Saturday, July 06, 2024


On Israeli Soldiers & The Dehumanization of Palestinians


“When you send us to war, you are not sending us to negotiate; you are sending us to kill… We are born with the idea that we should not kill, and now you tell me to go to war and kill all the enemies. Over time, the idea that I have the right to kill becomes normal, and we no longer ask why. The only questions we ask when we go to war are, how do we kill?” This was part of the response from Ami Ayalon, the former head of Israel’s Shin Bet security agency, in a recent interview with CNN’s well-known anchor Christiane Amanpour. She asked him about the Israeli army’s actions in Gaza: “Do you feel that they (the soldiers) lose their morality and humanity?” He replied: “We lose our identity as people, as Jews, and as humans…” The discussion came after videos were circulated showing a wounded young man from the city of Jenin in the West Bank, tied to the hood of an Israeli military vehicle as it moved. Palestinian sources interpreted this as the Israeli use of the injured young man as a human shield during the raid on the city. This violation is not an isolated incident but recurs without accountability. Over the past eight months, since the start of Israel’s genocidal war against Gaza, the internet has been flooded with videos documenting the Israeli army’s violations, such as torturing detainees, killing civilians, raiding homes, and destroying them. Many of these images and videos were posted by Israeli soldiers themselves, as a form of bragging, representing a disgusting moral phenomenon. There are also testimonies from soldiers who defected or refused military service, confirming the crimes. These clips serve as legal documents that can be used in international courts against Israel for violating international criminal law. This documentation not only confirms the collapse of moral and human barriers and controls among the members of “the most moral army in the world,” but also indicates that these soldiers feel they can do anything as long as they are protected by their state and by major capitals that politically and militarily support Israel in its war. Israel itself constantly criticizes, attacks, and even hinders the travel of officials from international human rights organizations or the United Nations openly and continuously due to their positions on the Israeli army’s actions. Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen went so far as to revoke the residency visa of the UN humanitarian coordinator Lynn Hastings. Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan even threatened to withdraw Israel from the UN and to deny visas to its officials “to teach them a lesson,” accusing the UN of anti-Semitism and calling for its funding to be stopped. Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, faced threats for accusing Israel of committing acts of genocide. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself dared to belittle the UN, considering it “has placed itself on the wrong side of history.” And the list goes on and on… The Tale of “The Most Moral Army in the World” Among the claims circulated in Western media and political circles is the assertion that the Israeli army is “the most moral army in the world.” This description, heavily promoted by Israeli leaders and their international supporters, including politicians, media figures, and retired officers and generals, aims to present an ideal image of the Israeli army’s performance in the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, particularly concerning its adherence to the laws of war and the protection of human rights. This hollow phrase continues to be upheld despite accumulating evidence pointing to acts of genocide in Gaza and severe violations of those laws in both Gaza and the West Bank. One of the most striking phenomena resulting from the Israeli war on Gaza is the increasing number of videos showing Israeli soldiers committing acts that fall under the category of crimes against humanity, a phenomenon that continues without deterrent. What drives an increasing number of Israeli soldiers to commit such atrocities and document them themselves? What strategies does Israel employ to shape and mold the Israeli human self, producing this model of a soldier who commits horrific acts? The search for an answer must start with the policy of dehumanizing Palestinians. Once a mindset capable of demonizing the other is established, it becomes easy to violate their body, either through direct killing or torture, and their property, whether through confiscation, demolition, or vandalism. Numerous videos have spread in recent months showing Israeli soldiers engaging in such practices. The violation of Palestinian property has extended to the confiscation of their men’s and women’s clothing, even their underwear, as if they were spoils of war. The soldiers themselves post videos and photos proving these violations on their personal social media pages. According to Adama Dieng, the UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide and former Registrar of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda: “Genocide is not an accidental event, nor is it inevitable. Genocide is a process that develops over time. To be able to engage in the level of violence associated with genocide, perpetrators need time to develop the capacity to do so, mobilize resources, and take concrete steps that will help them achieve their goal.” A Zionist Strategy to Entrench Extremism and Racism No individual, no matter how extreme their ideas may be, can commit heinous crimes on their own. Committing individual murder is not easy, let alone mass murder. The process of transforming extremist ideas—whether Zionist, Islamic, or otherwise—into actions that reach the level of genocide requires a massive apparatus for propaganda, recruitment, mobilization, funding, planning, and execution. Without this apparatus, these ideas remain limited in scope, regardless of the crimes committed. An integral part of this process, which paves the way for turning extremist ideas into tools for mass killing, is establishing a psychological and social strategy that removes guilt and responsibility from the individual. Genocide is not an


“When you send us to war, you are not sending us to negotiate; you are sending us to kill… We are born with the idea that we should not kill, and now you tell me to go to war and kill all the enemies. Over time, the idea that I have the right to kill becomes normal, and we no longer ask why. The only questions we ask when we go to war are, how do we kill?”

This was part of the response from Ami Ayalon, the former head of Israel’s Shin Bet security agency, in a recent interview with CNN’s well-known anchor Christiane Amanpour.

She asked him about the Israeli army’s actions in Gaza: “Do you feel that they (the soldiers) lose their morality and humanity?” He replied: “We lose our identity as people, as Jews, and as humans…”

The discussion came after videos were circulated showing a wounded young man from the city of Jenin in the West Bank, tied to the hood of an Israeli military vehicle as it moved. Palestinian sources interpreted this as the Israeli use of the injured young man as a human shield during the raid on the city.

This violation is not an isolated incident but recurs without accountability. Over the past eight months, since the start of Israel’s genocidal war against Gaza, the internet has been flooded with videos documenting the Israeli army’s violations, such as torturing detainees, killing civilians, raiding homes, and destroying them.

Many of these images and videos were posted by Israeli soldiers themselves, as a form of bragging, representing a disgusting moral phenomenon. There are also testimonies from soldiers who defected or refused military service, confirming the crimes. These clips serve as legal documents that can be used in international courts against Israel for violating international criminal law.

This documentation not only confirms the collapse of moral and human barriers and controls among the members of “the most moral army in the world,” but also indicates that these soldiers feel they can do anything as long as they are protected by their state and by major capitals that politically and militarily support Israel in its war. Israel itself constantly criticizes, attacks, and even hinders the travel of officials from international human rights organizations or the United Nations openly and continuously due to their positions on the Israeli army’s actions.

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen went so far as to revoke the residency visa of the UN humanitarian coordinator Lynn Hastings. Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan even threatened to withdraw Israel from the UN and to deny visas to its officials “to teach them a lesson,” accusing the UN of anti-Semitism and calling for its funding to be stopped.

Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, faced threats for accusing Israel of committing acts of genocide. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself dared to belittle the UN, considering it “has placed itself on the wrong side of history.” And the list goes on and on…



The Tale of “The Most Moral Army in the World”

Among the claims circulated in Western media and political circles is the assertion that the Israeli army is “the most moral army in the world.” This description, heavily promoted by Israeli leaders and their international supporters, including politicians, media figures, and retired officers and generals, aims to present an ideal image of the Israeli army’s performance in the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, particularly concerning its adherence to the laws of war and the protection of human rights. This hollow phrase continues to be upheld despite accumulating evidence pointing to acts of genocide in Gaza and severe violations of those laws in both Gaza and the West Bank.

One of the most striking phenomena resulting from the Israeli war on Gaza is the increasing number of videos showing Israeli soldiers committing acts that fall under the category of crimes against humanity, a phenomenon that continues without deterrent.

What drives an increasing number of Israeli soldiers to commit such atrocities and document them themselves?

What strategies does Israel employ to shape and mold the Israeli human self, producing this model of a soldier who commits horrific acts?

The search for an answer must start with the policy of dehumanizing Palestinians. Once a mindset capable of demonizing the other is established, it becomes easy to violate their body, either through direct killing or torture, and their property, whether through confiscation, demolition, or vandalism.

Numerous videos have spread in recent months showing Israeli soldiers engaging in such practices. The violation of Palestinian property has extended to the confiscation of their men’s and women’s clothing, even their underwear, as if they were spoils of war. The soldiers themselves post videos and photos proving these violations on their personal social media pages.

According to Adama Dieng, the UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide and former Registrar of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda: “Genocide is not an accidental event, nor is it inevitable. Genocide is a process that develops over time. To be able to engage in the level of violence associated with genocide, perpetrators need time to develop the capacity to do so, mobilize resources, and take concrete steps that will help them achieve their goal.”

A Zionist Strategy to Entrench Extremism and Racism

No individual, no matter how extreme their ideas may be, can commit heinous crimes on their own. Committing individual murder is not easy, let alone mass murder.

The process of transforming extremist ideas—whether Zionist, Islamic, or otherwise—into actions that reach the level of genocide requires a massive apparatus for propaganda, recruitment, mobilization, funding, planning, and execution. Without this apparatus, these ideas remain limited in scope, regardless of the crimes committed.

An integral part of this process, which paves the way for turning extremist ideas into tools for mass killing, is establishing a psychological and social strategy that removes guilt and responsibility from the individual. Genocide is not an end in itself but a means to achieve a larger goal. Such a strategy has found unparalleled success in Israel today.

In practice, the Israeli authorities, in collaboration with the media, quickly dehumanized the people of Gaza following the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation on October 7, 2023, carried out by Hamas. This operation, which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Israelis, including civilians, provided the basis for a massive propaganda campaign against Palestinians. This campaign was aided by the dissemination of lies that helped mobilize Israelis and garner international sympathy for Israel’s reaction, no matter how excessive.

One of the most prominent lies was the claim that 40 children were beheaded in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, a lie spread so widely that US President Joe Biden mentioned it before the White House denied his statement. The Israeli government’s media office itself denied this lie. However, the damage caused by these lies cannot be undone.

The transformation of an Israeli individual into a criminal participating in genocide, whether directly as a soldier or indirectly as a justifier, does not only involve immediate emotional reactions. It goes through several stages of normalization with violence, starting from living in closed environments where individuals adapt to similar patterns of collective behavior, to the separation and discrimination between Palestinian Arab and Jewish children in the education system.

Zama Neff, executive director of the Children’s Rights Division at Human Rights Watch, says: “There is a wide gap separating government-run Jewish and Arab schools; the education that Palestinian Arab children receive is inferior in almost every respect to that of their Jewish counterparts, which is reflected in the relatively poor performance of Arab students.”

A Human Rights Watch report titled “Second-Class Citizens: Discrimination Against Palestinian Arab Children in Israel’s Schools” states: “The Israeli government operates two separate school systems, one for Jewish children and one for Palestinian Arab children. Discrimination against Palestinian Arab children colors every aspect of the two systems.” The report further elaborates: “From their first day in kindergarten until they reach university, Palestinian Arab and Jewish children almost always attend separate schools. Palestinian Arab children are taught in Arabic, Jewish children in Hebrew. The two systems’ curricula are similar but not identical. For example, Hebrew is taught as a second language in Arab schools, while Jewish students are not required to study Arabic.”

The first steps in establishing this psychological and social strategy, aimed at turning Israelis into people who view Palestinians with racist superiority, involve institutionalizing apartheid in education.

Palestinian Arab children are forced to learn both Arabic and Hebrew, while Jewish children learn only Hebrew. This cultural integration does not go one way. Not teaching Arabic to Jewish children strips them of the ability to see the scene through Palestinian Arab eyes, criticize Zionist ideology, and exchange feelings and opinions equally.

This weakens their human empathy and finding common ground against a common enemy, where the contradiction between “Palestinian” and “Israeli” remains. This instead could transform into a contradiction between a landowner and another who could support him against the apartheid and occupation state, which robs the first of his life, land, and human dignity, and the second of his humanity and ability to criticize the racist Zionist ideology.

In addition to the education system, many Jewish children, of various ages, are subjected to “brainwashing” through extreme right-wing media, publications, and daily advertisements. However, families play the most crucial role in maintaining the cohesion of Israeli settler society. They form the fundamental unit for recruitment, especially in tight-knit and conservative communities where Jewish children are taught to view Palestinian Arabs with enmity.

In areas where social relations and lifestyles vary, and Jews and Arabs “coexist” in one way or another, building friendships and social relationships due to economic cooperation and production, personal beliefs play a modest role in influencing the views of Jewish families and their children towards Palestinian Arabs. While racial hatred continues in different forms, it manifests less intensely in many closed and isolated settlements.

As long as the Israeli individual does not fully assimilate into the broader community ready to obey higher orders and conform to the prevailing culture without any criticism, they maintain a margin of the ability for human empathy and communication with Palestinian Arabs. This simple margin of freedom of thought in some areas is what the extreme right-wing Israeli camp today seeks to eliminate.

Israelis are forced to join the army upon reaching 18, as conscription is mandatory and considered a cornerstone of the upbringing and training strategy. An individual is not considered truly Israeli in the eyes of the state if they are not capable of using weapons and following orders. Mandatory conscription includes all Jews, including Haredim who refuse conscription for religious reasons (A recent decision by the Israeli Supreme Court ruled to end their exemption from military service and ordered the immediate conscription of 3,000 students) , in addition to Druze and Circassians. However, Palestinian Arabs are completely excluded, allowed only to volunteer (most Arab volunteers are Bedouin).

This exclusion is portrayed as a privilege for Arabs, but it is actually to avoid conflicting loyalties and instances of rebellion.

New recruits undergo intensive training and “psychological programming” to become ready to participate in killing, coinciding with the escalating extreme right-wing rhetoric from Israeli politicians. Starting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu comparing Palestinian Arabs to the Amalekites, implying that they should be killed and exterminated because they pose an existential threat to Jews, to the call of the leader of the “Jewish Leadership” faction (one of the most conservative of currents in the Likud), Moshe Feiglin, to completely destroy the Gaza Strip, in addition to calls to expel all the residents of the strip and turn it into a huge tourist resort complex. These are in addition to calls for the displacement of all residents of the Gaza Strip and its transformation into a massive resort complex (the most brazen of which came from Daniella Weiss, a far-right activist in the Israeli Orthodox Zionist settlement movement), or calls to use nuclear weapons in the Gaza Strip, rendering it a place “where no one can live.” The most prominent of these calls came from the far-right Israeli Heritage Minister Amihai Eliyahu (who was subsequently barred from attending Israeli government meetings following this statement), along with a call from U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina to bomb Gaza with a nuclear weapon, akin to how the United States ended World War II by bombing the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with atomic bombs. There were also explicit and public calls to commit war crimes against the residents of the Gaza Strip and to intensify the supply blockade on it. The most notable of these calls came from Israeli Knesset Deputy Speaker Nissim Vaturi, who did not hesitate to reaffirm his calls to “burn Gaza” and “kill everyone who does not leave northern Gaza,” despite the significant global outrage that these statements provoked.

Alongside all this incitement, political, military, and legal authorities provide protection for soldiers and officers, absolving them of responsibility regardless of the individual and collective crimes they commit on the “battlefield,” even if they go so far as to film their violations against Palestinian property themselves and publish them on their personal pages.

These violations could not reach this level of brazenness without the collapse of all moral barriers due to the systematic normalization of the Israeli army with the culture of violence against Palestinian Arabs.

This reality is contrasted with a bright picture of gender equality, individual freedom, and moral superiority of the soldiers that Israel tries to sell to the West. Journalists and Western officers enthusiastically repeat the phrase “the Israeli army is the most moral army in the world” (Perhaps the former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, Colonel Richard Kemp, is the most brazen and foolish in repeating Israeli war propaganda), relying on misleading information that completely contradicts the information provided by international human rights organizations about what this army commits that “can amount to genocide.”
A Compelling Comparison: Nazism and the Zionist Movement

Israel has not only ignored international laws but has openly declared war on the United Nations, starting from not recognizing its resolutions (not just ignoring their implementation) to threatening its employees, mistreating them, and targeting its centers with bombardment. According to the UNRWA Situation Report No. 114, dated June 21, 2024, 193 agency workers and employees have been killed, and 187 of its facilities have been partially or totally destroyed since October 7, 2023.

Israel’s actions bear a striking resemblance to Nazi behavior in their disregard for the international community. Israel acts with narcissism and manipulation to achieve its interests, making its future withdrawal from international bodies likely. Interestingly, the first foreign policy move made by Adolf Hitler after the Nazis came to power was withdrawing from the League of Nations on October 19, 1933.

Ironically, the concept of “genocide” was first established by Polish Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin. He began writing on the subject by documenting the Ottoman genocide of Armenians (1915) and advocating for international laws to prosecute its perpetrators. He then documented the Iraqi genocide against the Assyrian minority in northern Iraq (Simele massacres, 1933) years before the Nazi genocide of Jews (1941).

The Nazis killed Lemkin’s family during the Holocaust, prompting him to flee to the United States where he continued his work and led lobbying campaigns for laws to prosecute those accused of genocide. His efforts led to the United Nations adopting the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in 1948. Were Lemkin alive today, he would undoubtedly accuse Israel of committing genocide and lead international lobbying campaigns to punish it.

German-American Jewish philosopher Hannah Arendt explored the similarities between the atrocities committed by the Nazis and those committed by the Zionists, as well as the similarities between Nazi and Zionist ideologies. Some Zionist thinkers even labeled her a “self-hating Jew” for her views. Her 1963 book “Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil” was influenced by her attendance at Adolf Eichmann’s trial in occupied Jerusalem.

Eichmann, one of the Nazi leaders who organized the Holocaust, was kidnapped by Israeli Mossad agents from a suburb of Buenos Aires on May 11, 1960.

In her book, Arendt mentions that Eichmann’s superior in the SS, von Mildenstein, asked him to read Theodor Herzl’s “The Jewish State.” At the time, Eichmann was a simple and naive man who was so impressed by Herzl’s ideas that the book “instantly and forever turned him into a Zionist,” as Arendt notes (Chapter 3, page 23).

Eichmann expressed great respect for Zionist Jews exclusively, considering them “ideal” Jews who matched his Nazi criteria for the perfect human (Chapter 4, page 30). He viewed other Jews as “rabble” or a Jewish mob (Chapter 3, page 25).

Arendt also attempts to debunk the Zionist movement’s claim that the only resistance to the Nazis was Zionist resistance. Despite the modesty of the resistance at that time against the Nazi might, these false claims represent a Zionist appropriation of Jewish history. She notes that “all Jewish organizations and parties played their part in the resistance, and thus the real distinction was not between Zionists and non-Zionists, but between organized and unorganized people” (Chapter 7, page 60).

Arendt repeatedly highlights the unique nature of the relationship between the Zionist movement and Nazi authorities. She states (translated directly from the book): “As it became clear that the Zionist officials in Hungary received greater privileges than the usual temporary immunity from arrest and deportation granted to members of the Jewish Council, Zionists were free to come and go as they pleased, exempted from wearing the yellow star, and obtained permits to visit concentration camps in Hungary. Shortly thereafter, Dr. Kastner, the original founder of the Relief and Rescue Committee, was able to travel around Nazi Germany without any identification papers proving he was Jewish” (Chapter 12, page 94).

Stanley Milgram’s Experiments: Do They Explain the Absolute Obedience of Israeli Soldiers to Their Commanders, Even in the Most Harsh and Testing Humanitarian Circumstances?

In 1961, social psychologist Stanley Milgram at Yale University conducted a study on the psychological impact of authority and obedience. This study involved 40 men aged between 20 and 50, from various professional backgrounds. The experiment required participants to “torture” a “person” in another room by administering electric shocks, increasing the voltage for each wrong answer up to 450 volts, which is double the strength of household current. The “victim” was actually an accomplice of Milgram’s, pretending to be in pain, and sometimes stopped responding, leading participants to believe they had lost consciousness or even died. Despite this, Milgram instructed participants to continue and administer more shocks. Although they hesitated momentarily, most of them (two-thirds) reached the maximum voltage of 450 volts and repeated its use multiple times after being informed that they would not bear legal responsibility if the “victim” died or suffered any harm. The removal of legal responsibility was enough for them to give themselves the “right” to commit the act, despite their initial opposition and feelings of sorrow and guilt.

Milgram’s observations from the study reveal the following:

“The experiment yielded two surprising outcomes. The first outcome relates to the absolute power of obedient tendencies manifested in this situation. Participants learned from childhood that it is a fundamental violation of moral conduct to harm another person against their will. However, 26 of them abandoned this principle, following the instructions of a person who had no special authority to enforce his orders. Disobedience to these orders would not have brought any material loss to them; there would have been no punishment. It is clear from the observations and the external behavior of many participants that, by punishing the victim, they often acted contrary to their own values. Participants often expressed deep reluctance to administer electric shocks to the man in response to his objections. Others condemned it as stupid and meaningless, yet the majority complied with the experimenter’s orders.”

Milgram continues:

“The second unexpected effect was the extraordinary tension generated by the procedures. One might assume that the actor would simply stop or continue as their conscience dictates. However, this is far from what happened. There were astounding reactions of tension and emotional stress.”

Milgram conducted this study after being influenced by Adolf Eichmann’s trial, where Eichmann, on his way to the gallows, was calm and convinced of the correctness of his crimes. Just moments before his death, he said: “I tried to comply with the laws of war and the flag of my country.” In the United Press International archives dated June 1, 1962, one day after his execution by hanging, Eichmann claimed at his trial that “he was merely a small cog in the Nazi machine.” In his final plea for mercy, he blamed the massacre on “other Nazi leaders whose identities he did not disclose.”

How many Adolf Eichmanns, convinced that they are “merely small cogs in the Zionist machine,” exist among Israeli leaders and officers today, fully convinced that they bear no responsibility for the decisions and orders they execute without accountability?
A Long History of Dehumanizing Arabs and Palestinians

In a 2006 article by Bhoniapria Dasgupta titled “Israel’s Foes as Beasts and Insects,” Dasgupta wrote: “Immediately after the 1967 war Robin Maxwell-Hyslop, a British Conservative, recounted in the House of Commons a conversation he had with David Hacohen, one-time Israeli ambassador to Burma. As related by Maxwell-Hyslop, Hacohen “spoke with great intemperance and at great length about the Arabs. When he drew breath I was constrained to say: “Dr Hacohen, I am profoundly shocked that you should speak of other human beings in terms similar to those in which Julius Streicher [notorious Nazi propagandist] spoke of the Jews. Have you learned nothing?” I shall remember his reply to my dying day. He smote the table with both hands and said: “But they are not human beings, they are not people, they are Arabs”.” One of the many things Israeli spokesmen seem incapable of realizing is that abuse is no substitute for reason. Israel has amassed much military prowess but remains very poor in logic.”

In 2013, Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Eli Ben-Dahan made a similar statement in a radio interview, bluntly saying: “To me, Palestinians are like animals, not humans.” There are many similar examples between 1967 and 2013, and even before and after those years.

Therefore, the statements by Israeli officials that dehumanize Palestinian Arabs and aim to establish an “animalistic” stereotype against them are not new. They did not come as a spontaneous reaction to the events of October 7, as in the case of Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s statement two days later, describing the people of Gaza as “human animals” and announcing a total blockade of the sector, preventing electricity, water, and energy materials from entering. Rather, this is a historically systematic and adopted rhetoric, part of a comprehensive strategy where apartheid is just one aspect.
The Prevailing Narratives: Zionist and Islamist Extremism

The Israeli narrative labels Palestinian children as “terrorists” simply because their birth in a particular place in this world forces them to grow up in violent and oppressive conditions. Many will inevitably become rebellious against the violence and oppression that haunt them from cradle to grave. This narrative thus legitimizes the killing of children and the occupation and destruction of property by soldiers and settlers without punishment or even the need for guilt or conscience because these children are future “terrorists” and “human monsters.” In the Zionist narrative, the Palestinian is inherently “savage,” while Israel represents a paradise of culture, democracy, and humanity.

However, this dehumanizing narrative is mirrored by an extremist Islamic narrative, different in form but essentially identical in essence. It views any Israeli as a killer and a criminal, justifying retribution even against a child who has not yet developed language and communication skills, or an ally of the Palestinian cause, or someone refusing to fight against Palestinians, or someone advocating for the dismantling of the Zionist state from advanced intellectual, political, and humanitarian positions.

In both narratives, the human intellect is replaced by genuine barbaric emotions and thoughts, forming a step towards genocide, as is happening right now and has been for months. One of the prerequisites for such a major crime is stripping the “other” of their humanity and considering them a different kind of being undeserving of life. However, the fundamental condition for genocide, alongside other remaining conditions and factors, is possessing the capabilities and resources—both material and human—and the ability to plan and execute mass and indiscriminate killings, in addition to political cover. This is exactly what the Zionists have, and what the fundamentalist Islamic currents lack.

The translation is clear and well-structured, making it easy to read and understand. Here’s a slightly refined version for improved flow:

The Possibility of Separating the Future of the “Israeli Human” from the Zionist Movement

Many opinions suggest that the Zionist movement and the Nazi regime achieved mutual goals: the former by occupying Palestine and the latter through the genocide of European Jews. This argument follows an increasing context of incitement in Israeli society and acts of genocide in Gaza. Amid escalating incitement in Israeli society and the continuation of genocidal acts, especially after the complete destruction of the Rafah crossing—the only breathing space for the Gaza Strip—and the deeper infiltration of the far-right into the body of the Israeli state, which is witnessing a profound transformation towards fascism, resulting in security repercussions and explosions in the West Bank and Jerusalem, the “Israeli human” will eventually find themselves facing three options:

The first option is to engage in the vicious cycle of violence from a reactionary position, actively fueling the rising fascist trajectory, which will only result in more atrocities and horrors that could affect the entire region, not just Palestinians and Israelis.

The second option is a personal solution: seeking a safe haven far from the burning region. This is the weakest option amidst the dominance of far-right forces and holds little value as it reinforces their control and the fascist direction of the state, which will face little internal resistance.

The third and final option is for larger Israeli masses to be convinced of the failure of the “Zionist experiment” and the necessity of a joint struggle with Palestinians to dismantle the Zionist state, trampling its barren ideology, which in its essence rejects any “other,” akin to Nazism and fundamentalist Islam. This would ensure the Arab Palestinians’ right of return to their land and all their human and historical rights, while also averting a new “Holocaust” for Jews who grow more extremist in the wrong direction, as the far-right Zionist movement exploits the historical crime to instill fear in them.

The rising anti-Zionist Jewish voice in the West to its highest level is a tangible beginning of a real, long, and complex path that could, in the future, lead to the Israeli society splitting into two conflicting blocs over the viability of continuing the current model, whether this future is near or far. Subsequently, the rise of the Islamic and Arab voice opposing the Zionist state will not be far off. This voice will simultaneously denounce fundamentalist Islam, which has hollowed out the Palestinian cause from its humanitarian foundation and real dimension, turning it into a rigid defense of religious sanctities on one hand and random, empty incitement against the “infidel nation” on the other.


Published on 01.07.2024


WOMAN, LIFE, FREEDOM

Rohilat Muslim: The woman, strengthened by the revolution, defends herself


Rohilat Muslim from Rojava was displaced twice due to Turkish attacks. She talks about her personal development, the importance of education and the changes after the revolution.


NÛJIYAN ADAR
QAMISHLO
Saturday, 6 July 2024,



Rohilat Muslim is 24 years old. She spent half of her life under the Baath regime, the other half in the Rojava revolution. Due to the attacks of the Turkish state on Kobanê, she had to flee Kobanê, where she was born and grew up, at the age of 14.

Rohilat Muslim stayed in North Kurdistan for a while and finally settled in Serêkaniyê. She was forced to leave the city after Turkey invaded it in 2019, and had to flee to Girkê Legê. In this ANF interview, she spoke about the struggle for survival and the importance of self-defense.

Rohilat Muslim talked about how she was shaped by war and oppression: "I am a young woman and have lived in several different societies in the short 24 years of my life. This has shaped my personality in many ways. Our lives in Kobanê, in Bakurê-Kurdistan, in Serêkaniyê and finally, in Girkê-Legê were different. The country, the city, the community and the village in which you live all have an influence on your personality.

Of course, I have taken characteristics from every place I have lived. This even applies to the language we speak and the clothes we wear. Living in a family that is subject to a nomadic life due to occupation and displacement inevitably leads to the development of an unstable personality and problems adjusting. I have not lived in one place for long. My memories and my life have always been torn down anew. By attending the Mesopotamia Academy in 2017, I was able to overcome the contradictions and chaos in my personality because I analyzed the reality of the enemy and the occupation, as well as my personality, and got to know the philosophy of Rêber Apo [Abdullah Öcalan] in more detail."

"The Baath regime also captured our minds"


When she was twelve years old, the Rojava Revolution began. Rohilat Muslim described life before that as follows: "We studied in the regime's schools. The first 12 years of my life were very different from the following. The Baath regime used every subject for its interests. It tried to create its own society. Even when we were asked to paint a picture, the first thing that came to our minds was to draw the flag of the Baath regime. It was a situation that had become entrenched in our mentality, our minds were trapped.

We grew up with the mentality of the state. We never traveled back and forth. The only ones who left the house were the men, and that was only to ensure their financial existence. I could not understand how women were locked up at home. I was young, but there were also women who were older. They, too, could not leave the house. It was a life that was forced into molds. I could never have imagined that one day I would live my life freely."



Moved by revolutionary songs


Muslim remembers that the first thing she noticed about the revolution were the songs. She said: "I thought a lot about why these songs are sung, what these songs are about. After a while, I realized that they were about us. These songs made me feel the spirit of the revolution to my bones. Of course, the beginning of teaching in the mother tongue and the opening of institutes and academies also caught my attention."

"Those who do not know history cannot build a future"


Rohilat Muslim, from the Faculty of History at Rojava University, said: "A person who does not know his history cannot know himself and cannot build his future. My goal is to delve into historical truth. The developments in history have a direct impact on the present. I chose the history department to build a future on a stable basis."

"Awareness is a prerequisite for self-defense"


Rohilat Muslim has been working in the education committee of the Kongra Star women's movement since 2018. She recalled: "I have been participating in educational activities for about seven years, two years in Serêkaniyê, one year in Girkê Legê and four years in Qamişlo. I am very interested in educational activities.

I love participating in this work. Educating women and society requires voluntary work. Education, which can also be considered as love, self-defense and growth, is an absolute necessity for a sustainable life. Through education, we can improve our self-defense and educate ourselves. The basis of self-defense is the guarantee of intellectual freedom.

A woman and a society that are not free in thought cannot realize their self-defense. The enemy, with its permanent special war policy, tries to involve women in prostitution, spying and drug use. In this perfidious war policy, many methods are used to humiliate women. The policy directed against women is directed against society. Education and awareness-raising are a must so that women do not fall into these traps."

















WAR IS ECOCIDE
Ecologists in fire-devastated area: Those who destroy our nature must be held accountable

Environmental activists from Kurdistan and Turkey have made serious accusations against the Turkish government and the state electricity company during a visit to the fire area between Mardin and Amed.


ANF
AMED
Wednesday, 26 June 2024, 

Environmental activists from Kurdistan and Turkey have made serious accusations against the Turkish government and the state electricity company during a visit to the fire area between the provinces of Mardin (Mêrdîn) and Diyarbakir (Amed). 15 people were killed in the wildfire that broke out on Thursday evening in the districts of Mazıdağı (Şemrex) and Çınar (Xana Axpar) due to a short circuit on an electricity pole. The environmental activists first visited the village of Kelekê, which has recorded the most fatalities, and then Tobinî, where the fire broke out and two villagers died.

"The perpetrators are known, those responsible must pay"

Gökhan Saran, co-spokesperson for the Mesopotamia Ecology Movement, said in Tobinî that the fire had escalated into a catastrophe due to a whole series of mistakes, and has caused 15 dead and 78 injured, and hundreds of thousands of living beings burned in an area of ​​over 5,000 hectares. The profit-obsessed electricity company DEDAŞ and the government, which had not intervened in any way to stop the fire, were responsible for this. Saran said the fire disaster was part of the 'scorched earth policy’ that has been used to depopulate Kurdistan and destroy the ecosystem since the 1990s. Saran said: "It is now crucial that we wage a global ecological struggle that knows no borders in the face of a government that is destroying the balance of nature and society in every way, from plundering nature to dominating society."

Melis Tantan, co-spokesperson of the DEM Committee on Ecology and Agriculture, called for the region to be declared a disaster area and said the government had ignored the request of the DEM-ruled municipalities for firefighting helicopters. Helicopters were not deployed in the area, which is difficult for vehicles to access, until Friday morning, when the fire was already under control.

"The governor deleted footage"

Villager Hanifi Buğdaycı said the power lines had not been maintained for years, adding: "We submitted petitions, but no one took care of the lines. The fire has taken 15 people, our animals have died, our livelihoods have turned to ashes and our pain is great. The authorities have claimed, without any investigation, that the cause of the fire was a stubble field. However, the cause was the power lines. We have eyewitnesses to this. They filmed the lines catching fire. The governor of Diyarbakır came to the village for a condolence visit and deleted the recordings from their phones."

The environmentalists announced that they would summarize and publish their observations in a report in the coming days.
Turkish army burns villages in South Kurdistan

As a result of the bombardment by the Turkish forces stationed in Girê Amediyê, a fire broke out in the villages on the slopes of Garê mountain. The local people who want to extinguish the fire that spread to their vineyards and gardens are prevented.


KURTAY SERHAT
BEHDINAN
Friday, 5 July 2024

The attacks of the occupying Turkish army, which have intensified in recent days, target not only the guerrilla areas but the whole of southern Kurdistan (northern Iraq).

While the villages of Dergelê, Bazê and Mîska in the Metîna region ended up on fire after the bombardments carried out by the occupying Turkish army, now fires have started in the villages of Mijê, Kevne Mijê and Spîndarê on the slopes of the Garê mountain.

The fire started by the bombardment of the Turkish troops stationed in Girê Amediyê in the morning continued to rage throughout the day, spreading to vineyards, gardens and villages.

The local people, who want to prevent the fires from growing further, are prevented by the KDP authorities and are not allowed to intervene in the flames.

Turkey has massively expanded its occupation operation in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq in recent weeks and is preparing its long-announced "summer offensive" against the Kurdish guerrillas. Massive troop concentrations have been taking place for days. Troops are being increased and tanks are being deployed in and around Amadiya in particular.

Amid the silence of Baghdad and Erbil, Turkish forces set up checkpoints and started performing identity checks in Duhok, while forcibly evacuating many villages.

In a statement on 3 July, the KCK (Kurdistan Communities Union) Foreign Relations Committee reported that the Turkish state is deploying ISIS mercenaries into the areas it seeks to occupy in southern Kurdistan, in addition to the village guards and Roj mercenaries.

“The international public should be aware of this as well; these ISIS gangs, who are currently fighting the Kurdistan freedom guerrillas, are poised to be a plague on humanity; like a ticking bomb, they will cause great harm. A solid reaction must be mounted against the Turkish state’s invasion of Iraq and southern Kurdistan and the deployment of these fascist ISIS gangs,” KCK said.


Autonomous Administration in Shehba calls on people to protest Turkish invasion

Afrin and Shehba Canton Autonomous Administration called on them to fight against treason and occupation, saying, "The occupying Turkish state is increasing its attacks on the Kurdistan mountains and Syrian lands in cooperation with the KDP."



ANF
SHEHBA
Saturday, 6 July 2024

Afrin and Shehba Canton Autonomous Administration made a statement about the Turkish state's attacks on South Kurdistan and Northern and Eastern Syria and the cooperation of KDP forces with the Turkish state.

Executives of the institutions affiliated with the Autonomous Administration and citizens in the camp attended the statement made in Serdem Camp. The statement was read in Arabic by canton council member Necî Selemê and in Kurdish by Rizgar Lolo.

The statement said that the KDP offered its collaboration to the Turkish state on the basis of hostility towards Kurds, and added: "The occupying Turkish state, with the cooperation of the KDP, is increasing its attacks on the mountains of Kurdistan and Syrian lands. We urge the Kurdish people not to surrender to the betrayal of the KDP and to resist treason." We call on you to fight.”

South Kurdistan Women's Initiative protests Turkish state's attacks on the nature of Kurdistan

The South Kurdistan Women's Initiative protested the Turkish state's attacks on the nature of Kurdistan and said in a statement that "there are no natural disasters in Kurdistan, there are Turkish state disasters".


ANF
NEWS DESK
Sunday, 23 June 2024

The South Kurdistan Women's Initiative issued a written statement regarding the recent fires and ecocide attacks in North Kurdistan.

The initiative expressed its condolences to those who lost their lives in the fires in Amed and Mardin, and added: "The invading Turkish state is not only destroying our culture and language, but is also decimating our environment. There is no natural disaster in Kurdistan, the real disaster is what the Turkish state has done. They are making our lands unusable by cutting down trees and using chemical weapons. They are destroying our nature by bombing our mountains and villages. Now they are burning our forests. This is a conscious policy developed by the Turkish state."

Calling on the Kurdish people to further strengthen their stance against plunder, the Women’s Initiative said: "The Turkish state does not help the Kurdish people in any way. The fires in Kurdistan are an act to destroy our lands. Our people must unite against the invading Turkish state and take a strong stance against this oppression. We should not remain silent in the face of the crimes committed by the Turkish state in Kurdistan."
Syrians in Turkey Left to Fend for Themselves Against Discriminatory Crimes


Extrajudicial killings of Syrians during recent incidents in some Turkish cities are considered a form of “hate sentiment.” The responsibility for this hatred is shared between opposition parties and the government, which turns a blind eye and delays in containing the situation.

For many Syrians, coming to terms with the idea that racial incidents against them in Turkey are normal and recurring is just as dangerous as some Turks accepting the notion that attacking Syrians does not necessarily carry legal consequences. This is the deadly equation.

Speaking of legal consequences, a recently created Telegram channel by extremists and racists hostile to Syrians leaked the personal data of more than 2.5 million Syrians. This data included full names, Turkish ID numbers, and residential addresses, exposing millions to danger as racism reaches unprecedented levels.

The question here is: If this data exists solely in the records of the Turkish Ministry of Interior, how was it leaked into the hands of a group of Turkish racists?

Following the racially charged events in Kayseri, which resulted in the vandalism and burning of Syrian properties and physically assaulting individuals, came the news of a young Syrian man being killed by a group of Turks in Antalya. This was followed by an attack on a Syrian family in Istanbul.

The Turkish Minister of Interior announced the arrest of 474 individuals in connection with the violence in Kayseri, 285 of whom have criminal records for various offenses. This means that more than half of the attackers are repeat offenders, a fact that has become almost expected following most hate incidents in Turkey.

The minister’s surprising statement was his call for the residents of Kayseri to remain calm, act with moderation, and avoid provocations, without his statement including any threat of legal consequences for the perpetrators of hate crimes.

Extrajudicial killings of Syrians during recent incidents in some Turkish cities are considered a form of “hate sentiment.” The responsibility for this hatred is shared between opposition parties and the government, which turns a blind eye and delays in containing the situation. It is well known that Turkish domestic politics and competition between various secular, nationalist, and religious parties have primarily relied on stoking sentiments against Syrians. Although the period after the local elections and before the presidential elections saw a decrease in inciting politicians’ voices, the events in Kayseri have brought the Syrian presence in Turkey back to the forefront.

The impact of racist incidents against Syrians has become evident in most cities, with streets almost devoid of them, many closing their businesses, and their fear increasing after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan gave the Ministry of Interior the task of deporting illegal immigrants. Under this directive, thousands of Syrians have been deported, with human rights organizations documenting many forced, not voluntary, deportations. The Presidential Communications Directorate has even issued daily bulletins on the number of “voluntary returnees” to northern Syria, seemingly to appease the Turkish public.

A large part of Turkish society is known for being conservative, respecting customs, traditions, and religious laws, and not tolerating harassment or sexual assault. In similar Turkish incidents, the harasser is punished by angry citizens through beating, but never has an entire neighborhood collectively attacked another neighborhood because of the perpetrator’s background. Nor have there been extrajudicial executions or looting of shops. Usually, the state intervenes quickly and decisively. However, what happened in Kayseri was different. After a tweet on the X platform about a Syrian assailant, and before the truth could be revealed, angry mobs reacted with retaliatory violence against anyone suspected of being Syrian. This violence quickly spread to cities like Bursa, Hatay, Reyhanlı, Adana, Gaziantep, Antalya, and others. People took the opportunity to express their hatred toward foreigners and refugees. This reaction cannot be understood as mere limited hostility toward refugees due to their inappropriate behavior or cultural differences. Rather, it can be explained by the fact that right-wing nationalist movements exploited the severe economic problems, currency collapse, and near-total loss of confidence in the government’s ability to improve the economy, directing society’s anger toward migrants and blaming them for the deteriorating situation.

In a country deeply divided politically, it was not difficult for politicians to deepen the discourse of hatred, all for narrow political gains to expand their popular base. They ignored the fact that the results of hate speech in Turkish society are spiraling out of control and becoming increasingly difficult to manage.

In summary, everyone is complicit in promoting hate speech. This discourse has even been adapted to align with state language, and perhaps for this reason, state officials have used similar language to calm the mobs who have become sensitive and have started carrying out extrajudicial executions in Kayseri.

“We have seen your reaction. We understand you. We received your message. (…) Please take your families and go home. We will do what is necessary, I promise.”

These were the words of a high-ranking Turkish official speaking from Kayseri. The truly surprising statement was his comment, “The child who was harassed is not Turkish,” meant to calm the people. In other words, he used language that indicated there was no need for anger because the child was not “one of us.” This actually provides much insight into how “racism” is legitimized, or at least how it suggests that the victim does not deserve sympathy unless they are “one of us.”

The words of Atatürk, “beloved and revered by the Turks,” that “humanity is one body, and each nation is a part of that body, and we must never say what does it matter to me if a part of the world is sick,” seem irrelevant in Turkey today. Racism in Turkey currently appears to rely on excluding Syrians even from Atatürk’s words, as if humanity must be without Syrians for this saying to hold true.

El Erec: If all Syrians are united, Turkey cannot do anything

The Secretary General of the Syrian Democratic National Alliance Party, Ehmed El Erec, said that if all Syrians are united, the occupying Turkish state will not be able to do anything in the region.


ANF
NEWS DESK
Friday, 5 July 2024

The Secretary General of the Syrian Democratic National Alliance Party, Ehmed El Erec, spoke to ANHA about the protests in the occupied territories, the plans of the occupying Turkish state and the developments in Syria.

Stating that the war between Israel and Hamas, the conflicts between Israel and Iran-Hezbollah and the war between Russia and Ukraine have also affected the occupied territories in Syria, Ehmed El Erec said that the Turkish state, taking advantage of these developments in the world, occupied the region and changed its demography.

Pointing out that the policy of the Turkish state is to weaken the power of the peoples, especially the people of Syria and Iraq, by taking advantage of the conflicts, Ehmed El Erec continued: "Erdoğan is trying to realise his dream of Misak-i Milli [The so-called ‘National Pact’ refers to a political declaration made by the leaders of the Ottoman Empire in 1920 during the First World War. The oath defined the territorial borders – including Kurdish settlement areas in present-day Iraq and Syria – and the basic principles for Turkey’s future policy. Today, Turkish nationalists often refer to the ‘National Pact’ to formulate their aspirations for Turkey’s territorial expansion]. The attacks on South Kurdistan and North-East Syria are carried out within this framework. Erdoğan is also intervening in some Arab and African countries, threatening the security of the peoples. In order to do all this, the Turkish state openly supports gangs and uses them as a tool to realise its plans."

Ehmed El Erec said that the Turkish state has made Afrin a tragic place for the people due to its crimes against women, children, nature and settlements.

Ehmed El Erec pointed out that the Turkish regime uses political Islam to turn people against each other and fuels wars to maintain its existence. He added: "The Entente, the Syrians in the ENKS and all Syrians are now aware of Turkey's policies."

Emphasising the cooperation of some Arab states with the occupying Turkish state, Ehmed El Erec said: "We demand that Arab states, especially Qatar and Kuwait, stop supporting the fascist Turkish regime and end their policies, especially against the Syrian people. As Syrians, we do not want enmity with the peoples in the region."

Stating that there is a secret war between Turkey and Iran over Aleppo and that Turkey's desire to occupy Aleppo remains, Ehmed El Erec said, "The solution to the conflicts in Syria is through the unity of the Syrian people, dialogue and a national congress in Syria. First of all, we must build our unity, prepare a new Syrian Constitution that will protect the honour of all Syrians and solve the problems arising from the war. Turkey cannot do anything when all Syrians are united. The decision for a political solution in Syria is in the hands of Syrians. I believe that the new year will bring many surprises for the Syrians."
Erdoğan continues to dig graves for Kurds

The recent changes in Syria's political attitude are associated with the US withdrawal from Syria. Turkey's strategies and the attitude of the Assad administration are among the important factors that will determine future developments in the region.



ZEKİ BEDRAN
NEWS DESK
Thursday, 4 July 2024,

Developments in the Middle East are at a level that excites observers. Contradictions, conflicts and searches are never ending. The Middle East has turned into a ball of contradictions and conflicts, but those who know the history of the region say that two fundamental problems play an effective role in these conflicts. These are the Palestinian question and the Kurdistan question. Kurdistan was divided between four states after World War I. After World War II, the state of Israel was established, and the Palestinians were largely expelled from their lands. Of course, Palestine and Kurdistan were brought to this state with the help and support of the imperialist powers.

As the first nation state to be established, Turkey pioneered the eradication and assimilation of the Kurdish people. The Turkish model was later adopted by Iran, Iraq and Syria. These four states have always been united when it came to the Kurds and have acted like seeking to destroy them. The status of Kurdistan, or rather its statusless state, has become a world system. Especially after Turkey joined NATO, this statusless state has deepened.

Turkey and the Kurdish policy


The Turkish state is playing the most influential role in the region and in the world to ensure that the Kurds remain without status. When demonstrations broke out in Syria in 2011, the Erdoğan administration immediately opened its borders and mobilised for the overthrow of the Bashar al-Assad government. The reason for such a quick action was again the Kurds. He assumed that Bashar's regime would fall. He immediately took a position in case the Kurds could take advantage of this situation and gain a status. Erdoğan thought, "Bashar will not last anyway, he will go like Gaddafi and others, and I will kill more than one bird with one stone". By supporting the Ikhwanis, he would have a large population in Syria and establish influence in the Middle East. He was dreaming of the Ottoman Empire and making expansionist calculations. He wanted to utilise the opportunity.

However, their calculations failed. Both the Kurds and the Assad administration resisted. The Kurds repelled ISIS and defeated ISIS together with the international coalition. The Assad government survived with the support of Iran and Russia. However, Erdoğan's calculations dragged Syria into a bloody maelstrom. Hundreds of thousands of people lost their lives and millions were forced to migrate. Syria, as a heavily wounded country, is still in the throes of it. Erdoğan, together with his racist partner MHP, continues to organise and plan evil.

Erdoğan's plans did not work out, and he reversed himself on many issues. He ended up begging Israel and prostrating himself before Arab states. But he did not give up his enmity against the Kurds and did not stop attacking them. He again conducted his negotiations with the US and European powers over the Kurds. It is the same in his relations with Russia. To summarize, he negotiates with the whole world over Kurdish enmity and tries to get support.

Erdoğan and the Syria policy

Erdoğan has been saying for some time that he also wants to normalise relations with Syria. For this, he had put Russia into play. The Putin administration was also having difficulties with the war it found itself in and the embargo. Previously, he had collaborated with Turkey, especially on the occupation of Afrin. They were accustomed to oppressing peoples for their own interests and to sell them off to each other. Despite Russia's attempts, Bashar al-Assad did not meet Erdoğan. He rightly said, "If I sat at the table with him, I would be endorsing his occupation in Syria". As a condition for a meeting, he suggested that Turkey withdraw its troops from Syria. However, his latest statement is different. He made this statement after Putin's special envoy's visit to Damascus. He said that they could normalise their relations with Turkey.

Syria’s change of attitude

Why did Syria change its attitude? This is an important issue that requires discussion. It needs to be monitored and researched. There will be elections in the US soon and there is a possibility that Trump will be re-elected. In that case, the US may withdraw from Syria and Turkey will be left alone as an occupier. Turkey actually does not want the US to leave Syria. All Erdoğan's pressure and criticism of the US are only about the Kurds. As long as the US is there, it will take time to crush and disperse the Kurds. The conjuncture may change, and a Kurdish status may emerge. He says to the US, "Leave the YPG and SDF and let me do what you want".

Should the US get out, Erdoğan would end up saying, "We will crush the Kurds, fine, but then I cannot stay in Syria. As Syria gets stronger, it will provoke Arab nationalism and make me unable to stay there. I cannot protect Idlib and al-Nusra etc. as I do now". As a matter of fact, he has no problem with selling these forces. In the end, if things don't go as planned, he could sell them too and get out of Syria. His main concern is primarily to finish off the Kurds and change the demographic structure on their borders.

Why did Bashar al-Assad change his attitude? His attitude is also related to these developments. "If the US withdraws, it will be easier for us to move on the Kurdish regions together with Turkey. I will seize the oil regions, etc. After the Kurds are finished, we will have no difficulty in coming to an agreement with the Turkish invaders," is his calculation.

It seems that there will be new mobilisations in the region!





















TURKIYE

Justice Ministry once again rejects Osman Kavala's request for retrial



ANF
ANKARA
Saturday, 6 July 2024,

Osman Kavala, one other Gezi Resstance prisoners, has seen his request for a retrial rejected once again by the Justice Ministry.

Kavala is a human rights defender and philanthropist. He was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole in 2022 on charges of attempting to overthrow the government during the 2013 Gezi Park protests.

Kavala had sought a retrial based on what his defense argued were significant procedural violations and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) rulings, which highlighted the arbitrary nature of his detention and called for his immediate release. Turkish courts have so far defied this decision.

The ministry’s General Directorate of Criminal Affairs dismissed the retrial request, saying that the decision of the Istanbul court was appropriate considering the context and evidence of the case. The court noted that the arguments for retrial had already been presented and dismissed during previous appeal processes, thus upholding the initial verdict.

Osman Kavala

Businessman and rights defender Osman Kavala was detained on 18 October 2017, in an investigation into the 2013 Gezi Park protests. He was arrested on 1 November and placed in the Marmara (Silivri) Prison.

He was accused of allegedly attempting to 'overthrow the government' in the context of the Gezi protests and 'the constitutional order' in the context of the July 15 coup attempt.

He was acquitted in the Gezi Trial on 18 February 2020. However, he was not released. On the day of his acquittal, he was re-arrested on charges of attempting to 'overthrow the constitutional order.’ On 9 March 2020, he was arrested again for the same trial, this time on charges of 'political or military espionage'.

The acquittal decision in the Gezi trial was overturned, and he was retried. On 25 April 2022, he was sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment for 'attempting to overthrow the government'. The appeals court upheld the decision.

Meanwhile, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), in its decision of 10 December 2019, said that Osman Kavala's detention was arbitrary and based on political motives, ruling that he should be released immediately. As this did not happen, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe initiated a 'violation procedure' against Turkey.

In its decision on 11 July 2022, the ECtHR Grand Chamber ruled that "[the decision of 10 December 2019] regarding Kavala, which found a violation of Article 5 in connection with Article 18 of the ECtHR, would render any action based on accusations related to the Gezi Park events and the coup attempt null and void."

The Turkish courts ignored and did not implement the legally binding nature of these two decisions.
Coral bleachings devastate Bali reefs as sea temperatures rise

Fish swim near recovering coral reefs after bleaching in late December 2023 due to extreme weather, in Bondalem village, Buleleng regency, Bali, Indonesia, June 20, 2024.

PUBLISHED JULY 05, 2024 

BONDALEM, Indonesia — Indonesian conservationist Nyoman Sugiarto has been working for 16 years to preserve coral on the reefs of Bali, but the frequency of mass coral bleachings he says is now devastating.

Ninety per cent of the corals Sugiarto had nurtured on the reefs near his village in Bondalem, in northern shore of Bali, lost their colour last December.

"It was all white. We were shocked and of course, it also negatively affected the coral we planted. It's not just the natural ones," 51-year-old Sugiarto told Reuters.

When Sugiarto began coral conservation projects in 2008 he was told that coral could retain the living algae which gives it colour for 10 to 20 years.

Yet, the coral reefs off Bondalem were bleached in less than 10 years, he says, blaming warmer sea temperatures triggered by climate change.

Coral bleaching occurs when coral expels the colourful algae living in its tissues. Without the algae the coral becomes pale and vulnerable to starvation, disease or death.


In April, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said more than 54 per cent of the reef areas in the world's oceans are experiencing bleaching-level heat stress, the fourth global bleaching event in the last three decades.

Indonesia has roughly 5.1 million hectares of coral reefs and accounts for 18 per cent of the world's total, data from the country's tourism ministry showed.

Coral bleaching in Bali in late 2023 was mainly caused by rising sea temperatures caused by the El Nino phenomenon that hit Indonesia, said Marthen Welly, a marine conservation adviser at the Coral Triangle Centre.

Indonesia experienced the most severe dry season last year since 2019 due to the El Nino.

While Indonesia's corals are more resilient and tend to recover faster, Marthen said it will not be enough to withstand the rising ocean temperature.

"It's predicted that the coral bleaching will occur more often, between one or two years with the current temperature," he said, quoting the latest research by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and the Australian Institute of Marine Science.

However, Sugiarto says he is determined to continue his campaign to conserve corals, and is advocating coral conservation to younger Indonesians and seeking funds to establish a village community to monitor illegal fishing.

"We feel that we have the obligation to guard the sustainability of underwater life especially corals," he said.



Divers turn conservationists as corals bleach worldwide

July 06, 2024 
By Agence France-Presse
This underwater photo taken on June 14, 2024 shows Black Turtle Dive conservation teacher Sandra Rubio (R) and her student Nannalin "Fleur" Pornprasertsom (L) surveying bleached corals around Koh Tao island in the southern Thai province of Surat Thani.

KOH TAO, THAILAND —

A diver glides over an expanse of bone-white coral branches, recording the fish that dart between the ghostly arms extending from the sea floor off the Thai island of Koh Tao.

Nannalin Pornprasertsom is one of a growing number of scuba divers learning conservation and citizen science techniques as coral reefs experience a fourth global bleaching event.

After a two-week course in Koh Tao, the 14-year-old can identify coral types, carry out reef restoration, and help scientific research on coral health by recording the color and tone of outcroppings at dive sites.

"It's just something that I can do that will have a good consequence for the environment," Nannalin, who has been diving since she was 12, told AFP after a series of dives.

"I want to help the reef."

And she is not alone.

This underwater photo taken on June 14, 2024 shows Black Turtle Dive conservation teacher Sandra Rubio (R) and her student Nannalin "Fleur" Pornprasertsom (L) conducting a coral survey around Koh Tao island in the southern Thai province of Surat Thani.

The Professional Association of Diving Instructors -- better known as PADI, one of the world's leading dive training organizations -- says conservation certifications jumped over six percent globally from 2021-2023.

This year, it is launching a major shark and ray census, harnessing its network of divers to collect data that will shape protection policies.

On Koh Tao, Black Turtle Dive offers courses on everything from how to properly "dive against debris" -- collecting marine plastic or stranded fishing nets -- to coral restoration techniques.

"There's an increased awareness," said Steve Minks, a certified conservation instructor at Black Turtle.

"There's a lot of bleaching going on and there's a lot of concern about the marine environment."

This underwater photo taken on June 14, 2024 shows bleached corals around Koh Tao island in the southern Thai province of Surat Thani.

Death spiral

Coral polyps are animals that depend on algae to provide most of their food. These algae also generally give the reef its color.

But when the sea is too warm, the polyps expel the algae. The reef turns white and the coral begins to starve.

Coral bleaching has been recorded in more than 60 countries since early 2023, threatening reefs that are key to ocean biodiversity and support fishing and tourism globally.

The death spiral is everywhere in the waters of the Gulf of Thailand around Koh Tao.

This aerial photo taken on June 15, 2024 shows Mae Head pier on Koh Tao island in the southern Thai province of Surat Thani.

Worst affected are branching species that grow quickly, but are also less resilient.

If water temperatures come down, they will have a chance at recovery. But for now, their spectral stems are even visible from the surface, glimmering through the aquamarine water.

"I was not ready for that much bleaching, it's quite an impact," admits instructor Sandra Rubio.

This photo taken on June 14, 2024 shows Black Turtle Dive conservation teacher Sandra Rubio (L) teaching coral conservation to her students in the Black Turtle Dive classroom in Koh Tao island in the southern Thai province of Surat Thani.

The 28-year-old says bleaching and other marine degradation are driving divers to take her conservation courses.

"People want to start learning because they see these kinds of changes," she told AFP.

"And even if they don't really understand why, they know it's not good."

She walks students through how to identify species, including soft coral. Wave at it, she explains, mimicking wiggling a hand in the water, and wait to see if it "waves back."

The skills taught at Black Turtle and other dive shops are not simply theoretical.

Artificial coral reefs are dotted around Koh Tao, actively rebuilding marine habitats.

This underwater photo shows Gavin Miller, the scientific program director from marine research center Global Reef, cleaning an artificial structure for coral planting around Koh Tao island in the southern Thai province of Surat Thani, June 16, 2024.

And Nannalin's data on coral health is part of Coral Watch -- a global citizen science project that has produced numerous research papers.

"What we're doing is collecting data for scientists so they can actually work with governments and authorities," explained Minks.

Black Turtle Dive conservation teacher Sandra Rubio holds a coral health chart used by citizen scientists to track the health of corals, in the Black Turtle Dive classroom in Koh Tao island in the southern Thai province of Surat Thani, June 14, 2024.

'Doing our best'

On a sunny afternoon on Koh Tao, a boat carries a starfish-shaped rebar structure designed by schoolchildren out to sea, where it will become Global Reef's latest coral restoration project.

Since it was founded two years ago, Global Reef has transplanted around 2,000 coral colonies, with a survival rate of about 75 percent, said Gavin Miller, the group's scientific program director.

"It's not really going to maybe save coral reefs globally... but what it does do is have a very, very large impact locally," he said.

"We have snappers returning. We have resident puffer fish."

This underwater photo taken on June 14, 2024 shows fish swimming over bleached corals around Koh Tao island in the southern Thai province of Surat Thani.

Global Reef also hosts interns who are training artificial intelligence programs to identify fish in 360-degree videos for reef health surveys, and collaborates regularly with the dive school next door.

And they are studying the surprising resilience of some local coral to persistently high temperatures.

"These might be sort of refuges for coral," explained Miller.

This year's bleaching has left many marine enthusiasts despondent, but for conservation divers on Koh Tao, it is also a call to arms.

This underwater photo taken on June 15, 2024 shows a crown of thorns feeding amongst bleached corals around Koh Tao island in the southern Thai province of Surat Thani.

"In the previous generations, we didn't have this research and education that we have now," said Nannalin.

"I think people my age should make the most of it and try their best to reverse the things that have already been done."

The work also helps Rubio balance the sadness she feels at the changes below the water.

"It's not like we are going to change things from one day to another, but we are doing our best, and that is the best feeling," she said.

"I'm working every day to do something good for the environment and for the reef that I love."
Trump allies are peddling a catastrophic idea for U.S. nuclear weapon policy

Resuming live testing could spark an arms race and will reduce American security.


July 6, 2024, 
By Zeeshan Aleem
MSNBC Opinion Writer/Editor

Allies and former advisers to former President Donald Trump are arguing that the U.S., for the first time in decades, should resume nuclear testing. They say it’ll advance American safety by ensuring that the U.S. has a decisive military and technological advantage over other nuclear powers. In reality, the U.S. — and the world — would be made more dangerous by the kind of arms race this could spark. And it seems plausible that if Trump were to win the White House he could adopt the policy because of the manner in which it aligns with the unilateral militance of the “America First” worldview.

Influential figures in Trump's orbit are pushing the idea of breaking long-held norms and resuming live nuclear testing. Former Trump national security adviser Robert O’Brien wrote in Foreign Affairs in June that “Washington must test new nuclear weapons for reliability and safety in the real world for the first time since 1992” in order to maintain technical superiority over China and Russia. Christian Whiton, who served as a State Department adviser to President George W. Bush and Trump, told The New York Times that “it would be negligent to field nuclear weapons of novel designs that we have never tested in the real world.” And the Heritage Foundation, the right-wing think tank that’s backing Project 2025, widely considered a policy blueprint for Trump’s second term, is proposing that the federal government expand its capacity for immediate nuclear testing.

Resuming explosive testing would dangerously encourage a new arms race.

Since 1992, the U.S. has refrained from explosive nuclear testing and opted for other techniques, including expert appraisals and sophisticated modeling generated by supercomputers, to calculate the efficacy of its long-term stockpile and its newer weapons. That policy has helped nudge other countries away from pursuing live testing. Most countries don’t conduct live tests of nuclear warheads in adherence to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.

Multiple nuclear proliferation experts say that if the U.S. resumes explosive testing, other countries will have more incentive to do so. “Resuming U.S. nuclear testing is technically and militarily unnecessary,” wrote Arms Control Association executive director Daryl Kimball in response to O’Brien’s article. “Moreover, it would lead to a global chain reaction of nuclear testing, raise global tensions, and blow apart global nonproliferation efforts at a time of heightened nuclear danger.” Kimball’s argument is in line with President Joe Biden’s outlook. During his 2020 presidential campaign, Biden endorsed the U.S. continuing to abstain from explosive testing and said a resumption would be “as reckless as it is dangerous.”

Jeffrey Lewis, a professor and nonproliferation expert at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey in California, has suggested that resuming live testing would backfire. It would cause the U.S. to lose the margin of advantage it has in its superior knowledge of its own arsenal. “When the test ban happened, the US had done more than 1,000 explosions and had the most advanced computing capabilities in the world, so we had the best data and the best computers, and we were in a position of enormous advantage relative to the Russians, and certainly relative to the Chinese,” Lewis told The Guardian. He added that if it were to resume testing, the U.S. would learn “very little” about its weapons relative to Russia and China

Trump’s team has not adopted a plan to resume testing, nor has it ruled it out. (In a statement to the Times, Trump’s campaign managers more broadly rejected the idea of people outside the campaign as “misguided, speaking prematurely” about what a second term might look like.) But during his time in office, Trump reportedly did discuss the possibility of resuming live nuclear testing, and it’s plausible that he could pursue it, particularly if he staffs up again with old advisers who favor the policy.

Resuming explosive nuclear testing would align with Trump’s foreign policy outlook. He is a fan of unilateralism and displays of militance as a strategy for signaling the U.S.’s pre-eminence as a global power. We saw that tendency expressed in Trump’s time in office with his withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, his emphasis on requesting gigantic defense budgetshis yearning for military parades and his push-pull relationship with NATO.

Resuming explosive testing would dangerously encourage a new arms race and possibly assist the U.S.’s nuclear rivals in closing the technological gap more rapidly than they otherwise would. But it would allow Trump to thump his chest about U.S. military supremacy and demonstrate machismo to his base. America First, Trump First: Neither is good for American safety or global safety, but it would make Trump look tough.



FLASHBACK

Nuke expert blasts Trump’s alleged comments on nuclear warfare


By Becket Adams
August 3, 2016 

A former nuclear weapons officer tore into Donald Trump Wednesday after reports surfaced the GOP nominee suggested in a briefing with a foreign policy adviser that the United States shouldn’t hesitate to engage in nuclear warfare.

“Maybe [Trump] means it, maybe he doesn’t,” John Noonan told the Washington Examiner. “But it’s clear you can’t roll the dice on this lunatic. Stakes are too high, his knowledge and judgment is too low.”

Noonan’s remarks came after MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough claimed Wednesday he was told by a source that Trump pressed a foreign policy adviser on using nuclear weapons against America’s enemies.

“Several months ago, a foreign policy expert went to advise Donald Trump,” the cable news host said in reference to the reportedly 60-minute briefing. “And three times he asked about the use of nuclear weapons — three times he asked … ‘If we have them why can’t we use them?'”

Anecdotes like this, Scarborough added, is “one of the reasons why [Trump] doesn’t have foreign policy experts around him.”

WATCH: WHAT ARE SOME MAJOR CONCERNS ABOUT TRUMP'S HANDLING OF NATIONAL SECURITY? HAYDEN AND #MORNINGJOE WEIGH IN. HTTPS://T.CO/FYFOSMJLJI— MORNING JOE (@MORNING_JOE) AUGUST 3, 2016

In reaction to the MSNBC host’s anecdote, Noonan, who at one point held one of two keys necessary to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile strike, blasted the GOP nominee as a dangerously uninformed “lunatic.”

“[T]he whole idea behind nuclear deterrence is that you don’t use the damn things. So I thought the mission credible and worthy,” Noonan said on social media. “There are a hell of a lot of bad actors out there who have nukes. They are restrained only by our ability to instantly lay waste to them.”

“The nuke triad, which Trump doesn’t have a clue about, has been the single greatest contributor to global peace for decades. You heard me,” he added. “I don’t know if Scarborough is telling whole truth here. Anonymous sources suck. But if he is … buckle the hell up.”

Noonan argued Trump’s reported eagerness to launch nuclear warheads would further destabilize the world and undo 60 years of deterrence policy.

“This would be the single greatest strategic shift in U.S. national security in decades. In a Trump presidency, our foreign policy would be this: ‘Leave our alliances, fall back on a nuclear first use policy.’ Does he understand just how f’ing dangerous that is?” he asked.

“[G]eopolitics aside, I can’t get my mind off the young officers on nuke alert right now. Wondering if they’ll soon answer to a madman,” he added. “And be asked to do a duty that should morally be asked of no human being, ever.”