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Category: War

Israel has created its own Abu Ghraib — and the world is silent

Israel has created its own Abu Ghraib — and the world is silent

Lubna Masarwa and Peter Oborne writes: It’s been just over 20 years since CBS News published the sobering photographs that proved the US army was carrying out unspeakable crimes against Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison. Rape. Degradation. Homicide. Torture, both psychological and physical. Sexual humiliation. The revelations of US barbarity were greeted with horror around the world and played a major role in turning opinion against the Iraq War. In recent days, it has become all too clear that…

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U.S., Egypt and Qatar call for ‘urgent talks’ next week to reach Israel-Hamas cease-fire deal

U.S., Egypt and Qatar call for ‘urgent talks’ next week to reach Israel-Hamas cease-fire deal

CBS News reports: The leaders of the U.S., Egypt and Qatar called for Israel and Hamas to resume cease-fire talks next week in either Doha or Cairo. In a joint statement, President Biden, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Qatar’s Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani urged both parties “to resume urgent discussion” on Aug. 15 “to close all remaining gaps and commence implementation of the deal without further delay.” “It is time to bring immediate relief both to the…

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Mayor of Dearborn, Michigan: ‘The door is cracked open’ for Harris to address frustrations over Gaza

Mayor of Dearborn, Michigan: ‘The door is cracked open’ for Harris to address frustrations over Gaza

  When President Biden was the Democratic candidate, he faced intense scrutiny from many Muslim and Arab Americans over his handling of the Israel-Hamas war. The city of Dearborn, Michigan, is home to one of the largest populations of Muslim Americans. Mayor Abdullah Hammoud joined Amna Nawaz and discussed if the new Democratic ticket of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz can quell the concerns.   “We want a meeting with Vice President Harris so we can talk to her to…

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Biden scrambles to defuse the ticking Iran-Israel time bomb

Biden scrambles to defuse the ticking Iran-Israel time bomb

David Ignatius writes: President Biden may be leaving the White House soon. But over the past week, he has conducted an intense round of diplomacy and military preparation to stave off a catastrophic war in the Middle East. The White House effort has included back-channel talks with Iran to urge restraint, blunt warnings to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to obstruct a cease-fire in Gaza, and the dispatch of a U.S. naval and air armada to protect Israel and…

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Israeli jails holding Palestinian prisoners have become ‘torture camps,’ B’Tselem reports

Israeli jails holding Palestinian prisoners have become ‘torture camps,’ B’Tselem reports

The Guardian reports: Violence, extreme hunger, humiliation and other abuse of Palestinian prisoners has been normalised across Israel’s jail system, according to Guardian interviews with released prisoners, with mistreatment now so systemic that rights group B’Tselem says it must be considered a policy of “institutionalised abuse”. Former detainees described abuse ranging from severe beatings and sexual violence to starvation rations, refusal of medical care, and deprivation of basic needs including water, daylight, electricity and sanitation, including soap and sanitary pads…

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Netanyahu says ‘victory’ over Hamas is in sight. The data tells a different story

Netanyahu says ‘victory’ over Hamas is in sight. The data tells a different story

CNN reports: Nearly half of Hamas’ military battalions in northern and central Gaza have rebuilt some of their fighting capabilities despite more than nine months of Israel’s brutal offensive, according to analyses by the American Enterprise Institute’s Critical Threats Project, the Institute for the Study of War and CNN. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces growing international pressure to agree to a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza, has repeatedly said that Israeli forces are nearing their stated…

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Biden told Netanyahu to ‘stop bullshitting.’ PM’s own security chiefs say he’s ‘given up on hostages’

Biden told Netanyahu to ‘stop bullshitting.’ PM’s own security chiefs say he’s ‘given up on hostages’

The Times of Israel reports: US President Joe Biden told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “stop bullshitting me” during their meeting in Washington last week, according to Channel 12 news. The network says the outburst came after Netanyahu told Biden that Israel was moving forward with negotiations on a hostage-for-ceasefire deal. The Times of Israel also reports: According to tonight’s report by Channel 12 news, which first reported on the meeting last night, Halevi said during the heated discussion: “The…

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Israeli leaders celebrate assassinations — and make the living pay the price

Israeli leaders celebrate assassinations — and make the living pay the price

Orly Noy writes: We are now faced with the regional war of Gog and Magog that Benjamin Netanyahu has been so determined to ignite. Every one of us is now trying in horror to guess what the response will be to the recent assassinations — which our leaders are celebrating as a “brilliant achievement” of Israel’s sophisticated war machine — and whether our children will survive it. We are now contemplating the fate of the hostages, afraid to say what…

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The Houthi’s ‘have been very happy’ to challenge Israel and the U.S.

The Houthi’s ‘have been very happy’ to challenge Israel and the U.S.

Robert F. Worth writes: The Houthi militia, born in the wilds of northwestern Yemen, has been wanting a war with Israel for decades. Its distinctive five-line motto, printed on flags and chanted at rallies by the group’s faithful, includes the lines “Death to Israel” and “Curses on the Jews.” The Houthis got their wish on July 19, when one of their drones struck a high-rise in Tel Aviv, killing one man and wounding four others. The blast signaled a troubling…

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Gaza, Islamophobia, family and the environment are the top issues for Muslim-American voters in 2024

Gaza, Islamophobia, family and the environment are the top issues for Muslim-American voters in 2024

New Lines Magazine: For months, as the war in Gaza raged on and student protests overtook American campuses, the question of just how much President Joe Biden’s steadfast support for Israel amid the war’s escalation would cost Democrats fueled endless debate. Many speculated that the anger that fueled the protests would come home to roost in November, as Muslim Americans in key swing states who had voted for Biden in 2020 would stay home, or worse, vote for Republican former…

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With the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, Netanyahu shows his determination to block a ceasefire in Gaza

With the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, Netanyahu shows his determination to block a ceasefire in Gaza

UN News reports: “The Secretary-General believes that the attacks we have seen in South Beirut and Teheran represent a dangerous escalation at a moment in which all efforts should instead be leading to a ceasefire in Gaza, the release of all Israeli hostages, a massive increase of humanitarian aid for Palestinians in Gaza and a return to calm in Lebanon and across the Blue Line,” UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said in a statement issued on Wednesday. “Rather than that, what…

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Harris candidacy offers foreign policy opportunity

Harris candidacy offers foreign policy opportunity

Matt Duss writes: While no one expects Harris to dramatically distance herself from Biden, there are steps that she can take to show that she speaks for the Democratic Party of today and not 40 years ago. She can announce that as president, she will immediately suspend the U.S.-supplied military aid being used in violation of U.S. law. She can publicly make clear that she agrees with the assessment of countless Israelis—including Israeli opposition lawmakers and top sitting security officials—that…

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The decimation of Gaza’s academia is ‘impossible to quantify’

The decimation of Gaza’s academia is ‘impossible to quantify’

Ibtisam Mahdi writes: Dr. Refaat Alareer was a good friend of mine. A poet, writer, and prominent activist for the Palestinian cause, Refaat taught English literature and poetry for many years at the Islamic University of Gaza. He loved the works of Shakespeare, Thomas White, John Donne, Wilfred Owen, and many others, and he was the editor of two books: “Gaza Unsilenced“ and “Gaza Writes Back.” Refaat is one of at least 105 Palestinian academics killed in Gaza since the start…

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How Israel plans to whitewash its war crimes in Gaza

How Israel plans to whitewash its war crimes in Gaza

Dan Owen writes: The scale of horror that Israel has inflicted upon Gaza over the last nine months is almost impossible to comprehend. The Israeli army’s decision from the start of the war to significantly expand its authorization for bombing non-military targets and causing harm to civilians has resulted in the killing of tens of thousands of Palestinians, and has left the Gaza Strip unrecognizable. The surviving population faces mass hunger and displacement as a result of intentional Israeli policies, which are in violation of international laws…

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Kamala Harris: We can’t look away from Palestinian suffering

Kamala Harris: We can’t look away from Palestinian suffering

  The Guardian reports: Progressive US representative Pramila Jayapal has said Kamala Harris is “listening” to young people’s concerns about Israel’s war in Gaza as the newly elevated presumptive Democratic nominee rides an “undeniable” wave of momentum. In the days since Joe Biden ended his presidential re-election campaign and endorsed the vice-president for November’s race against Republican nominee Donald Trump, gen Z supporters have flooded social media with coconut tree video cuts and “brat summer” memes – a reflection of…

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Every university in Gaza has been destroyed. So have these students’ dreams

Every university in Gaza has been destroyed. So have these students’ dreams

Sondos Fayoumi writes: Around 88,000 higher education students in Gaza were supposed to sit for their exams last month. Many looked forward to completing their final assessments and celebrating their hard-earned graduation. Thanks to Israel’s genocidal war, though, nobody wore their caps and gowns. Instead, young people are enduring devastation of unparalleled magnitude. Every university in Gaza has been obliterated. Libraries have been burned to the ground. And the aspirations of Palestinian graduates lie in tatters. In addition to the…

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