Invasions Fail to Break Spirit of Resistance in Jabaliya

Tamara Nassar 

Rights and Accountability 

3 June 2024

A woman is seated and is overlooking the rubble and debris around her 

Israel declared near total “operational control” in northern Gaza in late December 2023, around two months into its ground invasion of the coastal enclave.

Efforts to capture the north included an invasion of Jabaliya refugee camp. It was the first of two such invasions, with the second only ending in late May.

Last week, Israeli military forces withdrew from Jabaliya, a city in northern Gaza, after a 20-day operation that left the area and its refugee camp, the largest of the Gaza Strip’s eight camps, almost unrecognizable.

The Israeli army had ordered residents of Jabaliya to evacuate the area earlier in May.

Israel claimed that the evacuation was required so that it could confront fighters with the Qassam Brigades – the armed wing of Hamas. The fighters were allegedly attempting to reassemble in the area months after the initial invasion.

The latest ground invasion was combined with aerial bombardment. Israel conducted 200 airstrikes in the area during a period of less than three weeks.

“There is no longer Jabaliya camp, there are no schools and hospitals, the scale of destruction is so great that no one can imagine it, and the destruction cannot be counted,” Palestinian woman Asma al-Masri told Al Jazeera. She had returned to the camp to retrieve supplies for her family in Beit Hanoun, another northern area.

Northern Gaza was the first target of Israel’s ground invasion, and became the epicenter of an Israeli-US manufactured famine that forced people to rely on animal feed and wild plant foraging in order to eat.

The head of the World Food Program has declared a “full-blown famine” in northern Gaza.

Jabaliya refugee camp was already devastated by Israeli bombings since the early stages of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, when the Israeli airforce conducted multiple massive strikes on the camp’s market, considered one of the liveliest areas in the Strip, as well as a residential block, killing hundreds of people.

The devastation caused by the Israeli army’s second invasion of the area multiplied. As Palestinians began to return, witnesses described scenes of destruction: heaps of rubble from demolished buildings lined the streets, with decomposing bodies being discovered among the debris.

Satellite imagery capturing the period between 17 April and 24 May depicts a stark increase in the destruction of residential buildings and vegetation in the area.

Anas al-Sharif, an Al Jazeera correspondent in Jabaliya, describes in a televised report Israel’s devastation of the central market in the refugee camp, detailing the burning and total destruction of commercial stores.

“This market was the lifeline of citizens,” he says, lamenting the absence of any remaining operational commercial outlets.

Resistance

Back in January, the Israeli military claimed, “We have completed the dismantling of Hamas’ military framework in the northern Gaza Strip.”

“Eliminating the commanders made it difficult for the terrorists to fight organized and led to many of them surrendering,” the military added.

But the manner in which Palestinian resistance fighters confronted the Israeli invaders does not suggest surrender.

Despite the devastation caused by the Israeli army, the Palestinian resistance inflicted losses among Israeli soldiers and military vehicles.

The Qassam Brigades published videos showing its fighters employing a range of tactics to counter the encroachment of the Israeli military, by targeting its armored vehicles and soldiers with sniper operations, tunnel ambushes, mortar shells and attacks on armored vehicles. Yassin 105 anti-tank rockets – a Soviet clone manufactured in Gaza – were widely used by fighters against Israeli army vehicles.

When the invaders arrived in the camp, the Qassam Brigades launched an attack on Israeli troop carriers using ammunition delivered by an unmanned copter.

In a video released by the Qassam Brigades, an aircraft is seen positioning itself directly over an Israeli troop carrier, revealing a hatch on its front left side where the Qassam ammunition is deployed.

“Adnan al-Ghoul started the weapons program with hand grenades, because that was the simplest thing to get in the hand of every fighter,” Jon Elmer, contributing editor of The Electronic Intifada, said on the day 222 livestream. Al-Ghoul was the founder of the Qassam weapons industry and was assassinated in 2004.

“If you build your own hand grenades and give them to your fighters, it’s easier to have than guns at times, and so hand grenades were the first of Qassam’s weapons industry,” Elmer added.

The dense urban landscape of Jabaliya and its refugee camp is reflected in the operations carried out by Qassam fighters, as seen in videos published by their media team. These videos depict fighters maneuvering through alleys and buildings, positioning themselves to fire at tanks from close range.

Even as the Israeli army was on the ground in Jabaliya, the Palestinian resistance managed to launch rockets towards Israel.

“These are launches from Jabaliya, where an entire Israeli army division is operating, and they’re firing rockets,” Elmer said.

“The tanks are all over there and they see the rockets go over their head. And it’s a psychological operation.”

One of the most striking reports by the Qassam Brigades from the battle in Jabaliya was the announcement by their spokesperson Abu Obeida of an operation that involved killing, injuring and capturing soldiers.

Abu Obeida said that Qassam fighters had lured the invading unit into one of the tunnels in Jabaliya refugee camp.

“Then fighters attacked the reinforcement force that rushed to the scene with explosive devices and directly hit them,” Abu Obeida said.

“Then fighters withdrew after blowing up the tunnel used in this operation,” he added.

Qassam fighters had apparently also seized the unit’s military equipment.

The Qassam Brigades has released another video revealing a picture of a captured soldier, speculating whether the unit involved was a mercenary unit that the Israeli authorities did not reveal was operating in Gaza.

“This is the first time since 7 October that a soldier has been captured,” Elmer said on the day 236 livestream.

“Israel has fought this whole war to avoid their soldiers being captured. That’s why they don’t come out of their tanks until the very last moment. That’s why you never see dismounted soldiers walking alongside tanks covering territory.”

Meanwhile, during the battle in Jabaliya, footage released by the Israeli army captures three Palestinian fighters positioned on a rooftop in Jabaliya, firing at approaching Israeli forces.

At some point in the video, one of the fighters is hit and falls to the ground, prompting his comrade to retrieve his weapon and continue firing. Palestinian civil defense workers were reported to have extracted the bodies of the three fighters from the rooftop following the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the area.

Footage by Al Jazeera depicts the remnants of Israeli occupation vehicles destroyed by the resistance:

Jabaliya has a long-standing reputation as a center of Palestinian resistance, dating back to the first intifada that began in the camp in 1987 and expanded to the rest of historic Palestine. The city and its camp have remained a stronghold of armed resistance since then.

Resilience

Now, amid the rubble of their destroyed homes, Palestinians are returning to the camp from which they evacuated a few weeks ago.

They are erecting makeshift tents amid the debris and demonstrating resilience by caring for stray cats, illustrating their determination to revive their community despite the devastation.

Al Jazeera’s footage captures Palestinians returning to their homes, striving to clean and repair them regardless of the extent of damage incurred by the Israeli invasion:

A Palestinian man, assessing the destruction, displayed a sense of determination while speaking to Al Jazeera.

“We stand steadfast here,” he told the network against the backdrop of destruction, “and we will not deviate. We will not leave this land.”

Jabaliya’s resilience haunts the Israeli army.

The resilience can be seen in the strong culture of armed struggle in the camp.

It can be seen, too, in how the community is returning to the camp, rebuilding and resuming life despite the repeated devastation inflicted by the Israeli military.

Yemeni Forces Deploy New Ballistic Missile Against Occupied Territories

Monday, 03 June 2024 11:44 PM 

Yemeni Armed Forces’ spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree

Yemen’s Armed Forces have announced deploying a new ballistic missile against a “military” target lying in the southern part of the occupied territories in a fresh pro-Palestinian operation.

The forces’ spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree made the announcement on Monday.

He identified the new projectile as the “Palestine ballistic missile,” which he said was fired against a “military site” in the city of Um al-Rashrash, which is also known as Eilat.

The missile “is being unveiled for the first time,” Saree said, adding that the operation “achieved the objective successfully.”

The Yemeni forces have carried out scores of pro-Palestinian operations since last October, when the Israeli regime launched a genocidal war against the Gaza Strip.

More than 36,470 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed in the war that began following a retaliatory operation staged by Gaza’s resistance movements.

Ansarullah leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi says Yemeni forces will continue their military operations and escalate them "in quality and quantity" in support of Palestinians in Israel

As well as striking targets located throughout the occupied territories, the Yemeni operations have been aiming at Israeli vessels or those heading towards the ports of the territories.

Saree asserted that "Armed Forces will continue military operations in support of Gaza and in solidarity with the oppressed Palestinian people.”

Yemen says all the ships were targeted for violating the ban on visiting the ports of occupied Palestine.

The operations, he concluded, would last as long as the Israeli regime sustained the war and a siege that it has been simultaneously enforcing against the coastal sliver.

The War is Lost – But Why is Netanyahu Killing Civilians in Rafah?

June 1, 2024

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Design: Palestine Chronicle)

By Ramzy Baroud  

The Israeli leader is just buying time, though. Israel’s top generals and military experts and analysts know that the war has been lost and that prolonging it will not, in any way, alter its predictable outcomes.

Just hours after Israel carried out a gruesome massacre of displaced Palestinians in the Tel Al-Sultan area west of Rafah in the Gaza Strip on 26 May, it carried out yet another massacre in the Al-Mawasi area. The first is now known as the “Tents Massacre”.

It took place shortly after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) finally issued a stern demand that, “Israel must immediately halt its military offensive and any other action in Rafah which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.”

The killing of 50 Palestinians in their own displacement tents was the answer given by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his extremist government to the ICJ and the rest of the international community. The successive Israeli massacres in Rafah demonstrate the degree of intransigence of Israel’s genocidal regime.

Netanyahu and his Minister of Defence, Yoav Gallant, who could both be on the official “wanted” list of the International Criminal Court (ICC) within weeks, could easily have chosen a different path, even for mere political maneuvering. They could, for example, have delayed their Rafah operation or changed strategies, just to avoid further ICJ rulings on the matter.

Their 2000lb bunker-busting bombs dismembered and beheaded children as they lay beside their mothers in makeshift camps that have no water, no electricity and no food. While the Israeli army offered the world a clearly concocted version of what happened, blaming “militants” and such, Netanyahu’s office described the attack as a mistake.

Both versions, of course, were lies. The Israeli army possesses some of the most advanced surveillance technology in the world, thanks to US generosity and continued support. It could easily have distinguished between a Palestinian Resistance operational area and a refugee camp filled with children and women.

If the attack was indeed a mistake, what explains the other massacres that followed, also in Rafah and in nearby Mawasi, which killed and maimed scores of refugees? And what is the logic behind the killing and wounding of nearly 130,000 Palestinians since the start of the war on 7 October, the majority of whom were women and children?

The Tents Massacre was neither a mistake, nor can it be blamed on imaginary militants operating from inside displaced refugees’ tents. Nevertheless, Netanyahu did have his own logic. For a start, he wanted to send a direct message to let the ICJ know that Israel is not perturbed by its direct order to end the Rafah operation. The intended audience of this message was not necessarily the ICJ judges, but the international community, which remains, despite its solidarity rhetoric, ineffectual in influencing the duration, direction or nature of the Israeli war.

Netanyahu also wanted to score cheap political points against his rivals in his War Cabinet, by presenting himself as the bold Israeli leader who is standing up to the whole world. He has stated over and over again that “[the Jewish people] will stand alone.”

The Israeli leader must also have been informed that more Israeli soldiers had been captured by the Palestinian Resistance. The latter’s statement about this on 25 May was issued just one day before Netanyahu attacked Rafah. From a military point of view, the capturing of more soldiers who were sent to Gaza supposedly to free other Israeli captives should have been a “game over” moment.

The Gaza Resistance hasn’t released any more information since the initial, brief statement by Al-Qassam military spokesman, Abu Obeida. Hamas is known for releasing information to the public when it is strategically most opportune to do so, as was the case in its announcement that it is holding Israeli Colonel Asaf Hamami, who Israel declared to be dead last December.

Netanyahu and his army are trying desperately to pre-empt the angry reaction in Israeli society about the capture of soldiers by keeping the news focused on Rafah.

Moreover, the timing of the massacre was also a message to the US, the mediators (Egypt and Qatar), Hamas and even members of the War Cabinet who are keen on ending the war through a truce agreement. Media reports have spoken about a potential breakthrough in talks, starting in Paris before moving to Doha, which showed some willingness on the part of Israel to link the release of prisoners to a permanent truce.

Such an agreement would be considered a defeat from Netanyahu’s point of view, and would certainly usher in the end of his political career. Hence, he simply lashed out against the refugees of Rafah with the hope of disrupting any potential deal in Doha.

It was for the same reason that his troops opened fire at Egyptian soldiers at the Rafah Crossing, killing one, possibly two, and wounding more. Egypt has been an important mediator in the truce talks. Attacking the mediator is not only humiliating for the Egyptian government, but for the army and Egyptian people as well.

Although Netanyahu has no strategy for the war itself, he has a strategy for prolonging his own political survival. It is predicated on mixing the political cards, ensuring chaos and carrying out constant massacres against civilians, all safe in the knowledge that Washington will always remain on his side no matter what.

The Israeli leader is just buying time, though. Israel’s top generals and military experts and analysts know that the war has been lost and that prolonging it will not, in any way, alter its predictable outcomes.

– Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of six books. His latest book, co-edited with Ilan Pappé, is “Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Speak out”. Dr. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA). His website is www.ramzybaroud.net

‘In Solidarity with Palestine’ – Maldives Bans Israelis from Entering Country

June 3, 2024

Maldives' President Dr Mohamed Muizzu (L) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Design: Palestine Chronicle)

By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

In addition to the ban, President Mohamed Muizzu decided to appoint a special envoy to assess Palestinian needs.

The government of the Maldives has decided to impose a ban on Israeli passport holders entering the archipelago in protest at the ongoing war in Gaza.

“President Dr Mohamed Muizzu, following a recommendation from the Cabinet, has resolved to impose a ban on Israeli passports,” the president’s office said in a statement on Sunday.

The decision includes “amending necessary laws to prevent Israeli passport holders from entering the Maldives and establishing a Cabinet subcommittee to oversee these efforts.”

In addition to the ban, President Muizzu decided to appoint a special envoy to assess Palestinian needs.

A fundraising campaign will be set up with the help of the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and a nationwide rally will be conducted “under the slogan ‘Falastheenaa Eku Dhivehin,’ which translates to ‘Maldivians in Solidarity with Palestine’ to show support.”

‘Avoid Traveling There’ – Israel

After the announcement, the Israeli Foreign Ministry recommended that “Israeli citizens including those with other passports — avoid traveling there,” reported The Times of Israel.

“Israel also recommends that citizens living in the archipelago weigh leaving, as it would be difficult to assist them should they find themselves in danger,” the paper added.

It said nearly 11,000 Israelis visited Maldives last year, “which was 0.6% of the total tourist arrivals.”

Israel does not have diplomatic ties with the Muslim-majority country, according to the paper, “but Israelis were allowed to visit the country before the current ban.”

Ongoing Genocide

Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 36,479 Palestinians have been killed, and 82,777 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide. Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.

Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.

The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.

The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.

Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.

(The Palestine Chronicle)

Leader: Al-Aqsa Storm Put Israeli Regime on Path to Destruction

Monday, 03 June 2024 12:22 PM

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei addresses a huge crowd of people gathering at the mausoleum of founder of the Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini in southern Tehran on June 3, 2024 to mark the 35th anniversary of the late Imam's passing. (Photo by leader.ir)

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says Palestine is the first and foremost issue of the Muslim world.

The Leader made the remarks in an address to a huge crowd of people gathering at the mausoleum of founder of the Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini in southern Tehran on Monday to mark the 35th anniversary of the late Imam's passing.

Ayatollah Khamenei said Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against Israel was carried out at the right time and put the Zionist regime on a path that will lead to its destruction and elimination.

During Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, the Palestinians pushed the enemy to a corner where it had no way to escape, he noted.

The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas launched Operation Al-Aqsa Storm on October 7, 2023, penetrating deep into the territories occupied by the Israeli regime, by carrying out large-scale air, land, and sea strikes.

The group said the operation was a reaction to the recurring desecration of al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied al-Quds as well as intensified Israeli atrocities against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

‘Palestinians foil US plot to change equations’

Ayatollah Khamenei further stated that Imam Khomeini emphasized that the people of Palestine themselves would have to restore their own rights and force the Israeli regime to retreat.

The Leader noted that everything that the late Imam predicted regarding the issue of Palestine has come true.

He said Imam Khomeini believed that the people of Palestine should not trust the so-called peace talks, play an active role and restore their rights to achieve a final victory in the face of the Israeli enemy.

The late Imam also urged all nations, particularly Muslims, to support the Palestinian people to help them defeat the Zionist regime, Ayatollah Khamenei added.

“These big developments are being realized now,” he emphasized.

“Although the US and many Western countries continue to support this regime, they also know that there is no way out for the occupying regime,” Ayatollah he stated.

The Leader warned that the US, elements of the global Zionism and some regional states have hatched a comprehensive plan to change relations and equations in the region.

They sought to establish links between the Israeli regime and some countries in the region in an attempt to prepare the ground for the Tel Aviv regime’s dominance over the political and economic developments in the West Asia region and the entire Muslim world, he explained.

They were very close to implement the ominous plot but the start of Operation Al-Aqsa Storm thwarted all schemes of the US, Zionism and their stooges, Ayatollah Khamenei said.

He emphasized that the incidents in Palestine over the past eight months destroyed hope for any revival of the plot.

He added that the unprecedented crimes and boundless cruelty of the Israeli regime and the American government’s support for such atrocities were nervous reactions to failure of the international conspiracy to dominate the Zionist regime in the region.

The Leader pointed to the US inaction in the face of consensus among world nations and emphasized that Washington will have no option but to end its support for the Zionist regime sooner or later.

Western analysts believe that Israel has suffered a heavy blow from the resistance groups during Operation Al-Aqsa Storm and that the regime will not be able to recover from it, he emphasized.

He said Palestine has turned into the number one issue of the world as students in American universities are chanting slogans to express their support for Palestine.

‘Martyrs of Service’

Elsewhere in his remarks, Ayatollah Khamenei pointed to the martyrdom of former Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and six of their companions in a helicopter crash last month and said they are “martyrs of service” as they lost their lives while serving the people.

He described “dear” President Raeisi as a hard-working and honest man who made his utmost efforts to serve the Iranian nation.

He also hailed Amir-Abdollahian as a skilled and intelligent negotiator who adhered to the principles of the Islamic Republic.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says at the ceremony marking the 35th anniversary of the late Imam Khomeini's passing that the Palestinians pushed the enemy to a corner where it had no way to escape.

Ayatollah Khamenei noted that the passing of President Raeisi and his entourage was a great loss and stated that Iranians created an epic by taking part in their funeral ceremonies.

Despite the president’s demise, Iranian authorities managed to maintain the country’s full tranquility and security, the Leader added.

Raeisi, Amir-Abdollahian and six others died on May 19, when their helicopter crashed in foggy weather in the mountains near the northwestern border with Azerbaijan. Their bodies were found the following day after a massive search operation.

Ayatollah Khamenei also pointed to the June 28 presidential election in Iran, organized after President Raeisi’s death, and said the “epic of election” will complete the epic of saying farewell to the martyrs.

The Leader, however, warned that the “election scene is the scene of dignity and epic and not a [field] of struggle to gain power.”

Why are Hawks in US Unnerved by Ayatollah Khamenei’s Letter to US Students

Sunday, 02 June 2024 12:59 PM

By Mohsen Badakhsh

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has hailed the US campus movement against the Israeli-American genocidal war on Gaza as a righteous endeavor, which he rightly states has placed them on the right side of history.

“Dear university students in the United States of America, this message is an expression of our empathy and solidarity with you. As the page of history is turning, you are standing on the right side of it,” reads the letter from Ayatollah Khamenei, describing them as the new “branch of the Resistance Front.”

“You have now formed a branch of the Resistance Front and have begun an honorable struggle in the face of your government's ruthless pressure—an administration that openly backs the usurper and brutal Zionist regime,” the letter adds.

Noting that the greater Resistance Front has been resolutely engaged for decades in the struggle to end “the blatant oppression that the brutal Zionist terrorist network has inflicted on the Palestinian nation,” Ayatollah Khamenei described Palestine as an independent land—comprising Muslims, Christians, and Jews—with a long history.

In honoring the pro-Palestine movement initiated by students at Columbia University, which has now expanded to many other universities across the US and other countries, Ayatollah Khamenei assured of imminent changes in the global state of affairs.

“A different fate awaits the important region of West Asia,” he vowed. “The conscience of people has been awakened on a global scale, and the truth is coming to light... as the Resistance Front is gaining further strength and getting even mightier.”

He reiterated that history is about to turn a page, clearly suggesting impending developments favoring the long-oppressed nation of Palestine and the Resistance Front.

Despite the total news blackout of Ayatollah Khamenei’s letter by mainstream Western media conglomerates, his message has already been welcomed by millions on social media platforms, which has enraged several pro-Israel American lawmakers with a track record of accepting bribes and campaign funds from powerful pressure groups in Washington lobbying for the Zionist regime.

Take, for example, this rhetoric labeling their own constituents in the US who have exercised their basic constitutional right of free expression to protest Washington’s open support for Israel’s genocidal war against thousands of innocent women and children in Gaza and the rest of occupied Palestine.

“When you’ve won the Ayatollah, you’ve lost America,” wrote top US lawmaker and Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson in a Friday post on X while reacting to the message of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution to US college students standing up for Palestine.

The hawkish, pro-Trump lawmaker labeled protesting US students as “aspiring terrorists” in an interview later, adding that he would ensure college professors and students involved in the protests would be “hauled” to the US Congress to be grilled and potentially punished.

His remarks came after presidents of several top universities across the US were forced to step down after being censured by pro-Israel American lawmakers for allowing their students to stage protests opposing US support for atrocities committed against Palestinians by the Zionist regime.

The forced resignations of the university presidents were attributed to the institutions’ high dependency on massive government contracts and funding.

Another furious reaction to Ayatollah Khamenei’s letter to US students came from Democratic Party Congressman Ritchie John Torres of New York, who angrily claimed that the praising of American students by Iran’s top leader meant that they are “useful idiots on the wrong side of history.”

Evidently, the responses by American lawmakers to the letter lacked any rationale and did not in any form challenge its content or reasoning. They only attack American students and professors using hostile and offensive words that attest to their low character and intellect.

Meanwhile, developments in the US prior to and after the release of Ayatollah Khamenei’s message honoring American college students are quite indicative of America’s sorry state of affairs and its shaky political landscape ahead of the November presidential polls.

Just days before the release of the letter, former president and 2024 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump attacked the student protest movement against the Zionist regime, vowing to “throw out” students that attend such protests if he returns to the White House.

Speaking to a small group of predominantly Zionist Jewish donors at an event, Trump insisted that he will deport all pro-Palestinian student protesters to ensure that they “behave.”

“One thing I do is, any student that protests, I throw them out of the country. You know, there are a lot of foreign students. As soon as they hear that, they’re going to behave,” Trump said, before he was criminally convicted in a New York courtroom on over 30 counts of financial and political corruption pertaining to his 2016 presidential campaign that led to his surprise victory.

Just after the release of Ayatollah Khamenei’s letter to American students, Trump’s top political foe and presidential rival, Joe Biden, was reportedly scrambling to put together yet another purported ceasefire proposal to halt the Israeli regime’s genocidal war on Gaza. This came amid reports that US bombs and other ammunition supplied by the Biden administration were again used in last week’s massacre of mostly women and children in a refugee camp in Gaza’s border city of Rafah, neighboring Egypt.

Biden’s renewed scheme to introduce another ceasefire plot came amid growing media reports about his struggling re-election campaign in the face of his dwindling popularity across the country and particularly in the so-called battleground states, where voter support for both presidential contenders is equally divided. Even a narrow loss in the popular vote count spells the total loss of the state’s entire electoral vote that determines the outcome of the US presidential poll.

Considering the worldview and autocratic attitudes of American political leaders and the intensifying divisiveness and hostilities between the dominant political parties, as widely reported by the local media, many observers do not expect the next US presidential and congressional elections to be without controversies, giving credence to Ayatollah Khamenei’s indication of a turning page of history.

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution has repeatedly lauded the resistance of Palestinians and other resistance groups in the region against the Israeli regime’s West-backed genocidal atrocities in Gaza, underlining the “certain victory” of the resistance forces in the near future and the ultimate defeat of the Zionist occupiers—another indication of the page of history turning.

Recently, after the tragic death of Iran’s President Ebrahim Raeisi and his companions in a helicopter crash, Ayatollah Khamenei hosted leaders of the Hamas resistance group in Tehran along with resistance leaders from other countries in the region.

He also met with visiting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday, hailing his nation’s perseverance in remaining a robust force in the region against the Zionist occupiers.

Such public meetings with leading resistance figures mark a significant turning point in the long struggle against the brutal occupation of Palestine by the Israeli regime, as described by Iran’s brave leader.

It is noteworthy to remember the founder of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini, who first initiated and set forth the idea of global resistance to liberate Palestine and al-Quds (Jerusalem) from the US-backed Zionist occupation.

Driven by God’s commandments in the holy book of Qur’an, Imam Khomeini fearlessly stood up against the powerful United States, severed all ties with the then-apartheid regime of South Africa and the Israeli Zionist entity, and replaced its embassy in Tehran with the embassy of Palestine.

Ayatollah Khamenei followed the same path and brilliantly preserved and strengthened the legacy of the founder of the Islamic Revolution as is evident today.

Mohsen Badakhsh is an educator and freelance journalist.

(The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Press TV.

US Seizes Scott Ritter’s Passport

The RT contributor was stopped from visiting Russia

The US State Department has seized the passport of former Marine and UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter, he told RT on Monday.

Ritter was on his way to Russia for the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) when he was pulled off the plane and had his documents confiscated.

“My passport was seized by the State Department,” Ritter told RT in a message. “I was pulled off the airplane.”

“I’m fine, just aggravated,” he added.

Ritter is a former US Marine Corps intelligence officer, who later served as the US and UN weapons inspector in Iraq. He is also a RT contributor, writing about international security, military affairs, Russia, and the Middle East, as well as arms control and nonproliferation.

He most recently visited Russia in January, spending time in Chechnya, Moscow and St. Petersburg, among other places.

The most recent post on Ritter’s Telegram channel put the Clooney Foundation for Justice on notice for its alleged crusade against “Russian propagandists.”

“Here I am. In your face. If telling the truth about Russia makes me a propagandist in your book, then I accept the title,” he wrote. “Bring it on. I’ll school you on the First Amendment.”

“You have zero concept of what free speech is. Try and arrest me and you’ll find out. In spades. It’s war,” he added.

Former US Intelligence Officer Says He Was Taken off Plane to St. Petersburg

"I was taken off flight from New York to Istanbul," Scott Ritter said

Former US Marine reconnaissance officer Scott Ritter Elena Afonina/ TASS

NEW YORK, June 3. /TASS/. Former US Marine Corps Intelligence Officer and UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter has told TASS that he was not let board a flight from New York to Istanbul, a stopover on his way to Russia to take part in the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

"I was taken off flight from New York to Istanbul. They took my passport and taken my bags off the flight," he said.

He also said that no explanations were given to him. The police, in his words, said only that it was done at the order from the Department of State.

According to Ritter, another US expert, former judge and now Judging Freedom podcast host Andrew Napolitano, will not go to Russia either. However, "he cancelled his trip for completely different reasons," he added.

The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum is set to take place on June 5-8. This year’s event is themed "The Foundations of a Multipolar World - The Formation of New Areas of Growth." The forum is organized by the Roscongress Foundation. TASS is the forum’s information partner.

Russia Condemns Israeli Strikes on Syria that May Lead to Large-scale Escalation — MFA

The Russian Foreign Ministry "once again urges the Israeli leadership to abandon this vicious practice fraught with uncontrolled destabilization of the situation in the entire Middle East"

© Roman Kanashchuk/TASS

MOSCOW, June 3. /TASS/. Russia strongly condemns Israeli airstrikes on the outskirts of Syria's Aleppo; these aggressive actions grossly violate Syria's sovereignty and international law, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

"Moscow strongly condemns these aggressive actions, which come in gross violation of Syria's sovereignty and basic rules of international law," the ministry stressed. "Such use of force, which in the current tense regional situation can lead to extremely dangerous consequences and trigger a large-scale armed escalation, are unacceptable," it added.

The Russian Foreign Ministry "once again urges the Israeli leadership to abandon this vicious practice fraught with uncontrolled destabilization of the situation in the entire Middle East."

After midnight on June 3, Israeli air strikes hit the outskirts of Aleppo. Many were killed and injured in the attack, and significant material damage was caused, the report said. "Earlier, on the evening of May 29, the Israeli Air Force struck a residential building in the city of Baniyas in Tartous Governorate, killing a two-year-old girl and injuring her family members along with other civilians living in the house," it added.

Russia Supplied Foods to More than 160 Countries in 2023 — PM

The task of food security provision is of key value for Russia and all the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union, Mikhail Mishustin added

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin Dmitry Astakhov/POOL/TASS

© Dmitry Astakhov/POOL/TASS

MINSK, June 3. /TASS/. Russia exported over 100 mln metric tons of foods to markets of more than 160 countries, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said.

"Our country is among top twenty among supplies of agricultural products in the global market, and the first one in a number of positions - wheat, sunflower oil, and pollack. Russian foods were on the shelves in 160 countries of the world; more than 100 mln metric tons of rations and 40 mln metric tons of fertilizers were exported," the Prime Minister said.

The task of food security provision is of key value for Russia and all the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union, Mishustin added.

Russian Air Defenses Down Two Ukrainian MiG-29 Aircraft in Past Day — Defense Ministry

Battlegroup Center liberates settlement of Umanskoye in Donetsk People’s Republic

© Alexander Polegenko/TASS

MOSCOW, June 2. /TASS/. Russian air defenses downed two Ukrainian MiG-29 aircraft in the past day, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

"Air defenses downed two MiG-29 aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Force," the statement reads.

Air defenses destroyed 50 Ukrainian drones, 23 HIMARS rockets, two Tochka U missiles, a Neptune missile and three French-made Hammer air bombs in the past day, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

"Fifty unmanned aerial vehicles, 23 US-made HIMARS rockets, two Tochka U missiles, three French-made Hammer guided air bombs and a Neptune anti-ship missile were wiped out," the statement reads.

Russian forces hit Ukrainian P-18 radar

Russian forces have hit a Ukrainian P-18 radar designed to detect and track aerial targets, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

"Over the past day, Russian tactical aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, missile forces and artillery units hit a P-18 radar designed to detect and track aerial targets, as well as enemy troops and equipment in 103 areas," the statement reads.

Battlegroup Dnepr defeats four Ukrainian brigades

Russia’s Battlegroup Dnepr defeated four Ukrainian brigades in the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions in the past day, making the enemy lose up to 70 troops, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

"Units of Battlegroup Dnepr hit the forces and equipment of the 65th Mechanized Brigade, the 128th Mountain Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian armed forces, the 15th National Guard Brigade and the 38th Marine Brigade north of Rabotino, as well as near Zherebyanka and Novopokrovka in the Zaporozhye Region and Antonovka in the Kherson Region," the statement reads.

According to the ministry, the Ukrainian army lost up to 70 troops, six motor vehicles, a US-made M777 155 mm howitzer, a Msta-B 152 mm howitzer, an Akatsiya 152 mm self-propelled gun, a Gvozdika 122 mm self-propelled howitzer and a US-made M119 105 mm howitzer.

Battlegroup Center liberates settlement of Umanskoye in Donetsk People’s Republic

Russia’s Battlegroup Center has liberated the settlement of Umanskoye in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

"Units of Battlegroup Center carried out successful operations, liberating the settlement of Umanskoye in the Donetsk People’s Republic. The forces of the 23rd and 24th mechanized brigades of the Ukrainian armed forces and the 109th Territorial Defense Brigade were defeated near Novgorodskoye, Yevgenovka, Rozovka and Novosyolovka Pervaya in the Donetsk People’s Republic," the statement reads.

The enemy lost "over 360 troops, two motor vehicles, a US-made M777 155 mm howitzer, a Msta-B 152 mm howitzer, three D-30 122 mm howitzers and two MT-12 Rapira anti-tank guns.".

Battlegroup North defeats five Ukrainian brigades

Russia’s Battlegroup North defeated five Ukrainian brigades and repelled seven counterattacks in the past day, making the enemy lose up to 190 troops, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

"Units of Battlegroup North continued to advance deeper into enemy defenses. They hit the forces and equipment of the 57th Motorized Infantry Brigade and the 92nd Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian armed forces, the 36th Marine Brigade, the 125th Territorial Defense Brigade and the 13th National Guard Brigade near Malye Prokhody, Gatishche, Liptsy and Neskuchnoye in the Kharkov Region.

According to the ministry, Ukraine lost up to 190 troops, two armored vehicles, including a US-made Stryker vehicle, three motor vehicles and a Buk missile system. In addition, a Bogdana 155 mm self-propelled howitzer, a Polish-made Krab 155 mm self-propelled howitzer and a D-20 152 mm howitzer were hit by counterbattery fire.

Battlegroup East moves to more advantageous positions

"Units of Battlegroup East improved their frontline position. <...> An attack by the Tenth Mountain Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian armed forces was repelled near Razdolovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic," the statement reads.

According to the ministry, the enemy lost up to 290 troops, two armored combat vehicles and two motor vehicles. In addition, a US-made M198 155 mm howitzer, a British-made FH-70 155 mm towed howitzer and three D-30 122 mm howitzers were hit by counterbattery fire. In addition, three field ammunition depots were wiped out in the past day.

Ukraine loses up to 465 troops in area of responsibility of Russia’s Battlegroup West

Ukraine lost up to 465 troops, a tank and three armored combat vehicles in the area of responsibility of Russia’s Battlegroup West in the past day, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

"Units of Battlegroup West moved to more advantageous positions, hitting the forces of the 14th and 116th mechanized brigades and the 77th Airmobile Brigade of the Ukrainian armed forces and the 40th National Guard Regiment near Sinkovka in the Kharkov Region, Stelmakhovka in the Lugansk People’s Republic and Grigorovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic. Three counterattacks by assault teams of the 63rd Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian armed forces were repelled near Chervonaya Dibrova in the Lugansk People’s Republic," the statement reads.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Ukraine lost up to 465 troops, a tank, three armored combat vehicles and five pickup trucks. Besides, a British-made AS-90 Braveheart 155 mm self-propelled howitzer, a Msta-B 152 mm howitzer and a Grad multiple rocket launcher were hit by counterbattery fire.

NATO Weapons to Be Hit in Any Country from Where Russia May Be Attacked — Medvedev

The senior Russian official added that Moscow proceeded from the fact that all long-range weapons supplied to Ukraine were already "directly operated by servicemen from NATO countries"

Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev Alexander Shcherbak/TASS

MOSCOW, May 31. /TASS/. NATO countries that have approved strikes with their weapons on Russian territory should be aware that their equipment and specialists will be destroyed not only in Ukraine, but also at any point from where Russian territory is attacked, the Russian Security Council’s Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said on his Telegram channel, noting that the participation of NATO specialists could be seen as a casus belli.

"All their military equipment and specialists fighting against us will be destroyed both on the territory of former Ukraine and on the territory of other countries, should strikes be carried out from there against Russian territory," Medvedev warned.

He added that Moscow proceeded from the fact that all long-range weapons supplied to Ukraine were already "directly operated by servicemen from NATO countries", which is tantamount to participation in the war against Russia and a reason to start combat operations.

Therefore, said Medvedev, NATO would need to legally qualify the destruction of its equipment, facilities and servicemen in case of "possible retaliatory strikes <...> in the context of articles 4 and 5 of the Washington Treaty".

Articles 4 and 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which created the alliance, list NATO countries’ actions in case any of them is threatened, as well as the rules of the bloc’s collective defense. According to these provisions, a threat to one NATO country is perceived as an attack on all members of the alliance. At the same time, the document does not specify what exactly NATO may regard as an attack or threat, so it establishes a consultation mechanism for deciding on a response.

Zelenskyy Accuses China of Pressuring Other Countries Not to Attend Upcoming Ukraine Peace Talks

BY DAVID RISING AND KEN MORITSUGU

12:43 PM EDT, June 2, 2024

SINGAPORE (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused China on Sunday of helping Russia to disrupt an upcoming Swiss-organized peace conference on the war in Ukraine.

Speaking at Asia’s premier security conference, Zelenskyy said that China is pressuring other countries and their leaders not to attend the upcoming talks. He did not say which ones.

“Russia, using Chinese influence in the region, using Chinese diplomats also, does everything to disrupt the peace summit,” he said at a news conference at the Shangri-La defense forum. “Regrettably this is unfortunate that such a big independent powerful country as China is an instrument in the hands of (Russian leader Vladimir) Putin.”

China has staked out what it says is a neutral position on the war, putting it at odds with Ukraine, the United States and most of Europe. Its trade with Russia has grown, easing the economic impact of Western sanctions. And American, Ukrainian and other intelligence agencies say there is evidence that Chinese parts are winding up in Russian weaponry, even if China is not directly arming its neighbor.

The Swiss had been hoping China would attend the peace conference in mid-June, but Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning signaled on Friday that that was unlikely. China has been calling for a peace conference with equal participation of all sides, including Russia, which has not been invited.

“There is still a clear gap between the arrangements for the meeting and the demands of the Chinese side, as well as the general expectations of the international community,” Mao said. “This makes it difficult for China to participate in the meeting.”

The foreign ministry did not respond immediately to a request for comment on Zelenskyy’s accusation.

The Ukrainian leader said of China’s pressure on others, “That is not only support to Russia, that is basically support of war.”

In a speech to the security conference earlier in the day, Zelenskyy urged top defense officials to attend the upcoming talks in Switzerland, saying he was disappointed at the failure of some countries to commit to joining.

Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun spoke before Zelenskyy at the Shangri-La conference but he did not appear to be in the room when Zelenskyy made his appeal.

Zelenskyy said that Ukraine had proposals to make at the summit as a basis for peace, addressing nuclear security, food security, the release of prisoners of war and the return of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia.

“Time is running out, and the children are growing up in the Putin-land where they are taught to hate their homeland,” he said.

At the same time, Zelenskyy said Ukraine is “ready to hear various proposals and thoughts that lead us ... to an end of the war and a sustainable and just peace.”

The greater the participation, the more likely it will be that Russia will have to listen, he said.

“The global majority can ensure with their involvement that what is agreed upon is truly implemented,” he said.

Zelenskyy said he planned to meet one-on-one with Singapore’s prime minister and would urge him to participate in person in the Switzerland talks.

“The same goes for the countries in the region,” he said through an interpreter. “We truly count on you supporting this summit, and that you will be present in Switzerland.”

From Singapore, he may travel to Manila to invite President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to the summit in person, two senior Philippine government officials said.

Ukrainian officials have notified the Philippines of Zelenskyy’s intention to go, but the visit is uncertain because of the Ukrainian president’s travel plans are constantly changing, one of the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the matter.

Singapore Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen, who shared the stage with Zelenskyy, did not say whether his country’s leaders would attend, but did note Singapore had condemned the invasion and provided Ukraine with military ambulances.

“We stand with you, and I think your appearance at this Shangri-La Dialogue is the epitome of what we are all hoping for, a rules-based order that guarantees the security and survival of large nations and small,” he said.

Dong did not specifically mention the Switzerland meetings in his address to the forum, but did say “on the Ukraine crisis, China has been promoting peace talks with a responsible attitude.”

He added that China had not provided weapons to either side of the conflict.

“We have never done anything to fan the flames,” he said. “We stand firmly on the side of peace and dialogue.”

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin sat in the front row as Zelenskyy talked. In an address Saturday, Austin told the security conference that “Putin’s war of aggression has provided us all with a preview of a world that none of us would want.”

“We’ve all been inspired by the courage of Ukraine’s troops and the resilience of Ukraine’s people,” Austin said. “People around the world have rushed to help Ukraine defend itself, including countries across the Indo-Pacific.”’

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Moritsugu reported from Hong Kong. Associated Press writer Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines, contributed.

Mexico Votes in an Election Likely to Choose the Country’s First Woman President

Ruling party presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum arrives to vote in general elections in Mexico City, Sunday, June 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Ruling party presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum arrives to vote in general elections in Mexico City, Sunday, June 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

BY MEGAN JANETSKY AND MARK STEVENSON

4:02 PM EDT, June 2, 2024

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexicans went to the polls Sunday to vote for who will likely be the country’s first female president, voicing concerns overwhelmingly about security, from the power of Mexico’s drug cartels down to street-level stick-ups.

They were choosing between two women, a former academic who promises to continue outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s populist policies and an ex-senator and tech entrepreneur who pledges to up the fight against deadly drug cartels. A third, male candidate from a smaller party had focused his attention on the youth vote.

Mexico elections

Mexicans are voting Sunday in historic elections weighing gender, democracy and populism, as they chart the country’s path forward in voting shadowed by cartel violence. Follow live updates here.

Turnout appeared to be high, with long lines of voters trying to cast their ballots early as much of the country continued to suffer a heat wave. Voters said security and their concerns over violence in many parts of the country was top of mind as they stepped into voting booths.

Nearly 100 million people are registered to vote in the race to replace outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Voters were also electing governors in nine of the country’s 32 states, and choosing candidates for both houses of Congress, thousands of mayorships and other local posts, in the biggest elections the nation has seen and ones that have been marked by violence.

The elections are widely seen as a referendum on López Obrador, a populist who has expanded social programs but largely failed to reduce cartel violence in Mexico. His Morena party currently holds 23 of the 32 governorships and a simple majority of seats in both houses of Congress. Mexico’s constitution prohibits the president’s reelection.

Both major presidential candidates are women, and either would be Mexico’s first female president. A third candidate from a smaller party, Jorge Álvarez Máynez, trailed far behind.

Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum is running with the Morena party. Sheinbaum, who leads in the race, has promised to continue all of López Obrador’s policies, including a universal pension for the elderly and a program that pays youths to apprentice.

Voters choosing Mexico’s next president will decide Sunday between a former academic who promises to further the current leader’s populist policies and an ex-senator and tech entrepreneur who pledges to up the fight against deadly drug cartels.

Opposition presidential candidate Xóchitl Gálvez, whose father was Indigenous Otomi, rose from selling snacks on the street in her poor hometown to start her own tech firms. A candidate running with a coalition of major opposition parties, she left the Senate last year to focus her ire on López Obrador’s decision to avoid confronting the drug cartels through his “hugs not bullets” policy. She has pledged to more aggressively go after criminals.

The persistent cartel violence, along with Mexico’s middling economic performance, are the main issues on voters’ minds.

Julio García, a Mexico City office worker, said he was voting for the opposition in Mexico City’s central San Rafael neighborhood. “They’ve robbed me twice at gunpoint. You have to change direction, change leadership,” the 34-year-old said. “Continuing the same way, we’re going to become Venezuela.”

On the fringes of Mexico City in the neighborhood of San Andres Totoltepec, electoral officials filed past 34-year-old homemaker Stephania Navarrete, who watched dozens of cameramen and electoral officials gathering where frontrunner Claudia Sheinbaum was set to vote.

Navarrete said she planned to vote for Sheinbaum despite her own doubts about López Obrador and his party.

“Having a woman president, for me as a Mexican woman, it’s going to be like before when for the simple fact that you say you are a woman you’re limited to certain professions. Not anymore.”

She said the social programs of Sheinbaum’s mentor were crucial, but that deterioration of cartel violence in the past few years was her primary concern in this election.

“That is something that they have to focus more on,” she said. “For me security is the major challenge. They said they were going to lower the levels of crime, but no, it was the opposite, they shot up. Obviously, I don’t completely blame the president, but it is in a certain way his responsibility.”

In Iztapalapa, Mexico City’s largest borough, Angelina Jiménez, a 76-year-old homemaker, said she came to vote “to end this inept government that says we’re doing well and (still) there are so many dead.”

She said the violence plaguing Mexico really worried her so she planned to vote for opposition candidate Xóchitl Gálvez, who has promised to take on the cartels. “(López Obrador) says we’re better and it’s not true. We’re worse.”

López Obrador claims to have reduced historically high homicide levels by 20% since he took office in December 2018. But that’s largely a claim based on a questionable reading of statistics; the real homicide rate appears to have declined by only about 4% in six years.

About 675,000 Mexicans living abroad are registered to vote, but in the past only a small percentage have done so. Voting is not mandatory in Mexico, and overall turnout has hovered around 60% in recent elections. That compares to turnout in recent U.S. presidential elections. An exception was in 2020, when the matchup between then-President Donald Trump and future President Joe Biden pushed U.S. voter turnout to 67%, its highest point in decades.

Just as the upcoming November rematch between Biden and Trump has underscored deep divisions in the U.S., Sunday’s election has revealed how severely polarized public opinion is in Mexico over the direction of the country, including its security strategy and how to grow the economy.

Beyond the fight for control of Congress, the race for Mexico City — whose top post is now considered equivalent to a governorship — is also important. Sheinbaum is just the latest of many Mexico City mayors, including López Obrador, who went on to run for president. Governorships in large, populous states such as Veracruz and Jalisco are also drawing interest.

Polls opened at 8 a.m. and close at 6 p.m. (0000 GMT Monday) in most of the country. The first preliminary, partial results are expected by 9 p.m. (0300 GMT Monday) after the last polls in different time zones close.

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Associated Press writer Fabiola Sánchez contributed to this report.

A Growing Community of Breast Milk Donors in Uganda Gives Mothers Hope

A community of breast milk donors has formed in Uganda after women struggled with finding ways to keep their babies with health issues alive. The nonprofit is the only group outside a hospital setting in the East African country that conserves breast milk in substantial amounts. (AP video by Patrick Onen)

BY RODNEY MUHUMUZA

8:09 AM EDT, June 2, 2024

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Early last year, Caroline Ikendi was in distress after undergoing an emergency Caesarean section to remove a stillborn baby and save two others. Doctors said one of the preterm babies had a 2% chance of living.

If the babies didn’t get breast milk — which she didn’t have — Ikendi could lose them as well.

Thus began a desperate search for breast milk donors. She was lucky with a neighbor, a woman with a newborn baby to feed who was willing to donate a few mililitres at a time.

“You go and plead for milk. You are like, ‘Please help me, help my child,’” Ikendi told The Associated Press.

The neighbor helped until Ikendi heard about a Ugandan group that collects breast milk and donates it to mothers like her. Soon the ATTA Breastmilk Community was giving the breast milk she needed, free of charge, until her babies were strong enough to be discharged from the hospital.

ATTA Breastmilk Community was launched in 2021 in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, by a woman who had struggled like Ikendi without getting support. The registered nonprofit, backed by grants from organizations and individuals, is the only group outside a hospital setting in Uganda that conserves breast milk in substantial amounts.

ATTA, as the group is known, receives calls for support from hospitals and homes with babies born too soon or too sick to latch onto their mothers’ breasts.

More than 200 mothers have donated breast milk to support over 450 babies since July 2021, with over 600 liters of milk delivered for babies in that period, according to ATTA’s records.

In a measure of efforts to build a reliable community, many donors have given multiple times while others help to find new ones, said ATTA administrator Racheal Akugizibwe.

“We are an emergency fix,” Akugizibwe said. “As the mother is working on their own production, we are giving (her) milk. But we do it under the directive and under the support of a lactation specialist and the medical people.”

She added: “Every mother who has given us milk, they are kind of attached to us. They are we; we are them. That’s what makes it a community.”

ATTA makes calls for donors via social media apps like Instagram. Women who want to donate must provide samples for testing, including for HIV and Hepatitis B and C, and there are formal conversations during which ATTA tries to learn more about potential donors and motivations. Those who pass the screening are given storage bags and instructed in safe handling.

Akugizibwe spoke of ATTA’s humble beginnings in the home of its founder, Tracy Ahumuza, who would store the milk in her freezer. Ahumuza started the group amid personal grief: She hadn’t been able to produce breast milk for her newborn who battled life-threatening complications. Days later, after the baby died, she started lactating.

She asked health workers, “Where do I put the milk that I have now?’” Akugizibwe said. “They told her, ‘All we can do for you is give you tablets to dry it out.’ She’s like, ‘No, but if I needed it and I didn’t get it, someone could need it.’”

In the beginning, ATTA would match a donor to a recipient, but it proved unsustainable because of the pressure it put on donors. ATTA then started collecting and storing breast milk, and donors and recipients don’t know each other.

Akugizibwe said the group gets more requests for support than it can meet. Challenges include procuring storage bags in large quantities as well as the costs of testing. And donors are required to own freezers, a financial obstacle for some.

“The demand is extremely, extremely high,” Akugizibwe said, “but the supply is low.”

Lelah Wamala, a chef and mother of three in Kampala who twice has donated milk, said she was spurred to act when, while having a baby in 2022, she saw mothers whose premature babies were dying because they didn’t have milk.

Being a donor is a time-consuming responsibility, “but this is the right thing to do,” she said.

Via motorcycle courier on Kampala’s busy streets, breast milk from donors is taken to ATTA’s storage and delivered to parents in need.

ATTA’s goal is to set up a full-fledged breast milk bank with the ability to pasteurize. The service is necessary in a country where an unknown number of women suffer for lack of lactation support, said Dr. Doreen Mazakpwe, a lactation specialist who collaborates with ATTA.

Mazakpwe cited a range of lactation issues mothers can face, from sore nipples to babies born too sick or too weak to suckle and stimulate milk production.

If both mother and baby are healthy, “this mother should be able to produce as much milk as the baby needs because we work on the principle of supply and demand,” said Mazakpwe, a consultant with a private hospital outside Kampala. “So, in situations where there’s a delay in putting the baby on the breast, or the baby is not fed frequently enough … you can eventually have an issue where you have low supply.”

Mazakpwe said she advises mothers on how to establish their own supply within about a month of receiving donated breast milk, and sometimes all that’s needed is to hold the baby the right way. When mothers start lactating, it frees up supply for new ones who need ATTA’s help, she said.

Akugizibwe said their work is challenging in a socially conservative society where such a pioneering service raises eyebrows. Questions, even from recipients, include fears that babies who drink donated breast milk might inherit the bad habits of their benefactors.

In addition, “if you don’t breastfeed there is a lot of negativity,” said Ikendi, whose premature babies survived on donated milk. “Society looks at you as though you’ve just literally refused to breastfeed.”

She spoke of struggling even when she knew she had no choice after seeing her babies in the intensive care unit for the first time. Through the glass she saw they were so tiny, on oxygen therapy and bleeding from their noses. The babies, a boy and a girl, had been removed at seven months.

Ikendi’s babies received donated breast milk for two months.

One recent morning, an emotional Ikendi held her children as she described how the donated milk “contributed 100% to our babies’ growth.”

Amin Adam Advocates for Domestic Investment Prioritization in Africa

By GNA 

June 2, 2024

Ghana’s Finance Minister, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, has kicked against African governments investing significantly in foreign financial institutions using money earned from its most resource-rich sectors.

Rather, he called for the establishment of Regional Funds to draw financial resources for infrastructure development to propel intra-Africa trade, and help solve the recurring economic crisis on the continent.

The Minister, while indicating that the country had enough resources, bemoaned the rate at which many countries saved money in international financial institutions, depriving the continent of needed funds for development.

He was speaking with the media on the margins of the just ended 2024 African Development Bank (AfDB) Annual Meetings in Nairobi, Kenya.

“Some of our African countries are holding our reserves in international banks; Ghana’s Petroleum Holding Funds are invested in US bonds, Nigeria is keeping their oil money in foreign accounts, but why?” he quizzed.

“We need to create regional Funds, so that beyond the African Development Fund and what we get from the international financial world, we also pull resources to together to set up Regional Funds,” he said.

The Regional Funds, he said, could be sector-specific, like having an African Fund for Energy Development, which would draw resources, including pension funds, to support direct investment in infrastructure.

That, Dr Amin Adam, said would significantly improve the weaknesses in infrastructure and connectivity and catapult the success of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement.

Reflecting on the state of trade on the continent, he stated that there was room to improve on intra-continental trade, which figures from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) implementation is estimated at 15 per cent of global trade.

In the energy sector, for example, he said those funds could be used to develop the energy pools by connecting the West, East and Central African power pools, to make power cheaper and available to people and businesses.

“It doesn’t make sense when Ghana has 90 per cent access to electricity and the next-door neighbour has 30 per cent, Ghana’s Finance Minister said, and called for a swift change in that regard.

While indicating that there was the need to trade petroleum products within the continent, he asked, “how do trade in petroleum products if you don’t have the ports?”

He called on African governments to deepen collaborations to develop ports, roads, railway infrastructure, focused on interconnectedness, saying, “that’s how we can boost trade amongst ourselves.”

In 2007, the Pan African Infrastructure Development Fund (PAIDF) was launched in Accra, Ghana during a summit by the African Union to mobilise resources to finance the continent’s infrastructure development.

The latest on the PAIDF as cited on the website of the African Development Bank, only provides information on the nature of the Fund.

It states that the Fund would have a 15-year life, with investment period of eight years from the date of the launch, and a seven-year time horizon per investment to build, develop, and grow each investment before exit.

It noted that the regional investment would be in securities of companies that own, control, operate of manage infrastructure, and infrastructure-related assets, and may also participate in joint ventures with corporate and government partners.

Experts Call for Advancing AU’s Role as Leadership Elections Begin

By Xinhua 

June 2, 2024

As the African Union Commission (AUC) embarks on the election process of its senior leadership, experts have underscored the crucial need to advance the transformative role of the AU in addressing Africa’s existing and emerging development and security challenges.

Last week, the AU announced that the election process of the AUC’s senior leadership for 2025-2028 has kicked off with the call for interested candidates to submit, to their member states, their interest along with vision statements on how they intend to advance the continental body’s role in Africa’s overall development. It said all the eight senior leadership positions of the AUC are open for candidates’ submissions guided by the regional allocation of the portfolios.

The positions include the AUC chairperson, the deputy chairperson and the six commissioner posts, with the elections slated to take place in February 2025 during the AU Summit. In a recent interview with Xinhua, Costantinos Bt. Constantinos, who has served as an economic advisor to the AU and the UN Economic Commission for Africa, suggested addressing the root causes of conflict and insecurity perils, augmenting Africa’s human capital, facilitating member states’ efforts in addressing humanitarian catastrophes unleashed by natural and man-made calamities, as well as advancing the realization of flagship continental development aspirations as potential focus areas for the incoming AUC leadership.

“The incoming leadership will be tested to alleviate the root causes of incessant conflicts and military coups destabilizing the continent, specifically in the Sahel, Central Africa, and the Horn of Africa,” the expert told Xinhua.

He said while some African nations are registering “great” economic growth, further efforts are needed to meaningfully uplift the continent’s human development index. He further said that the AU can play a significant contribution in realizing this continental aspiration. “Conflicts, coup d’etats, poverty and corruption, which are often driven by lack of good governance, are the omnipotent challenges in Africa. The AU, as a leading continental institution, needs to further bolster its role in addressing these obstacles,” said Costantinos, also a professor of public policy at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia. He said the incoming AUC leadership is also expected to boost the engagement of highly qualified and independent academia and the private sector that can drive the vision of a peaceful and developing Africa. “Such a role of the AUC as a political hub and think-tank will unleash, renovate, cultivate and develop Africa’s rich natural resources through the energies of the largely unemployed young population Africa has, and to project the continent as a foreign direct investment destination in the 21st century,” he said.

Mohamed Salem Ould Merzoug, chairperson of the AUC executive council, also underscored the need to strengthen the AU institutions to help the commission fully discharge its responsibilities and accelerate Africa’s integration. “The process of selecting the leadership of the AUC in 2025 should be defined by prioritizing considerations of cohesion, equity, rationality, and a spirit of consensus,” said Merzoug, also Mauritania’s minister of foreign affairs. According to the AU, the February 2025 election process will be based on the principle of inter-regional rotation of the commission’s senior leadership positions.

The Eastern Africa region will submit candidates for the role of chairperson, while the Northern Africa region will submit candidates for the role of deputy chairperson. The remaining three regions (central, southern and western Africa regions) will submit at least two candidates for the six portfolios of commissioners. With each region determining its own procedure for nominating candidates for the portfolios, the AU announced that the deadline for the submission of the regional nominations to the AUC is Aug. 6, 2024.

In February this year, a Panel of Eminent Africans, composed of five personalities, one per region, was appointed to oversee the pre-selection of candidatures for the eight positions.

Ahead of the elections conducted in a secret ballot, candidates vying for the AUC chairperson position will participate in a televised debate broadcasted live to African citizens. According to the AU, the televised debate allows African citizens and other stakeholders to put forward questions to the candidates on how to propel the continent’s growth and ensure Africa achieves its goals for integrated and sustainable development and becomes a major player in the global arena.

Malawian President Condemns “Mob Justice” Against Suspects

By Xinhua 

June 1, 2024

Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera on Thursday condemned “mob justice” amid alarming rates of killings of people suspected of various crimes in the country before they are reported to law enforcers and brought to court for trial.

The Malawian leader voiced his concerns at a political rally held on the outskirts of Lilongwe, the country’s capital, ahead of elections scheduled for September 2025.

Chakwera said elderly people in the country suffer various atrocities, including being killed by angry community members on suspicion of practicing witchcraft or on suspicion of committing other crimes such as robbery.

The president ordered law enforcers, political parties, religious leaders, traditional leaders and all Malawians to guard against the practice in all parts of the country.

He also accused the country’s human rights organizations of remaining silent on the matter while hundreds of people suffer with no one to protect them.

Cases of “mob justice” in Malawi are common wherever and whenever people are suspected of committing a crime such as robbery, theft and witchcraft, even though the country’s laws do not recognize the existence of witchcraft.’

The Malawi Network of Older Persons’ Organization revealed in its 2023 report that 25 elderly persons were killed in the year on accusations of practicing witchcraft, slightly higher than in 2022 when 22 elderly persons were killed on similar accusations.

World Bank Approves US$250 Million Loan to Bolster Ghana’s Financial Stability

The World Bank has greenlit a $250 million loan aimed at reinforcing Ghana's financial stability.

By Xinhua 

June 1, 2024

The World Bank Group has approved a 250-million-U.S. dollar loan to support Ghana’s financial sector stability program over the next five years, according to a press release issued here on Friday.

The release said the loan would help strengthen Ghana’s financial sector after the government’s Domestic Debt Exchange Program (DDEP) impacted some financial institutions.

The loan would address short-term shocks to improve prospects for long-term sustainable development and long-term resilience against future shocks while promoting financial stability, a key requirement to protect people and preserve jobs, it said.

The World Bank said the loan would support Ghana’s Financial Sector Strengthening Strategy to recapitalize viable banks and specialized deposit-taking institutions (SDIs) impacted by the DDEP.

The financial system is critical to the functioning of the Ghanaian economy, providing critical services to households, firms, and the government to support economic growth, according to the release.

“Through the GFSF, this project will contribute to Ghana’s financial stability by providing solvency support to banks and SDIs impacted by the DDEP,” said Robert Taliercio, World Bank country director for Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

“Through direct support to banks and SDIs, the project will benefit Ghana’s financial sector and the economy by supporting the access of depositors and other financial consumers to savings, payments, and other core financial services provided by adequately capitalized banks and SDIs,” Taliercio added.

Ghana, which has been undergoing economic hardship for years, commenced its economic reforms last May, backed by a loan of three billion dollars from the International Monetary Fund to reverse the economic downturn.

Bawumia Envisions Ghana’s Success in the Fourth Industrial Revolution

By GNA 

June 1, 2024

Dr Mahamudu Bawumia

Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, the Flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), said the nation’s ability to make the most of the fourth industrial revolution is now more important than ever before.

The Government’s investments within the digital landscape ripened the grounds for Ghana to take full advantage of the ongoing fourth industrial revolution to attain exceptional excellence.

Addressing a packed auditorium of the Ho Technical University during his “youth connect” programme in the Volta Region, Dr Bawumia said Ghana’s advancing digital landscape should encourage and facilitate a national progression towards competitive industrialisation.

He outlined the numerous investments in digital infrastructure, which should be the base for the launch of Ghana’s industrialisation.

“I looked at the fourth industrial revolution where the world was going, and it is said that this world is going to be a digital world. We are moving in the fourth industrial revolution into the digital era, and Ghana and Africa, we missed the first industrial revolution, we missed the second and third, and we don’t have to miss the fourth…,” he said.

“We have to be ready, and I even believe that we can do even better in the fourth industrial revolution than many of the advanced countries that we see. It is possible.”

Dr Bawumia said digital IDs remained the foundation for any digital society, therefore the Government dedicatedly invested in the successful rollout of the Ghana Card, resulting in close to 20 million of the about 30 million population securely captured in a consolidated national database.

He touched on how mobile money interoperability had also been pursued to finality with the nation attaining 100 per cent access to financial inclusion, adding that with a world class digital address system, Ghana was well positioned for industrialisation in the new world.

The Vice President said the bundle of digital investments set the grounds for the development of an individual credit scoring system, which would be introduced by the Government in the coming months.

“Very soon I will launch an individual credit scoring system. It will enable us to get access to lots of commodities,” he said.

The Government has established the ghana.GOV, a single point digital access platform for various payment and transactional services for the public sector, which the Vice President said had more than 1,500 non-fungible data (NFTs).

Dr Bawumia spoke of how the nationwide drone service for medical deliveries was second to none and coupled with the networking of hospitals across the country, health delivery had been revolutionised.

The present digital landscape greatly propelled the fight against corruption and through the national ID and other systems, hundreds of millions were being saved the nation in the area of ghost names on government payrolls, he said.

Dr Bawumia, who seized the opportunity to share with the youth his vision as flagbearer of the NPP, said a government under his leadership would transform agriculture on the commercial scale using digital technology, invest heavily in solar power, and reform Ghana’s tax regime.