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Category: Human rights/civil liberties

What really happened at Columbia? Bruce Robbins, a Jewish humanities professor, speaks out

What really happened at Columbia? Bruce Robbins, a Jewish humanities professor, speaks out

  “[Columbia] deserves a better administration than they’ve got right now” This week on Real Talk, we speak to Bruce Robbins, a Jewish professor at Columbia University, about what really happened during the recent student protests on campus, their demands for divestment from Israel, and the media coverage of it all. Filmed: 14 May 2024 Real Talk is a Middle East Eye interview show hosted by Mohamed Hashem that delves into the stories and experiences of a diverse range of…

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Biden’s vanishing red line: White House silent as top UN court orders Israel to halt Rafah attack

Biden’s vanishing red line: White House silent as top UN court orders Israel to halt Rafah attack

The Independent reports: Joe Biden said months ago that a major Israeli offensive in the city of Rafah, where more than a million displaced Palestinians have been sheltering from the war, would be a “red line” that would force him to reconsider US support for the longtime ally. Since then, more than 800,000 have fled Israeli bombardment in the southern Gaza city and aid agencies have compared the situation there to “hell on earth”. And yet, the president has shown…

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This Holocaust survivor (an American-Israeli lawyer and judge) recommended arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders

This Holocaust survivor (an American-Israeli lawyer and judge) recommended arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders

The Forward reports: By the age of 14, he had survived the Holocaust; by 44, he was an Israeli diplomat; now, at the age of 94, Theodor Meron recommended the International Criminal Court seek arrest warrants of Israeli and Hamas leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Meron, a New York University professor emeritus who has served as legal counsel for both the U.S. and Israeli governments, was one of eight legal and academic experts who were convened in…

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EU’s Borrell says some European countries are trying to intimidate ICC judges, while Israel slams Germany

EU’s Borrell says some European countries are trying to intimidate ICC judges, while Israel slams Germany

Reuters reports: European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Friday some European countries were trying to intimidate International Criminal Court judges over a case against Israeli leaders, and must stop “meddling” and respect the court. ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan announced on Monday that he had filed for arrest warrants against Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as three Hamas leaders. “The prosecutor has done nothing more than make an accusation and…

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Hundreds of Palestinian doctors disappeared into Israeli detention

Hundreds of Palestinian doctors disappeared into Israeli detention

The Intercept reports: It’s been two months since Osaid Alser has heard from his cousin, Khaled Al Serr, a surgeon at Nasser Hospital in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis. Before late March, they had been in regular contact — or as regular as the shredded communication infrastructure would allow. Al Serr had created a telemedicine WhatsApp group where he and Osaid, a surgical resident in the U.S., recruited doctors from stateside, the U.K., and Europe to give…

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‘It’s Bisan from Gaza, look at what U.S. weapons have done’

‘It’s Bisan from Gaza, look at what U.S. weapons have done’

  As Israel orders the evacuation of Rafah, many Palestinians are returning to their destroyed homes in Khan Younis after Israeli forces left the city on April 7. Bisan returns to Gaza’s second-largest city, which once had a population of around 400,000 people. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians sheltering in Khan Younis were forced to flee in February when Israeli forces besieged the city for months. Now, as Israel bombs Rafah, many Palestinians are being forced to evacuate back to…

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Biden should oppose U.S. sanctions on ICC, human rights groups say

Biden should oppose U.S. sanctions on ICC, human rights groups say

Human Rights Watch: US President Joe Biden should oppose threats and calls for punitive actions against the International Criminal Court (ICC), 121 human rights and civil society groups said today in a letter to President Biden. On May 20, 2024, the court’s prosecutor announced that he was seeking arrest warrants for three leaders of Hamas and two senior Israeli officials. Some members of the US Congress have threatened to retaliate against the ICC, including by imposing sanctions against court officers,…

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Norway, Ireland and Spain will join 140 other countries recognizing Palestine, deepening Israel’s isolation

Norway, Ireland and Spain will join 140 other countries recognizing Palestine, deepening Israel’s isolation

US & several Western countries remain the only ones who don’t recognise Palestine as a state https://t.co/ckuYENm1Jw — convencia (@convencia) May 22, 2024 The Associated Press reports: Norway, Ireland and Spain said Wednesday they would recognize a Palestinian state, a historic but largely symbolic move that further deepens Israel’s isolation more than seven months into its grinding war against Hamas in Gaza. Israel immediately denounced the decisions and recalled its ambassadors to the three countries. Palestinians welcomed the announcements as…

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The theatrics of genocidal impunity

The theatrics of genocidal impunity

Farhan Mujahid Chak writes: On May 1, a draft resolution was submitted to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to declare July 11 a day of remembrance for the 1995 Srebrenica genocide. The document was put forward by Germany and Rwanda and co-sponsored by the United States and other countries. It will be debated and voted on during a UNGA session on May 23. The actions the draft resolution lays out – including condemnation of genocide denial and prohibiting glorification…

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Biden’s ‘disastrous’ support for ‘Israel’s genocide in Gaza’ led to this Jewish staffer’s resignation

Biden’s ‘disastrous’ support for ‘Israel’s genocide in Gaza’ led to this Jewish staffer’s resignation

  We speak with Lily Greenberg Call, the first known Jewish appointee to resign from the Biden administration over the war in Gaza. Greenberg Call was a special assistant to the chief of staff at the Interior Department after being named to the post by President Joe Biden in early 2023, but she quit on May 15 in a four-page letter that slammed Biden’s “disastrous, continued support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza.” Greenberg Call is at least the fifth high-profile…

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UN halts all food distribution in Rafah after running out of supplies in the southern Gaza city

UN halts all food distribution in Rafah after running out of supplies in the southern Gaza city

A reminder that Biden could — whenever he wants to — use his leverage to force Israel to open land routes to aid to stop the famine spreading from the north. Hundreds of thousands of lives are at risk. https://t.co/2jBl6dOHDZ — Richard Hall (@_RichardHall) May 21, 2024 The Associated Press reports: The United Nations says it has suspended food distribution in the southern Gaza city of Rafah due to lack of supplies and insecurity. It also said no aid trucks…

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Israeli soldiers and police assisting settlers that attack Gaza aid trucks

Israeli soldiers and police assisting settlers that attack Gaza aid trucks

The Guardian reports: Individual members of Israel’s security forces are tipping off far-right activists and settlers to the location of aid trucks delivering vital supplies to Gaza, enabling the groups to block and vandalise the convoys, according to multiple sources. Settlers intercepting the vital humanitarian supplies to the strip are receiving information about the location of the aid trucks from members of the Israeli police and military, a spokesperson from the main Israeli activist group behind the blockades told the…

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‘A watershed event’: ICC charges against Netanyahu first time court has gone after a Western leader

‘A watershed event’: ICC charges against Netanyahu first time court has gone after a Western leader

  Israel and the United States have both strongly condemned the International Criminal Court’s decision to pursue arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on war crimes charges, calling it “outrageous” and seeking support from other allies in opposing the court’s moves. On Monday, ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan outlined specific charges against Netanyahu and Gallant, including “starvation of civilians as a method of warfare” and “extermination.” The ICC also sought arrest warrants for…

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ICC prosecutor’s applications for arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant, Sinwar, Deif, and Haniyeh

ICC prosecutor’s applications for arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant, Sinwar, Deif, and Haniyeh

  The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court asked a panel of international legal experts (Lord Justice Fulford, Judge Theodor Meron CMG, Amal Clooney, Danny Friedman KC, Baroness Helena Kennedy LT KC, Elizabeth Wilmshurst CMG KC) to assist him with evaluating evidence of suspected war crimes and crimes against humanity in Israel and Gaza: For months, we have engaged in an extensive process of review and analysis. We have carefully examined each of the applications for arrest warrants, as well…

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The rise of Jewish terrorism and the failure of Israel

The rise of Jewish terrorism and the failure of Israel

The New York Times reports: Gush Emunim [or “Bloc of the Faithful,” a religious political movement determined to settle occupied territories] the and other right-wing groups saw the [Camp David] accords [signed by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin in 1978] as a shocking reversal. From this well of anger sprang a new campaign of intimidation [against Palestinians]. Rabbi Moshe Levinger, one of the leaders of Gush Emunim and the founder of the settlement in the…

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A long history of crime without punishment threatens not only Palestinians but also Israel itself

A long history of crime without punishment threatens not only Palestinians but also Israel itself

The New York Times reports: By the end of October, it was clear that no one was going to help the villagers of Khirbet Zanuta. A tiny Palestinian community, some 150 people perched on a windswept hill in the West Bank near Hebron, it had long faced threats from the Jewish settlers who had steadily encircled it. But occasional harassment and vandalism, in the days after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, escalated into beatings and murder threats. The villagers made…

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