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By Dr Marwan Asmar

Norway, Ireland and Spain officially recognized the existence of a Palestinian state. This is a historic development. Norwegian Premier Jonas Gahr Store said Oslo will recognize the state as of 28 May. “There can’t be peace in the Middle East if there is no recognition,” he said. 

The announcement by Norway, Ireland and Spain to recognize an independent Palestinian state comes when the Israeli deadly war on north Gaza is raging once again.

[https://twitter.com/BeckettUnite/status/1793185486057492488]

[https://twitter.com/SaulStaniforth/status/1793177042474741932]

Zero distance Jabalia

‘By God leave it, this is for me, by God leave it…’

Two Palestinian resistance fighters fought, during battle, over who should destroy an Israeli tank at zero distance in Jabalia

[https://twitter.com/tamerqdh/status/1792551553951236569]

Each wants to have the honor of devastating the tank which could lead to his own death but the fighting continues. The war between the Israeli army which entered the camp two weeks ago and the Palestinian resistance remains at its highest in Jabalia, just above Gaza City.

[https://twitter.com/AJA_Palestine/status/1792046313305153788]

The social media continues to display different scenes of Palestinian heroism. One videoclip that continues to trend is that of a Palestinian sniper on top of the roof of one building in the entrapped camp. At first, he gets shot in the ankle but rises and continues to fire at Israelis soldiers but is soon killed. Quickly, his friend picks up his gun and continues shooting at the soldiers till, he too, becomes a martyr.

[https://twitter.com/Alenezi_Trad_N/status/1792123348379373696]

Jabalia has become the next fight for the Israeli army which wants to dominate and control the Gaza Strip. But all they are doing is killing civilian by bombing their houses.

The Palestinian fighters however, keep emerging from underground tunnels, the majority of which remain intact according to Israeli military and intelligence sources and are likely to continue for the foreseeable future.

300 homes destroyed

In Jabalia, the Israeli army have destroyed at least 300 houses around the Kamal Al Adwan Hospital, the only health institution in North Gaza which is too, about to go out of service.

The Israeli army has a knack for going after the hospitals of Gaza. They have destroyed most of the 36 hospitals in the enclave under the pretext of going after Hamas fighters. However, all they did was kill patients and civilians and tried to cover their evil deeds in mass graves whether in Al Shifa snd/or in Al Nasser Hospitals in Khan Younis and more.

The Israeli army is not relenting despite the major daily losses in their ranks. Soldiers are seen as acceptable collateral damage despite the daily carnage  they are enduring and maybe this is a penance for the continual destruction they carried out in Gaza for the past eight months.

In the north of Gaza, the Palestinian resistance have started to use new tactics like wire-bombing already destroyed houses and wrecked facilities which the Israeli army uses to carry out their war. Jabalia was the first place to use such tactics but the Izz Al Dien Al Qassam Brigade just announced the booby-trapping of an agricultural school in Biet Hanoon in which 10 Israeli soldiers were killed there.

The Israel army has pushed back into north Gaza starting with Jabalia, Beit Hanoon and Biet Lahia but there is more. This is not to forget that Israel is effectively fighting in Rafah in the south of the enclave and which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists on a full invasion but which is yet to materialize.

Nevertheless, the Israeli army has already created a new wave of displacements from Rafah which used to house 1.4 million Palestinians. Today, 900 thousand people have gone back to Al Mawasi and central Gaza under the Israeli big guns.

Meanwhile the war in Jabalia and the north of Gaza continues with more Palestinians’ civilians bloodshed.

However, the new and official recognition by three major European countries – Norway, Spain and Ireland – of an independent Palestinian state, puts Israel back in the dock to end its heinous war on Gaza and wake up to a new stark realization.

‏Dr Marwan Asmar is an Amman-based writer covering Middle East Affairs

22 May 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

By Chris Hedges

The ruling by the High Court in London permitting Julian Assange to appeal his extradition order leaves him languishing in precarious health in a high-security prison. That is the point.

The decision by the High Court in London to grant Julian Assange the right to appeal the order to extradite him to the United States may prove to be a Pyrrhic victory. It does not mean Julian will elude extradition. It does not mean the court has ruled, as it should, that he is a journalist whose only “crime” was providing evidence of war crimes and lies by the U.S. government to the public. It does not mean he will be released from the high-security HMS Belmarsh prison where, as Nils Melzer, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, after visiting Julian there, said he was undergoing a “slow-motion execution.”

It does not mean that journalism is any less imperiled. Editors and publishers of  five international media outlets —– The New York Times, the Guardian, Le Monde, El Pais and DER SPIEGEL —– which published stories based on documents released by WikiLeaks, have urged that the U.S. charges be dropped and Julian be released. None of these media executives were charged with espionage. It does not dismiss the ludicrous ploy by the U.S. government to extradite an Australian citizen whose publication is not based in the U.S. and charge him under the Espionage Act. It continues the long Dickensian farce that mocks the most basic concepts of due process.

This ruling is based on the grounds that the U.S. government did not offer sufficient assurances that Julian would be granted the same First Amendment protections afforded to a U.S. citizen, should he stand trial. The appeal process is one more legal hurdle in the persecution of a journalist who should not only be free, but feted and honored as the most courageous of our generation.

Yes. He can file an appeal. But this means another year, perhaps longer, in harsh prison conditions as his physical and psychological health deteriorates. He has spent over five years in HMS Belmarsh without being charged. He spent seven years in the Ecuadorian Embassy because the U.K. and Swedish governments refused to guarantee that he wouldn’t be extradited to the U.S., even though he agreed to return to Sweden to aid a preliminary investigation that was eventually dropped.

The judicial lynching of Julian was never about justice. The plethora of legal irregularities, including the recording of his meetings with attorneys by the Spanish security firm UC Global at the embassy on behalf of the CIA, alone should have seen the case thrown out of court as it eviscerates attorney-client privilege.

The U.S. has charged Julian with 17 acts under the Espionage Act and one count of computer misuse, for an alleged conspiracy to take possession of and then publish national defense information. If found guilty on all of these charges he faces 175 years in a U.S. prison.

The extradition request is based on the 2010 release by WikiLeaks of the Iraq and Afghanistan war logs — hundreds of thousands of classified documents, leaked to the site by Chelsea Manning, then an Army intelligence analyst, which exposed numerous U.S. war crimes including video images of the gunning down of two Reuters journalists and 10 other unarmed civilians in the Collateral Murder video, the routine torture of Iraqi prisoners, the covering up of thousands of civilian deaths and the killing of nearly 700 civilians that had approached too closely to U.S. checkpoints.

In February, lawyers for Julian submitted nine separate grounds for a possible appeal.

A two-day hearing in March, which I attended, was Julian’s last chance to request an appeal of the extradition decision made in 2022 by the then British home secretary, Priti Patel, and of many of the rulings of District Judge Baraitser in 2021.

The two High Court judges, Dame Victoria Sharp and Justice Jeremy Johnson, in March rejected most of Julian’s grounds of appeal. These included his lawyers’ contention that the UK-US extradition treaty bars extradition for political offenses; that the extradition request was made for the purpose of prosecuting him for his political opinions; that extradition would amount to retroactive application of the law — because it was not foreseeable that a century-old espionage law would be used against a foreign publisher; and that he would not receive a fair trial in the Eastern District of Virginia. The judges also refused to hear new evidence that the CIA plotted to kidnap and assassinate Julian, concluding — both perversely and incorrectly — that the CIA only considered these options because they believed Julian was planning to flee to Russia.

But the two judges determined Monday that it is “arguable” that a U.S. court might not grant Julian protection under the First Amendment, violating his rights to free speech as enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights.

The judges in March asked the U.S. to provide written assurances that Julian would be protected under the First Amendment and that he would be exempt from a death penalty verdict. The U.S. assured the court that Julian would not be subjected to the death penalty, which Julian’s lawyers ultimately accepted. But the Department of Justice was unable to provide an assurance that Julian could mount a First Amendment defense in a U.S. court. Such a decision is made in a U.S. federal court, their lawyers explained.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon Kromberg, who is prosecuting Julian, has argued that only U.S. citizens are guaranteed First Amendment rights in U.S. courts. Kromberg has stated that what Julian published was “not in the public interest” and that the U.S. was not seeking his extradition on political grounds.

Free speech is a key issue. If Julian is granted First Amendment rights in a U.S. court it will be very difficult for the U.S. to build a criminal case against him, since other news organizations, including The New York Times and The Guardian, published the material he released.

The extradition request is based on the contention that Julian is not a journalist and not protected under the First Amendment.

Julian’s attorneys and those representing the U.S. government have until May 24 to submit a draft order, which will determine when the appeal will be heard.

Julian committed the empire’s greatest sin — he exposed it as a criminal enterprise. He documented its lies, routine violation of human rights, wanton killing of innocent civilians, rampant corruption and war crimes. Republican or Democrat, Conservative or Labour, Trump or Biden — it does not matter. Those who manage the empire use the same dirty playbook.

The publication of classified documents is not a crime in the United States, but if Julian is extradited and convicted, it will become one.

Julian is in precarious physical and psychological health. His physical and psychological deterioration has resulted in a minor stroke, hallucinations and depression. He takes antidepressant medication and the antipsychotic quetiapine. He has been observed pacing his cell until he collapses, punching himself in the face and banging his head against the wall. He has spent weeks in the medical wing of Belmarsh, nicknamed “hell wing.” Prison authorities found “half of a razor blade” hidden under his socks. He has repeatedly called the suicide hotline run by the Samaritans because he thought about killing himself “hundreds of times a day.”

These slow-motion executioners have not yet completed their work. Toussaint L’Ouverture, who led the Haitian independence movement, the only successful slave revolt in human history, was physically destroyed in the same manner. He was locked by the French in an unheated and cramped prison cell and left to die of exhaustion, malnutrition, apoplexy, pneumonia and probably tuberculosis.

Prolonged imprisonment, which the granting of this appeal perpetuates, is the point. The 12 years Julian has been detained — seven in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and over five in high-security Belmarsh Prison — have been accompanied by a lack of sunlight and exercise, as well as unrelenting threats, pressure, prolonged isolation, anxiety and constant stress. The goal is to destroy him.

We must free Julian. We must keep him out of the hands of the U.S. government. Given all he did for us, we owe him an unrelenting fight.

If there is no freedom of speech for Julian, there will be no freedom of speech for us.

Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who was a foreign correspondent for fifteen years for The New York Times, where he served as the Middle East Bureau Chief and Balkan Bureau Chief for the paper.

20 May 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

By Priti Gulati Cox with Stan Cox

One of the first things that I heard from people when I immigrated to the United States from the Global South in early 2000 was, “Oh, you speak our language so well.” To which I would reply politely that it was one of the things that the British left behind, but would think to myself that well, actually, I learnt it from the same imperialists you did.

Then 9/11 happened. That day, for many in this country, was the beginning of history, just as October 7 is treated today. It’s as if the two events happened in ahistorical vacuums.

For a native of a once-colonized India whose country’s history cannot be separated from the exploits of empire, it can seem short-sightedly luxurious for people of the Global North, especially here in the U.S., to absorb October 7 in that vacuum, severed from its historical context.

There was no one event in India’s history that defined the country’s struggle for liberation. It was the cumulative effects of colonialism, similar to what’s going on in historic Palestine today. And perhaps that’s the difference between how many colonizer-country minds tend to approach current global events versus many colonized-country minds. The former shy away from approaching the events of today in its historical context, whereas the latter can’t help but do the opposite.

1947

I would argue that 1947 was the year that changed the course of history for Palestine, India and the U.S.

First, between 1947 and 1949, as the state of Israel was being born, Zionist forces expelled close to 800,000 Indigenous Palestinians from their homes and occupied their land and their bodies. Then, for the next 75 years, the apartheid state of Israel used collective-punishment tactics in the occupied territories, which has included blockading the Gaza Strip by land, air and sea since 2007, thereby creating the conditions that led to October 7.

Second, in 1947, India won its independence from the British after enduring 267 years of colonial rule. Between 1880 and 1920, during the throes of the Raj, British colonial policies had killed, at a minimum, 100 million Indians. That was the price India had to pay to free herself from colonialism. Furthermore, the effects of the colonizer’s divide-and-rule policies pitted Hindus against Muslims and divided the country along communal lines. Today, that divide is being used by the Hindu majority to turn India, by design, into a Hindu Rashtra (a land for Hindus with Muslims and Christians as second class citizens), just as Israel is trying to do in Palestine by ethnically cleansing the indigenous peoples of historic Palestine with the fantasy goal of creating Greater Israel (a land for Zionists only.) Meanwhile, in its own settler-colony of Kashmir, the Indian state, by design, is “seeking to rewrite history, claiming that a new era of peace has begun in the region, while working to erase any vestiges or memories of resistance,” according to Middle East Eye.

Third, and also in 1947, the U.S. made the initial move that kicked off our Cold War with the Soviet Union, by backing a royalist-fascist regime that grabbed control of the Greek government after World War II. This involved a savage counterinsurgency campaign aimed at destroying the leftist worker- and peasant-led nationalist movement that had led Greece’s fight against the Nazis. The war killed 160,000 Greeks and made refugees of 800,000. In Fateful Triangle: The United States, Israel, and the Palestinians, Noam Chomsky noted, with some understatement, “A major motivation for this counterinsurgency campaign was concern over Middle East oil.” The bloodbath in Greece was supposed to counter an imagined Soviet threat to the Middle East. But another U.S. motivation for backing repression in the Middle East—labeled by Chomsky “the Indigenous threat” —was Arab nationalism. And so it happened that in the 1950s, Washington came to adopt the position that “a powerful Israel is a ‘strategic asset’ for the United States.” And the rest, sadly, is history.

2016

I would also argue, that for our white friends here on this colonized Turtle Island, it all started on November 8, 2016 when half the people of the country cried like never before. If all those tears could’ve been collected in a cloud — no, not that kinda cloud, the real thing — it would’ve been a hard-rain’s-gonna-fall moment. Jokes (but not trite metaphors) aside, when Donald Trump was elected as the 45th president of the United States, Americans got a good taste of the medicine our government has been handing out around the world for more than a century. That was the day when the chickens finally came home to roost after making the global south their killing field, displacement field, and regime-change field. Their targets were now closer to home, and the Indigenous people, Black people, immigrants, Muslims, women, children in schools, LGBTQ people … all became targets in the new roosting grounds.

And freedom for MAGA America never looked sweeter. Guns, supersized pickup trucks “rollin’ coal,” a women-hating Supreme Court majority, anti-abortion amendments, vigilantism targeting minorities, gerrymandering gone wild… yeeeeeeeeehaw! Life was good again in ‘merica.

Then Biden becomes president and the half of America that cried in 2016 heaves a sigh of relief. Until October 7, that is.

Family and neighbors and community and country come first, right? Right. But what happens when that country happens to be the most powerful in the world, spending its entire time since 1947 maintaining world hegemony, with catastrophic consequences for the people of the Global South? Then our communities occupy not only the land within US borders; they occupy Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Syria and all of the other countries that have suffered under our imperialism. Maybe most of all, Palestine.

Especially Palestine. Because when it comes to the Biden-led genocide, the lid’s off the petri dish of U.S.-style democracy, and the priorities of far too many Americans — including Democratic party operatives and other liberal apologists for genocide — have been revealed for all to see. At the same time, all can see the genocide in Gaza documented every second of the day by journalists and on social media.

The Present

Now, close to six months before Election Day, the freaked-out anti-MAGA segment of American society further removes itself from that paramount historical context when they view world-changing events like October 7 through partisan eyes. Please don’t get me wrong. I’m as anti-MAGA and freaked out as anyone else with a thinking brain and a kind heart. But I’m more freaked out about the vacuum that has sucked in the liberal imagination of today’s Bidenistan than I am about a future Trumpistan—simply because the later scenario wouldn’t be possible if it weren’t for the failings of the former.

Things we fear Trump might do, Biden is already doing. It is imperative upon us to pay close attention not to the man or the party, but their policies and their perennial words.

It’s perennial U.S. government policies as a whole that will finally take us down, not this or that president. If we insist on viewing what’s in front of us (this video, celebratory music and all, was uploaded by an Israeli soldier) as a monoculture landscape, i.e., a dreaded Trumpistan, then we have a lot of catching up to do. And we’re way past the time for such political luxuries, just as we’re way past the time for climate luxuries. Our liberal friends need to apply the same measure of justice and urgency to the consequences of U.S. imperial policies as they do to climate justice policies, for instance. It’s not one or the other. It’s both.

Of course you’re afraid of a Trump presidency. I am too. But for heaven’s sake, let’s confine the consequences of that defeat to U.S. borders. If we lack the imagination to look at the countries that American empire has affected over the years as part of our own community, then we have no right to speak for them and say that this or that president will make it worse for them. They know better, and so should we.

In fact, if you look around, some of the same people liberals are wanting to spare a second Trumpistan are as anti-Biden and anti-genocide as can be: Muslim women who are being harassed on the streets of this country, professors, students, Indigenous people, climate justice activists, LGBTQ people. Not only are they on the right side of history; they’re making history. Right now.

Dreams

It’s imperative upon us not to take this history and our obligations lightly. Listen to the message conveyed to us in America by Gaza resident Abubaker Abed on April 27 in an interview with The Electronic Intifada: “This is our yellow rose. It is in fact the best thing we have at the moment. Because, we see hope through it. Despite the destruction, despite the truly unbearable circumstance we are living under at the moment, we still seek out hope [and] we see hope in you… I, Abubaker, am sending a message of love, a message of hope to everyone of you from Central Gaza, in Dier al-Balah.”

We can start by using our imagination to smell Abubaker Abed’s yellow roses that he grows so lovingly, more than 5500 miles away from us in Dier al-Balah, where exactly three months to the day before Abubaker’s interview, on January 27, 18-month-old Hoor Nusseir lost her parents, her brothers and her tiny hands in an Israeli bombing. If our tax dollars and government support continue being used to maim her and thousands other children, kill freed detainees like Farouk Al Khatib who died due to medical negligence during his detention, deliberately target schools and health centers, detain and torture children, starve Palestinians, dehumanize and humiliate them, and flatten their land till kingdom come, then we are responsible for the actions of our governments past, present and future. In Abubaker’s words, “The core difference between us and the world is that Palestinians are dreaming to live, while all the world are living to dream.”

Taking Abubaker’s words to heart, we all can immediately smell his yellow roses. At least that’s my hope.

Priti Gulati Cox, (@PritiGCox) is an artist and writer. Her work has appeared in Countercurrents, CounterPunch, Salon, Truthout, Common Dreams, the Nation, AlterNet, and more.

Stan Cox is the author of The Path to a Livable Future: A New Politics to Fight Climate Change, Racism, and the Next Pandemic, The Green New Deal and Beyond: Ending the Climate Emergency While We Still Can, and the current In Real Time climate series at City Lights Books.

20 May 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

By Andre Damon

On Monday, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court applied for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

ICC prosecutor Karim Khan accused the Israeli leaders of presiding over the “murder” and “extermination” of Palestinians, as part of a “common plan to use starvation as a method of war and other acts of violence against the Gazan civilian population as a means to … collectively punish the civilian population of Gaza.”

In announcing the charges, the prosecutor accused Netanyahu and Gallant of “the following war crimes and crimes against humanity”: “Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare as a war crime”; “Wilfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health … or cruel treatment as a war crime”; “Willful killing … or Murder as a war crime”; “Extermination and/or murder …, including in the context of deaths caused by starvation.”

The prosecutor declared, “We submit that the crimes against humanity charged were committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack against the Palestinian civilian population pursuant to State policy. These crimes, in our assessment, continue to this day.”

In addition to Netanyahu and Gallant, Khan also applied for arrest warrants against leaders of Hamas, which no doubt reflects pressure from the capitalist governments and supporters of Israel. However, the main political significance of the request for warrants is clear: The state of Israel is a criminal regime.

The charges fully vindicate the global mass protests that have erupted over the past seven months, which have been subject to vicious slander from the ruling class and the media. Protesters have been beaten, arrested and accused of “antisemitism” for denouncing and seeking to halt one of the greatest war crimes of the modern period.

Responding to the charges, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared, “With what audacity do you dare to compare the monsters of Hamas to the soldiers of the IDF, the most moral army in the world?”

This “most moral army in the world” has destroyed the majority of houses, schools and hospitals in Gaza, alongside every single university. Its leaders have referred to Gaza’s civilian population as “animals,” declaring, “There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel,” asserting their intent to carry out collective punishment against an “entire nation.”

Indeed, it is the “most moral army” since Hitler’s Wehrmacht.

The Biden administration responded with its own furious denunciation of the ICC prosecutor’s charges. In a statement, Biden declared, “The ICC prosecutor’s application for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous. And let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence—none—between Israel and Hamas. We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security.”

Indeed, there is no equivalence. The Palestinians are living under horrifying conditions of oppression and illegal occupation by Israel. Even if one were to draw an equal sign between the oppressor, Israel, and the oppressed, the Palestininans, Israel has killed 40 Gazans for every Israeli killed in the October 7 attacks.

Biden’s condemnation of the International Criminal Court came less than 24 hours after he spoke at Morehouse College in Georgia, where he declared, “I’ve called for … an immediate ceasefire to stop the fighting.” But Biden’s response to the prosecutor’s indictment makes it clear that his criticisms of the Netanyahu government are cynical exercises in damage control, aimed at facilitating and enabling the Gaza genocide.

The Biden administration’s efforts to refute the prosecutor’s indictment consists of one absurdity after another.

“The United States has been clear since well before the current conflict that the ICC has no jurisdiction over this matter,” declared State Department spokesman Matthew Miller. This is not true. In 2021, the International Criminal Court ruled that “the Court can exercise its criminal jurisdiction in the Situation in the State of Palestine,” including both Gaza and the West Bank, following the adoption of the Rome Statute by Palestine in 2015.

Notably, the White House supported ICC proceedings against Russian President Vladimir Putin over the Ukraine war, despite the fact that neither Ukraine nor Russia was a signatory of the Rome Statute.

When pressed to answer who does have jurisdiction to say whether Israel was committing war crimes, Miller absurdly replied, “Israel.” That is, the criminals should adjudicate whether or not they are guilty of the crime.

Miller declared that the indictment “could jeopardize ongoing efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement that would get hostages out of Gaza and surge humanitarian assistance.” But Hamas has already accepted the terms proposed by the United States for the release of hostages in exchange for a ceasefire, terms that were rejected by Israel.

Biden was joined by leading officials in both the Democratic and Republican parties in denouncing the prosecutor’s actions. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson threatened to sanction the International Criminal Court, which would itself be a violation of international law.

Aside from defending Israel, the response of US officials expresses the acknowledgement that they are guilty of aiding and supporting all the crimes the prosecutor detailed. Johnson stated this concern explicitly, warning, “If the ICC is allowed to threaten Israeli leaders, ours could be next.”

Indeed. The entire political establishment in the United States, Johnson and Biden among them, stands guilty of financing, arming and politically justifying a genocide.

In concluding the indictment, the prosecutor declared, “If we do not demonstrate our willingness to apply the law equally, if it is seen as being applied selectively, we will be creating the conditions for its collapse …”

This state of affairs is not a distant hypothetical but an actual fact. The imperialist powers murder and torture all over the world with impunity. They act as a law unto themselves, defying international law at every turn.

While the ICC certainly carries moral weight, it will have no effect on the policies of the imperialist governments.  It has been nearly five months since the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to stop killing and starving Palestinian civilians. Since that time, tens of thousands of Palestinians have been murdered, and the entire population has been denied food, water and medical care.

Workers and young people should have no illusions in the United Nations or any other bourgeois institutions of international law to stop the Gaza genocide.

That can only happen through the mass mobilization of the working class, together with young people all over the world, in taking the lead in the fight against Zionism, imperialism and the capitalist system.

21 May 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

By Amir Nour

“In the emerging world of ethnic conflict and civilizational clash, Western belief in the universality of Western culture suffers three problems: it is false; it is immoral; and it is dangerous.”

(Samuel Phillips Huntington)^[1]

Often misattributed to Albert Einstein, the famous adage that “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results” has rarely been more apt than in the case of the traditionally biased Western governments’ position vis-à-vis the Israeli-Arab and Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Remarkably unanimous as far as the substance of the problem is concerned – even though  occasionally divergent on paltry details of pure form – these governments, as well as their powerful relays among the globalist elites and mainstream media, have invariably supported and defended loud and clear the theses and objectives of the Israeli occupier, giving themselves a clear conscience by making false promises and failed commitments to the Palestinians, who in the process have steadily been uprooted from their ancestral lands.

Because of their customary hypocritical posturing and morally bankrupt double-standard language and procedures, they have culpably contributed to the perpetuation of both the plight of the Palestinians and a conflict that colonial Great Britain and France in particular and Nazi Germany created during the past century, and which the United States of America constantly feeds in order to serve its strategic interests  in a world it has relentlessly strived to dominate and control exclusively since the end of the Second World War.

As a result, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has today become explosive, while its solution, on a just and lasting basis, seems to be moving further and further away, giving rise to an unprecedented degree of despair, mutual hatred and violence in an historically volatile region. The ongoing horrendous Israeli onslaught on the besieged Gaza Strip – the fifth of its kind in just 15 years – is further destabilizing the whole region. It is also gravely jeopardizing international peace and security and seriously undermining the credibility and durability of the whole international order put in place in 1945.

In this respect, as early as 2018, I asserted that “Epochal developments in nearly all areas of human activity have triggered increasing concern about the sustainability of an international order conceived, shaped and erected in large measure by the United States of America, in the wake of World War II, thanks to its overwhelming economic and military power. But this so-called US-led ‘liberal’ order has been witnessing steady erosion and is today brutally called into question, to say the least. And surprisingly enough, its very foundations have been subjected to incessant assaults carried out by those who have constructed it (…) As John Ikenberry stated, ‘the world’s most powerful state has begun to sabotage the order it created. A hostile revisionist power has indeed arrived on the scene, but it sits in the Oval Office, the beating heart of the Free world’.^[2] The conjunction of such realities as illegal wars waged by self-proclaimed global policemen against weaker ‘disobedient’ albeit sovereign states, and unparalleled economic inequality stemming from the contradictions of capitalist globalization and the behavior of unfettered corporate expansion exploiting almost every area of public and private life, has generated a growing global authoritarianism and social Darwinism (…) Pankaj Mishra^[3] aptly captured and eloquently summed up the big picture and the choreography of this danse macabre in which the world got trapped. He rightly observed that ‘future historians may well see such uncoordinated mayhem as commencing the third – and the longest and the strangest – of all world wars, one that approximates, in its ubiquity, a global civil war’”.

Alas, in its annual report 2023/2024 on “The State of the World’s Human Rights”, Amnesty International is painting a similar gloomy picture. Indeed, the UK-based non-governmental organization that campaigns to end abuses of human rights worldwide is sounding alarm on what it says is a watershed moment for international law amid flagrant rule-breaking by governments and corporate actors, which are abandoning the founding values of humanity and universality enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Powerful governments, it explains, cast humanity into an era devoid of effective international rule of law, with civilians in conflicts paying the highest price; rapidly changing artificial intelligence is left to create fertile ground for racism, discrimination and division in landmark year for public elections; and standing against these abuses, people the world over mobilized in unprecedented numbers, demanding human rights protection and respect for our common humanity. All of this “in the midst of deepening global inequality, superpowers vying for supremacy and an escalating climate crisis” said Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Agnès Callamard. But where many governments have failed to abide by international law, she goes on to say, “we have also seen others calling on international institutions to implement the rule of law. And where leaders the world over have failed to stand up for human rights, we have seen people galvanized to march, protest and petition for a more hopeful future (…) People have made it abundantly clear that they want human rights; the onus is on governments to show that they are listening”.

With regard to the genocidal war on Gaza, Callamard stated that “Israel’s flagrant disregard for international law is compounded by the failures of its allies to stop the indescribable civilian bloodshed meted out in Gaza. Many of those allies were the very architects of that post-World War Two system of law (…) In particular, over the last six months, the United States has shielded and protected the Israeli authorities against scrutiny for the multiple violations committed in Gaza (…) By using its veto against a much-needed ceasefire, the United States has emptied out the [United Nations] Security Council of what it should be doing.”

The blind and ironclad US support for Israel once again manifested itself when its Deputy Ambassador to the UN, Robert Wood, was the only representative of a UN Security Council member country to vote against an Algerian-proposed draft resolution^[4] recommending to grant the state of Palestine full membership at the United Nations Organization. In a vote of 12 in favor to one against, with two abstentions (UK and Switzerland), the Council thus rejected Palestine’s request, which, had it been adopted, would have recommended the General Assembly to hold a vote with the broader UN membership to allow Palestine to join as a full member state.

In so doing, the US administration has doubled down on its almost visceral hostility to such a membership, which it had already opposed in 2012 when the General Assembly adopted – with a vast majority of 138 votes in favor and only 9 against – resolution 67/19 granting Palestine “non-member state” status, as a state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital. Washington’s proclaimed “strong support for a two-state solution” has thus revealed itself to be singularly hollow and contradictory.

Commenting on that issue on X (formerly Twitter), Trita Parsi, founder of the National Iranian American Council and co-founder and executive vice-president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, said “Take a moment to ponder how isolated Biden has made the US. Biden lobbied Japan, South Korea & Ecuador HARD to oppose the Palestine resolution so that the US wouldn’t have to veto. They refused. So Biden cast his 4th veto in 7 months (!!). This is the opposite of leadership”. By the same token, Washington has failed to use its diplomatic weight to accomplish its face-saving goal before the Security Council, has laid bare the contradictions between its words and deeds, and has shown it cannot formulate a coherent strategy that aligns with its own stated values, thereby further exposing its gradual loss of soft power.^[5]

Amnesty International has also finger-pointed several other Western countries for their “grotesque double standards”, including the UK and Germany, continuing to shield and thus bolster the actions of Israel, given those states’ well-founded protests over war crimes by Russia and Hamas. The report specifically condemns the UK for failing to use its leadership role within the UN to prevent human rights violations in Gaza and its weak support for the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation into human rights violations in Israel and Palestine. It also highlights Britain’s unbridled involvement in arming Israel and warns Britain will be “judged harshly by history for its failure to help prevent civilian slaughter in Gaza”.^[6]

Yet, and fortunately enough, the lines are starting to move in a changing global geostrategic context, chiefly under the combined effect of the end of the dismal American unipolar dominance parenthesis, the resurgence of Russia and China on the global stage, and the gradual emergence of a Global South, which legitimately claims the right to participate in the management of the affairs of our increasingly interconnected “planetary village”, most conspicuously under the aegis of the BRICS nations.

It is hoped therefore that there will soon be an end to the plunge into the abyss of lawlessness, unaccountability and impunity, lest the disenchanted peoples of the Earth, starting with those of the Arab-Muslim world, irreparably lose faith in the so-called Western liberal values and norms of freedom, equality, human rights, democracy, and rule of law.

The government of South Africa courageously showed the way by dragging Israel through the International Court of Justice, and the Chief Prosecutor of the ICC Karim Khan must quickly follow in its footstep, despite the scandalous letter^[7] sent by 12 U.S. senators threatening to take action against him and his staff if the ICC issues international arrest warrants against Israeli officials. In this letter, which blatantly violates international law, the U.S. lawmakers told Khan: “If you issue a warrant for the arrest of the Israeli leadership, we will interpret this not only as a threat to Israel’s sovereignty but to the sovereignty of the United States (…) Target Israel and we will target you [and] will move to end all American support for the ICC, sanction your employees and associates, and bar you and your families from the United States. You have been warned”.

Also worthy of special mention here is the resounding rise of the Vox Populi across the world. It’s increasingly becoming a powerful means in modern political communication, from global popular street protests and demonstrations to smartphones and digital platforms and social media networks, like Facebook a decade ago and TikTok today; the impact of which on political authority, participation and representation is far from negligeable.

The textbook case of genocide that Israel is carrying out against the Palestinian people has inflamed public opinion across the whole world as shown by the millions of pro-Palestinian protesters marching almost daily in rallies on the street of major world cities. These multitudes are united in one overarching demand: ending the Israeli bombardment of Gaza and Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.  Even in the United States, the staunchest supporter of Israel no matter how gravely damaging this blind support has been to the United States’ national and global interests, growing numbers of protesters are taking to the streets of New York City, Washington D.C., Los Angeles and Dallas, among others.

This is particularly true in the case of young people as was powerfully and cogently expressed by actor and environmental activist Harrison Ford: “There’s a new force of nature at hand, stirring all over the world. They are the young people whom frankly we have failed, who are angry, who are organized, who are capable of making a difference. They are a moral army. And the most important thing that we can do for them is to get the hell out of their way.”^[8]

One cannot but notice, however, that this advice has yet to be heeded by the powers that be. This is once again illustrated by the violent repression of the ongoing students protests – which are reminiscent of opposition to the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s, the anti-capitalist Occupy Wall Street guerilla war of 2011, and the Black Lives Matter international social movement formed in the US in 2013 and dedicated to fighting racism and anti-Black violence – especially in the United States and in a growing number of Western countries, including the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Belgium, Australia and New Zealand.

Furthermore, as observed by Chris Hedges^[9], not one university president has denounced Israel’s destruction of every university in Gaza; not one has called for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire; not one has used the words “apartheid” or “genocide”, or called for sanctions on and divestment from Israel. Instead, he says, “heads of these academic institutions grovel supinely before wealthy donors, corporations – including weapons manufacturers – and rabid right-wing politicians. They reframe the debate around harm to Jews rather than the daily slaughter of Palestinians, including thousands of children. They have allowed the abusers – the Zionist state and its supporters – to paint themselves as victims.^[10] This false narrative, which focuses on anti-Semitism, allows the centers of power, including the media, to block out the real issue – genocide”.

Thus, for instance, during four hours of grueling testimony before the Republican-led Committee on Education and the Workforce, the president of Columbia University Minouche Shafik was even grilled about allegations of antisemitism on her campus. In a surreal moment during that congressional hearing, Republican Georgia Congressmember Rick Allen brought up the Bible in his questioning of Shafik. He cited the Old and New Testament and asked Shafik if she wanted Columbia University to be cursed by God!^[11]

For his part, Gilad Erdan, the Israeli Ambassador to the UN in New York took his point in this regard to ridiculous extreme by declaring publicly that the pro-Palestine and pro-peace protesters in US campuses are ideologically the same as Hamas. At a meeting of the UN General Assembly about Palestinian statehood, he said that the chants of the pro-Palestinian rioters on campuses are calls for Israel’s destruction, adding: “We always knew that Hamas hides in schools. We just didn’t realize that it’s not only schools in Gaza; it’s also Harvard, Columbia and many elite universities”!^[12]

Also speaking about these protests – which have sprung up at lightning speed on dozens of American campuses covering two-thirds of U.S. states, and are now taking center stage on the international political and media theatre – Shahid King Bolsen argues^[13] that the students are protesting against the ongoing genocide, the crime of crimes; a genocide for which the entire collective West is culpable, but of which America is the key enabler, sponsor, defender, protector, funder, armor, and in many ways, the architect. The students, he goes on to say, are being cracked down upon for disavowing and disassociating themselves and their educational institutions from the crimes that their country is perpetuating in Palestine. He pointed out that these protests, which are by no means the first of their kind as they have been ongoing since October 2023, have now reached the ivy league, that is the “crème de la crème” of the institutions of the ruling class, the soil from which the ruling class grow their next generation of leaders. Some cop on the Harvard campus, he adds, “probably just zip tied the future president of the United States, a future Secretary of State, a future diplomat, a future dignitary”.  Bolson rightly reminds us that on those same campuses, there have been demonstrations against Russia and in favor of Ukraine as well as protests against China over Xinjiang, and there were no zip ties, no arrests, and no young students going to jail; but the moment they start demanding that their institutions “stop partnering with Israel over a genocide and all hell breaks loose”. He also quite appropriately reminded us that in 2020 this same generation was going around, knocking down statues of slave owners and colonizers. This generation, he remarked, “didn’t have a chance to try to oppose slavery and colonization a century ago or two centuries ago, so they just pulled down all the icons of slavery and colonization. Everything that they could find, they tore it down. But right now, today they have the opportunity to actively oppose and fight against present day colonization in Palestine, and that’s what they’re doing”. These young people, Bolson concludes, “have been primed to take over the system, and instead of taking over the system they’re taking the system down (…) America’s most prestigious campuses have become occupied territories. This is a total system breakdown (…) It’s a tectonic shift. The epicenter is in Gaza but the shock waves are shaking the foundation of American power”.

While it’s true that American opinion continues to vigorously support Israelis rather than Palestinians^[14], the current war on Gaza is precipitating the steady decline in Israel’s popularity over the past decade among Democrats and young people, signaling a yawning political and generational divide. It is very likely that President Biden will pay the price of it in November against Donald Trump.

As a consequence of this momentous historical evolution, there are clear signs of a revolt brewing both in the West and among Global South nations and peoples. And after more than three centuries of complete Western domination, a process of de-Westernization of the world coupled with a transition to a multipolar global order seem to be inexorably underway.

To be sure, there is, for once, a silver lining in this new environment for the innocent, dispossessed and oppressed Palestinian people, and for the endlessly and purposefully divided and tormented part of the world they belong to, which the European colonizers once called the “Near East” until the Americans, pursuant to strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan’s determination, decided it should rather be known as the “Middle East”.^[15] Thanks to their steadfast resistance and indescribable sacrifices, Palestinians have at last, and against all odds, succeeded in having their just cause front and center at the global stage. Thus, they have decidedly paved the way for a long-awaited independence and a dignified life on their stolen ancestral land.

Amir Nour is an Algerian researcher in international relations, author of the book L’Orient et l’Occident à l’heure d’un nouveau Sykes-Picot (“The Orient and the Occident in time of a New Sykes-Picot”), Editions Alem El Afkar, Algiers, 2014: downloadable free of charge, by clicking on the following links:

http://algerienetwork.com/blog/lorient-et-loccident-a-lheure-dun-nouveau-sykes-picot-par-amir-nour/  (French)
http://algerienetwork.com/blog/العالم-العربي-على-موعد-مع-سايكس-بيكو-ج/ (Arabic)

____________________________________________

[1] Samuel Phillips Huntington, “The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order”, Simon & Schuster, 1 January 1998.

[2] G. John Ikenberry, “The Plot Against American Foreign Policy: Can the Liberal Order Survive?”, Foreign Affairs, May/June 2017.

[3] Pankaj Mishra, “Age of Anger: A History of the Present”, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2017.

[4] See United Nations News, “US vetoes Palestine’s request for full UN membership”, 18 April 2024. The draft resolution is among the shortest in the Council’s history: “The Security Council, having examined the application of the State of Palestine for admission to the United Nations (S/2011/592), recommends to the General Assembly that the State of Palestine be admitted to membership in the United Nations.” Palestine has been a “Permanent Observer” at the UN since 2012, before which it was an observer in the UN General Assembly.

[5] Bradley Blankenship, “The Middle East crisis has made one thing clear about the US”, RT, 22 April 2024.

[6] Karen McVeigh, “UK accused by Amnesty of ‘deliberately destabilizing’ human rights globally”, The Guardian, 24 April 2024.

[7] To read the letter: https://www.politico.com/f/?id=0000018f-4e0e-d759-a9ff-ff4ee9420000

[8] Harrison Ford, statement on the importance of rainforests during the UN Climate Action Summit 2019, 23 September 2019.

[9] Chris Hedges, “Revolt in the Universities”, ScheerPost, 25 April 2024.

[10] Read in this respect: Robert Tait, “Sanders hits back at Netanyahu: ‘It is not antisemitic to hold you accountable’”, The Guardian, 27 April 2024. In a two-and-a-half-minute video, Sanders – who sponsored an unsuccessful Senate bill in January to make US aid to Israel conditional on its observance of human rights and international law – listed a catalogue of Israeli crimes in Gaza, including the destruction of infrastructure, hospitals, universities and schools, along with the killing of more than 400 health workers.

[11] Excerpt from the dialogue: “Rep. Rick Allen: Are you familiar with Genesis 12:3? Minouche Shafik: “Probably not as well as you are, Congressman”. Allen: “Well, it’s pretty clear. It was the covenant that God made with Abraham. And that covenant was real clear: ‘If you bless Israel, I will bless you. If you curse Israel, I will curse you.’ And then, in the New Testament, it was confirmed that all nations would be blessed through you (…)  Do you consider that a serious issue? I mean, do you want Columbia University to be cursed by God, of the Bible?” Definitely not, answered Shafik. The Congressman then concluded by saying: “OK. Well, that’s good”.

[12] Voice of America News, “More US campus unrest erupts over war in Gaza”, 1 May 2024.

[13] Shahid King Bolsen, “University Protests for Palestine | Campus Protests Signaling Significant Change in America”, Middle Nation, 27 April 2024: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zAvTEBLme8

[14] Jeffrey M. Jones, “Americans’ Views of Both Israel, Palestinian Authority Down”, 4 March 2024. According to Gallup figures, young adults show the biggest decline in ratings of Israel, dropping from 64% favorable among 18- to 34-year-olds in 2023 to 38%. Middle-aged adults (those aged 35 to 54) show a smaller but still significant drop, from 66% to 55%, while there has been no meaningful change among adults aged 55 and older.

[15] Read the brilliant analysis of Chas W. Freeman Jr., “The Middle East is Once Again West Asia”, Remarks to the Middle East Forum at Falmouth, 6 August 2023.

20 May 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

By Samina Salim

Sons and daughters in faraway lands, give promise to justice, a resolve so bold,
White, black, and brown speak to power, in defiance, their unity refuses to fold,

Then, there are those, big and tall, selfish men, and women with a broken soul,
White, black, and brown, bigoted, and shy, to their masters is their loyalty sold,

Sons and daughters in faraway lands, to you I send my love, your bravery is gold,
White, black, and brown, serving truth, peace and justice, your story will be told,

Then, there are those, hungry for power and fame, while living the life of a troll
White, black, and brown, obediently prostrate in subservience as the drums roll

Sons and daughters in faraway lands, we owe you an apology, morality must uphold
White, black, and brown, leading the way, shining the light, on a journey to behold

Then, there are those, biased, rabid, and prejudiced who best fit the racist mold
White, black, and brown, united in hate, blow a trumpet, their ensemble exposed

Sons and daughters in faraway lands, lead the way, pave the path, hands they hold
White, black, and brown, have taken the side of the weak, pride we can’t withhold
Respect for a resolve so bold, a cause so pure, their pain untold, but the grit unsold

Samina Salim is Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacological & Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Houston

18 May 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

By Tom Carter

On Thursday and Friday, the International Court of Justice, located in The Hague, held emergency hearings in the pending case brought by the government of South Africa accusing Israel of committing genocide in violation of the 1948 Genocide Convention.

The hearings featured further devastating presentations of what the South African ambassador called the “continuing annihilation of the Palestinian people.”

This week’s hearings were held in response to a May 10 request by South Africa for “preliminary measures,” or emergency interim orders, demanding an immediate halt to Israeli military operations in Gaza and unimpeded access for humanitarian aid agencies, journalists, and United Nations staff.

In support of these requested measures, the representatives of South Africa argued that Israel has violated all of the court’s prior orders and is in the process of massively escalating its efforts to physically exterminate or expel the population of Gaza.

In particular, the presentations this week focused on the ongoing assault by Israeli armed forces on Rafah, the “last refuge” for 1.5 million Palestinians, most of whom have been forcibly displaced from central and northern Gaza.

The presentations by South Africa juxtaposed the war crimes being committed on a daily basis by Israeli forces in Gaza with the relentless genocidal incitement issuing from Israeli military and political figures. Israel’s Minister of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich, for example, declared last month that “there are no half measures. Rafah, Deir al-Balah, Nuseirat—total annihilation.”

Smotrich, a member of Israel’s Security Cabinet, went on to invoke the racist and obscurantist trope of “Amalek” to argue for the complete extermination of Palestinians: “You shall blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.”

In one unusually sharp moment during Thursday’s proceedings, barrister Vaughan Lowe, arguing on behalf of South Africa, challenged the judges on the inadequacy of all of the orders they previously issued in the case.

“South Africa is here because the Palestinian people are facing genocide in Gaza, and your previous orders have not succeeded in protecting them against that,” he said. “Whether because of a lack of clarity as to precisely what the orders require or because Israel chooses to ignore them,” he continued, “they have not been effective.”

“Israel is escalating its attacks on Palestinians in Gaza, and in so doing is willfully breaching the binding orders of this Court,” argued South African ambassador Vusimuzi Madonsela, opening the proceedings Thursday.

Madonsela described Israel as exhibiting “institutionalized impunity,” repeatedly breaching binding resolutions of the UN Security Council and behaving as it if is “exempt from having to respect international law.”

“This institutionalized impunity,” Madonsela continued, “has led Israel to engage in this genocide, which has shocked the conscience of humanity.”

Referring to the ongoing assault on Rafah, Lowe argued that “it has become increasingly clear that Israel’s actions in Rafah are part of the endgame in which Gaza is utterly destroyed as an area capable of human habitation. This is the last step in the destruction of Gaza and its Palestinian people.”

Lowe referred with contempt to arguments that Israel is “doing everything in its power to avoid civilian deaths,” that Israel is exercising its “right to self-defense,” and that “Israel’s army is the most moral army in history.” Insisting that “the evidence has to be faced,” Lowe argued that all of the information coming out of Gaza tells a “consistent story of unimaginable horror, and it continues as we speak.”

“Nothing—not self-defense or anything else—can ever justify genocide,” Lowe declared.

“Israel has defied every single provisional measure indicated by this Court,” argued South African high court advocate Adila Hassim.

“This time last year, Rafah was home to around 275,000 Palestinians,” Hassim explained. “As a result of Israel’s onslaught and its evacuation orders covering more than three quarters of Gaza’s total territory, 1.2 million additional Palestinians fled into Rafah, under order of Israel, as a place of last refuge.”

“Now,” she continued, “Israel has issued further evacuation orders, directing Palestinians to leave Rafah. In just the past week, 600,000 Palestinians have been forced to flee from Rafah, but with nowhere to go. There is a total collapse of infrastructure, of sanitation, of water, of food supply: in short, the conditions necessary to sustain life for the 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza.”

Hassim called Israel’s actions in Rafah a “coordinated plan aimed at the destruction of the essential foundations of Palestinian life” in Gaza.

Her voice breaking momentarily with emotion as she described the conditions facing the children of Gaza, Hassim described how more than “14,000 have been killed, thousands more have been injured or lost family members, while an estimated 17,000 children are unaccompanied or separated” from their families.

“The thwarting of humanitarian aid,” Hassim continued, “cannot be seen as anything but the deliberate snuffing-out of Palestinian lives: starvation to the point of famine, obstructing aid in the face of famine, and killing of at least 200 aid workers.”

On April 10, Hassim stated, “a UN inspection team reported that Khan Younis was reduced to rubble and dirt, and returnees discovered ghastly scenes of unearthed mass graves containing the massacred bodies of the elderly, women, children and men at Al Nasser hospital.”

“Blue scrubs reportedly still clothed the dead bodies of medical staff; many were decapitated. Three hundred and twenty-four decomposing bodies were discovered, many stripped and handcuffed—of these only 42 were identified. Another 30 bodies were discovered in two mass graves in Al Shifa hospital, with only 12 bodies identified.”

Hassim added, “These bodies included women and children, with many reportedly showing signs of torture and summary executions.”

Hassim concluded, “All of what I have described must stop. Israel must be stopped.”

In a presentation detailing the “genocidal intent” of the Israeli regime, South African High Court advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi described how direct incitements to genocide continued to be made by leading figures in the Israeli state, even after the ICJ issued orders in January nominally calling for such statements to be halted and investigated. This included statements by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant, and Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich.

Ngcukaitobi described how the Vice Chair of the international arm of Netanyahu’s Likud Party recently declared: “I think we needed to invade Rafah yesterday. To go in and to get them … There are no uninvolved . . . go in and kill and kill and kill.”

Ngcukaitobi described the widespread use of genocidal language by Israeli soldiers on the ground “to conquer Gaza”, “to flatten Gaza”, “to erase Gaza,” “to destroy Gaza . . . [and a]fter that, Ramallah also.” Israeli soldiers serving in Gaza continue to openly call for “death to Arabs,” declaring “may you burn alive,” that “Gaza is burning,” that “we’ll burn your mother,” and that “[a]ll of Sajaiya will burn in flames.”

Ngcukaitobi described how one Israeli singer adapted the racist Israeli football chant “may your village burn,” changed it to “may Gaza be erased,” and sang it to Israeli soldiers in live performances. For this, the singer was presented with an official certificate of appreciation by the Deputy Speaker of the Knesset.

The genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, the highest judicial body of the United Nations, was initiated in December. The proceedings attracted worldwide attention in January, when a series of presentations made by South Africa’s representatives were widely circulated on social media. These presentations revealed the scale and ferocity of Israel’s war crimes to a global audience.

On January 26, the ICJ issued a tortured and politically compromised decision, finding that the rights of the Palestinian population of Gaza to be protected from genocide were “plausibly implicated,” but refusing to order a ceasefire. Instead, the ICJ issued a series of “preliminary measures” that largely consisted of ordering the government of Israel to comply with its existing general obligations under international law—despite the fact that Israel has been ignoring those obligations for decades.

In February, in response to a further emergency request from South Africa, the ICJ again refused to order a halt to the ongoing massacre, instead ordering Israel to comply with the earlier provisional measures from January.

In March, in response to repeated requests by South Africa, the ICJ ultimately issued additional provisional measures, including an order for Israel to permit humanitarian assistance to reach Gaza “at scale.” In March, the ICJ also ordered Israel directly not to “commit acts which constitute a violation of any of the rights of the Palestinians in Gaza as a protected group under the [Genocide] Convention.”

For its part, Israel ignored all of these rulings, as it has been defying UN General Assembly and Security Council resolutions for decades. In response to the proceedings in January, Netanyahu declared publicly that Israeli operations in Gaza would continue no matter what orders the court handed down: “No one will stop us—not The Hague, not the axis of evil, and not anyone else.”

Israel’s official response at the ICJ on Friday was to argue that South Africa’s arguments had an “ulterior motive” of supporting Hamas. “South Africa enjoys close relations with Hamas,” argued Israel’s representative Gilad Noam, who also argued that Israel’s military objective was to “liberate” Gaza from Hamas.

Israel’s representatives also cynically argued that South Africa’s presentations were illegitimate because of their “heavy reliance on documents prepared by third parties or under the auspices of the United Nations, when these cannot be said to constitute sufficient evidence of a reliable quality.”

Arguing the case for South Africa Thursday, Lowe anticipated and answered this argument. “The details are not always easy to verify because Israel continues to bar independent investigators and journalists from entering Gaza, and over 100 journalists who were in Gaza have been killed since the Israeli attacks began,” Lowe said. “Israel cannot block investigations by independent investigators and then say that the Court cannot proceed because there is insufficient evidence against it.”

The ICJ is composed of 15 judges appointed for a nine-year term by the UN General Assembly and the Security Council. It is expected to issue a ruling in the coming weeks on this latest request for “provisional measures,” while the underlying case is expected to last for many more months before reaching a final determination.

The ICJ, which has authority over all countries that are part of the UN, is a different judicial body than the International Criminal Court, which was created by a separate treaty that not all countries have signed. While the ICJ proceedings continue, the ICC is reported to be currently conducting war crimes investigations against senior Israeli military figures.

While the US government championed an ICC arrest warrant against Russian president Vladimir Putin last year, both the US and Israel refuse to recognize the ICC’s authority to issue arrest warrants against their own political and military figures.

18 May 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

By Dr Marwan Asmar

After 10 days of fighting in Gaza the Palestinian resistance have destroyed 100 Israeli military vehicles that included tanks, large-scale bulldozers and troop carriers. This is in addition to tens of soldiers killed and injured on the streets of Jabalia, its Camp, Al Zaitoun neigborhood of Gaza City and Rafah.

The figures were given recently by the Izz Al Din Al Qassam military spokesman Abu Obaida, Friday evening. He says the war by the Palestinian resistance on the Israeli army which started a protracted onslaught on these areas of Gaza, is being carried with renewed sense of purpose and destiny.

He adds Palestinian are alive, well and kicking despite the deadly onslaught against them over the last eight months and are ready to meet and stay steadfast against the Israeli invaders. This is not the first time they have entered these places. In Al Zaitoun, they entered the area for the third time. The case is the same for Jabalia. The battle raging now is the second in as many months.

The Israeli army have already said that they already eradicated the presence of Hamas from the north but this is clearly is a wrong assumption. If this was the case, they wouldn’t keep coming back for more with the tactics of the resistance movement far superior, relaying on urban warfare and ease of movement in addition to the deep underground tunnels they are coming out from.

In Al Zaitoun, the Israelis are being hammered with their tanks proving awkward and bulky and resistance fighters having greater edge, moving faster and quicker whilst carrying their “carry on” missiles and shells.

They are already reports the Israeli army had to withdraw from this neigborhood under heavy fire. Now, the battle is continuing in Jabalia and its camp where Palestinian fighters are increasing the tempo through its home-made launchers, missiles, shells, grenades and drones.

Abu Obaida says this is an unequal war between the resistance against one of the strongest armies in the world. However, he adds, the resistance is ready for a long drawn-out conflict if there need be. While he says Hamas is ready for a negotiated settlement in the interest of the Palestinian civilians – over 35,000 killed with 15,000 children and 10,000 women dead – the resistance is ready to continue this war against the Israeli enemy for a long-time if this is what’s required. It is already becoming a war of attrition.

Just before the onslaught on north Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli army were on the verge of another protracted attack on Rafah which has 1.4 million displaced refugees. Some of them – 600,000 so far – are relocating north to Al Mawasi as per the instructions of the Israeli army before a full-blown attack.

However, the Israeli push into Jabalia – which they are yet to penetrate – means their calculations, especially Netanyahu and his Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi may now be altered. Excluding the fact there are now growing mutterings of grievances about the war, the Israeli army is over-stretching itself after months of fighting all over Gaza and may have pushed the Rafah offensive to a later unknown date.

Netanyahu, while insisting on military incursion into the southern city, maybe holding back due to a number of factors. The Israeli army is one, with the other to do with the fact the Palestinian resistance is putting up a strong fight with Israeli soldiers killed and tanks and troop carriers destroyed daily and  Hamas snipers on their trail. The final factor maybe to do with the US President Joe Biden who has repeatedly warned the Israelis not to enter Rafah without a credible plan to protected the displaced Palestinians there.

But can the Americans be trusted since they continue to be the major supplier of weapons to Israel in this drawn-out onslaught. Regardless, Netanyahu might to this as an opportunity not to order a full invasion of Rafah to ease the political heat on him, primarily from the army and the relatives of the 100 and so hostages that continue to be held by Hamas.

He would also be satisfying the call from Biden for the Israeli army is already in east Rafah, hostages’ relatives may continue to be hopeful because they fear a full-scale onslaught will definitely mean their death and dampen voices of dissent among the officers and soldiers. Such manouverings also, may satisfy the extreme rightwing in his coalition cabinet that want him to invade Rafah and end the presence of Hamas.

But this might be a parochial view because of what is happening in northern Gaza which may have indeed pushed back the Israeli offensive in Rafah for further months as the Israeli army is now trying to eradicate Hamas in the north but with no apparent success and is being clobbered daily.

This apparently is becoming a major worry for the Israeli army itself. Some fear if the bloodiness become unbearable soldiers would simply refuse to obey orders if the battles increase and the end of the war is not insight. Already 900 Israeli mothers wrote to Defense Minister Yoav Gallant telling him they don’t want their sons to serve in Gaza.

Gallant, a man who is seen to represent the Israeli army already called on Netanyahu to start looking for a political solution for Gaza rather than continue a war in which the army would lose the “gains” it made in the enclave as he claims, and particularly in light of the fact the army has already said it doesn’t want to stay in Gaza in the so-called “day after”.

Such comments have upset the extreme rightwing lead by Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich who are calling for the resignation of Gallant with the latter accusing for working for Hamas.

This war has proved divisive for the Israelis themselves, right up from the higher political echelons down to the man-in-the street with endless debates of what to do next. Such internal bickering may only end when the guns are down, the Israeli hostages return and a real political solution is found to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands.

Dr Asmar is an Amman-based writer covering Middle East affairs

18 May 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

By Vijay Prashad

In early April 2024, the navies of four countries—Australia, Japan, the Philippines, and the United States—held a maritime exercise in the South China Sea. Australia’s Warramunga, Japan’s Akebono, the Philippines’ Antonio Luna, and the United States’ Mobile worked together in these waters to strengthen their joint abilities and—as they said in a joint statement—to “uphold the right to freedom of navigation and overflight and respect for maritime rights under international law.” A few weeks later, between April 22 and May 8, ships from the Philippines and the United States operated alongside Australian and French naval troops for Exercise Balikatan 2024.

For this Balikatan (“shoulder-to-shoulder”), over 16,000 troops participated in an area of the South China Sea that is outside the territorial waters of the Philippines. Alongside the navies of these nations, the Coast Guard of the Philippines took part in Exercise Balikatan. This is significant because it is the boats of the Coast Guard that most often encounter Chinese ships in these international waters, part of which are disputed between China and the Philippines. Although the official documents of these exercises do not mention China by name, they are certainly designed as part of the increasing military activity driven by the United States along China’s maritime border.

During the Balikatan exercise, the navy vessels from the Philippines and the United States jointly attacked and sank the decommissioned Philippine Navy BRP Lake Caliraya. The ship—which was made in China—had been donated to the navy by the Philippine National Oil Company in 2014. The fact that it was the only ship in the Philippines’ navy that was made in China did not go unnoticed within China. Colonel Francel Margareth Padilla-Taborlupa, a spokesperson of the armed forces of the Philippines, said that this was “purely coincidental.”

During Balikatan, the defense ministers of the four main nations met in Honolulu, Hawaii to discuss the political implications of these military exercises off the coast of China. Australia’s Richard Marles, Japan’s Kihara Minoru, the Philippines’ Gilberto Teodoro, and the United States’ Lloyd Austin met for their second meeting to discuss their collaboration in the region that they call the Indo-Pacific. It was at the edges of this meeting that the public relations teams of these ministers began to float the term “Squad” to refer to these four countries. While they did not formally announce the creation of a new bloc in East Asia, this new nickname intends to provide a de facto announcement of its existence.

From the Quad to the Squad

In 2007, the leaders of Australia, India, Japan, and the United States met in Manila (Philippines) to establish the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (or Quad) while their militaries conducted Exercise Malabar in the Philippines Sea. The Quad did not initially include the Philippines, whose President at the time—Gloria Arroyo—was trying to improve relations between her country and China. The Quad did not develop because Australia’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was unhappy with Washington’s growing belligerence towards Beijing. The Quad revived in 2017, once more in Manila, with a more forthright agenda to work against China’s Belt and Road ambitions in the region (which U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called “predatory economics”).

Over the course of the past two years, the United States has been frustrated with India’s discomfort with the kind of pressure campaign that the U.S. has been mounting against China and Russia. India refused to stop buying discounted Russian energy, which was a pragmatic decision during an election period (although India’s purchase of Russian energy has declined over time). When asked if India will consider being a NATO+ member, India’s foreign minister S. Jaishankar said that India does not share the “NATO mentality.” India’s reluctance to join in the full-throated New Cold War against China annoyed the U.S. government, which therefore decided to set aside the Quad and assemble the Squad with the more pliant and eager government of Philippines president Bongbong Marcos. It is important to note, however, that in April India delivered a batch of supersonic BrahMos cruise missiles to the Philippines (sold for $375 million and produced by a joint venture between arms manufacturers in India and Russia). That these missiles might be part of the new pressure campaign against China is not something buried in the fine print of the deal.

Provocations

Since its “pivot to Asia,” the United States has sought to provoke China. The U.S. trade war that began in 2018 largely fizzled out due to China’s Belt and Road Initiative and its attempt to build the advanced production lines to circumvent U.S. trade restrictions (for instance, when the U.S. tried to prevent China from importing semiconductor chips, the Chinese developed their own manufacturing capacity). The U.S. attempt to make Taiwan into the frontline of its pressure campaign has not borne fruit either. The inauguration of Taiwan’s new president Lai Ching-te on May 20 brings to the helm a man who is not interested in pushing for Taiwan’s independence; only 6 percent of Taiwan’s population favors unification with China or independence, with the rest of the population satisfied with the status quo. Unable to create the necessary provocation over Taiwan, the United States has moved its gunsights to the Philippines.

While the Philippines and China dispute the status of several islands in the waters between them, these disagreements are not sufficient to drive either country to war. In April 2024, former president of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte recalled that when he was president (2016-2022), “there was no quarrel. We can return to normalcy. I hope that we can stop the ruckus over there because the Americans are the ones pushing the Philippine government to go out there and find a quarrel and eventually maybe start a war.” In March, President Marcos said that he is “not poking the bear” and does not want to “provoke” China. However, the formation of the Squad two months later does indicate that the Philippines has now replaced Taiwan as the frontline state for U.S. provocations against China.

China’s vice chair of its Central Military Commission, Zhang Youxia, warned against “gunboat muscles.” “Reality has shown,” he said, “that those who make deliberate provocations, stoke tensions, or support one side against another for selfish gains will ultimately only hurt themselves.”

Vijay Prashad is an Indian historian, editor, and journalist. He is a writing fellow and chief correspondent at Globetrotter.

17 May 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

By Jordan Shilton

Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant announced Thursday that the bloody onslaught on Gaza will be expanded. With over 600,000 people having fled Gaza’s southernmost city since the ground operation began on 6 May, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) is taking its genocide of the Palestinians to a new stage of brutality with the full backing of the US and European imperialist powers.

“This operation will intensify and Hamas is not an organisation that can regenerate itself now,” Gallant declared in a statement released by his office after a visit to the Gaza border near Rafah Wednesday. “It has no reserves, it has no ability to manufacture weapons, it has no supplies, it has no munitions, it has no ability to properly treat terrorists who are injured, and this means we are wearing it down.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu struck a similar tone, describing the “battle” of Rafah as “critical.” He commented, “It’s not just the rest of their battalions, it’s also like an oxygen line for them for escape and resupply. Its completion advances us a huge distance to defeating the enemy.”

Coming from a government for which “terrorists” and “the enemy” are synonymous with the entire population of Gaza, these remarks are chilling. They underscore that the IDF is preparing to butcher a defenceless civilian population and drive the survivors into other areas of Gaza that have been reduced to rubble by over seven months of constant Israeli bombardment. These areas will by no means be exempted from ongoing IDF attacks. Major military operations continued in the north Thursday, where an air strike hit an ambulance in the Jabalia refugee camp, killing two paramedics; a pregnant woman was among four fatalities when an Israeli missile struck a house.

Gallant’s ability to declare an expansion of the slaughter in Rafah is due above all to the green light given by the imperialists in Washington, Berlin, and elsewhere to the Netanyahu government. Late Tuesday, the Biden administration confirmed that it plans to dispatch over $1 billion of weaponry and other military equipment to Israel.

German Foreign Minister Analena Baerbock shed crocodile tears about the fate of civilians in Rafah Thursday, but refused to even suggest that Israel could consider halting its ground offensive. Outrageously laying the blame on Hamas for Israel’s barbaric assault, which went ahead even though Hamas initially acceded to a ceasefire proposal, she pontificated, “It’s clear that Hamas can immediately end the suffering of the people in Gaza. But it’s also clear that the war against Hamas can’t be won by military means alone.”

A letter initiated by Baerbock and signed by 12 other foreign ministers, including all members of the G-7 apart from US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, reportedly warned against a “major military operation” in Rafah and called for border crossings for humanitarian aid to be opened. The letter, which was not made public but reported on by the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung, included a declaration of Israel’s “right” to “defend itself” and a condemnation of Hamas’ 7 October attack. In other words, the humanitarian phrases  are little more than cover for the German government, which was responsible for some 30 percent of Israel’s arms supply between 2019 and 2023, and has been brought before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for its complicity in the genocide.

The expansion of the Rafah onslaught came the same day as South Africa testified at the ICJ to seek the urgent issuing of provisional measures to halt the Gaza genocide. Introducing the petition, South Africa’s ambassador to the Netherlands stated that Gaza has been “largely wiped off the map.”

Blinne Ni Ghralaigh, a lawyer for South Africa, stated that a child has been killed or wounded in Gaza every 10 minutes since Israel launched its genocidal assault. During the hearing, a video was shown with an Israeli reservist who testified that evacuation areas given out by the IDF are considered “extermination zones” by soldiers.

“The evidence before the court indicates that the extent of the carnage in Gaza is of a much-greater magnitude than that pertained to Ukraine and Russia,” Gralaigh told the court. “Indeed, the carnage in Gaza is in an order which exceeds by far the necessities of war and the limits imposed by the laws of war.”

The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs stated Thursday that it is “nearly impossible” to distribute aid in Gaza. Israeli forces remain in control of the Rafah border crossing, and although the Kerem Shalom crossing into Israel is formally open, it is virtually inaccessible for aid deliveries due to military operations.

The World Food Programme, which was forced to suspend its operations in Rafah on 11 May, reported Thursday, “The threat of famine in Gaza never loomed larger.” The organisation noted that acute malnutrition among children aged under two in northern Gaza doubled from 15 percent in January to 30 percent in March. The WFP added, “We have seen the impact of prolonged closures in northern Gaza, and despite recent improvements in access to help mitigate a famine there, we are now also deeply concerned about the fate of hundreds of thousands in the south, if a full-scale operation and closures continue.”

In addition to using starvation as a weapon of war, the far-right Zionist regime has demonstrated its genocidal intent by systematically destroying the basic infrastructure for civilised life in Gaza. Seventy percent of residential housing units have been damaged or destroyed, while 24 out of 36 hospitals have stopped operating. The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor drew attention Thursday to Israel’s targeted destruction of schools and clinics during a recent six-day raid on the Zeitoun neighbourhood in Gaza City and ongoing operations in Jabalia. The Zeitoun Medical Clinic and three schools were obliterated during the raid, while six schools have been targeted in Jabalia.

Gaza’s Government Media Office released shocking figures Thursday showing that the IDF has killed over 100 leading scholars, university professors, and researchers since 7 October. A total of 103 universities and schools have been totally destroyed, while some 311 schools and universities have been damaged. The statement appealed for “All universities and educational sectors in all countries of the world to condemn this crime, which comes within the framework of the crime of genocide.”

This genocide has been the stated goal of the Israeli regime from the outset. Guided by a fascist ideology rooted in Zionism, Netanyahu’s far-right government aims to carry out a barbaric “final solution” of the Palestinian question. It involves massacring as many men, women, and children as possible, and depopulating Gaza by means of ethnic cleansing and starvation in order to create the conditions for a greater Israel on Palestinian territory. The increased lawlessness in the West Bank, where vigilante settlers have a free hand to kill and assault Palestinians and attack aid trucks bound for Gaza, demonstrates that there is no safe place for the Palestinian people.

The only way to stop the genocide in Gaza is through the independent political mobilisation of the international working class. The imperialist powers, who are resorting to methods of ruthless state repression to crush anti-genocide protests and authoritarian forms of rule to contain growing worker opposition to war and austerity, are in alliance with fascists not just in Israel, but also in Ukraine. They are promoting the far right at home, because these are the political forces necessary to enforce their reactionary interests. Opposition to the genocide must be developed by workers around the world, in solidarity with anti-genocide student protesters, by mobilising their social power to halt all military supplies to Israel, and the manufacture of military equipment for the waging of imperialist war and genocide.

17 May 2024

Source: countercurrents.org