The Official Israel-Gaza Thread
Apollo Kid
Veteran
ETHER 
Beijing’s Passive-Aggressive Middle East Policy
China doesn’t aspire to lead the world, much less to establish peace, but only to undermine the U.S.
Will China broker a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? It is a question nobody is asking, because the answer is obvious—not a chance.
Yet after Beijing hosted Iran-Saudi talks that led those two rivals to re-establish diplomatic relations in March 2023, some observers wondered if China had supplanted the U.S. as the Middle East’s diplomatic broker. Since Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre, China has put such illusions to rest: Beijing seeks not to be a leader, much less to establish peace and stability, but merely to undermine the U.S. 
As Beijing realized the benefits of wooing the Mideast’s most dynamic economy, it recognized that supporting the PLO was a liability.
While Chinese policy didn’t exactly become pro-Israel, it sought the safe ground of inoffensive diplomatic pablum. China’s 2021 four-point proposal on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict reads like a ChatGPT summary of every think-tank piece on the subject.
Beijing revealed its true goals, however, with its checkbook. In 2021 Beijing announced a donation of only $1 million in humanitarian aid for Gaza
—less than many Western businesses gave in the name of corporate social responsibility. That same year, China invested more than $2 billion in Israel. 
Yet with the rise of U.S.-China hostilities in recent years, Beijing’s tune on Israel has shifted—and vice versa. After initially touting its economic partnership with China, the Israeli government—prodded in part by Washington—began to install guardrails against Chinese investment in sensitive Israeli infrastructure projects as well as on the transfer of dual-use technology. Trade and investment between the countries has fallen as Jerusalem has come to see Beijing less as a backup great-power patron and more as a security threat.
At the same time, China began to regard Israel as collateral damage in its rivalry with the U.S. During the 2021 Gaza conflict, Beijing used its chairmanship of the United Nations Security Council to blast the U.S. for “standing on the opposite side of mankind’s conscience and morality” by supporting the Jewish state. Israel subsequently joined a statement to the U.N. Human Rights Council that condemned China’s treatment of its Uyghur Muslim minority.
China has since doubled down on such actions. Beijing has allowed antisemitism to flourish in Chinese media,
especially social media, while declining to condemn Hamas outright or allow information on the Oct. 7 attacks to be freely disseminated within its borders. 
Meanwhile the Yemen-based Houthis have mounted attacks on commercial shipping through the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea—which one might hope Beijing would see as a threat to its economic interests. Yet China’s naval vessels, present in the region as an “antipiracy” task force, sit idle. 
Its diplomats abstained from a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning the strikes, 
and Beijing has paired its belated calls for the attacks’ cessation with criticism of the U.S.-led response.
A China that aimed to replace the U.S.-led international order with one of its own devising might see the Gaza conflict as an opportunity to act. The Brics bloc of emerging economies—Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa—or the Shanghai Cooperation Organization could organize a peace effort.
China’s navy could escort container ships through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait after, say, a stern phone call from Beijing to Tehran. A China interested in being the region’s go-to diplomatic broker would be cultivating Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, which is ideologically at odds with the Biden White House, in hopes that Jerusalem might turn to Beijing as an alternative patron.
But China is doing none of that.Its conduct shows that it is less interested in the success of its own initiatives than in the failure of Washington’s. The real threat to U.S. interests in the Mideast isn’t rising Chinese influence but the erosion of our own. What Beijing wants isn’t a world led by China, but simply one not led by the U.S. Washington shouldn’t accept that.
@voiture @Creflo ½ Dollar @invalid @Pressure @wire28 @ADevilYouKhow @88m3 @MeachTheMonster @Wargames @Tair @Da_Eggman
Beijing’s Passive-Aggressive Middle East Policy
China doesn’t aspire to lead the world, much less to establish peace, but only to undermine the U.S.
Will China broker a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? It is a question nobody is asking, because the answer is obvious—not a chance.
Yet after Beijing hosted Iran-Saudi talks that led those two rivals to re-establish diplomatic relations in March 2023, some observers wondered if China had supplanted the U.S. as the Middle East’s diplomatic broker. Since Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre, China has put such illusions to rest: Beijing seeks not to be a leader, much less to establish peace and stability, but merely to undermine the U.S. As Beijing realized the benefits of wooing the Mideast’s most dynamic economy, it recognized that supporting the PLO was a liability.
While Chinese policy didn’t exactly become pro-Israel, it sought the safe ground of inoffensive diplomatic pablum. China’s 2021 four-point proposal on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict reads like a ChatGPT summary of every think-tank piece on the subject.Beijing revealed its true goals, however, with its checkbook. In 2021 Beijing announced a donation of only $1 million in humanitarian aid for Gaza—less than many Western businesses gave in the name of corporate social responsibility. That same year, China invested more than $2 billion in Israel. Yet with the rise of U.S.-China hostilities in recent years, Beijing’s tune on Israel has shifted—and vice versa. After initially touting its economic partnership with China, the Israeli government—prodded in part by Washington—began to install guardrails against Chinese investment in sensitive Israeli infrastructure projects as well as on the transfer of dual-use technology. Trade and investment between the countries has fallen as Jerusalem has come to see Beijing less as a backup great-power patron and more as a security threat.
At the same time, China began to regard Israel as collateral damage in its rivalry with the U.S. During the 2021 Gaza conflict, Beijing used its chairmanship of the United Nations Security Council to blast the U.S. for “standing on the opposite side of mankind’s conscience and morality” by supporting the Jewish state. Israel subsequently joined a statement to the U.N. Human Rights Council that condemned China’s treatment of its Uyghur Muslim minority.
China has since doubled down on such actions. Beijing has allowed antisemitism to flourish in Chinese media,
especially social media, while declining to condemn Hamas outright or allow information on the Oct. 7 attacks to be freely disseminated within its borders. Meanwhile the Yemen-based Houthis have mounted attacks on commercial shipping through the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea—which one might hope Beijing would see as a threat to its economic interests. Yet China’s naval vessels, present in the region as an “antipiracy” task force, sit idle. Its diplomats abstained from a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning the strikes, and Beijing has paired its belated calls for the attacks’ cessation with criticism of the U.S.-led response.A China that aimed to replace the U.S.-led international order with one of its own devising might see the Gaza conflict as an opportunity to act. The Brics bloc of emerging economies—Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa—or the Shanghai Cooperation Organization could organize a peace effort.
China’s navy could escort container ships through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait after, say, a stern phone call from Beijing to Tehran. A China interested in being the region’s go-to diplomatic broker would be cultivating Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, which is ideologically at odds with the Biden White House, in hopes that Jerusalem might turn to Beijing as an alternative patron.But China is doing none of that.
Its conduct shows that it is less interested in the success of its own initiatives than in the failure of Washington’s. The real threat to U.S. interests in the Mideast isn’t rising Chinese influence but the erosion of our own. What Beijing wants isn’t a world led by China, but simply one not led by the U.S. Washington shouldn’t accept that.@voiture @Creflo ½ Dollar @invalid @Pressure @wire28 @ADevilYouKhow @88m3 @MeachTheMonster @Wargames @Tair @Da_Eggman
ADevilYouKhow
Rhyme Reason
Pull Up the Roots
I have a good time when I go out of my mind..
Gaza ceasefire: Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu rejects Hamas's proposed terms
Israel's PM insists he will accept only "total victory", and calls Hamas's truce terms "delusional".
www.bbc.com
OK. Vote for Trump
Sly Cookin
based
OK, who wins the election then?fukk biden....praise allah
Sly Cookin
based
fukk it let's go with trump.
ok, whats step 2?fukk it let's go with trump.
Sly Cookin
based
Step 2 of what?
Your plan. What’s Step 2 after electing Trump?
88m3
Fast Money & Foreign Objects
President Emmanuel Macron of France condemned the Oct. 7 attack as the “the largest antisemitic massacre of our century” on Wednesday, as the country paid tribute to 42 French citizens who were killed in the assault.
“On Oct. 7 at dawn, the unspeakable resurfaced from the depths of history,” Mr. Macron said at a ceremony held under rainfall at the Invalides, a former military hospital in Paris where French soldiers and dignitaries are often honored after their deaths.
Mr. Macron urged France to “yield nothing to rampant, uninhibited antisemitism” and added: “Nothing can justify nor excuse this terrorism.”
let that sink in
“On Oct. 7 at dawn, the unspeakable resurfaced from the depths of history,” Mr. Macron said at a ceremony held under rainfall at the Invalides, a former military hospital in Paris where French soldiers and dignitaries are often honored after their deaths.
Mr. Macron urged France to “yield nothing to rampant, uninhibited antisemitism” and added: “Nothing can justify nor excuse this terrorism.”
let that sink in
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13 sentenced to death for homosexuality in Yemen: source
The sentences were handed down in Ibb, a province controlled by the Huthis
13 sentenced to death for homosexuality in Yemen: source
February 6, 2024
The sentences were handed down in Ibb, a province controlled by the Huthis
A Huthi-run court in Yemen has sentenced 13 people to public execution on homosexuality charges, a judicial source said Tuesday, as human rights groups decried a rise in abuses by the Iran-backed rebels.
The sentences were handed down in Ibb, a province controlled by the Huthis whose attacks on Red Sea shipping since November have prompted retaliatory strikes by the United States and Britain.
Three others were jailed on similar charges, according to the judicial source, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the press.
Another 35 people have been detained by Huthis in Ibb province on homosexuality charges, the source said.
Videos shared with AFP, which could not be independently verified, showed a judge in a court reading out the death sentences on Sunday.
It was not immediately clear when the executions were due be carried out. The sentences are open to appeal.
Death sentences are not always carried out by the Huthis, who control Yemen's most populated areas and have been engaged in a long-running war with a Saudi-led coalition.
A 2022 report by the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said the Huthis have sentenced 350 people to death since seizing the capital in 2014, and have executed 11 of them.
NGOs say rights abuses have increased since the Huthis started their harassment of Red Sea shipping, avowedly in protest at the Israel-Hamas war.
"The Huthis are ramping up their abuses at home while the world is busy watching their attacks in the Red Sea," said Niku Jafarnia, a Yemen researcher from Human Rights Watch.
"If they really cared about the human rights they purport to be standing up for in Palestine, they wouldn't be flogging and stoning Yemenis to death," she told AFP.
In December, Yemeni human rights activist Fatima Saleh Al-Arwali was sentenced to death on charges of spying for the United Arab Emirates, a member of the military coalition that intervened in Yemen in 2015 in support of government forces.
The Huthis, from Yemen's mountainous north, belong to the Zaidi minority, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.
The hardline force, founded with the aim of pushing for a theocracy, emerged in the 1990s, rising up over alleged neglect of their region.
It has been fighting a pro-government coalition led by powerful neighbour Saudi Arabia since 2015, a conflict that has left hundreds of thousands dead and millions on the brink of famine.
@LOST IN THE SAUCE @NZA @jj23 @Alan Johnson @mastermind @DoubleClutch @Lord-Yosh @Gifted one @LuuqMaan @Rice N Beans @Da_Eggman @Sly Cookin @FAH1223 @2Quik4UHoes @jericho @Mr.bocario @Dillah810 @Box Factory