Israel versus Palestine, Lebanon, Iran, Syria, aid workers, journalists, and UN peacekeepers. 2023-24

Hmm. The US decided to ship weapons by sea from the west coast to Israel on a vehicle transport ship? That’s like ~13,000 nautical miles and you have pass close to Yemen where Houthis have been firing cruise missiles.

Seems like a weird choice when it’s ~5,000 nautical miles from the west coast, but maybe the US doesn’t want them to arrive anytime soon.

How to lose weight in Israel/Palestine? Just be Palestinian!

I would not exactly trust any words from someone who will say anything to get a vote, but according to her:

“The Jews of France are Frenchmen, they’re at home here, and they must stay here and not emigrate. The country is obligated to provide solutions against the development of radical Islam in problematic areas”

Source

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She’s a liar, though… we all know that.

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About damn time. The UAE, SA, Jordon, Qatar each have enough resources to put together entire effing hospitals that could be dropped into Gaza at any given time. Maybe just one or two yachts would do?

Assholes.

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“[The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human rights] are clear in their expectation of companies to respect human rights throughout their value chain,” said Cor Oudes, programme leader of humanitarian disarmament, business conflict and human rights at PAX for Peace, a Netherland based non-governmental organization advocating for the protection of civilians against acts of war.

“For banks, this includes ensuring that their clients or companies they otherwise invest in do not cause or contribute to violations of human rights or international humanitarian law,” said Oudes. “If a bank invests in an arms producer that supplies weapons to states which use these in serious violations of human rights or IHL, according to the UNGPs, the bank has a responsibility to act to prevent more violations as well as to mitigate the existing impact on human rights.”

Wait for it…

But the UN won’t be the legal arbiter of whether US companies have participated in human rights violations, a key loophole for institutional investors and the weapons firms.

Pirates Caribbean Code GIF - Pirates Caribbean Code ...

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Rupi Kaur turned down an invitation from the Biden administration for a Diwali event due to the U.S. government continuing its support of Israel during its bombardment of Gaza.

“I implore my South Asian community to hold this administration accountable,” the poet wrote in a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter. “As a Sikh woman, I will not allow my likeness to be used in whitewashing this administration’s actions. I refuse any invitation from an institution that supports the collective punishment of a trapped civilian population — 50% of whom are children.”

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Saller said “an individual affiliated with the University attempted to chalk phrases on the ground pointing toward students participating in the sit-in for Palestine.”

According to Saller, the phrases “included deeply offensive language about violence toward Jewish people.” He said that although the photo was initially assumed to be antisemitic in nature, this was later disputed.

“The chalking was created by a Jewish community member who was trying to use irony and sarcasm to draw negative attention to the pro-Palestinian protests on campus,” Saller said, referencing a statement made by Stanford Hillel. “Within a few minutes of chalking, they regretted what they wrote and erased it with water and actually apologized.”

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I must say, I have been pleasantly surprised to see that the Japanese media (both print and broadcast) has been so sympathetic to the Palestinian people, dedicating a lot of primetime coverage to the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza while making it perfectly clear who is bombing whom. A lot of what they are showing is just reaired footage from other outlets with subtitles, but the overall messaging that I am seeing is to the effect that the world is demanding an immediate ceasefire and humanitarian aid.

I wasn’t expecting the media to be pro-Israel exactly, but I also wasn’t expecting Gazans to be treated with the same level of sympathy as Ukrainians by the press in general. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, though. The parallels are hard to miss.

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https://www.axios.com/2023/10/31/american-troops-middle-east-israel-palestine

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U.S. Senate Republicans fail to fast-track standalone bill providing aid to Israel

Senate Republicans unsuccessfully attempted to fast-track the House’s highly politicized standalone bill providing more than $14 billion in emergency aid to Israel.

The House bill, which went against the White House’s attempts at packaging Israel and Ukraine assistance, earned much derision for positioning the Israel aid as a partisan issue, given that the funds were to be offset by cuts to the IRS.

The efforts, spearheaded by Republican Sen. JD Vance, were blocked by Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy.

The incident captures an evolving and growing debate within Congress about whether U.S. support for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan should be connected, in both word and deed.

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Hamas leader refuses to acknowledge killing of civilians in Israel

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