Daily Archives: 22. Dezember 2023
UAW and American Postal Workers Union Members Lead NYC March for Gaza
Members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) Region 9A; American Postal Workers Union (APWU); United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers (UE) Eastern Region; New York City’s arm of Democratic Socialists of America (NYC-DSA); Adalah Justice Project, American Muslims for Palestine N.Y./N.J.; Jewish Voice for Peace-N.Y.; New York Communities for Change; the New York Working Families Party; and more took to the streets to call for “peace and justice for Palestine.”
They carried signs stressing U.S. worker demands for a cease-fire in the conflict that has killed more than 20,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including over 8,000 children.
BREAKING: Thousands are marching on AIPAC headquarters in NYC, led by workers from @UAW, @APWUnational, and other unions. The people demand a ceasefire!
Banners at the front show how much $ @ChuckSchumer, @HakeemJeffries, & @SenGillibrand have taken from AIPAC.
@StatusCoup
An unsanctioned coterie of pro-Israel quasi-lobbyists has descended on D.C.
(22.10.2023)
“It’s not an official government representation,” he conceded.
Instead, he is part of a ragtag group of donors, activists and allies who have moved swiftly these past two weeks to help Israel. They have leveraged their political clout, their relationships with lawmakers and their fundraising networks to do so.
Their overarching goal is to shape how elected officials in the U.S. react to the crisis. But their work also underscores how much of the political fight around the nascent war is being done on the fly; and how much is being waged in unconventional theaters: college campuses, corporate boardrooms, K Street offices and stuffy Capitol Hill restaurants.
How Joe Biden Became America’s Top Israel Hawk
Both before and after October 7, the empathy Biden is known for has rarely extended to Palestinians. Rashid Khalidi, the Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University, said such statements are missing “to the degree that I don’t really think he sees the Palestinians at all.” In contrast, Khalidi added, Biden sees Israelis “as they are very carefully presented by their government and their massive information apparatus.”
A former Biden administration official shared a similar perspective with me. “The President does not seem to acknowledge the humanity of all parties affected by this conflict,” this person said. “He has described Is
Histadrut Chairman Arnon Bar-David as photographed last week during a visit to two weapons factories: #Elbit Systems and IAI. On a shell intended for use in bombings in the Gaza Strip he wrote: „The people of Israel live. Greetings from the Histadrut and the workers in Israel
How Three Babies Were Left Behind at an Evacuated Gaza Hospital
The intensive-care unit at Gaza City’s Al-Nasr Children’s Hospital was on the brink of collapse on Nov. 10, as the staff tried to keep oxygen flowing to three fragile babies, according to staff who were there that day. Then Israel’s military called on everyone in the medical center to leave….
This was a pernicious lie that was promoted by Biden and his administration to justify Israel’s attacking of hospitals. Those of us who warned that this was a lie at the time were accused of being Hamas propagandists.
The case of al-Shifa: Investigating the assault on Gaza’s largest hospital
The Post’s analysis shows:
– The rooms connected to the tunnel network discovered by IDF troops showed no immediate evidence of military use by Hamas.
– None of the five hospital buildings identified by Hagari appeared to be connected to the tunnel network.
– There is no evidence that the tunnels could be accessed from inside hospital wards.
Hours before IDF troops entered the complex, the Biden administration declassified U.S. intelligence assessments that it said bolstered Israel’s claims. In the aftermath of the raid, Israeli and U.S. officials have stood firm behind their initial statements.
A Washington Post investigation has found no proof of a Hamas command center under al-Shifa Hospital following Israel’s attack on the medical complex
Evidence Doesn‘t Support Israeli Claims That Hospital Was Hamas Command Center: Report
The Israeli raid on al-Shifa Hospital last month, which was preceded by an evacuation order aimed at thousands of people sheltering at the hospital and hundreds of sick patients, produced one of the grisliest scenes in the country’s ground invasion of the Gaza Strip: a “death zone” that included a mass grave at the entrance of the hospital and dozens of desperate patients inside, according to the World Health Organization, whose aid workers arrived at the facility on Nov. 18 as part of a humanitarian mission.
Forty patients, including four premature babies, died in the hospital due to a lack of electricity in the days surrounding the raid, hospital administrators told the United Nations.
A Times Investigation Tracked Israel’s Use of One of Its Most Destructive Bombs in South Gaza
The Times programmed an artificial intelligence tool to scan satellite imagery of south Gaza for bomb craters. Times reporters manually reviewed the search results, looking for craters measuring roughly 40 feet across or larger. Munitions experts say typically only 2,000-pound bombs form craters of that size in Gaza’s light, sandy soil.
Ultimately, the investigation identified 208 craters in satellite imagery and drone footage.
„During the first six weeks of the war in Gaza, Israel routinely used one of its biggest and most destructive bombs in areas it designated safe for civilians.“ Specifically: it used 2,000-pound bombs for this, which not even the US will use in cities:
172 member nations voted in favor of a U.N. resolution affirming Palestinians’ right to self-determination 4 countries voted against: – Israel – Micronesia – Nauru – United States
General Assembly Takes Up Second, Third Committee Reports, Adopting 99 Resolutions, Three Decisions on Broad Range of Items
(19.12.2023)
In other notable action, the Assembly adopted a resolution on the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination (document A/78/479) by a recorded vote of 172 in favour to 4 against (Israel, Micronesia, Nauru and the United States), with 10 abstentions (Cameroon, Guatemala, Kiribati, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, South Sudan, Togo, Tonga and Tuvalu), by which it stressed the urgency of ending the Israeli occupation and achieving a lasting peace settlement between the Palestinian and Israeli sides.
US abstains on UN vote, allowing Gaza aid resolution to pass
The resolution, sponsored by Arab states, called for a major increase in aid to desperate civilians in the Gaza Strip, dropping calls from an earlier version for a suspension of hostilities.
The U.S. did not vote in favor of the resolution, but rather abstained, allowing it to pass. As a permanent member of the council, the U.S. has veto power, and a “no” vote would have killed the measure.
UN to vote on watered-down resolution on aid to Gaza without call for suspension of hostilities
Council members met behind closed doors on Thursday to discuss a revised draft resolution, then delayed the vote so they could consult their capitals on the significant changes, aimed at avoiding a U.S. veto. A new text with a few minor revisions was circulated Friday morning.
As the death toll passes 20,000, the UN again delays a vote on aid to Gaza
The United Nations says more than half a million people are starving in Gaza because not enough food has entered the besieged territory as Israel keeps up its blistering campaign of airstrikes and ground operations.
Palestinian officials said Friday that the death toll has now exceeded 20,000 — around 1% of the territory‘s prewar population.
GAZA STRIP: Hostilities leave the entire population highly food insecure and at risk of Famine
Between 24 November and 7 December, over 90 percent of the population in the Gaza Strip (about 2.08 million people) was estimated to face high levels of acute food insecurity, classified in IPC Phase 3 or above (Crisis or worse). Among these, over 40 percent of the population (939,000 people) were in Emergency (IPC Phase 4) and over 15 percent (378,000 people) were in Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5).
Between 8 December 2023 and 7 February 2024, the entire population in the Gaza Strip (about 2.2 million people) is classified in IPC Phase 3 or above (Crisis or worse). This is the highest share of people facing high levels of acute food insecurity that the IPC initiative has ever classified for any given area or country
The UN says more than 1 in 4 people in Gaza are starving because of war
“It doesn’t get any worse,’’ said Arif Husain, chief economist for the U.N.’s World Food Program. “I have never seen something at the scale that is happening in Gaza. And at this speed.”
Israel says it is in the final stages of clearing out Hamas militants from northern Gaza, but that months of fighting lie ahead in the south.