Link Blog
War on Gaza: UN special rapporteur accuses Israel of acts of ‘genocide’ - YouTube
Francesca Albanese says Israel has violated three of the five acts listed under the UN Genocide Convention Including: Killing members of a specific group, causing serious bodily or mental harm, and deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole and in part. She also found that genocidal acts were approved and given effect after statements of genocidal intent by senior Israeli military and government officials. These acts, Albanese argues, are part of a ‘settler-colonial process of erasure’ - which has been underway for more than 70 years. She recommends - among other things - an immediate arms embargo on Israel. And for member states to support South Africa in its attempt to prosecute Israel at the International Court of Justice.
“Israel has the world record” for violating U.N. resolutions and is certain to violate this ceasefire resolution, as well, even though it expressed “the very broad consensus across the global community against Israel’s onslaught on Gaza.” Israel continued bombing Gaza after Monday’s vote, and top Israeli leaders have vowed to continue the war that has killed over 32,000 Palestinians so far.
Israel’s attempt to destroy Unrwa is part of its starvation strategy in Gaza | The Guardian
Israel’s vendetta against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (Unrwa) illustrates the callousness with which Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government has fought the war in Gaza. It also reflects an effort to use Hamas’s 7 October attack as an opportunity for demographic re-engineering.
Study documents slowing of Atlantic currents
While scientists have observed oceans heating up for decades and theorized that their rising temperatures weaken global currents, a new study led by a University of Maryland researcher documents for the first time a significant slowing of a crucial ocean current system that plays a role in regulating Earth’s climate.
UN Security Council passes resolution demanding immediate Gaza ceasefire - YouTube
The United Nations Security Council has called for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza and the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages as the United States abstained from the vote. The remaining 14 council members voted for the resolution on Monday.
Yes, and the US is complicit.
Half of Gaza’s population is at risk of famine - Vox
Every resident of Gaza is at risk of crisis levels of food insecurity — and half are at risk of famine.
Yes, you read that right: Nearly six months into the Israeli invasion after the October 7 attacks, every single Gaza resident is at risk of at least crisis-level food insecurity…
It’s a crisis that has unfolded at a speed utterly unprecedented this century — and also one that was repeatedly predicted and entirely avoidable if Israel were not placing severe restrictions on aid.
Does Israel need to be forced by the US to end the war in Gaza? | YouTube
All of Israel’s modern wars have ended with US intervention, but the current war in Gaza has gone on for half a year because “Biden is a slow learner”, argues University of Pennsylvania political scientist Ian Lustick… Lustick and Palestinian politician Mustafa Barghouti talk to host Steve Clemons about the current situation on the ground and the debate within the Democratic Party in the United States.
Engaging in land theft, forced famine and genocide, Israel is embracing its status as a pariah state.
Israel seizes 800 hectares of Palestinian land in occupied West Bank | Al Jazeera
The US said last month that Israel’s expansion of settlements in the West Bank was inconsistent with international law, signalling a return to longstanding US policy that had been reversed by the previous administration of Donald Trump. … Earlier this month, UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk said, “The establishment and continuing expansion of settlements amount to … a war crime under international law.”
“A Failure of Humanity:” IRC’s David Miliband on Impending Famine in Gaza | Amanpour and Company
Israeli military action continues to devastate the civilian population in Gaza. A three-day siege of Al-Shifa Hospital is in progress despite the fact that thousands are sheltering there… The bombardment is pushing Gaza towards a devastating humanitarian crisis: A U.N.-backed organization reports that more than a million people – half the population of Gaza – are on the brink of catastrophic hunger.
What unfolding genocide looks like:
“If you want to know what an unfolding genocide looks like, open your eyes. It looks like the forced famine of 1.1 million innocents. It looks like thousands of children eating grass as their bodies consume themselves, while trucks of food are slowed and halted just miles away.” -Rep. Ocasio-Cortez
Around the world, climate change is impacting the way we live. In the U.S., the housing crisis is being pushed to the brink as insurers struggle to cover homes impacted by natural disasters. Bloomberg reporter Leslie Kaufman joins Hari Sreenivasan to discuss her recent reporting on this very issue.
Again, look to the US as a root cause.
‘The Greatest Heist In History’: How Haiti Was Forced To Pay Reparations For Freedom : NPR
In recent weeks, thousands of refugees from Haiti have arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border, desperate for a better life. Most left Haiti years ago, after a 2010 earthquake ravaged what was already one of the most dismal economies in the world. They had originally settled in places like Chile, but the politics of the region have made them feel unwelcome, discriminated against, and fearful of the future.
Chuck Schumer warned that Israel risks becoming a pariah.
Too late.
As if the genocide, ethnic cleansing and current, deliberately created famine in Gaza were not enough Israeli settlers are actively engaged shooting Palestinian farmers and stealing land in the West Bank | Democracy Now :
Building on an unprecedented wave of settler violence in 2023, Israeli attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank have intensified since October 7, with over 400 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces and settlers over the past five months.
Israel has been using violence to forcibly remove Palestinian people from their land for decades.
Israel IS a violent, genocidal apartheid state.
WHY DO THEY GET ANY US AID? WHY IS THE US SUPPORTING ISRAEL AT ALL?
With no progress to reduce driving or flying it would seem most Americans agree. Americans love their trucks and cars. Their children? Not so much.
World’s top fossil-fuel bosses deride efforts to move away from oil and gas | The Guardian
“We should abandon the fantasy of phasing out oil and gas, and instead invest in them adequately,” said Amin Nasser, chief executive of Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil company, to applause in the room.
Climate researcher on what’s causing the record rise in ocean temperatures - YouTube
The World Meteorological Organization issued a red alert warning Tuesday about warming and climate change, saying 2024 is shaping up to be another record year. One of the many worries about how the planet is changing, thanks in part to human activity, is the record-shattering warming of the world’s oceans.
I’ve never been more disgusted and ashamed to be a citizen of the US. We have passively accepted our complicity in ethnic cleansing, genocide and now deliberate famine.
Experts warn of ‘imminent’ famine in Gaza with lack of aid reaching Palestinians - YouTube
More than half of North Gaza’s population is at risk of starvation and in southern Gaza, Rafah is projected to face famine by July.
If food does not get in NOW 100,000+ will die of starvation on top of the 30,000+ who have already died. Action must be taken NOW.
A new U.N.-backed report has found that famine is imminent in northern Gaza with nearly a third of Gaza’s population experiencing the highest levels of catastrophic hunger. This comes as Israel launches another major raid at Al-Shifa Hospital, where tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians have taken shelter since the start of the conflict. In the south, daily bombing continues while the Israeli government threatens a full-scale ground invasion on the border city of Rafah. “The world should impose sanctions on Israel,” says the Palestinian National Initiative’s Mustafa Barghouti, who joins us from the occupied West Bank. Barghouti responds to Israel’s latest military actions and claims, gives an update on the status of ceasefire negotiations, addresses conditions in Israeli prisons and more. “It’s a massacre. It’s a huge genocide,” he says. “The ultimate goal of Israel is ethnic cleansing.
The US transition to Green Energy is going well.
United States Produces More Crude Oil Than Any Country, Ever - CleanTechnica
The United States produced more crude oil than any nation at any time, according to our International Energy Statistics, for the past six years in a row. Crude oil production in the United States, including condensate, averaged 12.9 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2023, breaking the previous U.S. and global record of 12.3 million b/d, set in 2019.
Heartbreaking and predictable. Also, the response is an irrational, stubborn denial of reality. And yes, of course it’s climate change. And it’s people and capitalism that are to blame.
This Louisiana town lost 90% of its population. Is climate change to blame?
A series of hurricanes have devastated the area… This summer is expected to be a particularly volatile hurricane season. Rising sea surface temperatures arising from global warming are making hurricanes strengthen faster than ever before…
So good.
An Honest Chevron Ad - YouTube
Did you know Chevron was found liable for $9.5 billion in damages from decades of dumping toxic oil waste in the Amazon basin? And instead of paying, they spent years persecuting and stripping the rights of Steven Donziger, the lawyer who led the case against them.