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palestinian state
'Stop It. Stop It Now, Joe.'
Even though fascist Donald Trump is still worse, just look at the latest polls in the swing states and recognize where we are heading. A true leader doesn't zig and zag when innocent people are being killed.
May 25, 2024
As the keynote speaker at Morehouse College in Atlanta last week, Joe Biden listened to the class Valedictorian’s call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. The President nodded and applauded with others in the assembly. In contrast, he had just approved another billion dollars in killer weapons for the genocidal Netanyahu regime to blow up what’s left of the Death Camps in Gaza. “Stop it, stop it now, Joe,” declared his wife, Dr. Jill Biden months ago.
Countless times Joe Biden has publicly urged Netanyahu to allow the waiting trucks carrying – food, water, and medicine – blocked at the Egyptian and Israeli borders to deliver this humanitarian aid. But Biden declined to demand sanctions and an end to the Israeli military blocking hundreds of trucks, paid for by the U.S., into Gaza to help the dying population. He could have draped American flags over these trucks and dared the Israeli state terrorists to stop them. Biden showed lethal weakness from an unused position of great presidential power. “Stop it, stop it now, Joe,” implored his wife Dr. Jill Biden as thousands of children are being killed who could have been saved.
When Biden took his oath of office, he swore to uphold the laws of the land. That oath requires action.
Biden asked early on that Netanyahu comply with international law. His government commits daily overt numerous war crimes targeting civilians, homes, schools, markets, hospitals and health clinics, ambulances, fleeing refugees, and even Mosques and Churches. The Israeli regime also violates the international law that requires the conquerors to protect the civilian population. Biden, Blinken and Austin have refused to condemn such “crimes against humanity,” halt arms shipments and thereby obey five federal laws prohibiting the U.S. from sending weapons to countries that are violating human rights or being used for offensive purposes.
When Biden took his oath of office, he swore to uphold the laws of the land. That oath requires action. His State Department, in a required compliance report this month to Congress, disgracefully punted. “Stop it, stop it now, Joe,” beseeched Dr. Jill Biden.
From the beginning, Biden has backed a two-state solution publicly and in private conversations with Netanyahu. These words support a peaceful settlement. Yet whether under Obama as vice president for eight years or since 2021, as president, Biden has not connected to any action advancing the two-state proposal. Worse, he has never called out Netanyahu, with consequences, for bragging year after year to his Likud Party that he has been supporting the Hamas regime and helping to fund it because Hamas, like Netanyahu, opposes a two-state solution.
Biden is still rejecting the recognition of a Palestinian state by 143 of the 193 member states of the United Nations. This week Spain, Norway and Ireland said they would recognize a Palestinian state. Biden bizarrely insists statehood be negotiated with Israel. He knows, of course, how many Israeli colonies (so-called settlements) exist in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Israel rejects outright any such Free Palestine. Weak Joe Biden is okay with that brutal occupation. “Stop it, stop it now, Joe,” says Dr. Jill Biden.
Joe Biden is always condemning anti-semitism against Jews, while he spends billions of dollars weaponizing Netanyahu’s violent anti-semitism against Arab semites in Palestine. This “other” anti-semitism has been violently inflicted, with very racist epithets, on defenseless, subjugated Palestinian families for over fifty-five years. The violence includes U.S. fighter planes bombing, ground troops smashing homes, and refugee camps, blowing up homes, imprisoning and torturing thousands of men, women and children, without charges, and hundreds of dictates, checkpoints, and other maddening harassments. (See the New York Times Magazine Sunday, May 19, 2024 piece “The Unpunished: How Extremists Took Over Israel”). Biden and Netanyahu are arm-in-arm anti-semites against Arabs. (See the “Anti-Semitism Against Arab and Jewish Americans” speech by Jim Zogby and DebatingTaboos.org).
It’s the ongoing massacre of these little innocents—in their mother’s or father’s arms or in crumbling hospitals that led Dr. Jill Biden to admonish: “Stop it, stop it now, Joe.”
Throughout his fifty-year political career, Biden has never said that “Palestinians have a right to defend themselves.” Only the overwhelmingly more powerful, occupying Israelis have this right, as he has repeated hundreds of times. “Stop it, stop it now, Joe,” advises Dr. Jill Biden.
Biden has expressed doubt about the Hamas Health Ministry’s fatality count in Gaza – itself a huge undercount. (See my column March 5, 2024 column: Stop the Worsening UNDERCOUNT of Palestinian Casualties in Gaza). His actions enabling the Israeli annihilations (“over the top” he once blurted) are moving the real fatality toll, especially with the Rafah invasion and starvation, to the fastest rate ever recorded in 21st century conflicts, according to experts. This includes the bloody, accelerating deaths of babies and children.
It’s the ongoing massacre of these little innocents—in their mother’s or father’s arms or in crumbling hospitals that led Dr. Jill Biden to admonish: “Stop it, stop it now, Joe.”
Still, Joe Biden conveys weakness to Netanyahu, to Netanyahu’s Congress and its omnipresent “Israel-can-do-no-wrong” lobby. Being weak on such a high visibility and protested genocide in Gaza is bad for your re-election, Joe. Even though Der Führer Donald is worse. Look at the latest polls in the swing states! A true leader doesn’t zig and zag when innocent people are being killed. “Stop it, stop it now, Joe.”
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Israel Threatens 'Severe Consequences' for Nations Who Recognize Palestine
Warning comes after key European allies—Norway, Ireland, and Spain—announced their "landmark" decision to formally recognize a Palestinian state.
May 22, 2024
Israel's foreign minister issued a blunt threat of "severe consequences" for the countries of Norway, Ireland, and Spain—and presumably other nations that may follow—after the trio announced their decision Wednesday to formally recognize a Palestinian state.
In their joint move, inspired in large measure by the ongoing Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip, the governments of Norway, Ireland, and Spain said they would make the formal recognition next week on May 28. In response, Israel recalled its ambassadors from Oslo and Dublin as an initial sign of displeasure and protest.
Israel's foreign minister Israel Katz said in a public statement that the move to recognize Palestine was a "distorted step" by the countries which he claimed was "an injustice to the memory of the victims of 7/10, a blow to efforts to return the 128 hostages, and a boost to Hamas and Iran's jihadists, which undermines the chance for peace and questions Israel's right to self-defense."
Katz warned that "Israel will not remain silent" in the face of what it perceives as a betrayal by its European allies and that "further severe consequences" would follow for those making such a decision. Israel recalled its ambassador to Spain last year after comments made about violations of humanitarian law in Gaza.
Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir also condemned the move Wednesday and said the response from Israel would be to intensify its operations in Gaza—where the ICC chief prosecutor this week alleged war crimes by Israeli forces have taken place—even further. In his remarks, Ben-Gvir called for a "root treatment" for the city of Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of civilians have fled but many still remain with nowhere go.
Israel's Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, meanwhile, called for immediate punishment for the Palestinian Authority and expanded settlement construction in the Occupied West Bank as a response.
In their remarks, leaders from Norway and Ireland defended recognition of a Palestinian state as the appropriate response to the violent conflict that has endured for decades but has escalated dramatically—and brutally—over the last seven months, both in Gaza and the Occupied West Bank.
"In the midst of a war, with tens of thousands killed and injured, we must keep alive the only alternative that offers a political solution for Israelis and Palestinians alike," said Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, as he led the three nations in their announcement.
In place of a "long and gruesome conflict," Støre said a new reality must be realized: "Two states, living side by side, in peace and security."
Taoiseach Simon Harris, head of the Irish Parliament—who made the announcement on behalf of Ireland alongside Tánaiste Micheál Martin and Green Party Minister Eamon Ryan—called the decision the "right thing to do" as he condemned Hamas, which he said has "nothing to offer," while also reiterating unwavering commitment for "Israel's right to exist securely and in peace with its neighbors."
The decision by Ireland, Harris said, was made in the context of its own fight for independence and freedom from colonial rule. Citing Ireland's own declaration for independence in 1919, Harris said recognition for a Palestinian state is vital "because we 'believe in freedom and justice as the fundamental principles of international law,' and because we believe that 'permanent peace' can only be secured 'upon the basis of the free will of a free people.'"
In response to Ireland's announcement, Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns applauded the government's decision.
"The Social Democrats have long called for the government to match its strong words, on the carnage in Gaza, with action—and this is a powerful action which sends a strong message," Cairns said. "That message is one of hope, peace, justice and freedom— for an imprisoned Palestinian people being massacred by a barbaric occupier."
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez spoke before members of Congress in Madrid on Wednesday where he denounced "the massacre in Gaza and the rest of the Palestinian territories," and defended the move to recognize a Palestinian state as necessary under the circumstances and in the face of Israel intransigence.
"Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu is still turning a blind eye and bombing hospitals, schools, andhomes," Sánchez declared. "He is still using hunger, cold and terror to punish more than a million innocent boys and girls—and things have gone so far that prosecutors at the International Criminal Court have this week sought his arrest for war crimes."
Reacting to Wednesday's announcements by Ireland, Norway, and Spain, officials with Oxfam International—which has long lobbied for a Palestinian state and urgently demanded a cease-fire in Gaza to end the current bloodshed—welcomed the news.
"This recognition is a landmark decision and other countries must follow suit," said Sally Abi Khalil, Oxfam Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa. "It is a crucial step in affirming the Palestinian people's inalienable right to self-determination, but it must transcend beyond symbolism into concrete steps towards ending the Israeli occupation and achieving full sovereignty for the Palestinian State."
While the ongoing assault on the southern city of Rafah has triggered a mass exodus of hundreds of thousands of people with no safe place to go in Gaza, Khalil said, "We urgently need an immediate and permanent ceasefire and an end to the blockade to end the death and destruction, to allow unfettered aid into Gaza and to ensure the release of the hostages and illegally detained Palestinian prisoners."
Jim Clarken, Oxfam's chief executive, also championed the decision by the three European nations for showing "real and brave leadership on the world stage."
"We know right now that the people of Gaza are starving and that UN agencies have regrettably had to halt aid operations in Rafah," Clarken said, "Ireland stood by UNRWA in its hour of need. We need now to leverage today’s move to press for urgent life-saving aid to get to the people of Gaza."
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Biden Admin Signals Arms Will Keep Flowing as Netanyahu Rejects Palestinian State
"I don't think we need to offer any kind of pressure" on the Israelis to accept a Palestinian state, said a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department.
Jan 19, 2024
A U.S. State Department spokesperson signaled Thursday that American weaponry will continue to flow to the Israeli military even after the nation's prime minister ruled out calls for a sovereign Palestinian state, openly defying the Biden administration's push for a two-state solution to the crisis.
"Our support for Israel remains ironclad," the State Department's Matthew Miller said during a press briefing on Thursday in response to a question about how the U.S. intends to react to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's position.
"I don't think we need to offer any kind of pressure" on the Israelis to accept a Palestinian state, Miller said. "The pressure is reality. The pressure is the reality that I just laid out, that without a tangible path to the establishment of a Palestinian state, there are no other partners in the region who are going to step forward and help with the reconstruction of Gaza."
Asked whether the U.S. will "continue to supply weapons and other support to an ally that is not listening to the warnings that you're giving," Miller acknowledged "differences with all of our allies" but said that "this is not a question of the United States pressuring them to do anything."
"This is about the United States laying out for them the opportunity that they have," Miller added. "There is a path for real security assurances—but again, we can't make those choices for anyone. They have to make them for themselves."
In the same briefing, Miller is asked about Netanyahu opposing a Palestinian state and if the US would offer any pressure if Israel doesn’t accept.
Miller: “I don’t think we need to offer any kind of pressure, the pressure is reality…”
No cutting aid or weapons, just reality. pic.twitter.com/r8lqkEMOlw
— Assal Rad (@AssalRad) January 18, 2024
In an indication of its unflagging support for Israel's war assault on Gaza, the U.S. State Department has twice bypassed Congress to expedite weapons sales to the nation's government since the Hamas-led attack on October 7. Earlier this week, the U.S. Senate rejected a resolution from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) that would have required the department to produce a report on Israel's human rights practices in Gaza—which by virtually all accounts are atrocious.
The Biden administration, which could soon be facing a lawsuit at the International Court of Justice over its complicity in Israeli war crimes, opposed the Sanders resolution and has refused to formally assess whether Israel is adhering to international humanitarian law.
The Guardianreported Thursday that the State Department has "in effect been able to circumvent the U.S. law that is meant to prevent U.S. complicity in human rights violations by foreign military units—the 1990s-era Leahy law, named after the now retired Vermont senator Patrick Leahy—because, former officials say, extraordinary internal state department policies have been put in place that show extreme deference to the Israeli government."
"No such special arrangements exist for any other U.S. ally," the newspaper added.
The administration is currently working to exempt U.S. arms transfers to Israel from a "mandatory congressional notification process that applies to all other foreign arms sales," The Washington Postreported last week.
Overall, the Biden administration has sent more than 10,000 tons of weaponry to Israel over the past three and a half months, declining to place conditions on the arms even as the Israeli military openly flouts U.S. officials' entreaties to protect Gaza civilians, attacking homes, schools, bakeries, hospitals, and refugee camps.
"If Biden was truly as dissatisfied or impatient or whatever other terms are being fed to the media about his supposed handwringing over Bibi's war, he could have acted. But he didn't."
Israel's unrelenting bombing campaign and ground invasion have killed nearly 25,000 people in Gaza since October, and much of the territory is in the grip of famine as the Netanyahu government restricts the amount of aid allowed to enter the besieged territory.
Ajith Sunghay, head of the United Nations human rights office in the occupied Palestinian territory, expressed horror Friday at conditions on the ground in Gaza, calling the situation "a major, human-made, humanitarian disaster."
"People continue to arrive in Rafah from various places in their thousands, in desperate situations, setting up makeshift shelters with any material they can get their hands on," said Sunghay. "I've seen men and children digging for bricks to be able to hold in place tents made with plastic bags."
"It is a pressure cooker environment here, in the midst of utter chaos, given the terrible humanitarian situation, shortages, and pervasive fear and anger," he added. "The communications blackout has continued for a sixth consecutive day, adding to the confusion and fear, and preventing Gazans from accessing services and information on areas to evacuate."
In a column on Thursday, The Intercept's Jeremy Scahill noted that "over the course of the past 100 days of Israel's bloody rampage in Gaza, Biden has had an infinite series of events that each could have justified ceasing U.S. political and military support for Israel's explicitly offensive war."
"There is no nation on Earth that wields more influence over Israel and no politician who holds more sway than Biden. The U.S. is the arms dealer and defender of this entire enterprise," Scahill wrote. "If Biden was truly as dissatisfied or impatient or whatever other terms are being fed to the media about his supposed handwringing over Bibi's war, he could have acted. But he didn't."
"Instead, the White House made sure no cease-fire took hold, offered a public defense of Israel's conduct in the face of clear evidence of its genocidal intent submitted before the world court, circumvented Congress to keep the arms flowing, and then publicly opposed a resolution that sought to uphold U.S. law aimed at ensuring U.S. weapons and other aid are not used to commit human rights abuses. Those are the relevant facts," he continued. "There is no need for media outlets to serve as conveyor belts for the administration's disingenuous posturing. Biden's actions are the only evidence that matters. And that evidence is damning."
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