How Israel killed a disabled man

Ruwaida Amer

The Electronic Intifada 

2 January 2024

Muhammad al-Salak and his children

Muhammad al-Salak suffered enormously because of Israel’s wars against Gaza. In the current war, he has been killed at the age of 48.

After Israel ordered residents of northern Gaza to evacuate their homes in October, Muhammad insisted on staying put.

Muhammad – also known as Abu Al-Abd – was a resident of the Shujaiya neighborhood in Gaza City.

His neighbor and close friend Muhammad Abu Bayd left Shujaiya and went to Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city, following Israel’s evacuation orders. Muhammad Abu Bayd did his best to keep in touch with Muhammad al-Salak, although it was very difficult given that internet access has been restricted for most people over the past few months.

“I constantly asked him to leave his home and move south,” Muhammad Abu Bayd said. “But he would not agree.”

In December, Israeli forces stormed Muhammad al-Salak’s home in Shujaiya. He was arrested.

When Khuloud, his wife, objected to his arrest, she was shot and killed. Muhammad al-Salak was killed several days later, according to Muhammad Abu Bayd.

The al-Salak family was directly affected when Israel subjected Shujaiya to relentless shelling in July 2014. Muhammad’s three children were massacred.

Because of his injuries then, Muhammad lost his right leg.

His neighbor and close friend Muhammad Abu Bayd recalled that “he always talked about his children and said that he wanted to meet them again soon in heaven.”

Muhammad Abu Bayd also lost one of his legs in 2014. “When I lost my leg, I felt that my life was over,” he said.

Yet the two Muhammads joined forces to set up a football team for amputees. They were also involved in a basketball team for wheelchair users.

“He filled the place with joy and we laughed a lot,” Muhammad Abu Bayd, 37, says of his friend. “We felt that he would light up everything with his personality.”

“All the amputees felt that he was like a father to us,” he added. “When one of us got angry during games and exercises, he tried to calm us down.” Muhammad al-Salak used to work as a taxi driver. He originally bought his car in installments and provided a taxi service to support his family.

After losing his leg, would bring fellow amputees for drives on the seashore.

“Despite everything Abu al-Abd [Muhammad al-Salak] lived through, he was a patient and wise man,” Muhammad al-Bayd said. “I will miss him greatly.”

Ruwaida Amer is a journalist based in Gaza.

Cuban President Again Condemns Israeli Attacks against Palestine

ACN 

29 DECEMBER 2023

 

Havana, Dec 28 (ACN) Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel reiterated on Thursday his condemnation against the attacks by Israeli military forces against the Palestinian people.

Every passing day without an end to the barbarity carried out by Israel against Palestine is becomes a shameful day for humanity a day of serious damage for International Law, the head of state wrote on X.

In  a previous message also on X, Diaz-Canel described the genocide as a humiliation to all humanity and insisted that Cuba will keep raising its voice once and again for Palestine.

During the Second Sessin of the Cuban Parliament, held December 29, lawmakers condemned the murder of thousands of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, with over 70 percent of those victims being children and women, as a result of the massive shelling by Israel since October.

The current situation is the result of 75 years of Israeli illegal occupation and colonization in flagrant violation of  the Palestinians’ inalienable rights in their own territory, read a statement issued by the Cuban Parliament.

The statement reiterates the necessity for a far-reaching, fair and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on the setting up of two sates, allowing the Palestinian people their right to free determination and have their independent and sovereign state according to the borders drawn up before 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital city.

Western media’s reference to the ‘Hamas-run’ Health Ministry is another dehumanizing tactic enabling Israel’s genocide

Labeling every part of Gaza as connected to Hamas makes every part of Gaza a legitimate military target. This is what Israel did with the Gaza Health Ministry and Al-Shifa Hospital, echoed uncritically by Western mainstream media.

BY NOORA SAID 

MONDOWEISS

DECEMBER 29, 2023 

SCREENSHOT FROM A PRESS CONFERENCE AFTER THE AL-AHLI ARAB HOSPITAL ATTACK WITH MSF DOCTOR GHASSAN ABU SITTA AND OFFICIALS FROM THE GAZA HEALTH MINISTRY. (PHOTO: SCREENSHOT FROM ALJAZEERA ARABIC YOUTUBE CHANNEL)


Western Media’s blatant hypocrisy that insists on transforming the Palestinian struggle for liberation into either terrorism or antisemitism is a clear declaration that Israeli lives are more valuable than Palestinian lives. One of the blatant examples of the Western media’s adoption of the Israeli government’s propaganda is its reference to Gaza’s Health Ministry as “Hamas-run.” This language can be seen in the reporting of the BBC, CNN, and the New York Times, among many others, a terminology meant to demonize Palestinians, subconsciously divert the sympathy of readers from the horrific and rising Palestinian death toll and ultimately justify the Israeli genocide in Gaza.

EXAMPLE FROM THE BBC’S REPORTING

This Western media bias serves as an extension of the foreign policy of Europe and the U.S. and acts to foment exclusive sympathy for Israel at the expense of the Palestinians.

EXAMPLE FROM THE NYT’S REPORTING

In this crucial moment of survival for the Palestinians, attaching “Hamas-governed” to Gaza, and “Hamas-run” to its Health Ministry — almost every time — poses a real threat to the lives of the Palestinians in Gaza, because Israel’s association of anything Palestinian with Hamas is an implicit association of Palestinians with evil, essentially making Palestinian lives dispensable, from the newborn to the elderly. Netanyahu took this even further by calling Hamas ISIS in the first few weeks of the so-called war.

Of course, the constant reference to the “Hamas-run Health Ministry” in the context of reports on the Palestinian death toll hints to readers and viewers that the numbers they are seeing are suspect and that the 2.3 million lives in Gaza are not valuable. It reinforces the false claim of Israel’s self-defense, which caused the death of over 8,000 Palestinian children and 92 journalists so far. This language mirrors the same degradation and dehumanization of Palestinians, both alive and dead, that was demonstrated by U.S. President Joe Biden’s statement that he did not “trust” the accuracy of the number of dead Palestinians.

Instead of Western media informing their readers that the data center in Gaza responsible for counting and publicizing the death toll has been targeted, they keep casting doubts regarding the death toll itself. This data collection center was at Al-Shifa’, but it was destroyed when the Israeli army invaded the hospital. In addition, of the four in charge of the center, one of them has been killed by an airstrike that hit the hospital itself, and the three others have been abducted since mid-November when Al-Shifa’ was invaded and evacuated, according to a report by Reuters.

It is true that the death toll might indeed be inaccurate, but only because the real numbers are much higher, as an untold number of Palestinians remain buried under the rubble. Their retrieval remains impossible because the Israeli army has cut off access to certain areas and left countless bodies rotting in the streets.

Gaza is Gaza. It is not the “Hamas-Governed Gaza.” If it simply must have an adjective or description attached to its name, it would reflect better journalistic practice to offer any number of other designations, such as “besieged-by-Israel” Gaza, “largest-open-air-prison” Gaza, “most-densely-populated-in-the-world” Gaza, “occupied-by-Israel” Gaza, “50% children” Gaza, or “70% refugees” Gaza.

All of these other descriptions are factual and “objective,” yet the opinion-leading media channels in the West deliberately and unprofessionally dismiss them, precisely because they accurately describe the harsh reality of the 2.3 million civilian population living, or more accurately, locked, there.

Instead of calling Gaza “Hamas-governed,” these media organizations have a responsibility to inform their readers that, firstly, Hamas was elected 17 years ago in 2006, meaning that half of the current population was not even alive at the time, let alone old enough to vote. Secondly, those who voted in 2006 included the 3 million people living in the West Bank and was by no means an election exclusive to Gaza.

But no, context is deliberately dismissed in the narrative of the mainstream media, leading to the manufacture of the beliefs of their audiences in a way that only serves to affirm the Israeli army’s narrative.

These suggestions for labeling Gaza, moreover, pose the following crucial question: Who controls Gaza, really? Who holds the power to cut off water and electricity? Who inspects every aid truck that enters? Who controls Gaza’s sea and airspace? In what meaningful sense can any entity or political party be said to “govern” this enclave when Israel has turned it into an open-air prison?

The genocide in Gaza in the reporting of the Western media is decontextualized in such a biased way that it actually threatens the lives of the people there, because labeling every part of Gaza as connected to Hamas makes every part of Gaza, falsely and unfairly, a legitimate military target.

This is what built a Western consensus that allowed for this genocide to take place. Likewise, the trope of the “Hamas-run Health Ministry” is what allowed for the massacres at Al-Shifa and Kamal Adwan hospitals, as well as the targeting of countless other medical facilities and medical workers in Gaza. This linguistic tactic of deliberate demonization works tirelessly to reduce all of Gaza to Hamas, from its urban and civil infrastructure to its population. The tangible results of this campaign have been deadly.

This is only a “grain in the sand” of the dehumanizing language, misinformation, and bias of the Western media.

Its complicity in the unfolding genocide is almost as terrible as the genocide itself. As the Greek tragic dramatist, Aeschylus, once said, “In war, truth is the first casualty.”

Analysing the missing pieces in Israel's rape allegations

Experts unravel the significance of independent investigations, reliable sources, and verified evidence in assessing the credibility of the rape allegation.

KUBRA SOLMAZ
TRT

Dec 28, 2023

AFP

Anti-government protesters gather in Kaplan Street in Tel Aviv on December 8 to demand immediate ceasefire and release of hostages. / Photo: AFP


More than two months after Hamas' unprecedented cross-border attack on October 7, the Israeli government's allegations of sexual violence by Palestinian resistance fighters have resurfaced as headlines in major international media outlets such as BBC, CNN, New Yorker, and New York Times.


These outlets have published explicit stories of alleged sexual violence, including accounts of gang rape and mutilation.


This renewed focus on the issue comes after the Israeli army held exclusive screenings for invited journalists of what it claims are eyewitness accounts of alleged Hamas crimes.


The 47-minute footage titled 'Bearing Witness to the October 7 Massacre' was screened on multiple occasions. However, Israeli officials have refused to share the footage with news agencies to report on and verify the contents independently.


This detail holds great significance. Despite offering extensive coverage of information conveyed by Israeli officials in these news reports, all of them carry a subtle disclaimer: that they cannot independently "verify individual allegations and claims".


In its quest for a thorough understanding of the significance of independent verification, TRT World contacted the UN, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International, organisations which investigate sexual violence allegations in conflict zones, to reveal the methods, approaches, and procedures they employ for verification.


"We are required to gather information from a wide variety of reliable sources (including civil society, victims' organisations, concerned states and non-state actors) to verify the veracity of the information we received," Reem Alsalem, UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequence, tells TRT World.


She emphasises the importance of verifying reports of sexual violence and conducting thorough investigations independently, as highlighted in two previous press releases addressing Israel's accusations of sexual violence attributed to Hamas – one on November 20 and the other on December 14.


Reliable sources


When asked about the crucial steps that investigative teams deem essential in probing allegations of sexual violence in conflict zones, Lauren Aarons, Amnesty International's senior adviser on gender and conflict, concurs with the UN Special Rapporteur, emphasising the necessity to gather information from a diverse array of reliable sources.


"We rely primarily on information we have collected ourselves, supported by other information we trust or have been able to verify," she states. "We also seek information from all other relevant sources to be able to develop a full, comprehensive and reliable understanding of the facts, as well as what needs to happen next to ensure justice and the rights of survivors."


​​Regarding the sources cited by the Israeli government for their evidence, they predominantly involve individuals directly associated with the Israeli government, security services, or seemingly civilian institutions with connections to Israeli government officials and institutions.


​​Specifically, Israel's case relies on video testimony from a single eyewitness at the music festival, witness testimonies from body collectors of the Zaka organisation, military forensic teams, and army personnel, along with photographs suggesting potential sexual assaults on women.


Additionally, testimonies from Hamas fighters were obtained through Israel's Security Agency Shin Bet, known for its use of torture to elicit fake confessions.


Take, for instance, the involvement of body collectors as witnesses from the rescue and recovery organisation Zaka. Advertised as Israel's foremost non-governmental organisation in this field, it has 3,000 volunteers and receives funds from the Israeli government.


This is also the same organisation that propagated a fabricated story about babies being beheaded by Hamas. Yossi Landau, the head of operations at Zaka, claimed to have seen bodies of beheaded babies, a statement that has been refuted even by Israeli newspapers.


Furthermore, Zaka has become entangled in a web of scandals, with its leaders facing charges of sexual assault, rape, and child exploitation.


Cochav Elkayam-Levy is another figure portrayed by media outlets as the head of "the Civil Commission on October 7th Crimes by Hamas against women and children". She is also a law professor who has herself faced criticism for alleged human rights abuses.


More specifically, she offered a guidebook-style legal rationale for the Israeli authorities' handling of Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike, particularly those held in administrative detention without trial. She proposed the controversial method of force-feeding, which is widely regarded as a form of torture and unequivocally contravenes fundamental human rights principles.


Elkayam-Levy is also the founder and director of the Dvora Institute, which works as a close advisory body to the Israeli prime minister's National Security Council. The advisory committee for the Dvora Institute includes a former director of the Israeli Prime Minister's Office and three former officials in the National Security Council.


All of these suggest that Israel's rape accusations, attributed to Hamas, rely on anything but a wide variety of unreliable, one-sided sources echoing the Israeli state's narrative.


However, the question remains: Can we believe what Israel says based on the evidence provided by these not-so-reliable sources?


Where is the evidence?


Not only are the sources in question but also the evidence presented during interviews, briefings and screenings of footage provided by the Israeli state raise concerns.


Israel has consistently fallen short in furnishing news organisations with forensic evidence, concrete photographic proof, or victim testimonies, relying instead on inferences from its forensic teams and individuals mentioned above who evidently have ties to the Israeli government.


Currently, Israel's case relies on the video testimony of a sole eyewitness at the Nova music festival, detailing the purported gang rape, mutilation, and execution of one victim.


News reports also indicate that Israeli police claim to have "multiple" eyewitness accounts of sexual assault, but they have not provided further clarification on the exact number. Furthermore, it has been reported that Israeli police have not yet interviewed any of the purported rape survivors.


So far, Israeli government officials have yet to provide concrete information regarding the precise number of so-called victims. In investigations by prominent international organisations into such allegations, details such as the number of victims and their testimonies, dates, times, and locations play a crucial role in identifying key patterns and specific details to substantiate the allegations.


Reports from the UN, HRW, and Amnesty International on sexual violence incidents in conflict zones, including Sudan, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Libya, Iraq, Colombia, and numerous others in the last two years, have consistently included these critical pieces of information, a contrast to Israeli government's statements.


For instance, Amnesty International shared with TRT World the comprehensive array of evidence they gather and the meticulous steps taken to ensure the authenticity and reliability of such evidence:


Their collection methods encompass interviews with victims/survivors to capture their experiences and eyewitness accounts, discussions with witnesses directly involved, consultations with parents or guardians, especially in cases involving children, dialogues with medical professionals, community leaders, first responders, police, social workers, and other relevant individuals.


Additionally, they scrutinise medical or forensic records and assess any available video evidence, photos, and satellite imagery. Moreover, their investigative approach incorporates statements from the forces accused of sexual violence and interviews or responses from national authorities or armed groups implicated in such allegations.


Regarding the steps taken to establish authenticity and reliability, these encompass "identifying consistent patterns in accounts, aligning testimonies by survivors, witnesses and medical professionals, especially focusing on key patterns and particular details, videos and satellite imagery to corroborate certain aspects of reports, information from medical providers is sought, or other consistent with the patterns identified."


Unsubstantiated claims


Among those who attended one of the briefings of the Israeli government was British journalist Owen Jones, who released a YouTube video providing a detailed account of the Israeli state's screening session concerning these accusations.


"Some high-profile crimes are not substantiated by this footage", he notes, adding, "If there was rape and sexual violence committed, we don't see this on the footage either."


In the video, he emphasises the need for independent verification of the rape accusations, stating, "All of the footage in the possession of the Israeli state should be given over to independent journalists and professional analysts to build a fully accurate picture of exactly what happened that day."


However, the Times of Israel asserts that the Israeli army will not provide forensic evidence, stating that "physical evidence of sexual assault was not collected from corpses by Israel's overtaxed morgue facilities." According to reports, it is now considered too late to gather conclusive evidence.


Israel employs a systematic campaign of rape accusations as a weapon of war, expecting those who hear these narratives not to demand proper evidence but rather to believe them unquestioningly. This campaign also targeted women activists and groups advocating for a ceasefire in Gaza.


Samantha Pearson, the director of the Sexual Assault Centre at the University of Alberta in Canada, is among the individuals who have courageously pointed out the lack of verification in these accusations. Alongside dozens of academics and civil society organisations, she signed a letter highlighting the "repeated and unverified accusation that Palestinians were guilty of sexual violence".


The letter did not deny the occurrence of sexual violence but emphasised the insufficient evidence to support these accusations. What followed was even more intriguing, as Pearson was terminated from her position a few hours after signing this open letter.


Not cooperating at all


Israel not only refrains from providing any evidence for these allegations but goes even further by refusing to cooperate with international organisations that have previously conducted numerous investigations on the matter.


A recent example is their rejection of a visit from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, amid growing concerns over the escalation of violence in its war on Gaza. Israel stated, "Israel is not aware of any additional benefit to a visit from the High Commissioner at this time."


The Israeli state has consistently refused to collaborate with UN fact-finding missions, often casting doubt on the facts and figures released regarding their policies imposed on Palestinians.


However, the UN special rapporteur informed TRT World that they have recently requested official visits from both the Israeli government and Palestine.


The statement reads, "I have also asked both the State of Palestine and Israel to carry out an official visit to the occupied Palestinian territories (West Bank and Gaza) as well as Israel next year, focusing on the violence that has taken place against Israeli and Palestinian women since October 7, 2023. The request has been recently made, and I am awaiting their response."


The Israeli government's willingness to cooperate with the UN this time remains uncertain, but recent instances suggest a leaning towards promoting the existing narratives they already keep pushing.

THE FIRST IDF LIE
No 'confirmation' about allegations 'Hamas beheaded babies' — Israeli army

SOURCE: TRT WORLD

Kubra Solmaz
Kubra Solmaz is a deputy producer at TRT WORLD

OPINION

ZAKA is not a trustworthy source for allegations of sexual violence on October 7

ZAKA is one of the leading organizations alleging Hamas atrocities on October 7. But the organization’s volunteers have systematically given false testimonies, and continue repeating them to journalists on behalf of the Israeli government.

BY THE SHORT STRING 

MONDOWEISS

DECEMBER 30, 2023 19

VOLUNTEERS FROM ZAKA IN KIBBUTZ BE’ERI, OCTOBER 12, 2023. (PHOTO: AVI OHAYON/ISRAEL NATIONAL PHOTO COLLECTION)

Many of the reports in Israeli and international media networks — including CNN, the BBC, the New York Times, and many others — that accuse Palestinians of committing systematic wide-scale gender-based violence against Israeli women on October 7, 2023, rely on testimonies by Israeli ZAKA volunteers.

ZAKA is a non-governmental religious Haredi organization specializing in collecting dead bodies and body parts from sites of “unnatural” deaths and transporting them to morgues according to strict Jewish religious laws.

The organization was founded in the late 1990s by Yehuda Meshi-Zahav. Meshi-Zahav was previously the leader of “Keshet,” an ultra-Orthodox Jewish terrorist group that targeted forensic pathologists and used explosives against shops selling “secular newspapers.” Meshi-Zahav led ZAKA until 2021, when he attempted suicide after shocking revelations of dozens of rape and sexual assault cases committed by him. Since its inception, the organization — described as a “militia” by the highly esteemed Israeli journalist Yigal Sarna — has been subject to incessant criticism, investigations, and demands to dismantle it.

The testimonies provided by ZAKA’s members — all men, most of whom are volunteers — on sexual violence on October 7 are based on their interpretation of what they claim to have seen on bodies they collected after the attack. Not only do these men lack the professional qualifications to make such assessments (they are not medical experts), but their testimonies also lack details: no age, no location, and no time. Details and/or evidence have not even been given to journalists who have asked to see them while reporting on these testimonies. This means that it is impossible to either confirm or debunk them.

In other words, the organization’s testimonies hold no value unless one blindly trusts what its men say.

Since October 7, ZAKA has been playing a key role in Israel’s orchestrated propaganda campaign, spreading fake news and vague information in the service of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. Looking closely into ZAKA reveals that the organization and its volunteers lack credibility. In fact, a significant part of their testimonies has been proven to be comprised of fabrications.


“We need to buy time, which we also buy by turning to world leaders and to public opinion. You have an important role in influencing public opinion…[ZAKA testimonies] give us the maneuvering room.“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to ZAKA teams.

For those familiar with the organization, this is consistent with ZAKA’s questionable reputation. The organization has a troubled and problematic history that further undermines its legitimacy and credibility, from involvement in massive cases of sexual violence and silencing victims to financial corruption and the exploitation of tragic deaths to enhance its media appearance and grow its financial resources.

ZAKA’s reputation for spreading fake news has been known since its early years of activity. As the Israeli Army Radio correspondent in Jerusalem stated back in 2002, “ZAKA sends everything: what happened, what they think happened, and what didn’t happen as well. We verify everything, but they fulfill our need to know as quickly as possible…in the past, they sent numerous pieces of news that turned out to be lies.”
Vital role in government propaganda

On November 12, 2023, the Israeli website Ynet published a report about how ZAKA was recruited to join Israel’s hasbara campaigns on the events of October 7, and conducted interviews with dozens of foreign journalists coordinated through the Government Press Office (GPO). Hasbara is the Israeli term for “public diplomacy” or government propaganda campaigns.

The director of the GPO, Nitzan Hein, stated, “It is difficult to imagine the Israeli hasbara with foreign correspondents without the remarkable, valuable, and effective role of ZAKA’s men. Their activity is extremely important in hasbara.”

ZAKA also closely collaborates with the National Hasbara Headquarters in the Prime Minister’s office. One of the employees in the headquarters told Ynet how the state “worked on cementing the narrative that Hamas equals ISIS and enhancing the state’s legitimacy for a very forceful response…ZAKA’s men’s testimonies have shocked and exposed, in front of the correspondents, the kind of human monsters we are dealing with.”

YOSSI LANDAU AND SIMCHA GREINIMAN PARTICIPATE IN A TOUR OF KFAR AZA WITH JARED KUSHNER AND IVANKA TRUMP, DECEMBER 2023. (PHOTO: ZAKA FACEBOOK PAGE)

On November 23, 2023, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with the organization’s teams. The meeting revolved around their role in Israeli propaganda. The Prime Minister heard from the volunteers “about their public diplomacy activity in Israel and the world” and urged them to intensify their efforts, as they are important for legitimizing and extending the timeframe of the war:


“But we need to buy time, which we also buy by turning to world leaders and to public opinion. You have an important role in influencing public opinion, which also influences leaders. We are in a war; it will continue. The war is not only to take care of the 1,400 people…but also to give us the maneuvering room.”
“Non-governmental” organization

ZAKA utilizes its official designation as a “non-governmental” body to present itself as credible, and it is this supposedly independent status and ostensible lack of politicization that gives it particular legitimacy — by the organization’s own admission. For instance, one spokesperson for ZAKA told Ynet, “Being a voluntary organization without a political agenda leads to openness and more receptiveness…our testimonies are fully accepted as if they are dealing with an international humanitarian volunteer or a doctor.”

In practice, the status of ZAKA is more complex in terms of both function and legal status. This complexity makes disseminating fake news effective while allowing them to evade responsibility.

ZAKA is technically a non-governmental organization, but it enjoys significant governmental funding, working in full coordination with security and rescue forces. Indeed, ZAKA is recognized by the state as the only entity responsible for dealing with dead bodies in “unnatural” deaths.

In terms of political agenda, ZAKA is open about operating from and being guided by Zionist ideological objectives.

According to Yehuda Meshi-Zahav, ZAKA is also “acting as an arm for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” and “Ideologically, we are a nationalist organization seeking to integrate the Haredi public within Zionism.”

In 2015, the Israel Medicine Association issued guidelines regarding “mass casualty incidents” and how to prioritize the order of medical attention according to the injury severity following objective medical standards. In response, ZAKA’s “operation unit commander” stated that “he puts aside medical consideration and decisions are made on who deserves treatment based on whether they are Jewish.” This policy was dictated by the religious ruling by Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, who said during the discussion: “If it’s clear he is an Arab, don’t save him.”

A fake medical image and a track record of false testimonies

ZAKA’s men deceivingly draw on a false image of medical credibility, which is designed to make their testimonies trustworthy.

However, the organization’s volunteers lack any medical or healthcare qualifications, and its members are not qualified to infer or confirm any medical or forensic assessment of the bodies. ZAKA men are solely trained to recover and collect dead bodies according to strict religious laws, to ensure the dignity of the deceased, and to prepare bodies for burial.

Most of the so-called witnesses who were interviewed by media work in industry and commerce. Furthermore, as an orthodox Haredi organization, it has a radical religious position against autopsies and forensic procedures. In fact, it is within the organization’s official mandate to work to prevent autopsies, and the organization takes legal action to prevent having to comply with the state’s requests for forensic autopsies.

This murky position between governmental and non-governmental, medical and non-medical, facilitates ZAKA’s ability to lie without bearing responsibility.

In early December, when an investigation by Haaretz uncovered several lies propagated by the organization’s men since October 7, ZAKA’s official response was: “ZAKA volunteers are not medical experts and do not have the professional means to identify the deceased, ascertain their age, or declare the manner in which they were killed…due to the difficult condition of the bodies, it’s possible that volunteers misinterpreted what they saw.”

Among ZAKA’s lies, Haaretz listed a falsehood about the “bodies of twenty children with severed heads,” “piles of burned children,” and a “pregnant woman’s stomach ripped open, and her fetus stabbed.” It is hard to conceive of all these false testimonies as accidental “misinterpretations.”

Simcha Greiniman’s testimonies

In early December 2023, Israeli organizations held a session at the United Nations on the allegations of sexual assault on October 7. One of ZAKA’s men, Simcha Greiniman, spoke and was identified by some media outlets as the organization’s foreign media spokesperson. His testimony was featured in a position paper by Physicians for Human Rights Israel on gender-based violence on October 7.

A settler from the illegal “Modi’in Illit” settlement on the lands of the Palestinian villages Bil’in, Ni’lin, and Saffa, Greiniman’s main profession is carpentry, but he takes pride in his media performance: “They say I do a good job. When I sit in front of a foreign journalist, even if he is anti-Israel, I can make him cry,” Greiniman told Ynet.

This was evident in his testimony to the United Nations. His speech was emotionally intense. He delivered it very slowly, interrupted by sips of water, holding back tears, and struggling with speech. However, while the testimony focused on three different alleged cases, he gave zero concrete details that can be confirmed or disproven.

While it is understandable that he did not mention the victims’ names, he omitted other details that could have been mentioned for credibility, such as their ages, the name of the town where he saw these bodies or the time of finding them. In one case, he couldn’t even discern if the victim was male or female.

One might assume that Greiniman accidentally omitted these details due to his intense emotions. However, this was a premeditated decision: the British news website iNews published an interview where he presented the same testimony. When asked about the name of the kibbutz from which he described one of the scenes, he refused to answer. Any possible reason?

Previous false testimony exposed

Previously, Greiniman presented a horrifying story about two burnt bodies of children found under the rubble of a house in Kibbutz Be’eri. This story first appeared in a long interview with Greiniman on October 19, 2023, spanning two pages in a local Haredi newspaper. No further details about the incident were mentioned there.

Later, he repeated the story twice, but the story evolved in its details. On November 7, in an interview with the Haredi site “Kikar Shabbat,” he added that the age of the first child was 5 or 6 years old.

As for the second child, whose age was not specified, he claimed the child was found with a large knife lodged in his face. The next day, former minister Ayelet Shaked posted a video of Greiniman stating that the second child was 3-4 years old.

According to Israeli lists, the closest ages of the deceased children in Be’eri are either 12 years old or 10 months old, and there are no children matching the ages mentioned by Greiniman.

Furthermore, in the case of Be’eri, several testimonies by survivors have confirmed intense battles, with survivor Yasmin Porat testifying that the 10-month-old infant was killed by a shell from an Israeli tank amid gunfire exchanges. However, in his testimony, Greiniman stated that when he entered Be’eri, he “did not find any signs of fighting whatsoever.”

Baseless data

Several pieces of strange information emerge in ZAKA interviews. For instance, Greiniman reiterated in one of his interviews that “85% of the bodies of women arriving at the morgue were naked.”

Despite the hundreds of workers at the Shura Military Morgue, this detail has not been repeated anywhere. Some have spoken about the presence of “some” or “many” naked bodies, but no one came close to describing the quantity and proportion as Greiniman did.

Another official from ZAKA, Yossi Landau, claimed that “80% of the bodies showed signs of torture.” In another interview, the same official said, “70% of the bodies were shot from behind.” Later, he said that “80% were shot in the back.” None of the statistics above was ever officially stated or confirmed.

Another baseless claim is Greiniman’s testimony that they found in the pockets of Hamas fighters’ bodies foreign ID cards that prove “the fighters came from different countries.”

Greiniman also claims to have seen a video in which Hamas fighters killed Gazan workers who worked with permits inside Israel. Greiniman assured the interviewer that the fighters “knew they were from Gaza” because “the car plate was Palestinian…and you cannot mistake a person from Gaza. Their appearance is different from Israelis, even from Israeli Arabs, the mentality is different.”

This is another baseless lie. Apart from the racist assessment that “their appearance is different, the mentality is different,” there is no video showing such an incident. Moreover, Gazan workers are not allowed to enter Israel with cars, and Palestinian car plate numbers are generally not permitted in Israel, except in very rare cases of businesspersons and VIP permits.

In the same interview and others, Greiniman asserts that he has photos proving everything he says. He challenges anyone in doubt to come to Israel to personally show them the photos. However, in his interview with the Times of Israel on November 9, 2023, he was asked about the photos and replied: “I don’t have one picture in my phone.”

Times of Israel reports that Greiniman claims that “some emergency workers did photograph other scenes and sent pictures directly to official authorities.” They, however, add that: “The Times of Israel was not able to obtain images from various government sources.”

Yossi Landau, another source of fake news

The earliest mentions by ZAKA members of rape allegations appeared in the testimonies of Yossi Landau, a central figure in the organization who made multiple international media appearances. His testimony was also endorsed, without any verification of authenticity, by Physicians for Human Rights Israel in their report that accuses Palestinians of using sexual violence as a weapon of war.

YOSSI LANDAU. (PHOTO: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS)

Similar to Greiniman, Landau has also been discovered to have disseminated fake news. On December 3, 2023, Haaretz published a report detailing several false testimonies disseminated by Israeli entities, confirming Landau’s personal responsibility for propagating some of these fake stories.

Among Landau’s lies was the myth of “dozens of beheaded children,” a claim that was refuted. Another reported lie was about the piles of children’s bodies burned together, a narrative that he repeated time and again, likening it to the Holocaust.

Landau also claimed, while crying in front of foreign reporters, to have seen “a pregnant woman, her abdomen ripped open, with the fetus outside her womb tied by the umbilical cord, and the fetus itself stabbed with a knife.” This has also proven to be a fabrication. Haaretz refuted any knowledge of a similar known case and interviewed the residents of the kibbutz, who denied the existence of such a case or even of a pregnant woman among their neighbors.

Landau’s lies shouldn’t come as a surprise. In a conversation with foreign journalists, he said, “When we go into a house, we use our imagination. The bodies were telling us stories that happened, that’s what happened.”

Disturbingly, despite being proven to be a pathological liar, Landau’s testimonies are still cited in PHRI publications and are circulating in major international media networks, including The New York Times‘ latest report on “how Hamas weaponized sexual violence on Oct. 7”.

In the Times article, Landau claims that ZAKA volunteers are not allowed to take pictures. Other volunteers, such as Haim Otmezgin and Simcha Greiniman, assured reporters that they have photos. The Times report also says that ZAKA volunteers “inadvertently” destroyed evidence. Sources in the Israeli army claimed this happened when ZAKA members changed the body bags to take photos of the bodies in bags bearing their logo.

Haim Otmezgin defending rape victims?

The head of ZAKA’s “special unit,” Haim Otmezgin, testified on November 30 in front of the “Women’s Affairs Committee” in the Israeli Parliament.

The Israeli press widely covered the testimony, which was endorsed by many Israeli women’s organizations. When he posted the video of his testimony in parliament on his Facebook page, he wrote: “The world needs to know in order to support us and enable us to accomplish the task.”

Like other testimonies by ZAKA’s men, his testimony lacked information and repeated false stories (beheaded babies, again). Otmezgin claims to “possess photos” of “a naked woman with a sharp object stuck in her crotch.” Nearly two months into the propaganda campaign, not a single journalist reported seeing these pictures. This isn’t the first time he has claimed to have evidence unseen by anyone else.

Since we are left to believe Otmezign’s words with no evidence to back them up, we must question his credibility.

Otmezgin is a reserve soldier in the Israeli army and the owner of a human resources company. His name appeared in the press earlier this year after his participation in the Israeli rescue team following the earthquake in Turkey. Upon his return, Turkish authorities opened an investigation against him, accusing him of stealing and smuggling from Turkey into Israel an antique manuscript from “the Book of Esther” found under the rubble.

But when it comes to believing Otmezgin, one must consider his connection to ZAKA’s founder, Yehuda Meshi-Zahav.
ZAKA leaders and the silencing of rape victims

In 2021, two investigative reports shook Israel. The first appeared in Haaretz newspaper, followed by TV reportage by the investigative news program Uvda. Both presented testimonies from victims of sexual assaults committed by the ZAKA founder over decades against both males and females, including children from the age of 12 and adults. The victims confirmed that those sexual crimes were widely known in Meshi-Zahav’s surroundings, likely also to Otmezgin, who was one of his closest trusted friends and worked alongside him for over 25 years.

Otmezgin publicly defended Meshi-Zahav, even after a series of testimonies emerged: “I recently spoke to him, asked how he’s facing the case, how he spends these days, supported him, and we talked about faith matters. Anyone who knows him knows he cannot harm any person.”

But Haim Otmezgin wasn’t the sole supporter of Meshi-Zahav. The ZAKA leadership, which is still in power, provided full support for him as well. Meshi-Zahav, according to evidence, used the organization’s funds, volunteer cards, and other properties for his criminal acts. In one of the first testimonies that emerged in Haaretz, a woman recounted how Meshi-Zahav threatened her during the rape: “If you utter a word, a ZAKA truck will run you over.”

Once the police investigation began, investigators announced they planned to interrogate the organization’s leadership on suspicions of silencing victims and concealing evidence. With Meshi-Zahav’s suicide, the file was closed.

In June 2023, Channel 12 revealed that the ZAKA organization, using donation funds, hired a private investigation office to track and gather smearing information about Isaac Weinhaus, an Orthodox Jewish activist working to expose sexual violence in the community. Weinhaus was one of the figures who contributed to breaking the silence surrounding Meshi-Zahav.

The fact that women’s organizations are now endorsing the statements of ZAKA leadership and demanding the world to blindly believe Meshi-Zahav’s defenders when it comes to the events of October 7 is not only absurd and cynical but is indicative of how deep anti-Palestinian racism runs.

The Short String

The Short String is an anonymous group of Palestinian journalists in Israel who analyze the role of international media and organizations in promoting Israeli propaganda. The authors have requested anonymity in the face of persecution, violence, and threats from Israeli authorities, which would put them in severe danger.
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Hamas leader Saleh Aruri assassinated in Beirut

Hamas deputy head Saleh al-Aruri and leaders in the Qassam Brigades have been assassinated in Beirut's southern Dahiya neighborhood. Hamas says the "cowardly assassination" will not undermine the continuation of the Palestinian resistance.

BY AMENA AL-ASHKAR AND MONDOWEISS PALESTINE BUREAU

JANUARY 2, 2024 1

HAMAS LEADER SALEH ARURI DURING A PRESS CONFERENCE IN DAMASCUS, DECEMBER 21, 2010. (PHOTO: APA IMAGES)

At least six people have been killed in an alleged Israeli drone strike in the Lebanese capital of Beirut on Tuesday evening, including senior Hamas leader Saleh al-Aruri.

Initial reports by Lebanese state media said that “four people were martyred and a number of others injured when the Hamas office was targeted” in the Mashrafiyah neighborhood of the southern Beirut suburb of al-Dahiya, an area where both Hezbollah and Palestinian groups operate out of. Lebanese news channel Al-Mayadeen later reported that the death toll had climbed to six, while sources told Mondoweiss that the toll had reached seven.

Reuters and Lebanese media reported that the strike was carried out by Israel. The Israeli government and military have yet to officially confirm any involvement in the assassination.

Reports indicated that the primary target of the strike was 57-year-old Saleh al-Aruri, the deputy chairman of Hamas’ political bureau, and a founding commander of the movement’s military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades. Though Hamas has yet to confirm the identities of the other six killed in the strike, sources told Mondoweiss that among them were Samir Abu Amer, a top Hamas military leader in Lebanon, and Abu Ahmad al-Aqraa, a senior Hamas military leader in charge of West Bank operations.

The strike took place around 5:30 p.m. local time. Sources told Mondoweiss that initial evidence seemed to indicate that two high-precision missiles were fired toward a building in the neighborhood, reported to be the Hamas offices. One was fired at an apartment, and the second at a vehicle on the street, alleged to have belonged to Aruri. According to Al Jazeera, Lebanese civil defense crews were still fighting flames caused by the strike more than an hour later.

Hamas confirmed the killing of Aruri, calling it a “cowardly assassination” that “proves once again the abject failure of the enemy to achieve any of its aggressive goals in the Gaza Strip.”

“The cowardly assassinations carried out by the Zionist occupation against the leaders and symbols of our Palestinian people inside and outside Palestine will not succeed in breaking the will and steadfastness of our people or in undermining the continuation of their valiant resistance,” senior Hamas official Izzat al-Rishq said in a statement.
Who is Saleh al-Aruri?

Saleh Aruri spent 15 years in Israeli prison until 2010, and was exiled from Palestine upon his release by Israeli authorities. During those years, he operated out of various capitals over the years, including Istanbul, Damascus, and most recently, Beirut. He is widely credited as the primary mastermind behind financing and organizing military cells in the West Bank from outside of Palestine during his period of exile, and in solidifying military and financial ties with various regional actors.

In the years following 2014, Aruri was engaged in serving as an intermediary between on-the-ground Hamas operatives in Palestine and sources of Hamas funding internationally. This included fomenting armed cells and planning for various kidnapping operations, including the 2014 kidnapping of three Israeli settlers in Hebron. In the past two years, armed resistance in the West Bank has witnessed a resurgence, and while the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) has been recognized as responsible for funding many of the armed groups that arose in Nablus and Jenin, Aruri has also been mentioned as playing a significant role in mobilizing support for armed resistance in the West Bank during this period.

With the winding down of the Syrian Civil War and the rapprochement between Hamas and the “resistance axis” alliance of Iran, Hezbollah, and Syria in 2018, Saleh al-Aruri played a significant role in strengthening ties with Hezbollah. The building of Hamas’s military capabilities in Gaza is partly due to Hezbollah’s assistance to the movement in recent years, with Aruri serving a crucial intermediary role in this regard.

In late October last year, Israeli forces took over and occupied Aruri’s family home in his hometown of Arura, near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, and used it as an “intelligence base” before destroying it. Residents of the village said at the time that the home was uninhabited and that Israel’s takeover and destruction of the home was largely a symbolic act of revenge for the Hamas attacks on October 7.
Israeli ministers applaud strike, analysts warn of major escalation

The assassination of Aruri comes a day before Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah is expected to appear for a televised address, the third such address made by the leader since last October.

Nasrallah previously warned in a speech last summer that any assassination of any Lebanese, Palestinian, or Iranian individual on Lebanese territory would be met with a strong reaction from Hezbollah.

Since October 7, however, Israeli strikes and artillery fire targeting Hezbollah positions, as well as journalists and Lebanese civilians along the southern Lebanese border, have failed to materialize into a strong reaction from Hezbollah, beyond cross-border skirmishes and rocket fire toward Israeli military positions and towns along Israel’s northern border.

Tuesday’s assassination could change that, analysts warn. Speaking to Al Jazeera, Imad Harb, director of research at the Arab Center Washington DC, called the strike a “dangerous escalation,” noting that it marked the first assassination of a Hamas leader outside of occupied Palestine since October 7. The fact that the strike took place in Beirut, not on the southern Lebanese border, and in the heart of Hezbollah’s stronghold in the city, sends the message that Israel “can reach anyone, anywhere in Lebanon,” Harb said.

He added that Hezbollah may respond “by allowing more Hamas attacks from southern Lebanon on Israel. And definitely, it’s going to be more vigilant regarding its own leaders,” though both Israel and Hezbollah appear uninterested in “blowing up the front” completely.

A spokesperson for the Iranian foreign ministry condemned the assassination, saying Iran condemns “the violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity by the Zionist regime.”

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati issued a statement responding to the attack, condemning the Israeli “crime,” and warning against Israel’s attempts to drag Lebanon into a larger-scale confrontation.

In the occupied West Bank, a general strike in mourning over the assassination of Aruri was called by the Ramallah branch of Fatah, the ruling party of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Meanwhile, Israeli Hebrew media reported that Israel is “expecting retaliation” for the attack, “including possible long-range rocket fire on Israel,” the Times of Israel reported.

While Israel has yet to officially claim responsibility for the strike, it is being regarded as a major win for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while celebrated by Israeli officials.

Likud MK and former Israeli representative to the UN Danny Danon tweeted out his praise to Israeli security forces for the killing of Aruri, saying, “I congratulate the IDF, the Shin Bet, the Mossad and the security forces for killing senior Hamas official Salah al-Aaruri in Beirut.

Anyone who was involved in the 7/10 massacre should know that we will reach out to them and close an account with them.”

Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich also tweeted in celebration of the strike, saying, “So let all thine enemies perish,” referencing The Book of Judges, the seventh book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament, Times of Israel noted.

Times of Israel added that Israeli Channel 12 reported that Netanyahu’s cabinet secretary Yossi Fuchs sent a directive to Israeli ministers ordering them “not to speak publicly about the alleged Israeli strike.”

Though there is no confirmation about what role, if any, Aruri played in planning the October 7 attacks, dubbed by Hamas as “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood,” Netanyahu and other Israeli military leaders have vowed to target Hamas officials both in Gaza and abroad.
Back in November, Netanyahu said that he “instructed the Mossad [Israeli intelligence agency] to act against the heads of Hamas wherever they are.” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant described Hamas leaders worldwide as “walking dead,” saying “they are living on borrowed time” and are “destined to die.”

Who is Saleh al Arouri, the Hamas deputy assassinated by Israel?

Born in Aroura town of the occupied West Bank, Arouri joined Hamas and eventually went into exile to various countries. In a recent interview, Arouri said, "It is not strange for us for the commanders and cadres of the movement to be martyred."



REUTERS

"I never expected to reach this age, so I am living on borrowed time," Arouri said in August / File Photo: Reuters

Saleh al Arouri, the deputy political head of Hamas and a founder of the group's military wing, had been in Israel's sights for years before he was assassinated in a drone strike in a southern suburb of Beirut.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had threatened to kill him even before October 7 surprise blitz by Hamas.

Israel had accused Arouri, 57, of masterminding attacks against it in the occupied West Bank, where he was the group's top commander.

In 2015, the US Department of the Treasury designated Arouri as a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist", offering $5 million for information about him.

Some Israeli lawmakers celebrated the assassination while Mike Waltz, a Florida Republican, hailed the assassination of Arouri and called it a "very big deal".

Asked about assassination threats against him in an interview with Beirut-based Al Mayadeen in August, Arouri said, "It is not strange for us for the commanders and cadres of the movement to be martyred."

"I never expected to reach this age, so I am living on borrowed time," he said.

In the same interview, he threatened that in case of a war, "Israel will suffer a defeat unprecedented in history."

Arouri's life and history

Born in the town of Aroura in the occupied West Bank, Arouri joined Hamas and eventually went into exile, first to Damascus, where then Syrian government was a strong supporter of the group.

He resided in Syria for three years before leaving, living as a nomad between several countries.

He left in 2011 when Hamas split with regime leader Bashar al Assad, siding with the opposition in Syria's civil war.

He later moved to Lebanon in 2018 until his assassination on Jan. 2.

Arriving in Beirut, Arouri made few public appearances. Hamas was able to build up its political and military presence in Lebanon.

In early September, Arouri held a meeting with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah that was attended by Ziad Nakhaleh, the leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, during which they discussed the situation in the Palestinian territories. A similar meeting was convened after October 7.

Drone strike

Since October 7, Arouri kept a low profile while others in the Hamas political leadership made frequent public appearances in Beirut, including in near-daily press conferences.

He was assassinated in a strike on an apartment building in the middle of Beirut's southern suburbs, a political and security stronghold of Hezbollah but also a densely populated urban area.

Hamas officials confirmed Arouri's death, along with six other Hamas members, including two military commanders.

A Lebanese security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said the attack appeared to have been carried out by a drone that fired missiles into the building, targeting one specific floor.

The strike shook the surrounding area, shattering windows in neighbouring buildings and causing a fire on the street in the Musharafieh district.

Residents of the area rushed to the streets around the targeted building, digging through rubble and broken glass, looking for survivors or bodies.

An Associated Press photographer at the scene described seeing at least two bodies and other body parts scattered in the street. A witness at the scene, Abbas Ghannam, told the AP news agency that he had heard the sound of a drone before it hit.

"It was not a military jet; it was a drone. It has a low sound," he said.

'Harsh retaliation'

This could be the first Israeli attack on Beirut since the 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah in the summer of 2006 that ended in a stalemate.

It could mark a major escalation in the war in Lebanon.

After Netanyahu's previous threats to Arouri, Nasrallah warned Israel not to target any Lebanese, Palestinian, Syrian or Iranian officials in Lebanon, saying that would lead to "harsh retaliation" by the group.

Hezbollah said in a statement that the targeting of Arouri "in the heart of the southern suburbs of Beirut" constituted "a serious attack on Lebanon, its people, its security, sovereignty and resistance."

"We affirm that this crime will never pass without response and punishment," it said.

Nasrallah is set to speak on Wednesday, on the anniversary of the killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in a US air strike.

Israel has killed over 22,000 Palestinians so far in its brutal war on besieged Gaza and wounded more than 57,000 others. Some 7,000 Palestinians are said to be buried under the mountains of concrete and twisted steel of bombed buildings.

SOURCE: TRTWORLD AND AGENCIES

Lebanon's prime minister condemns Israeli strike in Beirut

Lebanon to file urgent complaint with UN Security Council against Israel over attack

Mohammad Sıo |03.01.2024 -

Officers inspect the area after Israeli drone struck a Hamas office in Dahieh region of Beirut, Lebanon on January 02, 2024.

BEIRUT

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati issued a statement late Tuesday condemning an explosion in the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut, calling it a "new Israeli crime."

The Palestinian resistance group Hamas confirmed the assassination of its deputy chief Saleh Arouri in the blast.

Hamas said two commanders of its armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, were also killed.

Lebanon’s official National News Agency earlier reported that Arouri was killed in an Israeli drone strike on a Hamas office in Mecherfeh in southern Beirut. At least six people were killed in the attack.

"This explosion aims to usher Lebanon into a new phase of confrontations following the daily ongoing attacks in the south, which result in a significant number of martyrs and injuries," he added.

“Lebanon is committed to the resolutions of international legitimacy, especially (UN) Resolution 1701,'' he said.

“However, it is Israel that has breached and surpassed the resolution, as it remains unsatisfied with the level of death and destruction. It is evident to all that the decision of war rests in Israel's hands, and it is imperative to restrain and halt its aggression,'' Mikati said.

In this respect, Lebanon intends to file an urgent complaint with the UN Security Council against Israel in light of the attack, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.

Lebanon has previously lodged several complaints against Israel in the Security Council, including cases related to targeting journalists in southern Lebanon and the occupying border towns.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio

West Bank denounces al-Arouri killing, declares general strike

[03/January/2024]

AMALLAH Jan 03. 2024 (Saba) -National and Islamic parties in the West Bank declared a general strike and mobilization on Wednesday, mourning martyr Saleh Al-Arouri, the Deputy Chief of the Political Bureau of Hamas.

The Fatah Movement - Ramallah Region said in a statement: Wednesday is the day of a general and comprehensive strike in the Ramallah and Al-Bireh governorate in response to the assassination of Al-Arouri in Beirut.

Mosques all around the world mourned the great leader who was assassinated in the Southern Suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, by the Israeli enemy on January 2, 2023.

Protesters took to the streets in Arura, condemning his assassination and portraying an image that was replicated in multiple cities and towns across the West Bank.

Najat

Hezbollah condemns assassination of Hamas leader Salah Arouri, comrades in Beirut

Arouri's assassination sends 'highly symbolic political and security messages,' says Hezbollah, warning that killings will ‘never go unpunished’

Mohammad Sıo |03.01.2024 -

Police officers take security measures after Israeli drone struck a Hamas office in Dahieh region of Beirut, Lebanon on January 02, 2024.


ISTANBUL

The Lebanese group Hezbollah condemned the assassination of Hamas deputy chief Salah Arouri and his comrades in Beirut on Tuesday in a rapidly unfolding and deeply concerning series of events.

The assassination is a ''serious attack on Lebanon, its people, security, sovereignty and resistance,'' the group said in a statement.

Arouri's assassination ''contains highly symbolic political and security messages and entails a dangerous development in the course of the war between the enemy (Israel) and the axis of resistance,'' it said.

"Our resistance is steadfast and loyal to its principles that it has undertaken. The fighters are in the highest state of readiness," said the statement, emphasizing ''the assassination crime of Arouri and his comrades will never go unpunished.''

The Palestinian resistance group Hamas confirmed the assassination in the Lebanese capital Beirut.

Hamas said two commanders of its armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, were also killed.

Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported earlier that Arouri was killed in an Israeli drone strike on a Hamas office in Mecherfeh in southern Beirut. At least six people were killed in the attack.

*Writing by Mohmmad Sio

Lebanon's Hezbollah vows retaliation for Hamas' Al-Arouri

2024-01-02 

Shafaq News/ Lebanese Hezbollah declared that the assassination of Saleh Al-Arouri, Deputy Head of the Political Bureau of Hamas, in an Israeli bombing in Beirut, will "never" go unpunished.

In a statement, Hezbollah mourned Al-Arouri, calling him a "great mujahid leader" who contributed to the "defense of the oppressed people of Palestine."

The party accused Israel of resorting to assassination due to its failure to subjugate Gaza and other areas.

Hezbollah asserted that the crime was a continuation of the assassination of leader Sayyed Razi Mousavi (a high-ranking general of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps' elite Quds force, which Israel killed in Syria). Considering the operation a "dangerous assault on Lebanon, its people, its security, its sovereignty, and its resistance."

The statement affirmed that the crime "would not pass without a response and punishment."

Deputy Hamas chief Saleh al-Arouri was killed on Tuesday night in an Israeli drone strike on Beirut's southern suburbs, a stronghold of Hezbollah.

Lebanon's national news agency said six people were killed when the drone struck a Hamas office.

Hamas mourned two other officials with Al-Arouri.