Peace campaigners protest against the Gaza genocide at the Welsh Labour conference, November 17, 2024
HUNDREDS of peace campaigners marched on the Welsh Labour conference venue at the weekend, calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Stop the War Cymru (STW) and Palestine Solidarity Campaign Cymru (PSC) organised the Llandudno rally to pressure the Welsh government to join calls to end the genocide in Gaza and stop arms sales to Israel.
Campaigner Sara Roberts said it was beyond comprehension “that we have had to stand outside the Welsh Labour conference and challenge our elected representatives to support calls for peace in Gaza and the Middle East.
“Shame on Starmer who as a human rights lawyer knows the legal definition of genocide.”
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/O74hZCKKdpAGenocide denying UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy says that UK is suspending 30 of 350 arms licences to Israel. He also confirms the UK government’s support for Israel’s Gaza genocide and the UK government and military’s active participation in genocide.Vote For Genocide Vote Labour.
Aftermath of airstrike in Balbek. Photo: Al Akhbar
November marked an increase in Israeli airstrikes on different parts of Syria, foreshadowing a serious escalation in a third front in the region in addition to Gaza and Lebanon.
Israeli warplanes intensified their deadly attacks on different parts of the Syrian capital Damascus, and the Southern Suburb (Dahiyeh) in the Lebanese capital Beirut on Thursday, November 14.
The aerial attacks on Damascus targeted residential buildings in both Mazzeh and Qudsaya areas, leaving at least 15 people killed and 16 others injured, in addition to causing significant material damage to a number of buildings, according to a source in the Syrian military.
Thursday’s airstrikes on Damascus were preceded by a series of airstrikes that targeted different parts of Syria within the last couple of weeks. On Wednesday, November 13, Israeli fighter jets struck bridges on the Orontes River and roads in Al-Qusayr area in Homs countryside, near the Syrian Lebanese borders. The airstrikes inflicted great damage on the bridges and roads, which consequently became out of service, as per a report published by the Syrian Arab News Agency SANA.
On Sunday, November 10, Israeli warplanes targeted a residential building in the Sayyidah Zaynab area of Damascus, killing seven civilians including women and children. Previous airstrikes were launched by Israeli fighter jets on November 4, targeting a number of sites south of Damascus, resulting in material damages.
Syria’s Foreign and Expatriates Ministry condemned the Israeli attacks in a statement issued on Thursday. “The Israeli entity’s continuation of its attacks on Syria today comes only two days after the joint Arab-Islamic summit in Riyadh issued a broad condemnation of its brutal and escalating aggression on Syrian territory, and its warning of the danger of this escalation that is ravaging the region and its regional and international repercussions,” the Ministry stated.
“Syria affirms that the usurping entity’s continued disregard for international laws and regulations, and its indifference to all international demands to stop its aggression and violations, comes as a result of the Security Council’s failure to take a firm and real stance to deter it from its crimes, which also included attacks on international peacekeeping forces in Lebanon,” the Ministry added.
Meanwhile, Israel carried out at least four rounds of air raids on different targets across Beirut’s Southern Suburb (Dahiyeh), including Al-Amrousiyeh area near Beirut’s International Airport. Moreover, the Israeli aggression continued to target different areas of South Lebanon and Beqaa. The attacks across Lebanon on Thursday left at least 11 people killed and several others wounded, according to media reports.
The escalation of Israeli aggression and its expansion on different fronts has been increasing despite the mounting regional and international calls for a ceasefire and de-escalation, which indicates Israel’s total disregard of international law and its obligations. Israel insists on committing blatant violations of territorial integrity of sovereign states, due to the impunity it enjoys, and being given the greenlight by the United States.
Jewish Voice for Peace activists and allies protest at NBC headquarters in New York City on February 26, 2024. (Photo: Jewish Voice for Peace New York)
“The president needs to start answering to the American people—not the far-right Israeli government indiscriminately bombing the people of Gaza,” said Jewish Voice for Peace.
The historic wave of Jewish-led protests against U.S. complicity in Isreal’s genocidal war on Gaza continued Monday as members of the group Jewish Voice for Peace were arrested for occupying NBC headquarters in New York City in a bid to disrupt the taping of President Joe Biden’s appearance on a popular late-night TV show.
JVP activists wearing shirts reading “Not In Our Name” unfurled banners and chanted slogans inside 30 Rockefeller Center in Midtown Manhattan, where Biden was taping an interview with the eponymous host of the “Late Night Show With Seth Meyers.”
“Biden, Biden, you can’t hide, you are funding genocide,” the protesters chanted. Banners implored the president to “Stop Arming Genocide” and push for a “Lasting Cease-Fire” in Gaza, where more than 100,000 Palestinians have been killed or wounded and around 90% of the population has been forcibly displaced since the October 7 attacks on Israel.
JUST NOW: Hundreds of Jews and allies just took over NBC’s famed 30 Rockefeller Center headquarters in NYC to disrupt @POTUS appearance on @LateNightSeth and make it clear that supporters of genocide are not welcome in our city. 50 protesters were arrested. 🧵 pic.twitter.com/z0bTC7VtcE
“President Biden’s deadly foreign policy has expedited weapons sales to Israel,” said Jewish Voice for Peace New York, which also criticized the administration for ignoring the International Court of Justice’s provisional ruling last month that Israel is “plausibly” perpetrating genocide, suspending funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, and vetoing three U.N. cease-fire resolutions.
“The president needs to start answering to the American people—not the far-right Israeli government indiscriminately bombing the people of Gaza, destroying 70% of infrastructure, including hospitals, universities, and the electricity and water grids,” the group added.
Jay Saper of JVP said Monday that “our Jewish tradition teaches us that life is precious.”
“As Jewish New Yorkers, we are absolutely outraged that President Biden is actively supporting a genocide against the Palestinians of Gaza,” he added.
In addition to taping Tuesday’s “Late Night” episode, Biden and Meyers visited the on-site Van Leeuwen ice cream parlor, where the president ordered mint chip in a sugar cone. While there, a reporter asked when there would be a cease-fire in Gaza.
“My national security adviser tells me that we’re close, we’re close; it’s not done yet,” Biden replied. “My hope is by next Monday we’ll have a cease-fire.”
Biden gets ice cream with Seth Meyers . Ceasefire: “My national security adviser tells me that we’re close, we’re close, it’s not done yet. And my hope is that by next Monday." Border: "I've been planning to go Thursday. What I didn't know is my good friend apparently is going" pic.twitter.com/Lwde3FB6yk
Early in the war, Biden proclaimed his “rock-solid and unwavering” commitment to Israel while refusing to call for a cease-fire. As Israeli bombs and bullets killed and maimed tens of thousands of Palestinians—mostly women and children—the president asked for over $14 billion in additional U.S. military aid to Israel, which already receives nearly $4 billion from Washington annually. Biden also repeatedly circumvented Congress to expedite emergency military assistance to the key Middle East ally.
U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-N.Y.) speaks during a press conference to call for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. on November 13, 2023. (Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)
“I care about human rights,” said the New York congresswoman in response to her Democratic colleague in the Senate. “I care that billions of U.S. tax dollars’ worth of weapons are carrying out unspeakable atrocities.”
New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez criticized fellow Democrat and Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman on Wednesday for failing to hold the U.S.-armed Israeli military accountable for killing and harming civilians in the Gaza Strip.
Ocasio-Cortez’s remarks came in response to Fetterman’s dismissal of her earlier call for an arms embargo on Israel, which has received billions of dollars worth of weapons and other military aid since the Hamas-led October 7 attack.
“The tragedy in Gaza is 100% on Hamas,” Fetterman wrote on social media with a screengrab of a Hill headline outlining Ocasio-Cortez’s remarks. “Stop using civilians and hospitals as shields, surrender, and release all remaining hostages—and this ends.”
Ocasio-Cortez then retweeted Fetterman’s words with her own rebuttal.
“I dunno man. I care about little kids dying,” the New York lawmaker replied. “I care about human rights. I care that billions of U.S. tax dollars’ worth of weapons are carrying out unspeakable atrocities. I care enough for us to do better.”
“Hope this bleak dunk attempt gets you whatever it is you’re going for,” she concluded.
I dunno man. I care about little kids dying. I care about human rights. I care that billions of US tax dollars’ worth of weapons are carrying out unspeakable atrocities.
I care enough for us to do better.
Hope this bleak dunk attempt gets you whatever it is you’re going for. https://t.co/aGSDfSdrUI
The exchange comes as Israel has intensified its assault on northern Gaza in recent days, bombing homes and schools-turned-shelters in the Jabalia refugee camp and issuing new evacuation orders for the beleaguered region yet placing snipers on roofs and shooting people who try to flee. On Saturday, the Palestinian Deputy Observer to the United Nations Majed Bamya called Israel’s escalation in the north a “genocide within the genocide” and the World Food Program said that no food had been able to reach the area since October 1, warning that the ramped up attacks were having “a disastrous impact on food security for thousands of Palestinian families.” However, 50 trucks carrying aid including food were allowed to enter the north on Wednesday.
Ocasio-Cortez’s remarks that prompted Fetterman’s rejoinder came in response to the weekend’s atrocities.
“The horrors unfolding in northern Gaza are the result of a completely unrestrained Netanyahu gov, fully armed by the Biden admin while food aid is blocked and patients are bombed in hospitals,” she wrote on social media on Monday. “This is a genocide of Palestinians. The U.S. must stop enabling it. Arms embargo now.”
Ocasio-Cortez has been an outspoken critic of Israel’s assault on Gaza and the U.S. response. She backed a House resolution calling for a cease-fire weeks into the war, and demanded an end to the flow of weapons from the House floor in March, when she described Israel’s actions in Gaza as an “unfolding genocide.”
Fetterman, meanwhile, has faced protests from some of his more progressive constituents over his hardline pro-Israel stance.
On Tuesday, news broke that the Biden administration had reportedly written a letter to the Israeli government threatening to cut off the flow of weapons to the country unless it took “urgent and sustained actions” to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza within 30 days.
Image of the Green Party’s Carla Denyer on BBC Question Time.
Green Party Co-Leader, Carla Denyer said, “The reports over the weekend that no food has entered Northern Gaza since the 1st of October, of Israel’s attack on al-Aqsa Hospital, of chemical weapons being used to attack UNIFIL peacekeepers, of mass civilian casualties in Gaza’s Jabalia Refugee Camp and of increased rocket fire into Israel from Hezbollah are extremely disturbing. The huge numbers of civilian deaths and the prospect of widespread starvation in Northern Gaza are intolerable.
The Labour government must recognise that violence in the Middle East is escalating rapidly and that their current approach is failing. The Government needs to consider far more direct measures to incentivise a ceasefire including an end to arms sales, the introduction of divestments, boycotts and sanctions, prosecutions for all those who have committed war crimes and a plan for a viable Palestinian state.”
