Israel at war: UK and US ready airstrikes on Iran-backed Houthi rebels

UK, US ready airstrikes on Houthi rebels

by Agency Writers

Britain and America were on the brink of launching military strikes against the Houthis in Yemen on Wednesday night after repelling the largest attack yet by the Iran-backed rebels in the Red Sea.

UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps suggested that military action was imminent as he warned “enough is enough” hours after carrier-based jets and destroyers shot down a barrage of drones and missiles launched by the group. “This cannot continue and we won’t allow it to continue so watch this space,” he said at a press conference in central London.

As tensions in the region intensified, Mr Shapps accused Iran of being “heavily behind” the attacks by providing the “eyes and the ears” for Houthi missions. It is believed that the Houthis are provided with intelligence from an Iranian surveillance ship, the Behshad, which is disguised as a general cargo vessel.

Britain, the US, Australia and nine other nations threatened military action against the Houthis this month if they did not stop their attacks in the international waterway. They now accept that one of the worst-case scenarios is being realised because the Houthis are not listening to their warnings and are showing a new level of aggression.

British Ministers are deeply concerned about the economic impact of the attacks. A Treasury assessment warned before Christmas that disruption to shipping could shrink the British economy by as much as 0.3 per cent. That figure is now expected to be worse.

Read the full story here.

– The Times

Israel police arrest Islamic State ‘supporters’

by Agency Writers

Israel’s police said today they had arrested two Palestinian supporters of the Islamic State group who had plans to carry out “terrorist attacks” targeting the country’s security forces.

The two residents of east Jerusalem had planned to prepare explosive devices aimed at targeting security forces, the force said in a statement.

“The two terrorists supported the ideology of the Islamic State group and consumed content through the internet and Telegram, including videos of killings carried out by the group abroad,” the statement said.

“Influenced by the content of the organisation, the two planned to carry out terrorist attacks against police officers and border police force.”

Arrests of IS adherents are relatively rare in Israel, with other Islamist groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad having a far bigger presence in the country.

In March 2022, two residents of an Arab town in northern Israel were identified by Israeli intelligence as IS operatives who killed two police officers.

– AFP

More Gaza bombing deaths reported as ‘tunnels found’

by Agency Writers

Israel bombarded the southern Gaza Strip overnight, as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken prepared to travel to Egypt on Thursday for more talks aimed at containing Israel’s war against Hamas.

The diplomat was set to meet Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo, a day after talks with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmud Abbas, who “committed” to reforming the body to potentially reunite Gaza and the occupied West Bank under its leadership after the war, Blinken said.

Hamas’s press office said early Thursday that 62 people had been killed in strikes overnight, including around Gaza’s main southern city of Khan Yunis.

Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said in his evening briefing the night before that forces were continuing “to act decisively above and below ground” in the area.

Earlier in the day, the army said that troops east of the city had found “tunnel shafts, tunnel routes, and numerous weapons and materials”, and killed “dozens of terrorists”.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said an Israeli strike on an ambulance in central Gaza killed four medics and two other passengers on Wednesday.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the incident when contacted by AFP.

In Deir al-Balah, also in central Gaza, people wounded in a strike at a nearby school were brought to the Al-Aqsa hospital.

– AFP

Israel faces ‘genocide’ charge at UN top court

by Agency Writers

Israel will face accusations at the UN’s top court on Thursday that it has committed “genocidal” acts in Gaza, charges the country’s president dismissed as “atrocious” and “preposterous”.

South Africa has lodged an urgent appeal to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to force Israel to “immediately suspend” its military operations in Gaza.

Robed officials from both countries will go head-to-head in the Great Hall of Justice in the Peace Palace in The Hague, a world away from the devastation seen in Israel and Gaza since the October 7 Hamas attacks.

South Africa argues that Israel is breaking its commitments under the UN Genocide Convention, a treaty signed in 1948 as the world cried “never again” after the Holocaust.

As a fellow signatory to the treaty, South Africa can take Israel to the ICJ, which rules on disputes between countries and is often described as the “World Court”.

South Africa has acknowledged the “particular weight of responsibility” of accusing Israel of genocide and “unequivocally” condemned the Hamas attacks that touched off the war in Gaza.

But in an 84-page submission to the court, Pretoria charged that Israel’s bombing and invasion of Gaza is “intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group”.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog lashed out at the accusations and laid out his country’s likely defence.

“There’s nothing more atrocious and preposterous than this claim,” said Herzog. “We will be in the International Court of Justice and we will present proudly our case of using self defence… under international humanitarian law,” he said.

He said the Israeli army was “doing its utmost under extremely complicated circumstances on the ground to make sure that there will be no unintended consequences and no civilian casualties”.

As it is an urgent procedure, the ICJ could rule in a matter of weeks. Its rulings are final and cannot be appealed. However, countries do not always follow the court’s verdicts — the ICJ has ordered Russia to stop its invasion of Ukraine for example.

Cecily Rose, assistant professor of public international law at Leiden University, said the court does not have to rule on the fundamentals of the case at this stage — that issue will likely take years.

“Instead, the court would only be evaluating whether there is a risk of irreparable prejudice to rights held under the Genocide Convention, in particular the right of the Palestinians in Gaza to be protected from acts that threaten their existence as a group,” Rose told AFP.

– AFP

Blinken says Abbas ‘committed’ to reform

by Agency Writers

Top US diplomat Antony Blinken overnight on Wednesday said Mahmoud Abbas was committed to reforming the Palestinian Authority to potentially reunite war-torn Gaza and the disputed West Bank under its leadership.

Mr Blinken laid out Gaza’s possible future after meeting the Palestinian Authority President in Ramallah and Bahrain’s King Hamad in his fourth Middle East tour aimed at preventing the Israel-Hamas war from escalating.

The bloodiest ever Gaza war has raged since the unprecedented Hamas attacks against Israel on October 7, and has killed more than 23,000 people in the besieged Palestinian territory, according to its health ministry.

Mr Abbas raised with Mr Blinken the need “to stop the Israeli aggression against Palestinian people” in Hamas-ruled Gaza and the West Bank, where deadly unrest has also surged, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

Mr Blinken told Mr Abbas that Washington supports “tangible steps” towards the creation of a Palestinian state – a long-term goal which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-right government has opposed.

Read the full story here.

– AFP

Pocock backs S. Africa’s ‘genocide’ case

by Greg Brown

Independent senator David Pocock has backed South Africa for taking Israel to the United Nations’ top court over genocide allegations.

Senator Poccok urged the Albanese government to “publicly support” the legal case brought before the International Court of Justice.

“Given the extraordinary scale of civilian casualties and human suffering in Gaza and the serious allegations against Israel, I am strongly supportive of the need for a credible and robust examination of Israel’s conduct under the Genocide Convention,” he said.

“The case South Africa has brought in the International Court of Justice provides a mechanism for this through examination to occur in accordance with international law.

“I urge the Australian government to publicly support the ICJ process and to confirm that they will comply with any ruling and support its enforcement.”

PM blasts Iran for ‘destructive’ role in Middle East

by Staff Writers

Anthony Albanese has blasted Iran for its “destructive” role in the Middle East ahead of Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s visit to occupied Palestinian territory in the West Bank and other regional nations.

The Prime Minister said Iran should stop “meddling” in the enclave and reaffirmed the government’s position was “very clear”.

“Australia will continue to, through Penny Wong, make our position very clear, we want to make sure that there is not a widening of the conflict,” he said.

“Iran should stop meddling and Iran is playing a very destructive role in the region.”

Mr Albanese was questioned about his government’s dwindling relationship with the Australian-Arab community.

“We take a principled view going back to our position on what occurred with Hamas’ actions in Israel. We condemn, unequivocally, we make no apologies for that.

“We’ve also been very clear about speaking out for the need to protect innocent lives, whether they be in Israel or in Gaza.”

– Mohammad Alfares

S. Africa takes stage with Gaza ‘genocide’ case

by Agency Writers

South Africa hopes that a landmark “genocide” case against Israel at the UN’s top court will bolster its international standing and help the government win domestic support ahead of a key election this year.

Pretoria is sending some of its top lawyers to The Hague for a legal showdown at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), where it is seeking to compel Israel to halt its military operations in Gaza.

“They are an A-team,” said Cathleen Powell, an international law professor at the University of Cape Town.

“They combine people with expertise in international law with people who are particularly good at arguing cases before court.” It is South Africa’s first application to the ICJ, in a move that analysts say was influenced by history and politics.

The ruling African National Congress (ANC) has long been a firm supporter of the Palestinian cause, often linking it to its own struggle against the white-minority government, which had cooperative relations with Israel.

Anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela famously said South Africa’s freedom would be “incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians”.

Addressing ANC supporters this week, President Cyril Ramaphosa said Mandela’s teachings inspired the legal action, describing the case as a “matter of principle”.

“The people of Palestine today are being bombed, they are being killed,” he said.

“We were duty-bound to stand up and support the Palestinians.” Yet, analysts say there is more to it.

The ANC is bleeding support ahead of parliamentary elections expected later this year amid accusations of corruption and mismanagement.

Taking a principled stand internationally could help it distract from domestic troubles, while showing itself to be true to its core values.

“The ANC sees the ICJ case as a sheen of legitimacy, a basis to regain the prominence it has lost over the last 30 years because of its increasingly unprincipled governance,” said Sara Gon of the Institute of Race Relations think tank.

Home to sub-Saharan Africa’s largest Jewish community, South Africa has an even bigger Muslim population, part of which might see the application positively.

Nevertheless, the two groups still represent a tiny minority, and whether the action will play well with the conservative Christian majority remains to be seen, Gon said.

Several Christian leaders have condemned it, as has South Africa’s Jewish Board of Deputies, which described the bid as a “media-seeking stunt” and complained about rising anti-Semitism.

Internationally, the case could help South Africa’s standing among some of its close diplomatic partners, according to Gon.

A member of BRICS, an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, Pretoria sees the group as a counterbalance to a western-dominated international order.

It strongly supported its recent expansion to include, among others, Israel’s arch-rival Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Wednesday threw his support behind South Africa’s case, with the South American country’s foreign ministry saying in a statement that Israel must “immediately cease all acts or measures that may constitute genocide or related crimes.” Pretoria has filed the case against Israel because both countries have signed the UN Genocide Convention, created in 1948 as a response to the Holocaust.

But South Africa is not among the over 70 countries that recognise the ICJ’s “compulsory jurisdiction”, accepting its authority as binding.

The only two cases it has previously argued before the tribunal were as a respondent and date back to the 1960s when it was under apartheid rule.

Its legal team includes John Dugard, a former UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories and an associate at leading international law firm Doughty Street Chambers, which also counts Amal Clooney among its members.

Seasoned litigator Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, who has dealt with politically thorny domestic cases, including the jailing of former president Jacob Zuma, is also part of the team.

In an 84-page submission, the lawyers urged judges to order Israel to “immediately suspend its military operations” in Gaza, alleging Israel “has engaged in, is engaging in, and risks further engaging in genocidal acts”.

Legal commentators have noted the application is tightly argued and thoroughly referenced.

Israel has angrily hit back, with government spokesman Eylon Levy calling the case an “absurd blood libel”.

In response to the bloodiest attack in its history carried out by Hamas militants on October 7, Israel has reduced large parts of the Gaza Strip to rubble with its bombing campaign.

The Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of around 1,140 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 23,000, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry.

ICJ hearings start on Thursday and a decision is expected in a matter of weeks. While its decisions are binding, the ICJ has no way of enforcing them and they are sometimes completely ignored.

– AFP

UN demands immediate end to Houthi Red Sea attacks

by Agency Writers

The United Nations Security Council demanded an “immediate” end to attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on shipping in the Red Sea.

The resolution passed “demands that the Houthis immediately cease all such attacks, which impede global commerce and undermine navigational rights and freedoms as well as regional peace and security.”

It was adopted after Russia, as well as China, Mozambique and Algeria abstained.

The intensifying attacks have caused shipping companies to bypass the route and instead divert around South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, significantly adding to journey times and cost.

– AFP

Netanyahu opposes far-right calls for Gaza emigration

by Agency Writers

Far-right Israeli ministers are increasingly calling for Palestinians to leave Gaza and for Jews to rebuild settlements there, complicating Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts to maintain diplomatic support for the war against Hamas while also ensuring his own political survival.

Netanyahu faces one of the greatest threats to his 16-year leadership, with dismal approval ratings after Hamas killed more than 1200 people, mostly civilians, and took more than 200 people hostage on Oct. 7.

Careful not to alienate key members of his cabinet and risk the collapse of his government, he had been quiet on the remarks despite pressure to disavow them from the US, Israel’s most important ally.

“The United States unequivocally rejects any proposals advocating for the resettlement of Palestinians outside of Gaza,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he told Netanyahu in a meeting in Tel Aviv on Tuesday.

He said Netanyahu reassured him that resettlement outside Gaza isn’t the policy of the Israeli government.

Late Wednesday, on the eve of the genocide hearing against Israel at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netanyahu made his first public comments on the matter. “I want to make a few points absolutely clear: Israel has no intention of permanently occupying Gaza or displacing its civilian population,” he wrote on X.

Source: https://x.com/IsraeliPM/status/1745186120109846710?s=20

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who leads the ultranationalist Religious Zionist Party, said last week that Israel should rebuild Jewish settlements in Gaza that were uprooted when it unilaterally disengaged from the enclave in 2005.

He also called for Israel to encourage the “voluntary migration of Gaza’s residents to countries that will agree to absorb them as refugees.” National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, head of the ultranationalist Jewish Power Party, said “encouraging emigration” is the right solution to the conflict and called for rebuilding settlements.

For Palestinians, any discussion by Israelis to uproot them from their homes brings back the collective trauma of 1948, when around 750,000 Palestinians fled or were forced to leave their homes in Israel during the Arab-Israeli war that was fought over Israel’s establishment. Arab states, including neighboring Egypt, have refused any mass migration of Palestinians into their territory, saying they won’t allow Palestinians to become refugees again.

Netanyahu and his war cabinet haven’t articulated a clear vision for postwar Gaza, raising concerns in the international community about what comes after the war.

But the Israeli leadership has said Israel has no intention of reoccupying Gaza and has no plans to push Palestinians from the enclave.

“Contrary to false allegations, Israel doesn’t seek to displace the population in Gaza. Subject to security checks, Israel’s policy is to enable those individuals who wish to leave to do so,” Netanyahu’s office told The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.

For many Israeli voters on the country’s nationalist right, Israel’s 2005 decision to evacuate 21 settlements and uproot some 9000 civilians from Gaza was a grave injustice that they have long sought to reverse.

While the idea has some support among the Israeli public, it is still a minority view and political analysts widely view it as an unrealistic outcome.

A quarter of Israelis support building settlements in Gaza, while 64 per cent favour leaving the enclave entirely after the war or maintaining some level of security control, according to a November poll by the Jerusalem-based Israel Democracy Institute think tank.

The far-right ministers, while members of the Israeli government, don’t hold enough seats in the 120-seat Parliament, or Knesset, to overrule Netanyahu and his other allies. After the war began, Benny Gantz, leader of the center-right National Unity party joined a cross-party emergency government, meaning even without the far-right lawmakers, Netanyahu would be able to maintain his majority to lead the country.

But if the far-right ministers pull out of the coalition, it would affect Netanyahu’s ability to hold on to power in the long term, as Gantz has said he would only remain in the coalition for the war’s duration.

– Dow Jones