‘Morally Bankrupt’ Biden Blasted for $8 Billion More in Arms to Israel Amid Gaza Genocide

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

Injured Palestinians, including children, are brought to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah for treatment aftermath of Israeli attack on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in Bureij Camp, Gaza on January 4, 2025.  (Photo: Ashraf Amra/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“The Biden administration is ending its tenure as it has acted throughout it,” said A New Policy co-founder Josh Paul, “with a complete disregard for Palestinian humanity, American laws, and American interests.”

Human rights advocates in the United States and around the world on Monday condemned outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden for continuing to fuel Israel’s genocidal assault on the Gaza Strip with a pending $8 billion weapons package.

Since Axoisrevealed late Friday that his administration had notified Congress of the deal, Biden has faced a fresh flood of outrage, with critics calling the president “morally bankrupt” and his decision to keep arming Israel “willful madness.”

“Too many kids still alive in Gaza for Joe Biden’s liking,” Yousef Munayyer, a Palestinian American political analyst, said on social media. “This is an administration of cowards and criminals and will go down as a historic worst.”

Two men who resigned from the Biden administration over U.S. support for Israel’s assault on Gaza—which has killed at least 45,854 Palestinians and led to a genocide case at the International Court of Justice—shared sharp critiques on Monday.

“The Biden administration is ending its tenure as it has acted throughout it,” said ex-U.S. State Department official Josh Paul, “with a complete disregard for Palestinian humanity, American laws, and American interests.”

“The precedent set by the Biden administration will surely haunt our nation for many years to come.”

Paul and former Education Department official Tariq Habash launched the lobbying group A New Policy in October. Habash also took aim at Biden’s new effort to arm Israel with missiles for fighter jets and attack helicopters, 155 mm artillery shells, small-diameter bombs, 50-pound warheads, bomb fuzes, and kits used to convert “dumb bombs” into precision-guided munitions.

“Americans continue to struggle here at home, so the notion that the Biden administration would push another $8 billion in weapons to Israel on the backs of American [taxpayers] demonstrates how unmoored this administration has become from its values and its commitments to the American people,” said Habash. “The precedent set by the Biden administration will surely haunt our nation for many years to come.”

Win Without War executive director Sara Haghdoosti also denounced the effort, saying in a Monday statement that “these weapon sales won’t bring hostages home and don’t get us closer to a viable long-term solution that ensures Israelis and Palestinians can live with dignity without the threat of violence.”

“Many of the types of weapons reported to be part of this $8 billion package have been used—or are likely to be used—to kill and wound Palestinian civilians in Gaza, in a war that drags on because the president and his advisers refused to exercise real leverage to end it,” she noted. “This new tranche of weapons will surely be used to the same horrific ends.”

Haghdoosti highlighted that “President Biden and his senior advisers continue skirting U.S. laws that should prohibit the sale of deadly weapons while Israeli officials restrict humanitarian aid and seek to make Gaza uninhabitable.”

Despite attempts by progressives in Congress such as U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to block some arms to Israel, Democratic and Republican lawmakers have repeatedly voted to send more—including with the $895 billion National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2025 that they sent to Biden’s desk last month.

News of the $8 billion package comes just two weeks away from the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.

Paul said that “there is no need to rush these sales to completion, but it is clear President Biden and his appointees at the State Department do not have confidence in the Trump administration to follow through on their decision to rush arms to Israel with no questions asked, which is why they are pushing through these sales now.”

While the current administration is clearly aiming to push the package through ahead of the looming transition of power in the United States, Trump is widely expected to serve as an ally to Israel, as he did in his first term. Haghdoosti sounded the alarm about the Republican’s return to the White House with a GOP-controlled Congress.

“These latest sales mark a bleak handoff to the incoming Trump administration, whose senior nominees openly ally with far-right Israeli government ministers who plan to settle Gaza and annex the West Bank, all but guaranteeing another generation of displacement and deprivation that will undermine security for Palestinians and Israelis alike,” she said.

Trump and far-right leaders in Israel—including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir—”will use these sales to advance that violent project,” Haghdoosti added. “It is an utter shame that President Biden has chosen to abet it during his final days in office.”

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

Genocide Joe Biden
Genocide Joe Biden
CHORUS:
I'm Genocide Joe, Genocide Joe
Genocide is my name
Genocide is my game
I'm Genocide Joe, Genocide Joe
Just so you know
Do you know?
I'm Genocide Joe, Genocide Joe

Anything Bibi wants
I'm there every time
As soon as I can
There every time
CHORUS

There at his beck and call
All that Bibi wants
200lb feck off bombs?
Sure you don't want some more?
CHORUS

I bend the rules, bend the rules
Get away with mass murder, Genocide
Get away with mass murder, Genocide
I'm Genocide Joe, Genocide Joe
CHORUS

8.10 GMT 7/1/25. I posted this originally at approx 23.30 GMT 6/1/25. This blog was immediately disabled with a “we are checking your connection” endless loop. I’ve since disabled Cloudflare CDN and need to fully disengage it. Please be inspired by the song – it can be developed in so many ways. Son with a gun … Pardon?

Continue Reading‘Morally Bankrupt’ Biden Blasted for $8 Billion More in Arms to Israel Amid Gaza Genocide

First Palestine protests of 2025 take place across Britain

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/first-palestine-protests-of-2025-take-place-across-britain

Protesters march in Huddersfield Photo: Neil Terry Photography

THE first Palestine protests of 2025 took place across Britain at the weekend.

In Wales, campaigners staged a day of healthcare protests including outside Maelor Hospital in Wrexham.

The protest was against “the total destruction of key hospitals and healthcare facilities in Gaza and the wholesale slaughter of Palestinian doctors, nurses and paramedics by the Israeli military.”

A freedom march was also staged through the town of Huddersfield in West Yorkshire on Saturday, organised by Huddersfield Freedom For Palestine.

And hundreds marched through the streets of Manchester on Saturday in a weekly protest organised by Greater Manchester Friends of Palestine (GMFP), which brings together a dozen support groups in the region.

Palestine Solidarity Campaign said: “Israel is escalating its attack on Palestinian healthcare system — attacking hospitals and imprisoning hundreds of healthcare workers.

“Join us to demand our government takes action to save Gaza’s healthcare workers.”

The next national demonstration for Palestine takes place in London on January 20.

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/first-palestine-protests-of-2025-take-place-across-britain

Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA
UK Foreign Minister David Lammy confirms that UK government and military are active participants in Israel’s genocides and that the F-35 parts that they suspended from supplying to Israel are instead simply diverted via the United States. He says see https://youtu.be/QILgUHrdWRE
UK Foreign Minister David Lammy confirms that UK government and military are active participants in Israel’s genocides and that the F-35 parts that they suspended from supplying to Israel are instead simply diverted via the United States. He says see https://youtu.be/QILgUHrdWRE
Continue ReadingFirst Palestine protests of 2025 take place across Britain

Biden Greenlights ‘Racist’ and ‘Sociopathic’ $8B Arms Sale to Israel

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

People demonstrate outside the U.S. Consulate in Tel Aviv, Israel, on November 20, 2024, ahead of a vote by the U.S. Senate on legislation to block offensive U.S. weapons sales to Israel. Photo by Saeed Qaq/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Multiple human rights organizations and international bodies have accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza

The administration of US President Joe Biden announced on Saturday an arms sale to Israel valued at $8 billion, just ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

Biden has repeatedly rejected calls to suspend military backing for Israel because of the number of civilians killed during the war in Gaza. Israel has killed more than 45,000 people in Gaza, primarily women and children.

The sale includes medium-range air-to-air missiles, 155mm projectile artillery shells for long-range targeting, Hellfire AGM-114 missiles, 500-pound bombs, and more.

Human rights groups, former State Department officials, and Democratic lawmakers have urged the Biden administration to halt arms sales to Israel, citing violations of US laws, including the Leahy Law, as well as international laws and human rights.

The Leahy Law, named after former Sen. Patrick Leahy, requires the US to withhold military assistance from foreign military or law enforcement units if there is credible evidence of human rights violations.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s most significant Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called Biden’s new $8 billion arms deal “racist” and “sociopathic.”

Multiple human rights organizations and international bodies have accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for committing war crimes.

The US is, by far, the biggest supplier of weapons to Israel, having helped it build one of the most technologically sophisticated militaries in the world.

CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said on Saturday:

“We strongly condemn the Biden administration for its unbelievable and criminal decision to send another $8 billion worth of American weapons to the government of indicted war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu instead of using American leverage to force an end to the genocide in Gaza.

“Only racists who do not view people of color as equally human, and sociopaths who delight in funding mass slaughter, could send Netanyahu even more bombs while his government openly kidnaps doctors, destroys hospitals, and exterminates the last survivors in northern Gaza.

“If President Biden is actually the person who approved this new $8 billion arms sale, then he is a war criminal who belongs in a cell at The Hague alongside Netanyahu. But if Antony Blinken, Brett McGurk, Jake Sullivan, and other aides are making these unconscionable decisions as shadow presidents, then anyone with a conscience in the administration should speak up now about their abuses of power.”

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the US accounted for 69% of Israel’s imports of major conventional arms between 2019 and 2023.

On the other hand, incoming President-elect Donald Trump has also pledged unwavering support for Israel and has never committed to supporting an independent Palestinian state.

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

Continue ReadingBiden Greenlights ‘Racist’ and ‘Sociopathic’ $8B Arms Sale to Israel

Far-Right Israeli Lawmakers Demand ‘Complete Cleansing’ of Northern Gaza

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

A Palestinian child plays amid the rubble of destroyed buildings at the Bureij refugee camp in Gaza, Palestine on January 2, 2025. (Photo: Eyad Baba/AFP via Getty Images)

The Knesset members are urging the Israeli military to destroy all sources of water, food, and energy—and to kill “anyone not flying a white flag of surrender.”

At least seven far-right members of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, are calling on the country’s defense minister to order the total destruction of northern Gaza’s food, water, and energy sources—most of which have already been obliterated by 15 months of relentless attacks—and the killing of any Palestinian who isn’t clearly surrendering to the attackers.

In a letter to Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz dated December 31, the lawmakers assert that the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) campaign to forcibly expel Palestinians from northern Gaza—which critics have called ethnic cleansing—”isn’t being done properly” and is not “achieving the war objectives as defined by the government, which is the dismantling of Hamas’ governing and military capabilities.”

According to a translation by international humanitarian law expert Itay Epshtain on Thursday, the letter calls on the IDF to:

  • Destroy all energy sources including fuel, solar systems, generators, and power lines;
  • Destroy all food sources including warehouses, water, and water pumps; and
  • Lay siege and remotely kill everyone not flying a white flag of surrender.

That last demand apparently includes men, women, and children. IDF troops would then “enter gradually for a complete cleansing of the enemy’s nests,” according to the letter.

Lawmakers who signed the letter and their party affiliations include: Avraham Bezalel (Shas), Amit Halevi (Likud), Limor Son Har-Melech (Jewish Power), Osher Shkalim (Likud), Zvi Sukkot and Ohad Tal (Religious Zionism), and Nissim Vaturi (Likud).

Vaturi, the deputy Knesset speaker, previously called for Gaza to be “wiped off the face of the Earth” and argued for Israel to “stop being humane” and “burn Gaza now,” because “there are no innocents there.”

Notably, the lawmakers’ letter does not mention anything about freeing the more than 60 hostages believed to be alive and imprisoned by Hamas and possibly other groups in Gaza.

As Israeli journalist Bar Peleg reported Friday from the Jabalia refugee camp:

When the soldiers and officers in Jabalia are asked about their mission, the answer is destroying Hamas and its infrastructure, until the last terrorist is laid to rest. When they are asked, “And what about the hostages?” One soldier answered, “That concerns us, like it does everyone, but it isn’t a part of our operational considerations.”

Northern Gaza is already in ruins. As Peleg noted, “not a single habitable building remains” in Jabalia. Nearly all homes, hospitals, schools, and other infrastructure have been destroyed or damaged.

“Look at the extent of the destruction and annihilation here,” one IDF officer said. “No one has done this before.”

An IDF officer recently told Haaretz that one commander, Brig. Gen. Yehuda Vach, seeks to personally execute the so-called Generals’ Plan—a blueprint for the starvation and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from northern Gaza—by besieging and expelling 250,000 Palestinians from the area. United Nations officials estimate that more than 100,000 Palestinians have been forced from northern Gaza, even as the IDF says it disavows the Generals’ Plan.

IDF troopsPalestinian witnessesinternational medical volunteers, and others have described alleged war crimes including the indiscriminate killings of Gazans of all ages throughout the embattled strip.

Israel’s “complete siege” of Gaza has also caused the sickening and starvation of hundreds of thousands of Gazans. At least dozens of children and babies have died of malnutrition or hypothermia.

Israeli policies and actions, as well as written and spoken calls for the destruction of Gaza and its people, have been presented as evidence in the South African-led genocide case against Israel currently before the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, his former defense minister who ordered the siege of Gaza, are fugitives from the International Criminal Court, which in November issued arrest warrants for the pair and Hamas leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri.

Israel’s 455-day bombardment, invasion, and siege of Gaza has left at least 165,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing, according to officials there.

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

Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA

Continue ReadingFar-Right Israeli Lawmakers Demand ‘Complete Cleansing’ of Northern Gaza