Jonathan Cook – jonathan-cook.net March 6, 2025
Those of us who keep banging on about Israel’s use of the so-called “Hannibal directive” on 7 October 2023 – in which Israel killed its own citizens to stop them being taken captive by Hamas – have been smeared as excusing Hamas crimes that day.
That is not why we flag the issue.
In part, it is because some of the most horrifying images from 7 October of charred bodies and wrecked cars and homes in Israel – adduced as evidence of an especial barbarism that is supposedly typical of Palestinians – were almost certainly caused by Israel invoking its scorched-earth directive that day.
Those images became central to the propaganda blitz launched by Israel and its apologists to justify the mass slaughter of Gaza’s children over the subsequent 17 months.
But there is also a far more urgent and pressing reason to keep our attention focused on the role of the Hannibal directive. And it relates to what is happening right now.
Israel and the US are still applying the Hannibal directive – against the Israeli captives held in Gaza.
The point of the directive has always been to stop the enemy being able to use Israeli hostages as leverage to draw Israel into negotiations – primarily to pressure it to hand over any of the thousands of Palestinian hostages it holds in its prison-torture camps. Many of them have never been charged or tried.
Israel and the US tell us they need to carpet bomb Gaza – in what amounts to a “plausible” genocide, according to the world’s highest court – to force Hamas to return the Israeli captives. But in fact, Israel and the US are recklessly killing those very same captives through their actions.
Why? So they don’t have to negotiate over a ceasefire. So they can carry on with the genocide, without pressure to deal with the fate of the Israelis held in Gaza.
It was exactly the same reckless approach on 7 October, when Israel showed it was indifferent as to whether Israelis lived or died so long as they weren’t taken captive.
That’s why – in one instance we know about – the Israeli military fired into a home in Kibbutz Be’eri, knowing that there were a dozen or more Israelis inside, including children. The army was completely indifferent as to whether those Israelis would be killed as a result. All but two were. Those witnesses are the main reason we know what really happened.
That’s why Israel’s Apache helicopters recklessly fired on hundreds of cars fleeing the Nova music festival, indifferent as to whether the cars contained Hamas fighters or Israeli citizens.
Even the former defence minister Yoav Gallant admits the directive was invoked that day.
We’ll never know how many Israelis were killed – in part because Israel will never let us know. It’s even buried many of the destroyed cars to stop a forensic investigation.
But what we do know with certainty is that the Israeli military killed many Israelis on 7 October.
Western media have studiously refused to report on the issue of the Hannibal directive, even though it is all over the Israeli media. (See here, here, here, and here.)
That is more than just a failure by western media outlets. It is a crime against journalism – if not complicity in the genocide itself.
Western publics need to know that the Hannibal directive was invoked for a very simple reason: it is a crucial piece of information if they are to assess how credible are Israeli and US claims that they are trying to get the Israeli captives back alive, and if western publics are to properly weigh Israel’s motives in returning to the genocide in Gaza.
Notice in Trump’s latest deranged tweet, how he accuses Hamas of “murdering” the Israelis held in Gaza. That’s pure, Israeli-inspired disinformation.
It is clear that most, if not all, of the dead captives were killed not by their Hamas captors but by Israel’s massive, reckless 15-month bombardment of the tiny territory of Gaza. That same bombardment, the equivalent of six Hiroshimas, has levelled Gaza and killed many tens of thousands – maybe hundreds of thousands – of Palestinians.
Why is Trump so eager to misdirect us?
Because he wants to win our support for Israel’s continuation of its slaughter of the people of Gaza and justify his own decision to supply, as his predecessor did, the weapons needed to continue that genocide.
After all, Trump makes his own genocidal intent expressly clear in addressing “the people of Gaza” and telling them that they will all be “DEAD” if the Israeli captives aren’t handed over. Yet “the people of Gaza” have no control over whether the captives are released.
Notice too that Trump calls Hamas “sick and twisted” for holding on to the bodies of dead Israeli captives, even though it is Israel that is violating the ceasefire agreement that would see those bodies returned.
This has become a further rationalisation by Israel and the US for killing “the people of Gaza”. But Hamas learnt the value of using dead bodies as bargaining chips directly from Israel.
For years, the Israeli government has had a policy of refusing to return to their families the corpses of those Palestinians it has killed, including while in its torture camps. This violation of international law long predates 7 October. The Israeli courts have repeatedly approved the policy, accepting the government’s view that the bodies should be held as “bargaining chips”. It gave its backing again in January.
So if Hamas is “sick and twisted”, it is only because Israel is even more sick and twisted. If Trump thinks the people of Gaza deserve a genocide because of their leaders’ “sick and twisted” decisions, should he not be consistent and argue that the people of Israel deserve a similar fate for their own leaders’ “sick and twisted” decisions?
A campaign of lies and disinformation have helped to shred international law over the past year and half. And one of the biggest lies is the pretence that, in slaughtering Gaza’s children, Israel has been acting in the interests of Israelis held in the enclave.
The first emergency clinic for injured animals is due to open in the Palestinian city of Jenin later this month.
Israeli attacks on the occupied West Bank city have left hundreds of homes destroyed, leaving countless animals without food, shelter or medical care.
Netherlands-based charity Animal Heroes is facing many literal roadblocks and obstructions to launching a clinic in the conflict zone. But since 7 October 2023, the small team has proven its determination to alleviate animal suffering in Gaza and the West Bank, and support local people looking after animals.
these ‘heroes’ include 36-year-old Maryam Hassan Barq, nicknamed “the cat lady of Gaza” for her steadfast support of 65 cats. Women there run the risk of isreli snipers and kidnap for rape And 25-year-old A’aed Mahmoud Abu Nejem, a veterinary doctor running the charity’s pop-up clinic in Gaza, who was injured in an airstrike hours before the ceasefire took effect 19 January. Despite his injuries from israeli teorrism, he resumed his work last week.
We spoke to Animal Heroes founder Esther Kef, who returned from a visit to the West Bank in February, to hear about the challenges of providing animal aid in the Palestinian territories.
big sign for trump
‘Gaza not for sale’ on Trump golf course
The group entered Trump Turnberry and painted ‘Gaza is not for sale’ in three-metre high letters on the course.
wonderful!
It’s Satan’s post-truth world in the hands of the Jew.
Jews playing poker with Satan’s cash with a weak poker hand.
House, cards and money belong to God.
Togoda
“The concept that everything belongs to God is a profound truth echoed throughout scripture. As Chuck Swindoll emphasizes, God owns everything in heaven and earth, and we are merely stewards of what He entrusts to us. This perspective encourages us to live with open hands, recognizing that our wealth, talents, and resources originate from Him (James 1:17; 1 Corinthians 12:1-11).Proverbs 19:14 reminds us that while houses and wealth may be inherited, the true blessing lies in the wisdom and understanding that comes from the Lord. This highlights the importance of valuing relationships and spiritual gifts over material possessions. Ultimately, acknowledging God’s ownership transforms our approach to money and resources. It invites us to manage our finances with integrity and generosity, understanding that our skills and opportunities are gifts from Him. By embracing this mindset, we can find peace and purpose in our stewardship.”
I kept getting these threatening letters from the BBC
i thought no way am i going to give money to the BBC when they support those who sexually interfere with kids
a man came to the door and said i am here about your TV licence
i screamed at him
F*CK OFF NOW
he said oh OK and left
Whenever an article is published showing a bullshit foto of staged cars burned, like the fake Maui fire, fake cgi , then continues to write, push, and promote the fake Middle East Gaza event then we can detect a cia writer in this jonathon C guy. Not just the mainstream writers but many alternative sites and their imbedded writers are in on all the cons.
Israeli sniper admits he stopped counting after killing 200 Palestinians in Gaza.
An Israeli soldier, who says he has been haunted by his experiences as a sniper in the Gaza Strip, has admitted to having killed over 200 people during the genocidal war on the territory.
In chilling confessions shared with an Israeli journalist, the soldier said he used to count the people he shot and killed during the war.
He said he was receiving “good treatment” after being injured in Gaza, but he “will never be okay again.”
“You have to understand, I was a sniper in Gaza. After 200, I stopped counting.”
When asked if there were children among those he killed, he said, “Yes, there were children… there were children.”
According to the Israeli soldier, there were snipers in Gaza who killed even more than 400 people.
“I know someone from a moshav near Sderot… he stopped counting after 400 kills.”
According to Defense for Children International, Gaza medics have collected numerous cases of children being directly targeted by Israeli snipers with live ammunition.
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2025/03/09/744192/Israel-sniper-haunted-Gaza-killing-children
Sir Keir Starmer has been left bracing for the biggest rebellion of his premiership over his plans to “take a sledgehammer” to Britain’s benefits bill.
The cost for migrants has to be found some where
The Prime Minister, who stripped the whip from seven Labour MPs over their two-child benefit cap revolt last summer, is looking to free up funds to cover his £13.4billion surge in defence spending
and migrant funding
British folk are on the verge of revolt and consistently have said they will not fight for a britian which no longer exists
The israeli ambassador ina vile and racist attack on the London School of Economics over
a book launch
Story by Anthony France •
London School of Economics is accused of “providing a platform for Hamas by hosting a book launch amid a Home Office warning of attacks
Tzipi Hotovely, the Israeli ambassador to Britain, supported the genocide and urged one of the UK’s leading university to cancel a talk on Monday claiming it would “grow support” for palestine among students.
Understanding Hamas: And Why It Matters by Helena Cobban and Rami Khouri describes the Palestinian militant group – a proscribed organisation in Britain since 2021 – as “a widely misunderstood movement whose involvement in a just resolution of the Israel/Palestine conflict will be critical”.
Isael claims it has a right to commit genocide and clear the middle east in its march to take over the whole area
Richard Able – Chingford E 4 on March 10, 2025 at 2:58 pm
You’re correct. No one is going to fight for Starmer, ever. The good news is that everything he does is waking more and more people up by the day.
I really wouldn’t like to be a member of the filth. They really are going to be given the stark option, when confronted by people, to xxxx off or get beaten. The public utterly loathe Starmer and politicians in general. Worse, they hate the police who have turned against them and siding with the immigrants. It won’t be long before people go down to the hotels, housing the immigrants and raze them to the ground, giving the inhabitants a choice – “xxxx off back to France and from there whatever …. hole you came from or we end you.”
The Jews want chaos, because they think they can control it, creating order out of chaos, but that’s not going to happen. They’ve lost the public. Only foreign intervention would protect the political class and aristocracy. Revolution, the first grass roots one that is, is on its way.
what kind of hellfire granades + white phosphor
the hanibal helicopter pigs used ? in every car
ca 2-4 people, must be thausands barbequed .
@RICHARD ABLE
the new british soldiers will be Starmers illegales !
It appears as though the satanists/luciferian/kabbalah/baal worshippers have taken control of the Israeli government and are murdering its own people. Of course, in order for the deplorables to run the world from Jerusalem then it has to control or murder the non-compliant Jews and everyone else.
Incidentally, I believe that the deplorables claiming to be Jews but are not but are the synagogue of satan running operations out of the sanhedrin and knesset these days, this would certainly assist them in taking over the world:
“We [Israel] possess several hundred atomic warheads and rockets and can launch them at targets in all directions, perhaps even at Rome…”
Not that they would have to launch from Israel since satanists/islamists are welcomed and can walk right into the Vatican these days.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samson_Option