CEASEFIRE MUST UPHOLD LEBANON'S SOVEREIGNTY AND DIGNITY, AND MUST INCLUDE GAZA TOO....

 

AJP action demands unified ceasefire in Lebanon and Gaza, criticizes U.S. complicity in undermining peace. 

[WASHINGTON D.C., NOVEMBER 26, 2024] – 

Americans for Justice in Palestine Action (AJP Action) cautions against the newly announced ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah, warning that it fails to address the region's instability and perpetuates Israeli impunity. The agreement, announced by President Biden, does not ensure an immediate end to Israel’s occupation in parts of southern Lebanon, instead allowing a 60-day transition period for withdrawal. Moreover, the U.S. has reportedly provided Israel assurances, promising support for Israel to commit future attacks on Lebanon under the vague justification of perceived threats, undermining the very premise of the ceasefire.

Most importantly, the ceasefire announcement decouples the wars in Lebanon and Gaza and treats them as if they are unrelated, providing an insufficient response to the region’s instability and violence. AJP Action calls on the Biden Administration to quickly end its complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and urgently secure a comprehensive, immediate, and unequivocal ceasefire in both Lebanon and Gaza. For the past year, the two have been inextricably connected, driven by Israel’s overarching strategy of oppression and regional domination. Any agreement that does not address this reality will only deepen suffering and prolong instability for millions across the region.

“Today’s ceasefire is, unfortunately, not a reflection of progress toward peace. Israel’s agreement with Lebanon comes just six days after the Biden administration vetoed its fourth UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. While the administration now claims to be a neutral mediator, its actions tell a different story,” said Osama Abuirshaid, Executive Director of AJP Action.

“By brokering an insufficient biased ceasefire in favor of Israel in Lebanon ceasefire in Lebanon while continuing to openly enable Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, the Biden administration is endorsing a divide-and-conquer strategy that perpetuates Israeli impunity and widespread devastation across the region."  

Israel’s actions in Lebanon and Gaza are not isolated conflicts but manifestations of the same strategy of systemic violence and occupation. Over the past year, Israel’s assaults in Lebanon have killed more than 3,700 people, including at least 230 children, and injured more than 15,000. This devastation has displaced at least 1.3 million Lebanese, destroyed entire villages, and destroyed critical infrastructure vital to societal life in Lebanon. Meanwhile, in Gaza, Israel’s siege and relentless bombardment continues to decimate entire communities, killing and maiming hundreds of thousands and perpetuating what many international institutions and human rights organizations recognize as a genocide.

To separate these atrocities into different narratives is a cynical ploy to shield Israel from accountability. There can be no real ceasefire in Lebanon without an immediate and simultaneous ceasefire in Gaza. These are not two wars—they are one campaign of state violence targeting Palestinians and their neighbors.

The Lebanese and Palestinian people deserve more than fleeting pauses in violence—they deserve justice, dignity, and an end to occupation. “It is time for the United States to stop funding and enabling Israel’s war crimes and to align its policies with human rights and international law,” Abuirshaid concluded. A true ceasefire must respect the sovereignty of Lebanon, end the occupation in Gaza, and confront the unified nature of Israeli state violence and aggression.

In solidarity,

Americans for Justice in Palestine Action 

Americans for Justice in Palestine Action (AJP Action) is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization advocating for legislation supporting the human rights of the Palestinian people and endorsing candidates for office who support those rights.

A fair analysis of the supposedly accepted ceasefire agreement by both warring parties in Lebanon, as both Netanyahu and his oligarchy and Hizballah need this accord, but only for tactical purposes, an accord which I don't believe will hold anymore than few days or few weeks at most, as a direct result of the details of the agreement, exactly as America is waiting for the Trump new administration to establish itself and start governing, and its effects on the American scene and of course the international scene as well.  but let's wait and see, hoping for some real truce and a fair peace effort on all fronts, or total chaos and real crazy wars or one major world war.    

  As always, my many thanks to all. 

Survival and Hope.......

 

It may be difficult in the midst of an ongoing genocide, where every day brings news of further massacres, deliberate starvation, denial of medical services, and yet more and more bombardments for people to even think of the day after, or for victims to think of anything other than vengeance. A ceasefire, after all, is only the equivalent of saying “get your knee off my neck.” Calling for unimpeded access to food and water and medical supply is only an immediate response to “I cannot breathe,” as Israel is choking the neighboring populations. 

Beyond putting an end to these outrages, we need to seriously think of the day after. Justice requires a thoughtful response to Palestinian, Lebanese and Israeli demands and needs, and that continues to be a vital task if we are ever to see a lasting and effective end to the ongoing injustices.
 

It is also necessary to address the traumas being currently inflicted, as well as the past traumas plaguing all three communities. It is my firm hope that any resolution allows for a process of healing, just arrangements, including reparations, but also a different outlook that is not based on power, violence, revenge and bitterness, but on justice, reconciliation and ultimately coexistence with one’s present enemies.

For those who live outside the area, it is imperative that we throw our weight into actions that lead to life, and not death; that lead to healing, and not further suffering; that not only end the ongoing nightmare, but that also boldly declare that violence is not the answer. What is needed is a process that truly turns swords into plowshares and outlines a better future for all concerned. This may sound idealistic and utopian, but it is a vision that is both necessary and possible. In fact, one can argue that it is the only possibility that has any chance of working out. 

Violence has shown that while it can inflict huge damage on an enemy, it has singularly failed to achieve its objectives. It neither yields security to Israelis or liberation for their neighbors. It can only yield the infliction of pain on the other side and the assurance of continued hatred and enmity. It may still be difficult for those immediately involved in the ongoing fighting to contemplate this, but for those who are looking in, and who have any concern for the parties involved, this should be our foremost priority: not total victory over our enemies, not achieving our goals through massive military might that creates a “deterrence,” but through empathy, caring, win-win solutions and a commitment to justice and an end to violence on all sides.

A good composition depicting the possibility of peace among these eternal enemies, living next to each other without any hope of some peaceful future to their respective people, it was originally sent from FOSNA, friends of Sabeel North America.  A  Christian voice for Palestine. With few minor adjustments by me to fit the escalating crimes in the Lebanese situation and our blog, for the benefit of all my readers. 

As always, my many thanks to all my good readers. 

A VERY LUCID ANALYSIS......

 

Dominique Eddé, Lebanese writer: “Benyamin Netanyahu has taken time hostage”

TRIBUNE
Dominique Edde
Novelist and essayist

The novelist explains, in a column in "Le Monde", that Israel's "military intoxication" and the project supported by its prime minister are doomed to failure. She calls on Western powers to stop following it blindly.

The United States supported the unbearable for a year: the methodical destruction of Gaza, life after life, house after house, as a logical response to the bloody madness of October 7, 2023. Everything was destroyed: schools, hospitals, refugee camps, mosques, churches, archaeological sites, cemeteries. And while tens of thousands of children were amputated, orphaned, reduced to dust, while Israeli hostages languished under the bombs, we were asked to understand that it was not over, to the extent that Hamas still exists.

Now, it is here, in Lebanon, that Israel is sowing death without counting, under the pretext of finishing off Hezbollah. But what have we witnessed, after eleven months of carnage, in recent weeks? An endless series of liquidations of political and military leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah. One, Ismail Haniyeh, political leader of Hamas, the same one who negotiated the ceasefire in Gaza, was blown up in his hotel room in Tehran; the other, Fouad Chokr, the senior commander of Hezbollah, as he briefly entered his office in the southern suburbs of Beirut. Everything happened and wrapped up in a second, in defiance, of course, of the dozens of dead and hundreds of wounded among the civilian population. The other leaders were killed or disabled en masse, during the spectacular explosion of thousands of wireless communication devices.

Some cried miracle. They were at the cinema while others were in the hospital. This is to say that the Mossad [Israeli foreign intelligence service] lives up to its fearsome reputation. This is to say that it can kill whenever it wants, wherever it wants. This is to say that we are entitled to wonder about the reasons why the Netanyahu regime preferred to annihilate the civilian population of Gaza and continue the annexation of the West Bank, before taking the life of its best enemy: the military leader of Hamas, who has also become political leader, Yahya Sinwar. The goal is increasingly clear: to do everything to maintain and save the caricature, to deport the question of Palestine, in order to better liquidate it, to transform it into a conflict between whites and bearded men, so that the West has no other option but to follow blindly. To form a block with the wall.

Benjamin Netanyahu has taken time hostage. And this time is our common destiny that he manipulates and maneuvers with infernal bad faith. All these hours of anguish, all these stopped hours, are the same for the survivors of Gaza, for the Israeli hostages, for the inhabitants of northern Israel, southern Lebanon, Beirut and the Bekaa, for Jews, Christians, Muslims, and perhaps even more for those who are content with humanism to face death. Time has the same name in Arabic and Hebrew: zaman.

Time took a massive blow in 1948, with the creation of the State of Israel in Palestine, which came at the cost of a people: the people of Palestine. This creation took place at a time in history that was still very much imbued, on the European level, with the colonial thinking according to which some peoples are more civilized than others. It is hard to believe that the Western powers are indefinitely delaying the moment to mourn this, the moment to say stop. Stop, to save what remains to be saved. To stop the arms deliveries. To demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, which would also silence the guns of Hezbollah. Who can believe for a second that Israel's security comes from its military intoxication, from its determination to demolish and spread hatred?

Reproduce the impasse in a worse way

Let us return to the heart of the matter, by a brief return to the past. The fundamental problem that the Zionist project covered was not only, far from it, that of the sharing of space, it was that of the cohabitation of times. It was the explosive encounter of two times with fundamentally different memories, reference points and projects. The Arab population, on the spot, was then in search of emancipation. The other, essentially European, immigrated to Palestine, in order to build a country there from scratch, for a people barely emerged from the hell of the camps for which this same Europe was responsible.

It was the first state in the region to associate religious identity, even within a secular project, with national identity. The confrontation was inevitable. In his book The State of Israel Against the Jews (La Découverte, 2020), Sylvain Cypel quotes the phrase attributed to Israeli general Rafael Eitan: “I do not believe in peace with the Arabs. Because if they had done to me a tenth of what we did to them, I would never agree to make peace.” These words echo those of the military man Moshe Dayan who declared, sixty-eight years ago, on the grave of a young Israeli murdered by a Palestinian: “Let us not accuse the murderers. How could we blame the hatred they have for us?” For eight years, they have been vegetating in a refugee camp in Gaza, and we, before their eyes, are transforming into our property the lands and villages where they and their ancestors lived.

The time that followed was used to nibble, to tack on, to maintain the insoluble instead of serving to repair and build. It has not ceased to reproduce the impasse in worse. And to give birth, with it, to miserable little short times with benefits without a future and projects without vision. Today, this sick time is in the hands of a messianic extreme right that wants to make it achieve in a quarter of an hour what seventy-five years have not succeeded in accomplishing: the dreamed disappearance of the Palestinian people by the partisans of "Greater Israel". If its regime were alone in maintaining this delirium, we would be able to perceive its end. The tragedy lies, I repeat, in the unwavering support it receives from the American government. As for Europe, with the exception of Ireland, Spain, Norway and Belgium, it renounces international law, goes round in circles and persists in what it does worst: abstention.

And Iran and the Islamic fundamentalists, I will be told, do they not have their share of this stranglehold on time? Yes, of course! But, precisely, they are in another time. The time of the watch is all the same to them. They do not advocate democracy or a political model that respects freedoms. They live in a time that can wait. A time that we do not want, obviously, but which we must take into account if we want history to dislodge them one day. To challenge this enemy is not to tear it away like a radish from its land, it will grow back, it is to actively work to remove one by one its reasons for posing as a resistance movement. It is to make peace. We all know that by demanding the disappearance of Israel, the Islamists are raising the stakes. Double-speak is the ABC of political language in this conflict. Recent events have clearly shown that Iran, no more than Hezbollah, wants a regional war. They have been calling for a ceasefire in Gaza for months to put down their weapons. What are we waiting for to activate it?

The day our species regains its senses

It is up to the Israelis to wake up before it is too late. The outcome – life or death – is in the hands of their leaders. How many want a homeland for the Palestinians? How many are for, how many are against, the continuation of the annexation of the West Bank after the destruction of Gaza? What do the majority of them hope for, who are in favor of continuing the war? A state for the Jews according to the initial plan or a Jewish state according to Netanyahu? The first scenario now requires a renewed vision, a change of direction, a spirit of openness. The second is neither morally defensible nor politically viable. It would involve, among other things, the expulsion or ostracization of nearly 25% of non-Jewish Israeli citizens. The fundamental question is therefore this: what do Israelis want for themselves in the future?

As for the Arab world, it is more pathetic than ever. Largely confiscated, at the present time, by Islamic fundamentalism and its internal struggles, it remains to be reinvented at the end of a century of violent defeats. What is certain is that the silence of most of its leaders in the face of the ongoing ignominy is a shame that, in the long term, risks degenerating into madness among the people who suffer it. On both sides, the cowardice of the powerful is about to create hurricanes of rage. All destinies are now linked, with the common threat and promise: time. Each day of indulgence for war is one day too many for the survival of all.

The day our species regains its reason, when emergency measures have been taken for all, only a utopia will get all these populations out of the bloody rut they find themselves in. This utopia, as its name indicates, is not for tomorrow. It implies a fundamental change in the relationship to the past, to the future, to the other. Politics, in order to survive, now demands the loftiness of an astronomer and the austerity of a monk. It is a metaphysical transformation, based on the few that we are, accompanied by practical provisions, which will open the doors of the prison and put human intelligence in a position to deal with the artificial, without being its plaything or slave.

Among the concrete measures: a new egalitarian conception of citizenship that will relegate all religious affiliations to the domain of private life. And why not? Since we are in the domain of a reality revised from A to Z, a confederation of states with defined and open borders, where the individual will not feel forced to kill in order to conceive of his survival. A friend had called it "USS", "United Semitic States". While waiting for this distant day, the only one worth dreaming of, we must now continue to endure the nightmare.

I received this good article by e-mail from a good French friend, and thought of forwarding it through our blog to all my good readers, the translation to English comes  via Google and myself. 

As always, my profound thanks to all, stay safe and well. 

A RUSSIAN/UKRAINIAN POSSIBILITY.....MAYBE !!!

 

Colin Gajewski

·

Russia is facing the real possibility of defeat.
The war has entered a decisive phase. Ukraine WILL cross Putin’s red lines. Ukraine WILL use UK weapons in Russia. They WILL use US weapons inside Russia. Russia greatly fears this.
Russian air defense is very weak and ineffective.
Macron has thrown down his glove. If France goes in, the UK goes in. Our militaries work superbly together. They are straining at the leash.
The Kerch Bridge will fall, and Russia knows it.
Macron means what he says and is ready to do what he says. The bridge is doomed. The near future is war decisive.
The attacks on the Russian petrochemical industry have deeply wounded Russia, and its economy is failing.
Concerted action against Russian spies and saboteurs is impending.
Sanctions against China will be imposed and will cause China to distance itself from Russia.
For the first time, Russia is looking at the very real possibility of losing this war.
There is no plan B.
Losing this war means the fall of the regime and decades of chaos.
Not winning the war means the same thing.
The Kremlin reeks of fear.

A factual short article on Medium by Colin Gajewski, it's a fact that Russia and after almost three years of waring with Ukraine, is not doing well, not on the battle field, nor to itself at home, but will they, facing loss, raze Kiev, and kill half of its population, and if asked they will say the Israelis razed Gaza and its population, nobody objected, so why can't we do the same, they might and it could indeed turn tragic....     

As always, my many thanks to all. 

THE DAY AFTER......

 

This week, I've been looking for stories about how to keep your head when all about you are losing theirs. A lot is in flux right now, and it's difficult to keep focused on living a good, day-to-day life during times of great change.

The trick there is looking for what you can control in a world that's beyond your influence. 

I know that many of you are still in shock about what happened last week. Some of you don’t even want to read a newspaper or hear the news. I get it.   Robert Reich.

But we must not avert our eyes from this calamity, minimize it, or throw up our hands in despair or retreat. Because as awful as Trump's first presidency was — and it was a catastrophe — his second term threatens to be far worse.

Starting January 20, Trump and his MAGA lapdogs will have control of both houses of Congress, and, unlike in 2017, these Republicans are utterly cowed by Trump.

Meanwhile, Trump is filling his administration with unqualified lackeys like Matt Gaetz, his pick for attorney general, and Pete Hegseth, the Fox News TV host that he chose as his secretary of defense. And he also has effective control of the Supreme Court, which has already ruled that he is presumptively immune from prosecution for crimes committed in office.

Protecting the vulnerable and preserving our rights and liberties will require a great deal of hard work by a wide range of people and organizations who heed the truth and believe in our Constitution, democracy, and the rule of law.

That work includes:

• Monitoring Trump and his government — despite the disinformation, propaganda, and lies we’ll be receiving — and disseminating the truth.
• Maintaining a watch over the people and institutions we value.
• Being ready to sound the alarm in our communities and networks when those people and institutions are under assault.
• Organizing and mobilizing nonviolent resistance to such assaults, using peaceful civil disobedience when necessary.
• Litigating through state and federal courts where possible.
• Speaking out against malicious lies like those that spread during the election by Elon Musk on his propaganda machine, X, and against vicious lies amplified on other MAGA mouthpieces.
• Using our economic muscle to boycott corporations that support Trump, Musk, and other centers of MAGA power.
• And much more. While Inequality Media won’t be directly involved in all of these strategies, we will play a key role in the Trump resistance through our massive social media following, which will allow us to broadcast the truth, educate the public, call out Trump's worst abuses, and build support for progressive priorities while bypassing the mainstream media. It is up to us — the American people who still cherish democracy — to protect and preserve our system of self-government.
• As the elections are coming to an end, and the results are obviously to the total winning of one side, many Americans, and more so the educated and cultured, are in total disarray, many don't know exactly where to start, or how and what to do, this is a good example by Robert Reich of how many are thinking and planning.    As always, my many thanks to all my good readers.  

IT IS WHAT IT IS .......

It is important to understand what is going on around us and why???
“"""""""""""""""""""""""""""

An analytical study of the doctrine of the Republican and Democratic parties from a historical perspective



Dr. Khalil Al Hindi
The year 1290 AD was the peak of the Christian-Jewish conflict in Europe, when the King of England (Edward I) issued a decree requiring the Jews of England to convert to Christianity or leave the kingdom permanently. He was followed by the King of France (Philip I) in 1306 AD. This reflects the hatred of European Christians towards the Jews, which led the Jews to convert to Christianity outwardly while remaining Jewish inwardly. This situation continued until the Jews were able to establish a religious movement that was Christian in appearance but Jewish in essence, demanding reform of the church and limiting its control over the joints of society. This movement was known as the (Protestant) movement, meaning the protestors (in Latin), and was led by (Martin Luther 1483-1546).
The Protestants did not find a vital place for them in Europe due to their small numbers and the Catholics’ rejection of them, so they found an escape for themselves to the newly discovered land called America, which was discovered in 1492 AD, so they began to immigrate to it. Protestants now constitute the majority of Christians in America.

The intellectual content (of the Protestants), which I call the new religion and has nothing to do with Christianity, is a mixture of false Judaism and false Christianity. They consider Judaism and Christianity to be one religion that was revealed in two stages, the Old Testament and the New Testament, and they complete each other and print the two books in one book under the name (Old Testament and New Testament). The Protestants show Jewish-Christian reconciliation, as the Jews were absolved from the blood of Christ, and now in the churches they call for Israel and collect donations for the entity state and impose on the American government to support Israel to remain in preparation for the return of Christ. This new religion (Protestants) was forged by the Jewish rabbis that Christ will return and there are conditions for his return, which are the existence of a state for the Jews in Palestine and the existence of the temple there, and without fulfilling these conditions, Christ will not return. This trend in America is called the extreme right and also Christian Zionism. More than 150 million Americans are involved in this movement, and the Republican Party is their political representative as the first political component. Among the leaders of this movement who reached power were (Ronald Reagan), (George Bush), and (George Bush Jr.), who heralded the return of the Crusades to the East once again with his invasion of Iraq, as well as (Ronald Trump), who recognized Jerusalem as the capital of the entity in preparation for the establishment of the alleged temple.

The second component is the Democratic Party, which split in 1828 from the Democratic Republican Party, which was established after independence in 1776. Thus, the Freemasons separated from the Christian Zionists. The Democratic Party is considered one of the offshoots of the Masonic movement, which was formed in Europe in 1616. This movement considers itself the leader of the world and calls for re-engineering the world to its own standards. It adopts the protractor and the angle as its slogan, and the word Masonic means builders, i.e. rebuilding the world, leading it, and subjugating it to their interests. This movement is secular, does not believe in religion, and has a colonialist ideology.

The Christian Zionists (Protestants) led, along with the Masonic movement, the American independence struggle from Britain in 1776 AD. A secular constitution was established that followed the principle of colonial expansion, starting with fifteen states and ending with fifty, as well as the method of exporting the revolution abroad. From this standpoint, America sent one of its theorists, Franklin, to France to help the French Revolution overthrow the monarchy in 1789, i.e. 13 years after the American Revolution.

The French Revolution, led and ignited by the Freemasons, succeeded in overthrowing Louis XVI and establishing the French Republic, which had prominent philosophers and theorists such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Montesquieu and Voltaire. Exactly nine years later, this revolution revealed its dirty colonial face to produce Napoleon Bonaparte and begin his first colonial invasions in 1798 AD towards the east to Egypt and Palestine, where he committed massacres in Gaza and Jaffa and was defeated at the walls of Acre. He was the first to propose the idea of establishing a state for the Jews in Palestine, a hundred years before the first Zionist Congress. Napoleon was not satisfied with this failure, but in 1814 AD he led the French army to colonize Russia with a campaign of 630 thousand soldiers, only to return defeated with only thirty thousand soldiers.

Napoleon was not an exceptional case in the scene of the French Revolution, but this is the nature of the Masonic organization. In 1830 AD, France occupied Algeria, and for 132 years, Algeria paid a million and a half of its best sons as martyrs for the sake of independence.

The American Democratic Party is a Masonic party par excellence and is the most extreme in spreading globalization and stereotyping the world according to the American model, leading the world and reshaping and building it according to Masonic philosophy, preferring the individual as the axis of society, abolishing nationalities, languages, cultures, religions and the particularities of peoples and returning man in his behavior to the first man (the forest man) under what is called democracy and human rights. This concept includes permitting abortion, legalizing same-sex marriage (homosexuals) and allowing the use of drugs legally.

This democratic party is Masonic in thought and colonial in application. It sees the existence of the Zionist entity as a colonial extension of it and an advanced military base for its colonial project in the East.

Where are we, the Arabs in general and the Palestinians in particular, from these two parties? The Republican Party sees the existence, support, superiority and survival of Israel as a religious condition for the return of Christ.
The Democratic Party sees the existence, support, survival and superiority of Israel as a colonial condition for American expansion and hegemony, the imposition of globalization on the peoples of the world, and control over the oil resources, the region’s wealth and international trade routes.

Therefore, we have a principled and historical hostility towards these two parties, despite the ideological differences between them. Each of them is an enemy of the Arab nation, opposed to its unity, and a major supporter of the Zionist project. Whoever relies on either party does not understand anything about political science.

(copied) from an Arabic text, I'm not sure of all this information the writer produces, but it seems plausible, as he is well documented and historically knowledgeable, it's an interesting read for sure, as I've never seen a similar round up of this matter within our academic or analytic researchers before, not even from an anthropological point of view.  And if it's anywhere close to reality it makes it even more dangerous in our present times, reflecting on all our acts socially, politically and strategically.

My profound many thanks to all my good readers.    

Mr. PRESIDENT......

 

PRESIDENT MACRON OF FRANCE 

PUBLISHED IN MARIANNE

Mr. President, in the face of the tragedy in Lebanon, we demand strong action from France for an immediate ceasefire."

Tribune.

By Collective Tribune

Published on NOV.08/2024 at 11:34


"Mr. President, in the face of the tragedy in Lebanon, we demand strong action from France for an immediate ceasefire"


French and Franco-Lebanese citizens from all walks of life, dismayed by French diplomacy in the Middle East, urge the President to act in the face of the deadly escalation in Lebanon. Inaction cannot continue: it is time for France to mobilize all its diplomatic levers to obtain an immediate ceasefire and preserve peace in the Middle East, they plead.

Open letter to the President of the French Republic

Mr. President of the Republic,

We are French citizens, Franco-Lebanese, residents of France, horrified by this abomination which is taking place before our eyes, in the Middle East, with complete impunity.

We are angry at the inaction of the international community, specifically that of France and the European Union. We expect you to use all possible levers to achieve an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon.

Indeed, for over a year now, Israel has been waging an unlimited war against the Palestinian people, violating international and humanitarian law on a daily basis. Since September 17, the Israeli government has taken the initiative to completely extend the conflict to Lebanon in what constitutes a clear aggression. Civilian victims number in the thousands (including French nationals), more than 1.5 million Lebanese and at least 500,000 people have left the country, infrastructure is in ruins and more than 29 villages have been completely destroyed. The Israeli government is indisputably guilty of war crimes. Not only does the Israeli army use banned weapons on civilian areas, such as white phosphorus, but it also disproportionately and indiscriminately strikes residential buildings, cemeteries, hospitals and historical sites. Civilians, journalists and rescue workers are targeted and are deliberately killed or prevented by gunfire from reaching the disaster areas. Israel violates Lebanon's sovereignty by invading its territory, terrorizes its population, uproots its citizens and exacerbates internal dissensions, at the risk of provoking a new civil war. Isn't that the real goal? To make Lebanon implode?

Be, Mr. President, faithful to the historical tradition of friendship between France and Lebanon by preserving this unique place in the world where Islam and Christianity coexist!

ALSO READ: From one hell to another, these Syrian refugees in Lebanon who are trying to return to Bashar's country

Israel believes it is above international law, "we are the people of light" recently declared its supremacist Prime Minister. Can the French Republic tolerate that UNIFIL is targeted without reacting? Complete ignorance and contempt for international justice? The International Court of Justice has demanded precautionary measures from Israel on three occasions, in order to prevent genocide. This State has taken no notice of them. The International Criminal Court, for its part, is subjected to shameful intimidation so as not to issue arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant.

Do you want to remain like the French President who will have remained on the wrong side of History, even if it means repeating in some time a "never again" that has lost all meaning? Do you want to continue to support his racist and messianic government that knows only destruction and violence and that fuels hatred, or do you want to be on the side of law and justice?

We have been outraged since the beginning of this outbreak of violence and to see the bias with which this war is portrayed in France. Under the false pretext of fighting terrorism, Israel allows itself the worst atrocities. The Palestinians and now the Lebanese are reduced to second-class human lives, without importance, their voices are scorned and their grievances swept aside. We even hear racist and hateful remarks from certain public figures that aim to dehumanize these people and incite violence. Some amalgams try to silence any criticism of the Israeli government. We will criticize Israel and are justified in doing so as long as there is, as described in resolution A/RES/ES-10/24 adopted by the United Nations General Assembly (GA) on September 18, 2024, a system of apartheid, an illegal occupation and an outrageous denial of the rights of the Palestinians, there will never be peace for the people of the region. This is absolutely not a question of religion.

ALSO READ: Israel: War in Lebanon boosts Netanyahu's popularity

In this grave hour, there is one priority: the ceasefire. Purely verbal protests are no longer enough. On the contrary, they have allowed Israel to go ever further in its contempt for international law.

The time has come for action: We must stop the sale of all weapons and stick to it, and review trade, cultural, academic, scientific and military agreements. France and Europe should act in this direction, and some European countries are already doing so. The European Union, Israel's leading trading partner, has real leverage: the suspension of the association agreement because it is subject to respect for human rights, which Israel tirelessly flouts. This suspension is also supported by at least 195 European non-governmental organizations. Resolution A/RES/ES-10/24 of the United Nations General Assembly underlines the obligations of member states on this subject.

Only effective pressure can stop the carnage in the Middle East, alongside negotiations with the Lebanese state, which we want to be sovereign with an army capable of defending it and far from any foreign interference.

Mr. President, France and Lebanon have a shared history and bonds that unite them and that should not fade but on the contrary be strengthened. When the country of the Cedars burns, we cannot look the other way. We hope that you will be faithful to the French tradition of humanism, respect for international law and that you will work quickly and effectively for an immediate ceasefire and preserve peace in the Middle East and beyond.

Open letter to the President of the French Republic. which I thought very appropriate, as well to be addressed to the American president, more so after his and our Vice President failure to regain the White House, and now liberated from electoral pressures through various known lobbies and ethnic electoral pressures, as well as messianic ideological fixations defending blindly the Israeli regime's ugly and brutal wars of annihilation and territorial illegal expansion.  Copied and published as received from a French dear friend. Translated by Google and myself. 

As always, my many thanks for all my good readers. 

THE INCONVENIENT TRUTH AMERICA MUST NOW FACE ABOUT THE COUNTRY IT IS‼️

 

Just got this from a buddy in NY

COLUMNISTS
Opinion: Trump wins 2024 election.

America needs to admit it's not 'better than this.'
We are a country that just elected – that just willfully chose – one of the most cruel, unscrupulous and transparently self-serving political figures in modern history to be president. Again.
Rex Huppke
USA TODAY

I never want to hear the words “America is better than this” again. I never want to be told about America’s better angels.

I want honesty. I want an admission of exactly who we are as a country, and let’s be damn clear about that definition: We are a country that just elected – that just willfully chose – one of the most cruel, unscrupulous and transparently self-serving political figures in modern history to be president. Again.


We just elected a convicted felon who has normalized bullying, spread hate like an industrial sprinkler and shown us over and over and over again he sees laws as irrelevant and self-enrichment as sacrosanct. Faced with a billowing ocean of red flags – from indictments for trying to overturn the 2020 election to the coddling of dictators who rule enemy nations – a majority of Americans cast their vote for the man who is a totem of the worst in all of us.

So spare me the wails of “This isn’t who we are!” I’ve got bad news for the sane and decent among us: This is exactly who we are.

America just chose mass deportations and chaos and hate
We’re a country that supports the mass deportation of immigrants, a promise Trump made and will undoubtedly keep. When families are pulled apart, cities and towns are raided by federal law enforcement and the people who once worked in communities and made homes there – some for decades – are penned in detention camps, it is the voting public that approved such a thing.

If legal citizens get swept up in the chaos, so be it. It was the voters’ choice.

Opinion:Heavy Trump vote shows America has already lost

When an unhinged and unqualified billionaire like Elon Musk is put in charge of slashing the federal government to bits, that will be what America chose.

When the Department of Education is abolished and our education system falls into the hands of right-wing ideologues and religious zealots, that’s the outcome of the choice U.S. voters made.

When Trump’s tariffs hit and drive up prices across the board for consumers, it won’t be the fault of the myriad economists who told us what would happen. It will be the thing a majority of Americans chose. It will be the economic pot they chose to be boiled in, even though the Biden-Harris administration has the economy rocking.

As The New York Times reported Oct. 30: "Consumers are spending. Inflation is cooling. And the U.S. economy looks as strong as ever."

Trump will clear himself of charges and turn the DOJ on his enemies
When Trump does away with his own legal cases – trashing the rule of law his party once claimed to stand for – that will be what the people wanted. When he turns the U.S. Department of Justice on his so-called enemies, when he goes after Democrats and others with malicious intent and calls in the military to stifle any form of dissent, keep your mouth shut about that being un-American. It’s now 100% American, because it’s exactly what people in this country willfully chose.

I don’t want to hear a damn word – ever – about anyone not realizing just how bad things could get. I don’t want to hear about how grocery prices were too high so you figured voting for Trump couldn’t hurt. I don’t want to hear how you didn’t like either candidate so you sat the 2024 election out.

The stakes of this election could not have been more clear and could not have been broadcast any louder. Vice President Kamala Harris ran as smart a campaign as I’ve seen. She reached across the aisle and offered a big tent for people to seek shelter. She was qualified – as a former prosecutor, a former U.S. senator and a vice president – in ways Trump could never imagine.

Face it, America. We're a country that picked Trump – a second time.
But America chose the guy who cavalierly said he’d be a dictator for a day. Voters chose the guy who denounces our allies and cozies up to our enemies. Voters chose the guy who is an adjudicated rapist, a role model to none, an often-incoherent and always hate-fueled loon who has turned Americans against each other in ways I never thought possible.

Voters chose Trump. He won. Cruelty won. Bullying won.

And that’s who America is right now. We are Trump, and we will own every bit of the shameful and painful and embarrassing things he does. We are not "better than this." We lost the right to make that claim the moment the presidential race was called.

Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on X, formerly Twitter, @RexHuppke and Facebook facebook.com/RexIsAJerk

Again, an article sent by a friend, he received it from a friend in NY, it depicts exactly the reigning atmosphere among many voters in the U.S. and elsewhere after the chock they have felt from the Trump election to a second term  presidency....Copied as received.

My many thanks, to all, as always. 

This is America

 

Donald Trump is President of the United States again. Republicans also won the Senate. However, the story of America is still being written, and many of us will do whatever we can to never go back.

THE LEFT HOOK with Wajahat Ali Nov 6 I confess I had more faith in America. I overestimated my fellow Americans. I assumed that people would be willing to turn the page and elect the first female President, a daughter of Black and Indian immigrants who prosecuted criminals. Instead, Americans decisively decided to elect a twice-impeached criminal who was held liable for sexual assault and ended his campaign with numerous blunders, including spouting racism, misogyny, and threatening violence against his critics. To make it worse Trump is on track to win the popular vote. I was wrong. I assumed the numbers would break for Harris. I thought she’d win the popular vote and take 300+ in the electoral college based on the swing states. I expected Latinos would break for her at the last second due to Trump’s rampant misogyny. I assumed “enough” white men and women would finally discard him, but nope. This is America. I was here in 2016 when I assumed that Clinton would beat Trump. I was at the Javits Center when so many women were waiting for the balloons to drop. But, he won by a whisker. I returned to the Huffington Post office and comforted many young women That was 9 years ago before Roe v. Wade was overturned and Trump incited a violent insurrection. I assumed that this country would reject a man who performed fellatio on a microphone the week ahead of the election, but I was wrong. This is America. I went on Piers Morgan and said I would eat halal crow if I was wrong, and I’ll stand by it. I don’t mind falling on my sword and convictions. Yes, MAGA will mock and ridicule me, but I can take it. I’m more worried about our democracy, our rule of law, and our hard-earned freedoms. Regardless of who was going to win, I knew this would be the beginning of the long fight. I just apologized to my wife for not doing more, but honestly, I did what I could. To those who read The Left Hook and appreciated my bold and foolish optimism, I’m sorry if I disappointed you. I’m not the only one who was wrong if you look at some of the most reliable pollsters that predicted Harris would win. I know there will be a lot of blame going around. It was Biden! It was Harris! He should’ve stayed in the race! He should’ve resigned sooner! It was Gaza! But, I think the answer was clear a majority of us in the United States of America believed things were headed in the wrong direction and that economy was bad even though President Biden improved upon the disaster that he inherited from Trump. We are dealing not just with racism and misogyny, which are rooted in American soil, but also massive right-wing media monopoly and disinformation in which many of our Americans live on Earth 3. Also, it should be much bigger news that Russia actively interfered in our election on election day with fake bomb threats aimed at reliably Democratic counties in swing states. Considering Trump won the electoral college and popular vote - as of now at least - this was a repudiation of the current Administration. Enough people thought Trump will make their lives better. Yes, it’s painful to admit that, but this is where we are because this is America. A potential silver lining is that Democrats might hold the House which would act as a small check, but my hope has always been in the people. Considering we went from Bush to Obama to Trump to Biden and now back to Trump, I realize there are enough fickle voters in my country. I believe Trump will be a dysfunctional, chaos agent who will fuck up because that’s who he is and what he will always be. I do not believe JD Vance will be able to hold the MAGA cult if/when Trump passes away, but the GOP is now thoroughly cannibalized by right-wing extremism and has peeled off enough young people and men of color. UFC’s Dana White hailed Joe Rogan, Theon Von, and Adin Ross from the Trump victory rally. Billionaire techno bros like Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and their cadre of privileged men who feel perpetually victimized and aggrieved by women and people of color are also big winners. I remain hopeful we can win back the majority because Republicans are terrible at governing. Their policies are unpopular because they fail and always cause immense harm, especially to their own base. The center must now hold and it can only do so if we, the people, organize and resist. If we still have elections in 2026 and 2028 (inshallah), I believe there can be another realignment because what I’ve learned from the past 10 years is that Americans are a fickle bunch and anything can happen.  I grew up a sick, left-handed kid who wore Husky pants and couldn’t speak English even though I was born here, which means I’m used to being the underdog. I always love being in an honorable, righteous fight especially when the deck seems stacked against me and my friend. I’ll be here writing to make sure my voice and our stories keep living. I hope you’ll join me. Onward. The Left Hook with Wajahat Ali is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Upgrade to paid Thanks for reading The Left Hook with Wajahat Ali! This post is public so feel free to share it. Ha ha ha.... A good few words to describe the mood and psych of many Americans and other international voters and spectators to our presidential elections, albeit the writer's insistence on inserting his Islamism into his text, for no obvious reason, still I'm copying his words as a true and genuine feeling of many.     As always my profound many thanks to all.

France upset by faltering efforts in Lebanon: Netanyahu linked war cessation to normalization agreement with Lebanese state....

For the first time, France has expressed pessimism that stopping the Israeli aggression on Lebanon might be a complicated and difficult matter, as French diplomatic circles revealed that Netanyahu linked stopping the war on the Lebanese front to one condition, which is the conclusion of a normalization agreement with the Lebanese state. Netanyahu himself said this to the French, and he reiterated that Israel's security comes first, followed by the implementation of Resolution 1701, According to Al Diar, a Lebanese paper.

 Hezbollah to accept a humiliating ceasefire agreement through violent shelling and targeted strikes, but the facts on the ground have dashed its “hopes” and revealed Hezbollah’s strength on the ground. The party has demonstrated a great ability to maneuver and then strike the “Israeli” forces without the latter being able to reach its points of presence. Moreover, through unconventional combat tactics, the resistance fighters were able to ambush the Israeli forces and kill 95 Israeli soldiers, in addition to launching rockets from secret locations that inflicted huge losses on the occupation army, which created a state of frustration among the enemy’s general staff. Thus, the magic has backfired on the magician. The reality is that today the Israeli army is experiencing a state of humiliation and confusion regarding its targets, while Hezbollah has achieved military accomplishments, which will push the Zionist entity to review its calculations regarding the ground operation in the south.

Arab military sources revealed to Ad-Diyar that “Israel” is seeking to push Hezbollah to accept a humiliating ceasefire agreement through violent shelling and targeted strikes, but the facts on the ground have dashed its “hopes” and revealed Hezbollah’s strength on the ground. The party has demonstrated a great ability to maneuver and then strike the “Israeli” forces without the latter being able to reach its points of presence. Moreover, through unconventional combat tactics, the resistance fighters were able to ambush the Israeli forces and kill 95 Israeli soldiers, in addition to launching rockets from secret locations that inflicted huge losses on the occupation army, which created a state of frustration among the enemy’s general staff. Thus, the magic has backfired on the magician. The reality is that today the Israeli army is experiencing a state of humiliation and confusion regarding its targets, while Hezbollah has achieved military accomplishments, which will push the Zionist entity to review its calculations regarding the ground operation in the south.

Informed sources told Ad-Diyar that despite the intensive airstrikes and continuous shelling, Hezbollah maintains strong points of control in the south, relying on its military experience and equipment in that region, which includes a network of tunnels and advanced weapons stores.
Regarding the failure of the American initiative for a ceasefire between Lebanon and the Zionist entity, prominent political circles told Ad-Diyar that the visit of American envoy Amos Hochstein to Israel came at a lost time, noting that it was expected that Netanyahu would not make any decision at the present time because he is awaiting the results of the American presidential elections. A

senior military expert pointed out that the brutal bombing carried out by enemy aircraft on the south, the Bekaa and the suburbs has become clear that it is not engaged in military objectives, but rather social and sectarian goals to ignite strife within the unified Lebanese society. The raids on Baalbek, Tyre and Nabatieh aim to destroy the foundations of life in these cities and others and make it difficult for the residents of these villages to return after their homes were completely destroyed. Moreover, Israeli officials are trying to push the Lebanese people to revolt against Hezbollah, while these attempts have proven their failure time and time again.

Informed sources told Ad-Diyar that despite the intensive airstrikes and continuous shelling, Hezbollah maintains strong points of control in the south, relying on its military experience and equipment in that region, which includes a network of tunnels and advanced weapons stores.
Regarding the failure of the American initiative for a ceasefire between Lebanon and the Zionist entity, prominent political circles told Ad-Diyar that the visit of American envoy Amos Hochstein to Israel came at a lost time, noting that it was expected that Netanyahu would not make any decision at the present time because he is awaiting the results of the American presidential elections. 

A senior military expert pointed out that the brutal bombing carried out by enemy aircraft on the south, the Bekaa and the suburbs has become clear that it is not engaged in military objectives, but rather social and sectarian goals to ignite strife within the unified Lebanese society. The raids on Baalbek, Tyre and Nabatieh aim to destroy the foundations of life in these cities and others and make it difficult for the residents of these villages to return after their homes were completely destroyed. Moreover, Israeli officials are trying to push the Lebanese people to revolt against Hezbollah, while these attempts have proven their failure time and 

 

According to Al-Binaa sources, “Lebanon, the government and the resistance, won the first round of negotiations by aborting the Israeli conditions, through integration between the field and the negotiations, where the official Lebanese position represented by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri is negotiating to the rhythm of the field achievements of the resistance, which accelerated the pace of its operations to provide the political negotiator with strong cards to invest in and to strengthen Lebanon’s position to block international pressures to pass dictates and gains to the enemy that it could not achieve on the field.”

The sources stressed that Lebanon will stand firm no matter how great the sacrifices are to prevent the enemy from imposing new rules of engagement on the resistance and breaking the military and political equation with Lebanon.
According to those familiar with the negotiations’ course for Al-Binaa, “the enemy’s prime minister is the one who rigged the negotiations, stuck to his conditions and foiled the last chances for a ceasefire agreement based on Resolution "1701".

A good Lebanese report, depicting the real situation on the ground, at least according to some Lebanese well informed analysts, The war is still raging, and it indicates the world's and America's failure to come up with a fair solution, The existing Israeli régime, drunk by its destructive powers is resolute now to fully subdue all its neighbors, and they are coming to them one by one with hatred and vengeance and a full sense of superiority, unless it develops into a total regional war, that will drag the world with it.

And as our actual administration continues their unconditional and seemingly boundless support for Israel's military actions that has spread beyond Palestine into Lebanon, Iran, Yemen, Syria and Iraq. Despite the administration's stated goals of avoiding a regional war, increasingly dangerous escalations and barbaric interventions have been made possible by unlimited and unchecked transfers to the Israeli government of billions of Dollars worth of weapons and military aid, comprehensive intelligence sharing and operational coordination, plus an unconditional diplomatic cover from the U.S. in the face of widespread condemnation from the international community. 

Every day that passes without a ceasefire produces more catastrophic loss of life and livelihood, and threaten further death and destruction, we have an obligation to both the living and the dead  from all sides, to put an immediate end to this horrific devastation.  Finally, no one in his right mind can accept a one side to destroy and annihilate the other then ask for normalization and mutual respect, it just doesn't work like this in life.      

My usual many thanks to all.