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Category: War

How Biden boxed himself in on Gaza

How Biden boxed himself in on Gaza

Jonathan Guyer writes: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has a knack for making world leaders do the jobs of their subordinates. President Joe Biden had to call Netanyahu himself in October—in the first weeks of Israel’s brutal assault on the occupied territory of Gaza in retaliation for the Hamas attacks of October 7—to urge that Israel allow more than 100 trucks of relief aid a day into Gaza. Normally, that’s a task a low-level economic officer at the embassy might…

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Former State Dept. human rights official: Israel is not engaged in self defense; it is committing war crimes

Former State Dept. human rights official: Israel is not engaged in self defense; it is committing war crimes

“People are shocked & appalled by what the US government is doing.” Annelle Sheline has resigned from the US State Department in protest over the administration’s ongoing support for Israel & the war in Gaza. “I know that I speak for many people” in the department, she tells me. pic.twitter.com/UTX30HWPme — Christiane Amanpour (@amanpour) March 28, 2024

Russian actions in Ukraine to pave way for Gaza war crimes case in ICC

Russian actions in Ukraine to pave way for Gaza war crimes case in ICC

The National reports: Allegations that Russia committed a war crime by attacking Ukraine’s water and food supplies could lead the International Criminal Court (ICC) to hear its first starvation case, the lawyer leading the investigation told The National. Catriona Murdoch, a legal consultant to Global Rights Compliance which is examining Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, said the situation in the country had been mirrored in Gaza, where the ICC could also pass judgment on Israel’s tactics in the enclave,…

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Majority in U.S. now disapprove of Israeli action in Gaza

Majority in U.S. now disapprove of Israeli action in Gaza

Gallup reports: After narrowly backing Israel’s military action in Gaza in November, Americans now oppose the campaign by a solid margin. Fifty-five percent currently disapprove of Israel’s actions, while 36% approve. The latest results are from a March 1-20 survey. The Israel-Hamas war has continued for five months and has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinians and over 1,000 Israelis. Major parts of Gaza have been destroyed, complicating efforts to deliver humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians…

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Ireland backs bid to include blocking of aid in definition of genocide

Ireland backs bid to include blocking of aid in definition of genocide

The Guardian reports: Ireland is to seek to widen the definition of genocide to include blocking humanitarian aid in a landmark international court of justice (ICJ) case against Israel. The Irish government will intervene in the case taken by South Africa and argue that restricting food and other essentials in Gaza may constitute genocidal intent, the foreign minister Micheál Martin said on Wednesday. “We believe there is a case, given how this war has been conducted,” Martin told the Guardian….

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The children who lost limbs in Gaza

The children who lost limbs in Gaza

Eliza Griswold writes: Just off the acacia-lined highway to the Qatari capital of Doha is a three-story, whitewashed apartment complex built to host visitors at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Until recently, the gated compound was unoccupied. Yet in the past several months, as part of a deal Qatar struck with Israel, Hamas, and Egypt to evacuate as many as fifteen hundred wounded Gazans in urgent need of medical care, it has begun to fill. The new residents are eight…

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Why I’m resigning from the State Department

Why I’m resigning from the State Department

Annelle Sheline, PhD, served for a year as a foreign affairs officer at the Office of Near Eastern Affairs in the Department of State’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor: Since Hamas’ attack on October 7, Israel has used American bombs in its war in Gaza, which has killed more than 32,000 people — 13,000 of them children — with countless others buried under the rubble, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. Israel is credibly accused of starving…

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The interlocking political fates of Biden and Netanyahu

The interlocking political fates of Biden and Netanyahu

Lisa Goldman and Danny Postel writes: This week’s diplomatic contretemps between the Israeli and American governments is being described as the worst rupture in the “special relationship” in decades. In 1962 President John F. Kennedy remarked to Golda Meir (then Israel’s foreign minister) that America’s bond with the Jewish state was comparable only to the one the U.S. shared with Britain. On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled the trip of a delegation of top officials that was set…

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Genocide foreseen

Genocide foreseen

An analysis Michael Barnett wrote in March 2023: At a conference hosted by Haaretz on Wednesday, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that “the village of Hawara needs to be wiped out. I think that the State of Israel needs to do that—not, God forbid, private individuals.” Hawara has been in the news lately because of an Israeli assault that claimed the lives of ten Palestinians and injured over one hundred. Although Smotrich prefers to see Hawara’s demise through public…

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Israel’s ‘Iron Wall’: A brief history of the ideology guiding Benjamin Netanyahu

Israel’s ‘Iron Wall’: A brief history of the ideology guiding Benjamin Netanyahu

A view of Khan Yunis in Gaza on Feb. 2, 2024, after weeks of continuous Israeli bombardment and bulldozing. Abdulqader Sabbah/Anadolu via Getty Images By Eran Kaplan, San Francisco State University Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has signaled that Israel’s military will soon launch an invasion of Rafah, the city in the southern Gaza Strip. More than 1 million Palestinians, now on the verge of famine, have sought refuge there from their bombed-out cities farther north. Despite U.S. President Joe Biden’s…

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UN demand for Gaza cease-fire provokes strongest clash between U.S. and Israel since war began

UN demand for Gaza cease-fire provokes strongest clash between U.S. and Israel since war began

The Associated Press reports: The United Nations Security Council on Monday issued its first demand for a cease-fire in Gaza, with the U.S. angering Israel by abstaining from the vote. Israel responded by canceling a visit to Washington by a high-level delegation in the strongest public clash between the allies since the war began. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the U.S. of “retreating” from a “principled position” by allowing the vote to pass without conditioning the cease-fire on the release…

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UN rights expert report to call for Israel arms embargo over ‘acts of genocide’

UN rights expert report to call for Israel arms embargo over ‘acts of genocide’

The Guardian reports: A UN human rights expert will deliver a report on Tuesday saying that Israel has carried out acts of genocide in Gaza and should be placed under an arms embargo. Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, said in her report there were “reasonable grounds” to believe that Israel was carrying out three of the five acts defined as genocide: killing Palestinians, causing them serious bodily or mental harm, and “deliberately…

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Budget deal slashes U.S. funding for Palestinians’ U.N. lifeline

Budget deal slashes U.S. funding for Palestinians’ U.N. lifeline

The Washington Post reports: Congress voted early Saturday to strip hundreds of millions of dollars from the United Nations agency that distributes most of the food, medicine and basic services to Palestinians in Gaza and across the Middle East, marking what critics say is a devastating blow to a region in crisis. The United States, along with several other countries, suspended funding for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in January after Israel alleged that 12 of the agency’s…

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The UN Security Council is set to vote on a resolution demanding a Ramadan ceasefire

The UN Security Council is set to vote on a resolution demanding a Ramadan ceasefire

The Associated Press reports: The U.N. Security Council is set to vote on a resolution demanding a humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, but the United States warned the measure could hurt negotiations to halt Israeli-Hamas hostilities. The resolution, put forward by the 10 elected council members, is backed by Russia and China, who vetoed a U.S.-sponsored resolution Friday that supported “an immediate and sustained cease-fire” in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. The 22-nation Arab…

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Does Israel need to be forced by the U.S. to end the war in Gaza?

Does Israel need to be forced by the U.S. to end the war in Gaza?

  All of Israel’s modern wars have ended with US intervention, but the current war in Gaza has gone on for half a year because “Biden is a slow learner”, argues University of Pennsylvania political scientist Ian Lustick. Israel needs an outside power to blame when it cannot achieve its aims. “That’s because the war aims are fundamentally political, and the military cannot achieve them,” says Lustick. Lustick and Palestinian politician Mustafa Barghouti talk to host Steve Clemons about the…

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U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops calls for ceasefire ahead of Easter

U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops calls for ceasefire ahead of Easter

Middle East Eye reports: The US Conference of Catholic Bishops has called for a ceasefire in Gaza ahead of the Christian Easter holidays. “Thousands of innocent people have died in this conflict, and thousands more have been displaced and face tremendous suffering. This must stop,” the group said in a statement. “To move forward, a cease fire and a permanent cessation of war and violence is absolutely necessary. To move forward, those held hostage must be released and civilians must…

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