James Shotter

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Israeli troops on patrol this week. There are concerns the war will morph into an open-ended guerrilla conflict inside Gaza © Israel Defence Forces/Reuters

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When Benjamin Netanyahu sent troops into Gaza last month after Hamas launched a devastating assault on Israel, he pledged that the Jewish state would “eliminate” the Palestinian militant group once and for all.

In the weeks since, Israeli ground forces have encircled Hamas’s political and military stronghold in Gaza City. But even as Israeli troops close in on their first military objective of taking control of northern Gaza, Israel’s longer-term strategy for the enclave remains shrouded in mystery: to most Israelis, to Palestinians and even to its closest allies in the US.

“I think where we are is: a lot of questions and not a lot of answers”, John Kirby, the US National Security Council spokesman, said this week in an interview with CNN.…  Seguir leyendo »

Palestinian children wounded in an air strike are brought to Shifa hospital in Gaza on Wednesday © Ali Mahmoud/AP

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The moment Nadav Peretz began to lose hope was when he finally got through to the emergency helpline.The Hamas militants embarking on what would become the deadliest ever attack on Israeli territory had burst into his kibbutz, or communal village, of Nahal Oz. Peretz and his partner had been hiding in the safe room of their house for hours, desperately trying to call in help from Israel’s security forces.

“I was begging [the woman who answered my call] ‘send the army, send them’”, Peretz recalls. “And she told me: ‘We know, we’ll be there.’ And then she must have thought I had hung up, because I heard her start crying and say to a colleague: ‘I can’t answer any more calls like this.…  Seguir leyendo »

Protesters wave flags and hold placards during this month’s demonstration © Eyal Warshavsky/SOPA Images/Shutterstock

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“I am the Zionist dream!”

So said Ivo Spiegel, shouting with passion and fury above the din of drum beats and chants of “no to dictatorship” as Israelis gathered in Jerusalem to protest against prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

The point Spiegel wanted to make was that he was no radical, but a patriot: a proud citizen who moved to the Jewish state from Switzerland more than three decades ago, lived in a kibbutz and became a tank commander during his national service.

Yet this month, the 50-year-old neuroscientist joined an estimated 100,000 Israelis in the city’s largest demonstration in years.…  Seguir leyendo »

© Menahem KahanaAFP/Getty Images | Benjamin Netanyahu, centre, with the other party leaders of the new Israeli parliament

MundoOriente Próximo

Shortly after Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to make Itamar Ben-Gvir Israel’s new national security minister, Israeli soldiers were filmed clashing with leftwing activists in Hebron, a flashpoint city in the occupied West Bank.

One soldier was filmed hurling an activist to the ground, then punching him in the head. A second was recorded delivering a blunt warning to the Israeli activists, who had come to city to show support for Palestinian residents attacked there by Israeli settlers the week before.

“Ben-Gvir is going to put things in order here”, he said, referring to the radical ultranationalist who will soon oversee Israel’s police.…  Seguir leyendo »

Can the EU and Poland step back from the brink?

EuropaUnión Europea

Addressing the European Parliament last week, the European Commission president proclaimed a “unity of purpose that is truly remarkable” within the EU in the face of Russian aggression on the Ukrainian borders.

Yet even as Ursula von der Leyen spoke, a European court ruling was raising the stakes in a dangerous confrontation between her commission and one of its biggest member states that has the potential to undermine the EU’s agenda just as it seeks to present a united front to its adversaries.

The European Court of Justice on Wednesday said that a new regulation seeking to protect the EU budget from rule of law violations by member states was legally solid.…  Seguir leyendo »

Ukraine: EU wrestles with how to inflict sanctions ‘pain’ on Russia

EuropaUnión EuropeaPolítica Exterior, , ,

After Belarus sent a fighter jet to intercept a Ryanair flight carrying a young dissident, who was later arrested and detained, the EU hit back with sanctions designed to inflict a “substantial cost” on anyone who supported Alexander Lukashenko’s dictatorial regime.

But there was a catch. It turned out that the sanctions imposed in 2021 on the lucrative petrochemicals and potash industries in Belarus applied only to new contracts, meaning that their impact would be gradual. And the penalties placed on potash came with specifications that excluded around 80 per cent of the commodity exported by the east European nation.

The Belarusian opposition leader, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, warns of “regrettable” omissions in the package, which also included measures against the finance sector, and is demanding that new targets be added.…  Seguir leyendo »

© Maxim Guchek/BelTA via AP | Migrants sleep on the floor of a logistics centre in Grodno, Belarus, near the Polish border

ReflexionesSocial

When Alexander Lukashenko visited a group of migrants stranded on Belarus’s border with Poland after their attempts to cross illegally were blocked by Polish forces, he urged them to keep trying.

“If you want to go west, we won’t choke you, grab and beat you. It is your choice. Go across!” Belarus’s autocratic leader told the group, who had gathered outside a warehouse near Bruzgi — their temporary shelter as eastern Europe’s icy winter sets in.

“Go! That’s the whole philosophy. I know that what I said will not please everyone, especially abroad, but it is true, they should know the truth,” Lukashenko said in a visit on November 26 that was filmed and televised.…  Seguir leyendo »