2020-08-06: News Headlines

Yves Engler (2020-08-06). End the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement. dissidentvoice.org On Sunday a demonstration is planned in Montréal against the Canada Israel Free Trade Agreement (CIFTA). Under the banner "Against Israel's annexation of the Jordan Valley. No to the Canada Israel Free Trade Agreement!", the march is seeking to politicize CIFTA amidst Israel's plan to formally annex parts of the West Bank. The march follows …

Peoples Dispatch (2020-08-06). Israel demolishes multiple Palestinian-owned buildings in occupied territories. peoplesdispatch.org A spate of illegal demolitions were carried out by the Israeli army on August 5, Wednesday, in the occupied territories of West Bank and East Jerusalem. Since Tuesday, Israeli authorities have destroyed three Palestinian homes, a barbershop and various unspecified structures on a large tract of land near an illegal Israeli settlement, as well as a number of animal shelters. | Khaled Abu Tayeh, a member of the Committee for the Defense of Silwan Land in occupied East Jerusalem, said that Israeli police and Jerusalem municipality staff escorted bulldozers into the Ein al-Lowza area of Silwan to carry out demolition…

yenisafak (2020-08-06). Two Palestinians contract coronavirus in Israeli prisons. yenisafak.com Two more Palestinian detainees have been infected with coronavirus in Israeli prisons in Ramallah, occupied West Bank. In a statement Thursday, the Palestinian Prisoner Society (PPS), a non-governmental organization, said: "The administration of the Israeli prison of Ofer — western Ramallah — announced that Naim Abu Turki, 38, has been infected with coronavirus."Abu Turki, arrested at his home in Hebron, has been under detention for the last four days. The PPS warned of further spread of coronavirus among the Palestinian prisoners. | Earlier in the day, the Palestinian Authority Prisoners' Affairs Com…

Alan Macleod (2020-08-05). Backed by Millions from Pro-Israel Interests, Antone Melton-Meaux Takes Aim at Ilhan Omar. mintpressnews.com A little-known union-busting attorney from Minnesota is raking in millions in campaign donations, mostly from out of state, in his attempt to unseat anti-war Rep. Ilhan Omar.

Ramzy Baroud (2020-08-05). Apartheid or One State: Has Jordan Broken a Political Taboo? dissidentvoice.org What will it take for the idea of a two-state solution, which was hardly practical to begin with, to be completely abandoned? Every realistic assessment of the situation on the ground indicates, with palpable clarity, that there can never be a viable Palestinian state in parts of the West Bank and Gaza. Politically, the idea …

Kathryn Shihadah (2020-08-05). Do Hundreds of UN Resolutions Prove the United Nations has an Anti-Israel Bias? mintpressnews.com Palestine has been a prominent UN topic since 1949 and has been the subject of at least seven hundred resolutions, but does that mean the UN has it out for Israel as many of its supporters claim?

Gordon Duff (2020-08-05). Israel Hits Beirut with Nuclear Missile, Trump and Lebanese Govt. Confirm (continually updating). thealtworld.com Trump confirms this was a bombing, not an accident and is immediately scourged by pro-Israel press…starting with the Daily Beast | #Breaking #Syria President Assad orders all borders and ports in the country open to #Lebanon, orders caravans of ambulances to head to #Beirut and ferry injured to hospitals in #Damascus, and launches an air bridge of medical and food supplies between the two cities | Israeli Delilah missile carrying 6 kiloton (6000 tons of TNT equivalent) nuclear missile (unretouched photo via VT Damascus) Ti…

RT (2020-08-05). Israeli military sets up coronavirus task force 'to cut chain of infection'. rt.com The Israeli military said on Wednesday it was establishing a coronavirus task force aimed at cutting the chain of infection in the country. The new force will begin operating next week and will connect all the different bodies under one umbrella. | The unit, headed by a brigadier general, will operate a sampling center, a quarantine center, recovery hotels, an evaluation complex, and an epidemiological investigations center, AP reports. | The Defense Ministry has long advocated utilizing the military's vast infrastructure and resources to combat the spread of the virus but has been rebuffed until now because o…

Arabi Souri (2020-08-05). Massive Explosion Destroys Beirut Harbor, Hundreds of Casualties. globalresearch.ca A massive explosion rocked the Lebanese capital Beirut this afternoon Tuesday 04 August 2020, the center of the explosion was in the Beirut harbor. | The Lebanese people who lived through a lengthy civil war and several confrontations with Israel and …

Umer Beigh (2020-08-05). In Kashmir, India's policies echo Israeli atrocities. peoplesdispatch.org A year after the abrogation of Kashmir's special status and the imposition of a harsh lockdown, the parallels between India's policies and that of Israel are all the more stark…

Richard Silverstein (2020-08-05). Breaking: Israel Bombed Beirut? globalresearch.ca Photo: Massive mushroom cloud from Hezbollah warehouse bombing and its aftermath | A note to our readers | Important report by Tikun Olan

sputniknews (2020-08-05). 'Nature of War is Changing': Israeli Ex-Spy Chief Justifies Exorbitant Mossad Budget Amid IDF Cuts. sputniknews.com After spending decades bracing for massive military assaults from nearby states, Israel is now more focused on detecting low-grade assaults and terrorist threats in a timely manner, which explains a shift in financing, the former official alleged.

_____ (2020-08-05). Water Wars and America's Fate. strategic-culture.org India versus China, Egypt versus Ethiopia, Israel versus the Palestinians — the Water Wars are already here with U.S., yet American and European policymakers remain disastrously blind to them. This is certain to have catastrophic consequences for the wealthy, arrogant and ludicrously complacent elites of the West. | The problem is particularly acute in the United States: Indeed, it has been growing for half a century but has reached such enormous dimensions in the 21st century that neocon imperialist Republican, neoliberal imperialist Democratic and Green policymakers are all oblivious to it. | How can this…

Suzanne Nossel (2020-08-05). The Censorship of 'Cancel Culture' May Ultimately Be Most Dangerous for Social Justice Champions. commondreams.org In 2014, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign community rallied in support of Professor Stephen Salaita, who was terminated from his tenured faculty position for criticizing Israel on social media. (Photo: Jeffrey Putney/flickr/cc) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/image_56_0.jpg

Jonathan Cook (2020-08-05). Can Israelis Broaden Their Protests Beyond Netanyahu? counterpunch.org Israel is roiling with angry street protests that local observers have warned could erupt into open civil strife — a development Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to be encouraging. For weeks, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv have been the scene of large, noisy demonstrations outside the official residences of Mr Netanyahu and his public security minister,

Global Research News (2020-08-05). Selected Articles: Did Israel Bomb Beirut? globalresearch.ca If you look to Global Research as a resource for information and understanding, to stay current on world events, or to experience honesty and transparency in your news coverage, please consider making a

MintPress News Desk (2020-08-04). Shadow Wars: Leaks by Mossad Point to Israeli Involvement in Deadly Attacks on Iran. mintpressnews.com The drumbeat for war with Iran seems to be intensifying as 2020 reaches its halfway point and the narrative that cyberattacks are to play an inciting role in the coming conflict is being drilled into the collective mind.

RT (2020-08-04). Both Israel AND Hezbollah deny devastating Lebanon blasts were a rocket attack. rt.com The Israeli Defense Force has denied responsibility for two massive explosions in Beirut that killed at least 10 people on Tuesday and injured hundreds more. Hezbollah has also denied the blasts were the result of a rocket attack. | The huge explosions took place shortly after 6pm local time in a port area of Beirut where highly explosive materials are stored, according to Lebanon's internal security chief. Local media have reported the explosion took place at a fireworks depot near the port, while Lebanese Health Minister Hamad Hassan initially said a ship carrying fireworks exploded in the port. | In a st…

RT (2020-08-04). Netanyahu calls anti-govt rallies 'BIZARRE' as he defends his son Yair's 'alien protesters' comment. rt.com Yair Netanyahu didn't mean to be offensive when he called anti-government protestors "aliens," Benjamin Netanyahu said, jumping to his son's defense. The Israeli PM added that some rallies against him have taken a "bizarre" form. | "There are also strange phenomena there, apart from on the political side, and, really, the relentless incitement against me, against my wife, against my family…" Netanyahu said of the ongoing demonstrations, which have been attended by thousands of people demanding his resignation. | I think [the protests are] a political thing which also has bizarre phenomena, and I think that's…

Ramzy Baroud (2020-08-04). 'Optimism of the Will': Palestinian Freedom is Possible Now. counterpunch.org In a recent TV discussion, a respected pro-Palestine journalist declared that if any positive change or transformation ever occurs in the tragic Palestinian saga, it would not happen now, but that it would take a whole new generation to bring about such a paradigm shift. As innocuous as the declaration may have seemed, it troubled

Ali Salam (2020-08-04). Army Halts Construction Of Nine Palestinian Homes Near Salfit. imemc.org The Israeli occupation army issued, Sunday, orders halting the construction of nine Palestinian homes in Kafr ad-Deek town, west of Salfit, in central West Bank. Several army jeeps invaded the village and handed local residents the stop-work orders against the nine homes as a prelude to demolishing them, local sources …

IMEMC News (2020-08-04). Israel Confiscates 327 Dunams Near Bethlehem To Build Colonialist Units. imemc.org The Israeli occupation authorities have issued orders from the confiscation of 327 Dunams (80.8 Acres) of Palestinian lands to build hundreds of units in an illegal colony east of Bethlehem, south of occupied Jerusalem in the West Bank. Hasan Breijiyya, the head of the Bethlehem office of the Colonization & …

IMEMC News (2020-08-04). Soldiers Demolish Barns Near Bethlehem. imemc.org Israeli soldiers invaded, Tuesday, Kisan Palestinian village, east of Bethlehem south of occupied Jerusalem in the West Bank, and demolished several barns. The army also delivered orders for the demolition of residential sheds near Hebron. Ahmad Ghazal, the deputy mayor of Kisan, said several army vehicles and bulldozers invaded the …

IMEMC News (2020-08-04). Israeli Colonists Burn Two Palestinian Cars Near Nablus. imemc.org Several fanatic illegal Israeli colonists infiltrated, on Tuesday at dawn, into Far'ata Palestinian village, west of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, and burnt two cars in addition to writing racist graffiti. Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian Authority official who monitors Israel's illegal colonialist activities in northern West Bank, said …

Peoples Dispatch (2020-08-04). Israeli warplanes bomb targets in Syria. peoplesdispatch.org Israeli air force fighter jets, attack helicopters and other attack aircraft conducted airstrikes in southern Syria late on August 3, Monday. Israel claimed that the airstrikes were in retaliation to an attempted attack on Sunday along the northern Israel-Syria border in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. | The Syrian government is yet to confirm the specific locations targeted by the Israeli bombings. The official Syrian SANA news agency stated that the airstrikes caused significant material damage to Syrian government property, adding that no Syrians, civilian or military, were injured. | Syrian state media la…

Raul Diego (2020-08-04). New Reports Suggest Libyan Warlord Khalifa Haftar Is Working with Mossad. globalresearch.ca Reports of Israeli support for the Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar are nothing new, but as the apartheid state gains ground among Arab nations, the need to hide Mossad's role in the destabilizing of oil-rich Libya may be disappearing. | *** | The …

BIICFHRIOT (2020-08-04). B'Tselem: "If You Build It, They Will Come" imemc.org B'Tselem — The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories: While the news is full of the plans to annex the West Bank and legalize construction in settlements — Israel is busy creating facts on the ground, as usual. Annexation or not, Israel has been demolishing homes in …

IMEMC News (2020-08-04). Israel Confiscates 200 Dunams Of Palestinian Lands Near Bethlehem. imemc.org The Israeli occupation authorities confiscated, Monday, 200 Dunams of Palestinian agricultural lands in Kisan village, east of Bethlehem, south of occupied Jerusalem in the West Bank, in addition to issuing an order for demolishing a barn. Ahmad Ghazal, the deputy-mayor of Kisan village, stated that a large military force invaded …

Ali Salam (2020-08-04). Israeli Settlers Attack Palestinians, Soldiers Set Fire to Palestinian-owned Crops. imemc.org A large group of illegal Israeli settlers, on Saturday evening, assaulted Palestinian families, north of Ramallah, in central occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Information Center reported. According to local sources, a large number of armed illegal colonists with dogs, attacked Palestinian families, including Sheikh Mohamed al-Hajj and his family in …

IMEMC News (2020-08-04). Updated: PPS: "Israeli Soldiers Abduct Fifteen Palestinians In West Bank" imemc.org Updated: The Palestinian Prisoners' Society (PPS) has reported that Israeli soldiers abducted, overnight until dawn hours Tuesday, fifteen Palestinians, including a young woman, during extensive and violent searches of homes across the occupied West Bank. The soldiers also shot two Palestinians in Jericho.

Ali Salam (2020-08-03). Israeli Army Fires Missiles Into Khan Younis. imemc.org The Israeli Air Force fired, on Monday at dawn, several missiles into areas in Khan Younis and Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, causing damage. The Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA) has reported that an Israeli drone fired at least two missiles into an area, west …

Miko Peled (2020-08-03). New Report Reveals Israel Demolishes Over 2,000 Palestinian Bedouin Homes per Year. mintpressnews.com Today Israel only allows indigenous Palestinian Bedouins to live on 12% of their ancestral homeland in the Naqab, transferring them to camps and crowded villages reminiscent of Native American reservations.

RT (2020-08-03). Israel strikes Syrian military targets near Damascus, IDF calls it 'response' to failed border attack. rt.com Israeli jets bombed several Syrian military sites south of Damascus late on Monday, the IDF has confirmed, saying that the attack had been launched in response to the attempted planting of a bomb in the Golan Heights. | The airstrike took place in the countryside southwest of Damascus, SANA news agency reported, describing explosions being heard in the city. | The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) then said in a statement the attack was a response to an attempted provocation on the Syrian-Israeli border, targeting a fence in the occupied Golan Heights. | The IDF said the strike targeted Syrian army's observation pos…

RT (2020-08-03). Netanyahu's son calls Israeli protesters 'aliens,' says daddy laughs at them. rt.com Thousands of Israelis who have been protesting against Benjamin Netanyahu are "aliens" who make the embattled prime minister laugh, his son, Yair Netanyahu, told a local radio station. | During his appearance on Galey Israel Radio on Monday, Netanyahu Jr was asked if he and his father had watched clips of the large-scale rallies demanding the PM's resignation. | "I let him see select parts," Yair

Ramzy Baroud (2020-08-03). Human Rights Defenders: Palestinian Eyewitness Testimony of the Execution of Abdul Fattah al-Sharif by Israeli Soldier, Elor Azaria. counterpunch.org As illegal Jewish settlers increase their attacks on Palestinian civilians in the occupied city of Al Khalil (Hebron), the people of the Palestinian city continue to mount a campaign of popular resistance. One of the channels of resistance is Human Rights Defenders, "a grass-roots, non-partisan Palestinian organization, working to support nonviolent popular resistance through popular

IMEMC News (2020-08-03). Army Abducts Five Palestinians In Nablus, One Near Jerusalem. imemc.org Israeli soldiers abducted, earlier Monday, five Palestinians near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, and one near Bethlehem, south of occupied Jerusalem. Several army jeeps invaded 'Aseera ash-Shamaliya town, north of Nablus, before the soldiers stormed and violently searched many homes. The soldiers then abducted five Palestinians, identified as …

Peoples Dispatch (2020-08-03). BDS activist's detention extended for 15 days by military court in Israel. peoplesdispatch.org An Israeli military court approved a request by Israeli domestic intelligence agency Shin Bet to hold Mahmoud Nawajaa for 15 days. Nawajaa was illegally abducted from his home on July 30…

Amira Hass (2020-08-03). A clear message from West Bank mosque burning: Palestinians must disappear. zcomm.org The arsonists' indirect message is: Look at us, we do whatever we like and will continue to do it, because the police won't bother to search for us and the army won't turn us in. And if they do catch us, they won't prosecute us, and if they do prosecute, the judges will find an excuse to acquit us.

_____ (2020-08-03). Settlers Move In On Palestinian World Heritage Site. popularresistance.org This is not the first time settlers have tried to take over this area. In December 2018, hundreds of settlers arrived overnight with bulldozers and tractors, dug an access road through the mountain, and tried to establish an outpost. They failed: it rained, the vehicles got stuck, and in the morning the Civil Administration — the arm of Israel's military government that governs the 2.8 million Palestinians in the West Bank — evacuated them. | "The effort in 2018 was well-funded," Etkes adds. "Everything was done very professionally, with heavy vehicles. That's an investment of hundreds of thousands of…

_____ (2020-08-03). 15 Lessons From 15 Years Of BDS. popularresistance.org July marked the 15th anniversary of the launch of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement. | Much has happened over those years. Here are 15 lessons I've learned on the journey to dismantle Israeli apartheid. It is incredible how many cities and cultural spaces have declared themselves "apartheid free zones," how many companies have divested from Israeli apartheid, how many artists have decided not to play in Israel and how many academics have ended relationships with Israeli institutions as a result of BDS campaigns. | Yet it is often difficult to keep our hopes up while knowing that Israeli aparthe…

Jonathan Cook (2020-08-03). Can the Anti-Netanyahu Protests grow into a Larger Movement? dissidentvoice.org Israel is roiling with angry street protests that local observers have warned could erupt into open civil strife — a development Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to be encouraging. For weeks, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv have been the scene of large, noisy demonstrations outside the official residences of Mr Netanyahu and his public security minister, …

yenisafak (2020-08-02). Eid al-Adha: Turkey donates meat to needy Gazans. yenisafak.com Palestinian authorities on Sunday began distributing meat from livestock sacrificed with donations from Turkey on the Muslim Eid al-Adha festival to hundreds of families in need in the Gaza Strip.During the four-day holiday, the Ministry of Foundations and Religious Affairs aims to provide as many as 4,500 families with meat, Eshref Ismail, the director of the projects department at the ministry, told Anadolu Agency.The Turkiye Diyanet Foundation is financing the initiative.Most of the Muslim-majority countries around the world, including Turkey, are observing the four-day holiday that started on Friday.On Eid al…

RT (2020-08-02). 'North Korea TV can learn from them': Netanyahu lashes out at Israeli media over 'one-sided' coverage of protests. rt.com Israeli media is not reporting on the protests against him, but taking part in them, PM Benjamin Netanyahu said as he launched several attacks on the country's press, which he insisted was acting "North Korea-style." | The demonstrations, which have been underway for months in Israel, are "being fueled especially by the media who have enlisted themselves [to the protests] in a manner the like of which I can't remember," Netanyahu The…

IMEMC News (2020-08-02). Army Abducts A Mother, Her Son And Daughter, In Hebron, After Colonists Attempted to Kidnap A Child. imemc.org Israeli soldiers abducted, on Saturday evening, a Palestinian mother along with her son and daughter after they helped free a child after she was assaulted by illegal colonialist settlers who tried to kidnap her. According to human rights activist and a volunteer with the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights …

sputniknews (2020-08-02). Israel Thwarts 'Terrorist' Attempt to Place Explosives on Syria-Israeli Border, IDF Says. sputniknews.com The Israeli Defence Forces noted that it "considers [the] Syrian regime responsible for any action taken in its territory", adding that "it will not allow" any violation of the sovereignty of the state of Israel.

sputniknews (2020-08-02). Coalition Chair Zohar Talks Relations Between Israel's Likud and Blue and White Parties. sputniknews.com Israel's new unity government was sworn in on 17 May 2020, following a deal made by political rivals Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of the Likud party, and Benny Gantz, leader of the Blue and White Party. Under a power sharing agreement, Netanyahu will remain as Prime Minister for 18 months, before Gantz takes over in October 2021.

yenisafak (2020-08-01). Israel's attacks violate UNSC resolution: Lebanon. yenisafak.com Lebanon is prepared to defend itself against Israel's attacks, which are in violation of the 2006 UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution, Lebanese President Michel Aoun said on Saturday.In a televised address, the president said Israel's attacks in southern Lebanon had once again flouted UNSC Resolution 1701, which calls for full cessation of hostilities and Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon.Aoun asserted that Lebanon remains willing to abide by the resolution and resolving all disputes under UN supervision."We are committed to defend ourselves, our land, our water, and our authority. We will not compromis…