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Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

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Biden – Uncommitted Voters

Posted on April 1, 2024 by mekorganic

Biden – Uncommitted Voters

Updated 2024-08-24

2024-08-21 ‘Uncommitted’ Backs Israeli-American Speakers at DNC, Says Palestinians Must Have Voice Too “Excluding a Palestinian speaker betrays the party’s commitment in our platform to valuing Israelis and Palestinian lives equally.”

While welcoming a scheduled Democratic National Convention speech by the Israeli-American parents of a young man kidnapped in Israel by Hamas militants on October 7, the co-founders of the Uncommitted National Movement on Wednesday implored the DNC to ensure that Palestinian voices are also heard on the event’s main stage.

Rachel and Jon Goldberg-Polin, whose 23-year-old son Hersh was abducted from the Nova rave near the Gaza border, are set to speak Wednesday night in what Forward, a progressive Jewish news site, described as “a counterpoint to the powerful appearance at last month’s Republican convention by Ronen and Orna Neutra, the parents of hostage Omar Neutra, who led the crowd in Milwaukee in chants of ‘Bring them home!'”

In a Wednesday statement, Uncommitted National Movement co-founders Abbas Alawieh and Layla Elabed said the 30 Uncommitted delegates attending the DNC “urge the Democratic Party to reject a hierarchy of human value by ensuring Palestinian voices are heard on the main stage.”

“We are learning that Israeli hostages’ families will be speaking from the main stage. We strongly support that decision and also strongly hope that we will also be hearing from Palestinians who’ve endured the largest civilian death toll since 1948,” the pair continued, referring to the year in which the modern state of Israel was established amid the ethnic cleansing of more than 750,000 Arabs from Palestine, an event known among Palestinians as the Nakba, or “catastrophe.” https://www.commondreams.org/news/dnc-palestine

2024-08-09 “Uncommitted” Co-Chair Layla Elabed on Meeting Kamala Harris, Pressing VP for Arms Embargo on Israel We speak with the co-chair of the Uncommitted National Movement, who briefly met with Vice President Kamala Harris this week as the Democratic presidential candidate is under pressure to define her platform on Palestine. Layla Elabed spoke with Harris before her rally in Michigan to press her on a ceasefire in Gaza and an arms embargo on Israel. “I was very emotional in that brief exchange. I did feel like her sympathy and empathy towards me was very genuine, but Palestinian children cannot eat words,” says Elabed. “We need action.” Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0j4084JBVc

2024-08-01 Uncommitted Movement Demands DNC Speech for Doctor Who Volunteered in Gaza The Uncommitted National Movement on Thursday launched a campaign demanding that the Democratic Party allow a doctor who spent two weeks volunteering in a Gaza Strip hospital to speak at the Democratic National Convention later this month.

Uncommitted—a coalition of pro-Palestine, peace, and progressive groups that urged people to vote “uncommitted” in U.S. Democratic presidential primaries in a bid to pressure the Biden administration to push Israel for a Gaza cease-fire—and its 30 delegates want Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan, an American pediatric intensive care physician, to address the DNC in Chicago.

“As American bombs fuel violence and suffering in Gaza, it is imperative that the Democratic Party hear directly from those who witness the atrocities firsthand,” said Uncommitted, which launched its campaign with a Thursday morning press conference on Zoom. https://www.commondreams.org/news/uncommitted-delegates-dnc

2024-07-22 Uncommitted Movement: Harris Must Speak Out Against Gaza Genocide The grassroots pro-Palestine movement behind hundreds of thousands of protest votes in the Democratic primaries against President Joe Biden is now urging Vice President Kamala Harris to come out against sending more weapons to Israel now that she is likely going to take Biden’s spot as the Democrats’ presidential nominee.

“For months, we’ve warned that Biden’s support for Israel’s assault on Gaza would hurt his electability,” the Uncommitted National Movement wrote in a statement shortly after Biden dropped out and endorsed Harris on Sunday. “Now, it’s crucial for Vice President Harris to take a clear stance against weapons for Israel’s war and occupation against Palestinians.”

The Uncommitted movement made waves during the Democratic primaries, earning several dozen delegates nationwide after over half a million voters selected “uncommitted” rather than voting for Biden. The movement, first organized in Michigan, was aimed at sending the Biden administration a message that Biden was losing the support of a huge swath of voters due to his unwavering support for Israel as it has slaughtered tens of thousands — if not hundreds of thousands — of Palestinians in Gaza.https://truthout.org/articles/uncommitted-movement-harris-must-speak-out-against-gaza-genocide/

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

2024-03-21 Why Biden’s Strident Support for Israel Could Lose Him Critical Youth Turnout While few of these young anti-war voters will vote for Donald Trump, they are now far more likely to vote third party or not vote at all.

A recent poll showed that 72% of voters ages 18 to 29 disapprove of Biden’s handling of the war. That is a higher percentage of young voters than those who disapproved of George W. Bush’s war in Iraq, Ronald Reagan’s wars in Central America, or even Richard Nixon’s war in Vietnam. https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/biden-israel-lose-youth

2024-03-19 Dem Donors Warn Biden’s Support for Israeli War on Gaza May Hand Trump the White House More than 100 Democratic donors and activists on Monday warned U.S. President Joe Biden that his administration’s “unconditional support” for Israel’s catastrophic war on Gaza “is increasing the chances” that former President Donald Trump will win this year’s election.

In a letter, the Biden supporters—who according to The New York Times include some six-figure donors… “However, the ongoing military actions by the [Israel Defense Forces] are not achieving those goals,” the signatories argued. “Instead, nearly all civil structures in Gaza, including hospitals, schools, mosques, and civilian accommodation are being systematically destroyed. Food, temporary shelter, and medical aid are being prevented by the Israeli government and Israeli extremists from being delivered to the civilian population. Gaza has become a humanitarian catastrophe.”

“Regrettably, President Biden has provided what appears to be unconditional support for the Israeli operation,” the letter states. “The Biden administration has been providing armaments, including 2,000-pound bombs which have been used to flatten entire civilian neighborhoods, causing massive casualties with a high ratio of women and children.” https://www.commondreams.org/news/biden-support-for-israel

2024-03-15 Who’s Defending Democracy Better: Joe Biden or “Uncommitted”? Voters protesting U.S. policy in Gaza are sending a powerful message about the lack of choice in contemporary elections. “All we did is register at the ballot box what we know is happening on the ground,” says Abbas Alawieh, political strategist for Listen to Michigan, the group that lead the “uncommitted” effort in that state. It hasn’t just been Muslim and Arab American communities fueling the success of “uncommitted,” though. Young voters, as well, have made up a large percentage of “uncommitted” voters in Michigan, Minnesota, and elsewhere. A poll conducted last November found that 71 percent of Democrats in Michigan support a cease-fire. Another poll published in late February by Data for Progress found that two-thirds of likely voters nationwide—including 77 percent of Democrats and 69 percent of independents—support “the U.S. calling for a permanent ceasefire and a de-escalation of violence in Gaza.”

It hasn’t just been Muslim and Arab American communities fueling the success of “uncommitted,” though. Young voters, as well, have made up a large percentage of “uncommitted” voters in Michigan, Minnesota, and elsewhere. A poll conducted last November found that 71 percent of Democrats in Michigan support a cease-fire. Another poll published in late February by Data for Progress found that two-thirds of likely voters nationwide—including 77 percent of Democrats and 69 percent of independents—support “the U.S. calling for a permanent ceasefire and a de-escalation of violence in Gaza.” https://newrepublic.com/article/179841/uncommitted-michigan-gaza-biden

2024-03-13 48,000+ Democrats Vote ‘Uncommitted’ in Deep-Blue Washington More than 48,000 voters and counting marked “uncommitted delegates” on their ballots in Washington state’s Democratic presidential primary on Tuesday, far surpassing organizers’ expectations and further showing that President Joe Biden’s unconditional support for Israel’s war on Gaza has angered significant chunks of his base. Organizers said they campaigned for just two weeks ahead of the primary and spent $20,000. They predicted a surge in “uncommitted” votes in the coming days, given that progressive ballots in Washington are “notoriously late.”

“Tonight’s numbers show that President Biden’s current policies towards Gaza and Palestine are not in line with his voting base,” said Rami Al-Kabra, a lead organizer and spokesperson for Uncommitted WA. “Democratic voters want a permanent cease-fire and an end to America’s unconditional funding of Israel’s military.” https://www.commondreams.org/news/uncommitted-washington-primary

2024-03-06 ‘Uncommitted’ Wins Nearly 20% of Democratic Primary Vote in Minnesota “Tonight’s numbers showed that President Biden cannot earn back our votes with just rhetoric.” Nearly 20% of Minnesotans who took part in their state’s Democratic presidential primary on Super Tuesday voted “uncommitted,” the latest warning to President Joe Biden that his unwavering support for Israel’s assault on Gaza risks eroding his base ahead of November’s high-stakes general election.

Roughly 46,000 Democratic primary voters in Minnesota, which Biden won in 2020, marked the uncommitted option on their ballots just a week after more than 100,000 Michiganders registered their own protest votes against the incumbent president.

Leaders of the hastily organized uncommitted effort in Minnesota expect to win at least one delegate to the Democratic National Convention. Uncommitted won two delegates in Michigan. https://www.commondreams.org/news/uncommitted-wins-nearly-20-of-democratic-primary-vote-in-minnesota?

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

While Minnesota is not a swing state, and therefore may not have the same leverage over the Biden campaign as Michigan, organizers hope they can still send a message and inspire voters in other states. “We’re hoping that what we do here will just continue to push the wave of uncommitted across the United States,” Amanda Purcell of MN Families for Palestine told The Guardian. https://www.commondreams.org/news/minnesota-uncommitted-super-tuesday

2024-01-24 Muslim and Arab-American Voters Show Black People How to Exercise Political Power Historically, Black people in this country have allowed themselves to feel trapped by the racialized political duopoly. A feature of U.S. politics is to allow only two parties to play a decisive role in elections and for one of them to be designated as the white people’s party and the other as the Black party.

But every group in the country has not been cowed. Voters who identify as Muslims or who have Middle Eastern ancestry have put Joe Biden on notice that his aiding and abetting of Israel’s war crimes in Gaza will cost him politically. Michigan has the largest Arab-American community of any state and plays a pivotal role in presidential elections. Democrats take great care to mobilize voters in this key “swing” state. Hillary Clinton’s failure to do so in 2016 resulted in Donald Trump’s victory there by a small margin of 13,000 votes and he prevailed in the Electoral College when Pennsylvania and Wisconsin were also neglected by the democrats and flipped to the republican column.

Joe Biden won in Michigan in 2020 by a 154,000 vote margin in a state where 200,000 registered voters identify as Muslim and 300,000 claim ancestry from the Middle East and North Africa. Michigan is not the only state Biden won by a small margin thanks to Arab and Muslim voters. In Arizona, Georgia, Minnesota, and Wisconsin he also owed his victory in part to members of this community. A group of Muslim leaders in swing states are rightly using their electoral power with the #AbandonBiden campaign. https://blackagendareport.com/muslim-and-arab-american-voters-show-black-people-how-exercise-political-power

Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

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Israel Colonial State

Posted on March 31, 2024 by mekorganic

Israel Colonial State (also see Zionism and Colonialism)

Updated 2024-08-26

Zionism as Settler Colonialism – Wikipedia Zionism has been described as a form of settler colonialism in relation to the region of Palestine and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Many of the fathers of Zionism themselves described it as colonialism, such as Vladimir Jabotinsky who said “Zionism is a colonization adventure”.

Patrick Wolfe, an influential theorist of settler colonial studies defines it as an ongoing “structure, not an event” aimed at replacing a native population rather than exploiting it. Other proponents of the paradigm include Edward Said, Rashid Khalidi, Noam Chomsky, Ilan Pappe, Fayez Sayegh, Maxime Rodinson, George Jabbour, Ibrahim Abu-Lughod, Baha Abu-Laban, Jamil Hilal, and Rosemary Sayigh.

while a settler colonial analysis “offers a far more accurate portrayal of the conflict than…has conventionally been painted”, Wolfe’s zero-sum approach is limited in practical application because almost all Israeli Jews naturally reject it, as a form of antisemitism that denies their long-standing history in the land of Israel and aspirations for self-determination.[9][10] This is further reflected in the Israeli state’s public diplomacy efforts, responding to what it considers attacks on its legitimate right to exist and calls for its destruction. Hussein Ibish argues that such zero-sum calls are “a gift that no occupying power and no colonizing settler movement deserves.”[11] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zionism_as_settler_colonialism

Zionist Settler Colonialism When in the late nineteenth century Zionism arose as a political force calling for the colonization of Palestine and the “gathering of all Jews,” little attention was paid to the fact that Palestine was already populated. Indeed, the Basel Program adopted at the First Zionist Congress, which launched political Zionism in 1897, made no mention of a Palestinian native population when it spelled out the movement’s objective: “the establishment of a publicly and legally secured home in Palestine for the Jewish people.”

Moreover, in the early years of their efforts to secure support for their enterprise, the Zionists propagated in the West the idea of “a land without a people for a people without a land,” a slogan coined by Israel Zangwill, a prominent Anglo-Jewish writer often quoted in the British press as a spokesman for Zionism and one of the earliest organizers of the Zionist movement in Britain. https://digitalprojects.palestine-studies.org/resources/special-focus/zionist-settler-colonialism

The Israel-Palestine Conflict Chapter 3: Zionism and the Colonization of Palestine This chapter traces the emergence of the Zionist movement and the colonization of Palestine from the late nineteenth century through the 1930s. It begins with two Zionist pioneers. The first, Theodor Herzl––the father of political Zionism––was important both for his approach to Jewish colonization (he sought the backing of a Great Power for the project) and for his organizational skills which created structures in Europe that nurtured the movement. The second, Leo Pinsker––the father of Practical Zionism––believed the Jews of Europe could not wait, and thus organized Jewish emigration to Palestine. While the first attempts at colonization failed, the chapter goes on to discuss three more waves of immigration. The second and third wave were inspired by socialism and Romanticism, and the structures they created––which lasted well into the statehood period––reflected this. The fourth wave, however, was mainly made up of economic refugees who were attracted to a rightwing, petit-bourgeois ideology. They and their descendents became influential in Israel beginning in the late 1970s. https://www.cambridge.org/highereducation/books/the-israel-palestine-conflict/5D389E3231527643CCE3F861003EC172/zionism-and-the-colonization-of-palestine/4C076CF1B5A8289FAECC6FA36262EC4A

2024-07-12 We Must Understand Israel as a Settler-Colonial State Just as the U.S. celebrates itself as “a nation of immigrants,” Zionists celebrated Palestine as a land without people for a people without land. Their support for Israel was emblematic, I came to understand later, of the seductive mythology that settler-colonial states cultivate and depend on. These young people were drawn to the story about a state created to protect Jewish refugees from the Holocaust.

Although there are stark differences and time frames for the establishment of settler colonialism, there is a common thread that defines the process. To understand this, it’s helpful to distinguish, as historian Lorenzo Veracini does, between “settlers” and “immigrants”: While migrants enter existing political orders, “settlers are founders of political orders” and carry their sovereignty with them.

Still, the United States celebrates itself as “a nation of immigrants,” just as Israeli Zionists celebrated Palestine as “a land without a people for a people without a land,” a homeland for Jews from all over the world, a nation of refugees — rhetoric that echoes U.S. “nation of immigrants” mythology. Rhetoric that ignores settler colonialism, writes Mamdani, “is essential to settler-colonial nation-state projects such as the United States and Israel,” which cloak themselves in the nonpolitical project of immigration to hide their true project of fortifying the colonial nation-state. https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/07/12/we-must-understand-israel-as-a-settler-colonial-state/

2024-05-02 Israel Wants to Drive All Palestinians Into Other Countries Isael is a colonial state created by a massive land theft from another people. This is not a war. Gaza is not a state, has no army, air force, embassies or a real government! It is an illegally occupied territory!

True history. If you look at the US as a settler state, it did not live in peace either. It’s intention was to wipe out the Native population, germ warfare was one strategy. It waged a genocidal war against the Native population that resisted the invading forces. Contrary to what people are taught, the longest and most bitter war the US settler regime has fought is the war against Native Americans. resistance. As brutal as the war was, the Native people are still here and their culture alive and well. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/GYDC5qwaY0M

2020-11-04 From Balfour to the Nakba: The settler-colonial experience of Palestine Britain granted international legitimacy to Zionist colonisation, sowing the seeds for the future dispossession of Palestine’s native population.

The late prominent scholar of settler-colonialism, Patrick Wolfe, reminded us repeatedly that it is not an event, it is a structure. While settler-colonialism in many cases has a historical starting point, its original motivation guides its maintenance in the present.

By and large, settler-colonial projects are motivated by what Wolfe defined as “the logic of the elimination of the native”. Settlers’ wish to create a new homeland almost inevitably clashes with the aspirations of the local native population. In some cases, this clash leads to the physical elimination of native populations, as seen in the Americas and Australia; in others, such as South Africa, settlers enclave the indigenous population in closed areas and impose an apartheid system.

Zionism in Palestine is a settler-colonial project, and Israel remains to this day a settler-colonial state. This depiction is now widely accepted in the scholarly world, but rejected by mainstream Israeli scholars. https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/balfour-nakba-settler-colonial-experience-palestine

Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

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Never Again Genocide

Posted on March 30, 2024 by mekorganic

Never Again Genocide

Updated 2024-07-26

2024-04-08 ‘Self-Defense’ Is No Justification for Genocide in Gaza The Palestinian people—not just Hamas—have been Israel’s intended targets all along.

As the world learned of the Khartoum government’s unfolding genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan, Jewish organizations around the globe raised their voices in protest. Led by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) and American Jewish World Service (AJWS), dozens of religious groups and human rights activists formed an alliance called the Save Darfur Coalition.

Throughout their years-long attempt to compel the international community to take substantive action, Jewish leaders routinely and eloquently described their motivation. Nobel laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, the opening speaker at a 2006 rally for Darfur, in Washington, D.C, told the crowd, “As a Jew, I’m here because when we

Today, the USHMM, AJWS, and nearly every other high-profile Jewish organization refuse to call what Israel is doing in Gaza by its rightful name. Their stance will be recorded as one of history’s most damning examples of both hypocrisy and whitewashing.

With the release of an advance copy of her March 25 2024 report to the United Nations Human Rights Council, Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese confirmed what any clear-eyed person has known for months. Israel is committing genocide in Palestine.needed people to help us, nobody came. Therefore, we’re here.” https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/self-defense-genocide-gaza

2024-03-08 With Genocide in Gaza, the Word ‘Never’ Has Been Stripped From ‘Never Again’ The richest, most powerful countries in the Western world, those who believe themselves to be the keepers of the flame of the modern world’s commitment to democracy and human rights, are openly financing and applauding Israel’s genocide in Gaza. The Gaza strip has been turned into a concentration camp. Those who have not already been killed are being starved to death. Almost the entire population of Gaza has been displaced. Their homes, hospitals, universities, museums, and infrastructure of every kind has been reduced to rubble. Their children have been murdered. Their past has been vaporized. Their future is hard to see.

Even though the highest court in the world believes that almost every indicator seems to meet the legal definition of genocide, IDF soldiers continue to put out their mocking “victory videos” celebrating what almost looks like fiendish rituals. They believe that there is no power in the world that will hold them to account. But they are wrong. They and their children’s children will be haunted by what they have done. They will have to live with the loathing and the abhorrence the world feels for them. And hopefully one day everybody – on all sides of this conflict – who has committed war crimes will be tried and punished for them, keeping in mind that there is no equivalence between crimes committed while resisting Apartheid and Occupation, and crimes committed while enforcing them. https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/genocide-gaza-never-again

Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

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Biden – Uncommitted Voters

Posted on March 25, 2024 by mekorganic

Biden – Uncommitted Voters

Updated 2024-03-25

2024-03-04 Minnesota Dems Aim to Repeat ‘Uncommitted’ Campaign Success on Super Tuesday On the eve of Super Tuesday, Minnesota Democratic primary voters are looking to replicate Michigan’s success with their own “uncommitted” campaign to protest President Joe Biden’s support for Israel’s unrelenting assault on the people of Gaza. The uncommitted vote in Michigan earned more than 100,000 votes—well beyond the campaign’s 10,000-vote goal—and secured at least two delegates for the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August. While Minnesota is not a swing state, and therefore may not have the same leverage over the Biden campaign as Michigan, organizers hope they can still send a message and inspire voters in other states. “We’re hoping that what we do here will just continue to push the wave of uncommitted across the United States,” Amanda Purcell of MN Families for Palestine told The Guardian. https://www.commondreams.org/news/minnesota-uncommitted-super-tuesday

Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

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Biden – State of the Union

Posted on March 25, 2024 by mekorganic

Biden – State of the Union

Updated 2024-03-25

2024-03-09 State of the Union: War and Genocide Are Still the American Way Peace cannot be found in the endless military packages but in the corridors of diplomacy and peace talks, where dialogue and negotiation pave the way for lasting solutions.

President Biden’s State of the Union address made one thing clear: war, genocide, and militarism remains the American way. From Gaza to Ukraine, from the Middle East to the borders of our own nation, the toll of violence from militarism is immeasurable. Will we ever see an end to the cycle of destruction fueled by capitalism and U.S. imperialism?

Firstly, let’s address the white elephant in the war. Before the speech started, Democratic women leaders were shown wearing white in honor of women and feminism. But let’s be very clear, whether it’s women sending bombs or men, the result remains the same: women and children are being murdered, communities shattered, and futures erased. There’s no feminism in complicity with war and genocide, nor is there honor in turning a blind eye to the cries of the oppressed who are very loudly asking us to quit sending the bombs that are murdering their people. https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/state-of-the-union-war-and-genocide-are-still-the-american-way

2024-03-07 The True State of the Union If we care about improving the state of the union, we must listen to the cries of those who are suffering and taking action to push the nation toward a more perfect union.

The true state of the union is that we have failed to exhibit basic moral consistency on the world stage. We have not mustered the moral courage to equally condemn the shedding of innocent blood by Hamas on October 7 and the retaliatory killing of innocent women and children by Netanyahu’s regime, along with the apartheid practices and genocidal acts that preceded October 7. This moral challenge is not confined to the Middle East. It must also include Sudan, Somalia, and anywhere innocent lives are being taken. This is a moral necessity, especially for a nation that acknowledges our own history of genocide against Native Americans and enslaved Africans. We face a humanitarian crisis, we have the power to demand a cease-fire, but our political leaders have failed to fully act. https://www.thenation.com/article/society/the-true-state-of-the-union/?

2024-03-07 Biden uses State of the Union address to push for two-state solution amid fighting in Gaza https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_S6KFbRa_c

2024-03-07 Key Highlights From Joe Biden’s 2024 State Of The Union Speech Analyzing The State Of The Union Speech – A Deep Dive! Five key takeaways from Joe Biden’s 2024 State of the Union address

US president touts economic record, slams Donald Trump and calls on Israel to allow more aid into Gaza in heated speech. US President Joe Biden has touted his administration’s economic record and sought to distinguish himself from his predecessor Donald Trump, as he delivered his third State of the Union address just months before a United States presidential election.

Addressing a joint session of Congress on Thursday evening, the Democratic president repeatedly hit out at Trump, but did not mention his Republican rival by name. “My purpose tonight is to wake up the Congress and alert the American people that this is no ordinary moment,” Biden said, warning that “freedom and democracy are under attack both at home and overseas”.

Recent polls show Biden and Trump neck-and-neck in their push for the White House, and their looming rematch in November’s presidential election cast a large shadow over Thursday’s State of the Union. The speech provided an important platform for Biden, who continues to face questions over whether he is fit enough to seek a second term, as well as protests over his staunch backing of Israel despite its deadly military offensive in the Gaza Strip. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFEU0X8qMnw

2024-03-07 Biden State of the Union https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Biden%27s+State+of+the+Union

Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

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Australia

Posted on March 25, 2024 by mekorganic

Australia

Updated 2024-03-25

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

Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

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Aaron Bushnell

Posted on March 25, 2024 by mekorganic

Aaron Bushnell

Updated 2024-03-25

2024-03-03 Mourning Two Principled Opponents of War Aaron Bushnell and Johan Galtung both devoted their lives to ending war in different ways.

Johan Galtung died on February 17 at the age of 93. The Norwegian sociologist was known as the father of peace studies and spent his life researching conflicts and fostering dialog in pursuit of peace. Johan Galtung was also a conscientious objector, as a young man in Norway. As a child, Nazi Germany occupied his country and imprisoned his father. In one interview, he recalled how his mother made him read the newspaper to learn the names of political prisoners who the Germans had executed the day before, to see if his father was among them, to spare her the pain of reading the list. His father survived, but the war forever changed Johan. He devoted his life to bridging divides and finding creative solutions to real-world conflicts.

Aaron Bushnell was just 25 years old. He was an active duty member of the U.S. Air Force. On Sunday, February 25, Aaron Bushnell started a live video stream as he walked toward the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C.

“I will no longer be complicit in genocide,” Bushnell said. “I am about to engage in an extreme act of protest, but compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers, it’s not extreme at all. This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal.” https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/aaron-bushnell-johan-galtung

2024-03-01 Self-Sacrifice is Not Suicide: Understanding Aaron Bushnell’s Self-Immolation with Help from the Humanities On February 25, 2024, Aaron Bushnell, a 25-year-old member of the U.S. Air Force walked to the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C., poured the contents of a canister over his army fatigues, and lit himself on fire. He died later in the day from his self-inflicted injuries. Bushnell’s final words were “Free Palestine,” a statement he cried out at least six times as the flames consumed him.

Bushnell believed that the U.S. government’s support for the Israeli war in Gaza constituted complicity in “genocide.” The war has caused more than 30,000 deaths including more than 12,000 children and a currently unfolding famine. The morning of his death, Bushnell posted a message to Facebook that read: “Many of us like to ask ourselves, ‘What would I do if I was alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? What would I do if my country was committing genocide?’ The answer is, you’re doing it. Right now.”

Bushnell’s death has further highlighted deep political divisions between those supporting Israel’s total siege of Gaza and those convinced the bombardment constitutes a clear case of genocide. https://jeffreynall.substack.com/p/self-sacrifice-is-not-suicide-understanding?

2024-02-29 Targeting the sponsors of genocide “We don’t need a gun, we need a fire extinguisher.”

On Sunday, Aaron Bushnell lit himself on fire in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C., in protest of the U.S.’s support of the Israeli government’s ongoing genocide of Palestinians. Bushnell, a 25-year-old serving in the United States Air Force, died on Sunday night.

As he walked to the embassy, he spoke plainly: “I am an active-duty member of the U.S. Air Force, and I will no longer be complicit in genocide. I’m about to engage in an extreme act of protest, but compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers, it’s not extreme at all.” Flicking a lighter at his clothes, he yelled “free Palestine.”

Self-immolation has a long history as the most extreme level of political protest — an act taken only in the most dire moments, out of the deepest urgency and desperation for change. Incredibly, a policeman first on the scene drew his gun at Aaron. A first responder on the scene yelled in disbelief, “we don’t need a gun, we need a fire extinguisher.” May Aaron’s memory be a blessing, and may these words guide us all as a metaphor in the coming days. https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/2024/02/29/targeting-sponsors-of-genocide/ 2024-02-28 Aaron Bushnell HAD SECRET INTEL That US Troops ARE FIGHTING IN GAZA, Friend Claims: NY Post well we’ve got a major update on the story of Air Force Soldier Aaron Bushnell who set himself on fire in protest of Israel just hours before his self imulation Bushnell claimed that he had secret knowledge of American troops fighting in Hamas tunnels under Gaza now per the New York Post the 25-year-old Airman claimed he had quote Top Secret clearance for military intelligence data in the call to his friends on Saturday night now his friends claim quote he told me on Saturday that we have troops in those tunnels that it’s US soldiers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4v2khCDLPE

Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

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Trump, Donald

Posted on February 26, 2024 by mekorganic

Trump, Donald

Updated 2024-08-29

2024-06-18 Trump and Biden on Israel Asked about the likely choice in November between Biden and Donald Trump, the consensus among the demonstrators was that they wouldn’t vote for “Genocide Joe,” and that there was nothing to choose from between Biden and Trump when it comes to Middle East policy. Some would simply stay home, while some might vote for the Green Party or another third party, and even those who might eventually pull the lever for Biden pledged to vote “uncommitted” in any primary to “send a message to the White House.”

Still, no matter the horrors — and they are horrors — of Gaza and of the low-intensity war Israel is also waging in the occupied West Bank, and despite Israel’s regular artillery and bombing runs against targets in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and even Iran, those who argue that there’s no difference between Biden and Trump when it comes to Israel are deeply mistaken.

Trump, on the other hand — ever transactional, with distinctly bizarre attitudes toward American Jews and, in particular, Jewish supporters of Israel — has gone out of his way to cultivate his connection to Netanyahu and the most extreme wing of Israel’s governing parties. To placate Christian Zionists, who comprise a substantial chunk of his base, he’s donned the cloak of an uber-Zionist himself. During his administration, in fact, he named his son-in-law Jared Kushner as his Middle East “czar.” Kushner has lifelong ties to Netanyahu, who even slept in his bedroom when Kushner was young. (“Jared Kushner once lent Benjamin Netanyahu his bed,” is how the Jerusalem Post put it.)

So, while pro-Palestinian demonstrators are focusing their anger on Biden, they may, all too ironically, find themselves targeted for deportation by Donald Trump, should he win a second term in office. “One thing I do is, any student that protests, I throw them out of the country,” was his comment on the Gaza protests. “You know, there are a lot of foreign students. As soon as they hear that, they’re going to behave.”

Jared Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, promoted moving the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which President Trump indeed did. That move, supported by radical-right Republicans, many ultra-Orthodox Jews, and Christian Zionists, was a calculated provocation of the Palestinians, and would be condemned by the Pope, the United Nations, and much of the world.

Throughout his presidency, Trump made it clear that he supported a radical revision of U.S. policy toward the Israel-Palestine issue. In 2019, in a move that drew outrage and derision, Trump signed an order recognizing Israel’s illegal annexation of Syria’s Golan Heights, seized in 1967. And later that year, in a political “gift” to Netanyahu, Trump discarded decades of U.S. policy by declaring that Israel’s massive project to build illegal settlements in the West Bank did not violate international law. “We’ve recognized the reality on the ground,” was the way Secretary of State Mike Pompeo put it.

In addition, the president unilaterally shut down the Washington office of the Palestine Liberation Organization, while halting $200 million in direct U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority and $300 million owed to the United Nations Relief & Works Agency (UNRWA), which supports Palestinian refugees in the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan.

Trump’s wrecking-ball approach to the Middle East culminated in January 2020 when he and Netanyahu jointly released a “Middle East peace plan” hammered out by Kushner, Friedman, Greenblatt, and Avi Berkowitz (plucked from the Kushner Companies with zero experience in the region). Among other provisions, it green-lit Israeli annexation of the Jordan Valley and a web of illegal settlements that house hundreds of thousands of Jewish occupiers. https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/06/18/trump-and-biden-on-israel/

2024-04-27 Why do so many Americans support a neofascist? | The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQp8Lj7jPvQ

2024-02-04 ‘If Trump Was President’ – Ben-Gvir’s Comments to WSJ Stirs New Controversy in Israel Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir told the Wall Street Journal that he would oppose any deal with Hamas and that Israel would get more support if Trump was in power.

The Wall Street Journal quoted Ben-Gvir as saying that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Netanyahu “is at a crossroads,” and that “he has to choose in what direction he’ll go.” Israel considers any form of Palestinian Resistance to the Israeli occupation a form of terrorism.

The far-right Israeli minister also criticized US President Joe Biden, saying that “instead of giving us his full backing, Biden is busy with giving humanitarian aid and fuel (to Gaza), which goes to Hamas”. Ben-Gvir added that “if Trump was in power, the US conduct would be completely different.” https://www.palestinechronicle.com/if-trump-was-president-ben-gvirs-comments-to-wsj-stirs-new-controversy-in-israel/

2023-10-13 Trump’s turn against Israel offers stark reminder of what his diplomacy looks like Trump criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, lauded Hezbollah militants as “very smart” and sought political gain from the attacks that killed 1,200 people by claiming that if the last election was not “rigged,” he’d be the American president and they’d never have happened. The ex-president openly admitted a grievance against Netanyahu, complaining he had pulled out at the last minute from joining the US air attack that assassinated Iranian intelligence chief Qasem Soleimani in Iraq in 2020. Trump had previously fumed over the Israeli leader’s perceived disloyalty in recognizing he lost the election.

“Only a fool would give comments that could give aid and comfort to Israel’s adversary in this situation,” Christie continued. “This is someone who cares, not about the American people, not about the people of Israel, but he cares about one person and one person only, the person he sees in the mirror when he wakes up in the morning.”

The former president tried to defuse the growing controversy on Thursday evening, releasing a statement in which he insisted that “there was no better friend or ally of Israel” than him. He accused President Joe Biden of weakness and incompetence. “With President Trump back in office, Israel, and everyone else, will be safe again!” he said. The former president was continuing the clean-up on Friday on his Truth Social platform, praising what he said was the “skill and determination” of the Israel Defense Forces and later posting “#IStandWithBibi.”

Trump’s original grievance-based analysis reflects a transactional, unorthodox approach to foreign policy that often prioritizes his own personal goals over a standard understanding of the national interest. It also highlighted a contrast with his potential 2024 election opponent. Biden reacted to the attack by using all of the tools of traditional statesmanship, including rhetoric, personal behind-the-scenes contacts with key foreign leaders and by mobilizing allies. Like Trump, Biden has had a personal and political beef with Netanyahu – but shelved his differences with him weeks before the attack and has been in constant contact with the prime minister since it occurred. https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/13/politics/donald-trump-israel-netanyahu-diplomacy/index.html

Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

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Sabra and Shatila Massacre

Posted on February 26, 2024 by mekorganic

Sabra and Shatila Massacre

2024-02-26

2022-09-16 Sabra and Shatila massacre: What happened in Lebanon in 1982? Israeli-backed Phalange militia killed between 2,000 and 3,500 Palestinian refugees and Lebanese civilians in two days. Shatila, a Palestinian refugee camp, and the adjacent neighborhood of Sabra are located southwest of Lebanon’s capital city Beirut. The refugees were victims of the 1948 Nakba, or “catastrophe” in Arabic, fleeing the violent ethnic cleansing of Palestine by Zionist militias as Israel was formed.

In June 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon during the country’s 15-year civil war (1975-1990), with the stated aim of destroying the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which had been based in Beirut and was launching attacks on Israel from southern Lebanon.

The PLO withdrew from Lebanon by September 1, 1982. Assurances were provided by the United States and a multi-national force that the remaining Palestinian refugees and civilians would be protected. Two weeks later, the Israeli military besieged Sabra and Shatila and provided cover for their allies, a right-wing Lebanese militia called the Phalange, to carry out the mass killings. But between September 16 and 18, 1982, the refugees, now living in Shatila and Sabra, along with Lebanese civilians, were attacked by a right-wing Lebanese militia, in coordination with the Israeli army. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/9/16/sabra-and-shatila-massacre-40-years-on-explainer