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Late last week, The Guardian reported “Israeli warplanes struck numerous sites in the Gaza Strip on Friday in what Israel said was a preemptive strike against Palestinian factions allegedly planning rocket strikes at targets in Israel.”
Yes, “preemptive” meaning the Palestinians were bombed for doing nothing, and for “allegedly planning rocket strikes,” as in… “Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction and ties to al Qaeda.”
In other words… no proof needed as long as America and its allies start wars and kill people, but full condemnation for other warring nations who do as Uncle Sam does.
Since Friday, Israel’s air strikes have killed nearly 50 Palestinians including 15 children and four women, while wounding over 200.
TRENDPOST: There is barely any front page and/or headline news about the killing of innocents by Israelis in American media. But if the women and children were Ukrainians—or Israelis—killed by Russia, it would be non-stop headline news.
Furthermore, applauding the bombings, and lying that Israel was defending itself despite it not being attacked, President Biden praised Israel on Sunday: “My support for Israel’s security is long standing and unwavering—including its right to defend itself against attacks.”
The Israeli military last week launched a series of airstrikes in residential neighborhoods in Gaza, killing dozens of Palestinians in an apparent effort to decapitate the leadership of a “militant group” known as Islamic Jihad.
Islamic Jihad fighters responded to the airstrikes by launching hundreds of rockets toward Israel. No Israelis have been reportedly killed by the attacks.
The clash is considered the worst confrontation since the 11-day war in May 2021, which resulted in the deaths of more than 260 Palestinians, including 66 children. B’Tselem, an Israeli rights group, said Israel killed more than 300 Palestinians in 2021, which was the highest recorded since 2014.
The first strike occurred on Friday, but the Israeli military also “flattened homes” on Saturday, according to The Associated Press.
The IDF told reporters that it struck two buildings that held members of Islamic Jihad, which was defined as the second biggest militant group in the area behind Hamas. Reports said Hamas has stayed out of the conflict.
TRENDPOST: Presstitutes and politicians use the term “militants” to deride any group that fights against invaders of their country or opposes their dictates. For example, those who fight against U.S. occupation, destruction, and mass murder of millions of civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq are labeled “militants.”
Tamer Qarmout from the Doha Institute of Graduate Studies told Al Jazeera that Gaza has witnessed four or five major conflicts over the last 15 years and “everyone is nervous, there is no appetite for war.”
“We’re still talking about the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip. Gaza has never really recovered, it just lives from conflict to conflict,” he said.
TRENDPOST: It’s always about politics.
Israel is facing its fifth election in three years after former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced in June that he will dissolve his fragile coalition government.
Prime Minister Yair Lapid, a centrist, was accused by some analysts of trying to prove his toughness.
Nour Odeh, a former Palestinian Authority government spokesman and analyst, said Gaza was not looking for a fight.
“It’s a contest to show who’s more powerful,” she said. “Lapid wants to prove he has what it takes, even though he has no military background.”
Looming in the background of all this is former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, an Israeli hawk who is set to attend his first security briefing with Lapid after a year of boycott. Netanyahu praised Israeli forces after the strikes. (See “HAMAS CALLS OUT BAHRAIN, TURKEY FOR SPEAKING OUT AGAINST TEL AVIV ATTACK,” “SHOOTING BREAKS OUT IN ISRAEL: REVENGE OR TERRORISM?” and “APARTHEID STATE OF ISRAEL CLAMPING DOWN ON PALESTINIANS.”)
Netanyahu’s coalition is on pace to carry 62 Knesset seats, which would be a majority and return him to his old post, according to a Channel 13 News survey.
Lapid was widely praised by his colleagues, but did get some criticism.
Ayman Odeh, an Israeli Arab and leader of the Hadash party and the Joint List alliance, criticized reports of the death of a five-year-old girl in the airstrikes.
“The Israeli government is carrying out war crimes to serve narrow political interests, and Gazans are paying the price in blood. The fire must be ceased immediately,” he said.
TRENDPOST: The Western media refuses to hold Israel to the same standards that it has for Russia. Moscow is continually chastised over its war against Ukraine and its intent to occupy the country. Those who note Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian and Syrian land are denounced as being “anti-Semites.”
Dr. Omar Suleiman, the founder and president of the Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research, tweeted that Gaza has no iron dome.
“And Palestine is not Ukraine,” he wrote. “The world is fine with millions of people in a tiny overpopulated strip living with no basic rights under occupation, so of course they won’t mind civilians wiped out in a sick show of force correlated with Israel’s elections.”