Sen. Bernie Sanders said Sunday that the U.S. must stop fueling the Netanyahu government’s assault on the Gaza Strip as senators unveiled legislation that would provide more than $14 billion in aid to Israel, which has waged its monthslong war on the Palestinian territory with massive American-made bombs, artillery shells, and other destructive munitions. “This is not JUST about 27,000…
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Belgian officials expressed outrage Thursday after Israeli forces reportedly bombed the office building of the Belgian Agency for Development Cooperation in the Gaza Strip, an attack that came after Belgium declined to join the U.S. and more than a dozen other countries in cutting off funding to the United Nations’ Palestinian refugee agency. “The offices of Enabel, the Belgian development agency…
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A militia group that the Biden administration blamed for the deadly attack on U.S. forces stationed at a shadowy base in Jordan said Tuesday that it would stop targeting American troops in Iraq, a move that could clear the way for the withdrawal of U.S. soldiers more than two decades after the 2003 invasion. “We announce the suspension of military and security operations against the occupation…
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A team of Israeli forces disguised as civilians and medical staff raided Ibn Sina hospital in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday and assassinated three Palestinians, claiming without providing evidence that they were using the facility as a hideout and planning an attack inspired by the Hamas-led October 7 assault. Journalists on the ground report that there was no apparent attempt to arrest the…
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Warhawks in the United States wasted no time agitating for direct military conflict with Iran after a drone attack on a military base just inside Jordan’s border with Syria on Sunday killed three American troops and injured dozens more. Both Republican and Democratic members of Congress called on U.S. President Joe Biden to quickly respond with strikes inside Iran, which denied any connection to…
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Alabama on Thursday night became the first U.S. state to execute a person using nitrogen gas, killing 58-year-old Kenneth Smith by depriving his body of oxygen after the nation’s Supreme Court rejected his legal team’s last-ditch appeal. The state’s notoriously incompetent executioners, who tried and failed to kill Smith via lethal injection in 2022, strapped the condemned man to a gurney and…
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More than 60 House Democrats joined 148 Republicans on Tuesday in condemning South Africa’s genocide case against the Israeli government, which has continued to commit atrocities in Gaza in the two weeks since the International Court of Justice heard arguments in the closely watched proceedings. In a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the bipartisan group of lawmakers led by Reps.
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At least 21 Israeli soldiers were killed Monday after explosives planted by the Israel Defense Forces in two Gaza buildings detonated, causing the structures to collapse. The explosion was apparently triggered by a rocket-propelled grenade attack on a nearby Israeli tank. Daniel Hagari, an IDF spokesperson, acknowledged during a televised statement that “the buildings probably exploded because of…
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The Biden administration is reportedly planning for a “sustained” assault on Yemen after a barrage of U.S. airstrikes in recent days failed to halt Houthi attacks on commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea. The Washington Post reported over the weekend that the White House “convened senior officials on Wednesday to discuss options for the way ahead” in Yemen, which has endured years of deadly U.
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A group of progressive lawmakers in the U.S. House is reportedly planning to ask President Joe Biden to seek the resignation of White House Middle East adviser Brett McGurk, a lesser-known official who has exerted significant influence over the administration’s handling of Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip. HuffPost’s Akbar Shahid Ahmed, who has detailed McGurk’s outsized role in shaping Biden’s…
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The conservative-dominated U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday heard oral arguments in a pair of cases taking direct aim at a critical precedent that, if overturned, would gut federal agencies’ ability to set and enforce regulations — a potentially massive blow to the climate, civil rights, public health, and more. Central to Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless, Inc. v.
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Survey results released Tuesday as corporate CEOs, top government officials, and other global elites gathered in Davos, Switzerland show that nearly three-quarters of millionaires in G20 countries support higher taxes on extreme wealth, which they view as an increasingly dire threat to democracy. The poll was conducted by the London-based firm Survation on behalf of the Patriotic Millionaires…
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This story originally appeared in Common Dreams on Jan. 15, 2024. It is shared here with permission under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license.
Anti-corruption activist Bernardo Arévalo was sworn in as Guatemala’s president early Monday after months of fierce opposition from the Central American nation’s right-wing political establishment, obstruction that progressive campaigners and other leaders in the region decried as a coup attempt.
Arévalo’s inauguration was scheduled for Sunday afternoon, but the proceedings were delayed for hours as conservative legislators stonewalled efforts to select new congressional leadership.
The delay, part of a sustained push by right-wing forces to derail the transfer of power, sparked fury in the streets, with Arévalo backers—including Indigenous groups and the country’s youth—mobilizing as it appeared that the president-elect’s opponents were launching a last-ditch attempt to stop him from taking office.
Leading government officials from other Latin American nations expressed alarm over the delay and said in a joint statement that “the will of the Guatemalan people must be respected.”
Reuters reported that Arevalo’s inauguration was “thrown into disarray after the Supreme Court allowed opposition lawmakers to maintain their leadership of Congress, and forced members of the president’s Semilla party to stand as independents, further diluting its presence.”
“Semilla holds only 23 of the 160 seats in Congress,” the news agency noted. “Arevalo’s authority, however, got a boost after prominent Semilla lawmaker, Samuel Pérez Álvarez, was unexpectedly elected as the Congress president.”
Sunday’s chaos capped off a drawn-out fight by Guatemala’s entrenched and corrupt political establishment to prevent a reformer from taking power. Arevalo has been described as the most progressive Guatemalan president since Jacobo Árbenz, who was ousted in a U.S.-sponsored coup in 1954.
Following his landslide victory in August, Guatemala Attorney General Consuelo Porras—an ally of former President Alejandro Giammattei who was appointed to a second four-year term in 2022—launched an aggressive legal campaign to halt Arevalo’s ascent to the presidency, alleging that he and his party engaged in various forms of election fraud.
Arévalo, who also faced credible death threats and assassination plots, rejected such accusations as part of a high-level coup attempt and said he would push for Porras’ resignation.
“In the 20th century, coups involved tanks, bayonets, soldiers, and lasted two or three days,” Arévalo said in an interview with The New York Times last month. “The coups of the 21st century are carried out with members of Congress, with lawyers, in the courts. It’s more sophisticated, takes much more time, it’s done with the pretense of institutional continuity.”
On Monday, in his first act as Guatemala’s president, Arévalo “visited the site outside the attorney general’s office where Indigenous protesters have kept vigil for more than three months, demanding authorities respect the vote and that Porras step down,” The Associated Press reported.
“It fills me with deep honor to assume this lofty responsibility, showing that our democracy has the necessary strength to resist and that through unity and trust we can change the political panorama in Guatemala,” Arévalo said in his inaugural address. “There cannot be democracy without social justice, and social justice cannot prevail without democracy.”
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Anti-corruption activist Bernardo Arévalo was sworn in as Guatemala’s president early Monday after months of fierce opposition from the Central American nation’s right-wing political establishment, obstruction that progressive campaigners and other leaders in the region decried as a coup attempt. Arévalo’s inauguration was scheduled for Sunday afternoon, but the proceedings were delayed for hours…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
lawmakers said Thursday that the Biden administration’s barrage of airstrikes in Yemen — launched in coordination with American allies but without congressional approval — was blatantly unconstitutional and dangerous, heightening the risk of a full-blown regional conflict. “This is illegal and violates Article I of the Constitution,” U.S. Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) wrote on social media following…
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This story originally appeared in Common Dreams on Jan. 11, 2024. It is shared here with permission under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license.
South African representatives argued before the International Court of Justice on Thursday that Israel is engaged in a genocidal assault on the Gaza Strip, subjecting the enclave to “merciless” bombing with the clear intent to wipe out the Palestinian population.
“They have deplored anyone feeling sorry for the uninvolved Gazans, asserting repeatedly that there are no uninvolved, that there are no innocents in Gaza, that the killers of the women and the children should not be separated from the citizens of Gaza, and that the children of Gaza have brought this upon themselves,” South African attorney Tembeka Ngcukaitobi said during his presentation.
Thursday’s hearing also featured remarks from South African Justice Minister Ronald Lamola, South African Ambassador to the Netherlands Vusimuzi Madonsela, lawyer Adila Hassim, and international law professor John Dugard, each of whom laid out an aspect of South Africa’s case against the Israeli government.
Hassim argued that Israel’s “first genocidal act” is the “mass killing of Palestinians in Gaza,” pointing to the U.S.-armed military’s use of 2,000-pound bombs in southern Gaza—the region to which Israeli forces ordered Gazans to move earlier in the war.
“No one is spared. Not even newborns,” said Hassim, displaying photos of mass graves in the Gaza Strip. “U.N. chiefs have described it as a graveyard for children.”
“Israel has forced—forced—the displacement of about 85% of Palestinians in Gaza. There is nowhere safe for them to flee to.”
Hassim made the case that Israel is guilty of violating articles 2a, 2b, 2c, and 2d of the Genocide Convention, which defines genocide as harm inflicted “with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group.”
“Israel has deliberately imposed conditions on Gaza that cannot sustain life and are calculated to bring about its physical destruction,” said Hassim. “Israel has forced—forced—the displacement of about 85% of Palestinians in Gaza. There is nowhere safe for them to flee to.”
South Africa’s presenters sought to demonstrate genocidal intent in part by directly quoting high-ranking Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Ngcukaitobi pointed to Netanyahu’s repeated invocation of biblical passages to paint Gazans as modern-day Amalekites.
The attorney also played footage of Israeli soldiers chanting that they will “wipe off the seed of Amalek” and that there are “no uninvolved civilians” in Gaza.
“Israel’s political leaders, military commanders, and persons holding official positions have systematically and in explicit terms declared their genocidal intent,” said Ngcukaitobi. “These statements are then repeated by soldiers on the ground in Gaza as they engage in the destruction of Palestinians and the physical infrastructure of Gaza.”
South Africa’s legal team decided against sharing highly graphic videos and photos during its presentations, saying it did not want to turn the court’s proceedings “into a theatre for spectacle.”
“South Africa’s application in this court today is built on a foundation of clear legal rights, not images,” the legal team said Thursday.
South Africa is asking the ICJ to adopt “provisional measures” to halt Israel’s mass killing and displacement of Gazans, many of whom are starving and being stalked by disease.
Israel is set to offer its counter to South Africa’s case on Friday, which will mark the first time Israel has defended itself in person at the United Nations’ highest court.
In the days ahead of the ICJ’s public hearings, Israeli officials pressured governments around the world to publicly denounce South Africa’s case. The United States, Israel’s top ally and leading arms supplier, has dismissed South Africa’s arguments as “meritless.”
But a growing number of national governments are backing South Africa, including Brazil, Malaysia, Bolivia, and Pakistan. South Africa’s ICJ effort has also drawn massive support from grassroots organizations across the globe.
“Israel’s killing, injuring, traumatizing, and displacing large numbers of Palestinians and denying water, food, medicine, and fuel to an occupied population meet the criteria for the crime of genocide,” reads an open letter signed by more than 1,000 unions, popular movements, and other groups. “If a majority of the world’s nations call for a cease-fire, yet fail to press for prosecution of Israel—what is to stop Israel from ethnically cleansing all Palestinians?”
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South African representatives argued before the International Court of Justice on Thursday that Israel is engaged in a genocidal assault on the Gaza Strip, subjecting the enclave to “merciless” bombing with the clear intent to wipe out the Palestinian population. “They have deplored anyone feeling sorry for the uninvolved Gazans, asserting repeatedly that there are no uninvolved, that there are no…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Dictionaries and encyclopedias are among the more than 2,800 books that a Florida school district has pulled from library shelves in an effort to comply with a law that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed last year. Judd Legum, author of the Popular Information newsletter, reported Wednesday that the Escambia County School District said the books that have been banned pending further investigation…
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European scientists officially confirmed Tuesday that 2023 was the hottest year on record, surpassing 2016 by a huge margin as greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels continue to drive global temperatures to terrifying new highs. The conclusion from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service was hardly unexpected given the unparalleled heatwaves that gripped large swaths of the…
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This story originally appeared in Common Dreams on Jan. 7, 2024. It is shared here with permission under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license.
An Israeli airstrike in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Sunday killed two Palestinian journalists and seriously wounded a third, adding to the war’s grisly toll on media workers.
The Al Jazeera Media Network said in a statement that the Israeli military targeted the journalists’ car as they were driving through the northern part of Rafah. The strike killed Hamza Dahdouh, the 27-year-old son of Al Jazeera‘s Gaza bureau chief, and Mustafa Thuraya, a freelance videographer working with Agence France-Presse. Hazem Rajab was injured in the Israeli strike.
“The assassination of Mustafa and Hamza, Al Jazeera correspondent Wael Dahdouh’s son, whilst they were on their way to carry out their duty in the Gaza Strip reaffirms the need to take immediate necessary legal measures against the occupation forces to ensure that there is no impunity,” the network said, imploring the international community to “hold Israel accountable for its heinous crimes.”
Hamza is the fifth member of Wael Dahdouh’s family killed in Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip. Earlier in the war, Israeli strikes killed Dahdouh’s wife, younger son, daughter, and grandson. Wael himself was wounded by an Israeli drone strike that killed Al Jazeera journalist Samer Abu Daqqa.
“Hamza was everything to me, the eldest boy, he was the soul of my soul,” Wael said in anguished remarks from the cemetery where his son was buried. “These are the tears of parting and loss, the tears of humanity.”
Christophe Deloire, secretary-general of Reporters Without Borders, expressed “shock” in response to news of Dahdouh and Thuraya’s killing.
“This unbearable massacre must stop,” Deloire wrote on social media. “Israel must be held accountable for this eradication of journalism in Gaza. We will continue to refer to the International Criminal Court so that maximum priority is given to crimes against journalists. Justice must be served.”
Since October 7, Israeli forces have killed dozens of media workers in the Gaza Strip, where around 1,000 journalists were working before the assault. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), more journalists were killed in the first 10 weeks of the war “than have ever been killed in a single country over an entire year.”
“CPJ is particularly concerned about an apparent pattern of targeting journalists and their families by the Israeli military,” the group said last month. An investigation by Reporters Without Borders concluded that Reuters video journalist Issam Abdallah and his colleagues were deliberately targeted in October 13 strikes in southern Lebanon.
Reporters Without Borders has filed two war crimes complaints with the International Criminal Court since early October. The second complaint, submitted last month, accuses the Israel Defense Forces of intentionally killing seven Palestinian journalists.
“Targeting reporters is a war crime,” the group wrote in a social media post on Sunday.
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The Israeli government has mounted a pressure campaign urging governments around the world to publicly denounce South Africa’s genocide case at the International Court of Justice, which is set to convene hearings on the detailed charges on Thursday. According to a cable obtained by Axios, the Israeli Foreign Ministry is calling on the country’s embassies to pressure host country diplomats and…
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The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday opted to reinstate Idaho’s near-total abortion ban, a draconian law that carries up to five years in prison for doctors who perform the procedure outside of extremely narrow circumstances. The high court, which overturned the constitutional right to abortion in the summer of 2022, agreed to hear a Justice Department challenge to Idaho’s abortion ban in April.
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The Biden administration is reportedly drafting plans to bomb Houthi targets in Yemen amid escalating fears of a wider war in the Middle East, where the U.S. is inflaming regional tensions by heavily arming Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip. Politico reported Thursday that U.S. officials are “increasingly concerned” that Israel’s devastating war on Gaza “could expand… to a wider…
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An analysis released Wednesday shows that in 2022, the wealthiest people in the United States collectively held a “staggering” $8.5 trillion in wealth that is not — and might never be — subject to taxation. Examining recently released data Federal Reserve data for 2022, Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF) found that the roughly 64,000 U.S. households with at least $100 million in wealth — less than 0.
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An Education Department official who volunteered for President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign announced his resignation Wednesday over the administration’s support for Israel’s “indiscriminate violence” against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the latest sign of growing dissent within the U.S. government. “It should go without saying that all violence against innocent people is horrific,” Tariq Habash…
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The U.S. State Department on Tuesday condemned a pair of high-ranking Israeli officials for suggesting that Gaza’s Palestinian population should be permanently evicted from their territory — a sentiment that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly expressed in private. But critics said the State Department’s outraged reaction to recent comments by Israeli National Security Minister Itamar…
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Fears of an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah intensified Tuesday after an Israeli drone strike reportedly killed a senior Hamas official in the Lebanese capital of Beirut, an attack likely to further enflame a region reeling from Israel’s catastrophic assault on Gaza. Citing three unnamed security sources and Lebanese news outlets, Reuters reported that an Israeli drone attack on an office…
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Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on Monday said the Netanyahu government should “encourage the migration” of Gazans out of the besieged Palestinian enclave, which has been devastated by a three-month bombing campaign that has internally displaced around 90% of the territory’s population. “This is a correct, just, moral, and humane solution,” Ben-Gvir said during a meeting of his…
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A United Nations report released Thursday warned that conditions in the occupied West Bank have worsened rapidly since October, with Israeli settlers and soldiers ramping up violent attacks on the Palestinian population and subjecting people across the territory to frequent abuse, movement restrictions, arbitrary detention, and “unlawful killings.” The report by the Office of the U.N.
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