Palestine Tet – 119 – Kazerooni and Prince: Post Gaza, What’s In Store for the Middle East?

March 4, 2024

Yahia Sinwar

Post Gaza: What’s Next? with Ibrahim Kazerooni and Rob Prince

Palestine Tet – 118 – In press conference, Euro-Med confirms Israel’s full involvement in Gaza flour massacre

March 3, 2024

In press conference, Euro-Med confirms Israel’s full involvement in Gaza flour massacre

03 Mar 2024 Israel-Palestinian Territory

Palestinian territory – Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor confirmed that its initial investigations into the flour massacre at the “Nabulsi” roundabout southwest of Gaza City against Palestinian civilians who were attempting to receive humanitarian aid at dawn on Thursday confirm Israel’s full involvement in the crime, calling for an effective international investigation to hold Israeli officials accountable.During a press conference held in Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, Euro-Med shared the findings of its initial investigation into the incident and the testimonies of the victims amid the Israeli army’s attempts to distance itself from the incident by arguing that the victims’ deaths were due to a stampede.At the conference, Euro-Med researcher Muhammad Qariqa said that the Geneva-based organisation’s field team – which was present at the time of the incident – documented Israeli tanks firing heavily towards Palestinian civilians while trying to receive humanitarian aid at the “Nabulsi” roundabout.

Euro-Med Monitor’s findings demonstrate that dozens of victims suffered gunshot wounds, rather than being run over or crushed. He explained that the Israeli attack left 115 civilians killed and 760 others injured, while many victims are believed to remain in the targeted area.

Qariqi highlighted that the Euro-Med findings demonstrate that dozens of victims suffered gunshot wounds, rather than being run over or crushed, in contrast to what the Israeli army spokesman claimed.

He further highlighted four pieces of evidence confirming the Israeli army’s involvement in killing and wounding starving civilians. The first of which is the signs of injuries on the bodies of the dead and injured. The second piece of evidence is the footage released by the Israeli army itself, which includes audible evidence of gunfire emanating from Israeli tanks positioned near the coast, in addition to the aerial video published by the Israeli army, which is intentionally fragmented and distorted. At minute 1:06, however, the video footage does indicate the existence of at least two Israeli tanks, as well as multiple bodies, in the path of the tanks rather than the aid trucks.

He also pointed to the bullets’ distinct sound signature, which is audible in the footage released at the time of the shooting, and identified them as coming from an automatic weapon used by the Israeli army with 5.56 bullets.

For his part, Dr. Jadallah Al-Shafi’i, head of the nursing department at Al-Shifa Hospital, said during the conference that paramedics and rescue workers were among the victims of Israeli shooting at civilians who had gathered at the “Nabulsi” roundabout to receive food supplies.

Al-Shafi’i stated that they observed dozens of dead and injured upon their arrival to Al-Shifa Hospital, hit by Israeli gunfire. He also emphasised that all relevant documentation, including x-rays and medical reports, is accessible to the media, human rights groups, or investigative committees.

Dr. Amjad Aliwa, an emergency specialist at Al-Shifa Hospital, narrated during the conference that he was present with doctors and nurses along with thousands of civilians at the “Nabulsi” roundabout waiting for humanitarian supplies to arrive in light of the spread of famine and people suffering from the lack of the minimum necessities of life.

At the conference, Dr. Amjad Aliwa, an emergency specialist at Al-Shifa Hospital, said that he and other doctors, and nurses were at the “Nabulsi” roundabout along with thousands of civilians waiting for humanitarian supplies to arrive in light of widespread famine and lack of basic necessities for survival.

According to Aliwa, the Israeli army opened heavy fire on everyone waiting to receive aid as soon as the trucks arrived on Thursday at 4 a.m.

What happened at the Nabulsi roundabout constituted a horrifying massacre, Aliwa said, stressing that it was difficult to recover many of the wounded, whose fate is still unknown.

Euro-Med Monitor warned that the Israeli shooting of starving Palestinian civilians receiving aid has become a regular practice. In recent weeks, Israeli forces have directly attacked and killed dozens of people in Gaza City, including on Salah al-Din Street and in the vicinity of Kuwait Roundabout.

Palestine Tet – 117 – Gabor Mate – I am not the only one who left Zionism

March 2, 2024

tags: Gabor Mate, Gabotr Mate

Israel blocks entry of food and aid supplies, kills starving civilians in attempt to forcibly displace Palestinians from northern Gaza
(Photo credit Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor)

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Gabor Mate – I am not the only one who left Zionism

Sit down, relax be somewhere where you can listen to this interview (click link above) with Gabor Mate uninterrupted. Here he is interviewed by Ghadi Francis, a Lebanese journalism

It is wonderful.

Like Mate and so many others, I go to sleep distressed thinking about Gaza and wake up in the morning worried about how many more Palestinians have been slaughtered while I sleep so far away and safe in my bed. “The first fact of the living is the war” – a saying from a poster about the Vietnam War that is on our living room wall. Once a

Gabor Mate – on Gaza, Jews in WW2, on trauma and healing …

gain, it resonates.

There are people around me who put into words my rage at injustice, my frustrations, my hope for the future despite the horrors of today – and in many ways my history. Like Mate, They speak softly – ie, their tone is soft – but profoundly about Palestine, Israel, being Jewish. I try to do likewise these days so that people can hear what I have to say. But at nearly 80 the words to describe what I’m thinking, feeling come only with difficulty; So Mate articulates what I cannot, or cannot as he does, simply without an academic or political vocabulary.

None do it better than Gabor Mate.

We are about the same age; he just turned 80; I will do so in a few months. We both came to grips with Zionism – that toxic mix on the Jewish body politic – during the 1967 War, in part because of our understanding of that war (it was not an Israeli war for survival but a war of expansion), in part because of the influence that the Vietnam War had on the peoples of North America.

What he has dealt with of the course of his adult life, more or less, so have I, being as I am, an anti-Zionist Jew. “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen” – that’s what Jack Galvin’s mother told me in 1974 when I first came under attack by Denver’s mainstream Jewish Community. Great advice Mrs. Galvin; I send you greetings wherever you are!

Gabor knows and knows well, how isolated we both were (and others like us) within Jewish Communities, and how welcome is the eruption of anti-Zionist sentiment among young Jews both in the USA and Canada (where I believe Mate lives) that has coalesced since October 7. The hegemony which the Zionist narrative has held over North American Jewry has been shaken; it will never be reestablished; too much blood in the soil of Gaza and the West Bank. All the terror unleashed against Gaza have shattered Israeli legitimacy globally.

And that we are not alone anymore.

I watch the ethnic cleansing, the genocide that Israel is perpetrating on Gaza and do what I can – never enough – to get the Biden Administration to pressure Israel into a ceasefire and to stop the slaughter. I know we have a long way to go, and that the horror which Israel is inflicting on Palestine has not run its course. But it will. I am convinced that the Zionist state of Israel – in the long run – has no future. It is unsustainable. Nothing can soften or erase the horrors Israel is perpetuating in Gaza. It will not recover from this politically, ethically. Ever.

During the 1967 War I was in the North African country of Tunisia as a Peace Corps Volunteer there (and for a number of months a staff member). Even though Tunisia is far way from the actual fighting, when the war broke out there were massive pro-Palestinian, pro-Arab demonstrations throughout the country including in Tunis. I witnessed those close up, on the streets of Tunis. I was noticed by a number of my students from L’Institut Bourguiba des Langues Vivantes (an annex of the University of Tunis). They stayed by my side for the next two days. That was the first time I ever heard “the Palestinian narrative” in depth. … from my Tunisian students.

As with Mate, that, the 1967 War, was the personal turning point.

So it began, my growing alienation from and soon rejection of political Zionism. And long before I understood how Washington is using Israel as a proxy, when the geopolitics of the region was hazy in mind, even back in “the good old days of social protest” – the 1960s – I understood something that has stayed with me all these years: they (the Israelis) are doing ” it” (the Occupation, the repression and now the genocide) in my name. I had to speak out … and still do.

There are other things that happened during those Tunisia years – a visit to Tunis by then Vice President Hubert Humphrey, trying to measure European and Arab support if the U.S. dropped nuclear weapons on Vietnam, a demonstration by Tunisian youth against the war in Vietnam, several trips to Algeria just a few years after their war of independence had ended, with a death toll of at least a million (and some sources now say two million) lives… all of which if I wrote memoirs (which I have no intention of doing) would feature in my “awakening”.

Back to Mate.

How he speaks, what he says about the Palestinians, about Jews about “the empire” ,,, we’re on the same page. But mostly what touches me is his understanding, his empathy and his refusal for not backing down from telling the truth – to power, or anyone else and his faith in humanity. I don’t speak about it much, but it’s there and has been my whole life … and still burns inside of me this belief in humanity, in its ability to overcome, its resilience … and who is more resilient than the Palestinians? …

Thank you Gabor Mate. I wonder if you’d like to join our burgeoning new organizations – Alte Kockers for a Ceasefire!

Rob Prince at 22 years of age. Summer 1967, just after the 1967 Middle East War had ended. In Tunis – Ave de la Liberte – just acorss the street from the Monoprix

Palestine Tet – 116 – J Street’s Pro-War Stance Prompts Staff Departures

March 1, 2024

tags: J-Street, Jewish Currents

October 21 Denver protests against Israel’s U.S. supported ethnic cleansing and genocide in Gaza

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Note: Although not a member at different times, I have been able to work along with J-Street and do so both respectfully and successfully. Together with a small circle of others – Friends Committee on National Legislation, the National Iranian American Council – we were able to do a successful campaign to get Colorado’s two Senators to come out and publicly support a U.S. return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA or as it is mistakenly and commonly known as “the Iran Nuclear Deal”. Unfortunately, since October 7, 2023 when Hamas and other Palestinian guerilla groups launched their military offensive, breaking out of Gaza, followed by Israel’s (U.S. supported) campaign of genocide and ethnic cleansing in Gaza, J Street has refused to even come out in support of a ceasefire, a minimal demand to end the bloodshed and the slaughter. To my knowledge, their refusal continues and what political influence they might have (and they do have some in these parts) has gone to waste. At the same time that groups like Jewish Voice for Peace and Not In Our Name grow dramatically by such leaps and bounds that they are having difficulty processing all their new members, many of them under 40 years of age, many J Street members are dropping out and expressing disappointment with the organization. Among their casualties, their own staff as this piece reveals.

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J Street’s Pro-War Stance Prompts Staff Departures

The liberal Zionist lobbying group’s support for Israel’s assault on Gaza has sparked staff dissent and alienated onetime allies.

Mari Cohen

February 9, 2024

SINCE OCTOBER 7TH, at least seven staff members have left J Street, with at least four making it known to colleagues that the liberal Zionist lobby’s lack of support for a ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza had motivated their resignation, according to three former and current J Street employees. These departures are among several indications that J Street’s three-and-a-half months of support for the war—which, to date, has killed more than 27,000 Palestinians, and which many experts consider a genocide—sparked significant dissent from the group’s employees and supporters. In late November, 19 employees signed an internal letter to the executive team asking the group to call for a ceasefire. In the letter, obtained by Jewish Currents, the staffers describe themselves as “increasingly troubled by our organization’s reluctance to commit to an end of violence and suffering.”

At the time the November letter was circulated, the organization—which frames itself as an “anti-occupation” and “pro-peace” alternative to AIPAC in Washington—was still advocating for Israel’s right to maintain a military operation in Gaza. On January 22nd, well after several of its own congressional endorsees had come out in favor of a ceasefire, the organization released a statement advocating for an end to the war. But disillusioned staffers say that by waiting so long—as organizations and figures from the United Auto Workers to the Pope called for a ceasefire and UN officials raised the alarm about genocide—J Street sacrificed its credibility with progressives who previously viewed it as a pragmatic vehicle for opposing mainstream Israel-advocacy positions on the Hill. “It felt like we backtracked on 15 years of work that we were genuinely proud of, that we felt was making a difference. All of a sudden, it’s moot because it took us three-and-half months to make any sort of statement that we were against the bloodshed that was happening,” said Marisa Edmondson, a former J Street communications associate who helped co-write the pro-ceasefire letter before leaving the organization in December. “We lost a lot of donors, and a lot of student leaders who I think could have been the next generation of J Street staffers.”

Following Hamas’s attacks on October 7th, J Street repeatedly issued statements affirming its support for Israel’s right to “defend itself” and to “disarm Hamas” so long as it did not violate international law in the process—a position that, the November 29th staff letter argued, “is not tied to reality.” Given that Israel has been accused of frequent international law violations, the letter claims that a “moral and lawful Israeli-led military campaign is wholly unachievable”; it also described certain statements by Israeli leaders as demonstrating “genocidal intent” against Palestinians in Gaza.

The letter also argued that J Street’s position was counterproductive given its own stated mission. “We are setting Israel up to lose an entire generation of American Jews who support Israel’s right to exist,” the staffers wrote, citing increased disaffection among young Jews, who are far more likely than their older counterparts to oppose US support for Israel’s war. They also pointed out that the war was likely to further radicalize Palestinians in Gaza and that “Hamas can only truly be defeated by giving the Palestinian people a true political horizon.” The employees underscored that J Street’s stance was damaging the group’s credibility among onetime allies: “Each day, we are losing the support of younger generations, Jews and non-Jews, who once saw J Street as an essential player in US politics and as the only viable left-leaning organization with sway in Washington over Israeli policies and practices.”

Indeed, while anti-Zionist groups to J Street’s left have long critiqued some of the liberal Zionist lobby’s positions, many also conceived of them as a useful counterweight to more powerful Zionist groups to their right. “We have always understood them to have a certain tactical role in the ecosystem,” said Stefanie Fox, the executive director of the anti-Zionist organization Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). But J Street’s moves since October 7th—including pulling its endorsement from progressive US Representative Jamaal Bowman last month—have changed that calculation. “In punishing the few Democratic members brave enough to echo the demands of the vast majority of Democratic voters, in a way they are working hand in glove with AIPAC and DMFI [Democratic Majority for Israel] to punish support for Palestinian rights and hold Democrats back from representing the will of constituents,” said Fox.

In a statement to Jewish Currents, J Street president Jeremy Ben-Ami said that the lobby had “welcomed” the November letter as an affirmation of the “broad spectrum of opinion on these difficult issues within the organization’s leadership and staff.” According to Edmonson, the executive team responded to the missive by hosting several meetings with the staff about the organization’s messaging, including a town hall meeting attended by the board. “Let’s just say those meetings were nasty,” she said. “We were essentially told, ‘We can’t do anything with Hamas in power. So this war is actually part of our pro-peace mission, and anybody saying that this war is not pro-peace is wrong.’” (Ben Ami disputed this characterization: “In the opinion of J Street senior staff and board leadership . . . the discussions internally have not been anything but respectful.”)

In its support for the war, J Street has also parted ways with the student activism burgeoning on campuses around the country—which has led to significant attrition from its student wing, J Street U. The national network of J Street U campus chapters have long served as an entry-point into activism for Jewish students critical of Israel; some have gone on to work at the organization, while others have eventually joined Jewish organizations to J Street’s left, like IfNotNow and JVP. “I had known J Street to be an anti-occupation organization, and I feel like it has failed to show up for the community it previously represented,” said Lila Steinbach, a senior at Washington University in St. Louis who previously served as the president of her campus J Street U chapter. Since October 7th, she said, she has pivoted to organizing with a broader coalition of Palestinian and Jewish students pushing for a ceasefire. Two other former J Street student leaders interviewed for this article similarly described turning away from the organization to join new pro-ceasefire campus activist formations, or to get involved with JVP.

Last fall was not the first time J Street angered its left flank by condoning an Israeli military campaign. In 2014, after facing ostracization by mainstream Jewish groups when it criticized Israel’s 2009 Operation Cast Lead, J Street supported Israel’s Occupation Protective Edge, which killed 2,200 Palestinians; in response, frustrated student leaders and alumni organized their own protests against the war, which eventually led to the formation of IfNotNow, a group that seeks to end the American Jewish community’s support for Israeli apartheid. Still, in recent years, J Street had shown signs of moving left, including by pushing the US to ensure its aid to Israel is not enabling human rights abuses in the occupied territories. When Israel began bombing Gaza in May 2021—after Hamas fired rockets in response to Israel’s attempts to displace Palestinian families in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah—J Street immediately rallied its congressional allies and called for the Biden administration to broker an “urgent ceasefire,” arguing that “there is no ultimate military solution possible to this crisis.” As Edmondson reflected: “I do think we were one of the reasons that a ceasefire was called 11 days in. That was something that I was so proud to be a part of, and I know a lot of my colleagues felt the same.”

In the weeks following October 7th, 2023, however, J Street not only stood apart from the members of Congress organizing for a ceasefire; it even went after them. When some progressive legislators declined to co-sponsor a congressional resolution that condemned the attacks on Israelis but made no mention of the killing of Palestinians, J Street threatened to un-endorse the dissenting lawmakers, according to The Intercept. The move drew the ire of more than 100 former staff and student leaders, who, in October, signed a letter calling on J Street to back a ceasefire. As months went by and the death toll in Gaza continued to increase, some longtime J Street allies—including Reps. Jamie Raskin, Becca Balint, and Jan Schakowsky, and Senators Jeff Merkley and Peter Welch—began to call for a ceasefire, while the organization continued to back the war. A current staffer, who helped draft the letter and asked to remain anonymous to protect their job, speculated that the organization—which brought in a record fundraising total in 2023, according to Edmondson—may have been trying to appeal to former AIPAC donors who had grown disillusioned with the more right-wing lobby. “If those are the people we’re trying to get, then it’s not surprising how long it took J Street to call for an end to the war,” the staffer said. In January, J Street announced it was withdrawing its endorsement of Bowman in his re-election campaign, because, as J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami told The Forward, the “rhetoric, the framing and the approach” of Bowman’s criticism of Israel’s campaign, including his assertion that Israel is committing genocide, had “gone too far.”

Edmondson said that the executive team was not transparent with the staff about why J Street had now decided military force was, in fact, effective. “It felt very personal and not very strategic,” she said. “A lot of staff had friends or family who were either drafted [to the Israeli military] after October 7th, or were killed. But the policies that we were choosing, and the stuff we were putting forward, it just didn’t seem to make sense.” Ultimately, Edmondson said, she decided she could not continue working for an organization that was supporting a genocide in Gaza, and she gave her two weeks notice after Thanksgiving. While the majority of the employees who have left J Street since Israel’s assault on Gaza began were, like Edmondson, junior staff members, the organization has also lost employees in more senior positions, including communications director Logan Bayroff, who had his last day at J Street last week after ten years working with the group. Reached by phone, Bayroff confirmed that he was no longer with J Street but declined to comment on the specifics of why he had left.

On Thursday, January 18th, J Street’s leadership hosted another staff town hall, according to the current staffer. This time, they said, the tone was different; whereas before, Ben-Ami had been “defensive,” during this gathering he and other senior staff seemed more open to hearing employee grievances. The following week, J Street issued its statement declaring that “the time for war has come to a close” and “now is the time to lead with diplomacy.” While calling for a negotiated end to the war, the statement did not include the word “ceasefire.” “The J Street leadership is hung up on the fact that the ceasefire could insinuate that Hamas should remain in power once the crisis subsides,” said the current staffer, who added that the organization did not explain to employees why it had now decided to stop supporting the war. Ben-Ami told Jewish Currents that the January 22nd statement did not mark a shift in J Street’s approach but was consistent with its earlier messaging, including the organization’s December threats to pull its support for Israel’s military campaign if Netanyahu did not start to conduct the war within the bounds of international law. “In January, we reached the point where we called for urgent diplomacy to stop the fighting and bring home the hostages. Our positions on the war have been informed by the many constituencies within J Street, which include those who were calling for a ceasefire early and those who are staunchly supportive of the ongoing military campaign,” he said.

Edmondson said she understood that J Street has historically moved with caution to maintain its ability to lobby Washington officials, but argued that now would have been the time for the organization to take a clear stand: “We’ve spent 15 years building this political power to rival AIPAC. And now, all of a sudden, when that power could be wielded during a literal genocide, it’s like, ‘Oh, we actually can’t do any of the things we’ve been saying all these years that we can.’”

Palestine Tet – 115 – Colorado groups launch formal ‘noncommitted’ campaign to protest Biden in March 5 primary

February 29, 2024

In a Costa Rica rain forest a woman with a Palestinia Libra sign waling back and forth all by herself. photo credit: Sam Goodman

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Colorado groups launch formal ‘noncommitted’ campaign to protest Biden in March 5 primary

Colorado Palestine Coalition urges voters to ‘demonstrate discontent’ with Biden’s handling of the war in Gaza

BY: CHASE WOODRUFF – FEBRUARY 28, 2024 8:55 PM

Less than a week before Colorado will join 14 other states in holding its presidential primary elections on “Super Tuesday,” March 5, a coalition of left-wing and pro-Palestinian groups is urging Democratic and unaffiliated Colorado voters to cast their votes for a “noncommitted delegate” in protest of President Joe Biden’s handling of the war in Gaza.

The launch of the Vote Noncommitted Colorado campaign comes one day after a similar effort in Michigan’s Democratic primary, backed by that state’s large Arab-American community and progressive groups, exceeded expectations by winning more than 100,000 votes, though Biden coasted to victory there with more than 81% of the primary vote.

Organizers say the Colorado effort stems from “frustrations with Biden’s continued materially aiding and abetting of Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people,” and is supported by the member organizations of the Colorado Palestine Coalition and the Colorado chapters of the Democratic Socialists of America.

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“Our votes must be earned by immediate and drastic policy changes from the Biden administration,” the campaign’s website said. “Vote Noncommitted Colorado represents the increasing number of Arab voters, Muslim voters, young voters and voters of color who no longer feel that the Biden administration is representative of the values we hold dear.”

“When it comes to the perpetuation of the genocide of my people, the Palestinian people, the party lines become completely blurred,” Abdullah Elagha, a Denver activist with the Colorado Palestine Coalition, said in a press release. “There is only one stance within our government and that is unfettered, unconditional support of the apartheid state of Israel. This is something we as Americans will no longer accept.”

Next week’s Democratic primary marks the first time the “noncommitted delegate” option has appeared on a Colorado ballot since voters approved an overhaul of its presidential primary elections in 2016. The Colorado Democratic Party’s executive committee voted unanimously to request the noncommitted ballot line in December, agreeing it would “increase participation and be a more democratic process,” the party’s executive director, Karin Asensio, said earlier this month.

Noncommitted delegates are free to vote for the nomination of any candidate of their choosing at the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, scheduled to begin Aug. 19.

In his bid for reelection, Biden is overwhelmingly likely to win enough pledged delegates to become his party’s presumptive nominee long before primary season is over. But the large number of “uncommitted” votes in Michigan has highlighted fears that the Biden administration’s steadfast support for Israel in its war on Hamas could hurt the president’s electoral chances in the crucial swing state in November.

Israel’s intense bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza has killed more than 29,000 Palestinians since Oct. 7, when a Hamas-led attack killed more than 1,200 people in Israel. Nearly all of the 2 million inhabitants of Gaza — a densely packed coastal strip described for years by human-rights organizations as an “open-air prison” — have been displaced by Israel’s assault, and aid groups warned earlier this month that Palestinians are facing the threat of “mass death” from starvation and disease.

In Michigan, the uncommitted option received a little over 13% of the statewide vote, but exceeded 15% in two congressional districts, winning the campaign a pair of delegates. The two uncommitted delegates are the first of the 208 delegates won in the four Democratic primaries to date that weren’t awarded to Biden, according to AP estimates.

Another 1,420 pledged Democratic delegates are up for grabs across 15 states on Super Tuesday, including 72 in Colorado. In order to be awarded delegates, who will be selected according to vote share at party assemblies in April, the noncommitted ballot line must cross the 15% threshold statewide or in at least one Colorado congressional district.

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Demonstration. Downtown San Jose, Costa Rica. Saturday, February 10, 2024. Photo credit Sam Goodman

Palestine Tet – 114 – Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor: Horrific testimonies: Israeli army tortures Palestinians in Gaza physically and psychologically

February 29, 2024

Israeli torture victim from Gaza.

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You wouldn’t know it from the mainstream media but Israeli genocide and ethnic cleansing of Gaza Palestinians, part of a larger plan on Israel’s part to seize more Palestinian land and expel its residents from both Gaza and the West Bank, continues despite growing international condemnation)

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Geneva – As Israel continues its genocide in the Gaza Strip, ongoing since 7 October 2023, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has documented the Israeli army’s sadistic abuse and torture of Palestinians there. This includes purposefully causing severe physical and psychological harm, which will undoubtedly have long-term effects, after storming their homes and shelter centres or attacking them on forced evacuation routes and so-called “safe corridors”.

In a new statement issued on Wednesday following the Israeli detention, investigation, and interrogation of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, the Euro-Med Monitor team confirmed that it had received horrifying testimonies and had personally interviewed recently-released victims of cruel torture practices that appeared to have a sadistic bent. These attacks have left deep wounds and numerous scars on the survivors’ bodies and have negatively affected their psychological health, stated the rights group. It appears from the documented testimonies that the attacks were carried out in retaliation and as collective punishment for being Palestinian.

Ramadan Shamlakh, a 21-year-old who lives in Gaza’s Al-Zaytoun neighbourhood, told the Euro-Med Monitor team that the Israeli army arbitrarily detained him and used him as a human shield, in violation of international law. The soldiers then took turns tortured him with cruel methods, leaving him with extensive scarring on his face and body, some of which will never heal, including the amputation of an ear.

Shamlakh said that he was with his brother Ahmed, who was injured back in 2014, and their three sisters when an Israeli army force raided their home. The soldiers immediately began to beat him and his brother badly, concentrating on Ahmed’s abdominal wound until they eventually reopened it.

According to Shamlakh, the soldiers took his siblings to an unknown location, while holding him captive before torturing him. They brought him to a tank and used him as a human shield before storming a building’s upper floors. Once the flats were secured, they beat him severely, threw stones at him, made him lie on his stomach, and threw stones at his legs. Meanwhile, one of the soldiers used a knife to cut his fingers and nails, then inserted the blade into Shamlakh’s ear and removed part of it. Finally, they struck him with a chair that was in the room, as well as directly in the head with an “iron frying pan”.

“After that, they took me to the first floor, where an investigator began interrogating me while severely beating me in the face, even though I had repeatedly said that I was a civilian,” he explained. “They tortured me for hours, leaving deep wounds and scars on my face, particularly under my eyes, my chest, and my fingers and nails.” (The Euro-Med Monitor team noted that they saw dozens of wounds and scars on his face and on all of his fingers and nails.) “I was told to leave the house without taking anything, even though I was only wearing my underwear, and to head south on Salah al-Din Road.”

Israeli soldiers stopped Shamlakh at their checkpoint on Salah al-Din Road, he said, and questioned him about the marks on his body; he replied that they were theirs. They held him in the cold weather for 30 minutes, along with other detainees, for no reason before ultimately letting him go. He was found by young men in the Nuseirat neighbourhood in the central Gaza Strip, who gave him clothes and took him to Al-Awda Hospital for diagnosis and treatment.

“A.M.”, who wished to remain anonymous due to safety concerns, informed Euro-Med Monitor’s team of his own experience. Like Shamlakh, A.M. was arrested by Israeli soldiers in his home in Al-Zaytoun and severely beaten during his arrest. The soldiers yelled, “You did what you did to us on 7 October, and today you are in our hands; we will eliminate you,” A.M. told the team. Using a knife, he said, one of the soldiers started making cuts on A.M.’s face, hands and back, repeating the words, “We will eliminate you.”

In a separate testimony, “Y.M.”, who also requested anonymity due to safety concerns, said that he had sought refuge at Yarmouk Stadium in Gaza City before it was stormed by the Israeli army. There, he was subjected to torture: severe beatings, death threats, strip searches, and violent interrogation.

“When the soldiers stormed the Yarmouk Stadium, they asked for the women to be separated from the men, and for the men to line up behind each other,” Y.M. told Euro-Med Monitor. “When one of the soldiers asked for someone to speak to him in English, I responded.”

The soldier told Y.M. in English to order the other men to take off their clothes and throw them on the floor. “Then he began asking me sideways questions, hitting me, and giving me hard punches all over my body,” asserted Y.M. “Who taught you English? Was it Hamas?” the soldier asked him. “No,” Y.M. answered.

“When he asked where I lived,” continued Y.M., “I replied that I was from the Shuja’iya neighbourhood, and that is when I stopped being able to count the number of punches and blows that came at my face from all directions.”

“There were five soldiers working in shifts, one for questioning and four for torture,” he remarked. “One of the soldiers asked the other two to open my legs, while the other two started striking me in the vulnerable parts of my body with their iron-covered toes and heels.” He added that afterwards, one of them “almost choked” him by grabbing his neck and threatening to strangle him for not admitting that he was a Hamas member. “After about an hour of beatings, one of the soldiers threw me to the ground and threatened to shoot me if I raised my head,” Y.M. told the Euro-Med Monitor team.

Y.M. further stated that following his beating and torture, he underwent a computerised “security check” and search of his electronic device before he was released and permitted to exit the stadium, indicating that there was no basis for his torture.

Euro-Med Monitor confirmed that it has received numerous testimonies from Palestinians who were subjected to torture and inhumane treatment when the Israeli army stormed their homes, displacement centres, and neighbourhoods. These testimonies included stories of severe beatings, abuse, and humiliation, as well as harm to the victims’ personal dignity. Additionally, Euro-Med Monitor team members noted that they had observed Israeli soldiers intentionally leaving marks and traces on victims’ bodies that do not easily disappear, as well as engaging in a sadistic level of torture.

All of these actions, according to the human rights group, show that Israeli soldiers are actively targeting the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and causing them great physical and psychological suffering in the name of their national group—further evidence of the crime of genocide.

The Geneva-based organisation emphasised that these crimes are classified as war crimes and crimes against humanity under international criminal law, and that they are subject to review and investigation by both international and national courts of states under universal jurisdiction, regardless of the location of the crime and the nationality of the victim or perpetrator. Euro-Med Monitor also noted that the laws in effect in these countries prohibit the use of torture as a weapon, which is regarded as one of the peremptory rules of international law and imposes an international obligation on all countries to question their perpetrators, hold them accountable, and prevent their impunity.

In this particular context, Euro-Med Monitor asserts that Israeli legislation and judicial precedents permit the use of torture in numerous flexible cases (in what are referred to as cases of “necessity” and “time bombs”) and grant its perpetrators legal cover and judicial immunity from any accountability and prosecution at the domestic level. This, in turn, prevents any opportunity for appropriate accountability, and as a result, the international community’s commitment—which includes the jurisdiction of international courts and national courts of states—remains valid and complementary.

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor renewed its call for Alice Jill Edwards, the Special Rapporteur of the United Nations on the subject of torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, to look into the serious crimes and grave rights violations that Palestinian detainees have suffered, and to submit reports on the same, in order to help international courts and investigation committees with their work in examining and trying cases of crimes committed by Israel’s army against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.

It further demanded that the UN Rapporteur make a swift country visit to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly the Gaza Strip, to hear witness and victim testimonies, take all required action, and send urgent appeals to all relevant parties.

Euro-Med Monitor again called for the formation of an independent international investigation committee specialising in the ongoing military attack on the Gaza Strip, and to enable the independent international investigation committee concerned with the Occupied Palestinian Territory that was formed in 2021 to carry out its work, including ensuring its access to the Strip and ability to open the necessary investigations into all crimes and violations committed against Palestinians there.

Palestine Tet – 113 – Powerful testimonies “We Charge Genocide” from the Arab League, Indonesia, Namibia at the International Court of Justice

February 29, 2024

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Arab League Statement at ICJ – Arab League Shocks the World; Humiliates Israel at International Court of Justice

China Statement at ICJ – China Among Countries To Address ICJ

Indonesia Statement at ICJ – Powerful Intervention from Indonesia at ICJ

Namibia Statement at ICJ – ICJ: Namibia Makes Its Case

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Israel’s campaign of ethnic cleansing and genocide against Gaza continues, its plans to use the current crisis, a la Naomi Klein’s “Shock Doctrine” theory, to expel Palestinians not just from Gaza but also from the West Bank, continues. Meanwhile in the Michigan Democratic Primary some 13.3% of those voting, more than 101,000 chose “uncommitted” as their candidate, in protest to Biden’s U.S.-Israel war on the Palestinians While Biden won the primary handily with over 80% of the vote, should “uncommitted” become a national trend it could bode ill for Biden in November. He seems not to care figuring that given the size of is growing campaign chest, he’ll give more credence billionaire contributions than to voters in Dearborn, Michigan.

Maybe he should be more concerned. The contempt he (and the likes of him) have shown for the Democratic Party base, the overwhelming majority of whom support an immediate binding ceasefire, could blow up in his increasingly senile face.

Although a person doing a Google search could find the testimonies of many countries supporting South Africa’s intervention at the International Court of Justice charging Israel with the high crime of genocide, the mainstream media in the United States minimized the hearings to naught. An occasional (insipid) article noting that the hearings were taking place can be found but very little of the actual testimony – that overwhelmingly critical of Israel and accusing it of genocide – was shown on TV or in the New York Times.

When the hearings ended – historic in their scope and their near universal condemnation of Israel – the Associated Press ran this measly three paragraph summary:

THE HAGUE (AP) — The United Nations’ highest court on Monday wrapped up historic proceedings into the legality of Israel’s 57-year occupation of lands sought by Palestinians for a future state, with most voices at the hearing arguing against the Israeli government.

Over six days, the International Court of Justice heard from an unprecedented number of countries and the majority argued Israel was violating international law and called for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

“The real obstacle to peace is obvious — the deepening occupation by Israel of the Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, and failure to implement the two-state vision, Israel and Palestine living side by side,” Turkey’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmet Yildiz said.

It reflects the minimum and is inaccurate. It was not “most voices” critical of Israel but the overwhelming number of voices, one after another that came down hard on Israel’s policies accusing it of apartheid practices and genocide. Below are a few of the interventions which I caught. I was caught by the serious research, the knowledge of international law and how Israel has violated and the uncompromising searing criticism both of Israeli practices and U.S. support for those practices. Not something that either Washington nor Tel Aviv will be able to write off soon. Will it stop Israel’s murderous ethnic cleansing in Gaza? Doubtful. But don’t underestimate the consequences of Israel being singled out as a rogue state, and a perpetrator of genocide before the eyes of the world.

Indeed, Israel’s public image is shattered with every man, woman and child incinerated or crushed under rubble by U.S. made Israeli-delivered bombs, by every IDF soldier stripping Palestinian men nude, by the forced starvation now exploding in Gaza, by every statement of representatives of the Israeli government openly calling for genocide.

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Costa Rica 5 – Toucan Rescue Ranch

February 28, 2024

tags: Costa Rica

a Yellow-throated Toucan. Heard one in the wild near Sarapiqui

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(Learn how the Saving Sloths Program was created)

No doubt, one of the highlights of our two weeks in Costa Rica was a visit to the Toucan Rescue Ranch. Located northeast of San Jose in the Central Valley, the “ranch” was originally opened to receive wounded toucans (see photo) but before very long it was opening its doors to wounded and abandoned animals of all sorts, “rescued from various serious situations.”

At the ranch, they are repaired and cared for, and when possible – which is quite frequently – released back into the wild somewhere in the country’s vast rain forests.

The Toucan Rescue Ranch has been releasing wildlife at this property for over 10 years. Here, we’ve released toucans, parrots, parakeets, sloths, owls, hawks, falcons, opossums, reptiles, and other wildlife. As a part of the program TRR has large soft-release enclosures that allow professionals to create natural environments in order to train rehabilitated animals natural behaviors and skills to be successful once released into their natural habitat.

Besides several toucans housed there we were introduced to ocelots – one that the tour guide Andreas claimed to have been a drug lord’s pet -, jaguarundis, crested Caracaras, bat falcons, an array of parrots and the adorable (from a distance) sloths.

The ranch employs an international team of veterinarians, maintenance and financial management people who are involved in everything from animal healthcare, preparing releases into the wild, leading tours, etc.

My initial impression was of a well run, professionally staff set of folk deeply dedicated to their mission and very good at it. As ecotourism is big business in Costa Rica I was surprised to learn the Toucan Rescue Ranch receives no government funding; thus it is funded completely by private donations. Founded 20 years ago (2004) by American ex-pat Leslie Howle, a long time Costa Rica resident, the Ranch claims as its goals:

TRR GOALS

To establish a captive breeding program for all six species of Costa Rican toucans.
To accept, evaluate and treat rescued animals in need.
To rehabilitate and release injured wildlife back to its’ natural environment.
Provide educational programs, research sites, and facilities across Costa Rica.
Provide volunteer opportunities for national and international individuals.

The sloths

No doubt one of the prime attractions at the Toucan Rescue Ranch are the slow moving two-toed sloths. I certainly enjoyed the stimulating discussion of sloth behavior given by our guide, Andreas, himself one of the world’s few experts studying sloth behavior. They are curious animals who seem to move in slow motion almost all the time a result of a somewhat inefficient digestive system that fails to get all the energy out of food necessary for sloths to move more quickly. Indeed the sloths we saw were experts at conserving energy.

I was reminded of an evolutionary process called parallel evolution where two species look quite alike, but have actually diverged many millions of years ago and are actually only distantly related. The classic example among primates are the differences between old world and new world monkeys. Yes both are monkeys… but based upon closer skeletal and now genetic evidence it turns out they are more 3rd or 4th cousins rather than siblings. So it is with sloths; the two toed having actually diverged from their three-toed relatives million’s of years ago.

Sloths belong to a family of mammals called edentates (or toothless mammals). Actually it is not that they are toothless – sloths have very sharp teeth but that all the edentates lack canine teeth, suggesting that they are mostly vegetarian and not carnivorous. Their closest living relatives include anteaters and armadillos all of whom have relatively small brains in relationship to body size.

Although a relatively isolated, insignificant variety of mammals today, sloths have quite a history. They emerge, at least what the fossil record suggests, some 35 million years ago as a generalized part of mammalian species expansion taking place at that time. At one time, our Toucan Rescue Ranch guide related, there were as many as 800 varieties that exploded into different species all over the world. Ancestral sloths included the giant ground sloth that was six feet tall and weighed more an a modern day elephant, megatherium that had a long successful run from 35 million to 11,000 years ago and whose bones are found in the La Brera Tar Pit in Los Angeles, a maritime sloth Thalassocnus, the fossilized bones of which are found near the shores in Chile and Peru and who spent most of its time underwater (although clearly a mammal). All this just a small sampling of what was a great sloth diversity and of which very few forms remain.

Carol Friesen and Nancy in Sarapiqui. Somewhere nearby us is the place where the Toucan Rescue Ranch releases patched up animals able to return to the wilds. Until recently Carol had done TRR’s books.

It was a stimulating very interesting visit. I have a sense that many of Costa Rica’s animal rescue facilities are little more than tourist traps. The Toucan Rescue Ranch is not one of these. It is a serious, wondrous place, one that the Costa Rican government knows is of high quality. The Costa Rican government could do a lot worse than to adequately fund it and insure its future.

Palestine Tet – 112 – Westword: Pro-Palestine Protesters Facing 300 Days in Jail for Shutting Down Speer Boulevard

February 24, 2024

(Note: Westword is somewhere between an “alternative” and mainstream media source. Given away for free throughout the Denver metro area, it is kept a float – and has flourished – through its advertisers – and we all know what that means. That said, this article does capture the essence of this civil disobedience)

Protesters with Jewish Voice for Peace bound themselves together with duct tape and metal wiring during a pro-Palestine sit-in on Speer last December.

By Chris Perez

February 23, 2024

Jewish Voice for Peace protesters staged their sit-in on Speer Boulevard near the Colorado Convention Center as it hosted the Jewish National Fund’s 2023 Global Conference for Israel.

Jewish Voice for Peace protesters staged their sit-in on Speer Boulevard near the Colorado Convention Center as it hosted the Jewish National Fund’s 2023 Global Conference for Israel. JVP-Denver/Boulder

Perlmutter and his “Free Palestine” partners are charged with committing three misdemeanors on December 3, 2023, when they blocked traffic on Speer Boulevard by the Colorado Convention Center, which was hosting the Jewish National Fund’s Global Conference for Israel. The fifteen defendants sat in a circle and bound their arms together with makeshift tubes composed of duct tape and metal wiring, refusing to leave after being ordered to do so by police.Asked if the possibility of jail time and fines would deter them from future pro-Palestine efforts, Perlmutter and several of the other JVP members in court that day all had the same answer.

“Absolutely not,” Perlmutter said. “This does not discourage me from my politics; it does not discourage me from knowing the difference between right and wrong. I intend to keep trying to help people in our community who are suffering. I intend to keep trying to help Palestinians who are suffering and to end an illegal occupation. And I have no intention of stopping doing that.”

Police officers had to use a small circular saw to free and remove the pro-Palestine protesters from Speer.

JVP-Denver/Boulder

Colin McIntosh, another JVP defendant, told Westword: “Regardless of what the law says, what we are doing is morally necessary. We have to be doing this. We shouldn’t be criminalized for this. The city should be spending their time and energy calling for a ceasefire, trying to get Washington to stop committing a genocide or being complicit in a genocide. We need to stop supporting Israel and cannot be punishing people for calling for what is clearly the morally correct thing to do.”

JVP protesters Saoirse Maloney and Alex Borenstein both agreed, saying the current charges won’t prevent them from shutting down traffic again. “We will stay with this and stay committed,” Maloney said.

“The Free Palestine movement will continue,” Borenstein added.

JVP rep Daryn Copeland confirms to Westword that more protests are planned, including one on Monday, February 26, again on Speer Boulevard.

Saoirse Maloney and other JVP protesters being arrested by Denver police.

JVP-Denver/Boulder

For months, the Denver/Boulder chapter of JVP has been protesting Israel’s actions and calling for Colorado officials to issue ceasefire declarations and end public support for Israel in its ongoing war against Hamas.

Describing itself as a “national grassroots organization inspired by Jewish tradition to work for a just and lasting peace according to principles of human rights, equality, and international law for all the people of Israel and Palestine,” the local JVP branch believes that both national and Colorado politicians alike are aiding and abetting “Israel’s war crimes” and “genocide” in Gaza, where Israeli forces continue to hammer Hamas with bombings and military raids following the October 7 attacks by the terror group on Israel, which left 1,400 people dead or taken hostage.

More than 29,000 people have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war, and an estimated 1.7 million are currently displaced, according to the New York Times, citing numbers from Gaza officials.

JVP leader Siena Mann held a press conference outside the Denver Justice Center complex after the February 16 hearing to draw attention to what’s happening in Gaza and call on the city attorney’s office to drop the charges against the JVP defendants because they’re fighting for what they believe is a good cause.

Members of JVP-Denver/Boulder held a press conference on February 16 to bring attention to the Israel-Hamas war and call on the city attorney’s office to drop its criminal cases against them.

Westword

“We are witnessing the horror of this ongoing genocide, and at the same time our city of Denver is criminalizing our community and our organization for protesting for the humanity of Palestinian people and to say that as Jews we reject Israel’s assertion that they are doing this in the name of our safety,” Mann said. “This is not what makes us safe.”

More than 100 people took part in the December 3 protest with JVP and other activist groups as an “expression of solidarity with the people of Palestine,” as the Denver/Boulder JVP chapter put it. “Jews Against Genocide!” was the rallying cry.

After that demonstration, the Denver Police Department said that the activists were arrested for obstructing a street, failing to obey a police order and the use of obstruction equipment. If found guilty, the judge in their cases would have the discretion to apply sentences concurrently or consecutively, which could result in up to 660 days in jail.

Perlmutter and the other defendants say they can’t talk specifics about their cases since they’re pending. The Denver City Attorney’s Office declined comment for the same reason.

“We’re Jewish people, here saying that using Jews as a justification for this violence, we’re not going to stand for it,” Mann told Westword after the hearing. “We don’t believe that [Israel’s war with Hamas] is what makes us safe — in Israel or around the world.”

“It is absurd that fifteen people willing to stand up for basic human decency are being punished, but it is a shame upon our nation that our government has still not committed itself to a ceasefire,” Perlmutter added. “America has a proud history of civil disobedience when elected officials fail to represent the public. Over 60 percent of voters support a ceasefire, and yet the Denver City Council just rejected a ceasefire resolution.”

Four days before the hearing, Denver City Council members had voted 8-4 against a ceasefire proclamation sponsored by councilmembers Shontel Lewis, Sarah Parady, Jamie Torres and Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez. Opponents argued that such a proclamation would ignite allegations of anti-Semitism and only create more division in the community.

Pro-Palestine protesters have disrupted numerous council meetings and other government gatherings over the past few months, leading to forced recess breaks and online votes. Some Denver City Council members have blamed the demonstrators directly for swaying them to vote against a ceasefire proclamation.

While they were speaking outside the courthouse, JVP members were informed that the Glenwood Springs City Council had passed a resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. “Amazing!” Maloney said, clapping and cheering with others. “We have to realize the time is now. We don’t have to wait hundreds of years to be like, ‘What happened in Gaza is bad.’ And right now that’s what’s happening. We’re like, ‘Oh, it’s such a hard situation.’ But there is a stance to take, there is a movement.”

Until local officials take that stance, JVP members and supporters say they plan to keep shining a spotlight on the “complicitness,” whether it’s outside court or in the street.

Palestine Tet – 111 – Disgrace: US vetoes Algeria’s ceasefire resolution

February 24, 2024

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DISGRACE: US vetoes Algeria’s ceasefire resolution

DECENSORED NEWS

FEB 21

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US ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield on Tuesday used the country’s power as a permanent member of the UN Security Council to veto a ceasefire resolution introduced by Algeria, despite an impassioned appeal from Algerian ambassador Amar Bendjama prior to the vote.

“Today, every Palestinian is a target for death, extermination, and genocide…”

“A vote in favor of this draft resolution is a support to the Palestinians’ right to life…”

“Voting against it implies an endorsement of the brutal violence and collective punishment afflicted upon them…”

Every other member voted in favor of the resolution, except for the UK, who abstained.

Watch:

Shortly after the vote took place, international law professor Francis A Boyle appeared on Rachel Blevins‘s program to provide analysis and discuss what happens next.

Here’s the full interview:

Boyle has said since early on that he suspected the US would veto such a resolution at the UN Security Council, which would leave enforcement to the UN General Assembly under “Uniting for Peace”—something he discusses further in the video above.

Actual quote. Click image to view the video on “X”.

For more reporting like this, please follow Decensored News on your favorite social media platforms, bookmark the website, and subscribe here on Substack:

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Palestine Tet – 113 – Peter Boyles Show – February 24, 2024 – Hours 3 and 4

February 24, 2024

Palestinian mother in Gaza holding child for dear life

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Peter Boyle Show – February 24, 2024 – Hour 3 Dr. Reema Wahdan and Prof Rob Prince into the show about what’s happening in Gaza to the Palestinian people.

Peter Boyle Show – February 24, 2024 – Hour 4– Peter talks more with Dr. Reema Wahdan and Prof Rob Prince into the show about what’s happening in Gaza to the Palestinian people.

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Palestine Tet – 110 – Dr. Reema Badwan and Rob Prince, tomorrow morning (Saturday, February 24, 2024 at 11-12 am) on Peter Boyle Program – KNUS 710 on the AM dial.

February 23, 2024

tags: KNUS, Peter Boyle Show, Reema Wahdan

Dr. Reema Wahdan

Fresh from coming from Court after having been arrested for participating in a Jewish Voice For Peace civil disobedience on the corner of Speer Blvd and Champa St. I’ll be on Peter Boyle’s talk show tomorrow morning (Saturday, February 24, 2024) from 11-12 am, accompanying Palestinian Community leader Dr. Reema Wahdan.

Some forty years back I was a guest on Peter Boyle’s program several times (as I recall) and about the same subject – the Middle East.

Over the years, neither he nor I have changed much from what I can tell. This will be fun.

If you have nothing better to do, listen in.

Palestine Tet – 109 – Black Agenda Report: Israel – Imperialism’s MVP (Most Valuable Proxy). A statement from the African Methodist Episcopal Church’s “The Christian Recorder”

February 21, 2024

tags: African Methodist Episcopal Church, Black Agenda Report, Mark P. Fancher

It has since moved but this was the Shorter AME Community Church, a pillar of Denver’s Black Community. It was founded in 1868, the first African-American Church in Colorado

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(Note: The African Methodist Episcopal Church just issued a statement calling for a ceasefire that is also critical of the Biden Administration’s support for Israel’s ongoing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza. “AME” is one of the most historically important churches centered on the country’s Black Community, in Colorado and nationwide. Such a statement, as the one below will resonate among Afro-Americans everywhere and give energy to the movement for a permanent ceasefire, an end to Israel’s horror show in Gaza. Along with a growing number of statements in support of ceasefire from American unions, an unprecedented move, the momentum to get the Biden Administration to pressure Israel to stop its ethnic cleansing campaign against Palestine will pick up steam

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Black Agenda Report

News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

Israel – Imperialism’s MVP (Most Valuable Proxy)

Mark P. Fancher

21 Feb 2024

The African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church issued a statement calling the U.S. to withdraw funding and support from Israel.

Joe Biden’s unchanging support of Israel during the ongoing genocide in Palestine, despite massive resistance, reflects the U.S. empire’s commitment to protecting its imperialist interests in the Middle East.

In one of its finest moments, the African Methodist Episcopal Church recently issued a statement calling “on the United States Government to immediately withdraw all funding and other support from Israel.” The statement goes on to accuse the U.S. of supporting “mass genocide,” and it proclaims that “[t]he tools of empire, colonialism, and domination will not solve the problems they created.”

As might be expected, the statement sent shock waves through Israel. The AME church is not alone in its public opposition to U.S. support for Zionist crimes. Many Black churches have drawn a line and proclaimed that their collective conscience and theology do not allow them to remain silent as the Biden Administration collaborates in the perpetration of crimes against humanity.

Elizabeth Epps who won election as a state representative in the Colorado Legislature. Leading the charge along with colleague Tim Hernandez for a ceasefire resolution, for an end to Israel’s war on Palestine. Victim of scurrilous attacks by “fellow” members of the Legislature, she’s standing strong … but it ain’t easy.

These developments are devastating to the Democratic Party, which is reeling still from the “Abandon Biden” campaign that rages in Dearborn, Michigan, a city with the largest Arab population in the country. Michigan is critical to electoral success, and the plan to boycott Biden puts Democratic Party success in that state in serious jeopardy.

The massive opposition to Biden’s approach to Gaza begs the question of why he stubbornly refuses to in any way modify his support for Israel. There are perhaps many reasons, but his conduct is best explained by the U.S. empire’s confinement to a military box created over time by the masses of people in this country.

Unlike during the first half of the 20th Century, people have an appreciation for the realities of imperialist war. They harbor enduring resentment for the many young black, brown, and white working class bodies that were returned from southeast Asia in military coffins. Since the end of the Vietnam War, the White House and the Pentagon have understood that sending large numbers of U.S. youth into harm’s way when the sole objective is preservation or expansion of the empire is not an option. The deployment of U.S. ground troops can only be accomplished with carefully crafted lies and deception. Excuses such as U.S. nationals at risk in the targeted country; or foreign governments that are complicit in terrorist plans to cause imminent harm to the U.S. are convenient reasons for intervention.

However, the development of a convincing lie is a heavy lift, and the U.S. has found avoiding deployment of U.S. troops to be a far more appealing option. Most recently this has been accomplished through the use of drones and other technology that makes remote-controlled killing and destruction possible. But while it may ultimately become possible to wage full-scale wars with a robot army, right now the targeted attacks that are possible with drones are not always adequate when what is needed is a full-scale ground war. In these situations, the U.S. has resorted to the use of proxy military forces.

Proxy military forces have come in a variety of forms. When Ronald Reagan wanted to overthrow Nicaragua’s Sandinista government in the 1980s, the CIA armed and directed rag-tag bands of Nicaraguan miscreants and traitors who came to be known as “Contras.” During that period, the U.S. also teamed with South Africa’s apartheid regime to fund right-wing UNITA forces in the struggle for Angola. In more recent years, the U.S. has taken a more sophisticated approach to its proxy strategy by directing recognized standing armies of sovereign states. This has been done most effectively with U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) which masks imperial military projects with claims that U.S. military advisors are in Africa to assist with anti-terrorism campaigns and to otherwise facilitate humanitarian aid to impoverished regions. Still, the U.S. is not above using cutthroats and criminals to act on its behalf as it did when it backed the mob that murdered Libya’s Muammar Gadhafi.

In the end, there is no more valuable proxy than Israeli military forces. The so-called Middle East has been a contested region

Shontell Lewis: Denver City Council, who was one of four city council members who voted for a proclamation at the Denver City Council for a ceasefire. (It was defeated, but the campaign continues)

for years. During the Cold War, it was recognized as having great geo-political strategic value as well as vital, vast oil resources. This has not changed, and consequently, imperialism has a rock solid commitment to locking down control of Palestine. However, this has not been easy because of the heroic, ongoing resistance to occupation by the Palestinian people.

From the perspective of western imperialism, the massive destructive attack on Gaza has been necessary and unavoidable, particularly given the increasing boldness of Hamas and Gaza’s huge oil reserves. Purging Palestinians from Gaza is an ugly, dirty job, and somebody has got to do it. But it won’t be the precious sons and daughters of U.S. citizens. Israel exists precisely for moments such as these, and the Israel Defense Forces are doing a perfect job.

Biden will not and cannot act in ways inconsistent with the imperial agenda, even if it costs him the election. However, that does not mean the resistance by Black churches, the Abandon Biden campaign and other protests don’t have value. As the pressure continues to mount because the contradictions of Zionism become increasingly clear, the empire will be motivated to find another way to exert influence in the Middle East. At long last they may begin a slow-rolling divorce from Israel in favor of currying favor with other forces and governments in the region. It won’t mark the end of the struggle against imperialism, but it will mean the foe will change form, hopefully in ways that make it more vulnerable.

Mark P. Fancher is an attorney and writer, who in this moment, is especially proud to be a member of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. He can be contacted at mfancher@comcast.net .

Palestine Tet – 108 – Algeria weighs in at the Security Council in support of a ceasefire; the Biden Administration vetoes the effort now for the fourth time.

February 21, 2024

This boy saved his books after Israel blew up his school

(Note: This is a Google Translation French-to-English of an article found on Algeria Watch, excellent website. Most of its articles are in French and/or Arabic but occasionally there is one in English.)

War against Gaza: Lula accuses Israel of genocide
BY AW · FEBRUARY 19, 2024

Amel Blidi, El Watan, February 19, 2024

Despite repeated calls from the international community to end the war, the United States has threatened to veto the draft resolution to the UN Security Council, submitted by Algeria, calling for a cease-fire. immediate humanitarian fire.

While the international community is trying to negotiate a ceasefire in Gaza, notably through a draft resolution to the Security Council submitted by Algeria, the prospects for peace seem to be fading, exacerbating the suffering of the Palestinians in Gaza. trapped in an endless war.

Despite repeated calls from the international community to end the war, the United States threatened to veto this draft resolution to the UN Security Council, submitted by Algeria, calling for a cease. -immediate humanitarian fire.

The decision of the International Court of Justice in January, calling on Israel to prevent any potential act of genocide in Gaza, gave new impetus to diplomatic efforts. But the fact is that the United States is blocking all initiatives aimed at ending the war against the Palestinians in Gaza.

The decision of the International Court of Justice in January, calling on Israel to prevent any potential act of genocide in Gaza, gave new impetus to diplomatic efforts. But the fact is that the United States is blocking all initiatives aimed at ending the war against the Palestinians in Gaza.

The latest version of the text, on which Algeria has requested a vote for tomorrow, Tuesday February 20 – and has already been put in “blue” – “requires an immediate humanitarian ceasefire which must be respected by all parties”, while the Israeli offensive in Gaza left 28,858 dead, the vast majority of them civilians, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza.

The draft resolution “refuses the forced displacement of the Palestinian civilian population” and calls for an end to this “violation of international law”. He also calls for the release of “all hostages”. At the beginning of February, the American ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, claimed, according to comments reported by AFP, that Algeria’s initiative for a new resolution risked being “derailed” negotiations for a truce including further releases of hostages – negotiations still ongoing.

“We believe that it is now high time for the Security Council to adopt a resolution on a humanitarian ceasefire,” argued for his part, a few days ago, the Palestinian ambassador to the UN , Riyad Mansour, believing he had been “more than generous in giving more time”. “There is massive support among the members of the Security Council,” he assured, despite the uncertainty over the American position.

It should be remembered, in this regard, that Israel and its American ally had blocked previous resolution attempts because they did not contain a firm condemnation of the Hamas attack of October 7.

It should be remembered, in this regard, that Israel and its American ally had blocked previous resolution attempts because they did not contain a firm condemnation of the Hamas attack of October 7.

“The negotiations have not been promising…”
The problem is that even truce talks seem to be stalling. These negotiations, led by Egyptian, American and Qatari mediators, have not yet resulted in an agreement.

Hamas threatened to leave these talks if “(humanitarian) aid was not delivered to northern Gaza.” Its leader, Ismaïl Haniyeh, repeated that his movement demanded a ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Conditions rejected several times by Israel, which continues to raze entire neighborhoods with impunity, displacing 1.7 million of the 2.4 million inhabitants and causing a major humanitarian crisis, according to the UN.

“The negotiations have not been very promising in recent days, but we will do our best to get closer to an agreement,” Qatar Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdelrahmane Al Thani said yesterday in Munich. Meanwhile, on the ground, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remains determined to continue a ground offensive in Rafah, despite international calls for restraint.

Serious concerns have been expressed around the world, including by the American ally, for the civilians, most of them displaced, in this city located on the closed border with Egypt. During a telephone call with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sissi, according to the AFP agency, repeated “Egypt’s categorical position of rejecting the displacement of Palestinians (towards its territory, editor’s note) in any form”.

In recent days, an Egyptian NGO and the Wall Street Journal reported that Egypt was building a closed and secure camp in the Sinai intended to accommodate Palestinian refugees in the event of an Israeli offensive on Rafah. Israeli military operations are now focused on Khan Younes, leaving the local population in an increasingly precarious situation.

At the heart of this crisis is the Nasser hospital, which has been reduced to ruins by the incessant bombings of the occupying army.

Two U.S. Senators from Colorado, pledging (the usual) support for Israel, still, join other members of Congress calling for a ceasefire.

February 18, 2024

tags: Immediate Ceasefire, John Hickenlooper, Michael Bennet

Front Range Jewish Voice for Peace demonstration in October 2023 in front of the office of Diana DeGette. the Congresswoman was the first Colorado member of Congress to publicly call for a ceasefire

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Although Bennet and Hickenlooper, finally, and seemingly reluctantly, call for a ceasefire – a welcome position – that call is drowned out by the outright bigoted framework in which the ceasefire statement is made. The exact wording of the ceasefire call was embedded – almost in passing – in a statement that otherwise could have been written by AIPAC or the Netanyahu government.

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At the same moment that the United States is once again threatening to veto a new Gaza ceasefire resolution at the UN Security Council, this one introduced by Algeria (whose experience with French colonialism in some ways mirrors the U.S.-Israeli relationship) two U.S. Senators from Colorado, gingerly join others in Congress calling on the Biden Administration to support a ceasefire.

The Bennet-Hickenlooper statement comes after 41 Colorado organizations urged the Senators to do so, in an effort organized by the Friends Committee on National Legislation.

Every pro-Palestinian organization and coalition that has taken to the streets and city councils demanding an end to Israel’s genocidal campaign against Gaza has called for a ceasefire as well, among them the Colorado Palestine Coalition, Colorado Palestine Club, Front Range Jewish Voice for Peace, the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center.

In a statement issued on February 14, 2024, Valentine’s Day of all days, Colorado U.S. Senators join 23 other members of the U.S. Senate and 66 members of the House of Representatives in calling for a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza. U.S. Congresswoman from Colorado – Diana DeGette had earlier issued such a call although the rest of the Colorado Congressional delegation, all the Republicans and remaining Democrats have not. The latter, including so-called liberal members of the delegation, Jason Crow, Joe Neguse, Brittany Petterson and Yadira Caraveo, M.D, despite making a few, frankly pathetic comments about civilian casualties in Gaza, have instead followed the Biden-Netanyahu position of near total support of Israel including the recent $17.6 billion more in military equipment to the Netanyahu government.

Meanwhile Israel’s slaughter of Gazans continues unabated in an effort to expel Palestinians from the strip and swallow Gaza into “Greater Israel.” While shedding crocodile tears from civilian casualties, the Biden Administration stands firmly with Netanyahu’s ethnic cleansing campaign.

On February 14, 2024 – that is more than 130 days into Israel’s murderous war of ethnic cleansing and genocide – two members of the United States Senate from Colorado, Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, called on the Biden Administration to work for “a restored mutual ceasefire” in Gaza.

Although Bennet and Hickenlooper, finally, and seemingly reluctantly, call for a ceasefire – a welcome position – that call is drowned out by the outright bigoted framework in which the ceasefire statement is made. The exact wording of the ceasefire call was embedded – almost in passing – in a statement that otherwise could have been written by AIPAC or the Netanyahu government. Who knows? Maybe it was!

As such it almost loses whatever positive aspects it might include.

The paragraphs that mention ceasefire stated:

“We therefore write to express our urgent support for your Administration’s ongoing diplomatic efforts to secure the release of hostages in tandem with a restored ceasefire in Gaza.

We recognize that such a diplomatic achievement will require the agreement of the warring parties, and that its terms remain under negotiation. In our judgement, it is in our urgent national interest – and the urgent humanitarian interest of millions of innocent civilians – that these negotiations succeed.”

The statement is a response to the growing isolation of both the United States and Israel as the world looks with horror and disgust, at what is not a war, but, as the International Court of Justice noted in a recent decision, an “exercise” in genocide. It is a tepid response to worldwide demand for a ceasefire including unprecedented global support and solidarity for the Palestinian situation in Gaza, in the West Bank, in refugee camps all over the Middle East region.

Most revealing, nowhere in the statement is the word “Palestinian” found. Nor is there any call for an end to Israel’s military offensive against Gaza, its intensified repression of Palestinians in the West Bank or working to establish an international framework for peace.

The suggestion that the Biden Administration has been engaged in “on-going” diplomatic efforts to end the fighting flies in the face of reality: the Administration’s overwhelming, one-sided unlimited support for Israeli aggression as exemplified in:

– the continued arming of Israel to the teeth (the new $17.6 billion in military aid Congress just appropriated)
– the political cover which Washington has provided Israel in international organizations
– the frenzied media campaign to vilify the Palestinian struggle for their right to self determination.

Yes to a ceasefire and international humanitarian aid to Gaza!
End the Israeli-Egyptian blockade of Gaza! Open the entry points!
Cut U.S. military aid toIsrael!
Yes, to a Palestinian state!

View from the Left Bank: Rob Prince's Blog

Don't Kvetch, Organize….(OK, you can kvetch a little, but then try to get over it and organize). Ignorance is not bliss: it's just ignorance

Palestine Tet – 119 – Kazerooni and Prince: Post Gaza, What’s In Store for the Middle East?

Palestine Tet – 118 – In press conference, Euro-Med confirms Israel’s full involvement in Gaza flour massacre

In press conference, Euro-Med confirms Israel’s full involvement in Gaza flour massacre

Palestine Tet – 117 – Gabor Mate – I am not the only one who left Zionism

Palestine Tet – 116 – J Street’s Pro-War Stance Prompts Staff Departures

J Street’s Pro-War Stance Prompts Staff Departures

The liberal Zionist lobbying group’s support for Israel’s assault on Gaza has sparked staff dissent and alienated onetime allies.

Palestine Tet – 115 – Colorado groups launch formal ‘noncommitted’ campaign to protest Biden in March 5 primary

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Colorado groups launch formal ‘noncommitted’ campaign to protest Biden in March 5 primary

Colorado Palestine Coalition urges voters to ‘demonstrate discontent’ with Biden’s handling of the war in Gaza

BY: CHASE WOODRUFF – FEBRUARY 28, 2024 8:55 PM

Palestine Tet – 114 – Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor: Horrific testimonies: Israeli army tortures Palestinians in Gaza physically and psychologically

Palestine Tet – 113 – Powerful testimonies “We Charge Genocide” from the Arab League, Indonesia, Namibia at the International Court of Justice

Costa Rica 5 – Toucan Rescue Ranch

TRR GOALS

The sloths

Palestine Tet – 112 – Westword: Pro-Palestine Protesters Facing 300 Days in Jail for Shutting Down Speer Boulevard

Palestine Tet – 111 – Disgrace: US vetoes Algeria’s ceasefire resolution

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DISGRACE: US vetoes Algeria’s ceasefire resolution

Palestine Tet – 113 – Peter Boyles Show – February 24, 2024 – Hours 3 and 4

Palestine Tet – 110 – Dr. Reema Badwan and Rob Prince, tomorrow morning (Saturday, February 24, 2024 at 11-12 am) on Peter Boyle Program – KNUS 710 on the AM dial.

Palestine Tet – 109 – Black Agenda Report: Israel – Imperialism’s MVP (Most Valuable Proxy). A statement from the African Methodist Episcopal Church’s “The Christian Recorder”

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Black Agenda Report

Palestine Tet – 108 – Algeria weighs in at the Security Council in support of a ceasefire; the Biden Administration vetoes the effort now for the fourth time.

Two U.S. Senators from Colorado, pledging (the usual) support for Israel, still, join other members of Congress calling for a ceasefire.

Colorado Progressive Jewish News

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