progressiveissuesblog

Biden Israel Visit

Updated 2024-07-15

2022-06-22 IMEU Policy Analysis #7: Biden’s Trip to Saudi, Israel Reinforces Human Rights Abuses    President Biden’s trip to Saudi Arabia, Israel and the Palestinian West Bank in July undermines his administration’s professed commitment to advancing human rights in its foreign policy.

The trip will provide tacit support for Israel’s apartheid rule over the Palestinian people and its brutal 55-year military occupation, while violating Biden’s campaign pledges to promote freedom for the Palestinian people and to reestablish diplomatic ties with them. 

Here are five important issues that are likely to be ignored by Biden on his trip to Israel:

1. Israeli Government Violence against Palestinians & Palestinian Americans   
2. Israel plans to force Palestinians out of their homes and steal their land
3. Biden’s visit will promote the Abraham Accords: Trump-era weapons deals with repressive regimes that significantly undermine US claims to support human rights.
4.  Biden’s trip could endorse Israel’s discrimination against Palestinian Americans by allowing Israel admission into the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) as it imposes new draconian restrictions on Palestinian Americans’ freedom to travel.
5.  Biden’s trip will underscore his broken campaign pledge to restore full diplomatic relations with the Palestinian people and reopen the US Consulate in Jerusalem.    

https://imeu.org/article/imeu-policy-analysis-7-bidens-trip-to-saudi-arabia-israel-reinforces-author

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Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

Palestine and Israel

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Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Australia

Updated 2024-07-15

2024-03-15 Australia Restores UNRWA Funding as Israel Kills Aid Workers, Starving Gazans   Australia said Friday that it would reinstate funding for the United Nations United Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, which has lost hundreds of millions of dollars in international financing due to unsubstantiated Israeli claims that UNRWA staff participated in the October 7 Hamas-led attacks on Israel.

“The best available current advice from agencies and the Australian government lawyers is that UNRWA is not a terrorist organization,” Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in Adelaide while announcing a new funding package for the agency, which works to aid Palestinians forcibly displaced during the Nakba, or “catastrophe” through which the modern state of Israel was established in 1948, as well as their descendants.

“The Labor government must publicly pressure Israel to allow aid into all parts of Gaza,” Sen. Mehreen Faruqi of New South Wales and the Australian Greens stressed. “Starvation is a weapon of war, and Israel is blocking aid to reach the people of Gaza in brazen contravention of the [International Court of Justice’s] ruling” ordering Israel to prevent genocidal acts.  https://www.commondreams.org/news/australia-unrwa

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Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

Palestine and Israel

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Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Austin, Lloyd – U.S. Defense Secretary

Updated 2024-07-15

2024-04-9 Refuting Jurists, Lloyd Austin Says US Has No Evidence of Gaza Genocide    The U.S. defense secretary’s remarks came after Sen. Elizabeth Warren and other law experts around the world asserted that Israel’s Gaza onslaught meets the legal definition of genocide.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Tuesday became the latest Biden administration official to deny that Israel’s six-month bombardment, invasion, and siege of Gaza constitute a genocide.

After pro-Palestine protesters wearing T-shirts with the message “Austin’s Legacy = Genocide” interrupted a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Tuesday morning, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) asked the Pentagon chief if Israel was committing genocide in Gaza.  “We don’t have any evidence of genocide being created,” Austin replied after a short pause.

After telling the defense secretary his response was “better than” the replies from CIA Director William Burns and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines—whom Cotton said “dodged that question” before the committee last month—the senator asked Austin to respond to allegations of “greenlighting genocide” in Gaza.  “From the very beginning, we committed to help assist Israel in defending its territory and its people by providing security assistance…”    https://www.commondreams.org/news/lloyd-austin-israel

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Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

Palestine and Israel

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Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Asna Tabassum – Censored USC Valedictorian

Updated 2024-07-15

2024-04-15 USC Cancels Valedictorian’s Commencement Address Amid Accusations of Antisemitism      University of Southern California canceled the commencement address of valedictorian Asna Tabassum on Monday in the wake of complaints and petitions accusing the biomedical engineering senior of antisemitism.

Provost Andrew T. Guzman announced the school’s decision in a community-wide notice on Monday, writing, “When tensions are running so high across the world, we must prioritize the safety of our community” and that the decision “is consistent with the fundamental legal obligation – including the expectations of federal regulators – that universities act to protect students and keep our campus community safe. 

Guzman said that discussion relating to Tabassum’s social media presence — which in addition to linking to a “Free Palestine” website in her Instagram bio has been accused by USC student group Trojans for Israel of being that of “a student who openly traffics antisemitic and anti-Zionist rhetoric” — has reached “an alarming tenor” on and off campus.

“The intensity of feelings, fueled by both social media and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, has grown to include many voices outside of USC and has escalated to the point of creating substantial risks relating to security and disruption at commencement,” he wrote. “We cannot ignore the fact that similar risks have led to harassment and even violence at other campuses.”  “https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/usc-cancels-valedictorian-s-commencement-address-amid-accusations-of-antisemitism/ar-BB1lGsEx?

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Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

Palestine and Israel

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Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Arab Americans

Updated 2024-08-24

2024-08-19 Kamala Harris Is Reaching Out to Arab American Leaders, But Will There Be Any Change in Gaza Policy?    Arab American voters could significantly impact the 2024 presidential election, particularly in Michigan, home to the largest Arab community in the United States. Many of these voters, incensed at U.S. support for the Israeli war on Gaza, have mobilized over the past year to pressure the Biden administration to change policy, including by casting hundreds of thousands of ballots for “uncommitted” in Democratic primary elections to signal their demand for policy changes. We speak with Osama Siblani, founder and publisher of _The Arab American News_, who has had several meetings with senior figures from the White House and the Democratic presidential campaign. Despite all those meetings, “nothing has happened” except “more killing,” Siblani says. “Something has to be done to stop Benjamin Netanyahu’s appetite for killing.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mr6KiRizPDk

2024-06-10 A Poll of Arab American Voters’ Message for Biden? Reverse Course on Gaza     An Arab American Institute poll shows that if the president, even at this late date, were to dramatically change policy on Israel and Gaza, he could potentially win back much of the support he has lost.

The AAI poll received good coverage, all of which noted that while in 2020 U.S. President Joe Biden bested former President Donald Trump by 59%-35% among Arab Americans, Biden is now losing to Trump by 32%-18%. This was true, but what was missed were the details that make this picture so much more revealing.  For example, while “not sure” and third-party candidates received less than 10% support in 2020, that goes up to 50% this year. The main reason for this is that 40% of Arab Americans say they are “not enthusiastic at all” about casting a vote in November, while another 21% are “not really enthusiastic”—increasing the percentage of those who aren’t sure for whom they’ll vote (or if they’ll vote at all) in November. Importantly, the lack of enthusiasm is most evident among Democratic voters, 50% of whom aren’t “enthusiastic at all.” That’s only the case for 11% of Republicans.

The AAI poll also shows that 79% of Arab Americans have an unfavorable view of President Biden, while 55% have an unfavorable view of Donald Trump. Biden’s negative ratings are largely driven by the 56% of Democrats who view him unfavorably. On the other hand, Trump’s numbers are higher because he retains the near total support of those who identify as Republicans.  https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/arab-american-voters-poll

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Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

Palestine and Israel

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Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Antisemitism Awareness Act

Updated 2024-07-15

2024-06-13 Why the Senate Must Reject the Dangerous Antisemitism Awareness Act    The bill could be used to crush legitimate debate about Israel, its policies, and American policies toward it—policies that have given rise to one of the greatest acts of genocide since the Holocaust.  

Totalitarianism rarely shows its true face when it arises. Instead, it often pretends to stand for good and decent values. A new bill claims to fight antisemitism, something all decent people oppose. But antisemitism—that is, bias and discrimination against Jews because of their religion or ethnic identity—is already barred under civil rights law. The real goal of the so-called “Antisemitism Awareness Act” is to suppress free speech.

This dangerous bill was already passed by the House of Representatives and now awaits a Senate vote. It outsources some of our constitutional rights to an outside organization, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, whose arbitrary definition of antisemitism poses a threat to civil liberties. It could be used to crush legitimate debate about Israel, its policies, and American policies toward it—policies that have given rise to one of the greatest acts of genocide since the Holocaust.

The implications are enormous. The federal government spends more than $100 billion per year on education, including $85.3 billion for kindergarten through high school, $24.6 billion in federal student aid assistance, and $1.3 billion in congressional earmarks for colleges (for projects that range from equipment purchases and airport runways to prison education programs). All these expenditures could be used as leverage to stifle legitimate debate.

Despite its “antisemitic” branding, the bill targets Jews as well as non-Jews. As literature professor Benjamin Balthasar writes, it would effectively ban the teaching of “much Jewish history and culture.” Balthasar observes that Hannah Arendt, Albert Einstein, Ed Asner, and “countless other Jews would now be considered ‘antisemitic’ under the new law.”

The bill defines criticism of Israel as a violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. That legislation allows citizens to file “administrative complaints with the federal agency that provides funds,” or to sue in federal court. That means that non-Jews could take action against anti-apartheid Jews—including deeply religious Jews who object to Israel’s existence on theological grounds. And they could do it in the name of antisemitism. https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/antisemitism-awareness-act

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Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

Palestine and Israel

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Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Anti-War Movement

2024-04-10 Stopping the Dance of Death: Building a 21st Century Anti-War Movement      Foreign policy analysts Phyllis Bennis, Jackson Lears, and Jeffrey Sachs discuss how to win a cease-fire in Gaza, prevent a nuclear war, and shift U.S. policy and funds away from imperialist wars.    In this thoughtful roundtable, Institute for Policy Studies fellow Phyllis Bennis, Rutgers University professor Jackson Lears, and Columbia University professor Jeffrey D. Sachs reflect on the state of U.S. foreign policy and how to shift its priorities for a better world.    https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/21st-century-anti-war

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Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

Palestine and Israel

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Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Amnesty

2024-04-22 West Bank Pogrom ‘Underscores Urgent Need to Dismantle Apartheid’: Amnesty     Amnesty International said Monday that the ongoing surge in deadly violence by Israeli settlers and soldiers in the West Bank “underscores [the] urgent need to dismantle apartheid” in the illegally occupied Palestinian territories.

For more than a week now, Israeli settlers have been attacking West Bank Palestinians in towns and villages including Al-Mughayir, Duma, Deir Dibwan, Beitin, and Aqraba, killing at least four people including a child; wounding dozens of others; and destroying homes, vehicles, and other property.v   Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops have either stood and watched or participated in the settler attacks, which the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem and others are calling a “pogrom.”

Amnesty said the “alarming spike in violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians across the occupied West Bank in recent days highlights the urgent need to dismantle illegal settlements, end Israel’s occupation of the occupied Palestinian territories, and its longstanding system of apartheid.  https://www.commondreams.org/news/israeli-settler-attacks-west-bank

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Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

Palestine and Israel

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Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Americans in Israel

2024-05-01 The role of US citizens in Israel’s settlement & military activities | People & Power Documentary    Settler violence and Israeli military raids in the occupied West Bank have surged since October 7. Residents have been displaced, homes have been attacked and Palestinians have been killed and injured.   More than a dozen countries, including the United States, France, the United Kingdom and Australia have condemned the violence, and some have announced visa restrictions on anyone found to have taken part in the attacks.

But these restrictions miss a big loophole: dual nationals.  It is estimated that of the 700,000 settlers who live in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank, at least 60,000 are also American citizens. People & Power investigates the role US citizens play in Israel’s settlement and military activities in the occupied Palestinian territory. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1kLUVK8NaU

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Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

Palestine and Israel

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Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Al Jazeera

Updated 2024-08-24

2024-07-31 Israel Kills Al Jazeera Journalists Ismail Al-Ghoul and Rami Al-Rifi in Gaza       Israel killed Palestinian Al Jazeera journalists Ismail al-Ghoul and Rami al-Rifi in Gaza on Wednesday, in what Al Jazeera Media Network called a “targeted assassination” of the two journalists known for their prolific coverage of the genocide as they, themselves, faced relentless persecution from Israeli forces.  Correspondent al-Ghoul and cameraman al-Rifi were killed by an Israeli strike as they were working from al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza on Wednesday, reporting on the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran hours before.

Al Jazeera Media Network strongly condemned the attack. “The Israeli occupation forces targeted the vehicle in which Ismail and Rami were targeted with a missile, resulting in cold-blooded assassination,” the network wrote in a statement.    https://truthout.org/articles/israel-kills-al-jazeera-journalists-ismail-al-ghoul-and-rami-al-rifi-in-gaza/

2024-07-14 Israel Faces No Apparent Red Line, But Pro-Palestinian Media Workers Do     A study released in May by the U.S.-based National Writers Union (NWU) demonstrates that there is a clear pattern of reprisal against Western media workers who oppose the ongoing Israeli genocide that has killed nearly 40,000 Gazans during the last nine months. The report documents 44 cases of workplace recrimination between October 7, 2023, and February 1, 2024, in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom and Germany, with the majority of dismissals, suspensions, speech cancellations and censorship impacting workers of color (76 percent), Muslims (38 percent) and those from the Middle East. (This, of course, pales in comparison to what is happening in the Middle East: According to Al Jazeera, 158 journalists and media workers were killed between October 2023 and July 7, 2024 — the majority of them Palestinian; an additional 32 were injured.)

“Since Hamas’s attack on October 7 and Israel’s subsequent military operation in Gaza, leaders of Western media companies and cultural institutions have acted to suppress the speech of media workers who seek to elevate Palestinian voices or express concern over Israel’s human rights violations,” according to the report. https://truthout.org/articles/israel-faces-no-apparent-red-line-but-pro-palestinian-media-workers-do/

2024-05-05 Israel Bans Al Jazeera in ‘Assault on Freedom of the Press’  The Jerusalem offices of Al Jazeera were raided Sunday after Israel’s far-right Cabinet banned the Qatar-based satellite news network—the sole international media outlet providing 24/7 live coverage from Gaza—from operating in the country.

“If you’re watching this… then Al Jazeera has been banned in Israel,” correspondent Imran Khan said in a pre-recorded report from occupied East Jerusalem preempting the Israeli Cabinet’s unanimous vote to shutter the network.

The order—which does not affect Al Jazeera’s ability to operate in Gaza or the illegally occupied Palestinian territories—is believed to be the first of its kind targeting a foreign media outlet operating in Israel. It comes after the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, recently voted 71-10 in favor of a law empowering the Israeli communications minister to ban foreign news organizations from working in Israel and to confiscate their equipment.

“The time has come to eject Hamas’ mouthpiece from our country,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised address.   https://www.commondreams.org/news/al-jazeera-banned-in-israel

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Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

Palestine and Israel

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Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World