What ceasefire?
March 1, 2025 1:45 PM Subscribe
Hamas rejects Israel's request to extend phase 1 of the ceasefire. Israeli's military is told to prepare to defend a Druze community outside Syria's capital. Israeli troops "staying indefinitely" in Lebanon border buffer zone, defence minister says. Saudi Arabia says Israel seeking to "destabilize" Syria with airstrikes. Turkiye highlights Israel's international law violations in UN court's filing on Palestine.
The US government approves $3 billion arms sale to Israel.
Ramadan in Gaza: Ruins and unshakable faith.
500 people in the entertainment world have signed onto a letter to the BBC calling on the corporation to "stop censorship on Palestine" after the BBC pulled the documentary Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone. (Note, if you're interested in viewing it, flabdablet has the magnet link.)
Joseph Czuba was convicted of hate crime and murder charges in the fatal stabbing of 6 year old Palestinian American Wadee Alfayoumi, and his mother, who lived.
A former high school student in Washington, DC details suing his school with the help of the ACLU for their pro-Palestine censorship.
NY Gov Hochul ordered a state school to remove a job posting for Palestinian studies - saying she wanted to ensure “antisemitic theories” would not be taught.
CUNY professors' union narrowly approves resolution supporting BDS.
Omar Barghouti on BDS and stopping Trump's Gaza plans - Indeed, despite the typical militaristic bravado, it is far from evident that the Israeli establishment wishes to resume the ruthless bombardment and massacres in Gaza. Israel’s economy is experiencing what 130 of its top economists describe as a “spiral of collapse”, with an almost unprecedented “brain drain”, a nosediving tech industry and a credit rating that is near “junk” levels, according to Moody’s. Increasingly seen by investors as a shut-down nation, Israel has ranked dead last among 50 countries in the just released Nations Brand Index. The chairman of the Israel Export Institute admits, “BDS and boycotts have changed Israel’s global trade landscape.”
Previously.
Ramadan in Gaza: Ruins and unshakable faith.
500 people in the entertainment world have signed onto a letter to the BBC calling on the corporation to "stop censorship on Palestine" after the BBC pulled the documentary Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone. (Note, if you're interested in viewing it, flabdablet has the magnet link.)
Joseph Czuba was convicted of hate crime and murder charges in the fatal stabbing of 6 year old Palestinian American Wadee Alfayoumi, and his mother, who lived.
A former high school student in Washington, DC details suing his school with the help of the ACLU for their pro-Palestine censorship.
NY Gov Hochul ordered a state school to remove a job posting for Palestinian studies - saying she wanted to ensure “antisemitic theories” would not be taught.
CUNY professors' union narrowly approves resolution supporting BDS.
Omar Barghouti on BDS and stopping Trump's Gaza plans - Indeed, despite the typical militaristic bravado, it is far from evident that the Israeli establishment wishes to resume the ruthless bombardment and massacres in Gaza. Israel’s economy is experiencing what 130 of its top economists describe as a “spiral of collapse”, with an almost unprecedented “brain drain”, a nosediving tech industry and a credit rating that is near “junk” levels, according to Moody’s. Increasingly seen by investors as a shut-down nation, Israel has ranked dead last among 50 countries in the just released Nations Brand Index. The chairman of the Israel Export Institute admits, “BDS and boycotts have changed Israel’s global trade landscape.”
Previously.
Is it that or, after the EU starts to shed its genocide agnostic nature toward Palestine, is Israel practicing One Is None And Two Is One. The US is unreliable, better to have another partner in addition.
posted by Slackermagee at 2:16 PM on March 1 [3 favorites]
posted by Slackermagee at 2:16 PM on March 1 [3 favorites]
So when do you think history books are going to say WWIII really kicked off?
posted by alex_skazat at 2:24 PM on March 1 [7 favorites]
posted by alex_skazat at 2:24 PM on March 1 [7 favorites]
and our 'peace' president is where?
posted by robbyrobs at 2:27 PM on March 1 [4 favorites]
posted by robbyrobs at 2:27 PM on March 1 [4 favorites]
So pretty much all the actors involved doing the same shit?
What a surprise
posted by Windopaene at 2:50 PM on March 1 [3 favorites]
What a surprise
posted by Windopaene at 2:50 PM on March 1 [3 favorites]
is Israel practicing One Is None And Two Is One. The US is unreliable...
The same US that just promised another 3 billion in weapons to Israel? The same US that just hosted a Netanyahu love-in at the White House? Your indifference to reality exposes the cracks in your reasoning.
posted by CynicalKnight at 3:20 PM on March 1 [4 favorites]
The same US that just promised another 3 billion in weapons to Israel? The same US that just hosted a Netanyahu love-in at the White House? Your indifference to reality exposes the cracks in your reasoning.
posted by CynicalKnight at 3:20 PM on March 1 [4 favorites]
Appreciate the connection there, CynicalKnight. Had a feeling all campaign season that was a factor.
posted by JoeXIII007 at 4:54 PM on March 1 [1 favorite]
posted by JoeXIII007 at 4:54 PM on March 1 [1 favorite]
Netanyahu and Katz direct IDF to ‘prepare to defend’ Syrian Druze suburb of Damascus
posted by Golden Eternity at 5:01 PM on March 1 [1 favorite]
posted by Golden Eternity at 5:01 PM on March 1 [1 favorite]
The same US that just promised another 3 billion in weapons to Israel? The same US that just hosted a Netanyahu love-in at the White House? Your indifference to reality exposes the cracks in your reasoning.
Do you understand what my original post references? Like, the actual thought process there?
If you have one thing, but it is mission critical and you have no backups, you functionally have no things.
They HAVE the US in the bag up until Trump has a tantrum. So, functionally, do they long term have the US as a reliable ally? Did everyone memory hole when Trump said Netanyahu would just hand over Gaza to him? They know this lasts up until Netanyahu has to choose between his government or the US as an ally.
posted by Slackermagee at 7:29 PM on March 1 [5 favorites]
Do you understand what my original post references? Like, the actual thought process there?
If you have one thing, but it is mission critical and you have no backups, you functionally have no things.
They HAVE the US in the bag up until Trump has a tantrum. So, functionally, do they long term have the US as a reliable ally? Did everyone memory hole when Trump said Netanyahu would just hand over Gaza to him? They know this lasts up until Netanyahu has to choose between his government or the US as an ally.
posted by Slackermagee at 7:29 PM on March 1 [5 favorites]
do they long term have the US as a reliable ally
Of course they do. Netanyahu was delighted by Trump's Gaza "plan". Trump, Putin, Modi, Xi, Netanyahu and Orban are all like minded and enjoy common interest in their illiberal authoritarian nationalism.
I will give one historical nod to your premise though; these types of hot-headed animal brain leaders are dear friends united in greed and cruelty, until they're not. Stalin and Hitler signed a non-aggression pact which Hitler broke two years later when he decided he wanted more territory. That idiotic move was the main reason the Axis lost the war.
However, there is no strategic reason now or ever for Trump or anyone in his orbit to shaft Netanyahu. Such a move would be political suicide because years of Israeli propaganda have the weak-minded religious right firmly believing in "Judeo-Christian values", that all types of Zionism are one and the same, and all Zionism is kind and virtuous. The longstanding and deeply held antisemitism buried within far right circles is readily soothed by the idea that "they're doing their thing over there" and by supporting Israel they can pat themselves on the back for being pragmatic.
posted by CynicalKnight at 8:17 PM on March 1 [5 favorites]
Of course they do. Netanyahu was delighted by Trump's Gaza "plan". Trump, Putin, Modi, Xi, Netanyahu and Orban are all like minded and enjoy common interest in their illiberal authoritarian nationalism.
I will give one historical nod to your premise though; these types of hot-headed animal brain leaders are dear friends united in greed and cruelty, until they're not. Stalin and Hitler signed a non-aggression pact which Hitler broke two years later when he decided he wanted more territory. That idiotic move was the main reason the Axis lost the war.
However, there is no strategic reason now or ever for Trump or anyone in his orbit to shaft Netanyahu. Such a move would be political suicide because years of Israeli propaganda have the weak-minded religious right firmly believing in "Judeo-Christian values", that all types of Zionism are one and the same, and all Zionism is kind and virtuous. The longstanding and deeply held antisemitism buried within far right circles is readily soothed by the idea that "they're doing their thing over there" and by supporting Israel they can pat themselves on the back for being pragmatic.
posted by CynicalKnight at 8:17 PM on March 1 [5 favorites]
They HAVE the US in the bag up until Trump has a tantrum. So, functionally, do they long term have the US as a reliable ally? Did everyone memory hole when Trump said Netanyahu would just hand over Gaza to him? They know this lasts up until Netanyahu has to choose between his government or the US as an ally.
They knew Biden was 100 percent in the bag for genocide, absolutely ok with as many dead arab children as Israel wanted, but with trump, if they dont appease his ego constantly he could switch on a dime. They already had to do the current cease fire because of trump, Biden never applied the same pressure.
posted by Iax at 9:22 PM on March 1 [9 favorites]
They knew Biden was 100 percent in the bag for genocide, absolutely ok with as many dead arab children as Israel wanted, but with trump, if they dont appease his ego constantly he could switch on a dime. They already had to do the current cease fire because of trump, Biden never applied the same pressure.
posted by Iax at 9:22 PM on March 1 [9 favorites]
How much more proof do we need that Netanyahu and Putin have been allies the whole time
Oh to have a time machine back to the FPP when the ramshackle argument is the other way around
posted by cendawanita at 11:24 PM on March 1 [5 favorites]
Oh to have a time machine back to the FPP when the ramshackle argument is the other way around
posted by cendawanita at 11:24 PM on March 1 [5 favorites]
As of five minutes ago: Israel says it is stopping the entry of all aid and supplies into the Gaza Strip (AP News)
It's fucking Ramadan, too.
posted by adrienneleigh at 11:26 PM on March 1 [14 favorites]
It's fucking Ramadan, too.
posted by adrienneleigh at 11:26 PM on March 1 [14 favorites]
Netanyahu was delighted by Trump's Gaza "plan".
I don't want to sift thru the articles shared in the last post, but that was not the full picture. And I'll push back on the notion that pro-Israel Republican support is more rock solid than in the Democratic Party, even accounting for Christian Zionists. I do know I tend to come in halfway through the main posts and was probably speaking to the wind, but those two points are of a piece. Trump's plan, such as it is, is a quixotic one that doesn't include Israel having the right to govern or occupy Palestine, the US will. But that level of blind self-regard plays well to the isolationist camp that runs throughout the same evangelical circles that contribute to Christian Zionism. The losers will still be Palestine, but it's also as much with Israel.
But last month, I did say it's to be seen which of the many camps running at odds at each other will prevail. Right now neocons/warhawks are having a moment of coming together with the Zionists eg the news of the approval of weaponry (not to mention removing the human rights abuse criteria for aid). But Trump is as much partial to Gulf and Saudi money as well, not to mention Jordan and Egypt may have taken different tacks (either showing up to WH or not) but to the same point of not wanting any Palestinians be ethnically cleansed into their territories. Syria right now is on the line, but may suffer the same fate as Lebanon (ignored/unadvocated internationally). The strange winner of all this is basically Turkey.
posted by cendawanita at 11:37 PM on March 1 [7 favorites]
I don't want to sift thru the articles shared in the last post, but that was not the full picture. And I'll push back on the notion that pro-Israel Republican support is more rock solid than in the Democratic Party, even accounting for Christian Zionists. I do know I tend to come in halfway through the main posts and was probably speaking to the wind, but those two points are of a piece. Trump's plan, such as it is, is a quixotic one that doesn't include Israel having the right to govern or occupy Palestine, the US will. But that level of blind self-regard plays well to the isolationist camp that runs throughout the same evangelical circles that contribute to Christian Zionism. The losers will still be Palestine, but it's also as much with Israel.
But last month, I did say it's to be seen which of the many camps running at odds at each other will prevail. Right now neocons/warhawks are having a moment of coming together with the Zionists eg the news of the approval of weaponry (not to mention removing the human rights abuse criteria for aid). But Trump is as much partial to Gulf and Saudi money as well, not to mention Jordan and Egypt may have taken different tacks (either showing up to WH or not) but to the same point of not wanting any Palestinians be ethnically cleansed into their territories. Syria right now is on the line, but may suffer the same fate as Lebanon (ignored/unadvocated internationally). The strange winner of all this is basically Turkey.
posted by cendawanita at 11:37 PM on March 1 [7 favorites]
Oh to have a time machine back to the FPP when the ramshackle argument is the other way around
In the Ukrainian threads at least there was a lot of complaints and commentary about how Bibi was conspicuously not sending weapons to Kyiv while willing to let Russians use Israel as a safe haven, tourist destination, and a sanctions busting stop.
That being said, for a lot of people it's really easy to afraid that being anti-Israel's administration being the slipping slope into antisemitism. I personally have to triple check my thoughts and opinions as I'm digesting information because it's become it's getting so easy for right wing antisemitics to lead the left down the path. To be fair, yeah, the Zionists (and I hate using that word because of the baggage and antisemitic connotations of a white Christian saying it but I don't have a better word) don't exactly make it difficult for people to not see the whole thing as a beat up on an bunch of Arab people who nobody wants anything to do with (including their so called Muslim "allies") and the Israelis as a bunch of bullies.
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 5:19 AM on March 2 [4 favorites]
In the Ukrainian threads at least there was a lot of complaints and commentary about how Bibi was conspicuously not sending weapons to Kyiv while willing to let Russians use Israel as a safe haven, tourist destination, and a sanctions busting stop.
That being said, for a lot of people it's really easy to afraid that being anti-Israel's administration being the slipping slope into antisemitism. I personally have to triple check my thoughts and opinions as I'm digesting information because it's become it's getting so easy for right wing antisemitics to lead the left down the path. To be fair, yeah, the Zionists (and I hate using that word because of the baggage and antisemitic connotations of a white Christian saying it but I don't have a better word) don't exactly make it difficult for people to not see the whole thing as a beat up on an bunch of Arab people who nobody wants anything to do with (including their so called Muslim "allies") and the Israelis as a bunch of bullies.
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 5:19 AM on March 2 [4 favorites]
it's really easy to afraid that being anti-Israel's administration being the slipping slope into antisemitism
Understandably so for the reasons you have noted, but I would expand that antisemitism to be a lot more entrenched and disregards political affiliation in the West (to which the rest of the world follows - it's not for nothing that in my neck of the woods it's translations of Mein Kampf and Protocols of Zion that're rife, of which if you find sinophone or Malay or even the stray Arabic riffs on that they are riffs not something that predated European racism over its own people) and expresses it differently. But that fear is also why I said I don't consider US rightwing support for Israel to be particularly robust - the Democratic base is filled with people who rightly don't want to repeat the sins of the past but also (like Germany) have developed the kind of paternal antisemitic philosemitism that Israel has spent a lot of effort over the decades inculcating. The consequential result is men like Biden.
posted by cendawanita at 5:54 AM on March 2 [11 favorites]
Understandably so for the reasons you have noted, but I would expand that antisemitism to be a lot more entrenched and disregards political affiliation in the West (to which the rest of the world follows - it's not for nothing that in my neck of the woods it's translations of Mein Kampf and Protocols of Zion that're rife, of which if you find sinophone or Malay or even the stray Arabic riffs on that they are riffs not something that predated European racism over its own people) and expresses it differently. But that fear is also why I said I don't consider US rightwing support for Israel to be particularly robust - the Democratic base is filled with people who rightly don't want to repeat the sins of the past but also (like Germany) have developed the kind of paternal antisemitic philosemitism that Israel has spent a lot of effort over the decades inculcating. The consequential result is men like Biden.
posted by cendawanita at 5:54 AM on March 2 [11 favorites]
But that fear is also why I said I don't consider US rightwing support for Israel to be particularly robust
Wait until they start pushing for the third temple to be rebuilt and what happens once the third temple is rebuilt. The whiplash is going to be insane.
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 6:14 AM on March 2 [2 favorites]
Wait until they start pushing for the third temple to be rebuilt and what happens once the third temple is rebuilt. The whiplash is going to be insane.
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 6:14 AM on March 2 [2 favorites]
People should also note that while mainstream US sources pin the blame on the failure of the truce to hold up on Hamas, both Mid-East and Israeli media (ungated) are clear that it is the Israelis and the US who are reneging on the ceasefire agreement.
Given the mess created by the Ukrainian gambit, let's see how that plays out for the rest of geopolitics. France has proposed deploying its own forces to expedite Israeli withdrawal, which was rejected by the US and Israel. ungated.
The consequence of mainstream Jewish groups failing to call out things like an overtly obvious Nazi salute was always going to be tremendous, but I think the bigger failure was their refusal to call out obvious atrocities in the service of Israel, no matter what - leaving even "liberal" Zionist groups like J Street appear to be hypocritical and morally adrift (ungated) -
Even as Israel triggered starvation, bombed hospitals and schools, cut off aid supplies, and sent the death toll in Gaza higher and higher, J Street refused to change its approach. The group marked the October 7 anniversary by saying, “We continue to believe that stronger US leadership is needed to find diplomatic offramps, pull the region back from the brink and stop a terrible situation from becoming even worse.” Yet the organization’s make-believe mode persisted, as though Biden’s team were fully committed to restraining Israel. “In the coming days and weeks,” J Street said on October 24, “it is of the utmost urgency that the Biden administration continue to work with US allies in the region to pull every lever within reach to rein in Netanyahu—and all parties to the conflict—and pull the whole region back from the brink.”
Only after 13 months of backing Biden’s pivotal support for the Israeli siege did J Street express even mild discontent with his policies enabling the nonstop horrors to continue in Gaza. In mid-November, with Biden on his way out of office, the group urged senators to vote for “at least one resolution of disapproval of proposed arms sales to Israel.” While noting that the vote on the Senate floor “will not lead to the suspension of offensive arms transfers to Israel as the procedural deadline for the votes to block the arms sales has expired,” J Street claimed that senators voting for one of the resolutions “will make clear to the Netanyahu government that Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza…is unacceptable.”
By the way, Marco Rubio just approved another $4 billion in arms to Israel under emergency powers - this is in addition to the $3 billion on Friday.
Anyway, no deal in Ukraine, no deal for Gaza and the assaults on the West Bank continues, and no desire in Israel to end any of the wars it really wants to ignite with multiple neighbors. So much for that Nobel Peace Prize.
These orgs are raising money for people on the ground in Gaza if you want to donate since aid is being blocked:
Workshops4Gaza
PCRF
E-Sims for Gaza
Gaza Soup Kitchen GoFundMe
If you are more inclined to directly help a family via their GoFundMe or other source, you can use this guide for vetting.
posted by toastyk at 6:59 AM on March 2 [14 favorites]
Given the mess created by the Ukrainian gambit, let's see how that plays out for the rest of geopolitics. France has proposed deploying its own forces to expedite Israeli withdrawal, which was rejected by the US and Israel. ungated.
The consequence of mainstream Jewish groups failing to call out things like an overtly obvious Nazi salute was always going to be tremendous, but I think the bigger failure was their refusal to call out obvious atrocities in the service of Israel, no matter what - leaving even "liberal" Zionist groups like J Street appear to be hypocritical and morally adrift (ungated) -
Even as Israel triggered starvation, bombed hospitals and schools, cut off aid supplies, and sent the death toll in Gaza higher and higher, J Street refused to change its approach. The group marked the October 7 anniversary by saying, “We continue to believe that stronger US leadership is needed to find diplomatic offramps, pull the region back from the brink and stop a terrible situation from becoming even worse.” Yet the organization’s make-believe mode persisted, as though Biden’s team were fully committed to restraining Israel. “In the coming days and weeks,” J Street said on October 24, “it is of the utmost urgency that the Biden administration continue to work with US allies in the region to pull every lever within reach to rein in Netanyahu—and all parties to the conflict—and pull the whole region back from the brink.”
Only after 13 months of backing Biden’s pivotal support for the Israeli siege did J Street express even mild discontent with his policies enabling the nonstop horrors to continue in Gaza. In mid-November, with Biden on his way out of office, the group urged senators to vote for “at least one resolution of disapproval of proposed arms sales to Israel.” While noting that the vote on the Senate floor “will not lead to the suspension of offensive arms transfers to Israel as the procedural deadline for the votes to block the arms sales has expired,” J Street claimed that senators voting for one of the resolutions “will make clear to the Netanyahu government that Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza…is unacceptable.”
By the way, Marco Rubio just approved another $4 billion in arms to Israel under emergency powers - this is in addition to the $3 billion on Friday.
Anyway, no deal in Ukraine, no deal for Gaza and the assaults on the West Bank continues, and no desire in Israel to end any of the wars it really wants to ignite with multiple neighbors. So much for that Nobel Peace Prize.
These orgs are raising money for people on the ground in Gaza if you want to donate since aid is being blocked:
Workshops4Gaza
PCRF
E-Sims for Gaza
Gaza Soup Kitchen GoFundMe
If you are more inclined to directly help a family via their GoFundMe or other source, you can use this guide for vetting.
posted by toastyk at 6:59 AM on March 2 [14 favorites]
it is the Israelis and the US who are reneging
Of course, because they were never serious about it in the first place. Trump took credit for it because it was a big lump of peacenik he could steal from Biden, knowing that shortly thereafter they could simply find a reason to break it. Fascists are all about theatre, theft, sadism and gaslighting; reading about Nazi villainy is like reading modern day news through a black and white filter.
the assaults on the West Bank continues
40,000 people at this point, nearly 10% of the population.
posted by CynicalKnight at 10:37 AM on March 2 [8 favorites]
Of course, because they were never serious about it in the first place. Trump took credit for it because it was a big lump of peacenik he could steal from Biden, knowing that shortly thereafter they could simply find a reason to break it. Fascists are all about theatre, theft, sadism and gaslighting; reading about Nazi villainy is like reading modern day news through a black and white filter.
the assaults on the West Bank continues
40,000 people at this point, nearly 10% of the population.
posted by CynicalKnight at 10:37 AM on March 2 [8 favorites]
This is about as significant as the ICC ruling over probable genocide* imo:
No Other Land directors criticise US as they accept documentary Oscar: ‘US foreign policy is helping block the path’ to peace
*In all its potential meanings and takeaways - but westerners always seem to be more excited about Hollywood than international law, so have at it.
posted by cendawanita at 6:54 PM on March 2 [4 favorites]
No Other Land directors criticise US as they accept documentary Oscar: ‘US foreign policy is helping block the path’ to peace
*In all its potential meanings and takeaways - but westerners always seem to be more excited about Hollywood than international law, so have at it.
posted by cendawanita at 6:54 PM on March 2 [4 favorites]
I'm not sure it's logistically possible, but has any effort been made to count the survivors during this flawed ceasefire?
posted by Kitten as a cat at 10:42 PM on March 2 [1 favorite]
posted by Kitten as a cat at 10:42 PM on March 2 [1 favorite]
Funny you should ask, I'm still going through this PDF by Forensic Architecture: Israeli military conduct in Gaza during the 2025 ceasefire - Incident analysis between 19 January and 9 February 2025
Forensic Architecture (FA) collected and confirmed data relating to seventeen incidents that constituted acts of violence committed by the Israeli military between 19 January and 9 February 2025. These acts include the targeting and killing of civilians, and the destruction of urban and civilian infrastructure.
The data collected and confirmed should not be considered exhaustive. Methodologically, the collection and analysis of evidence relating to potential ceasefire violations follows the methods deployed in the development of FA’s October 2024 report ‘A Spatial Analysis of the Israeli Military’s Conduct in Gaza since October 2023’.
Otherwise, I just track what's the numbers updated on al-Jazeera. It's also complicated that this year the casualties very much include those in the West Bank at a higher rate. Actual headcount seems to be in estimation stage still.
posted by cendawanita at 1:35 AM on March 3 [5 favorites]
Forensic Architecture (FA) collected and confirmed data relating to seventeen incidents that constituted acts of violence committed by the Israeli military between 19 January and 9 February 2025. These acts include the targeting and killing of civilians, and the destruction of urban and civilian infrastructure.
The data collected and confirmed should not be considered exhaustive. Methodologically, the collection and analysis of evidence relating to potential ceasefire violations follows the methods deployed in the development of FA’s October 2024 report ‘A Spatial Analysis of the Israeli Military’s Conduct in Gaza since October 2023’.
Otherwise, I just track what's the numbers updated on al-Jazeera. It's also complicated that this year the casualties very much include those in the West Bank at a higher rate. Actual headcount seems to be in estimation stage still.
posted by cendawanita at 1:35 AM on March 3 [5 favorites]
Israel resumes genocide in Gaza - Yet the Western media is suppressing the truth.
Indeed, Israel’s military attacks on Gaza resumed yesterday, and bear in mind dozens of Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli army since the so-called ceasefire began in January. All of this is being suppressed and misrepresented by most of the Western media, who once again, cannot do their basic in explaining the inarguable facts, because their coverage is so slanted in favour of pro-Israel narratives.
Decent recap of events to date, plus to the point of the article, the media coverage:
Sky News itself framed Israel ripping up the ceasefire deal and imposing an illegal siege like so: “Hamas rejects Israeli request to extend first phase of Gaza ceasefire deal”
Indeed, the CNN headline read as follows: “Israel stops humanitarian aid into Gaza after Hamas rejects extending ceasefire’s first phase.”
But this is a deceit. As Palestinian analyst Muhammed Shehada points out:
The agreement states phase 1 should be AUTOMATICALLY EXTENDED indefinitely as long as Phase 2 negotiations are ongoing.
Israel is trying to stop phase 2 of the ceasefire deal happening, which allows for a lasting ceasefire to end the war - indeed genocide. The Israeli state say they agreed to a proposal from Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East envoy, to extend the first phase, rather than proceed to the second phase. According to Drop Site News’ Jeremy Scahill, it was announced that Hamas had rejected the deal before they’d even been briefed on it.
The job of the news should be to tell the facts. Yet BBC coverage merely says that Israel is “accused” of breaking international law? It is a fact that international law is being broken here. You can’t turn that fact into a subjective opinion. It is not a violation of objectivity to state the facts.
It's unfortunate that Ukraine is staving off an invasion but without it, we wouldn't get to see how just doesn't seem to be a problem in the (pre-trump?) western media about Russia, but sometimes the world works out that it doesn't take a lot of effort to see. Unless one is in denial and is now confused, how did we get here?
posted by cendawanita at 6:52 PM on March 3 [5 favorites]
Indeed, Israel’s military attacks on Gaza resumed yesterday, and bear in mind dozens of Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli army since the so-called ceasefire began in January. All of this is being suppressed and misrepresented by most of the Western media, who once again, cannot do their basic in explaining the inarguable facts, because their coverage is so slanted in favour of pro-Israel narratives.
Decent recap of events to date, plus to the point of the article, the media coverage:
Sky News itself framed Israel ripping up the ceasefire deal and imposing an illegal siege like so: “Hamas rejects Israeli request to extend first phase of Gaza ceasefire deal”
Indeed, the CNN headline read as follows: “Israel stops humanitarian aid into Gaza after Hamas rejects extending ceasefire’s first phase.”
But this is a deceit. As Palestinian analyst Muhammed Shehada points out:
The agreement states phase 1 should be AUTOMATICALLY EXTENDED indefinitely as long as Phase 2 negotiations are ongoing.
Israel is trying to stop phase 2 of the ceasefire deal happening, which allows for a lasting ceasefire to end the war - indeed genocide. The Israeli state say they agreed to a proposal from Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East envoy, to extend the first phase, rather than proceed to the second phase. According to Drop Site News’ Jeremy Scahill, it was announced that Hamas had rejected the deal before they’d even been briefed on it.
The job of the news should be to tell the facts. Yet BBC coverage merely says that Israel is “accused” of breaking international law? It is a fact that international law is being broken here. You can’t turn that fact into a subjective opinion. It is not a violation of objectivity to state the facts.
It's unfortunate that Ukraine is staving off an invasion but without it, we wouldn't get to see how just doesn't seem to be a problem in the (pre-trump?) western media about Russia, but sometimes the world works out that it doesn't take a lot of effort to see. Unless one is in denial and is now confused, how did we get here?
posted by cendawanita at 6:52 PM on March 3 [5 favorites]
Anyway, what do I know, it's not like I live there etc etc:
The co-directors of ‘No Other Land’ on Trump’s Gaza plan, the Oscars and the fight ahead
Do you care to comment about President Trump’s recent statements that he plans for the United States to control Gaza? What is the response to that from your community?
Basel Adra: I mean, it’s insane what he’s saying. I think Trump is talking from a perspective of power — that he has the power and he can openly be talking about violating international law and ethnic cleansing to the millions of Palestinians and to occupy their land. It’s a scary situation because Trump doesn’t seem to care about the Palestinians. He has all the power in the world and he can do whatever he wants. And the Israelis will take the advantage more and more for their interests, to occupy more land and to expand settlements and outposts and to destroy more and more of the Palestinian communities in the West Bank.
Yuval Abraham: It’s quite easy to oppose what Trump is saying because he’s so blatant and openly racist and and really clear. He’s talking about displacing — ethnically cleansing — 1.8, 1.9 million people. But I think what the more liberal U.S. folks should ask themselves is not what is happening under Trump, but what has happened under Democratic administrations? [President] Biden did not use his leverage to end it, did not use his leverage to get a cease-fire deal, to release the hostages, nothing. For decades, U.S. Democrats have blocked Palestinian statehood at the U.N. Security Council, have actively conducted a foreign policy which I, as an Israeli, think has been horrendous, first and foremost, for the Palestinians.
At the end of the day, I believe if the Palestinian people are not free and secure, my people will not be secure. And Trump is signifying the most extreme position and the most extreme rhetoric, but we do not want to have a Democratic administration in four years that will just go back to this status quo, where they might be saying nice things about the political solution and democracy, but the actions, on the other hand, are taking us in the complete opposite direction. We need a change in the actions, in the foreign policy. And I know it’ll not happen under Trump, but I think the Democrats who are hopefully seeking to replace him in four years have to get a new foreign policy in order. And I think it’s really important because, because it’s quite easy to oppose Trump. It was much harder to oppose what Biden was doing. And I think that’s where much of the problem lies today in the United States.
Oh no how dare they etc etc etc
posted by cendawanita at 6:59 PM on March 3 [5 favorites]
The co-directors of ‘No Other Land’ on Trump’s Gaza plan, the Oscars and the fight ahead
Do you care to comment about President Trump’s recent statements that he plans for the United States to control Gaza? What is the response to that from your community?
Basel Adra: I mean, it’s insane what he’s saying. I think Trump is talking from a perspective of power — that he has the power and he can openly be talking about violating international law and ethnic cleansing to the millions of Palestinians and to occupy their land. It’s a scary situation because Trump doesn’t seem to care about the Palestinians. He has all the power in the world and he can do whatever he wants. And the Israelis will take the advantage more and more for their interests, to occupy more land and to expand settlements and outposts and to destroy more and more of the Palestinian communities in the West Bank.
Yuval Abraham: It’s quite easy to oppose what Trump is saying because he’s so blatant and openly racist and and really clear. He’s talking about displacing — ethnically cleansing — 1.8, 1.9 million people. But I think what the more liberal U.S. folks should ask themselves is not what is happening under Trump, but what has happened under Democratic administrations? [President] Biden did not use his leverage to end it, did not use his leverage to get a cease-fire deal, to release the hostages, nothing. For decades, U.S. Democrats have blocked Palestinian statehood at the U.N. Security Council, have actively conducted a foreign policy which I, as an Israeli, think has been horrendous, first and foremost, for the Palestinians.
At the end of the day, I believe if the Palestinian people are not free and secure, my people will not be secure. And Trump is signifying the most extreme position and the most extreme rhetoric, but we do not want to have a Democratic administration in four years that will just go back to this status quo, where they might be saying nice things about the political solution and democracy, but the actions, on the other hand, are taking us in the complete opposite direction. We need a change in the actions, in the foreign policy. And I know it’ll not happen under Trump, but I think the Democrats who are hopefully seeking to replace him in four years have to get a new foreign policy in order. And I think it’s really important because, because it’s quite easy to oppose Trump. It was much harder to oppose what Biden was doing. And I think that’s where much of the problem lies today in the United States.
Oh no how dare they etc etc etc
posted by cendawanita at 6:59 PM on March 3 [5 favorites]
Israel intends to continue occupying Lebanon, Syria, Gaza, West Bank. ungated - The Gaza truce is not the only ceasefire agreement with Israel that is breaking down. Under the terms of an American-brokered agreement with Hizbullah, the Shia movement that controlled parts of Lebanon until its war with Israel last year, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) was supposed to leave Lebanese territory by late January. Israel demanded an extension until the Lebanese army had completed its takeover of the area. But even after that deadline passed on February 18th, Israel remained in five fortified positions in southern Lebanon.
Israel justifies the delay by claiming a need to protect Israeli communities near the border. A return of Hizbullah forces to the south could easily put them at risk again. The government says the IDF will vacate the posts once they are confident the Lebanese army can secure the border and keep Hizbullah out (it is not clear yet if they are up to the job). Israel has neither set a date nor defined the conditions for confidence.
Israel warns Egypt over military build-up. Gee, I wonder why Egypt would want to post military near its borders.
Israel launches more air strikes in Syria.
Egypt's plan for Gaza reconstruction, which Arab leaders are meeting at a summit to discuss.
Israel's culture minister calls "No Other Land" "a sad moment for the world of cinema."
A timeline of the BBC documentary controversy.
posted by toastyk at 7:18 AM on March 4 [4 favorites]
Israel justifies the delay by claiming a need to protect Israeli communities near the border. A return of Hizbullah forces to the south could easily put them at risk again. The government says the IDF will vacate the posts once they are confident the Lebanese army can secure the border and keep Hizbullah out (it is not clear yet if they are up to the job). Israel has neither set a date nor defined the conditions for confidence.
Israel warns Egypt over military build-up. Gee, I wonder why Egypt would want to post military near its borders.
Israel launches more air strikes in Syria.
Egypt's plan for Gaza reconstruction, which Arab leaders are meeting at a summit to discuss.
Israel's culture minister calls "No Other Land" "a sad moment for the world of cinema."
A timeline of the BBC documentary controversy.
posted by toastyk at 7:18 AM on March 4 [4 favorites]
If anyone's interested, Al-Jazeera seems to be covering the Arab summit live.
posted by toastyk at 7:23 AM on March 4 [2 favorites]
posted by toastyk at 7:23 AM on March 4 [2 favorites]
Belated politics news stuff:
----
Drop Site News:
🚨Breaking | Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar says Gaza needs to fully demilitarize and return captives for Israel to begin withdrawal and implement phase II of the previously agreed ceasefire deal.
“We don’t have an agreement on phase two…we demand total demilitarization of Gaza. Hamas and Islamic Jihad out. And give us our hostages. If they agree to that we can implement tomorrow.”
Speaking at a press conference in Jerusalem, the Foreign Minister added however that Israel is “prepared to continue negotiations, including on phase two, according to our principles, in exchange for the release of hostages.”
▪️On Israel now blocking all food, fuel and humanitarian aid from entering Gaza, Sa’ar says the United States “accepts our stance and recognizes it.”
▪️ Israel is implementing the principle of ‘no free meals,” he said. Israel is unwilling to negotiate a second phase of the ceasefire “for free” without Hamas agreeing to continue release of remaining Israeli captives in Gaza. “Negotiations without the release of hostages… is not something we accept.”
▪️ He adds that a side letter from the previous US administration specified that there would be no automatic transition between phases of the deal, and since the first phase ended over the weekend, Israel is therefore not required to allow aid in.
▪️For now, Israel is demanding a 50-day extension of the first phase of the ceasefire, a proposal Israel again claims was put forward by US special envoy Steve Witkoff.
----
He adds that a side letter from the previous US administration specified that there would be no automatic transition between phases of the deal, and since the first phase ended over the weekend, Israel is therefore not required to allow aid in.
He really worked hard for peace.
posted by cendawanita at 9:05 AM on March 4 [3 favorites]
----
Drop Site News:
🚨Breaking | Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar says Gaza needs to fully demilitarize and return captives for Israel to begin withdrawal and implement phase II of the previously agreed ceasefire deal.
“We don’t have an agreement on phase two…we demand total demilitarization of Gaza. Hamas and Islamic Jihad out. And give us our hostages. If they agree to that we can implement tomorrow.”
Speaking at a press conference in Jerusalem, the Foreign Minister added however that Israel is “prepared to continue negotiations, including on phase two, according to our principles, in exchange for the release of hostages.”
▪️On Israel now blocking all food, fuel and humanitarian aid from entering Gaza, Sa’ar says the United States “accepts our stance and recognizes it.”
▪️ Israel is implementing the principle of ‘no free meals,” he said. Israel is unwilling to negotiate a second phase of the ceasefire “for free” without Hamas agreeing to continue release of remaining Israeli captives in Gaza. “Negotiations without the release of hostages… is not something we accept.”
▪️ He adds that a side letter from the previous US administration specified that there would be no automatic transition between phases of the deal, and since the first phase ended over the weekend, Israel is therefore not required to allow aid in.
▪️For now, Israel is demanding a 50-day extension of the first phase of the ceasefire, a proposal Israel again claims was put forward by US special envoy Steve Witkoff.
----
He adds that a side letter from the previous US administration specified that there would be no automatic transition between phases of the deal, and since the first phase ended over the weekend, Israel is therefore not required to allow aid in.
He really worked hard for peace.
posted by cendawanita at 9:05 AM on March 4 [3 favorites]
Anyone feel like 10 years are happening every day?
Shin Bet Oct 7 probe finds internal failures, points fingers at Netanyahu. (Too early for an ungated link.) CNN summary: The report summary says that the agency had huge gaps in “the recruitment and operation of human agents” in Gaza and that it was unclear where the Shin Bet and Israeli military responsibilities for detecting an attack from Gaza lay.
Hamas and its allies killed more than 1,200 people and took 251 hostage.
The investigation summary was published five days after an investigation by the Israeli military that highlighted gaps in intelligence gathering, flawed assumptions about Hamas, and “systemic” failures in the Israel Defense Force’s preparedness and response.
But Shin Bet says that it alone does not entirely carry the burden for the October 7 attack.
Shin Bet also blamed policies enacted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government as contributing factors, setting off a political firestorm.
Among the factors that contributed to Hamas’ decision to launch the attack, the report summary said, were Israeli politicians’ visits to the Al Aqsa compound in Jerusalem, “the treatment of prisoners, and the perception that Israeli society has been weakened due to the damage to social cohesion.”
How Western media has manufactured consent for atrocities, from Iraq to Gaza - As far as the media is concerned, it appears no lessons were learned from the catastrophic results of the Iraq war more than 20 years ago. Major Western media, such as The New York Times, Associated Press, Reuters, BBC and similar legacy outlets, have largely spent the past year whitewashing Israel's genocide in Gaza, uncritically repeating Israeli government claims and talking points about Gaza just as they did the Bush administration's about Iraq. Western media has long framed Israel-Palestine in a way that obscures or even justifies Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian territories and apartheid system. But the regular stream of massacres and horrors from Gaza over and over since October 2023—that the public has seen because of social media and Palestinian journalists on the ground—ignited global outcry this time.
Arab leaders endorse Egyptian counterproposal to Trump's Gaza plan, which Israel of course rejects.
posted by toastyk at 3:21 PM on March 4 [5 favorites]
Shin Bet Oct 7 probe finds internal failures, points fingers at Netanyahu. (Too early for an ungated link.) CNN summary: The report summary says that the agency had huge gaps in “the recruitment and operation of human agents” in Gaza and that it was unclear where the Shin Bet and Israeli military responsibilities for detecting an attack from Gaza lay.
Hamas and its allies killed more than 1,200 people and took 251 hostage.
The investigation summary was published five days after an investigation by the Israeli military that highlighted gaps in intelligence gathering, flawed assumptions about Hamas, and “systemic” failures in the Israel Defense Force’s preparedness and response.
But Shin Bet says that it alone does not entirely carry the burden for the October 7 attack.
Shin Bet also blamed policies enacted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government as contributing factors, setting off a political firestorm.
Among the factors that contributed to Hamas’ decision to launch the attack, the report summary said, were Israeli politicians’ visits to the Al Aqsa compound in Jerusalem, “the treatment of prisoners, and the perception that Israeli society has been weakened due to the damage to social cohesion.”
How Western media has manufactured consent for atrocities, from Iraq to Gaza - As far as the media is concerned, it appears no lessons were learned from the catastrophic results of the Iraq war more than 20 years ago. Major Western media, such as The New York Times, Associated Press, Reuters, BBC and similar legacy outlets, have largely spent the past year whitewashing Israel's genocide in Gaza, uncritically repeating Israeli government claims and talking points about Gaza just as they did the Bush administration's about Iraq. Western media has long framed Israel-Palestine in a way that obscures or even justifies Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian territories and apartheid system. But the regular stream of massacres and horrors from Gaza over and over since October 2023—that the public has seen because of social media and Palestinian journalists on the ground—ignited global outcry this time.
Arab leaders endorse Egyptian counterproposal to Trump's Gaza plan, which Israel of course rejects.
posted by toastyk at 3:21 PM on March 4 [5 favorites]
Qatar responds, and basically says leave us out of it. ungated Qatar said Wednesday that Israel should focus on returning the hostages, "rather than resorting to diversionary tactics such as scapegoating Qatar for political longevity," following the Shin Bet security service probe of the events of October 7, 2023.
"At this critical juncture, the Shin Bet and other Israeli security agencies should focus on saving the remaining hostages and finding a solution that ensures long-term regional security," said the International Media Office of the State of Qatar.
There's a new IDF chief.
Prices rise in Gaza due to aid blockade.
Reps Rashida Tlaib and Pramila Jayapal are leading joint resolutions of disapproval to block $8.65 billion of new US weapons transfers to Israel. These are the House companions to the Senate resolutions of disapproval. So far 15 reps have signed on.
An Israeli TikTok trend of children trolling their parents by asking them to donate to children in Gaza.
posted by toastyk at 7:27 AM on March 5 [5 favorites]
"At this critical juncture, the Shin Bet and other Israeli security agencies should focus on saving the remaining hostages and finding a solution that ensures long-term regional security," said the International Media Office of the State of Qatar.
There's a new IDF chief.
Prices rise in Gaza due to aid blockade.
Reps Rashida Tlaib and Pramila Jayapal are leading joint resolutions of disapproval to block $8.65 billion of new US weapons transfers to Israel. These are the House companions to the Senate resolutions of disapproval. So far 15 reps have signed on.
An Israeli TikTok trend of children trolling their parents by asking them to donate to children in Gaza.
posted by toastyk at 7:27 AM on March 5 [5 favorites]
The US is holding direct talks with Hamas.
Directly negotiating with Hamas — particularly without buy-in from Israel — is another step previous administrations have not taken.
posted by toastyk at 10:30 AM on March 5 [6 favorites]
Directly negotiating with Hamas — particularly without buy-in from Israel — is another step previous administrations have not taken.
posted by toastyk at 10:30 AM on March 5 [6 favorites]
Interesting to see it revealed that even the Israelis didn't know it was happening and they had to find via "other channels" (espionage? Basic unprofessional leaks, because for some reason Israel loves to represent every antisemitic trope there is that harms Jewish people at large, in this case about working for a foreign power?), and I'm sure that timing is informing the need to spook Donald enough for him to blast out another saber rattling threat to Hamas (which, I will remind everyone, somehow led to a ceasefire instead *sad trombone for Israel*).
Anyway Israel's proxies are now hard at work at saber rattling towards Egypt (for that pan-Arab development plan). I think at some point they may run out of sabers.
And regardless, no aid can still enter, during this month of Ramadan, and I believe Lent as well, so what a fasting season for both Muslim and Christian Palestinians.
posted by cendawanita at 7:59 PM on March 5 [2 favorites]
Anyway Israel's proxies are now hard at work at saber rattling towards Egypt (for that pan-Arab development plan). I think at some point they may run out of sabers.
And regardless, no aid can still enter, during this month of Ramadan, and I believe Lent as well, so what a fasting season for both Muslim and Christian Palestinians.
posted by cendawanita at 7:59 PM on March 5 [2 favorites]
Shaking my head at the thought that because the west is so culpably and morally bankrupt when it comes to Palestine, even at its most liberal, therefore because this has no Elon (for the aforementioned reason):
Steve Witkoff, the US envoy for the Middle East, has called on Israel to uphold the ceasefire with Hamas until he visits the region.
Witkoff’s trip to the Middle East has been postponed several times, but it is likely to take place next week, Israel’s Yediot Ahronot news outlet reported.
“Witkoff stressed that Israel must maintain the ceasefire in Gaza until he arrives in the region – even if Hamas refuses to release the hostages,” the news report said.
We'll see how it goes.
posted by cendawanita at 1:27 AM on March 6 [3 favorites]
Steve Witkoff, the US envoy for the Middle East, has called on Israel to uphold the ceasefire with Hamas until he visits the region.
Witkoff’s trip to the Middle East has been postponed several times, but it is likely to take place next week, Israel’s Yediot Ahronot news outlet reported.
“Witkoff stressed that Israel must maintain the ceasefire in Gaza until he arrives in the region – even if Hamas refuses to release the hostages,” the news report said.
We'll see how it goes.
posted by cendawanita at 1:27 AM on March 6 [3 favorites]
While we're waiting - another decade of news for the past 24 hrs - DropSiteNews has been hard at work, with the following:
Hamas' response to Trump's statement: On February 23, 2025, the Palestinian National Campaign for the Recovery of Martyrs’ Bodies announced that the number of documented bodies held by the occupation has risen to 665 martyrs, distributed between "numbered graves" and "refrigerators," including martyrs held since the 1960s and 1970s, along with martyrs from the Al-Far'a refugee camp in the West Bank, who got killed by the occupation forces last Wednesday evening.
Columbia University's secret disciplinary process for students critical of Israel - Columbia’s campaign to suppress campus activism uses provisions from the Civil Rights Act—which the school interprets expansively to characterize criticism of Israel as “discriminatory harassment.” The operation is run out of a recently created office of the university called the Office of Institutional Equity (OIE), which the school has created to oversee, “the review and arbitration of all reports of discrimination and discriminatory harassment at Columbia." That office is empowered to investigate students and faculty using an opaque administrative process that can punish those found guilty of discrimination with disciplinary notifications, suspensions, loss of housing, expulsions, and even the revocation of diplomas for graduates.
Pair this with Columbia Spectator's piece on the work of the WhatsApp group "Columbia Alumni for Israel" - Group chat members shared names of students allegedly affiliated with pro-Palestinian student groups, focusing on identifying students who are allegedly leaders of the organizations. Members called for the expulsion, arrest, and deportation of pro-Palestinian protesters, according to messages obtained by Spectator.
“We should not care what they want or don’t want. We should consider first what results we want and how to achieve them,” Victor Muslin, SEAS ’82, wrote in a message obtained by Spectator. “That being said, we need the powers that be to squash them like roaches. Ignoring roaches in one’s house is possible but who wants to live that way?”
Beyond coordinated campaigns to identify student protesters, members used the group chat to circulate and amplify social media posts targeting individual Palestinian and pro-Palestinian student organizers and faculty, an open letter advocating for the firing of a Columbia administrator, and an email template discouraging companies from hiring pro-Palestinian student activists.
NYPD takes 9 individuals into custody at Milstein sit-in after alleged bomb threat disrupted the protest.
Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham (who worked on No Other Land) is out with a new investigative piece on how Israel is building a ChatGPT surveillance tool to target Palestinians - The AI tool — which is being built under the auspices of Unit 8200, an elite cyber warfare squad within Israel’s Military Intelligence Directorate — is what’s known as a Large Language Model (LLM): a machine-learning program capable of analyzing information and generating, translating, predicting, and summarizing text. Whereas LLMs available to the public, like the engine behind ChatGPT, are trained on information scraped from the internet, the new model under development by the Israeli army is being fed vast amounts of intelligence collected on the everyday lives of Palestinians living under occupation.
The existence of Unit 8200’s LLM was confirmed to +972, Local Call, and the Guardian by three Israeli security sources with knowledge of its development. The model was still being trained in the second half of last year, and it is unclear whether it has been deployed yet or how exactly the army will use it. However, sources explained that a key benefit for the army will be the tool’s ability to rapidly process large quantities of surveillance material in order to “answer questions” about specific individuals. Judging by how the army already uses smaller language models, it seems likely that the LLM could further expand Israel’s incrimination and arrest of Palestinians.
posted by toastyk at 7:05 AM on March 6 [4 favorites]
Hamas' response to Trump's statement: On February 23, 2025, the Palestinian National Campaign for the Recovery of Martyrs’ Bodies announced that the number of documented bodies held by the occupation has risen to 665 martyrs, distributed between "numbered graves" and "refrigerators," including martyrs held since the 1960s and 1970s, along with martyrs from the Al-Far'a refugee camp in the West Bank, who got killed by the occupation forces last Wednesday evening.
Columbia University's secret disciplinary process for students critical of Israel - Columbia’s campaign to suppress campus activism uses provisions from the Civil Rights Act—which the school interprets expansively to characterize criticism of Israel as “discriminatory harassment.” The operation is run out of a recently created office of the university called the Office of Institutional Equity (OIE), which the school has created to oversee, “the review and arbitration of all reports of discrimination and discriminatory harassment at Columbia." That office is empowered to investigate students and faculty using an opaque administrative process that can punish those found guilty of discrimination with disciplinary notifications, suspensions, loss of housing, expulsions, and even the revocation of diplomas for graduates.
Pair this with Columbia Spectator's piece on the work of the WhatsApp group "Columbia Alumni for Israel" - Group chat members shared names of students allegedly affiliated with pro-Palestinian student groups, focusing on identifying students who are allegedly leaders of the organizations. Members called for the expulsion, arrest, and deportation of pro-Palestinian protesters, according to messages obtained by Spectator.
“We should not care what they want or don’t want. We should consider first what results we want and how to achieve them,” Victor Muslin, SEAS ’82, wrote in a message obtained by Spectator. “That being said, we need the powers that be to squash them like roaches. Ignoring roaches in one’s house is possible but who wants to live that way?”
Beyond coordinated campaigns to identify student protesters, members used the group chat to circulate and amplify social media posts targeting individual Palestinian and pro-Palestinian student organizers and faculty, an open letter advocating for the firing of a Columbia administrator, and an email template discouraging companies from hiring pro-Palestinian student activists.
NYPD takes 9 individuals into custody at Milstein sit-in after alleged bomb threat disrupted the protest.
Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham (who worked on No Other Land) is out with a new investigative piece on how Israel is building a ChatGPT surveillance tool to target Palestinians - The AI tool — which is being built under the auspices of Unit 8200, an elite cyber warfare squad within Israel’s Military Intelligence Directorate — is what’s known as a Large Language Model (LLM): a machine-learning program capable of analyzing information and generating, translating, predicting, and summarizing text. Whereas LLMs available to the public, like the engine behind ChatGPT, are trained on information scraped from the internet, the new model under development by the Israeli army is being fed vast amounts of intelligence collected on the everyday lives of Palestinians living under occupation.
The existence of Unit 8200’s LLM was confirmed to +972, Local Call, and the Guardian by three Israeli security sources with knowledge of its development. The model was still being trained in the second half of last year, and it is unclear whether it has been deployed yet or how exactly the army will use it. However, sources explained that a key benefit for the army will be the tool’s ability to rapidly process large quantities of surveillance material in order to “answer questions” about specific individuals. Judging by how the army already uses smaller language models, it seems likely that the LLM could further expand Israel’s incrimination and arrest of Palestinians.
posted by toastyk at 7:05 AM on March 6 [4 favorites]
Additionally, The Night Won't End: Biden's War on Gaza, the Al-Jazeera English Gaza investigative film by Fault Lines won International Current Affairs category at the Royal Television Society (RTS) Awards in the United Kingdom.
posted by toastyk at 7:11 AM on March 6 [3 favorites]
posted by toastyk at 7:11 AM on March 6 [3 favorites]
In the West:
State Dept to use AI to revoke visas of foreign students who appear "pro-Hamas". I guess First Amendment rights don't exist when you're pro-Palestine.
Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, declared himself a Zionist. Can politicians declare themselves allegiant to any other ideology without pushback?
House Rep Ilhan Omar responds to Canary Mission attempting a gotcha - I know all black people look the same to you but that is not my daughter. Post was immediately deleted, hence the link to Fauxmoi, the pro-Palestinian celeb gossip subreddit. Some of you may be amused to find one of the commenters claiming that students have been using the Canary Mission profiles as a dating pool source.
New Gallup poll shows that sympathy towards Israel has fallen below 50% - The latest reading is from a Gallup poll conducted Feb. 3-16, during which the temporary ceasefire and hostage exchange between Israel and Hamas that started in mid-January continued. The poll began one day before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s White House visit that included a joint press conference with President Donald Trump. During that press event on Feb. 4, Trump expressed his intent for the U.S. to own and redevelop the Gaza Strip.
The February poll also finds that 40% of U.S adults approve of Trump’s handling of the situation between the Israelis and Palestinians, which trails his overall job approval rating of 45%. Partisans are sharply divided in their job ratings of Trump, and they also hold different views of Israel and the Palestinian Territories. Republicans are much more likely than Democrats to view Israel favorably (83% vs. 33%, respectively), while Democrats view the Palestinian Territories more favorably than Republicans do (45% vs. 18%).
Per Times of Israel - Trump defends direct US-Hamas talks as Israel seethes, attempts to sabotage them - US President Donald Trump on Thursday defended his administration’s unprecedented direct negotiations with Hamas, saying they were being conducted for the benefit of Israel and in order to secure the release of Israeli hostages.
“We are helping Israel in those discussions because we’re talking about Israeli hostages,” Trump told reporters while signing executive orders in the Oval Office.
“We’re not doing anything in terms of Hamas. We’re not giving cash,” he continued. “You have to negotiate. There’s a difference between negotiating and paying. We want to get these people out.”
posted by toastyk at 7:00 AM on March 7 [5 favorites]
State Dept to use AI to revoke visas of foreign students who appear "pro-Hamas". I guess First Amendment rights don't exist when you're pro-Palestine.
Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, declared himself a Zionist. Can politicians declare themselves allegiant to any other ideology without pushback?
House Rep Ilhan Omar responds to Canary Mission attempting a gotcha - I know all black people look the same to you but that is not my daughter. Post was immediately deleted, hence the link to Fauxmoi, the pro-Palestinian celeb gossip subreddit. Some of you may be amused to find one of the commenters claiming that students have been using the Canary Mission profiles as a dating pool source.
New Gallup poll shows that sympathy towards Israel has fallen below 50% - The latest reading is from a Gallup poll conducted Feb. 3-16, during which the temporary ceasefire and hostage exchange between Israel and Hamas that started in mid-January continued. The poll began one day before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s White House visit that included a joint press conference with President Donald Trump. During that press event on Feb. 4, Trump expressed his intent for the U.S. to own and redevelop the Gaza Strip.
The February poll also finds that 40% of U.S adults approve of Trump’s handling of the situation between the Israelis and Palestinians, which trails his overall job approval rating of 45%. Partisans are sharply divided in their job ratings of Trump, and they also hold different views of Israel and the Palestinian Territories. Republicans are much more likely than Democrats to view Israel favorably (83% vs. 33%, respectively), while Democrats view the Palestinian Territories more favorably than Republicans do (45% vs. 18%).
Per Times of Israel - Trump defends direct US-Hamas talks as Israel seethes, attempts to sabotage them - US President Donald Trump on Thursday defended his administration’s unprecedented direct negotiations with Hamas, saying they were being conducted for the benefit of Israel and in order to secure the release of Israeli hostages.
“We are helping Israel in those discussions because we’re talking about Israeli hostages,” Trump told reporters while signing executive orders in the Oval Office.
“We’re not doing anything in terms of Hamas. We’re not giving cash,” he continued. “You have to negotiate. There’s a difference between negotiating and paying. We want to get these people out.”
posted by toastyk at 7:00 AM on March 7 [5 favorites]
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Wang Yi noted, Gaza belongs to the Palestinian people. It is an inseparable part of the Palestinian territory. Changing its status by forceful means will not bring about peace, but only new chaos. We support the plan for restoring peace in Gaza initiated by Egypt and other Arab countries. The will of the people must not be defied, and the principle of justice must not be abandoned. If the major country truly cares about the people in Gaza, it should promote comprehensive and lasting ceasefire, ramp up humanitarian assistance, observe the principle of Palestinians governing Palestine, and contribute to the reconstruction in Gaza. Video.
posted by toastyk at 9:02 AM on March 7 [9 favorites]
posted by toastyk at 9:02 AM on March 7 [9 favorites]
That there is clear language
What was Biden's Foreign Secretary guy.. Blinken? The guy who made pronouncements, I can't be arsed to google his title. Did he ever release a statement that approached this clarity?
China has arrived, the 90s seem.. ancient.
posted by ginger.beef at 6:58 PM on March 7 [3 favorites]
What was Biden's Foreign Secretary guy.. Blinken? The guy who made pronouncements, I can't be arsed to google his title. Did he ever release a statement that approached this clarity?
China has arrived, the 90s seem.. ancient.
posted by ginger.beef at 6:58 PM on March 7 [3 favorites]
Sometimes, you just gotta laugh, especially when it's filed by the WH stenographer guy (so one validation check is passed at least): Scoop: Israel objected to secret U.S.-Hamas talks in tense call
Driving the news: Netanyahu has avoided publicly criticizing President Trump since Axios revealed the unprecedented U.S.-Hamas talks on Wednesday, saying only that Israel had made its opinion clear to the U.S.
- But Netanyahu's closest confidant, Ron Dermer, was much less restrained a day earlier in a call with U.S. hostage envoy Adam Boehler, the sources say.
(...) Friction point: The talks also touched on specifics — like the number of Palestinian prisoners who would be released from Israeli jails in exchange for Alexander's safe return — that Israel hadn't agreed to.
- While Netanyahu was initially dismissive of the idea the U.S. would actually sit down with Hamas, he and his advisers grew more and more concerned after the idea became reality, according to a source familiar with his thinking.
Zoom in: In what both sources described as a "difficult" call, Dermer objected to Boehler making such proposals without Israel's consent.
- Boehler assured Dermer he wasn't close to a deal with Hamas and that he understood Israel's parameters, a source with direct knowledge said.
Useful flashback about the 'good guy':
- The Biden administration didn't think such talks would yield results and worried about legitimizing Hamas, which the U.S. considers a terror group, a former official tells Axios.
- The official, who was directly involved in Biden's Gaza negotiations, told Axios the White House did have "track 1.5 talks," with a former U.S. official close to the administration speaking to Hamas officials about the possibility of a deal for the American hostages.
- "These talks went nowhere because what Hamas wanted was a ceasefire and prisoners, and it was in Israel's hands, not ours," the former Biden adviser said, arguing direct U.S.-Hamas talks would have only further complicated the main track of negotiations.
Anyway: Senior Hamas officials in Cairo for phase two truce talks
OIC onboard the Egypt-led plan and now European nations backing Arab plan for Gaza.
posted by cendawanita at 4:44 AM on March 8 [4 favorites]
Driving the news: Netanyahu has avoided publicly criticizing President Trump since Axios revealed the unprecedented U.S.-Hamas talks on Wednesday, saying only that Israel had made its opinion clear to the U.S.
- But Netanyahu's closest confidant, Ron Dermer, was much less restrained a day earlier in a call with U.S. hostage envoy Adam Boehler, the sources say.
(...) Friction point: The talks also touched on specifics — like the number of Palestinian prisoners who would be released from Israeli jails in exchange for Alexander's safe return — that Israel hadn't agreed to.
- While Netanyahu was initially dismissive of the idea the U.S. would actually sit down with Hamas, he and his advisers grew more and more concerned after the idea became reality, according to a source familiar with his thinking.
Zoom in: In what both sources described as a "difficult" call, Dermer objected to Boehler making such proposals without Israel's consent.
- Boehler assured Dermer he wasn't close to a deal with Hamas and that he understood Israel's parameters, a source with direct knowledge said.
Useful flashback about the 'good guy':
- The Biden administration didn't think such talks would yield results and worried about legitimizing Hamas, which the U.S. considers a terror group, a former official tells Axios.
- The official, who was directly involved in Biden's Gaza negotiations, told Axios the White House did have "track 1.5 talks," with a former U.S. official close to the administration speaking to Hamas officials about the possibility of a deal for the American hostages.
- "These talks went nowhere because what Hamas wanted was a ceasefire and prisoners, and it was in Israel's hands, not ours," the former Biden adviser said, arguing direct U.S.-Hamas talks would have only further complicated the main track of negotiations.
Anyway: Senior Hamas officials in Cairo for phase two truce talks
OIC onboard the Egypt-led plan and now European nations backing Arab plan for Gaza.
posted by cendawanita at 4:44 AM on March 8 [4 favorites]
Tangential, but there is debate over whether to boycott No Other Land or not.
PEN America boycott is still in effect.
Trump admin cancels $400 million in funding to Columbia University, due to its "failure to combat anti-Semitism on campus", i.e., pro-Palestine protests. I just saw on Columbia Spectator's front page that Columbia just sold shares of natural gas company to comply with policies on fossil fuel divestment. So I guess divestment is a legitimate practice.
posted by toastyk at 7:33 AM on March 8 [3 favorites]
PEN America boycott is still in effect.
Trump admin cancels $400 million in funding to Columbia University, due to its "failure to combat anti-Semitism on campus", i.e., pro-Palestine protests. I just saw on Columbia Spectator's front page that Columbia just sold shares of natural gas company to comply with policies on fossil fuel divestment. So I guess divestment is a legitimate practice.
posted by toastyk at 7:33 AM on March 8 [3 favorites]
Israel is cutting off electricity supply to Gaza to pressure Hamas to continue phase 1.
U.S. hostage envoy Adam Boehler said Sunday that while he understands Israel's concerns over direct talks with Hamas, the U.S. is "not an agent of Israel."
Meanwhile the Israeli govt is setting up "migration administration" to oversee the exodus of Gazans.
Christians are pressing Trump to clear a path to annex the West Bank. ungated
DHS detains Palestinian student from Columbia encampment, saying his visa was revoked, even though he had a green card. They said that was revoked, too.
posted by toastyk at 9:37 AM on March 9 [6 favorites]
U.S. hostage envoy Adam Boehler said Sunday that while he understands Israel's concerns over direct talks with Hamas, the U.S. is "not an agent of Israel."
Meanwhile the Israeli govt is setting up "migration administration" to oversee the exodus of Gazans.
Christians are pressing Trump to clear a path to annex the West Bank. ungated
DHS detains Palestinian student from Columbia encampment, saying his visa was revoked, even though he had a green card. They said that was revoked, too.
posted by toastyk at 9:37 AM on March 9 [6 favorites]
The DHS/Palestinian student thing--I used to work for an immigration lawyer (mostly corporate, not asylum/family law, though we did some of those cases occasionally) in the 90s and even then we had arbitrary immigration officers at the border who would tell you something that was clearly counter to regulations and established law. They would just lie and require people to do the wrong thing on their say-so. This was before the current DHS system where CBP and CIS were split, so back under the old INS system.
In the 90s there was a huge debate among immigration lawyers about whether splitting INS into benefits (CIS) and enforcement (CBP) would be better or worse for their clients. We know the answer now, which is much worse, because CBP has been mostly out of control since it was created. My point here is: DHS is probably lying about whether the student's green card has been revoked, but it is entirely likely that they will deport him with or without legal authority, and they may create the legal authority by, say, not letting him show up at a hearing, or only holding it after they've put him on a plane out of the US.
Teal deer: DHS is probably lying but I wouldn't expect to see the student again in the US. What a shitty situation.
posted by gentlyepigrams at 1:25 PM on March 9 [5 favorites]
In the 90s there was a huge debate among immigration lawyers about whether splitting INS into benefits (CIS) and enforcement (CBP) would be better or worse for their clients. We know the answer now, which is much worse, because CBP has been mostly out of control since it was created. My point here is: DHS is probably lying about whether the student's green card has been revoked, but it is entirely likely that they will deport him with or without legal authority, and they may create the legal authority by, say, not letting him show up at a hearing, or only holding it after they've put him on a plane out of the US.
Teal deer: DHS is probably lying but I wouldn't expect to see the student again in the US. What a shitty situation.
posted by gentlyepigrams at 1:25 PM on March 9 [5 favorites]
The student's wife is eight months pregnant, and he's currently being held in an undisclosed location (his lawyer doesn't know where he is either).
posted by adrienneleigh at 2:25 PM on March 9 [2 favorites]
posted by adrienneleigh at 2:25 PM on March 9 [2 favorites]
Too much of America and the West (and sure, the rest of the world, and that'll eventually bite their ass too once they make it everyone's problem) still believes that if they're just authoritarian on some people the rest will be fine, until the authoritarians who won't be two-faced about it, who won't triangulate, who won't outright lie, show up, utilizing the beautifully broken and manufactured by the high intellects and strategists who weren't that bad.
(Edit: and that's been my feeling visiting the front page of the blue in the last couple of months)
posted by cendawanita at 3:31 PM on March 9 [4 favorites]
(Edit: and that's been my feeling visiting the front page of the blue in the last couple of months)
posted by cendawanita at 3:31 PM on March 9 [4 favorites]
Oh also (larger context): (Forward) State Department plan to deport ‘pro-Hamas’ students relies on a 1952 law that targeted Jews -
Jewish Holocaust survivors suspected of Soviet sympathies were subject to the McCarran-Walter Act
Anyway back to Palestine:
(Missed this goss, before this weekend, where 1) The US is meeting Hamas again; 2) Israel is sending a delegation after all; 3) that Boehler media blitz) Report: US believes Israel leaked information about direct talks with Hamas in attempt to sabotage them
Israeli torture: Urinating on Palestinian prisoners, burying them alive and beating the sick -
Freed Palestinian prisoners recount to MEE how Israeli jailers ‘treated them like animals’ and ‘brutally tortured’ some to death
posted by cendawanita at 4:30 PM on March 9 [6 favorites]
Jewish Holocaust survivors suspected of Soviet sympathies were subject to the McCarran-Walter Act
Anyway back to Palestine:
(Missed this goss, before this weekend, where 1) The US is meeting Hamas again; 2) Israel is sending a delegation after all; 3) that Boehler media blitz) Report: US believes Israel leaked information about direct talks with Hamas in attempt to sabotage them
Israeli torture: Urinating on Palestinian prisoners, burying them alive and beating the sick -
Freed Palestinian prisoners recount to MEE how Israeli jailers ‘treated them like animals’ and ‘brutally tortured’ some to death
posted by cendawanita at 4:30 PM on March 9 [6 favorites]
Interlude --
2024: Biden is scho angy but he can't do nuffin'
2025: Bibi is scho angy but he can't do nuffin'
How Trump Is Bulldozing Netanyahu on a Gaza Deal -
Benjamin Netanyahu is both petrified and deeply jealous of Donald Trump, who has taken ownership of the hostage issue. But above all, he can't say no to the U.S. president (ungated)
Don't worry, this wasn't printed in a western media platform, you may stay your calls for resignation towards the journalist.
On that note: I’m a former BBC newsreader – Gaza is the reason I resigned
The controversy over the pulling of the ‘How to Survive a Warzone’ documentary is a distraction from a much bigger problem my old employer has with impartiality, writes Karishma Patel
posted by cendawanita at 7:03 PM on March 9 [6 favorites]
2024: Biden is scho angy but he can't do nuffin'
2025: Bibi is scho angy but he can't do nuffin'
How Trump Is Bulldozing Netanyahu on a Gaza Deal -
Benjamin Netanyahu is both petrified and deeply jealous of Donald Trump, who has taken ownership of the hostage issue. But above all, he can't say no to the U.S. president (ungated)
Don't worry, this wasn't printed in a western media platform, you may stay your calls for resignation towards the journalist.
On that note: I’m a former BBC newsreader – Gaza is the reason I resigned
The controversy over the pulling of the ‘How to Survive a Warzone’ documentary is a distraction from a much bigger problem my old employer has with impartiality, writes Karishma Patel
posted by cendawanita at 7:03 PM on March 9 [6 favorites]
Too much of America and the West (and sure, the rest of the world, and that'll eventually bite their ass too once they make it everyone's problem) still believes that if they're just authoritarian on some people the rest will be fine
This, all the fucking day long. We can boil so much of the MeFi rancor leading to the recent US election as: Just shut up, Trump will be worse
posted by ginger.beef at 7:22 PM on March 9 [3 favorites]
This, all the fucking day long. We can boil so much of the MeFi rancor leading to the recent US election as: Just shut up, Trump will be worse
posted by ginger.beef at 7:22 PM on March 9 [3 favorites]
Per 404, Khalil is in an ICE facility in Louisiana.
The locator system says Khalil is being held in the Jena/LaSalle Detention Facility. It is owned and operated by the Geo Group, a long-time ICE contractor. Previous research found the Jena/LaSalle Detention Facility received the largest number of sexual and physical abuse complaints filed to ICE’s oversight body.
ADL is pro-disappearing legal residents for exercising their First Amendment right to free speech.
The petition advocating for his release has already garnered over 800,000 signatures. I just checked, it's over 900k now.
posted by toastyk at 7:29 AM on March 10 [5 favorites]
The locator system says Khalil is being held in the Jena/LaSalle Detention Facility. It is owned and operated by the Geo Group, a long-time ICE contractor. Previous research found the Jena/LaSalle Detention Facility received the largest number of sexual and physical abuse complaints filed to ICE’s oversight body.
ADL is pro-disappearing legal residents for exercising their First Amendment right to free speech.
The petition advocating for his release has already garnered over 800,000 signatures. I just checked, it's over 900k now.
posted by toastyk at 7:29 AM on March 10 [5 favorites]
Trump calls arrest of Khalil "first of many to come".
The extremist group Betar says "Expect naturalized citizens to start being picked up within the month."
Meanwhile, aid to Gaza is still being blocked, and its access to electricity has been shut off by Israel.
posted by toastyk at 12:28 PM on March 10 [5 favorites]
The extremist group Betar says "Expect naturalized citizens to start being picked up within the month."
Meanwhile, aid to Gaza is still being blocked, and its access to electricity has been shut off by Israel.
posted by toastyk at 12:28 PM on March 10 [5 favorites]
Update - Judge blocks Columbia pro-Palestinian protest organizer Mahmoud Khalil's removal from US pending further action on habeas petition.
posted by toastyk at 2:47 PM on March 10 [5 favorites]
posted by toastyk at 2:47 PM on March 10 [5 favorites]
Perhaps Khalil warrants his own FPP, but for the sake of documentation for now, here's the latest:
- Emails show Khalil asked Columbia for protection a day before he was detained.
- Jewish groups targeted Khalil, specifically because he was unmasked at protests.
- Independent reporter Talia Jane's observations on the fallout, specifically for antiZionist Jews.
- Law professor Steve Vladeck on five questions on the Khalil case. TL; DR - it's possible the State may have a case but it depends.
- Josh Marshall, owner of TPM, opponent of Gaza protesters, states that what happened to Khalil is illegal. (Still a genocide denier.)
- Senate Judiciary Dems posted a "Free Mahmoud Khalil".
- Hakeen Jeffries' statement was mealy-mouthed.
- AOC called the arrest "tyrannical and un-American".
- Summary of NYC mayoral candidates on the arrest.
- Protests and walkouts are in progress.
posted by toastyk at 7:23 AM on March 11 [6 favorites]
- Emails show Khalil asked Columbia for protection a day before he was detained.
- Jewish groups targeted Khalil, specifically because he was unmasked at protests.
- Independent reporter Talia Jane's observations on the fallout, specifically for antiZionist Jews.
- Law professor Steve Vladeck on five questions on the Khalil case. TL; DR - it's possible the State may have a case but it depends.
- Josh Marshall, owner of TPM, opponent of Gaza protesters, states that what happened to Khalil is illegal. (Still a genocide denier.)
- Senate Judiciary Dems posted a "Free Mahmoud Khalil".
- Hakeen Jeffries' statement was mealy-mouthed.
- AOC called the arrest "tyrannical and un-American".
- Summary of NYC mayoral candidates on the arrest.
- Protests and walkouts are in progress.
posted by toastyk at 7:23 AM on March 11 [6 favorites]
Interesting leverage: Turkey blocking Israel-Nato military drills until permanent Gaza truce -
Ankara says Israel won't be able to participate any future Nato drills unless it changes course in Gaza
Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported over the weekend that Turkey has blocked Israel from taking part in Nato's annual exercise on "resilience and emergency preparedness" in Bulgaria, which will be held in September.
Two Israeli sources confirmed to MEE that Ankara had blocked their country's participation in the drill.
Well, at least it's not Eurovision, so everyone's comfort tv is safe.
posted by cendawanita at 9:35 AM on March 11 [4 favorites]
Ankara says Israel won't be able to participate any future Nato drills unless it changes course in Gaza
Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported over the weekend that Turkey has blocked Israel from taking part in Nato's annual exercise on "resilience and emergency preparedness" in Bulgaria, which will be held in September.
Two Israeli sources confirmed to MEE that Ankara had blocked their country's participation in the drill.
Well, at least it's not Eurovision, so everyone's comfort tv is safe.
posted by cendawanita at 9:35 AM on March 11 [4 favorites]
So the US govt is basically staking its entire case for deporting Mahmoud Khalil on whether Rubio "personally" thinks that he would "compromise" US foreign policy, not on whether he committed a crime or not, and also there are "multiple targets".
Marco Rubio personally signed off on the arrest of Palestinian Columbia University student protest negotiator Mahmoud Khalil, using a narrow, little-used authority given to the secretary of state, per two sources within the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department.
The authority, a provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), reads: “An alien whose presence or activities in the United States the Secretary of State has reasonable ground to believe would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States is deportable.”
In other words, the provision – section 237(a)(4)(C)(i) of the act – gives the secretary of state power to deport any person who is not a citizen or national of the US, if they meet the threshold for "reasonable ground” of belief that they may have “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences” for the nation. Interestingly, the “quotas and ideological litmus test” of the INA, enacted in 1952, “were widely understood at the time to target Eastern European Jewish Holocaust survivors suspected of being Soviet agents,” the Jewish publication the Forward pointed out this week.
posted by toastyk at 12:41 PM on March 11 [5 favorites]
Marco Rubio personally signed off on the arrest of Palestinian Columbia University student protest negotiator Mahmoud Khalil, using a narrow, little-used authority given to the secretary of state, per two sources within the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department.
The authority, a provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), reads: “An alien whose presence or activities in the United States the Secretary of State has reasonable ground to believe would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States is deportable.”
In other words, the provision – section 237(a)(4)(C)(i) of the act – gives the secretary of state power to deport any person who is not a citizen or national of the US, if they meet the threshold for "reasonable ground” of belief that they may have “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences” for the nation. Interestingly, the “quotas and ideological litmus test” of the INA, enacted in 1952, “were widely understood at the time to target Eastern European Jewish Holocaust survivors suspected of being Soviet agents,” the Jewish publication the Forward pointed out this week.
posted by toastyk at 12:41 PM on March 11 [5 favorites]
Quick check in per AJ:
- Hamas announced the start of a “new round of ceasefire negotiations” in Doha on Tuesday, saying it is dealing with the talks “positively and responsibly” as US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and delegates from Israel landed in the Qatari capital.
- The talks come days after the first phase of the Gaza truce deal expired without an agreement on advancing to a second stage, which calls for the release of all remaining captives held by Hamas and an end to Israel’s war on the enclave.
- Israel has blocked all aid into Gaza and cut off the electricity powering a water plant in a bid to pressure Hamas to agree to extending phase one and releasing more captives, but without committing to ending the war.
Hamas, however, has rejected the proposal, accusing Israel of “cheap and unacceptable blackmail” and is insisting on immediate talks on the second phase.
- The group also said it is ready to cede control of Gaza to a unity government, and backed an Egyptian-led proposal that calls for a transitional committee to administer the territory after the war.
- The US has held unprecedented direct talks with Hamas, and Trump’s envoy Adam Boehler said the group has offered to give up political power and lay down arms for five to 10 years. Hamas is yet to comment.
posted by cendawanita at 7:30 PM on March 11 [4 favorites]
- Hamas announced the start of a “new round of ceasefire negotiations” in Doha on Tuesday, saying it is dealing with the talks “positively and responsibly” as US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and delegates from Israel landed in the Qatari capital.
- The talks come days after the first phase of the Gaza truce deal expired without an agreement on advancing to a second stage, which calls for the release of all remaining captives held by Hamas and an end to Israel’s war on the enclave.
- Israel has blocked all aid into Gaza and cut off the electricity powering a water plant in a bid to pressure Hamas to agree to extending phase one and releasing more captives, but without committing to ending the war.
Hamas, however, has rejected the proposal, accusing Israel of “cheap and unacceptable blackmail” and is insisting on immediate talks on the second phase.
- The group also said it is ready to cede control of Gaza to a unity government, and backed an Egyptian-led proposal that calls for a transitional committee to administer the territory after the war.
- The US has held unprecedented direct talks with Hamas, and Trump’s envoy Adam Boehler said the group has offered to give up political power and lay down arms for five to 10 years. Hamas is yet to comment.
posted by cendawanita at 7:30 PM on March 11 [4 favorites]
I guess we're no longer doing the passive voice in AP headlines; I wonder what changed: Israel kills 8 Palestinians in Gaza as Hamas says ceasefire talks resume.
Israeli forces again raid the bookstore in occupied East Jerusalem.
New talks with Lebanon aimed at normalizing ties, Israeli senior official says.
Anti-Israel commentator at the Koch-backed think tank Defense Priorities tapped for deputy director of national intelligence - Davis has also lambasted U.S. support for the war in Gaza as a moral and strategic mistake.
He has opposed military action to destroy Iran’s nuclear program, and suggested that it is only U.S. and Israeli policy and actions that are pushing Iran toward pursuing a nuclear weapon.
As recently as Jan. 12, Davis called U.S. support for the war in Gaza a mistake.
“On a practical level, we give away enormous leverage and credibility globally to hold *anyone* accountable for acts of w[a]nton violence, bc we not merely turn a blind eye to it, we cheer it on and supply the means to do more,” Davis wrote on X. “On a moral level this is a stain on our character as a nation, as a culture, that will not soon go away.”
Davis has suggested Israel is pursuing “ethnic cleansing” of Gaza and compared Gaza to a “prison.”
He has argued that the conflict did not begin on Oct. 7, 2023, with the Hamas attacks, echoing narratives that seek to push blame for the attack and the ensuing war on Israel.
Can't believe I'm saying the Koch-backed guy is right.
posted by toastyk at 8:07 AM on March 12 [6 favorites]
Israeli forces again raid the bookstore in occupied East Jerusalem.
New talks with Lebanon aimed at normalizing ties, Israeli senior official says.
Anti-Israel commentator at the Koch-backed think tank Defense Priorities tapped for deputy director of national intelligence - Davis has also lambasted U.S. support for the war in Gaza as a moral and strategic mistake.
He has opposed military action to destroy Iran’s nuclear program, and suggested that it is only U.S. and Israeli policy and actions that are pushing Iran toward pursuing a nuclear weapon.
As recently as Jan. 12, Davis called U.S. support for the war in Gaza a mistake.
“On a practical level, we give away enormous leverage and credibility globally to hold *anyone* accountable for acts of w[a]nton violence, bc we not merely turn a blind eye to it, we cheer it on and supply the means to do more,” Davis wrote on X. “On a moral level this is a stain on our character as a nation, as a culture, that will not soon go away.”
Davis has suggested Israel is pursuing “ethnic cleansing” of Gaza and compared Gaza to a “prison.”
He has argued that the conflict did not begin on Oct. 7, 2023, with the Hamas attacks, echoing narratives that seek to push blame for the attack and the ensuing war on Israel.
Can't believe I'm saying the Koch-backed guy is right.
posted by toastyk at 8:07 AM on March 12 [6 favorites]
UN report - Israel has increasingly employed sexual, reproductive and other forms of gender-based violence against Palestinians as part of a broader effort to undermine their right to self-determination and carried out genocidal acts through the systematic destruction of sexual and reproductive healthcare facilities, according to a new report issued today by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel.
The report documents a broad range of violations perpetrated against Palestinian women, men, girls and boys across the Occupied Palestinian Territory since 7 October 2023 that constitutes a major element in the ill-treatment of Palestinians and are part of the unlawful occupation and persecution of Palestinians as a group.
Gaza is still blockaded for the 12th day as mediated negotiations continue.
Israeli forces kill at least 4 people in the West Bank.
Israel carries out air strike on Damascus.
I'm reminded of Mohammed El-Kurd's statement that "Death is so quotidian that journalists report it as though they're reporting the weather”.
Meanwhile in the US, Mahmoud Khalil is still detained, Trump called Schumer both "not a Jew anymore" and also a "Palestinian", Dems remain mealy-mouthed about his detainment, when they've said anything at all. Surprisingly Sen Chris Murphy with one of the most coherent statements out there.
posted by toastyk at 7:09 AM on March 13 [7 favorites]
The report documents a broad range of violations perpetrated against Palestinian women, men, girls and boys across the Occupied Palestinian Territory since 7 October 2023 that constitutes a major element in the ill-treatment of Palestinians and are part of the unlawful occupation and persecution of Palestinians as a group.
Gaza is still blockaded for the 12th day as mediated negotiations continue.
Israeli forces kill at least 4 people in the West Bank.
Israel carries out air strike on Damascus.
I'm reminded of Mohammed El-Kurd's statement that "Death is so quotidian that journalists report it as though they're reporting the weather”.
Meanwhile in the US, Mahmoud Khalil is still detained, Trump called Schumer both "not a Jew anymore" and also a "Palestinian", Dems remain mealy-mouthed about his detainment, when they've said anything at all. Surprisingly Sen Chris Murphy with one of the most coherent statements out there.
posted by toastyk at 7:09 AM on March 13 [7 favorites]
Worth flagging (esp if NYT covers it this way you can take it as an amber alert for some camps): Gabbard Drops Pick for Top Intelligence Post, a Critic of Israel on Gaza -
The scuttled appointment highlighted an emerging foreign policy fault line in the new Trump administration.
I'm inclined to see what's happening with Mahmoud Khalil and now this as public expression of the unstrategic and ideological Christian Zionist evangelical wing who were given cabinet posts shooting their shot. It's worth noting btw, the soundbyte from that Koch guy is part of a trend for the last couple of months from the other camp, that used to only register outliers like Candace Owens, but now even Tucker Carlson is having public concerns. 🙄
posted by cendawanita at 8:15 AM on March 13 [4 favorites]
The scuttled appointment highlighted an emerging foreign policy fault line in the new Trump administration.
I'm inclined to see what's happening with Mahmoud Khalil and now this as public expression of the unstrategic and ideological Christian Zionist evangelical wing who were given cabinet posts shooting their shot. It's worth noting btw, the soundbyte from that Koch guy is part of a trend for the last couple of months from the other camp, that used to only register outliers like Candace Owens, but now even Tucker Carlson is having public concerns. 🙄
posted by cendawanita at 8:15 AM on March 13 [4 favorites]
All four of the squad (Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley, Ilhan Omar, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) have denounced the black-bagging of Khalil in very strong terms on social media, and, together with ten other House Democrats, also issued an open letter to DHS. (The Nation has an article about the letter, too.)
posted by adrienneleigh at 10:54 AM on March 13 [4 favorites]
posted by adrienneleigh at 10:54 AM on March 13 [4 favorites]
This afternoon: Protesters occupy Trump Tower following arrest of Columbia student
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 2:08 PM on March 13 [3 favorites]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 2:08 PM on March 13 [3 favorites]
The US wants to resettle Palestinians from Gaza into African countries like Somalia, Somaliland, and Sudan.
Hamas agrees to release an Israeli-American captive in order to push talks forward.
Meanwhile, an Israeli soldier publishes a confessional in Haaretz about Israeli war crimes - linking to DropSiteNews for the English translation: “I saw that six investigations were opened by the Military Police (MP) regarding the use of Palestinians as human shields, and I almost choked. I’ve seen cover-ups in my life, but this is a new low. In Gaza, human shields are used at least six times a day. If the MP wants to do its job seriously, they should open at least 2,190 investigations. But the MP just wants to pretend to the world that we’re investigating ourselves, so they find a few scapegoats and pin everything on them.
I was in Gaza for nine months. I saw many new procedures. One of the worst was the “Mosquito Procedure”: innocent Palestinians were forced to enter homes in Gaza and “clear” them, meaning checking for militants or explosives. We gave it various names, “Mosquito Procedure,” “Shawish” (slaves), “Platforms.”
Bsky restored a verified Palestinian account - however, they've had a pattern of disabling Palestinian accounts for reasons of spam or fraud or mass-reporting by antagonistic actors.
This might make a main FPP post another day, but I got served a YouTube video on why Chinese netizens call Palestinians "dandelions". Also the history between the Chinese and Palestinians from 1950-present.
In the US, on Mahmoud Khalil and Columbia:
- The Trump admin sent Columbia a letter on what it has to do to maintain funding, including, but not limited to: putting the Middle East, South Asia and African Studies department into receivership, implementing a mask ban, punishing protesters, etc.
- DHS searched two university-owned residences, no arrests made.
- Columbia expelled the Student Workers of Columbia-United Auto Workers President, a day before its first bargaining session with the university.
- The University Judicial Board issued expulsions, temporary degree revocations, and multi-year suspensions for students involved in the April 2024 occupation of Hamilton Hall.
- Mahmoud Khalil finally got to speak to his lawyers, but will remain in detention until 3/17 - DropSiteNews has a timeline of events in this article.
Also related: the Alien Enemies Act is being invoked.
posted by toastyk at 7:03 AM on March 14 [8 favorites]
Hamas agrees to release an Israeli-American captive in order to push talks forward.
Meanwhile, an Israeli soldier publishes a confessional in Haaretz about Israeli war crimes - linking to DropSiteNews for the English translation: “I saw that six investigations were opened by the Military Police (MP) regarding the use of Palestinians as human shields, and I almost choked. I’ve seen cover-ups in my life, but this is a new low. In Gaza, human shields are used at least six times a day. If the MP wants to do its job seriously, they should open at least 2,190 investigations. But the MP just wants to pretend to the world that we’re investigating ourselves, so they find a few scapegoats and pin everything on them.
I was in Gaza for nine months. I saw many new procedures. One of the worst was the “Mosquito Procedure”: innocent Palestinians were forced to enter homes in Gaza and “clear” them, meaning checking for militants or explosives. We gave it various names, “Mosquito Procedure,” “Shawish” (slaves), “Platforms.”
Bsky restored a verified Palestinian account - however, they've had a pattern of disabling Palestinian accounts for reasons of spam or fraud or mass-reporting by antagonistic actors.
This might make a main FPP post another day, but I got served a YouTube video on why Chinese netizens call Palestinians "dandelions". Also the history between the Chinese and Palestinians from 1950-present.
In the US, on Mahmoud Khalil and Columbia:
- The Trump admin sent Columbia a letter on what it has to do to maintain funding, including, but not limited to: putting the Middle East, South Asia and African Studies department into receivership, implementing a mask ban, punishing protesters, etc.
- DHS searched two university-owned residences, no arrests made.
- Columbia expelled the Student Workers of Columbia-United Auto Workers President, a day before its first bargaining session with the university.
- The University Judicial Board issued expulsions, temporary degree revocations, and multi-year suspensions for students involved in the April 2024 occupation of Hamilton Hall.
- Mahmoud Khalil finally got to speak to his lawyers, but will remain in detention until 3/17 - DropSiteNews has a timeline of events in this article.
Also related: the Alien Enemies Act is being invoked.
posted by toastyk at 7:03 AM on March 14 [8 favorites]
A view from the U.K. of Mahmoud Khalil (archive.is of Guardian source): Columbia graduate detained by Ice was respected British government employee
Andrew Waller, a former British diplomat who worked with Khalil at the UK office for Syria, a diplomatic mission housed inside the British embassy in Beirut, described Khalil as a thoughtful individual and highly valued colleague during his government service.posted by away for regrooving at 8:35 PM on March 14 [6 favorites]
“This is a naked example of the US administration arresting someone for their political opinions, and I think the British government should be exercised about this,” he said.
“He is a former British government employee who was vetted and well liked.”
...
Waller described the “rigorous security clearance”, that Khalil was subject to before he began work for the British government at the embassy in Beirut. He oversaw applicants for the prestigious Chevening scholarship, an academic fund for students coming to the UK.
Khalil rose up the ranks at the UK office for Syria before deciding to study for a masters degree at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs. Before starting work for the British government, Khalil would have been questioned about his political beliefs, said Waller.
“I would say, and I am sure the vetting officers would disagree, that if you’re going to work in a place like Beirut, they take that process a lot more seriously than some other countries,” he said. “Lebanon is a difficult place to work, and they take the security of the embassy there really quite seriously for obvious reasons. So it’s not a box-ticking exercise, it’s a considered process.”
Waller added that his friend and former colleague was motivated by a desire to help others after his family fled Syria in 2012.
“He is a political exile from Syria, who fled the oppressive regime and civil war there. Everything he has done has been driven by a sense of basic humanitarian mission and a sense of justice, to try and help people less fortunate,” he said.
The US wants to resettle Palestinians from Gaza into African countries like Somalia, Somaliland, and Sudan.
Real shades of the Madagascar Plan there.
posted by adrienneleigh at 9:38 PM on March 14 [4 favorites]
Real shades of the Madagascar Plan there.
posted by adrienneleigh at 9:38 PM on March 14 [4 favorites]
Lucy with the football again, this time for the Trump admin- Netanyahu, Dermer worked to stop US-Hamas deal to free only American captives - According to the US official cited by Bergman, the IDF’s “excellent” 8200 signals intelligence unit had found out ahead of time about the direct US-Hamas talks. The White House was surprised by Israel’s discovery of the top-secret talks, which were known to US President Donald Trump, the official said.
The official added that Dermer, a long-time Netanyahu confidant and the current Israeli point man on the hostage deal, managed to thwart a planned meeting between Hamas and Boehler in January. Dermer also tried to stop hostages’ families from meeting Trump earlier this month, the official said.
Not so coincidentally - the White House is reportedly withdrawing US hostage envoy Adam Boehler's nomination to Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affair, downgrading him to "special government employee" focused on hostage negotiations. Recall that Boehler, who is Jewish, said the following things: “I do understand” why the Israelis might be upset, he says. “I spoke with Ron, and I’m sympathetic. He has someone that he doesn’t know well, making direct contact with Hamas. Maybe I would see them and say, ‘Look, they don’t have horns growing out of their head. They’re actually guys like us. They’re pretty nice guys’,” Boehler says, apparently referring to Hamas.
Which got played in Israeli media and all over as him saying "Hamas are pretty nice guys".
Meanwhile, in the US, Kahanist group Betar claims they have sent "deportation lists" with thousands of names to the Trump admin.
NPR interviewed DHS on why Khalil was targeted - MARTIN: So what - how did he support Hamas? Exactly what did he do?
EDGAR: Well, I think you can see it on TV, right? It's - this is somebody that, you know, we've invited and allowed the student to come into the country, and he put himself in the middle of the process of basically pro-Palestinian activity. And at this point, like I said, the Secretary of State can review his visa process at any point and revoke it...
The Alien Enemies Act deportation program was just enacted by the Trump admin. Rights groups are suing.
Amid all this, Israel is resuming strikes in north Gaza, killing 9.
posted by toastyk at 7:28 AM on March 15 [7 favorites]
The official added that Dermer, a long-time Netanyahu confidant and the current Israeli point man on the hostage deal, managed to thwart a planned meeting between Hamas and Boehler in January. Dermer also tried to stop hostages’ families from meeting Trump earlier this month, the official said.
Not so coincidentally - the White House is reportedly withdrawing US hostage envoy Adam Boehler's nomination to Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affair, downgrading him to "special government employee" focused on hostage negotiations. Recall that Boehler, who is Jewish, said the following things: “I do understand” why the Israelis might be upset, he says. “I spoke with Ron, and I’m sympathetic. He has someone that he doesn’t know well, making direct contact with Hamas. Maybe I would see them and say, ‘Look, they don’t have horns growing out of their head. They’re actually guys like us. They’re pretty nice guys’,” Boehler says, apparently referring to Hamas.
Which got played in Israeli media and all over as him saying "Hamas are pretty nice guys".
Meanwhile, in the US, Kahanist group Betar claims they have sent "deportation lists" with thousands of names to the Trump admin.
NPR interviewed DHS on why Khalil was targeted - MARTIN: So what - how did he support Hamas? Exactly what did he do?
EDGAR: Well, I think you can see it on TV, right? It's - this is somebody that, you know, we've invited and allowed the student to come into the country, and he put himself in the middle of the process of basically pro-Palestinian activity. And at this point, like I said, the Secretary of State can review his visa process at any point and revoke it...
The Alien Enemies Act deportation program was just enacted by the Trump admin. Rights groups are suing.
Amid all this, Israel is resuming strikes in north Gaza, killing 9.
posted by toastyk at 7:28 AM on March 15 [7 favorites]
Anyone else feel like we are on the hamster-wheel of the worst time periods in history?
- Trump orders strikes on Houthi-backed rebels in Yemen and issues new warning. At least 31 killed, hundreds injured, mostly women and children. Deja vu.
The people who were killed in Israel's strike yesterday, described by Times of Israel and the IDF as "terrorists operating under the guise of journalism" were in fact journalists documenting aid distribution.
- A former "human shield" describes his experience.
- Activist Sam Stein tells the story of getting detained and arrested by the IDF before they realized he was Jewish, not Palestinian.
posted by toastyk at 7:16 AM on March 16 [7 favorites]
- Trump orders strikes on Houthi-backed rebels in Yemen and issues new warning. At least 31 killed, hundreds injured, mostly women and children. Deja vu.
The people who were killed in Israel's strike yesterday, described by Times of Israel and the IDF as "terrorists operating under the guise of journalism" were in fact journalists documenting aid distribution.
- A former "human shield" describes his experience.
- Activist Sam Stein tells the story of getting detained and arrested by the IDF before they realized he was Jewish, not Palestinian.
posted by toastyk at 7:16 AM on March 16 [7 favorites]
More of the schism within American conservatives -
Exec Director of the American Conservative Curt Mills questions the wisdom of bombing the rebels in Yemen - Have you considered, after decades and decades of failures aboard and immiseration at home, that US warships in the Middle East might not be worth it? Dude.
DropSiteNews reports that US commercial and military ships will now be targeted in its naval blockade.
Would-be-comical headline if this weren't so deadly - Israel Keeps Up Attacks in Gaza Despite Truce - NYT - "a ceasefire is when Palestinians cease and Israelis fire".
Netanyahu moves to fire current head of Shin Bet.
Meanwhile, Gazans are still suffering from day 16 of the aid blockade. Israel continues to drop bombs on the West Bank.
posted by toastyk at 7:44 AM on March 17 [5 favorites]
Exec Director of the American Conservative Curt Mills questions the wisdom of bombing the rebels in Yemen - Have you considered, after decades and decades of failures aboard and immiseration at home, that US warships in the Middle East might not be worth it? Dude.
DropSiteNews reports that US commercial and military ships will now be targeted in its naval blockade.
Would-be-comical headline if this weren't so deadly - Israel Keeps Up Attacks in Gaza Despite Truce - NYT - "a ceasefire is when Palestinians cease and Israelis fire".
Netanyahu moves to fire current head of Shin Bet.
Meanwhile, Gazans are still suffering from day 16 of the aid blockade. Israel continues to drop bombs on the West Bank.
posted by toastyk at 7:44 AM on March 17 [5 favorites]
I haven't seen either anglo or Arabic AJ running with the story but there's a Sky Arabia scoop I'm seeing passed around (before I went to sleep) regarding some movement with the pan-Arab/Egypt-led development plan though phrased as a dearmament plan that's been okayed by Trump - the lag in reporting may indicate some headless chickens stage we're not privy to.
posted by cendawanita at 3:29 PM on March 17 [2 favorites]
posted by cendawanita at 3:29 PM on March 17 [2 favorites]
Meanwhile Israel just launched extensive and completely unprovoked airstrikes in Gaza, and is claiming (what else?) that it's Hamas' fault.
posted by adrienneleigh at 6:25 PM on March 17 [3 favorites]
posted by adrienneleigh at 6:25 PM on March 17 [3 favorites]
Just fyi I’m taking a break from this for a while. Been a bit much today.
posted by toastyk at 6:40 PM on March 17 [8 favorites]
posted by toastyk at 6:40 PM on March 17 [8 favorites]
Fellow ICJ defendants stick together: UAE lobbying Trump administration to reject Arab League Gaza plan, officials say -
Egyptian and US officials say the spectre of military aid cuts to Egypt comes from Emirati lobbying
posted by cendawanita at 2:09 AM on March 18 [3 favorites]
Egyptian and US officials say the spectre of military aid cuts to Egypt comes from Emirati lobbying
posted by cendawanita at 2:09 AM on March 18 [3 favorites]
The UK government narrowly avoids realising Israeli war crimes.
Huffington post: No.10 Slaps Down David Lammy For Saying Israel Has Broken International Law
Labour MP Rupa Huq had said that Israel had broken international law by blocking aid from going into Gaza.
Agreeing with his colleague, Lammy replied: “This is a breach of international law. Israel quite rightly must defend its own security. But we find the lack of aid — it’s now been 15 days since aid got into Gaza — unacceptable, hugely alarming and very worrying
But the prime minister’s official spokesman insisted on Tuesday that the government’s previous policy, which stopped short of accusing Israel of breaching international law, had not changed.
He said: “Our position remains that Israel’s actions are a clear risk of breaching international law.”
The spokesman added: “There’s no change in our policy and the foreign secretary’s policy remains that Israel’s actions in Gaza are a clear risk of breaching international humanitarian law.”
posted by Kitten as a cat at 6:24 AM on March 18 [1 favorite]
Huffington post: No.10 Slaps Down David Lammy For Saying Israel Has Broken International Law
Labour MP Rupa Huq had said that Israel had broken international law by blocking aid from going into Gaza.
Agreeing with his colleague, Lammy replied: “This is a breach of international law. Israel quite rightly must defend its own security. But we find the lack of aid — it’s now been 15 days since aid got into Gaza — unacceptable, hugely alarming and very worrying
But the prime minister’s official spokesman insisted on Tuesday that the government’s previous policy, which stopped short of accusing Israel of breaching international law, had not changed.
He said: “Our position remains that Israel’s actions are a clear risk of breaching international law.”
The spokesman added: “There’s no change in our policy and the foreign secretary’s policy remains that Israel’s actions in Gaza are a clear risk of breaching international humanitarian law.”
posted by Kitten as a cat at 6:24 AM on March 18 [1 favorite]
I apologise for the double post, I didn't think quick enough to edit it in. To clarify for context and quick reading, David Lammy is the current UK Foreign Secretary.
I wonder if perhaps he has gotten the government somewhat in the soup, in terms of criminal liability... As we have so often heard in the last few years that parliament is sovereign, the words of the foreign secretary within parliament should carry more weight than those of a spokesman outside the commons.
I suppose what I am building to is, has Lammy just removed any excuse of plausible deniability from the regime?
posted by Kitten as a cat at 6:41 AM on March 18 [2 favorites]
I wonder if perhaps he has gotten the government somewhat in the soup, in terms of criminal liability... As we have so often heard in the last few years that parliament is sovereign, the words of the foreign secretary within parliament should carry more weight than those of a spokesman outside the commons.
I suppose what I am building to is, has Lammy just removed any excuse of plausible deniability from the regime?
posted by Kitten as a cat at 6:41 AM on March 18 [2 favorites]
Uptick in Protests Against Events Marketing Real Estate in Illegal Zionist Settlements (The Indypendent)
The land expos are held by a variety of real estate companies almost exclusively based in Israel that target U.S., Canadian and European Jews, marketing “anglo” neighborhoods in occupied Palestine.posted by adrienneleigh at 2:33 PM on March 18 [4 favorites]
…
“If they would stop having illegal stolen land sales events hidden in their synagogues and Jewish community centers, we wouldn’t be going there protesting. That’s the only reason we go there,” said Tova, a Jewish organizer with PAL-Awda NY/NJ who also asked to be identified by first name only. “Coming to the Palestinian community to try to attack a mosque in response to this is totally Islamophobic.”
well they're not technically money changers in the temple.. just some land speculation..
I can't imagine the congregation is entirely cool with this? Is it customary to host events of this nature in the temple? I mean, there are card-making workshops in the basement of my church and we charge people $15 on Spaghetti Night so who am I to judge
posted by ginger.beef at 2:54 PM on March 18 [3 favorites]
I can't imagine the congregation is entirely cool with this? Is it customary to host events of this nature in the temple? I mean, there are card-making workshops in the basement of my church and we charge people $15 on Spaghetti Night so who am I to judge
posted by ginger.beef at 2:54 PM on March 18 [3 favorites]
At this rate, I think western backers and sympathizers of Likud/Kahanist's Israel, at the very least, deserve to be called tankies according to the original meaning of the term.
Prosecutors Cancel Netanyahu’s Testimony in Corruption Trial Amid Renewed Gaza Assault
Israelis Warn of the “New Gamble”: The Real Motives Behind the “Shock and Awe” Attack on Gaza -
Netanyahu’s Government Under Fire as Airstrikes Kill Civilians, Raise Concerns Over Hostages and War Strategy.
Military pilot and retired General Nimrod Sheffer, representing the forum’s position and echoing Israeli opposition voices, told Israel’s public radio that resuming the war is a grave mistake that could lead to the hostages being killed.
Sheffer acknowledged Israel’s responsibility for the collapse of diplomatic efforts, saying:
“We are the ones who violated the agreement with Hamas and the ceasefire. Do we really expect Hamas to accept this and wait for us to come and kill them? The real world does not work that way.”
Noga Tarnopolsky: 💥#Breaking, Combat navigator Alon Gur, 43, becomes the first Israel air force officer to refuse service as a conscientious objector. "I leapt to service on October 7. Now the interests of the king are overriding those of the kingdom." The IDF has "permanently terminated" him.
Harrowing Ramadan Israeli strikes on Gaza kill hundreds including Israeli captive
Anshel Pfeiffer in the Economist: Israel’s strikes may be only the start of a new offensive in Gaza -
Politics mean Binyamin Netanyahu needs to keep open the possibility of a return to full-scale war
Etan Nechin: Yarden Bibas is begging the government—stop the war, you’re killing the Hostages.
"That’s how I lost Shiri, Ariel, and little Kfir. The army pressure is putting the hostages in danger. A deal will bring them home. I’m terrified for my friends, David and Ariel Cuneo. I already lost Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir, but David can still come back. We have to stop the fighting and bring everyone home. That has to come first.”
posted by cendawanita at 5:48 PM on March 18 [3 favorites]
Prosecutors Cancel Netanyahu’s Testimony in Corruption Trial Amid Renewed Gaza Assault
Israelis Warn of the “New Gamble”: The Real Motives Behind the “Shock and Awe” Attack on Gaza -
Netanyahu’s Government Under Fire as Airstrikes Kill Civilians, Raise Concerns Over Hostages and War Strategy.
Military pilot and retired General Nimrod Sheffer, representing the forum’s position and echoing Israeli opposition voices, told Israel’s public radio that resuming the war is a grave mistake that could lead to the hostages being killed.
Sheffer acknowledged Israel’s responsibility for the collapse of diplomatic efforts, saying:
“We are the ones who violated the agreement with Hamas and the ceasefire. Do we really expect Hamas to accept this and wait for us to come and kill them? The real world does not work that way.”
Noga Tarnopolsky: 💥#Breaking, Combat navigator Alon Gur, 43, becomes the first Israel air force officer to refuse service as a conscientious objector. "I leapt to service on October 7. Now the interests of the king are overriding those of the kingdom." The IDF has "permanently terminated" him.
Harrowing Ramadan Israeli strikes on Gaza kill hundreds including Israeli captive
Anshel Pfeiffer in the Economist: Israel’s strikes may be only the start of a new offensive in Gaza -
Politics mean Binyamin Netanyahu needs to keep open the possibility of a return to full-scale war
Etan Nechin: Yarden Bibas is begging the government—stop the war, you’re killing the Hostages.
"That’s how I lost Shiri, Ariel, and little Kfir. The army pressure is putting the hostages in danger. A deal will bring them home. I’m terrified for my friends, David and Ariel Cuneo. I already lost Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir, but David can still come back. We have to stop the fighting and bring everyone home. That has to come first.”
posted by cendawanita at 5:48 PM on March 18 [3 favorites]
Random acts of journalism that will get the antisemitic label by western neo-tankies (probably) in their beautifully crumbling institutions due to placating and platforming fascists*:
Noga Tarnopolsky (translating a Hebrew twt): 💥In an ocean of Israeli media reporting that the "the ceasefire collapsed" @MoavVardi updates us with hard facts: "Hamas was actually willing to release the hostages as per the accord Israel signed. It was Israel that refused to carry out Phase II, which included the release of living hostages. The government can choose not to respect the deal so as not to end the war– but to later say that Hamas is unwilling to release the hostages is simply not true."
*On that note: UK chief rabbi joins those exiting Israeli antisemitism confab over far-right invitees -
Ephraim Mirvis says he's canceling after being 'made aware' of attendance by populist European politicians; Diaspora Ministry defends guest list as aimed at those with 'different views'
Blood and soil nonsense doesn't become "woke" when it's by non-Christian non-Westerners. It's just fascism. It doesn't absolve one's sins either. Reparations isn't "sorry for the genocide, here, try some colonialism for you too".
posted by cendawanita at 9:23 PM on March 18 [2 favorites]
Noga Tarnopolsky (translating a Hebrew twt): 💥In an ocean of Israeli media reporting that the "the ceasefire collapsed" @MoavVardi updates us with hard facts: "Hamas was actually willing to release the hostages as per the accord Israel signed. It was Israel that refused to carry out Phase II, which included the release of living hostages. The government can choose not to respect the deal so as not to end the war– but to later say that Hamas is unwilling to release the hostages is simply not true."
*On that note: UK chief rabbi joins those exiting Israeli antisemitism confab over far-right invitees -
Ephraim Mirvis says he's canceling after being 'made aware' of attendance by populist European politicians; Diaspora Ministry defends guest list as aimed at those with 'different views'
Blood and soil nonsense doesn't become "woke" when it's by non-Christian non-Westerners. It's just fascism. It doesn't absolve one's sins either. Reparations isn't "sorry for the genocide, here, try some colonialism for you too".
posted by cendawanita at 9:23 PM on March 18 [2 favorites]
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How much more proof do we need that Netanyahu and Putin have been allies the whole time, and Russia's pro-Palestine rhetoric was theatre to dazzle US activists and help flip the vote?
posted by CynicalKnight at 1:58 PM on March 1 [22 favorites]