Benny Gantz and Israel’s drive to become a modern-day Sparta

The former army chief may present a challenge to Benjamin Netanyahu, but his campaign’s exultation of destruction and oppression is chilling

With April’s elections looming, Benjamin Netanyahu has good reason to fear Benny Gantz, his former army chief. Gantz has launched a new party, named Israeli Resilience, just as the net of corruption indictments is closing around the prime minister.

Already, at this early stage of campaigning, some 31 per cent of the Israeli public prefer Gantz to head the next government over Netanyahu, who is only months away from becoming the longest-serving leader in Israel’s history.

Gantz is being feted as the new hope, a chance to change direction after a series of governments under Netanyahu’s leadership have over the past decade shifted Israel ever further to the right.

Like Israel’s former politician generals, from Yitzhak Rabin to Ehud Barak and Ariel Sharon, Gantz is being portrayed – and portraying himself – as a battle-hardened warrior, able to make peace from a position of strength.

Before he had issued a single policy statement, polls showed him winning 15 of the 120 parliamentary seats, a welcome sign for those hoping that a centre-left coalition can triumph this time.

But the reality of what Gantz stands for – revealed this week in his first election videos – is far from reassuring.

In 2014, he led Israel into its longest and most savage military operation in living memory: 50 days in which the tiny coastal enclave of Gaza was bombarded relentlessly.

By the end, one of the most densely populated areas on earth – its two million inhabitants already trapped by a lengthy Israeli blockade – lay in ruins. More than 2,200 Palestinians were killed in the onslaught, a quarter of them children, while tens of thousands were left homeless.

The world watched, appalled. Investigations by human rights groups such as Amnesty International concluded that Israel had committed war crimes.

One might have assumed that during the election campaign Gantz would wish to draw a veil over this troubling period in his military career. Not a bit of it.

One of his campaign videos soars over the rubble of Gaza, proudly declaring that Gantz was responsible for destroying many thousands of buildings. “Parts of Gaza have been returned to the Stone Age,” the video boasts.

This is a reference to the Dahiya doctrine, a strategy devised by the Israeli military command of which Gantz was a core member. The aim is to lay waste to the modern infrastructure of Israel’s neighbours, forcing survivors to eke out a bare existence rather than resist Israel.

The collective punishment inherent in the apocalyptic Dahiya doctrine is an undoubted war crime.

More particularly, the video exults in the destruction of Rafah, a city in Gaza that suffered the most intense bout of bombing after an Israeli soldier was seized by Hamas. In minutes, Israel’s indiscriminate bombardment killed at least 135 Palestinian civilians and wrecked a hospital.

https://alethonews.com/2019/01/28/benny-gantz-and-israels-drive-to-become-a-modern-day-sparta/

Over 600 US troops arrive in Syria to secure withdrawal

More than 600 additional US troops have arrived in Syria to provide protection to other American forces during their pullout from the war-torn country, Reuters reported local sources saying.

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the additional troops arrived at US air bases in eastern Syria’s Harab Isk and Sarrin villages, which will be used as main evacuation centres in the event of withdrawal.

The US bases in the towns of Rmeilan and Tal-Baidar in Syria’s northwestern Al-Hasakah province will be used for airway of heavy weapons, the source added.

A Pentagon official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, declined to comment on the number of troops being sent or their destination, citing security concerns, on Thursday.

Last month, US President Donald Trump announced the withdrawal of 2,000 military troops from Syria.

The pullout decision came during a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in which the two leaders agreed on the need for more effective coordination over the civil war-torn country.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190128-over-600-us-troops-arrive-in-syria-to-secure-withdrawal/

This makes no sense and is a stick in the EYE of any rightful thinking person!

>>4940553

complete Zionist shitbag

Israeli leaders appeal to voters with pride in their crimes against Palestinians

Earlier this week, the former chief of staff of the Israeli Army, General Benny Gantz, started his election campaign by taking pride in the destruction of the Gaza Strip and his troops’ killing of hundreds of Palestinians. He published a series of short videos, one of which included horrific scenes of the massive destruction inflicted in 2014 on the coastal enclave, which has been under a strict Israeli-led siege for over 12 years. Gantz is proud that he could send Gaza “back to the Stone Age” and boasted that he destroyed 6,231 targets and killed 1,364 “terrorists” in exchange for three and a half years of quiet. He concluded with the slogan “Only the Strong Win”.

In another video, dating back to Israel’s 2012 military offensive on Gaza, Gantz showed the footage of an Israeli aircraft striking the car carrying Ahmad Al-Jaabari, the deputy commander of the Hamas military wing. “Jaabari felt safe, but Gantz thought another way,” say the subtitles. A third video has footage of a funeral for Palestinian martyrs, including civilian police officers; an on-screen digital counter starts at 1 and reaches 1,364, the number of the “terrorists” he killed during the 2014 offensive against what former British Prime Minister David Cameron described as the largest open-air prisoner in the world.

After a successful test of Israel’s Arrow missile-defence system on Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his pride in the anti-ballistic missiles and pledged to “crush” the “enemies” of the state of Israel. “We will continue to develop the most advanced weapon systems in the world to ensure the security of the State of Israel and our citizens,” he said.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190124-israeli-leaders-appeal-to-voters-with-pride-in-their-crimes-against-palestinians/

US Pullout From Syria at Risk as Israel Demands US Keep a Base

Israel wants US to maintain remote al-Tanf base

President Trump announced the withdrawal of US forces from Syria in mid-December, and here we are in late January still wondering about the pace of the process. Whether a full pullout will even happen is now also in doubt.

Israel was seen as dubious about the US pullout from the start, but didn’t publicly denounce it. Now, however, reports are that Israel is demanding that the US keep at least one base in Syria, the al-Tanf base, for Israel’s sake.

This seems to be at least under consideration, with some officials suggesting the US might keep al-Tanf to “challenge Iran,” which is of course exactly what Israel is hoping for. This might also allow the administration to skirt legal concerts about changing the Syrian War from fighting ISIS to fighting Iran, as it’s less likely to face challenge in Congress if done at Israel’s behest.

Officials say this is ultimately up to Trump. That is a big part of why the future of the pullout is so uncertain, as Trump has largely not directly addressed it in recent days, preferring to let others in the administration issue conflicting statements.

https://news.antiwar.com/2019/01/27/us-pullout-from-syria-at-risk-as-israel-demands-us-keep-a-base/

>>4940636

Cause doing so would be suicide as I struggle to see any clean politicians anywhere in the entire western world atm

>>4940684

Don't you get it yet? (((They))) control both sides of everything at the top and behind the scenes.