▶️ Powerful video here: revealing the deep and dark corruption which has been fueling this disastrous proxy war from the first moment of its inception. Zelensky is a media creation - a puppet of the West, designed to empty Ukraine of its sovereignty, and ultimately its resources… pic.twitter.com/5xH0vbGool
politico | The Washington Post on
Friday announced it will no longer endorse presidential candidates,
breaking decades of tradition in a move that immediately garnered fierce
backlash from both employees and outside critics.
At
least one editor has already resigned, and the paper’s legendary former
top editor Marty Baron publicly rebuked the move as an act of
“cowardice.”
The Post is the second major newspaper this week to punt on a presidential endorsement, following a similar decision
by the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday at the instruction of its
billionaire owner, Patrick Soon-Shiong, that led to the resignation of
the editorials editor and multiple staffers.
In a note published to the paper’s website
announcing the move, Washington Post publisher Will Lewis called it a
“statement in support of our readers’ ability to make up their own
minds,” writing that it would help the publication focus on “nonpartisan
news for all Americans” from the newsroom and “thought-provoking,
reported views from our opinion team to help our readers make up their
own minds.”
“We
recognize that this will be read in a range of ways, including as a
tacit endorsement of one candidate, or as a condemnation of another, or
as an abdication of responsibility,” Lewis added. “That is inevitable.
We don’t see it that way.”
The
Post’s newsroom and editorial team erupted in outrage. Robert Kagan, a
neoconservative columnist and editor at large at the Post, resigned in
response, he confirmed in a statement to POLITICO. A spokesperson for
the Post declined to comment on Kagan’s resignation.
David Maraniss, a 46-year veteran reporter at the paper, publicly called the move “contemptible,” writing in a social media post: “Today is the bleakest day of my journalism career.”
And on Friday evening, nine of the paper’s opinion columnists published a scathing dissent
of the decision, calling it “a terrible mistake” that “represents an
abandonment of the fundamental editorial convictions of the newspaper
that we love, and for which we have worked a combined 228 years.”
“There
is no contradiction between The Post’s important role as an independent
newspaper and its practice of making political endorsements, both as a
matter of guidance to readers and as a statement of core beliefs,” the
columnists wrote. “That has never been more true than in the current
campaign.”
"Welp, that's
certainly a new type of October Surprise,” Ashley Parker, a senior
national political correspondent for the Post, wrote on X.
In
a statement, the newspaper's union attributed the decision to
billionaire owner Jeff Bezos and said the move "undercuts the work of
our members at a time when we should be building our readers’ trust, not
losing it."
"The
message from our chief executive, Will Lewis — not from the Editorial
Board itself — makes us concerned that management interfered with the
work of our members in Editorial," the union wrote. "According to our
own reporters and Guild members, an endorsement for Harris was already
drafted, and the decision to not to publish was made by The Post’s
owner, Jeff Bezos."
A
person close to the decision granted anonymity to discuss it told
POLITICO that the decision was made within the Post and did not come
from Bezos.
But others were quick to point the finger at Bezos.
Baron,
who was executive editor from 2012 until his retirement in 2021, called
the move “cowardice, with democracy as its casualty,” writing on X that Donald Trump “will see this as an invitation to further intimidate” Bezos and others.
“Disturbing spinelessness at an institution famed for courage,” Baron wrote.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said in an X post that the move “is what Oligarchy is about.”
“Jeff
Bezos, the 2nd wealthiest person in the world and the owner of the
Washington Post, overrides his editorial board and refuses to endorse
Kamala,” Sanders wrote. “Clearly, he is afraid of antagonizing Trump and
losing Amazon’s federal contracts. Pathetic.”
Lewis’ announcement comes months after the publisher made headlines over bombshell reports
alleging that he played a role in a phone hacking scandal while he was
an editor at the Sunday Times, an accusation he denies. Lewis had
clashed over the scandal with the Post’s then-top editor, Sally Buzbee,
who reportedly wanted to cover it.
theatlantic |Americans maintain a favorable opinion of Jews.
The community remains prosperous and politically powerful. But the
memory of how quickly the best of times can turn dark has infused the
Jewish reactions to events of the past decade. “When lights start
flashing red, the Jewish impulse is to flee,” Jonathan Greenblatt, the
head of the Anti-Defamation League, told me.
Back
in 2016, many liberals blustered about leaving the country if Donald
Trump was elected president; after he won, many Jews actually hatched
contingency plans. My mother tried, in vain, to get a passport from
Poland, the country of her birth. An immigration lawyer I know in
Cleveland told me that he had obtained a German passport, and suggested
that I call the German embassy in Washington to learn how many other
American Jews had done the same.
The
German government, for understandable reasons, doesn’t count Jews. But
the embassy sent me a tally of passport applications submitted under
laws that apply to victims of Nazi persecution and their descendants. In
2017, after Trump’s election, the number of applications nearly doubled
from the year before, to 1,685, and then kept growing. In 2022, it was
2,500. These aren’t large numbers in absolute terms; still, it’s
extraordinary that so many American Jews, whose applications required
documenting that their families once fled Germany, now consider the
country a safer haven than the United States.
I also saw signs of flight in Oakland, where at least 30 Jewish families have been approved to transfer their children to neighboring school districts—and
I heard similar stories in the surrounding area. Initial data collected
by an organization representing Jewish day schools, which have long
struggled for enrollment, show a spike in the number of admission inquiries from families contemplating pulling their kids from public school.
After
1967, the previous moment of profound political abandonment, the
American Jewish community began to entertain thoughts of its own radical
reinvention. A coterie of disillusioned intellectuals, clustered around
a handful of small-circulation journals and think tanks, turned sharply
rightward, creating the neoconservative movement. Among activists, the
energy that had once been directed toward Freedom Rides was plowed into
the cause of Soviet Jewry, which became a defining political obsession
of many synagogues in the 1970s and ’80s. Meanwhile, Jewish hippies
turned inward, creating new spiritual movements centered on prayer and
ritual.
Although
not all of these movements proved equally fruitful, this history, in a
way, is cause for optimism, an example of how conflict might provide the
path to religious renewal and a fresh sense of solidarity. It’s also a
reminder that the Golden Age was not an uninterrupted rise.
The
case for pessimism, however, is more convincing. The forces arrayed
against Jews, on the right and the left, are far more powerful than they
were 50 years ago. The surge of anti-Semitism is a symptom of the decay
of democratic habits, a leading indicator of rising authoritarianism.
When anti-Semitism takes hold, conspiracy theory hardens into
conventional wisdom, embedding violence in thought and then in deadly
action. A society that holds its Jews at arm’s length is likely to be
more intent on hunting down scapegoats than addressing underlying
defects. Although it is hardly an iron law of history, such societies
are prone to decline. England entered a long dark age after expelling
its Jews in 1290. Czarist Russia limped toward revolution after the
pogroms of the 1880s. If America persists on its current course, it
would be the end of the Golden Age not just for the Jews, but for the
country that nurtured them.
Slate | Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is reportedly under serious consideration to become vice president and presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ running mate. And, in a certain sense, there are good reasons for this: Democrats badly want (some would argue need) to win Pennsylvania. Shapiro is, by all accounts, quite popular in the state he runs. He won the governorship handily in 2022 against Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano, proponent of Christian nationalist ideas—which Shapiro proved unafraid to tackle head-on.
Shapiro is Jewish and has spoken strongly about and against antisemitism, which will surely be a theme in the 2024 presidential election. Republican candidate Donald Trump wonders aloud how any Jew could vote for a Democrat even as his son hosts a fundraiser with pundit Tucker Carlson, promoter of antisemitic conspiracy theories. Republicans reportedly see Shapiro as a threat, while progressive Pennsylvania state Sen. Nikil Saval touted his “strong willingness to build coalitions with people that he also disagrees with, and to change his views and policies through that act of coalition-building.”
And yet, for all of this, there are demerits to Shapiro, too. In the New Republic, the leftist Jewish writer David Klion made the case that Shapiro could threaten Democratic unity. Some of this is for domestic reasons. (More than two dozen public education advocacy groups wrote a letter asking Harris not to select Shapiro over his support for private school vouchers.) And some of this is because of Shapiro’s stance on Israel: As Klion notes, Shapiro, when attorney general, backed the state’s anti–boycott, divestment, and sanctions law, describing BDS as “rooted in antisemitism.”
The Forward described Shapiro as having been “been a fixture at local rallies supporting Israel during its repeated wars in Gaza.” And his support has remained constant in this war, too: During a radio show on Oct. 11, Shapiro said, “We need to gird ourselves for what appears to be, you know, going to be a long war and we need to remain on the side of Israel.” Since then, as the Philadelphia Inquirer put it, he has “resisted” calls for a cease-fire. This past spring, as pro-Palestinian protests took place on campuses across the United States, the governor called on the University of Pennsylvania to “disband the encampment and to restore order and safety on campus” and implied a parallel between white supremacists and students protesting their university’s policies vis-à-vis Israel and the war in Gaza.
All of this could very well hurt Democratic unity and suppress voter turnout on the political left. Nominating Shapiro would also signify an embrace of an understanding of antisemitism that some American Jews contest, issuing a ruling on American Jewish political identity that many would chafe against (though so too could the selection of another rumored veep contender, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, who signed into law a bill that includes in its definition of antisemitism “the denial of Jewish people’s right to self-determination and applying double standards to Israel’s actions”). But this policy or way of thinking, if embraced by the Harris campaign—regardless of who her running mate is—could do something else, too: It could undercut the core of Harris’ very compelling argument, which is that her campaign is standing up for American freedoms.
Harris is using Beyoncé’s song “Freedom” as her campaign anthem. In her first campaign ad, one can hear the song in the background as Harris speaks about the various freedoms she’s aiming to protect and expand on: “The freedom not just to get by, but to get ahead. The freedom to be safe from gun violence. The freedom to make decisions about your own body.”
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If this list of freedoms is to mean anything, it has to include the freedom to speak out and protest against the United States and its foreign policy, including with respect to Israel. It’s fundamental to the very concept of American liberty.
I do not mean to pit Jewish candidates reportedly under consideration to be Harris’ running mate against each other, nor do I want to suggest that all Jews should take the same position. (As you may have heard, we’re not a monolith.)
But this is a needle that Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has managed to thread. Back in May, he said that he supported Jewish organizations, but he also said, with respect to calls to oust university administrators, “I’m not about calling for people to step down.” Some protesters were anti-war, he said, and some were anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian, and, yes, some were antisemitic. But, he stressed, “What I support is the fact that we need to protect not just Jewish students but all students on campuses where there are protests.” That’s how it should be in America: We all have a right to speak out, and we all have a right to be safe.
jewishinsider | The decision by Vice President Kamala Harris to choose Minnesota Gov.
Tim Walz as her running mate is raising questions among some Jewish
leaders about whether a pressure campaign led by anti-Israel activists
to thwart Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s nomination ultimately played a
part in influencing the selection process.
Harris formally announced her pick in a text message
to supporters of her campaign on Tuesday morning. “Tim is a
battle-tested leader who has an incredible track record of getting
things done for Minnesota families,” she said. “I know that he will
bring that same principled leadership to our campaign, and to the office
of the vice president.”
The selection comes amid Democratic concerns over anti-Israel
protests at the party’s convention in Chicago this month. Harris will
appear with Walz at a campaign rally in Philadelphia on Tuesday evening.
In recent weeks, Shapiro had faced mounting resistance from an
outspoken coalition of far-left organizers who expressed vehement
opposition to Shapiro over his staunch support for Israel and his
criticism of extreme anti-Israel campus protesters, among other issues.
The campaign drew allegations of antisemitism
for targeting Shapiro, an observant Jew whose positions on Israel were
largely aligned with other contenders who emerged on the vice
presidential short list, including Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Walz, the latter of whom had been favored by progressives. The rhetoric used by the left-wing campaign, including tagging Shapiro as “Genocide Josh,” also faced criticism for singling out the only Jewish candidate under serious consideration.
For some observers who had been cautiously excited by the possibility
of a Jewish running mate — the first since 2000 — the organized
campaign was a dismaying confirmation of concerns that Shapiro’s rise
as a vice presidential prospect could be derailed amid a recent surge
of antisemitism in the wake of Hamas Oct. 7 attack on Israel and the
subsequent war in Gaza.
“There are all kinds of legitimate factors that go into a
vice-presidential pick, but there was an obvious and concerted
anti-Shapiro effort that tapped into the antisemitic fervor coursing
through our country,” said Nathan Diament, the executive director of
public policy for the Orthodox Union. “Irrespective of the reasons Ms.
Harris had,” he told Jewish Insider, Shapiro’s far-left opponents “will surely declare victory.”
With that in mind, Diament cautioned that Harris “will have to take
other steps to undermine those extremists to show their claims are
false.”
Brett Goldman, a founder of Democratic Jewish Outreach Pennsylvania
and a political consultant in Philadelphia, said in an interview with JI
that he viewed the Shapiro snub as a sign that Harris “is succumbing to
pressure from the left” — whose relative electoral power, he suggested, has been overstated.
But despite his disappointment, Goldman clarified that his group
would still back Harris’ campaign. “It’s unfortunate, and it sucks that
it’s not Josh,” he said, describing the effort to block Shapiro as
“based in” antisemitism and anti-Zionism. “But we still have an election
to win.”
Jared Solomon, a Jewish state representative in Philadelphia now running
for attorney general, a role previously held by Shapiro, said he
regarded the popular Pennsylvania governor as “by far the best pick” for
vice president, citing how he “brings faith into the conversation in an
approachable, inclusive way.”
“I would say to the critics, specifically on his position regarding
Israel, I would be hard-pressed to see much daylight between Josh and
the other contenders,” he told JI. “I believe that he, like the others,
thinks the United States is a friend of Israel” and “like the others,
believes in a two-state solution.”
The anti-Shapiro campaign, Solomon added, “begs the question: Why is he, unlike the other candidates, facing so much pushback?”
To hear Eric Weinstein's entire "shut it down, the goyim know" drunken rant, - in which he repudiates everything he's professed about the DISC as well as placing himself squarely in the Epstein psy-op camp - go to the 3 hour 30 minute mark on the spotify podcast with Rogan.
Guardian | A prominent member of the progressive “Squad” in Congress, Cori Bush,
has lost her Democratic primary in St Louis after pro-Israel pressure
groups spent millions of dollars to unseat her over criticisms of Israel’s war in Gaza.
St
Louis prosecutor Wesley Bell defeated Missouri’s first Black female
member of Congress with about 51% of the vote. Bush took about 46%.
Bell’s
win marks a second major victory for the powerful American Israel
Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) after it played a leading role in unseating
New York congressman Jamaal Bowman, another progressive Democrat who
criticised the scale of Palestinian civilians deaths in Gaza, in a June
primary.
Aipac pumped $8.5m into the race in
Missouri’s first congressional district to support Bell through its
campaign funding arm, the United Democracy Project (UDP), after Bush
angered some pro-Israel groups as one of the first members of Congress
to call for a ceasefire after the 7 October Hamas attack on Israel.
Much of the UDP’s money comes from billionaires who fund hardline pro-Israel causes and Republicans in other races, including some who have given to Donald Trump’s campaign.
Bush
condemned Hamas for the killing of 1,139 people, mostly Israelis, and
for abducting hundreds of others in October. But she also infuriated
some Jewish and pro-Israel groups by describing Israel’s subsequent
attack on Gaza and large scale killing of civilians as “collective
punishment against Palestinians” and a war crime.
During
the campaign, the UDP flooded St Louis with advertising hostile to Bush
– although, as in other congressional races targeted by pro-Israel
groups, it rarely mentioned the war in Gaza that has claimed nearly 40,000 Palestinian lives, mostly civilians, or her call for a ceasefire.
Instead, the campaign focused on Bush’s voting record in Congress, particularly her failure to support Joe Biden’s trillion-dollar infrastructure bill in 2021
and her support for the “defund the police” campaign. Bush struggled to
get her message across that the UDP is misrepresenting both situations.
The UDP accounted for more than half of all the money spent on the race outside the campaigns themselves.
Bell
has denied being recruited by pro-Israel groups to run against Bush,
but suspicion lingered after he abandoned a challenge for the US Senate
and entered the congressional race not long after Jewish organisations
in St Louis began to seek a candidate to take on Bush after accusing her of “intentionally fuelling antisemitism”.
Bell is expected to win what is one of the safest Democratic congressional seats in November’s general election.
TheTexan | Congresswoman
Jasmine Crockett (D-TX-30), a freshman from Dallas, signed onto a
resolution back in April that would have stripped Secret Service
protection from Donald Trump had he been sentenced to prison — a
proposal now gaining attention following the July 13 assassination attempt against the former president.
House Resolution 8081 by
Congressman Bennie Thompson (D-MS-02) would have changed the law
centered on “Denying Certain Felons Secret Service Protection.”
“The
protection authorized…shall terminate for any person upon sentencing
following conviction for a Federal or State offense that is punishable
for a term of imprisonment of at least one year,” the text reads.
Thompson
and Crockett were joined by Reps. Troy Carter (D-LA-02), Barbara Lee
(D-CA-12), Frederica Wilson (D-FL-24), Yvette Clarke (D-NY-09), Bonnie
Coleman (D-NJ-12), Joyce Beatty (D-OH-03), and Steve Cohen (D-TN-09).
“Unfortunately,
current law doesn’t anticipate how Secret Service protection would
impact the felony prison sentence of a protectee — even a former
President,” Thompson said when the resolution was filed.
“It
is regrettable that it has come to this, but this previously
unthought-of scenario could become our reality. Therefore, it is
necessary for us to be prepared and update the law so the American
people can be assured that protective status does not translate into
special treatment — and that those who are sentenced to prison will
indeed serve the time required of them.”
The bill’s fact sheet says
specifically, “This measure would apply to former President Trump. It
also would apply to all Secret Service protectees convicted and
sentenced under felony charges.”
Trump was convicted in
May on 34 felony counts in the New York “hush money” trial; he has not
yet been sentenced to any prison time or any other punishment stemming
from those convictions.
The resolution fell under the spotlight over the weekend when a gunman took multiple
shots at Trump during a Pennsylvania campaign rally, one of which
struck the former president in his ear and another which killed an
attendee and injured two others. The assassination attempt failed in
taking out Trump but could secure his election this November.
The betting odds of a Trump election jumped to 71 percent following the assassination attempt and his chances in swing states also jumped.
In its aftermath, Republicans in the Texas Legislature started circulating a joint letter calling for Crockett to resign from Congress.
"No. This party should not, in any way, do anything to work around Ms. Harris. We should do everything we can to bolster her whether she's in second place or at the top of the ticket."
CTH | James Clyburn and Barack Obama are the two democrats who could
unilaterally remove Joe Biden by withdrawing their support. It must
frustrate Jill Biden to know The Lightbringer and the Ballot Master have
that kind of leverage over her appointments at Tiffanys.
As a result of this dynamic, we remind everyone to pay close attention to how Clyburn and Obama are indicating their position.
Additionally, it is worth remembering how Obama and Clyburn agreed on
Kamala Harris as the VP selection in 2020, and informed Joe Biden who
would be on his ticket. The Jussie Smollet operation was still active
when Kamala was installed with Biden.
During an MSNBC interview today, James Clyburn expressed support for
Kamala Harris to ascend the top of the ticket if Biden makes the
decision to remove himself.
Keep in mind, Biden will not quit. The decision to exit will be made
for Biden, and within the departure process all deference will be given
to the Biden group to shape their exit.
The Obama/Clyburn professionally Democratic power brokers within the
DNC collective will make the decision; Biden will just be given the
opportunity to make it look like it’s his choice. That’s the way
Democrats roll.
CTH | The wheels on the bus go thump, thump, thump…. just ask the three
debate officials who are now being blamed for the disastrous performance
by Joe Biden in Atlanta last week.
According to several sources who have talked to Politico,
the Biden family are naming top Biden advisor Anita Dunn, her CIA
husband Bob Bauer and top advisor Ron Klain for horrible debate
preparation. The three senior staff advisors have been a part of the
Biden/Obama orbit for many years. Jill Biden and the rest of the family
are pointing the finger directly at them.
WASHINGTON DC
– Members of Joe Biden’s family privately trashed his top campaign
advisers at Camp David this weekend, blaming them for the president’s
flop in Thursday’s debate and urging Biden to fire or demote people in
his political high command.
There is no immediate expectation
that Biden will follow through on that advice, according to three people
briefed on the family conversations but not directly involved. The
three people were granted anonymity to discuss the matter.
The blame was cast widely on
staffers, including: Anita Dunn, the senior adviser who frequently has
the president’s ear; her husband, Bob Bauer, the president’s attorney
who played Trump in rehearsals at Camp David; and Ron Klain, the former
chief of staff who ran point on the debate prep and previous cycles’
sessions.
“The aides who prepped the President
have been with him for years, often decades, seeing him through
victories and challenges. He maintains strong confidence in them,” Biden
campaign spokesperson Kevin Munoz said in a statement.
threadreaderapp | BREAKING: New detailed report from the Times of London admits there is
no evidence for the "mass rape" hoax fabricated and spread by the NYT,
BBC, Guardian, AP and Reuters, and notes that Patten's own UN report
confirms this and reiterates her call for an actual UN investigation
some important facts to highlight from this new report. The main claim
of rape on October 7 which the NYT heavily relied on is from a deranged
fantasy "testimony" by "Sapir", including cut off breasts and severed
heads. The Times now confirms from Israeli police that she lied:
this piece by The Times is the first one I have seen in prestige Western
media that accurately states both the highly limited nature, scope and
content of Pramila Patten's UN report, which every other outlet keeps
lying about, falsely saying it "confirms Hamas mass rape", and "found
evidence of sexual violence/rape" by the evidentiary standard of an
actual full legal investigation, both of which Patten herself confirms
again are lies and falsehoods but the NYT, BBC, Reuters and AP keep
repeating to launder their own "mass rape" hoax (see and ).
The AP just did this again recently in its report exposing the two Zaka
hoaxers by constantly, over and over again, repeating these blatant lies
about Patten's UN report "confirming Hamas mass rape" and "sexual
violence/rape on October 7."
But now the Times confirms that Patten's report was not full, legal or
investigative in nature, that she explicitly does not attribute any
sexual violence/rape to Hamas, and that any case of sexual violence she
says might have happened on October 7 is based on a low evidentiary
threshold that does not meet the standard of an actual full legal
investigation, and relies entirely on Israeli information and
"eyewitnesses" like the aforementioned Sapir.
That is why she keeps calling for an actual investigation, which as the Times notes the Israeli regime keeps blocking.
I have been saying all this for months now (see ), and finally it has
penetrated a mainstream prestige Western media outlet, confirming that
all the others in the Western media and political class including the
NYT, BBC and Guardian are blatant propagandist liars.
WashingtonTimes | Ms. Gray’s termination from The Hill’s YouTube program happened
following a flood of online criticism she received over her treatment of
Yarden Gonen, sister of Israeli hostage Romi Gonen, who was kidnapped
by Hamas militants during the terrorist attack on southern Israel last
Oct. 7.
Ms. Gray, who previously served as press
secretary for Sen. Bernie Sanders, Vermont independent, apparently
rolled her eyes and cut off Ms. Yarden when she told the host that she
hoped Ms. Gray believed women who claim Hamas sexually assaulted them.
“I really hope that you, specifically, will believe women when they say that they got hurt,” she said.
Ms. Gray replied, “Alright, thanks for joining. Stick around.”
Although Ms. Gray attempted to steer the
interview towards Israel’s response in Gaza, Ms. Yarden kept saying she
did not want to discuss the politics in the region and preferred instead
to highlight the hostage crisis and her sister’s plight.
“I am here to talk about my sister. Please help
me spread her story. Help me make people understand what she is going
through as a woman in 2024,” she said.
Ms. Gray said at one point during the
interview, “I really do hope that Netanyahu agrees and Israel agrees to a
cease-fire or deal that could bring all the hostages home, including
your sister.” She added, “And I’m sure many people watching are praying
for her safety.”
Ms. Gray received a wave of criticism from
social media users online, who called her antisemitic for her behavior
towards Ms. Yarden.
“The way Brianna Joy Gray sneers and rolls her
eyes at Israeli pain paints a picture of dehumanization,” said the
Anti-Defamation League’s Carly Pildis.
Rep. Ritchie Torres, New York Democrat said,
“The family member of an Israeli hostage pleads with Briahna Joy Gray to
believe Jewish women who have been abducted, tortured, and raped by
Hamas.”
He said, “I have as much sympathy for Briahna Joy Gray as she has for the hostages. None.”
reuters | The State Department submitted the 46-page unclassified report earlier this month to Congress as required under a new National Security Memorandum that Biden issued in early February. Among other conclusions, the report said that in the period after Oct. 7 Israel “did not fully cooperate” with U.S. and other efforts to get humanitarian aid into Gaza.
But it said this did not amount to a breach of a U.S law that blocks the provision of arms to countries that restrict U.S. humanitarian aid.
Gilbert, who worked for the State Department for over 20 years, said she notified her office the day the State Department report was released that she would resign. Her last day was Tuesday.
U.S. State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters on Thursday that he would not comment on personnel issues but that the department welcomes diverse points of view.
He said the administration stood by the report and continued to press the government of Israel to avoid harming civilians and urgently expand humanitarian access to Gaza.
"We are not an administration that twists the facts, and allegations that we have are unfounded," Patel said.
The Israeli embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Gilbert's accusations.
Gilbert’s bureau was one of the four that contributed to a classified initial options memo, reported exclusively
by Reuters in late April, that informed U.S. Secretary of State Antony
Blinken Israel might be violating international humanitarian law.
Gilbert
said the State Department removed subject matter experts from working
on the report to Congress when the document was a rough draft about 10
days before it was due. She said the report was then edited by more
senior officials.
In
contrast to the published version, the last draft she saw stated that
Israel was blocking humanitarian assistance, Gilbert said.
Officials who resigned prior to Gilbert include Arabic language spokesperson Hala Rharrit and Annelle Sheline of the human rights bureau.
More
than 36,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's air and land war
in Gaza. Israel launched its offensive after Hamas fighters crossed from
Gaza into southern Israel on Oct. 7 last year, killed 1,200 people and
abducted more than 250, according to Israeli tallies.
counterpunch | The specter of death in Gaza is difficult, if not impossible, to
grasp. At a distance, our understanding of the situation often relies on
somber statistics, especially in the establishment media. The official
count, consistently cited by mainstream outlets, comes in at around 35,000 deaths.
In May, the New York Times and other outlets jumped on a report from
the United Nations, which had apparently revised Gaza’s death count.
But the U.N. did not, in fact, halve its total of women and children who
had died, as the Jerusalem Postclaimed. It simply altered its classification system in terms of those estimated to have died and those it could definitively confirm to
be deceased. The totals, however, remained the same. Nonetheless, even
those numbers, based on information provided by Gaza’s Ministry of
Health, end up blurring the cruel reality on the ground. U.N. officials
also fear that at least 10,000 more Gazans lie buried under the rubble in that 25-mile strip of land.
But death figures can also impart meaning, as the long-time
consumer-rights activist Ralph Nader recently pointed out. He happens
to believe that
Israel could have killed at least 200,000 Palestinians in Gaza, a
mind-boggling figure, but worth examining. So, I called on him to
elaborate.
“The undercount is staggering,” said Nader, whose Lebanese parents
emigrated to the United States before he was born. “The U.S. and Israel
want a low number, so they look around. Instead of themselves estimating
— which they don’t want to do — they cling to Hamas’s [figures], and
Hamas doesn’t want a realistic number because they don’t want to be seen
as unable to protect their own people. So, they developed these
criteria: to be counted, the dead must first be certified by hospitals
and morgues [which barely exist].”
He has made it a habit to reach out to writers and editors. Like so
many others, I have a bit of a phone affair with that 90-year-old
thinker and activist. We discuss politics, baseball, and journalism’s
rapid, insidious decline. I’ve certainly heard him animated in the past,
but never more indignant than when he addresses the situation in Gaza.
“The whole thing is one death camp now. It’s easily 200,000 deaths in
Gaza,” he insisted, citing the number of bombs dropped, which have, by
some estimates, exceeded 100,000. We know that at least 45,000 missiles
and bombs had been used in Gaza within three months of the beginning of
Israel’s military campaign. As a result, as many as 175,000 buildings have been damaged or destroyed by Israel. So, he seems to be on to something.
“Eventually [the real number of the dead] will come out,” he adds.
“They’ll do a census, whoever takes over. The one thing the extended
families in Gaza know is who’s been killed in their families.”
Of course, his assertion is circumstantial and he knows it, but he’s
making a point. With so much of the Gaza Strip facing imminent
starvation, nearly all hospitals out of commission, just about no
medicine left, and very little clean water or food, 35,000 deaths are
likely, in the end, to prove a drastic undercount.
NYTimes | For decades, most Israelis have considered Palestinian terrorism the country’s biggest security concern. But there is another threat that may be even more destabilizing for Israel’s future as a democracy: Jewish terrorism and violence, and the failure to enforce the law against it.
Our yearslong investigation reveals how violent factions within the Israeli settler movement, protected and sometimes abetted by the government, have come to pose a grave threat to Palestinians in the occupied territories and to the State of Israel itself. Piecing together new documents, videos and over 100 interviews, we found a government shaken by an internal war — burying reports it commissioned, neutering investigations it assigned and silencing whistle-blowers, some of them senior officials. It is a blunt account, told in some cases for the first time by Israeli officials, of how the occupation came to threaten the integrity of the country’s democracy.
Lawbreakers Become Lawmakers Officials told us that once fringe, sometimes criminal groups of settlers bent on pursuing a theocratic state have been allowed for decades to operate with few restraints. Since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government came to power in 2022, elements of that faction have taken power — driving the country’s policies, including in the war in Gaza.
The lawbreakers have become the law. Bezalel Smotrich, the finance minister and the official in Netanyahu’s government with oversight over the West Bank, was arrested in 2005 by the Shin Bet domestic security service for plotting road blockages to halt the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. He was released with no charges. Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s national security minister, had been convicted multiple times for supporting terrorist organizations and, in front of television cameras in 1995, vaguely threatened the life of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was murdered weeks later by an Israeli student.
Settler Violence Protected, and Abetted All West Bank settlers are in theory subject to the same military law that applies to Palestinian residents. But in practice, they are treated according to the civil law of the State of Israel, which formally applies only to territory within the state’s borders. This means that Shin Bet might probe two similar acts of terrorism in the West Bank — one committed by Jewish settlers and one committed by Palestinians — and use wholly different investigative tools.
After the Arab-Israeli War of 1967, Israel controlled new territory in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula, the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem. In 1979, it agreed to return the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt.
The job of investigating Jewish terrorism falls to a division of Shin Bet known commonly as the Jewish Department. But it is dwarfed both in size and prestige by the Arab Department, the division charged mostly with combating Palestinian terrorism.
Jews involved in terror attacks against Arabs over the past decades have received substantial leniency, which has included reductions in prison time, anemic investigations and pardons. Most incidents of settler violence — torching vehicles, cutting down olive groves — fall under the jurisdiction of the police, who tend to ignore them. When the Jewish Department investigates more serious terrorist threats, it is often stymied from the outset, and even its successes have sometimes been undermined by judges and politicians sympathetic to the settler cause.
mondoweiss | Any Palestinian following the developments in the Israeli protest
movement against “the judicial coup” will require nerves of steel to
withstand the hypocrisy on display. The protests are estimated to be
100,000 people strong, politicians are jumping over tables in the
Knesset, and former army Chief of Staff Yair Golan is calling for a
state of “civil disobedience.” Only yesterday, Netanyahu dismissed Defense Minister Yoav Gallant
after he voiced opposition to the judicial reforms, and angry
protestors took to the streets in Tel Aviv and other cities and shut
down highways. The army has been going through its own crisis ever since
military reservists, especially those in the Air Force, joined the
protests. If that wasn’t enough, large sums of money are being
transferred out of Israeli banks for fear of the effects that the
judicial reforms might have on the Israeli economy and on the value of
the Israeli Shekel. As for gall, that was hardly in short supply in
Yuval Noah Harari’s op-ed telling Netanyahu to “stop your coup or we’ll stop the country.”
It’s as if Harari has never heard of al-Issawiyya, which continues to
be strangled by the Hebrew University where he teaches, or of oppression
and occupation, which wasn’t reason enough to warrant speaking of
halting the state.
The Israeli government is trying to use these judicial reforms to
grant itself absolute power through the passing of two central laws. The
first law aims to establish control over the Israeli Judicial Selection
Committee, hence appointing judges whose loyalties would lie with
specific politicians rather than with the law; and the second law is the
“Override Clause,” which would allow the Knesset to override any
decision of the Israeli High Court of Justice that passes by a majority
of 61 Knesset members. In other words, the government would seize
complete control over the state
without checks and balances, effectively becoming the sole governing
authority in the country given that it also controls the Knesset by
virtue of its majority within the parliamentary body.
All of this is taking place without a constitution. This means, for
instance, that the government can decide to hold elections once every
ten years instead of the standard four-year limit still in effect, and
no one can override it; or it could pass laws granting the government
total control over the media, or it could put LGBTQ people in jail. But
the true crisis will emerge when the Israeli High Court of Justice
repeals the judicial reforms and regards them as illegal — that is when
the state will enter a constitutional crisis without a solution.
Who will the Israeli security apparatus obey: the government or the
judiciary? This isn’t merely a crisis of the state; it is far more
profound, posing the question of what the state is in the first place. Former commander of the Israeli Air Force Eliezer Shkedi said as much
in an interview with Channel 12: “I have never come across a situation
where the commander of the Air Force, the chief of staff, the head of
the Mossad, or the police commissioner has to decide whether he listens
to an executive authority or to a court decision,” going on to say that
if he were the head of the Air Force he would never disobey a court
decision.
The fact that Israeli society has always echoed this hypocrisy is
nothing new, and neither is it a novel discovery that “democracy” was
never an honest description of a state that defines itself as a “state
of the Jews.” But the protests this time are greater than at any
previous point, and 35% of Israelis express fears of a “civil war,” a phrase that has made its way into daily use.
It’s precisely this level of hysteria, however, that makes it
especially infuriating — because of the power and influence of the
participants in the protests, because it’s the first time that the
struggle is over the identity of the state, and because the roots of the
crisis relate to profound political questions concerning the Zionist
project, which are normally considered off-limits.
Video - John Marco Allegro in an interview with Van Kooten & De Bie. TSMATC | Describing the growth of the mushroom ( boletos), P...
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