Ann's Mega Dub

Wednesday, June 12, 2024

Shady Menendez

Shady Menendez. I hope he's found an interior designer who can do prison cells. His case is winding down and CNN reports:

One month after Sen. Bob Menendez’s corruption trial began, and with weeks of testimony still to come, the prosecution and its witnesses have painted a politically damning portrait of the New Jersey Democrat, who chaired the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee until stepping down last fall after being indicted.

But for all the sharp angles and colorful flourishes delivered by witnesses for the government – none more so than turncoat businessman Jose Uribe, who pleaded guilty to multiple counts as part of a cooperation agreement that put him on the stand for parts of the past four days – some of the underlying questions from the beginning of the trial still appear unresolved.

Uribe delivered the most detailed testimony to date placing Menendez, 70, at the center of an alleged bribery scheme in which he had previously appeared as a marginal figure. Instead, it had been the senator’s then-girlfriend (and now wife), Nadine, appearing in nearly every scene of the legal drama – prosecutors describing her as a glorified fixer for her partner; the defense insisting she was pulling the strings herself.

Nadine, who along with her husband and co-defendants Wael Hana, an Egyptian American businessman, and New Jersey real estate developer Fred Daibes, has pleaded not guilty to their alleged roles in the scheme, is expected to go on trial separately in August. The senator disclosed last month that his wife has breast cancer. Together, the four have been accused of assorted roles in the alleged bribery scheme, spanning from cattle slaughterhouses in the American Midwest to the inner workings of the Egyptian government.

Shady's guilty. The only real question is how long after closing arguments before the jury reaches a verdict? AP notes:

New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor testified Wednesday at Sen. Bob Menendez ‘s bribery trial that the Democrat sought to discuss the prosecution of a New Jersey real estate developer with him before recommending him to the post after Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election.

U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger’s revelation in testimony that will continue on Thursday represented the second time in the five-week-old Manhattan federal court trial that a top law enforcement figure has said Menendez sought to speak about a criminal case affecting a New Jersey businessman.

Last week, a former New Jersey attorney general testified that Menendez twice confronted him about a pending criminal case affecting a New Jersey businessman, and both times the attorney general refused to discuss the subject.

You know his son Rob is in Congress -- House of Representatives -- and a first-termer. He's running for re-election and on that campaign he ran as "Rob" and avoided using the last name. Even so, I think it's a huge mistake for the Democratic Party to have allowed him to run for re-election. They should have primaried him and brought in every big gun they had to campaign for Ravi Bhalla. Bhalla lost this week's primary by 5,000 votes. Serious big names like Nancy Pelosi showing up could have helped Ravi. Now Shady's son is on the ballot in November. And it looks his daddy's going to prison and his step-mommy too. You really think that's not going to impact voters in the general election?

This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Wednesday, June 12, 2024. ALJAZEERA broadcasts War Crimes carried out by the Israeli government, this as the UN issues a report on War Crimes and as a G& summit starts in Italy.

This morning, ALJAZEERA broadcasts War Crimes carried out against Palestinians.

Of the above video, ALJAZEERA notes:

Al Jazeera has obtained footage from Gaza that appears to show Israeli soldiers killing Palestinian people.

The videos were captured around al-Rashid Street, a coastal road connecting north and south Gaza. Israel had designated it a safe zone for Palestinians wanting to move between those areas.

Footage from June 1 shows a person walking along the beach before Israeli soldiers appear to have stopped them. Moments later, the person is shot.

Another video appears to show a group of Palestinians walking north on May 17. One of them steps out of the group and raises their hands in the air, apparently showing they are unarmed. They are shot within minutes. Soldiers are then seen coming in to take the person’s body away.

How important is the video? Important enough to result in the news aggregator GOOGLE NEWS pulling ALJAZEERA from their feed this morning.

You have to go back 10 hours to find any Gaza news on GOOGLE NEWS from ALJAZEERA.

Remember when GOOGLE's motto was "Don't do evil"? Those days are long gone.

April 12th, Billy Perrigo (TIME magazine) reported:

Google provides cloud computing services to the Israeli Ministry of Defense, and the tech giant has negotiated deepening its partnership during Israel’s war in Gaza, a company document viewed by TIME shows.

The Israeli Ministry of Defense, according to the document, has its own “landing zone” into Google Cloud—a secure entry point to Google-provided computing infrastructure, which would allow the ministry to store and process data, and access AI services.

The ministry sought consulting assistance from Google to expand its Google Cloud access, seeking to allow “multiple units” to access automation technologies, according to a draft contract dated March 27, 2024. The contract shows Google billing the Israeli Ministry of Defense over $1 million for the consulting service.

The version of the contract viewed by TIME was not signed by Google or the Ministry of Defense. But a March 27 comment on the document, by a Google employee requesting an executable copy of the contract, said the signatures would be “completed offline as it’s an Israel/Nimbus deal.” Google also gave the ministry a 15% discount on the original price of consulting fees as a result of the “Nimbus framework,” the document says.

April 23rd, Kelvin Chan and Wyatte Grantham-Philips (AP) reported, "Google fired at least 20 more workers in the aftermath of protests over technology the company is supplying the Israeli government amid the Gaza war, bringing the total number of terminated staff to more than 50, a group representing the workers said."

On the issue of War Crimes, the United Nations issued the following this morning:

12 June 2024 Human Rights

Palestinian armed groups and Israeli authorities have both committed war crimes and crimes against humanity during the attack on 7 October and the subsequent military operations, according to a new report by a UN independent human rights body.

This was among the conclusions listed in the report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, released on Wednesday.

“Amid months of losses and despair, retribution and atrocities, the only tangible result has been compounding the immense suffering of both Palestinians and Israelis, with civilians, yet again, bearing the brunt of decisions by those in power,” the Commission said, stressing the impact on women and children.

Clear turning point

The brutal attack of 7 October by Hamas on communities in southern Israel marked a “clear turning point” for both Israelis and Palestinians and presents a “watershed moment” that can change the direction of the conflict, with a real risk of further solidifying and expanding the occupation, the Commission said.

For Israelis, the attack was unprecedented in scale in its modern history, when in one single day hundreds of people were killed and abducted, invoking painful trauma of past persecution not only for Israeli Jews but for Jewish people everywhere.

For Palestinians, Israel’s military operation and attack in Gaza have been the longest, largest and bloodiest since 1948, causing immense damage and loss of life and triggered for many Palestinians traumatic memories of the Nakba and other Israeli incursions.

Stop recurring cycles of violence

The Commission emphasized that both the attack in Israel and Israel’s subsequent military operation in Gaza should not be seen in isolation.

“The only way to stop the recurring cycles of violence, including aggression and retribution by both sides, is to ensure strict adherence to international law,” it stressed.

“That includes ending the unlawful Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory; discrimination, oppression and the denial of the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people, and guaranteeing peace and security for Jews and Palestinians.”

Deliberate targeting by Hamas

The Commission further noted that in relation to the attack of 7 October in Israel, members of the military wings of Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups, as well as Palestinian civilians who were directly participating in the hostilities, deliberately killed, injured, mistreated, took hostages and committed sexual and gender-based against civilians, including Israeli citizens and foreign nationals.

Such acts were also committed against members of the Israeli Security Forces (ISF), including soldiers considered hors de combat – such as injured soldiers.

“These actions constitute war crimes and violations and abuses of international humanitarian law and international human rights law,” it said.

The Commission also identified patterns indicative of sexual violence in several locations and concluded that Israeli women were disproportionally subjected to these crimes.

Failure to protect civilians

It also noted that Israeli authorities “failed to protect civilians in southern Israel on almost every front”, including failing to swiftly deploy sufficient security forces to protect civilians and evacuate them from civilian locations on 7 October.

In several locations, ISF applied the so-called ‘Hannibal Directive’ and killed at least 14 Israeli civilians. That Directive is reportedly a procedure to prevent capture of ISF members by enemy forces and was alleged to have been directed against Israeli civilians on 7 October.

“Israeli authorities also failed to ensure that forensic evidence was systematically collected by concerned authorities and first responders, particularly in relation to allegations of sexual violence, undermining the possibility of future judicial proceedings, accountability and justice,” the Commission added.

Violations by Israeli military

The independent Commission, established by the UN Human Rights Council, also concluded that, in relation to Israel’s military operations in Gaza, Israel committed war crimes, crimes against humanity and violations of international humanitarian and human rights laws.

The Commission further concluded that the immense numbers of civilian casualties and widespread destruction of civilian objects and vital civilian infrastructure were the “inevitable results of Israel’s chosen strategy for the use of force” during these hostilities, undertaken with intent to cause maximum damage, disregarding distinction, proportionality and adequate precautions, and thus unlawful.

“ISF’s intentional use of heavy weapons with large destructive capacity in densely populated areas constitutes an intentional and direct attack on the civilian population, particularly affecting women and children,” the Commission said, adding that this was confirmed by the substantial and increasing numbers of casualties, over weeks and months, with “no change in Israeli policies or military strategies”.

Recommendations

Among its recommendations, the Commission report called on the Government of Israel to immediately end attacks resulting in the killing and maiming of civilians in Gaza, end the siege on Gaza, implement a ceasefire, ensure that those whose property has been unlawfully destroyed receive reparations, and ensure that necessities crucial for the health and well-being of the civilian population immediately reach those in need.

It also called on the Government of the State of Palestine and the de-facto authorities in Gaza to ensure the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages held in the enclave; ensure their protection, including from sexual and gender-based violence; report on their state of health and wellbeing; allow visits by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), contact with families and medical attention, and ensure their treatment in compliance with international humanitarian and human rights laws.

“Stop all indiscriminate firing of rockets, mortars and other munitions towards civilian populations,” it added.

Australia's ABC notes, "Sometimes, the evidence gathered by such UN mandated bodies has formed the basis for war crimes prosecutions and could be drawn on by the International Criminal Court." Will the report have any impact on the Israeli government? Probably not. At TRUTHOUT, Sharon Zhang observes:

As the UN Security Council passed a binding U.S.-sponsored resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza on Monday, Israel continued to slaughter Palestinians in Gaza — despite U.S. officials’ insistence that the ceasefire is backed by Israeli officials.

The resolution passed 14 to 0. Russia abstained from the vote because its representative said it is unclear whether or not Israel has actually signed on to the resolution, with conflicting accounts from U.S. and Israeli officials on Israel’s stance.

The proposal is similar to previous ones introduced by the U.S., with the first phase consisting of “immediate, full, and complete ceasefire” with the exchange of some Palestinians who are being imprisoned by Israel and some Israeli hostages, including women, the elderly and the wounded, according to a UN report on the vote.

Let's note this 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.

In Gaza, the healthcare system is barely functioning, eight months into Israel’s devastating assault. In a statement Monday, Gaza’s Health Ministry warned the few remaining hospitals still partially functioning could completely shut down if diesel generators needed for electricity are not replaced or maintained soon. The ministry said it expected a number of generators at hospitals to fail because Israel is preventing the entry of necessary spare parts. Health facilities that supply things like oxygen and refrigeration for medicine are facing a complete shutdown, which the Health Ministry said in a statement, quote, “means certain death for the sick and injured and the complete end of health services,” end-quote.

In addition to severe shortages of electricity, medical supplies and equipment as a result of the Israeli blockade, Gaza’s hospitals have been hit by Israeli airstrikes repeatedly over the last eight months. The World Health Organization said this week, since October 7th there have been more than 460 Israeli attacks on Gaza’s healthcare system, affecting over 100 health facilities.

More than 37,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s war on Gaza, with thousands more missing under the rubble and presumed dead. A staggering 85,000 people have been wounded.

For more, we’re joined by Dr. James Smith, emergency medical doctor just back from Gaza, spent nearly two months there treating patients at trauma stabilization points in al-Mawasi and Rafah, also worked in the emergency rooms of Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah and Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat. He left Gaza Friday. He joins us today.

We welcome you to Democracy Now! If you can start off, Dr. Smith, by talking about the situation that you’re hearing from the doctors even in the few days since you have left, particularly after the attack on Nuseirat, which was considered the worst killing in six months, over 270 Palestinians killed this weekend, so many of them were brought to — so many others who were injured, it’s believed something like 700, brought to the hospital where you worked, to Al-Aqsa?

DR. JAMES SMITH: Thanks, Amy.

The situation in Gaza, and certainly in the middle area of Gaza, where I was working up until the 5th of June, remains catastrophic. The intensity of violence that Israel has meted out against the Palestinian people, the barbarity of it all, continues to — you know, you feel that you’ve seen the absolute worst, and the very next day it gets worse again. The massacre in Nuseirat on Saturday was certainly the worst of the violence that those neighborhoods have seen since the start of the genocide back in the beginning of October, 274 dead — killed, rather, as you’ve mentioned, approximately 700 injured. I would expect that in the coming days we will hear of more people who have died, who have succumbed to injuries that were sustained as a result of Israeli airstrikes and the Israeli ground incursion in that area, as a result of the collapsed healthcare system. As you mentioned, there are no fully functional hospitals any longer in Gaza and no health facilities that are able to absorb the sheer scale of need now.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Dr. Smith, your second trip now to Gaza, this one lasted nearly two months. Could you talk about how conditions changed over that period of time? Has there been any improvement in the arrival of supplies to these hospitals or the food situation? Give us a sense of what you saw.

DR. JAMES SMITH: So, to be absolutely clear, the situation deteriorates day on day. This is the sort of fallacy of humanitarian access, or the veneer of a humanitarian system. There is no improvement in any conditions in Gaza. This overfixation on the number of trucks that are entering into Gaza — or, rather, the number of trucks that the Israeli state has permitted to enter into Gaza — is a distraction from the violence and its many manifestations. We have almost the entire population of the Gaza Strip now forcibly displaced. The majority of those people no longer have homes to return to; entire cities — and I have seen them myself — Khan Younis, Gaza City, other neighborhoods, parts of Rafah now — that have been completely destroyed; homes, schools, clinics that have been vaporized to dust, concrete and sand. There has been absolutely no improvement in any of the basic conditions that are required to sustain human life in Gaza at the present time.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And how are you able to even administer, especially for those who require emergency surgery, of the wounded who come in? Talk to us about your direct experience with these kinds of — this kind of medical support.

DR. JAMES SMITH: Perhaps if I speak to you about my last day in Gaza at Al-Aqsa Hospital on the 5th of June. So, I was working in the emergency room that day. We had several electricity blackouts during that time. We were treating patients on the floor of the emergency room by torchlight. We had one young boy who came into the ER with an open femoral facture, bleeding profusely from his left upper leg, very, very severe injury. He had been injured as a result of an Israeli airstrike. The orthopedic surgeon, a junior doctor, very competent, but nevertheless still a junior doctor, came down to treat him, and without any anesthesia, because there wasn’t any, had to pull and splint his leg in order to stabilize him and to sustain his life long enough to get him into the OR.

The hospital now has five ORs, but you have a surgical team or several surgical teams that are working 24/7. There is no rest for the surgeons in these hospitals, and the scrub nurses working alongside them, phenomenally difficult conditions. We have an emergency team that are, frankly, the most dedicated doctors, nurses and allied health professionals that I have ever had the privilege of working with. But the conditions in which they are working were unsustainable eight months ago. Now it is just a testament to the sheer determination of the Palestinian people and the desire of Palestinian healthcare workers to administer care to the Palestinian people that these hospitals are able to function in any way whatsoever.

AMY GOODMAN: Dr. Smith, you’ve been talking about the effects of the bombing of people who survived and been brought into the hospital. What about the issue of hunger? UNICEF just came out with a report saying nine out of 10 children in the Gaza Strip are experiencing severe food shortages. If you can talk about what that means and how that affects them long-term, if they survive, and also the lack of clean water and drinking sewage water, leading to diseases like, for example, cholera?

DR. JAMES SMITH: So, hunger is rife across the Gaza Strip. There is a fixation of sorts among epidemiologists and distant public health experts in the terms of malnutrition. But hunger is rife. As I’ve mentioned already, Israel maintains complete control over what and who enters into and out of Gaza. They are able to manufacture the conditions of life — or, rather, of death in Gaza. And they have complete control over how much food aid or how much food enters into Gaza.

In my final weeks in Gaza, I was struck that commercial trucks from Israel were given precedence of access over the humanitarian aid trucks. So, in the south of Gaza, we saw several markets in which there were several fresh fruit and fresh vegetable commodities bearing the slogans of Israeli companies, but very limited food aid that was able to enter into Gaza. On several occasions, the big U.N. agencies said that they would have to stop food aid distributions. It was incredible to me that the very state that was starving people and inflicting such violence upon them was then bringing in food that, of course, people can’t afford to buy anymore, and that people, those who could, were having to pay for food from, as I say, the very state, the very economy that is trying to strangle the Palestinian people.

To your other point about access to clean water and sanitary conditions, the smell of sewage was rife throughout every camp that I passed through in Gaza, from Rafah to Khan Younis and into Gaza City, several instances of sewage overflowing onto the streets. In all of the locations I worked across Gaza and all of the hospitals I visited, including in the north of Gaza, in Gaza City, we saw patients who were suffering from very severe bouts of acute watery diarrhea, a major outbreak of hepatitis A, which is spread as a result of poor sanitary conditions. And, of course, all of those things together — hunger, lack of access to nutritious food, the impact of a lack of clean, drinkable water on physical health — is catastrophic. It will certainly have a major impact on all those people who are suffering as a result other health or trauma-related problems, as well.

AMY GOODMAN: Juan, we’re not able to hear you.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Dr. Smith, can you hear me?

AMY GOODMAN: Yes, we can.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Yeah.

DR. JAMES SMITH: Yes, I can hear you.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Yeah, you mentioned that you traveled all around the different parts of Gaza. Did you have any interactions at all with the Israeli Defense Forces? Did they enter into the hospitals? Or did you have any interactions with them at checkpoints?

DR. JAMES SMITH: We had to pass via the checkpoints that the Israelis have constructed, that have now severed across the north and south of Gaza from the east to the west. We interacted with the Israeli occupation forces during those movements. They were incredibly frightening experiences. During one of those convoy movements, one of the Palestinian drivers that was working for a U.N. agency was detained, stripped naked and taken away by the Israeli occupation forces. Very, very frightening, very unpleasant. And, yes, I saw and have heard stories of incredibly horrific encounters between the Israeli ground forces at those checkpoints and the Palestinian people, some of whom are still trying to move from north to south.

AMY GOODMAN: And finally, doctors who have died. We interviewed Dr. Hammam Alloh months ago, who was — when I asked him why he didn’t leave, as he talked about the intense bombing, he said he didn’t get his medical degree to desert his patients. He went home to help his family, and his house was bombed. You then have Dr. Adnan al-Bursh, head of orthopedics at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, who was arrested and died in an Israeli prison. As we wrap up, Dr. Smith, as you leave Gaza after two months, what about the doctors being imprisoned, doctors and nurses and staff being killed?

DR. JAMES SMITH: These are all the most egregious and horrific war crimes. And as I’ve mentioned, it was phenomenal to see the determination of my Palestinian colleagues, who will not abandon the Palestinian people or Palestine at this most horrific moment in their history. It’s tragic, beyond tragic, that so many Palestinian healthcare workers, that so many Palestinians have been killed during the course of this ongoing genocide. And it’s even more horrific that this violence is allowed to continue.

AMY GOODMAN: Dr. James Smith, we thank you for being with us. In 20 seconds, the U.N. Security Council has just passed a resolution put forward by the U.S. for a ceasefire. Hamas has just accepted. U.S. said Israel was accepting, though Netanyahu has said other things about that. Your message to the world?

DR. JAMES SMITH: I think I said this back in January when I spoke to you, Amy. The violence must end. And once the violence has ended, the real work of the pursuit of peace and justice for the Palestinian people must continue.

AMY GOODMAN: Dr. James Smith, emergency room doctor, just out of Gaza, spent nearly two months in Gaza treating patients at trauma stabilization points in al-Mawasi and Rafah, also worked in emergency rooms at Al-Aqsa Hospital and Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat. He was speaking to us from Istanbul, Turkey.

We’ll be joined next by a Jewish American Army major named Harrison Mann. He’s the first military and intelligence officer to publicly resign over President Biden’s support for Israel’s war on Gaza. Back in 20 seconds.

Today, a 3-day G7 summit started in Italy. Friday, Pope Francis is scheduled to address the G7 -- he will be the first pope to do so. The G7 is made up of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. Italy holds the presidency (through the end of this calendar year) and the G7 website notes:

In line with previous G7 fora, representatives of a number of States and International Organizations will take part in the sessions, invited by the Nation that holds the Presidency.

Nations and International organizations

· African Development Bank – Akinwumi Adesina, President

· Algeria – Abdelmadjid Tebboune, President

· Argentina – Javier Milei, President

· Brazil – Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva, President (G20 Presidency)

· Holy See – Pope Francis

· India – Narendra Modi, Prime Minister

· International Monetary Fund – Kristalina Georgieva, Chief Operating Officer

· Jordan – Abdallah II, King

· Kenya – William Ruto, President

· Mauritania – Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, President (Chair of the African Union)

· OECD – Mathias Cormann, Secretary General

· Tunisia – Kaïs Saïed, President

· Türkiye – Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President

· United Nations – Antònio Guterres, Secretary General

· United Arab Emirates – Mohammed bin Zayed, President

· World Bank – Ajay Banga, President

Virginia Pietromarchi (ALJAZEERA) notes:

On June 13, discussions will kick off at 11am (09:00 GMT) with a session on Africa, climate change and development.
This will be followed by a session on the Middle East, where Israel’s war on Gaza is expected to dominate discussions.
A lunch break follows — visiting leaders might want to try Apulia’s famous le orecchiette pasta while they’re in the region. Right after lunch, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to arrive for two sessions on Ukraine.
On June 14, key topics of discussion will include migration, Asia Pacific and economic security. Sessions on artificial intelligence, energy and the Mediterranean are also on the agenda. At 6:45pm (16:45 GMT) there will be the closing session with the adoption of the G7 Summit Communique.
On June 15, the host, Italy, will hold a news conference.

Gaza remains under assault. Day 250 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 37,202 with 84,932 injured." 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."

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."

We'll wind down with this from Nada AlTaher's report for THE NATIONAL:

After 21 years working at the UN Development Programme in Gaza, Basel Nasser now faces the task of assisting his birthplace on a scale unlike anything he has ever experienced before.

Eight months into Israel's military offensive in the Palestinian enclave, more than 37,000 residents have been killed, nearly 85,000 injured and most of its population of more than two million displaced by strikes and a ground offensive that have destroyed more than half of its buildings.

“The numbers don't even remotely reflect the reality,” Mr Nasser told The National before taking part in the UN emergency conference on Gaza's humanitarian needs, hosted by Jordan at the Dead Sea on Tuesday.

As Minister of Relief Affairs in the Palestinian Authority's newly appointed government – a position created in light of the war in Gaza – Mr Nasser is already planning for the rehabilitation of Gaza and its people once the war ends.

Unlike previous conflicts between Israel and Hamas in the coastal strip, “virtually the entire population of Gaza will require aid” this time, he said.

He pointed out that the death toll provided by Gaza's health authorities does not include those who have died from hunger or from the lack of proper medical care in the Strip.

Gaza's residents have faced acute food shortages created by strict Israeli controls on the delivery of aid since the war began, with UN and aid groups warning that the territory faces the risk of famine.

There are no fully functioning hospitals after most were destroyed in raids and bombardments by the Israeli military, while the few that are still in partial service struggle with shortages of medical supplies and fuel to run their generators.

Israel dropped about 70,000 tonnes of explosives on the Gaza Strip between the start of the war on October 7 and April 24, according to the Geneva-based Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor.

The following sites updated:

Tuesday, June 11, 2024

Rev. James Lawson

From Democracy Now!:

The Reverend James Lawson has died at the age of 95. Lawson was a godfather of the civil rights movement whom Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once called the “the leading theorist and strategist of nonviolence in the world.” During the Korean War in the 1950s, James Lawson was imprisoned for refusing to be drafted into the U.S. Army. He was later expelled from Vanderbilt University Divinity School for helping to organize lunch counter sit-in protests against segregation. As a missionary in India, Lawson studied Mahatma Gandhi’s principles of nonviolence; he would go on to teach nonviolent civil disobedience tactics to rank-and-file activists in the civil rights movement. In 2020, Reverend Lawson was among speakers at the funeral of Congressmember John Lewis at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.

Rev. James Lawson Jr.: “We will not be quiet as long as our nation continues to be the most violent culture in the history of humankind. We will not be quiet as long as our economy is shaped not by freedom but by plantation capitalism that continues to cause domination and control rather than access and liberty and equality for all.”

Click here to see our interviews with Rev. James Lawson.

Lawson was a pioneer and someone whose life's work needs to be celebrated. Non-violence wasn't a passing thought for the reverend, it was how he lived his life. Debbie Elliott (NPR) notes:

The Rev. James Lawson was a staunch advocate for nonviolent resistance to racism, even in the face of brutality. A Methodist minister and student of Gandhi, Lawson mentored civil rights leaders, and was the tactician behind key desegregation campaigns in the South, including the Nashville Sit-Ins, the Freedom Rides, and the Birmingham Children’s Crusade. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. called him the leading theorist and strategist of nonviolence.

Lawson was 95 and died Sunday in Southern California, according to his son J. Morris Lawson III.

James Morris Lawson Jr. was born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, in 1928. His father and grandfather were Methodist ministers, but Lawson credited his mother, Philane, for instilling in him the power of nonviolent resistance.

How so? Matt Matza (BBC News) writes:

Lawson said he was motivated to study non-violence when he was eight-years-old after he slapped a child who had called him a racial slur.

His mother, who was a passivist, asked him “what good" had become of his response. He vowed to never again use violence to resolve a dispute.

His non-violent beliefs were tested early on, when as a university student he refused to be drafted into the US Army to serve in the Korean War.

Lawson served 13 months in prison for draft dodging. After finishing his education, he travelled to Nagpur, India, to work as a missionary and study the resistance tactics developed by Gandhi.

After three years in India, he returned to the US, where he met King, a fellow Methodist minister, at Oberlin College in Ohio.

His belief in non-violence came at a time when opinion in black communities was divided over how to resist institutional racism and segregation.

King convinced Lawson to move to Nashville and begin studying at Vanderbilt University while also teaching non-violent protest techniques.

People like Ron DeSantis, Mike Johnson and Samuel Alito destroy the earth and leave nothing positive or inspiring. People like Rev. Lawson spend their lives trying to make things better for all of us.

This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Tuesday, June 11, 2024. A cease-fire (or 'cease-fire') agreement passes the UN Security Council, the UN notes the Israeli government may have committed War Crimes last weekend, War Criminal Benjamin Netanyahu is eager to pollute the US with his foul stench next month, and much more.

Adla Massoud (THE NATIONAL) reports, "The UN Security Council on Monday adopted a US-drafted resolution endorsing President Joe Biden’s ceasefire plan for the Gaza Strip. The measure won 14 votes in favour, with Russia abstaining. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in the Middle East to promote the proposal." Ana Faguy and Raffi Berg (BBC NEWS) note, "The proposal sets out conditions for a 'full and complete ceasefire', the release of hostages held by Hamas, the return of dead hostages' remains and the exchange of Palestinian prisoners." REUTERS notes, "The UN Human Rights Office said that the civilian deaths in Gaza during the Israeli operation to secure the release of four hostages and their holding by armed groups in densely populated areas could amount to war crimes."

A cease-fire is needed. A real one. Instead we get ongoing War Crimes. THE GUARDIAN notes:

The UN human rights office said on Tuesday that the civilian deaths in Gaza during the Israeli operation to secure the release of four hostages and their holding by armed groups in densely populated areas could both amount to war crimes, Reuters reports.

“Hundreds of Palestinians, many of them civilians, were reportedly killed and injured,” said Jeremy Laurence, spokesperson for the UN human rights office.

“Furthermore, by holding hostages in such densely populated areas, the armed groups doing so are putting the lives of Palestinian civilians, as well as the hostages themselves, at added risk from the hostilities. All these actions, by both parties, may amount to war crimes.”

A meeting is taking place today, this one in Jordan, on the issue of Gaza. ABC NEWS notes:

United Nations secretary general Antonio Guterres has been speaking at an emergency aid summit for Gaza in Jordan.

It seeks to bring together leaders and aid officials to help solve the humanitarian issues in the Gaza, with much of the territory's food, water and energy cut off.

The conference is jointly organised by the UN, Jordan and Egypt and is being attended by US secretary of state Antony Blinken.

Mr Guterres says that "the speed and scale of carnage and killing in Gaza is beyond anything in my years as secretary-general."

THE NATIONAL explains the summit is called Call for Action: Urgent Humanitarian Response for Gaza. Shahada Abu Baqar (JORDAN TIMES) explains why Jordan is co-hosting the event and why they called for it:

Since ascending to the throne of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan twenty-five years ago, His Majesty King Abdullah has continued the approach of his father, the late King Hussein, dedicating his efforts and meetings on bilateral, regional, and international levels, warning against the international community's neglect of the inevitable need for a just and peaceful solution that guarantees the Palestinian people their legitimate right to establish an independent state on their national soil occupied by Israel since 1967.

Despite Jordan's warnings about the magnitude of the tragedy experienced by the Palestinian people due to the occupation's practices of blockade, settlement activity expansion, killing, destruction, and violation of Palestinians’ simplest rights to a free life like other peoples on the planet, global powers have not given these repeated warnings the attention they deserve.

The absence of decisive stance by global powers has granted the far-right government in Israel more opportunities to challenge international law and all universally recognized religious, moral and human values, leading to further humiliation of the people under its occupation, expansion of its settlement projects, and increased efforts to Judaize Palestinian land and desecrate Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem and across Palestine. Israel has further intensified its oppression of a people who only seek their legitimate right to what remains of their ancestral land.

Meanwhile, the Gaza Strip has been enduring a harsh life, lacking the simplest necessities of decent living due to an Israeli blockade nearing its 18th year. This has led to the realization of what King Abdullah has warned about for 25 years, as life has become unbearably difficult for over two million people living in Gaza, barely surviving.

The Israeli government has never considered the severe suffering faced by Palestinian people and, instead, has launched its genocidal war now entering its ninth month, killing and destruction of humans, trees, stones, and everything necessary for human life in Gaza, in an effort to displace its residents, as it did in the 1948 war.

The genocidal war? From yesterday's DEMOCRACY NOW!

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

For more on the Israeli attack on the Nuseirat refugee camp that freed four Israeli hostages and killed at least 274 Palestinians, wounding over about 700 people, we’re joined by Omar Baddar, a Palestinian American political analyst, member of the National Policy Council of the Arab American Institute. He’s joining us from Washington, D.C.

If you can, overall, respond to what took place, and then, because you’re in D.C., Omar, talk about the Biden administration response?

OMAR BADDAR: Sure, Amy. There’s no question that what unfolded in that operation is a massacre. I mean, we’ve seen just the bodies of hundreds of people littered everywhere, including the bodies of children. We’ve seen absolutely horrific scenes at the hospitals of weeping parents and bloody children. I mean, to look at a death toll of this scale and then to celebrate this kind of operation as some sort of success, you would basically have to openly say that the lives of Israelis are more valuable than the lives of Palestinians. That is the message that is sent by celebrating this operation.

Now, there is no surprise at the fact that an apartheid government like Israel’s would see it that way. They’ve made very clear that they have absolutely no regard for Palestinian life, that they don’t see Palestinians as equal human beings deserving of the same dignity and rights that Israelis enjoy. But what’s really disappointing is looking at the way that the Biden administration has reacted to all this, where the massacre is reduced to a footnote while the focus is primarily on the lives of the hostages who have been rescued. That kind of contrast, this declaration from the Biden administration that the lives of Palestinians matter less than the lives of Israelis, is just absolutely outrageous and completely indefensible. It speaks to a fundamentally broken dynamic with American foreign policy towards the region for a very, very long time, in which Israel is treated like a country that is above the law and above any rules, and their lives simply matter more, and they can do whatever they want, so long as it favors Israel, at the expense of the people around them.

And that kind of approach has actually guaranteed that we’re going to be living in a situation of perpetual conflict, because any time you treat Palestinians the way Israel treats them, put them under indefinite military occupation, rob them of their rights, of their land, treat them the way Palestinians are treated day in and day out under this brutal occupation, you are creating fertile ground for conflict. And that’s why we’re in the situation that we’re in, in the first place.

AMY GOODMAN: Omar, Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, said on the Sunday talk shows, quote, “Innocent people were tragically killed in this operation. The exact number we don’t know, but innocent people were killed. And that is heartbreaking. That’s tragic.”

OMAR BADDAR: Yeah. Amy, just imagine. Imagine if it was the other way around, right? Imagine right now, as you and I are speaking, there are thousands of Palestinians who have been kidnapped out of Gaza. They’re placed in Israeli detention centers across the border. And the treatment that they are witnessing day in and day out has been absolutely horrifying. There’s a report in The New York Times from just a few days ago outlining the daily sexual abuse that these prisoners are actually undergoing, the torture. And we know for a fact that dozens of Palestinians have been killed in Israeli captivity over the past several months, since October 7th to this day. And if you were to imagine a scenario right now in which Hamas conducts an operation, kills several hundred Israelis and then rescues four Palestinians from Israeli detention, would anybody even know the names of those four Palestinians who had been rescued, or would the entire world and our discourse be condemning the massacre that had taken place? Would that be what’s dominating the headlines? We know the answer to that. And we know that we would not be reducing the massacre to nothing, had it been the other way around.

So, yes, maybe Jake Sullivan can talk about how tragic it is that people are dying, but when push comes to shove, the United States is providing the military funding that is allowing for these casualties to occur on a regular basis. At this point, every major human rights organization in the world is describing Israeli conduct in Gaza as war crimes. They are describing the deliberate starving of children. Several of them have died of starvation, as well. We are witnessing that the International Court of Justice effectively has found that Israel is plausibly committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. And in light of all this, for the Biden administration to continue providing unlimited and unconditional military funding for Israel to carry on this genocidal slaughter in Gaza, while expressing regret at the fact that some civilians are dying in the process, I mean, just who are they fooling? They are responsible for it in a direct way. If they do find it tragic, there is a very, very easy solution to it. And that is to put an end to U.S. military funding for Israel, until Israel starts abiding by international law and stops this indiscriminate onslaught on the civilian population in Gaza.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to go to President Biden during a joint press conference with the French president, Macron, on Saturday.

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: But before I begin my remarks, I want to echo President Macron’s comments welcoming the safe rescue of four hostages that were returned to their families in Israel. We won’t stop working until all the hostages come home and a ceasefire is reached. That is essential to happen.

AMY GOODMAN: So, what about this ceasefire? What about this deal? What about Israel and Hamas? The U.S. focuses on Hamas, whether they will accept the deal. President Biden introduced it as an Israeli deal, and yet Netanyahu has not approved this deal.

OMAR BADDAR: Amy, I think it’s really important for your audience to actually understand a bit of the merits of that ceasefire proposal. There has long been tension between the Israeli position — which is effectively a temporary ceasefire, a return of all the hostages to Israel, and then a continuation of the war, of this onslaught on Gaza, that has so far killed nearly 40,000 people and just destroyed the overwhelming majority of the Gaza Strip — and the Hamas position, on the other hand. They’re saying they’re willing to give up the hostages, but they need an end to this onslaught. They want a permanent ceasefire.

And the proposal that Biden put forward effectively presents two phases. Phase one is a temporary ceasefire, and phase two is the permanent one. And in between, he’s left it vague about what needs to be negotiated in order to get to the permanent ceasefire bit. And Netanyahu — I mean, both sides are suspicious for different reasons, right? Hamas is suspicious of that kind of deal, because they’re afraid they’re going to be forced to give up nearly all the hostages at phase one, and then the war is simply going to continue. And from Netanyahu’s perspective, he’s worried that when the war is halted in that temporary ceasefire, that the U.S. is going to apply significant pressure on Netanyahu to turn it into a permanent ceasefire.

Now, Netanyahu immediately came out and effectively rejected any idea that the Biden plan is going to end the war, because he said all Israel has offered is a plan that allows us to continue this war until Hamas is completely destroyed. So he’s effectively openly rejected that deal. And the Biden administration, as it always does, then turns around and applies all the pressure that they want to on the Palestinian side. Now they’re trying to pressure Qatar into potentially throwing out Hamas, the Hamas leadership, out of Qatar if they don’t accept that deal.

So, time and again, we see this pattern where, when push comes to shove, the Biden administration is unwilling to apply any meaningful pressure on Israel. They threatened it here and there. They talk about potentially withholding some weapons. And the second there’s any bit of criticism of the Biden administration from right-wing politicians — and, frankly, some establishment mainstream ones — about how Biden is not backing Israel sufficiently, Biden immediately panics and just throws another unlimited supply of weapons in Israel and says that Israel can do whatever it wants.

That dynamic is not going to lead to anything positive. We can’t get an end to this onslaught if Biden is afraid to apply meaningful pressure on Netanyahu or on Israel. That has long been the core of the issue, by the way, not just in reference to this particular ceasefire effort, but it really is about the broader dynamic of Israel and the United States, where the impunity that Israel enjoys to continue this occupation, to entrench the occupation in the West Bank and in Gaza, and the fact that Biden has always offered unconditional diplomatic support and unconditional military support, that allows extremism to fester within the Israeli government. And that’s what pushes their policies in a more and more extreme direction, where there is no possibility right now for a genuine, long-lasting, just peace, because the Israeli government rejects that completely out of hand. And the only thing that can change that is a shift in American approach and to start saying that America will not be complicit in these kinds of atrocities, will not be complicit in entrenching apartheid and occupation, because that is not a recipe for a stable region or for any kind of long-lasting peace or justice in Gaza.

AMY GOODMAN: Omar Baddar, we want to thank you so much for being with us, Palestinian American political analyst, member of the National Policy Council of the Arab American Institute.

When we come back, we’ll be joined by two Israelis. One, near Tel Aviv, lost his parents on October 7th. He says Israel’s war is not the answer. The other, here in New York, is the head of Idealist.org. Back in 20 seconds.

On the War Crimes of Benjamin Netanyahu, let's note Liza Featherstone via ZNET:

With elections looming and the Democratic base overwhelmingly opposed to Israel’s brutal war on Gaza, Joe Biden seems at times to be feeling the heat and talking peace. On May 31, he claimed that Israel had agreed to a “permanent cease-fire.” But Biden was immediately rebuffed when Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu disgracefully rejected that idea, caving to far-right pressure from within his government.

The Democratic leadership should have seized the moment and, in a unified voice, urged the president to defund Israel’s brutal war. That would have been morally right. If successful, that action could have, most importantly, finally halted a genocide. It also could have helped Biden to defeat Donald Trump in the fall.

But that is not what the Democratic leadership did.

Instead, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives, joined Republican House speaker Mike Johnson in penning a letter inviting Netanyahu, fanatic far-right architect of a war in which Israel has been burning people alive without impunity or shame, to address Congress.

It’s hard to imagine a worse guest for the United States right now. Netanyahu has prosecuted an utterly callous war in which more than 36,000 people have died, most of them children. His war has exposed more than a million people to catastrophic starvation. He has also done his best to eradicate Palestinian civilization, bombing all its universities.

The New York Times reports that because of Israel’s ground offensive in Rafah, more than a million Gazans forced to flee that city have no power, water, or shelter. A construction worker who fled Rafah last week told the paper, “The situation is as bad as you can imagine. We are waiting for God’s mercy.”

Netanyahu has also knowingly targeted hospitals in this war, turning hospitals, “which should be safe havens, into scenes of death, devastation and despair,” according to the World Health Organization. Even after the International Court of Justice noted “catastrophic conditions” in Gaza and warned Israel that starving civilians and obstructing humanitarian aid were war crimes, Human Rights Watch reported that the situation had only grown worse. Israel’s vicious disregard for Palestinian lives is almost matched by its contempt for the international community.

Do you invite War Criminals to your home? I mean maybe if you're trampy Jill St. John and spreading your legs for War Criminal Henry Kissinger to drive home just how lacking in standards and common sense you are, maybe then you invite a War Criminal into your home. But people that are the same disgusting trash that smears a man's name (Lance Reventlow) in a divorce action ("extreme cruelty") only to show up nearly ten years later (and one marriage and divorce later -- to singer Jack Jones) and start calling the same man your "late husband" and acting like a widow when, in fact, Cheryl Holdridge (Cheryl from THE MICKEY MOUSE CLUB) is the widow and had been married to Lance eight years. Jill St. John's not just a joke, she's a dirty joke. And she's the type who would invite a War Criminal (or wife killer) into her own home.

Jeremy Laurence, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, has stated:

We are profoundly shocked at the impact on civilians of the Israeli forces’ operation in An Nuseirat at the weekend to secure the release of four hostages. Hundreds of Palestinians, many of them civilians, were reportedly killed and injured. The manner in which the raid was conducted in such a densely populated area seriously calls into question whether the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution - as set out under the laws of war - were respected by the Israeli forces.

Our Office is also deeply distressed that Palestinian armed groups continue to hold many hostages, most of them civilians, which is prohibited by international humanitarian law. Furthermore, by holding hostages in such densely populated areas, the armed groups doing so are putting the lives of Palestinian civilians, as well as the hostages themselves, at added risk from the hostilities.

All these actions, by both parties, may amount to war crimes.

The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, welcomes Security Council Resolution 2735 calling for a "full and complete ceasefire", the release of hostages held by Palestinian armed groups, the return of the remains of dead hostages, and the exchange of Palestinian prisoners. An immediate priority must be to ensure the full and unfettered flow of humanitarian aid to the desperate population of Gaza.

The High Commissioner calls on all parties as well as third States, in particular those with influence over the parties to the conflict, to also maximise efforts to work towards the goal whereby Israelis and Palestinians can fully enjoy all human rights and live side by side, in peace.

Full human rights. That would include access to food and water. But instead, the government of Israel attempts to starve the people of Gaza. They've burned down universities and schools, they've bombed hospitals, it's been one War Crime after another. ALJAZEERA notes:

More than month after Israeli forces began operating in Rafah, which was previously Gaza’s main declared safe zone, almost all displaced people have fled the area, leaving fewer than 100,000 still left, according to the UNRWA.

As a result, there are now 1.7 million displaced people in Gaza – more than 70 percent of the population – with many of the displaced having been forced to move multiple times, the UNRWA said in its latest situation update.

Gaza remains under assault. Day 249 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 37,164 with 84,832 injured." 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:

The following sites updated: