"The Jewish historian Gershom Shafir, in the Encyclopedia of Global Human Migration, points out that prior to the relationship between the Zionists and the Nazis, Jewish immigration to Palestine did not exceed 3% of total Jewish immigration following the First Zionist Conference [in 1897] in Basel until 1914. He notes that the Balfour Declaration and all the facilities provided by the British Mandate authorities to the Jews for settlement in Palestine did not create a Jewish consensus for immigration to Palestine, as the percentage of Jewish immigrants heading to Palestine never grew above 30% until after 1933.

Based on the ideological similarity between Nazism and Zionism, the Zionists considered the arrival of Hitler to power in 1933 a historical opportunity to achieve the Zionist’s ultimate goals. The Zionist Federation in Germany, with the support of the World Zionist Organization, repeatedly sought to obtain direct protection from Hitler.

Consequently, the Zionists successfully came to an agreement with the German Nazis that Jews were never part of the German people and didn’t belong in German territory. This unwritten agreement paved the way for signing the Haavara Agreement on August 25, 1933, between the Jewish Agency and the German Ministry of the Economy.

The extent of the cooperation between the Nazis and the Zionists

The Haavara agreement, which was also known as the “Transfer Agreement,” brought about a dramatic change that is evident in the numbers. Among its provisions is the assistance in the deportation of millions of Jews from Central Europe to Palestine.

The terms of the agreement imposed a tax on anyone leaving Germany; however, the fees for the departure of German Zionists were lower, so it was an opportunity for Jews to transfer their money and the value of their property which was threatened with confiscation in Germany. The departing Jews bought goods that were sold in Israel and the Middle East in exchange for economic benefits, such as the desire of Jewish communities around the world to promote German exports and help the Germans invest in Palestine.

The agreement also guaranteed military training for Jewish youth in Nazi training camps before they were deported in order to ensure their readiness to join the ranks of the terrorist paramilitary gangs, which at that point constituted the “army” of the Zionist entity.

The Haavara agreement led to the most dangerous waves of immigration to Palestine, with the number of Jewish immigrants between 1933 and 1936 rising to 600,000 European Jews. They began to collude with the Jewish-Zionist associations to implement the plan for the displacement of Jews to Palestine. Crucially, they also work to sabotage and eliminate Jewish associations that opposed this trend and encouraged the integration of Jews in their European countries. ... Perhaps the most dangerous aspect of the relationship between Nazism and Zionism is the disconnect between Zionism and the Holocaust during World War II. Zionism was not interested in the massacres of Jews and rescuing them as much as it was in the facilitating the emigration of Jews to Palestine. And those Jews who did not emigrate to Palestine before the establishment of the “state” in 1948 were not a matter of concern for Zionism, whose conviction was limited to the fact that the solution to the Jewish question was solely related to the establishment of a state, and that anything else was irrelevant.

This is confirmed by Egon Redlich in his diaries, Memoirs of a Zionist: The Terezin Diary of Gonda Redlich in which he confirms the sacrifice of tens of thousands of Jews who were eliminated and sent to their deaths through deals that Redlich himself felt ashamed of, in exchange for false promises. He wrote: “The Zionist movement in Czechoslovakia sent thousands of Jews to Nazi extermination camps in exchange for Nazi promises to send a few dozen or hundreds of Zionist leaders and financial figures to Palestine.”

Abdul Wahab Al-Masiri, author of the eight-volume Encyclopedia of Jews, Judaism and Zionism, mentions that Adolf Eichmann succeeded in his mission thanks to the cooperation of the Hungarian Jew Rudolf Kastner, who convinced members of the Jewish community in Hungary that the Nazis would relocate them to new places where they would settle, or to vocational training camps for rehabilitation, and not to the concentration camps which were their true destination.

In exchange for this, the Nazi authorities in 1941 allowed over 1,700 Jews from a concentration camp to be sent to Palestine, “Jews of the best biological material,” according to Eichmann."

"Who holds the United States accountable? No one. The United States prevents any [international] accountability of “Israel” as well. The United States prevents any interruption in the war of extermination on Gaza. Washington, which participates in the killing of Gaza’s people, claims from its podiums and some of its directed media outlets to reject the war and make efforts to stop it. But the truth lies elsewhere.

Why does the US administration openly lie?

The answer is it wants to silence domestic United States entities that have begun to voice objections to Washington’s continued support for Israel, especially after the numerous massacres against civilians. According to a memo obtained by the US media outlet Politico and published on November 6th, officials at the State Department believed that Washington should “publicly criticize Israel ’s violations of international norms such as failure to limit offensive operations to legitimate military targets” and it’s “excessive use of force against Palestinians.” The memo revealed that US diplomats believe that the official opinions of Washington “contributes to regional public perceptions that the United States is a biased and dishonest actor, which at best does not advance, and at worst harms, US interests worldwide.”

It can be concluded that Washington decided to publish so-called leaks about the existence of disagreements between the Biden administration and the Netanyahu government, and another [so-called leak] about Washington’s efforts to pressure “Tel Aviv” to be less aggressive in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, in an attempt to pacify Americans who are sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, or those who are no longer able to cover for and justify Israeli crimes. The White House is absolutely insistent on completing its regional project: the normalization between Arab countries and “Israel,” eliminating Hamas and all resistance factions in Gaza, and placing the Palestinian Authority in charge of the Gaza Strip on “Israel’s” behalf.

In this context, it must be emphasized, once again, that Washington directly manages the “Israeli” war on Gaza. All US statements about the necessity of continuing humanitarian ceasefires are nothing but sheer lies. It’s enough to remember that before the start of any new “Israeli” military phase, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives in Tel Aviv to oversee the military plans and participate in setting its political boundaries. Since the beginning of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood Blinken has come to the occupied Palestine three times. The first was at the start of the military campaign when he stated, “I come here as a Jew.” The second was before the start of the ground operation, and the third was on Thursday, November 30th, hours before the ceasefire was broken and the military aggression resumed. In all three instances, Blinken participated in Israeli War Cabinet meetings.

Once again, this should not come as a surprise. The United States of America is waging war on the Palestinian people."

https://english.almayadeen.net/articles/analysis/houthis-or-ansar-allah:-why-western-media-including-washingt

"designating Ansar Allah as "Houthis", according to Amer, “is no longer used in referring to Ansar Allah’s members, but all the [Yemeni] people who live under the [National] Salvation Government in Sana’a and all those who support it.

Asked about how the labeling of Ansar Allah as ‘Houthis’ is going to affect their reputation domestically and internationally, Amer stressed that there is neither a direct effect on them nor is it a distortion for the Yemeni people. But those who label Ansar Allah [as Houthis] are considered by the Yemeni people as “real enemies”.

Amer also said that the US-backed Saudi-led coalition has been “targeting everyone by killing, perpetrating massacres, imposing illegal siege. However, it is displayed in front of the World that those who are targeted are the Houthis.”

“And according to the accusations attributed to what they call Houthis, these crimes become acceptable; although, they are in fact targeting over 80% of the Yemeni population who live in areas under Sanaa Government control”, Amer told Al-Mayadeen English.

Journalism code of ethics' principle stipulating the "limitation of harm" states that journalists and news outlets should refrain from publishing names that cause harm, so labeling Ansar Allah as "Houthis", a name that the Saudi and UAE media machines use to attribute to it alleged "violations of human rights", has become a scarecrow to harm them and tarnish their reputation so that no person can join their ranks; and if they do, he might be a "legitimate" target for the western-backed Saudi-led airstrikes.

T Here have been defining times in history-moments, epochs, and periods that are typically marked by notable events or particular characteristics that have changed the world forever.

Nicolaus Copernicus’ publication of On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres in 1543, postulating the model of the universe that placed the Sun rather than Earth at its center was such a moment.

The Industrial Revolution (1760 – 1840), was a defining period in the methods and processes of global capitalist production that transitioned most of the world away from hand production, towards more efficient and stable mechanical manufacturing.

In 1957, the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik I, the Earth’s first artificial satellite, launching the “space race” that led to America landing the first humans on the moon in 1969.

These are just a few examples of moments in time that have changed people’s perceptions of the world as it was known. Humankind once again finds itself in the midst of one of those epochs.

Humankind is witnessing the fall of the Western empire. The shift is away from the unipolar world, financed by the US dollar and controlled by American military power projection and hegemony, to a new multipolar geo-political landscape.

This “new world order” will not be controlled by American interests. It will be managed by the cooperation of numerous countries, with a goal of establishing, “… a more just, balanced, and stable multipolar world order, firmly opposing all types of international confrontation.”

People naturally tend to think that a “fall” or collapse of this nature would be more immediate, dramatic, and easily recognized. On the contrary, empires tend to collapse over time. It’s analogous to going bankrupt.

In Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, Mike Campbell, a bankrupt Scottish war veteran, was asked how he went bankrupt. Mike replied, “Two ways. Gradually and then suddenly.” When asked what brought his bankruptcy on, Mike replied, “Friends. I had a lot of friends. False friends. Then I had creditors, too.”

Just as Mike had “friends,” the US has allies. As Mike had “creditors,” the US is trying to finance multiple wars on multiple fronts.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s pronouncements that “… the U.S. can afford to support both Ukraine and Israel in their respective war efforts without hindering the nation’s economy,” reeks of overreach. Financial overreach and military overreach are among the contributing factors that have historically led to the fall of empires.

As empires begin their decline, messaging becomes very important. The narrative that’s created to control people’s perceptions of reality are key.

MSNBC told us, the “US is using intel to fight an info war with Russia, even when the intel isn’t rock solid.” Simply put, the government is lying to you in order to maintain some semblance of order.

It’s Plato’s “noble lie.” This is very important. These are the lies that need to be told so Americans will believe that more US taxpayer dollars need to be sent to Ukraine and Israel while American infrastructure disintegrates.

We’re told that the US needs to invade Haiti again, that sovereign African countries should be sanctioned for doing business with Russia, and a humanitarian pause in hostilities in Occupied Palestine is a bad idea and only benefits Hamas.

These distortions and lies are part of the narratives that directly impact the development of our perceptions. These manufactured realities then determine the policies put into place and actions taken. This becomes a vicious cycle as in the Easton model of systems analysis.

In telling the narrative, who tells it can be as important as what is being told. This is where the minstrel and “minstrel diplomacy” rears its ugly head.

In the 19th century in the United States, minstrels were bands of entertainers (or an individual), typically white who would blacken their faces with burnt cork referred to as “corking up.” They performed songs, dances, and formulaic comic routines based on stereotyped and demeaning depictions of African Americans. Sometimes, African American performers wore blackface when taking the stage in order to make their presentations more acceptable to White audiences.

What was once found to be an effective entertainment device, the minstrel show has now become a device to disseminate the dominant imperialist and racist, Western narrative of American foreign policy.

Since the phenotype of many of the victims of these policies are people of the darker hue; the disseminators of the narrative have decided to “cork up” the people being used to sell the story.

In a nutshell, using Black faces to explain and rationalize racism and white supremacy in order to make the audience more comfortable with and receptive to the message. These people are easy to find.

They are part of what the late Glen Ford called “The Black Misleadership Class” who have “been busy selling out Black people for half a century.” The late Amiri Baraka called them “functionaries of the US government.” They know their proper place, stay in it, and do their jobs well.

...

We must be vigilant and aware of the Black faces that are being used by the failing empire to sell us on failed racist, white-supremacist, imperial, and neo-colonial militarism.

If we continue to allow these narratives to go unchallenged, Americans will continue to blindly support money laundering schemes disguised as military and humanitarian support bills for countries such as Ukraine, Israel, and Haiti. As Woodson stated, “When you control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry about his actions…”

The real goal is to pay stock dividends to investors in the military-industrial complex and bonuses to the CEOs of companies like Raytheon and Lockheed Martin with Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars. (Defense Secretary Austin sat on the board of Raytheon before heading the Pentagon.)

These are just some of the dangers of minstrel diplomacy. As the late Fred Hampton told us,

“it’s a class struggle… We know that in order to be able to talk about power, that what you’ve got to be able to talk about is the ability to control and define phenomena and make it act in a desired manner.”

Listening to the minstrels we continue to get confused. We continue to come up with, as Hampton said,

“answers that don’t answer, explanations that don’t explain and conclusions that don’t conclude.”

"Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) is a zionist-funded and facilitated organization with a knack for furthering dubious sentiments and uplifting zionist voices. It was founded by UC Berkeley students Julia Caplan, Rachel Eisner, and Julie Iny in 1996 in the San Francisco Bay Area. Since its initiation JVP has nurtured and sustained policies, ideologies, and objectives that wholly support the fascist colonial state of “israel” and its continued imperialist existence on indigenous Palestinian land.

In particular, JVP’s role has been to “normalize”* the existence of israel while simultaneously reducing the Palestinian struggle for National Liberation to an abstract “human rights” based campaign that poses no threat to the zionist entity.

... One of the founding members of Jewish Voice for Peace, Rachel is based in Berkeley, California where she currently works as a Director of Development & Communications with Civicorps. Her professional portfolio lists her as a B.A graduate of multi/interdisciplinary studies from the University of California, Berkeley where she was fairly active in the Progressive Zionist Caucus society. She co-founded JVP in 1996 and immediately after (with no time to lose) was hired as Associate Regional Director at the New Israel Fund (NIF) in 1997 where she worked for over 4 years.

(The NIF, a US-based non-profit, lists its own objectives as aiming to “strengthen israeli democracy and attain equality and justice for israelis” while routinely allocating millions of dollars in grants to zionist establishments and simultaneously accepting funding from similar entities as well.)

Later in 2010, Rachel attained the position of Northwest Regional Director at J Street and worked with the pro-israel organization for more than 8 years. It goes without saying that J Street, yet another US-based non-profit, strives towards advancing zionist interests with its two-state solution advocacy and strengthening american-israeli relations i.e maintaining a steady flow of financial aid from the US to fund the genocide of Palestinians.

...

Rebecca has been affiliated with JVP since 2001 and only recently called it quits with the org in 2019 after her husband was exposed for directly working for the cyber security branch of the israeli military. During her 19-year employment period, she was an Executive Director for 10 of them. This senior role probably emboldened her to take decisions such as collaborate with J Street under the facade of furthering the BDS movement. However, in 2017 when Jonathan Lebowitsch, her husband, was exposed to be working as a Solution Architect for Check Point Software Technologies (a cybersecurity vendor established in Occupied Palestine by zionist military forces) her sense of invincibility dropped a couple notches and 2 years later it was quits for her with JVP. Her husband’s affiliation with the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, Rebecca illegally took up residence in Occupied Palestine during the years of 2006-2009 with her family.

...

Isaac Lev Szmonko, is another one of the many JVP board directors who relish in their collaboration and normalization with zionist-backed and funded organizations. Isaac, in particular, has worked with donor organizations as well as enterprises falling in that category.

He has worked with Resource Generation; an organization that is funded by the Bafrayung Foundation (this one funds IfNotNow which closely works with JVP) & the Tides Foundation (and this one funds J Street). Isaac also represents a position of authority within the Bafrayung Foundation as he signed a signatory on its behalf in 2020. His co-worker at the Gelman Giving; Rachel Gelman also chairs this foundation.

Bafrayung Foundation also happens to be funded by the Morningstar Foundation; which provides grants to “leftist israeli” orgs. It must be made clear by now that there is no such thing as left-wing/right-wing israelis. That is simply another distraction technique to deter the public eye from paying attention to the criminal identity of each ‘israeli’ and the whole settler colonial entity that likes to call itself ‘israel’. Because if these settlers aren’t being deployed to the military, they are bearing weapons to assault and brutalize Palestinians and if not that then squatting in a Palestinian’s home and aiding the occupation regime continues its cycle of genocide and apartheid on indigenous people.

...

One of JVP’s most prominent funders, Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF) as of 2015 had a revenue of $14,599,535 and assets worth $859,466,256. In 2019 the fund distributed $38,700,000 in grants in almost 350 grants. However, when scrutinizing the list of the organizations that received these grants, Jewish Voice for Peace sits among others like the Anti-Defamation League Foundation (ADLF), IfNotNow Movement, J Street Education Fund, Just Vision, and the Sierra Club Foundation.

Most important among RBF’s donor organizations is the ADLF, which supports the “left-leaning” anti-semitism watchdog; Anti-Defamation League. It is highly interesting since Jewish Voice for Peace has been allegedly ‘doxxed’ and ‘outed’ as anti-israeli & anti-semitic by the ADL for almost a decade now. That undoubtedly stirred up a lot of commotion in the media and earned JVP its fair share of press and spotlight. However, that all is barely believable since the ADLF (which provides funding and support to the ADL) garners a chunk of its finances from the same funder that’s JVP’s biggest donor. Not to mention the ADL also routinely publishes public profiles threatening the safety and privacy of Palestinian activists. Which begs the question, why are the ADL and JVP commonly funded by the same entity whereas they both claim to have polar opposite approaches/goals?

It is also worth noting how the term “left-wing/left-leaning” is thrown around when referring to these NGOs. An entity that regularly endangers the life of Palestinians, while the other claims to advocate for Palestinian peace and rights; are both referred to as left-wing.

...

JCF, in 2019, had a revenue of $822,229,715 and assets worth $2,031,447,910. Possibly the most interesting of all of JVP’s funders, the NGOMonitor reported in 2016 that the JCF granted JVP $25,100 in 2015 and another source quotes the granting of a sum of $10,500. On the other hand, in 2016 & 2017 JCF reportedly made grants of $1 million to the Central Fund of Israel; “a conduit” for funnelling US grants to ‘right-wing’ Israeli federations. The Central Fund of Israel was also utilized by the Helen Diller Family Foundation to make donations to Megamot Shalom (a Zionist public benefit corporation that runs Canary Mission)

Quite interesting how JVP’s funding is linked to both the ADL and Canary Mission; both entities that claim to allegedly have ‘doxxed’ the org. It’s clear the snowflake doxxing that the ADL and CM utilize for their Zionist counterpart JVP is merely a facade to dupe the public."

Syria and Russia military leaders held a joint press conference on 7 November to detail the successful work of the two countries in destroying al Qaeda terrorist factions involved in the horrific drone bombing of the Homs Military Cadets graduation ceremony on 5 October.

The carnage resulted in 89 murders of graduates, military teachers, family and friends, and injuries to more than two hundred who were part of what should have been a joyous occasion. The two generals told the reporters that one thousand, one hundred twenty-five (1,125) terrorist targets were successfully destroyed.

NATO countries’ response to the massacre was silence; not a single world leader sent any words of condolence to President Bashar al-Assad and the citizenry of the Syrian Arab Republic.

NATO diplomats of the UN also did not extend messages of consolation, though Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and his incompetent Special Envoy on Syria, Geir O. Pedersen, immediately voiced passionate concern for the safety of the al Qaeda warlords still occupying Idlib – and the same concern also from Dan Stoenescu, head of the EU Delegation against to Syria, freshly returned from his trip to Gaziantep, where he cheerfully handed €4 million of Europeans’ tax monies to the titular head of the stethoscope-less al Nusra White Helmets.

Faithful to NATO imperialism language, the above trio used the word “retaliation,” as it seems impossible for colonialists intent on hammering out a new Sykes-Picot against the Levantine Republic to consider the sane idea that successful attacks on the terrorist warlords would prevent the mass murderers from having the ability to slaughter more Syrians.

Held at the Armed Forces Club, the press conference was addressed by Major General Hassen Suleimani, the Director of the Political Department of the Syrian Arab Army, and Major General Vadim Collet, the Head of the Russian Coordination Center in Damascus.

Gen. Suleimani opened the joint presser by telling all that the “Syrian Arab Army, in coordination with the friendly Russian forces operating in Syria, launched a series of specific operations and focused strikes that targeted the organizations….[that] committed the terrorist attack on the Military College in Homs.”

The Syrian general announced: “The joint Syrian-Russian operations led to the destruction of all targeted sites and headquarters, including ammunition and equipment depots, and the elimination of hundreds of terrorists affiliated with the so-called ‘Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS),’ the ‘Turkistan Islamic Party,’ and other terrorist organizations, and to the paralysis of combat and organizational capabilities…preventing them from regrouping and creating a state of chaos and panic among them, [causing them] to seek help from their masters and employers following the heavy losses they suffered.”

Assistance from those “masters and employers” quickly came from al Qaeda’s first air force, the IAF, which simultaneously bombed Damascus and Aleppo International Airports on 12 October. Such war crimes have persisted, as grotesquely evidenced by Israel, the US, ISIS, and al Qaeda all bombing Syria on 8 November.

Maj. Gen. Collet detailed, “that in cooperation with the Syrian army, the appropriate response was implemented to this crime committed by terrorist organizations against the officer cadets of the Military College in Homs, and that the response was ‘to target observation points and terrorist headquarters with aircraft and artillery and strike 23 A control point, training camps, and 35 tunnels and underground shelters,’ stressing that ‘all those involved in this crime will receive the punishment they deserve.'”

General Collet further noted:

The joint Syrian-Russian operations included the implementation of more than 230 air strikes by Russian aviation, and the implementation of more than 900 fire missions by Russian and Syrian artillery on sites of terrorist organizations, during which more than 630 terrorists were eliminated, including 34 of the leaders. 15 experts of foreign nationalities, 450 others injured, and 1,125 targets destroyed, including the destruction of 467 points and the destruction of terrorist weapons and equipment, including 153 vehicles.

He was popular among people in Gaza for serving the most delicious 'knafeh,' a sugar-soaked pastry found in all West Asian countries that is believed to have originated in the Gaza Strip.

The “Knafeh Man of Gaza,” Masoud al-Qutati, also known in his community as “Abu Shadi”, was the beloved knafeh-maker whose restaurant in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood of eastern Gaza was a one-stop destination for voracious foodies and particularly for knafeh aficionados.

Qutati had mastered the art of making the popular Palestinian dessert filled with cheese and topped with rose water syrup, which has become synonymous with Gaza and Gazan food.

The 64-year-old pastry chef would offer his knafehs at giveaway prices to those who could not afford the delicacy, which also earned him the nickname “Father of the Poor”.

His restaurant continued to be thronged by knafeh lovers even after the Israeli regime launched its attacks on the besieged coastal territory on October 7, indiscriminately bombing civilian areas.

On November 3, the man who would bring smiles to people’s faces was killed in one of those strikes.

Like most Palestinians, Qunati also faced persecution at the hands of the Zionist regime during his life but he never gave up and continued to resist by smiling away all worries.

During the First Intifada (1987-1993), his small truck that used to sell knafeh was set ablaze by the Israeli forces. The characteristic Palestinian resilience he embodied helped him to rebuild his business.

Over the years, Abu Shadi turned into a celebrity knafeh-maker in Gaza with local media generously publishing and promoting both his business and philanthropic activities.

Throughout his five-decade-long career in the pastry business, Qutati earned a reputation for his generosity, apart from his drool-worthy knafehs.

The massive popularity of the knafeh-maker was particularly evident on weekends when people would queue up outside his shop to buy his pastries. His pastries were regarded as one of the best in Gaza.

“Why am I called 'father of the poor'? Because everyone from the north to south, east to the west knows me, even if you go to Rafah and ask about Abu Shadi, they will know my location,” he once said in one of his media interviews.

His small restaurant in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood east of Gaza had the tagline of “Let the poor eat.”

Palestinian writer Abdalhadi Alijla, in a post on X, formerly Twitter, paid an emotional tribute to Qutati.

“My cousin's husband, Abu Shadi, was renowned as one of the most famous kunafa sellers in Gaza. Last year, the queue at night in front of his shop on Salah al-Din Street would stretch very long,” he wrote.

“His kunafa was not only delicious and authentic but also affordable. He fondly referred to his kunafa as “the poor's kunafa”. He was killed along with my cousin, their children, and grandchildren.”

The sexagenarian was satisfied with his business and passionate about the work he was doing.

“My children are educated; Shadi is an English teacher, Muhammad is an architect, Ahmed is a pharmacist, but I also teach them how to make sweets and they help in my work,” Qutati said in one of his interviews in happier days.

He is only one of the more than 11,000 Palestinians who have been killed in the past five weeks, including the best and brightest of Gaza such as students, poets, doctors, lawyers and journalists.

The indiscriminate bombing of densely populated civilian areas has wiped off entire families in recent weeks. Even hospitals, universities and places of worship have been decimated.

According to ground reports, almost all bakery shops have also been shut in the besieged territory amid the indiscriminate Israeli shelling, leaving people without bread.

Very informative, important article.

"Lebanese Hezbollah targeted several military sites in northern Israel simultaneously on 4 November, launching missiles and artillery shells resulting in casualties, Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen reported.

The strikes came one day after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah gave a widely anticipated speech affirming that the Lebanese resistance group joined the war against Israel on 8 October, one day after Hamas’ unprecedented surprise attack on Israel.

Saturday’s strikes included the use of Volcano rockets, which have a short range but carry explosive warheads weighing hundreds of kilograms. Hezbollah is thought to have some 130,000 rockets and missiles in its arsenal, including precision missiles that can reach Tel Aviv.

Hezbollah announced in a statement that they attacked Israeli military sites in Jal Al-Alam, al-Jardah, Hadb Al-Bustan, Malkia, and the Metula outposts.

Hezbollah also downed an Israeli surveillance balloon the Israeli military had deployed above Misgav Am.

In response, Israeli forces launched airstrikes in Al-Mari, Tair Harfa, and Aita Al-Shaab in southern Lebanon, Al-Mayadeen’s correspondent reported.

The Israeli military also launched artillery strikes at Aitaroun, Aita Al-Shaab, Ramia, Alma Al-Shaab, Yarin, and Umm al-Tut, as well as the areas of Al-Labbouneh, Al-Hamames, and the vicinity of Al-Naqourah.

In his speech by satellite Friday, which was attended by thousands of the group’s supporters in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, Nasrallah affirmed that Hezbollah has been fighting Israel in support of Gaza since the start of the war.

“Since October 8, the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon has been waging a real battle that is only felt by those who are actually on the frontlines on the Lebanese-Palestinian border area,” He clarified.

Some observers had expected Nasrallah to declare full scale war on Israel, in response to its ongoing bombing campaign in Gaza which has killed over 9,000 Palestinians, the majority women and children, in less than four weeks.

Nasrallah added that Hezbollah's current battle is "distinct in its conditions, objectives, measures, and targets" from previous periods. 56 Hezbollah fighters have been killed in the fighting so far, including one on Saturday.

The threat of wide-scale attack from Hezbollah on Israel’s northern front caused Israel to keep some one third of its forces there, preventing them from joining the ground invasion of Gaza against Hamas which began last week, Nasrallah stated.

Visiting the north Saturday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant confirmed Nasrallah’s assessment.

“We are on the defensive in the north and attacking with full force in the Gaza Strip, this is our priority,” Gallant said. “We are not interested in getting into a war in the north, but we are ready for any task. The Air Force maintains most of its strength for the Lebanese arena, against Hezbollah.”

Gallant said Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, “made a mistake and sealed the fate of Hamas and the fate of Gaza” with the 7 October surprise attack, in which 1,400 Israelis were killed by Hamas and by crossfire from the Israeli army. Hamas also took over 240 Israelis captive, including soldiers and civilians.

“If Nasrallah makes a mistake, he will seal the fate of Lebanon,” Gallant warned."

"The popular and political reactions to the speech by Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah ranged between those who welcomed the fact that the Resistance leader did not act emotionally despite the intensity of violence against the Palestinians and those who viewed it as a “disappointment” due to their desire for a more aggressive stance against the occupation. While the people of Gaza are facing [the full force of the occupation’s] barbarism, and to be clear, they are the only ones who have the right to demand more action from Hezbollah and its leadership, it is somewhat comical when comments come from individuals or groups that are historically opposed to the actions of the Islamic Resistance.

Nasrallah’s long absence from the public scene was far from ordinary. True, it had an aspect related to purposeful ambiguity designed to disorient the enemy. However, there was another reason for this delay. The resistance required time to come to decisions regarding the resistance’s strategies in Lebanon and the region in defense of Palestine against the “Israeli” occupation on the one hand, and [strategies for confronting] its Western backers, especially Washington, on the other hand.

Separate from emotions and desires, it should be noted that Nasrallah was not in an enviable position considering what to say to an audience that loves the Resistance but an audience that was left for weeks without updates and clarifications from the Resistance leadership [in Lebanon.] This is a problem for [Hezbollah] because people have been significantly influenced by the enemy’s crimes and its massacres in Gaza. Additionally, they have become prey to the narratives of outsiders, consisting of activists, media figures, and even politicians, who took on an air of authority on matters as if they were members of the Joint Operations Room.

These outsiders did not limit themselves to military and political analyses that are not within their purview, but they also let their imaginations run wild pretending that they knew about the intricate details of the Resistance’s plans in Lebanon and the region. This, combined with Nasrallah’s long silence and Hezbollah’s leadership not providing explanations about the events, left the public eagerly awaiting Nasrallah’s to declare the start of a massive battle.

Nevertheless, what Nasrallah announced yesterday reflects the unified vision of the entire Axis of Resistance. He is seen as the most influential figure in the Axis and he has in-depth intelligence about the forces and circumstances on all battlefields across the region. He had to carry out the task of explaining everything that has happened in Palestine since the initiation of operation Al-Aqsa Flood up until the ongoing battles in Gaza, including the mobilization of the United States and other Western military forces in the region.

What Nasrallah said yesterday can be understood as the political introduction of a new path that will be pursued by the Resistance in Lebanon, as well as the rest of the Axis of Resistance. When he spoke candidly about the lofty objectives of ending the aggression on Gaza and helping Hamas and the Palestinian Resistance achieve victory, this was an escalation itself. This means that the resistance has entered a new phase in military operations, which we can expect to see soon. Perhaps when Nasrallah returns next week to deliver a speech on the anniversary of Martyrs’ Day he will provide more details on this phase, the nature of the threats [against the enemy], the means of accomplishing the stated objectives, and to prepare public opinion for the many difficulties that may arise and what is required of them on varying levels.

Nasrallah was not confused or bewildered yesterday. On the contrary, he was probably more composed than one would expect. He is a man driven by passion against the enemy’s crimes against the region’s peoples, especially against the Palestinians, who remain his primary focus and the primary focus of the Axis of Resistance. Everything that was said and unsaid yesterday was successful [in advancing the goals of the resistance,] as long as people’s trust in the resistance in Lebanon and Palestine remains strong and unshaken in spite of these trying times."

Palestinians are queuing for extended periods to access tainted water they suspect is causing their health issues, which might lead to death.

Lines of individuals waiting to fill jerry cans have become a common sight in the region due to the growing scarcity of water. This scarcity is a consequence of a total Israeli blockade on Gaza. Electricity, clean water, and fuel have all run out, and there are no medical supplies or lifesaving treatments.

None of the water pipelines from occupied Palestine into Gaza are operational, and there is a leak in a pipe connecting the southern towns of Rafah and Khan Yunis, as reported by the UN.

'My kids have been suffering' Eman Basher, a teacher, posted on social media that her children had become sick from consuming polluted water as "Israel" has cut off any access to clean water sources in Gaza.

“My kids have been suffering from stomach flu with symptoms including abdominal cramps, vomiting and diarrhea, which I always assumed is the normal result of sleeping on the floor or change of weather, just to learn that it is caused by contaminated water we drink daily and queue for hours to get,” said Basher.

“We’ve been drinking this water for 15 days and fighting to get it,” she added.

The UN reports that a mere 5% of Gaza's water requirements are currently being fulfilled. Aid trucks from Egypt, which arrived on Wednesday, brought sufficient water to sustain 15,000 individuals for a single day. With over 1.4 million residents now displaced in the area.

Just a humanitarian band-aid!

In the best-case scenario, this inadequate relief acts as a band-aid, but all too often, it is deployed inadequately and belatedly amid the ongoing genocide in Gaza. The act of besieging an already vulnerable territory exacerbates the damage, making any aid in the form of biscuits, water, and shrouds insufficient for adequate recovery. A humanitarian catastrophe is imminent, potentially resulting in the loss of thousands of lives many of whom are children.

Gaza has been facing water access challenges since "Israel" imposed a blockade in 2007, which led to groundwater sources getting polluted due to overuse. The situation has deteriorated further as "Israel" tightened the blockade last month.

Fuel shortages have hindered Gaza's desalination plants from operating at their full capacity, affecting water supply to homes and transportation by trucks. Additionally, sewage treatment plants are inactive due to fuel shortages, resulting in wastewater flowing into the sea and further contaminating the coastal aquifer.

According to James Elder, who represents UNICEF, a significant number of individuals can only access brackish water.

“Gaza’s water production capacity is a mere 5% of its usual daily output. Child deaths – particularly infants – to dehydration are a growing threat,” he said.

“If there is no ceasefire, no water, no medicine?’ said Elder. “Then we hurtle towards even greater horrors afflicting innocent children.”

"The military spokesperson for Hamas' al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Obeida, has affirmed that after 27 days of the war on Gaza, the Resistance fighters continue to stand their ground against the invading Israeli forces across the Strip's frontlines.

In a speech recording, Abu Obeida revealed that, in just the past 48 hours, al-Qassam's fighters destroyed almost an entire tank battalion and led to a substantial number of casualties among the Israeli occupation soldiers.

However, he further highlighted a more recent achievement, announcing that, in a counteroffensive in the northwestern region of Gaza City, the Resistance was able in the past few hours to destroy 6 tanks, two armored personnel carriers, and one military bulldozer.

On the Israeli losses, the spokesperson underscored that the occupation's leadership has been misleading Israeli settlers regarding the actual casualty figures, which are considerably higher than the official announcements.

Abu Obeida asserted the Resistance's commitment to making Gaza a perpetual curse upon the Zionist entity, warning that invading forces would not make it out alive.

Moreover, he emphasized that the occupation's brutal massacres will not weaken the Resistance or its morale and will rather only fortify the resolve and strength of the Palestinian Resistance to exact a heavy price from the entity and its invading forces. Abu Obeida also praised the unwavering spirit of the people of Gaza and their resolute defense of their homeland."