Egyptian politics regarding Gaza have always been a bit of an enigma to me. These Al Jazeera articles1 2 shed a bit of light on the situation, but I still don't get the politics of the Gaza/Egypt border. How is the Israeli blockade so devastating when they only control one side of the border? To what extent can Palestinians cross into Egypt?

As unofficial news mega bookie, I'm setting the Comment Count Over/Under at 5,250 for the week. We are at 500 as of 7:30 PM ET on Monday.

I haven't seen anything about this, so might as well post it:

[GERMANY] Election Results for state elections in Bavaria and Hessen.

Bavaria:

Christian Social Union (Right Wing Opportunist) - 37,0% (-0,2%)

Free Voters Association (CSU for who doesn't like the CSU) - 15,8% (+4,2%)

Alternative for Germany (Fascists) - 14,6% (+4,2%)

Green Party/Alliance '90 (Neoliberal Warhawks) - 14,4% (-3,2%)

Social Democratic Party (As useless as the US Democrats) - 8,4% (-1,3%)

[Under the 5% clause, not represented in the state parliament]

Free Democratic Party (Libertarians) - 3,0% (-2,1%)

Ecological Democratic Party (Socially Conservative Socdems) - 1,8% (+0,2%)

Left Party (we're a mess) - 1,5% (-1,8%)

Bavarian Party (yes, separatist. They've been irrelevant since the 1950s) - 0,9% (-0,8%)

The Base (Vaccines scary, the party) - 0,9% (new)

Animal Protection Party (Hippies & sus people) - 0,5% (+0,2%)

The PARTY (radlibs mocking the political system) - 0,5% (+0,1%)

V-Partei³ ("Party for Change, Vegans and Vegetarians" says everything really) - 0,2% (-0,1%)

Party of the Humanists (Reddit, the Party) - 0,1% (+0,1%)

Elizabeth Warren spews out lib speak.

Democracies like the United States and Israel must uphold the rule of law and protect innocent civilians. As Israel responds to Hamas's terrorist attacks, it must minimize civilian harm, including to Palestinian children, Israeli hostages, and U.S. citizens.

Nitter

What's great about these sorts of tweets is that it sounds like she's a concerned nobody with zero political power. Like she's still a college professor. The first sentence is so weird. She makes it seem that some unnamed country is doing the slaughter and Israel could be a force for good to get them to stop. Also Israel is already committing war crimes so politely pleading for them to behave ain't exactly going to work.

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From another thread

Remember a few years ago when a reporter asked her about Israel and she literally just ran away?

What? Does anybody have a link for that? I gotta see it!

Edit 1

Apparently it was in 2014.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, 1, ducks question on Gaza, 2, plans trip to Israel, and 3- - Mondoweiss

August 14, 2014

Here is a defining moment: Senator Warren running away, at Netroots on July 18, when a reporter asked her about the Gaza slaughter.

The Youtube embed is "video not available".

Edit 2

PointAndClique found it for me.

More than two million people are at risk in Gaza as water runs out, the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) has warned.

“It has become a matter of life and death. It is a must; fuel needs to be delivered now into Gaza to make water available for 2 million people,” Philippe Lazzarini, the UNRWA commissioner-general said in a statement.

“Clean water is running out in Gaza, after its water plant and public water networks stopped working. People are now forced to use dirty water from wells, increasing risks of waterborne diseases,” the statement said.

CNN has an onscreen graphic for a family with a hostage held by Hamas and it includes: #HamasIsIsis

Haaretz: 2nd U.S. Aircraft Carrier has been deployed to the Eastern Mediterranean.

” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that "The increases to U.S. force posture signal the United States' ironclad commitment to Israel’s security and our resolve to deter any state or non-state actor seeking to escalate this war."

https://nitter.cz/WarMonitors/status/1713136853518340345?s=20

they're still at it with the IDF girls

I just had a thought;

War Crimes, as a matter of international law where combatants who violate the international laws of armed conflict are, de facto, never prosecuted. There just aren't a meaningful number of war crimes convictions. And in a lot of cases, as with the US especially, the perpetrators of war crimes are shielded by powerful patrons. "So and so did war crimes!" is stating that someone broke a law that cannot be enforced, that is mocked by violent aggressors all the time.

Like of course the IDF is doing war crimes. They know the US would never let them be prosecuted.

I was thinking about it bc people keep saying "Well dropping WP on civilians isn't technically a war crime" and it's like yeah, they're right. it's not a violation of some toothless legal code that everyone ignores. It's an unthinkable crime against all mankind, a horrible act with no justification. We don't need a joke of a legal system to tell us that's wrong and the people who do it should be shunned and condemned, at minimum.

This morning the Turkish army bombed the Maxmûr Refugee camp in Southern Kurdistan.

Targeting the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK)

Unconfirmed reports of a downed f-16. There seems to be video of it being tracked by a missile and popping flares before appearing to be hit and start going down. Another video that appears to show the parachuting pilot.

In some more positive news:

Other, more neoliberal-leaning forums that I frequent are rapidly turning against Israel as the conflict continues.

Moreover, the support that Western governments are pledging towards Israel, despite the latter's openly genocidal intentions, is acting as a harsh eye-opener.

I can only hope that they won't forget this.

I have found some success at arguing that Palestinians have a right to launch attacks into Israel, a country invading the West Bank and bombing Gaza, by equating it with the right to Ukraine to launch attacks into Russia. Libs seem to be sympathetic to that. I know y'all won't like that, but lol.

The Israeli Air Force is low on guided munition, saving enough for a possible escalation in the north.

Seen here, at least two recent Israeli Air force posts display the use of 750lb M117 unguided bombs on F-16Cs.

Israel claims isis flags were found on hamas soldiers

https://insiderpaper.com/israel-prepares-ground-manoeuvre-against-hamas-but-no-decision-yet-army/

This morning the IDF said no decision has yet been made regarding any ground incursion into Gaza, “but we are preparing for it.”

Possibly being walked back? Hesitating?

Around the middle of the day:

Israel Carries out Airstrikes against the Damascus Airport & Aleppo Airport in Syria 🇸🇾

both Airports are out of Operation.

[Might be untrue, needs verification]

Chief of Staff of the Israeli Army, Herzi Halevi, confirms the Strikes in Syria were Pre-emptive.

He says - “We destroyed the two airports and we challenge Iran and the Assad regime to respond to Israeli sovereignty, and this is a preliminary response.”

BREAKING: There are currently no plans to send American soldiers to Israel for hostage rescue operations, Jon Finer, deputy national security adviser, told MSNBC. "We are not contemplating U.S. boots on the ground," Finer said

"Israel's health minister ordered state hospitals not to treat captured terrorists": Saving "despicable" terrorists is not in line with Israel's mission.

"Moshe Arbel on Wednesday afternoon issued a directive to Israel's public health system to refuse to treat captured terrorists.” “In these difficult times, the public health system must focus entirely on treating victims of criminal massacres, IDF soldiers and preparing for the next war," Arbel said. "The task of securing and treating the damned and despicable terrorists within the public health system significantly harms this effort, and therefore, under my leadership, the public health system will not treat them." "The IDF or Shabak should be tasked with addressing this issue, and of course the Health Ministry is ready and willing to assist these bodies as needed."

https://fxtwitter.com/SkyNewsArabia_B/status/1712360241516384537

Israeli Army: We refuse to publish the number of interceptions we carry out of Palestinian missiles

Walla News: Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi spoke with Syrian President Bashar Assad, telling him that the Arab and Muslim world must agree on a united position in support of the Palestinians.

https://streamable.com/u0sorn

On October 12, 2023, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) published a footage showing the moving and accumulation of troops and equipment at the Israeli-Lebanese border.

On the video, APCs and Merkava MBTs are seen being deployed at the border zone, specially on the hills

According to the IDF, "As part of the promotion of the readiness of the IDF forces in the Northern Command sector, reserve forces have been deployed in recent days" in the settlements near the border fence in the north.

The IDF says that "Its forces carry out various defense tasks in the settlements, which include patrols, ambushes and the deployment of roadblocks, in order to ensure the safety of the residents"

The statement ends with IDF Northern Commando will be reinforced this week with many additional forces in order to strengthen the command and control response and its readiness in the region

Seems like the number of attendees at the music festival has changed. There were 3000 attendees and 285 deaths.

At this point I absolutely believe these deaths were casualties caused by fighting with the IDF, not by intent to massacre civilians.

Al-Qassam Brigades Spokesman: Our current battle began where Operation Sword of Jerusalem (2021 Israel–Palestine crisis), which united all the Palestinian arenas, ended

Al-Qassam Brigades Spokesman: We emphasized that the battle should be headed by the holiness of Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem, and we included the prisoners’ file in it

Al-Qassam Brigades Spokesman: The pace of coordination with the axis of resistance has increased and there have been developments regarding the future of the conflict with the Zionist enemy

Al-Qassam Brigades Spokesman: The Battle of Al-Aqsa Flood began based on an analysis of the area of operations, such as the land and weather and their impact

Al-Qassam Brigades Spokesman: Operation Al-Aqsa Flood included the firing of 3,500 rockets and artillery shells targeting the Gaza Division of the Zionist Army

Al-Qassam Brigades Spokesman: We were keen to hide the intentions, training and movements before the Al-Aqsa flood was carried out

Al-Qassam Brigades Spokesman: We have made extensive plans to train the forces to be able to carry out tasks efficiently

Al-Qassam Brigades Spokesman: We have drawn up a precise plan to summon 3,000 fighters for the battle and 1,500 for support and support operations.

Al-Qassam Brigades Spokesman: We began Operation Al-Aqsa Flood to destroy the Gaza division, which we attacked in 15 different points.

Al-Qassam Brigades Spokesman: We attacked the Zikim Military base of Zionist Army and several other settlements outside the Gaza Division headquarters

Al-Qassam Brigades Spokesman: In addition to our attack on the Gaza Division, we attacked 10 additional military intervention points of the Zionist Army.

Al-Qassam Brigades Spokesman: The Al-Qassam Brigades practiced strategic deception against the enemy that began in early 2022.

Al-Qassam Brigades Spokesman: Despite the Zionist air incursions, we chose to partially pass some of the battles between the Zionist enemy and the resistance factions to gain time to prepare for the final battle.

Al-Qassam Brigades Spokesman: The Zionist enemy is committing the most heinous crimes against innocent civilians, and it is better to hold its leadership accountable for that.

Sky News reporter speak with former Israeli PM.

Calls Palestinians nazis.

Sky News presenter learns in realtime what bad faith engagement feels like.

https://streamable.com/zh3int

Pro Palestine demonstrations go ahead in France despite authorities

https://twitter.com/romainjeanticou/status/1712503575560011883

🇮🇱❌🇵🇸❗️ — 📰 Al-Jazeera: The Israeli Prime Minister Benjmain Netanyahu delivers a statement declaring war on Gaza in the Knesset (Israeli parliament)

https://fxtwitter.com/AJABreaking/status/1712507154463113413

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: We all stand united in this battle

Israeli Prime-Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: We stand in this battle together with mutual guarantees and embrace from our hearts the families who lost their loved ones

Israeli Prime-Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: We receive assistance from outside the country to identify the bodies and identify the missing

Israeli Prime-Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: This is a war on the House and it must end with one thing: Victory and the Total Destruction liquidation of Hamas, once and for all

Israeli Prime-Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: We want to prove to the outside world that there is no rift between us. On the contrary, we are motivated by one thing, which is the total liquidation of Hamas.

Israeli Prime-Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: Hamas carried out nefarious and horrifying crimes in our homes and the world now understands why it must be eliminated by any means necessary

Israeli Prime-Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: All countries must ban Hamas or impose sanctions on every country that hosts its leaders

Israeli Prime-Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: I will meet with the US Secretary of Defense tomorrow and we received great American support and an airlift of equipment and weapons

Israeli Prime-Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: October 7 will remain a black day in the history of peoples and the most horrific day for the Jewish people since the Nazi Germany's Holocaust.

Israeli Prime-Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: Now, we have no choice but life or death. This is a matter of survival for Israel and the Jewish people.

Israeli Prime-Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: We will restore the Gaza envelope and rebuild the towns

Stopping here. I fucked up one of my edits and lost several things I posted. Oops. I'll probably just make separate posts next time. Will continue to make separate posts from here.

https://streamable.com/mkzee9

Israeli military releases video of logistics loading US-made Mark 84 2000kg JDAM bombs onto fighters.

going to rank the current mood at a

🚨 BREAKING: Accompanied by dozens of drones, a number of resistance paratroopers are reportedly infiltrating the settlements of occupied northern Palestine.

Is it go time then?