Israeli Forces Are Responsible For Killing Israeli Civilians At Nova Festival

Pro-Israel Tech Investors And Executives Plan To Silence Pro-Palestinian Voices.

A group of pro-Israeli tech investors and executives in California’s Silicon Valley are seeking to influence media coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza and “combat the slightest deviations from the pro-Israel script”.
The investors and executives have joined with pro-Israeli activists and Israeli government officials to terminate pro-Palestinian employees at multi-national corporations from their jobs, smear Palestinian journalists, cancel speaking events at U.S. universities by Palestinian writers and politicians, remove social media posts critical of Israel, “ridicule” pro-Palestinian social media influencers and lawmakers, and send military equipment to Israeli forces.
( The Cradle, 09.12.2023 )  ..  thecradle.co

Destroyed By Israeli Military, A $519,000 Sports Centre Upgrade In Gaza Paid For By American Taxpayers.

Less than a year before the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, one of the oldest and largest sports complexes in the Palestinian territories got a much-needed overhaul.
A brand-new basketball, volleyball and tennis courts, a soccer field, a running track and, for the first time, accessible bathrooms.
It was a $519,000 upgrade, funded by United States taxpayers.

Now, the roof of the Gaza Sports Club appears to be shredded to ribbons, its AstroTurf field crushed under the weight of massive tanks that can be seen in satellite photos obtained by The Associated Press.
Since early October 2023, at least five U.S.-funded community and youth projects in Gaza appear to have been damaged or destroyed by the Israeli military.
( AP News, 22.12.2023 )  ..  apnews.com

UK MPs Are Not Allowed To Ask Questions About The British RAF Base On Cyprus.

The UK Ministry of Defence has taken extraordinary steps of censoring all requests for information by MPs about RAF Akrotiri on Cyprus, which Declassified has reported is facilitating arms supplies to Israel’s war on Gaza.
The British government has blocked MPs asking any questions about activity at RAF Akrotiri, its vast air base on Cyprus.

Blocking all parliamentary questions from MPs is a highly unusual move.
Government departments routinely refuse to answer specific questions about military operations for reasons of “national security”, but blocking all questions by elected parliamentarians goes far beyond the usual level of Whitehall secrecy.

It comes after Declassified revealed the RAF has made over 30 military transport flights to Tel Aviv since Israel began bombing Gaza.
The Ministry of Defence refused to provide Declassified with any detail of the cargo or personnel on the flights.
( Matt Kennard and Mark Curtis, 20.11.2023 )  ..  declassifieduk.org

More Than 17,000 Asylum Seekers Have Gone ‘Missing’.

UK Home Office officials have admitted they do not know the whereabouts of more than 17,000 asylum seekers.
The number emerged as MPs discussed Rishi Sunak’s target to eliminate the asylum backlog.
The Home Office has withdrawn thousands of asylum applications after claimants failed to respond.
A senior official told the home affairs select committee: “I don’t think we know where all these people are.”
( Callum May and Suzanne Leigh, 29.11.2023 )  ..  bbc.co.uk

The Arab Convention For The Suppression Of Terrorism, April 1998.

Desiring to promote mutual cooperation in the suppression of terrorist offences which pose a threat to the security and stability of the Arab Nation and endanger its vital interests.

Being committed to the highest moral and religious principles and, in particular, to the tenets of the Islamic Sharia, as well as to the humanitarian heritage of an Arab Nation that rejects all forms of violence and terrorism and advocates the protection of human rights, with which precepts the principles of international law conform, based as they are on cooperation among peoples in the promotion of peace.

Being further committed to the Pact of the League of Arab States, the Charter of the United Nations and all the other international convents and instruments to which the Contracting States to this Convention are parties.

Affirming the right of peoples to combat foreign occupation and aggression by whatever means, including armed struggle, in order to liberate their territories and secure their right to self-determination and independence and to do so in such a manner as to preserve the territorial integrity of each Arab country, of the foregoing being in accordance with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and with the Organisation’s resolutions.

Have agreed to conclude this convention and to invite any Arab State that did not participate in its conclusion to accede hereto.

( Cairo, Egypt, 22.04.1998 … Officially entered into force on May 7, 1999 )

Homelessness Among Military Veterans In England Has Risen By 14% In The Last Year.

Homelessness among military veterans in England has risen by 14% in the last year despite a government pledge to ensure no former armed forces personnel were on the streets at Christmas.
Last year (2022) UK ministers announced more than £8.8million to fund hundreds of supported housing places that had faced closure, marking the launch of a scheme called Operation Fortitude.
The scheme is supposed to enable veterans at risk of homelessness to access supported housing and wraparound specialist care in health, accommodation and education.
But 2,110 households with someone who served in the armed forces were assessed as homeless in 2022-23, according to figures from the Department of Housing, up from 1,850 last year.
( Aletha Adu, 26.12.2023 )  ..  theguardian.com

Israeli Forces Are Responsible For Killing Israeli Civilians At Nova Festival.

Israeli officials allege that Hamas carried out a pre-mediated and carefully executed massacre of 364 Israeli civilians at the Nova music festival near Gaza on October 7, 2023 as part of the Palestinian resistance’s Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.
They claim that Hamas and other Palestinians had hours to murder Israeli partygoers before the army reached the scene.

However, new details have emerged showing that Israel’s Border Police was deployed at the Nova site before Hamas stumbled on the festival, causing the eruption of a major battle.
While some ravers were indeed killed by the Palestinian resistance, whether by intent or in the chaos of battle, the evidence now suggests that the majority of civilian deaths were likely inflicted by Israeli forces themselves.

This was due to the overwhelming firepower employed by occupation forces, including from Apache attack helicopters, and because Tel Aviv issued the controversial Hannibal Directive to prevent Hamas from taking Israeli party-goers as captives.
( William Van Wagenen, 12.01.2024 )  ..  thecradle.co

The Highest Immigration Levels In History Thanks To Brexit.

In 2016, Britain went to the polls in a referendum on leaving the European Union, narrowly won by the Brexit camp which staked its claims on immigration being too high and Boris Johnson being right.
At the time, net migration was “too high” at 333,000 a year.
After four years of wrangling and two Prime Ministers, net migration went down to 212,000, probably because who’d want to go to a country that doesn’t know what it’s doing.

We Brexited in 2020, introduced a points-based immigration system of the kind Nigel Farage had been badgering for, and in 2022 net migration was 745,000.
Twice the levels that caused Brexit, and all because we “took back control” of our borders and gave it to the chaotic, self-destructive acolytes attracted to the heat and light of the raging skip fire which was Boris.
If you think the system they designed is responsible for high immigration, then it is Brexit that gave them the power to cock up on such an epic scale.

Before Brexit, about 6% of NHS staff were from Asia and Africa. Today, it’s 12%.
While 10% of doctors were from the EU in 2016, today it’s 8%.
The proportion of Asian and African staff has almost doubled in the same period.
Before Brexit, EU students could pay the same £9,250 tuition fees as a British citizen and study at any of our universities.

In 2016, 6% student places were filled by EU citizens, and 13% from the rest of the world.
After Brexit, the EU students had to pay the same as other foreign nationals, and fees jumped to as much as £38,000.
As a result the number of EU students has halved, while the number of students from elsewhere has jumped, China for example has gone from 107,000 students in 2017 to 151,000 in 2022.

It was the Tories who, thanks to Brexit, have agreed or are negotiating world-beating trade deals with Pakistan, India, Vietnam, African and Caribbean countries.
And each and every one of them includes clauses about guaranteed visas for work and study for their citizens.
If you think we have too many foreign students, or too many foreign health and social care staff, it is Brexit that gift-wrapped them for you.

The fact many people, Labour and Tory voters, migrant populations and not, think immigration is too high is why our Brexit-backing Prime Minister, his Brexit-backing Cabinet, and his leadership rivals including Brexit backer Kemi Badenoch and former Brexit minister Suella Braverman are all having a bit of a moment.
They’re running around, squawking and flapping about how there’s too many immigrants, and blaming each other for not fixing something which cannot be fixed.
( Fleet Street Fox, 24.11.2023 )  ..  mirror.co.uk

Human Rights Rwanda 2022 Report.

The ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) party continued to wage a campaign against real and perceived opponents of the government.
Critics, including internet bloggers and journalists, were arrested, threatened, and put on trial.
Some said they were tortured in detention.

The authorities rarely investigated enforced disappearances or suspicious deaths.
Arbitrary detention and ill-treatment in unofficial detention facilities were common, especially around high-profile visits or large international events such as the June Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting held in Kigali.

Abusive practices by Rwandan authorities stretched beyond the country’s borders.
In August, the United Nations Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of Congo reported “solid evidence” of Rwandan forces fighting alongside and providing other support to the M23 armed group.

Rwandan refugees and members of the diaspora reported being threatened and harassed by Rwandan government agents or their proxies.
Human Rights Watch received information about several cases of Rwandan refugees being killed, disappeared, or arrested in suspicious circumstances, including in Mozambique and Uganda.

Political space in Rwanda remains closed.
Opposition parties face administrative obstacles to registration and political pressure to toe the government line.
Over a dozen political opposition members are in prison.
In many cases, they are being prosecuted or have been convicted on spurious grounds.
( Human Rights Watch )  ..  hrw.org

Qatar Continue To Send $Millions In Aid To Gaza.

Since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, the Gulf state of Qatar has come under fire by Israeli officials, American politicians and media outlets for sending hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Gaza, which is governed by the Palestinian resistance group.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continued the cash flow to Hamas, despite concerns raised from within his own government.
Qatar Continue To Send $Millions In Aid To Gaza

Qatar has vowed not to stop those payments.
Qatari minister of state for foreign affairs Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al-Khulaifi said his government will continue to make payments to Gaza to support the enclave, as it has been doing for years. “We’re not going to change our mandate. Our mandate is our continuous help and support for our brothers and sisters of Palestine. We will continue to do it systematically as we did it before,” he said.
( CNN, 12.12.2023 )  ..  edition.cnn.com