Fascism

‘Blood Is on Your Hands!’ Activists Disrupt $26 Million Biden Fundraiser

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

Hundreds of people gather in front of Radio City Music Hall to protest President Joe Biden’s support for Israel in New York City on March 28, 2024.
 (Photo: Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“We will continue to raise our voices of dissent until Palestinians are free,” said one activist with Jewish Voice for Peace.

Palestinian youth and descendants of Holocaust survivors were among those who protested a record-breaking fundraiser for President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall late Thursday, repeatedly interrupting the glitzy event with shouts of opposition to Israel’s U.S.-backed war on Gaza.

“You are all complicit in genocide!” one activist yelled as security escorted her from the venue. As Biden spoke, another demonstrator shouted: “Palestinians are dying because of your actions… Blood is on your hands!”

The president said during his remarks that there have been “too many innocent victims, Israeli and Palestinian.”

“It’s understandable Israel has such a profound anger and Hamas is still there,” Biden said. “But we must, in fact, stop the effort that is resulting in significant deaths of innocent civilians, particularly children.”

The disruption was organized by Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), the Palestinian Youth Movement, and other advocacy groups. JVP said some ticketholders were denied entry to the fundraiser. In recent weeks, the Biden campaign has worked to shield the president from Gaza-related protests by holding smaller rallies and carefully vetting attendees.

“We refused to be silenced,” Jay Saper of JVP said Thursday. “We will continue to raise our voices of dissent until Palestinians are free.”

In a statement late Thursday, the Biden campaign didn’t acknowledge the protests, calling the gathering of celebrities and high-profile Democratic figures—including former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama—”the most successful political fundraising event in the history of American politics.”

The event raised a staggering $26 million for the incumbent president’s reelection bid against presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump, Biden’s campaign said. Ticket prices ranged from $225 to $500,000.

“More money got donors more intimate time with the presidents,” according toThe Associated Press. “A photo with all three was $100,000. A donation of $250,000 earned donors access to one reception, and $500,000 got them into an even more exclusive gathering.”

Outside the venue, Palestinian rights advocates marched in the streets to condemn Biden’s unwavering support for Israel’s military as it massacres and starves Gazans.

“Joe Biden has been enabling the genocide,” Jacob Sierra, a 27-year-old protest attendee, toldThe New York Times. Sierra said he is a registered Democrat and voted for Biden in 2020.

A Gallup poll released earlier this week showed that an overwhelming majority of Democratic voters, including young people and other key elements of the Democratic base, oppose Israel’s military assault on the Gaza Strip. The survey found that just 18% of Democratic voters currently approve of Israel’s war, down from 36% in November.

Widespread outrage over Biden’s diplomatic and military support for Israel’s assault has sparked mounting concerns among some Democratic donors and activists.

Last week, more than 100 of them signed a letter warning that “because of the disillusionment of a critical portion of the Democratic coalition, the Gaza war is increasing the chances of a Trump victory.”

“We are asking the Biden administration immediately to change course,” the party donors and activists wrote. “Conditions need to be placed and monitored on any further military, financial, or diplomatic aid. All indiscriminate bombing and demolition must stop.”

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

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Continue Reading‘Blood Is on Your Hands!’ Activists Disrupt $26 Million Biden Fundraiser

‘Famine is setting in’: UN court orders Israel to unblock Gaza food aid

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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/28/famine-is-setting-in-icj-orders-israel-to-unblock-gaza-food-aid

Palestinian families displaced from their homes make preparations for the iftar dinner in temporary tents in Rafah on Thursday. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

The international court of justice has ordered Israel to allow unimpeded access of food aid into Gaza, where sections of the population are facing imminent starvation, in a significant legal rebuke to Israel’s claim it is not blocking aid deliveries.

A panel of judges at the UN’s top court, which is already considering a complaint from South Africa that Israel is committing genocide in the Palestinian territory, issued the ruling after an emergency measure in January obliging Israel to admit emergency aid.

The judges, who were unanimous in their decision, said Palestinians in Gaza were facing worsening conditions of life, and famine and starvation were spreading. “The court observes that Palestinians in Gaza are no longer facing only a risk of famine … but that famine is setting in,” the judges said.

In its legally binding order, the court told Israel to take “all necessary and effective measures to ensure, without delay, in full cooperation with the United Nations, the unhindered provision at scale by all concerned of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance” including food, water, fuel and medical supplies.

The ICJ also ordered Israel to immediately ensure “that its military does not commit acts which constitute a violation of any of the rights of the Palestinians in Gaza as a protected group under the convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide, including by preventing, through any action, the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian assistance”.

Israel denies it is committing genocide and says its military campaign is self-defence.

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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/28/famine-is-setting-in-icj-orders-israel-to-unblock-gaza-food-aid

Continue Reading‘Famine is setting in’: UN court orders Israel to unblock Gaza food aid

Israel using famine as ‘a weapon of war,’ UN High Commissioner for Human Rights warns

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Many articles from the Morning Star featured today. https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/israel-using-famine-as-a-weapon-of-war-un-high%20-for-human-rights-warns

Parachutes drop supplies into the northern Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, March 28, 2024

‘Arms exports must cease, the occupation and settlement policy must end,’ former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn says

THERE is “nothing natural” about the famine in Gaza and Western pressure on Israel through a total arms embargo is urgent, left MPs and campaigners said today.

They spoke out as the UN’s top human rights official said Tel Aviv could be using starvation as “a weapon of war” in the overcrowded territory as its invasion enters its fifth month.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk told the BBC that if the intent to do this was proven it would amount to a war crime.

Mr Turk condemned the Hamas attack of October 7, during which 1,139 people were killed and about 250 others were taken hostage. But he also said that no side in the war should evade accountability for its actions, including for any attempt to withhold aid supplies from the people who need it in Gaza.

He told the BBC: “All of my humanitarian colleagues keep telling us that there is a lot of red tape. There are obstacles. There are hindrances. Israel is to blame in a significant way.”

“When you put all kinds of requirements on the table that are unreasonable in an emergency that brings up the question, with all the restrictions that we currently see, whether there is a plausible claim to be made that starvation is, or may be used as, a weapon of war.”

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Many articles from the Morning Star featured today. https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/israel-using-famine-as-a-weapon-of-war-un-high%20-for-human-rights-warns

Continue ReadingIsrael using famine as ‘a weapon of war,’ UN High Commissioner for Human Rights warns

Complicit in genocide: where Israel gets its weapons from

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Many articles from the Morning Star featured today. https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/complicit-genocide-where-israel-gets-its-weapons

Far from ‘standing alone’ Israel is fully supplied with military hardware from various Western and non-Western countries, writes RAMZY BAROUD

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Though many of Israel’s traditional allies in the West are openly disowning its behaviour in Gaza, weapons from various Western and non-Western countries continue to flow, feeding the war machine as it, in turn, continues to harvest more Palestinian lives.

This compels the question: does Israel truly stand alone when its airports and seaports are busier than ever receiving massive shipments of weapons coming from all directions? Not in the least.

Almost every time a Western country announces that it has suspended arms exports to Israel, a news headline appears shortly afterwards, indicating the opposite. Indeed, this has happened repeatedly.

Last year, Rome had declared that it was blocking all arms sales to Israel, giving false hope that some Western countries were finally experiencing some kind of moral awakening.

Alas, on March 14, Reuters quoted the Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto as saying that shipments of weapons to Israel are continuing, based on the flimsy logic that previously signed deals would have to be “honoured.”

Another country that is also “honouring” its previous commitments is Canada, which announced on May 19, following a parliamentary motion, that it had suspended arms exports.

The celebration among those advocating an end to the genocide in Gaza were just getting started when, a day later, Ottawa practically reversed the decision by announcing that it, too, will honour previous commitments.

This illustrates that some Western countries, which continue to impart their unsolicited wisdom about human rights, women’s rights and democracy on the rest of the world, have no genuine respect for any of these values.

Canada and Italy are not the largest military supporters of Israel. The US and Germany are.

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Many articles from the Morning Star featured today. https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/complicit-genocide-where-israel-gets-its-weapons

Continue ReadingComplicit in genocide: where Israel gets its weapons from

Activists occupy government department to demand halt on Israel arms exports

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Many articles from the Morning Star featured today. https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/activists-occupy-government-department-demand-halt-israel-arms

London for a Free Palestine activists outside the Department of Business and Trade Photo: Guy Smallman

ACTIVISTS from London for a Free Palestine occupied the Department of Business and Trade today, [yesterday] demanding that the British government stop arming Israel.

The campaigners took over the lobby in the Old Admiralty Building, chanting: “British government you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide.”

One protester, Maria, said: “We are going here today because the Department for Business and Trade is where the licences for British arms exports to Israel are signed and approved.

“The UK has been giving Israel diplomatic, military and economic support, which has enabled it to carry out and continue its genocide and long-term colonisation of Palestine.”

Another participant, Cynthia Allett, said: “This department arms genocide.

“As Israel prepares a ground invasion in Rafah, we won’t allow the weapons used to slaughter more Palestinian people to be supplied in our names and funded by our taxes.”

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Many articles from the Morning Star featured today. https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/activists-occupy-government-department-demand-halt-israel-arms

Continue ReadingActivists occupy government department to demand halt on Israel arms exports