Gaza
- Bomb Gaza into rubble
- Continue the violence and land theft in the West Bank
The US is increasingly on its own with Israel.
Britain drops its challenge to ICC arrest warrants for Israeli leaders | The Guardian
Labour has announced its biggest step yet in overhauling the UK’s approach to the Middle East, dropping its opposition to an international arrest warrant against Benjamin Netanyahu despite pressure from Washington not to do so.
Downing Street announced on Friday that the government would not submit a challenge to the jurisdiction of the international criminal court, whose chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, is seeking a warrant against the Israeli prime minister.
The Majority Report discusses Kamala Harris' response to the protests of Netanyahu’s visit to Congress. They also dig into Netanyahu’s various lies, his denial of the humanity of Palestinians and the fucked up warm welcome by many in Congress including many Democrats.
The Congress people there to cheer him on are complicit in his war crimes as is Biden. I’m guessing her policies in this area will be better than Biden but only a little. Time will tell.
Of course, much of Gaza is now rubble and uninhabitable. While the official death toll is now around 40,000, recent reporting on a Lancet study suggests the number is much higher, likely above 186,000 and still going higher this very moment.
The Guardian reports on her meeting with Netanyahu stating that she “pressed him on the ‘dire’ humanitarian situation in Gaza in talks that she described as frank, adding ‘I will not be silent’.”
In comments that were closely watched for signs of a shift from Joe Biden’s policy approach, the US vice-president said after the meeting: “What has happened in Gaza over the past nine months is devastating. The images of dead children and desperate hungry people fleeing for safety, sometimes displaced for the second, third or fourth time.”
War criminal Benjamin Netanyahu, met with a standing ovation by the US Congress, appealed for more weapons which would enable Israel to “finish the job faster” in Gaza.
I’m sure it’s on record who in Congress continues to support Israel’s war crimes and genocide.
“Netanyahu drew one of the clearest lines yet between the supply of U.S. weapons and Israel’s genocidal assault of Gaza, essentially straight out saying that the slaughter has been made possible by U.S. assistance — and that the speed of Israel’s genocide is scaled to how many U.S. weapons they receive.”
Truthout reports on a potential Polio Outbreak in Gaza:
Advocates for Palestinian rights are demanding that the Biden administration take urgent action to stop a potential outbreak of polio in Gaza after the virus that causes the deadly disease was found in Gaza’s wastewater, threatening an epidemic that would be nothing short of catastrophic.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) says that Biden bears responsibility to respond to the crisis after funding Israel’s destruction of Gaza’s health and sanitation systems, which has created conditions ripe for a deadly epidemic.
On Mastodon, Joshua Holland shares the current state of Congressional support of war crimes and genocide:
A foreign leader invited to address the United States Congress is just shitting all over Americans who don’t support his far-right government’s campaign of ethnic cleansing and Republicans are giving him standing ovations for it.
Inviting a war criminal to speak to Congress was a mistake. Of course, given the US and its current president is a full partner and arms supplier in those war crimes I suppose it fits. The US is a partner in a current, ongoing genocide.
A “disruptive” Capitol protest spikes security fears around Netanyahu speech
A large, raucous pro-Palestinian protest Tuesday at a U.S. House office building is spiking lawmakers' concerns about security around Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s upcoming speech.
Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara highlights that the recent ruling represents a corner-stone and game-changer in legal terms. He emphasizes that, while the ruling may not be surprising, it builds upon and extends the 2004 decision concerning the illegality of the apartheid wall in the West Bank. Bishara suggests that the significance of today’s ruling lies in its damning and detailed nature.
Truthout reports that Israel Has “Flattened” UNRWA HQ in Gaza:
After months of successive attacks on humanitarian aid facilities, Israeli forces have now “completely destroyed” the headquarters of the primary aid group for Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the agency reports.
Israeli forces attacked the facility as they carried out their horrific raid of Gaza City last week, leaving nothing but rubble in its place. … UNRWA Commissioner Philippe Lazzarini said that Israel’s attack on the facility represents a “blatant” war crime.
The Real Gaza Death Toll - Susan Abulhawa - YouTube
While the official death toll stalled at 30,000 for months before climbing to 37,000, they grossly underestimate the true death toll. These figures only account for identified victims of ‘direct fire’. Hundreds of thousands more remain uncounted—unidentified bodies or body parts, those who died due to a lack of medicine and healthcare, those buried by their loved ones without getting to hospital, those who starved to death, those trapped under the rubble, those who succumbed to torture while abducted by the IOF and/or those missing.
Mother Jones reports on the July 5th Lancet report on the counting of the dead in Gaza:
Factoring in a possible ratio of four indirect deaths to each direct death, researchers Dr. Rasha Khatib, Dr. Martin McKee, and Dr. Salim Yusuf wrote that “it is not implausible to estimate that up to 186,000 or even more deaths could be attributable to the current conflict in Gaza.” That is nearly five times the 38,000 dead reported by the Gaza Health Ministry, the only organization conducting regular counts of the dead on the ground. That number is equivalent to 8 percent of Gaza’s population.
The war crimes and genocide continue with another school bombing by Israel. 4 schools in 4 days. One school each day. When you’re bombing kids playing football you are on the wrong side.
Video shows moment of Israeli strike on Gaza school | The Guardian
Asmaa Qudeih, a witness who lost some relatives in the attack, told Reuters: “Bodies flew in the wind, body parts flew, I don’t know how to describe it.”
Videos from Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, where the casualties were taken, showed dozens of dead and seriously injured people, including children, strewn across the floor of a room.
What a fucking joke. Shameful.
Pier, which has delivered the equivalent of a single day’s pre-war land aid deliveries in two months, will reportedly be removed in a few days’ time
Meanwhile, as the war crimes and genocide continue: Researchers Estimate True Gaza Death Toll at 186,000 or More | Truthout
So, to summarize, the State Department does not care and will not be bothered with our complicity in war crimes.
Got it.
U.S. State Department Pressed On Hind Rajab’s Killing For Four Months Straight - YouTube
For four months, Prem Thakker of The Intercept has pressed the U.S. on the killing of Hind Rajab, her family, and the paramedics sent to save her. Over and over, the U.S. has said it is waiting for Israel to investigate itself. Independent investigation from Forensic Architecture finds it “not plausible” that Israeli forces did not see who they shot 335 bullets at. Read the full story...
“What I do have expertise in and what I do have authority to do is make assessments of criminal conduct. And we’ve done that in relation to the recent events and you can see that in the report. And the only conclusion you can draw is that the Israeli army is one of the most criminal armies in the world.”
There's a lot of confusion and contradiction in the recent back and forth between Netanyahu and Blinken on restrictions of weapons shipments to Israel. Biden has denied that he is withholding weapons and, in fact, is pushing against some in his own party:
Biden has pressed forward with aid despite opposition from within his own Democratic party, where progressives have accused Israel of committing genocide in a war that has now killed more than 37,000 Palestinians.
Meanwhile as US claims that Israel supports the ceasefire deal that is being negotiated Netanyahu pledges to “finish the job”.
Israel's plan:
So, the complete removal of all Palestinians. Genocide.
Israel Plots West Bank Settlement Expansion as More States Recognize Palestine | Truthout
The announcement comes amid an unprecedented wave of settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.
Top Israeli officials on Sunday discussed plans to expand illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank as an act of retaliation against countries that recently joined the majority of the international community in recognizing Palestinian statehood.
50,000 Children in Gaza Need to Be Treated for Acute Malnutrition, UNRWA Says | Truthout
Israel’s near-total blockade of humanitarian aid has pushed tens of thousands of children in Gaza to the point of requiring medical treatment for starvation and malnutrition, the UN reported on Saturday.
According to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), there are currently over 50,000 children in Gaza who need to be treated for acute malnutrition — or nearly a tenth of Gaza’s population of children.
It's getting much worse and will keep getting worse.
A war on children.
UNICEF Decries Israel's "War on Children" as Starvation & Deaths Mount in Gaza - YouTube UNICEF spokesperson James Elder in Rafah:
"The physical and psychological exhaustion they face is almost impossible to capture," he says, characterizing Israel's offensive as "a war on children."
Despite huge PR push, is US plan for Gaza doomed to fail? | The Bottom Line - YouTube
How “permanent” is the US/Israeli plan for a “permanent ceasefire” in Gaza? The intentional vagueness of the proposal to bring a “sustainable period of calm” to the Gaza Strip is the biggest obstacle preventing a deal, argues Michael Hanna of the International Crisis Group.
UN: Israel-caused Famine to encompass all Gaza by July, killing as many as 19,800 a Month
A new joint report from the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Program warns that even as North Gaza is now facing famine, “it is highly likely that the rest of the Gaza Strip would be facing a risk of famine through July 2024, in a worst-case scenario.”
..."the situation in Gaza is alarming: the ongoing conflict has significantly worsened child malnutrition from a Global Acute Malnutrition rate of 0.8% to 16% in northern Gaza and 7% in the rest of Gaza.”