Mahmoud Sleem, one of the three journalists killed by Israel on March 15, 2025
What is often called "the West" is now, in my mind, the Zionist Empire. One of its chief characteristics is being incapable of making agreements that it actually agrees to, as opposed to pretending to agree to. The current "ceasefire" in Gaza is a case in point. Yesterday Israel used drone strikes to kill eight Palestinians in Beit Lehiya, including Mahmoud Sleem, one of three journalists covering humanitarian relief effort.
People mourn Palestinians killed in an Israeli strike in the northern Gaza Strip [Mahmoud Issa/Reuters]
Israel has killed 200+ journalists to keep the truth of its genocide from reaching the rest of us; it kills doctors and ambulance drivers to keep wounded Palestinians from surviving; and it targets children and their mothers to keep any Palestinians from surviving. It's not so much "mowing the grass" in the odious Zionist euphemism for periodic massacres in Gaza, but more like digging the grass up and then sowing the earth with salt.
Did I mention cutting of aid trucks that are supposed to be allowed in to bring food and other supplies during the so-called ceasefire?
Did I mention cutting off electricity which also has the effect of rendering water desalinization facilities inoperable?
Did I mention it's Ramadan right now when devout Muslims take no food or water from sun up to sundown?
The Yemeni health ministry says 31 people have been killed and 101 wounded, mostly women and children
Ansarallah gave Zionists an ultimatum with five days to comply: either meet the terms of the ceasefire or we will resume our attacks on shipping that supports Israel. So Israel, with full U.S. support, doubled down. After a final warning the Yemenis went back to doing what they do best: shaming other nations by actually supporting Palestinians as opposed to just paying lip service. They've been bombed by the U.S. in retaliation but have vowed to carry on fighting while fasting. Spokesman Mohammed Abdul-Salam said in a statement:
The maritime embargo declared by Yemen in support of Gaza is limited only to Israeli navigation until humanitarian aid is delivered to the people of Gaza, according to the ceasefire agreement between the Palestinian resistance and the enemy entity.
Confused voters in the U.S. are claiming surprise that 47 is bombing Yemen, and supplying Israel with the weapons to keep bombing Gaza. And Lebanon. And bulldozing villages in the West Bank where it's estimated 20,000 have been displaced this year.
Here's how that particular charade goes:
Campaign for elected office in the U.S. promising to end current wars.
Escalate current wars & restart ones that had been paused.
Rinse and repeat, because U.S. voters are just about as gullible as the corporate press tells them to be.
Voters in the U.S. are pretty damn mad right now, but not about that. They're mad about domestic spending cuts, federal workforce reductions, and how the "opposition" i.e. Democratic Party declines to take effective action on behalf of people's needs.
Go to any one of the many, many anti-47 and anti-elongated muskrat rallies and tell me if you see a single sign objecting to the continuing U.S.-Israel genocide in Gaza.
I certainly haven't. But I did stand this week with three others in front of a factory in Saco, Maine that makes guidance systems for the bombs General Dynamics sends to Israel. One held a sign she'd made that said, RELEASE THE 10,000 PALESTINIAN HOSTAGES.
Not everyone is confused by violent ceasefires and hostage releases followed by re-arrests.
Among those not confused: Jewish Voice for Peace members arrested for occupying 47's flagship hotel in Manhattan. Their message: FREE MAHMOUD (Khalil) FREE PALESTINE.
A squadron of 6 U.S. Air Force bombers has reportedly been flying over the Mediterranean Sea. The squadron includes B-52 Stratofortresses i.e. nuclear-capable bombers, among others. The aircraft took off from an American base in England on Monday.Meanwhile, officials in both the U.S. and the Zionist entity threatened to "unleash hell" on Gaza if they don't submit to being permanently displaced from their homeland. Hamas had this to say about that:
"Trump must remember that there is an agreement that must be respected by both parties and this is the only way to return the prisoners," Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told AFP, referring to the hostages. He added, "The language of threats has no value and further complicates matters."
I recall President Theodore Roosevelt, the architect of U.S. imperialism, explained his strategy as "speak softly and carry a big stick." Now that we are ruled by small stick energy we boast and bluster on the world stage. Does the language of threats have no value? Probably not at the negotiating table where Hamas and Israel are poised on the brink of Phase 2 of their ceasefire agreement.
But, 47 and the elongated muskrat and their ilk think the language of threats plays well at home.
Speaking of threats, my friend and fellow organizer Bruce Gagnon received a threat from my alma mater yesterday. A resident of Brunswick, Maine where Bowdoin College is located, Bruce had local police at his door yesterday with a document promising to arrest him for criminal trespass if he sets foot on campus for the next 12 months. Here in a blog post he explains why his entirely nonviolent support for the recent student encampment led to Bowdoin enlisting local police to threaten him.
It's not a threat it's a promise when I say that I joined fellow Bowdoin alumni in boycotting the college's big fundraising day that's coming up, and have sent letters to a slew of administrators explaining why. Their refusal to address the Bowdoin Solidarity Referendum results nine months after its passage is shameful. Their persecution of students of conscience and the college's failure to live up to its oft vaunted commitment to pursue "the Common Good" is hypocritical.
A senior who was suspended for participating in the peaceful occupation of a student union that is supposed to be open 24/7 for student use but was instead locked down by college security forces told the Portland Press Herald what she thought was behind Bowdoin's cowardice:
[Oliva Kenney] characterized the college’s response as “pre-anticipatory obedience” to the Trump administration.
"I do believe that the college is concerned about how the Trump administration will react to colleges that have demonstrated any form of sympathy to Palestine protesters, but what they’re doing, really, is ceding to fascism before the true consequences of fascism have even descended upon them.”
Some community supporters have expressed disappointment that the students didn't hold out for longer than five days. It can be challenging to put yourself in the shoes of someone whose family has invested around a quarter of a million dollars in your degree only to be suspended, kicked out of your dorm and off the meal plan, and barred from attending classes -- all of which were paid for in advance.
Do Bowdoin students have the support of their parents? Some do, some don't. One thing I can say for sure: most of these families have deep pockets and probably a lawyer or two in the mix. Will the college ultimately get away with trampling their progeny's access to education they paid for in defense of an indefensible genocide and ethno-state? Color me doubtful.
I'm joining other alumni, including parents, in withholding donations to Bowdoin until they see their way clear to walking the walk, not just talking the talk, of "the Common Good." Estate planners may need to revise some decisions previously made.
Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank has been repeatedly bombed this month, displacing 17,000 people Source: Al Jazeera
Zionists continue bombing Lebanon, gobbling up land in Syria, and shooting at children in Gaza and the West Bank. In fact, violence in the West Bank has ramped up significantly during the "ceasefire" in Gaza with
Creating Israel was a mistake, but the Anglo-American imperialists who did so to create a permanently Western-aligned entity in occupied Palestine thought they had a big stick. They were wrong in thinking that indigenous Palestinians would cede to fascism with pre-anticipatory obedience (I'm excepting Palestinian Authority quislings here).
Gazans and Palestinians in the West Bank won't back down, and neither will their supporters. Free Palestine!
Students and community members outside the Shabab Al-Dalou encampment yesterday chanting their support for campers inside. Photo source: Brianna Soukup/Portland Press Herald
Awakening to news that Bowdoin's Shabab Al-Dalou encampment concluded yesterday evening in a deal between Students for Justice in Palestine and college administration, I don't have many details yet. While we await word of the details of the deal and next steps, you can check out the student newspaper's coverage and this article in the nearby Portland Press Herald.
Meanwhile, the Gaza ceasefire deal is unraveling and 47 is threatening to unleash "hell" there. Clearly he has only a vague understanding of what that word means. What in fact could be more hellish than the past 15 months of bombardment, starvation, and torture inflicted on Gazans?
Here is a blog post on Palestine Will Be Free on the subject of how the Zionist regime has specifically not honored the terms of the ceasefire, and what Hamas leadership have decided to do about it.
Gaza ceasefire collapse imminent? Hamas suspends prisoner release due to Israeli violations, Trump says 'let hell break out'
Israel has violated the ceasefire agreement in Gaza dozens of time since it came into effect on January 19.
Hamas has indefinitely postponed the scheduled release of Israeli prisoners in exchange for Palestinian hostages in Zionist dungeons, citing repeated ceasefire violations and “non-compliance with the terms of the agreement” by Israel. Hamas’s decision has seen the Israeli regime intensify drone surveillance over Gaza and put its military on alert, increasing the likelihood of its genocidal war resuming soon with the full backing of its primary arms dealer, the United States.
On Monday night, Abu Obeida, the spokesman of Hamas’s military wing, Al-Qassam Brigades, issued a statement announcing the resistance’s decision:
Over the past three weeks, the resistance leadership has monitored the enemy’s violations and non-compliance with the terms of the agreement, such as delaying the return of displaced persons to the northern Gaza Strip, targeting them with shelling and gunfire in various areas of the Gaza Strip and the failure to bring in relief supplies of all kinds as agreed upon, while the resistance fulfilled all its obligations.
Accordingly, the handover of the Zionist prisoners who were scheduled to be released next Saturday, February 15, 2025, will be postponed until further notice, until the occupation commits and compensates the benefit of the past weeks and retroactively, and we affirm our commitment to the terms of the agreement as long as the occupation commits to them.
Later, Hamas issued a statement listing all the ways the Israeli occupation has reneged on the terms of the agreement and how no action has been taken to redress its concerns despite repeated protestations:
Hamas affirms its commitment to the terms of the agreement as long as the Zionist occupation abides by them.
Hamas has fulfilled all its obligations precisely and within the agreed deadlines.
The occupation has not adhered to the terms of the agreement and has committed multiple violations, including:
Delaying the return of displaced persons to northern Gaza.
Targeting our people with bombings and gunfire, killing many across various areas of the Strip.
Obstructing the entry of essential shelter supplies, including tents, prefabricated homes, fuel, and rubble removal equipment needed to retrieve bodies.
Delaying the entry of medical supplies and necessities required to restore hospitals and the healthcare sector.
Hamas has documented the occupation’s violations and continuously provided them to mediators, yet the occupation persists in its breaches.
Hamas calls for strict adherence to the agreement and not subjecting it to selectivity, by prioritizing less critical matters while delaying and obstructing the most urgent and important ones.
The postponement of prisoner releases serves as a warning message to the occupation and a means of exerting pressure for precise compliance with the agreement’s terms.
Hamas deliberately made this announcement five full days before the scheduled prisoner exchange in order to give mediators sufficient time to pressure the occupation into fulfilling its obligations and to keep the door open for implementing the exchange on time if the occupation adheres to its obligations.
Trump, who has doubled down on his statement about ethnically cleansing Palestinians from Gaza to turn the enclave into a “Riviera of the Middle East,” has termed the Hamas statement “terrible.” Speaking from the Oval Office on Monday, Trump gave Hamas a Saturday noon deadline to release all Israeli prisoners at once, not in “dribs and drabs” otherwise “all bets are off and let hell break out”.
“But as far as I’m concerned, if all of the hostages aren’t returned by Saturday 12 o’clock — I think it’s an appropriate time — I would say cancel it and all bets are off and let hell break out,” Trump said.
As Hamas outlined in its statement, it is abiding by the rules of the agreement. What Trump labelled as “dribs and drabs” is exactly how the prisoner exchange was supposed to be done in a deal brokered by none other than his incoming administration. The potential unravelling of the agreement further underlines the vacuity of the deals and promises made by the United States.
“Trump must remember that there is an agreement that must be respected by both parties, and this is the only way to bring back the prisoners,” senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri reminded the American president. “The language of threats has no value and only complicates matters.”
After brokering a deal between the Lebanese resistance and Israel that was meant to see the Zionists withdraw from the Lebanese territories by January 26, the Trump administration extended the withdrawal deadline by another 30 days as the usurping Zionists dragged their feet on the agreement. The Israelis continue to violate the terms of the deal with impunity, having killed dozens of Lebanese civilians and detonated private property at will.
Trump appears to be dealing with the Palestinians in the same American spirit.
The first of the three-phase Gaza ceasefire deal came into effect on January 19. Over the following 42 days Hamas was supposed to release Israeli prisoners at regular intervals in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian hostages in Israeli dungeons. Hamas has released 16 Israelis in five batches so far and was scheduled to release more this Saturday before its sudden announcement. Talks for the second phase of the ceasefire deal were set to begin on February 3, but the Israelis have been dragging their feet on it. Netanyahu ultimately sent a negotiating team “without the ability to do anything,” according to one Israeli source. It is anticipated that the Israeli side instead of negotiating the terms of the second phase — which would have seen high-ranking Israeli military personnel exchanged for popular Palestinian leaders serving multiple life sentences, and complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza — is eager to extend the first phase of the deal beyond the agreed 42 days in a bid to retrieve all its prisoners and resume the genocidal assault on the besieged Palestinians in Gaza.
Emboldened after a visit to the White House where he gifted Trump two replicas of pagers that were used to conduct a mass terror attack in Lebanon in September last year (was it a hint for Trump?), Netanyahu is set to make demands that would never be acceptable to Palestinians. According to Yedioth Ahronoth, Netanyahu wants the Hamas leadership to be expelled from Hamas, its military infrastructure to be dismantled, and all Israeli prisoners be released. In effect, Netanyahu wants the Palestinians to give him on a platter all the things he couldn’t achieve through 15 months of genocidal assault on Gaza. This is a surefire way to scuttle the ceasefire deal and restart the genocide.
Meanwhile, the Jewish supremacist leaders in Israel are smacking their lips at the prospect of the collapse of the deal and resumption of the genocide.
Soon after Hamas’s announcement, the Israelis, ever ready for slaughter, increased preparedness for “any possible scenario in Gaza”. “I instructed the IDF to prepare at the highest level of alert for any possible scenario in Gaza and to protect the [border] communities”, declared Israel Katz, the Zionist war minister.
“Open the gates of hell on them,” finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has proclaimed. “We need to re-arrest the terrorists who were released and announce — if anything happens to any of our hostages — we are imposing sovereignty over another 5 percent of the territory of the Gaza Strip. We have international backing for this.” He went on to add: “The territory will once again be part of the state of Israel, because it is ours and because this will ensure the security of the state.”
Others in Israel see the current climate as an opportunity to annex yet more Palestinian land beyond Gaza. “It is time to impose Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank,” said education minister Yoav Kisch. “The presence of the new US administration is a historic opportunity to impose sovereignty over the West Bank.”
Meanwhile, Palestinians in Gaza have continuously highlighted the dozens of violations of the ceasefire deal since it came into effect on January 19. The influx of aid isn’t at the level agreed to in the deal. The severe shortage of tents and mobile houses (not even one mobile house has been allowed in the enclave) has left the Palestinians facing inclement weather with no protection over their heads.
Some of the Israeli violations of humanitarian clauses in the ceasefire deal.
The Government Media Office in Gaza published a summary of Israeli violations of the humanitarian clauses of the ceasefire agreement:
12,000 aid trucks should have entered the Gaza Strip by now. Only 8,500 have entered. The Zionist entity has fallen short of its end of the agreement by 3,500 trucks.
50 fuel trucks were supposed to enter the Gaza Strip daily. Only 15 have entered daily. The Zionist entity has violated the ceasefire to the tune of 35 fuel trucks every day.
60,000 temporary mobile housing units were supposed to enter the Gaza Strip. Not a single unit has entered, preventing hundreds of thousands of Gazans from obtaining temporary shelter.
200,000 tents were supposed to enter the Gaza Strip. Only 20,000 have entered. The Zionist entity has failed to implement the ceasefire agreement, as 180,000 more tents are supposed to enter the Strip.
Moreover, even the Zionist guns haven’t fallen silent. Israeli snipers have killed at least two dozen Palestinians since the ceasefire came into effect. Dozens more have perished due to denial of medical services by the genocidal occupation.
The Geneva-based Euro-Med Monitor has recorded six deaths per day due to Israeli violations. “Euro-Med Monitor has documented the killing of at least 110 Palestinians since the ceasefire, with an average of about six deaths per day,” the human rights organisation said in a report last week. “These victims include both new fatalities, killed directly by the Israeli army, and individuals who succumbed to their prior injuries after Israel denied the right to travel abroad for treatment. Additionally, 901 Palestinians have been injured since the ceasefire, averaging 47 injuries per day.”
These violations notwithstanding, the Palestinian side has been still going through with the terms of the first phase of the deal. But with no end to the Israeli-American bloodlust and bombastic rhetoric in sight, they appear to have had enough.
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The Yemeni health ministry says 31 people have been killed and 101 wounded, mostly women and children
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