Svälten som inte finns

En rapport koordinerad av UNICEF säger att antalet undernärda barn är lägre i Gaza än t.ex. i grannländerna Egypten och Jordanien.

Det borde göra att de som talar om svälten i Gaza borde ta sig en funderare. Situationen i Gaza är dålig beroende på flera olika faktorer men svält förekommer inte allmänt. Dessutom, om man tar sig en titt på UNICEF:s hemsida ser man att barn lider på många olika håll i världen. Tio miljoner barn i över 100 länder har behövt hjälp, så världen är större än Gaza.

UNICEF: 

"...Despite the challenges, UNICEF continued to deliver – in crises and beyond. In 2025, our staff and partners responded to emergencies in more than 100 countries, reaching tens of millions of children with life-saving health care, nutrition, immunization, education, protection, safe water and sanitation..."

How a United Nations study shatters the Gaza starvation narrative

 Advocacy groups continue to describe Gaza's children as facing a starvation crisis engineered by deliberate policy. The new nutritional data – collected under UN supervision using the same rigorous methodology applied in humanitarian settings worldwide – flatly contradict that narrative.

Malnutrition in Gaza today is not just low; it is at or below where it stood before the war and much lower than in nearby Egypt or Jordan. Moreover, the same findings also completely destroy the already shaky foundation on which last year’s “famine” designation was built.

Many researchers, including myself, argued at the time that the famine label was incompatible with what the data actually showed. Now, the UN’s own findings show unequivocally that our criticism was, indeed, correct.

Rapporten:

Gaza Nutrition SMART Survey Result

- Wasting by WHZ is low across all domains, suggesting no widespread acute malnutrition at population level.

- Gaza City/North has the highest WHZ GAM at 0.8%, while Khan Younis/Rafah has the lowest at 0.2%.

'Facts prevail over fiction,' Danon says as new UNICEF-led survey challenges Gaza famine claims

The nutrition survey, which was coordinated by the UNICEF, showed that children in Gaza have low levels of acute malnutrition.

According to the results of the survey, acute malnutrition rates across Gaza ranged between 0.2% and 0.8%.

These are levels comparable to or below those recorded in Gaza prior to the Israel-Hamas War, and are significantly lower than those reported in neighboring countries, including Egypt, Jordan, and Syria.

Turkiet, Saudiarabien och Pakistan slöt försvarspakt

 Turkiet, Saudiarabien och Pakistan slöt i fredags en försvarspakt. Tre sunni islamska stater, Turkiet med NATO:s näst största krigsmakt, Saudiarabien med obegränsade ekonomiska resurser och Pakistan med kärnvapen.

Enligt uttalanden från länderna betraktas härefter ett angrepp på någon av staterna som ett angrepp på dem alla. Man säger också att pakten inte riktar sig mot någon, men i praktiken är den ändå riktad mot Iran och Israel. Fler stater skall enligt uppgifter också få möjlighet att ansluta sig till pakten. Egypten är en stat som nämns.

Det är svårt att se att pakten skulle föra något positivt med sig. Speciellt efter att Pakistans försvarsminister dagen efter undertecknandet av avtalet kom med hotelser mot Israel.

Enligt försvarsministern är Israel ett hot mot hela den muslimska världen och han uppmanade till en enad militär front mot Israel.

Turkiets president Erdogan som stöder Hamas har redan under en lång tid visat sitt hat mot Israel och har ambitioner på att återupprätta det ottomanska rikets kontroll över Jerusalem och andra delar av Mellanöstern.

Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan sign joint defense deal in shadow of Iran war

Pact links NATO member, nuclear state and host of Muslim holy sites; three Sunni countries say deal not directed at any particular country, but all are wary of Iran and Israel

Pakistan’s defense minister threatens ‘illegitimate’ Israel after inking pact with Saudis, Turkey

Khawaja Asif urges Muslims to form ‘united military front’ against Jewish state, which he calls ‘a product of the Balfour Declaration’ while ignoring UK role in his own country’s creation

Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif on Saturday told a news outlet in his country that “Israel is a threat to the entire Muslim world,” and called for “a united military front” against it, just a day after Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey signed a joint defense agreement.

“In the context of Israel, all Muslim countries must unite. I have no doubt about this,” Asif said

“Israel is a product of the Balfour Declaration, which was established in the 1940s as an illegitimate state, and it could pose a direct threat to any of the countries in the region,” he continued, referring to the 1917 British declaration of support for the establishment of a homeland for the Jewish People in the Land of Israel, setting the stage for Israeli independence three decades later. Pakistan was similarly established on the basis of a British declaration in 1947, just a year before the founding of Israel...

Turkey, Saudi, Pakistan defense pact complicates Israel normalization hopes, expert tells 'Post'

With rumors of other countries looking to join the pact, namely Qatar and Egypt, Guzansky warned that the outlook “doesn’t look good” for Israel, especially given Doha’s propaganda capabilities with Al Jazeera.

Israel kan inte lita på Hamas löften

 Israels premiärminister Netanyahu säger att Israel inte har gått med på det förslag som Hamas godkänt och som säger hur Hamas skall avväpnas.

Enligt Netanyahu kommer israeliska trupper inte att dras tillbaka innan Hamas avväpnats.

Jag har inga exakta uppgifter på hur Israel resonerar men här några punkter jag skulle ta i beaktande:

- Hamas existerar för att bekämpa Israel. För att döda judar eller fördriva dem från deras land. De har egentligen inget  annat mål. Därför är det högst osannolikt att de kommer att ge ifrån sig sina vapen oberoende av vad de gått med på i förhandlingar.

- För Hamas är kriget mot judarna en religiös plikt. Därför kan de inte kompromissa. Däremot kan de mycket väl ljuga för att vinna tid.

Några exempel från Hamas stadgar:

I stadgarnas inledning kan man läsa: "Israel kommer att existera tills Islam utplånar det. Hamas strävar till att hissa Allahs flagga över varje tum av Palestina. Vår kamp mot judarna är mycket viktig och allvarlig" . Sedan följer ett citat av profeten Mohammed: "Domedagen kommer inte förrän muslimerna bekämpar judarna (dödar judarna), när juden gömmer sig bakom stenar och träd kommer stenarna och träden att säga: muslim här finns en jude bakom mig, kom och döda honom".

Art. 8 Hamas motto: Allah är målet, profeten är föredömet, koranen är lag, jihad är vägen och den ädlaste önskan är att dö för Allah.

Art.11 Hamas anser att Palestina är muslimskt område helgat åt kommande muslimska generationer fram till domedagen. Landet eller delar av landet får inte ges bort.

Art. 13: Så kallade fredliga lösningar står i strid med Hamas principer. Det finns ingen annan lösning för den Palestinska frågan än jihad.

Art.14 Jihad för befrielse av Palestina är en personlig plikt för varje muslim var än han råkar leva. Därför är det nödvändigt att ingjuta Jihads anda i folkets hjärta så att de konfronterar fienden och ansluter sig till de stridande. Här spelar lärare och media en viktig roll för att väcka massorna.

Några exempel från planen som lagts fram:

-Planen som lagts fram säger att nya poliser skall införlivas i de nuvarande strukturerna (Hamas) och nuvarande poliser (Hamas) skall om de inte får fortsätta, erbjudas civila jobb.

- De vapen som Hamas ger ifrån sig skall lagras (inte av utomstående). Hotbilden är naturligtvis att Hamas tar tillbaka vapnen när de anser det vara lämpligt.

- Lätta vapen har civilpersoner rätt att bära enligt palestinsk lag och den lagen skall följas. Det betyder att Hamasmedlemmar kan behålla sina personliga vapen.

När Israel säger att de inte kommer att göra något innan de ser att Hamas verkligen avväpnats så har de nog fog för sin försiktiga inställning. Det är nog naivt att tro att Hamas avvecklar sig själv.

Full text of Board of Peace deal for Hamas to disarm, Israel to withdraw from Gaza

Hamas disarmament cannot wait for the IDF's withdrawal from Gaza - editorial

Hamas distributing personal weapons to operatives to avoid total disarmament amid BoP deal - report

Board of Peace appears to shift terms for IDF pullback after meeting PM; Gaza airstrike reported

Netanyahu says Israel ‘didn’t agree’ to Board of Peace’s terms for disarming Hamas

Hamas shifts covert organizational units, activities to Turkey following Qatari crackdown

Hamas' denial of October 7 opens a new front in its existential war against Israel - opinion

Hotet inifrån

Den ultraortodoxa delen av det israeliska samhället växer snabbast och samtidigt får största delen av barnen ingen egentlig utbildning, de kan därmed inte bidra till statens utveckling.

Detta håller på att bli ett oöverkomligt problem.

Why these elections are the last chance to save Israel from its ‘spiral of collapse’

Israel’s entire education system is in crisis. And its fastest-growing community, the ultra-Orthodox, is getting by far the worst education of all. An inadequate education spells a non-competitive workforce, a weakened army, and a country that simply won’t survive

...It (  the outgoing coalition ) has spent its four-year-term championing an ultra-Orthodox leadership that is ever-more determined to exclude its community from the responsibilities of national defense, multifront war notwithstanding, and it is massively funding an ultra-Orthodox non-education system knowing full well that this godless apparatus deliberately denies its students the opportunity to effectively participate in a first-class workforce.

“Our country did not reach this point, nor this government, by chance,” Ben-David said. “We’ve been heading steadily in this direction for decades.”

“When a country starts to collapse economically, the first to leave are the most educated, the most skilled, the people with options — which means there is a greater burden on those who remain. And then those who can, of those who remain, leave — and then you’re in a situation, basically, like Venezuela was, or like Lebanon. Beirut was once called the Paris of the Middle East. These are countries that destroyed themselves. But the difference between them and us is that they can still be around. Nobody’s threatening their very existence. That’s not the case with Israel. If we screw this up, there will be no country for our people or for our children.”

But, Ben-David is adamant, “there is still time to make a difference.”

If it’s not already too late, then October’s election will be the last chance.

Ett delat samhälle oroar i Israel

En artikel som visar hur oroade vissa i Israel är över den nuvarande situationen.

 Israelis are alarmed over the threat of political violence. Can it be averted?

Amid an ugly campaign season, scholars and officials are warning of a toxic political discourse across the spectrum — and fear things could get worse before they get better

...Everyone who has discussed the rifts cleaving Israeli society acknowledges that the point of politics is not for everyone to get along. But they also share Herzog’s fear that Israelis, separated into groups that feel disenfranchised, discriminated against and aggrieved, are now seeing their political rivals not as ideological competitors but as enemies.

Everyone also acknowledges that such divides are not new. When Haredi protesters rioted at Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg’s home, his wife Meira asked through tears, “What is this, Kristallnacht?”

Herzog, as well as Eylon, both referenced the destruction of the Second Temple, a time two millennia ago when internecine fighting led to the fall of a Jewish commonwealth in the land of Israel.

For generations, leaders have asked whether the Jewish people have learned the lessons of that historical period. Now, Eylon isn’t sure Israel has even learned the lesson of one of its own greatest tragedies from a far more recent era: the assassination of Rabin 31 years ago.

Instead, he worries the country has regressed. Once nearly all Israelis rejected political assassination. Now, he fears, that consensus may be gone.

Falska anklagelser mot Israel

 Israel har under hela kriget mot Hamas anklagats för att medvetet döda civila, idrottare, journalister och sjukvårdpersonal. Nu visar terroristorganisationernas egna uppgifter över döda att många av dessa, precis som Israel uppgett, var medlemmar och aktiva i terroristorganisationernas verksamhet. Alltså helt legitima mål.

Antagligen inget som vår nyhetsmedia kommer att ta upp.

Gaza death notices show some so-called health workers were operating for terror groups

Times of Israel review of Hamas and Islamic Jihad announcements finds that at least 18 of those identified as doctors, nurses and hospital employees in Gaza were also combatants

Combo pictures, clockwise from top left: Jaber Mohammadin in civilian attire and in Palestinian Islamic Jihad uniform; Ahmad Adel Abu al-Hilal in hospital scrubs and in Palestinian Islamic Jihad uniform; Abd al-Latif Abu Tuaima in civilian attire and in Palestinian Islamic Jihad uniform; and Salem Jumaa Shirab in civilian attire and in Palestinian Islamic Jihad uniform. (Pictures from Palestinian Islamic Jihad social media, Facebook, social media; Used in accordance with clause 27a of the copyright law)

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On September 8, 2025, about a month before fighting in Gaza halted, Mohammed Akram al-Kafarna was killed in an Israeli strike.

Following his death, the Palestinian Nurses and Midwives Syndicate mourned al-Kafarna as the Gaza head of the medical association.

The International Council of Nurses, a Geneva-based body that calls itself “the global voice of nursing,” wrote in a condolence letter that it was “deeply saddened by the death of Dr. Mohammed Akram al-Kafarna, one of the leaders of the Palestinian nursing profession in Gaza.”

He was “among the hundreds of nurses and healthcare workers who have tragically lost their lives during the conflict,” the ICN added, according to a copy of the letter published on Facebook.

But al-Kafarna was no Florence Nightingale. According to Hamas, alongside his medical work, al-Kafarna was also a fighter in the Nidal Nasser Battalion in Beit Hanoun, part of its Northern Gaza Brigade...

In a picture published by Hamas, al-Kafarna is seen in full military gear, holding a loaded rifle.

His name is one of scores published by Hamas and its fellow Gazan terror group, Islamic Jihad, in recent months, belatedly identifying their many fighters killed during the two years of war sparked by the October 7, 2023, massacre in southern Israel...

Finally naming their war dead, Gazan terror groups admit some slain journalists were fighters

A ToI review finds obituaries published by Hamas and Islamic Jihad in recent weeks include several figures previously identified as press; widely cited media advocacy database removes several names of fighters it had said were journalists...

IDF specifies terror affiliations of 12 Gazan soccer players killed in Israeli strikes; one was a FIFA ref

Seven of them have been acknowledged as members by Hamas and Islamic Jihad; IDF criticizes ‘false campaign’ that portrayed Israel as deliberately targeting soccer players, despite many of them having ties to Gaza terror groups

President Herzogs tal inför valkampanjen

President Herzogs tal till folket inför höstens parlamentsval och den nu startade valkampanjen säger en hel del om situationen i Israel i dag.

Full text of President Herzog’s speech warning against violence ahead of elections

My sisters and brothers, citizens of Israel. Tomorrow evening, the fast of the 9th of Av begins.

On this day, both Holy Temples of the Jewish people were destroyed. For two thousand years, this day has reminded us of the price of polarization, division, and hatred among us. This year, that message carries even greater weight, as we enter the period of elections.

Elections are a test of Israeli democracy, and they are also a test of the unity and cohesion of Israeli society. Elections are the pinnacle of a democracy. This is the opportunity for each and every one of us to influence the country’s future, and the fateful issues before it.

I call on all citizens of Israel to take an active part in these elections: To listen, to make your voice heard, to show respect, and to vote.

...It is no secret that we are living through a period of disagreements. In recent days, we have once again seen dangerous violence rearing its head across the country.

I turn to elected representatives, activists, and all candidates from all parties, and demand that you do not cross red lines! Do not turn rivals into enemies! I remind all leaders of the rabbinic saying: “Sages, be careful with your words.”

I call on the people of Israel, in a clear voice: remember that elections are not a civil war. Disagreement and criticism are the lifeblood of our democracy, but our belonging to this place, and our responsibility for our shared future here — for our children, for our grandchildren — come before all else and are the highest priority.

...My sisters and brothers, on the eve of the Fast of the 9th of Av, I pray that we all merit to see the consolation of Zion and Jerusalem. To that end, let us remember the historical lesson: Baseless hatred destroyed our home.

Twice in the history of our people, we merited independent sovereignty in our land. Twice we failed. We must not repeat the mistakes of the past. We have a historic responsibility to the generations who came before us, and to generations to come.

I say it again: elections are not a civil war. We will get through these elections together, as one people. Respect, influence, and vote.