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Chaos in Rafah

7-5-2024 < Attack the System 17 389 words
 
30 for 1: Right before the invasion started, Hamas claims it agreed to a ceasefire, which was brokered by Egypt and Qatar. But an Israeli official claims that the ceasefire agreed to by Hamas did not include terms that Israel had also agreed to. One major sticking point: “Israel insists on a temporary cease-fire, saying it will keep fighting afterward with the eventual aim of toppling Hamas’s rule in Gaza,” reports the Times. “Hamas demands a permanent cease-fire and vows to remain in power there.”

There are also important basics missing from the ceasefire agreement. “The proposed agreement would also ensure the release of Israeli captives in Gaza as well as an unspecified number of Palestinians held in Israeli jails,” reports Al Jazeera. Throughout the proposed deal, Hamas wants a massively imbalanced number of prisoners released back to Gaza. For example: “Hamas shall release all living Israeli captives, including civilian women and children (under the age of 19 who are not soldiers). In return, Israel shall release 30 children and women for every Israeli detainee released, based on lists provided by Hamas, in order of detention.” (Emphasis mine.)


Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that negotiations can continue, but that the ceasefire agreed to by Hamas is “far from Israel’s basic requirements.” The ground offensive in Rafah is less extensive than the Israeli military had initially advertised. Hamas still called it a “dangerous escalation.”


Trump is down: Former President Donald Trump has been threatened by the judge presiding over his criminal hush-money trial with jail time if he violates a gag order that was put in place. But Trump wouldn’t necessarily mind jail too much, he claims.


“Frankly our Constitution is much more important than jail,” Trump said to the press assembled in the courthouse, per Politico. “It’s not even close. I’ll do that sacrifice any day.”


The gag order means Trump can’t comment on witnesses and jurors; he already violated the gag order and received $10,000 in fines (add it to his tab). Now, Trump—who believes the New York case is quite a legal stretch (which isn’t totally off base, as Jacob Sullum writes)—and a nasty form of political persecution (again, not totally wrong), seems pretty fine with being the martyr.


“The liberal judge in New York just threatened to THROW ME IN JAIL,” Team Trump wrote in a fundraising email. “They want me in HANDCUFFS.”


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