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By Kevin Reed

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers dramatically increased daily arrests of immigrants in cities across the US beginning on Sunday under orders from the Trump White House.

In a meeting on Saturday, Trump administration officials demanded quotas for ICE arrests be raised from a few hundred to between 1,200 and 1,500 people per day. A report in the Washington Post said the increase was demanded “because the president has been disappointed with the results of his mass deportation campaign so far, according to four people with knowledge of the briefings.”

The Post report also said, “The quotas were outlined Saturday in a call with senior ICE officials, who were told that each of the agency’s field offices should make 75 arrests per day and managers would be held accountable for missing those targets.”

Prior to the new quotas, the daily number of immigrants being arrested by the Biden administration was 311 people on average.

ICE reported 956 people had been arrested on Sunday by multiple federal police agencies in cities, including Chicago, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Diego, Denver, Miami, Atlanta and major cities in northern Texas.

While the president and his fascist border czar Tom Homan are claiming that the raids are “enhanced targeted operations” aimed at “keeping potentially dangerous criminal aliens out of our communities,” it is clear the arrests are being carried out indiscriminately and the up to five-fold increase will intensify this fact.

In an example of the blatantly racist tactics being utilized by immigration authorities—which exposes the fundamentally undemocratic character of the entire operation—Navajo Nation Council Speaker Crystalyne Curley reported that at least 15 Indigenous people in Arizona and New Mexico have reported being stopped and asked to produce proof of citizenship. Some of these US citizens in tribal communities have also been detained.

A press release issued by the Office of Navajo President Buu Nygren on Friday said, “My office has received multiple reports from Navajo citizens that they have had negative, and sometimes traumatizing, experiences with federal agents targeting undocumented immigrants in the Southwest.”

Other reports have shown that the raids are above all aimed at intimidating and terrorizing immigrant families and communities as part of the Trump administration’s campaign to scapegoat immigrants for the crisis of American and world capitalism.

In the Chicago area, ABC Eyewitness News said a woman reported that her father, who had been in the US for 30 years, was arrested at his home in Waukegan. Yelitza Marquina explained that the seizure of her father happened under apparently false pretenses. “They (family members) opened the door because they thought maybe one of us was in trouble or something happened to us. Never did they think it was ICE.”

In another example of the despicable role of media personalities in the ICE offensive, “Dr. Phil” McGraw has been permitted to “embed” with ICE officers during raids in Chicago. The purpose of the ride-along by the former psychologist, who rose to television fame alongside Oprah Winfrey, is to bolster the Trump administration’s claims that only “known criminals and terrorists” are being targeted by ICE.

In Miami, CBS News interviewed an unidentified man who said ICE had taken his wife during a raid in the neighborhood of Brownsville. The man said his wife of 11 years was from Venezuela and had a court date scheduled to complete a three-year process of getting her US citizenship. He said, “everything was good” until ICE showed up. “They just came, and they snatched her,” he said.

In Los Angeles, Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) officials mobilized their forces to assist the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in the carrying out the crackdown in the fire ravaged city. Matthew Allen, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA’s LA field division, posted photos on social media showing DEA agents, who were masked, armed and dressed in paramilitary fatigues, deployed in a residential area.

[https://twitter.com/DEALOSANGELES/status/1883567509821112731]

In Texas, ICE representatives confirmed to the Texas Newsroom that raids were underway across the northern cities of Dallas, Irving, Arlington, Fort Worth, Garland and Collin County. The statement said that 84 people had been arrested in North Texas and the state of Oklahoma, and they were taken to ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations field office in Dallas for processing.

Targeted operations were also carried out in Austin and the Rio Grande Valley. In Austin, ICE was supported by DEA agents from Houston. However, details on the number of arrests or where they were carried out have not been reported.

On Sunday afternoon, protesters gathered at the Texas State Capitol in response to the raids in Austin. One protester told KXAN, “They are the epitome of the American Dream. They’ve come here and worked hard. They have a right to be here just like anyone else who has fled a country that doesn’t provide the needs of the citizens.”

A demonstration against the ICE raids was also held in Omaha, Nebraska, near 24th and L streets in the south of the city, as reported by KETV 7 ABC.

It is not clear what kind of process those who have been arrested will face. It is being widely reported that anyone who is merely undocumented—a civil, not criminal, infraction—and picked up in the raids will be deported, along with those authorities claim who have committed crimes in the US.

Also, US military aircraft are being used to fly groups of immigrants back to their home countries. CNN reported from Guatemala City on Monday about two flights by US military planes that had landed with migrants who had been deported.

Numerous Democrats have been interviewed on CNN about the vicious attacks on immigrant workers and their families. Not one has disputed the assertions of the fascist Trump and his cabinet officials that the US has been invaded by “drug dealers, criminals and rapists.”

Far from it, the Democrats argue that Trump has a “moral obligation” to protect those who are innocent, while also consistently supporting the pretext that “criminals” must be arrested and deported. This amounts to an endorsement of an unprecedented assault on the basic rights of the most vulnerable sections of the working class.

28 January 2025

Source: countercurrents.org

By Zachary J. Foster

The acting president of the International Court of Justice, Julia Sebutinde, plagiarized large parts of her dissenting opinion on the “Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.”

Recall that, in January 2024, Judge Sebutinde was the only judge of the 17 judges on the panel to vote against all six provisional measures in the genocide case brought by South Africa against Israel, including the order that Israel needed “to take all measures within its power” to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza.

It was in her 36-page opinion on the legal status of Israel’s occupation, however, published in July 2024, where she plagiarized many sentences, including whole paragraphs. The legal opinion also includes lengthy historical discussions, in which she got basic facts wrong and painted a distorted picture of the past. In fact, rather than citing historians, and giving those historians credit for their work in her footnotes, Sebutinde plagiarized propagandists, themselves partisans, interested not in getting history right but in defending the Zionist cause.

In short, Judge Sebutinde has no shame in presenting other people’s work as her own. This makes her a dishonest person, someone who should not be trusted to adjudicate anything at all, let alone international law for the world’s highest court. Here are 9 of the most egregious instances of her plagiarism:

The Jewish Virtual Library

Sebutinde plagiarized many sentences from the “The Jewish Virtual Library” website, run by Mitchell G. Bard and Or Shaked, two individuals who have decades of expertise distorting history to present Israel in a positive light.

1. Sebutinde: “Prior to the establishment of “British Mandatory Palestine”, Palestinian Arabs viewed themselves as having a unified identity with the Arabs in the subregion until the twentieth century.”

1. Jewish Virtual Library: “Prior to partition, Palestinian Arabs did not view themselves as having a separate identity.”

2. Sebutinde: “When the distinguished Arab American historian, Professor Philip Hitti, testified against the Partition of Mandatory Palestine before the Anglo-American Committee in 1946, he remarked: “There is no such thing as ‘Palestine’ in history; absolutely not.””

2. Jewish Virtual Library: “When the distinguished Arab-American historian, Princeton University Prof. Philip Hitti, testified against partition before the Anglo-American Committee in 1946, he said: “There is no such thing as ‘Palestine’ in history, absolutely not.”

3. Sebutinde: “In 1937, a local Arab leader, Auni Bey Abdul-Hadi, told the Peel Commission, which ultimately suggested the partition of Palestine: “There is no such country [as Palestine]! ‘Palestine’ is a term the Zionists invented! There is no Palestine in the Bible. Our country was for centuries part of Syria.”

3. Jewish Virtual Library: “In 1937, a local Arab leader, Auni Bey Abdul-Hadi, told the Peel Commission, which ultimately suggested the partition of Palestine: “There is no such country [as Palestine]! ‘Palestine’ is a term the Zionists invented! There is no Palestine in the Bible. Our country was for centuries part of Syria.””

4. Sebutinde: “The first Palestine-Arab Congress which convened in Jerusalem from 27 January to 10 February 1919 to choose Palestinian representatives for the Paris Peace Conference, adopted a resolution in which it, inter alia, considered Palestine as an integral part of Arab Syria.”

4. Jewish Virtual Library: “When the First Congress of Muslim-Christian Associations met in Jerusalem in February 1919 to choose Palestinian representatives for the Paris Peace Conference, the following resolution was adopted: We consider Palestine as part of Arab Syria, as it has never been separated from it at any time.”

Prager U

She also plagiarized from Prager U, another organization with decades of expertise not in history, but in distorting history to present Israel in a positive light.

5. Sebutinde: “the British Government offered the Palestinian Arabs 80 per cent of Mandatory Palestine (Transjordan), and the Jews the remaining 20 per cent (Palestine) in a suggested split that was heavily in favour of the former. Despite the tiny size of their proposed State, the Jews voted to accept this offer, but the Arabs rejected it and resumed their violent rebellion against the British mandate.”

5. Prager U: “The British offered them 80 percent of the disputed territory; the Jews, the remaining 20 percent. Yet, despite the tiny size of their proposed state, the Jews voted to accept this offer. But the Arabs rejected it and resumed their violent rebellion.”

6. Sebutinde: “Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak met at Camp David, with Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) Chairman Yasser Arafat in 2000, to conclude a new two-State plan. Barak offered Arafat a Palestinian State in all of Gaza, and 94 per cent of the West Bank, with East Jerusalem as its capital. The Palestinian leader flatly rejected the offer. In the words of President Bill Clinton of the United States, “Arafat was here 14 days and said no to everything.” Instead, the Palestinians launched a bloody wave of suicide bombings that killed over 1,000 Israelis and maimed thousands more, on buses, in wedding halls, and in pizza parlours.”

6. Prager U: “In 2000, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak met at Camp David with Palestinian Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat to conclude a new two-state plan. Barak offered Arafat a Palestinian state in all of Gaza and 94% of the West Bank with East Jerusalem as its capital. But the Palestinian leader rejected the offer. In the words of US President Bill Clinton, Arafat was “Here 14 days and said ‘no’ to everything.” Instead, the Palestinians launched a bloody wave of suicide bombings that killed over 1,000 Israelis and maimed thousands more – on buses, in wedding halls, and in pizza parlours.”

Douglas J. Feith

Sebutinde also plagiarized from a 2021 blog post by Douglas J. Feith published by the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank. Feith is not a historian, but a war monger, serving as the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy under President George W. Bush administration from 2001-2005 where he helped guide strategy on two of the most disastrous wars in US history, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

7. Sebutinde: ““Palestine” applied vaguely to a region that for the 400 years before World War I was part of the Ottoman empire.”

7. Douglas J. Feith: ““Palestine” applied vaguely to a region that for the 400 years before World War I was part of the Ottoman empire.”

8. Sebutinde: “In 135 CE, after stamping out the second Jewish insurrection of the province of Judea or Judah, the Romans renamed that province “Syria Palaestina” (or “Palestinian Syria”). The Romans did this as a punishment, to spite the “Y’hudim” (Jewish population) and to obliterate the link between them and their province (known in Hebrew as Y’hudah). The name “Palaestina” was used in relation to the people known as the Philistines and found along the Mediterranean coast.”

8. Douglas J. Feith “In 135 CE, after stamping out the province of Judea’s second insurrection, the Romans renamed the province Syria Palaestina—that is, “Palestinian Syria.” They did so resentfully, as a punishment, to obliterate the link between the Jews (in Hebrew, Y’hudim and in Latin Judaei) and the province (the Hebrew name of which was Y’hudah). “Palaestina” referred to the Philistines, whose home base had been on the Mediterranean coast.”

9. Sebutinde: “The line in the north emerged from Anglo-French negotiations in 1923. The one in the south was fixed by treaties in the mid-1920s between Britain and the new nation of Saudi Arabia. The border between the Mandate of Palestine and the Mandate of Mesopotamia (Iraq) was of little immediate importance, given that the line was in the middle of an uninhabited desert and Britain controlled both sides. That line was finally fixed through an exchange of letters in 1932.”

9. Douglas J. Feith: “The line in the north emerged from Anglo-French negotiations in 1923. The one in the south was fixed by treaties in the mid-1920s between Britain and the new nation of Saudi Arabia. The border between Mandate Palestine and Mandate Mesopotamia was of little immediate importance, given that it was in the middle of an uninhabited desert and Britain controlled both sides. That line was finally fixed through an exchange of letters in 1932.”

The plagiarism outlined above represents a clear breach of public trust. The ICJ needs honest judges, not judges who lie and present other people’s work as their own, not to mention work that is itself grounded not in historical research but in Zionist mythology and propaganda. Sebutinde is a disgrace to the court and its reputation, and every judge, lawyer and legal expert in the world should call for her immediate resignation.

Zachary J. Foster is a historian of Palestine who received his Ph.D in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton University in 2017.

1 February 2025

Source: countercurrents.org

By Andre Damon

Life expectancy in Gaza plunged by nearly 50 percent in the first year of the Israeli genocide in the besieged enclave, a study published in The Lancet has found.

The study, led by Michel Guillot, professor of sociology in the School of Arts & Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania, found that life expectancy in Gaza fell by a staggering 34.9 years, erasing over a century of progress in life expectancy in just one year.

For men, life expectancy dropped to 35.6 years from a pre-war life expectancy of 73.6 years—a decline of over 50 percent. For women, life expectancy declined from 77.5 years to 47.5 years.

By comparison, Nigeria, the country previously with the lowest life expectancy, has a life expectancy at birth of 54.46 years. The study’s findings indicate that the population of Gaza now has a life expectancy lower than any other country in the world.

These findings make clear that Israel’s war in Gaza is not a war, but a genocide, aimed not at any military objective but at killing as many Palestinians as possible and destroying as much of Gaza as possible in order to ethnically cleanse the territory, settle it, and annex it into “greater Israel.”

This has been the aim of the Israeli state since the Nakba of 1948-1949, and has been its modus operandi for decades, including the illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories in 1967. With the support of the Biden administration, the government of Benjamin Netanyahu initiated a full-scale genocide in October 2023, using the October 7 attacks as a pretext.

The figures in the latest The Lancet study are likely to be a major underestimation, as they do not account for deaths uncounted in official government statistics or deaths due to Israel’s deliberate policy of starvation, dehydration, and the destruction of Gaza’s medical infrastructure. The study based itself on data from Gaza’s Ministry of Health, which estimates that Israeli forces have directly killed 45,936 Palestinians.

The authors noted that “our approach to estimating life expectancy losses in this study is conservative as it ignores the indirect effect of the war on mortality… Actual losses are likely to be higher.”

Earlier this month, another study published in The Lancet estimated that Palestinian deaths in Gaza from Israeli bullets and bombs “probably exceeded 70,000.” An earlier study from The Lancet suggested that the all-cause mortality from the genocide, including from malnutrition and disease, could be 186,000 or more.

In November, the United Nations Human Rights Office published a report showing that nearly 70 percent of verified deaths in Gaza were of women and children, further underlining the reality that Israel is waging a genocide in Gaza.

Amid a ceasefire in Gaza which began on January 19, Israeli forces are continuing daily raids and bombings throughout the West Bank.

In a statement, United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric called on Israel to cease its military offensive on the West Bank, centered on the city of Jenin. The UN “remains deeply concerned about the humanitarian situation in the northern area of the West Bank as Israeli operations in Jenin continue for the 11th day….Nearly all of Jenin refugee camp’s 20,000 residents have been displaced over the past two months in the context of security operations.”

Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu will travel to Washington next week for two meetings with US President Trump on Tuesday. “I can confirm that Prime Minister Netanyahu will be here on Tuesday, February 4th, for a working meeting and visit with the president,” said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

Despite the nominal ceasefire in Gaza, the Israeli government, in coordination with the Trump administration, is making a renewed push for the expulsion of the Palestinian people from Gaza.

Last weekend, US President Donald Trump called for Israel to “clean” Gaza of its Arab inhabitants, openly calling for ethnic cleansing. “You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing,” Trump said.

Trump’s statement is an open and public embrace by the American state of the actual policy of the Netanyahu government, which is the systematic extermination and removal of the Palestinian population from Gaza. Trump reiterated his call for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza on Monday, declaring he would “like to get [Palestinians from Gaza] living in an area where they can live without disruption and revolution and violence so much.”

On Wednesday, Trump’s Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff met with Netanyahu to discuss, in the words of the Times of Israel, “Trump’s Gaza idea of sending Gaza’s population to Jordan and Egypt.”

The Times of Israel reported “the meeting lasted for two-and-a-half hours, and quoted senior Israeli officials as saying the officials discussed possible outlines for the transfer of Gaza’s population, in line with the US president’s repeated suggestion that millions of Gazans should relocate to Egypt and Jordan in order to enable the Strip’s reconstruction.”

Trump’s plan to ethnically cleanse Gaza would be a major violation of international law. In a news conference on Monday, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric condemned Trump’s calls, saying, “We would be against any plan that would lead to the forced displacement of people, or would lead to any type of ethnic cleansing.”

Michael Becker, a professor of international human rights law at Trinity College in Dublin, told Al Jazeera, “The proposal to relocate Palestinians from Gaza to neighboring states smacks of forced displacement, which would violate international humanitarian law.”

He continued, “International courts have also found that whether a population transfer constitutes forced displacement depends on whether people have a genuine choice in the matter… This means that even if some Palestinians might appear to consent to relocation, this would not necessarily make their displacement lawful.”

1 February 2025

Source: countercurrents.org

By Ramzy Baroud

Even those of us who have long emphasized the importance of the Palestinian people’s voice, experience, and collective action in Palestinian history must have been shocked by the cultural revolution resulting from the Israeli war on Gaza.

By cultural revolution, I mean the defiant and rebellious narrative evolving in Gaza, where people see themselves as active participants in the popular resistance, not just mere victims of the Israeli war machine.

When the ceasefire was announced on the 471st day of the Israeli genocide, Gazans rushed to the streets in celebration. Media outlets reported that they were celebrating the ceasefire, but judging by their chants, songs, and symbolisms, they were celebrating their collective victory, steadfastness (sumud), and resilience against the powerful Israeli army, supported by the US and other Western countries.

Using basic means, they rushed to clean their streets, clearing debris to allow the displaced to search for homes. Though their homes were destroyed – (90% of Gaza’s housing units, according to the United Nations) – they were still happy, even to sit on the wreckage. Some prayed atop concrete slabs, some sang in large, growing crowds, and others cried but insisted no power could ever uproot them from Palestine again.

Social media was flooded with Gazans expressing a mix of emotions, though they were mostly defiant, expressing their resolve not just in political terms but in other ways, including humor.

Of course, the bodybuilders returned to their gyms to find them mostly destroyed. Rather than lament their losses, they salvaged machines and resumed training amid collapsed walls and ceilings punctured by Israeli missiles.

There was also the father and son who composed a song in the ahazej style, a traditional Levantine vocalization. The son, overjoyed to find his father alive, was reassured by his father that they would never abandon their homeland.

As for the children – 14,500 of whom were killed, according to UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) – they resumed their childhood. They claimed destroyed Israeli tanks in Rafah, Beit Hanoun, and elsewhere as their new playgrounds.

One teenager, pretending to be a scrap metal salesman, yelled, “An Israeli Merkava tank for sale,” as his friends filmed and laughed. He finished by saying, “Make sure you send this video to (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu,” before moving on, unfazed.

This does not mean Gaza is free of unimaginable pain, which is difficult for the rest of the world to fully comprehend. The emotional and psychological scars of the war will last a lifetime, and many will never recover fully from the trauma. But Gazans know they cannot afford to grieve in the usual way. So, they emphasize their identity, unity, and defiance as ways to overcome grief.

Parallel to its military assault on Gaza since October 7, 2023, Israel has invested heavily in dividing the Palestinian people and shattering their spirit.

In Gaza, it dropped millions of flyers from warplanes on starving refugees, urging them to rebel against Palestinian factions by providing Israel with names of “troublemakers.” The Israeli army offered large rewards for information, but little was achieved.

These flyers also called for tribal leaders to take control of their areas in exchange for food and protection. To punish those who resisted, Israel systematically killed clan representatives and councilors who tried to distribute aid throughout Gaza, especially in the north where famine was devastating.

Against overwhelming odds, Palestinians remained united. When the ceasefire was declared, they celebrated as one nation. With Gaza destroyed, Israel’s actions obliterated Gaza’s class, regional, ideological, and political divisions. Everyone in Gaza became a refugee; the rich, poor, Muslim, Christian, city dwellers and refugee camp residents were all equally affected.

The unity that remains in Gaza, after one of the most horrific genocides in modern history, should serve as a wake-up call. The narrative that Palestinians are divided and need to “find common ground” has proven false.

With the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank aiding Israel’s war on Jenin and other refugee camps, the old notion of political unity through a merger of the PA and various Palestinian factions is no longer viable. The reality is that the fragmentation of the Palestinian political landscape cannot be solved through mere political agreements or negotiations between factions.

However, a different kind of unity has already taken root in Gaza and, by extension, across Palestinian communities in occupied Palestine and the rest of the world. This unity is visible in the millions of Palestinians who have demonstrated against the war, chanted for Gaza, cried for Gaza, and developed a new political discourse around it.

This unity does not rely on talking heads on Arabic satellite channels or secret meetings in expensive hotels. It needs no diplomatic talks. Years of endless discussions, “unity documents,” and fiery speeches only led to disappointment.

The true unity has already been achieved, felt in the voices of ordinary Gazans who no longer identify as members of factions. They are Gazzawiyya. Palestinians from Gaza, and nothing else.

This is the true unity that must now form the foundation of a new discourse.

Ramzy Baroud is a US-Palestinian journalist, media consultant, an author, internationally-syndicated columnist, Editor of Palestine Chronicle (1999-present), former Managing Editor of London-based Middle East Eye, former Editor-in-Chief of The Brunei Times and former Deputy Managing Editor of Al Jazeera online.

31 January 2025

Source: countercurrents.org

By Quds News Network

Washington (Quds News Network)- US President Donald Trump insisted Thursday that Egypt and Jordan would accept displaced Palestinians, despite both countries rejecting his proposal to “clean out” war-torn Gaza by displacing 1.5 million Palestinians.

Trump’s comments came a day after Egyptian President and Jordan’s King rejected any forced displacement of Gazans.

“They will do it,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked for his response to the Egyptian and Jordanian refusal, and whether he would consider imposing tariffs on either country to push them.

“They’re going to do it. We do a lot for them, and they’re going to do it.”

On his larger vision for Gaza, Trump said he had called earlier in the day with King Abdullah II of Jordan and would speak Sunday with President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt.

“I’d like Egypt to take people,” Trump said. “You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing and say, ‘You know, it’s over.’”

Trump said he complimented Jordan for having successfully accepted Palestinian refugees and that he told the king, “I’d love for you to take on more, cause I’m looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now, and it’s a mess. It’s a real mess.”

Trump added the part of the world that encompasses Gaza, has “had many, many conflicts” over centuries. He said resettling “could be temporary or long term.”

“Something has to happen,” Trump said. “But it’s literally a demolition site right now. Almost everything’s demolished, and people are dying there.”

He added: “So, I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations, and build housing in a different location, where they can maybe live in peace for a change.”

On Monday, Trump doubled down on his proposal, insisting that Egypt and Jordan would agree to it.

Asked about his comments, Trump told reporters on Air Force One he would “like to get them living in an area where they can live without disruption and revolution and violence so much.”

“When you look at the Gaza Strip, it’s b
Xoeeen hell for so many years,” Trump said. “There have been various civilizations on that strip. It didn’t start here. It started thousands of years before, and there’s always been violence associated with it. You could get people living in areas that are a lot safer and maybe a lot better and maybe a lot more comfortable.”

Asked how the Egyptian leader received the idea, Trump said Sissi’s “response [was] that he’d like to see peace in the Middle East.”

“I’d like to see peace in the Middle East,” Trump added.

Pressed further, Trump insisted that both the Egyptian and Jordanian leaders would come around.

“I’d love to do that,” he said. “I wish [Sissi] would take some. We helped them a lot, and I’m sure he’d help us. He’s a friend of mine. He’s in… a rough neighborhood. But I think he would do it, and I think the king of Jordan would do it too,” Trump added.

However, Egyptian state-linked media quickly reported on Tuesday that such a call never happened, citing a senior government source, after Israeli media, including the Jerusalem Post and Ynet, reported that the two presidents spoke by phone and that Sissi did not object to the idea.

Palestine, Egypt, and Jordan all strongly condemned Trump’s remarks.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) said the plan “constitutes a blatant violation of the red lines we have consistently warned against”.

“We emphasise that the Palestinian people will never abandon their land or their holy sites, and we will not allow the repetition of the catastrophes (Nakba) of 1948 and 1967. Our people will remain steadfast and will not leave their homeland,” it said.

Hamas said the US administration must abandon such proposals that align with Israeli “schemes” and conflict with the rights of the Palestinian people, who have already been resisting “the most heinous acts of genocide” and displacement since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023.

“Our principles are clear, and Jordan’s steadfast position to uphold the Palestinians’ presence on their land remains unchanged and will never change,” Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told a joint press conference in Amman.

“The solution to the Palestinian issue lies in Palestine; Jordan is for Jordanians and Palestine is for Palestinians,” he added.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry also affirmed “Egypt’s continued support for the resilience of the Palestinian people on their land and their commitment to their legitimate rights in their homeland, in accordance with international law and international humanitarian law.”

Egypt “cannot be part of any solution involving the transfer of Palestinians into the Sinai,” the Egyptian Embassy in Washington said, citing an opinion piece published by Ambassador Motaz Zahran on the US website The Hill in October 2023.

On Wednesday, Egypt’s Sissi said in his first public response to Trump’s comments that displacing “the Palestinian people from their land is an injustice that we cannot take part in.”

Jordan’s King Abdullah II separately stressed his country’s “firm position on the need to keep the Palestinians on their land.”

White House envoy Steve Witkoff recently visited Gaza, marking the first US visit to the region in 15 years. In an interview with Axios, Witkoff painted a grim picture of the destruction in Gaza, describing the area as “uninhabitable” following the Israeli genocide and estimating that rebuilding could take 10 to 15 years.

Last week, Trump said during a 20-minute question-and-answer session with reporters aboard the Air Force that he would like Jordan, Egypt, and other Arab nations to increase the number of Palestinian refugees they accept from Gaza.

31 January 2025

Source: countercurrents.org

By Enas W Qeshta

As the world wonders what the first thing Palestinians in Gaza might do after the ceasefire, I know the answer shared by so many here: we’re left with the haunting reality of sleeping each night fearing bombings at any moment. I’ve lost several family members, but I’m grateful that my mother, father, and siblings are still with me.

As soon as the ceasefire agreement came into effect, my mother, father, and two brothers rushed to check on our home. I was on edge, just waiting for a call: “Our home is still standing.” Everyone was eagerly waiting.

Everything turned upside down, and I couldn’t hold back my tears when I received a call from my brother, Mohammed. His voice was filled with anguish as he said, “Thank God, Ya Habibti.” I asked, “AlHamdulillah, our home is still standing?” But his reply shattered my heart: “Nothing, nothing, no building is still standing here, my sister, AlHamdulillah.” In that moment, everything changed for me; the hope I clung to crumbled into ashes. I found myself waiting for the ceasefire deal, eagerly anticipating our return home, but that brought a haunting question: What is the purpose of life when home is no longer there?

I just want to go home, even though it’s hard to call it that anymore. Our house has turned into rubble. I can’t understand how a place filled with countless memories could be reduced to ruins. How could the Israeli occupation dare to bomb it? Who allowed them to wipe out our entire block?

The footage revealing the massive destruction doesn’t represent even 1% of the devastating reality. It feels as if an earthquake has struck, obliterating everything.

I’ve lost everything that mattered to me. I long to return home—to kiss every corner, to hug the walls, to lie on my bed, and to tidy my room. I miss my room so much. I once had shoes to fill a store and clothes far beyond what one shop could hold. Now, I’m left with just one pair of shoes and two pieces of clothing.

I’ve kept my university books, despite my mother urging me to part with some. I cherish them and hope they’re still there under the rubble, though I wonder who can retrieve them for me. I truly want them back.

I just want to go back home—only to home. Words can’t capture the overwhelming feelings I’m experiencing right now. I feel an urge to cry for everything happening around me, struggling to accept that I’ve lost my home, and with it, I feel I have nothing left to lose.

My father, my hero, has worked tirelessly since my birth to ensure our future. Now at 60, he should be enjoying rest, yet his hard work feels in vain after losing everything—including our family’s home of five apartments, our second home, and our businesses. We are left homeless.

My mother, the soul of my soul, has always been my support. She carried burdens that felt heavier than mountains, enduring struggles throughout her life to stand beside us. With great care and thought, she selected each piece to adorn our home, choosing rare decorations, beautiful carpets, and precious furniture. In the blink of an eye, the Israeli occupation turned our three-floor building into rubble and ashes.

My dear sister Ansam persists in completing her education. Israel has denied her the opportunity to complete her secondary schooling, known as “Tawjihi” in Palestine. She prepared diligently, gathering all her books, sticky notes, pens, stickers, and everything related to her studies. It breaks my heart to see her dreams crushed under the weight of despair. With tears in her eyes and a heavy heart, she told me, “I need my stuff back; I will go there and dig with my own hands to retrieve them all.” Ansam’s dream remains simple: to continue her education for a better future.

My 3-year-old nephew, Yazan, has never failed to take my heart. He survived 15 months of the Israeli genocide. I cherished taking photos of him on our sofa, just to see his innocent smile light up. It’s heartbreaking to think that I may never capture those moments again after the Israeli army decided to crush our home.

Even though there is no real meaning to the ceasefire without having a home, at least the daily Israeli bloodshed of Palestinians has stopped, and for now, I can take to the streets to walk without the fear of being targeted—that a missile could strike me at any moment.

The Israeli war criminal Netanyahu thinks he breaks our will by destroying our home, but I refuse to lose hope and become homeless because I still have the keys.

25 January 2025

Source: countercurrents.org

By Dimitris Eleas

The world was shaken by Donald Trump’s inauguration speech and the phrase, “our Golden Age has just begun” is like kidding.

There are many reasons why such a man, with such a big “Ego” was re-elected President of the USA. It is the hundred million Americans who have been impoverished. The rift from decades of economic inequality. Both major parties are to blame, but one party, the Democratic Party, is the one that represented the poor and those without degrees, supposedly, but forgot them along the way. And the Right, which knows how to preserve itself, would not miss such an opportunity.

The inauguration was attended by everyone, from the CEOs of the most powerful companies in the best seats, to the man with the chainsaw (President Miley of Argentina). All the elite of “the shores of America” united, along with the former presidents, and all the elite now supports Trump. Openly, without pretense and it’s not just the tax breaks. Dystopia! Did he make anyone go away with the nonsense he was saying?

Trump’s speech had a Wild West fantasy of “America will expand” and imperialism – to take back the Panama Canal, to rename the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America – and elements of hyperbole as always. It is the style of extravagance and spectacle! This with the two sexes is the work of science and not politics. He spoke plainly about immigration and tariffs. This about “freedom of speech” is also the First Amendment to the American Constitution, it is the only logical thing one heard. This is also logical with Mars, because in the near future Humanity will be “forced” to expand elsewhere.

Melania made a big impression with the “vicar’s wide hat” she was wearing, and Trump’s kisses on her were seen as being in the air. She also looked like the heroine of a French novel at a funeral. What did Shakespeare miss, I thought, who was born in the wrong century and never wrote about how a scheming ruler can win over an entire kingdom by telling lies. The American people in the past felt decadence and betrayal. However, this people is not stupid, with the election of Trump it shakes everyone and everything, inside and outside, and especially the great powers, Russia and China, should not rush to take America’s place in the world. America does not leave the chair. In fact, one of the chair’s feet, in my estimation, is already firmly placed in Greenland.

It’s the next four years, enough time for the Democrats to find the ball again, and they will if they listen to a wise “old man” from Vermont, Bernie Sanders, but also Michael Sandel and Thomas Piketty and especially what the two important thinkers discussed in Paris some time ago. These gentlemen – the former a political philosopher at Harvard and the latter an economist – explain perfectly why Trump prevailed, why everywhere the Right is raising its head, and what can change now. Their book, “Equality: What it means and why it matters,” will be released soon.

At the same time, the Trump Administration, for all its comedy and tragedy, will be Shakespearean in scope – and undeniably entertaining for all Americans and more. The decrees issued already are the beginning…

Dimitris Eleas is a New York-based political scientist, researcher, writer, and activist.

24 January 2025

Source: countercurrents.org

By Prof. Mazin Qumsiyeh

Both Netanyahu and Trump have visions of building empires and discarding the remnants of international law and the UN. Will they succeed to lead us to a World War or will we have peace? Trump immediately acted with executive orders to dismantle the US’s connection to the world with a triumphalist inaugural speech full of classic colonialist language of manifest destiny, frontiers, pioneers and so on. But this is only more open empire building that was happening under his predecessors. His fascist billionaire supporters are pardoned or even give Nazi Salute (lie Elon Musk) while common people (including Jews) who speak for Palestinian human rights are dubbed “anti-semitic” by Zionist groups like the ADL. The US is completing its second largest so-called “embassy” (in Beirut, the first in Baghdad). Each accommodates tens of thousands of personnel and the world is bullied to submission. See https://x.com/sahouraxo/status/1880757780958924938.

The neoconservative zionist plan of toppling seven countries in the Arab world has materialized albeit was delayed a bit because of the resistance. Trump is only verbally more crude as than other “presidents” so he insulted people around the world from Alaskan natives to the Dutch (over Greenland) to Panamanians (wants to take Panama Canal) etc. Even his nearest neighbors (Canada and Mexico) and closest allies in Europe all are in his crosshairs.

The world all looks at this stronger push to expand the big genocidal empire (USA) and the small genocidal empire (Israel) with trepidations. But the reaction has been an expansion of the BRICS group of nations and the lineup for a global war is becoming clearer. We in the global South were never in doubt that imperialism is deep state and that the only difference between Genocide Joe and lunatic Trump is style of bluster of character.

But since the 1962 assassination of John Kennedy, the transfer power in the USA was from one Zionist puppet to another Zionist puppet. The US system of federal elections has slowly and methodically been consumed by moneyed interests of the billionaires. The democrats and republicans become two sides of the same coin which is a Public Relations campaign to give the illusion of democracy while dragging the world to the abyss in service of moneys interests. Different faces but the essence is the same: making the rich richer and the poor poorer and pardoning criminals wearing different masks. Money flows whether from Edelson and Musk to republicans or Saban, Soros and Streyer to democrats (https://www.timesofisrael.com/meet-the-leading-jewish-political-donors-in-this-us-election-cycle/).

In all cases indigenous people and people of color are sacrificed on the altar the new Golden calves (and the chief being the Zionist sacred cow). Here in the occupied Palestinian territories, pogroms by Jewish colonial settlers and soldiers accelerated after the “ceasefire” agreements in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. (see https://www.middleeasteye.net/live/live-wave-israeli-settler-attacks-injure-palestinians-destroy-property-west-bank-villages).

The apartheid regime only intensified: lockdown of the cantons/bantustans that we are restricted in. Home demolitions and confiscation of more Palestinian lands, and increase in Jewish colonial settler buildings (squatters on our land).Torching vehicles and homes is now almost a daily occurence supported by the fascist Netanyahu government (a government of settlers). Without going into a detailed analysis, the trends are clear and could lead to catastrophic outcomes (global war combined with climate change). To reverse this direction requires a global uprising, a global unity of all affected people. What the global imperialist elites want us to think is that our interests and causes are separate or even contradictory.

But the struggles of immigrants in the US, of Alaskans, of Californians, of Panamanians, of Syrians, of Palestinians of hundreds of other people are all one struggle against those elites profiting from their hegemony whether they are called Biden, Trump, Modi, or Neneyahu. By realizing the unity of our struggle can we defeat the greed that causes millions misery and that leads us to mass extinction. For all with eyes to see and brains to examine, the data is now available and the choice is clear. We either allow them to destroy humanity and the environment or we reclaim our humanity and our earth. The choice is ours.

Prof. Mazin Qumsiyeh is founder and volunteer director of the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability, Bethlehem University (palestinenature.org).

24 January 2025

Source: countercurrents.org

Veterans For Peace joins the people of Gaza in rejoicing at the Ceasefire that has brought a halt to Israel’s bombardment of Palestinian children, women and men, and their churches, their mosques, their schools and hospitals. At least 50,000 have been killed in a cold-blooded massacre and over 100,000 injured, many losing their limbs. But the huge smiles on the faces of the children of Gaza and their shouts of joy since the ceasefire went into effect were a deeply profound thing to witness.

But just how real is the Gaza ceasefire?  How enduring will it be?  Many close observers of Israel are skeptical.  In his recent article, The Ceasefire Charade, Chris Hedges, renowned war correspondent and VFP Advisory Board member writes:

“Israel, going back decades, has played a duplicitous game. It signs a deal with the Palestinians that is to be implemented in phases. The first phase gives Israel what it wants — in this case the release of the Israeli hostages in Gaza — but Israel habitually fails to implement subsequent phases that would lead to a just and equitable peace. It eventually provokes the Palestinians with indiscriminate armed assaults to retaliate, defines a Palestinian response as a provocation and abrogates the ceasefire deal to reignite the slaughter. If this latest three-phase ceasefire deal is ratified it will, I expect, be little more than a presidential inauguration bombing pause. Israel has no intention of halting its merry-go-round of death.”

While we rejoice at the pause in the US/Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people, we recognize that the following underpinnings of the genocide remain unchanged:

1. U.S. provision of weapons and services for those weapons to Israel in violation of a variety of U.S. laws, including the Leahy Law;

2. U.S. deployment of military personnel in support of the genocide through servicing weapons provided to Israel, flying air attacks against Yemeni and Syrian people; flying MQ-9 Reaper drone surveillance missions to aid Israeli air attacks against Palestinians, Yemenis and, likely, Lebanese;

3. Repression by US colleges and universities against students and faculty who have acted so courageously and effectively to educate the US public about the US/Israeli genocide and have led in calling for divestment from Israel and from US weapons makers who have been making billions in supporting the genocide;

4. The silence of US hospital systems about the genocide and repression of their staff members who are speaking out in solidarity with their sister and brother Palestinian medical workers who have been killed, jailed, humiliated and whose hospitals have been destroyed and deprived of fuel, medicine, food and safety. Evidence of this silence is the formation and growing popularity of Doctors Against Genocide; and

5. The cooperation of major US press organizations with genocide in failing to report fully on the suffering of the Palestinian people and accepting without significant critique the narrative of the Israeli government.

6. The constitutionally-protected ability of weapons makers and other corporations to exercise dangerous influence in every segment of society and public opinion by lobbying legislators at every level of government, writing legislation, advertising, plying educational institutions with desperately needed funding, contributing to community events, keeping information hidden from the public and investing in electoral campaigns.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is not rejoicing at the ceasefire agreement.  He immediately declared that Biden and Trump both told him he will have their support whenever he decides to resume the Gaza onslaught.

Fueling concerns about the durability of the Gaza ceasefire are Israel’s escalating attacks on the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank, its daily violations of the ceasefire in Lebanon, and its continuing efforts to draw the US into a war against Iran.

Ominously, on his first day in office, President Trump removed the sanctions on West Bank settlers who have attacked Palestinian civilians, and reversed Biden’s “pause” of sending 2,000 lb. bombs to Israel. And then there are these recent statements from Trump’s inner circle:

During his confirmation hearing for U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio strongly defended Israel’s conduct in Gaza while sharply condemning the International Criminal Court (ICC). As a Senator, Rubio was a strong supporter of the criminal actions of Israel against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
During her confirmation hearing on January 22, 2025, Trump’s nominee for U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Elise Stefanik that while Palestinian people deserve human rights, Israel has a biblical right to the West Bank. She would not answer whether the Palestinian people have the right to self-determination.

“I support Israel destroying and killing every last member of Hamas,” testified Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, at his Senate confirmation hearing.  And Trump’s National Security Advisor Mike Waltz declared that he is committed to the complete defeat of Hamas. That sounds very much like the failed logic of the Biden Administration and Israel’s war on Gaza. When will they ever learn?

Despite its uncertain fate, the Gaza ceasefire is nonetheless a precious victory for the Palestinian people, and must be defended. Just look again at the joyous faces of the Palestinian children. This is another stage in the Palestinian struggle for liberation from colonial oppression and genocide. Peace-loving people everywhere must therefore remain vigilant. We must push for successful completion of all three phases of the ceasefire agreement. We must remove conditions within the U.S. that have enabled the genocide.

Veterans For Peace has consistently called on the US government to stop sending US bombs and war materials to Israel. We have encouraged legal action against the Biden administration for violating US and international laws when it sends weapons to a country that is committing gross human rights violations. We believe that the quickest, most effective way to stop the genocide in Gaza – and to preserve the ceasefire — is to cut off the flow of US weapons to Israel.

Furthermore, we stand ready to give our full support to U.S. military personnel who choose not to be party to genocide. We will continue to support students, teachers, medical workers and others who are compelled by their consciences to take stands against genocide and for freedom for the Palestinian people. We call on all reporters and editors to report fully on the experience of the Palestinian people.

We demand that the Trump administration and the Israeli government respect the hard-won Gaza ceasefire, that they permanently end the carnage in Gaza and the West Bank, that they cease the occupation of Palestinian land, and that they end the oppression of the Palestinian people. We call on all peace-loving people to join us in defending the righteous struggle of the Palestinian people for their freedom and sovereignty.

Never Again Genocide!  Free, Free Palestine!

24 January 2025

Source: countercurrents.org

By Jessica Corbett

The Palestinian group Al-Haq outlined the “targeting of hospitals and health centers, the denial of adequate medical provisions into and around the Gaza Strip, and the abduction, torture, and killing of medical personnel.”

Less than a week into a fragile cease-fire between Hamas and Israel in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq on Thursday released a report detailing how “Israel has systematically targeted and attacked the healthcare system to the point of its collapse in a campaign of genocide.”

The new report—titled The Systematic Destruction of Gaza’s Healthcare System: A Pattern of Genocide—builds on previous publications, including from United Nations entities, and testimonies from medical professionals who have worked in Gaza since Israel launched its U.S.-backed assault in retaliation for the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack.

“The Israeli occupying forces’ (IOF) targeting of hospitals and health centers, the denial of adequate medical provisions into and around the Gaza Strip, and the abduction, torture, and killing of medical personnel is evidence of Israel’s genocidal intent to: (i) inflict conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, and (ii) impose measures intended to prevent Palestinian births in the Gaza Strip,” states the 116-page report.

“The concerted policy to destroy the healthcare system in Gaza is directly and causally linked to statements made by Israeli officials,” the document continues, offering various examples and highlighting how it wasn’t just hospitals—Israel also attacked “civilian residences, schools, shelters, mosques, churches, and other protected areas under international humanitarian law.”

The report argues that “Israel’s systematic campaign against Gaza’s healthcare infrastructure as a whole is exemplified by the targeted destruction of al-Shifa Hospital,” which is the largest hospital in the occupied Palestinian territory and “older than Israel.” The document also addresses Israel’s attacks on Adwan, al-Amal, al-Aqsa, al-Awda, Indonesian, Kamal, and Nasser hospitals.

[https://twitter.com/alhaq_org/status/1882494195069251799]

Along with offering a summary of facts and legal analysis of “Israel’s systematic attacks on Gaza’s healthcare system as acts of genocide,” war crimes, and violations of international humanitarian law, the publication features recommendations for other countries and blocs, international tribunals, U.N. experts, companies, and healthcare professionals.

Al-Haq called on the international community to “name and condemn Israel’s ongoing genocide,” impose an arms embargo, support the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, and demand the release of Palestinian political prisoners and those who have been arbitrarily detained by Israel, including healthcare workers.

The report was published as the death toll in Gaza continues to grow, as displaced residents of the Palestinian enclave return to the remnants of their homes and communities decimated by more than 15 months of Israeli bombings and raids.

The Gaza Ministry of Health said Thursday that the official death toll rose to 47,283, after 120 bodies “were recovered from under the rubble” in the past 24 hours, and 111,472 people have been injured. Global experts warn the true death toll is likely far higher.

Israel faces a genocide case led by South Africa at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over its military assault and restrictions on the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has also issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri.

Al-Haq’s report notes both the ICC warrants and the ICJ case, urging other governments to formally support the latter effort.

Throughout the 15-month assault on Gaza, Israeli settlers and troops also targeted Palestinians in the illegally occupied West Bank—where Al-Haq is based. However, since the cease-fire took effect Sunday, attacks in the West Bank have sparked fresh alarm.

In addition to pushing for the investigation of Israel’s assault on Gaza, the new report urges a U.N. commission to probe “genocidal acts in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, including but not limited to killings of Palestinians, causing serious bodily or mental harm to Palestinians, and deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of the Palestinian people.”

Jessica Corbett is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams.

24 January 2025

Source: countercurrents.org