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Category: Human rights/civil liberties

Let a Palestinian speak

Let a Palestinian speak

Zeynep Tufekci writes: On Wednesday at the Democratic convention, Jon Polin, the father of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an American hostage held by Hamas in Gaza, reminded listeners that there was a “surplus of agony” on all sides of the conflict in the Middle East. “In a competition of pain,” Polin said, “there are no winners.” But there’s one group whose pain will not be heard from the convention stage: Palestinian Americans. And there is a loser: the Democratic Party. A group…

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Michigan Democratic Party chair joins UAW in pushing for a Palestinian voice at convention

Michigan Democratic Party chair joins UAW in pushing for a Palestinian voice at convention

The Detroit News reports: The United Auto Workers and the head of the Michigan Democratic Party on Thursday called on organizers of the Democratic National Convention to allow a Palestinian American to address delegates at the final night of the four-day convention amid deep divisions in the party over Israel’s war in Gaza. Uncommitted delegates and supporters staged a sit-in after being told by DNC officials Wednesday night that there wouldn’t be a Palestinian American speaking from the convention’s main…

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Uncommitted delegates speak out after sleeping outside DNC to protest silencing of Palestinians

Uncommitted delegates speak out after sleeping outside DNC to protest silencing of Palestinians

  As “uncommitted” delegates continue their sit-in just outside the Democratic National Convention in protest of the party’s refusal to meet demands to platform a Palestinian American speaker on the main stage, we hear from two uncommitted delegates who have made a concerted effort to bring Israel’s war on Gaza to the forefront and to push the Harris campaign on its policy in the Middle East. Asma Mohammed, a campaign manager for Vote Uncommitted Minnesota and a delegate from Minnesota,…

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‘So Horrific’: Doctor recounts treating patients in Gaza injured in massacres enabled by U.S. bombs

‘So Horrific’: Doctor recounts treating patients in Gaza injured in massacres enabled by U.S. bombs

  Tanya Haj-Hassan is a pediatric intensive care physician who has volunteered in Gaza multiple times over the past 10 months. She joins us to recount what she witnessed there and to explain why she is calling for an end to U.S. support for the Israeli military and the resumption of comprehensive humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. Over the course of Israel’s assault, Haj-Hassan has treated victims of “massacre after massacre,” with injuries and casualties “enabled by American bombs.”…

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What I saw was ‘unfathomable’: Doctor who worked in Gaza speaks out against U.S. arming of Israel

What I saw was ‘unfathomable’: Doctor who worked in Gaza speaks out against U.S. arming of Israel

  A group of American doctors who treated patients in Gaza held a press conference in Chicago on Tuesday to describe the suffering they saw among Palestinians injured and killed in Israel’s war on the territory. The press conference, taking place during the Democratic National Convention, was organized by the Uncommitted National Movement, which is pressuring Democrats for an end to blanket U.S. support for Israel. Among those who spoke was Dr. Ahmed Yousaf, who returned from Gaza just weeks…

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Former Rep. Andy Levin: ‘The acid test for Jewish people is, how do we treat our Palestinian cousins?’

Former Rep. Andy Levin: ‘The acid test for Jewish people is, how do we treat our Palestinian cousins?’

  We speak with former Michigan Congressmember Andy Levin, a former synagogue president, who lost his 2022 Democratic primary in a race that saw millions spent by pro-Israel groups to unseat the progressive Jewish lawmaker. AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and other lobby groups have used the same playbook over the years to defeat members of Congress who do not toe the line, and Levin says the Democratic Party has to act to stop such “dark money” from…

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Countries fueling Israel’s Gaza war may be complicit in war crimes, experts warn

Countries fueling Israel’s Gaza war may be complicit in war crimes, experts warn

The Guardian reports: Israeli tanks, jets and bulldozers bombarding Gaza and razing homes in the occupied West Bank are being fueled by a growing number of countries signed up to the genocide and Geneva conventions, new research suggests, which legal experts warn could make them complicit in serious crimes against the Palestinian people. Four tankers of American jet fuel primarily used for military aircraft have been shipped to Israel since the start of its aerial bombardment of Gaza in October….

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First ever DNC panel on Palestinian rights: We need to ‘restore the soul of the Democratic Party’

First ever DNC panel on Palestinian rights: We need to ‘restore the soul of the Democratic Party’

  This year, the Democratic National Convention held its first-ever panel on Palestinian human rights. The panel came after persistent grassroots organizing against U.S. support for Israel’s assault on Gaza. We play excerpts, including from the Arab American Institute’s James Zogby, a former executive member of the Democratic National Committee; Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan, a pediatric intensive care surgeon who recently worked in Gaza; and Layla Elabed, co-chair of the Uncommitted National Movement. Later that day, during President Biden’s convention speech,…

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Former Israeli spy chief: If I was a Palestinian, I would fight against Israel’s occupation

Former Israeli spy chief: If I was a Palestinian, I would fight against Israel’s occupation

  Mehdi Hasan interviews Ami Ayalon, the former head of Israel’s Security Service, Shin Bet, and the ex-commander of the Israeli Navy, in the latest episode of ‘Mehdi Unfiltered.’ Ayalon discusses why he believes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and far right politician Itamar Ben-Gvir pose a threat to Israeli democracy, calls for an end to the occupation, and explains why he would resist Israel if he were Palestinian. As reports of Israeli torture and abuse against detained Palestinians continue…

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Abortion takes center stage

Abortion takes center stage

Helen Lewis writes: The most emotional moment of last night’s Democratic National Convention was supposed to be Joe Biden’s farewell, after his party’s power brokers made clear he could not run again. And true, his address showed a graciousness in defeat that Donald Trump could never hope to understand. But the most moving speech of the evening was only a few minutes long, and it was given by a young woman from Kentucky. Her name was Hadley Duvall, and she…

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The cost of trying to make Palestinian lives matter in the newsroom

The cost of trying to make Palestinian lives matter in the newsroom

Hoda Sherif writes: In the heart of Gaza’s ruins, local Palestinian journalists are enduring the unimaginable toll of a merciless war machine, starvation, and unwarranted daily brutality. Meanwhile, Muslim journalists and others reporting on the war from the West are faced with a different kind of impediment: the battle against blood-washing discourse. For the past 10 months, journalists across the world have voiced concerns to their employers over imbalanced, misleading, and at times, fictitious coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza….

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Chicago’s Mayor Brandon Johnson owes his career to activism. How will he handle demonstrators at the DNC?

Chicago’s Mayor Brandon Johnson owes his career to activism. How will he handle demonstrators at the DNC?

Mother Jones reports: At a contentious January city council meeting marked by passionate speeches and so much heckling that an hour-long recess had to be called, the new mayor cast the tie-breaking vote on a 23-23 deadlock to approve a resolution calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. More than 100 local governments have done so, but Chicago remains the largest by population. If Johnson wasn’t mired in meetings with local and national lawmakers and law enforcement personnel ahead of…

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Israel perpetrating war crimes in plain sight in Gaza, says ex-UK diplomat

Israel perpetrating war crimes in plain sight in Gaza, says ex-UK diplomat

The Guardian reports: Israel is “flagrantly and regularly” committing war crimes in Gaza, according to a former British diplomat who recently resigned over ministers’ failure to ban arms sales to Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. Mark Smith, who resigned as a counter-terrorism official at the British embassy in Dublin after raising complaints about the sale of British weapons to Israel, told the BBC on Monday that he believed Israel to be in breach of international law. Smith told Radio 4’s Today programme:…

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Pro-Palestinian protesters are looking for a change in policy — not simply a change in tone

Pro-Palestinian protesters are looking for a change in policy — not simply a change in tone

The Washington Post reports: A coalition of Muslim and Arab American grassroots groups based in the Midwest — including the key battleground states of Michigan and Wisconsin — sent a letter to the vice president recently outlining what it would take to win back their votes. Some Arab American and Muslim organizers say they are open to supporting Harris — but only if she lays out policies toward Israel that differ significantly from Biden’s. The groups made several policy demands,…

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Gaza rubble likely to conceal untold horrors to swell 40,000 death toll

Gaza rubble likely to conceal untold horrors to swell 40,000 death toll

The Guardian reports: Dalia Hawas was 24 years old when an Israeli airstrike flattened the apartment building where she lived in February, burying the young mother with her 10-month-old daughter, Mona. They are not listed among Gaza’s war dead, because their bodies were trapped too deep beneath the rubble for rescue teams to reach them. Ten months into Israel’s war on Gaza, the death toll has passed 40,000, according to health authorities there. Most of the dead are civilians and…

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B’Tselem’s executive director talks to Christiane Amanpour about abuse of Palestinian prisoners

B’Tselem’s executive director talks to Christiane Amanpour about abuse of Palestinian prisoners

"This is our conception of security: the way we keep us secure is to abuse, to kill." Investigations by CNN, the UN, and Israeli media exposed alleged abuse of Palestinians in Israeli detention centers, which the IDF and the prison service have denied. Now a new report from… pic.twitter.com/wP8JxNLfJ2 — Christiane Amanpour (@amanpour) August 14, 2024