Since Hamas attacked Israel on 8 October and Israel launched its war on Gaza, the Netanyahu government and his ultra-right-wing political supporters have enforced severe restrictions in the West Bank, locking people up, killing hundreds, and stealing their money.
Iran blamed a “software problem” for the major interruption on Monday that knocked about 70 percent of the country’s 33,000 gas stations out of service, but an Israeli-linked hacker group claimed responsibility.
The first week in December of this year was all about America’s apparent inextinguishable love for the state of Israel. After a short pause to exchange hostages for prisoners, the Israelis re-launched their drive to exterminate the Gazans and steal what remains of their land and property.
The U.S. House of Representatives voted last week on a bullshit resolution bashing the testimony of three Ivy League presidents who refused to follow Israel-lobby pressure and condemn campus protesters who dared call for a ceasefire in Gaza while Israel carries out its genocide.
Lynn Hastings, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator in the Palestinian territories, marked the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with a somber update about the Israel campaign in Gaza and how things could have been different.
According to Omer Bartov, a strong supporter of Israel and an astute observer of events since October 7, “In brief, Israel seems to have no political plan and a very hazardous military one. It can only blame itself—not least Netanyahu, but also the military leadership—for having arrived at this point.”
In terms of costs and munitions, Washington, not Israel, is the main combatant against Gaza. On December 1 The Wall Street Journal reported that Washington has sent Israel 15,000 bombs and 57,000 artillery shells.
Bookings for international air travel fell 20 percent below 2019 levels in the three weeks following Hamas’s attack on Israel, according to travel data service ForwardKeys.
The Israel-Hamas war has had catastrophic impacts on Israel’s $488-billion economy, with 350,000 military reservists—about 8 percent of the country’s workforce and a large share of the retail customer base—called into service.
Germany is grappling with pro-Palestinian protests and critics say it is banning free speech in the country in its effort to atone for its Holocaust atrocities against Jews during WWII.