be “out of step” with its base as well as the broader electorate.

“It is a baffling calculation to see the president and the White House side far closer with Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government in Israel than a majority of his own Democratic voters at home,” Andrabi told Al Jazeera.

Congressional leaders attend a pro-Israel rally in Washington, DC, on November 14 [File: Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo]

Criticising calls for a ceasefire

From the outset of the war, several Democrats, including Biden, have drawn ire for appearing to vilify activists calling for a ceasefire.

Days after the conflict broke out, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre issued a strongly worded response to a question about legislators allegedly “equating the Hamas terror attack” with Israeli actions.

Jean-Pierre first asked for clarity about which Congress members had done so. When the reporter identified them as members who “called for a ceasefire”, she said their statements were “wrong”, “repugnant” and “disgraceful”.

It was unclear which statements she was referring to, but many activists understood her words to be a condemnation of the progressive lawmakers pushing for an end to the war.

Meanwhile, Democratic Senator John Fetterman earned the praise of the far-right publication Breitbart last month for waving an Israeli flag at ceasefire protesters on Capitol Hill.

Then came the large pro-Israel protest on November 14, during which top congressional Democrats held hands with their Republican counterparts, including House Speaker Mike Johnson. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer led chants of “I stand with Israel”. The crowd regularly called out, “No ceasefire!”

The Biden administration was represented by Deborah Lipstadt, the US envoy to combating anti-Semitism, who delivered a speech. The pro-Israel rally was also attended by far-right figures, including Christian Zionist pastor John Hagee, who has been accused of stoking both anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.

A day after the rally, two White House communications officials Andrew Bates and Herbie Ziskend shared approvingly a Fox News story titled, “Biden allies condemn far-left calls for ceasefire in Israel-Hamas war”.

In the article, Democratic lawmakers — including Fetterman and Congressman Ritchie Torres — praised Biden for his support for Israel and admonished those demanding an end to the war as “fringe”.

An anonymous Biden administration official quoted in the story criticised the mainstream media for not being critical enough of Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian American member of Congress.

The criticism of Palestinian rights supporters continued this week when Democratic Congressman Brad Schneider gave an interview to Fox News.

He called for revoking the tax-exempt status of groups that he claimed are diverting money “into terrorist organisations”, citing — without evidence — the advocacy organisation American Muslims for Palestine. He added that “groups like Students for Justice in Palestine and others should not be getting these tax benefits”.

‘Core voting bases’

Andrabi, from Justice Democrats, understands this kind of rhetoric as corrosive to the relationship Democratic politicians have with their supporters.

“What we are seeing is the Biden administration attempting to gaslight the American people into believing that their majority that supports a ceasefire is somehow radical and fringe when the only people who are radical and fringe is the coalition between Netanyahu’s far-right government and the Biden White House,” Andrabi said.

He dismissed arguments that the war will not shake Biden’s standing with voters as he seeks reelection in 2024.

Foreign policy is seldom a top priority for voters. But advocates say the scale of the violence in Gaza has made it a decisive issue for many constituents. Some United Nations experts have gone so far as to warn of “a grave risk of genocide“.

“I don’t think anybody will forget that a year from now. And what Democrats are doing is trying to will it into existence that this is not going to matter,” Andrabi explained. But, he added, “it matters so much to so many of their core voting bases”.

Delaware State Representative Madinah Wilson-Anton, who was part of a hunger strike outside the White House this week calling for a ceasefire, expressed bewilderment at the mainstream Democrats’ position.

“I’m trying to figure out what the rationale is,” she told Al Jazeera, voicing disappointment in Biden.

“People feel betrayed. People feel like they were led to believe he was this moral leader that was going to restore the soul of America.”

New York State Representative Zohran Mamdani said Americans are desperate for a government that represents them and their demands. He expressed surprise that calls for a ceasefire have been deemed controversial.

“I don’t know how this demand is characterised as something that is far-left. This is the most mainstream demand in America today on foreign policy,” he said.

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Is Israel meeting its obligations under the laws of war? | Israel-Palestine conflict

Questions raised about responsibility and accountability as Israel resumes bombardment of Gaza.

Israel has resumed its bombardment of Gaza after mediators failed to extend a seven-day ceasefire in the besieged territory. Air strikes have targeted houses and refugee camps in the north, in the centre and in the south of Gaza.

Palestinians there were already suffering a humanitarian crisis. The United Nations says 80 percent of the population has been displaced and the healthcare system has collapsed.

The Israeli army offensive raises questions of responsibility and accountability.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel is acting in self-defence after attacks by Hamas on southern Israel on October 7 killed 1,200 people.

It began a bombing campaign of Gaza that same day and then launched a ground offensive, killing more than 15,000 Palestinians.

Under international law, Israel is the occupying power in Gaza and the West Bank and is obliged to protect all the people there.

But Israel doesn’t recognise Palestine as a state and argues Hamas has bases in hospitals and residential areas, making them legitimate military targets.

Presenter: Laura Kyle

Guests:

Mustafa Barghouti – secretary general of the Palestinian National Initiative

Ahmed Abofoul – legal researcher and advocacy officer at Al-Haq, an independent Palestinian human rights organisation

Triestino Mariniello – professor of law at Liverpool John Moores University and member of the legal team for Gaza victims at the International Criminal Court

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At least three killed in south Lebanon as Israel, Hezbollah resume fighting | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Israeli shelling kills a woman and her son in Houla as Hezbollah says one of its fighters is also killed.

Israeli shelling has killed three people in southern Lebanon, Lebanon’s state news agency reports after the end of a truce between Israel and the Palestinian armed group Hamas prompted a resumption of hostilities at the Israel-Lebanon border.

The Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, said one of its fighters was among those killed on Friday.

It said it had carried out several attacks on Israeli military positions at the border in support of Palestinians in Gaza, where a weeklong pause in the fighting ended early in the day.

The Israeli army said its artillery struck sources of fire from Lebanon and its air defences had intercepted two launches. The army also said it struck a “terrorist cell”. Sirens warning of incoming rockets sounded in several towns in northern Israel, sending residents running for shelter.

Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that two people were killed by Israeli shelling in the Lebanese border town of Houla and one person was killed in the village of Jebbayn.

A woman and her 35-year-old son were killed in Houla, Shakeeb Koteich, the head of its municipal council, told the Reuters news agency, saying both were civilians. Hezbollah later said one of its members was killed in Houla.

“A shell landed near the house, and then a second one hit the house,” Koteich said by telephone.

Since the eruption of the Hamas-Israel war on October 7, Hezbollah has mounted near daily rocket attacks on Israeli positions at the border while Israel has conducted air and artillery strikes in southern Lebanon.

It has been the worst fighting since a 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, which is part of an Iran-backed alliance that also includes Hamas. About 100 people in Lebanon have been killed during the hostilities, 80 of them Hezbollah fighters. Tens of thousands of people have fled from both sides of the border.

On November 5, an Israeli air attack killed four civilians – three children and their grandmother. Three Lebanese journalists have also been killed in Israeli attacks.

Hezbollah released statements claiming five attacks on Israeli military positions at the border, saying they were “in support of our steadfast Palestinian people … and its valiant and honourable resistance”.

A spokesperson for the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon told Reuters there had been shelling close to its headquarters near the coastal town of Naqoura and in Aita al-Shaab, also in southern Lebanon, in the late afternoon.

“Hezbollah has linked what happens at the border with what happens in Gaza,” said Nabil Boumonsef, deputy editor-in-chief of Lebanon’s Annahar newspaper.

“All the while the war in Gaza continues, Lebanon will remain threatened by the danger of a major escalation.”

Senior Hezbollah politician Hassan Fadlallah earlier said the group was vigilant and ready after the Hamas-Israel truce ended.

“In Lebanon, we are concerned in facing this challenge, being vigilant, and always ready to confront any possibility and any danger that may arise in our country,” he said.

“No one thinks that Lebanon has been spared from this Zionist targeting or that what is happening in Gaza cannot affect the situation in Lebanon,” he said.

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Israel-Gaza War: Can Hamas be defeated? | Israel-Palestine conflict

Marc Lamont Hill discusses Gaza’s future and whether Israel’s stated objective of eradicating Hamas is possible.

Following the October 7 Hamas attack that left 1,200 dead, Israel repeatedly promised to eradicate the group, launching a devastating counteroffensive against the Palestinians.

Nearly eight weeks since the start of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, at least 15,000 Palestinians have been killed.

Gaza City is now in ruins, with almost half of the buildings in northern Gaza damaged. But is Israel any closer to toppling Hamas? And if Hamas is destroyed, who could actually fill the power vacuum?

On UpFront, former spokesperson of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Diana Buttu, and senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, Khaled Elgindy, speak with Marc Lamont Hill about the future of Gaza.

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The Israel-Hamas truce has ended: What we know so far | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Israel has resumed air raids in Gaza after a seven-day pause in fighting. Here is what we know so far:

How did the Israel-Hamas truce end?

The Israel-Hamas truce began on November 24 and was renewed twice before ending on Friday. Under the truce, fighting was paused and humanitarian aid was allowed to enter Gaza as Hamas released captives in exchange for Israel releasing Palestinian prisoners.

The UN humanitarian office, OCHA, reported that despite the pause in fighting, Israeli forces shot at Palestinians in Gaza on November 29, killing two people. They also shelled people on November 30.

Earlier on Friday, Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum reported from Khan Younis in Southern Gaza that Palestinians were anxiously hoping that the truce would be extended to allow for more humanitarian aid into the enclave.

An hour before the truce was supposed to end, at 7am (05:00 GMT), the Israeli military announced that its Iron Dome missile defence system had detected incoming rockets. After that, they “intercepted a launch from Gaza”.

“We have seen rockets being fired from Gaza before that have been intercepted by the Iron Dome that Hamas later said were simply a misfire,” reported Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan from East Jerusalem. “Or it could be a message to try and put some pressure on the Israelis to try and extend this ceasefire”.

Hamas did not immediately respond or claim responsibility for the launches.

Did Israel resume air raids in Gaza?

The deadline for the extended truce passed with no announcement of an extension from either side. Minutes after, Israeli air raids and artillery fighting resumed in Gaza and witnesses in the enclave reported heavy clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian fighting groups.

The Israeli military announced on X, that the fighting is now resuming because “Hamas violated the operational pause” and “fired towards Israeli territory”.

Where in Gaza has fighting resumed?

On-ground clashes between Israel and Hamas have resumed in separate areas across the territory, reported Azzoum. At least 54 people have been killed since Israel’s army resumed its attacks, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

Two people have been killed in Beit Lahia in the north of the Gaza Strip.

There is heavy shelling in eastern Khan Younis in southern Gaza. Israel dropped leaflets asking people in Khan Younis to move further south towards Rafah on the border with Egypt.

One casualty has been reported in Khan Younis city while two have been killed in Hamad town, south of Khan Younis.

On Friday, a building in northern Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp was completely destroyed. There are reports that a house has also been destroyed in Rafah in the south of Gaza.

Israel is also shelling near Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps in central Gaza. Also in central Gaza, 10 people have been killed and a number of civilians have been wounded in the Maghazi area.

Due to Israeli bombardment and clashes that began after the October 7 Hamas attack, about 60 percent of homes in Gaza have been destroyed, reported Gaza’s government media office. At least 50,000 families and their extended families are now homeless and about 250,000 housing units have been partially destroyed. More than 15,000 people in Gaza, including at least 6,150 children, have died, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Could the US have stopped the resumption of fighting?

During his third visit to Israel since the escalation of violence, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday that Israel cannot repeat in southern Gaza the massive civilian casualties and displacement of residents it has inflicted in the north.

Yet, there is no evidence that Israel is limiting the war.

Spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ninistry, Nasser Kanaani, posted on X that “the political and legal responsibility for the continuation of the aggression and massacre” rests with Israel, the United States and “a few governments that support this apartheid regime”.

Yossi Mekelberg, an associate fellow at Chatham House, told Al Jazeera that the US has enough leverage to stop the fighting and influence other countries to change the course of the war.

Vice chairman of the executive council of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, Ali Damoush, says that Israel resumed its aggression on Gaza by a US decision. He called the US a decision-maker in this war, adding, “This war from the beginning has been America’s war against the Palestinian people,” on Telegram.

Where has Hamas attacked?

Hamas’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, announced on Telegram that it attacked the cities of Ashkelon, Sderot and Beersheba in southern Israel with rocket barrages. The group said the attacks were “in response to the targeting of civilians”.

What about captives and Palestinian prisoners ?

Nearly 240 captives were taken by Hamas following the attack on October 7. Of them, 127 captives remain in Gaza, with 110 freed as part of the truce.

Israel initially released a list of 300 Palestinian prisoners eligible for release during the pause in fighting. A list of 50 more names of prisoners eligible was released later. Of the 350 prisoners, 240 have been released and 110 remain. However, at the same time, Israel has arrested about the same number of  Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

What next?

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that with the resumption of fighting, Israel was committed to achieving its targets in the war.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar released a statement on Friday, expressing “deep regret at the resumption of the Israeli aggression against Gaza”. The statement added that negotiations between Hamas and Israel are continuing “with the aim of returning to a state of the pause”. Qatar has been central to mediation efforts between Israel and Hamas.

 

Israel’s participation in the 28th UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) which started on Thursday in Dubai amid the continuing war, was also criticised by some.



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