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Author: thefreeonline
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The US and UK complain at Houthi blockade of Israel. But they led a 6 year blockade to starve Yemen’s Houthis into colonial submission to Saudi.. with 350,000 deaths in the war.
What do you do when you’re a right wing British nationalist government in an election year and you’ve been 20% behind in the polls for months?
Even with the assistance of a supine media which looks the other way when there is mounting evidence of your rampant corruption and chronic chaos and happily propagates your bare faced lies and gaslighting, you still can’t make a dent in the polling lead enjoyed by an opposition party which has stolen many of your most egregiously nasty policies and which has abased itself to being an opposition in name only.
That’s the situation that the Tories currently find themselves in, they’re a right wing populist party which isn’t very popular at all, the political equivalent of a pub bore who vomits up all over your shoes then demands that you pay him for regaling you with what he believes to be his wit and wisdom.
Rishi Sunak has now deployed the favourite tactic of vile British nationalist governments which have outstayed their welcome, joining in with American military action in a Middle Eastern country, launching air strikes on dozens of targets across Yemen following Houthi attacks on shipping transiting past Yemen in the Red Sea.
There’s nothing like a war to boost bad opinion polls. Sunak will be hoping that this is his Falklands moment, this is the unexpected turn of events that will save his political skin.
He won’t care at all that it’s purchased at the price of the literal skins of innocent Yemeni civilians who are caught in the crossfire. Far from trying to deescalate the conflict, the UK has joined with the Americans in bombing a third country in order to protect arms supplies to Israel, which stands accused of committing ethnic cleansing in Gaza.
Mass protests have broken out in Yemen. Tens of thousands have taken to the streets of the capital Sanaa and several other cities across the country to express their anger after 60 American and British bombing strikes on their country.
Yemeni media has reported loud explosions in the cities of Sana’a, Hodeidah, Saada, Hajja, and Dhamar. There are multiple reports of British and American military aircraft in the skies across Yemen.
The Iranian backed Houthi regime in Yemen is already warning of retaliatory measures, and the risk of further escalation is now alarmingly high.
January 12, 2024 The relentless Israeli occupation aggression against the Gaza Strip has entered its ninety-eighth day, with no end in sight. The occupation forces continue to unleash a barrage of attacks from the air, sea, and land, targeting various areas in the Strip. Under the pretext of eliminating leaders of the Islamic Resistance Movement […]
Friday, 12 January 2024 — MintPress News “These strikes were defensive, and designed to preserve freedom of navigation in one of the world’s most vital waterways. The Yemeni attacks must end.” Dylan White, a spokesperson for NATO has stated that the bombing of Yemen was merely an act of defense.
By Victor Nava New York Post Several Democrats on Capitol Hill scolded President Biden on Thursday for launching airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen without congressional approval, arguing that the action was unconstitutional. “Section 2C of the War Powers Act is clear: POTUS may only introduce the US into hostilities after Congressional authorization or in […]
By Dr. Johannes Dragsbaek Schmidt | MEMO | January 12, 2024 In case you forgot Joe Biden, you are the commander in chief and the president of the United States. You are responsible for the slaughter and mass atrocities in Gaza. More than 24,000 have been killed in three months and almost 60,000 have been […]
Philippe Lazzarini, the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), said that “Israel” is facilitating the large-scale displacement of Gaza Strip residents towards Egypt via the border.
A few days ago, Egypt rejected the Israeli policy of forced displacement of the people of Gaza whether within the Strip or across the border into Eygpt’s Sinai, the chairperson of the Egyptian State Information Service, Diaa Rashwan, stated.
However the facts on the ground speak differently.
Firstly Israel has shown its complete contempt for international law, claiming it has priority as “God’s chosen people” and repeatedly showing that nothing it says about the future of Gaza can be taken for truth.
Meanwhile a deal might be done.. Egypt is deeply and hopelessly in debt without much natural resources and a soaring population, while Israel has open access to billions in cash from the US which can go into endless debt. Suspiciously just before the Gaza war began the US cancelled a large part of aid it has given Egypt for many years.
Egypt-Israel “Secret Bilateral Talks”
Since Israel expelled so many Palestinians to the Gaza ‘concentration camp’ huge quantities of Gas have been discovered right next to Gaza in the sea.
In 2021-22, Egypt and Israel were involved in “secret bilateral talks” regarding “the extraction of natural gas off the coast of the Gaza Strip.
“Egypt succeeded in persuading Israel to start extracting natural gas off the coast of the Gaza Strip, after several months of secret bilateral talks.
This development … comes after years of Israeli objections to extract natural gas off the coast of Gaza on [alleged] security grounds, …
British Gas (BG Group) has also been dealing with the Tel Aviv government.
Palestinians participate in a rally at the Gaza City sea port, in which they demand their right to receive gas from maritime fields in the eastern Mediterranean and the lifting of the Israeli blockade, Gaza Strip, Sept. 13 2022. – Mohammed Abed/AFP
Update. Israel’s Secret Intelligence Memorandum.. permanent transfer of the Gaza Strip’s 2.2 million Palestinian residents to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula
An official “secret” memorandum authored by Israel’s Ministry of Intelligence “is recommending the forcible and permanent transfer of the Gaza Strip’s 2.2 million Palestinian residents to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula”, namely to a refugee camp in Egyptian territory. There are indications of Israel-Egypt negotiations as well as consultations with the U.S.
Jan 29, 2022The United States is canceling $130 million (€117 million) in military aid to Egypt over human rights concerns, the State Department said on Friday. The announcement comes just days after…The US State Department has said Egypt has not met the conditions to receive the $130 million in military aid. Earlier this week, the US and Egypt concluded an arms sale to the tune of $2.5 billion.denying the $130 million was “not much more than a slap on the wrist given those handouts.”
Video: Michel Chossudovsky, Interview with Caroline Mailloux, Lux Media
Felicity Arbuthnot’s 2013 Analysis
“The Giant Leviathan natural gas field, in the eastern Mediterranean, discovered in December 2010, widely described [by governments and media] as “off the coast of Israel.”
These Levant reserves must be distinguished from those discovered in Gaza in 1999 by British Gas, which belong to Palestine. Felicity Arbuthnot’s analysis nonetheless confirms that “Part of the Leviathan Gas fields lie in Gazan territorial waters” (See Map Below).
Whilst Israel claims them as her very own treasure trove, only a fraction of the sea’s wealth lies in Israel’s bailiwick as maps. Much is still unexplored, but currently Palestine’s Gaza and the West Bank between them show the greatest discoveries… (Felicity Arbuthnot, 2013)
Flash Forward to October 2023
Netanyahu’s October 2023 declaration of war against 2.3 million people of the Gaza Strip is a continuation of its 2008-2009 invasion of Gaza under “Operation Cast Lead.”
The underlying objective is the outright military occupation of Gaza by Israel’s IDF forces and the expulsion of Palestinians from their homeland.
I should however mention that there are powerful financial interests which stand to benefit from Israel’s criminal undertaking (Genocide) directed against Gaza.
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The ultimate objective is not only to exclude Palestinians from their homeland, it consists in confiscating the multi-billion dollar Gaza offshore Natural Gas reserves, namely those pertaining to the BG (BG Group) in 1999, as well the Levant discoveries of 2013.
Egypt-Israel “Secret Bilateral Talks”
In 2021-22, Egypt and Israel were involved in “secret bilateral talks” regarding “the extraction of natural gas off the coast of the Gaza Strip.
“Egypt succeeded in persuading Israel to start extracting natural gas off the coast of the Gaza Strip, after several months of secret bilateral talks.
This development … comes after years of Israeli objections to extract natural gas off the coast of Gaza on [alleged] security grounds, …
British Gas (BG Group) has also been dealing with the Tel Aviv government.
What is significant is that the civilian arm of the Hamas Gaza government has been bypassed in regards to exploration and development rights over the gas fields:
The field, which lies about 30 kilometers (19 miles) west of the Gaza coast, was discovered in 2000 by British Gas (currently BG Group) and is estimated to contain more than 1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
The official in the Egyptian intelligence service told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, “An Egyptian economic and security delegation discussed with the Israeli side for several months the issue of allowing the extraction of natural gas off the coast of Gaza. …Al-Monitor, October 22, 2022
Palestinians participate in a rally at the Gaza City sea port, in which they demand their right to receive gas from maritime fields in the eastern Mediterranean and the lifting of the Israeli blockade, Gaza Strip, Sept. 13 2022. – Mohammed Abed/AFP
A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Egypt and Israel, which had the rubber-stamp of the Palestinian National Authority (PA):
“The Egyptian official explained that Israel required the start of practical measures to extract gas from the Gaza fields at the beginning of 2024, to ensure its own security. (Al-Monitor, October 22, 2022
Netanyahu’s Timeline: “Before The Beginning of 2024”
The timeline resulting from these bilateral Israel-Egypt “secret talks” i.e. confiscation of Palestine’s offshore Maritime Gas Reserves is “The Beginning of 2024”.
Geologists and natural resources economists have confirmed that the Occupied Palestinian Territory lies above sizeable reservoirs of oil and natural gas wealth, in Area C of the occupied West Bank and the Mediterranean coast off the Gaza Strip.
However, occupation continues to prevent Palestinians from developing their energy fields so as to exploit and benefit from such assets. As such, the Palestinian people have been denied the benefits of using this natural resource to finance socioeconomic development and meet their need for energy.
The accumulated losses are estimated in the billions of dollars. The longer Israel prevents Palestinians from exploiting their own oil and natural gas reserves, the greater the opportunity costs and the greater the total costs of the occupation borne by Palestinians become.
This study identifies and assesses existing and potential Palestinian oil and natural gas reserves that could be exploited for the benefit of the Palestinian people, which Israel is either preventing them from exploiting or is exploiting without due regard for international law. (UNCTAD, August 2019, emphasis added, download complete report)
Crimes against Humanity
In the words of Netanyahu who is on Record for Supporting and Financing a faction within Hamas:
“Anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state has to support bolstering Hamas and transferring money to Hamas … This is part of our strategy – to isolate the Palestinians in Gaza from the Palestinians in the West Bank.”
(Benjamin Netanyahu, statement at a March 2019 meeting of his Likud Party’s Knesset members, Haaretz, October 9, 2023, emphasis added)
“Hamas was treated as a partner to the detriment of the Palestinian Authority to prevent Abbas from moving towards creating a Palestinian State. Hamas was promoted from a terrorist group to an organization with which Israel conducted negotiations through Egypt, and which was allowed to receive suitcases containing millions of dollars from Qatar through the Gaza crossings.”
Crimes against humanity beyond description by the Netanyahu government against the People of Palestine,
Crimes also committed against the People of Israel who are the victims of the Hamas “False Flag Attack” carefully engineered by Mossad-IDF.
There are deep-seated divisions within Hamas. Our “False Flag” analysis pertains to a military-intelligence faction within Hamas which cooperates with Israeli and U.S. intelligence. See:
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