Saturday, January 27, 2024

Gaza

Let's start with a laugh.  Phyliss Chesler has a column where she writes:

I have pioneered women’s rights for more than 50 years. 
Sadly, I must conclude that what was once a diverse and independent-minded movement has become hijacked by a “woke” death cult. 
Those American feminists left standing, including the icons among us, primarily favor gender over sex identity; are pro-trans rather than pro-biological-womankind; and are more obsessed with the alleged occupation of a country that has never existed (Palestine, Gaza) than they are with the occupation of female bodies in Gaza — where girls and women are forced into child and polygamous marriages, made to veil and, together with male homosexuals, “honor” killed by their families.



She's pioneered them, you understand.  All hail, Phyllis, the only woman in the world. You know before she came along, no one ever pioneered women's rights, no one.  The world -- and womankind -- just waited and waited.  Sisters would whisper to one another, "I hear Phyllis is on her way, I hear a girl child named Phyllis will be born in four score years.  We only have to hold on till then."  We bow before thee.  A 'woke' death cult?  Naomi Wolf take notes, this is how you'll be writing soon.  The occupation of a country that never existed?  Can't wait to read your tome, Phyllis, on early westward expansion in what's become the United States.  

Phyllis is ridiculous.  She gets more ridiculous all the time.  Unlike Naomi, she didn't go chasing chemtrails, her anger and hurt is more understandable.  From Miriam Greenspan's review of Phyllis' A POLITICALLY INCORRECT FEMINIST for THE LOS ANGELES REVIEW OF BOOKS: 


The biggest bombshell in a book replete with many is Chesler’s account of being raped in 1980 by her boss, a prominent UN official, and subsequently silenced by two iconic feminist leaders, Robin Morgan and Gloria Steinem. Morgan, says Chesler, insisted that confronting her rapist “would make the American feminist movement look racist” because he was a black man from Sierra Leone. Morgan instead made common cause with the attacker, elbowing Chesler out of the book that would emerge from the UN women’s conference in Oslo that Chesler herself had organized. Steinem contributed to the cover-up, promising to support Chesler in confronting her rapist and then reneging on her promise. These betrayals, according to Chesler, were opportunistic moves to gain control of international feminist networks and consolidate the Ms. brand of media-propelled feminism.


We've gone over this topic many times before.  Phyllis' crazy is understandable, she was raped and she was betrayed by her friends.  She's not a sell out, she was someone who was pushed out.  And some topics, as a result, leave her a little unhinged.  In the column we quoted at the top, for example, she also writes "Rape in a war zone is considered a crime" -- forgetting that crimes, to be established, require proof -- evidence, witnesses, a woman stepping forward to say she was raped.  But mainly forgetting that rape is considered a crime.  Period.  Not just in a war zone.  I guess that pioneering spirit combined with an aging mind, doesn't leave one with a secure grip on facts.

Why are we even covering this.  Again, we've noted the horror Phyllis went through before.  Why cover it now?  Arpan Rai (INDEPENDENT) reports:


The UN’s aid agency in Gaza is on the brink of collapse, its head has said, after nine nations including the US and UK decided to suspend funding over allegations that several agency workers participated in the Hamas attack against Israel.

The Foreign Office said in a statement that the UK was “appalled” by allegations that UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency) staff were involved in the 7 October attack, “a heinous act of terrorism” that the UK government has repeatedly condemned.


Facts.  Context.  Devil's advocate.  Let's go with the last one first.

Let's say that the accusations are true and staff were involved.  So what?  You punish those involved.  I know this is hard for the Israeli government because it's so fond of utilizing collective punishment.  The aid agency is not accused.  There is no reason to cut funding.

Context?  We started with the rape of Phyllis.  There are may more rapes, there are many more scandals.  Some UN staff in Iraq are, right now, accused of taking bribes.  No one's screaming to stop all aid to UNAMI (United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq).  

Which brings us to facts.  There are none.

The Israeli government has made a claim.  The UN announced that those being 'accused' have been suspended and that an investigation is taking place.  

'Accused'? Where are the names?  If you're accusing someone of an act of violence, do so.

That is the other thing.  Israel didn't go public with the claims.  The UN did.

And you should ask yourself why that is.

The way it looks to me, the Israeli government was attempting to intimidate and coerce the UN.  And they were using this claim to achieve the control they wanted.  That's why they didn't go public.

There is still no evidence that a single woman or girl was raped on October 7th during the attack.  Yet that didn't prevent the Israeli government and their operatives from insisting rape took place.  Seems strange that they'd do that but be reticent to make a charge that UN staff were part of the October 7th attack.  

The UN is investigating.  There's no reason to cut funds.  If they refused to investigate the claims, that would be your reason to cut funds.  And they didn't just launch an investigation, they also fired the 12 accused.  I actually think firing was too much.  Suspend them while you investigate, absolutely.  But firing them based upon an accusation?  No, I don't support that. 


The head of the main U.N. aid agency in the war-battered Gaza Strip warned late Saturday that its work is collapsing after nine countries decided to suspend funding over allegations that several agency employees participated in the deadly Hamas attack on Israel four months ago.

Philippe Lazzarini, head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, said he was shocked such decisions were taken as “famine looms” in the Israel-Hamas war. “Palestinians in Gaza did not need this additional collective punishment,” he wrote on X. “This stains all of us.”


The suspension of funding threatens its operations in the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan – where the agency provides hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees with education, healthcare, welfare services, financial assistance, infrastructure projects and emergency response.

Critics have said the funding cuts amount to the collective punishment of Palestinian refugees, many of whom rely on UNRWA relief and services to survive.

More than 100 UNRWA employees have been killed since Israel’s offensive on the strip began, making it the deadliest conflict for the UN yet in such a short amount of time.


Yesterday, the International Court of Justice issued their ruling that the case South Africa has brought against Israel could continue.  It was a victory for South Africa and a defeat for Israel.  As we noted in yesterday's snapshot, "It's a win for justice, it's a win for Palestinians.  The Israeli government gathered a bunch of elderly idiots who tried to quash the case via procedural points.  They lost on those procedural points.  The case is going forward.  And the world knows it."  There was never a strong argument for refusing to hear the case.  But Israel actually lost the case when they began choosing key members of their legal team -- a point we made in real time.  

Let's note this press release:

26 January 2024

 

Statement by South Africa welcoming the provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice against Israel

 

Today marks a decisive victory for the international rule of law and a significant milestone in the search for justice for the Palestinian people. In a landmark ruling, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has determined that Israel’s actions in Gaza are plausibly genocidal and has indicated provisional measures on that basis. For the implementation of the international rule of law, the decision is a momentous one. South Africa thanks the Court for its swift ruling.

 

The United Nations Security Council will now be formally notified of the Court’s order pursuant to Article 41(2) of the Court’s Statute. The veto power wielded by individual states cannot be permitted to thwart international justice, not least in light of the ever-worsening situation in Gaza brought about by Israel’s acts and omissions in violation of the Genocide Convention.

 

Third States are now on notice of the existence of a serious risk of genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza. They must, therefore, also act independently and immediately to prevent genocide by Israel and to ensure that they are not themselves in violation of the Genocide Convention, including by aiding or assisting in the commission of genocide. This necessarily imposes an obligation on all States to cease funding and facilitating Israel’s military actions, which are plausibly genocidal.

 

Above all else, the provisional measures are directly binding on Israel, which is required pursuant to the Court’s order and to the Genocide Convention itself, to stop all acts by it that are plausibly genocidal, such as those raised by South Africa in its Application and request for the indication of provisional measures. There is no credible basis for Israel to continue to claim that its military actions are in full compliance with international law, including the Genocide Convention, having regard to the Court’s ruling.

 

South Africa sincerely hopes that Israel will not act to frustrate the application of this Order, as it has publicly threatened to do, but that it will instead act to comply with it fully, as it is bound to do.

 

South Africa will continue to act within the institutions of global governance to protect the rights, including the fundamental right to life, of Palestinians in Gaza – which continue to remain at urgent risk including from Israeli military assault, starvation and disease – and to obtain the fair and equal application of international law to all, in the interest of our collective humanity. Notably, South Africa will continue to do everything within its power to preserve the existence of the Palestinian people as a group, to end all acts of apartheid and genocide against the Palestinian people and to walk with them towards the realisation of their collective right to self-determination, for, as Nelson Mandela momentously declared, “our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians”.

 

The indication by this Court of provisional measures pursuant to the Genocide Convention marks a significant historical step towards that goal.

 

For more information: Clayson Monyela (Head of Public Diplomacy) +27828845974

 

ISSUED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND COOPERATION

 

OR Tambo Building

460 Soutpansberg Road

Rietondale

Pretoria

0084



The international court of justice on Friday ordered Israel to prevent acts of genocide by its troops in Gaza, and to allow more aid into the besieged territory. The court, which is the UN’s highest judicial body, stopped short of calling for an immediate ceasefire. But it was a victory for the Palestinians, and for the global south in general, in that Israel is being held accountable for its military actions for the first time, and by one of the world’s most important courts.

By allowing the case brought by South Africa to go forward and calling on Israel to comply with the genocide convention – and to report back to the court within a month – the ruling raises the stakes on Israel’s western backers to pressure Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to rein in its devastating invasion and bombardment of Gaza. The ruling is embarrassing to Joe Biden and his top aides, especially the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, who described South Africa’s case as “meritless” a few weeks ago.


The embarrassment keep piling up for Joe this election year.  Ali Harb (ALJAZEERA) writes:


Arab Americans are angry.

And they let United States President Joe Biden know it when they shunned his campaign manager as she visited Michigan to reach out to their communities this week.

Many elected Arab-American officials, including municipal leaders and state legislators, declined to meet with Julie Chavez Rodriguez, arguing that as long as there are mass killings in Gaza, they will not discuss the elections.

“It’s unfathomable at this point in time that we’re trying to talk about electoral politics with a genocide unfolding,” said Abdullah Hammoud, the mayor of Dearborn, a Detroit suburb.

“This is not a time to talk about politics. This is a time for our humanity to be recognised, and for us to be sitting down with decision-makers and policymakers to talk about a change of course of what’s unfolding overseas. And it does not happen with campaign staff.”

Arab-American local officials in Southeast Michigan told Al Jazeera that their constituents are furious and frustrated with Biden’s policies in Gaza – anger that could prove detrimental to the president’s reelection chances.


COMMON DREAMS' Jessica Corbett also reports on the reaction in Michigan noting:

  U.S. President Joe Biden narrowly won Michigan in 2020, but his reelection campaign's trip to the key swing state on Friday made clear that his support for Israel's war on the Gaza Strip is angering Arab American and Muslim voters.

Assad Turfe, a deputy Wayne County executive, was coordinating a Friday afternoon meeting with Biden's delegation, led by campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodríguez. He reached out to over 10 Arab and Muslim leaders in the Dearborn area.

"As the community got to learn about the meeting, there was definitely a lot of outrage and, ultimately, the decision was made to cancel the meeting," he told The Detroit News, adding that the cancellation was "in the best interest of the community."

Turfe also publicly warned the Democrat's campaign that "unless something drastic happens, you have lost the Arab American and Muslim community."

"At this point, from what I can see, there's no winning them over. That was the idea of the meeting," he said. "Until there's a cease-fire, the overall consensus in the community is they're not welcome here, essentially." 



Gaza remains under assault. In fact, it's day 113 of the assault in the wave that began in October.  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 grows higher and higher.  Friday, United Nations Women noted, "Since 7 October 2023, more than 24,620 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip, 70 per cent of whom were women or children. More than 1.9 million people -- 85 per cent of the total population of Gaza -- have been displaced, including what UN Women estimates to be nearly 1 million women and girls. The entire population of Gaza -- roughly 2.2 million people -- are in crisis levels of acute food insecurity or worse."  THE HINDUSTAN TIMES notes, "At least 26,083 Palestinians have been killed and 64,487 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since Oct.7, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Friday."  AP has noted, "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."   




CNN filmed rare footage Saturday of Palestinian men detained by Israeli forces in Gaza and brought across the border to Israel — witnessing the men blindfolded and barefoot, with their hands bound behind their backs.

The Israel Defense Forces said the men are “suspected of terrorist activity and were arrested in Gaza and transferred to Israel for further interrogation.”




Israeli soldiers continue to film themselves as they destroy Gaza and mock Palestinians and post the videos on popular social media apps.

In one of the latest videos published from the besieged Strip, a soldier can be seen flashing the sign of the horn and smiling as yet another neighbourhood is blown up by explosives planted inside homes by the Israeli military.

In another video posted on TikTok, which appears to have been filmed from an armoured vehicle, an Israeli bulldozer can be seen destroying a house with a white flag in front of it.


The following sites updated:





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