Yearly Archives: 2025

Report Says Biden’s ‘Empty Threats’ on Gaza Fed Israeli Impunity

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Original article by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

U.S. President Joe Biden (L) and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) meet in Tel Aviv, Israel on October 18, 2023.
 (Photo: GPO/ Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)

One Middle East expert said that it’s “hard to avoid the conclusion” that the U.S. administration’s ultimatums to Israel “have all just been a smokescreen.”

New reporting published Wednesday details the impotence and insincerity of President Joe Biden’s “multiple threats, warnings, and admonishments” to Israel as it annihilated the Gaza Strip, killing tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians while receiving tens of billions of dollars in U.S. arms and unwavering diplomatic support.

Writing for ProPublica, Brett Murphy showed how multiple “red lines” issued by Biden administration officials were ignored by Israel with impunity. Murphy highlighted Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s October 2024 demand that Israel take “urgent and sustained actions” to improve humanitarian conditions in Gaza—mainly by allowing far more aid into the embattled strip—within 30 days or face a military aid cutoff.

“Netanyahu’s conclusion was that Biden doesn’t have enough oomph to make him pay a price.”

Thirty days came and went without significant improvement or letup in Israel’s onslaught. Yet the Biden administration insisted it found no indication that Israel was using U.S.-supplied weapons illegally. The arms flow continued.

As Murphy reported:

That choice was immediately called into question. On November 14, a U.N. committee said that Israel’s methods in Gaza, including its use of starvation as a weapon, was “consistent with genocide.” Amnesty International went further and concluded a genocide was underway. The International Criminal Court also issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister for the war crime of deliberately starving civilians, among other allegations.

“Government officials worry Biden’s record of empty threats have given the Israelis a sense of impunity,” wrote Murphy.

This reporting is so utterly damning.www.propublica.org/article/bide…

— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes.bsky.social) 2025-01-15T21:55:16.200Z

Ghaith al-Omari, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute, told Murphy that “Netanyahu’s conclusion was that Biden doesn’t have enough oomph to make him pay a price, so he was willing to ignore him.”

“Part of it is that Netanyahu learned there is no cost to saying ‘no’ to the current president,” al-Omari added.

Conversely, Murphy noted: “On Wednesday, after months of negotiations, Israel and Hamas reached a cease-fire deal. While it will become clear over the next days and months exactly what the contours of the agreement are, why it happened now, and who deserves the most credit, it’s plausible that [U.S. President-elect Donald] Trump’s imminent ascension to the White House was its own form of a red line.”

“Early reports suggest the deal looks similar to what has been on the table for months,” he added, “raising the possibility that if the Biden administration had followed through on its tough words, a deal could have been reached earlier, saving lives.”

As Stephen Walt, a professor of international affairs at Harvard Kennedy School, told Murphy, “It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that [Biden’s] red lines have all just been a smokescreen.”

“The Biden administration decided to be all-in and merely pretended that it was trying to do something,” Walt added, as Israel kept killing Palestinians with U.S.-supplied weapons and continued a “complete siege” blamed for widespread starvation and sickness in the Gaza Strip.

Murphy wrote that Trump “will inherit a demoralized State Department” in which many officials who haven’t already resigned have “become disenchanted with the lofty ideas they thought they represented.”

As one senior department official told Murphy, Gaza “is the human rights atrocity of our time.”

“I work for the department that’s responsible for this policy. I signed up for this,” the official added. “I don’t deserve sympathy for it.”

Original article by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Genocide Joe Biden
Genocide Joe Biden
Continue ReadingReport Says Biden’s ‘Empty Threats’ on Gaza Fed Israeli Impunity

Greens urge faster transition away from fossil fuels

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Image of the Green Party's Carla Denyer on BBC Question Time.
Image of the Green Party’s Carla Denyer on BBC Question Time.

Responding to new data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service showing that the average temperature in 2024 was 1.6C above preindustrial levels, Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer MP said:

“This news comes as uncontrollable wildfires rage in Los Angeles, and just months after unprecedented flooding in Spain killed over 200 people.

“The target of limiting warming to below 1.5 degrees was an attempt to prevent the deadliest effects of the climate crisis. Breaching that limit is catastrophic for humanity – and yet our leaders are sleepwalking into this deadly new future.

“We need to massively speed up the transition away from fossil fuels – that is the bottom line. In a world of 1.5 degree warming it’s unconscionable that the government is still letting some new North Sea oil and gas drilling go ahead – Starmer must revoke those consents and licenses immediately.

“But we also need to start thinking about how we make our communities more resilient in the face of the extreme weather that is now unavoidable. From flooding to extreme heat, our homes and neighbourhoods need to be fit for the future.”

Continue ReadingGreens urge faster transition away from fossil fuels

There is a green elephant in the room with government’s AI plans

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Green Party Co-leader Adrian Ramsay. Wikipedia CC.
Green Party Co-leader Adrian Ramsay. Wikipedia CC.

Responding to the news that Government plans for AI to be “mainlined into the veins” of the nation, Green Party Co-Leader, Adrian Ramsay MP, said

“The potential for AI is huge and Greens welcome the potential it holds, especially in research and innovation. However, this plan comes almost exclusively from engagement with industry and investors and does not account for the views of the public, or the people working in our public services, about where AI should or should not be used. If AI is to serve our public services, its uses must instead be driven by the voices of those most affected by this technology development and deployment. This of course has to include addressing concerns around privacy and rights over their information”

“In addition, there is a green elephant in the room with neither government nor business truly addressing the environmental impacts of AI. One estimate said AI-related infrastructure may soon consume six times more water than Denmark, a country of 6 million people. And a request made through ChatGPT consumes 10 times the electricity of a Google Search. Yet the action plan does not address these crucial questions of environmental sustainability, let alone the debate about the relative gains from AI versus these obvious harms.”

Continue ReadingThere is a green elephant in the room with government’s AI plans

Gazans shed tears of joy, disbelief at news of ceasefire deal

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https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250115-gazans-shed-tears-of-joy-disbelief-at-news-of-ceasefire-deal

Palestinians celebrate after US President-elect Donald Trump’s announcement of hostage deal between Israel and Hamas , in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis, Gaza on January 15, 2025 [Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu Agency]

Palestinians burst into celebration across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday at news of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, with some shedding tears of joy and others whistling, clapping and chanting “Allahu akbar” (God is greatest), Reuters reports.

“I am happy, yes, I am crying, but those are tears of joy,” said Ghada, a mother of five displaced from her home in Gaza City during the 15-month-old conflict.

“We are being reborn, with every hour of delay Israel conducted a new massacre, I hope it is all getting over now,” she told Reuters via a chat app from a shelter in Deir Al-Balah town in central Gaza.

Youths beat tambourines, blew horns and danced in the street in Khan Yunis in the southern part of the enclave minutes after hearing news of the agreement struck in the Qatari capital, Doha.

The deal, not yet formally announced, outlines a six-week initial ceasefire phase and includes the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

The accord also provides for the release of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian detainees held by Israel, an official briefed on the negotiations told Reuters.

READ: FACTBOX – War-ravaged Gaza faces multi-billion dollar reconstruction challenge

For some, delight was mingled with sorrow.

Ahmed Dahman, 25, said the first thing he would do when the deal goes into effect is to recover the body of his father, who was killed in an air strike on the family’s house last year, and “give him a proper burial.”

‘A day of happiness and sadness’ 

“I feel a mixture of happiness because lives are being saved and blood is being stopped,” said Dahman, who like Ghada was displaced from Gaza City and lives in Deir Al-Balah.

“But I am also worried about the post-war shock of what we will see in the streets, our destroyed homes, my father whose body is still under the rubble.”

His mother, Bushra, said that while the ceasefire wouldn’t bring her husband back, “at least it may save other lives.”

“I will cry, like never before. This brutal war didn’t give us time to cry,” said the tearful mother, speaking to Reuters by a chat app.

Iman Al-Qouqa, who lives with her family in a nearby tent, was still in disbelief.

“This is a day of happiness, and sadness, a shock and joy, but certainly it is a day we all must cry and cry long because of what we all lost. We did not lose friends, relatives, and homes only, we lost our city, Israel sent us back in history because of its brutal war,” she told Reuters.

“It is time the world comes back into Gaza, focuses on Gaza, and rebuilds it,” said Qouqa.

Israeli troops invaded Gaza after Hamas-led gunmen broke through security barriers and burst into Israeli communities on 7 October, 2023, killing 1,200 soldiers and civilians and abducting more than 250 foreign and Israeli hostages.

However, since then, it has been revealed by Haaretz that helicopters and tanks of the Israeli army had, in fact, killed many of the 1,139 soldiers and civilians claimed by Israel to have been killed by the Palestinian Resistance.

Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 46,000 people, according to Gaza Health Ministry figures, and left the coastal enclave a wasteland, with many thousands living in makeshift shelters.

READ: Jenin goes on strike after Israel targets Palestinians

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Continue ReadingGazans shed tears of joy, disbelief at news of ceasefire deal

Cease-Fire Deal Reportedly Reached After 15 Months of Israeli Atrocities in Gaza

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Original article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

People watch a television along a street in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on January 15, 2025. (Photo: Bashar Taleb/AFP via Getty Images)

“The cease-fire alone will not end the ongoing genocide that Israel is perpetrating against the Palestinian people in Gaza,” said one Palestinian human rights organization.

This is a developing news story… Please check back for possible updates…

The U.S. and Qatar said Wednesday that negotiators have reached a cease-fire and hostage-release agreement between Israel and Hamas after more than 15 months of incessant Israeli bombing that killed tens of thousands of people, displaced millions, and left Gaza in ruins.

At a press conference, Qatar’s prime minister said the agreement is set to take effect on Sunday. U.S. President Joe Biden said that “it is long past time for the fighting to end and the work of building peace and security to begin.”

Shortly before the formal announcement from the U.S. and Qatar, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that the deal has yet to be cemented.

“Due to the strong insistence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Hamas folded on its last-minute demand to change the deployment of IDF forces in the Philadelphi Corridor,” the prime minister’s office said, referring to the Israel Defense Forces. “However, several items in the framework have yet to be finalized; we hope that the details will be finalized tonight.”

The reported deal, brokered by Egyptian and Qatari mediators, would entail “a six-week initial cease-fire phase and includes the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and release of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian detainees held by Israel,” according to Reuters, which cited an unnamed official briefed on the negotiations.

Al Jazeera, also citing anonymous sources, provided an outline of the reported deal:

  • The Israeli military will withdraw to within 700 meters (2,297 feet) inside Gaza.
  • Israel will release about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, including 250 serving life sentences.
  • Palestinian groups will release 33 Israeli captives.
  • Israel will allow injured people in Gaza to travel to receive medical treatment.
  • Israel will open the Rafah crossing with Egypt seven days after the start of the first stage.
  • Israeli forces will begin to pull back from Gaza’s border with Egypt, known as the Philadelphi Corridor, to withdraw from it completely in later stages.

Following news of potentially decisive progress toward a cease-fire, The Associated Press reported that “large crowds of cheering people” took to the streets in southern Gaza to celebrate. Meanwhile, the outlet noted, hundreds of demonstrators rallied outside of the Israeli military’s headquarters in Tel Aviv “calling for a deal to be completed.”

Reporting from central Gaza, Al Jazeera‘s Hani Mahmoud said that “we’re seeing people in tears” after news of a possible agreement spread in the besieged enclave.

“We’re seeing mothers here, who live in tents near the hospital… hugging and kissing their children, thanking God that they have survived,” said Mahmoud.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who voiced support for Israel’s catastrophic assault on Gaza during his 2024 campaign, took to his social media platform Wednesday to declare, in all-caps: “WE HAVE A DEAL FOR THE HOSTAGES IN THE MIDDLE EAST. THEY WILL BE RELEASED SHORTLY. THANK YOU!”

Steve Witkoff, the incoming Trump administration’s Middle East envoy, joined members of Biden’s team in working to finalize the cease-fire agreement, which came as the official death toll from Israel’s assault climbed above 46,000—a figure that experts say is likely a significant undercount. The majority of the people killed in Israeli attacks have been women, children, or elderly.

Drop Site‘s Jeremy Scahill reported Tuesday that “the terms of the deal being negotiated are largely consistent with what was on the table last May when outgoing President Joe Biden first announced it.”

“Biden allowed Netanyahu to steamroll him for months—rewarding Israel with billions of dollars in arms transfers and political support after rejecting that cease-fire deal,” Scahill wrote. “Since that time, tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians have been killed and maimed and an unknown number of Israeli captives killed, either by their captors or Israeli strikes. All the while, the administration and its backers repeatedly assured voters in the U.S. that Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were working tirelessly to achieve a cease-fire deal.”

“What is required is for Israel to end all ongoing genocidal acts, open Gaza, and for the international community to ensure accountability for those responsible.”

The Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, a Palestinian organization, said the apparent cease-fire agreement marks “a crucial step toward reducing the killing of Palestinians through deadly force.”

“However, the cease-fire alone will not end the ongoing genocide that Israel is perpetrating against the Palestinian people in Gaza,” the group added. “What is required is for Israel to end all ongoing genocidal acts, open Gaza, and for the international community to ensure accountability for those responsible.”

Inger Ashing, CEO of the international humanitarian group Save the Children, said the cease-fire “must be permanent” and accompanied by urgent efforts to “end the siege and vastly increase the entry of aid.”

“For 15 months, about 1 million children in Gaza have been caught in a living nightmare with loss, trauma, and risks to their lives at every turn,” said Ashing. “If implemented, this pause will bring them vital reprieve from the bombs and bullets that have stalked them for more than a year. But it is not enough and the race is on to save children facing hunger and disease as the shadow of famine looms.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who has vocally criticized Israel’s response to the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack and U.S. military aid to the Israeli government, said Wednesday that a cease-fire is “long-overdue” and “both sides must honor the deal and implement it as quickly as possible.”

“The senseless killing must stop. The hostages must be released,” said Sanders. “The United Nations and other aid organizations must finally be allowed unfettered access to all areas of the Gaza Strip in order to provide the massive amounts of humanitarian aid that is desperately needed. Hundreds of thousands of innocent people are struggling to survive, lacking food, water, and medical care in the middle of winter. Innocent lives hang in the balance.”

“This is just the first step to restoring peace,” the senator added. “The international community must insist that the cease-fire be sustained and formalized. A plan for rebuilding Gaza and establishing peaceful Palestinian governance of the area must be laid out. And there must be accountability for the many war crimes committed by both sides in this terrible conflict.”

Original article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Continue ReadingCease-Fire Deal Reportedly Reached After 15 Months of Israeli Atrocities in Gaza