progressiveissuesblog

Ireland

Updated 2024-08-26

2024-08-17 Immediate Expulsion of all Israel Diplomats https://www.facebook.com/photo/?

2024-03-17 Biden’s Embrace of Irish-American Culture Should Include Solidarity with Palestine    President Joe Biden, who proudly touts his Irish heritage, leads an administration that enables Israel’s murderous actions in Gaza through political support and active arms sales. This echoes the suffering our Irish ancestors faced during the English occupation of Ireland and the subsequent Irish Famine, marked by military invasion, occupation, and forced starvation.

President Biden must confront the glaring hypocrisy of his administration’s stance on Palestine. His unwavering support for Israel contradicts the values of justice and human rights that he campaigned on and tarnishes any U.S. claim to moral leadership on the global stage. He cannot celebrate our Irish heritage in the White House while ignoring the Palestinian cries of oppression.  https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/biden-irish-american-solidarity-palestine

2024-03-15 The Elders Chair Mary Robinson Calls For Biden to Stop Arming Israel    In his meetings with the U.S. leader, Ireland’s prime minister must “make it clear that Israel depends on the United States for military aid and for money,” said Robinson, a former Irish president.  The Elders chair Mary Robinson on Friday highlighted the unique leverage that the United States has with Israel and suggested that the Biden administration should stop giving the Middle Eastern nation military assistance for its assault on the Gaza Strip. https://www.commondreams.org/news/us-arms-israel

2024-02-02 Ireland: Time for EU to Reconsider Association Agreement with Israel     Ireland, an EU member that continues to call for accountability in the Israeli genocide in Gaza is now advocating change in the relationship between Israel and the pan-European organization.  Ireland’s action is consistent with the political attitude of other European countries, who are either critical of Israel or are calling for a Palestinian state.      https://www.palestinechronicle.com/ireland-time-for-eu-to-reconsider-association-agreement-with-israel/

.

Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

Palestine and Israel

.

Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Indonesia

Updated 2024-02-04

2024-02-02 ‘Uphold Consistency on International Law’ – Indonesian Diplomat to EU   Addressing the opening of the EU-Indo-Pacific Forum in Brussels, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi reportedly said ‘Listen to your heart and do the right thing, to stop atrocities in Gaza, in Palestine.”  She added, “The EU, and all of us, as firm supporters of upholding international law, will also have a consistent position when it comes to Gaza,” reports the Anadolu news agency.    Noting that Palestine has been encountering continuing injustice for the past seven decades, Marsudi asked: “Will we continue to be silent? … We will not.” https://www.palestinechronicle.com/uphold-consistency-on-international-law-indonesian-diplomat-to-eu/

.

Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

Palestine and Israel

.

Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Hamas Resistance (see Hamas Attack October 7, 2023)

Updated 2024-04-01

2024-03-02 ‘Israel’ admits to 3 dead soldiers, as Resistance in Gaza upscales ops   https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/-israel–admit-to-3-dead-soldiers–as-resistance-in-gaza-ups

2024-01-29 Hamas Outsmarts Israel Again; Uses IDF Explosives To Manufacture Rockets, Bombs To Attack    Hamas fighters in Gaza are using Israeli military duds to manufacture explosives that they are using against the troops in the besieged Palestinian enclave, The New York Times reported. The militant group is also smuggling weapons from IDF bases and from Egypt into Gaza and West Bank, the report added. Watch the video for more.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8Vb0Ztfy24

.

Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

Palestine and Israel

.

Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Hamas – Ceasefire

Updated 2024-02-26

2024-02-07 ‘Our Conditions’ – Full Text of Hamas Response to Ceasefire Proposal       The original Paris ceasefire proposal, at least in the view of Washington, seemed largely interested in helping Israel escape its military and political predicaments in Gaza.   Though it contained many mutually agreed-upon provisions, by both sides, it lacked a comprehensive and detailed view of the Gaza war and its causes, in addition to guarantees that Israeli would not resume its genocide whenever it suits its interests.

Below is the official Hamas response to the ceasefire agreement proposal. It was initially published by the Arabic newspaper Al-Akhbar. It was translated and provided by the Resistance News Network Telegram Channel.   It is published in full without any editing from its original translation by the RNN. https://www.palestinechronicle.com/our-conditions-full-text-of-hamas-response-to-ceasefire-proposal/

.

Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

Palestine and Israel

.

Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Hamas Fighting Israel

Updated 2024-07-25

#israelhamaswar #idf #hamas #guerilla #israelpalestineconflict

#israelhamaswar #idf #hamas #guerilla #israelpalestineconflict

2024-05-26 Hamas fires rockets at Israel’s Tel Aviv, causing first sirens for months      The Israeli army has said that eight rockets were fired from Gaza, targeting central Israel, including Tel Aviv.   Hamas says it has launched rockets at Tel Aviv, prompting sirens to sound in the Israeli city for the first time in several months.

The Israeli military said on Sunday that eight rockets were launched from the Rafah area in southern Gaza, where its forces have continued a ground assault despite an order from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to halt operations there.https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/5/26/hamas-fires-rockets-at-israels-tel-aviv-causing-first-sirens-for-months

2024-05-26 Israel’s war on Gaza live news: ‘More than 30’ killed in Rafah strike    An Israeli army bombed a displacement camp in northern Rafah, killing at least 35 Palestinians, the Gaza Health Ministry says.

The Hamas military wing launches a missile attack on Tel Aviv, triggering alarm sirens. Earlier, the Qassam Brigades said its fighters “killed and captured” an unidentified number of Israeli soldiers in Jabalia camp. The Israeli military has denied the claim. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/5/26/israels-war-on-gaza-live-news-hamas-claims-capture-of-israeli-troops

2024-02-09 U.S. Intel Contradicts Netanyahu’s Big Claims On Gaza War; ‘Israel Not Close To…’ | Watch      US intelligence officers told members of Congress this week that Israel has degraded Hamas’ combat capabilities, but eliminating the terror group is far away. It said that Israel is yet not close to achieving its war aim of annihilating the Palestinian terror group, according to a New York Times report. The Biden administration has also raised doubts over how realistic Israel’s stated war goal of destroying Hamas was, as per a NYT report citing American officials. Watch this video to know more. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOS-vSk7-MY

2024-02-09 Israel Failing In Gaza? Tel Aviv May Seek Foreign Help Against Hamas & Gaza Tunnels – Report     #hamastunnels #hamastunnel #hamasgaza    Israel may request for a global alliance to destroy Hamas’ tunnel network in Gaza. Reports said that Israeli forces are running out of time to eliminate the tunnels. Israeli officials are not publicly discussing the scenario as of yet.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8v8VOTD-bY

2024-02-09 Hamas’ ‘Guerilla Warfare’ Gives Israel A Bloody Nose As Death Toll Mounts| Big Blow To IDF In Gaza      With Israel-Hamas war entering 5 months, IDF troops continue to face brunt of Hamas’ Guerilla warfare. According to Israeli media reports, 12 IDF soldiers were injured in during fighting with Hamas militants in a single day. While 10 soldiers were suffered injuries fighting at one front two other got wounded in separate incidents. Reportedly, around 22 seriously wounded soldiers and over 200 moderately injured are undergoing treatment in hospitals.  #israelhamaswar #idf #hamas #guerilla #israelpalestineconflict #latestnews #englishnews https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MgruyiBQO4

.

Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

Palestine and Israel

.

Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Genocide Silence

Updated 2024-07-16

2024-04-09 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

2024-02-07 Chris Hedges: The Silence of the Damned   Leading humanitarian and civic institutions, including major medical institutions, refuse to denounce Israel’s genocide in Gaza. This exposes their hypocrisy and complicity.

But these institutions — with a few notable exceptions such as The American Public Health Association that has called for a ceasefire — have either remained silent or, as with Dr. Matthew K. Wynia, the director of the Center for Bioethics and Humanities at the University of Colorado, attempted to justify Israeli war crimes.  These doctors — who somehow find it acceptable that in Gaza a child is killed every 10 minutes on average — are accomplices to genocide and stand in violation of the Geneva Convention. They embrace death as a solution, not life. The deans of U.S. medical schools and leading medical organizations, especially the American Medical Association (AMA) have joined the ranks of universities, law schools, churches and the media to turn their backs on the Palestinians.  

Robert Jay Lifton in his book The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide writes that “genocidal projects require the active participation of educated professionals — physicians, scientists, engineers, military leaders, lawyers, clergy, university professors and other teachers — who combine to create not only the technology of genocide but much of its ideological rationale, moral climate, and organizational process.”

A group of 100 Israeli doctors in November 2023 defended the bombing of hospitals in Gaza, claiming they were used as Hamas command centers, a charge Israel has been unable to verify.   https://consortiumnews.com/2024/02/07/chris-hedges-the-silence-of-the-damned/

.

Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

Palestine and Israel

.

Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Gaza – Israeli blockade

Updated 2024-02-26

2019-11-06 Gaza: what life is like under the continuing Israeli blockade   In his latest update to the UN Security Council in late October, Nicolay Mlandenov, the UN’s special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, warned that as the occupation of Palestinian land continues and a two-state solution moves further away: “It is a multi-generational tragedy for the peoples of this land.” Mlandenov said that while the humanitarian situation in Gaza remains a top priority for the UN, “the core of the crisis in Gaza is political”. 

About 2m people have been living in Gaza under a tight Israeli blockade since 2007. They have been subjected to brutal military assaults since 2008, in the context of the Israeli policy of “mowing the lawn”, military attacks and bombardment which indiscriminately kill civilians and cause massive levels of damage to civilian infrastructure in Gaza. This Israeli campaign continues under the pretext of undermining the military power of Hamas, the Palestinian political armed movement which runs Gaza. 

The blockade is enforced by military means on the ground as well as by air.  The possibility of travelling out of Gaza via the Rafah crossing with Egypt remains limited and fraught with security risks and restrictions. The movement of people between Gaza, the West Bank and Israel continues to be restricted to “exceptional cases” and subject to Israeli permits, which are denied in many cases on unspecified security grounds. There are also multiple and complex Israeli restrictions on the shipment of commercial items and the movement of goods in and out of Gaza.  Any attempt to break the blockade is met with severe punishment  https://theconversation.com/gaza-what-life-is-like-under-the-continuing-israeli-blockade-124528

.

Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

Palestine and Israel

.

Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

France

Updated 2024-02-26

2024-02-11 DIANA JOHNSTONE: Genocide Meets French Devotion to Israel    Israel’s loyal supporters in the West combat rising world indignation over the suffering of the Palestinian people by changing the subject.    When Gazan families are buried under the rubble of their homes, it’s not about the plight of the dispossessed Palestinians; it’s about eternal Jewish victims; it’s about “Islamic terrorism;” or it’s about a threat to “Western values.”  That is the line taken by most of the French media and political class. 

Skeptical France is very far from such fantasies. French support to Israel is longstanding and political, but tinged with semi-religious devotion rooted in recent history.  France is officially, even ostentatiously, a secular nation, considerably de-christianized over the past two hundred years.    To a unique extent, over the past half century, this religious void has been filled by the sacred remembrance of the Shoah, as the Holocaust is usually called here.

When the Nazis invaded France, there were approximately 320,000 Jewish people living in France, including a large number of foreign nationals who had fled from anti-Semitism in Eastern Europe.   Those unfortunate exiles made up the bulk of the 74,000 Jews who were brutally rounded up and deported under German occupation.  These deportations are the principal factual basis for what developed into a sense of national responsibility for the Shoah comparable to that of Germany itself.

However, of all Nazi-occupied countries, France is the country where the largest percentage of Jews escaped Nazi deportations.  An estimated 75 percent of Jews survived the occupation without being deported, including around 90 percent of Jews with French citizenship.  The reasons for this are controversial, but one result is that France has the largest Jewish population in Europe today — around half a million, the third largest Jewish population in the world, although far behind Israel or the United States (with around 7 million each).   https://consortiumnews.com/2024/02/11/diana-johnstone-genocide-meets-french-devotion-to-israel/

2024-02-04 Stop the War: French Lawmakers in Egypt, on Way to Rafah Crossing    A delegation of 16 French opposition lawmakers demanded an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza on Saturday during a visit to Egypt.   Emphasizing the health and humanitarian crises in the region, Coquerel announced that the delegation plans to visit the Rafah border crossing on Sunday, becoming the first foreign parliamentary group to do so since October 7.

The delegation is also set to meet personnel from the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees, or UNRWA. Coquerel emphasized the critical role UNRWA plays in conducting humanitarian aid operations in the region and expressed concerns that a failure in its functioning would be catastrophic. Thomas Portes highlighted the importance of maintaining pressure on Israel for the enforcement of ‘precautionary measures’ ordered by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).https://www.palestinechronicle.com/stop-the-war-french-lawmakers-in-egypt-on-way-to-rafah-crossing/

.

Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

Palestine and Israel

.

Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

EU -European Union

Updated 2024-07-16

2024-06-08 What’s at Stake in the 2024 European Parliament Elections?    Europeans go to polls this week to vote for parliament. What is at stake? Is the future of the European Union at risk on account of the surge of the far right? But is the E.U. even a democratic institution worth saving? And why is the left in crisis across Europe?

Political economist and political scientist C. J. Polychroniou tackles these questions in an interview with the French-Greek independent journalist Alexandra Boutri.https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/european-parliament-elections-2024

2024-03-18 ‘No Longer on the Brink’: Top EU Official Blames Israel for Famine in Gaza     “This famine is not a natural disaster. It is not a flaw. It is not an earthquake. It is entirely man-made,” said Josep Borrell, the E.U.’s foreign affairs chief.    The European Union’s top foreign affairs official on Monday said that after more than five months of Israel’s blocking of humanitarian aid and bombardment of Gaza, the U.S.-backed government has pushed the enclave into famine.

“In Gaza we are no longer on the brink of famine; we are in a state of famine, affecting thousands of people,” Borrell said in Brussels at a meeting on humanitarian aid for the besieged enclave. “This is unacceptable. Starvation is used as a weapon of war.”

“By whom? Let’s dare to say by whom. By the one that prevents humanitarian support entering into Gaza,” he said, adding that “Israel is provoking famine.”   https://www.commondreams.org/news/gaza-2667538636

2024-02-12 Dutch Court Blocks Weapons Parts for Israel   With compliance ordered within a week, the Dutch government plans to appeal the ruling, which came Monday as the country’s  prime minister was visiting Netanyahu in Jerusalem.  Oxfam Novib Executive Director Michiel Servaes, whose group filed the lawsuit against the Dutch government in December with PAX and the Rights Forum, declared that “this positive ruling by the judge is very good news, especially for civilians in Gaza.”  “It is an important step to force the Dutch government to adhere to international law, which the Netherlands has strongly advocated for in the past,” he added.   https://consortiumnews.com/2024/02/12/dutch-court-blocks-weapons-parts-for-israel/

2024-02-02 ‘We Are Shocked’ – Belgium Summons Israeli Ambassador following Agency Bombing in Gaza  Israel has destroyed more than half of Gaza, claiming that it is destroying ‘terrorist infrastructure’. The destruction, however, is clearly indiscriminate, according to reports. The EU country of Belgium has declared it would summon the Israeli ambassador after the office building housing the Belgian Agency for Development Cooperation (Enabel) in Gaza was bombed and destroyed by Israeli airstrikes. The decision was communicated via X by Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib.    “Targeting civilian buildings is unacceptable,” she said in a post on X.https://www.palestinechronicle.com/we-are-shocked-belgium-summons-israeli-ambassador-following-agency-bombing-in-gaza/

2024-02-02 ‘Uphold Consistency on International Law’ – Indonesian Diplomat to EU   Addressing the opening of the EU-Indo-Pacific Forum in Brussels, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi reportedly said ‘Listen to your heart and do the right thing, to stop atrocities in Gaza, in Palestine.”  She added, “The EU, and all of us, as firm supporters of upholding international law, will also have a consistent position when it comes to Gaza,” reports the Anadolu news agency.    Noting that Palestine has been encountering continuing injustice for the past seven decades, Marsudi asked: “Will we continue to be silent? … We will not.” https://www.palestinechronicle.com/uphold-consistency-on-international-law-indonesian-diplomat-to-eu/2024-02-02 Ireland: Time for EU to Reconsider Association Agreement with Israel     Ireland, an EU member that continues to call for accountability in the Israeli genocide in Gaza is now advocating change in the relationship between Israel and the pan-European organization.https://www.palestinechronicle.com/ireland-time-for-eu-to-reconsider-association-agreement-with-israel/

.

Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

Palestine and Israel

.

Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Denmark

Updated 2024-07-16

2024-05-06 Free Gaza Photo  https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=7363833467005859&set=a.812279828827955

2023-09-28   80 Years Ago Denmark Miraculously Saved 8,000 Jews From Nazi Murder   Human history is all-too-full of ghastly acts of cruelty and torment. They are our ultimate downfall.    But 80 years ago, the people of Denmark—-often a great personal risk—-saved some 8,000 Jewish Danes from occupying Nazi murderers.   On October 1– 1943’s Jewish New Year– Denmark’s King and its underground resistance helped mobilize the nation to ferry nearly all resident Jews to safety in Sweden.

The story is complex, but among the most moving and powerful in the annals of our species.   Hitler’s Wehrmacht had occupied Denmark in 1940. Recognizing the Germans’ overpowering might and love of slaughter, the Danes watched the Nazis march into their country with little violent resistance.    Conversely, Hitler desperately needed Danish agricultural supplies. The result was an uneasy coexistence. Alone amongst the countries he occupied, Der Fuhrer abstained from slaughtering en masse the country’s Jews, who were generally well integrated into Denmark’s social mainstream.

But after three years, the Danes had enough of their goose-stepping occupiers.  Resistance escalated. Hitler lost patience. So he decided to begin shipping the country’s Jews to death camps. https://freepress.org/article/80-years-ago-denmark-miraculously-saved-8000-jews-nazi-murder    

.

Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict

Palestine and Israel

.

Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World