Gosh, no!
Famously, the conflict known as WW2 was solved by entirely diplomatic means.
No Nazis were harmed in the process, no cities were bombed and no territory was occupied.
[RD] War in Gaza News: Pas de Deux
- Thread starter Birdjaguar
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Famously, the conflict known as WW2 was solved by entirely diplomatic means.
No Nazis were harmed in the process, no cities were bombed and no territory was occupied.
r16
not deity
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equally strange then that this has not solved the problem , at least according to Russian media . Should have all the local people driven out to Germany ? As the previous pages of this thread definitely has a tone that suggests Israel has plans to that end .
Broken_Erika
Play with me.
Gaza’s only concert grand piano becomes image of hope
There is one image that keeps a Gaza musician going like no other - that of the territory’s only concert grand piano.Khamis Abu Shaban had finally risked returning to the music school at which he taught - and which owns the piano - a few months into the current conflict.
What he saw, at the Gaza branch of the Palestinian music school, the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music, was “a catastrophe”.
“More than half of the Conservatory was burned. All the instruments were broken, thrown outside. You start seeing cases of instruments as soon as you get close to the Conservatory on the streets. Violins, we had more than 50, completely smashed. Cellos, more than 40, completely smashed.”
Altogether, the Gaza branch of the Conservatory used to have more than 400 instruments - both Western classical ones and traditional Arabic instruments such as the oud, qanun and nay, a type of flute. Khamis says he felt “completely destroyed”.
But then he saw something which lifted his spirits.
“The only… instrument that I saw standing was the grand piano. Honestly, I smiled when I saw it. I smiled and I laughed.”
The Yamaha concert grand also withstood bombing in a previous war between Israel and Gaza’s rulers - Hamas - in 2014, and was carefully restored the following year by a French music technician. It became a symbol for many of aspirations that the territory could develop a flourishing musical culture.
“I started talking to the piano,” says Khamis. “I asked: ‘Are you the only survivor of all the instruments? You don't want to die?’ I really laughed.”
It is too dangerous for the teachers and students to resume lessons at the music school, because of Israeli military operations in the area around it in north-west Gaza. Instead, they have started giving music lessons to tens of thousands of displaced children living in the makeshift camps where many Gazans now reside.
They teach outdoors, under canvas awnings, or in schools and shelters run by UNRWA, the United Nations agency that supports Palestinian refugees.
“Life goes on, and even with all this death around us, people need anything that can make them… not happy - no-one will be happy in this period - but something that can make them smile, be able to continue with life,” Khamis says.
The teachers - who are using whatever borrowed instruments they can find - include former students of the Conservatory, such as 16-year-old violinist Sama Nijim. One of her students is Mohammed Abu Eideh, a boy who lost his right hand in an airstrike.
He used to play the oud - his favourite instrument - but this requires two hands. So Sama devised a way for him to learn violin instead - by tying a violin bow to his arm with a scarf, so that he could bow without the use of a hand.
Such versatility on the part of the staff can also be seen in teacher Osama Jahjouh’s fashioning of a nay - or traditional flute - out of a plastic pipe, because the Conservatory nays have been lost.
Fuad Khader, who created a children’s choir in Jabaliya refugee camp in the north of Gaza, says that at first it was difficult to persuade parents to let their children take part in the activities.
“They asked: ‘People are dying, and you want to teach kids to sing?’” he says. “But I just told them: ‘Everyone has to do something. I’m a musician. And this is my job.’”
Another teacher, Ahmed Abu Amsha, says the music lessons had a transformative effect on the children.
“After a week, the families came to me and told me: ‘You have changed our kids. They are getting better. They are singing, they are laughing.’”
But he adds: “Sometimes we are singing a song - and suddenly there's a big explosion, that makes us go silent and look at each other. And I say: ‘Don't worry, let's continue.’ I have to be strong in front of the children. And in some moments, they forget they are in a war.
“But when they go, I'm not strong,” he says.
“It’s like I’m sucking the bad energy from the kids. And when I try to go to sleep, it’s a horrible feeling… [I will be] thinking of a kid - how he's seen dead bodies in the street, and his father is dead, and his sister and his uncle… Each child has a story to tell, and I try to heal them.”
As for the grand piano, Khamis Abu Shaban hopes students will one day be able to play it again.
He says that when he last saw it, several months into the war, he lifted the lid and found that some of the strings had been cut and some of the hammers broken.
“I'm familiar with how an instrument can be damaged,” he said. “A hammer cannot be broken just by shock waves, for example. Someone has opened it and started sabotaging the inside.”
But Khamis' delight at having seen the piano is undiminished.
“Now, I see it still standing in front of me,” he laughs. “It’s telling me: ‘I'm not one to die. I'm still here for you. And I will stay.’”
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce8151n1elno
I would think that Israeli jets fly whatever path they want and no one interferes.
wekham
Chieftain
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Only time will tellGood question.
Hamas: What has happened to its most prominent leaders?
The top figures in Hamas have become targets of Israel since the 7 October attacks.www.bbc.co.uk
But there are still a couple of prominent oldies left.
Maybe Israel is hoping to let one survive to sign the unconditional surrender documents ?
The alternative being full on extermination ?
innonimatu
the resident Cassandra
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They claim to have hit. No evidence whatsoever.
Sarin
Deity
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You apparently live in a different universe than the rest of us.
Israel has performed precision strikes against Iran before, though most notable ones were in the 80's. There's no denying that the capacity is there.
On the other hand, there is no evidence that Iran's attacks caused more than superficial damage.
Zardnaar
Deity
Beats me why people claim western weapons don't work. They're not miracle weapons (maybe to Russia or China).
Israel had this capability in the 1980s.
Israel has nukes and long range missiles as well.
Israel had this capability in the 1980s.
Israel has nukes and long range missiles as well.
innonimatu
the resident Cassandra
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Emplyees of a Washington-based propaganda outfit ("think-thank") claim that some warehouses and buildings were hit, based they say on photos they refuse to publish, and refuse also to identify the source of these alleged photos.
Color me unimpressed. At least the lie about Iraq having WMD was told by th US secretary of state at the UN. Israel can do no better that a couple of low-rank minions?
@Birdjaguar my assessment is based on the total lack of evidence of any military releveace to this "retaliation". The purpose of this, a very small retaliation indeed, was to pretend that Israel's (and the US) military still have some teeth against well-armed adversaries. They don't. The propaganda value of this only works on the internal front. As seen here. You want to believe that absence of evidence is evidence of a successful attack? I won't. But it is good that you do. It was the purpose of the exercise and I hope it ends the thing for now. I think the parties involved are happy enough to end this now. And perhaps the crazy one in Israel learns something this time and ceases bombing embassies and negotiators. But the root problem remains: Israel is no longer viable, how will it be wound down? More and more I think the outcome will be Algeria reenacted, a dangerous farce.
Voidwalkin
King
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Seen this argument presented many times by many people. Don't get it.
Israel will be fine. This argument seems to rest on "people don't like Israel and therefore they will fail", or something. Been said for almost 100 years, they're still there.
Seems a pretty common opinion though. Pretty dangerous one, too. Sinwar seemed amongst those that thought just push and it'll collapse, some grand coalition forming against it, its allies in the West casting it aside. It is not so.
r16
not deity
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religious extremes in the US plot on the fall of Israel when it has done enough damage . When that happens it will turn out not much sympathy for Israel has ever resided in the West . That will be the time whatever remains of Palestinians will be the vanguard of displays of sadisms that can only be described as biblical . Do not credit too much , these people who must be somewhat controlling the media so that bombing hospitals or starving people bring so many cheers from the audiences .
Broken_Erika
Play with me.
Is Israel committing genocide? Reexamining the question, a year later.
We spoke to a number of experts a year ago. Several have changed their minds.
www.vox.com
Voidwalkin
King
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NYT apparently putting out the rumor that Khamenei is very ill.
Edit: they've issued a correction. Sick in 2022.
Edit: they've issued a correction. Sick in 2022.
Last edited:
aelf
Ashen One
And it's not going to change many minds, because the support for Israel is rooted in deep-seated racism and anti-semitism.Is Israel committing genocide? Reexamining the question, a year later.
We spoke to a number of experts a year ago. Several have changed their minds.
The old enemy of the West are the Jews. If the Jews are over there, killing brown people it accomplishes two things:
- The Jews are not in the West
- They are killing the new enemy of the West, brown people
Broken_Erika
Play with me.
One medic left at Gaza hospital as Israel says it arrested 100 ‘terrorists’
Only one doctor remains at Gaza's Kamal Adwan Hospital following a days-long Israeli raid, a spokesman for the Hamas-run health ministry has said.In a video statement, Dr Khalil Daqran urged international organisations to send medical staff to the hospital in the north of the strip, saying patients there were bleeding to death for lack of proper care.
On Monday, Israel said its forces had detained about 100 "terrorists" at the hospital before withdrawing.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the hospital, inside Jabalia refugee camp, had been used by Hamas - claims denied by local health officials.
Mr Daqran said: "Two days ago, the army stormed Kamal Adwan Hospital, causing widespread destruction: setting large parts on fire, destroying the hospital’s entrances, and demolishing surrounding walls.
"Patients and medical staff were assaulted, with many patients and companions arrested, along with most of the medical staff.
"The fate of 30 medical personnel remains unknown.
"The army has removed the hospital from service entirely, destroying all its contents. There are now no medicines, medical supplies or food within the hospital."
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed it had completed a "precise operation against a Hamas terrorist stronghold" in the hospital.
The IDF said it had taken steps to minimise civilian casualties and facilitated the evacuation of the hospital. It added that troops found weapons, cash and documents belonging to Hamas during the raid.
Some Hamas militants, including some linked to last year's 7 October attacks, disguised themselves as medical staff, the IDF said.
The Israeli raid injured medics and killed patients at the hospital, health officials said.
The Israeli army published a video purporting to show the interrogation of an ambulance driver who had worked at Kamal Adwan Hospital.
In the video, the authenticity of which could not be verified by the BBC, the alleged driver's face is blurred. The man says Hamas militants operated in the hospital.
He says Hamas used ambulances to transport militants to their missions and adds: "We have had enough. [Hamas] are stationed in the hospitals, stationed in the schools."
The northern Gaza Strip is facing a deepening humanitarian crisis, with hundreds of thousands of civilians living in increasingly desperate conditions.
Mr Daqran said: "Conditions in northern Gaza are catastrophic: there is no water, food or baby formula. Infrastructure has been decimated, sewage and waste are piling up among the residents, leading to the spread of disease and epidemics."
UN human rights chief Volker Türk said on Friday that "the Israeli military is subjecting an entire population to bombing, siege and risk of starvation".
"The Israeli government’s policies and practices in northern Gaza risk emptying the area of all Palestinians. We are facing what could amount to atrocity crimes, including potentially extending to crimes against humanity," Mr Türk added.
He also said it was unacceptable that Palestinian armed groups were reportedly operating among civilians, including inside shelters for the displaced, and putting them in harm’s way.
Many Palestinians believe the Israeli military is implementing out the so-called “Generals’ Plan” in the north, which would see the forced displacement of all of the estimated 400,000 civilians there to the south followed by a siege of any remaining Hamas fighters.
The Israeli military has denied having such a plan and says it is making sure that civilians get out of harm’s way.
Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the group's unprecedented attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
More than 42,000 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's health ministry.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c245n75587vo
Broken_Erika
Play with me.
Gaza aid fears as Israel bans UN Palestinian refugee agency
Israel has passed two laws banning the UN's Palestinian refugee agency (Unrwa) from operating in Israel, and in occupied areas under its control, by large majorities.A number of countries, including the US the UK and Germany, have expressed serious concern about the move.
Ahead of the vote, the US State Department said it was "deeply concerned" by the move, saying the agency plays a "critical" role in distributing humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip.
Israel accuses Unrwa of being all but complicit with Hamas, saying that some of the agency's members had been involved in the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gp2ejzpxeo
