… on a quiet day, I can hear her breathing

Author: dizzy

  • Australia Restores UNRWA Funding as Israel Kills Aid Workers, Starving Gazans

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

    Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong speaks in Canberra on August 8, 2023. (Photo: Penny Wong/Facebook)

    “Restoring UNRWA funding is the bare minimum,” said one Australian Green senator. “The Labor government must publicly pressure Israel to allow aid into all parts of Gaza.”

    Australia said Friday that it would reinstate funding for the United Nations United Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, which has lost hundreds of millions of dollars in international financing due to unsubstantiated Israeli claims that UNRWA staff participated in the October 7 Hamas-led attacks on Israel.

    “The best available current advice from agencies and the Australian government lawyers is that UNRWA is not a terrorist organization,” Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in Adelaide while announcing a new funding package for the agency, which works to aid Palestinians forcibly displaced during the Nakba, or “catastrophe” through which the modern state of Israel was established in 1948, as well as their descendants.

    In addition to restoring $6 million in UNRWA funding, Wong said Australia would contribute another $2 million to the United Nations Children’s Fund and would deploy a C-17 Globemaster transport plane to assist humanitarian airdrops over Gaza.

    Sen. Mehreen Faruqi of New South Wales and the Australian Greens welcomed the shift, asserting that “restoring UNRWA funding is the bare minimum” Australia should do.

    “The Labor government must publicly pressure Israel to allow aid into all parts of Gaza,” Faruqi stressed. “Starvation is a weapon of war, and Israel is blocking aid to reach the people of Gaza in brazen contravention of the [International Court of Justice’s] ruling” ordering Israel to prevent genocidal acts.

    “I hope this is the start of the Labor government breaking away from their unquestioning and immoral support for Israel,” the senator added.

    Simon Birmingham, leader of the center-right Liberal opposition in the Senate, said his party does not support the Labor government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese “acting without and ahead of the United States in terms of decisions around this funding.”

    Following Israeli claims—reportedly extracted from Palestinian prisoners in an interrogation regime rife with torture and abuse—that 12 of the more than 13,000 UNRWA workers in Gaza were involved in the October 7 attack, Australia and nine other nations including the United States cut off funding to the largest humanitarian aid organization operating in the besieged coastal enclave.

    UNRWA subsequently terminated nine employees in response to the unfounded Israeli claims, without any evidence to support their firing. UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini later called the move an act of “reverse due process.”

    The European Union and nations including Canada and Sweden have also reinstated funding for UNRWA, which Lazzarini said “is facing a deliberate and concerted campaign to undermine its operations.” The agency has been struggling to provide shelter, aid, and other lifesaving services to Gazans facing not only Israeli bombs and bullets but also a genocidal siege and blockade that are starving Palestinians to death.

    Australia’s decision came as Israeli attacks on aid convoys, food distribution centers, and desperate, starving Palestinians in Gaza continued. On Thursday, Israeli forces killed at least 20 people and wounded more than 150 others as they awaited delivery of humanitarian aid at the Kuwait Roundabout in Gaza City. The previous day, a UNRWA staffer was among five people killed and more than 20 wounded in an attack on a food distribution center in Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city. Israeli officials claimed the slain man was a Hamas commander.

    According to UNRWA, at least 165 of the agency’s staff members have been killed since October 7. Over 150 UNRWA facilities have been attacked by Israeli forces, while more than 400 Palestinians have been slain while seeking shelter under the United Nations flag.

    UNRWA also says its workers have been tortured by Israeli troops trying to force them to falsely confess to participating in the October 7 attacks.

    Gaza officials said earlier this week that at least 400 Palestinians seeking humanitarian aid have been killed by Israeli forces since the February 29 “Flour Massacre,” in which at least 118 people were killed and more than 760 others wounded while waiting for an aid convoy in Gaza City.

    More than 112,000 Palestinians have been killed or wounded in Gaza since October 7, including people missing and presumed dead and buried beneath the rubble of the strip’s hundreds of thousands of bombed-out buildings. The majority of the dead are women and children. Around 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been forcibly displaced. Disease and starvation are rampant, and a growing number of Palestinians—mostly children but also elders and other vulnerable people—are starving to death.

    After 161 days of near-constant slaughter, there is still no cease-fire in sight.

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

  • Ansar Allah announces expansion of attacks on Israel-bound ships to all of Indian Ocean

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    Original article republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

    A leader of the Ansar Allah movement criticized the US for providing weapons to Israel’s genocidal war and held airdropping aid to Gaza as insulting to Palestinians

    Sayyed Abdulmalik al-Houthi, leader of Yemen’s Ansar Allah, said on Thursday, March 14 that his country’s armed forces will expand their attacks against ships moving to Israel from the Red Sea region to the whole of Indian ocean.

    Stating that attacks on Israeli ships in the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb will continue until there is a ceasefire in Gaza, al-Houthi declared that “we [now] aim to prevent ships associated with the Israeli enemy from crossing [Indian] Ocean towards South Africa and the Cape of the Good Hope” as well.

    He warned that international shipping companies should take Ansar Allah’s declaration seriously and avoid any links with Israel as “any ship linked to Israel is vulnerable to Yemeni missiles.”  

    Ansar Allah and the Yemeni Armed Forces have been carrying out attacks against the ships associated with Israel in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden since November last year, in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza who have been facing devastating Israeli aggression since October 7 which has killed close to 32,000 of them and injured over 72,000.

    Ansar Allah has been a part of the regional Axis of Resistance against imperialist interventions and colonialism along with Iraqi resistance forces and Hezbollah in Lebanon. They have targeted Israel and US installations in the region in solidarity with Palestinians.

    Al-Houthi asserted that the attacks carried out by the US and the UK on Yemen will not be able to deter the country from supporting Gaza. Those attacks have “one outcome, which is the widening of the conflict and war at the regional level” he said. 

    The US and the UK launched aerial strikes inside Yemen in December despite concerns that any such move will escalate the war in Gaza to the regional level. Since then, they have carried out over hundred of such attacks.

    On Thursday, the US and the UK carried out a total of 11 airstrikes. According to Al-Mayadeen, Thursday’s attacks brings the total number of such airstrikes in Yemen to over 35 in just five days since the start of the month of Ramadan. Most of the airstrikes targeted the port city of Hodeidah. However, provinces such as Saada and Sanaa were also been targeted. 

    US and Israel linked ships and warships targeted  

    Al-Houthi claimed that at least 34 Yemenis have been killed in operations carried out in support of Gaza since November. He however asserted that Yemen will not be deterred and will continue to act in solidarity with Palestine.

    He also stated that Yemeni Armed Forces have carried out at least 12 operations against ships and warships in the Red Sea, Arabian Sea, and Gulf of Aden region by launching 58 ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones in the past week. He added that the total number of ships and warships hit by Yemen since November has reached 73.

    On Thursday, the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reported that it received reports of two more ships being attacked off the coast of Hodeidah with missiles. At least one of those two ships was damaged in the attack.

    Al-Houthi also praised popular support for the Palestinian cause in Yemen and the large participation in the weekly million-person marches in solidarity with Palestinians. He appealed to the Yemeni people to participate in the next “million Yemeni march” organized across the country on Friday.

    Al-Houthi criticized the role of most of the regional countries in the Israeli war in Gaza claiming apart from Iran, most others “did not take any serious practical stand” in support of Palestinian people. 

    Al-Houthi claimed that “the Israeli occupation is carrying out a crime of the century, with American participation and contribution” from other western countries. He termed the US airdropping of aid into Gaza “an insult” to Palestinians underlining how it has bypassed the official UN channels of aid.

    Original article republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

  • Israeli Assurances on US Weapons and International Law Called ‘Sick Joke’

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

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (L) visit the site of the shooting in Hebron, West Bank on August 21, 2023.  (Photo: Amos Ben-Gershom (GPO)/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

    “We know Israel won’t comply so long as there are no consequences,” said one advocacy group. “The U.S. must cut off weapons now!”

    In news that one policy expert said could have been ripped from the satirical newspaper The Onion, Israeli officials gave a written assurance to the Biden administration on Friday that it would use U.S. weapons in accordance with international law.

    The assurance comes more than five months into Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, in which the country’s U.S.-backed military has killed at least 31,490 Palestinians, including more than 12,300 children, while claiming to be targeting Hamas members.

    Assal Rad, research director at the National Iranian American Council, noted that Israel has also killed at least 95 journalists in Gaza, attacked healthcare facilities, and starved civilians by blocking humanitarian aid deliveries while explicitly calling on the Israel Defense Forces to commit genocidal acts.

    Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant signed the letter to the Biden administration weeks after the White House released a national security memorandum (NSM-20) saying Secretary of State Antony Blinken must “obtain credible and reliable written assurances” from any country receiving U.S. weapons, stating that the country “will use any such defense articles in accordance with international humanitarian law.”

    In December, an Amnesty International investigation found that U.S.-made munitions had been used by the IDF in two illegal airstrikes on residential buildings, which killed more than 43 people, including 19 children.

    NSM-20 also says a country receiving U.S. arms must “facilitate and not arbitrarily deny, restrict, or otherwise impede, directly or indirectly, the transport or delivery of United States humanitarian assistance and United States government-supported international efforts to provide humanitarian assistance.”

    “This is nonsense,” Rohan Talbot, director of advocacy and campaigns for Medical Aid for Palestinians, said of Gallant’s letter on Friday.

    While relentlessly assaulting civilian targets in Gaza, Israel has allowed only a fraction of the humanitarian aid that’s needed into the enclave. In recent weeks, the IDF has killed an estimated 400 Palestinians who were trying to access aid, according to officials in Gaza.

    According to Axios, which first reported on Israel’s communication, Blinken has until March 25 to certify that Gallant’s assurances are credible.

    Gallant is among the top Israeli officials who have used genocidal rhetoric regarding Palestinians since the country began its bombardment in retaliation for the October 7 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel. He said publicly in October that the IDF was fighting “human animals” in Gaza—home to about 2.3 million people, nearly half of whom are children.

    The letter from the defense minister amounted to “a sick joke,” said author and political analyst Josh Ruebner.

    “Israel’s assurances to President Joe Biden that it won’t use U.S. weapons to violate international law and won’t block U.S. aid from reaching starving Palestinians are clear and blatant lies,” said the Institute for Middle East Understanding. “We know Israel won’t comply so long as there are no consequences. The U.S. must cut off weapons now!”

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

  • Protests and Parody Paper Decry New York Times’ Pro-Israel Bias in Gaza Coverage

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

    A reader holds up a copy of a satirical paper, “The New York War Crimes,” mocking The New York Times’ biased coverage of the Gaza genocide, on March 14, 2024 in New York City. (Photo: Nicki Kattoura/X)

    “The Times is not unique among media in manufacturing consent for war, for exploitation, for genocide. It is, rather, exemplary.”

    More than 100 pro-Palestine demonstrators were arrested Thursday after staging a protest at The New York Times‘ Midtown Manhattan headquarters, where activists handed out copies of a satirical knockoff of the newspaper that skewered what organizers called its biased coverage of the Gaza genocide.

    After surrounding the Times‘ printing plant in College Point, Queens, members of Writers Against the War on Gaza (WAWOG), Palestinian Youth Movement, and other groups shut down the paper’s Midtown West headquarters, where they chanted, “New York Times you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide,” “free, free Palestine,” and “from the river to the sea.”

    Around 150 demonstrators occupied the Times building, where they called on passersby to “boycott, divest, and unsubscribe.” Some passersby confronted the demonstrators. One angry man attempted to steal a large banner from protesters. The New York Police Department said 124 protesters were arrested.

    Some of the activists handed out parody copies of the Times, renamed as the The New York War Crimes. The paper’s creators also changed the Times‘ “All the News That’s Fit to Print” motto to “All the Consent That’s Fit to Manufacture.”

    “The Times is not unique among media in manufacturing consent for war, for exploitation, for genocide,” notes the satirical paper, which also has a website. “It is, rather, exemplary. Indeed, perhaps the deadliest weapon of all is the Times‘ sense of its own importance, its self-appointed role as the arbiter of what counts as good journalism.”

    “If theTimes says it, it must be true; if they print it, it must be fit to print,” the publication adds. “The Times‘ reputation for liberalism, for rigor, for nonpartisan independence is precisely what makes it so dangerous, because it hides what it really is: media that serves the interests of U.S. imperialism.”

    One article, “How to Make a Genocide Disappear,” breaks down how Times coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza uses language, framing, and focus that favors Israel:

    According to this story, Israel has responded to an unexplainable attack by Hamas, a shadowy Islamist terror group, with proportional force. A story in which attacks on hospitals and schools are regrettable but necessary evils. In the Times‘ surrealist account, the Israeli military stands on the frontlines of feminism, queer rights, and democracy. Hamas is to blame for the deaths of 30,000 Palestinians. The United States is a reproachful ally, not a calculating and enabling accomplice. A handful of Israeli hostages are worthy of dozens of tearfulstories and op-eds, while thousands of Palestinians are kidnapped and tortured without fanfare. Even Israel’s widespread, targeted murder of at least 125 journalists—a horror that the newspaper, with its much-touted reverence for journalism, might be expected to take particular heed of—is rendered invisible.

    The New York War Crimes‘ site also highlights the Times‘ past support for U.S. wars, coups, and other crimes, from the CIA-orchestrated overthrow of democratically elected governments in Iran and Guatemala in the 1950s through the 21st-century events like the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq on false pretenses.

    Responding to the protest, a Times spokesperson said that “the Israel-Hamas war is one of the most divisive global events in recent history,” and that “we will not let critics or advocacy groups sway us from covering the conflict fully and fairly.”

    At the Queens demonstration—which took place from around 1:00-3:30 am—protesters laid down in a driveway and locked themselves to each other using chains and PVC pipes. Other activists held signs reading, “Stop the presses. Free Palestine” and “Consent for genocide is manufactured here.” The protesters dispersed after police said they could leave freely or face arrest.

    As Hell Gatereported:

    A night shift worker from another operation down the block strolled over to see what the growing traffic jam was all about. “Oh, that’s what’s up,” he said, when he saw the banners. “I’m Egyptian.” Activists explained the goals of their action, and he bumped their fists. “You guys are putting in work!” he said.

    The New York War Crimes tells readers that “now is the time to act.”

    “Those who believe in a free Palestine have long refused to buy products from American companies that make weapons for Israel,” the paper states. “For exactly the same reason, we boycott all the offerings of The New York Times. We do not share their articles or listen to their podcasts. We do not cook their recipes or read their newsletters. We do not play their games. We divest ourselves of the notion that they either deserve or bestow merit.”

    “If you still subscribe to the Times, unsubscribe,” the publication implores. “If you read the Times, stop. Write the editors an email telling them why you’re boycotting, divesting, and unsubscribing.”

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

  • Labour’s public-private plans are just a return to the dreaded PFI era

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    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/labours-public-private-plans-are-just-return-dreaded-pfi-era

    Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves in the shadow of Tony Bliar.

    SOLOMON HUGHES warns Reeves’s proposed national wealth fund hands City financiers control over billions in public money for big business — and we get… to pay!

    HOW will Keir Starmer’s Labour try to “grow the economy?” The short answer is it is going to try to use public money to persuade international investors to put cash into “growth” industries.

    It’s the return of the public-private partnership. The big danger is that, like Labour’s last public-private partnership, the private corporations will get all the growth, while the public sector gets ripped off.

    The main economy-grower Starmer is promoting is Rachel Reeves’s proposed national wealth fund. It will invest in key industries like “green energy” and other modern manufacturing sectors.

    There is a strong Labour case to run a national bank investing in key industries: the 1945 Labour government set up two such banks, the Industrial and Commercial Finance Corporation and the Finance Corporation for Industry, which lent growth capital to small- and medium-sized industries or larger manufacturing firms respectively.

    Labour argued that the City avoided investing in these crucial sectors, exacerbating the 1930s Depression. Both government-founded investment funds were very successful. Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour proposed similar publicly owned national investment banks.

    But Reeves’s plan makes public money subordinate to private investment. She told the last Labour conference: “For every pound of investment we put in, we will leverage in three times as much private investment.”

    Labour plans to invest £7.3 billion in the fund, and so attract around £22bn private “co-investment.” Reeves says private money will be attracted because the government cash will be “encouraging and derisking investment” from international finance: investors will assume that if the government has a stake in, say, a car battery factory, that it is a “sure thing” and won’t be allowed to go bust or lose money for shareholders.

    But what happens if the publicly backed investments hit trouble? Say the car batteries come out too expensive, reducing profits, or need extra investment to fix production problems — will the private investors insist that the public investor take the losses? And if the profits are bigger than expected, will both parties benefit equally?

    There are some major signs Reeves’s deals will favour the big private investors. First, because it is putting in more of the money, they can call more of the shots. This is not really a national wealth fund because most of the money will not be national.

    …

    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/labours-public-private-plans-are-just-return-dreaded-pfi-era