progressiveissuesblog

Oxfam

Updated 2024-04-06

2024-03-19 Rights Groups Tell Biden Israeli Claims About US Weapons Use in Gaza ‘Not Credible’     As the Biden administration formally reviews the use of U.S. weapons by the Israeli military in the Gaza Strip, a pair of human rights groups on Tuesday submitted a joint memorandum detailing Israel’s abuse of Palestinians and demanding an end to all arms transfers.

“There are good reasons why U.S. law prohibits arms support for governments that block lifesaving aid or violate international law with U.S. weapons,” said Sarah Yager, Washington director at Human Rights Watch (HRW). “Given ongoing hostilities in Gaza, the Israeli government’s assurances to the Biden administration that it is meeting U.S. legal requirements are not credible.”

HRW and Oxfam’s memo comes after Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant last week signed a letter claiming his country has not arbitrarily blocked humanitarian aid and U.S.-supplied arms have been used in line with international law, assurances required under a national security memorandum about weapons support that U.S. President Joe Biden released in February. https://www.commondreams.org/news/us-weapons-in-gaza

.

Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

Palestine and Israel

.

Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Ocasio-Cortez, Alexandria (AOC)

Updated 2024-07-26

2024-05-02 Breaking Down AOC Derangement Syndrome    Relentlessly tearing down one of our most effective leaders undermines the capacity for progressives to win. And win we must.   

But you can’t accomplish that by retreating to your in-group lefty clubhouse, talking only to your small circle of current believers, and waiting for the world to magically change. It requires a disciplined focus on winning over persuadable people, growing our movement, engaging in coalition politics, and making once-radical propositions seem reasonable, even mundane. These are all things that AOC does incredibly well. And they’re the very same proclivities that her haters use to brand her an enemy of the cause.   

I’ve seen, AOC haters comprise an extremely small slice of the American left. They may be very loud on their preferred stomping ground over on X, formerly Twitter, but they do not represent the vast majority of us. What they do represent, to a profoundly precise degree, is a particular strain of leftist politics that has been an obstacle to the goals of our movement for a very long time. Indeed, one’s stance on AOC may just be the most accurate diagnostic test we’ve got of what a supposed leftist is most interested in. Do they want to change the world, or to engage in in-group masturbatory preening? Do they want to win, or do they want to lose?  

Never mind that AOC has been one of the most sustained and effective critics of Biden’s uncritical support for Israel’s war; never mind that she provided arguably the highest-profile definition of Israel’s conduct in Gaza as an “unfolding genocide”; never mind, even, that she took the opportunity at that very Earth Day event to loudly praise campus protesters.  the rollout of a visionary Green New Deal program that she introduced, that would almost certainly not exist without her organizing and leadership  https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/aoc-biden-green-new-deal-gaza

2024-03-24 AOC doubles down calling the situation in Gaza a genocide    CNN’s Jake Tapper asks Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez if she believes Israel is intentionally destroying the Palestinian people after she called on President Biden to cut off military aid to Israel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szU9lofyoS4

2024-03-22 AOC Pleads for Biden to End Israel Aid Amid ‘Unfolding Genocide’ in Gaza     Progressive Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took to the House floor Friday to demand a suspension of U.S. military aid to Israel as it wages a genocidal war on Gaza and deliberately starves Palestinians to death in the besieged enclave.

“As we speak, in this moment, 1.1 million innocents in Gaza are at famine’s door. A famine that is being intentionally precipitated through the blocking of food and global humanitarian assistance by leaders in the Israeli government,” https://www.commondreams.org/news/aoc-israel-gaza

2023-11-15 AOC Leads New Cease-Fire Push as Gaza Children Suffer [MEK Note: Mark DeSaulnier’s name is missing on this letter to President Biden calling for a ceasefire.] 

Twenty-four House members led by Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Mark Pocan, and Betty McCollum sent a letter to President Joe Biden Wednesday renewing calls for a cease-fire in Gaza.

The letter writers emphasized in particular how Israel’s ongoing bombardment has impacted Gaza’s 1 million children. The attack has killed 4,506 children and injured at least 7,695, while at least 1,755 are missing, most likely trapped beneath rubble. Israeli soldiers and settlers have also killed at least 51 children in the West Bank in the last 39 days.

“We are profoundly shocked by the grave violations of children’s rights in the context of armed conflict in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” the representatives wrote. “International norms require that all parties to an armed conflict protect children and prevent the commission of grave violations against them, including killing and maiming, attacks on schools and hospitals, recruitment and use of children, abduction of children, and denial of humanitarian access.”  https://www.commondreams.org/news/biden-cease-fire-gaza-children

.

Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

Palestine and Israel

.

Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Obama, Barak

Updated 2024-04-06

2023-11-23 Obama Advisor’s Insane Racist Tirade Caught On Video MULTIPLE Times!     Give it up for the latest superstar viral sensation — former Obama administration diplomat Stuart Seldowitz, who recently blew up online after multiple videos emerged showing Seldowitz berating an Egyptian-born New York City street vendor over his Muslim beliefs. Seldowitz has since been detained and charged with hate crimes over comments that simply have to be heard to be believed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEOmSvhL3ms

2023-11-02 Obama Sides With The Palestinians!    With the ongoing theft of land from Palestinians in the West Bank and resulting Israeli settlements, the prospects for a two-state solution are all but dead. Yet American politicians continue to pay lip service to the idea of negotiating a workable resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian crisis that will result in a mutually agreeable agreement offering independence and security to both.    Guest host Craig Jardula and Americans’ Comedian Kurt Metzger talk to  independent journalist and filmmaker Dan Cohen about why politicians promoting the two-state solution are lying to themselves and to us https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-GXU3dni5M&t=2s

2023-10-23 Thoughts on Israel and Gaza   As I stated in an earlier post, Israel has a right to defend its citizens against such wanton violence, and I fully support President Biden’s call for the United States to support our long-time ally in going after Hamas, dismantling its military capabilities, and facilitating the safe return of hundreds of hostages to their families.

But even as we support Israel, we should also be clear that how Israel prosecutes this fight against Hamas matters. In particular, it matters — as President Biden has repeatedly emphasized — that Israel’s military strategy abides by international law, including those laws that seek to avoid, to every extent possible, the death or suffering of civilian populations. Upholding these values is important for its own sake — because it is morally just and reflects our belief in the inherent value of every human life. Upholding these values is also vital for building alliances and shaping international opinion — all of which are critical for Israel’s long-term security.

This is an enormously difficult task. War is always tragic, and even the most carefully planned military operations often put civilians at risk. As President Biden noted during his recent visit to Israel, America itself has at times fallen short of our higher values when engaged in war, and in the aftermath of 9/11, the U.S. government wasn’t interested in heeding the advice of even our allies when it came to the steps we took to protect ourselves against Al Qaeda. Now, after the systematic massacre of Israeli citizens, a massacre that evokes some of the darkest memories of persecution against the Jewish people, it’s understandable that many Israelis have demanded that their government do whatever it takes to root out Hamas and make sure such attacks never happen again. Moreover, Hamas’ military operations are deeply embedded within Gaza — and its leadership seems to intentionally hide among civilians, thereby endangering the very people they claim to represent.

Still, the world is watching closely as events in the region unfold, and any Israeli military strategy that ignores the human costs could ultimately backfire.  https://barackobama.medium.com/my-statement-on-israel-and-gaza-a6c397f09a30

.

Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

Palestine and Israel

.

Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Nicaragua

Updated 2024-04-06

2024-03-01 Nicaragua Hits Germany With ICJ Case for Aiding Israel in Gaza Genocide     Nicaragua on Friday launched a case against Germany at the International Court of Justice, accusing the nation responsible for the deaths of 6 million Jews during the Holocaust of helping Israel commit genocide in the Gaza Strip over the past five months.

Germany has provided financial, military, and political support to Israel and halted contributions to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East in response to unverified Israeli allegations that a dozen employees were involved in the Hamas-led attack that sparked the war on October 7.

Nicaragua’s application to the ICJ argues that Germany “has not only failed to fulfill its obligation to prevent the genocide committed and being committed against the Palestinian people… but has contributed to the commission of genocide in violation of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.” https://www.commondreams.org/news/icj-israel

.

Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

Palestine and Israel

.

Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Netanyahu and Biden

Updated 2024-08-28

2024-08-06 Netanyahu Isn’t Interested in Peace, So Why Does Biden Keep Pretending Otherwise?    Why—in the midst of critical negotiations to implement U.S. President Joe Biden’s plan to bring about a cease-fire in Gaza, release Israelis held captive by Hamas and a significant number of Palestinians held by Israel, and move toward a negotiated permanent end to the conflict—would Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu decide to assassinate the chief Hamas negotiator while he was visiting Iran? And why—while the U.S. says it was working to deescalate tensions with Lebanon’s Hezbollah—would Israel choose to up the ante by assassinating Hezbollah’s number two?  Why hasn’t the administration condemned the assassinations in Beirut and Iran when they know that they will surely sabotage the efforts of negotiators?

We know the answers to both questions: Benjamin Netanyahu isn’t interested in peace. He doesn’t want a negotiated deal to release hostages and end the war on Gaza. He doesn’t want to deescalate the conflict there or in the north with Hezbollah. And he most certainly doesn’t want a “two-state solution” that would grant the Palestinian people independence in a sovereign state of their own.

There are two things Netanyahu does want, and, at this point, both are perversely connected. Above all, he desperately wants to remain in office, because should he lose his post as prime minister, the prosecution of the corruption charges against him will continue in full force. As the charges are so serious and the evidence so clear, he will likely be convicted and humiliated. This is not speculation—it’s widely discussed in Israel and was even hinted at by President Biden in a May 28 interview with Time Magazine. When he was asked “Is Netanyahu prolonging the war for political reasons?” Biden responded, “There is every reason for people to draw that conclusion.”

The second reason is that Netanyahu wants the war to continue and even be accelerated. He made this clear in his remarks before U.S. Congress and in an address to the Israeli public a few days ago. He seeks “total victory,” which he defines as more than the military defeat of Israel’s enemies. Without acknowledging any Israeli culpability, he charged that the Palestinians had created a hate-filled culture which in the post-war period would require massive deradicalization—the outcome of which would have Palestinians accepting Jewish hegemony in Eretz Israel and understanding their place as a conquered and subordinate people. https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/netanyahu-doesn-t-want-peace

2024-04-12 ‘Genocidal Actions’ Persist in Gaza as Israel Blocks Aid and US Weapons Flow      A week after Israeli officials promised the Biden administration they would open a border crossing and a port to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, relief organizations and the United Nations reported Friday that life-saving supplies are still being blocked, and warned that the White House must take more decisive action to force Israel to stop starving Palestinians.

The U.N. reported that just 212 aid trucks entered Gaza on Tuesday, far lower than the 467 reported by Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who promised to “flood Gaza with aid” after a tense phone call between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Joe Biden last Thursday.

But as The Guardian reported Friday, the Ashdod port has not been opened yet, and instead of opening the Erez crossing last Sunday as promised, Israel has opened another crossing into northern Gaza but has not yet allowed U.N. agencies to use it.  https://www.commondreams.org/news/israel-still-blocking-aid

2024-03-15 Biden Must Choose: Netanyahu or Democracy?  Biden’s big pitch for the presidency is that he will preserve U.S. democracy from Trump, but through his support for Netanyahu, he may very well destroy it.   Biden’s overwhelming support for Israel’s bloody crusade against Gaza has already turned off huge swaths of crucial voters—and some additional aid is far from enough to bring them back.  Ultimately, Biden’s decision to cozy up for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for months could cost us our democracy. https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/biden-choose-netanyahu-or-democracy

2024-03-08 The ‘special relationship’ under pressure: Are Biden and Netanyahu on a collision course over Gaza?     Visible tensions are appearing in the historically close relationship between the White House and Israel, as the war in Gaza becomes a worsening humanitarian disaster.

While Biden vocally supports Israel’s stated goals of defeating Hamas and rescuing the hostages, his administration has expressed increasing criticism of the way in which Israel is carrying out its operations.   Still, the Biden administration has suggested no pullback in the military aid it is providing for Israel.

Still, the Biden administration has suggested no pullback in the military aid it is providing for Israel, and consistently provides diplomatic cover for it at the U.N., often being the sole country vetoing international demands for a cease-fire.     https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/the-special-relationship-under-pressure-are-biden-and-netanyahu-on-a-collision-course-over-gaza/ar-BB1jyEPF?

2024-02-25 Netanyahu and Biden: “Priests of Satan”?    why, if the Jews no longer practiced ritual sacrifice, has Israel under Netanyahu murdered tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians, including civilian women and children?   Netanyahu, and by extension, Netanyahu’s enabler, U.S. President Joe Biden, cannot possibly be the god of Abraham and Isaac, or, by extension, that of Jesus Christ and of Jesus’s true followers.

The god of Netanyahu and Biden must be, rather, that of the child-sacrificing pagans the Judeo-Christian religion was founded, at least in part, to displace from power. My own belief is that the god of Netanyahu and Biden is actually Satan. As the heads of their respective governments, they do appear to be, in fact, “priests of Satan”.  https://www.globalresearch.ca/netanyahu-biden-priests-satan/5850701

.

Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

Palestine and Israel

.

Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Nazi Jewish Ghettos

Updated 2024-04-06

[MEK Note: When you read about the Nazi created ghettos primarily for Jewish people during the early years of WWII, you can’t help noticing the similarities of Zionist Israel’s treatment of Palestinians today and during past decades.  Gaza is called the largest open-air prison (ghetto) and the West Bank has been divided into many isolated policed Palestinian communities via an extensive massive wall system.]  

Jewish ghettos established by Nazi Germany – Wikipedia    The Nazis had a special hatred of Polish and other eastern Jews. Nazi ideology depicted Jews, Slavs and Roma as inferior race Untermenschen (“subhumans”) who threatened the purity of Germany’s Aryan Herrenrasse (“master race”) and viewed these people and also political opponents of the Nazi party as parasitic vermin or diseases that endangered the overall health of the Volksgemeinschaft, the German racial community. German doctors and public health officials helped advance these racist fearmongering ideas. The German invasion of Poland (Sept. 1, 1939) and the formation of Jewish ghettos caused hunger and poverty, crowding and unsanitary conditions, which in turn actually created typhus epidemics in occupied Poland. German physicians and public health officials in the Nazi regime did not acknowledge this; instead, German medical professionals published essays blaming Jewish people’s supposed “low cultural level” and “uncleanliness” for the typhoid epidemics. Posters depicting Jews as lice, which transmit from person to person the bacteria that causes epidemic typhus, were publicized, and the respected status of German doctors helped spread the belief that the Jews were responsible for spreading typhus.    The German public health officials in occupied Poland were concerned only with the health of German personnel, so they repeatedly urged occupation authorities to isolate Jews further from the rest of the population.    German forces regarded the establishment of ghettos as temporary measures, in order to allow higher level Nazis in Berlin to decide how to execute their goal of eradicating Jews from Europe.[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_ghettos_established_by_Nazi_Germany

GHETTOS   During the Holocaust, the creation of ghettos was a key step in the Nazi process of brutally separating, persecuting, and ultimately destroying Europe’s Jews. Jews were forced to move into the ghettos, where living conditions were miserable. Ghettos were often enclosed districts that isolated Jews from the non-Jewish population and from other Jewish communities.   https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/index.php/content/en/article/ghettos  

List of Jewish ghettos in Europe during World War II – Wikipedia     During World War II the Nazis created Jewish ghettos for the purpose of isolating, exploiting and finally eradicating Jewish population (and sometimes Romani people) on territories they controlled. Most of the ghettos were set up by the Third Reich in the course of World War II. In total, according to United States Holocaust Memorial Museum archives, “The Germans established at least 1,000 ghettos in German-occupied and annexed Poland and the Soviet Union alone.” Therefore, the examples are intended only to illustrate their scope across Eastern and Western Europe. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Jewish_ghettos_in_Europe_during_World_War_II

Nazi Germany and the Establishment of Ghettos   The creation of ghettos during World War II was a key part of Nazi plans to brutally persecute, separate, and eventually liquidate Europe’s Jewish population.   https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/nazi-germany-and-establishment-ghettos

.

← Activists for Palestinians

Bernie Sanders →

ADL – Anti-Defamation League

Posted on November 25, 2023 by mekorganic

ADL – Anti-Defamation League

Updated 2024-04-01

2024-03-06 Watch: Protesters Lay Some Truth on Jared Kushner During ADL Speech    Donald Trump’s son-in-law was reminded of his own fascist history while accepting an award from the Anti-Defamation League.   As Kushner was accepting his award for his “vital and deeply impactful work on the Abraham Accords,” he was jeered and heckled by protesters in the audience, who attacked his record and also called for a cease-fire in Israel’s war on Gaza.    

The Anti-Defamation League has been criticized in recent years for ignoring the threat of white nationalism and instead focusing on anti-Zionist activist groups like Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace, even admitting that it considers that activism as antisemitism.   https://newrepublic.com/post/179616/jared-kushner-protesters-adl-speech

2023-11-22 THE ADL IS MAKING IT LESS SAFE TO BE A PROGRESSIVE JEW   Groups like the ADL are using fear of antisemitism as a political weapon in order to repress the movement for Palestinian rights– and helping foment Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian bigotry in the process.    https://therealnews.com/the-adl-is-making-it-less-safe-to-be-a-progressive-jew

.

Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

Palestine and Israel

.

Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Nelson Mandela

Updated 2024-04-03

2023-12-06 Unpack the past: Mandela, the keffiyeh and South Africa’s Palestine embrace         Mandela felt a special bond with the Palestinian people. In 1997, while still president of South Africa, he said the ANC’s struggle was ongoing. “We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”

In 2004, after the death of Arafat, he paid tribute to the leader of the PLO: “He was an icon in the proper sense of the word. He was not only concerned with the liberation of the Arab people but of all the oppressed people throughout the world – Arabs and non-Arabs – and to lose a man of that stature and thinking is a great blow to all those who are fighting against oppression.”    Three years after Mandela’s death on December 5, 2013, the people of Palestine repaid the favour by unveiling a giant statue of the South African leader in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah.

That sentiment of warmth – and the iconic imagery of Mandela and the keffiyeh – returned to underscore the nature of South Africa’s relationship with the Palestinian struggle after the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel.   South African President Cyril Ramaphosa condemned that attack, but as Israeli bombs began killing thousands of innocent people in Gaza, he stepped in front of cameras, wearing a black and white keffiyeh around his neck, and holding a small Palestinian flag in his hand.   “They [the Palestinian people] have been under occupation for almost 75 years … waging a struggle against an oppressive government that has occupied their land, but also a government that has in recent times been dubbed an apartheid state,” he said. 

That context is vital to understanding comments made by Mandela during a state visit to Palestine in 1999: “Choose peace rather than confrontation. Except in cases where we cannot get, where we cannot proceed, or we cannot move forward. Then if the only alternative is violence, we will use violence.”   That alternative of violence was one that Mandela used sparingly. Under Mandela, MK only carried out sabotage strikes on state infrastructure and military installations, going to great lengths to prevent civilian loss of life.

A decade after his passing, Israel’s bombardment of Gaza is killing thousands of civilians. The death toll is close to 16,000 Palestinians, including more than 6,000 children. To Mandela, it would surely have felt personal. As he said during his 1999 visit to Gaza, he felt “at home among compatriots”.  https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/unpack-the-past-mandela-the-keffiyeh-and-south-africa-s-palestine-embrace/ar-AA1l2b04

.

Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

Palestine and Israel

.

Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Nazi Settler Colonialism

Updated 2024-04-03

2024-03-11 The Zone of Interest Is a Film About the Nazi Official as a Settler      Hannah Arendt’s (by now highly cliched) notion of the “banality of evil,” a phrase she coined while covering the trial of Adolf Eichmann, known as the “architect of the Holocaust.”

But Arendt’s own refusal to interrogate the inherently colonial nature of European fascism, a refusal inseparable from her own racism and Western chauvinism, has blunted the sharpness of that term’s capacity for critical insight. Yes, the Holocaust was engineered by middle managers, but to what end? What did they get out of the horrific affair, besides satiating their sadism?https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/zone-of-interest-nazis-settlers

.

Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

Palestine and Israel

.

Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Michigan

Updated 2024-04-03

2024-03-05 Hey Biden, Listen to Michigan!   The 13.3% of Michigan Democrats who voted uncommitted sent a strong message to the president: “Listen to us and give us a reason to vote for you, or you’re putting your re-election at risk.”

The message sent last Tuesday by more than 100,000 Michigan Democrats who cast their ballots for “uncommitted” was crystal clear. They were telling President Joe Biden to call for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza and make dramatic changes in policy because they were having a problem voting for him or encouraging others to do so.

Make no mistake, this was a big deal. In the first place, it’s always hard to mobilize people to vote “uncommitted” as a protest. It’s much easier to win votes for an alternative candidate like Jesse Jackson or Bernie Sanders because supporters want to help them win. Getting voters to turn out for “uncommitted” is more difficult because the inclination of those in this camp is to not vote at all.   https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/biden-listen-to-michigan

.

Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

Palestine and Israel

.

Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Kushner, Jared (Trump’s son in-law) (also see Gaza Waterfront Properties)

Updated 2024-04-03

2024-03-07 Middle East Dialogues – A Conversation with Jared Kushner    On February 15th, Middle East Initiative Faculty Chair Professor Tarek Masoud and former senior advisor to President Trump Jared Kushner discussed American policy on Israel/Palestine, the ongoing events in Gaza, and more. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtaIHr5S0ts

2024-03-06 Watch: Protesters Lay Some Truth on Jared Kushner During ADL Speech    Donald Trump’s son-in-law was reminded of his own fascist history while accepting an award from the Anti-Defamation League.   As Kushner was accepting his award for his “vital and deeply impactful work on the Abraham Accords,” he was jeered and heckled by protesters in the audience, who attacked his record and also called for a cease-fire in Israel’s war on Gaza.    

The Anti-Defamation League has been criticized in recent years for ignoring the threat of white nationalism and instead focusing on anti-Zionist activist groups like Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace, even admitting that it considers that activism as antisemitism.   https://newrepublic.com/post/179616/jared-kushner-protesters-adl-speech

.

Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

Palestine and Israel

.

Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World