The Holy Land Thread

[Del]

Case in point:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/is ... c64e&ei=29

Does anyone believe Hamas will permit the civilian population to evacuate to safety?

Early in the conflict, IDF would phone the office of an apartment building and urge everyone to evacuate as the building was about to be targeted for the HAMAS assets underneath. Apartment managers would respond in panic, as HAMAS had the bsurrounding streets blocked off and would shoot anyone who left.

IDF eventually fought and defended an escape corridor so residents of northern Gaza could evacuate.

I am certain that if Israel has erected a tent city to house refugees from Rafah, the Israelis have also planned a way for non-combatants to escape to safety.

[Wosbald]

+JMJ+

Source: America
Link: americamagazine DOT org/faith/2024/04/23/cardinal-dolan-palestine-israel-gaza-247772

Cardinal Dolan: In the Holy Land, I saw broken hearts — and dreams for a better future [Analysis, Opinion]

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Apr 23, 2024 — Everybody able to visit the Holy Land observes how the prayers of the Bible come alive when spoken there. During my recent visit, I often halted at Psalm 34, “The Lord is close to the broken-hearted, and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

“Here we speak not from our mouths, but in tears and trembling hearts,” as one woman told me.

One of the Franciscans with whom I chatted was worried about a “low-grade depression” haunting those who bravely minister in the Holy Land. “I’m not talking about clinical depression, although I guess there’s some of that,” he went on to explain. “I mean more the daily drudgery of frustrations, as we learn never to say, ‘Well, at least it can’t get worse,’ because it sure will.”

Those of us familiar with the hallowed narrative of salvation realize this has ever been the case in those acres chosen by the God of Abraham as his special arena of revelation. Yet even the longtime experts and observers admit it seems especially dismal now.

Because I went over to mark the 75th anniversary of the Pontifical Mission for Palestine, a major initiative of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association, much of my visit was with the tiny and beleaguered community of Christians, here since ancient times. Yet because of my love for and cooperation with the Jewish community here in New York, I could hardly pass up the chance of spending time with Israelis as well.

[…]

To be sure, there is plenty of heartbreak and crushed spirits to go around. Likewise, there are a lot of “experts” suggesting how the tense situation should be healed. I’m not one of them. However, three steps seem essential:

• the immediate return of the hostages held by Hamas.
• an immediate cease-fire.
• a turning away from the extremes on both sides — that is, both the cutthroat Hamas who dance and cheer as they behead Israelis and others, vowing to exterminate all Jews; and the unbending Israelis, a minority indeed, who autograph missiles headed for Gaza and want to reduce that land to a parking lot.

I remember two grandmas. One came in the group of Jewish survivors of Oct. 7 with whom we visited. She is now in residence at a hotel because her home was destroyed by Hamas fanatics, her granddaughters spared from rape and beheading while hidden in the “safe room,” her son-in-law murdered. “I’m sure thankful for the care I’ve gotten and the nice hotel room where I’m staying,” she said, “but … I just want to go home!” Will she ever be able to? When?

Then a second grandma at the Palestinian refugee camp I visited near the ominous wall separating Israelis and Palestinians in Bethlehem. She wore around her neck the actual key to the house in Jerusalem from which she had to flee in 1948. Seventy-six years ago and she still had the key! “I just want to go home!” Will she ever be able to? When?

The dream of those two grandmas, one Israeli, one Palestinian, in a land of nightmares.

The daily rocking of babies by those sisters in Bethlehem.

The hidden prayers from the cloistered contemplative nuns on the Mount of Olives.

Good medicine for broken hearts and crushed spirits.

[Wosbald]

+JMJ+

Source: National Catholic Reporter
Link: ncronline DOT org/news/catholic-relief-services-rep-gaza-fears-possible-rafah-invasion

Catholic Relief Services rep for Gaza fears possible Rafah invasion

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May 2, 2024 — If Israel launches a ground invasion in Rafah, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed this week, the nearly 1 million displaced Palestinians there will have few or no safe places to go, said a Catholic Relief Services official who recently visited the southern Gazan city.

"The logistics associated with moving that many people is just massive," said Jason Knapp, CRS' country representative in Jerusalem, West Bank and Gaza. He spoke to NCR from Jerusalem after returning from a six-day trip to Gaza that included a stop in Rafah on Monday (April 29).

"People say, 'I don't know where I can go, where it's going to be safe,' " Knapp said. "That is the biggest concern on everybody's mind."

Knapp said he is fearful not only about the loss of life, but also that a ground invasion would affect the movement of humanitarian workers and aid. "We don't know what supply lines will remain open," he said. "That's an important discussion that still needs to happen."

Although U.S. administration officials have been pressing Israel to avoid a major assault on Rafah to minimize Palestinian casualties, Netanyahu threatened Tuesday (April 30) to go forward with the long-planned attack, even amid cease-fire negotiations.

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres urged Israel not to proceed with the military assault, saying it would "be an unbearable escalation, killing thousands more civilians and forcing hundreds of thousands to flee."

[…]

The New York Times has reported that some Palestinians in Rafah have been moving north in anticipation of an Israeli ground offensive. But Knapp said in Khan Yunis, which is about 5 miles north of Rafah, he witnessed "staggering" levels of destruction.

"You see areas that were totally leveled," he said. "The hospital that we used to support during COVID days is entirely burned out, every single floor."

In the northern half of Gaza, where the United Nations estimates about 300,000 Palestinians remain, conditions are dire, Knapp said. "We are very concerned about hunger in Gaza … and by far the biggest concern is in the north," he said.

Although some U.N. aid convoys have reached the north, Catholic Relief Services is not currently working there. "We're hoping soon we'll be able to send assistance to our partner organizations in the north," Knapp said. "It's still a very complex environment in the north, and security is still a big concern."

[…]

Knapp said the people in Gaza appreciate the solidarity of Catholics around the world and he praised Catholic Relief Services donors who have stepped up for "the huge resource need with a crisis of this scale."

He also praised Pope Francis and the U.S. bishops for their "clear message that this needs to end."

A prophetic voice based on Catholic social teaching, which can cut through the political narratives, is key, he said.

"When I talk to my colleagues on the ground, they say, 'Just make the bombs stop.' "

[Wosbald]

+JMJ+

Source: America
Link: americamagazine DOT org/politics-society/2024/05/16/cardinal-pizzaballa-gaza-catholic-church-holy-family-247952

Cardinal Pizzaballa visits Catholic parish in Gaza for first time since outbreak of war

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JERUSALEM (OSV News) — In a previously unpublicized visit, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, entered the Gaza Strip May 16, reaching Holy Family Parish for his first pastoral visit since the outbreak of Israel–Hamas war following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.

Holy Family Parish priest Father Gabriel Romanelli, who was caught in Jerusalem at the outbreak of war and unable to return to his parish for the past eight months, also accompanied the patriarch and will be remaining in Gaza City with his community.

“It was a long time I wanted, desired, to be with them, to meet them,” Cardinal Pizzaballa said of his visit to the resilient parish. “Now I had this possibility and am very happy,” he said in a video message posted online by the patriarchate May 16.

Also in the small delegation was Fra’ Alessandro de Franciscis, grand hospitaller of the Sovereign Order of Malta.

According to a short press release put out by the Latin Patriarchate, the delegation met the population to “encourage them and to deliver a message of hope, solidarity and support.”

Cardinal Pizzaballa said that first of all he wanted “to be with them, to embrace them, to hug them and to support them as much as we can and to verify their conditions and to see what we can do in order to improve their conditions and to help them in (any) way possible.”

The patriarch said Mass for the parish community and also paid a courtesy visit to the nearby St. Porphyrios Greek Orthodox Church. Cardinal Pizzaballa met with Greek Orthodox Archbishop Alexios of Tiberias of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, who refused to leave the Gaza Strip despite war danger.

Along with Archbishop Alexios, Cardinal Pizzaballa walked through the neighborhood surrounding the church, visibly ruined by bomb strikes, and prayed at St. Porphyrios, believed to be the third oldest church in the world.

[…]

According to the press statement, the visit also marked the first stage of a joint humanitarian mission of the Latin Patriarchate and the Sovereign Order of Malta, in collaboration with Malteser International and other partners, with the aim to deliver much-needed food and medical supplies to the people in Gaza.

The patriarch was scheduled to return to Jerusalem May 17, depending on the security situation and the risk assessment.

“We need your prayer and we need all the Christian community to be united in prayer with our Christian community of Gaza. Thank you for your understanding,” Cardinal Pizzaballa said in a video message.

[…]

[Wosbald]

+JMJ+

Source: CNBC
Link: cnbc DOT com/2024/05/20/international-criminal-court-seeks-arrest-warrants-for-israeli-pm-netanyahu-three-hamas-leaders.html

International Criminal Court prosecutor seeks arrest warrants for Israel’s Netanyahu, Hamas leaders

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• The International Criminal Court is seeking arrest warrants against three leaders of Palestinian militant group Hamas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity linked to the Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel and the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip.
• The applications for arrest warrants were filed with an ICC’s pretrial chamber for review whether the charges can be confirmed.

May 20, 2024 — In a Monday statement, the ICC said it is targeting to secure warrants against Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the group’s political bureau chief, Ismail Haniyeh, and Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri, commander in chief of Hamas’ military wing, the al-Qassam brigade.

The three Hamas leaders are pursued in connection with alleged crimes committed during Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack against Israel, including murder, the taking of hostages and sexual abuse.

The ICC also asked for warrants against Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged crimes committed since October during Israel’s retaliatory campaign in the Gaza Strip. The alleged crimes include the starvation of civilians, murder and persecution.

Israel says its offensive in the Gaza enclave, which it deepened with an incursion in Rafah earlier this month, targets the elimination of Hamas, rather than civilians.

“Now, more than ever, we must collectively demonstrate that international humanitarian law, the foundational baseline for human conduct during conflict, applies to all individuals and applies equally across the situations addressed by my Office and the Court,” ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said in a Monday statement. “This is how we will prove, tangibly, that the lives of all human beings have equal value.”

More than 1,200 people have been killed in Israel since October, according to Israel’s prime minister’s office, while the Palestinian Health Ministry indicated over 35,000 people were killed in the Gaza Strip during that period.

A ‘historical crime’

Foreshadowing the ICC filing amid reports of a potential warrant pursuit, Netanyahu said in a speech earlier this month that “this step would put an indelible stain on the very idea of justice and international law” and represent a distortion of history and justice.

Israel is simultaneously defending itself against claims of genocide and attempts to restrict its Gaza campaign in the International Court of Justice, which last week heard South Africa’s request for an emergency halt to Israeli operations in Rafah. The ICC is based in The Hague, Netherlands.

“ICC prosecutor’s baseless blood libel against Israel has crossed a red line in his lawfare efforts against the lone Jewish state and the only democracy in Middle East. The blood libel will not deter Israel from defending itself and accomplishing all its just war objectives,” the Israeli prime minister’s office said, according to NBC News.

Referencing the warrant application, Israeli War Cabinet minister Benny Gantz on Monday said that “accepting the prosecutor’s position, would be a historical crime that will not go away” in a Google-translated social media post, adding that it places “the leaders of a country that went into battle to protect its citizens, in the same line with bloodthirsty terrorists.”

“The Hamas movement strongly denounces the attempts of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to equate the victim with the executioner by issuing arrest warrants against a number of Palestinian resistance leaders, without a legal basis, in violation of the international conventions and resolutions that gave the Palestinian people and all the peoples of the world under occupation the right to resist the occupation in all forms,” Hamas said in a Google-translated statement.

The applications for arrest warrants were filed with an ICC’s pretrial chamber for review to determine whether the charges can be confirmed. The filing marks a rare international judicial incursion against the leadership of a government allied with the U.S., which, like Israel, is not a state party of the ICC. The ICC holds that it has jurisdiction over the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

[…]

[Wosbald]

+JMJ+

Title: What we know about the ICJ’s ruling in South Africa’s case against Israel [Live Updates]
Source: CNN World
Link: edition DOT cnn DOT com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-05-24-24/index.html

The Money-Quotes:

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has delivered its decision following South Africa’s request for additional measures against Israel amid the Rafah offensive. Here’s a breakdown of the ruling:

What did the court order?: The ICJ told Israel it must “immediately halt” its military offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, warning that it could make the “disastrous” humanitarian situation even worse. The court also said Israel must allow aid to flow through the Rafah crossing, as well as allowing UN investigators to enter Gaza, and that it must report back to the Court on its compliance within one month.

Why did the court issue this ruling?: Friday’s ruling is part of South Africa’s ongoing case against Israel. Late last year, South Africa accused Israel of violating international laws on genocide. While the ICJ can take years to consider the full merits of a case, it can issue “provisional measures,” intended to stop the conflict getting worse in the meantime. South Africa filed an urgent request on May 10 for additional measures, accusing it of using forced evacuation orders in Rafah to “endanger rather than protect civilian life.”

Did the court agree unanimously?: No. The four new provisional measures ordered each passed by 13 votes to two. The measures were opposed by Vice-President Julia Sebutinde, a Ugandan judge, and Aharon Barak, an ad-hoc judge from Israel brought in specifically for this case, along with a judge from South Africa.

Hasn’t the court already issued provisional measures?: Yes. The ICJ has issued provisional measures on two separate occasions, and can continue to do so if it believes conditions in Gaza have changed. Since the court last issued measures in March, the court’s president, Judge Nawaf Salam, said the humanitarian situation had deteriorated “even further” and could now be called “disastrous.”

How did Israel respond?: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu swiftly held a call with his war cabinet. National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir posted a picture of David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s founder and first prime minister, on X, with the quote: “Our future does not depend on what the Gentiles will say, but on what the Jews will do.”

[…]

Will Israel comply with the ruling?: Israel has signaled it will not comply with the ruling, and the court has no way of enforcing its decision. For weeks, Israeli officials have said the offensive in Rafah is necessary to defeat Hamas and return the hostages held in Gaza, many of whom are believed to be in Rafah. Responding to Friday’s ruling, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said the court’s failure to “connect the end of the military operation in Rafah to the release of the hostages” was an “abject moral failure.”

[Del]

No one wants Israel to fight Hamas in Rafah, especially the Israelis.

Of course, Rafah must be invaded. This is where Hamas has chosen to fight, and they must be defeated until they can fight no more.

The International Court of Justice has not only made a blundering decision, but they also have no mandate or jurisdiction to rule their opinions. Like the childish protest camps on American universities, they are just blowing wind. They have no moral authority.

Pope Francis has more gravitas than the International Court and no one listens to what he says, either.

[Del]

[Wosbald]

+JMJ+

Source: America
Link: americamagazine DOT org/politics-society/2024/05/24/international-criminal-court-israel-hamas-biden-netanyahu-gaza-248024

With arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders, the I.C.C. breaks new ground and draws criticism [Explainer]

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May 24, 2024 — It is worth remembering that no one has been indicted yet, but the global diplomatic and political community experienced a shock on May 20 when the lead prosecutor for the International Criminal Court at the Hague reported that the court was pursuing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. I.C.C. prosecutors bookended those requests with petitions for the arrests of senior Hamas leaders, Yehya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh.

The court’s prosecutor, Karim Khan, accused the Israeli and Hamas leaders of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip and Israel. While Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gallant do not face imminent arrest, the announcement has been perceived as a symbolic blow that deepens Israel’s international isolation because of its conduct of the war in Gaza. The possible indictments of the two Israelis represent the first time the court has considered charges against the leaders of a Western-allied state for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

[…]

A panel of three judges will decide whether to issue the warrants and allow the cases to proceed against the men named by Mr. Khan. That ruling is typically handed down two months after the I.C.C. prosecutor’s warrant request.

The two Israeli leaders have already declined to recognize I.C.C. jurisdiction, but their ability to travel will be seriously hampered if I.C.C. warrants are issued. More than 120 nations have signed and ratified the Rome Statute that created the court in 1998 (it first met in 2002) and are bound to honor I.C.C. arrest warrants. Mr. Netanyahu has been pressing allied states to announce that they would not execute I.C.C. warrants, but a number of officials in European states have already acknowledged their intention to respond to the court’s orders if necessary.

The Hamas leaders are being considered for arrest warrants as masterminds of what appear to be clear violations of the humanitarian law of armed conflict in the day-long massacre orchestrated by Hamas on Oct. 7 in border communities in southern Israel, including acts of murder, torture and kidnapping. Noncombatants were gunned down, kidnapped and abused. Israeli officials have described multiple accounts of sexual assault. Hundreds of Israeli soldiers and noncombatants were kidnapped and taken as hostages, including the elderly and children, among them a then-10-month-old infant. Corpses were even taken as bargaining chips.

The possible indictments of the Israelis, if they are secured, are focused on the conduct of the war against Hamas in Gaza that followed the massacre on Oct. 7, specifically alleging the intentional extermination of civilians and the use of starvation as an act of war. The charges that the I.C.C. seems poised to file include “willfully causing great suffering.”

In the more than seven-month campaign against Hamas, which has included ground incursions and almost constant tank and artillery fire and air and marine strikes on the densely populated Gaza Strip, Israel Defense Forces have produced a high death toll among noncombatant men, women and children. Civilian infrastructure has been obliterated, and high explosives have been dropped on civilian housing sites; the I.D.F. argues that it is seeking to destroy Hamas tunnels and operational control sites underground. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, more than 35,000 people have been killed under the onslaught.

The application for arrest warrants from the I.C.C. comes as the United Nations’ highest court, the International Court of Justice, continues a separate investigation, based on an application filed by the South African government, of possible acts of genocide by Israel during its campaign in Gaza. The I.C.J. is empowered to investigate and resolve disputes between states while the I.C.C. is focused on pursuing investigations and prosecutions of individuals. The I.C.J. on May 24 ordered a halt to the I.D.F.’s continuing operation against Hamas in Rafah.

International criminal judicial bodies have been convened in the past to deal with extraordinary crimes against humanity. The International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg in the aftermath of World War II is perhaps the best known.

But the I.C.C. represents the first permanent judicial body established to investigate and prosecute individuals accused of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Support for the idea of an independent, permanent international court to investigate such crimes grew steadily in the late 20th century, particularly after the genocide in Rwanda in 1994 and the series of armed conflicts between 1991 and 2001 that followed the unraveling of the former Yugoslavia.

The announcement of the potential indictment of Mr. Netenyahu, the elected head of a Western-style democracy, stunned leaders around the world — perhaps because the I.C.C. rarely ventures off the African continent in its pursuit of alleged perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity. It has been a longstanding criticism of the court that it has not challenged the potentially criminal use of force by powerful leaders outside of Africa. Just about all of its indictments, prosecutions and fugitive pursuits are of political and military actors from a handful of African states, most prominently Sudan, Libya, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The United States signed on to the Rome Statute during the Clinton administration, waiting until the last moment to do so on Dec. 31, 2000. U.S. negotiators had struggled to push through changes that would discourage “politicized” prosecutions and add protections U.S. citizens enjoy under the U.S. Constitution. But U.S. military leaders have never been happy about the idea of U.S. troops — or their superiors — being pulled in by an independent, international court to answer for possible war crimes. In 2002, the Bush administration formally withdrew the U.S. signature to the I.C.C.’s founding accord, and the ratification of the Rome Statute has never been brought for consideration before the U.S. Congress.

That means the United States, along with Israel, the Russian Federation, China and dozens of other nations — many with poor records on human rights — do not recognize the jurisdiction of the I.C.C. Any American politician or service member hypothetically indicted by the I.C.C. would not be subject to arrest on U.S. soil, but they could be arrested if they traveled to a state that has ratified the Rome Statute.

The I.C.C. petitions for warrants for Mr. Netanyau and Mr. Gallant have unleashed a storm of criticism in the United States. House Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana, is attempting to pull together bipartisan support for a bill that would sanction I.C.C. officials who investigate U.S. citizens or allies.

But U.S. officials have recently supported the court in high-profile cases like the pursuit of Sudan’s runaway strongman, Omar al-Bashir, and rediscovered an enthusiasm for multilateral criminal enforcement efforts last year on St. Patrick’s Day, when the court issued arrest warrants for President Vladimir Putin of Russia and a number of Russia’s major military figures. The court accuses the Russians of a number of war crimes alleged to have occurred during the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine that began in February 2022.

The Biden administration’s support of the I.C.C. in those instances puts it in a bind now. Israel is urging European states to refuse to follow the court’s orders, but officials in France, Germany and serious screenplays have already gone on the record in support of the court’s independence.

As Mr. Johnson presses on this week with sanctioning legislation in Washington, some members of Congress insist that the United States likewise support the independence of the court.

Senator Bernie Sanders, a Democrat of Vermont who has been consistently critical of the Netanyahu government’s handling of the crisis, speaking in the Senate on May 21, said that the United States cannot apply international law “only when it’s convenient” to U.S. interests.

The I.C.C. charges against Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gallant “focus on the use of starvation of civilians as a method of war as well as intentional attacks against the civilian population,” Mr. Sanders said, which he described as “clearly” war crimes.

In the senator’s assessment, “the I.C.C. is not making some claim of equivalence [between Hamas leadership and leadership of a democracy], as some have charged, but is in fact holding both sides in this current war to the same standard.”

He added, “Yes, democratically elected officials can commit war crimes.”