Our Wednesday News Analysis | Opinion | These Are Your Options as a Palestinian Orphan in Gaza

A Palestinian woman carries a baby as families leave the eastern sector of the Gaza Strip on the border with Israel following Israeli airstrikes that targeted northern and other parts of Gaza in March.Credit: AFP/Bashar Taleb

"This poor baby has lost his right to grow up with his family," says the aunt of ten-month-old Osama Al-Krinawi. Osama is one of thousands of Palestinian children who have been orphaned in the war.

He was born in December 2023 to Mohammed and Alham, after 16 years of marriage. Ten days later, his father was killed, along with his grandfather and uncle, in an Israeli strike on their home in Gaza. He and his mother were pulled out from the rubble. His mother fled to Deir Al-Balah in search of refuge, but was killed, with dozens of others, when the house she was staying in was bombed.

Fortunately for the infant Osama, who had lost his parents, grandfather and uncle, other members of his extended family who were still alive took him in, thereby saving him from death, starvation, exploitation and child trafficking. But that is definitely not the fate of every Gazan child who has been orphaned or separated from their parents.

Although it is very difficult to verify information in the current wartime conditions in Gaza, according to Save the Children, the number of lost children – those separated from their parents or who have disappeared (not including the dead beneath the rubble) is about 17,000...

Read more: Opinion | These Are Your Options as a Palestinian Orphan in Gaza

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THE TRUMP-NETANYAHU MEETING: KEY TAKEAWAYS AND POTENTIAL IMPLICATIONS

Source: Palestine Chronicle
https://www.palestinechronicle.com/the-trump-netanyahu-meeting-key-takeaways-and-potential-implications/

By Robert Inlakesh
Published April 8, 2025

The meeting between Trump and Netanyahu covered a range of topics, with key discussions on Iran, Gaza, and US foreign policy, though leaving many questions unresolved.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump. (Photo: video grab)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the White House this Monday came amidst issues over American-imposed tariffs and the lingering threat of regional war with Iran. However, the press conference held following private talks was rather bizarre and packed with a variety of intriguing elements.

While US President Donald Trump appeared to indicate that the primary focus of his conversation with the Israeli PM was Iran and tariffs, a variety of other topics were mentioned, including the ongoing Gaza ceasefire talks, Syria, and beyond.

To kick off Netanyahu’s visit to Washington, he was greeted at the White House by the American President and even appeared on video once again as his seat was adjusted by Donald Trump. Yet, shortly prior to the meeting, a Reuters report indicated that the previously scheduled press conference was set to be canceled, sparking speculation as to whether something extreme was about to take place.

The public appearance between Trump and Netanyahu did end up taking place, but with what appears to have been an important twist. Despite Donald Trump appearing to speak in his usual style, the Israeli PM appeared somewhat timid, irritable, and seemed to have limited his speech, a stark contrast to his usual confident character. This alone does not necessarily enable us to draw any conclusions about the nature of the discussion he participated in, although it was strange.

“That’s the end of my speech,” Netanyahu concluded his remarks with, not taking any questions from a room full of journalists until directly asked to answer by President Trump later on. He mentioned in his remarks the usual rhetoric concerning Israeli captives held in Gaza, while also addressing the 17% tariffs that were recently imposed by the United States on Israel. Netanyahu also stated that he would approve of US-Iran negotiations that would completely eliminate Iran’s nuclear program, in a similar way to what former Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi did prior to his nation being attacked by NATO.

As for Gaza, Netanyahu didn’t say anything new at all, reiterating his approval of ethnically cleansing the besieged coastal territory. On the other hand, Trump decided to go on rambling about his plan to ethnically cleanse Gaza and force the people into surrounding nations, before calling the territory valuable “real estate” and stating that once his plan is implemented, they will call the Gaza Strip “the freedom zone.”

Yet, when pressed on the issue, he also said there are other options on the table, besides ethnic cleansing. A key takeaway is that the US President has no coherent plan that he is capable of explaining yet, while also demonstrating a clear lack of knowledge about the situation.

Pete Hegseth, the US Secretary of Defense, jumped in to take over from Trump when the issue of Yemen surfaced. He and Trump both claimed that enormous blows had been dealt to the Ansarallah movement in Yemen, which they refer to as “the Houthis”; this has been repeatedly claimed, despite leaks from top US officials who say the campaign has failed thus far...

Read more: The Trump-Netanyahu Meeting: Key Takeaways and Potential Implications
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WHY I DON’T CHEER FOR ISRAEL’S ‘PRO-DEMOCRACY’ MOVEMENT

Source: Al-Jazeera
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2025/4/10/why-i-dont-cheer-for-israels-pro-democracy-movement

By Neve Gordon
Published April 10, 2025

The anti-government protests in Israel are not about achieving true democracy but maintaining Jewish privilege.

People take part in a demonstration against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his nationalist coalition government's judicial overhaul, in Tel Aviv, Israel April 29, 2023 [Corinna Kern/Reuters]

In conversations about Israel and Palestine, I am often asked about my views on the internal resistance to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

My questioners point to hundreds of thousands of Israelis who have been taking to the streets to protest against the government and its efforts to introduce a judicial overhaul over the past two years and inquire why I remain apathetic to these efforts to end Netanyahu’s rule.

My answer is simple – the real problem facing Israel is not its current government. The government might fall, but until we radically transform the nature of the regime, not much will change, particularly not concerning the fundamental human rights of Palestinians. A recent Israeli Supreme Court decision underscores my point.

On March 18, 2024, five Israeli human rights organisations filed an urgent petition with Israel’s Supreme Court, asking the court to instruct the Israeli government and military to fulfill their obligations under international humanitarian law and address the civilian population’s humanitarian needs amid the catastrophic conditions in Gaza.

The petition was submitted at a time when aid was entering Gaza. Still, the amount crossing the border was far from sufficient to meet the minimal needs of the population, of whom 75 percent had already been displaced. The rights groups wanted the government to lift all restrictions on the passage of aid, equipment, and personnel into Gaza, particularly in the north where there were already documented cases of children dying from malnutrition and dehydration.

The court did not issue a ruling for more than a year, effectively allowing the government to continue restricting aid unchecked. Three weeks after the rights groups filed the petition, the court convened only to provide the government additional time to update its preliminary response to the petition. This set the tone for how the petition would proceed over the next 12 months...

Read more: Why I don’t cheer for Israel’s ‘pro-democracy’ movement