geneva_convenience

JERUSALEM: Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said Monday that a special agency would be established for the “voluntary departure” of Gazans, after Israel expressed commitment to a US proposal to take over the Palestinian territory and expel its residents.

In 1966, after years of friction with the US over whether France should have its own independent nuclear deterrent, the French president, Charles de Gaulle, withdrew his country from Nato’s integrated command (not, however, from the alliance itself – a common misconception) and asked all US forces stationed in France to leave. In response, the US secretary of state, Dean Rusk, asked de Gaulle: “Does that include the dead Americans in military cemeteries as well?”

In a single weekend, JD Vance’s direct attacks on European democracy at the Munich Security Conference and his meeting with far-right, anti-European political forces in Germany, have given de Gaulle his historic vindication.

There are some things that you avoid saying for as long as you can, for fear that just uttering the words will help bring them into being.

On October 8, 2023, a day after Hamas’s attacks on southern Israel, Israeli legal scholar and women's rights advocate Ruth Halperin-Kaddari called in a favor from her longtime friend and former colleague, United Nations Special Representative Pramila Patten. Halperin-Kaddari, who in 2018 was ranked as one of the world's hundred most influential people in gender equality policy, conveyed her conviction that Hamas had orchestrated mass, systematic sexual assaults the previous day, urging that Israel needed UN recognition of these allegations.

Patten, as the special representative on sexual violence in conflict and under-secretary-general of the United Nations, was not empowered with a mandate to launch investigations or produce findings. Yet Halperin-Kaddari believed Patten was uniquely well positioned to lend the UN’s imprimatur to Israel’s allegations. “I called her and said, ‘Pramila, we need you here, what do I need to do?’” Halperin-Kaddari would later recount on a podcast.

Patten responded with caution, asking “Do you know if it really happened?” Though not previously reported, this exchange—which Halperin-Kaddari has referenced multiple times in interviews—ultimately led to Patten’s visit in late January 2024. The trip was a controversial one: While Patten and her UN team were hosted and chaperoned by Halperin-Kaddari, they lacked any formal investigatory mandate, and the decision to conduct such an unprecedented mission was met with fierce dissent inside her own office.

Patten ultimately published a report that was wielded by Israeli officials as evidence to bolster allegations of systemic sexual violence. Yet a close reading of the text showed it contained far more nuanced language that seemed to undermine those officials’ claims. The report’s central finding—that there were “reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence occurred during the 7 October attacks”—fell short of confirming that systemic sexual violence had in fact occurred. Yet media coverage, particularly articles featuring Halperin-Kaddari’s commentary, often presented Patten’s report as definitive proof that backed up Israel’s incendiary claims.

Bannon, host of the influential War Room podcast and a former White House chief strategist during Trump's first term, gave a speech Thursday at the annual conservative gathering in Gaylord National Resort Hotel And Convention Center in Oxon Hill, Maryland.

During his speech, Bannon repeated his calls for Trump to run for an unconstitutional third term, telling the crowd, "We want Trump in '28."

Bannon later said near the end of his speech that "the only way we lose is if we quit" and that they will never "surrender." He then chanted "fight, fight, fight" before raising his right arm with his palm down.

An Israeli soldier recently released from Gaza has told media that Hamas allowed her and other prisoners to observe Jewish traditions and holidays, permitting them to practice their religious rituals.

Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth published an interview on Wednesday with Agam Berger, who was recently released from Gaza as part of the prisoner swap deal with the Palestinian resistance group.

She recalled that she and other captives "were surprised" when Hamas provided them with various items, including a Jewish prayer book, known in Hebrew as siddur.

"We have no idea how it happened, but they simply handed us prayer books," she said, describing the issue for her as "particularly unusual." "It (the prayer book) wasn't random ... it arrived exactly when we needed it most," Berger said.

With the money tap unexpectedly turned off, outlets around the world are panicking, turning to their readers for donations, and thereby outing themselves as fronts for U.S. power.

Perhaps the country most affected by this sudden change in policy is Ukraine. While criticizing the decision, Oksana Romanyuk, the Director of Ukraine’s Institute for Mass Information, revealed that almost 90% of the country’s media are bankrolled by USAID, including many that have no other source of funding.

Anti-government Cuban media have been plunged into a similar predicament. Miami-based CubaNet published an editorial asking readers for money. Last year, CubaNet received $500,000 in USAID funding to engage “on-island young Cubans through objective and uncensored multimedia journalism.”

A recent survey of 20 leading Belarusian media outlets found that a staggering 60% of their budgets come from Washington.

In Iran, U.S.-backed media have already had to fire workers. A BBC Persian report noted that more than 30 Iranian groups held a crisis meeting to discuss how to respond to the aid cuts.

Like in Iran, anti-government Nicaraguan media is highly dependent on subsidies from Washington. U.S.-backed Nicaragua Investiga condemned Trump’s decision as a “serious blow”

Egypt has received its first batch of J-10CE fighter jets from China, marking a significant shift in the country’s air defence strategy and reinforcing its commitment to diversifying military suppliers.

The J-10CE, a 4.5-generation multi-role fighter, enhances Egypt’s air superiority capabilities. Comparable to modernised F-16 models, it is equipped with PL-15 long-range air-to-air missiles, capable of engaging targets up to 300 km away – beyond visual range. This capability allows Egypt to intercept hostile aircraft and aerial threats before they reach its airspace.

Following the 1979 Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty, Cairo shifted its focus to American F-16 fighter jets, acquiring one of the world’s largest fleets. However, the US refused to supply AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles, limiting Egyptian F-16s’ beyond-visual-range air combat capabilities.

Yesterday, two B-52H long-range bombers of the United States Air Force launched from the Fairford Air Force Base, as well as at least 4 KC-135R tanker aircraft launched from the Mildenhall Air Force Base crossed the Mediterranean Sea near Italy yesterday, heading towards the Middle East.

After they were denied access to Egyptian airspace, they received permission and began conducting exercises over Jordan, probably in conjunction with the Royal Jordanian Air Force (RJAF). The long-range strategic bombers then crossed into Iraq and the Persian Gulf, flying along the border with Iran in an apparent "show of force," according to flight tracking websites.

Israeli media outlets released a video showing Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, inside detention, handcuffed and shackled, appearing exhausted and fatigued.

On December 28, 2024, the Ministry of Health in Gaza announced that the Israeli army had arrested Abu Safiya from inside the hospital located in the northern governorate.

The Israeli military transferred Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, to detention under the “unlawful combatant” law instead of a regular trial, based on a decision issued by the so-called Southern Commander

Two Israeli soldiers vacationing in Amsterdam fled to Israel after pro-Palestine groups identified them and sought to pursue legal action against the pair for war crimes in Gaza.

This marks the first time active-duty soldiers have faced such a situation, as past cases primarily involved reservists, the Quds News Network (QNN) reported.

The two soldiers had posted images on social media from their deployment in northern Gaza, some depicting blindfolded Palestinian detainees – evidence of crimes, the report noted. They also shared updates about their trip to the Netherlands.