INVASION IMMINENT: Has Netanyahu finally ordered the unthinkable?

Right, so there was definitely a feeling of unease last night here at UK time as it looked liked after months of threats and amid a ceasefire deal that had suddenly gone sideways for Benjamin Netanyahu, he was ordering the IDF into Rafah, the last refuge of the Gazan people pretty much as 1.6m of them are trapped there, kettled is the term, cornered with nowhere to go, half of the people shielding there with no more than tents for protection, now being bombed, despite Hamas having literally agreed to release hostages as part of that same ceasefire deal that Netanyahu now doesn’t like. The scale of death and destruction that could now be meted out in a very short space of time, for no other reason that for Netanyahu to keep his grip on power, would be unparalleled to anything we’ve witnessed since October 7th and this is so appallingly preventable. Our leaders in our countries, our nations could have intervened long before now. Instead they chose to be on his side. If as feared Netanyahu does the unthinkable now in Rafah, this crime will be on them too, for standing aside, for casting a blind eye, for continuing to aid and supply that regime as they have with arms and military aid. Israel is a pariah state, an apartheid state, a rogue state and anyone still supporting them in a position of power, needs to end up in the Hague with them should the worst now come to pass.
Right, so going to bed last night, with scenes of tanks and explosions already happening on the outskirts of Rafah, there was a genuine fear as to what I thought I might be waking up to this morning, and already it is scenes of absolute horror, but it’s also something that sad much as we’ve been dreading it, we’ve been expecting it too. Despite the devastation north to south in the Gaza Strip that has gone on since October 7th, at no point has there been a concerted global pushback frowm world leaders to condemn Israel for what it is doing. There have been pockets of it, South Africa, Nicaragua a few others who have actually sought to uphold international humanitarian law, while other signatories to it, have ignored it, seeking instead, to carry on their support, for the racist, colonialist project in the Middle East called Israel, who can do whatever clearly, obviously by their actions, and suffer no real consequences. It is no wonder they act like spoilt children anytime somebody chooses to criticise them for what they are doing. They have committed mass acts of genocide and still claim they are the victims, I truly am sickened by the attitudes of many of them, not least their mad government and their power tripping prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
It takes a special kind of deranged to start bombing a community of 1.6m people, most of which are living in tents, but you’re in a whole new class of your own, when you’re negotiating for a ceasefire at the same time.
Where Hamas have already agreed to this ceasefire deal, that I went over in a video yesterday, but that completely wrong-footed Netanyahu, thinking they would never agree to it, because there is no permanence written into the ceasefire as yet, yet Hamas did and it is Netanyahu now faced with the position of saying the hostages come first, of Hamas having agreed to this deal where all hostages will be released and now Netanyahu by his actions, clearly showing the hostages are completely meaningless to him, not that his statement issued yesterday afternoon our time, makes that clear:
‘Statement from the Prime Minister's Office: The War Cabinet unanimously decided this evening Israel will continue its operation in Rafah, in order to apply military pressure on Hamas so as to advance the release of our hostages and achieve the other objectives of the war.’
They have a ceasefire deal on the table that Hamas have already agreed to, that would lead to all the hostages being released and still Netanyahu claims he’s going into Rafah to release hostages. He could’ve agreed to the ceasefire by now and hostages could have been released without a single shot having been fired today. So let’s not pretend this is about hostages, this is about him retaining his grip on power and no amount of bloodshed is a price too high to pay for that it would appear.
Israel have already killed more hostages than they’ve saved, more will surely die assuming they are being held in Rafah, we don’t know with certainty, but certainly more civilians will.
So far, at time of writing, a full invasion of Rafah has not yet happened, but what we have seen overnight, has been bad enough.
IDF tanks have entered Rafah and are now sat 200 metres from the Rafah Border Crossing with Egypt and they’ve closed it completely, all on the basis that they had intelligence it was being used for terrorist purposes. Yeah, sure why would we possibly doubt you. Israel have now taken control of that crossing. All aid has been stopped from entering the Strip, more people will die as a direct result. Overnight there have been three strikes on Rafah itself and 12 people have been killed and yet Israel are now telling people to evacuate the area. Where to? They are trapped there, they can go nowhere, all this narrative serves is to allow Israel to say well we told them to go and anyone who says they can’t go anywhere or couldn’t go anywhere will no doubt be denounced as an antisemite. It’s a fact though, what route have you provided for them to leave Rafah and where are they going to? Absolutely nowhere. Are the tanks parked on Egypt’s lawn ready to blow the border crossing and allow people to flee into Egypt? Certainly it’d be a better outcome than the alternative, but are these people worth the political fallout for Netanyahu with Egypt? They don’t seem worth much at all to him.
Equally though, his actions then reflect and incriminate all those who have supported him, his regime and his government in their apparent support for Israel the nation, but conflating the two, on one hand does a disservice to the great many Israelis out protesting against Netanyahu when they won’t, but also shames and appals people in this country and on the international stage when our leaderships are so out of kilter with our views. Here in the UK last week’s local elections have given both the Tories and to a slightly lesser extent Labour both bloody noses in regards to their pro Israeli support, but if as is feared a catastrophic Israeli strike on Rafah happens now, and especially in light of Netanyahu having spurned a ceasefire deal that Hamas accepted, there will be no forgiveness or forgetting what our leaders say or do now, because if the likes of Biden, Sunak, Starmer, von der Leyen and others who have ardently supported Israel from the beginning don’t change their tune here and now, end arms supplies, back BDS, condemn Israel for the rogue nation that it is, then each of them belong in the dock of the Hague alongside them.
So far Keir Starmer has on social media just repeated the need for a ceasefire, something his party has previously sabotaged, release of hostages and aid to be let in. I really don’t know how many more times these calls must be ignored before he wakes up and says something else that would actually be meaningful. Biden is no better, nobody has supported Israel more. Rishi Sunak has said absolutely nothing concerning last nights events, issuing no statement thusfar on what is happened as we speak. That isn’t to say some are not speaking out from within the main parties, for example Sadiq Khan the newly elected London Mayor, has last night called for an arms embargo on Israel, going far further than anyone else in Starmer’s Labour has been prepared to go up until now, but I won’t be expecting that same sentiment from Starmer himself.
More globally at the UN, the UN General Assembly has a draft resolution before it which could be voted on as early as Friday to recognise Palestine as a full member state, you might recall the US on the UN Security Council vetoed that the other week. Should this draft resolution pass, the UN Security Council will be asked to reconsider it’s decision, big deal you might think, but should Rafah be assaulted at the level it is feared it is about to be, then Biden would be literally throwing the presidency away I would imagine, if he chose to veto following that. It seems weak, but Israel may well see it happen because of their own actions. There’s a get out clause for the US legally, as Israel’s UN representative Gilad Erdan has pointed out though, however the court of public opinion will judge more harshly:
‘Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan has denounced a UN General Assembly (UNGA) draft resolution that would recognise Palestine as qualified to become a full UN member, saying it goes against the organisation’s founding Charter.
“If it is approved, I expect the United States to completely stop funding the UN and its institutions, in accordance with American law,” Erdan said.
US law stipulates that Washington can’t fund any UN body if it grants full membership to any group that lacks “internationally recognised attributes” of statehood.’
Biden would be a fool to hide behind that, especially when international law trumps domestic law at any rate.
Fundamentally as I said in this video recommendation here from yesterday, Netanyahu opting to end the war and agree to a ceasefire would mean he finally has to be held accountable for his actions. This might be why Hamas chose to accept a deal they weren’t looking likely to without a permanent ceasefire, surely it’s obvious to everyone now therefore that there can be no peace, no end to what is happening in Gaza and indeed the West Bank as well whilst Netanyahu remains in charge and I’ll hopefully catch you on the next vid. Cheers folks.