Hello All – Israel has launched a new round of war on Gaza. This is an immense tragedy. The “international community” seems not at all interested in intervening to protect Palestinians from renewed genocide. Yesterday’s UN Security Council, meeting to discuss Gaza, did not even present a Resolution to be voted on. Thoughts and prayers, condemnation from many quarters, but at the end of the day, Nothing.
To counter the news spinning coming from Israel and the Trump people, we need talking points stressing that Israel violated the terms of the ceasefire agreement weeks ago, by refusing to allow food and medicine to enter Gaza, while killing more than 100 Palestinians. We need to understand why Israel refused to abide by the terms of the ceasefire agreement that stipulated that negotiations for a “round 2” would begin sometime in February, thus freeing the remaining hostages (and many Palestinian prisoners), while working towards a real end to the war. And we also need to understand why Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu – and US President Trump – would renew warfighting in the face of massive opposition from the hostage families and their allies in Israel, and widespread opposition to the war in the USA. - Below I’ve linked several imo excellent articles and videos that address these questions.
Frank Brodhead
For CFOW
AN OVERVIEW OF THE “NEW” WAR
(Video) Israeli Strikes Kill 174+ Children in Gaza as Netanyahu Breaks Ceasefire to Save Political Career
From Democracy Now! [March 19, 2025]
---- The nearly two-month ceasefire in Gaza has been shattered as Israel carries out a second day of intense airstrikes. At least 27 Palestinians were killed in overnight strikes Tuesday night. This comes a day after Israel killed over 400 Palestinians, including at least 174 children. The bombing is “the most savage attack that Gaza has witnessed in over a year,” says Muhammad Shehada, a writer and analyst from Gaza. He says the renewed assault in Gaza is linked to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s legal and political challenges at home. “When you’re in crisis, nothing would unite your government, nothing would suppress any sort of protest or opposition, more than killing Palestinians.” [See the Program]
ISRAEL BOMBS GAZA, RE-STARTING THE FIGHTING
Massacre at 2 A.M.: Israel Resumes Indiscriminate Attacks Against Gaza, Killing Over 400 People
By Abubaker Abed and Jeremy Scahill, Drop Site News [March 18, 2025]
---- Israel says President Donald Trump green lit a scorched-earth bombing of Gaza that wiped out entire families and killed dozens of infants and other children. The U.S.-backed Israeli government resumed its intense genocidal attacks on Gaza early Tuesday morning, unleashing a massive wave of indiscriminate military strikes across the Strip and killing more than 410 people, including scores of children and women, according to local health officials. The massacre resulted in one of the largest single-day death tolls of the past 17 months, and also killed several members of Gaza's government and a member of Hamas's political bureau. The Trump administration said it was briefed ahead of the strikes, which began at approximately 2 a.m. local time, and that the U.S. fully supports Israel’s attacks. … The Israeli attacks pummeled cities across Gaza—from Rafah and Khan Younis in the south to Deir al-Balah in the center, and Gaza City in the north, where Israel carried out some of the heaviest bombing in areas already reduced to an apocalyptic landscape. Since the “ceasefire” took effect in January, more than half a million Palestinians returned to the north and many of them have been living in makeshift shelters or on the rubble of their former homes. [Read More]
THE VIEW FROM A GAZA HOSPITAL
(Video) “Another Round of Senseless Mass Killing”: Report from Gaza Hospital as Israeli Strikes Kill 400+
From Democracy Now! [March 18, 2025]
---- Israel has shattered the Gaza ceasefire agreement with Hamas, launching a massive wave of airstrikes overnight that killed hundreds of people across the Palestinian territory and wounded many others. The surprise attacks came amid stalled talks on how to extend the ceasefire signed in January, though Israel has signaled for weeks that it wanted to resume the war on Gaza. Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, an American trauma surgeon volunteering at Nasser Hospital, describes some of the horrific injuries he has treated, and says it’s “heartbreaking” for Palestinians to suffer more bloodshed. “It’s all because we provide the funding, the diplomatic, the economic and the military support. And we don’t have to,” he tells Democracy Now! “We didn’t have to under Biden. We certainly don’t have to under Trump.” [See the Program]
WHY DID ISRAEL DO THIS?
(Video) Why has Israel shattered the ceasefire in Gaza?
From Aljazeera [“Inside Story”] [March 18, 2025]
----Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to implement phase two of the ceasefire agreed upon with Hamas. Israel has launched its biggest assault on Gaza since January 19, when a ceasefire was agreed upon between Hamas and Israel. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed and many more have been forced to flee their homes. Discussing all this are Mustafa Barghouti – secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative; Scott Lucas – professor of US and international politics at University College Dublin; and Daniel Levy – president of the US Middle East Project. [See the Program]
A LIBERAL VIEW FROM ISRAEL
Israel, Not Hamas, Is Derailing the Gaza Cease-fire and Preventing the Hostages' Return
Editorial, from Haaretz [Israel] [March 19, 2025]
[FB – Haaretz is Israel’s leading liberal newspaper. It has an English edition. Check it out at www.haaretz.com.]
---- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paid the asking price for Itamar Ben-Gvir's return to the government in advance. Not out of his own pocket, of course, but with the blood of the 59 hostages whose fate could be sealed by the resumption of the war, which has already sealed the fate of hundreds of Palestinians, including women and children. On Tuesday, Eliya Cohen, who was freed from Hamas captivity, called the renewed warfare a "death sentence" for the hostages. But that interests the prime minister less than his reward in the form of the homecoming of Ben-Gvir's Otzma Yehudit party. According to the statement released by Netanyahu's office, the decision to strike Gaza was made with Defense Minister Israel Katz after "Hamas' repeated refusal to release our hostages, as well as its rejection of all the proposals it has received from U.S. Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff and from the mediators." But it must be said, loudly and clearly, that this is a lie. It was Israel, not Hamas, that violated the agreement. On its 16th day, the parties were supposed to begin discussing the second phase, which was supposed to end with the release of all the remaining hostages. Israel refused. [Read More]
