news

Lebanese opposition leader calls for Hezbollah to withdraw from country’s south

Samir Geagea, the head of the Lebanese Forces party, has said that the country’s Shia militia Hezbollah should withdraw from the country’s south, as the threat of all-out war with Israel rises.

“It would be better if Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah withdrew from the south and handed it over to the army, instead of giving his speech tomorrow, and his promotional films – ‘it’s not time for them’,” Geagea said in a post on social media.

:nasrallah-who-must-go:

I edited this so it's the entire update.

What did we learn from the IDF's Daniel Hagari?

A few moments ago we heard from IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari who was giving the Israeli military’s daily press briefing. Here’s a summary of what he said:

• Israeli fighter jets attacked the Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza, resulting in senior commander Ibrahim Biari being killed

• Several other Hamas members who were with the commander in the building and underground were also killed

• The attack also caused the collapse of Hamas’s underground infrastructure – the purpose of this infrastructure was to carry out terrorist activities against the Israeli forces

• Hagari said Hamas continues to use the civilian population as shields intentionally "and in a very cruel and brutal manner"

• Hagari repeated the IDF’s call for people in the north of Gaza to head south

 

As a reminder, the BBC is not able to immediately verify most battlefield claims

- BBC

Rant - the BBC update page is fucking shit.

Over 50 heads of state and 600 CEOs attended.

so basically we 'av all our rotten eggs in one baskit

so I was wondering if it'd be possible to dock a submarine underwater to deliver covert supplies to Gaza

turns out there's a google patent for an underwater submarine cargo terminal https://patents.google.com/patent/US3910057A/en

“I wouldn't take in an Israeli refugee because…”: Comedian Phil Chapman

video - https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/1720517429028114432/vid/avc1/480x852/kaVvsuW6FUBWHU6_.mp4?tag=14

The newschads now have the most commented threads on Hexbear - in first, second, and third place. Congratulations to us, but infinitely more congratulations to the brave Palestinian resistance who is opposing the genocidal Zionist entity who has murdered thousands of innocent civilians in their impotent rage.

The Country of the Week is Lebanon!

As mentioned in the preamble, feel free to post or recommend any material related to Lebanon, whether from a thousand years ago or yesterday. You can post it anywhere in the thread, but you can also reply to this comment if you wish.

If you're feeling particularly ambitious and want homework, you could take on any or all of these questions (no reward, but I'll be very proud of you):

• Who are the main political actors? Are they compradors, nationalists, international socialists, something else?
• What are the most salient domestic political issues; those issues that repeatedly shape elections over the last 10, 20 years. Every country has its quirks that complicate analysis - for example, Brexit in the UK.
• What is the country's history? You don't have to go back a thousand years if that's not relevant, and I'm counting "history" as basically anything that has happened over a year ago.
• What factions exist, historically and currently? If there is an electoral system, what are the major parties and their demographic bases? Are there any minor parties with large amounts of influence? Independence movements? Religious groups?
• How socially progressive or conservative are they? Is there equality for different ethnic groups, or are some persecuted? Do they have LGBTQIA+ rights? Have they improved over time, or gotten worse?
• What role do foreign powers play in the country’s politics and economy? Is there a particular country nearby or far away that is nearly inseparable from them, for good or bad reasons? Is their trade dominated by exports/imports to one place? Are they exploited, exploiters, or something in between?
• If applicable, what is the influence of former colonial relationships on the modern economy and politics?
• Is the country generally stable? Do you think there will be a coup at some point in the future, and if so, what faction might replace them?

Last week's country was Palestine.

This is our Geopolitics Reading List so far! Please chime in with suggestions!

General Theory:

• Super Imperialism, by Michael Hudson.
• Imperialism in the Twenty-First Century: Globalization, Super-Exploitation, and Capitalism’s Final Crisis, by John Smith.
• Superexploitation and the Imperialist Drive of Capitalism: How Marini's 'Dialectics of Dependency' Goes beyond Marx's 'Capital', by Andy Higginbottom.
• Capital Volume 3 Lecture Series, 32 videos, 10-15 minutes each, by Andy Higginbottom.
• World-Systems Analysis: An Introduction, by Immanuel Wallerstein.
• Geopolitical Economy: After US Hegemony, Globalization and Empire, by Radhika Desai.
• Capitalism, Coronavirus and War: A Geopolitical Economy, by Radhika Desai.

Canada:

• Canada in the World: Settler Capitalism and the Colonial Imagination, by Tyler Shipley.

Chile:

• 1000 Days of Revolution: Chilean Communists on the Lessons of Popular Unity (I cannot personally find an online version).
• Santiago Boys Podcast, analyzing Allende's government and Cybersyn.

United States:

• Drug Cartels Do Not Exist: Narcotrafficking in US and Mexican Culture, by Oswaldo Zavala.

Venezuela:

• Objective Conditions in Venezuela: Maduro’s Defensive Strategy and Contradictions Among the People, a longform article by Steve Ellner.

please mr Nasrallah, Haifa yearns for missiles

This is from ~30m ago. "Releases"? Is this really the first time Al Jazeera shared the video?

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2023/11/4/israel-hamas-war-live-heavy-israeli-bombing-pounds-northern-gaza?update=2464846

good speech so far but calling amy schumer a "cow" wasn't necessary

White House confirms US exploring ‘pauses’ in Gaza fighting. What does that mean?

John Kirby, a White House spokesman, was just asked during a news briefing to explain what “humanitarian pauses” would look like in the Gaza Strip.

This is what he said:

“We’re really not just talking about one pause; what we’re trying to do is explore the idea of as many pauses that might be necessary to continue to get aid [in] and to continue to work to get people out safely, including hostages.

“The president already worked on one such pause, when we were able to get those two Americans out and that’s what we’re kind of looking at.

“And just to remind, when we’re talking about humanitarian pause[s], what we’re talking about are temporary, localised pauses in the fighting to meet a certain goal or goals. As I said, get aid in, get people out.”

The US continues to reject mounting calls from the United Nations, human rights groups, Palestinian leaders and other countries around the world to demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

so 'humanitarian pauses' are literally nothing, we've already had them apparently. lol.

Police investigate destruction of Israeli hostage memorial at Bondi Beach

New South Wales Police say they are investigating after a memorial to Israeli hostages taken by Hamas was disrupted at Bondi Beach.

Over 200 towels, thongs and posters of victims were put up on a fence along the beach by the Australian Jewish community early this morning.

"Officers from Eastern Suburbs Police Area Command had commenced an investigation following reports of an alleged incident at Bondi Beach," a New South Wales police spokesperson said.

"Anyone with information should call Waverly police."

No mention of what happened. Did someone steal a towel? Scrawl swastikas along the pavement? We just donot know. "Disrupted".

My (generally good on Palestine) lib friend texted me about Hamas mutilations during the Al-Aqsa Flood. I haven't been following the specifics of what specifically happened on that day because I figured we're in a fog of war and figured I'd wait until an actual report, but now I feel like I need to know some details.

My impression was that most of the charges of mutilation (like the 40 decapitated babies) were basically only coming from unsupported IOF claims - is this correct or am I just in a bubble? Were there charges of mutilation and/or SA that are generally agreed by both sides to have occurred?

(I plan to defend the Flood in my response either way, I just don't want to be caught off guard)

Brian Berletic and his circles are pushing the idea that the US is actively trying to provoke Iran, and wants this to turn into a conflict that they can present Iran as the aggressor in. They're citiing a think tank paper where the strategy put forward would be to use Israel as a proxy to incite Iran into a conflict.

https://jermwarfare.com/conversations/brian-berletic-on-the-foundations-of-the-israel-gaza-conflict

https://archive.ph/PWzd2

Insulting propaganda and whitewashing from the nyt

The aircraft are MQ-9 Reapers operated by U.S. Special Operations

The unarmed surveillance flights are not supporting Israeli military operations on the ground, according to the Defense Department officials. Two officials said the goal was to assist in locating hostages, monitor for signs of life and pass potential leads to the Israel Defense Forces.

What a joke.

Genocidin' with Biden

Jewish fascist uses the terms monster and Nazi but not to accurately describe himself.

Former Israeli minister calls for ‘erasure’ of Gaza

Galit Distel Atbaryan, a member of parliament from Prime Minister Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party, has tweeted that Israel’s divided politicians should unite and instead erase “all of Gaza from the face of the earth”.

Distel Atbaryan, who was public diplomacy minister until mid-October, and was previously information minister, wrote the incendiary tweet after she said she viewed footage of Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7.

The politician added that “Gazan monsters” had the option of heading to Egypt or dying, and said that there should be “fire and smoke on the heads of Nazis” in the occupied West Bank.

-Al Jazeera

All this just to tell me to play RAID: Shadow Legends?

Local sources| Mosque speakers in #Jenin: Starting tonight, we will enter into civil disobedience and a comprehensive strike in all aspects of life, including all institutions and banks in all cities of the West Bank.

Couldn't sleep, guess I'll have to nap a bit on the bus down

Israeli minister freezes Palestinian Authority funds due to ‘support’ for Hamas

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says he ordered a halt to transfer of funds to the Palestinian Authority as a result of, what he says, their “support” for Hamas’s October 7 attack.

“I would like to inform you that I have instructed the Finance Ministry to stop the transfer of payments this month,” Smotrich said in a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, quoted by the Israeli media.

Israel collects taxes on behalf of the Palestinian Authority and transfers make monthly transfers after subtracting the expenses for services, such as electricity and water.

-Al Jazeera

In other news

https://www.rt.com/russia/586535-ekaterinburg-russia-snow-penis/

people who wear shorts in sub freezing weather will be the shock troops of the revolution tbh

BRG posting hits again

🔴 Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine:

—

A call from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine to all the honorable people of our nation and the free people of the world:

In the face of the flowing blood in Gaza, words no longer work: Rise... Revolt... Storm the embassies of the aggressor nations... Burn them... Destroy them.

Demand a halt to the flow of oil and gas to countries complicit in the aggression.

Time is of the essence, and history is unforgiving... Be assured that the people of Palestine will not let you down.

O free people, the fascist enemy seeks revenge on the Jabalia refugee camp, as well as the Nuseirat and Shati' camps, committing horrific massacres, which exceed in brutality what the Nazis did in their dark history, using six tons of destructive American bombs. A tragedy that appeals to human conscience; anyone who remains silent towards this killer is complicit in the genocide and depriving Palestinians of their humanity.

A morally, politically, and militarily defeated entity wants to claim victory over our Palestinian blood.

The Jabalia camp is the womb of the revolution and a symbol of Palestinian resilience and resistance, standing first in the battle of honor and duty, a spirit characterized by its strength, steadfastness, and high bravery. With its ground campaign, the enemy wants to cover its inevitable failure with massacres against Palestinian civilians, saluting the men of resistance in their various formations who are facing this aggression, and our steadfast people who reject displacement plans despite the genocidal war waged against them by the enemy.

Great Gaza, with the stature of its heroes and the blood of its children, is our roots deep in the ground. It will rise from the ashes.

Verbal stances don't shoot down planes or prevent missiles from falling on the heads of the innocent. Therefore, we call:

• To expel the ambassadors of aggression.
• A cry of anger and dignity to the entire the Arab street to stop the flow of oil and gas to countries complicit in the aggression.
• It is time to close the American military bases in the Arab countries.
• For the workers' unions in global ports to refuse to unload or load any weapon shipments from or to the zionist entity.

Let us trust in our people, our self, our dignity, our freedom, and our right to life.

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

31 October

Israeli strikes near Indonesian hospital in gaza, just moments ago, source is aljazeera

Fire from Israel’s vicinity ‘targeted’ and killed a Reuters reporter in Lebanon, a media watchdog finds.

Issam Abdallah, a visual journalist for Reuters, was “targeted” and killed in southern Lebanon on Oct. 13 by one of two strikes from the direction of the Israeli border, despite clearly being identified as a member of the press, Reporters Without Borders said on Sunday, based on an initial investigation by the media watchdog group.

Six other journalists — from Reuters, Al Jazeera and Agence France-Presse — were also injured in the attack.

According to the organization’s ballistic analysis, the strikes came from the direction of the Israeli border, east of where the journalists were standing. The report concluded that two strikes in the same place in a span of just over 30 seconds, and from the same direction, indicated a targeted attack.

Based on corroborating witness accounts by the journalists who survived, Reporters Without Borders, also known as RSF, said the first strike killed Mr. Abdallah and seriously injured Christina Assi, an Agence France-Presse correspondent; the second, around 37 to 38 seconds later, targeted a nearby Al Jazeera vehicle, injuring several other journalists.

RSF did not conclude who had launched the strikes against the journalists and did not provide the specific ballistics analysis that supported its preliminary findings, but used it, the group said, in combination with eyewitness accounts and video taken at the scene to reach its conclusion.

Both Lebanon’s government and military have accused Israel of firing the strikes.

Responding to the findings, the Israeli army said in a statement that after a cross-border exchange of fire on Oct. 13, it received reports “a number of hours later” that a civilian had been killed. The statement said the army was reviewing the incident, but noted that “being present in combat zones on either side of the border comes with a severe risk to life.” Israel has asked U.N. peacekeeping forces in Lebanon to ensure that civilians are not present in combat zones.

In a statement, Reuters said it was reviewing RSF’s preliminary analysis and that it had called on Israeli authorities to directly investigate the attack.

“We will continue to fight for the rights of all journalists to report the news in the public interest free of harassment or harm, wherever they are,” the Reuters statement said.

Mr. Abdallah, 37, was killed near the Lebanese village of Alma al-Shaab, which has been a focal point of intensifying clashes in recent weeks between Israeli forces and Hezbollah, the powerful Lebanese group backed by Iran.

Footage filmed shortly before the strike, and verified by The New York Times, showed the journalists standing at the roadside wearing helmets and bulletproof jackets marked “press.”

Mr. Abdallah’s death has sparked an uproar in Lebanon as fears mount over the prospect of a wider regional war.

During his funeral on Oct. 14, hundreds of teary-eyed and visibly angry mourners carried his body, draped in a Lebanese flag, in a procession through Khiam, his hometown, in southern Lebanon.

There, cameras were placed atop his grave.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/10/30/world/israel-hamas-gaza-war-news/fire-from-israels-vicinity-targeted-and-killed-a-reuters-reporter-in-lebanon-a-media-watchdog-finds?smid=url-share

There's video at the link.

Islamic Resistance in Iraq announce attacking a vital israeli target on the coast of the Dead Sea on Thursday morning in response to the massacres in Gaza

when is Nasrallah's speech and are there plans to stream it on live.hexbear.net

Speech is in 8 minutes and Al Jazeera is just playing a China bad piece