If Israel suspects the EU, US, UK, and contibuting Arab countries of using delivery of humanitarian aid to smuggle contraband, maybe it’s time for the international community to stop pandering to Israel.
They have been holding up UN aid convoys using the Rafah and other crossing into Gaza for months for exactly that reason. (The same apply for the charitable aid shipment from Cyprus that is on the way)
Percentage of Arab members of the Israeli Knesset (parliament): 12%
Percentage of Arabs as Israeli citizens: 21%
Percentage of Black members of U.S. Congress: 11%
Percentage of American citizens who are black: 14%
Percentage of Jewish Members of Egyptian parliament: 0%
Percentage of Jewish population in Egypt: +/- 0%. The tens of thousands who used to live there were expelled in the 1950s.
Percentage of Jewish Members of Iraqi parliament: 0%
Percentage of Jewish population in Iraq: +/- 4 individuals. The tens of thousands who used to live there were expelled.
Percentage of Saudi Arabian parliament which is Jewish: (Trick question. SA has no parliament and no native Jewish population. It did in the past but they were all driven out.)
If only we could convince all these nations to embrace secularism in government and religious tolerance.
The Open Arms are now under way again, but heading in a easterly direction:
Could she be on her way to Haifa??
Well, their business model until now has been to act as a prepaid Uber to deliver mostly military-aged nonassimilable men from the African coast directly to Italy. So maybe the Open Society Foundation wasn’t happy that the spigot of frequently violent nonworking mouths to feed are taking the foot off the gas on destabilizing Europe.
Norway full supporting the tamil tiger terrorists
There are abt. 13000 Tamils living in Norway at the moment.
Many of them are refugees from Jaffna in Sri Lanka that arrived over the 26 year of fighting there.
It has not been easy for the to get used to the climate and culture changes, but now they are well integrated. Without them many of the fish processing plants in small remote villages in the far north of Norway would have to shut down.
I don’t know if that is what you meant by “fully supporting the Tamil Tigers (LTTE)”?
PS> The civil war in Sri Lanka was over in 2009. Haven’t you noticed that Chilli Crabs started to taste different after that??
There is one silver lining to all this. An expensive one. So expensive as to not justify the operation by itself. But when a silver lining presents itself, take it.
These complex operations continually test the U.S. military the way a simple exercises never would. The more complex and dangerous an operation is, the better trained the U.S. military is to deal with similar ones later. The Iraq War was a mistake, IMO. But I also realize the U.S. military learned a lot about its capabilities and weakness during that war. I wish the war never happened but I admit the military is more skilled because of it. Thing is, those skills are soon forgotten unless tested in the real world.
Exactly right. The war machine needs to be kept humming to stay sharp.
UK comes first with the SAS and the US a close second with having constant war experience.
One reason they are in front of the rest
US of course gets involved in larger operations
The chilli crabs got bigger and juicer after the tsunami and cheaper as the locals wouldnt eat them once the word got around on what crabs eat.
My Sri Lankan friends at the time were convinced there was some oil n gas close to Sri Lanka so the Norwegians were supporting the LTTE hoping to get the contracts if they won the war. None could understand why they supported the LTTE.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-srilanka-norway-tigers-idUSTRE74J3RS20110520/
Norway up to its neck prolonging a war re funding and shelter for a UN designated terror organisation
https://mfa.gov.lk/norway-main-venue-for-ltte-terror-revival/
The Open Arms ship approaches the shores of Gaza towing a barge with 200 tons of humanitarian aid on March 15, 2024. © Abdel Kareem Hana, AP
Meanwhile in Gaza City.
But the Israelis it was “armed Palestinians” that attacked the crowd, not Israeli soldiers:
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2024/03/15/Israel-claims-armed-Palestinians-not-army-fired-on-Gaza-crowd-awaiting-aid
It doesn’t say if the Israeli soldiers tried to shoot and kill the “armed Palestinians”, or just watch the carnage.
Everybody knows that Israel is at war with Hamas, not civilian Gazans. Presumably they were not interested, since the armed men “obviously” wasn’t Hamas fighter. (No green head band?)
Nothing changes the facts:
Hamas is a terrorist organization.
Hamas was elected by Palestinians to be the government of Gaza.
Hamas started this particular conflict by raping and killing hundreds of innocent Israelis in their homes in Israel, and by taking hundreds of them hostage.
Hamas still holds hundreds of Israeli hostages in Gaza which it refuses to release. .
Hamas knew and desired that Israel would have no choice, but to counterattack and that a counterattack would kill thousands of Gazans. If fact, Hamas desired that result.
What kind of people elect terrorists to be their government? Terrorists? Terrorist enablers? Terrorist sympathizers?
Is there even one person in Gaza who is not an anti-Semitic Jew hater that wants to wipe Israel off the map and kill all the Jews while chanting “From the river to the sea”?
So who is the root cause of Gazans being killed today: Hamas or Israel?
I am amazed by the number of people that get the answer to that question wrong.
I don’t disagree with most of what you said except for this, statistically there are lots of people in Gaza who likely don’t give a shit and are caught in the crossfire. Probably a large portion in reality.
Friendly reminder that George Washington was a domestic terrorist. Not to the level of what Hamas has done, but domestic terrorists none the less. The American revolution would be shown in an entirely different light in today’s global media.
IMHO, no. A terrorist is a person who deliberately kills civilians with the specific intention of instilling terror, without warning, and without regard to the laws of war. When did GW do that?
How the USA PATRIOT Act redefines “Domestic Terrorism”
A person engages in domestic terrorism if they do an act “dangerous to human life” that is a violation of the criminal laws of a state or the United States, if the act appears to be intended to: (i) intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination or kidnapping.
Most of the flash points leading up to the revolution were acts of domestic terrorism like the Boston Tea Party, but leading an “army” against your government in unconventional (at the time) guerrilla style attacks is definitely considered to be terrorism these days, mostly treason back then. The civilian militias like the three percenters are generally considered to be domestic terrorists, despite having as much authority as the Continental congress would have had. Similar to the Boston tea party, a lot of folks arrested in the Occupy movement, or the Civil unrest surrounding BLM and the election have caught domestic terrorism charges. The January 6th folks caught treason charges in addition to domestic terrorism.
The Bundy Standoff is also a fascinating 2A/Domestic terrorism situation with parallels to the American Revolution. Highly recommend the podcast Bundyville.
It is true that Norway was heavily involved in an attempt at bringing peace to Sri Lanka:
Likewise in an attempt to bring pace in the Israel-Palestine conflict. (the Oslo accords)
Some may even know that Norway played a major role in ending the decade long civil war in Colombia.
If you don’t know, Google it.
But all that is for a different thread and will not make much difference to those who think I would be upset over these attempt at Norway bashing.
Video from the arrival of the aid ship Open Arms off a beach in Gaza:
Singapore is another country that send aid to Gaza (not by sea for now):