Choose-Your-Own Update – Day 349
Hi Readers,
Due to a weird software glitch, the If Americans Knew update for Day 349 deleted itself without a trace before it was published. Rather than skip a day of reporting on Palestine, we’ve done our best to pull together a quick recap of the day’s news.
Below are excerpts from several notable stories of the day, and links to others that would have been included in this Update. Click on the stories that pique your interest! We hope to be back on track for Day 350.
We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your support.
Biden’s arms transfers to Israel under internal investigation
Washington Post reports:
Government watchdogs with jurisdiction over the State Department and Pentagon are preparing to publish the results of multiple investigations scrutinizing the Biden administration’s provision of U.S. weapons to Israel for its military campaign in Gaza, and “several” related inquiries are either underway or planned, their offices told The Washington Post.
The forthcoming inspector general reports, which are not yet public, follow complaints from within the U.S. government that the export of billions of dollars in arms to Israel has violated laws prohibiting the transfer of American military assistance to governments that have committed gross human rights violations or blocked the movement of humanitarian assistance.
The Biden administration has acknowledged the likelihood that Israel has used U.S. weapons in Gaza in violation of international law, but says continued arms transfers are justified for the defense of the country. Israel maintains that Palestinian casualties are the fault of Hamas, which operates near civilian areas in the densely populated enclave and denies restricting aid access.
The inspector general inquiries represent one of the last internal checks on an administration intent on surging weaponry to Israel despite criticisms of the country’s military tactics and the enormous civilian death toll in Gaza. The investigations come as some of Washington’s closest allies, including Britain, Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain and Belgium, have restricted military equipment transfers to Israel because of legal and political concerns that the weapons could be used to commit war crimes.
Netanyahu on Israel’s Beirut raid: ‘We will work to change the Middle East’
Middle East Monitor reports:
In his first comment following the Israeli raid on the southern suburb of Beirut, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared: “We have just begun… and we will work to change the Middle East,” according to Al-Qahera News.
The Israeli occupation army confirmed that it carried out a precise raid in Beirut that assassinated Ibrahim Aqil, head of the Hezbollah operations division.
The occupation army added that the raid led to the assassination of a number of operations division leaders in the Radwan unit, including those who prepared a plan to storm Galilee.
He continued that Aqil and the targeted leaders were among those planning to storm Galilee in a manner similar to the events of 7 October in Gaza.
Lebanese FM warns UN Security Council of imminent ‘great explosion’ amid escalation with Israel
Ha’aretz reports:
Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib has warned the UN Security Council in New York of an imminent “great explosion” amid repeated back-and-forth attacks between Israel and the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon.
“Either this council compels Israel to stop its aggression … or we will be silent witnesses to the great explosion that is looming on the horizon today,” Bou Habib said on Friday.
“Before it is too late, you have to understand that this explosion will spare neither east nor west, and will take us back to the Dark Ages.”
Bou Habib accused Israel of being behind coordinated blasts across Lebanon involving walkie-talkies and pagers earlier in the week.
It is clear that Israel is not complying with international and humanitarian law, Bou Habib said in New York.
“When Israel commits such acts, we only witness timid expressions of regret, which emboldens Israel to disregard the international resolutions, none of which has been implemented against Israel since 1948,” he charged. “As a result, Israel has become a rogue state.”
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