Category World News

Following the call this week from Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to appoint the majority of the territory, Israeli forces killed a Palestinian man in the occupied West Bank.

Ahmed Shehadeh, 57, was shot dead near the al-Murabba’a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank on Friday, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, who identified the dead man as Ahmed Shehadeh, 57.

Amid Ahmed, the Red Crescent’s Emergency and Ambulance Center in Nablus, was quoted by the Palestinian news agency Wafa as saying Israeli soldiers had prevented his team from reaching the shooting location.

A man was “hurled a suspicious object” at soldiers operating nearby, according to the Israeli military’s statement, which they “eliminated” after which they “eliminated” him.

Further south, troops carried out numerous raids in Bethlehem, with soldiers reportedly setting up a military checkpoint in the Khalayel al-Louz area southeast of the city, according to Wafa.

Additionally, according to the news agency, soldiers carried out raids on the towns of Artas and al-Ubayyat, where they dug up Palestinians’ posters from Israeli forces.

In addition, Israeli settlers stormed the Masafer Yatta village south of Hebron with knives and sticks, injuring 20 people, including a three-month-old infant.

Nine people were taken to a hospital for treatment, according to Palestinian activist Osama al-Makhmara, who claimed injuries ranged from bruises and fractures to stab wounds.

In the village, Israeli authorities cited “unlicensed construction,” and they destroyed 25 homes, agricultural structures, and water wells four months ago.

Far-right finance minister and settler leader Smotrich, who said on Wednesday that Israel should annex roughly 82 percent of the West Bank, gave Israel’s efforts to expand illegal settlements there a new lease of life.

Smotrich argued that “the Israeli government should have the least number of Palestinian [people] in place of them” and that “it should be subject to Israeli sovereignty for the time being.”

In 150 illegal settlements and 128 outposts spread out across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, more than 700, 000 settlers, or 10% of the population, reside.

Former Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) communications director Xavier Abu Eid reported to Al Jazeera that Israeli flags and settlements can now be seen between Ramallah and Nablus, which is 30-40 kilometers long (18-25 miles).

He claimed that it was obvious that settlers and the Israeli army were creating the maps that Smotrich had presented.

Too little, too late

Smotrich’s maximalist campaign was launched as France, Britain, Belgium, Australia, and Canada all pledged later this month to formally recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Israel’s takeover plans for the entire enclave are being accelerated by its West Bank annexation plans in the background as a result of the diplomatic push.

Finland’s Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen announced on X on Friday that France and Saudi Arabia are leading the international effort to find a two-state solution. She described it as “the most significant international effort to create the conditions for a two-state solution in a long time.”

A resolution was adopted by the Arab League’s foreign ministers in Cairo the day before that Israel “issued implicit threats to occupy or annex further Arab lands” to prevent peaceful coexistence in the Middle East.

Any lasting resolution, according to the League, must be based on a two-state solution and the Arab Peace Initiative of 2022, which demand Israeli total withdrawal from the 1967-occupied territories.

However, Abu Eid from the PLO claimed that time was running out. Many people believe there is no longer a two-state solution, and he said that the late international recognition of the state of Palestine was once again perceived as too late.

arrests in large numbers

At least 70 people have been detained in dozens of villages over the past week as Israel accedes to more Palestinian territory in the West Bank as a result of its massive arrest campaign.

A “large number of villagers” were detained in the town of Haris, close to Salfit, according to Wafa reports arrests made there by village council head Omar Samara, deputy head of village council Tayseer Kulaib, and deputy head of village council Tayseer Kulaib.

In Qalqilya City, police raided family homes, and they also made an arrest on a man.

Rights groups have long been critical of the Israeli prison conditions in which Palestinians are imprisoned, along with reports of abuse and medical neglect.

Bilal Barghouti, a 39-year-old Beit Rima prisoner serving a life sentence in Israel’s Gilboa prison, was referred to as “slow murder and systematic torture,” according to a statement released by the Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Office.

Former detainees claim that Barghouti, who has a variety of chronic illnesses, has lost weight, been barred from visits, and been subjected to beatings, insults, and scalding with hot water.

Since the start of the Gaza War, Israeli forces have made more than 19, 000 arrests across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, according to The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society, which on Friday reported.

According to its statement, which was obtained by news agency Wafa, the figure does not include arrests in Gaza itself, which are believed to be in the thousands.

In all executive statements, US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order renaming the Department of Defense to the Department of War.

Trump claimed that the name change was a result of a wider shift in the organization from a “woke” ideology at a signing ceremony held from the Oval Office on Friday. He added that a new era of military victory would beckon.

“We thus won the First World War.” The Second World War was won by us. Before that and every step thereafter, we prevailed. After that, we made the decision to rename the organization Department of Defense, according to Trump.

“We ought to have won everywhere,” he said. We could have won every war, but we actually made the decision to be very politically correct or awake.

Official White House correspondence and official public statements were to use the name “Department of War,” according to administration officials. However, Congress would need to pass new legislation in order for a more permanent change.

Trump added that in order to do so, he would ask Congress to pass a bill to codify the name.

The new name has been widely accepted as a sign of President Trump’s more aggressive foreign policy.

Trump has overseen bombing campaigns in Yemen, Iran, and the southern Caribbean Sea since taking office for a second term.

Despite making the initial promise to be “a peacemaker and a unifier” while in office, those military actions come at this time.

However, the new name has historical roots. From 1789 to 1949, the Department of Defense was known as the Department of War.

Following World War II, Congress passed the National Security Act of 1947, which established a single civilian-headed department for the US military.

According to historians, switching to “Department of Defense” was also intended to emphasize the need to avoid war given the recent threat of nuclear destruction.

Trump made the suggestion at the ceremony that the most recent name change was related to the US’s recent lack of military victories.

We could have won every war, but we really made the wrong choice: very politically correct or awakened. And we simply fight forever,” Trump said, presumably reflecting on alleged “forever wars” like the US’s invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.

“We wouldn’t really lose,” he said. We would simply fight. Tidy-sort. We never wanted to win, but we could have easily won each of their wars with a few minor adjustments.

Maximum lethality, not tepid legality

The US secretary of defense will now be referred to as the “secretary of war” as a result of Friday’s executive order.

At the signing ceremony, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, who is currently in charge of that position, said the move helped “restore the warrior ethos.” He offered some words of support for the name change.

“The War Department will engage in decisive combat,” the statement read. He said it will fight to win rather than lose.

“We’re going to engage in offence rather than just defense,” he said. Maximum lethality, not dreadful legality. violent impact that is not politically correct.

Since taking office, Trump has changed its name several times, including changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico in federal documents.

Additionally, he reversed changes that saw Confederate-era soldiers baptized with new moniker names on military installations.

For instance, his administration removed the name “Fort Liberty” from a military base in North Carolina and changed it to “Fort Bragg,” which was also inspired by Confederates.

However, Trump’s team claimed Roland Bragg, a World War II paratrooper, would be the replacement name for Braxton Bragg, instead of the former Confederate General.

Can you believe that the previous administration changed their name a little bit? But won’t we forget that, will we? ” Trump said during an army base speech in June.

“I’m not sure if the location could be the same.” The Fort Bragg is . Fort Bragg will always be called that, and that is the name.

Trump attributed the change to superstition, but his administration has also taken a different course with regard to diversity initiatives that aim to make the military more welcoming to various demographics.

A deadly aerial strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat in the international waters of the Caribbean Sea followed Friday’s pledge to pursue a more war-forward strategy.

Trump and his top officials have promised to use more “narco terrorists” to allegedly detain alleged criminals.

According to experts, such strikes have no legal basis and raise the possibility of the targeted attack on civilians, including fishermen and migrants.

Trump claimed on Friday that boat traffic in the area where the attack, which resulted in 11 fatalities, has decreased since.

After President Trump declared that they would be “going in,” Chicago is getting ready for an influx of immigration agents and national guard personnel. On Friday, the Chicago Teachers Union distributed flyers to parents in schools to let them know what rights they could have if they encountered law enforcement.