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The Jenin incursion

The Israeli military operation in Jenin of early July 2023, which John Kiriakou cited by its casualty figures — nine Palestinians dead and about a hundred wounded before the withdrawal — and which he called only the very beginning of what the most right-wing government in Israeli history would do.

The Jenin incursion was the Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin in early July 2023, which John Kiriakou raised days afterwards as the first instalment of a longer campaign.

The figures

Asked for his view of how Israel was proceeding under what he called “the most right-wing extremist government in the history of Israel,” Kiriakou named the ministers he held responsible — Itamar Ben Gvir at national security and Bezalel Smotrich at finance with military authority over the West Bank — before turning to the operation itself.[1]

“This incursion that we saw in Tingenin a couple of days ago that resulted, now they’re telling us nine Palestinians dead, about a hundred wounded, and then they apparently pulled out. This is just the very beginning.”[2] (The auto-caption renders the place name as Tingenin; the reference is to Jenin.)

The judgement attached to it

Kiriakou treated the operation as a symptom rather than an incident. In the same answer he described the ministers as men “willing to commit war crimes,” convicted of felony hate crimes against Palestinians and given to celebrating those who had committed crimes against humanity against them, and concluded flatly: “There’s no hope for peace.”[1]

Asked whether American support for such a government had a sell-by date, he said it did not — “We’ll support Israel no matter how murderous and how right-wing extremists it becomes.”[1]

He located the only real constraint on the government elsewhere, in its attempt to take over the courts; see Netanyahu and the Tel Aviv police chief.

See also

References

  1. AM WakeUp, 2023-07-0654:25 on YouTube · Transcript
  2. AM WakeUp, 2023-07-0654:56 on YouTube · Transcript

Sourced from John Kiriakou's on-record public statements. See his profile for the full body of his interviews, podcast appearances, and short-form video.