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By Jordan Shilton

The International Court of Justice issued a ruling Thursday ordering Israel to provide urgently needed humanitarian aid to Gaza’s desperate 2.3 million inhabitants. The ruling, which starkly declares that “famine is setting in” for the Palestinians, amounts to a damning indictment of Israel’s far-right Netanyahu government and its imperialist backers in Washington and Europe.

The ICJ first ordered Israel to adopt interim measures in January after South Africa brought a complaint alleging the commission of genocide in Gaza. South Africa’s presentation to the court was a devastating exposure of the genocide, demonstrating with reference to statements by senior Israeli government officials, and the brutality of military operations in Gaza, the Zionist regime’s intent to eliminate the Palestinians. Israel was ordered, among other things, to increase aid deliveries and do more to reduce civilian casualties within a month.

Thursday’s ruling declared, “The catastrophic living conditions of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have deteriorated further, in particular in view of the prolonged and widespread deprivation of food and other basic necessities to which the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have been subjected. Palestinians in Gaza are no longer facing only a risk of famine, as noted in the order of 26 January 2024, but that famine is setting in.”

The ICJ also warned Israel to ensure that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) “does not commit acts” in violation of the Genocide Convention, “including by preventing, through any action, the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian assistance.”

Given the undeniable fact that Israel has systematically blocked aid deliveries into Gaza, and massacred Palestinians trying to access food from the few shipments that have made it through, the Court’s statement implicitly accuses Israel of committing genocidal actions. Earlier Thursday, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) noted that “the clock is ticking fast towards famine” and complained about the inability of its aid shipments to reach northern Gaza.

Responding to the court ruling, South Africa’s Presidency issued a statement declaring, “The fact that Palestinian deaths are not solely caused by bombardment and ground attacks, but also by disease and starvation, indicates a need to protect the group’s right to exist.

“The most effective way to uphold this right is through prevention. The court’s actions include specific responsibilities to prevent genocide.”

At least 27 children have died due to malnutrition, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. A five-year-old boy became the latest reported victim Thursday at Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza, where medical staff report a steady stream of malnourished patients. Describing a malnourished infant in his care, a nurse at the facility told Al Jazeera, “You can tell that her age doesn’t match her weight. She’s two months old and yet she’s only two kilos [about 4.5 pounds] and a bit. We got used to receiving such cases in large numbers every day. They often result in death.”

Israel is not only denying food, water, electricity and medical supplies to the Palestinians, but also continuing to deliberately target hospitals across the enclave. The World Health Organisation reported Thursday that just 10 out of 36 hospitals are partially functioning. The latest hospital to cease operating was the al-Amal hospital in Khan Younis, which IDF soldiers surrounded on Tuesday before ordering everyone to leave. The al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, the largest in Gaza, has been under a 10-day siege by the IDF, which has killed at least 200 people during the bloody operation. Among the latest casualties was the journalist Muhammad Abu Sakhil, who was targeted by the IDF.

Conditions at those hospitals still functioning are miserable. According to Al Jazeera, al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir el-Ballah has 800 patients but only 160 beds.

The hellish nightmare facing Gaza’s population is the result of the unreserved support given by US imperialism and its European allies to Israel’s genocide. The US, Germany, Britain and France have supplied the bombs and military equipment with which the IDF has transformed Gaza into a killing zone. Amid an eruption of global outrage over the genocide, these same governments have viciously cracked down on all opposition to Israel’s war crimes, smearing protesters as “antisemites” and criminalising demonstrations outright.

The imperialist powers’ complicity in the genocide has been underscored once again by Monday’s adoption of a “non-binding” resolution by the UN Security Council calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, and the events that followed. Bluntly admitting that Washington’s decision to abstain in the vote so that the resolution could pass was nothing more than a public relations stunt to assuage popular anger, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby stated that the resolution would have “no impact at all” on Israel’s military operations.

This fact has even been acknowledged by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who initially showed his displeasure at Washington’s abstention by canceling a meeting of Israeli officials with the Biden administration to plot the invasion of Rafah. On Thursday, Netanyahu’s office confirmed it had reversed course and that the meeting was now being rescheduled.

Israel has continued to bombard Rafah following the UN resolution without interruption. Citing a local resident, Reuters reported that four houses were struck during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday. On Thursday, at least 12 Palestinians were killed when another house was hit.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) international president Christos Christou told AFP, “We haven’t seen any change after this resolution on the ground. We haven’t seen any impact in…people’s lives there every day.”

Meanwhile, Israel’s channel 12 reported late Wednesday that preparations for assaulting Rafah continue unabated. The army is planning to “deal with tunnels, attack command rooms, and houses where Hamas leaders are hiding.” Taking note of Defence Minister Yoav Gallant’s visit to Washington, where he engaged in two days of talks with Biden administration officials, Channel 12 continued, “Defense Minister Galant is coordinating the military operation in Rafah with his counterparts in Washington.”

The report noted that Netanyahu has ordered the purchase of 40,000 tents from China ostensibly as part of “dealing with the civilian population residing in Rafah.” To describe this as a drop in the bucket under conditions in which over 1.5 million people are crammed into the enclave’s southernmost city would be generous.

During a visit of US congresspeople to Israel Thursday, President Isaac Herzog praised the “unbreakable bond” between the US and Israel. “We share the same objective of eliminating terror,” he asserted.

The impending assault on Rafah, backed to the hilt by the imperialist powers, threatens to take Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians to a new and even bloodier level. Washington supports intensifying the mass slaughter because it views Israel’s “final solution” of the Palestinian question as a key part of its preparations for a region-wide war targeting Iran. Washington hopes through such a conflict to consolidate its dominance over the energy-rich and strategically important Middle East. The immediate danger of an expansion of the conflict was underlined Thursday when the IDF announced a “surprise” exercise including all of its units in the north to prepare for a potential war in Lebanon.

A further deepening of the calamity facing Gaza’s population can be prevented only by the independent political mobilisation of the international working class. The mass protests against the genocide involving millions of people that swept the globe over recent months demonstrates the widespread hostility to genocide and imperialist war. But these events have also demonstrated the bankruptcy of the protests’ self-declared leaderships. The claim that a ceasefire and an end to the onslaught could be accomplished by applying pressure to the imperialist powers and appealing to the United Nations has been thoroughly exposed. The urgent task for workers and young people outraged by the Gaza genocide is to unify their struggle with the powerful eruption of workers’ struggles in every major country over deteriorating working and living conditions in order to build an international anti-war movement led by the working class. This movement must base itself on a socialist and internationalist programme to put an end to capitalism, the source of imperialist war and genocide.

29 March 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

By M Zarni

ICJ upholds South Africa’s additional measures on the impending famine in Gaza.

Israel shall, in conformity with its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, and in view of the worsening conditions of life faced by Palestinians in Gaza:

Take all necessary and effective measures to ensure, without delay, in full co-operation with the United Nations, the unhindered provision at scale by all concerned of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance, including food, water, electricity, fuel, shelter, clothing, hygiene and sanitation requirements, as well as medical supplies and medical care to Palestinians throughout Gaza, including by increasing the capacity and number of land crossing points and maintaining them open for as long as necessary.

Ensure with immediate effect that its Israel’s military does not commit acts which constitute a violation of any of the rights of the Palestinians in Gaza as a protected group under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, including by preventing, through any action, the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian

assistance. Please read and share widely.

29 March 2024

By Bharat Dogra

“Today, I weep for my country…”

These are the words with which Senator Robert Byrd started his famous speech on the floor of the Senate at the time of the Iraq invasion in 2001.

He continued, “I have watched the events of recent months with a heavy, heavy heart. No more is the image of America one of strong, yet benevolent peacekeeper. The image of America has changed.

Around the globe, our friends mistrust us, our word is disputed, our intentions are questioned.

Instead of reasoning with those with whom we disagree, we demand obedience or threaten recrimination.

Instead of isolating Saddam Hussein, we seem to have isolated ourselves. We proclaim a new doctrine of pre-emption which is understood by few and feared by many.

We say that the United States has the right to turn its fire-power on any corner of the globe which might be suspect in the war on terrorism. We assert that right without the sanction of any international body.

As a result, the world has become a much more dangerous place.

We flaunt our superpower status with arrogance. We treat UN Security Council members like ingrates who offend our princely dignity by lifting their heads from the carpet. Valuable alliances are split.”

Further Byrd alleged more specifically, “The case this Administration tries to make to justify its fixation with war is tainted by charges of falsified documents and circumstantial evidence.”

Capturing the feelings of common people he stated, “The general unease surrounding this war is not just due to “orange alert”. There is a pervasive sense of rush and risk and too many questions unanswered. How long will we be in Iraq? What will be the cost? What is the ultimate mission? How great is the danger at home?

“A pall has fallen over the Senate Chamber. We avoid our solemn duty to debate the one topic on the minds of all Americans, even while scores of thousands of our sons and daughters faithfully do their duty in Iraq.

“What is happening to this country? When did we become a nation which ignores and berates our friends? When did we decide to risk undermining international   order by adopting a radical and doctrinaire approach to using our awesome military might? How can we abandon diplomatic efforts when the turmoil in the world cries out for diplomacy?

“Why can this President not seem to see that America’s true power lies not in its will to intimidate; but in its ability to inspire?”

While the above statement has its own special value as it was made on the floor of the Senate, the statements by Veterans of the US armed forces was even more courageous in terms of stating the truth in very difficult circumstances.

This statement said, “We are veterans of the United States armed forces. We stand with the majority of humanity, including millions in our own country, in opposition to the United States’ all-out war on Iraq. We span many wars and eras, have many political views and we all agree that this war is wrong. Many of us believed serving in the military was our duty, and our job was to defend this country. Our experiences in the military caused us to question much of what we were taught. Now we see our REAL duty is to encourage you as members of the US armed forces to find out what you are being sent to fight and die for and what the consequences of your actions will be for humanity. We call upon you, the active duty and reservists, to follow your consciences and do the right thing.”

“In the last Gulf war, as troops, we were ordered to murder from a safe distance. We destroyed much of Iraq from air, killing hundreds of thousands, including civilians. We remember the road to Basra – the Highway of Death – where we were ordered to kill fleeing Iraqis. We bulldozed trenches, burying people alive. The use of depleted uranium weapons left the battlefields radioactive. Massive use of pesticides, experimental drugs, burning chemical weapons depots and oil fires combined to create a toxic cocktail affecting both the Iraqi people and Gulf war veterans today. One in four Gulf war veterans is disabled.

“During the Vietnam war we were ordered to destroy Vietnam from the air and on the ground. At My Lai we massacred over 500 women, children and old men. This was not an aberration, it’s how we fought the war. We used Agent Orange on the enemy and then experienced first-hand its effects. We know what Post Traumatic Stress Disorder looks, feels and tastes like because the ghosts of over two million men, women and children still haunt our dreams. More of us took our own lives after returning home than died in battle.”

After reminding soldiers of these past experiences, this statement went a significant step further to openly tell them, as elders only can guide their younger colleagues, “If you choose to participate in the invasion of Iraq you will be part of an occupying army. Do you know what it is like to look into the eyes of a people that hate you to your core? You should think about what your “mission” really is. You are being sent to invade and occupy a people who, like you and me, are only trying to live their lives and raise their kids. They pose no threat to the United States even though they have a brutal dictator as their leader. Who is the US to tell the Iraqi people how to run their country when many in the US don’t even believe their own president was legally elected?

“Saddam is being vilified for gassing his own people and trying to develop weapons of mass destruction. However, when Saddam committed his worst crimes the US was supporting him. This support included providing means to produce chemical and biological weapons.  Contrast this with the horrendous result of the US-led economic sanctions. More than a million Iraqis, mainly children and infants, have died because of these sanctions. After having destroyed the entire infrastructure of their country including hospitals, electricity generators, and water treatment plants, the US then, with the sanctions, stopped the import of goods, medicines, parts, and chemicals necessary to restore even the most basic necessities of life.

“There is no honour in murder. This war is murder by another name. When, in an unjust war, an errant bomb dropped kills a mother and her child it is not ‘collateral damage,’ it is murder. When, in an unjust war, a child dies of dysentery because a bomb damaged a sewage treatment plant, it is not ‘destroying enemy infrastructure,’ it is murder. When, in an unjust war, a father dies of a heart attack because a bomb disrupted the phone lines so he could not call an ambulance, it is not ‘neutralising command and control facilities,’ it is murder. When, in an unjust war, a thousand poor farmer conscripts die in a trench defending a town they have lived in their whole lives, it is not victory, it is murder.”

Further this statement informed, “There will be veterans leading protests against this war on Iraq and your participation in it. During the Vietnam war, thousands in Vietnam and in the US refused to follow orders. Many resisted and rebelled. Many became conscientious objectors and others went to prison rather than bear arms against the so-called enemy.  During the last Gulf war many GIs resisted in various ways and for many different reasons. Many of us came out of these wars and joined with the anti-war movement.”

In a very noble call this statement went on to add, “If the people of the world are ever to be free, there must come a time when being a citizen of the world takes precedence over being the soldier of a nation. Now is that time. When orders come to ship out, your response will profoundly impact the lives of millions of people in the Middle East and here at home. Your response will help set the course of our future. You will have choices all along the way. Your commanders want you to obey. We urge you to think. We urge you to make your choices based on your conscience. If you choose to resist, we will support you and stand with you because we have come to understand that our REAL duty is to the people of the world and to our common future.”

Veterans for Peace also sent an open letter to fifteen generals and admirals in the top ranks of the US military advising them of their possible liabilities, under international law, to criminal prosecution for being part of a pre-emptive war against Iraq.

Open letter to America’s top military commanders

Dear Gentlemen,

Veterans for Peace is an organisation whose members have served with honour in the armed forces of the United States of America. Among our members we count decorated veterans of WWII, the Korean war, the Vietnam war and the Gulf war. Many served during two, and in several instance, three of these wars. Two of our members are recipients of the Medal of Honour, dozens received Silver and Bronze Stars for valour in combat, and hundreds were awarded the Purple Heart for wounds received in action. One of our members was a POW for over seven years in the Hanoi Hilton.

We learned the horrors of war through our military experience and we want the killing stopped. We believe it is not just enough to be against war, we must also work against war and that is the purpose of our organisation.

We, like you, know the world is a dangerous place and that our military forces are necessary for our defence. We realise that you too have seen and do not want war. War must only be the option of last resort.

We believe the war against Iraq that the US government is planning and preparing for is in violation of the Charter of the United Nations and customary international law. The judgement of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg noted, “Resort to war of aggression is not merely illegal, but is criminal.”

The principal of renunciation of the use or threat of force is now one of the fundamental principles of international law and, as such, is stated with the utmost clarity in Article 2(4) of the UN Charter, which imposes definite obligations on states participating in international affairs. States are bound in their international relations to renounce “the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the purposes of the UN.”

The US seeks to justify a pre-emptive strike on Iraq on the basis of self-defence. Article 51 of the UN Charter permits the use of force by a state to repel an armed attack or a substantial and immediate threat to the national security of the state until the Security Council exercises jurisdiction. A threat which permits the use of force must be an immediate, specific threat to US national security and not a general threat to the Gulf region or a possible future threat. The legality of pre-emptive self-defence has been rejected on the basis that use of force to deter future use of force constitutes punitive rather than defensive action. If the US fails to gain Security Council approval for war, the US is bound by Article 51 and may not lawfully, unilaterally take military action.

It is clear that the planned massive attack on Iraq is not based upon self-defence. Iraq has not attacked the US nor does Iraq constitute an immediate and specific threat to US national security. We are not apologists for Saddam Hussein but we believe there are ways to deal with his regime without the resort to a war of aggression. Other countries and many Americans have suggested reasonable and safe alternatives.

We members of VFP remember well our military service. We swore to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. We were informed of the Nuremberg Tribunal and the conviction and punishment of soldiers for following illegal orders. We were taught that we must not follow an illegal order. US military leadership must not only know and teach the obligations of international law but must respect and follow them.

You are in high military positions and you have awesome responsibilities under our Constitution and international law. We believe you are honourable men. We respectfully urge that you do the right thing in this terribly difficult situation. Clearly your duty is to not engage in the political leaderships’ illegal war. Many veterans will support you if you refuse to participate in an illegal war and we believe that you can successfully use your high position to warn the American people and you will be supported.

If you fail your sworn duty to the Constitution and international law by engaging in an illegal war against Iraq, we fear the US will become a rogue nation that will believe in and act on the principle that might is right to the great dishonour of all our professed values and to the great discredit of all who served in the armed services of the US so that their children and future generations could live in peace and freedom.

With great urgency.

National President, Veterans for Peace

This writer, after discussing with several friends who had been participants in several non-violent actions and movements for justice and environment protection, had at the time of before the invasion made the following appeal which got some attention when it was published. This appeal suggested—“One last effort can perhaps still be made by the peace activists after securing the cooperation of Iraq government and perhaps some neighbouring countries as well. This effort should involve about one hundred thousand people (or more if possible) from Iraq, neighbouring countries as well as volunteers from western countries and other parts of the world. These entirely unarmed people will gather every day and night at about ten strategic locations in Baghdad and perhaps some other important parts of Iraq. These people from all parts and all religions of the world will continuously say prayers and sing songs of peace. They will be entirely unarmed. They will not shout any hostile slogans. An atmosphere of complete peace and serenity will prevail at these gatherings.

“It is hoped that these huge gatherings for all religion prayers will be able to prevent the invasion. The most eminent peace loving people from all walks of life will be called from time to time to bless these gatherings. At least one such eminent person will come every day. Those who are able to stay for a few days will remain here. Various peace-loving organisations from various parts of the world will be requested to send special delegations.

“All of these people from various religions will together pray for peace and harmony in the entire world. These prayers will continue till a firm decision is taken to cancel the invasion. While several peace loving people will participate directly in these gatherings, others will take responsibilities such as arranging transport and food and ensuring that this message of peace reaches more and more people.”

In another appeal addressed more specifically to ‘Brothers and Sisters in the USA’, this writer stated, “Dear Friends, You have the privilege of living in a country which is the most powerful in the world. As a citizen of the USA you share the power-hence also the responsibility – of influencing the world events like the citizen of no other country.

“Every nation, every society has a right to pursue the welfare of its own people, but the real challenge – the test of greatness – is to ensure that this pursuit of welfare by one nation is in conformity with the welfare of other societies as well as the welfare of future generations.

“As the USA is a world leader, we the people of other parts of the world expect the USA to accept this challenge of leadership – keep its pursuit of welfare in conformity with the welfare of others and protect the environment/resource base for future generations.

“Unfortunately there is a mound of evidence which shows the failure of this leadership role. In its quest for a greater and greater share of the world’s resources, the USA has not cared for the needs and rights of other nations, nor indeed of future generations.

“With only 5 percent of the world’s population, the USA uses 30 percent of the world’s oil supply (two thirds of it just to fuel its cars and other vehicles). The USA is responsible for as much as one quarter of the world’s carbon dioxide emission. It is the only country to have actually dropped an atom bomb. The heaviest ever use of chemical weapons was made by the USA in Vietnam. Dozens of assassinations/ assassination attempts of eminent leaders and/or coups to topple democratic, popular governments are more routinely attributed to the CIA by the USA’s own media.”

Noting that several eminent persons within the USA and the UK have pointed out that there was hardly any evidence to link Iraq with the terrorist attacks of 9/11, this statement said, “Yet President Bush has gone relentlessly after Iraq, mobilising perhaps the most destructive war machine ever to attack a nation already badly wounded and shattered by over two decades of war and economic sanctions.”

“Many in the world see the war against Iraq as a ploy to grab control over some of the richest oil resources of the world which may be followed by more oil-grab tactics in the Middle-East. In the process hundreds of thousands of people   including women and children may be killed, wounded and displaced.

“Can such violence may justified? Can it possibly promote the welfare of American people?

“Hundreds of thousands of protesters have already given a clear answer – no.

“In fact the violence which the USA has inflicted on other societies is reflected in the very serious levels of violence which exist within American society.

“According to World Health Report (1997), WHO, during the decade of the eighties, more than 2,00,000 people died as a result of violence and 20 million more suffered non-fatal injuries. Doesn’t this appear like a never ending internal war?” Linking internal violence to external use of force at several levels, this statement urged people to be more active in striving to reduce both kinds of violence “This is a time in the history of United States for its citizens to stand up and firmly ask the government to work for the happiness and welfare of all people, to play a leadership role in linking the country’s happiness to the happiness of all people in the world.”

While the specific context of all these statements and appeals was of course the Iraq invasion of 2001-02, but their relevance for present times of increasing world tensions is also very evident.

Bharat Dogra is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now.

24 March 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

By Chris Hedges

PEN America, once an important defender of rights for writers, editors and artists, has, under the direction of former State Department official Suzanne Nossel, abandoned its mission, destroyed its credibility and provoked a revolt among its members.

Its refusal to condemn the genocide in Gaza and Israel’s targeted killings of writers, academics and journalists, has seen numerous writers withdraw from the annual PEN World Voices Festival in New York and Los Angeles, scheduled for April and May. PEN America has not only failed to denouce the genocide but provides platforms to Israelis who use racist and dehumanizing language to describe Palestinians. It blacklists those who support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. PEN America functions as a propaganda arm for the Biden administration and Ukrainian government — including the banning of Russian writers from a PEN event last May. It has repeated false accusations against Julian Assange and refused to classify him as a journalist.

PEN America peddles agitprop. It is our version of the Union of Soviet Writers. The human rights violations by our enemies are heinous crimes and our own, and those of our allies, are ignored or whitewashed. Writers and editors, such as Assange, who expose the lies and crimes of the state, are discredited, while propagandists for U.S. imperialism and the apartheid state Israel – even as it carries out genocide – are fêted.

Angela Flournoy and Kathleen Alcott canceled their participation in PEN’s “New Year, New Books” event in January because of PEN’s invitation to Mayim Bialik who Flournoy explained engages in “dehumanizing anti-Palestinian propaganda and rallying her five million followers to the cause of the Israeli military.” At the Bialik event in Los Angeles in February, Palestinian-American writer Randa Jarrar was forcibly removed from the room for protesting.

Alcott wrote in an email to PEN America “..if I squint I can find perhaps two mentions [on PEN America’s twitter feed] of the word Palestine, one in reference to an op-ed in Newsweek which encourages a truly impotent and ahistorical neutrality (as well as, arguably, some internalized Islamophobia).”

Over 600 writers, including Roxane Gay and Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, signed an open letter last month, demanding that “PEN … take an actual stand against an actual genocide.”

PEN America is a sock puppet of the U.S. and Israel. Nossel accepted funding from the Israeli government — which routinely censors and jails Palestinian journalists and writers in Israel and the occupied West Bank and assassinates them and their families in Gaza — for the literary group’s annual World Voices festival in New York. This funding only stopped in 2017 when more than 250 writers, poets and publishers demanded an end to the organization’s partnership with the Israeli government. The signatories included Wallace Shawn, Alice Walker, Eileen Myles, Louise Erdrich, Russell Banks, Cornel West, Junot Díaz and Viet Thanh Nguyen.

PEN America, like other human rights organizations, has been hijacked by apparatchiks like Nossel and their corporate backers, surrendering its independence and integrity.

The organization’s tepid attempts to address the revolt — it issued a response filled with banalities such as expressing “our sorrow and anguish at the suffering endured by so many Palestinian civilians in Gaza” — is further evidence of its moral vacuity.

Nossel repeats slanderous tropes used to discredit Assange, the WikiLeaks publisher who faces extradition to the United States to potentially serve a 175-year sentence under the Espionage Act.

“Whether Assange is a journalist or WikiLeaks qualifies as a press outlet is immaterial to the counts set out here,” Nossel has said.

Nossel, an attorney, served as a member of the State Department task force formed to deal with the WikiLeaks publications. She is well aware that the issue of whether Assange is a journalist is not immaterial. It is crucial. The U.S. effort to extradite Assange is built around denying him the status of a publisher or a journalist and denying WikiLeaks the status of a press publication. If he is extradited and found guilty, the precedent will criminalize any journalist that possesses or publishes classified material.

Nossel parrots the U.S. government’s charges against Assange, including that he endangered lives by not redacting documents, hacked into a government computer and meddled in the 2016 elections — charges that are false. PEN America, under her direction, sent out news briefs with headlines such as: “Security Reports Reveal How Assange Turned an Embassy into a Command Post for Election Meddling.”

PEN America, after heavy pressure, eventually said Assange should not be extradited. Advocating for his extradition was difficult after The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Le Monde, Der Spiegel and El País published a joint statement demanding charges against Assange be dropped. PEN centers around the world have also denounced the extradition proceedings. Nossel, however, was long part of Assange’s lynch mob.

Nossel said on the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC in May 2019 that Assange went “beyond what a mainstream news outlet would do.” She blasted WikiLeaks’ publications as “massive and indiscriminate” and blamed Assange for not redacting names.

Assange, in fact, contacted the State Department to warn them that the complete unredacted cables were on the verge of being published by a third party, urged the State Department to take action and offered to assist them in doing so. It was the U.S. government which ultimately decided to do nothing.

PEN America was once run by writers dedicated to defending those persecuted around the globe — regardless of which government carried out the persecuting. I knew some of these writers, including Susan Sontag, Norman Mailer and Russell Banks. They were fierce critics of U.S. militarism, champions of freedom of expression and fiery advocates for the persecuted and the oppressed.

Nossel stands for none of these ideals. She is a former corporate lawyer, listed as a “contributor” to the Federalist Society, who worked for McKinsey & Company and as vice president of U.S. business development for Bertelsmann. Her disastrous one year tenure as the Executive Director of Amnesty International saw her turn the human rights organization into a cheerleader for the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In May 2012, when NATO held its “Summit Meeting” in Chicago, she sponsored a “Shadow Summit” and dotted the city with bus stop billboards reading “NATO, Keep the Progress Going. Human Rights for Women and Girls in Afghanistan.” That was apparently too much, even for Amnesty International, and she was reportedly pushed out.

Nossel at PEN America, however, has successfully hollowed out the organization and crowned herself with the ludicrous title of CEO of PEN America, emblematic of the soulless corporatism she embodies.

A 2004 Foreign Affairs article by Nossel titled “Smart Power: Reclaiming Liberal Internationalism” calls for “liberal internationalism” and an “assertive leadership” by the U.S. that is “diplomatic, economic, and not least, military [my italics] — to advance a broad array of goals: self-determination, human rights, free trade, the rule of law, economic development, and the quarantine and elimination of dictators and weapons of mass destruction.”

I withdrew from a scheduled speaking event at the 2013 World Voices Festival in New York and resigned from PEN America – which that same year had given me its First Amendment Award – to protest Nossel’s appointment. PEN Canada offered me membership, which I accepted. I wrote in my resignation letter:

The suffering of the Palestinians under Israeli occupation and the plight of those caught up in our imperial wars in countries such as Iraq are not abstractions to me. Nossel’s relentless championing of preemptive war — which under international law is illegal — as a State Department official along with her callous disregard for Israeli mistreatment of the Palestinians and her refusal as a government official to denounce the use of torture and use of extra-judicial killings, makes her utterly unfit to lead any human rights organization.

The current letter, now signed by more than 1,300 writers, notes that “Palestine’s poets, scholars, novelists and journalists and essayists have risked everything, including their lives and the lives of their families, to share their words with the world. Yet PEN America appears unwilling to stand with them firmly against the powers that have oppressed and dispossessed them for the last 75 years.”

The writers charge that “PEN America has betrayed the organization’s professed commitment to peace and equality for all, and to freedom and security for writers everywhere.”

PEN America refuses to call for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire.

“This failure is particularly striking in light of the extraordinary toll this catastrophe has taken in the cultural sphere,” the writers say. “Israel has killed, and at times deliberately targeted and assassinated journalists, poets, novelists, and writers of all kinds. It has destroyed almost all forms of cultural infrastructure that support the practice of literature, art, intellectual exchange, and free speech through the bombing and demolition of universities, cultural centers, museums, libraries, and printing presses. By disrupting access to digital communication, Israel has also been blocking Palestinians from sharing what they have witnessed and experienced and telling the truth of what is happening to them. Everyone who uses the power of the pen and free speech to appeal to the conscience of the world is at risk.”

Israel, the letter notes, “has killed nearly one hundred journalists and media workers, more than in the two-decade war in Afghanistan, and more than in the deadliest year of the Iraq War. Israel has also killed nearly one hundred academics and writers.”

PEN America “took four and half months to utter the word ‘ceasefire,’ then only with a vague ‘hope’ for one that is ‘mutually agreed,’ rather than a clear call.”

“Equally concerning is PEN America’s history of condemning authors who choose to honor the Palestinian call for a cultural and academic boycott of Israeli institutions complicit in their oppression, accusing them of impeding ‘the free flow of ideas,’” the letter continues. “It seems to us that this violates several principles at the heart of PEN’s mission. To begin with, the idea that BDS, which does not boycott individual writers or scholars, can impede the ‘free flow of ideas’ in Israel-Palestine assumes that such a thing exists there. In fact, it is a cruel fantasy so long as Palestinians live under a rule reliant on racial segregation and the implementation of ethnic hierarchies, siege and collective punishment, the very conditions BDS seeks to end.”

The banning of writers who support BDS “contributes to a neo-McCarthyite environment in North America and Europe, in which the growing support for BDS is increasingly criminalized.” Opposition to BDS , the letter points out, “overlooks the long and proud history of the boycott as an effective, nonviolent tool of collective liberation. Just as boycott was a principal tool used to successfully end political apartheid in South Africa, so it should be accepted that some are free to adopt it as a vital tool in the nonviolent resistance movement against Israeli impunity today.”

The writers responded to PEN America’s recently posted statements expressing concern about various incidents in Gaza by asking “Where are the actions that flow from these stated concerns?”

They note that “PEN America has not launched any substantial coordinated support or issued any reports highlighting the scale and scope of the attacks on writers in Gaza, or on Palestinian speech and culture more broadly. PEN America has done very little to mobilize or inspire its many members — quite unlike recent PEN America campaigns opposing the war in Ukraine and its impact on culture, or PEN International’s ‘Day of the Dead’ honoring journalists killed in Latin America.”

The writers also say they are “dismayed that there has been no apology to the Palestinian writer Randa Jarrar for the shocking act of dragging her out of an event featuring an anti-Palestinian and pro-war Hollywood actor as Jarrar read out the names of murdered Palestinian writers.”

Palestinian writers, the letter reads, “have found themselves in the insulting position of having to fight PEN America to loudly call for the U.S.-funded bombs to stop falling. They have been forced to point out, over and over again, that if the current onslaught was directed against any other people, there would have been clear condemnations of the crimes, as well as support for all forms of nonviolent resistance against oppression, alongside events focused on the artists who are the most vulnerable in the world.”

PEN America may continue to exist, indeed its obsequiousness to governmental and corporate power will probably assure its funding, but it is a hollow brand used to justify the crimes and lies of the U.S. government and Israel.

The best writers in the Soviet Union refused to join the Union of Soviet Writers or were expelled. Those left were propagandists, third rate writers and careerists. PEN America is fast becoming its doppelgänger.

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.

24 March 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

By Joydip Ghosal

Mohammed Omer in his book ‘Shell-Shocked, Dispatches from a War, On the ground under Israel’s assault’ (Publisher Speaking Tiger) documented the third major Israeli assault on the Gaza strip. He is a Palestinian journalist. In 2008 he was awarded the Martha Gellhorn Prize for journalism. He has reported extensively for Al Jazeera, the Nation, Democracy Now!, and the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. Noam Chomsky wrote “Mohammed Omer could easily have escaped the horror of Israel’s impending assault on the trapped and helpless people of tortured Gaza. Instead, he chose to stay, to record…” The author owed it to Palestinian people and Israeli people to get to the truth. The book was on Operation Protective Edge, launched in early July 2014 which was most savage and feral attack on the Gazans. For 51 gays the Gazans felt unspeakable agonies. The author lived through the horrendous brutalities along with his wife and then three-month-old son. He attempted to provide a firsthand account of life on the ground during the crackdown and mayhem.

While writing the book the image of Jalal Jundia kept visiting his mind who lost everything. During the summer of 2014 he saw him sitting atop the ruins of his family home surrounded by rubble and dust. Where they could go now as their home had been ravaged? Jundia asked the author every time when the western countries with their pontification about human rights would take steps against this violation in keeping with their lofty ideals .It often felt that Gazans did not just exist. The author tried to reassure him, bolster his courage. He promised him that his voice would not go unheeded. He would strive to share his story.

The Gazans were ensnared in Gaza and they were so hindered that they were unable to move. They could only pray for the bombings to end. Perhaps then they could try to rebuild their life from the scratch.

The author asked a pertinent question. Israel’s authority stood as priority in the media. But no one ever tried to raise the issue of Palestinians who were expelled from their homes. But the author proudly proclaimed that after every attack they emerged more tightly coalesced together.

A year later, Jalal still could not find any shelter. The author though tried to remain optimistic which was not a tiny feat in that war-ravaged once beautiful and self-reliant costal enclave. After the 1947-48 purge, Gaza became a safe haven for Palestinians who escaped the ethnic cleansing. Irgun, Stern and Lehi gangs drove them away. The author unequivocally declared that their reality was predicted upon Israel’s determination to drive them away from their homes for good. Every minute and every day the people lived in a reality which was distorted and crumpled. After the Operation Protective Edge the vast majority of children remained traumatised. They continued to live under constant seize. They were unable to leave and people could not visit them. They were limited in what they could import, buy or export. It was clearly evident that systemic tools of persecution infected all aspects of life. The life of non-favoured religion and race became traumatic. It ranged from imprisonment, arbitrary killings to prevent them from rebuilding their homes. Starvation diets caused by siege stripped them of their rights.

But the Palestinians asserted themselves. Despite all the brutalities they were still there. The author showed how they devised ways to survive. Women recycled the spent tank shells into flowerpots. Students returned to the bomb-out schools to resume their education. They tried to tape together the torn books.

Cutting of electricity, gas and water was another grim reality. Many of Gaza’s farmers had been forced to abandon their animals and crops paralysing agricultural works .The students tried to study by candle light. According to author they focused on basics and carried on with grit and determination. The occupation was not about religion but it was about natural resources. In Gaza Christians and Muslims faced the same tribulations. Both faiths had seen their places of worships destroyed by F-16. The author showed both faiths were incarcerated, humiliated, starved. Despite these “both faiths remain united in a spirit of common humanity”. According to the author he would like to see a single state where tolerance and equity would be the only way forward for Palestinians and Israelis. He emphasised that the problem was policy. Dynamics and policy had to be changed.

Actually it centred on who would reap benefits from those resources ranging from arable land to gas reservoirs beneath West Bank and coastal waters in Gaza. Political and economic clout also played a pivotal role. A Palestinian doctor said “Trauma is a term which they have used in the West when they were talking about normal situations and there is a breakdown. This breakdown is trauma, but for us Palestinians, trauma is the daily life.”In 2012 the United Nations agency for Palestinian Refugees observed that among the PTSD patients 42 per cent were children. The disease itself rose by 100 per cent. Children did not have the mental strength to cope up with these grim realities. Many reported symptoms of mental turmoil and strain and anger.

This book contained pieces that were arranged in chronological order. This book showed how media controlled the narrative in favour of the oppressor. It became evident that Palestinian version was under- reported. Israel spent enormous money to spin the media narrative .With graphic details this book delineated the sheer brutality of the Israeli attack. False air strike warnings was another ploy to cause ‘maximum collective fear’. It caused maximum impact without firing a single shot. Gaza’s churches that provided shelters to families remained potential targets for Israel’s war machines. Gaza’s fishermen were worst affected by the relentless offensive. Near constant barrage of Israeli air strike dismantled their lives. This book with poignant details showed how civilians were summarily executed. Israeli soldiers used Palestinians as human shields and fired on civilians in Khuza’a in southern Gaza. That pain of catastrophe was shared by all Palestinians. Even thousands of farm animals fell victims to the Israeli assault in Gaza.

In order to understand the present crisis this book is an essential read that delved deeper into the recent past to unearth the horrific brutalities.

Joydip Ghosal is a human rights activist and translator.

24 March 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

By Dr Marwan Asmar

Much of the information coming out of Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City speak of dark times and ill-will for the people there.

Ever since the Israeli army raided the hospital last week reports have suggested of unspeakable atrocities being made to the doctors, nurses, general staff as well as the thousands of displaced people there who took the hospital as their abode because they have nowhere to go.

Eyewitness accounts are horrifying. Jamila Al-Hisi, a woman besieged in the Al-Shifa Medical Complex and managed to finally get out told Al-Jazeera the Israeli occupation soldiers are raping women and killing them.

Palestinian woman says Israeli forces raped and killed women at al-Shifa hospital

On her exit from Shifa Hospital she said women have been subjected to rape, starvation, torture, and extrajudicial execution, and the @ICRC is doing nothing

“We haven’t found food or water for six days and we appeal to the Red Cross to provide water for the children and the sick,” she said, being forced to drinking dirty water and eat rotten food.

“The occupation has forced 65 families to leave the area around the Al Shifa Medical Complex whilst burning and killing entire families,” adding the “occupation forces burned the building we were barricaded in and we don’t even have water to break our fast and we don’t know where to go.”

Palestinians are being forcibly displaced by Israeli occupation forces from the area surrounding al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza,” Al Hisi added.

The Israelis admit to executing 140 people inside Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza, including paramedics, patients and wounded whilst the siege is still ongoing after seven days with mass arrests.

The Israelis are looking for Hamas fighters and videoclips have shown the sound of gunfire in and around the health complex that have been surrounded by the Israeli tanks and snipers ready to shoot anyone who moves.

Footage have shown the residential areas surrounding the complex have been completely destroyed. They were wrecked before through Israeli bombing but this time around, the soldiers have made sure these neighborhoods are flattened.

But nevertheless, reports show fighting is still going on between the Israeli army and Izz Al Din Al Qassam fighters in between these neighborhoods.

This is while Israeli soldiers have been trigger-happy with the doctors inside the hospital. They’ve killed respected Dr Mohammed Zaher al-Nono refused to leave the hospital and insisted on continuing to treat the wounded. He was shot by the Israeli army forces in front of his patients.

This is in addition to other horrifying footage of the Israelis bombing the Al-Helu Hospital, which is also located near the Al Shifa hospital.

After the bombing patients and the injured were seen emerging from the rubble as the rooms collapsed around them.

The Israeli army wants the displaced people inside the Al Shifa Complex, estimated at 7000 or so to leave the hospital and head south but many say they have nowhere to go, they are tired, hungry and have no money. One is making an appeal on the social media, saying “please someone stop this?”

Dr Marwan Asmar is a journalist from Amman, Jordan

24 March 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak

Rabi Mausa, popularly known as Rabi Narayan Jena, who departed on March 17, 2024, at the age of 79, was a truly unique Gandhian figure. Despite the pervasive influence of mass consumerism, he remained steadfast in his commitment to Gandhian principles, both in his personal conduct and his political endeavours. In a world dominated by market-driven culture, societal pressures, and power politics, Rabi Narayan Jena stood apart, embodying the essence of Gandhian philosophy through his actions. Every aspect of his life reflected his dedication to living a meaningful existence grounded in Gandhian values. He shunned the superficiality of contemporary society, rejecting the allure of self-promotion that often characterises social, political, and professional life. Instead, he quietly dedicated himself to serving the people of Odisha, eschewing the spotlight in favour of genuine, impactful engagement with his community.

Rabi Narayan Jena’s life was a testament to the possibility of an alternative lifestyle, one rooted in simplicity, compassion, and a deep sense of social responsibility. His unwavering commitment to Gandhian socialist ideals serves as an inspiration to all who seek to challenge the status quo and strive for a more equitable and compassionate world. In his passing, we not only mourn the loss of a remarkable individual but also celebrate the enduring legacy of his principles and actions.

Rabi Mausa pioneered a path of selfless social service, devoid of any expectations or personal gain. Unlike many contemporary social workers who seek salaries and recognition within non-governmental and civil society organisations, Rabi Mausa stood apart. For him, social service was not a means of self-promotion, but rather an inherent aspect of his daily existence. His commitment to serving others extended far beyond the confines of his own family. Integrity was the cornerstone of his life, a principle he steadfastly upheld even in the most challenging of circumstances. Never did he compromise his values or principles, remaining resolute in his dedication to the welfare of his community.

Rabi Mausa blazed the trail of social service. His approach to social service serves as a beacon of inspiration in a world often characterised by self-interest and opportunism. His unwavering dedication to the well-being of others, coupled with his unyielding integrity, sets a high standard for all who aspire to make a meaningful difference in the lives of those around them. In his legacy, we find not only a model of selfless service but also a reminder of the profound impact one individual can have when guided by principles of compassion and integrity.

In an era where conversations about sustainability and alternative energy sources dominate discussions on survival of life and planet, Rabi Mausa was a visionary ahead of his time. As early as 1994, he recognized the importance of sustainable energy and took concrete steps to address it. In a bold move, he established a biogas plant right in the backyard of his own home—a pioneering effort that embodied his commitment to a cleaner, greener, and more sustainable future. Rabi Mausa’s biogas plant stood as a beacon of innovation in his village, setting a precedent for environmentally conscious energy solutions in his community. It may very well have been the first of its kind not only in his village but also in the entire block and district. By harnessing the power of biogas, he not only provided his household with a reliable and affordable source of energy but also demonstrated a practical alternative to conventional energy sources that often come at great environmental cost. His forward-thinking approach to energy sustainability serves as a testament to his dedication to practical action in pursuit of a better world. Rabi Mausa’s initiative not only addressed immediate energy needs but also paved the way for greater awareness and adoption of cheap renewable energy technologies in his community. In his pioneering efforts, we find inspiration and a powerful example of how individual action can drive positive change on both local and global scales.

Rabi Mausa’s home in the tranquil village of Taras, nestled in the Rajkanika block of Kendrapada district, Odisha, holds a special place in my memories from my college days. It was a sanctuary I often sought refuge in, a haven of simplicity and warmth amidst the bustling chaos of crisis ridden student life. Whenever I visited him, Rabi Mausa graciously welcomed me into his humble abode, offering simple yet delicious meals prepared with love and care. What struck me most about Rabi Mausa was his unwavering kindness and inclusivity. Despite our differing affiliations—I with the SFI and his sons with the ABVP—he never once let these differences cloud our interactions. He treated me with the same warmth and respect that he bestowed upon his own sons, embodying a rare sense of egalitarianism that is increasingly scarce in today’s world. As a true democrat, he did not domesticate his sons with his ideological worldviews, he allowed his sons to flourish and follow their own path in their personal and political life. Over the years, from 1994 to 2013, I had the privilege of meeting Rabi Mausa on several occasions, and each time, his love, affection, and genuine concern for others remained steadfast. His consistent and unwavering display of compassion and empathy left an indelible mark on me, shaping my own egalitarian ideals and worldview.

With his passing, I not only mourn the loss of a well-wisher, but also recognise the void left by the departure of an ideological beacon. Rabi Mausa was more than just a citizen of Odisha; he was a symbol of unwavering idealism and Gandhian values in contemporary times. His legacy will continue to inspire generations to come, serving as a guiding light for those who seek to emulate his compassion, integrity, and unwavering commitment to social justice. In his death, Odisha—and indeed, the world—has lost a true visionary with Gandhian values and champion of humanity.

The life and legacies of Rabi Mausa as a silent Gandhian survives in our memories.

Bhabani Shankar Nayak works as  Professor of Business Management, Guildhall School of Business and Law, London Metropolitan University, UK.

23 March 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

By Marwan Asmar

‘No stone is unturned’: The Israelis are determined to make the lives of the Palestinians of Gaza into a living hell

When the Israeli army left Hamad City, they totally destroyed it. A plush city, north of Khan Younis and built with hundreds of millions of dollars from Qatar starting 2015, it was raised to the ground.

Through Israeli bombardment its blocks of residential towers, shops, parks and recreational grounds were turned into rubble by vicious missiles.

It was a map of well-thought out and planned Israeli destruction as the videoclips amply demonstrate. The once-smart city was turned into a mass wreckage not fit for anybody.

When citizens came back after the Israeli army pulled out, they were shocked to find there was nothing left of their apartments. They have all been bombed and destroyed.

“Will anybody find me a tent?” one returning resident cried out. In reality, and even if a tent was found, there was no place to hoist it, because of the vast extent of the debris, wreckage and ruin.

According to UNRWA, the amount of concrete pulverized into rubble in Gaza today stands at 23,000 because of the extent of Israel bombing.

A lot of planning went into developing what was to become a smart city and probably the only one of its kind in Gaza.

One wrote: A smart sustainable city is one that uses the technology to transform its core systems and optimize the exploitation of limited resources based on a knowledge-based system that provides real-time insights to stakeholders.

It was built this way because of the challenges facing the cities of the Gaza including factors of population growth, lack of resources and limited space, he added.

💢 Destruction after withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Hamad neighbourhood of Khan Younis city in Gaza Strip pic.twitter.com/euXKz8g3F0

— AboSalem (@emad_salem21) March 14, 2024

Hamad City was developed in phases. Its first phase become operational in 2016 when over 1000 families were housed in a new state-of-the art 3000-apartment complex. These are of course now, destroyed.

The Israeli war machine destroyed these and the 40-plus towers that were subsequently built, proudly called the Hamad towers.

Bissan Oweda, a blogger in Gaza, wrote these were supposed to be the safest in the entirety of the 365-kilometer Strip but no more.

“As we enter Hamad City we find, great, great destruction around us,” said Mohammad Salameh, a blogger. In the videoclip we see people entering the city on foot with total destruction around underpinned by gouged debris.

“The enemy is still on the outskirts of the city, but as we look around us, there is nothing that can be said is inhabitable, its total destruction, we can now see the sound of gunfire in an intense manner suggesting there might still be Israeli bulldozers,” he added.

The mounts of debris, rubble and wreckage of buildings gets not only worse but is also horrific.

In one video an ambulance is shown trying to drive through the roads of the city trying to pick up the martyrs shot by the Israelis, few here, few there. Where do you start and where do you end?

In one case, the Palestinian ambulancemen picked up 15 bodies scattered throughout the city after they were shot by Israeli snipers. They were seen being put in the ambulance to be transported to the Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Dier Al Balah in central Gaza.

This is the second time the city had been targeted. This time, the Israeli army really destroyed everything around.

The first time was in early December 2023 when Israeli planes began to destroy the city and take down its towers one-by-one. “Bombs slammed into the pale apartment blocks one by one, reducing them largely to rubble and sending a huge pall of black smoke into the sky, as people fled and cries of ‘help!’ and ‘ambulance!’ rang out,” AFP reported.

The once beautiful housing project was turned into a bloody nightmare.

Marwan Asmar is a writer based in Amman, focusing on Middle East affairs

23 March 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

By Andre Damon

On Friday, the United Nations Security Council failed to pass a resolution sponsored by the United States that was absurdly proclaimed by the US media as a “ceasefire” resolution.

In fact, the resolution would have given the UN’s imprimatur to the US-Israeli genocide in Gaza, specifying conditions for “ongoing and future operations” by the Israeli military.

The resolution linked any “ceasefire” with the achievement of Israel’s stated war aims, effectively restating the declaration by US President Joe Biden during the State of the Union address earlier this month that a ceasefire could be achieved by Hamas “laying down arms.”

Indeed, in motivating the resolution, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said its aim was to “put pressure on Hamas,” not Israel.

In explaining Algeria’s vote against the resolution, Amar Bendjama, Algeria’s representative to the UN, said the resolution “implies a license for continuing bloodshed.”

He noted, “The text presented today does not convey a clear message of peace. It tacitly allows for continuing civilian casualties and lacks clear safeguards to prevent further escalation.

“It is a laissez-passer to continuing killing of Palestinian civilians,” Bendjama explained. “The emphasis on measures to reduce civilian harm from ongoing and future operations implies a license for continuing bloodshed.”

Algeria was joined by China and Russia, which both vetoed the resolution.

The Israeli government, which has repeatedly denounced the United Nations for its officials’ criticism of the genocide, fully endorsed the United States’ resolution.

“The American resolution, should it have passed, would have marked a moment of morality for the UN,” Israeli UN envoy Gilad Erdan said, praising the US’s willingness to “condemn the Hamas monsters.”

He added, “Yet sadly, for purely political reasons, this resolution did not pass, and terrorists can continue benefiting from this Council whitewashing their crimes.”

Erdan then launched into a tirade of genocide denial, absurdly proclaiming that universally-recognized statistics about the civilian death toll are made up and that no one is starving in Gaza.

The Israeli delegate condemned the “libelous narrative of famine in Gaza,” proclaiming absurdly, “There is absolutely no limit that Israel places on humanitarian aid entering Gaza.”

He claimed the allegations by the UN of mass deaths in Gaza were a fraud, declaring that “Numbers [of civilian casualties] supplied by the terrorists are thrown around and quoted as if they are [the] Word of God. Yet, in essence, these numbers are merely the lies of Hamas that the UN is so quick to parrot.

“Israel has taken steps that no other military in any other conflict has ever taken, all in order to mitigate civilian casualties,” he said.

He concluded by reiterating Israel’s determination to assault the southern Gazan city of Rafah, where over 1 million Palestinian refugees are sheltering. “The fire will grow again and spread. This is what will happen without an operation in Rafah. Israel sees no alternative. The road to a permanent ceasefire passes through Rafah.”

In response to the veto of its resolution by Russia and China, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield used language essentially identical to that of Israel, claiming that those countries “refuse to condemn Hamas.”

“Russia and China refuse to condemn Hamas, from burning people alive to gunning down innocent civilians at a concert, to raping women and girls, to taking hundreds of people hostage.”

Thomas-Greenfield expressed her determination to veto any call for a genuine ceasefire, declaring, “So if that alternative resolution comes up for a vote and does not support the diplomacy happening on the ground, we may once again find this council deadlocked.”

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Friday with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during his latest visit to Israel. Following the meeting, Netanyahu doubled down on his declaration that Israel will assault Rafah.

“We have no way to defeat Hamas without going into Rafah and eliminating the rest of the battalions there,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “And I told him that I hope we will do it with the support of the US. But if we must, we will do it alone.”

The discussions on the next stage of the genocide between Netanyahu and Blinken took place amid ongoing famine and mass murder in Gaza. Earlier this week, Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, implied that Israel is deliberately starving the population.

“The extent of Israel’s continued restrictions on the entry of aid into Gaza, together with the manner in which it continues to conduct hostilities, may amount to the use of starvation as a method of war, which is a war crime,” he said.

A separate report published Tuesday by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) partnership, the official global body designating starvation, found that “famine is imminent,” with a “major acceleration of deaths and malnutrition.”

The IPC assessment notes that 1.1 million people are expected to face catastrophic levels of hunger and risk famine in Gaza, the highest number of people in that category ever recorded since the beginning of the current classification system.

Israel’s siege of Al-Shifa Hospital continued for a fifth day, with more than 160 people killed and 600 arrested, including medical staff. Earlier this week, the Euro-Med Monitor human rights organization reported that Israel has been carrying out mass summary executions at the hospital.

On Friday, Gaza’s Health Ministry said the official death toll from the genocide stands at 32,070; once the missing are added to that toll, the number increases to over 40,000.

The same day, Al Jazeera published video footage of one of the daily massacres that occur in Gaza, showing a group of four young unarmed men walking down a road being blown up by a series of drone strikes.

Al Jazeera reported that Israeli drones have been hovering over Rafah non-stop, leading to panic as the 1.2 million refugees crowded into the city expect an imminent attack.

23 March 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

By Dr Ramzy Baroud

When the foreign policy of a country as large and significant as the United States is governed by a case of cognitive dissonance, terrible things happen.

These terrible things are, in fact, already taking place in the Gaza Strip, where well over 100,000 people have been killed, wounded or are missing, and an outright famine is currently ravaging the displaced population.

From the start of the war on October 7, the US mishandled the situation, although recent reports indicate that Biden, despite his old age, has read the overall meaning of the October 7 events correctly.

According to the Axios news website, Biden had argued in a meeting with special counsel, Robert Hur, on October 8 that the ‘Israel thing’ – Hamas attack and the Israeli war on Gaza – “has changed it all”.

By ‘change it all’, he was referring to the fact that the outcome of these events combined will “determine what the next six, seven decades look like”.

Biden is not wrong. Indeed, everything that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government and war council have done in Gaza point to a similar Israeli reading of the significance of the ‘world-altering’ events.

Netanyahu has proven his willingness to carry out genocide and starve millions of Palestinians because he still feels that the superior firepower of the Israeli army is able to turn back the clock, and restore Israel’s military standing, geopolitical influence and global position.

He is wrong, and over five months of war and senseless killing continue to demonstrate this claim.

But the American political gamble in the Middle East and the global repercussions of Washington’s self-defeating foreign policy makes far less sense.

Considering Washington’s historic support for Israel, the US’ behavior in the early days of the war was hardly a surprise.

The US quickly mobilized behind Netanyahu’s war cabinet, sent aircraft carriers to the eastern Mediterranean, indicating the US is ready for a major regional conflict.

Media reports began speaking of US military involvement, specifically through the Delta Force, although the Pentagon claimed that the 2,000 US soldiers were not deployed to fight in Gaza itself.

If it was not obvious that the US was a direct partner in the war, US mainstream media reports ended any doubt. On March 6, The Washington Post reported that “the United States has quietly approved and delivered more than 100 separate foreign military sales to Israel since the Gaza war began”.

With time, however, US foreign policy regarding Gaza became even more perplexing.

Though in the early weeks of the war-turned-genocide, Biden questioned the death toll estimates produced by the Gaza Ministry of Health, the casualties count was no longer in doubt later on.

Asked on February 29 about the number of women and children killed by Israel during the war, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin answered without hesitation: “It’s over 25,000”.

Yet, the numbers are in constant growth, as well as US shipments of weapons to Israel. “We continue to support Israel with their self-defense needs. That’s not going to change,” John Kirby, US National Security Advisor, told ABC News on March 14.

This particular statement is worth a pause, since it came after many media leaks regarding Biden’s frustration, in fact, outright anger in the way that Netanyahu is handling the war.

ABC News reported early February that Biden has been “venting his frustration” over his administration’s “inability to persuade Israel to change its military tactics in Gaza”. Netanyahu, the outlet quoted Biden as saying, is “giving him hell”.

This is consistent with other recent reports, including one by Politico, claiming that Biden has privately “called the Israeli prime minister a ‘bad f*cking guy’”, also over his Gaza war stance.

Yet, Netanyahu remains emboldened to the extent that he appeared in a Fox News interview on March 11, openly speaking about ‘disagreements’, not only between Biden and Netanyahu’s governments, but between the US President “and the entire Israeli people.”

It is glaringly obvious that, without continued US military and other forms of support, Israel would have not been able to sustain its war on the Palestinians for more than a few weeks, thus sparing the lives of thousands of people.

Moreover, the US has served as Israel’s vanguard against the vast majority of world governments who, daily, demand immediate and unconditional ceasefire in the Strip. If it were not for repeated US vetoes at the UN Security Council, a resolution demanding a ceasefire would have been surely passed.

Despite this unconditional support, the US is struggling to stave off a wider regional conflict, which is already threatening its political standing in the Middle East.

Therefore, Biden wants to regain the initiative by renewing discussions – though without commitment to real action – about a two-state solution and the future of Gaza.

Netanyahu is disinterested in these matters since his single greatest political achievement, from the viewpoint of his rightwing constituency, is that he has completely frozen any discussions on a political horizon in Palestine. For Netanyahu, losing the war means the unceremonious return to the old American political framework of the so-called “peace process”.

The embattled Israeli Prime Minister also knows that ending the war would constitute an end to his own government coalition, mostly sustained by far-right extremists like Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich. To achieve these self-serving goals, the Israeli leader is willing to sustain a clearly losing war.

Though Biden has completely “lost faith in Netanyahu”, according to the Associated Press, he continues to support Israel without openly questioning the disastrous outcomes of the war, not just on the Palestinian people, but also on the region and the world, including his own country.

Americans, especially those in Biden’s Democratic Party, must continue to increase their pressure on their administration so that it resolves its cognitive dissonance in Palestine. Biden must not be allowed to play this deadly balancing act, privately demanding for the war to stop, while openly funding the Israeli war machine.

Though the majority of Americans already feel that way, Biden and his government are yet to receive the message. How many more Palestinians would have to die for Biden to hear the chants of the people, ‘Ceasefire now’?

Dr. Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle.

21 March 2024

Source: countercurrents.org