Gaza

Young Voters Tell Kamala Harris to ‘Fight for Our Future’

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

Vice President Kamala Harris arrives for an NCAA championship celebration on the South Lawn of the White House on July 22, 2024 in Washington, D.C.
 (Photo: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

“This is your chance to energize young people and our communities to vote, mount one of the greatest political comebacks in decades, and deliver a resounding defeat to the far-right agenda of Trump and Vance.”

Four youth-led groups on Thursday urged Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, to “fight for our future” by pursuing a policy agenda the coalition unveiled in a March letter to U.S. President Joe Biden.

It’s been less than a week since Biden left the race and endorsed Harris, who is expected to face former Republican Donald Trump and his running mate, U.S. Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), in the November election. Since then, she’s racked up endorsements from Democratic members of Congress and progressive groups focused on issues including climate, labor, and reproductive rights.

March for Our Lives, which was launched after the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, honored Harris with the group’s first-ever endorsement on Wednesday, calling her “the right person to stand up for us and fight for the country we deserve.”

“To defeat Trump, you must rebuild support and enthusiasm among young voters.”

The gun violence prevention organization is part of the youth-led coalition behind the new letter, which also includes the climate-focused Sunrise Movement; Gen-Z for Change, which advocates on a range of issues; and the national immigrant network United We Dream Action.

“You have an urgent and important task. To defeat Trump, you must rebuild support and enthusiasm among young voters,” the coalition told Harris on Thursday, noting that she sought the Democratic nomination during the last cycle. “You should build on your 2020 campaign platform where you put forward a strong vision to make the economy work for everyday people and ensure a livable future for us all.”

The groups urged Harris to support the Green New Deal, Medicare for All, and the Reverse Mass Incarceration Act. They pushed her to expand pathways to citizenship, keep families together, end fossil fuel subsidies, and create good, union jobs. They also called on her to prioritize gun violence prevention and investments in public health solutions and green, affordable housing.

“Democrats are at a critical crossroads with young people,” the coalition wrote to Harris on Thursday. “Polls showed Biden and Trump neck-and-neck among young voters.”

ANew York Times/Siena College poll conducted July 22-24 shows Trump leading Harris 48% to 47% among likely voters and 48% to 46% among registered voters—differences that fall within the margin of error.

Forbes noted Thursday that “Democrats are far more enthusiastic about Harris than they were Biden, the Times/Siena survey found, with nearly 80% of voters who lean Democrat saying they would like Harris to be the nominee, compared to 48% of Democrats who said the same about Biden three weeks ago.”

The outlet also pointed to two other polls conducted by Morning Consult and Reuters/Ipsos since Biden dropped out, which both show Harris with a narrow lead over Trump.

“You have an opportunity to win the youth vote by turning the page and differentiating yourself from Biden policies that are deeply unpopular with us, such as approving new oil and gas projects, denying people their right to seek refuge and asylum, and funding the Israeli government’s killing of civilians in Gaza,” the youth coalition highlighted Thursday. “You must speak to the economic pain young people are facing from crushing student debt and skyrocketing housing and food prices.”

Looking beyond November, the groups told Harris—who could be the first Black woman and person of Asian descent elected to the country’s highest office—that “you could be a historic president. Not just because of who you are, but what you can accomplish.”

“Young people are energized and ready to organize against fascism and for the future we deserve,” they concluded. “This is your chance to energize young people and our communities to vote, mount one of the greatest political comebacks in decades, and deliver a resounding defeat to the far-right agenda of Trump and Vance.”

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

Continue ReadingYoung Voters Tell Kamala Harris to ‘Fight for Our Future’

Labour Versus International Law

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https://tribunemag.co.uk/2024/07/labour-versus-international-law

‘Progressive Realism’ Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Benjamin Netanyahu.

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Regarding the ICC, the case presented by the previous government effectively argued that no international court had the authority to hold Israel to account for its actions in Gaza, no matter how barbaric, as any right to prosecute Israelis had been surrendered by Palestinians during the Oslo negotiations. This very argument has now been directly addressed and demolished by the ICJ, which held that such agreements — between occupied and occupier — cannot deprive people of their rights under international law. Similarly, the ICJ judgment adds extra weight to the demand for an arms sale ban. Following the ICJ’s injunction that states must not aid and abet Israel’s illegal occupation, it is impossible to see how the government can continue to trade arms with Israel. This now sits alongside the responsibility to prevent genocide that flows from the ICJ ruling in January. The same holds with any form of trade that supports these illegal acts. In its judgement, the ICJ also rejected the argument so often used by those who are opposed to pressing Israel to end its occupation — its supposed need for security guarantees — by making clear that security needs cannot justify the acquisition and annexation of territory by force.

Israel is already making clear that it will ignore the judgment just as it ignored the ruling in January and the previous ICJ judgement in 2004 ruling the separation wall to be illegal. It is relying on the standard claim that those calling its occupation illegal and charging it with the crime of genocide and apartheid are liars motivated by antisemitism. It must now convince the world that this argument holds against the ICJ and ICC as well as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the dozens of states who made submissions to the courts. To give any credence to such claims is quite simply not ‘realism’, neither progressive nor any other kind.

The past few months have shown just what the consequences of not holding Israel to account are. At least 40,000 killed in Gaza, the population there on the brink of famine, and as Unicef reported this week, a Palestinian child in the West Bank killed every two days since October. Continuing on such a path, as seems to be the intention of the Labour government, means abandoning any framework of international law. The clarity of the ICJ’s recent rulings makes the test for Lammy’s ‘progressive realism’ very simple — either you stand against occupation, annexation, genocide and apartheid, or you are complicit with it.

https://tribunemag.co.uk/2024/07/labour-versus-international-law

Continue ReadingLabour Versus International Law

Ben-Gvir Endorses Trump, Says He’s More Likely to Back War on Iran

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

Far-right Israeli lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir delivers a speech following the exit polls of the 2022 Israeli general election on November 2, 2022.
 (Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/Picture Alliance via Getty Images)

The Israeli security minister, who leads the far-right Jewish Power party, accused the Biden administration of thwarting Israel’s victory against Hamas.

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir endorsed former U.S. President Donald Trump—the 2024 Republican nominee—for the White House in an interview published Wednesday in which he accused the Biden administration of preventing Israel from winning its war on Gaza.

“I believe that with Trump, Israel will receive the backing to act against Iran,” Ben-Gvir, who heads the far-right Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party, toldBloomberg. “With Trump, it will be clearer that enemies must be defeated.”

“A cabinet minister is supposed to maintain neutrality,” the 48-year-old minister conceded, “but that’s impossible to do after [U.S. President Joe] Biden.”

“The U.S. has always stood behind Israel in terms of armaments and weapons, yet this time the sense was that we were being reckoned with—that we were trying to be prevented from winning. That happened on Biden’s watch and fed Hamas with lots of energy,” added Ben-Gvir, who was convicted in 2007 of incitement to racism after he advocated the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.

While Biden, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and other administration officials have decried Israel’s indiscriminate bombing of Gaza and high civilian casualties—at least 140,000 Palestinians killed, injured, or missing, according to local and international agencies—the U.S. has approved billions of dollars in new military aid and more than 100 arms sales to Israel since October.

During his White House tenure, Trump—who boasted that he “fought for Israel like no president ever before”—moved the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and brokered the Abraham Accords between Israel and Arab nations Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan, and the United Arab Emirates.

Trump has said that Israel should “get the job done” in Gaza, while criticizing the Israel Defense Forces for posting videos showing its obliteration of the embattled Palestinian enclave.

“I don’t know why they released wartime shots like that. I guess it makes them look tough. But to me, it doesn’t make them look tough,” Trump said in April. “They’re losing the PR war. They’re losing it big. But they’ve got to finish what they started, and they’ve got to finish it fast, and we have to get on with life.”

While Trump says he wants a deal with Iran to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons, as president he unilaterally withdrew the U.S. from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action—also known as the Iran nuclear deal—and oversaw a “maximum pressure” campaign against Tehran featuring deadly economic sanctions.

On the advice of Iran hawks in his administration including then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Trump also ordered the January 2020 assassination of Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Gen. Qasem Soleimani in Iraq.

Ben-Gvir’s interview was published as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was set to address a joint meeting of U.S. Congress Wednesday in Washington, D.C. A growing number of Democratic lawmakers have called for not only a cease-fire in Gaza but also a suspension of U.S. military aid to Israel, whose conduct in the war is on trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice.

Dozens of Democratic lawmakers and Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont have signaled they will skip Netanyahu’s speech. Vice President Kamala Harris, who is also the Senate president, said she will not preside over Wednesday’s session. Harris, who is the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee in the wake of Biden’s withdrawal from the race on Sunday, said she will meet privately with Netanyahu on Thursday.

Echoing calls from groups including CodePink and the Council on American Islamic Relations, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) said this week that the prime minister should be arrested for war crimes and genocide.

Karim Khan, the International Criminal Court prosecutor, has applied for arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders for alleged war crimes including extermination committed on and after October 7.

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

Continue ReadingBen-Gvir Endorses Trump, Says He’s More Likely to Back War on Iran

Amnesty warns the US government of its complicity in alleged Israeli war crimes

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/amnesty-warns-us-government-its-complicity-alleged-israeli-war-crimes

Palestinians walk through dust by the rubble of houses, destroyed by Israeli strikes in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, July 22, 2024

AN INTERNATIONAL human rights group issued a fresh warning on Tuesday over the complicity of the United States in alleged Israeli war crimes.

The warning from Amnesty International came as protests mounted over the visit of Israel’s far-right Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Amnesty demanded a “comprehensive arms embargo on Israel, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups.”

The rights group said the embargo should remain in place “until there is no longer a substantial risk that arms could be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international human rights or humanitarian law.”

Amnesty International US executive director Paul O’Brien said: “Enough is enough. The US government has been presented with ample evidence from experts around the world that US-origin arms have been used in war crimes and unlawful killings by the Israeli government.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/amnesty-warns-us-government-its-complicity-alleged-israeli-war-crimes

Continue ReadingAmnesty warns the US government of its complicity in alleged Israeli war crimes

What’s behind the Israeli war on UNRWA?

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/what’s-behind-israeli-war-unrwa

A Palestinian girl reacts as a child is carried from the rubble of a building after an airstrike in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, October 21, 2023

RAMZY BAROUD exposes the systematic targeting of UN facilities in Gaza, explaining how this is part of a broader strategy of erasing Palestinian refugee rights and history while blocking international aid

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Israel does not attempt to mask or justify its attacks on the organisation as it did during previous Gaza wars. This time around, the Israeli war was accompanied, from the very start, with the outlandish accusation that UNRWA members had participated in the October 7 assault by Hamas and other Palestinian groups.

Without providing any evidence, Tel Aviv launched an international campaign of vilification against the UN organisation which has, for decades, provided educational, medical and humanitarian services to millions of Palestinian refugees.

Sadly, and tellingly, some Western, and even non-Western governments, answered the Israeli call of punishing UNRWA by withholding badly needed funds, the urgency of which did not only stem from the direct impact of the Israeli war, but the acute famine resulting from the war, as well.

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Jared Kushner, Trump’s former adviser on the Middle East, said in January 2018 that it was “important to have an honest and sincere effort to disrupt UNRWA.” For him, the dismantlement of the organisation meant the dismissal of the right of return for Palestinian refugees.

Indeed, the issue is not just about UNRWA, but rather the historic role the organisation has served as a reminder of the plight of millions of Palestinian refugees in occupied Palestine, the Middle East and across the world.

UNRWA was established through general assembly resolution 302 (IV) of December 8 1949. The founding of UNRWA came one year after the passing of UN resolution 194, which granted Palestinian refugees the right to “return to their homes.”

Although UNRWA’s mission has turned into a permanent mandate, since Palestinian refugees were not granted their right of return, the role of the organisation remained as critical as it was decades ago.

Since Kushner and others have failed to dismantle UNRWA, the Israeli government has taken advantage of its war on Gaza to achieve the exact purpose. In Israeli thinking, without UNRWA, the issue of Palestinian refugees would lose its main legal platform and would ultimately disappear.

This would give Israel the space and leverage to “resolve” the problem of the refugees in any way it finds fit, especially if it has the full backing of Washington.

Israel must not be allowed to dismantle UNRWA or to dismiss the generational struggle of Palestinian refugees, which is the core of the Palestinian fight for justice and freedom.

The international community must challenge Israel’s vilification of UNRWA and insist on the centrality of the right of return for Palestinian refugees. Without it, no real peace is possible.

Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and the editor of the Palestine Chronicle (www.palestinechronicle.com).

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/what’s-behind-israeli-war-unrwa

Continue ReadingWhat’s behind the Israeli war on UNRWA?