Last weekend, the news was that the United Nations Security Council would vote Monday on a cease-fire. Monday saw the vote postponed to Tuesday. Tuesday came and it was kicked to Wednesday. You can guess that happened Wednesday and the same thing took place Thursday.
The U.N. Security Council adopted a watered-down resolution Friday
calling for immediately speeding aid deliveries to hungry and desperate
civilians in Gaza but without the original plea for an “urgent
suspension of hostilities” between Israel and Hamas.
The
long-delayed vote in the 15-member council was 13-0 with the United
States and Russia abstaining. The U.S. abstention avoided a third
American veto of a Gaza resolution following Hamas’ surprise Oct. 7
attacks inside Israel. Russia wanted the stronger language restored; the
U.S. did not.
Amna Nawaz (PBS NEWSHOUR) notes, "The U.S. abstained from the vote, which did not demand a cease-fire." ARAB NEWS adds, "The failure of the UN Security Council to agree on a permanent ceasefire
in Gaza is equivalent to providing Israel with a 'license to kill,' Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit has said." BBC NEWS recounts:
Friday's resolution was introduced by the United Arab Emirates.
Minutes
before the vote, Russia - one of the five permanent members of the
council - introduced an amendment to revert to an earlier draft calling
for an immediate ceasefire. It argued the text gave Israel freedom of
movement to further clear the Gaza Strip.
The
Russian amendment was defeated and both Russia and the US went on to
abstain, while the other 13 members of the council backed the text that
now calls for creating conditions "for a sustainable cessation of
hostilities".
Mallory Moench (TIME magazine) notes, "Global organizations have criticized the U.N. Security Council resolution
that called for more humanitarian aid without demanding an immediate
ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war to facilitate its delivery." CNN adds, "The Security Council's call for pauses will be 'nearly meaningless' to the lives of civilians in Gaza, Doctors Without Borders said in a statement slamming the compromise resolution." Australia's ABC notes that Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US Ambassador to the UN, disagrees that the resolution was "watered-down" and insists instead that it is "strong,"; however, the network concludes, "But
it was stripped of its key provision with teeth -- a call for 'the
urgent suspension of hostilities to allow safe and unhindered
humanitarian access, and for urgent steps towards a sustainable
cessation of hostilities'." Phyllis Bennis (COMMON DREAMS) explains:
The bottom line of the just-passed resolution at the UN Security Council
is that it is NOT a cease-fire resolution. It is not even a “suspension
of hostilities” resolution, which reflected the first major concession
to Washington’s demands. That would have turned the resolution into a
repeat of last month’s temporary pause – potentially useful for allowing
in some additional humanitarian aid, perhaps another
hostages-for-illegally-held-prisoners swap, and a few days respite for
the millions of people in Gaza dying under Israeli bombardment before
Israel’s full-scale war started again. But this resolution does not even
do that. Despite misleading headlines in way too much of the mainstream
media, the only mention even of “humanitarian pauses” appears in a
reference to the Council’s November resolution that did call for such
temporary halts to the fighting – and only mentioned in the preamble,
not anywhere in the operative paragraphs of the new resolution.
The operative paragraphs do not call for pausing, suspending, ending,
easing or ceasing hostilities – meaning Israel can continue its deadly
assaults by air and land without violating the Security Council’s
fought-over resolution. The vote was 13 in favor, with the U.S. and
Russia abstaining. (Moscow had proposed an amendment returning to the
“suspension of hostilities” language, but despite 10 votes in favor and 4
abstentions, the amendment was rejected by a U.S. veto.)
Instead the final text “calls for urgent steps to immediately allow
safe, unhindered, and expanded humanitarian access” without defining
those steps, and without any acknowledgement that the crucial “step”
would require Israel to stop its bombing campaign and end its ground
assaults. That means Israel, the overwhelmingly stronger party
responsible for the deaths of 20,000+ Palestinians, overwhelmingly
children and women, can decide when or if its bombs, drones, tank
assaults decimating the Gaza Strip and its people should be paused or
stopped or suspended.
"Genocide Joe" has been a common chant at rallies, and a trending tag on social media. The White House says it's inappropriate. But for many, the moniker has stuck.
And so, as he battles to counter that perception, the way Biden talks about Israel has been changing.
[. . .]
Biden's complaint about
indiscriminate bombing is his strongest public criticism of Israel since
October 7. Indiscriminate attacks are prohibited by international
humanitarian law.
But his comments were generous, too — particularly his insistence that Israel enjoyed most of the world's support.
Within
hours of that comment, 153 nations had demanded an immediate ceasefire
via a UN vote. The resolution expressed "grave concern over the
catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip". Just 10
countries — including the US and Israel — voted against it, and 23
abstained.
[. . .]
The US gives $US3.8 billion ($5.6
billion) in military aid to Israel every year. After October 7, Biden
asked congress to approve an extra $US14.3 billion ($21 billion).
Its
approval has been held up, but only because it's become tangled with
unrelated political fights over Ukraine funding and domestic spending.
It has broad support from both parties in both houses.
And the State Department's move to bypass congress resulted in a fast-tracked sale of 13,000 rounds of tank ammunition.
On Friday, the New York Times and CNN
both reported the US has now also sent Israel more than 5,000 MK-84
munitions — 900-kilogram bombs whose impact is so devastating, they're
rarely used by Western militaries in populated areas. Satellite images
suggest bombs of that size have been dropped in densely populated Gaza
hundreds of times.
AP reported today, "More than 90 Palestinians, including dozens from an extended family,
were killed in Israeli airstrikes on two homes, rescuers and hospital
officials said Saturday, a day after the U.N. chief warned again that
nowhere is safe in Gaza and that Israel’s offensive is creating 'massive
obstacles” to distribution of humanitarian aid'." Yes, Gaza remains under assault. Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out, "Bloodletting as form; murder as fashion. The ongoing campaign in Gaza
by Israel’s Defence Forces continues without stalling and restriction.
But the burgeoning number of corpses is starting to become a challenge
for the propaganda outlets: How to justify it? Fortunately for Israel,
the United States, its unqualified defender, is happy to provide cover
for murder covered in the sheath of self-defence." CNN has explained, "The Gaza Strip is 'the most dangerous place' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund." ABC NEWS quotes UNICEF's December 9th statement, ""The Gaza Strip is the most dangerous place in the world to be a child.
Scores of children are reportedly being killed and injured on a daily
basis. Entire neighborhoods, where children used to play and go to
school have been turned into stacks of rubble, with no life in them." NBC NEWS notes, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe
Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, according to the latest national NBC News poll.
The erosion is most pronounced among Democrats, a majority of whom
believe Israel has gone too far in its military action in Gaza." The
slaughter continues. It has displaced over 1 million people per the US
Congressional Research Service. Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) points out, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have condemned
the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide." The death toll of
Palestinians in Gaza is now well over 18,000. NBC NEWS notes, "The vast
majority of its 2.2 million people are displaced, and an estimated half
face starvation amid an unfolding humanitarian crisis." ALJAZEERA notes, "On Friday, the Ministry of Health in Gaza said that 20,057 Palestinians
have been killed and 53,320 wounded in Israeli attacks since October 7,
when the current conflict broke out." In addition to the dead
and
the injured, there are the missing. AP notes, "About 4,000 people are reported missing." And the area itself? Isabele Debre (AP) reveals, "Israel’s military offensive
has turned much of northern Gaza into an uninhabitable moonscape. Whole
neighborhoods have been erased. Homes, schools and hospitals have been
blasted by airstrikes and scorched by tank fire. Some buildings are
still standing, but most are battered shells." Kieron Monks (I NEWS) reports, "More than 40 per cent of the buildings in northern Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, according to a new study of satellite imagery
by US researchers Jamon Van Den Hoek from Oregon State University and
Corey Scher at the City University of New York. The UN gave a figure of 45 per cent of housing
destroyed or damaged across the strip in less than six weeks. The rate
of destruction is among the highest of any conflict since the Second
World War." Max Butterworth (NBC NEWS) adds, "Satellite images captured by Maxar Technologies on Sunday reveal three
of the main hospitals in Gaza from above, surrounded by the rubble of
destroyed buildings after weeks of intense bombing in the region by
Israeli forces."
Authorities
in Gaza have announced the killing of Ahmad Jamal Al Madhoun, the
deputy director of the Al Rai Agency, in an Israeli air attack.
His death brings the total number of journalists killed in Gaza since
October 7 to 101, according to the Gaza government’s media office,
while more than 50 media offices have been completely or partially
destroyed by Israeli attacks. Al Jazeera Arabic’s cameraman Samer Abudaqa is among the dead.
Tim Dawson, the deputy general secretary at the International Federation of Journalists, told Al Jazeera
of the “extraordinarily high number” of journalists killed in Gaza. He
said that we haven’t “seen a death toll of journalists to this
concentration in any conflict that I can think of”.
[. . .]
The killing of Ahmad Jamal al-Madhoun brings the total number of
journalists killed in Gaza to 101, says the Gaza Government Media
Office.
Friday, December 22, 2023. Still no vote by the UN Security Council, is anything changing in the assault on Gaza?
We have to start with John Schneider -- Who? Exactly. A TV star of a dopey show in the 70s who got into his head that the way to handle minor success was to walk out demanding more money has shown that you can get even more dumb than that. Dominic Patten (DEADLINE) reports:
The federal agency charged with protecting POTUS, the Vice President
and their immediate families, as well as major political candidates and
high level government officials, have opened a probe into statements the
former Dukes of Hazzard star made online against the President and his son Hunter Biden earlier today, Deadline has learned.
Hours after publicly coming up short in the Season 10 finale of The Masked Singer,
vocal conservative Schneider called for the hanging of the president,
whom he accused of “treason,” and his criminally-indicted offspring. In a
now deleted post (yep, he erased it pretty fast), the longtime Biden
critic and Smallville actor made no secret of his feelings about POTUS – as a screen grab of that now-delated post on X/Twitter reveals:
Schneider Tweeted to Joe, "Mr. President, I believe you of treason and should be publicly hung. Your son too. Your response is..? Sincerely, John Schneider."
As Betty's already pointed out ("Little bitch John Schneider"), the term is "hanged." Unless John Schneider's is lusting after Joe and Hunter, "hung" really doesn't enter into it.
I can't even get through the e-mails in the public account because there are over 100 on the above event. If there's something of value in there (another topic or an article we should highlight), you picked the wrong day to e-mail it because I'm not going to continue to try to read any of the rest.
So legal and realistic are what we're focused on.
Did John make a threat on the president's life?
No, I don't believe he did. The wording doesn't qualify as a threat of "I will physically harm you." Leave out the treason charge and the sentence is "I believe you should be publicly hung."
So, no, I don't believe he made a threat to publicly harm Joe Biden or Hunter Biden.
Some of the e-mails I managed to get through were convinced that John was being railroaded.
I don't believe that either.
The Secret Service is tasked with protecting the life of the president.
They have to look at every incident.
They have to do an assessment -- is ____ a risk to the president's life?
That's what they're now doing.
You're dealing with an actor -- who killed Lincoln? -- who has very low impulse control, isolates, has issues with booze, became a widower this year, etc, etc.
They're going to look through all that and they would be remiss if they did otherwise.
Some are saying that Johnny Depp and Madonna -- some in e-mails -- got away with threats against Trump. What do you mean got away with?
The remarks they made resulted in assessments by the Secret Service.
They didn't go whining to the press immediately the way I Need Attention John Schneider did.
I agree with Betty's assessment ("little bitch") because he said it and was so proud of himself and then immediately deletes and then goes whining to the press.
He made a controversial remark that summoned violence at a time when the nation's already heated enough. Overheated in fact.
This is not something minor.
His own actions have caused this and anything that follows.
If next October, he were to make an attempt on Joe's life, the public reaction would be: What were you doing after you saw his Tweet!
Their job is to make an assessment and determine whether or not he is a risk.
They're doing their job.
And he's being a little bitch. He runs to the press to whine. Have you once heard him say it was poor judgment to Tweet what he Tweeted?
No.
So let's move on to a new topic. Over this past weekend, we were told that the United Nations Security Council would be voting on a cease fire on Monday. Then, due to the US government, the vote was pushed to Tuesday, then to Wednesday, then to yesterday. And it didn't happen yesterday.
The
UN Security Council is moving closer to a vote on humanitarian aid for
Gaza after the US expressed support for the latest draft resolution.
The vote, now delayed until Friday, had been in limbo after the US voiced "widespread concerns" with a draft.
Washington
had said it was concerned the resolution, put forward by the United
Arab Emirates, could "actually slow down" aid into Gaza.
The latest announcement from the US comes after some two weeks of talks.
All
week, the Security Council has repeatedly postponed the draft
resolution aimed at bringing in some form of ceasefire, as wrangling
continued over the language.
The slaughter continues. PRB notes, "The West Bank, approximately the size of Delaware, is bordered by Israel to the west and Jordan to the east. Gaza (also called the Gaza Strip) is approximately twice the size of Washington, D.C., and shares a border with Israel to the north and east and Egypt to the south." So with us all grasping how small Gaza is, Tamara Qiblawi, Allegra Goodwin, Gianluca Mezzofiore and Nima Elbagir (CNN) report:
In the first month of its war in Gaza, Israel dropped hundreds of
massive bombs, many of them capable of killing or wounding people more
than 1,000 feet away, analysis by CNN and artificial intelligence
company Synthetaic suggests.
Satellite imagery from those early days of the war reveals more
than 500 impact craters over 12 meters (40 feet) in diameter, consistent
with those left behind by 2,000-pound bombs. Those are four times
heavier than the largest bombs the United States dropped on ISIS in
Mosul, Iraq, during the war against the extremist group there.
Weapons and warfare experts blame the extensive use of heavy
munitions such as the 2,000-pound bomb for the soaring death toll. The
population of Gaza is packed together much more tightly than almost
anywhere else on earth, so the use of such heavy munitions has a
profound effect.
“The use of 2,000-pound bombs in an area as densely populated as
Gaza means it will take decades for communities to recover,” said John
Chappell, advocacy and legal fellow at CIVIC, a DC-based group focused
on minimizing civilian harm in conflict.
I haven't seen a figure on how many people have been displaced in Gaza this week. But last week, the number was 1.9 million -- and Gaza has 2.3 million people.
This is horrific and you would have thought that with a holy day for many around the world (Christmas) approaching (December 25th), the US government would be doing everything possible to create a pause if not a cease-fire. (An immediate cease-fire is what is needed.)
AMYGOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh.
NERMEENSHAIKH:
The United Nations Security Council has for the third time this week
postponed a vote on a resolution calling for a halt to the fighting in
Gaza and for Israel to allow shipments of food, water, fuel and medicine
into the besieged territory. Several Security Council members have
expressed frustration with the United States for repeatedly delaying
votes and for threatening to once again veto any resolution.
AMYGOODMAN:
We’re joined now by Phyllis Bennis, fellow at the Institute for Policy
Studies, serves as an international adviser for Jewish Voice for Peace.
Phyllis has written a number of books, including Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict, her recent piece for In These Times headlined “The Christmas Truce of 1914 and the Demand for a Cease-Fire in Gaza.”
As we went to air today, Phyllis, there is no resolution at this
point at the U.N. One is expected today, but we said that Monday and
Tuesday and Wednesday. If you can talk about what’s going on there? And
then we can talk about that Christmas truce, as we move into the
weekend.
PHYLLISBENNIS:
This is, in some ways, a very old story. The United States refuses to
accept a globally demanded ceasefire in the context of Israeli assaults,
particularly on Gaza. And we’ve seen it before; we’re seeing it again
now. The U.S. is refusing to allow the term “cessation of hostilities.”
They certainly will not allow the term “ceasefire” to be used. They want
to talk about a suspension of hostilities, meaning just a temporary
pause, like we saw two weeks ago, to allow in a certain amount of aid,
reduce the pressure on Israel, get some of the hostages released, and
then go back to the Israeli assault and kill more thousands of
Palestinians presumably.
So what we’re looking at is the question of whether the other members
of the Security Council will be able to persuade the U.S. — and I think
this is very doubtful — to change their position and allow decent
language about a real cessation of hostilities or a ceasefire. And if
they don’t, will the council go ahead and force the United States to use
its veto, something the U.S. does not like to do, or will it
essentially collapse under its own pressure and simply withdraw the
resolution and say, “Well, we couldn’t get the U.S. on board, so we’re
not going to go forward”? The issue then becomes whether you’re letting
the U.S. off the hook by saying, “We will simply” — excuse me — “We will
simply withdraw the resolution,” or do you force the U.S. to use its
veto, which then has consequences, including sending the resolution off
to the General Assembly, where it passes under very particular
conditions that can make it much more influential and, by some arguments
by legal scholars, perhaps enforceable, like a Security Council
resolution would be? So that’s where the council is right now.
NERMEENSHAIKH:
And, Phyllis, so, if you could explain that? Because normally a General
Assembly vote is not legally binding in the way that a Security Council
vote is —
PHYLLISBENNIS: Right.
NERMEENSHAIKH: — which is why there’s so much emphasis on what the Security Council does.
PHYLLISBENNIS:
The particularity here, Nermeen, is that when the U.S. or any other of
the five permanent members of the council actually uses a veto, a new
regulation at the U.N., that was passed a couple of years ago, requires
that the General Assembly then meet within 10 days to take up that same
issue. You know, ordinarily, this is very closely held. The Security
Council deals with threats to peace and security around the world. The
General Assembly can deal with everything else. But when one of the five
permanent members — in this case, of course, the United States — uses
its veto on an issue of peace and security, under those conditions, the
General Assembly is required to hold an emergency session. And it’s held
under what’s known in the U.N. as “Uniting for Peace” precedent. This
was something the U.N. was forced to accept back in 1951 at the
instigation, ironically, of the United States. It’s how the U.S. got the
United Nations to endorse its war in Korea. And under those conditions,
the decisions made by the General Assembly, which officially are
considered nonbinding, not enforceable, take on additional power,
because it’s derivative of United Nations Security Council power. So,
the decisions are uncertain, whether it’s really enforceable, but it’s a
much stronger resolution in the General Assembly if it follows a veto
in the Security Council. That’s one of the big reasons why the United
States does not like to use its veto, if it can avoid it.
The other reason, of course, is that it shows the world just how
isolated the United States now is. The U.S. and Israel stand alone. The
vote in the General Assembly on a very similar resolution was 153
countries, out of 193, who voted “yes,” and only 10 countries, including
the U.S. and Israel, voted “no.” And under those circumstances, it
really demonstrates the isolation of the U.S. And that’s not something
that the Biden administration is eager to be showing up again.
NERMEENSHAIKH:
Well, if you could say, Phyllis — I mean, talk about the significance
of U.S. support. Explain why it’s so strident, despite what’s happening
in Gaza, and also the fact that when Biden did lightly criticize Israel
for its indiscriminate bombardment, saying that it was losing
international support, the Israeli foreign minister very quickly said
that Israel would continue, quote, “with or without international
support.” Your response to that?
PHYLLISBENNIS: Yeah.
NERMEENSHAIKH: I mean, is that accurate, you think?
PHYLLISBENNIS:
Right. Well, I think what is true is that the United States has made a
number of polite requests of the Israeli government. They have said,
“Please stop killing so many people. What you’re doing is OK. Using
massive bombardment is OK. But try and pull back a little bit. Maybe
change the tactics of the ground invasion so that you’re not killing
quite so many civilians. It doesn’t look good.” But there are no
consequences when the Israeli response, as you just said, from Prime
Minister Netanyahu or others is simply, “No, we’re going to continue
what we’re doing.”
There’s no way that Israel feels compelled to respond to that until
the request become requirements, and the requirements come with
conditions that make a difference, so that when the United States says,
“You’ve got to stop bombing Gaza. You’re killing civilians, and it’s
illegal under international law. You’ve got to stop,” and Israel says,
“Nope, we’re going to continue,” then the next sentence out of the mouth
of President Biden or Secretary of State Blinken, or whoever is
relaying that message, is, “OK. Then, you know those billions of dollars
we send to your military every year? You can kiss that goodbye. And you
know how we’ve been protecting you at the International Criminal Court
so you’re never held accountable for war crimes? We’re not doing that
anymore.” So, those are the kinds of things that will begin to have a
real impact on Israel. As long as the Israelis are clear that the Biden
position of what we might call bear hug diplomacy, where the symbolism
of his embrace, physically and politically, of Netanyahu and the Israeli
state is “We have your back. We will protect you no matter what, but
please make a few amendments,” they have no reason to take that
seriously —
AMYGOODMAN: I want to turn —
PHYLLISBENNIS: — because the U.S. doesn’t express it seriously.
AMYGOODMAN: I want to turn to U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken, speaking Wednesday in D.C. at a State Department briefing.
SECRETARY OF STATEANTONYBLINKEN:
I hear virtually no one saying — demanding of Hamas that it stop hiding
behind civilians, that it lay down its arms, that it surrender. This is
over tomorrow if Hamas does that. This would have been over a month
ago, six weeks ago, if Hamas had done that. And how could it be — how
can it be that there are no demands made of the aggressor and only
demands made of the victim?
AMYGOODMAN: Phyllis Bennis, your response?
PHYLLISBENNIS:
You know, it’s ironic that the secretary of state of Israel’s biggest
supporter, the provider of 20% of its entire military budget, among
other things, will move forward to say that it’s — that there’s the need
for the people of Gaza — because this war is against the people of
Gaza. It is not just against Hamas. That’s simply not the case. The
notion that the U.S. is saying that the demand should be made on Hamas,
when it’s been the United States’ backing of Israel that has allowed
Israel to impose a siege on Gaza for 17 years? We should be clear: This
siege did not begin on October 7th. It was escalated after the
atrocities that were committed on October 7th, for sure. But this had
been going on for 17 years, harshly enough that 20% of all children in
Gaza were stunted by the age of 2 because they could not get sufficient
food necessary for children to thrive. That was way before October 7th.
So, we have to look at this in the context of the ongoing war that
Israel has been waging in Gaza, against Gaza, against the people of
Palestine. And it’s a war that has become genocidal in its impact. So,
this notion that Secretary of State Blinken, who is desperately trying
to divert the focus of U.S. outrage, global outrage at Israel and at the
United States for enabling the Israeli war crimes to continue, he’s
using every possibility that he can.
The negotiations are underway between Israel and Hamas in Cairo, with
Egypt and Qatar as interlocutors. There’s other negotiations underway,
of course, at the United Nations, as we’ve been discussing. But the
bottom line is that Israel has killed 20,000 people, 70% of them
children and women. And that doesn’t even count the thousands of people
that have been killed under the rubble when Israeli bombs have destroyed
buildings and homes over people’s bodies. So we’re looking at something
that has never happened at this scale in this century. And that has to
be our focus. That’s why we need a ceasefire. You’re not going to be
able to protect the hostages and bring them home without a ceasefire.
You’re not going to be able to bring in sufficient aid to make it
possible to stop what is now real starvation in Gaza. We have not seen
that before, even under the siege. We have not seen actual starvation.
And now the United States — sorry, the United Nations World Food
Programme is saying that more than half of the families in Gaza are
starving and that 90% are food insecure. That doesn’t exist anywhere in
the world right now, where 50% of a population is starving. And that’s
what has to stop. And that’s why we need a ceasefire, to end those
realities.
NERMEENSHAIKH: And finally, Phyllis, we just have a minute. If you could respond to The New York Times/Siena
poll that was released earlier this week, where it’s clear that the
majority of Americans are opposed to the Biden administration’s policy,
but, in a perplexing finding, a number of them say that they would, in
the 2024 election, vote for Trump instead as a result?
PHYLLISBENNIS:
I can’t explain it. I don’t know exactly what the question was that
they asked, and that’s always a key part of how they get answers like
this. But I think what’s key is the first thing you said, Nermeen. There
is massive opposition in this country to what the Biden administration
is doing. Eighty percent of Democrats, President Biden’s own party, want
a ceasefire now. We’re seeing massive opposition within the State
Department, within the White House. The White House interns, these young
ambitious students, high school and college students, the youngest of
the federal workforce, came out publicly and said, “We are not the
leaders of today, but we aspire to lead in the future, and we cannot
stand by and watch this genocide being perpetuated by Israel with our
support.” That’s extraordinary. That’s never been seen before in this
country. And that’s why we say that not only is the U.S. isolated at the
United Nations, but the Biden administration, on this issue, is
massively isolated within the United States itself.
AMYGOODMAN:
Phyllis Bennis, we want to thank you for being with us, fellow at the
Institute for Policy Studies, international adviser for Jewish Voice for
Peace. We’ll link to your new piece in In These Times, “The Christmas Truce of 1914 and the Demand for a Cease-Fire in Gaza.”
Gaza is under assault. Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out, "Bloodletting as form; murder as fashion. The ongoing campaign in Gaza
by Israel’s Defence Forces continues without stalling and restriction.
But the burgeoning number of corpses is starting to become a challenge
for the propaganda outlets: How to justify it? Fortunately for Israel,
the United States, its unqualified defender, is happy to provide cover
for murder covered in the sheath of self-defence." CNN has explained, "The Gaza Strip is 'the most dangerous place' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund." ABC NEWS quotes UNICEF's December 9th statement, ""The Gaza Strip is the most dangerous place in the world to be a child.
Scores of children are reportedly being killed and injured on a daily
basis. Entire neighborhoods, where children used to play and go to
school have been turned into stacks of rubble, with no life in them." NBC NEWS notes, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe
Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, according to the latest national NBC News poll.
The erosion is most pronounced among Democrats, a majority of whom
believe Israel has gone too far in its military action in Gaza." The
slaughter continues. It has displaced over 1 million people per the US
Congressional Research Service. Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) points out, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have condemned
the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide." The death toll of
Palestinians in Gaza is now well over 18,000. NBC NEWS notes, "The vast
majority of its 2.2 million people are displaced, and an estimated half
face starvation amid an unfolding humanitarian crisis." ALJAZEERA notes, "On Friday, the Ministry of Health in Gaza said that 20,057 Palestinians
have been killed and 53,320 wounded in Israeli attacks since October 7,
when the current conflict broke out." In addition to the dead
and
the injured, there are the missing. AP notes, "About 4,000 people are reported missing." And the area itself? Isabele Debre (AP) reveals, "Israel’s military offensive
has turned much of northern Gaza into an uninhabitable moonscape. Whole
neighborhoods have been erased. Homes, schools and hospitals have been
blasted by airstrikes and scorched by tank fire. Some buildings are
still standing, but most are battered shells." Kieron Monks (I NEWS) reports, "More than 40 per cent of the buildings in northern Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, according to a new study of satellite imagery
by US researchers Jamon Van Den Hoek from Oregon State University and
Corey Scher at the City University of New York. The UN gave a figure of 45 per cent of housing
destroyed or damaged across the strip in less than six weeks. The rate
of destruction is among the highest of any conflict since the Second
World War." Max Butterworth (NBC NEWS) adds, "Satellite images captured by Maxar Technologies on Sunday reveal three
of the main hospitals in Gaza from above, surrounded by the rubble of
destroyed buildings after weeks of intense bombing in the region by
Israeli forces."
Joe Biden has married himself to the assault on Gaza. Kate Plummer (NEWSWEEK) reports on how Joe is losing the support of young voters:
Now, a new poll by the New York Times/
Siena College has found that nearly 75 percent of a sample of young
voters aged between 18 and 29 disapprove of how the Democrat is handling
the conflict. The same proportion believe Israel isn't doing enough to
prevent civilian casualties in Gaza and 44 percent said Israel should
end its military campaign even if Hamas is not defeated, to 39 percent
who said it should continue.
It also found that 27 percent of young people sympathize with Israel while 47 percent sympathize with Palestinians.
The
poll was conducted from December 10 to December 14, 2023. The sample
size was 1,016 registered voters nationwide and the margin of sampling
error is plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.
The poll found that Biden's Republican rival and GOP front runner Donald Trump is
attracting the support of 21 percent of young people who voted for
Biden in 2020, who sympathize more with Palestine than Israel.
Overall,
it found Trump leads the incumbent president among young voters by 49
percent to 43 percent, and has a 46 percent to 44 percent lead among
registered voters overall.
Newsweek has contacted representatives of Biden for comment.
A
Quinnipiac University poll released in November found that those under
35 are more likely to disapprove of Israel's response to the attack with
66 percent reporting so.
+ Even with nearly the entire political and media establishment in
the US backing Israel’s genocidal rampage in Gaza, public support for US
military aid to Israel has continued to fall, especially among the
youth of Biden’s own party, a demographic he’s always been indifferent
to and patronizing towards, now at his own (and the country’s) peril…
+ Hannah Arendt: “The bourgeoisie’s political philosophy was always
‘totalitarian’; it always assumed an identity of politics, economics and
society, in which political institutions served only as the façade for
private interest.”
More journalists
have been killed in the first 10 weeks of the Israel-Gaza war than have
ever been killed in a single country over an entire year, according to
CPJ data. By December 20, 2023, at least 68 journalists
and media workers had been killed since the October 7 start of the
conflict. Of those 68, 61 were Palestinian, four Israeli, and three
Lebanese.
CPJ is particularly concerned about an apparent pattern of targeting of journalists and their families by the Israeli military. In at least one case,
a journalist was killed while clearly wearing press insignia in a
location where no fighting was taking place. In at least two other
cases, journalists reported receiving threats from Israeli officials and IDF officers before their family members were killed.
CPJ is investigating in more detail the circumstances of all 68
deaths. This research is hampered by the widespread destruction in Gaza,
and, in a number of cases, the fact that the journalists were killed along with family members who typically are sources for such information.
“The Israel-Gaza war is the most dangerous situation for journalists
we have ever seen, and these figures show that clearly,” said Sherif
Mansour, CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator. “The
Israeli army has killed more journalists in 10 weeks than any other army
or entity has in any single year. And with every journalist killed, the
war becomes harder to document and to understand.”
More than
half the deaths – 37 – occurred during the first month of the war,
making it the deadliest single month documented by CPJ since it began
collecting data in 1992.
In Iraq, the only country to approach this toll in a single year, 56 journalists were killed in 2006. CPJ determined that
48 were killed in connection with their work but was unable to confirm
the circumstances in eight other deaths. With the exception of the
Philippines, where 33 of the 35 journalists and media workers killed in
2009 were murdered in a single massacre, the countries with the highest number of journalists killed for their work in any given year – Syria (32 killed because of their work in 2012; five still under investigation); Afghanistan (15 of 16 killed in 2018 died because of their work); Ukraine (13 of 15 deaths in 2022 confirmed to have been work-related); and Somalia (12 of 14 work-related in 2012) – were in a state of war or insurrection during the years in review.
The Israel-Gaza war deaths have taken place against a backdrop of growing censorship of media in the region, including at least 20 arrests as well as physical and online harassment of journalists. Media facilities have also been damaged or destroyed.
In May, CPJ published “Deadly Pattern,”
a report that found members of the Israel Defense Forces had killed at
least 20 journalists over the past 22 years and that no one had ever
been charged or held accountable for their deaths.
“Journalists are civilians and must be treated as such under
international humanitarian law,” said Mansour. “It’s imperative we see
independent, transparent investigations into the latest pattern of
killings. In addition, the Israeli army must end its muzzling of
international media by allowing them to report from Gaza, stop its
harassment of journalists in the West Bank, and allow the free flow of
information and humanitarian aid into Gaza,” Mansour added.
Repeated
communications blackouts and a lack of fuel, food, and housing due to
the bombardment and limited humanitarian assistance has severely stifled
reporting in Gaza, where international journalists have had almost no
independent access for most of the war. Palestinian journalists report a
desperate need for assistance to be able to continue reporting,
including in the West Bank where some funders have cut funding for long-standing partners.
– Facilitate immediate access to humanitarian aid and basic supplies
to Gaza and the safe delivery of personal protective equipment – such as
helmets and flak jackets – to journalists in Gaza and the occupied West
Bank.
– Ensure media credentials and press insignia are respected, and that
all parties follow international humanitarian law and do not target or
harm journalists.
– Repeal new regulations
that allow for the shutdown of news organizations and end the
“administrative detention” of journalists, which allows for imprisonment
without charge.
Investigate attacks and end impunity:
– End the longstanding pattern of impunity
in cases of journalists killed by the IDF. The international community
should act to ensure swift, transparent, and independent investigations
are conducted into all journalist deaths since the October 7 start of
the Israel-Gaza war.
CPJ defines journalists as people who cover news or comment on
public affairs through any medium — including in print, online, via
broadcast media, or photographs and video. We take up cases involving
staff journalists and freelancers. We do not include journalists if
there is evidence that they were acting on behalf of militant groups or
serving in a military capacity at the time of their deaths. CPJ also
documents the deaths of media support workers in recognition of the
vital role they play in news gathering. These include translators,
drivers, guards, fixers, and administrative workers.
CPJ researchers investigate every journalist’s death to determine
whether they were killed in relation to their work. We interview
families, friends, colleagues, and authorities to learn as much as
possible about the circumstances of each case. Details we investigate
include whether the journalist was on assignment at the time of the
killing, whether they had received threats, and whether they had
published work that might have attracted the anger of government
authorities, militant groups, or criminal gangs.
CPJ’s focus is on press freedom violations, so we distinguish
between those we are reasonably certain were killed because of their
journalism [motive confirmed] and those who may have been
killed for journalism or for another reason [motive unconfirmed]. In
situations of war such as Israel-Gaza and Ukraine, CPJ documents all
journalists whose deaths and journalistic credentials we are able to
verify as “confirmed” while we investigate the circumstances of their
killing.
NERMEENSHAIKH:
Health officials in Gaza say the death toll from Israel’s 10-week
bombardment has now topped 20,000, including more than 8,000 Palestinian
children. Officials in Gaza say the death toll also includes 97
journalists and 310 healthcare workers.
On Wednesday, the political leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, traveled
to Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials about a possible new
ceasefire and the exchange of captives. Israel believes about 129
Israeli hostages are still being held in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu is under increasing pressure to secure the release of
more hostages, after Israeli forces mistakenly shot dead three Israeli
hostages who managed to escape captivity in northern Gaza. The three
men, who were all shirtless, were shot as they cried for help in Hebrew
while holding up a white flag.
AMYGOODMAN: We’re joined now by the Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham. His latest article for +972 Magazine and Local Call is headlined “'The hostages weren't our top priority’: How Israel’s bombing frenzy endangered captives in Gaza.”
Yuval, if you can start off by talking about exactly what you
understand happened? Now there is apparently a GoPro on a dog that
captured what took place. The reaction of the Israeli public, and then
what this means about the Netanyahu administration and how they’re
dealing or prioritizing, or not, hostages?
YUVALABRAHAM:
Yeah, sure, of course. So, these are three hostages — Yotam, Alon and
Samir — one of them is a Palestinian Israeli, two of them Jewish
Israelis — who somehow managed to escape their captivity. We don’t know
how. And they roamed around Gaza for a few days. They have written in
Hebrew on buildings, “Help,” in Hebrew, “Hostages are released.” They
have, as you said, communicated the fact they were Israeli captives to a
dog that — an army dog that had a GoPro camera.
And they were, I mean, essentially, executed by soldiers. One of them
held a white flag. They took off their — they approached soldiers. They
took off their clothes to show that they were not wearing any
explosives. And soldiers opened fire at them, immediately killing two of
them. The commander on the scene realized that they were perhaps
Israelis, and told soldiers to stop firing. The third captive managed to
run back to a building. And when he came out, soldiers shot at him
again, killing him.
And yeah, I mean, I’ve heard — I mean, it’s being reported as a
mistake that soldiers have made. I think that it was not a mistake when
they thought they were Palestinians. I mean, clearly, you do not, you
know, accidentally shoot at somebody who is holding a white flag. And,
of course, it becomes a mistake when they realize they’re Israeli
hostages.
And it shocked Israeli society. It triggered protests calling on the
Netanyahu government to reach a deal with Hamas to release more captives
and hostages. But currently, from the way I am reading both the
political situation and the public situation, such a deal seems unlikely
for now.
NERMEENSHAIKH:
So, Yuval, could you explain why you think such a deal is unlikely? And
then tell us what the intelligence sources you spoke to for your piece,
what they told you about the concerns that hostages had, the fact that
you write in this piece that Israeli hostages often said that they were
more afraid of being killed by Israeli airstrikes than they were by
Hamas.
YUVALABRAHAM:
Yeah, of course. So, I think it’s unlikely, because I think Netanyahu
politically is not going to be willing to pay the price that Hamas is
asking, which is to reach a more substantial ceasefire, or perhaps a
permanent ceasefire, and to release a lot of Palestinian prisoners,
including people like Marwan Barghouti and Ahmad Sa’adat, who are
considered to be Palestinian leaders, including many Palestinians who
are serving, you know, long prison sentences in the occupation jails,
some of them for killing Israeli civilians. And this will, you know,
ruin Netanyahu politically, even more than he’s already ruined, which I
think is why he will not do it and why he is making it clear publicly
that he plans to continue the war for months.
And this relates to our investigation at +972 Magazine,
because we have basically spoken to Israeli intelligence sources who
have described how during the first weeks of Israel’s onslaught in Gaza,
the military knowingly carried out a striking policy, relentless
bombardment policy, that not only decimated Gaza and killed thousands
and thousands of Palestinians, but also endangered Israeli captives and
hostages. And sources have told me, in intelligence, that at the time,
they had very little intelligence as to where these captives were being
held and that the general atmosphere was, in the top military
commanders, is that the hostages are just not a priority, that their
safety is relegated in favor of carrying out this bombardment campaign.
And as you said, you know, in the end of November, when captives were
released from Gaza for the first time, many of them have described
being hit by Israeli airstrikes or attacks, describing a fear, you know,
this sort of traumatic fear, of feeling that the power that is supposed
to supposedly protect you is actually a very, very, very big threat to
your life, you know, talking about really being on the verge of death.
And we know that in some cases hostages were hit by these Israeli
attacks. Now, the conditions in the captivity of Hamas were horrific for
some hostages, as well. We also cover that in the report. We also talk
about testimonies of released captivities and sources inside the
military of sexual assault against some of the captives. But a recurring
theme in many of the testimonies of the captives is really being
terrified from the Israeli airstrikes. And again, it seems that, at
least for the first few weeks of the war, this was done knowingly, in a
sense, by the military.
NERMEENSHAIKH:
Well, I mean, quite rightly, there has been a lot of emphasis on the
Israeli hostages. But at the same time — you mentioned earlier
Palestinian activist and politician Mustafa Barghouti — speaking to the BBC
this morning, he talked about how Palestinian prisoners are not so much
the focus of discussion. Some who were released from a detention center
in northern [sic] Israel earlier, they said that they were — that they were tortured, and some died as a result. He was speaking to the BBC on Thursday.
MUSTAFABARGHOUTI:
They told me they were kept, more than 1,000 people, in detention or
concentration camp near Beersheba, and they were beaten badly. They were
tortured with different methods. Some people were hit with electrical
shocks. They also used drowning their heads in the water while they were
interrogating them intensively for hours. They are kept in a place
which is very cold. They don’t have enough clothes. And the food they
are given is very little. But the most important thing, that a number of
prisoners that they witnessed died because of the beating and torture.
Some of them were old people who had diseases, like heart diseases.
NERMEENSHAIKH: So, that’s Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, speaking earlier today to the BBC.
And just a correction: The detention center where the Palestinian
prisoners were held was in southern Israel, not northern. Yuval, your
response?
YUVALABRAHAM:
Yeah, it’s appalling. And I’ve seen these testimonies. I’ve also seen
live testimonies of these Palestinians being released from Israeli
interrogation. And honestly, to me, it reminded me of scenes that I saw
of Jews in Eastern Europe, you know, in the '30s and ’40s. You see their
hands are filled with bruises. They were handcuffed for hours. Some of
them have died. They spoke about being electrified by soldiers, being
beaten by soldiers, really torture. I mean, you could see on their
faces. I mean, it's horrific.
And I think that — you know, you said at the start of the show that
now it’s more than 20,000 Palestinians who were killed in Gaza, roughly
1% of the population. That’s unimaginable numbers. I mean, just to put
it in some sort of proportion for audiences in the United States, 1% of
the population in the U.S. is 3.3 million people being killed in 75
days.
And yeah, I agree with you that, in a way, I’ve heard Israeli
journalists using the term “war crimes” for the first time after the
three Israeli hostages were killed by soldiers. And obviously —
obviously — soldiers thought that they were Palestinians, which is why
they felt comfortable, it seems, to shoot somebody who was holding a
white flag in their hand. And to me, it’s really outrageous how there is
like two completely different sets of ways we look at the world, not
according to the crime, but according to the victim of the crime.
Because, you know, how many Palestinians were executed by Israeli
soldiers? And how often does that happen without any response from
journalists, without using words like “war crimes”? And I think, really,
at the heart of a lot of what is going on is this disparity between
having some people whose lives have meaning and other people whose lives
have no meaning for so many people on the West and in Israel.
AMYGOODMAN:
Yuval, I wanted to ask you about the number of prisoners being taken by
Israel on the West Bank. We’re talking about something like 4,000 just
since October 7th. Do you have the sense that they are just rounding up
people because, as they negotiate a prisoner exchange, they’ll have more
to give back? That’s one question. And the other is about Human Rights
Watch’s report
released today, “Meta’s Broken Promises: Systemic Censorship of
Palestine Content on Instagram and Facebook,” people being systemically
knocked off of Facebook and Instagram if they are posting about what’s
happening to Palestinians.
YUVALABRAHAM:
Yeah. So, you know, Israel has a long-standing policy of these mass
arrests. We’ve seen them happening in the previous Gaza bombardments,
also in 2021. Many of these — I think thousands of these Palestinian
prisoners are held without trial, without charges being pressed against
them. Even when charges are pressed, the system of the military
occupation and the military judicial system is extremely unjust.
Ninety-nine-point-four percent of the cases end up in indictment.
I’m not sure — I mean, I think part of it has to do with getting
numbers. It seems very logical. I don’t have any inside information
about it, but what you suggested seems logical. Again, I think that for
the next prisoner exchange, Hamas will insist on releasing much more
prominent Palestinian prisoners. So, unlike the last time, when, really,
you know, you saw Palestinian prisoners being released after they spent
a short time in prison, I think if — for a next hostage deal to take
place, they will need to have more substantial Palestinian prisoners.
And, I mean, there is repression online. I know that there are
Israeli ministries that are constantly working with Meta, with Facebook,
with X, as well, and with Instagram to aid in this process. There have
been reports about sort of this mass scanning that Israel does of social
media to find posts to flag, in a way, for these international social
media organizations. And yeah, the repression is taking place, yeah.
AMYGOODMAN: Yuval Abraham, I want to thank you for being with us, journalist based in Jerusalem who writes for +972 Magazine and Local Call. We’ll link to your new article, “'The hostages weren't our top priority’: How Israel’s bombing frenzy endangered captives in Gaza.”
Coming up, on Wednesday, the U.N. Security Council forced to postpone
a vote for the third time on Gaza due to U.S. opposition. We’ll speak
with Phyllis Bennis. Back in 20 seconds.
[break]
AMYGOODMAN:
“Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd. The artist announced earlier this
month he would be directing $2.5 million to meals for Palestinians in
Gaza.
ADDED: Everything below this until "The following sites updated" was added after this published -- added 12:54 pm EST 12/22/23
The snapshots are dictated. They go long. After it's dictated and before it publishes, I'll say "Pull the part on ____" if it's way too long. This snapshot lost an LGBTQ+ issue that I'm about to put in. It also lost the section on Donald Trump and Colorado. On the Trump section, Elaine's covering that due to MTG so I'm handing her that section that never made today's snapshot. Sometimes scraps make it back in, sometimes they don't. Since she can use it later today, she can have it. But while going in to grab that for her, I saw the LGBTQ+ portion and it needs to go up this week so I'm adding it here.
The
growing number of book bans in the US are using a so-called parental
rights movement as cover for a wide-ranging attack on civil rights in
America, a Democratic congressman has warned.
Earlier
this month, a new study by PEN America revealed that there had been at
least 5,894 book bans in US public schools from July 2021 to June 2023,
with more than 40% of them in Florida, birthplace of a rightwing parents
group called Moms for Liberty.
The books targeted are frequently those which tackle issues like racism, gender or LGBTQ+ rights.
“Book
bans are a baseless attack on our civil rights and civil liberties
under the guise of parental rights,” warned Florida congressman Maxwell
Frost, who introduced the Fight Banned Books Act earlier this month.
“If
the arts and literature our students read are getting attacked, what
will happen next?” Frost told the Guardian in an interview.
On
5 December, alongside Congresswoman Frederica Wilson and Congressman
Jamie Raskin, he unveiled the planned legislation and vowed to take a
stand against censorship by providing grants to school districts to
fight them.
“We
found that one of the real problems in Florida after the book gets
officially taken off the shelves is that school boards do not have the
resources necessary to battle the book bans and get the books back on
the shelves,” Frost said.
The
GOP group Moms For Bigotry are a hate group dedicated to attacking
people of color, LGBTQ+ people, democracy and basic human rights.
Despite this -- or because of it -- the group and fiction writer Naomi
Wolf have glommed onto one another -- interfaced with one another? Wolf
once wrote books like THE END OF AMERICA calling out Nazis but today
she embarrasses herself rolling around in bed with Moms For Bigotry.
"Entangled in embraces that God will never see," as Carly Simon once
wrote ("The Three Of Us In The Dark").
It has been 70 years since the Lavender Scare,
when thousands of gay people in the US government were fired or forced
to resign from their jobs. Now, this same discrimination is driving
modern-day legislation. “We’re talking about the systematic, intentional
targeting of queer people,” says Jay Jones, the first openly
transgender vice president of the Howard University Student Association.
In May of 2023, the Human Rights Campaign tallied
over 520 anti-LGBTQ+ bills that have been introduced in state
legislatures, along with 70 laws ranging from bans on gender affirming
care for transgender youth to the censorship of school curriculum.
A
staggering two-thirds of LGBTQ+ youth report that potential state or
local laws banning the discussion of queer topics in education has made
their mental health “a lot” worse. Acts passed by governments in red
states, such as Florida’s controversial HB 1557,
commonly referred to as the “Don’t Say Gay or Trans” bill, contest
queer inclusion, mirroring the mass hysteria of the Lavender Scare and
contributing to the stigmatization of queer youth and educators
nationally.
“I
think it’s scary. I’m not even gonna lie,” says Jones of legislation
methodically targeting LGBTQ+ youth. She explains that she sees
Florida’s legislation as a “test,” gauging how far anti-LGBTQ+
legislation can expand as other states adopt similar laws. In June,
Jones’s home state of Texas signed into law Senate Bill 17, making it the second state to ban diversity, equity, and inclusion offices at public universities. According to the Human Rights Watch, Texas is also responsible for more than 20 percent of anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced nationally.
“It’s
a scary thing, not only for LGBTQ youth, but also for folks who aren’t
knowledgeable and can easily fall into this indoctrination,” says Eshe
Ukweli, a transgender digital creator and journalist.
Although southern states have
gained the most scrutiny for anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, “it’s occurring
everywhere,” according to Matthew Juarez, a queer student activist and
executive director of StudentsActNow.
Introduced in early 2023, Pennsylvania’s HB 216 calls
for gendered sports teams to be expressly designated by biological sex,
ostracizing transgender athletes and students. On March 8, the bill was
referred to the Committee on Education, leaving transgender youth
fearful for their future in their respective sports.
What
Moms for Bigotry and other hate merchants don't get is that the world
has moved on. We've grown, we've stretched, we've learned. The hate
merchants resort to lies and distortions to scare people. They can't be
honest because honesty doesn't scare or alarm. Young people,
especially, look at the nonsense spewed by Moms For Bigotry and roll
their eyes. Hate merchants die and they take most of their hatred with
them to the grave. They don't leave much behind because they don't have
much to offer in the first place.
