Saturday, September 07, 2024

Iraq and Gaza

THE KHALEEJ TIMES reports, "The Iraqi Meteorological Organisation confirmed on Saturday that the light observed in the skies over Iraq on Friday was the result of a meteor burning up in the atmosphere."  Interesting but hardly the most interesting news out of Iraq right now.



Supposedly, US troops will be withdrawing from Iraq.  Again!  Of course the withdrawal under Barack Obama was not a withdrawal.  It was a drawdown as thousands remained in Iraq.  In the fall of 2012, Barack began sending more US troops -- special forces.  The press ran with "withdrawal" while the US military (rightly) termed it a "drawdown."  Yes, there is a difference.  


So applause to WION for its use of terms in the video below entitled "Will some US troops remain in Iraq after drawdown?"



IRAQI NEWS reports:


Different sources revealed that Baghdad and Washington agreed on a strategy for the departure of coalition forces led by the United States from Iraq.

Reuters mentioned that hundreds of troops are expected to leave Iraq by September 2025 and the remaining forces by the end of 2026, according to the agreement, which still needs confirmation from top authorities in both countries and an announcement date.

Last week, the Iraqi Prime Minister, Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, confirmed that the remnants of the terrorist group ISIS are no longer a danger to the country.


Will it be a withdrawal?  No.  No, it will be a drawdown, "Reuters also reported that the two governments aim to establish a new advisory relationship that could see some US troops remain in Iraq after the drawdown."  NEWSWEEK wrongly sells it as a withdrawal.  A withdrawal means all leave (except Marines guarding the US Embassy).  A drawdown means a number leave but not all.  It's amazing that NEWSWEEK can't get it right even as they quote anonymous US military officials.   SHAFAQ NEWS notes, "However, the report highlighted that a US force will remain stationed in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region, serving as a key link to US operations in Syria."

For any who have forgotten, US troops invaded Iraq  in March of 2003.  Barack Obama carried out a drawdown -- but not a withdrawal -- and US troops remain in Iraq.  21 years later and US troops remain in Iraq. 


If you're not getting it, Thomas Watkins (THE NATIONAL) explains:


The US is likely to maintain significant military capabilities to fight extremists in Iraq after the anti-ISIS coalition wraps up in the coming years, an American official said on Friday.

Speaking after it was reported that US-led coalition forces would leave Iraq by the end of 2026, the official said their departure “doesn't necessarily change” the military's ability to go after ISIS.

“I would be extremely surprised if they pulled all US presence out,” the official told The National. Baghdad and Washington agreed in late July on a two-year plan to end the coalition's mission in Iraq, which was brought in to fight ISIS a decade ago.


When will Turkey leave Iraq alone?  RUDAW reports:


A shepherd was killed in a Turkish bombardment of a village in northeastern Erbil on Tuesday, according to a local health official and a war monitor. The area is known for clashes between the Turkish military and Kurdish fighters.

Badi’ Kamal Mohammed, 29, was seriously injured when Turkish air forces hit the Senin meadow in the Sidakan district of Erbil province, hospital director Karwan Faysal told Rudaw. Faysal added that Mohammed was brought to Sidakan hospital, where the civilian succumbed to his wounds.


In other news, THE NEWS reports on a governmental denial:


A political adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has rejected recent allegations that employees at the premier’s office have been spying on and wire-tapping senior officials and politicians.

Since late August, Iraqi local media outlets and lawmakers have alleged that employees at Sudani’s office had been arrested on charges of spying on senior officials.

“This is an inflated lie,” said Fadi al-Shammari in an interview with an Iraqi broadcaster .


 

Michael Knights of the right-wing Washington Institute For Near East Policy argues this is Iraq's Watergate.  Briefly for Iraqi community members, President Richard Nixon and his administration spied on people illegally and Watergate specifically refers to Nixon's 'plumbers' breaking into the Democratic National Committee's office in the Watergate building in 1972.  The scandal would eventually reveal other corruptions and crimes of Tricky Dick's administration forcing him to resign the presidency in disgrace to avoid being impeached.


Moving over to Gaza . . . 

From Saturday's WEEKEND EDITION (NPR):


STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

We have one picture of the war in Gaza. While it's hard for foreign journalists to make it into Gaza, many images have made their way out. We've seen destruction from the air and from the ground. We've seen children in peril, people alive and dead. And now we have the story behind a single image from this week, which some people will find disturbing. This report is just a little over two minutes. NPR's Aya Batrawy has the story of the girl in the pink roller skates.

AYA BATRAWY, BYLINE: Tala Abu Ajwa was heading out to play with her brother when a bomb hit their building in Gaza City. Shrapnel went flying through the air, piercing her neck. The 10-year-old died within minutes. The photo of her in her pink roller skates quickly spread online.

HUSSAM ABU AJWA: (Non-English language spoken).

BATRAWY: I reached Tala's father, Hussam Abu Ajwa, by phone in Gaza City. He says his daughter was bubbly and ambitious.

ABU AJWA: (Non-English language spoken).

BATRAWY: He tells me the day before she was killed, she told him, Baba, I want to become a dentist and go back to school. She told her dad she wanted to celebrate her brother's birthday and forget about the war.

ABU AJWA: (Non-English language spoken).

BATRAWY: He promised to try. Abu Ajwa, a high school chemistry teacher before the war, sends me photos of how the family once lived. Tala's arms are wrapped around his neck in a pool. In other photos, she's hugging her siblings, dolled up in dresses, headbands, a Daisy Duck sweater. She loved taking selfies. This last photo of her in the morgue, still wearing her skates, has gone viral on social media.

ABU AJWA: (Non-English language spoken).

BATRAWY: Abu Ajwa says he tried his best to keep the family safe. The Israeli military says it takes precautions to limit civilian deaths in its targeting of Hamas. It did not respond to NPR's request on why this residential building was hit. Tala's father says the booms of Israeli airstrikes would scare her. She'd curl up in his arms.


Meanwhile, REUTERS notes, "Israeli military strikes across the Palestinian Gaza Strip killed at least 61 people in the space of 24 hours, local medics said on Saturday, as Israeli forces battled Hamas-led militants in the territory." Among the targets bombed by the Israeli government?  Halima al-Sa’diyya school.  They keep bombing schools. ALJAZEERA adds, "Israel has continued attacks in Gaza. At least four people, including the deputy director of Palestinian Civil Defence in the North Gaza governorate, Abu al-Abd Morsi, have been killed in an attack on a house in the Jabalia refugee camp."


And still there is no cease-fire.  FRANCE 24 notes, "The war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza entered its 12 month Saturday with little sign of respite for the Palestinian territory or hope for Israeli hostages still held captive."  There are protests.  THE NATIONAL reports:


Thousands of anti-government protesters gathered in Tel Aviv again on Saturday demanding a deal to free the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza.

Organisers said 400,000 people blocked Derech Menachem Begin, one of the city's main thoroughfares.

Protests were also held in other cities, including Haifa, Jerusalem and Caesarea, near Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's private residence.

Demonstrators, including the family of the hostages, held banners that read "we are all kidnapped" and "get them out of hell".


THE TIMES OF ISRAEL adds, "Speakers at the Saturday night Tel Aviv rally were to include: Andrey Kozlov, a former hostage rescued from Gaza in an IDF operation; former hostage Danielle Aloni who was released along with her young daughter Emilia during the November ceasefire; Shay Dickmann, cousin of Carmel Gat, whose murder was announced by the IDF earlier this week along with five other hostages; Nissan Calderon, brother of hostage Ofer Calderon; ⁠Varda Ben Baruch, the grandmother of US-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander; ⁠and Einav Moses, the daughter-in-law of 80-year-old hostage Gadi Moses."  London also witnessed a large protest.  THE SOCIALIST WORKER reports:


Anger at the Labour government’s complicity in Israel’s genocide filled the streets of central London on Saturday. 

Around 125,000 people joined the 17th national demonstration for Palestine since Israel began its genocide last October. 

The immense vitality of the Palestine movement was on show with many first-time marchers. Kamar told Socialist Worker, “This is my first demonstration in London—and it won’t be my last.” 

The march was infused with outrage at Labour only suspending 30—out of 350—British arms export licences to Israel last week. 

Kamar said Western governments have made some concessions because they “want to be seen to be on the right side of history” while still backing Israel. “The British government has suspended some arms sales to Israel, but it’s very small,” she said. 

Imad, a lorry driver from West Bromwich in the Midlands, told Socialist Worker, Labour is failing to do enough. It suspended 30 arms licences—but why not all? It’s just trying to shut people down with gestures to show they are doing something. If it was serious, Labour would have suspended all licences.”

But, Imad added, “Anyone who wants to be in Downing Street has to support Zionism.” 

Protestor Ian, who had travelled to London, agreed, 30 out of 350 arms contracts is nothing but lip service. 

“Labour is still providing arms for the F35 fighter jets, so there’s no real difference between Labour and the last Tory government.”


In other news,  Benedict Garman (BBC NEWS) reports:


Israeli forces have been laying tarmac on a key road in Gaza along its southern border - in what some commentators see as a signal that they're not prepared to fully withdraw from the territory any time soon.

The road has become a major sticking point in the negotiations for a new ceasefire and hostage release deal.

BBC Verify has analysed satellite imagery, photos and video that show the surfacing of a road along the narrow but strategically important strip of land running the length of Gaza's border with Egypt, long known by its Israeli military codename: the Philadelphi Corridor.

Between 26 August and 5 September, satellite imagery captured at regular intervals shows fresh paving along a section of road extending 6.4km inland from the coast along the border fence.



Gaza remains under assault. Day 336 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.  THE NATIONAL notes, "Gaza death toll rises to 40,939, with 94,616 injured."   Early on, Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) pointed out, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have condemned the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide."    Months ago, 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 of acute food insecurity or worse."   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:

 


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."
 


Winding down, Susie Beever (THE MIRROR) reports:

An American woman was shot and killed in the West Bank on Friday, doctors have said.

The woman, aged 26, was shot in the head in the northern region of the Palestinian territory and died after being rushed to hospital, medical official Dr Ward Basalat said. Dr. Fouad Naffa, the head of the hospital, also confirmed the death of an American woman, who has not yet been named.


AP notes, "Witnesses, activists and Palestinian media said she was shot by Israeli troops while attending a pro-Palestinian demonstration against settlement expansion in the Nablus area of the northern West Bank, near the town of Beita. Israel's military said it was still looking into the incident, but it confirmed that troops had opened fire in the area."

The following sites updated:


 



FDA Initiates New Studies on Toxic Metals in Tampons Following Push from Senator Murray

 

FDA Initiates New Studies on Toxic Metals in Tampons Following Push from Senator Murray

Murray announces FDA has responded to her July letter about toxic metals in tampons confirming it has commissioned an independent review of the literature, and is conducting a new study on the issue

Murray: “These are products millions of women are using on any given day, so it’s important we absolutely put to rest any concerns about their safety—so I’m pleased that FDA is taking action to help us better understand the issue of metals in tampons, and I am going to keep pushing to make sure we are taking all the steps we need to keep women safe and healthy.”

Washington, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has responded to a letter she sent in July requesting the agency examine the findings of a recent study which found toxic metals—such as lead, arsenic, cadmium, and others—in a wide variety of tampon products, and evaluate any necessary steps to ensure the safety of tampons and menstrual products. The agency has let Senator Murray know they take the issue of tampon safety seriously, and they are working on a more detailed response to the questions from her letter in addition to two related studies.

For too long, women’s health has been overlooked and understudied—ever since I came to Congress, making sure that women’s health was a federal priority has been important to me. These are products millions of women are using on any given day, so it’s important we absolutely put to rest any concerns about their safety—so I’m pleased that FDA is taking action to help us better understand the issue of metals in tampons, and I am going to keep pushing to make sure we are taking all the steps we need to keep women safe and healthy,”  said Senator Murray.

Following Senator Murray’s oversight, FDA has initiated an expert, independent review of the literature on the health effects of metals in tampons, and an internal lab study at FDA to look at metals found in tampons and how they get released under normal use.

  • FDA has commissioned an independent contractor to undertake a thorough literature review to assess any possible links between tampon use and adverse health effects. This review will address the following questions:
    • What does the literature describe regarding prevalence, levels, and types of biomarkers found in individuals using vaginal tampons? How does the prevalence/level/type of biomarker differ from normal/expected values? 
    • What health outcomes are described in the literature associated with vaginal tampon use (not including toxic shock syndrome)? How are the frequencies of these health outcomes reportedly differing from the general population? 
    • What does the literature describe in terms of laboratory measures from testing of vaginal tampons (levels of materials, prevalence, etc.)? 
  • The FDA’ s Center for Devices and Radiological Health Office of Science and Engineering Laboratories has also initiated a study to determine the proportion of metals that may be released by tampons in normal use.
    • The results will be used to conduct a more precise risk analysis which will assess the risk of metal exposure to tampon users. The FDA study will also allow for appropriate statistics to be conducted by using sufficient samples, which analysis was not possible with the Shearston et al study design.
  • FDA will use this information to make a determination of any possible health issues.

Senator Murray has a long history of demanding accountability and careful oversight when it comes to the safety of products women and families use every day. Recently, Senator Murray passed legislation giving FDA new authority to, for the first time ever, regulate the safety of cosmetic products and force a recall when necessary, and as Senate Appropriations Chair she successfully fought to secure funding for this important work. Senator Murray has also previously pressed FDA and industry for answers and action regarding asbestos in children’s make up kits, demanded answers from Johnson & Johnson regarding asbestos found in baby powder, and was also a leading voice in holding FDA accountable and pushing for solutions following the infant formula contamination and shortage crisis in 2022.

Senator Murray has been a champion of improving and expanding access to women’s health care throughout her career. Senator Murray was the lead Democratic negotiator of the bipartisan 21st Century Cures Act, which delivered a major federal investment to boost NIH research, among many other investments—as the top ranking Democrat on the Senate Health Committee, Murray specifically pushed to include policies that would require NIH to improve inclusion of diverse populations, especially women, in research and to address gaps in knowledge around safe and effective therapies for pregnant and breastfeeding women.

###

STATEMENT: GOP Operatives Prop Up Jill Stein and Cornel West as Spoilers

 From The Democratic Party's National Committee:


STATEMENT: GOP Operatives Prop Up Jill Stein and Cornel West as Spoilers

This week, the Associated Press reported that the GOP continues to prop up third-party candidates like Jill Stein and Cornel West to spoil the election for Donald Trump. This new reporting fits into a larger pattern we’ve seen play out over this cycle of Republicans looking to find stalking horses. With an inability to make Trump more popular, the GOP is hoping to siphon off votes from Vice President Kamala Harris by jumbling the field.  

In response, DNC Senior Adviser Mary Beth Cahill said the following: 

“Voters will not be fooled by the GOP playing games with our democracy. A third party candidate won’t become president, but one of their spoiler campaigns can help decide who wins. That’s why the GOP is working around the clock to prop up Jill Stein and Cornel West. We will continue to call out Republican antics and hold spoiler campaigns accountable. Only two candidates have a path to 270 electoral votes, and the only way to stop Donald Trump is by voting for Vice President Harris.” 

Jill Stein’s Connection to the GOP and Republican Efforts to Prop Up Her Candidacy 

Trump praised Jill Stein’s spoiler candidacy, saying he likes her “very much” because “she takes 100% from them.”

Donald Trump at Pennsylvania Rally in June: “Cornel West, he’s one of my favorite candidates. Cornel West and I like her also, Jill Stein, I like her very much. You know why? She takes 100% from them. He takes 100%.”

Steve Bannon admitted that “the path to victory here is clearly maximizing the reach of these left-wing alternatives,” adding, “the more exposure these guys get, the better it is for us.”

New York Times: ​​“In the multicandidate race, Mr. Trump led by a single percentage point; Mr. Biden led Mr. Trump by three percentage points in a hypothetical head-to-head race. ‘The path to victory here is clearly maximizing the reach of these left-wing alternatives,’ said Stephen K. Bannon, the former White House chief strategist who also served as Mr. Trump’s campaign chairman in 2016. ‘No Republican knows that oil production under Biden is higher than ever. But Jill Stein’s people do,’ added Mr. Bannon. ‘Stein is furious about the oil drilling. The college kids are furious about it. The more exposure these guys get, the better it is for us.’”

MAGA activist and GOP operative Scott Presler said it was his goal to gain ballot access for Stein in Pennsylvania.

New York Times: “Other Trump supporters are trying to help third-party and independent candidates with the expensive and arduous process of gathering the signatures needed to get on state ballots. Scott Presler, the conservative activist whom Lara Trump said she wanted as an early hire at the Republican National Committee, publicly reached out on social media to Ms. Stein and Cornel West, a left-wing academic who is running for president as an independent, to offer his help in collecting signatures to get them on the ballot.”

Synapse Group— a longtime Republican operative’s firm— gathered and submitted signatures for ballot access on behalf of Jill Stein in New Hampshire. 

Associated Press: Jefferson Thomas, a longtime Republican operative from Colorado, submitted petition signatures that his firm, The Synapse Group, gathered on behalf of Stein in New Hampshire, records show. 

GOP Efforts to Prop Up Cornel West 

Trump has praised Cornel West’s spoiler candidacy and says West is “one of [his] favorite candidates.” 

Donald Trump at Pennsylvania Rally in June: “Cornel West, he’s one of my favorite candidates.” 

Cornel West received the maximum donation from Harlon Crow — the controversial, conservative billionaire who called West a “good friend.” West continued to defend the contribution after returning it due to criticism. 

The Hill: “Independent presidential candidate Cornel West said Friday he returned a controversial donation from Harlan Crow — the billionaire with controversial links to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. ‘How sad that perceptions so quickly triumph over truth in our decadent culture,’ West said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. ‘This holds in our major catastrophe in the Middle East where the rich humanity of Palestinians is rendered invisible. It also holds at home in the minor scandal about Harlan Crow’s donation to my campaign.’ ‘He is a staunch anti-Trump Republican who has ‘Never Forget’ collections of tyrants (Stalin, Mao, Hitler, and many others) and patriotic collections of Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln,’ West continued. ‘Does this disqualify him from contributing to my campaign? Most people holler yes, I say no.’ Still, he said, he decided to return the money. The news comes after West received a $3,300 donation from the Republican megadonor in August, according to Federal Election Commission filings. The funds came in just weeks before West switched from the Green Party to an independent bid.”

To spoil the election for Donald Trump, Republican operatives have worked to help Cornel West gain ballot access in Arizona, Wisconsin, Virginia, Nebraska, North Carolina,  Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Maine. 

Associated Press: “Republicans and their allies have worked to get West on the ballot in Arizona, Wisconsin, Virginia, North Carolina, Nebraska, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Maine, all in the hope that West will help boost former President Donald Trump’s chances of winning later this year by pulling support from Harris. West does not need to win a state to serve as a spoiler candidate — a few thousand votes in battleground states could be decisive.”

In Arizona, a dozen paid operatives linked to the GOP-affiliated firm Wells Marketing LLC helped Cornel West gain ballot access. 

NBC News: “A dozen paid operatives registered with Arizona’s secretary of state on Sunday to collect signatures on behalf of left-wing presidential candidate Cornel West, listing their employer as a Republican-leaning firm that recently worked for GOP House candidate Blake Masters. Arizona, unlike most states, requires paid or out-of-state petition-gatherers to register with the state. On their public registrations, some of circulators working to help West get on the ballot in Arizona struggled to spell his name, listing it as ‘Carnel west’ or ‘Cornelle West.’  All checked boxes indicating they are out of state and that they are being paid. All listed Wells Marketing LLC — or some variation, with a few misspellings — as the company they are working for.  It’s unclear who is paying them. Wells Marketing did not immediately respond to requests for comment.” 

Wells Marketing is closely affiliated with Mark Jacoby, who was previously convicted of voter registration fraud and who has a long history of deceptive tactics and unethical behavior. 

Associated Press: “Last month, more than 80 paid out-of-state signature gathers descended on the pivotal battleground of Arizona to collect signatures for West, state records show. Many of the workers listed Wells Marketing, a mysterious Missouri limited liability company, as their employer. The company, which didn’t respond to a request for comment, is closely affiliated with Mark Jacoby, a signature gathering operative from California with a longstanding reputation for using deceptive tactics and who was convicted in 2009 of voter registration fraud, court records show.”

People Over Party – a nonprofit led by an attorney with ties to the GOP and which has worked with GOP-affiliated canvassing firms – has pushed to get Cornel West on the ballot in six states. 

Associated Press: “Hamrick serves as counsel for the Virginia-based nonprofit People Over Party, which has pushed to get West on the ballot in Arizona, Maine, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Virginia, as well as North Carolina, records show. […] Though he insists he is not a Republican, Hamrick voted in Alabama’s Republican primary in 2002, 2006 and 2010, according to state voting records maintained by the political data firm L2. He was tapped briefly in 2011 to work for the Alabama state Senate’s Republican majority. And since 2015, according to federal campaign finance disclosures, he has contributed only to GOP causes, including $2,500 to the Alabama Republican Party and $3,300 to Georgia Rep. Mike Collins, a Republican who has trafficked in conspiracy theories. […] In North Carolina, People Over Party, worked with Blitz Canvassing and Campaign & Petition Management — two firms that routinely work for the GOP — to gather signatures for West. Hamrick later responded in writing on behalf of workers for the two companies after the state election board opened its inquiry.”

Attorneys with “deep ties” to the GOP— Amanda Reeve, Brett Johnson, and Paul Hamrick— barraged West electors in Arizona who said they no longer wanted to fulfill the role. One West elector in Arizona, Denisha Mitchell, says that the form registering her as an elector was forged. 

Associated Press: “Mitchell said after the AP story was published Friday — in which said she ‘didn’t even know what an elector was’ and that the paperwork was ‘forged’ and riddled with errors — she received a call from someone who had been handling the West petition work. She missed the call, but when she called back, she was connected to Hamrick.  Hamrick, an Alabama-based attorney, said the allegations against him were ‘false’ when reached Sunday night, but declined to comment further.  Mitchell’s and Judie’s cases are the latest examples of the dubious tactics used to get West on ballots nationwide.  Mitchell, who had been drawn to West’s progressive message before she learned Republican-aligned operatives were working to get him on the ballot, told the AP on Friday that she was unaware who filled out the paperwork in her name, calling it ‘forged.’ She and her husband previously worked for a signature-gathering contractor called Wells Marketing, collecting signatures to get an initiative on the ballot that would raise the wages of tipped workers in Arizona.  Wells Marketing, a mysterious Missouri limited liability company, was also leading the effort to gather the signatures needed to get West on the ballot in Arizona.”

Multiple Cornel West electors in Arizona are registered Republicans, one of whom was convicted of manslaughter. 

Associated Press: “Rothgeb, who could not be reached for comment, is a registered Republican, as are two other electors for West, voting records show. Two additional electors listed in the state filings are not registered to vote at the addresses provided for them, records show.” 

Associated Press: “But her story is not the only unusual one among the slate of electors for West.  One of them, Elizabeth Rothgeb, pleaded guilty to manslaughter after accepting a plea deal stemming from the killing of her then-husband with an ax in 1998. She spent 10 years in prison and was released on Christmas Eve 2010, according to online records from the state prison system.  Rothgeb, who could not be reached for comment, is a registered Republican, as are two other electors for West, voting records show. Two additional electors listed in the state filings are not registered to vote at the addresses provided for them, records show.”

In Georgia, Cornel West’s ballot access efforts were advanced by a member of the Republican National Lawyers Association whose firm received payment for services to the Republican National Committee. 

Michigan Advance: “Other attorneys for West with GOP connections include Bryan Tyson, also a member of the RNLA, who has represented West’s interests in Georgia. Tyson is a partner with the Atlanta-based Election Law Group, which has received $60,000 this year for services to the Republican National Committee.”

In Michigan, John Bursch – an attorney whose firm was paid $25,000 by  Trump’s campaign in November 2020 for “recount: legal consulting” and who now works as a lawyer for the conservative legal group that helped overturn Roe v. Wade – fought a challenge to West’s placement on the state ballot.

 Associated Press: “In Michigan, John Bursch, a senior lawyer for the Alliance Defending Freedom, the conservative legal group that helped overturn Roe v. Wade, fought a challenge to West’s placement on the ballot. Bursch’s firm, Bursch Law PLLC, was paid $25,000 by Trump’s campaign in November 2020 for ‘RECOUNT: LEGAL CONSULTING,’ according to campaign finance disclosures. Bursch did not respond to a request for comment.” 

In Wisconsin, four people employed by GOP-aligned political canvassing firm Blair Group Consulting gathered signatures to help Cornel West gain ballot access. 

USA Today: “Liberal activist Cornel West’s efforts to get his name on the ballot in Wisconsin as an independent presidential candidate received a boost from Republican operatives who helped collect petition signatures for his candidacy.  The involvement underscores how allies of Republican nominee Donald Trump have worked to lift the candidacies of third-party candidates to help the former president’s chances in the November election in closely contested battleground states.  Four individuals employed at the Republican-aligned political canvasing firm Blair Group Consulting worked as circulators who gathered signatures in support of West’s candidacy in Wisconsin, according to petitions submitted with the Wisconsin Elections Commission this month and reviewed by USA TODAY.”

In North Carolina, three operatives who are current or past employees of GOP political firm Blitz Canvassing collected signatures to get West on the ballot.  

NBC News: “Emails from elections officials, obtained through a request under North Carolina’s Public Records Law, show the pro-West Justice for All Party authorized three people to pick up and drop off signatures for them statewide — and all three are current or past employees of a Colorado-based Republican political firm called Blitz Canvassing. Blitz Canvassing has worked for numerous Republican House and Senate candidates and took in more than $14.6 million in payments working for Never Back Down, the main super PAC that supported former GOP presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, according to campaign finance reports.”

Prominent Republicans complained and took legal action against the North Carolina Board of Elections after Cornel West was initially denied ballot access.

NBC News: “The Republican National Committee and Trump’s campaign blasted the decision, calling it ‘election interference’ and threatening retribution. ‘Those who have engaged in these un-American acts must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and receive the harshest punishment possible so these injustices will never be repeated,’ Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement.”

Carolina Journal: “Presidential candidate Cornel West, Democratic operative Marc Elias, and the Republican Party all want a say in the ballot access lawsuit involving West’s Justice for All Party. […] The North Carolina Republican Party and Republican National Committee filed a brief supporting JFA’s ballot access efforts.”

News & Observer: “Supporters of Cornel West’s third-party presidential campaign sued the North Carolina State Board of Elections on Monday after it denied ballot access to West’s new party. […] The lawyer bringing the suit, Phillip Strach, frequently represents Republican legislative leaders in court and has recently defended them in gerrymandering lawsuits and challenges to stricter election laws. His law firm, Nelson Mullins Riley and Scarborough, has been paid tens of thousands of dollars for legal services by the Republican National Committee, North Carolina Republican Party and National Republican Congressional Committee in the last several years.”

In Pennsylvania, a prominent Republican attorney— Matthew Haverstick— worked to gain Cornel West ballot access. 

Washington Post: “[…] a lawyer with deep Republican Party ties is working to help independent candidate Cornel West get on it. […] Meanwhile, a lawyer with longstanding ties to Republican candidates and causes went to court to argue that the Secretary of State’s office under Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro was wrong to reject West’s paperwork. ‘I see no good reason for Mr. West to be kept off the ballot or Pennsylvanians otherwise prevented from voting for him,’ the lawyer, Matt Haverstick, said in an interview. Haverstick declined to say who hired him or why.” 

In Virginia, Republican-tied signature gatherers were witnessed using deceptive tactics to help West gain ballot access. 

Associated Press: “The GOP-linked signature collection effort on West’s behalf isn’t limited to North Carolina. Signature gatherers in suburban Washington were witnessed asking people in a Target parking lot to sign a petition to ‘get Donald Trump off the ballot,’ NBC4 reported. The signatures were actually being collected to help get West on the Virginia ballot, and one of the workers said they would be handed off to the state GOP, the TV station reported.”

NBC News4: “There’s an effort in Virginia to put a third-party presidential candidate on the ballot, but some of the signatures may have been collected under false pretenses. A group in Northern Virginia with clipboards and petitions asking people if they wanted to sign to ‘get Donald Trump off the ballot’ told News4 it was actually gathering signatures to get Dr. Cornel West on the ballot. […] The group collecting signatures for West would not say who enlisted it to go to Virginia or why some of them were misleading voters about the purpose of the petitions. ‘That’s very unfortunate and a lot of times people do lie but you can only go off based what people tell you, and you are supposed to read everything,’ said Precious Edmonds, who signed the petition believing it was to get Trump off the ballot.” 

Cornel West’s campaign doesn’t have a problem with Republicans propping up his ballot access efforts; his campaign is broke and can’t afford it on their own. 

Associated Press: “In a brief interview, West expressed ambivalence about Republican efforts to help him, which Democrats fear could benefit Donald Trump by siphoning away left-leaning voters who would probably support the Democratic nominee otherwise. ‘So much of American politics is highly gangster-like activity,’ West told The Associated Press on Monday. ‘I have no knowledge of who they are or anything — none whatsoever. We just want to get on that ballot. And that’s the difficult thing.’  The work by the GOP attorneys appears to be part of a broader effort by conservative activists and Republican-aligned operatives across the country to push West’s candidacy and subvert the integrity of the ballot in the months leading up to November’s presidential election.”









Iraq snapshot

Friday, September 6, 2024.  Conditions become worse in Gaza, Amnesty International documents War Crimes, Junior's campaign's in debt but he's putting it further in debt as he promotes Donald Trump's campaign, Jill Stein remains a predator, and much more.


Let's start in the US with the presidential election.




Oh, look, it's an advert: BRONZER, HOW NOT TO USE IT.


It's as though they're four-year-old little girls playing in Mommy's make up for the first time.


But who's paying for it?

Robert Kennedy Junior, you may remember, wanted to run for president.  Even going so far as to run as an 'independent.'


Who's paying the bills right now?  Because my understanding is that Junior's campaign had huge debts.  So where did the money come from for yesterday evening's e-mail "Who Bobby wants you to vote for"?


That's what the picture's from.  That e-mail.  Who's paying to produce this stuff?


I don't think it's legal for Junior to use money donated to his campaign to pimp another person's campaign.  If people wanted to donate to Trump, they would have done that.  I don't understand the legality of someone already in debt on their campaign using resources to go further in debt in order to promote another candidate.  

I don't understand it and I'm not the only one confused here.  Junior finally got a response yesterday from various actual small donors who'd started the journey with him.  And they replied back to the shock of the campaign which had no idea just how many people who gave money to Junior now hate him.  Actively loathe him.  "F**k you" is how 42% of the e-mails basically started.  

Junior apparently did not realize how many people now hate him.  Not casual election observers, mind you,  but people who donated to his campaign.  They feel betrayed -- and they should.


Speaking of betrayals, Jill Stein.


Karen Hunter offers her take in the above.  That's her take.  I've offered mine on this issue.  I will add though that AOC is correct that Jill Stein is a "predator."

She waits every four years and shows up to prey on people, to lie to them and mislead them -- that is predator.  AOC is correct.  Not a Ted Glick fan but we'll note this from his ZNET column:


In 2004 there were about 225 GP members who were in elected office, almost all of them low-level offices like school board, water board, etc. Today Jill Stein says there are 144. There are no GP members who have been elected to a state house or senate seat and, of course, none to Congress. It’s a pretty dismal record for 20 years of existence.

Those of us who took the “safe states” position were in a decided minority then, and today, I am sure, anyone who advocated for it would be very unpopular. The GP has become a narrow, tiny party of true believers, destined to get at most 1% or so of the vote. Of course, that would triple the vote total of their Presidential candidate, Howie Hawkins, in 2020.

I remember when it was that I decided I had had it with the GP. I was at a national People’s Summit conference in Chicago in the summer of 2016 organized by National Nurses United and many other progressive groups and individuals who had come together after active involvement in the historic Bernie Sanders Presidential campaign. I was one of those people. On the second day of this event, attended by thousands, I looked up onto a screen that was projecting tweets about the convention that were being posted. I was shocked to see one from Jill Stein explicitly calling out this event and those who organized it as being “sheepdogs for the duopoly.” These supporters of independent socialist Bernie Sanders were all about corralling progressives into the Democratic Party, Stein was saying.

The GP, and others supporting them, don’t get it on mass politics. They believe in ideological purty before anything else. Unless you’re ideologically pure, they would say, you will never be able to bring about the transformational, revolutionary changes needed. Purity comes before anything else.

Twenty years of this approach have made it clear this is a losing strategy. The national US Green Party is a failure because of its rigid and narrow electoral approach.


The Democratic Party sent out a mailing yesterday.


The first early vote ballots will drop in the mail this week.

This is not a drill.

People are voting not just for president, but in critical races that will impact control of the House, the Senate, and races further down the ballot as well.

That is why we are asking you to donate $3 to the Democratic Party today.

$3 because a donation today will go further than at any point later in the cycle.

$3 because control of the White House, Senate, House, and down-ballot races are on the line.

$3 because the DNC is the best organization to ensure we have the infrastructure and resources in the places that will matter most.

We know you didn't wake up and think, “Today is the day I am donating to the DNC,” but just think about the people about to fill out their ballots and the impact your donation can make in reaching persuadable voters before they do.

Today is the day. Donate here:

Can Kamala Harris, Tim Walz, and Democrats running for office everywhere count on you to donate today -- especially today -- as ballots are being mailed to voters in several states across the country?


The election is in 59 days.  People need to be watching registration deadlines if they aren't already registered to vote.  On that, we're noting this from THIRD's "Roundtable" again:


Sabina and Francisco are doing great work in Texas and it's great to talk to them and amplify them in any way possible. One thing not being reported is that Texas has disabled online voter registration.  If you're planning to vote in Texas in November, the first thing you need to do is to check and make sure you weren't purged because Governor Greg Asshole has purged over a million people from the voter rolls.   The next thing you need to know is that Greg Asshole has stopped online voter registration.  You will need to register by October 7th.  That may require you going to your local voter registration officials office.  If you're renewing your drivers license or getting a replacement for it, you can register at the DMV.  Fall means county fairs and there will be people with booths and tables set up to register voters..  You can also print up an application online and mail it in.  You need to move quickly on that because October 7th is the deadline.


I'm not a TYT fan but they did cover what's going on in Texas so I'm noting their video today.





Turning to Gaza,  THE NATIONAL reports, "At least six Palestinians were killed in Israeli air strikes on the city of Rafah, in southern Gaza, on Friday morning. The bodies were taken to Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, the Wafa news agency reported."the United Nations notes:


Víctor Aguayo, UNICEF Director of Child Nutrition, described the situation for children affected by severe malnutrition.

Briefing journalists at the UN Headquarters in New York, he described the situation in Gaza as one of the most severe food and nutrition crises in history.

“The nutrition situation in Gaza is one of the most severe that we have ever seen…it is important to remember that the nearly half of Gaza’s population suffering from this devastation are children,” he said.

Having returned from the enclave last week, he said that the impact of the war and severe restrictions on humanitarian response have led to a “complete collapse” of food, health and protection systems, with catastrophic consequences.

“The fact is that the diets of children in Gaza are extremely poor. It is estimated that over 90 per cent of children are eating at best two types of food per day for weeks or months, in the context of very severe…lack of access to safe water and sanitation,” he said.

Estimates suggest that more than 50,000 children need immediate treatment for acute malnutrition, requiring medical professionals and nutrition workers.

“I walked through markets and neighborhoods, or what is left of markets and neighborhoods…there is no doubt in my mind there is a famine and a large-scale nutrition crisis,” he emphasized, calling for an immediate ceasefire and sustained humanitarian access.

 


Zack Beauchamp (VOX) reports:

This weekend, Israeli soldiers in Gaza discovered the bodies of six hostages executed by Hamas. The response was an outpouring of protests: Israelis flooding the streets to call for a ceasefire that would bring all hostages back and end the war, a demand that a majority of Israelis support. The Histadrut, Israel’s national labor union, called a (swiftly ended) general strike.

The response from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was to double down on war. In a Monday night press conference, he insisted that any ceasefire would depend on Israeli control over a stretch of territory in southwestern Gaza called the Philadelphi Corridor — something Hamas is not prepared to give. Netanyahu’s presser was so belligerent, in fact, that it may have single-handedly torpedoed ongoing ceasefire talks.

It’s clear that the Israeli public has no faith in Netanyahu’s handling of the war: Roughly 70 percent believe he should resign his position. Yet despite ongoing protests, it’s equally clear that the prime minister will not be changing course voluntarily.

And it looks like he’ll likely get away with it, at least for now.

His government has weathered dismal polling on its war effort, as well as sporadic protests, since the war began last October. And yet, as with past demonstration flare-ups, there has been no evidence that this weekend’s events have brought his government to the brink of collapse. How can this be?

The answer is brute power politics. The 2022 election gave right-wing parties a clear majority in the Knesset (Israel’s parliament), allowing Netanyahu to build the most far-right government in Israeli history. Though this coalition has since become extremely unpopular, there’s no way for voters to kick it out on their own.

The government could only collapse if it faces defections from inside the governing coalition. But at present, the greatest threat to Netanyahu’s coalition comes from his extreme right flank, which wants him to continue the war at all costs. And for that reason, he seems intent on doing so.



That's a little too much reality if your name is Debra Messing or Gweneth Paltrow.  Too much facts, too much truth, too much reality.   Here's some more reality from Amnesty International:


International humanitarian law, which applies in situations of armed conflict, including during military occupation, is comprised of rules whose central purpose is to limit, to the maximum extent feasible, human suffering in times of armed conflict.

The four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their two Additional Protocols of 1977 are the principal instruments of international humanitarian law. Many of these treaties’ rules are considered customary international law, meaning that they bind all parties to an armed conflict regardless of whether they have ratified particular treaties and whether they are a state forces or a non-state armed group.

According to this customary norm, “the destruction or seizure of the property of an adversary is prohibited, unless required by imperative military necessity”. In addition, according to article 53 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which regulates the actions of Israel as the occupying power in Gaza: “Any destruction by the Occupying Power of real or personal property belonging individually or collectively to private persons, or to the State, or to other public authorities, or to social or cooperative organizations, is prohibited, except where such destruction is rendered absolutely necessary by military operations.”

According to article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, “extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly” is a grave breach of the Convention, and thus a war crime.

Where such destruction is carried out as collective punishment, it also violates article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention which provides: “No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited.”

Civilian property in armed conflict is also protected by the principle of distinction, which requires that parties to the conflict at all times, distinguish between “civilian objects” and “military objectives” and direct their attacks only at military objectives.

According to customary international humanitarian law, civilian objects are all objects which are not “military objectives”; and military objectives are “limited to those objects which by their nature, location, purpose or use make an effective contribution to military action and whose partial or total destruction, capture or neutralisation, in the circumstances ruling at the time, offers a definite military advantage”. Civilian objects are protected against attack, unless and for such time as they become military objectives when all of the criteria for a military objective are temporarily fulfilled Protocol I requires that, in cases of doubt, parties to a conflict should presume that the structure retains its civilian nature. Intentionally directing attacks against civilian objects is a war crime.


It's a lengthy press release which is why we linked to the release itself (normally on Amnesty, CCR, etc, we link to home page of the organization).  Brett Wilkins (COMMON DREAMS) reports:


  Amnesty International said Thursday that the Israeli military should be investigated for the "war crimes of wanton destruction and of collective punishment" over its destruction of entire communities along Gaza's border with Israel.

"Using bulldozers and manually laid explosives, the Israeli military has unlawfully destroyed agricultural land and civilian buildings, razing entire neighborhoods, including homes, schools, and mosques," the London-based rights group said in a new investigation.

Amnesty analyzed satellite imagery, as well as photos and videos posted online by invading Israel Defense Forces troops between October and May, and found that the IDF has cleared wide swathes of land up to 1.2 miles (1.8 km) wide along Gaza's eastern border. 

"In some videos, Israeli soldiers are seen posing for pictures or toasting in celebration as buildings are demolished in the background," the report states. 

[. . .]

  In the 335 days since October 7, Israeli forces have killed or maimed more than 145,000 Palestinians in Gaza while forcibly displacing almost all of the embattled strip's 2.3 million people and destroying hundreds of thousands of homes and other structures, according to Palestinian and international officials. Rebuilding after Israel's obliteration of Gaza's civilian infrastructure is expected to cost over $18.5 billion, or nearly Palestine's entire annual gross domestic product.

Israel is currently on trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Meanwhile, International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan has applied for warrants to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas leaders for alleged war crimes including extermination.

"International humanitarian law, which applies in situations of armed conflict, including during military occupation, is comprised of rules whose central purpose is to limit, to the maximum extent feasible, human suffering in times of armed conflict," Amnesty explained Thursday.

The group noted that under the Fourth Geneva Convention, "extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly," is a war crime.

Additionally, the treaty bans collective punishment of civilians, stating that "no protected person may be punished for an offense he or she has not personally committed." 


Also covering the report is Sharon Zhang (TRUTHOUT):


According to an analysis by Amnesty International released Thursday, Israel has cleared a strip of land ranging between 1 km and 1.8 km wide. The buffer zone encompasses nearly the entirety of the Gaza side of its border with Israel, covering 58 square kilometers, or about 22 square miles.

Satellite imagery from May shows that over 90 percent of the buildings in this zone have been destroyed or severely damaged, the rights group found, while the majority of agricultural land there is also damaged.

Investigation by Amnesty International finds that Israeli forces created the buffer zone merely because of its proximity to the border fence, and for no supposed military necessity or tactical purpose. Anything in the zone appears to have been eligible for destruction: homes, schools, farms, mosques and cemeteries were all demolished.

“Around my family home we had a three dunam (0.7 acre) orchard full of fruit trees. They were all destroyed. Only an apple tree and a rose were left. I had bees and produced honey. All of it is gone now,” Salem Qudeih told Amnesty International. Qudeih lived in Khuza’a, situated near the border in Khan Yunis, which Israeli forces raided and nearly totally destroyed in December and January. 


Again, this is reality.  It's not the deranged fantasy that a bunch of self-deceiving idiots keep promoting to justify (and argue for it to continue) the genocide.  Devi Sridhar (GUARDIAN) notes:


The discovery of polio in Gaza reminds us that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to assess the true cost of the war. We don’t have a sense of how widespread disease and starvation are – so called “indirect deaths” – and we are in the dark in terms of total number of deaths. Usually, data is collected from hospitals and morgues, which certify each death and notify the health ministry. Yet these civil registration systems have broken down in Gaza, meaning there is no accurate data on how many deaths have occurred. The health ministry has been trying to put together figures using media reports, which isn’t a reliable way to capture the full picture. It is estimated that there are more than 10,000 bodies buried under rubble still (meaning they can’t be counted), as well as a rising number of unidentifiable bodies. 



Gaza remains under assault. Day 335 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.  THE NATIONAL notes, "Gaza death toll rises to 40,861, with 94,398 injured."   Early on, Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) pointed out, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have condemned the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide."    Months ago, 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 of acute food insecurity or worse."   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:

 


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."
 



AMY GOODMAN: I want to bring into this conversation another professor, Natasha Lennard, columnist at The Intercept, associate director of the Creative Publishing and Critical Journalism Program at The New School, not far from Columbia University. Her most recent piece, “College Administrators Spent Summer Break Dreaming Up Ways to Squash Gaza Protests.” Can you put Professor Thrasher and Professor Franke’s experience in a broader context of the universities from here in New York, NYU, to other universities around the country?

NATASHA LENNARD: Absolutely. And thank you. It’s lovely to be back. And I firstly want to say thank you to Professor Franke and Professor Thrasher for being among the professors who refuse to be silenced in this moment of what is widely being called a “new McCarthyism.” And I think that’s an accurate description.

Their cases are not unusual, and it is indeed sad, and it is indeed disappointing, indeed no less than ghoulish. We are having, both de facto and through policy, both in terms of new regulations and student conduct guides coming through for this semester, as well as punitive actions against students and professors, a real reification of the claim that Israel critical speech and pro-Palestinian speech should count under violations of Title VI nondiscrimination law and regulations and policy in universities. What that does is align university policy with the right-wing agenda of Congress and right-wing lawmakers who follow in the footsteps of a right-wing Israeli-U.S. consensus.

And I think if a university is not a place where that can be critically challenged, especially at a time of genocide, when there are no universities left standing in Gaza — which we cannot forget — and the concerns of our academy is the speech of professors speaking out for academic freedom and speaking out for the liberation of an occupied people, we’re in very dark times indeed.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Natasha Lennard, you write in your piece in The Intercept that, quote, “Tucked into a document purportedly offering clarification on school policy, the new NYU” — New York University — “guidelines introduce an unprecedented expansion of protected classes to include 'Zionists' and ’Zionism’”?

NATASHA LENNARD: Yes, this is a very exemplary, in the worst of ways, document that was just released by the administration at NYU. It is a new updated guide of student conduct about nondiscrimination and harassment. It goes further than any document I have seen in asserting that Zionism, when used critically, should or at least readily can be understood as — and I quote the document — a “code word.” It doesn’t say that occasionally by antisemites that Zionism is used as a code word. It takes that as a given.

So, that is — to clarify, that is a student conduct guide, very poorly written, very open to misuse, that is asserting that the political ideology founded in the 19th century of the ethnostate of Israel being a Zionist project, that that should be considered part of the protected class of Jewish identity, religion and ethnic and shared ancestry. That is what we’re seeing in attempts of statehouses nationwide to attach Zionism, the political ideology, to the protected class of Jewish identity. It’s extremely dangerous. It performs de facto apologia for Israel. And to have that put into writing by a university so clearly is just open for further abuses and an escalation of the sort of repression we’ve already seen.

AMY GOODMAN: Professor Franke?

KATHERINE FRANKE: Well, I teach a class on citizenship and nationality in Israel and Palestine. And we begin with a critical look at the concept of Zionism. Of course, it was advanced as a place, as an idea, about the safety of the Jewish people being located in Mandate Palestine, but there were plenty of Jewish people at the time who said, “This is actually a horrible idea from the perspective of the safety of Jewish people, because what it says is the Jews all belong in Israel and nowhere else, not in Europe, not in the United States, nowhere else. And so this will lead to more violence, more expulsions, more antisemitic pogroms, if we lean in too much to the idea that Jews belong primarily and especially in Israel.” And those were critiques coming from Jews, again, themselves.

So, if we are not allowed to talk about that anymore in universities, what we’ve done is surrendered the very idea of the university itself. And that is so much what troubled us about Minouche Shafik, our president — former president of Columbia’s testimony in Congress, and some of those other presidents who came, who were called before Congress, is they not only did not put up a robust defense of the idea of a university where we teach students how to be critical thinkers in such a critical time, but they actually joined in to the criticism of the university. My president did not stand up for any one of us, nor did Professor Thrasher’s at Northwestern.

And this is part of what concerns me, is that our universities are places now where we could not have a protest and say things that are now being said in Tel Aviv by Israelis. The protests that are happening there this week, if they took place on Columbia’s campus, our students would be expelled or charged with very serious disciplinary violations. This is where we’ve come. It’s impossible to talk about the kinds of things that, Amy, in your setup, of the just horrible things that are happening right this week in Jenin, in Gaza — we can’t talk about that at Columbia. That’s part of what concerns me is, is that we don’t know our history, and these new policies are keeping us from learning it.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Natasha Lennard, we just have about 30 seconds, but you’ve noted that universities are not only facing attacks from Congress, they’re also being subjected to lawsuits all around the country. Could you talk about that briefly?

NATASHA LENNARD: Yes, we’ve seen a series of litigation, including at NYU, Columbia, Harvard, UCLA, brought by often unnamed students and faculty, often very frivolous suits that universities are forced to answer to nonetheless, and then, through settlements and often nonpublic agreements, are then forced to change policy, often leading to the conflation of anti-Zionism and antisemitism.

AMY GOODMAN: We’re going to have to leave it there, but we’re going to continue this discussion over time. We’ll link your piece, Natasha Lennard, “College Administrators Spent Summer Break Dreaming Up Ways to Squash Gaza Protests.” She’s at The New School. Columbia Law professor Katherine Franke, Kathleen Peratis, civil rights lawyer, and Steven Thrasher. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.


Nada AlTaher and Nagham Mohanna (THE NATIONAL) report:


Towering piles of rubbish, widespread destruction and tents spread out as far as the eye could see greeted UN workers and medical teams as they arrived at Gaza's southern city of Khan Younis for the second stage of a polio vaccination campaign.

The scale of destruction after several Israeli assaults, and the squalid conditions thousands of Palestinians are living in, shocked even local Gazans such as Dr Fady Abed, from the US-based NGO MedGlobal. He was among those who travelled from the central areas of the enclave to carry out the southern phase of the campaign.

"I saw kids playing among piles of garbage taller than the bus we were in," Dr Abed told The National on Friday.


 Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Texas' Failure To Launch Boyz" went up yesterday.  The following sites updated: