No Hospital beds in Limerick or Rafah!
May 7, 2024
Perhaps we need to sponsor the young people of Gaza who are both without limbs and who’ve lost their mothers, to help them travel across to the US, so they can protest outside the White House against the genocidal war being waged against their people by both Israel and the US!
“Rafah (Arabic: رفح Rafaḥ [rafaħ]; Hebrew: רָפִיחַ Rafiaḥ [ʁaˈfi.aχ]) is a Palestinian city in the southern Gaza Strip. It is the capital of the Rafah Governorate of the State of Palestine, located 30 kilometers (19 mi) south-west of Gaza City. In 2017, Rafah had a population of 171,889.[4] As a result of massive bombardment and ground assaults in Gaza City and Khan Yunis by Israel during the Israel–Hamas war, about 1.4 million people are believed to be sheltering in Rafah as of February 2024.[5]
When Israel withdrew from the Sinai in 1982, Rafah was split into a Gazan part and an Egyptian part, dividing families, separated by barbed-wire barriers.[6][7] The core of the city was destroyed by Israel,[8][9][10] as well as Egypt,[11][12] in order to create a large buffer zone.
Rafah is the site of the Rafah Border Crossing, the sole crossing point between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. Gaza’s only airport, Yasar Arafat International Airport, was located just south of the city. The airport operated from 1998 to 2001, until it was bombed and bulldozed by the Israeli military (IDF).[13][14]” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafah
Foreign journalists are banned from entering Gaza, and Al Jazeera staff there have been some of the only reporters on the ground.
“Israel’s government has moved to shut down the operations of the Al Jazeera television network in the country, branding it a mouthpiece for Hamas.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the cabinet agreed to the closure while the war in Gaza is ongoing.”
Israel has descended into a totalitarian dictatorship, ignoring democracy and the concept of a free press.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68961753
It’s clear Netanyahu’s intention is to annex the Palestinian state of Gaza, removing in Rafa any central core of institutional political authority that he might have to recognise as the future hub of a separate Palestinian state.
US should withdraw funding of arms to Israel, instead mounting sanctions against this terrorist state waging war against innocent civilians. Students in US universities protesting against Israel’s role in the conflict with a current death toll of in excess of 35000 Palestinians in Gaza, rightly condemn the role of the US in its support of Israel against the population of Gaza and its innocent civilians.
Currently, Israel is ordering civilians from a population of 1.5 million who’ve fled multiple times in the past seeking sanctuary for their families from Israeli genocidal bombing campaigns to move to what they call a safe evacuation zone.
As depicted in the above graphic the Evacuation zone is in the area of Al-Mawasi an uninhabitable coastal area Israel hopes to build a tent city of evacuees there.
Yesterday, Israel moved its forces with tanks to occupy Rafah Border crossing having ordered international aid organisations and the population nearby to leave. This has effectively sealed Gaza and Rafah from humanitarian aid. It comes before an expected ground assault on Rafah aid organisations have signalled will lead to catastrophic loss of life in Israel’s continuing genocide against the people of Gaza.
This is proof Israel is putting the freedom of hostages before its aims to occupy and annex Gaza. In a deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar with Hamas, Hamas have agreed to ceasefire proposals. The White House is apparently considering the deal.
https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/03/1148096
The International Court of Justice following a case against Israel brought by South Africa against Israel recently has now endorsed further provisional measures for Israel as the humanitarian situation in bombarded and besieged Gaza continues to worsen.
”
The world court issued the new order in response to a recent request made by South Africa, which submitted a case in December accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza, based on its continuing offensive following Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel which left almost 1,200 dead and more than 240 taken hostage.
Since then, more than 32,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli strikes and attacks, according to figures from Gaza’s health ministry.
Israel to ensure aid deliveries
The ICJ provisional measures state that Israel, “in view of the worsening conditions of life faced by Palestinians in Gaza, in particular the spread of famine and starvation”, shall take “all necessary and effective measures to ensure, without delay, in full cooperation with the United Nations, the unhindered provision at scale by all concerned of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to Palestinians throughout Gaza”.
The measures outline that the required aid includes food, water, electricity, fuel, shelter, clothing, hygiene and sanitation requirements, as well as medical supplies and medical care.
Orders to open more land crossings
The fresh ICJ order also calls on Israel, as a signatory to the Genocide Convention, to undertake those measures, “including by increasing the capacity and number of land crossing points and maintaining them open for as long as necessary”.
Additional measures call for Israel to ensure “with immediate effect that its military does not commit acts which constitute a violation of any of the rights of the Palestinians in Gaza as a protected group” under the Genocide Convention.
This includes “by preventing, through any action, the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian assistance”, according to the ICJ.
The court also decided that Israel shall submit a report to the ICJ on all measures within one month.
UN: All Member States must abide by ICJ decisions
UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric reminded journalists at his daily briefing that the ICJ operates independently.
“We do believe as a matter of principle that all Member States abide by decisions of the court,” he said.
The ICJ was established by the UN Charter as the principal judicial organ of the UN.”
Ignoring the above and continuing to be aided and funded and supported by countries such as the US, the UK and Germany, in spite of increasing pressure from within those countries eg protests from university students in the US, Israel and its allies continue to flout recommendations of the ICJ.
Support for Israel from the US both in funding financial and military aid is hypocritical of the US stance of supporting a ceasefire while continuing to finance and arm Israel in waging its war against Gaza.
It’s time the ICJ went a stage further in bringing a case against the Biden administration and Netanyahu exposing both as international war criminals guilty of genocide flouting the rules of the ICJ against the execution of this war.
There is no other purpose in Israel’s move against Rafa than to force a Dunkirk like evacuation of Rafa as it herds the population of Rafa onto the uninhabitable Al-Mawasi beach head. Israel will put pressure on to force resettlement of such evacuees eventually outside of Gaza.
It’s unclear what reaction will come from Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey should Israel lay siege to Rafah.
Israel has just shut down the Al Jazeera news channel whose reporters have been the few remaining in Gaza able to report from there. “Greek economist and former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis posted on X on Monday, condemning the shutdown. “Israel’s banning of Al Jazeera is one aspect of its War On Truth. It aims at preventing Israelis from knowing that what goes on in Gaza,” he wrote.
Hamas have just accepted a ceasefire brokered by Egypt and Qatar. We’ve already heard if Israel once again will not accept ceasefire in favour of continuing its war of genocide against the people of Gaza. Israel in its war of Genocide against the people of Gaza continues to be partnered with the US both financially and militarily. It also appears efforts by the US that have been floundering and weak have been but a ruse to allow Israel breach the legal bindings of The International Court of Justice.
Meanwhile, Ireland lurches slowly towards both European and local elections. Literature from the leading parties tout the failed and ironically named “Housing for All” policy of FF. It has failed to provide housing except to a small wealthy elite able with the help of taxpayer funded financial aid to afford unaffordable prices that continue to rise to extortionate levels both for home purchase and rental costs.
Imcompetent leadership led by Micheál Martin of FF has led to the current debacle in Housing. Poor decision-making eg we were the only country in Europe to shut down our construction industry during Covid. Centralisation of powers re housing that allegedly were to speed up construction, have abysmally failed in setting up the centralised bureaucracy of the Land Development agency which has built little since its inception eg only 180 affordable homes it built in partnership with local authorities in Cork County, Mallow, Waterford City. Work local authorities with proper funding should be undertaking themselves.
Centralised planning defects leading to delays a hallmark of both FF and FG construction record. The greatest incompetent farce of all being the poor value for taxpayers money in the grants offered to buyers of property that have led to increasing costs of new homes saddled on the shoulders of buyers and taxpayers.
The evidence of the failure of such policies available each weekend if you follow the queues of prospective home purchasers as they queue in their hundreds for the few properties for sale reaching the market.
https://lda.ie/uploads/documents/Land-Development-Agency-AR-2022-ENG.pdf
There is evidence increasing bureaucracy and centralised decision-making is a consequence of our membership of the European Union that has failed to deliver the construction and housing needs of the young people of Ireland.
On the one hand, the exigencies of construction of housing in other European countries has led to regulation of the construction industry leading to proper building controls and fair pricing as in Germany and Denmark.
In Ireland, the EU with its hands off approach regulates expenditure by way of investment eg vis the European Investment Fund or by controlling the budget “fiscal space”.
Without laws that compel standardisation in quality and price and availabilty, that should regulate and control the housing construction industry, Ireland home seekers sadly left as prey to vulture funds, government incompetence. Reliance on the private sector has provided lack of supply, mica building blocks, poor quality construction at its worst. At best, housing and rental costs are vastly over priced and a drain upon our economic well being.
Perhaps the greatest incompetence of all of the present FF/FG incumbents is the failed response to the trolley crisis in Limerick University Hospital. Its clear not only government incompetence, but “..
“We have seen the team in UHL respond in recent weeks drive down the number of patients on trolleys.”
Minister Donnelly told the Dáil that ”there were eight patients on trolleys in UHL” on 1 February.
According to figures released by the INMO, which counts the number of patients on trolleys every weekday, there were 100 patients on trolleys on 1 February.
The problem with the HSE is that the team in the UHL and in the HSE are the one’s responsible for the mismanagement of the crisis in UHL and elsewhere in the HSE.
Why should the one’s responsible for creating the crisis, be tasked with the responsibility to fix the crisis.
Meanwhile, we await delivery of the National Childrens Hospital whose costs through incompetence and mismanagement have risen to over €2bn. Without doubt its costs will rise further and its opening will be delayed further..
Till again
Colmbrazel's Blog 