Daily Archives: August 30, 2020

2020-08-30: News Headlines

South Front (2020-08-30). Video: UAE and Israel Plan to Create Intelligence Bases on Yemen's Socotra Island. globalresearch.ca Israel and the United Arab Emirates are going to create a military intelligence-gathering infrastructure on Yemen's Socotra Island, according to Arab and French sources. | The 3,650km2 island, located south of the Yemeni mainland in the Indian Ocean, overlooks the Bab …

sputniknews (2020-08-30). Israel Engaged in 'Many More' Secret Talks With Arab Leaders on Establishing Ties, Netanyahu Says. sputniknews.com Earlier this month, Israel signed a landmark agreement brokered by the United States that paved the way for establishing diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates, making the Gulf monarchy the third Arab country to forge ties with Israel.

yenisafak (2020-08-30). Jordan releases cartoonist held over UAE drawing. yenisafak.com Jordan on Sunday decided to release a cartoonist held for drawing a cartoon mocking a recent deal to normalize relations between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel.Emad Hajjaj was arrested by Jordanian police on charges of insulting an Arab country after he drew a caricature that mocks UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, as Israel refused to allow the UAE to buy F-35 warplanes from the US despite Abu Dhabi's normalization deal with Tel Aviv."The Judiciary has ordered Hajjaj's release," his lawyer Marwan Salem told Anadolu Agency.The lawyer, however, did not give any further details, and there wa…

yenisafak (2020-08-29). Jordan urged to free cartoonist held over UAE drawing. yenisafak.com Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on the Jordanian authorities to immediately release a cartoonist for drawing a satirical cartoon about a recent normalization deal between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel.Emad Hajjaj was arrested by Jordanian police on charges of insulting an Arab country."Calling a satirical cartoon a terrorism offense only confirms that Jordan intends to muzzle citizens who speak freely," Joe Stork, HRW's deputy Middle East director, said in a statement."This arrest sends the message that Jordanian authorities would rather abuse the rights of their own citizens than risk offending…

yenisafak (2020-08-29). Palestinians appeal for return of martyrs' bodies. yenisafak.com It has been almost 50 years since Palestinian Ali Abu Maliha went missing.His brother, Mahmoud Amr, accused the Israeli occupation of being behind his brother's disappearance during an interview with Anadolu Agency.Amr, a resident of Dura, south of the West Bank, said he was in prison when his brother left home for a "struggle mission" against Israeli occupation in the early 1970s. It was the last time he and his family heard any news about Abu Maliha."The occupation is responsible for the disappearance of my brother," Amr said, adding that his family has communicated with the International Committee of the Red C…

Ali Abunimah (2020-08-28). Sadistic Facebook shuts down Gaza health ministry page. zcomm.org Things are difficult enough for Palestinians in Gaza. Facebook must stop contributing to their misery by censoring vital health information.

Peoples Dispatch (2020-08-28). Occupation accentuates COVID-19's impact in Gaza. peoplesdispatch.org The COVID-19 lockdown, which has been in place in Gaza since Monday, was extended for three more days on August 26. Gaza has also suffered continuous attacks by Israel in the past month…

_____ (2020-08-28). Better To Launch Balloons Than Die In Silence. popularresistance.org In recent weeks, the tension between Palestinians in Gaza and Israel's forces of occupation has increased. Israel has used the launching of incendiary balloons by Palestinian youths as a pretext to bomb Gaza once again. | The release of the balloons is a gesture of protest against how the Israeli occupation has procrastinated in abiding by its previous agreements with the Palestinian resistance. Under those agreements, Israel had committed to easing the siege on Gaza. | This procrastination has caused the continued deterioration of Gaza's health and public services and its economy.

Alan MacLeod (2020-08-28). "This is How Armed Gangs Operate" Israel Admits its Troops Planted IEDs in a Palestinian Town. thealtworld.com The IDF admitted that they put the explosives on the commonly used road, doing it to "create a deterrence," because "riots have regularly occurred" in the area. | MPN- A seven-year-old Palestinian boy was walking with his mother just outside the West Bank village of Kafr Qaddum a few miles to west of the city of Nablus. Seeing a strange orange and black package held down with some rocks, the boy approached, thinking it was a toy. His mother quickly stopped him, summoning a relative to investigate. Foolishly, the man shook the package and it exploded, injuring his face and hands. | Along the popular path they foun…

Phyllis Bennis (2020-08-28). The Israel-UAE Deal Isn't About Peace at All. commondreams.org Palestinian demonstrators burn pictures of US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a protest against a US-brokered deal between Israel and the UAE to normalize relations, in the northern Gaza Strip refugee camp of Jabalia, on August 15, 2020. (Photo: Mahmud Hams/AFP via Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/trumpnetanyahudemonstration.jpg

Jill Richardson (2020-08-28). Where Trump is Getting His Lines. counterpunch.org Rory McVeigh wrote The Rise of the Ku Klux Klan, a study of the KKK in the 1920s, in 2009 — long before Donal Trump became president. But it could almost be about Trump today. In the 1920s, white, male, U.S.-born Protestants worried they were losing status, economic clout, and political power. Catholic and Jewish

Comitato No Nato No Guerra (2020-08-28). Apelo Aos Dirigentes Dos Nove Estados Detentores De Armas Nucleares (China, Franàßa, Ândia, Israel, Coreia do Norte, Paquistà£o, Rússia, Reino Unido e Estados Unidos da América). globalresearch.ca Nós, pessoas de boa vontade, de todas as etnias e de todas as classes socioeconómicas, a viver em todos os continentes e a professar credos e religiàµes distintas, dirigimos a vossa atenàßà£o para a ameaàßa de uma guerra nuclear total …

Michael Jansen (2020-08-28). Netanyanu the "Crime Minister", Once Again, Battling for His Political Life, … Immunity from Arrest? globalresearch.ca Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyanu is, once again, battling for his political life and personal freedom. Thousands of protesters calling for him to resign have continued to mount protests outside his official residence in Jerusalem. They demand he step down …

_____ (2020-08-28). Victory For The Humboldt 3! popularresistance.org Es lebe die freiheit — long live freedom — is the cry of every Palestinian and all people longing for freedom from colonialism.They were also the last words of Hans Scholl, a member of the White Rose anti-fascist resistance movement in Nazi Germany, before his execution on February 22 1945. The White Rose brought the Nazis' crimes to public awareness, and demanded justice for their victims. | Over seventy years later we, the Humboldt 3, drew inspiration from the White Rose. Along with Israeli anti-Zionist activists Ronnie Barkan and Stavit Sinai, I disrupted a talk given at the Humboldt University of…

_____ (2020-08-28). When Is a Peace Deal Not a Peace Deal? When It Is a War Deal. strategic-culture.org President Trump called it "historical" citing previous peace agreements in the region (the last one being between Jordan and Israel in 1994) while his son-in-law, awkwardly, heaped praise on him in a White House moment which made the president look like a belligerent tyrant of an African state and Jared Kushner his overpaid media consultant flown in for the event. | And yet, the only thing really which can be trumpeted as "historical" is the level of how far Trump, Nethanyahu and MbZ in the UAE are prepared to go in pulling off a great sham and deceiving us all about what this "peace deal" really is. The problem…

yenisafak (2020-08-28). El Al to fly Israel's first flight to UAE by commercial carrier, airport timetable shows. yenisafak.com El Al Airlines on Monday will fly Israel's first flight to the United Arab Emirates by a commercial carrier, a timetable on the Israel Airports Authority's website showed, as the countries forge ahead with a deal to normalise ties.The direct flight between Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport and the UAE's political capital of Abu Dhabi is expected to carry an Israeli delegation and accompanying officials from the United States, which brokered the Aug. 13 accord.El Al and smaller Israeli rival Israir had submitted bids for the flight, an aviation source said. An El Al spokesman did not immediately respond to a request f…

Kenny Stancil, staff writer (2020-08-28). 600+ Groups Representing Over Half of Jewish People in US Sign Full-Page Ad in NYT to 'Say Unequivocally: Black Lives Matter'. commondreams.org "By supporting this movement, we can build a country that fulfills the promise of freedom, unity, and safety for all of us, no exceptions." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/blm_ad.jpg

Miko Peled (2020-08-28). Biden's Campain and the DNC Make a Mockery of Jews, Israel, and of Course, Joe Biden. mintpressnews.com Reading through the Biden campaign's website, one wonders if the leader of the Democratic Party is in touch with the rest of the country, not to mention the rest of the world when it comes to Israel.

Gareth Porter (2020-08-27). After Beirut Blast, Israel Revives Tales of Hezbollah Ammonium Nitrate Terror Plots. globalresearch.ca Israeli intelligence is polishing off a dubious propaganda campaign to suggest Hezbollah was to blame for the recent catastrophe in Beirut. But the factual record either contradicts Israeli claims or reveals a complete dearth of evidence. | *** | Israeli officials have …

Kathryn Shihadah (2020-08-27). Decades of Land Grabs Betray Israel's "Terror Balloon" Justification for Latest War on Gaza. mintpressnews.com Just as with the last three major Israeli incursions into Gaza, Israel's stated motive — to stop incoming projectiles — conceals a long-term ambition: to seize more land with fewer Palestinians on it.

_____ (2020-08-27). Israel's Crimes Must Be Met With Arms Embargo. popularresistance.org Israel's bombing of the besieged Gaza Strip must be met with an "urgent and comprehensive military embargo," the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee stated on Sunday. | Israel has bombed Gaza every night for the past 12 days in response, or so it claims, to incendiary balloons flown from the territory. Those balloons have caused fires on agricultural land in southern Israel. | Two-thirds of Gaza's population of 2.1 million are refugees, some of them from the lands just on the other side of the Gaza boundary fence. Israel denies them their right to return, enshrined in international la…

Ramzy Baroud (2020-08-27). Netanyahu vs Gantz: Gaza Escalation as Reflection of Israel's Political Rivalry. dissidentvoice.org Only recently, the Palestinian group, Hamas, and Israel seemed close to reaching a prisoner exchange agreement, where Hamas would release several Israeli soldiers held in Gaza while Israel would set free an unspecified number of Palestinian detainees held in Israeli prisons. Instead of the much-anticipated announcement of some kind of a deal, on August 10, …

Gershon Baskin (2020-08-27). Judaism, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and me. zcomm.org Our life together in Israel requires us to know each other, to respect each other, and to live and let live without coercion and without violence…

yenisafak (2020-08-27). US' Pompeo pays surprise visit to Oman. yenisafak.com US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Oman Thursday for an unannounced stopover."Arrived in Oman and will meet with Omani Sultan Haitham bin Tarik Al Said," Pompeo wrote on his Twitter account.Before Oman, Pompeo paid a visit Israel, Sudan, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) during his Mideast tour."I look forward to discussing efforts to build unity among the Gulf Cooperation Council and build on the momentum to advance regional peace and prosperity," Pompeo added.Although his visit was not announced by the State Department, some media reports revealed that Pompeo is visiting two countries within…

Brett Wilkins, staff writer (2020-08-27). Citing 'Unbreakable Commitment,' Harris Vows Biden Would Never Place Conditions on US Military Aid to Israel. commondreams.org "Unconditional military aid to Israel," one critic wryly noted, "puts Biden/Harris far to the right of notorious peacenik George H.W. Bush." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/biden_bibi.jpg

David Hearst (2020-08-27). Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Pulls Out of Planned Meeting in Washington with Netanyahu. globalresearch.ca The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, pulled out of a planned visit to Washington DC next week to meet the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after he feared that the news had leaked and that his …

Anya Parampil (2020-08-26). Israel bombs Gaza every day since UAE normalization announced. thegrayzone.com Red Lines host Anya Parampil speaks with Ali Abunimah, co-founder of the Electronic Intifada, about the recent announcement that Israel and the United Arab Emirates plan to normalize relations. They discuss the conditions which led to the deal as well as what the agreement will mean for Palestinians, particularly those in the besieged Gaza Strip.

_____ (2020-08-26). Over 40 Protests Across The UK On #StopArmingIsrael Day Of Action. popularresistance.org Hundreds have taken to the streets in dozens of towns and cities to call for an end to the UK's complicity in Israel's oppression of the Palestinian people, on the 6 year anniversary of the end of Israel's aerial bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza. The protests come as Israel has conducted a renewed bombardment of Gaza, which remains under a crippling land, air and sea blockade. | The 2014 attack killed over 2,200 Palestinians in 51 days, nearly a quarter of whom were children. The UN Independent Commission of Inquiry on the 2014 Gaza conflict found credible allegations that Israel committed war crimes throu…

Ramzy Baroud (2020-08-26). Netanyahu vs Gantz: Gaza Escalation as Reflection of Israel's Political Rivalry. commondreams.org An explosion goes off during an airstrike carried out by Israeli warplanes. (Photo: Mohammed Talatene/picture alliance via Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/gazaairstrike.jpg

Ramzy Baroud (2020-08-26). Netanyahu vs. Gantz: Gaza escalation reflects Israel's political rivalry. peoplesworld.org Only recently, the Palestinian group, Hamas, and Israel seemed close to reaching a prisoner exchange agreement, where Hamas would release several Israeli soldiers held in Gaza while Israel would set free an unspecified number of Palestinian detainees held in Israeli prisons. Instead of the much-anticipated announcement of some kind of a deal, on August 10 …

South Front (2020-08-26). Video: Massive Explosion Rocks Syria's Arab Gas Pipeline. Terrorist Attack. globalresearch.ca A large explosion rocked the Arab Gas Pipeline in Syria on August 24 causing a blackout in the country's capital Damascus and multiple other cities and towns. | The explosion occurred between the towns of Ad Dumayr and Adra the a …

sputniknews (2020-08-26). Russia, Iran, Turkey Issue Joint Statement on Syria Condemning Israeli Attacks, US Theft of Oil. sputniknews.com The statement was formulated on the sidelines of the meeting of the Syrian Constitutional Committee, a United Nations-facilitated negotiating platform aimed at reconciling the Syrian government and the opposition and establishing an enduring peace in the war-torn country.

yenisafak (2020-08-26). Pompeo in UAE says hopeful to build on UAE-Israel accord momentum. yenisafak.com U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made a short visit to the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday as part of a Middle East tour following a U.S.-brokered deal on normalising relations between Israel and the UAE announced on Aug. 13."Excited to arrive in the United Arab Emirates and congratulate the Emirati people on the historic Abraham Accords— the most significant step toward peace in the Middle East in over 25 years. Hopeful we will‚ÄØ build on this momentum towards regional peace," Pompeo said on Twitter, referring to the UAE-Israel agreement aimed at normalising relations.Pompeo visited…