West Bank

Posted by: John Phoenix By Kathryn Shihadah, Reposted from Patheos, March 28, 2025 Confirmation hearings began this week for President Trump’s nominee for U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee. “Huckabee uses his Christianity to justify ethnic cleansing,” said one protester at Huckabee’s hearing. Ahead of his hearing, Huckabee visited the Ohel, the New York City gravesite of the late Chabad Hasidic leader Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. He is highly revered in some circles, although some of his teachings were profoundly problematic. For example, Schneerson said that non-Jews have “satanic souls,” and that non-Jews are “created to serve the Jews.” This theology is especially unsettling for Palestinians in the Occupied Territories (read more ...

Posted by: John Phoenix Christian pilgrims hold crosses during the Good Friday procession in the Old City of Jerusalem Photograph: Léo Corrêa/AP (source) Palestinians trying to access Christianity’s holiest sites in the Old City of Jerusalem on Easter face restrictions and hostility by Hannah Ellis-Petersen and Quique Kierszenbaum in Jerusalem, reposted from The Guardian, April 18, 2025 As the bells rang out across the courtyard of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the priests began to sing a deep, low prayer. Heads bowed over candles, and escorted by people bearing aloft large gold crosses, they made their way to a platform at the heart of the ancient square. The ceremony on Holy Thursday, in which the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem washes the...

Posted by: John Phoenix   “Spitting” has evolved from subtle acts to openly aggressive displays. In several areas, especially in the Old City of Jerusalem, priests, nuns, friars, and monks “being easily identified are exposed to these attacks on a daily basis” (source) Israel’s cultural and political atmosphere can now justify, or at a minimum, tolerate Jewish aggression against Christians. The US doesn’t seem to care. by Philip Giraldi, reposted from The Unz Review, April 18, 2025 My rewrite of the famous quote by Lord Palmerston regarding “interests” to have it reflect the reality of Israel and its powerful friends would go something like this: “I say that it is a narrow policy to suppose that Israel is to be marked out as the eternal ally or the pe...

Posted by: John Phoenix A nun inspects the damage at the Church of the Multiplication at Tabgha, Ariel Schalit/AP By Kathryn Shihadah The New Testament records that Jesus Christ took two loaves of bread and five fish, and fed five thousand people. Ancient believers identified the place where they believe this miracle happened and built a church on the site. Today the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes stands in Israel, its 5th century mosaic floors still intact. Outside is a large rock where, legend has it, Jesus placed the bread before he distributed it to the crowd. Since the newest shrine was built in 1984, the site has attracted thousands of pilgrims every day—except for an eight-month period in 2015-16, when it was closed for renovation af...

Posted by: John Phoenix Israeli police stand in front of orthodox Christians at the Via Dolorosa near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre during Good Friday processions, April 2015. (photo) By Sanad Sahelia, Reposted from Catholic News Agency, June 26, 2025 In a disturbing and increasingly frequent pattern, the Palestinian town of Taybeh, located east of Ramallah and known as the last remaining town in the West Bank inhabited entirely by Christians, faces ongoing attacks by Israeli settlers targeting residents, their property, and farmlands. According to ACI MENA, CNA’s Arabic-language news partner, in recent weeks, settlers have established a new outpost on the eastern edge of Taybeh atop the ruins of a farmhouse whose owners were displaced roughly a year ago. ...

Posted by: John Phoenix Wounded civilians receive treatment at Rasoul Akram Hospital and Imam Khomeini Hospital following the latest Israeli attacks in Iran on June 21, 2025. ([Fatemeh Bahrami – Anadolu Agency ] ) By Zahra Alipour, Reposted from Middle East Monitor, June 24, 2025 For two weeks, Iran endured relentless military aggression from Israel and the US. More than 400 civilians have been killed and over 3,000 wounded, according to official figures. But beyond the numbers-beyond the blood-soaked sheets and overwhelmed emergency rooms, lies a deeper, quieter tragedy: children dying not from direct hits, but from fear. Newborns who arrive at hospitals with no vital signs. Children whose lives are cut short not by shrapnel, but by the sheer ter...

Posted by: John Phoenix Nazi army opens inquiry into possible war crimes after deaths near Gaza aid sites Israel Defense Forces to examine growing evidence of shootings of Palestinians trying to obtain food The Israeli military has launched an investigation into possible war crimes following growing evidence that troops have deliberately fired at Palestinian civilians gathering to receive aid in Gaza. Hundreds of people have been killed in recent weeks after being subjected to air attacks, shootings and bombardments by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) while waiting for food to be distributed or while making their way to distribution sites. On Friday the Israeli newspaper Haaretz quoted unnamed Israeli soldiers as saying they had been told to fire at crowds ...

Posted by: John Phoenix The Israeli news outlet, Haaretz, reports that soldiers operating near food aid sites in Gaza have deliberately fired upon Palestinians. Relatives of people killed in an Israeli attack on the Usama bin Zeid School, which was sheltering displaced Palestinians, grieve at al-Shifa Hospital, in Gaza City, on Friday [Ahmed Jihad Ibrahim Al-arini/Anadolu] Published On 27 Jun 202527 Jun 2025 Israeli soldiers have deliberately shot at unarmed Palestinians seeking aid in Gaza after being “ordered” to do so by their commanders, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports. Israel ordered an investigation into possible war crimes over the allegations by some soldiers that it revealed on Friday, Haaretz said. Recommended Stories: Babies starve to death in Gaza as...

Posted by: John Phoenix Netanyahu Says It's Antisemitic For Israeli Soldiers To Describe Their Own Atrocities ([screenshot]) By Caitlin Johnstone, Reposted from Caitlin’s Newsletter, June 27, 2025 https://youtu.be/bQ6ypM-jDZ4 Sometimes I’ll write a headline that looks odd on its face, but then I’ll lay out facts and arguments that allow the reader to understand the validity of the claim by the end of the essay. This is not one of those times. This headline is just me saying the thing that happened. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz are publicly denouncing a report from an Israeli newspaper quoting Israeli soldiers who describe atrocities they were ordered to commit in the Israeli military, accusing the r...

Gaza Nazi Holocaust Day: 630 Palestinians receive aid supplies after aid trucks enter through Netzarim Corridor under Israeli attacks in Gaza Strip on June 26, 2025. (Ali Jadallah – Anadolu Agency) Compilation of news reports – IAK staff At least 78 Palestinians were killed in Gaza Friday, including 12 aid seekers, as Israel’s genocidal war on the besieged enclave continues unabated. For detail on Israeli attacks in Gaza on Friday, go here. GAZA NEWS, SNAPSHOTS, & HEADLINES: IDF opens inquiry into possible war crimes after deaths near Gaza aid sites The Israeli military claims to have launched an investigation* into possible war crimes following growing evidence that troops have deliberately fired at Palestinian civilians gathering to r...