January, 07 2021, 11:00pm EDT
100+ Civil Rights, Racial Justice, Labor, and Grassroots Groups Demand Trump Be Immediately Removed from Office, Co-Conspirators Held Accountable
WASHINGTON
Following the insurrection by armed white vigilantes against the U.S. Capitol on Treason Day (January 6th, 2020) encouraged by Donald Trump as a way to stop the certification of the results of the presidential election, more than 110 civil rights, racial justice, labor, and grassroots groups issued the following statement:
"January 6th, 2020 should forever be remembered as Treason Day. A day when a sitting president who has done everything in his power to overturn his loss unleashed an angry mob of armed white vigilantes inside of our Capitol, threatening our government, including the very Republican leaders complicit in this attack."
"Trump may have lost access to his social media accounts, but still retains the full powers of the presidency. He is dangerous and must be removed from office today through the 25th amendment or impeachment.
"His Republican co-conspirators, from Senators and House Members to state legislators, who fed, fueled and fomented these attacks on our democracy must also be removed or resign. All those who participated in this insurrection, especially those who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, must be investigated and prosecuted to the full extent of the law once Donald Trump is removed"
"On January 20, our democracy will prevail. But only thanks to the organizers, activists, and election officials in communities across this country who protected the results. We have just faced one of the greatest threats to our democracy ever. To meet the moment, President-elect Biden must make reforming our political system from the ground up a top priority on Day One."
SIGNATORIES:
Bend the Arc Jewish Action
Care in Action
Center for Popular Democracy
Faith in Public Life Action Fund
Frontline
MomsRising
MoveOn
National Domestic Workers Alliance
National Women's Law Center
Planned Parenthood Action Fund
Protect Democracy
Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
Supermajority
Women's March
Working Families Party
#VOTEPROCHOICE
ACCE Action
ACRONYM
Action Together Network
AFSCME Council 65
Alliance for Quality Education
Alliance for Youth Action
Americans for Democratic Action (ADA)
Angel Guardian
Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO
Audacity Group SE
Avaaz.org
Battle Born Progress - Nevada
Bay Rising Action
Bend the Arc Jewish Action: Pittsburgh
Bend the Arc: Jewish Action--San Luis Obispo, California
Black Leaders Organizing for Communities (BLOC)
Black Phoenix Votes
Bold ReThink
Boulder Area Labor Council, AFL-CIO
Broward for Progress
Cause Campaign Partners
Center for Coalfield Justice
Change Media Group
Choose Democracy
Citizen Acivist
Cobalt
Common Defense
Community Catalyst
Conscious Resources
Convey Communications
Daily Kos
DemCast USA
Demo Crew
Democracy Fund Voice
Diversity Matters
Dutchess County Progressive Action Alliance
Empowering Pacific Islander Communities (EPIC)
Endangered Species Coalition
Faith Commons
Faithful America
Fix Democracy First
Florida For All
Friends of the Earth Action
Fuerte Arts Movement
Georgia Alliance for Social Justice
Granite State Progress
Green Advocacy Project
Greenpeace US
Grove Action Fund
HUB for Progress
IfNotNow Movement
Indivisible Alaska Statewide
Indivisible CA-33
Indivisible Chicago Alliance
Indivisible Petaluma
Interfaith Council for Peace & Justice (ICPJ)
Leadership Now Project
Liberation Ventures
Local Progress
Mainers for Accountable Leadership
Maryville Huddle, Women's March Coalition East Tennessee
Movement Voter Project
MPower Change Action
Never Again Action
New Georgia Project Action Fund
New Mexico Caregivers Coalition
Next Up & Next Up Action Fund
Oregon (WI) Area Progressives
PA Spotlight
Padres & Jovenes Unidos Action Fund
People's Action
Philadelphia City Council
PL+US (Paid Leave for the U.S.)
Progress Virginia
Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada
ProgressNow Colorado
Protect Our Election
Seed the Vote
SEIU Minnesota State Council
SEIU WI State Council
SolidarityINFOService
State Innovation Exchange (SiX)
SURJ SF
Swing Left/Sister District Marin
The Bully Project
The More Stable Union Newsletter
The Workers Circle
Truman National Security Project
UltraViolet
United Working Families
VOICE Buffalo
Win Without War
Wisconsin Democracy Campaign
Young Invincibles
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Video footage broadcast Wednesday by Al Jazeera shows Israeli soldiers gunning down two Palestinians on the coast of northern Gaza, even as one of them waves what appears to be a piece of white fabric.
The footage shows one of the men walking in the direction of an Israeli military vehicle with both hands raised. Despite the absence of any clear evidence that the man posed a threat, Israeli forces shot him from a short distance away. Another man is seen on the ground not far behind.
Al Jazeera's Tareq Abu Azzoum said the killings took place near where World Central Kitchen recently dropped off food aid.
The video then shows Israeli soldiers burying the bodies with a bulldozer.
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Watch:
مشاهد حصرية للجزيرة لإعدام جنود إسرائيليين مدنيين فلسطينيين أثناء محاولتهم العودة لشمال قطاع غزة#الأخبار #حرب_غزة pic.twitter.com/QER98mv2n6
— قناة الجزيرة (@AJArabic) March 27, 2024
Richard Falk, former United Nations special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, toldAl Jazeera that the footage provides "vivid confirmation of continuing Israeli atrocities" and spotlights the "unambiguous character of Israeli atrocities that are being carried out on a daily basis."
"The eyes and ears of the world have been assaulted in real-time by this form of genocidal behavior," said Falk. "It is a shocking reality that there has been no adverse reaction from the liberal democracies in the West. It is a shameful moment."
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, whose board Falk chairs, has documented numerous examples of Israeli soldiers conducting close-range field executions in Gaza since October 7, when Israel launched its latest assault following a Hamas-led attack.
In less than six months, Israeli forces have killed more than 32,500 people in Gaza and sparked one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes in modern history.
The video footage emerged just days after the United Nations Security Council approved a resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire in Gaza. The U.S., Israel's leading arms supplier, abstained from the vote and falsely claimed the measure was "nonbinding."
The Israeli government, for its part, immediately signaled that it would disregard the resolution, just as it has ignored orders from the International Court of Justice.
Sophie McNeill, a human rights campaigner, called the footage released Wednesday "horrifying" and demanded that the International Criminal Court "urgently prioritize investigating and charging all those carrying out war crimes in Gaza."
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"Joe Lieberman's legacy will live on as your medical debt."
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While current and former officials across the U.S. political spectrum shared praise for and fond memories of former Sen. Joe Lieberman in response to news of his death on Wednesday, critics highlighted how some of his key positions led to the deaths of many others.
Lieberman's family said the 82-year-old died at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital after a fall at his home in the Bronx. He served in the Connecticut Senate, as the state's attorney general, and in the U.S. Senate—initially as a Democrat and eventually as an Independent. He was also Democratic former Vice President Al Gore's running mate in the 2000 presidential election.
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He was far from alone in highlighting the two defining positions.
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The Debt Collective said on social media that "Joe Lieberman killed so many people when he killed the public option. Not to mention all the people he killed by cheerleading every war and every lie that led to war. A truly horrible person with a shameful legacy."
Journalist Jon Schwarz pointed out that Lieberman continued to lie about the WMDs long after the claims were debunked.
FormerMSNBC host Mehdi Hasan noted that Lieberman declined an opportunity to apologize for the disastrous war, sharing a clip from his on-camera interview with the ex-senator in 2021.
And please don\u2019t give me this \u2018don\u2019t speak ill of the dead\u2019 stuff - 1) I\u2019m not speaking ill, I\u2019m stating facts, and 2) public figures are public figures, and their obits reflect their legacies and so we should be honest in our accounts of their legacies. Not offensive but honest— (@)
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Citing Israel's "blatant" human rights violations in Gaza, Ireland's second-highest-ranking official said Wednesday that the country will join the South Africa-led genocide case before the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
Irish Tánaiste Micheál Martin—the equivalent of a deputy prime minister in other parliamentary nations—said that Ireland decided to intervene in the case after analyzing the "legal and policy issues" pertaining to the case under review by the United Nations' top court.
"It is for the court to determine whether genocide is being committed," Martin—who also serves as Ireland's foreign and defense minister—said in a statement. "But I want to be clear in reiterating what I have said many times in the last few months; what we saw on October 7 in Israel, and what we are seeing in Gaza now, represents the blatant violation of international humanitarian law on a mass scale."
Martin continued:
The taking of hostages. The purposeful withholding of humanitarian assistance to civilians. The targeting of civilians and of civilian infrastructure. The indiscriminate use of explosive weapons in populated areas. The use of civilian objects for military purposes. The collective punishment of an entire population.
The list goes on. It has to stop. The view of the international community is clear. Enough is enough. The U.N. Security Council has demanded an immediate cease-fire, the unconditional release of hostages, and the lifting of all barriers to the provision of humanitarian assistance at scale. The European Council has echoed this call.
South Africa's case—which is supported by over 30 countries, the Arab League, African Union, and others—incisively details Israel's conduct in the war, including the killing of tens of thousands of Palestinians, mostly women and children; the wounding of tens of thousands more; the forcible displacement of 90% of the besieged enclave's 2.3 million people; and the inflicting of conditions leading to widespread starvation and disease. The filing also cited numerous genocidal statements by Israeli officials.
On January 26, the ICJ issued a preliminary ruling that Israel is plausibly committing genocide in Gaza and ordered its government and military to prevent genocidal acts. Palestinian and international human rights defenders say Israel has ignored the order.
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