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Tag: complicity

  • Thousands to protest Netanyahu Congressional visit in Washington, DC

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

    Thousands of activists will once again travel to Washington DC to protest the US support of Israel’s genocide, and this time, the visit of Benjamin Netanyahu. Photo: Sofia Perez

    Israeli PM Netanyahu who faces charges from the ICC, was invited by US lawmakers to speak in front of Congress on July 24

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to speak on July 24 in front of the United States Congress following an invitation by leading politicians from both mainstream parties. Netanyahu is considered a war criminal internationally, with the ICC expected to issue a warrant for his arrest within the next two weeks—however, he is completely safe in the United States, which is not a state party to the Rome Statute of the ICC. 

    Both the Israeli Prime Minister and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant are wanted for “war crimes and crimes against humanity.” In May, Chief ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan applied for arrest warrants for the two officials, which are expected to be issued within the next two weeks. The United States has threatened to sanction the ICC for these arrest warrants. “Together, we’ll find a way to register our displeasure with the ICC, cause if they’ll do this to Israel, we’re next,” said Graham on Tuesday, indicating that US officials have at least a sense of their complicity in the genocide in Gaza. A recent letter published in the Lancet indicates that the true death toll of this genocide could be as high as 186,000. 

    The mass mobilization, which is set to surround the US Capitol building, is being organized by several grassroots organizations including American Muslims for Palestine, the Palestinian Youth Movement, the People’s Forum, ANSWER Coalition, the Palestinian Feminist Collective, the Arab Resource and Organizing Center, Al-Awda: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, US Palestinian Community Network, US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, Palestinian American Organizations Network, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, the Palestinian American Women’s Association, CodePink, Jewish Voice for Peace, Palestinian Assembly for Liberation, and Writers Against the War on Gaza.

    “July 24th will be remembered as a dark stain on the legacy of the 118th Congress. Inviting a war criminal to speak in our legislative halls while he is committing genocide is a new low for this body,” said Mohamad Habehh, Director of Development at American Muslims for Palestine. “Schools, hospitals, houses of worship, and residential neighborhoods have been leveled by relentless Israeli bombardment. Since the announcement of this speech, we have seen the bombing and killing increase. Congressional leaders have supported this genocide in Gaza in both word and deed. Not only have they excused the atrocities Israel is committing, they have passed billions of dollars in funding to enable them. This has empowered Netanyahu to continue committing these crimes and, by inviting him, Congress is sending a clear message to the American people and the rest of the world, that criminals will be rewarded and red carpets will be rolled out for them.”

    “Netanyahu and the members of Congress he will be addressing are partners in crime,” said Hatem Abu Dayyeh, National Coordinator of USPCN. 

    “Israel’s killing spree in Gaza would not be possible were it not for the constant stream of weapons being provided by the US government,” Abu Dayyeh continued. “These missiles, bullets and bombs are funded through acts of Congress and delivered by the Biden administration. We are gathering to express our outrage not only with Netanyahu, but also with the US political elite who are indispensable to Israel’s ability to massacre Palestinians.”

    According to Brian Becker, National Director of the ANSWER Coalition, “The majority of people in this country want a ceasefire. But instead, Netanyahu and his friends in Congress are threatening to expand the war with an invasion of Lebanon.”

    “The US corporate media always portrays Israel as the victim, but the reality is that the fighting along the Israel-Lebanon border is a result of the genocide being committed in Gaza.” Becker stated. “The only way to ensure that a devastating regional war does not break out is for Israel to immediately end its attack on Gaza and withdraw its troops.”

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

  • Zarah Sultana: I call on Keir Starmer to suspend arms sales to Israel and end Britain’s complicity in the killing

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    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jul/17/keir-starmer-suspend-arms-sales-israel-kings-speech-amendment

    Destruction caused by an Israeli airstrike in Al-Maghazi refugee camp, central Gaza Strip, 15 July 2024. Photograph: Xinhua/REX/Shutterstock

    International law is clear: we have an obligation to prevent genocide. That is why I have tabled an amendment to the king’s speech

    Whenever I see the heart-wrenching aftermath of an Israeli airstrike in Gaza – a Palestinian mother cradling the lifeless body of her child; a refugee camp engulfed by fire – I ask myself the same question. Were British-made weapons used to inflict this horror?

    Almost certainly, the answer at times is “yes”. Raining down hell on Gaza is Israel’s fleet of F-35 fighter jets, described by their manufacturer as the “most lethal fighter jet in the world”. Each jet is made, in part, in Britain, in a deal the Campaign Against the Arms Trade estimates to be worth £368m.

    This is just one example of Israel’s use of British-made arms in its assault on Gaza. But after almost 10 months and 38,000 Palestinians killed, to their eternal shame the Conservatives left office refusing to suspend arms sales. This responsibility now falls to Labour.

    Our new government must do the right thing and stop enabling Israeli war crimes. That is why today, as a backbench Labour MP, I am tabling an amendment to the king’s speech calling on colleagues to uphold international law and suspend arms sales to Israel.

    There is no time to waste. This past week has been “one of the deadliest” since Israel’s assault began, according to Unrwa, the UN aid agency for Palestinians. We must urgently pull every lever and strain every sinew to pressure the Israeli government to abide by international law and end this assault. This is not simply a moral duty, but a legal one too.

    Consider again the F-35. The Israeli military has armed these jets with 2,000lb bombs, explosives with a lethal radius up to 365m – an area the equivalent of 58 football pitches. A recent UN report identified these bombs as having been used in “emblematic” cases of indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks on Gaza that “led to high numbers of civilian fatalities and widespread destruction of civilian objects”. In lawyerly understatement, the UN said this raises “serious concerns under the laws of war”.

    And this is where our arms export laws come in. As our new foreign secretary, David Lammy, himself said a few months ago: “The law is clear. British arms licences cannot be granted if there is a clear risk that the items might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law.” Without doubt this threshold has been met, hence why UN experts have called for arms exports to Israel to immediately stop.

    …

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jul/17/keir-starmer-suspend-arms-sales-israel-kings-speech-amendment

  • Activists arrested in draconian crackdown ahead of planned march to parliament

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    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/activists-preemptively-arrested-draconian-crackdown-ahead-march-parliament

    Police carry off a Youth Demand protester during a demonstration against the state opening of parliament, July 17, 2024 Photo: Youth Demand

    POLICE stormed a cafe and arrested activists before they had even begun marching today in the latest crackdown on the right to protest.

    The Youth Demand activists were sipping their morning coffees in a branch of Leon in central London, ahead of a peaceful pro-Palestine demonstration planned by the group.

    The activists were due to march towards Parliament, where the state opening was taking place, to urge the new government to suspend arms to Israel and halt all oil and gas licences granted since 2021.

    Ten activists were arrested in the cafe for “conspiracy to commit public nuisance.”

    “How is this more harmful than the people arming Israel?” one of the activists shouted as they were dragged away by police.

    Shortly after, in Victoria Embankment, another group of activists were kettled in by police before the march commenced. Dozens more were arrested on the same charge.

    Among those arrested was Violet Powell, a 23-year-old student.

    She said: “Our leaders hide behind pomp and ceremony while a genocide is going on, and our new government are refusing to take action beyond making meaningless platitudes.

    “Young people will not allow yet another government to continue ‘business as usual,’ when that business is killing countless people.”

    …

    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/activists-preemptively-arrested-draconian-crackdown-ahead-march-parliament

  • ‘Stunning Abdication’: Appeals Court Dismisses Biden Genocide Complicity Case

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

    Protesters displayed the message, “Biden complicit in genocide” outside a courtroom in Oakland, California on January 26, 2024. (Photo: @ashoswai/Twitter)

    “We turned to the law to help stop the horror, and the court chose to do nothing,” said one plaintiff in the case. “We are beyond disappointed.”

    Palestine defenders on Tuesday decried a U.S. federal appellate panel’s dismissal of a case brought by Palestinians accusing senior Biden administration officials of failing to prevent and complicity in Israeli genocide in Gaza.

    A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of the lawsuit against President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, which was led by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) on behalf of several Palestinian groups and individuals.

    During a Tuesday interview on Democracy Now!, CCR attorney Katherine Gallagher—who represented plaintiffs in the case—said its dismissal “essentially gives the blank check to carry out any kind of conduct that the executive wants in times of genocide, in times of war.”

    Gallagher’s interview followed a Monday statement in which she referred to the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling granting the president “absolute immunity” for “official acts.”

    “On the heels of Trump v. United States, this stunning abdication of the court’s role to serve as a check on the executive even in the face of its support for genocide should set off alarm bells for all,” she said.

    The lawsuit—originally filed in November in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in Oakland—sought to stop the Biden administration from aiding Israel’s bombardment of Gaza. U.S. weapons have played a critical role in Israel’s war, which Palestinian and international agencies say has killed, wounded, or left missing more than 137,500 Gazans.

    While the court found that “the current treatment of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip by the Israeli military may plausibly constitute a genocide in violation of international law,” it dismissed the case on jurisdictional grounds in late January. The 9th Circuit subsequently granted an expedited appeal in the case, which was heard in June.

    “This decision is mind-boggling and, frankly, scary,” plaintiff Waeil Elbhassi said in a statement Monday. “It is just unfathomable, while we count our dead, witness the total obliteration of Gaza—aided by our own government.”

    “As the death toll keeps rising and we see nonstop images of carnage during this livestreamed genocide, the court washes its hands of our case,” Elbhassi added. “We turned to the law to help stop the horror, and the court chose to do nothing. We are beyond disappointed. We have no choice but to continue to fight for our people. Our very existence is at stake.”

    Israel’s conduct in Gaza—including alleged forced starvation that has fueled deadly famine in parts of the besieged strip—is under investigation by the International Court of Justice in a genocide case brought by South Africa.

    Additionally, International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan has applied for warrants to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders for crimes including extermination allegedly committed on and after October 7.

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

  • Pressure mounts on Labour to ban arms sales to Israel as new foreign secretary meets with ‘war criminals’

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    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/pressure-mounts-on-labour-to-ban-arms-sales-to-israel-as-new-foreign-secretary-meets-with-war-criminals

    Israeli tanks stand near the Israel-Gaza border as seen from southern Israel, July 14, 2024

    FOREIGN Secretary David Lammy should focus on halting arms exports to Israel instead of associating with war criminals, campaigners charged today.

    The calls came as Mr Lammy visited Israel and the occupied Palestinian West Bank on his first trip to the Middle East in his new role.

    Today, he shook hands with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who last December was pictured proudly signing a shell headed for Gaza.

    Mr Lammy said he hoped to see a hostage deal emerge “in the coming days” and a ceasefire to bring “alleviation to the suffering and the intolerable loss of life.”

    Failing to lift the suspension of vital funding to the UN Relief & Works Agency, which the government gave £35 million last year, he announced that a slimmer sum of £5.5m would be given to medical aid charity UK-Med.

    …

    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/pressure-mounts-on-labour-to-ban-arms-sales-to-israel-as-new-foreign-secretary-meets-with-war-criminals

    Vote For Genocide Vote Labour.
    Vote For Genocide Vote Labour.
    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.