2023-10-22 Israel to Consider Civilians ‘Terrorist Accomplices’ If They Stay in North Gaza The Israeli military has told Palestinian civilians living in north Gaza that if they don’t evacuate to the south, they will be considered “an accomplice in a terrorist organization,” The warning was made in threatening leaflets dropped by Israeli drones on Saturday. “Urgent warning, to residents of Gaza. Your presence north of Wadi Gaza puts your life in danger. Whoever chooses not to leave north Gaza to the south of Wadi Gaza might be identified as an accomplice in a terrorist organization,” the leaflets said, according to Reuters.
2023-10-26 ‘Human Animals’: The Sordid Language Behind Israel’s Genocide in Gaza Many seem to forget that, long before the Gaza war on October 7, and even long before the establishment of Israel itself in 1948, the Zionist-Israeli discourse has always been that of racism, dehumanization, erasure and, at times, outright genocide. If one is to randomly select any period of Israeli history to examine the political discourse emanating from Israeli officials, institutions and even intellectuals, one is to draw the same conclusion: Israel has always built a narrative of incitement and hatred, thus making a constant case for the genocide of Palestinians. Only recently, this genocidal intent is becoming obvious to many people.
From Golda Meir’s “Palestinians did not exist” ( 1969) to Menachem Begin’s Palestinians are “beasts walking on two legs” (1982), to Eli Ben Dahan’s “Palestinians are like animals, they aren’t human” (2013), to numerous other racist and dehumanizing references, the Zionist discourse remains unchanged. Now, it is all coming together, the language and the action are in perfect alignment. Perhaps, it is time to start paying attention to how Israel’s genocidal language is translated to an actual genocide on the ground. Sadly, for thousands of Palestinian civilians, this awareness is simply too late. https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/language-of-genocide-in-gaza
2023-10-09 Israel Announces ‘Complete Siege’ of Gaza, Says They’re Fighting ‘Human Animals’ The Israeli defense minister on Monday announced a “complete siege” on Gaza and said Israeli forces were fighting “human animals” as Israeli airstrikes have been bombarding the enclave, which is home to about one million children.
2023-10-09 Are US Weapons Fueling The Hamas Offensive? — The Ron Paul Liberty Report After US weapons in the hands of Hamas fighters have surfaced on several videos, questions are being asked about how they got there. Were they shipped from Afghanistan, where the US left tons of military equipment in its hasty departure? Were they sold to Hamas by corrupt officials in Ukraine? https://www.activistpost.com/2023/10/are-us-weapons-fueling-the-hamas-offensive-the-ron-paul-liberty-report.html
2023-10-10 Outrage After Israel Told Gazans To Flee To Egypt, Then Bombed Lone Border Crossing On Tuesday morning Israel bombed the Rafah crossing in the Gaza Strip, which is the only border crossing that Palestinians are able to use to flee to Egypt. Hamas has claimed that the crossing has now been rendered impassable. “The Israel Defense Forces said Tuesday afternoon that it hit an underground tunnel for smuggling weapons and equipment in the Rafah area, on the Egypt-Gaza border, but did not confirm or deny hitting the crossing itself,” the Times of Israel is reporting. The Rafah bombing has caused international outrage given that in the hours and days prior, the Israeli government has repeatedly told Palestinians in Gaza to flee because massive airstrikes will continue. Many have wondered, but where do they go? https://www.activistpost.com/2023/10/outrage-after-israel-told-gazans-to-flee-to-egypt-then-bombed-lone-border-crossing.html
2023-10-23 Michael Kerr’s e-mail to RFK Jr. about Israel/Palestine You have a total lack of understanding and appreciation of the 75+ years of Israel oppression, occupation, and genocide of the Palestine people by Israel and the United States. Your October 7 press release is a total contradiction of your “Peace” platform.
For two weeks now (without a new more rational press release) you have continued to glorify the military oppression and genocide of 2.2 million people in Gaza and another 3+ million Palestinians in the West Bank.
I thought you would stand up to the military-industrial complex that the Democratic and Republican Parties worship! You have now become what you said you opposed. I had been one of your most ardent supporters, but you have lost my support now. It is with great sadness because this nation and the world needed you desperately.
Your motto has been “show me the proof” if you want me to change my position on an issue. I have the same motto! So here are my sources of proof to you: contact “Jewish Voice for Peace” and in addition here is my extensive and ongoing research on the Palestine/Israel situation. https://progressiveissuesblog.com/2021/01/29/palestine-and-israel/
2024-07-18 230 Congressional Staffers Urge Lawmakers to Boycott Netanyahu Speech n anonymous letter supported by 230 staffers in the House of Representatives and the Senate is urging lawmakers to boycott a speech by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is scheduled to address Congress later this month as Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza rages on.
The letter, organized by members of the Congressional Progressive Staff Association and endorsed by staffers representing the offices of 122 Democratic and Republican lawmakers, describes the demand for a boycott of Netanyahu’s speech as an “issue of morality” that transcends politics, and notes that “citizens, students, and lawmakers across the country and the world have spoken out against the actions of Mr. Netanyahu,” including Israeli citizens.
2024-07-02 Service in Dissent: Joint Statement of U.S. Government Officials Who Have Resigned Over U.S. Policy Towards Gaza, Palestine, and Israel We are former U.S. Government Officials who resigned from our respective positions over the last nine months due to our grave concerns with current U.S. policy towards the crisis in Gaza, and U.S. policies and practices towards Palestine and Israel more broadly.
We are subject matter experts representing the interagency, and are a multifaith and multiethnic community of professionals and patriots dedicated to the service of the United States of America, its people, and its values. Whether in the civil service, foreign service, armed forces, or as political appointees, each of us has sworn an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, and as our nation celebrates its Independence Day, each of us are reminded that we resigned from government not to terminate that oath but to continue to abide by it; not to end our commitment to service, but to extend it.
2024-05-15 Jewish U.S. Interior Department Staffer Resigns Over U.S. Support of Israel The special assistant to the chief of staff for the U.S. Interior Department became the first Jewish political appointee to publicly resign in response to the United State’s continued support of Israel’s brutal military campaign in Gaza. On Wednesday, Lily Greenberg Call wrote a letter accusing the United States of “enabling Israeli war crimes and the status quo of an apartheid and occupation” and “making Jews the face of the American war machine.”
“Israel’s ongoing offensive against Palestinians does not keep Jewish people safe — in Israel, nor in the United States,” she wrote. “What I have learned from my Jewish tradition is that every life is precious. That we are obligated to stand up for those facing violence and oppression, and to question authority in the face of injustice.”https://www.yahoo.com/news/jewish-u-interior-department-staffer-215906067.html
2024-03-28 I Could Not Stay Silent: Annelle Sheline Resigns from State Dept. over U.S. Gaza Policy A State Department official working on human rights issues in the Middle East resigned Wednesday in protest of U.S. support for Israel’s assault on Gaza. Annelle Sheline, who worked as a foreign affairs officer in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, was not planning on publicly resigning, but her colleagues asked her to “please speak out” against the Biden administration’s unconditional support for Israel. “At the end of the day, many people inside [the State Department] know that this is a horrific policy, and can’t believe that the United States government is engaged in such actions that contravene American values so directly, but the leadership is not listening,” says Sheline. “I’m trying to speak on behalf of those many, many people who feel so betrayed by our government’s stance.”
Sheline describes being moved by the words of Aaron Bushnell, the active-duty U.S. airman who set himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in protest of the war on Gaza, who implored everyone to take a stand against genocide. “I have a young daughter, and I thought about, in the future, if she were to ask me, ‘What were you doing when this was happening? You were at the State Department.’ I want to be able to tell her that I didn’t stay silent.” Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRI-MtoSD_E
2024-03-27 BRAVE State Dept. Official Resigns Over Biden’s Handling Of Gaza War Annelle Sheline, a foreign affairs officer of the Department of State’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, said her job of advocating for human rights has become impossible. Ana Kasparian discusses on The Young Turks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fI_nhRgvp0g
2024-02-07 War on Gaza: After Unrwa cuts, congressional staffers organise Gaza fundraiser After the Biden administration abruptly suspended funding to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa), amid congressional calls for that aid to be permanently stopped, a group of appalled staffers on Capitol Hill have taken matters into their own hands.
Rather than following their bosses in Congress or agreeing to the administration’s aid suspension, staffers are organising a fundraiser next week in DC to help raise money for humanitarian assistance in Gaza, as well as for organisations working to free the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza. “We feel like we have a responsibility to do more when you see our members and our president and the administration refusing to do so,” an organiser with Congressional Staff for Ceasefire Now said in a phone interview with MEE.
The fundraiser will take place next Thursday. Organisers also plan to create a GoFundMe page and open up their fundraising efforts to the public. “While we’re obviously not going to be able to raise the millions of dollars, or the billions of dollars, that Congress could appropriate for this aid, we can certainly do our part and make our splash.” https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/war-gaza-after-cuts-unrwa-congressional-staffers-organise-gaza-fundraiser
2024-02-03 ‘Ethnic Cleansing and Genocide’ – Hundreds of US, EU, UK Civil Servants Issue Joint Statement on Gaza More than 800 civil servants from the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union have released a statement criticizing their governments’ support of Israel in its ongoing aggression on Gaza, warning that such policies could be contributing to war crimes and violations of international law.
2024-01-30 Federal Workers Plan Daylong Fast in Solidarity With Gaza Feds United for Peace said their second action this month “aims to shed light on the humanitarian crisis faced by the people of Gaza and promote dialogue around lasting solutions.” A group of workers at over two dozen U.S. government agencies are planning a “Day of Fasting” on Thursday in what they called “a powerful display of solidarity with the people of Gaza,” who are enduring a genocidal Israeli assault supported by the Biden administration.
Feds United for Peace—who earlier this month held a “Day of Mourning” to mark 100 days of the war—said Monday that the planned daylong hunger strike is meant “to raise awareness and support those affected” by the relentless Israeli onslaught and “aims to shed light on the humanitarian crisis faced by the people of Gaza and promote dialogue around lasting solutions.” https://www.commondreams.org/news/feds-united-for-peace
2023-11-23 State Department Official Resigns, Says Israel Is Using U.S. Arms to Massacre Civilians in Gaza We speak with Josh Paul, a former State Department official, about his decision to resign from his position in protest of U.S. arms sales to Israel amid its recent bombardment of Gaza. Paul tells Democracy Now!, “I decided to resign for three reasons, the first and most pressing of which is the very, I believe, uncontroversial fact that U.S.-provided arms should not be used to massacre civilians, should not be used to result in massive civilian casualties.” https://www.democracynow.org/2023/11/23/dissenters_2
2023-11-19 Dissent Over U.S. Policy in the Israel-Hamas War Stirs Protests From Federal Employees Federal government workers from the State Department to NASA are circulating open letters demanding that President Joe Biden pursue a cease-fire in Israel’s war against Hamas. Congressional staffers are picking up microphones in front of the Capitol, speaking out to condemn what they say is the silence of lawmakers about the toll on Palestinian civilians.
As the deaths soar in Gaza, Biden and Congress are facing unusually public challenges from the inside over their support for Israel’s offensive. Hundreds of staffers in the administration and on Capitol Hill are signing on to open letters, speaking to reporters and holding vigils, all in an effort to shift U.S. policy toward more urgent action to stem Palestinian casualties.
“Most of our bosses on Capitol Hill are not listening to the people they represent,” one of the congressional staffers told the crowd at a protest this month. Wearing medical masks that obscured their faces, the roughly 100 congressional aides heaped flowers in front of Congress to honor the civilians killed in the conflict. https://time.com/6337379/us-policy-israel-hamas-war-dissent/
2023-11-15 Biden Faces Rebellion Over Israel Policy | Vantage with Palki Sharma Over 500 political appointees and staff members from about 40 US government agencies sent a letter to US President Joe Biden, protesting against his unwavering support for Israel. The letter, presented to Biden and his cabinet, calls for the president to seek an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. The US has acknowledged this dissent but there is still no change to policy. Palki Sharma tells you all about the brewing dissent in the United States. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQH8HYIkCwU
2023-11-13 LEAKED State Dept. Memo Condemns Biden’s Policies On Israel An State Department dissent memo said that Israel is committing war crimes and that President Biden is misleading the American people on what’s happening. Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian discuss on The Young Turks. “An internal State Department dissent memo accuses President Biden of “spreading misinformation” on the Israel-Hamas war and alleges that Israel is committing “war crimes” in Gaza, according to a copy of the memo obtained by Axios. Why it matters: The scathing five-page memo — organized by a junior diplomat who has suggested on social media that Biden’s support of Israel has made him “complicit in genocide” in Gaza — offers a rare look at the raw divisions within the Biden administration over the Israel-Hamas war.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnK1ELXjHsw&list=RDNSDQH8HYIkCwU&index=2
2023-11-09 Former State Dept. official who resigned over U.S. arming Israel: ‘Ceasefire is number one priority’ The former State Department official who resigned over the U.S. arming Israel speaks to Joy Reid. Josh Paul, former director of the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs tells Joy: “When Russia bombs hospitals, we condemn it as a war crime. When Russia takes out the power grid of a country, we condemn it as a war crime. But, when Israel does it, we provide the bombs.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpehb1IsdLg&list=RDNSDQH8HYIkCwU&index=4
2023-11-03 State Department Official Resigns, Says Israel Is Using U.S. Arms to Massacre Civilians in Gaza We speak with Josh Paul, a former State Department official who resigned last month to protest continued arms sales to Israel amid its bombardment of Gaza, writing in a viral letter that one-sided U.S. support for Israel is “shortsighted,” “destructive” and “contradictory.” Media reports say many others inside the State Department are equally frustrated with the U.S. role in the conflict. Paul tells Democracy Now! he tried to raise his concerns with his superiors but found “no appetite for that discussion” and that unlike all other U.S. arms sales that take humanitarian concerns into account, Israel gets a blank check. Paul says the overall message inside the Biden administration is: “Don’t question the policy because it’s coming from the top.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w9fAgaUBrw2023-10-19 State Department Official Quits to Protest Biden Administration’s “Blind Support” of Israel A high-ranking State Department official has resigned in protest of the Biden administration’s policies on Israel and Palestine. For 11 years, Josh Paul oversaw arms transfers to U.S. allies while serving as the congressional and public affairs director of the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs. In a letter explaining his resignation, Paul condemned what he called U.S. “blind support” for Israel as “an impulsive reaction built on confirmation bias, political convenience, intellectual bankruptcy, and bureaucratic inertia.” Paul wrote that his greatest desire was to see both Israelis and Palestinians flourish, adding, “Collective punishment is an enemy to that desire, whether it involves demolishing one home, or one thousand; as too is ethnic cleansing; as too is occupation; as too is apartheid.” https://www.democracynow.org/2023/10/19/headlines/gaza_death_toll_nears_3_800_as_israels_siege_and_bombardment_enters_13th_day
2024-03-02 Just Two US Lawmakers Sign International Statement Demanding Arms Embargo on Israel More than 200 lawmakers from 13 countries issued a joint statement Friday expressing opposition to their nations’ weapons exports to Israel and pledging to do everything in their power to halt the flow of arms that are being used to massacre Palestinians in Gaza. Just two U.S. lawmakers—Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Cori Bush (D-Mo.)—backed the statement.
“We, the undersigned parliamentarians, declare our commitment to end our nations’ arms sales to the state of Israel,” reads the statement, which was coordinated by Progressive International. “Our bombs and bullets must not be used to kill, maim, and dispossess Palestinians. But they are: We know that lethal weapons and their parts, made or shipped through our countries, currently aid the Israeli assault on Palestine that has claimed over 30,000 lives across Gaza and the West Bank.”
The statement’s signatories include legislators from Israel’s top allies and weapons suppliers, including the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Canada. The statement includes six signatories from Germany, which is facing an International Court of Justice (ICJ) case alleging complicity in genocide against Palestinians. The lawmakers argued that an arms embargo on Israel is both “a moral necessity” and “a legal requirement,” given the ICJ’s interim ruling in late January. https://www.commondreams.org/news/lawmakers-arms-embargo-israel
2023-12-07 Biden Should Just Say ‘No’ to Israel As U.S. polls showed growing disapproval for Israeli actions and the administration’s timid response, coupled with signs of increasing Arab world dissatisfaction with America’s refusal to rein in Israel, the administration attempted to create even more distance. Key White House talking points now included: urging Israel to adhere to the “rules of war” by limiting civilian casualties, warnings that the U.S. wouldn’t accept the reoccupation of Gaza, and insistence on increased humanitarian assistance to displaced Palestinians. Despite this slight change in tune, there was no shift in policy.
To facilitate this, the U.S. would have to change its “No” at the United Nations to a “Yes” and support a Security Council resolution recognizing Palestine as a state, declaring its continued occupation as a threat to regional peace and security, and ordering an empowered U.N. peacekeeping force to the occupied territories to provide peace and security for both Israelis and Palestinians.
Such moves from the U.S. would undoubtedly cause a shock to both societies. Only under the security provided by such a U.N. mandate would the Palestinians be able to put their house in order. At the same time, the shock of a U.S. “No” to Israel and “Yes” to a U.N. Security Council resolution that would change the status of territories to Palestinian land, Israelis would be left to ask hard questions about where decades of unchecked acquisitiveness and expansion have led them. They would be forced to reexamine whether they could continue to oppress Palestinians with impunity. In the aftershock, sane voices will be able to break through in the public square reigniting both Israeli peace forces and Palestinian moderates. It won’t be easy, but leaving the cancer in place is nothing more than a prescription for certain death. A shock to the system is required and it all begins with a U.S. “No” followed by “Yes.” https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/biden-should-say-no-to-israel
2023-10-10 Univ. of MD Prof. Shibley Telhami to President Biden: Value Palestinian Life as Well as Israeli Life Middle East scholar Shibley Telhami, who says this latest violence is likely to have a major impact on the wider region, especially if other actors like Lebanon’s Hezbollah fighters get involved in the conflict. He says U.S. President Joe Biden’s support for Israel following the Hamas attack on Saturday was understandable, but that focus must shift to finding a long-term solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “This is not a military challenge,” says Telhami. “This is a political problem, and the occupation has to be addressed.” https://www.democracynow.org/2023/10/10/shibley_telhami_israel_hamas_war_region
2022-12 15 FAQ #3: Which Palestine/Israel Legislative and Policy Issues Should I Support?
1. Should I support end-use restrictions on US weapons to Israel?
2. Should I support initiatives to hold Israel accountable for human rights abuses?
3. Should I support bills to provide Israel with even more weapons than usual?
4. Should I support bills and resolutions to restrict the First Amendment rights of Americans to boycott for Palestinian freedom?
5 Should I support initiatives to punish or condemn the UN for backing Palestinian rights?
6. Should I support initiatives to cut off funding for Palestinian refugees?
2024-08-29 A Movement to Suspend Israel From the UN Needs a Country to Take the Lead In the United Nations General Assembly, the Israeli ambassador at the time, Gilad Erdan, used a paper shredder to destroy pages of the UN Charter, saying that countries who back Palestine’s bid to join the UN are “shredding the UN Charter with your own hands,” May 10, 2024.
Israel’s devastating onslaught on Gaza, now approaching the one-year mark, and increasing settler outrages in the West Bank are giving fresh urgency to moves to suspend the Jewish state from the United Nations General Assembly.
2024-08-28 Israel’s new ambassador issues stark warning to UN over Hezbollah, Iran inaction The new Israeli ambassador to the United Nations has issued a stern warning to the international body amid escalating tensions with Hezbollah and concerns that Iran could be close to obtaining a nuclear weapon. Ambassador Danny Danon told Fox News Digital that Security Council Resolution 1701 “said very clearly that there would be no military force in southern Lebanon besides the Lebanese military, but look what happened since 2006.”
“Hezbollah took over, they controlled the region, and they made this area a hub for terrorism with tens of thousands of rockets that, unfortunately, in the last few months, we felt the capabilities,” he argued. “I think if the U.N. is not capable of implementing the resolution, we will have to implement the resolution and push Hezbollah away from our community in the north.”
2024-08-22 Israel envoy to UN calls PA ambassador ‘a terrorist in a suit’ at Security Council meeting srael’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon calls the Palestinian Authority envoy “a terrorist in a suit” at a Security Council debate in New York.
2024-08-17 UN Secretary-General Urges ‘Polio Pause’ in Israeli War on Gaza as First Case Reported “It is impossible to conduct a polio vaccination campaign with war raging all over,” said António Guterres after a 10-month-old infant became Gaza’s first new poliomyelitis case in 25 years.
Following over a month of warnings, Gaza recorded its first case of polio since the highly contagious virus was eradicated there 25 years ago, prompting a Friday call by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres for a temporary truce to enable a vaccination drive in the embattled strip.
The Gaza Health Ministry said Friday that an 10-month-old infant in the central city of Deir al-Balah “who has not received any polio vaccine dose” has tested positive for the virus, which often causes paralysis and can be fatal. The ministry said the baby is one of “a number of children” who have presented with symptoms consistent with polio in recent days. https://www.commondreams.org/news/polio-in-gaza
2024-05-10 UN Vote Was for Palestinian Membership, Not Statehood In a blow to the U.S., the U.N. General Assembly voted Friday to give Palestine, whose statehood it has already acknowledged, full U.N. membership, forcing the U.S. into another embarrassing veto at the Security Council, says Joe Lauria.
The United States will be forced into another embarrassing veto at the U.N. Security Council after the General Assembly on Friday voted overwhelmingly to ask the Council to reverse its rejection of full U.N. membership for Palestine.
The Assembly voted 143 nations in favor, to just nine against, with 25 abstentions to recommend that the Security Council reconsider its decision last month not to approve full membership. It was a message in reality only to the United States, since it was the U.S. veto in the Council on April 18 that denied Palestine full membership.
Joining the U.S. in the Assembly in voting against on Friday were Israel, Argentina, Czechia, Hungary, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau and Papua New Guinea. Most U.S. allies abstained but several voted in favor of membership, including Australia, Estonia, France, Japan, Norway, Spain and South Korea.
Israel’s furious ambassador, Gilad Erdan, said the U.N. was founded to prevent the kind of tyranny of the Nazis who sought to annihilate the Jewish people.
2024-04-11 UN Expert Demands EU Suspend Trade Deal With Israel Over Gaza Genocide “Europe is the main trading partner—which accounts I think for 30% of Israel’s trade—so it has a huge power and it should use that power,” said U.N. expert Francesca Albanese. Pointing out a significant “disconnect” between the European Union’s political class and the public regarding Israel’s assault on Gaza, the top United Nations expert on the occupied Palestinian territories on Wednesday said E.U. officials must suspend trade relations with the Israeli government. https://www.commondreams.org/news/eu-israel-trade
2024-04-07 World Marks Six Months of ‘Relentless Death and Destruction’ in Gaza U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres reiterated his call for an “immediate humanitarian cease-fire, the unconditional release of all hostages, the protection of civilians, and the unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid.”
In six months of bombardment by air, land, and sea following the Hamas-led attacks that killed more than 1,100 people in Israel—with over 240 people taken hostage—Israeli forces have killed or maimed more than 116,000 Palestinians, including people believed to be dead and buried beneath the rubble of hundreds of thousands of bombed-out homes and other buildings. Gazans—especially children—are starving to death as Israel severely restricts the amount of aid allowed to enter the strip. Women are “burying their newborns every day” as they have nothing to feed them.
Around 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been forcibly displaced, perhaps permanently, in what many Palestinians and international observers are calling a new Nakba, the ethnic cleansing catastrophe perpetrated by Jewish militants during the establishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948. Gaza’s infrastructure has been obliterated, with reconstruction expected to cost $18.5 billion, or nearly Palestine’s entire annual gross domestic product. https://www.commondreams.org/news/gaza-genocide-2667714326
2024-03-23 UN chief calls blocked aid for Gaza a moral outrage A long line of blocked relief trucks on Egypt’s side of the border with the Gaza Strip where people face starvation is a moral outrage, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said during a visit to the Rafah crossing on Saturday.
2024-03-07 UN Expert ‘Horrified by the Depravity’ of Israel’s War on Gaza A United Nations expert on Wednesday expressed her disgust with what Israel is doing during its assault on Gaza. Paula Gaviria Betancur, U.N. special rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, specifically focused on the Israeli government’s evacuation orders for Rafah.
“I am appalled to hear that Israel intends to extend these orders to Rafah, the only semblance of refuge for nearly 70% of Gaza’s surviving population and the only functional entry point for humanitarian aid, should Israel’s demands in negotiations not be met by the unilaterally imposed deadline of 10 March,” Betancur said. https://www.commondreams.org/news/un-expert-horrified-by-the-depravity-of-israel-s-war-on-gaza
2024-03-02 The war in Gaza has blurred the line between the United Nations’ diplomatic and humanitarian roles Two wars in two years. The conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza have given rise to the most demanding and exhausting period for the United Nations since the beginning of the century. Then, the war in Iraq shocked the world and lit the fuse once and for all on the new global disorder of jihadist terrorism. The old mechanism of the right of veto has rendered the Security Council — the body in charge of ensuring world peace and security — inoperative.
Thus, while the initiatives for Ukraine have been showing signs of fatigue for months (Russia has blocked them all), those it has put forward for Gaza have also been doomed to failure: the United States vetoed a permanent humanitarian ceasefire resolution for the third time last week. The Global South has criticized the West’s double standards in both conflicts, while continued fighting in the Strip is preventing humanitarian aid from reaching those who need it most. The killing of over 100 people in the enclave during a distribution of flour last Thursday was the umpteenth demonstration of the practical consequences of the organization’s paralysis. https://english.elpais.com/international/2024-03-02/the-war-in-gaza-has-blurred-the-line-between-the-united-nations-diplomatic-and-humanitarian-roles.html?
2024-01-31 UN Council Debates ICJ Israel Ruling on Genocide The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday debated last Friday’s World Court ruling that Israel must stand trial for genocide after finding plausible evidence against it.
No decision was taken by the Security Council, which could enforce the World Court’s ruling — that Israel must prevent its soldiers from committing acts of genocide — through economic sanctions, and even theoretically authorizing U.N. military action against Israel. But such moves would undoubtedly be vetoed by the United States, which maintains that Israel is not committing genocide but merely defending itself.
“The ICJ has offered a resounding rebuke to those who claimed that the case of genocide against Israel was ‘meritless’ and ‘baseless,’” said Riyad Mansour, ambassador for the Observer State of Palestine, in a clear reference to the United States, whose officials used those very words. https://consortiumnews.com/2024/01/31/watch-un-council-debates-icj-israel-ruling-on-genocide/
2023-12-28 Cease-Fire Now! What I Said to the UN Security Council Not many people have the opportunity to provide an oral and written statement to the United Nations Security Council. I had my chance on December 11, 2023, when I was asked as a retired U.S. Army colonel and a former U.S. diplomat to speak on weapons transfers in the Russia-Ukraine war. I introduced myself as a U.S. taxpayer who was fed up with my tax money being used by the powerful and wealthy U.S. arms industry authorized by the U.S. government for sale to countries that are killing innocent civilians.
My statement to the Security Council was simple. Wars will never end as long as weapons transfers into the conflict area continue. I noted, as the Security Council well knows, that civilians will be the primary victims of the transfer of weapons. I cited the two wars to which the U.S. is providing weapons: Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Gaza. https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/un-security-council-cease-fire
2023-12-26 Israel Rebuked for ‘Baseless’ Visa Bans for UN Officials Over Gaza “Israel thought they could blackmail everyone, including the U.N., into collaboration with the propaganda cover of their crimes,” said one Palestinian critic.
Israel’s foreign ministry said Monday it would deny visas for multiple United Nations employees after officials and agencies within the world body—including a panel on which an Israeli expert accused the country of genocide—continued their sharp criticism of the war on Gaza.
“Baseless attacks against the U.N. only proves moral cowardice,” Albanese said in response to Cohen in a social media post. “The UN has been weakened by decades of Israeli impunity for breaches of international law, including colonization of occupied territories and Palestinian forced displacement. The UN must hold Israel to account if it is to salvage its reputation and purpose.” The alternative to accountability, she continued, “is playing itself out in Gaza today. With freedom for all, there will be freedom for none.” Albanese called for an immediate ceasefire, release of Israeli hostages as well as arbitrarily detained Palestinians, and the end of occupation in order to restore peace, full protection for all civilians, and put the region on a path towards justice. https://www.commondreams.org/news/united-nation-and-israel
2023-12-24 There Was No Cover-Up of Hamas’s Sexual Violence on October 7 The right manufactured it, the media and feminists bought in — and Israel is exploiting the outcry. There has been no cover-up. If anything, the public’s fixation on sexual violence heightens attention to the Hamas-led crimes. The scandal that unfolded in early December was largely manufactured by right-wing pundits who until this moment didn’t give a fig about rape.
On October 13 — two days after Israel cut off food, water, and fuel to Gaza while it continued its indiscriminate bombardment — U.N. Women, whose mission is to promote gender equality globally, issued its first statementOpens in a new tab on the war: “UN Women condemns the attacks on civilians in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories and is deeply alarmed by the devastating impact on civilians including women and girls,” it began. The 198-word statement called for “unrestricted humanitarian aid,” a restoration of the basics for survival to Gaza, and the “immediate release of hostages.” It reiterated the group’s support of Palestinian women in their fight for social, political, and economic rights. It did not say the same for Israeli Jewish women, who are already granted these rights under Israel’s Basic Laws. Hamas was not mentioned.
On October 20, the organization published Opens in a new tab a “Rapid Assessment and Humanitarian Response in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.” Among the bullet points: 493,000 women and girls were already displaced from their homes; 668,000 were in need of protection from gender-based violence. This document did not mention Hamas’s attacks either. It did not report on human rights violations or even provide a death toll.
The first organized criticism of U.N. Women came on October 30 from the U.S.-based National Council of Jewish Women, the Israel Women’s Network, and 140-plus Jewish and Israeli women’s organizations. “It is inconceivable that a UN organization that is responsible for women’s rights is ignoring the hostages captured and held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the murder of hundreds of innocent people,” their statement Opens in a new tab declared. In fact, U.N. Women on October 13 did not mention Hamas, but neither did it ignore the Israeli murder victims or the hostages.
2023-12-22 UN Expert Says ‘Only Logical Conclusion’ Is That Israel Aims to Expel Majority of People From Gaza Israel’s tactics in its assault on Gaza indicate that it is trying to force the Palestinians who live there to abandon it, a United Nations expert warned Friday.
Paula Gaviria Betancur, special rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons (IDPs), pointed out that Israel had ordered civilians to flee to safety in the south of Gaza two months ago, only to demand that both the new refugees and the residents of southern Gaza evacuate again. She worried that Israel was engaged in forced population transfer and collective punishment, both war crimes. “Where will the people of Gaza have left to go tomorrow?” she asked. “As evacuation orders and military operations continue to expand and civilians are subjected to relentless attacks on a daily basis, the only logical conclusion is that Israel’s military operation in Gaza aims to deport the majority of the civilian population en masse.”https://www.commondreams.org/news/mass-deportation-israel-gaza
The newly passed resolution—which was introduced by the United Arab Emirates—calls for “urgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors throughout the Gaza Strip for a sufficient number of days to enable full, rapid, safe, and unhindered humanitarian access.” The resolutioncalls for “urgent steps… for creating the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities,” language that’s weaker than an earlier draft’s call for an “urgent and sustainable cessation of hostilities.”
“Biden’s changes will help ensure that Israel’s slaughter in Gaza continues while minimizing the U.N.’s insight into what increasingly appears to be a genocide.” Also removed from the final version was language condemning Israel’s indiscriminate attacks on Palestinian civilians, tens of thousands of whom have been killed, wounded, or left missing during 77 days of Israeli onslaught. The vote came just after Russia proposed an amendment that would have restored language calling for an “immediate cessation of hostilities” to the resolution. The U.S. vetoed the amendment.
Earlier this month, the U.S. vetoed a separate Security Council resolution calling for a Gaza cease-fire. That resolution was later approved by the U.N. General Assembly in a 153-10 vote. “It is disgraceful that the U.S. was able to stall and use the threat of its veto power to force the U.N. Security Council to weaken a much-needed call for an immediate end to attacks by all parties,” Amnesty International secretary-general Agnès Callamard said in a statement. https://www.commondreams.org/news/united-nation-resolution-gaza
2023-12-13 Why is the UN genocide office silent about Gaza? Alice Wairimu Nderitu, the UN secretary-general’s special adviser on genocide prevention, is violating her mandate by remaining silent about Gaza.(U.S. Institute of Peace) Alice Wairimu Nderitu has one job that’s spelled out in her official title: She’s the UN secretary-general’s special adviser on the prevention of genocide.
Yet while human rights groups, independent UN experts and genocide scholars are ringing the alarm bells over Israel’s extermination campaign in Gaza, Nderitu has remained silent. On 15 October, Nderitu did issue a statement strongly condemning – no less than three times – Hamas for attacking Israel on 7 October. She apparently accepts as fact all of Israel’s unverified and quickly unraveling claims about that day. Nderitu even suggests that Palestinians attack Israel not because they are under a brutal, decades-long occupation, but rather “on the basis of identity” – echoing Israel’s absurd and reprehensible propaganda that it is anti-Semitism that motivates Palestinian resistance. https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/why-un-genocide-office-silent-about-gaza
2023-12-08 ‘Disastrous’: US Vetoes Cease-Fire Resolution at UN Security Council “The Security Council was again prevented from rising to this moment to uphold its clear responsibilities in the face of this grave crisis threatening human lives and threatening regional and international peace and security,” said the Palestinian envoy to the United Nations. Nicolas de Rivière, France’s permanent representative to the Security Council, who voted in favor of the cease-fire, argued that there is no “contradiction in the fight against terrorism and the protection of civilians, in strict respect of international humanitarian law.”
The U.S. has now vetoed U.N. resolutions to hold Israel accountable for its policies in Palestine 45 times, human rights lawyer Noura Erakat said. Former U.N. human rights official Craig Mokhiber—who resigned in October over the U.N.’s response to the war in Gaza—noted that U.S. blocked the resolution on the eve of the 75th anniversary of the U.N. Genocide Convention. https://www.commondreams.org/news/us-vetoes-cease-fire
2023-12-08 US vetoes UN resolution backed by many nations demanding immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza The United States vetoed a United Nations resolution Friday backed by almost all other Security Council members and dozens of other nations demanding an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza. Supporters called it a terrible day and warned of more civilian deaths and destruction as the war goes into its third month.
The vote in the 15-member council was 13-1, with the United Kingdom abstaining. The United States’ isolated stand reflected a growing fracture between Washington and some of its closest allies over Israel’s monthslong bombardment of Gaza. France and Japan were among those supporting the call for a cease-fire. https://www.yahoo.com/news/un-chief-many-nations-demand-202238429.html
2023-11-30 UN commission to investigate Hamas sexual violence, appeal for evidence
[MEK Note: Israel makes lots of wild claims to paint Hamas as barbaric, yet it didn’t treat the areas of attack as crime scenes by gathering evidence and it refuses to cooperate with an UN investigation.]
A U.N. commission of inquiry investigating war crimes on both sides of the Israel-Hamas conflict will focus on sexual violence by Hamas in the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel and is about to launch an appeal for evidence, its chair told Reuters on Wednesday.
Chair Navi Pillay on Wednesday said she would pass the evidence onto the International Criminal Court and called for it to consider prosecutions amid earlier criticism from Israel and families of Israeli hostages that the U.N. had kept quiet. “I’m now sitting as chair of a commission with the power to investigate this. So there’s no way we will not do so,” said Pillay, chair of the three-member commission of inquiry into abuses committed in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. Already, she said some people are keen to provide testimonies and that these would be handed over to prosecutors.
However, a major challenge for Pillay is that Israel has not cooperated with the commission, which it says has an anti-Israel bias. The commission could struggle to gather sufficient evidence to support future charges if access is not granted. “Since the establishment of the COI (Commission of Inquiry) in 2021, Israel has made it clear: it will not cooperate with this discriminatory body and its Commissioners,” Israel’s permanent mission to the U.N. in Geneva said in a statement to Reuters on Thursday.
See video of a joint statement by the foreign ministers of Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Palestine, Indonesia, Türkiye, the UAE and Egypt. Russia’s ambassador, Vasily Nebenzya (2:08:35), blasted Western double standards for calling for two meetings a month on Ukraine and zero on Palestine. “Perhaps the fate of the Palestinian population is much less interesting for you from a domestic political perspective,” he said. Nebenzya criticized Western “hypocrites and unprincipled opportunists” who express concern for women’s rights while ignoring the fate of Gaza’s women. https://consortiumnews.com/2023/11/30/watch-un-security-council-debates-catastrophe-in-gaza/
2023-11-20 Palestinian Death Toll in Gaza Tops 13,000 as Israel Repeatedly Strikes U.N. Schools Housing Refugees Over the weekend, at least 82 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes on Jabaliya refugee camp, including multiple United Nations schools sheltering Palestinians. At least 85 incidents of Israeli bombing have impacted 67 facilities run by the United Nations relief agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) in the last two months. We speak with Tamara Alrifai, spokesperson for UNRWA, about the organization sheltering close to a million Palestinians from Israel’s assault, which has killed 104 of her colleagues since the beginning of the war — the highest number of United Nations aid workers killed in a conflict in the history of the United Nations. Alrifai says her agency is only getting half of the fuel they need to serve people in Gaza, being forced to choose between clean water, food and transport. “If UNRWA ceases to exist tomorrow, then there is a huge layer of stabilizing and stability that UNRWA usually offers in a very, very volatile area that also collapses.” https://www.democracynow.org/2023/11/20/unrwa
2023-11-23 “Text-Book Case of Genocide”: Top U.N. Official Craig Mokhiber Resigns, Denounces Israeli Assault on Gaza Hear from Craig Mokhiber, a longtime international human rights lawyer, who previously served as director of the New York Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, on why he left his post while decrying U.N. inaction over what he calls a “text-book case of genocide” unfolding in Gaza. Mokhiber’s letter of resignation went viral last month. He spoke to Democracy Now! shortly after. https://www.democracynow.org/2023/11/23/dissenters
2023-11-18 UN Forced to Halts Aid Deliveries Into Gaza, Warns of “Immediate Starvation” On Friday the UN said that it was no longer able to continue aid deliveries into Gaza as an Israeli fuel blockade of the enclave has led to a widespread communications blackout. The World Health Organization warned that the ending of aid deliveries means the “immediate possibility of starvation” for the 2.3 million people in Gaza.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) announced it was forced to halt aid shipments into Gaza. “The communications network in #Gaza is down because there is NO fuel,” the agency said in a statement on social media. “This makes it impossible to manage or coordinate humanitarian aid convoys.” https://www.activistpost.com/2023/11/un-forced-to-halts-aid-deliveries-into-gaza-warns-of-immediate-starvation.html
2023-11-17 UN warns of Gaza starvation as concerns rise about safety in the south The UN has said Gaza’s civilians face the “immediate possibility” of starvation, amid mounting concerns about Israeli plans to expand military operations in parts of the south where people have sought refuge from fighting.
Fuel shortages on Friday halted aid shipments and blacked out communications across the strip. The UN said its trucks could not move and it could not coordinate deliveries. Palestinian network operators said they could no longer power the phone and internet systems. Fuel shortages have also in effect shut down water treatment and sewage systems, leading health authorities to warn about the spread of infectious diseases.
Israel said its forces were consolidating control of the north, as they continued the hunt for a Hamas command and control centre under al-Shifa hospital. A spokesperson attacked the “impatience” of demands for proof of Hamas headquarters there. Since troops entered the compound on Wednesday, the military has published images of what it claimed was one tunnel entrance and weapons found in a truck inside the compound but no further evidence of Hamasactivity. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/17/gaza-un-starvation-disease
2023-11-01 “Genocide”: Top U.N. Official Craig Mokhiber Resigns, Denounces Israeli Assault on Gaza A former top United Nations official in New York joins us for an in-depth interview about why he has resigned after publicly accusing the U.N. of failing to address what he calls a “text-book case of genocide” unfolding in Gaza. Craig Mokhiber is a longtime international human rights lawyer who served as director of the New York Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. His resignation letter has gone viral. In one of his first interviews since leaving his post, Mokhiber tells Democracy Now! the U.N. follows a “different set of rules” when addressing Israel’s violations of international law, refusing to utilize its enforcement mechanisms and thus “effectively” acting as “a smokescreen behind which we have seen further and worsening dispossession of Palestinians.” He says it is an “open secret inside the halls of the United Nations that the so-called two-state solution is effectively impossible,” and calls for international actors to push for a “new paradigm” in the region based on “equality for all.” We also discuss the inaction of the International Criminal Court, global suppression of pro-Palestinian advocacy, bad-faith accusations of antisemitism and more. Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiGp2mvFLY0
2023-10-27 UN General Assembly Passes Resolution Calling for ‘Humanitarian Truce’ in Gaza While Israel intensified its war on Hamas that has devastated the Gaza Strip, the United Nations General Assembly on Friday approved a resolution that “calls for an immediate, durable, and sustained humanitarian truce leading to a cessation of hostilities.”
Israel launched what some scholars are calling a genocidal assault—backed by billions of dollars in U.S. military support—after a Hamas-led attack that killed over 1,400 Israelis and Palestinian militants took around 200 hostages. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, Israeli forces have killed over 7,300 Palestinians, including more than 3,000 children, and wounded about 19,000 others. The three-week bombardment has also damaged or destroyed around half of Gaza’s homes, displaced a majority of the 2.3 million population, and cut off internet and communication services, heightening fears that Israel may pursue proposals to ethnically cleanse and recolonize the Hamas-controlled strip, where residents have lived under an Israeli blockade for 16 years.
The nonbinding United Nations resolution passed during an emergency session in New York City on Friday. Of the General Assembly’s 193 voting members, 120 voted in favor, 45 abstained, and 14 opposed—including Israel and the United States, which last week vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution that condemned violence against civilians and called for “humanitarian pauses” to allow aid into Gaza. https://www.commondreams.org/news/united-nations-general-assembly-gaza
2023-10-27 UN General Assembly Votes for Gaza Ceasefire The U.N. General Assembly on Friday voted 120 votes in favor, 14 against and 45 abstentions in a non-binding resolution for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The [Jordanian] resolution calls for an “immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce”, and demands all parties comply with international humanitarian law and “continuous, sufficient and unhindered” provision of essential supplies and services into the Gaza Strip. It also calls for the “immediate and unconditional release” of all civilians held captive as well as demanding their safety, well-being and humane treatment in compliance with international law. The resolution does not mention Hamas or the events of Oct.
Gilad Erdan, Ambassador of Israel to the U.N., said in response to the resolution passing that “today is a day that will go down in infamy”. “We have all witnessed that the U.N. holds not even one ounce of legitimacy,” he said. “The U.N. is committed to ensuring further atrocity. According to the family of nations, Israel has no right to defend itself.” https://consortiumnews.com/2023/10/27/watch-un-ga-votes-for-gaza-ceasefire/
2023-10-19 U.S. Vetoes U.N. Resolution Calling for “Humanitarian Pause” of Gaza Assault The United States has vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a humanitarian pause to Israel’s relentless bombardment of the Gaza Strip and its 2.3 million inhabitants. The resolution, sponsored by Brazil, called for full, rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access for U.N. agencies to deliver lifesaving aid to the besieged territory. It included a condemnation of Hamas’s attacks on Israel and demanded “the immediate and unconditional release” of hostages. On Wednesday, 12 of the Security Council’s 15 members voted in favor of a humanitarian pause in Gaza; Russia and the U.K. abstained; while the United States used its privilege as a permanent member of the Security Council to exercise its veto. https://www.democracynow.org/2023/10/19/headlines/gaza_death_toll_nears_3_800_as_israels_siege_and_bombardment_enters_13th_day
2012-11-29 U.N. Recognizes Palestine As Nonmember State Member Nations Upgrade Territories’ Standing, in Diplomatic Defeat for U.S., Israel; Abbas Issues Warning on Settlements. The United Nations General Assembly voted to recognize Palestine as a nonmember state Thursday, in a move that strengthens the government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The vote tally was 138 yeas to 9 nays with 41 countries abstaining. The United States certainly seemed in the nay camp, with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton calling the vote “unfortunate and counterproductive,” and Ambassador Rice arguing the vote does not establish Palestinian statehood, and places “further obstacles in the path of peace.” https://crooksandliars.com/diane-sweet/un-recognizes-palestine-nonmember-stat
2024-08-21 UK Ministers at Risk of Liability for Supporting Israeli War Crimes: Legal Expert Amid reports that government officials have expressed doubt that the United Kingdom can continue supporting Israel’s assault on Gaza without breaking international law, a legal expert commissioned by a rights group warned the Labour Party on Wednesday that government ministers could be liable for possible war crimes committed by the Israel Defense Forces.
Global Justice Now director Nick Dearden wrote to Foreign Secretary David Lammy on Wednesday, advising him that the organization has commissioned a leading lawyer, Sam Fowles of Cornerstone Barristers, to provide a legal analysis of the U.K.’s potential breach of international law via its support for Israel.
Fowles determined that “the U.K. and individuals, including government ministers and senior civil servants, may be liable for crimes committed by the Israeli state or Israeli personnel during the country’s ongoing military operation in Gaza and through the country’s unlawful occupation of Gaza and the West Bank,” wrote Dearden, with the potential liability arising from the U.K.’s continued “aid and assistance provided to Israel.” https://www.commondreams.org/news/uk-israel-2669001393
2024-08-21 ‘Can’t Make This Up’: Journalist Arrested Under UK Anti-Terror Law Hours After Criticizing It “I criticized the Terrorism Act before getting on the plane, then got arrested under the Terrorism Act upon landing.”
Richard Medhurst, a Syrian-British independent journalist who defends Palestinians’ right to resist Israeli apartheid, occupation, and other crimes, said this week that he was recently arrested at London’s Heathrow Airport and held for nearly 24 hours for allegedly running afoul of a highly controversial anti-terrorism law critics say is used to silence legitimate dissent.
Medhurst—who is known for his work opposing U.S., British, and Israeli war crimes in the Middle East and for his advocacy for formerly imprisoned WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange—said on social media Tuesday: “I criticized the Terrorism Act before getting on the plane, then got arrested under the Terrorism Act upon landing. Can’t make this up.”
“They arrested me—not detained—they arrested me under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act of 2000 and accused me of allegedly ‘expressing an opinion or belief that is supportive of a prescribed organization,’ but wouldn’t explain what this meant,” he continued. https://www.commondreams.org/news/richard-medhurst
2024-08-19 ‘Complicit in War Crimes’: UK Official Resigns Over Arms Sales to Israel A British diplomat on Friday resigned in protest of the United Kingdom’s arm sales to Israel, saying that there is “no justification” for the sales and that Israel has committed war crimes.
Mark Smith, who was a second secretary at the U.K. embassy in Dublin, had a previous official role working on arms export licensing assessments for the Middle East, he said. He is the first known British official to resign over the war in Gaza.
“It is with sadness that I resign after a long career in the diplomatic service; however, I can no longer carry out my duties in the knowledge that this department may be complicit in war crimes,” says the email, which was later verified by other sources.
2024-07-26 UK Dropping Challenge to ICC Arrest Warrants for Israeli Leaders Under New PM The U.K. has announced that it is no longer going to pursue its legal challenge to the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) seeking of arrest warrants for key Israeli leaders behind the Gaza genocide, helping to clear the way for the warrant to be issued.
A spokesperson for U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that the new Labour government believes in international law and the separation of powers when it comes to the ICC’s determinations.
2024-07-26 Labour Ditches Tory Plan to Oppose ICC Request for Netanyahu Arrest Warrant Now the United Kingdom’s government must “stop selling Israel weapons,” said one observer.
The United Kingdom’s newly elected Labour government abandoned plans by its Tory predecessor to challenge the International Criminal Court’s May application for arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. https://www.commondreams.org/news/uk-netanyahu-arrest-warrant
2024-06-03 The Comma That Erases Genocide Israel wants to muddy the waters — as it always does — so it can carry on with its genocide, writes Jonathan Cook. Here’s an example of how the Western media help it along. Israel’s claim that a single comma exempts it from having to respect the International Court of Justice’s order on May 24 to immediately halt its murderous attack on Rafah should be ridiculed.
Instead it is being given space to breathe by complicit media like The Guardian. The paper’s diplomatic editor offers an “analysis” that takes seriously claims by Israel and the two judges at the ICJ — one an Israeli — who dissented from the ruling approved by the other 13. They argue the following:
“The world is wrong to think that the ICJ has required Israel to halt its Rafah assault and any actions elsewhere in Gaza that are genocidal. Instead, a comma in the text qualifies the ruling to mean the court wants Israel to halt its actions in Rafah and elsewhere only if they are genocidal. Because Israel’s actions are not genocidal, the court is not, in fact, asking Israel to halt anything.” https://consortiumnews.com/2024/06/03/the-comma-that-erases-genocide/
2024-05-11 Palestine Talks | Ashish Prashar on defunding the UK government to stop ‘genocide in Gaza’ British political activist Ashish Prashar joins TRT World to discuss his recently launched campaign that aims to withhold taxpayer money from the UK government in order to end “genocide in Gaza”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfkA2JFR3EA&list=PLUW304lJeu3Vg_nM0WQfWDZTDyu6h6PlD&index=4
2024-03-14 New UK Definition of ‘Extremism’ Called Attack on Right to Dissent “The government should recognize that real British values involve defending the rights of all political opponents to speak freely and openly,” said one advocate.
Coming weeks after British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak claimed the United Kingdom is in danger of “mob rule… replacing democratic rule,” a new definition of “extremism” published by the government on Thursday was viewed by one rights advocate as a “smash and grab” on the right to protest, among other freedoms.
The Conservative government updated the definition of the word under its anti-extremism agenda, known as Prevent. The government will now treat as extremism “vocal or active opposition to fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs.”
“The government will undertake a robust process to assess groups for extremism against the definition, which will then inform decisions around government engagement and funding,” said a public notice from Michael Gove, Sunak’s secretary of state for leveling up, housing, and communities. The government is expected to release a list in the coming weeks of groups it deems as in violation of the new definition of extremism. https://www.commondreams.org/news/uk-extremism-definition
2024-03-01 George Galloway Wins UK Parliament Seat in Landslide After Pro-Palestinian Campaign British politician George Galloway warned the Labour Party leadership Thursday evening that his victory in the town of Rochdale’s parliamentary election signaled “a shifting of the tectonic plates” following a campaign in which he vehemently defended Palestinian rights and condemned the U.K. government for backing Israel during its monthslong slaughter of civilians in Gaza.
“Keir Starmer, this is for Gaza,” Galloway said after declaring victory, addressing the Labour Party leader. “You have paid and you will pay a high price for the role you have played in enabling, encouraging, and covering for the catastrophe presently going on… in the Gaza Strip.”
Galloway easily won the by-election, which was called after the death of Labour MP Tony Lloyd in January, garnering 12,335 votes—nearly twice as many as the runner-up, independent candidate David Tully. https://www.commondreams.org/news/george-galloway
2024-02-03 ‘Ethnic Cleansing and Genocide’ – Hundreds of US, EU, UK Civil Servants Issue Joint Statement on Gaza More than 800 civil servants from the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union have released a statement criticizing their governments’ support of Israel in its ongoing aggression on Gaza, warning that such policies could be contributing to war crimes and violations of international law.
2024-01-15 South Africa to sue US, UK for complicity in Gaza genocide Nearly 50 South African lawyers, led by attorney Wikus Van Rensburg, are gearing up to file a lawsuit against the United States and the United Kingdom, asserting their complicity in Israeli forces’ war crimes in Palestine, Anadolu Agency reports. This initiative follows South Africa’s filing of a genocide case against “Israel” at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Rensburg, the driving force behind the legal action, aims to prosecute those complicit in the crimes through civilian courts, collaborating with legal professionals in the US and UK. In an interview with Anadolu, Rensburg emphasized the need to hold the US accountable for its actions and highlighted the forthcoming legal proceedings against Washington and London.https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/south-africa-to-sue-us–uk-for-complicity-in-gaza-genocide
2024-01-12 FM calls for parliament recall over Yemen strikes Scotland’s first minister Humza Yousaf has called for the UK parliament to be recalled over the air strikes in Yemen. The UK and US strikes against Houthi rebel sites have been described by Rishi Sunak as “necessary and proportionate” to protect the global shipping in the Red Sea.
He told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “Let there be no equivocation that the SNP align ourselves with the UN security resolution, which is essentially calling for the Houthi rebels to stop their attacks in the Red Sea.
“But of course the UK’s record on military intervention, particularly in the Middle East, is not a good one. “Before action was taken, the correct and appropriate thing to have done would have been to have recalled parliament, who have given serious detail about any proposed military action.” He added: “There are significant questions around the action taken. What is the end goal? What will be deemed as a success?” https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/fm-calls-for-parliament-recall-over-yemen-strikes/ar-AA1mRq3g
2023-10-14 UK Labour says Israel has “right” to starve Gaza children As Britain this week announced that its military could actively participate in Israel’s genocidal war against the Gaza Strip, the main opposition party also loudly advertised its complicity in the starvation of 2.3 million people. “Israel does have that right,” said Labour leader Keir Starmer when asked by LBC Radio if he thinks “siege is appropriate? Cutting off power, cutting off water?” He repeated the false Israeli talking point pushed by most Western governments that “Israel has a right to defend herself.” https://asawinstanley.substack.com/p/uk-labour-says-israel-has-right-to
2023-10-04 Jewish Labour Movement says it brought down Corbyn UK pro-Israel lobby group the Jewish Labour Movement suggested on Monday that it was responsible for the downfall of Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour Party leader. https://asawinstanley.substack.com/p/jewish-labour-movement-says-it-brought
2023-07-12 How Jeremy Corbyn Was Toppled by the Israel Lobby ASA WINSTANLEY’S NEW book shows how the Israel lobby weaponized antisemitism to create a new McCarthyism to bring down Jeremy Corbyn and those building a genuine socialist Labour Party.
The lobby’s campaign against Corbyn got help from the Israeli government, British intelligence, and the entire British media, including the liberal Guardian newspaper, the BBC, the right wing of the Labour Party, and even the CIA. Corbyn and the socialists in the Labour Party in England were crushed by the massive campaign. Labeling Corbyn as an antisemite was a preposterous charge, but it has stuck. The Labour Party now has reverted to the way it was when Tony Blair, a supporter of austerity and America’s war in Iraq, was the head of what was called “New Labour.”
It has a lesson for those of us in the Palestinian solidarity movement working for social justice in the U.S. The Israel lobby lied, cynically manufacturing a fake crisis of antisemitism in the Labour Party where it didn’t exist, using fear to succeed. The lobby cannot be placated. They need to be called out and confronted. https://againstthecurrent.org/how-jeremy-corbyn-was-toppled-by-the-israel-lobby/
2022-09-28 How Britain’s Labour party became a criminal conspiracy against its members For many years, former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s supporters have claimed that he, and they, were targeted in a coordinated attack from the right of the party, comprising a majority of Labour MPs as well as senior party staff. The aim was to sabotage Corbyn’s chances of taking power.
Now, over the past few days, Al Jazeera has aired a shocking three-part investigation, “The Labour Files”. Running close to four hours in its online format, it is based on even more leaked documents, and reveals the complete sabotage of the party’s democratic processes by the Labour right, including by many of its senior MPs. Those processes were hijacked to carry out purges of the party’s left based in most cases on false accusations, fabrications, misrepresentations and smears. https://jonathancook.substack.com/p/how-britains-labour-party-became
2021-10-14 After Corbyn, Israel lobby turns its guns on UK academia The Israel lobby appears to be readying for a campaign to root out leftwing academics in the UK critical of Israel’s continuing oppression of the Palestinian people – echoing its efforts against the previous leader of Britain’s Labour party, Jeremy Corbyn. https://jonathancook.substack.com/p/after-corbyn-israel-lobby-turns-its
2022-01-10 My Guest: The Director of “Sacrificing Liberty” – the 1967 Attack by Israel on the USS Liberty What are the parallels between the 9/11 attacks and the outrageous attack on a US ship in international waters off the coast of Egypt in 1967? Why did the US send the defenseless intelligence-collecting ship into a war zone without protective accompaniment?
Why did unmarked Israeli fighters and PT boats attack a plainly marked & flagged US naval vessel? Why did President Johnson exclaim, “I want that goddam ship sunk!”? Why was Israel’s enemy Egypt, blamed for the attack?
My guest is Matthew Miller Skow, an award winning director and producer, known for his powerful documentaries ‘Omo Child’ and ‘Sacrificing Liberty’. He is currently working on his new feature documentary called The Greatest Reset, which will be released soon in 2022. https://richardgage911.substack.com/p/my-guest-the-director-of-sacrificing
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