israeli warcrimes in Gaza reports 2024:

April week4 part2 --April week 4 --  April week 3 2024 --  April - March, 2024
 

 When one hurts or kills a women
one hurts or kills hummanity and is an antrocitie.
Gino d'Artali
and: My mother (1931-1997) always said to me <Mi figlio, non esistono notizie <vecchie> perche puoi imparare qualcosa da qualsiasi notizia.> Translated: <My son, there is no such thing as so called 'old' news because you can learn something from any news.>
Gianna d'Artali.

israeli warcrimes in Gaza reports 2024:
with special thanks to citizen-reporter 'Biba' (Algeria)

Jinha - Womens News Agency - April 22, 2024
<<Death toll in Gaza rises to 34,151
At least 34,151 Palestinians have been killed and 77,084 others have been injured since October 7, 2023, the Palestinian Health Ministry said in a statement on Monday.
News Center- At least 34,151 Palestinians have been killed and 77,084 others have been injured in the Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, the Palestinian Health Ministry said in a written statement on Monday. 54 Palestinians were killed and 104 injured in the Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip in the last 24 hours, the ministry added. <A number of people are still under the rubble, and ambulances and the civil defense crew cannot reach them,> the ministry said.>>
Source:
https://jinhaagency.com/en/actual/death-toll-in-gaza-rises-to-34-151-34926?page=1


Gaza hungry children
France 24 - April 20, 2024 - Video by: FRANCE 24
<<Hundreds of Gazans queue for bread at reopened bakery after aid reaches besieged Strip
Hundreds of Palestinians queued for bread at a reopened bakery in Gaza City, after fresh supplies arrived in a heavily blockaded area that has suffered months of deprivation. They waited for hours in the streets of Gaza's biggest city this week as the bakery turned out bags of subsidised bread after the World Food Programme was able to resupply it.>>
Source and video here:
https://www.france24.com/en/video/20240420-hundreds-of-gazans-queue-for-bread-at-reopened-bakery-after-aid-reaches-besieged-strip

Sky News - April 20, 2024 - by Mark Stone
<<Violence will not stop in Middle East until Gaza war ends, senior Hezbollah figure warns
Ibrahim Moussawi also told Sky's Alex Crawford that Israel <will see results> from the Axis of Resistance if it continues to threaten Iran.
'Iran's allies would join an all-out war'
Violence in the Middle East will not stop until the war in Gaza ends, a senior Hezbollah figure has told Sky News in a world-first interview in which he also castigated the West and scoffed at Israel's actions. Ibrahim Moussawi, a Hezbollah spokesperson, also warned Israel <will see results> if they continue provoking Iran. <Nobody has an interest in going into an open confrontation, comprehensive war in the region, because this might lead to other things. This is not because the Western side has an awakening of humanity or whatever,> he said.
Middle East latest - follow live updates
<This is because it doesn't boil down to their interest, it does not suit their policies. At the same time, we don't want, as well, to have a comprehensive confrontation from our side. But if it is imposed, they see and we will see the kind of results that will unfold.> Mr Moussawi added: <If things escalated into a larger scale, everybody has to understand that just like what the West is doing, all of these governments and armies and countries supplying Israel, then the Axis [of Resistance] will fight as an Axis.> >>
Source incl. the video:
https://news.sky.com/story/violence-will-not-stop-in-middle-east-until-gaza-war-ends-senior-hezbollah-figure-warns-13118745

Sky News - April 21, 2024
<<Middle East latest: Iran 'displayed power' in attack on Israel, Supreme Leader claims - despite failure to hit targets
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has spoken for the first time since his country attacked Israel. It follows news of Palestinians being killed in Rafah and the West Bank, and the IDF launching strikes in Lebanon.
Number of deaths from Rafah strikes rises - with victims mostly children
The number of people killed in Israeli strikes on the southern Gaza city of Rafah overnight has risen to 22, Palestinian health officials say. One of the strikes killed 17 children and two women of the same extended family, according to hospital records. Earlier, these records showed 13 children of the same family had died. First responders are still searching the rubble, The Associated Press reports. Another strike killed a married couple and their three-year-old child, according to the nearby Kuwaiti Hospital, which says the woman was pregnant and doctors managed to save the baby.
Analysis: New details hint at impact of Israeli attack on Iran - By military analyst Sean Bell
In response to Iran's unprecedented attack a little over a week ago when Iran fired at least 331 missiles at Israel, Israel launched its own retaliatory strike on Friday. Although neither side has commented on the effectiveness or otherwise of the Israeli response, it was evidently of a significantly smaller scale than the Iranian barrage. However, more details are now emerging about the impact of the Israeli strikes, which provide an insight into their intended objectives.
Israel's interest in Iran's High Value Targets (HVTs)
The Isfahan airbase is located near some of Iran's nuclear development sites, where more than 3,000 scientists work on Iran's nuclear programme.
The base also forms a central core of Iran's military defensive capability. Satellite imagery shows one of several air defence sites which include a central radar - at the centre of the facility - and a number of missile launchers facing towards the anticipated threat and protected within berms to avoid a strike against one destroying others. Such missile sites protect High Value Targets (HVT), and their priority is to detect, track and target incoming threats. Before Israel targeted a HVT it would need to degrade such defensive capability, and the immediate priority would be to take out the long-range radar - the eyes of the system - at the centre of the facility.
Israel would target Iran's defensive missiles
Satellite imagery appears to show that the Israelis successfully destroyed the radar during their most recent wave of precision strikes, with large scorch marks around the area, as seen in the New York Times. With the radar destroyed, the Iranian missiles cannot find their target and are thus superfluous - later satellite imagery shows that the missiles were no longer in their berms and were probably hidden away to protect them from further strikes.
So why is this important?
Iran launched a massive wave of attacks against Israel a week ago, but with very limited effect. In response, Israel was able to punch holes in critical Iranian air defence systems, thus demonstrating clearly that all Iran's HVTs are vulnerable to Israeli attack. Although neither Israel nor Iran has publicised the impact of the Israelis strikes, the surgical nature of the Israeli attack demonstrated clearly Israel's military dominance.
A message that will not have been lost on its intended recipient - the Iranian political leadership.


Aftermath of Israeli raid in  West Bank
In pictures: Aftermath of Israeli raid in West Bank
New images taken on Sunday show the aftermath of the Israeli raid at Nur Shams, in the occupied West Bank. We reported earlier that Palestinian authorities say at least 14 people have been killed in the raid, which began on Friday and continued into yesterday. Israel's military said a number of militants were killed or arrested during the raid, with at least four soldiers wounded in exchanges of fire.
Israel summons ambassadors after countries supported motion to recognise Palestine
Israel is summoning ambassadors from six countries today after each voted in favour of recognising a Palestinian state at the UN earlier this week.
Japan, France, South Korea, Malta, Slovenia and Ecuador supported a motion at the UN Security Council on Thursday, but the US vetoed the move.
Spokesperson for Israel's foreign ministry Oren Marmorstein said their ambassadors to the country will receive a <strong protest> today. <The unambiguous message that will be delivered to the ambassadors: A political gesture to the Palestinians and a call to recognise a Palestinian state - six months after the 7 October massacre - is a prize for terrorism,> he said.
<Israel will not agree to the establishment of a terror state that will endanger its citizens.>
He added those countries should instead focus on pressuring Hamas to release the remaining hostages taken during attacks on Israel on 7 October.
An <identical protest> will be made to other countries who supported the move, he said. The UK and Switzerland abstained from voting in the 15-member council, while Russia, China, Algeria, Sierra Leone, Mozambique and Guyana also supported the motion. Iran's supreme leader says country 'displayed power' in attack on Israel. Supreme leader Khamenei has said Iran showed its power during its attack on Israel - and that the key issue is not how many targets were hit. Iran's official news agency has reported he thanked the country's armed forces for their 13 April operation against Israel. The agency adds he called upon the military to <ceaselessly pursue military innovation and learn the enemy's tactics>. He also played down the importance of how many missiles were launched or hit their target in the attack on Israel. <How many missiles were launched and how many of them hit their target is not the primary question, what really matters is that Iran demonstrated its will-power during that operation,> Khamenei said.
The vast majority of missiles launched by Iran were intercepted by Israeli air defence systems, with help from the US and the UK.
Gaza health ministry reports 34,097 Palestinians killed since 7 October
At least 34,097 Palestinians have been killed by Israel, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry, since 7 October. The ministry also reports 76,980 others have been injured in that time. Some 48 Palestinians have been killed and 79 others injured in the past 24 hours, the ministry added.
The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and fighters in its reports, but says most of those killed are women and children.
Israel claims attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon
The Israeli Air Force has claimed it has attacked <several terrorist targets> in Lebanon, as fire continues to be exchanged across the border daily.
Fighter jets targeted a <military structure> in the area of Tir Harfa and destroyed it, the military said. This claim has not been independently verified. The air force also claims it attacked an observation post and two military buildings belonging to Hezbollah in two different parts of Lebanon.
Number killed in overnight Rafah airstrikes rises after 13 children from same family killed. Earlier, we reported 13 Palestinians were killed in overnight airstrikes in Rafah, according to Palestinian health officials. But that total now stands at 18, after hospital records showed 13 children and two women all from the same family have been killed in one of the strikes. Initially, reports said eight children were killed. In another airstrike on the city overnight, a married couple and their three-year-old child were also killed, according to the nearby Kuwait Hospital.
Board of Deputies calls for 'urgent meeting' with police chief after officer's 'openly Jewish' remark
We've been reporting on the fallout from the Met Police's handling of an antisemitism campaigner near a pro-Palestinian march. The force apologised twice after an officer prevented Gideon Falter, chief executive of the Campaign Against Antisemitism, from crossing the road last weekend near the protest in London because he was >openly Jewish>. Both the CAA and former home secretary Suella Braverman have called for Met Police chief Sir Mark Rowley to resign or be sacked. Now the Board of Deputies of British Jews has called for an urgent meeting with the Met Commissioner after <a series of high-profile errors>. <The entirely avoidable mistakes have had a devastating effect on the previously high level of trust held by the UK's Jewish community in the police,> the board said in a statement. <We have written to the commissioner to ask for an urgent meeting to reinforce the gravity of the situation and to begin to repair this grievous loss of confidence.> The board also said many marchers may have <genuine concerns> regarding the <terrible situation> in Gaza, but others have amplified <hideous antisemitic conspiracy theories> and a number <clearly wish for the complete destruction of the world's only Jewish state>.
Nine children among 13 killed in latest Rafah airstrikes
Nine children are among 13 Palestinians killed in the latest round of strikes on the southern Gazan city of Rafah, according to health officials.
The first strike, which happened overnight, killed a married couple and their three-year-old child, according to the Kuwait Hospital nearby, where the bodies were taken. The woman was pregnant, the hospital said, but doctors managed to save the baby. A second strike killed eight children and two women all from the same family, according to hospital records. It comes just one day after nine people were killed in another airstrike on the city, including six children. Israel has carried out near-daily air raids on Rafah, where more than half of Gaza's population of 2.3 million has taken refuge from fighting elsewhere in the enclave. It has also vowed to expand its ground offensive to the city on the border with Egypt, despite international calls for restraint, including from the US.
The Israeli military says Hamas militants are holed up in Rafah.
Around 80% of the population in Gaza have fled their homes to other parts of the territory, which experts say is on the brink of famine. US sanctions on IDF would set 'dangerous precedent', says Netanyahu rival. Last night, a report from American news website Axios claimed the US is expected to announce sanctions within days on IDF battalion Netzah Yehuda for human rights violations in the occupied West Bank. Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu has already responded, warning it is <forbidden> to sanction the IDF. His political rival and war cabinet minister Benny Gantz has echoed his remarks, warning sanctions would set a <dangerous precedent>. <I have great appreciation for our American friends, but the decision to impose sanctions on an IDF unit and its soldiers sets a dangerous precedent and conveys the wrong message to our shared enemies during war time,> he said. <I intend on acting to have this decision changed.> The Axios report adds it would be the first time the US has imposed sanctions on an Israeli military unit. At least 14 Palestinians and one ambulance driver killed in West Bank violence, authorities say. Israeli forces have killed 14 Palestinians during an extended raid in the occupied West Bank, according to Palestinian authorities, marking one of the heaviest casualty totals in the region for months. The raid on the Nur Shams area, near the flashpoint city of Tulkarm, began early on Friday and continued yesterday.
Israeli military vehicles gathered and bursts of gunfire were heard, with at least three drones seen above Nur Shams, an area housing refugees and their descendants from the 1948 war that accompanied the creation of the state of Israel. Palestinian health authorities said at least 14 Palestinians have been killed in the raid, two of whom were identified by officials as a gunman and a 16-year-old boy. The Israeli military said a number of militants were killed or arrested during the raid, and at least four soldiers were wounded in exchanges of fire. In a separate attack by Jewish settlers, the Palestinian health ministry says a 50-year-old ambulance driver was killed in Israeli gunfire near a village south of the city of Nablus, which is more than 20 miles east of Tulkarm. He was said to be making his way to transport people injured in an attack on the village of al Sawiya, but it not clear if he was shot by settlers and the military has made no comment.>>
Source and videos here:
https://news.sky.com/story/middle-east-latest-un-nuclear-watchdog-concerned-israel-could-target-iranian-nuclear-facilities-in-revenge-attack-12978800

Sky News - April 19, 2024
<<Iran foreign minister downplays Israeli attack and says drones used 'like children's toys'
Experts say Israel's modest attack appears designed to avoid any more escalation, and for now it appears to have dampened fears of direct war.
Iran has said Israeli involvement in Friday's attack is still to be established and dismissed the drones used as like children's toys. Foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian claimed they took off from within Iran and only flew a few hundred metres before being shot down. Israel hasn't commented but is widely believed to be behind the strike targeting an airbase and nuclear site near Isfahan. The US told a G7 meeting that Israel had told it about the attack <at the last minute>. Israel had been weighing up how to respond to Iran's unprecedented drone and missile attack on Israel last weekend - with Western powers urging restraint. <It has not been proved to us that there is a connection between these and Israel,> Mr Amir-Abdollahian told Sky's US partner NBC News.>>
Source and video here:
https://news.sky.com/story/iran-foreign-minister-downplays-israeli-attack-and-says-drones-used-like-childrens-toys-13118997

France 24 - April 19, 2024 - Video by: FRANCE 24
<<Erdogan - Haniyeh talks: 'Turkey aims to position itself as a mediator in the conflict'
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh began talks in Istanbul on Saturday as tensions in the Middle East soar, Turkish media reported. <It is quite likely that Turkey aims to position itself as a mediator in the conflict and perhaps take over Qatar's role,> said Selin Nasi, visiting fellow at the London School of Economics.>>
View the video here:
https://www.france24.com/en/video/20240420-erdogan-haniyeh-talks-turkey-aims-to-position-itself-as-a-mediator-in-the-conflict

France 24 - April 19, 2024 - by Assiya HAMZA
<<Caught between Israel and Iran, Jordan clings desperately to stability
After Iran's unprecedented missile and drone attack on Israel on April 13, Jordan finds itself caught between the two enemies. Friday morning's suspected Israeli strikes in central Iran have intensified fear that the country could be dragged into an escalation against its will. Having been historically neutral in the two countries' decades-old struggle, the Hashemite kingdom is now seeing its delicate balancing act threatened.
Jordan's King Abdullah II speaks during a joint statement with French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday, February 16, 2024 at the Elysee Palace in Paris. It's a balancing act years in the making. Jordan, long obsessed with maintaining stability with Israel and Iran, has now been caught up in the war that could be unfolding on its doorstep. On the night of April 13, the Hashemite kingdom took part in the interception of <flying objects> that had entered its airspace in a historic drone and missile attack launched by Iran against the Jewish state. It was enough to leave the small country shaken. Since the morning after the attack, the Jordanian government has insisted time and again that its actions had been a simple matter of self-defence, saying that the drones and missiles <that entered our airspace last night were dealt with and confronted preventively without endangering the safety of our citizens and residential and populated areas>. Any threat, including those coming from Israel, would have been and will be treated the same, Jordanian Foreign Affairs Minister Ayman Safadi said on state TV. In addition, the Royal Jordanian Air Force (RJAF) wasted no time in intensifying its airborne operations to stop any further unauthorised intrusions into the kingdom's airspace. <Jordan is the main corridor to attack Israel from Iran, which has violated Jordan's sovereignty and airspace,> said Jalal al Husseini, a researcher associated with the French Institute of the Near East (IFPO) in Jordan's capital Amman. <Without even thinking of Israel, Jordan was keen to ensure that its airspace and sovereignty were respected.>
— Sam Dagher (@samdagher) April 16, 2024
Applauded by Israel and the US, this unprecedented involvement by Jordan has unsurprisingly provoked fierce anger from Iran. According to a military source cited by the Iranian press agency Fars, Jordan could be the <next target> if Amman took part in any further actions to help Israel.
A frosty relationship
<Iran is considered a threat to the region's balance and stability,> al Husseini explained, pointing to King Abdullah II of Jordan's highlighting in 2004 of what he called a <Shiite Crescent>. <At the time, that meant Iran, Iraq and Lebanon, and we'll now be adding Yemen as well,> al Husseini said. <He was denouncing a threat that would have to be contained and minimised as much as possible. So relations with these countries have therefore always been very cold.> Despite Amman maintaining a diplomatic presence in Tehran and vice versa, Jordan has always been worried by Iran's influence in its affairs. Speaking on April 16, Foreign Affairs Minister Safadi proclaimed that Jordan refused to become <a theatre of war> for the Islamic republic, whose influence in neighbouring Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen is hard to deny. <The Iranians have their eyes on Jordan, they look at it as the weakest link in the region,> Ghaith al-Omari, a researcher at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told the Times of Israel. <And the Jordanian military considers Iran to be the most prominent threat in the area, due to the presence of Iran-sponsored militias on the Syrian border and the eastern border [with Iraq]. They are very concerned about the Iranian influence extending into the West Bank [which shares a long border with Jordan] through Hamas.>
Proxy war
For 40 years, the Shiite groups that make up the so-called <axis of resistance> have dedicated themselves to opposing Israel and its patron the US, respectively dubbed the <small> and <great Satan>. Over the years, these groups have increasingly been seen as Iran's <proxies> in the Middle East. These partners, like Hezbollah's militias in Lebanon, are capable of providing operational and military assistance to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards by launching attacks in their stead. And as shown by the Yemen-based Houthi attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea since the beginning of the Gaza war, these groups' ability to cause major problems can be difficult to control. La fin de la guerre de l'ombre entre #Israël et #Iran semblait de plus en plus proche depuis l'attaque de Damas.
.....
For Nimrod Goren, a specialist in Israeli affairs at the Middle East Institute interviewed by AFP, Iran could be seeking <to meddle in Jordan and change the dynamics there in its favour, like it did in other countries>. <That's a major concern for Jordan,> he said. Al Husseini agreed, saying that despite its generally <prudent> foreign policy, Iran could increasingly be looking to intervene abroad by means of terrorist threats launched by its <proxies>.
Not getting involved
The kingdom finds itself more than ever caught between the two belligerents - and washing its hands of both. <Jordan has nothing to do with the struggle for influence between the Persian project and the Zionist project,> Jordan's former information minister Samih Al-Maaytah told AFP.
<It does not want to get involved in a regional conflict,> he said. Jordan is not the only Arab state to have played a role in Israel’s defence over the weekend. Although they have denied it, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates appear to have passed intelligence on Iran's plans to the US as well as opening their airspace for the operation, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. Despite this, the Hashemite kingdom is the only one among them to have actively taken part in the aerial operation to shoot down the drones. Jordan was the second Arab country - after Egypt in 1978 - to recognise Israel, signing the Wadi Araba Treaty on October 26, 1994. The decision served as a means to secure its borders, with the kingdom having lost half of its territory - the West Bank - in the Six-Day War won by Israel in 1967. <It's a treaty that Jordan continues to benefit from in terms of its economy and security,> al Husseini said.
Depending on Israel....
Since then, Jordan has remained economically dependent on Israel. <Since at least the end of the 2000s, the country has been suffering an economic crisis. The poverty rate is pretty high,> al Husseini said. Jordan lacks natural resources - especially, and crucially, water. Each year, Israel provides the kingdom with 50 million cubic meters of water. In 2014, Jordan also signed an agreement covering the importation of 2 billion cubic meters of gas from Israel's Tamar gas field over 15 years. <There's a great deal of tourism between the two countries, many economic and security agreements, but the negative developments in the Israel-Palestine situation keeps them in a cold peace,> al Husseini said.
....but supporting the Palestinians
But Jordan has also become inseparable from the Palestinian cause. During the Nakba - or <catastrophe> - of 1948, thousands of Palestinians driven from their homes by Israeli troops found refuge in the Hashemite kingdom. In 1967, 200,000 Palestinian refugees joined them as a result of what was dubbed the Naksa - <setback>. Today, more than half of Jordan's population has Palestinian origins - including Queen Rania. <Unlike other Arab countries and against the recommendations of the Arab League in 1959, Jordan is the only country to have granted citizenship to Palestinian refugees,> al Husseini explained. <The country respects their right to return to their country in principle, but their citizenship in Jordan allows for the country's modernisation and growth. If we add the Palestinians who fled the Second Intifada but who don't have citizenship, we reach about half of the population, even if saying that is still a bit taboo.> Jordan is also considered to be the guardian of East Jerusalem's holy sites, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The mosque, the third-most sacred site in Islam, is built on the summit of what Jews call the Temple Mount, the holiest place in their religion. Jordan therefore works closely with Israel's security and intelligence services, even if Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's far-right government has strained an already delicate relationship. <Each time that there have been abuses from the Israeli side, such as banning visits or settler intrusions into the holy sites, Jordan has always denounced them vehemently, but without ever affecting Israeli interests,> al Husseini said. <Popular demonstrations are allowed, but there are two red lines: the borders and the Israeli embassy. People can make their voices heard, but that's as far as it goes. It's a balancing act.>
Taking a stand
From a purely strategic point of view, Jordan has therefore chosen to be <close to Israel, and to attempt to influence it rather than enter into a confrontation that would in any case work to Israel’s advantage,> al Husseini said. Since the October 7 attacks, Jordan has repeatedly called for a ceasefire and respect for humanitarian law. The Hashemite kingdom was also the first country to recall its ambassador to Israel after the war broke out in Gaza. In a rare interview granted to CNN at the end of October, Queen Rania condemned the Western world's reaction - or lack thereof - to the Israeli campaign in the besieged enclave. <This is the first time in modern history that there is such human suffering and the world is not even calling for a ceasefire,> Queen Rania added. <So the silence is deafening - and to many in our region, it makes the Western world complicit.> King Abdullah II, for his part, has been doing his best for more than six months to limit the risks of the conflict spreading across the region. The king has rejected all forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and maintains that the total siege of the enclave and Israel’s bloody bombing constitute a <war crime>. The monarch has also told US President Joe Biden that his country will not become <the theatre of a regional war>. But today, while Qatar and Egypt are actively participating in the negotiations between Hamas and Israel, Jordan finds itself with no leverage of its own. Hamas has always been viewed as <a factor of instability>, al Husseini said. <That's why King Hussein closed Hamas’s offices in Jordan in 1999,> he said.
Since October 7, though, Jordan's population has somewhat changed its view of the Palestinian Islamist movement. <It's the only Palestinian movement, by default, that can hold its own against Israel. The fact that Hamas succeeded in breaking through into Israeli territory, which seemed impossible before October 7, is seen as a military achievement,> al Husseini said. <What's more, these attacks have put the Palestinian question back on the regional and world stage, where it had been flagging since the failure of the Oslo accords. Hamas has also succeeded in making the far-right government back down by obtaining the freedom of prisoners and, even more importantly, stopping the agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia.> Since Iran's attacks on Israel, the eyes of the world are once again turned away from Gaza. Speaking alongside his German counterpart at a press conference in Berlin on April 16, Jordan’s Foreign Affairs Minister Safadi called on the international community not to fall into the trap. <We're against escalation,> he said, warning that Netanyahu was trying to divert the world's attention from Gaza and fix it on the confrontation with Iran.
The American question
Complicating Jordan's position even further is its close ties with the US. Faced with the risk of escalation, Jordan can't go against its American ally.
<American budgetary support (excluding military aid) to Jordan represents six percent of the kingdom's annual budget,> Marion Sorant, FMES associate member of the Strategic Observatory of the Mediterranean and the Middle East, wrote in an article published in 2022. In 2021, Jordan and the US signed a military defence cooperation agreement. Most controversially, the agreement allows the US army to move freely in Jordan, which also serves as the rear base of the Global Coalition against Daesh - a number of French and British military bases are present in the country's north, fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria. Since the start of the war in Gaza, hostile demonstrations have taken place not far from the US and Israeli embassies in Amman. <The population is very aware that without the financial, economic and technological support of the US and the European Union, Jordan would seriously struggle to stand up to its neighbours,> al Husseini said.
Amman is now relying more than ever on Washington to put pressure on its strongest regional ally.
<The US is the only one who can really influence Israel. But we can't forget that Netanyahu's fate is linked to Gaza and now to Iran,> al Husseini said. <He needs a total victory in Gaza to make people forget the shame of October 7. He has no choice. Or else it will be Iran. But that would surprise me, because absolutely no one wants that. Including Iran.> With the world still waiting to see the extent of Israel’s response to Iran's strikes, Jordan remains on a razor's edge. <Like all the major powers such as the US and the other Arab states, Jordan is hoping that Israel will not launch a direct counter-attack,> al Husseini said. <The country has no wish to be a part of this conflict. Once again, the Jordanian regime's obsession is stability. But Jordan isn't holding the knife by the handle, it can't put pressure on Israel, let alone Iran. It can't do much, so it's waiting like everyone else - even though it's more exposed than the other Arab countries.>
This article has been adapted from the original in French, which was published on April 18 before the suspected Israeli strikes on Iran.>>
Source:
https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20240419-israel-iran-jordan-clings-desperately-to-stability-us-washington-hamas-gaza-palestinians

Sky News - April 19, 2024 - by Mark Stone
<<Israel's attack on Iran reflects badly on Biden after president's public message for Netanyahu
Joe Biden's very public message to Israel after Iran's attack was ignored, but how wise was his diplomatic directive? Israel has been ignoring the US for a few months now, as the president once again finds the limits of his influence on the Gaza conflict. The overnight events do not reflect well on President Biden. He had signalled so emphatically just days ago for Israel not to retaliate. <Take the win,> the American president told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the early hours of Sunday morning.>>
Source:
https://news.sky.com/story/israels-attack-on-iran-reflects-badly-on-biden-after-presidents-public-message-for-netanyahu-13118306

Sky News - April 19, 2024 - by Alex Crawford
<<Hezbollah's red lines have not been crossed yet - but risk for all-out war in Middle East remains incredibly high
At the funeral of a Hezbollah fighter in southern Lebanon, people told Sky News <we are not afraid> and <we will fight to the death>.

The funeral of a Hezbollah fighter in southern Lebanon
The strongest of Iran's proxies - the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon - has been almost dismissive in its response to the overnight events in Isfahan.
In the first public statement, the deputy secretary general of Hezbollah Sheikh Naim Qassem seemed to express disdain at what they appear to be judging as Israel's low-level response. <They are afraid,> he said, adding: <And do not have a clear plan.> >>
Source:
https://news.sky.com/story/hezbollahs-red-lines-have-not-been-crossed-yet-but-risk-for-all-out-war-in-middle-east-remains-incredibly-high-13118386

Sky News - April 19, 2024 - News reporter Reemul Balla
<<Police threaten to arrest 'openly Jewish' man yards from pro-Palestine march as his presence was 'antagonising'. The head of the Campaign Against Antisemitism was stopped from crossing a road close to a pro-Palestine demonstration in London last Saturday.
'If I remain here you will arrest me?'
An antisemitism campaigner has been threatened with arrest yards from a pro-Palestine march as a Metropolitan Police officer said his presence was <antagonising>. A video clip, posted on social media, showed Gideon Falter being told by police he was <quite openly Jewish> and causing a <breach of peace>. The chief executive of the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) was wearing a kippah skull cap when he was stopped from crossing a road near the demonstration in the Aldwych area of London last Saturday. An officer told him: <You are quite openly Jewish. This is a pro-Palestinian march. I am not accusing you of anything, but I am worried about the reaction to your presence.> Another officer said: <There's a unit of people here now. You will be escorted out of this area so you can go about your business, go where you want freely or if you choose to remain here because you are causing a breach of peace with all these other people, you will be arrested.> The clip showed the officer saying Mr Falter's presence was <antagonising>.>>
View the clip here:
https://news.sky.com/story/police-threaten-to-arrest-openly-jewish-man-yards-from-pro-palestine-march-as-his-presence-was-antagonising-13118467

France 24 - April 19, 2024
<<World leaders urge restraint after suspected Israeli strikes on Iran
World leaders called for de-escalation in the Middle East after Iran's state media reported explosions in the central province of Isfahan on Friday and US media quoted officials saying Israel had carried out retaliatory strikes on its arch-rival. Iranian officials played down the incident and said the blasts caused no major damage. Israel had previously warned it would hit back after Iran fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel over the weekend. Read our blog to see how the day's events in the Middle East unfolded. Footage released from Iran on Friday (April 19) purportedly shows the nuclear site in Isfahan, as state media Tasnim news agency reports that a loud blast heard near Isfahan was caused by <air defence. A screenshot of Iranian footage purportedly showing a nuclear site in Isfahan. The Tasnim news agency said a loud blast heard early on Friday was caused by "air defence firing at a suspicious object.>
Summary:
Iran said Friday it shot down several drones after explosions were heard near the central city of Isfahan. Iranian state media reported <no major damage>. US media quoted unnamed officials as saying Israel had carried out retaliatory strikes on Iran. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken declined to comment on reports that Israel had informed Washington of a planned drone attack. G7 foreign ministers joined international calls for restraint from all sides in the Middle East even as they announced new sanctions against Iran over its April 13 attack on Israel. At least 34,012 Palestinians have been killed and an estimated 76,833 have been injured in Israel's military offensive in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. Some 1,170 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks that sparked the war and 250 people were taken hostage, according to Israeli figures, with 132 still missing.>>
Read more here:
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20240419-israeli-missiles-hit-site-in-iran-abc-news-reports

France 24 - April 19, 2024 - By: William HILDERBRANDT
<<The New York Times accused of pro-Israel bias in coverage of Gaza war
Some US media outlets have been criticised for their coverage of Israel's devastating military offensive in Gaza, including legacy brands like the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and The New York Times. According to The Intercept, top editors at The Times told journalists to limit the use of terms like <genocide> and <ethnic cleansing> and avoid using the term <occupied territory>. We spoke to The Intercept's Jeremy Scahill to find out more.>>
Watch the video here:
https://www.france24.com/en/tv-shows/scoop/20240419-the-new-york-times-accused-of-pro-israel-bias-in-covering-gaza-war

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