The Common Ills: Iraq snapshot

Thursday, May 23, 2024

Iraq snapshot

Thursday, May 23, 2024. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito sports contempt for the American people, the Israeli government continues attacking hospitals and healthcare workers, students continue protesting around the world, and much more.

Friday morning Amy Goodman (DEMOCRACY NOW!) noted:

In other Supreme Court news, The New York Times is reporting an upside-down U.S. flag, which is a symbol used by Trump supporters and election deniers, hung outside the home of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito in January 2021, just days before Biden’s inauguration. The revelations are expected to reignite calls for Alito to recuse himself from cases related to the January 6 insurrection, including Trump’s attempt to claim immunity from election subversion charges.

Alito is corrupt and not fit to serve. Ruth covered this topic on Saturday "Like Thomas, Alito must recuse himself from all Jan. 6th cases" and she asked me for a comment (I wrote about it Friday in the gina & krista round-robin):

There are a number of issues here and multiple red flags. Alito should recuse himself from any January 6th cases. Alito states that his wife hung the flag upside down. He states that it was done in relation to some other protest and has nothing to do with the January 6th attempted insurrection. He is asking the American people to believe him on that. That's too big of an ask. There is the appearance of a conflict of interest and he may very well be lying. I'm texting you a link to add to what I'm about to say. Lying? While attempting to be confirmed to the Supreme Court in 2006, he told Senator Ted Kennedy that ROE V WADE was settled law. Then came his voting to overturn ROE. That decision eroded confidence in the Court across the country. He really is in no place to beg the American people to believe him. Did his wife do the flag? He was a judge before he got on the Supreme Court. His wife knows the rules. And if she did do it, that actually raises more concerns. His work colleague is Clarence. Ginni Thomas was part of the January 6th attempted insurrection. Was Martha-Ann Alito also part of that insurrection attempt? Do we need to be concerned as a country over just how deep that insurrection attempt actually was? These and other questions immediately follow. So there is the appearance of a conflict of interest. That requires Alito to step aside on all January 6th cases. His job is not just to rule. His job is to rule and to ensure trust in the Court. Refusing to recuse himself would be failing at his job. And the integrity of the Court is as important as any ruling it issues. As a member of the Court, Alito has to maintain the integrity of the Court and he can't do that without recusing himself from all January 6th cases.

That was me to Ruth on Saturday. Alito's a liar. That's no longer opinion, there's a new story.

From the new NEW YORK TIMES report by Jodi Kantor, Aric Toler and Julie Tate:

Last summer, two years after an upside-down American flag was flown outside the Virginia home of Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., another provocative symbol was displayed at his vacation house in New Jersey, according to interviews and photographs.
This time, it was the “Appeal to Heaven” flag, which, like the inverted U.S. flag, was carried by rioters at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Also known as the Pine Tree flag, it dates back to the Revolutionary War, but largely fell into obscurity until recent years and is now a symbol of support for former President Donald J. Trump, for a religious strand of the “Stop the Steal” campaign and for a push to remake American government in Christian terms.
Three photographs obtained by The New York Times, along with accounts from a half-dozen neighbors and passers-by, show that the Appeal to Heaven flag was aloft at the Alito home on Long Beach Island in July and September of 2023. A Google Street View image from late August also shows the flag.

I don't know where to start.

Caught last week, he insists that it was his wife and it was about some other issue. As I said last week,

"He is asking the American people to believe him. That is too big of an ask."

They shouldn't believe him, he's a liar.

That's what really gets me here. Last week, when he lied? He knew there was a chance he could be exposed as the liar he is. He knew a neighbor might have seen the flag just being reported now. In fact, that's why he did it. He put the flag out for it to be seen.

But his contempt for the American people was so great that he just lied without caring. Grasp that.

He's not fit for the Court.

And Chief Justice John Roberts is not leaving behind a legacy or building the trust of the American people.

Alito cannot sit on any January 6th cases. He is clearly part of that movement and he is clearly unable to be truthful. Neither of those flags should have flown. Alito is spitting on democracy and showing contempt for the American people. If he had any ethics at all, he would announce his immediate resignation.

I doubt he will. And if the Democrats are in power after the 2024 election, they better remove Alito or be prepared to be called out by everyone because there is nothing more corrupt than what Alito and Clarence Thomas have been doing.

It's time for an immediate end to lifetime Supreme Court appointments. It's time for Congress to put in term limits for Supreme Court justices.

Thomas and Alito's abuses demonstrate how little oversight and accountability the Supreme Court justices have had to face.

Turning to Gaza where the ongoing slaughter continues. The Israeli government has refused moves towards a pause in the fighting, let alone a cease-fire for months now. Today, THE WASHINGTON POST reports, "Israel’s war cabinet has instructed negotiators to resume talks on a deal to release hostages held in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said early Thursday. The statement came after the families of five female Israeli soldiers released footage of their capture by Hamas on Oct. 7, in hopes it would push authorities to restart stalled negotiations." Hamza Hendawi (THE NATIONAL) reports:

Egypt has threatened to withdraw from mediating a Gaza ceasefire, saying attempts to question its integrity in handling the negotiations reflected a desire to punish Cairo for standing by Palestinian rights.
Diaa Rashwan, head of Egypt’s State Information Service, spoke late on Wednesday in response to a CNN report that Cairo's intelligence officials quietly changed the terms of a recent proposal and scuttled a deal for a Gaza truce and prisoner and hostage swap between Israel and Hamas.
“Attempts to cast doubt and offend Egypt's mediation efforts … will only lead to further complications of the situation in Gaza and the entire region and may push Egypt to completely withdraw from its mediation in the current conflict,” Mr Rashwan said.
In a thinly veiled reference to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing government, he said “specific parties” were avoiding making decisions so as to protect personal interests or to deal with “massive domestic political crisis” they are facing.
Egypt, he said, was engaged in Gaza mediation at the insistence of Israel and the US.

The CNN report published on Tuesday, citing three sources, said Egyptian intelligence officials changed the terms of a ceasefire proposal that Israel had agreed to earlier in May, without consulting fellow mediators Qatar and the US.

When Hamas announced on May 6 that it had accepted the truce agreement, it was not the proposal that the US and Qatar thought was submitted to Hamas for review, according to CNN.
The changes caused anger among US, Israeli and Qatari officials and led to an impasse in the talks, CNN said.
Sources with direct knowledge of the negotiations told The National on Thursday that Egypt's mediators worked closely with their Qatari and US partners throughout the process.
“Everything in the draft proposals was agreed upon in advance by all the mediators,” said one source.
Mr Rashwan said the CNN report amounted to an attempt to punish Egypt for its unwavering support for Palestinian rights and its decision last week to intervene in support of South Africa’s case before the International Court of Justice that accuses Israel of genocide.

Genocide? The deniers continue to pretend otherwise but more and more people are commenting on reality. Shona Murray (EURONEWS) reports:

Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris answered Euronews' questions in an exclusive interview, discussing the Israel-Hamas conflict and offering justification for Ireland's decision to recognise Palestine as a state.
Europe is on the wrong side of history for failing to do enough to stop the bloodshed in Gaza, according to Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris.
“There will be a moment in the future where your children and your grandchildren and great-grandchildren will ask, what did you do? What did you do? And did you do enough? And that should keep every single one of us awake at night, because there are children in Gaza, there are children in Rafah, who go to sleep at night not knowing if they'll wake," he told Euronews in an exclusive interview.
In coordinated announcements, the Irish government on Wednesday announced it will recognise Palestine alongside Spain and Norway, with Slovenia and potentially Belgium likely to follow suit.

The corrupt government of War Criminal Benjamin Netanyahu has killed as easily -- and repeatedly -- as it has lie. UNWRA is a terrorist organization! Remember that reckless charge that the Israeli government made in their efforts to starve the Palestinian people? ALJAZEERA reports:

The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has lauded an initiative by the Slovenian Permanent Mission to the UN to support UNRWA‘s vital role in providing assistance to generations of Palestinian refugees.

In a post on X, he also stated that all EU donors have now resumed funding of the UN agency.
Earlier this year, Israel claimed that 12 UNRWA members participated in the Hamas-led October 7 attack on southern Israel.
The claims against UNRWA led to a massive funding deficit as several donor countries announced cuts.

A review headed by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna later revealed that Israel had failed to support its claims about the UNRWA staff.

Netanyahu and his corrupt government have lied repeatedly. Remember the claim that they didn't attack hospitals? ALZAZEERA notes:

A doctor forced out of northern Gaza’s al-Awda Hospital, which is currently besieged by Israeli forces, has given Al Jazeera an update on the situation inside the facility, where 14 patients and several staff remain.

“Today, the Israeli military forced nearly all of us from the hospital,” Dr Marwan Fwaihi told Al Jazeera. “The patients remained inside, with four medical staff and two paramedics to care for them.

“All of us have been ordered to leave the hospital and keep walking towards west [Gaza City]. We are walking until we reach a safe area and to find shelter.”

Fwaihi emphasised that he has repeatedly called on international organisations to help protect the patients and staff trapped in the besieged facility, but has so far seen no progress.
“I appeal to all international organisations and all medical-related officials, especially the [World Health Organization], to intervene to protect what remains of the hospitals, the patients in the hospital, and the medical staff who refuse to leave,” he said.

Yesterday, Amy Goodman (DEMOCRACY NOW!) noted, "In the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces raided the northern city of Jenin early Tuesday morning, killing at least eight Palestinians, including a doctor shot dead on his way to work and a teenager riding his bicycle. About a dozen others were injured, including a journalist." There have been so many attacks on hospitals, so many murdered healthcare workers that the Israeli government doesn't even try to lie most of the time these days. At HAARETZ, Michael Sfard writes, "Let the reporters and editors explain how their professional ethics fit with the shameful decision to keep from Israelis what we're inflicting on the people of Gaza."

Meanwhile, students around the world continue protesting the ongoing genocide. From yesterday's DEMOCRACY NOW!

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.

We now look at the ongoing crackdown on student-led protests in solidarity with Palestine across U.S. college campuses. An encampment at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor is the latest to be violently dismantled by police, and President Santa Ono claimed the peaceful action had become a threat to public safety. Dozens of officers dressed in riot gear, wielding batons, raided the encampment before dawn Tuesday, pepper-spraying and pushing students to the ground as they tore down the camp.

PROTESTERS: [shouting] Move, cops! Get out the way! Move, cops! Get out the way! We know you’re Israel-trained! We know you’re Israel-trained! Move, cops! Get out the way! Go!

AMY GOODMAN: At least four people were arrested Tuesday, while two others were hospitalized after being pepper-sprayed by police. Student protesters set up the encampment about a month ago, demanding the University of Michigan’s endowment divest from companies with ties to Israel. This comes as the school’s president, Santa Ono, is slated to appear before Congress tomorrow alongside the presidents of UCLA and Yale to testify about their responses to the student-led protests and how they’re addressing reports of antisemitism on campus.

For more, we’re joined by Salma Hamamy, Palestinian American student at the University of Michigan, who just graduated earlier this month. Salma is the president of the Students for Justice in Palestine chapter at the University of Michigan. On Tuesday morning, she was pepper-sprayed and beaten by police who raided the university pro-Palestine encampment, joining us from Southfield, Michigan.

Welcome back to Democracy Now!, Salma. Can you describe what happened yesterday? And just to be clear, this has all happened after graduation at Mich?

SALMA HAMAMY: Hi. Yes, it did all happen after graduation. Students at the encampment have been holding down the encampment long after, even after graduation.

And at approximately 5:40 a.m., police came in full riot gear, actually while we were having a church service on the Diag, moving them out and essentially giving us a 10-minute warning, saying that we must be cleared off of the encampment. However, that 10 minutes, surprisingly, turned into five minutes, and they immediately began to charge at the protesters and at the students with their batons and pepper spray. Nearly every step forward that they took, chemicals were being sprayed in every direction. As students were falling to the floor in agony and in pain, they continued to push forward, beating students with batons. And us, standing, we were trying to, you know, hold up onto the students who have fallen down and lift them and take them over to safety. Yet they even began to arrest students in that very moment. So, it was very difficult to keep track of who’s being arrested, because, you know, we unfortunately could not see in those moments due to the chemical attacks directly sprayed onto our eyes. And they constantly pushed us further and further back. It took them about half an hour to entirely remove us from the encampment, as we tried our absolute hardest to remain strong and remain standing at the encampment. However, as we were pushed further and further back, students, unfortunately, were unable to remain standing due to the pepper spray and due to the intense beating with the batons, as well. Students’ phones were even confiscated as we were recording them.

I, personally, myself, was holding a megaphone, and kept a reasonable distance from the cops, as well, as I was chanting, specifically emphasizing why I was there and why I was protesting at the encampment. I repeatedly said that my family has been killed, and that is why I’m here. And as I was saying that through the megaphone, police officers snatched the megaphone out from my hand and threw it behind them.

So, not only was it an attack on the encampment, but it was an attack on us as students protesting entirely. And it was quite a traumatic experience, to say the least, but, unfortunately, not one that was surprising at all given the response that the university has taken against student protesters within the last eight months. This is not the first time that the university has unleashed violent police against students. And currently, as you mentioned, four are now facing felony charges. Three were actually hospitalized. And, you know, due to the inhaling of the pepper spray, several of us are unable to properly breathe at the moment due to the tactics that they deployed.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Salma, I wanted to ask you — you mentioned that this repression didn’t just start with the encampment. Many universities, for months now, have been cracking down on even the most minor protests occurring on their campuses. What’s been happening in Michigan over the past eight months?

SALMA HAMAMY: Over the past eight months, we have seen police brutally beat students to the floor, rip their hijabs off in the process, causing several students to have been hospitalized over the course of eight months. We currently now have eight total students facing felony charges and dozens more facing disciplinary repercussions by the university themselves. Even within the smallest protests of us marching into buildings during public, open hours, we have been met with police violence. Us protesting outside, we have been met with police violence.

It seems that as though wherever we stand, the university refuses to engage in dialogue with us to discuss divestment, as we have been demanding for the last eight months. And instead of meeting with us at the table and meeting with us at the encampment, they decided to meet us with violent force and chemical attacks.

AMY GOODMAN: Where do you go from here, Salma? You just graduated. You also helped to organize the protest at the University of Michigan graduation.

SALMA HAMAMY: Yeah. So, one of the reasons that the university decides to attack our encampment is because it is a physical display of our commitment, of our dedication and of our motivation entirely. So, by them thinking that they could take down the encampment, it is in no way ever going to take down our movement or our commitment, because that lies within the people and that lies within ourselves. And we are still standing. So, regardless if we happen to have the tents laid up or we have an encampment or we have various forms of protest, it is always going to remain strong, and it is going to remain stronger than ever, every single time the police try to oppress us, and especially when it is caused by our university.

So, graduates, alumni, staff members, faculty members, broader community members are all remaining united and are remaining united for the Palestinian cause and for the people of Gaza. And we are going to continue to fight back, and especially against these charges that have been placed against these students for protesting a genocide and for protesting our university’s funding of a genocide. So, we will remain strong, and we will remain wherever it is that the movement lies, because it lies within ourselves.

AMY GOODMAN: Do you think part of the dismantling of the encampment had to do with President Ono, president of the University of Michigan, having to testify before Congress tomorrow?

SALMA HAMAMY: Absolutely. I think it is a tactic that they are trying to uphold to protect themselves. However, one thing that is going to be made evidently clear, as it has made evidently clear with every single other raid at the encampment, is that it is not a good look for the university to come in and send police in riot gear. Of course, it is a fear tactic that Congress is trying to put against these university presidents. However, again, it’s not going to deter students away. And it is not a coincidence that around this time President Ono is sending police officers to not only physically danger and harm students, but also having dozens of students be faced with disciplinary charges from the university themselves and also eight felony charges from the prosecutor’s office.

AMY GOODMAN: Salma Hamamy, we want to thank you for being with his, Palestinian American student at University of Michigan, who just graduated earlier this month, and one of the organizers of the protest at the graduation.

Amy Goodman also noted yesterday:

Meanwhile, academic workers at the University of California at Santa Cruz began a strike on Monday to protest the crackdown on pro-Palestinian student protesters. The strike comes days after the UAW local, which represents 48,000 workers in the UC system, voted to authorize a systemwide strike.
In other education news, the faculty at Dartmouth has voted to censure the school’s president, Sian Beilock, for calling in the police to shut down a peaceful student protest in solidarity with Palestine. Meanwhile, the Faculty Senate at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has voted no confidence in the school’s chancellor, Javier Reyes, after police arrested more than 130 at a student encampment earlier this month.

Australia's 9 NEWS:

Pro-Palestine protesters occupying the University of Melbourne's Arts building have agreed to leave after a week-long sit-in.
UniMelb 4 Palestine representatives said they reached a deal with the university last night.
It comes just days after the university warned protesters would face expulsion if they didn't pack up and leave.

At COMMON DREAMS, Maura Stephens and Alessandra Pomarico write:

Like others around the world, we’ve been watching as neoliberal and corporate-controlled universities repress, silence, and violate peaceful protesters who are answering calls of conscience. As educators working in our various locales to break free from the structural chains of assembly-line school systems, we’re moved to unequivocally condemn those who order and undertake the beating and arresting of students, faculty, and supporters.

These are the very actions, as well as turning staff against the communities they serve and keeping students from reaching their beds, food, and medications—making campuses “unsafe” and not, as administrators claim, peaceful campus teach-ins and sit-ins.

We applaud and support students and others who are risking vilification, attacks by police and by right-wing extremists, arrest, and expulsion from their universities in defense of human rights and a swift end to the genocidal assault on Palestinians.

What kind of schooling violently subjugates those who lawfully express peace-oriented dissent?

We’re encouraged by this growing movement, which reveals an awakening among students of anti-colonial awareness and worldwide solidarity. On the other hand, the horrific repressive reactions of their institutions starkly reveal the oligarchic infrastructure on which Western formal education is built.

Let’s Reflect on the Purpose of Education

What is this modeling of violence in their own lives impressing on students? Such imperialist brutality is amplified to a much greater degree on the people whose lives and freedom they’re upholding.

What is education for, if it silences discourse on justice, freedom, and equity? What kind of schooling violently subjugates those who lawfully express peace-oriented dissent?

Universities should be spaces for intellectual and compassionate debate. Yet we are witnessing extensive censorship, abuse of power, the squelching of critical thinking, student suspensions, and arrests and firing of faculty members who support peaceful protest.

Gaza remains under assault. Day 230 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. United Nations Women noted, "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 NATIONAL notes, "Gaza death toll reaches 35,709, with 79,990 wounded ." Months ago, AP noted, "About 4,000 people are reported missing." February 7th, Jeremy Scahill explained on DEMOCRACY NOW! that "there’s an estimated 7,000 or 8,000 Palestinians missing, many of them in graves that are the rubble of their former home." February 5th, the United Nations' Phillipe Lazzarini Tweeted:

On bodies trapped under rubble, ALJAZEERA notes this morning:

We’re talking about a three-storey building that housed not only residents but also dozens of other displaced Palestinians in Rafah that made it to Nuseirat three days ago.

I met the neighbours. I met the family. I met one of the relatives of people still trapped under the rubble earlier today. They were telling me heartbreaking things.

Imagine escaping the air strikes in Rafah, looking for a safe space but being killed after three days of evacuating – not only being killed but being trapped where the Civil Defence teams do not have any equipment to remove or pull these people from under the rubble.

I saw Civil Defence teams doing their best to pull people from under the rubble. They were digging with their bare hands, with very basic tools. This was not the first time we have seen this scene. We have been seeing this for more than seven months now.

Unfortunately, it may come to a point where the Civil Defence teams will give up on this house because there are more people being targeted every single hour across the Gaza Strip.

April 11th, Sharon Zhang (TRUTHOUT) reported, "In addition to the over 34,000 Palestinians who have been counted as killed in Israel’s genocidal assault so far, there are 13,000 Palestinians in Gaza who are missing, a humanitarian aid group has estimated, either buried in rubble or mass graves or disappeared into Israeli prisons. In a report released Thursday, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said that the estimate is based on initial reports and that the actual number of people missing is likely even higher."

As for 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."

The following sites updated: