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‘Shocking’: UNRWA Chief Decries Israel’s Destruction of Agency Headquarters

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

A United Nations worker surveys destruction caused by an Israeli airstrike on the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip on July 15, 2024. (Photo: Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

“Another episode in the blatant disregard of international humanitarian law,” said the commissioner-general of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees.

The head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees expressed horror Monday over Israeli forces’ destruction of the key aid organization’s headquarters in Gaza City, which Israel’s military recently attacked and left in ruins.

“Shocking,” Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), wrote in a social media post, which included photos of the bombed-out headquarters complex.

“UNRWA headquarters in Gaza, turned into a battlefield and now flattened,” Lazzarini continued. “Another episode in the blatant disregard of international humanitarian law. United Nations facilities must be protected at all times. They must never be used for military or fighting purposes. Every war has rules. Gaza is no exception.”

Photos of UNRWA’s destroyed headquarters emerged following a deadly weekend of Israeli bombings across the Gaza Strip that were overshadowed in the media by the attempted assassination of former U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday.

More than 140 people were killed and hundreds more were wounded on Saturday and Sunday, including in Israeli airstrikes on a so-called “safe zone” in southern Gaza.

Tamara Alrifai, UNRWA’s head of external relations, told Al Jazeera on Monday that “the last week has been one of the deadliest weeks in Gaza since the war started.”

“The images coming out of the UNRWA headquarters are really shocking,” said Alrifai. “What I saw today in the footage is unrecognizable.”

UNRWA and its infrastructure in Gaza, including schools, have been major targets of Israel’s far-right government since its latest assault on the Palestinian enclave began in October following a deadly Hamas-led attack. Israeli officials have repeatedly claimed—without providing evidence—that a significant number of UNRWA employees are members of terrorist organizations.

Nearly 200 UNRWA facilities in Gaza, most of which have been serving as shelters for displaced people, have been damaged during Israel’s war on the besieged territory, Alrifai noted Monday. Around 500 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on UNRWA facilities, according to Alrifai.

“It speaks volumes to the blatant disregard for international humanitarian law,” she said.

Israel’s aerial and ground attacks on Gaza continued Monday as much of the territory’s population is facing catastrophic levels of hunger. Since the start of the assault, Israel has dramatically restricted the flow of humanitarian assistance to the Gaza Strip, depriving Palestinians of food, medicine, clean water, and other basic necessities.

Reuters reported that Israel “struck the southern and central Gaza Strip” on Monday and “blew up several homes.”

“Medical officials said they recovered 10 bodies of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire in eastern areas of the city, some of which had already begun to decompose,” the news agency added. “The military also stepped up aerial and tank shelling in central Gaza in the al-Bureij and al-Maghazi historic refugee camps. Health officials said five Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike on a house in Maghazi camp.”

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

UNRWA Says Its Facilities Have Been Attacked by Israel 453 Times Since October

‘Horrific Massacre’: Israel Bombs Gaza School Used as Refugee Camp, Killing Dozens

‘Unfathomable’: Lancet Study Estimates Gaza Death Toll May Exceed 186,000

Israel Is Using Starvation as a Weapon of War in Gaza and the World Has Failed to Stop It

Zionist Keir Starmer is quoted "I support Zionism without qualification." He's asked whether that means that he supports Zionism under all circumstances, whatever Zionists do.
Zionist Keir Starmer is quoted “I support Zionism without qualification.” He’s asked whether that means that he supports Zionism under all circumstances, whatever Zionists do.

Continue Reading‘Shocking’: UNRWA Chief Decries Israel’s Destruction of Agency Headquarters

Campaigners Demand Global Ban on Deep-Sea Mining

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

Greenpeace International activists attach a flag reading “Stop Deep Sea Mining” to the cable holding the prototype robot, Patania II, to disturb a deep-sea mining impact test by the company Global Sea Mineral Resources. (Photo: © Marten van Dijl / Greenpeace)

As talks resume, supporters of a moratorium are also calling for the ouster of the International Seabed Authority’s leader, who faces an election on July 29.

As talks to establish global policies on deep-sea mining resumed in Jamaica on Monday, Greenpeace International renewed its demand for a moratorium on the practice, the path also backed other civil society and Indigenous groups, at least hundreds of science and policy experts, and 27 countries.

“The science is clear—there can’t be deep-sea mining without environmental cost and the only solution is a moratorium. The more we know about deep-sea mining, the harder it is to justify it,” said Greenpeace campaigner Louisa Casson, who is attending the United Nations-affiliated International Seabed Authority’s (ISA) 29th session in Kingston.

“Governments at the ISA must not dance to the tune of the industry and approve rushed regulations for the benefit of a few over the interests of Pacific communities and the opinion of scientists,” Casson argued, as companies and countries see chances to cash in on the clean energy transition by extracting metals including cobalt, copper, and nickel.

“The deep ocean sustains crucial processes that make the entire planet habitable, from driving ocean currents that regulate our weather to storing carbon and buffering our planet against the impacts of climate change.”

The Associated Press reported Monday that although the ISA has not allowed any extraction during debates, it “has granted 31 mining exploration contracts,” and “much of the ongoing exploration is centered in the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone, which covers 1.7 million square miles (4.5 million square kilometers) between Hawaii and Mexico.”

The Mexican government last year endorsed a moratorium and Democratic Hawaii Gov. Josh Green last week signed a bill banning seabed mining in state waters, citing “environmental risks and constitutional rights to have a clean and healthy environment.”

Ahead of the meeting in Jamaica, Deep Sea Conservation Coalition campaign lead Sofia Tsenikli highlighted that “gouging minerals from the seafloor poses an existential threat that goes far beyond the immediate destruction of deep-sea wildlife and habitats.”

“The deep ocean sustains crucial processes that make the entire planet habitable, from driving ocean currents that regulate our weather to storing carbon and buffering our planet against the impacts of climate change,” Tsenikli said. “States must now protect the ocean and not allow any more damage.”

The ISA was established under the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea and a related 1994 agreement, and is responsible for waters not under the control of specific nations. As Common Dreams reported earlier this month, some diplomats have accused British lawyer Michael Lodge, its current secretary-general, of trying to speed up the start of mining.

“The rush to complete the mining code was triggered by the Pacific island state of Nauru, which is expected to submit a mining license application on behalf of Canada’s the Metals Company (TMC) later this year, regardless of whether or not regulations are complete,” Reuters noted Monday.

After ISA’s 36-member Council negotiates the “Mining Code” over the next two weeks, its full Assembly is scheduled to meet on July 29 to vote on the next secretary-general, with Lodge facing a challenge from Brazil’s Leticia Carvalho for the top post.

“It is time for change at the ISA,” Casson of Greenpeace declared Monday. “A third term for Michael Lodge would not only put the oceans under threat but also risk further damaging public trust in the regulator. Mining companies are impatient to get started and mounting evidence indicates that Lodge is overstepping his supposedly-neutral role to align with commercial interests.”

“The ISA must listen to millions of people and the growing number of governments calling for a halt to deep-sea mining,” she added. “It is time to put conservation at the heart of the ISA’s work.”

In preparation for the talks in Kingston, Environment Oregon Research & Policy Center, U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) Education Fund, and Frontier Group last month released a report showing that not only would deep-sea mining destroy “a vibrant, biodiverse place, teeming with complex ecosystems and thousands, possibly millions of species,” but also it isn’t necessary.

“Disposable electronic devices are creating a toxic e-waste mess. Now, some mining companies are trying to convince policymakers that we need to wreak havoc on the ocean to source the materials to make more,” said Charlie Fisher of the Oregon State PIRG Foundation. “This report shows that we don’t need to ruin the deep sea to make the products we need. There is a more sustainable path: Make long-lasting, fixable electronics and recycle them when they no longer work.”

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

Continue ReadingCampaigners Demand Global Ban on Deep-Sea Mining

Jeremy Corbyn says he’s ‘planting the seeds for a new way of doing politics’ following reelection

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/jeremy-corbyn-islington-north-election-people-forums-b1170353.html

Image of Jeremy Corbyn MP, former leader of the Labour Party
Jeremy Corbyn MP, former leader of the Labour Party

Corbyn plans to host monthly “people’s forums” that he hopes form the basis of a new grassroots organising model

Jeremy Corbyn has said he is “planting the seeds for a new way of doing politics” following his election victory in Islington.

Corbyn plans to host monthly “people’s forums”, which he describes as “a shared, democratic space” for local campaigns, and trade, tenants’ and debtors’ unions.

He believes these forums will form the basis of a new grassroots organising model that can be replicated across the country.

Most MPs hold regular surgeries for constituents to air their grievances or lobby the MP on a particular subject.

The Islington North MP called for people to “stand up for themselves and against those who have ignored their demands for peace and humanity”.

…

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/jeremy-corbyn-islington-north-election-people-forums-b1170353.html

Continue ReadingJeremy Corbyn says he’s ‘planting the seeds for a new way of doing politics’ following reelection

Young people led surge for smaller parties but no Reform ‘youthquake’, says UK election survey

Stuart Fox, University of Exeter

One of the defining features of contemporary electoral politics in Britain is the age divide. Young people are far more likely to support Labour, and older people to support the Conservatives. This divide is still apparent following the 2024 election – but it hides the complexity of how young people in particular choose to vote.

To the extent that there is a “youth vote” in Britain, it is characterised not by support for a single party, but by a particularly fierce rejection of the Conservatives – alongside greater enthusiasm than their elders for left-wing, socially liberal alternatives to Labour.

YouGov surveyed 2,182 adults of all ages between July 5 and 8 for my research team at the University of Exeter. The sample was selected to be representative of the British adult population.

The data from this survey – published here for the first time – gives a snapshot of how people of different ages say they cast their votes. Five per cent of our respondents under 30 didn’t tell us how they voted so we don’t know how their votes might have changed the overall picture. More research in the coming months may give a fuller account.

As the graph below shows, it’s only among the over-65s that the Conservatives won more support than Labour (by around 26 percentage points). They trailed Labour by around 8 points among the 51-64 age group, 26 points among 30- to 50-year-olds, and 35 points among the under-30s. Almost incredibly for Britain’s oldest and most successful political party, the Conservatives won barely 7% of the vote of under-30s in the survey.

Parties voted for by age group:

Bar chart showing vote choice by age group. Source: YouGov for University of Exeter, 5-7 July 2024., CC BY-NC-ND

Another key characteristic of the 2024 election is the record-low combined vote share for Labour and the Conservatives, and concurrent record-high vote share for smaller parties. This was not a blip. Voters have been steadily shifting away from the two major parties for years. But in 2024, the extent to which they did so was unprecedented: overall, the combined Labour/Tory vote share was just 57%.

The rejection of the major parties is most profound among young voters. Their support has become fragmented to such an extent that it is not really accurate to speak of a singular “youth vote”. Less than half (49%) of under-30s surveyed voted for Labour or the Conservatives. This compares to 54% of 30- to 50-year-olds, 55% of 51- to 64-year-olds, and 60% of over-65s.

The combined vote share for smaller parties among the under-30s was greater – at 46% – than the 42% who voted for the Labour party. The most successful challengers to the major parties for the youth vote were the Greens and Liberal Democrats, each of whom were backed by 15% of under-30s in the survey.

“Others” – including the Scottish National Party, Plaid Cymru and independents – won a combined 10% of votes from young respondents aged under 30. But the young people surveyed were not simply casting around for any alternative to the major parties. Just 6% of under-30s in the survey said they backed Reform UK (compared with 17% among the over-50s).

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No Reform youthquake

In the closing days of the campaign, there was some suspicion that Reform might achieve a “mini youthquake” in this election or the next. A JLPartners poll found that Reform appealed strongly to soon-to-be-enfranchised 16- and 17-year-old voters, and mock school elections apparently saw Reform winning a great deal of support among schoolchildren across the country.

Our data suggests this did not materialise in 2024. Reform has had some success in appealing to young voters: among under-30s from poorer households, for example, 13% said they supported Reform, compared with 4% for those from wealthier households.

However, similar proportions of under-30s from poorer households also said they voted for the Liberal Democrats (11%) and the Greens (14%). While voters in older age groups who were fed up of Labour and the Conservatives were more likely to switch to Reform and may do so again in future, among the under-30s such voters appeared more likely to switch to the Liberal Democrats, Greens and nationalist parties in Scotland and Wales.

Turnout

Turnout is a crucial issue when considering how young people vote. They have always been less likely to vote than their elders in any particular election. This owes primarily to lower levels of political interest, as well as circumstances associated with early adulthood such as being financially precarious and being less settled in one location. This was true in 2024 as well.

The graph below shows self-reported turnout by age group. The figures are substantially higher than the true turnout numbers, reflecting the long-established tendency of people to exaggerate their voting behaviour in surveys, but they clearly illustrate the age divide: under-30s were the group most likely to say they hadn’t voted.

Turnout by age group:

Bar chart showing turnout by age group and socioeconomic group
YouGov for University of Exeter, 5-7 July 2024., CC BY-NC-ND

The graph shows not only was the turnout of under-30s lower than that of older age groups, but that of under-30s from poorer households was particularly low. Young people from poorer backgrounds are less likely to vote than their predecessors were 30 years ago, and so are under-represented in elections to an even greater extent today.

People who vote during early adulthood establish habits that make them likely to vote for the rest of their lives. Those who don’t form such habits by their late 20s are likely to remain serial abstainers.

Younger generations are becoming increasingly unlikely to vote in their first election, leading a greater proportion of them to develop lasting habits of non-voting.

It is this tendency that lies behind one of the major democratic challenges facing the UK: rising levels of disengagement with politics and with voting, as younger people age but continue their youthful pattern of avoiding the ballot box.

Stuart Fox, Lecturer in British Politics, University of Exeter

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Continue ReadingYoung people led surge for smaller parties but no Reform ‘youthquake’, says UK election survey

Group Behind Project 2025 Already Claiming Election Interference by Biden

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

People walk past a Heritage Foundation welcome sign for the Republican National Convention (RNC) at the Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport on July 12, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

The Heritage Foundation is “stoking irresponsible inflammatory fear of election fraud,” said one journalist.

One election law expert warned this week that the right-wing Heritage Foundation is already baselessly claiming that President Joe Biden is likely to respond to the voting results as his predecessor, presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump, did in 2020: by refusing to accept the will of American voters.

“This is gaslighting and it is dangerous in fanning flames that could lead to potential violence,” Rick Hasen, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, told HuffPost Friday.

The Heritage Foundation, the think tank that has spearheaded the drafting of Project 2025—a policy agenda threatening mass deportation and immigrant detention, the dismantling of federal agencies, and the consolidation of power with the president should Trump win a second term—said in a report released Thursday that Biden may try to continue his presidency “by force” even if he loses in November.

The claim has no basis in statements made by Biden, who has said he will accept the election results.

In May, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre reiterated that Biden “will accept the will of the American people.” Trump has not made the same commitment.

Nevertheless, the Heritage Foundation report went on to say that “the lawlessness of the Biden administration—at the border, in staffing considerations, and in routine defiance of court rulings—makes clear that the current president and his administration not only possesses the means, but perhaps also the intent, to circumvent constitutional limits and disregard the will of the voters should they demand a new president.”

Mike Howell, executive director of the group’s Oversight Project, said at a press conference that “as things stand right now, there is a 0% chance of a free and fair election in the United States of America… I’m formally accusing the Biden administration of creating the conditions that most reasonable policymakers and officials cannot in good conscience certify an election.”

“This is gaslighting and it is dangerous in fanning flames that could lead to potential violence.”

Such comments show, said New York Daily News columnist Mike Lupica, that “these people are the insurrectionists. Or election terrorists.”

Howell’s comments echoed Trump’s baseless warnings ahead of the 2020 election that voting would be “rigged” by widespread use of mail-in ballots amid the coronavirus pandemic. Trump relentlessly attacked voting by mail despite admitting that he had used mail-in ballots to vote in numerous elections.

The Heritage Foundation has conducted “role-playing exercises” that it says show “left-wing efforts to interfere with the election” are possible in 2024, HuffPost reported.

The report said voters should “reflexively disbelieve and challenge the intelligence community’s allegations regarding Trump, foreign interference, and Republican efforts to legally win the White House.”

Hasen told HuffPost that the group appeared to be trying to create doubt among the electorate about institutions that “give voters truthful information they need to evaluate evidence before them.”

Journalist Jane Mayer said the group was “stoking irresponsible inflammatory fear of election fraud.”

Political scientist Don Moynihan of Georgetown University added that the Heritage Foundation’s baseless accusations against Biden likely preview how the Trump campaign could respond to the election results if he loses, four years after the former president urged his supporters to violently attempt to stop the certification of Biden’s victory.

“The end game is to allow men in suits finish what the January 6th rioters started,” he said.

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

dizzy: A little explanation. The Heritage Foundation has produced a blueprint for Donald Trump should he be re-elected as President. Should that happen, it is expected that the Heritage Foundation would provide a huge amount of staff to Trump’s administration and Project 2025 would be pursued relentlessly. Following attacks by the Biden camp on the Heritage Foundation and Project 2025 Trump has recently disowned them falsely claiming to know nothing about them.

Continue ReadingGroup Behind Project 2025 Already Claiming Election Interference by Biden