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at the nytimes the first article was similar. the very next on the app was bibi choosing to withdraw immunity status and will run WITH charges pending.......
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at the nytimes the first article was similar. the very next on the app was bibi choosing to withdraw immunity status and will run WITH charges pending.......
so he can go full on racist in the campaign to ensure victory like last time, or for his ego because he wants to be the guy that annexes the west bank?
"You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry." - Lincoln
Agreed. A vote is one thing, but if they try to actively annex, that's a disaster. WTF. This wouldn't happen if Clinton or anyone else was president. Elections matter.
Agreed. A vote is one thing, but if they try to actively annex, that's a disaster. WTF. This wouldn't happen if Clinton or anyone else was president. Elections matter.
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No better time for Bibi to go full on nazi than when your nazi supporting regime that supports you is in its final death throws. Were the residents deported? To Gaza? By train?
No better time for Bibi to go full on nazi than when your nazi supporting regime that supports you is in its final death throws. Were the residents deported? To Gaza? By train?
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No better time for Bibi to go full on nazi than when your nazi supporting regime that supports you is in its final death throws. Were the residents deported? To Gaza? By train?
left to the rubble
Nice. With the onset of winter and a pandemic raging. What a nation.
No better time for Bibi to go full on nazi than when your nazi supporting regime that supports you is in its final death throws. Were the residents deported? To Gaza? By train?
left to the rubble
Nice. With the onset of winter and a pandemic raging. What a nation.
It’s amazing that it’s the nation of the people that went through the Holocaust..
No better time for Bibi to go full on nazi than when your nazi supporting regime that supports you is in its final death throws. Were the residents deported? To Gaza? By train?
left to the rubble
Nice. With the onset of winter and a pandemic raging. What a nation.
It’s amazing that it’s the nation of the people that went through the Holocaust..
I am the son of a Holocaust survivor, and I do not agree with the situation in Palestine.
No better time for Bibi to go full on nazi than when your nazi supporting regime that supports you is in its final death throws. Were the residents deported? To Gaza? By train?
left to the rubble
Nice. With the onset of winter and a pandemic raging. What a nation.
It’s amazing that it’s the nation of the people that went through the Holocaust..
I am the son of a Holocaust survivor, and I do not agree with the situation in Palestine.
And please be sure I would never try to insult the holocaust in any way it’s just incredible how this is all happening!!
Israel advances plans in sensitive east Jerusalem settlement
By TIA GOLDENBERG
51 mins ago
JERUSALEM (AP) — A settlement watchdog group said Sunday Israel is moving ahead with new construction of hundreds of homes in a strategic east Jerusalem settlement that threatens to cut off parts of the city claimed by Palestinians from the West Bank.
The group, Peace Now, said the Israel Land Authority announced on its website Sunday that it had opened up tenders for more than 1,200 new homes in the key settlement of Givat Hamatos in east Jerusalem.
The move may test ties with the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden, who is expected to take a firmer tack against Israeli settlement expansion after four years of a more lenient policy under President Donald Trump, who has largely turned a blind eye to settlement construction.
The approval of the 1,200 homes is a further setback to dwindling hopes of an internationally backed partition deal that would enable the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
The Palestinians along with critics of Israel's settlement policy say construction in the Givat Hamatos settlement would seal off the Palestinian city of Bethlehem and the southern West Bank from east Jerusalem, further cutting off access for the Palestinians to that part of the city.
“This is a continuation of the current Israeli government policy in destroying the two-state solution," said Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a spokesman to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Sunday's development comes as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is set to travel to the region this week, where he is expected to visit an Israeli settlement in the West Bank— a stop previous U.S. secretaries of state have avoided. Palestinian officials, who have cut off ties with the Trump administration over its policies in favor of Israel, have denounced Pompeo's planned visit. Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh tweeted on Friday that this was a “dangerous precedent” that legalizes settlements.
Brian Reeves, a spokesman for Peace Now, said the move Sunday allows contractors to begin bidding on the tenders, a process that will conclude just days before Biden’s inauguration. Construction could then begin within months.
“This is a lethal blow to the prospects for peace," Peace Now said in a statement, adding that Israel was “taking advantage of the final weeks of the Trump administration in order to set facts on the ground that will be exceedingly hard to undo in order to achieve peace.”
The Palestinians seek the West Bank, along with the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem — areas Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war — for their future state. With nearly 500,000 settlers now living in the West Bank, and over 220,000 more in east Jerusalem, the Palestinians say the chances of establishing their state are quickly dwindling.
Israel views the entire city of Jerusalem as its eternal, undivided capital.
Much of Jerusalem is already blocked off from the West Bank by a series of checkpoints and the separation barrier. Israel has previously moved forward on plans to build in E1, another sensitive area east of Jerusalem that critics say, with Givat Hamatos, would block east Jerusalem off entirely from the West Bank.
After four years of Trump, whose policies were hugely favorable toward Israel and who shrugged at settlement building, Israel faces a new reality under Biden, who will likely restore the previous U.S. position that viewed settlements as illegitimate and an obstacle to peace with the Palestinians.
Under previous administrations, Israel held back on building plans in the most sensitive areas, including Givat Hamatos, amid opposition by both Washington and the international community, which saw such plans as dashing hopes for a contiguous Palestinian state.
But Israel has been emboldened under Trump, approving thousands of new settlement homes during his term, including in highly contested areas. Many of those plans are expected to break ground after Biden assumes the presidency.
With the Trump administration in its final weeks in office, Israel may be aiming to push ahead on contentious projects before Biden's term starts, a move that could set it on the wrong foot with the new president.
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So what you all think about that Pompeo visit to Middle East last week if I’m correct? And now Iranian scientists gets asassinated oh ok nothing to see here!!
Smugness leads to delusion. That said, how is it that a people who have suffered so much turns their cheek and becomes worst than what’s been bestowed? Eye for an eye? No compassion? No wanting, “peace?”
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ICC clears way for war crimes probe of Israeli actions
By JOSEF FEDERMAN
1 hour ago
JERUSALEM (AP) — The International Criminal Court said Friday that its jurisdiction extends to territories occupied by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war, potentially clearing the way for its chief prosecutor to open a war crimes probe into Israeli military actions.
The decision was welcomed by the Palestinians and decried by Israel's prime minister, who vowed to fight “this perversion of justice.”
The ICC’s chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, said in 2019 that there was a “reasonable basis” to open a war crimes probe into Israeli military actions in the Gaza Strip as well as Israeli settlement activity in the occupied West Bank. But she asked the court to determine whether she has territorial jurisdiction before proceeding.
In a statement on Twitter, Bensouda's office welcomed the “judicial clarity” of the ruling, but said it needed time before deciding how to proceed.
“The Office is currently carefully analysing the decision & will then decide its next step guided strictly by its independent & impartial mandate,” it said.
The Palestinians, who joined the court in 2015, have pushed for an investigation. Israel, which is not a member of the ICC, has said the court has no jurisdiction because the Palestinians do not have statehood and because the borders of any future state are to be decided in peace talks. It also accuses the court of inappropriately wading into political issues.
The Palestinians have asked the court to look into Israeli actions during its 2014 war against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, as well as Israel’s construction of settlements in the occupied West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem.
The international community widely considers the settlements to be illegal under international law but has done little to pressure Israel to freeze or reverse their growth.
The international tribunal is meant to serve as a court of last resort when countries' own judicial systems are unable or unwilling to investigate and prosecute war crimes.
Israel’s military has mechanisms to investigate alleged wrongdoing by its troops, and despite criticism that the system is insufficient, experts say it has a good chance of fending off ICC investigation into its wartime practices.
When it comes to settlements, however, experts say Israel could have a difficult time defending its actions. International law forbids the transfer of a civilian population into occupied territory.
Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in the 1967 war, territories the Palestinians want for their future state. Some 700,000 Israelis live in settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. The Palestinians and much of the international community view the settlements as illegal and an obstacle to peace.
Israel says east Jerusalem is an indivisible part of its capital and that the West Bank is “disputed” territory whose fate should be resolved in negotiations.
While the court would have a hard time prosecuting Israelis, it could issue arrest warrants that would make it difficult for Israeli officials to travel abroad. A case in the ICC would also be deeply embarrassing to the government. Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, led the 2014 war in Gaza, while Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz was the military chief of staff at the time.
In a videotaped statement released after midnight, Netanyahu accused the court of “pure anti-Semitism” and having a double standard.
“The ICC refuses to investigate brutal dictatorships like Iran and Syria, who commit horrific atrocities almost daily,” he said. “We will fight this perversion of justice with all our might!”
Nabil Shaath, a senior aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, welcomed the decision and said it proved the Palestinians were right to go to the ICC. “This is good news, and the next step is to launch an official investigation into Israel’s crimes against our people,” he said.
The ICC could also potentially investigate crimes committed by Palestinians militants. Bensouda has said her probe would look into the actions of Hamas, which fired rockets indiscriminately into Israel during the 2014 war.
In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters that the Biden administration was “taking a close look” at the decision.
“However, we have serious concerns about the ICC’s attempts to exercise jurisdiction over Israeli personnel," Price said. “We have always taken the position that the court’s jurisdiction should be reserved for those who consent to it or are referred by the U.N. Security Council.”
The decision, detailed in a 60-page legal brief, was released late Friday, after Israel had shut down for the weekly Jewish Sabbath.
Human Rights Watch welcomed the decision, saying it “finally offers victims of serious crimes some real hope for justice after a half century of impunity.”
“It’s high time that Israeli and Palestinian perpetrators of the gravest abuses — whether war crimes committed during hostilities or the expansion of unlawful settlements — face justice,” said Balkees Jarrah, associate international justice director at the New York-based group.
The three-judge pretrial chamber ruled that Palestine is a state party to the Rome Statute establishing the ICC. With one judge dissenting, it ruled that Palestine qualifies as the state on the territory in which the “conduct in question” occurred and that the court's jurisdiction extends to east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza.
Last year, the Trump administration imposed sanctions against ICC officials, after earlier revoking Bensouda’s entry visa, in response to the court’s attempts to prosecute American troops for actions in Afghanistan.
The U.S., like Israel, does not recognize the court’s jurisdiction. At the time, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the steps were meant as retribution for investigations into the United States and its allies, a reference to Israel.
The Biden administration has said it will review those sanctions.
___
Associated Press writers Joseph Krauss in Jerusalem and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
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you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
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Israelis
are voting Tuesday in a very tight election that could determine Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s future and finally break a debilitating
political stalemate -- or send the country back to yet another round of
polls.
Here are some significant developments:
About 61 percent of eligible Israeli voters had cast ballots by the evening, a drop from the pace of recent elections.
Pollsters
say the impact of the pandemic, uncertainty about turnout and a high
level of undecided voters make this election redo unusually difficult to
predict.
This is the fourth time in less than two years that Israelis head to the polls, a sign of the country’s continued stalemate.
This
election, as well as the last three, is largely seen as a referendum on
the tenure of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who continues to loom
large over a divided nation, even as he stands trial on corruption
charges.
This
time, Netanyahu hopes the quick rollout of coronavirus vaccines, one of
the fastest in the world, will weigh favorably among voters.
JERUSALEM
— As Israel’s national election headed into its final hour on Tuesday,
beleaguered voters continued trooping to the polls, hoping against
recent experience they will finally end the stalemate that has left
Israel without a normally functioning government during a time of
pandemic, economic distress and regional instability.
In
schools and community centers from the Negev Desert to settlements in
the northern Golan Heights, Israelis turned out nationwide for the
second time during the coronavirus pandemic and for the fourth time in
less than two years. A year ago, voters in their unfamiliar masks came out just as the virus was getting a foothold. Now, with most adults vaccinated, the pandemic seems to be nearing an end, but the political crisis is not.
“It’s
frustrating,” said Avraham, a 59-year-old lawyer voting at a Jerusalem
school who asked not to give his last name to discuss politics. “The
stalemate is bad for the country’s internal cohesion. I only have
limited hope that this time will be any better.”
Pollsters
say the impact of the pandemic, uncertainty about turnout and a high
level of undecided voters make this election redo unusually difficult to
predict. By 8 pm, with two hours until polls close, 61 percent of
eligible voters had cast ballots, a drop of almost five percent when
compared with the last election’s pace.
But
final surveys suggested not much has changed in the toss-up dynamic of
the past three elections, which have largely been referendums on the
tenure of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, now in his 14th year. “King
Bibi,” as he is known, continues to looms large over a divided nation,
even as he stands trial in Jerusalem
on bribery, fraud and other corruption charges. And once again, a bit
less than half the country appears poised to elect parties backing
Netanyahu and a bit more than half will cast votes to oust him.
One very possible outcome of the fourth election will be the need for a fifth.
“It
don’t see any reason to think voting again will help” break the
electoral impasse, said Tzofiya Malev, a university worker who cast her
ballot during a misty rain in Jerusalem’s Katamon neighborhood. If
necessary, she said she will come to vote again. And again. “Whatever it
takes.”
A
continuing stalemate is one of the few likely scenarios political
analysts foresee following Tuesday’s vote. Another is that Netanyahu and
his allies finally win a narrow but outright majority, an outcome made
more likely by an uptick in support for his Likud party in the final
days of the campaign.
Some voters cast their ballots in hopes of bringing the election loop to an end.
“At
this point, I’m voting strategically and not 100 percent on my
ideology," said Efrat Lev, a cross-fit coach and competitive
power-lifter who was casting an afternoon vote in Efrat, a Jewish
settlement near Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank. Even though she
said her first choice was the right-wing Religious Zionist Party and has
qualms about Netanyahu’s ethics, she voted Likud in hopes of giving him
a decisive majority once and for all.
“The
more seats Bibi gets, the more chance we will have a stable right-wing
government," she said. “At this point, I’m not looking to vote for an
angel.”
Pollsters
said it was also possible that the constellation of anti-Netanyahu
parties would again win enough seats to unseat the prime minister, but
only if they achieve what has eluded them after the previous elections:
negotiating a power-sharing deal among groups that range from right-wing
religious factions to leftists and parties representing Arab-Israeli
citizens.
Except for a short-lived — and dysfunctional — emergency “unity” government
that formed last spring as the pandemic erupted, party leaders have
refused to join forces across ideological lines. The electorate,
meanwhile, is left hanging.
“The
voters have been consistent in saying what they think three times in a
row and then it all hinges on the decisions of four or five men,” said
Dahlia Scheindlin, a Tel Aviv-based pollster. “It’s dismissive and
disrespectful of the citizens.”
As
Likud’s poll numbers ticked up ahead of Election Day, his opponents
feared Netanyahu could be in reach of an exclusively right-wing
government with no need for moderating partners from the center.
Ibrahim
Bushnak, a media advisor from the Arab village of Kfar Manda, said
Arabs have played an important, even prominent role in helping Israel
address the pandemic and he worries their social progress would be set
back if the governing coalition becomes even more conservative.
“I
really hope that there won’t be a full right-wing government,” Bushnak
said. “We saw during the covid year how many Arab doctors who went out
to the front lines and contributed to the country.”
Voter
fatigue may be contributing to high levels of indecision, with one poll
showing 40 percent of voters had planned to wait until the last minute
to make up their minds. “I still don’t know,” said one voter entering a
polling place in Efrat on Tuesday. “I hope my hand will know when it’s
time to pick.”
So
far, the frustration hasn’t dented voter turnout, which increased over
the course of the past three elections, from 68.4 percent in April 2019
to 71.5 percent last March. Polls suggested Tuesday’s rate might dip but
remain in the 60s, Scheindlin said.
With
Israel posting the world’s fastest pace of inoculating against the
coronavirus, and semblances of normal life beginning to return,
Netanyahu is banking on a vaccine gratitude strategy. He has campaigned
at vaccination centers, tried to woo the chief executive of Pfizer (a
U.S. company that jointly developed an effective coronavirus vaccine
with German partner BioNTech) to make a pre-vote visit to Israel, and
was chastised by election officials for usurping the motto of the
government vaccine drive, “Coming Back to Life,” as his campaign
catchphrase.
Critics
counter that Netanyahu’s overall response to the epidemic has been
chaotic and haphazard, leading to repeat national lockdowns with rules
routinely flouted in many ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities. Human
rights groups say Israel should be doing much more to provide
vaccinations to 5 million Palestinians effectively under its control in the West Bank and Gaza.
“He
was also responsible for the grave situation before the vaccine,” said
Avraham, the lawyer, who voted for a center-left party led by former
news anchor Yair Lapid. “We could have had half the deaths, half the
closed businesses.”
Also,
new this round, Netanyahu faces his first serious challenge from the
right. Former Likud education minister Gideon Saar left the party to
take on his former mentor. His bid, which has attracted other
politicians and significant voter interest, gives conservatives a shot
at right-wing policies without the ethical taints of the prime minister.
“They get Likud without Netanyahu,” said Jonathan Rynhold, professor of politics at Bar-Ilan University.
Former
Likud defense minister Naftali Bennett is also making another run,
providing conservatives yet another option. The military hard-liner is
running on a platform of covid-recovery competence — a rebuke of
Netanyahu’s pandemic performance.
But
he is also the only major contender who won’t rule out bringing his
Yamina party into a new Netanyahu coalition, giving him potential
kingmaker leverage in the factional bargaining that will follow
Tuesday’s vote.
“[Netanyahu]
has been in for too long,” said Malev, the university worker, a
right-leaning voter who was looking for alternatives to the prime
minister’s “behavior,” which she considers unethical. This time, she
settled on Bennet’s Yamina, although it’s getter hard to keep track of
the shifting parties. “I don’t even remember who I voted for the first
time.”
This round, only the ultra-Orthodox parties have been willing to sign a pledge not to join a government led by someone other than Netanyahu.
Shay
Sharon, an ultra-Orthodox voter returning from a polling place in the
West Bankn settlement of Betar Illit, had just voted yet again for the
United Torah Judaism party, a stalwart member of Netanyahu’s bloc.
“What’s
to change?” asked Sharon, who belongs to the Chabad sect. His job is
stable, he likes the government and he’s already had Covid-19. “I had
the natural vaccine.”
Other right-wing parties have signaled they are willing to bargain with other potential leaders of a new government.
“The
major shift in the fourth election is the rift within the right wing,”
said Gayil Talshir, a political scientist at Hebrew University. “Both
Bennett and Saar are out there, and both talk about replacing
Netanyahu.”
The challenge had led Netanyahu to seek new pockets of support. He surprised many in the political establishment
by inviting Itamar Ben Gvir, an extremist politician with roots in the
banned Kahanist movement, to join his coalition. But many in Netanyahu’s
base welcomed the move.
“When we have Arab politicians who call Israeli soldiers Nazis, I think Ben Gvir’s voice is necessary,” said Lev.
At other end of the spectrum, Netanyahu has been seeking votes in Israel’s Arab communities. In
a turnaround from past campaigns in which he portrayed Israeli Arabs
and their politicians as a threat, this round found him having coffee
with Bedouin elders and promising to boost spending on police and
infrastructure in some of the country’s poorest towns.
The
Arab outreach may gain Likud a seat or two, analysts said. But more
importantly, it has helped splinter the coalition of Arab parties that
has achieved record support in recent elections. One party, wooed by the
prime minister, has split, and pollsters expect Arab turnout to drop,
lessening the power of a key anti-Netanyahu bloc of voters.
“I
have some friends who aren’t going out today,” said Ehab Jabareen, a
media strategist who voted Tuesday in the northern Israeli village of
Fureidis. “The campaign that happened throughout the Arab society was
very difficult. All the extremism of the campaign has only increased the
feeling of apathy.”
Among
liberal voters, Lapid’s Yesh Atid party offers the best hope. With an
array of small, left-leaning parties, including the once mighty Labor
Party, hoping to contribute a few seats, Lapid could have a significant
center-left bloc to offer potential coalition partners.
But
those voters were badly burned in the last election, when Lapid’s
then-partner in the anti-Netanyahu Blue and White party, Former Army
Chief of Staff Benny Gantz, reneged on his promise not to join forces
with Netanyahu. Gantz became defense minister and “alternate” prime
minister in the emergency unity government.
It
was a crushing blow to former Blue and White voters such as Chagit
Moriah-Gibor, 35, who said she has become fed up with all the political
haggling and "a lot of generals saying they were going to save the
country.”
She cast her vote in Efrat on Tuesday for the Labor party.
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Comments
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
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"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
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"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
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https://news.yahoo.com/israeli-cabinet-debate-west-bank-annexation-called-off-202154580.html
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https://news.yahoo.com/israel-hopes-germany-other-icc-183951830.html
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-52705466
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There are no kings inside the gates of eden
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left to the rubble
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
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JERUSALEM (AP) — A settlement watchdog group said Sunday Israel is moving ahead with new construction of hundreds of homes in a strategic east Jerusalem settlement that threatens to cut off parts of the city claimed by Palestinians from the West Bank.
The group, Peace Now, said the Israel Land Authority announced on its website Sunday that it had opened up tenders for more than 1,200 new homes in the key settlement of Givat Hamatos in east Jerusalem.
The move may test ties with the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden, who is expected to take a firmer tack against Israeli settlement expansion after four years of a more lenient policy under President Donald Trump, who has largely turned a blind eye to settlement construction.
The approval of the 1,200 homes is a further setback to dwindling hopes of an internationally backed partition deal that would enable the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
The Palestinians along with critics of Israel's settlement policy say construction in the Givat Hamatos settlement would seal off the Palestinian city of Bethlehem and the southern West Bank from east Jerusalem, further cutting off access for the Palestinians to that part of the city.
“This is a continuation of the current Israeli government policy in destroying the two-state solution," said Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a spokesman to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Sunday's development comes as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is set to travel to the region this week, where he is expected to visit an Israeli settlement in the West Bank— a stop previous U.S. secretaries of state have avoided. Palestinian officials, who have cut off ties with the Trump administration over its policies in favor of Israel, have denounced Pompeo's planned visit. Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh tweeted on Friday that this was a “dangerous precedent” that legalizes settlements.
Brian Reeves, a spokesman for Peace Now, said the move Sunday allows contractors to begin bidding on the tenders, a process that will conclude just days before Biden’s inauguration. Construction could then begin within months.
“This is a lethal blow to the prospects for peace," Peace Now said in a statement, adding that Israel was “taking advantage of the final weeks of the Trump administration in order to set facts on the ground that will be exceedingly hard to undo in order to achieve peace.”
The Palestinians seek the West Bank, along with the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem — areas Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war — for their future state. With nearly 500,000 settlers now living in the West Bank, and over 220,000 more in east Jerusalem, the Palestinians say the chances of establishing their state are quickly dwindling.
Israel views the entire city of Jerusalem as its eternal, undivided capital.
Much of Jerusalem is already blocked off from the West Bank by a series of checkpoints and the separation barrier. Israel has previously moved forward on plans to build in E1, another sensitive area east of Jerusalem that critics say, with Givat Hamatos, would block east Jerusalem off entirely from the West Bank.
After four years of Trump, whose policies were hugely favorable toward Israel and who shrugged at settlement building, Israel faces a new reality under Biden, who will likely restore the previous U.S. position that viewed settlements as illegitimate and an obstacle to peace with the Palestinians.
Under previous administrations, Israel held back on building plans in the most sensitive areas, including Givat Hamatos, amid opposition by both Washington and the international community, which saw such plans as dashing hopes for a contiguous Palestinian state.
But Israel has been emboldened under Trump, approving thousands of new settlement homes during his term, including in highly contested areas. Many of those plans are expected to break ground after Biden assumes the presidency.
With the Trump administration in its final weeks in office, Israel may be aiming to push ahead on contentious projects before Biden's term starts, a move that could set it on the wrong foot with the new president.
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Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
Brilliantati©
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Prague Krakow Berlin 2018. Berlin 2022
EV, Taormina 1+2 2017.
I wish i was the souvenir you kept your house key on..
JERUSALEM (AP) — The International Criminal Court said Friday that its jurisdiction extends to territories occupied by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war, potentially clearing the way for its chief prosecutor to open a war crimes probe into Israeli military actions.
The decision was welcomed by the Palestinians and decried by Israel's prime minister, who vowed to fight “this perversion of justice.”
The ICC’s chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, said in 2019 that there was a “reasonable basis” to open a war crimes probe into Israeli military actions in the Gaza Strip as well as Israeli settlement activity in the occupied West Bank. But she asked the court to determine whether she has territorial jurisdiction before proceeding.
In a statement on Twitter, Bensouda's office welcomed the “judicial clarity” of the ruling, but said it needed time before deciding how to proceed.
“The Office is currently carefully analysing the decision & will then decide its next step guided strictly by its independent & impartial mandate,” it said.
The Palestinians, who joined the court in 2015, have pushed for an investigation. Israel, which is not a member of the ICC, has said the court has no jurisdiction because the Palestinians do not have statehood and because the borders of any future state are to be decided in peace talks. It also accuses the court of inappropriately wading into political issues.
The Palestinians have asked the court to look into Israeli actions during its 2014 war against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, as well as Israel’s construction of settlements in the occupied West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem.
The international community widely considers the settlements to be illegal under international law but has done little to pressure Israel to freeze or reverse their growth.
The international tribunal is meant to serve as a court of last resort when countries' own judicial systems are unable or unwilling to investigate and prosecute war crimes.
Israel’s military has mechanisms to investigate alleged wrongdoing by its troops, and despite criticism that the system is insufficient, experts say it has a good chance of fending off ICC investigation into its wartime practices.
When it comes to settlements, however, experts say Israel could have a difficult time defending its actions. International law forbids the transfer of a civilian population into occupied territory.
Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in the 1967 war, territories the Palestinians want for their future state. Some 700,000 Israelis live in settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. The Palestinians and much of the international community view the settlements as illegal and an obstacle to peace.
Israel says east Jerusalem is an indivisible part of its capital and that the West Bank is “disputed” territory whose fate should be resolved in negotiations.
While the court would have a hard time prosecuting Israelis, it could issue arrest warrants that would make it difficult for Israeli officials to travel abroad. A case in the ICC would also be deeply embarrassing to the government. Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, led the 2014 war in Gaza, while Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz was the military chief of staff at the time.
In a videotaped statement released after midnight, Netanyahu accused the court of “pure anti-Semitism” and having a double standard.
“The ICC refuses to investigate brutal dictatorships like Iran and Syria, who commit horrific atrocities almost daily,” he said. “We will fight this perversion of justice with all our might!”
Nabil Shaath, a senior aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, welcomed the decision and said it proved the Palestinians were right to go to the ICC. “This is good news, and the next step is to launch an official investigation into Israel’s crimes against our people,” he said.
The ICC could also potentially investigate crimes committed by Palestinians militants. Bensouda has said her probe would look into the actions of Hamas, which fired rockets indiscriminately into Israel during the 2014 war.
In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters that the Biden administration was “taking a close look” at the decision.
“However, we have serious concerns about the ICC’s attempts to exercise jurisdiction over Israeli personnel," Price said. “We have always taken the position that the court’s jurisdiction should be reserved for those who consent to it or are referred by the U.N. Security Council.”
The decision, detailed in a 60-page legal brief, was released late Friday, after Israel had shut down for the weekly Jewish Sabbath.
Human Rights Watch welcomed the decision, saying it “finally offers victims of serious crimes some real hope for justice after a half century of impunity.”
“It’s high time that Israeli and Palestinian perpetrators of the gravest abuses — whether war crimes committed during hostilities or the expansion of unlawful settlements — face justice,” said Balkees Jarrah, associate international justice director at the New York-based group.
The three-judge pretrial chamber ruled that Palestine is a state party to the Rome Statute establishing the ICC. With one judge dissenting, it ruled that Palestine qualifies as the state on the territory in which the “conduct in question” occurred and that the court's jurisdiction extends to east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza.
Last year, the Trump administration imposed sanctions against ICC officials, after earlier revoking Bensouda’s entry visa, in response to the court’s attempts to prosecute American troops for actions in Afghanistan.
The U.S., like Israel, does not recognize the court’s jurisdiction. At the time, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the steps were meant as retribution for investigations into the United States and its allies, a reference to Israel.
The Biden administration has said it will review those sanctions.
___
Associated Press writers Joseph Krauss in Jerusalem and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
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Israelis vote in hotly contested election with Netanyahu battling to remain prime minister
Israelis are voting Tuesday in a very tight election that could determine Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s future and finally break a debilitating political stalemate -- or send the country back to yet another round of polls.
JERUSALEM — As Israel’s national election headed into its final hour on Tuesday, beleaguered voters continued trooping to the polls, hoping against recent experience they will finally end the stalemate that has left Israel without a normally functioning government during a time of pandemic, economic distress and regional instability.
In schools and community centers from the Negev Desert to settlements in the northern Golan Heights, Israelis turned out nationwide for the second time during the coronavirus pandemic and for the fourth time in less than two years. A year ago, voters in their unfamiliar masks came out just as the virus was getting a foothold. Now, with most adults vaccinated, the pandemic seems to be nearing an end, but the political crisis is not.
“It’s frustrating,” said Avraham, a 59-year-old lawyer voting at a Jerusalem school who asked not to give his last name to discuss politics. “The stalemate is bad for the country’s internal cohesion. I only have limited hope that this time will be any better.”
As Israelis head back to elections, there’s a new twist: Democrats in Washington
Pollsters say the impact of the pandemic, uncertainty about turnout and a high level of undecided voters make this election redo unusually difficult to predict. By 8 pm, with two hours until polls close, 61 percent of eligible voters had cast ballots, a drop of almost five percent when compared with the last election’s pace.
But final surveys suggested not much has changed in the toss-up dynamic of the past three elections, which have largely been referendums on the tenure of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, now in his 14th year. “King Bibi,” as he is known, continues to looms large over a divided nation, even as he stands trial in Jerusalem on bribery, fraud and other corruption charges. And once again, a bit less than half the country appears poised to elect parties backing Netanyahu and a bit more than half will cast votes to oust him.
One very possible outcome of the fourth election will be the need for a fifth.
“It don’t see any reason to think voting again will help” break the electoral impasse, said Tzofiya Malev, a university worker who cast her ballot during a misty rain in Jerusalem’s Katamon neighborhood. If necessary, she said she will come to vote again. And again. “Whatever it takes.”
A continuing stalemate is one of the few likely scenarios political analysts foresee following Tuesday’s vote. Another is that Netanyahu and his allies finally win a narrow but outright majority, an outcome made more likely by an uptick in support for his Likud party in the final days of the campaign.
Some voters cast their ballots in hopes of bringing the election loop to an end.
“At this point, I’m voting strategically and not 100 percent on my ideology," said Efrat Lev, a cross-fit coach and competitive power-lifter who was casting an afternoon vote in Efrat, a Jewish settlement near Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank. Even though she said her first choice was the right-wing Religious Zionist Party and has qualms about Netanyahu’s ethics, she voted Likud in hopes of giving him a decisive majority once and for all.
“The more seats Bibi gets, the more chance we will have a stable right-wing government," she said. “At this point, I’m not looking to vote for an angel.”
Pollsters said it was also possible that the constellation of anti-Netanyahu parties would again win enough seats to unseat the prime minister, but only if they achieve what has eluded them after the previous elections: negotiating a power-sharing deal among groups that range from right-wing religious factions to leftists and parties representing Arab-Israeli citizens.
Except for a short-lived — and dysfunctional — emergency “unity” government that formed last spring as the pandemic erupted, party leaders have refused to join forces across ideological lines. The electorate, meanwhile, is left hanging.
“The voters have been consistent in saying what they think three times in a row and then it all hinges on the decisions of four or five men,” said Dahlia Scheindlin, a Tel Aviv-based pollster. “It’s dismissive and disrespectful of the citizens.”
As Likud’s poll numbers ticked up ahead of Election Day, his opponents feared Netanyahu could be in reach of an exclusively right-wing government with no need for moderating partners from the center.
Ibrahim Bushnak, a media advisor from the Arab village of Kfar Manda, said Arabs have played an important, even prominent role in helping Israel address the pandemic and he worries their social progress would be set back if the governing coalition becomes even more conservative.
“I really hope that there won’t be a full right-wing government,” Bushnak said. “We saw during the covid year how many Arab doctors who went out to the front lines and contributed to the country.”
Voter fatigue may be contributing to high levels of indecision, with one poll showing 40 percent of voters had planned to wait until the last minute to make up their minds. “I still don’t know,” said one voter entering a polling place in Efrat on Tuesday. “I hope my hand will know when it’s time to pick.”
So far, the frustration hasn’t dented voter turnout, which increased over the course of the past three elections, from 68.4 percent in April 2019 to 71.5 percent last March. Polls suggested Tuesday’s rate might dip but remain in the 60s, Scheindlin said.
As Israel votes again, Palestinians still wait their turn
Some things are different the fourth time around.
With Israel posting the world’s fastest pace of inoculating against the coronavirus, and semblances of normal life beginning to return, Netanyahu is banking on a vaccine gratitude strategy. He has campaigned at vaccination centers, tried to woo the chief executive of Pfizer (a U.S. company that jointly developed an effective coronavirus vaccine with German partner BioNTech) to make a pre-vote visit to Israel, and was chastised by election officials for usurping the motto of the government vaccine drive, “Coming Back to Life,” as his campaign catchphrase.
Critics counter that Netanyahu’s overall response to the epidemic has been chaotic and haphazard, leading to repeat national lockdowns with rules routinely flouted in many ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities. Human rights groups say Israel should be doing much more to provide vaccinations to 5 million Palestinians effectively under its control in the West Bank and Gaza.
“He was also responsible for the grave situation before the vaccine,” said Avraham, the lawyer, who voted for a center-left party led by former news anchor Yair Lapid. “We could have had half the deaths, half the closed businesses.”
Also, new this round, Netanyahu faces his first serious challenge from the right. Former Likud education minister Gideon Saar left the party to take on his former mentor. His bid, which has attracted other politicians and significant voter interest, gives conservatives a shot at right-wing policies without the ethical taints of the prime minister.
“They get Likud without Netanyahu,” said Jonathan Rynhold, professor of politics at Bar-Ilan University.
Former Likud defense minister Naftali Bennett is also making another run, providing conservatives yet another option. The military hard-liner is running on a platform of covid-recovery competence — a rebuke of Netanyahu’s pandemic performance.
But he is also the only major contender who won’t rule out bringing his Yamina party into a new Netanyahu coalition, giving him potential kingmaker leverage in the factional bargaining that will follow Tuesday’s vote.
“[Netanyahu] has been in for too long,” said Malev, the university worker, a right-leaning voter who was looking for alternatives to the prime minister’s “behavior,” which she considers unethical. This time, she settled on Bennet’s Yamina, although it’s getter hard to keep track of the shifting parties. “I don’t even remember who I voted for the first time.”
This round, only the ultra-Orthodox parties have been willing to sign a pledge not to join a government led by someone other than Netanyahu.
Shay Sharon, an ultra-Orthodox voter returning from a polling place in the West Bankn settlement of Betar Illit, had just voted yet again for the United Torah Judaism party, a stalwart member of Netanyahu’s bloc.
“What’s to change?” asked Sharon, who belongs to the Chabad sect. His job is stable, he likes the government and he’s already had Covid-19. “I had the natural vaccine.”
Other right-wing parties have signaled they are willing to bargain with other potential leaders of a new government.
“The major shift in the fourth election is the rift within the right wing,” said Gayil Talshir, a political scientist at Hebrew University. “Both Bennett and Saar are out there, and both talk about replacing Netanyahu.”
Five ways that ‘political fox’ Netanyahu has clung to power
The challenge had led Netanyahu to seek new pockets of support. He surprised many in the political establishment by inviting Itamar Ben Gvir, an extremist politician with roots in the banned Kahanist movement, to join his coalition. But many in Netanyahu’s base welcomed the move.
“When we have Arab politicians who call Israeli soldiers Nazis, I think Ben Gvir’s voice is necessary,” said Lev.
At other end of the spectrum, Netanyahu has been seeking votes in Israel’s Arab communities. In a turnaround from past campaigns in which he portrayed Israeli Arabs and their politicians as a threat, this round found him having coffee with Bedouin elders and promising to boost spending on police and infrastructure in some of the country’s poorest towns.
The Arab outreach may gain Likud a seat or two, analysts said. But more importantly, it has helped splinter the coalition of Arab parties that has achieved record support in recent elections. One party, wooed by the prime minister, has split, and pollsters expect Arab turnout to drop, lessening the power of a key anti-Netanyahu bloc of voters.
“I have some friends who aren’t going out today,” said Ehab Jabareen, a media strategist who voted Tuesday in the northern Israeli village of Fureidis. “The campaign that happened throughout the Arab society was very difficult. All the extremism of the campaign has only increased the feeling of apathy.”
Among liberal voters, Lapid’s Yesh Atid party offers the best hope. With an array of small, left-leaning parties, including the once mighty Labor Party, hoping to contribute a few seats, Lapid could have a significant center-left bloc to offer potential coalition partners.
But those voters were badly burned in the last election, when Lapid’s then-partner in the anti-Netanyahu Blue and White party, Former Army Chief of Staff Benny Gantz, reneged on his promise not to join forces with Netanyahu. Gantz became defense minister and “alternate” prime minister in the emergency unity government.
It was a crushing blow to former Blue and White voters such as Chagit Moriah-Gibor, 35, who said she has become fed up with all the political haggling and "a lot of generals saying they were going to save the country.”
She cast her vote in Efrat on Tuesday for the Labor party.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14