Link Blog
Linked: Climate Emergency
The climate emergency is all around us.
Smokehouse Creek Fire now second-largest on record in Texas…
The Smokehouse Creek Fire has burned 500,000 acres since igniting Monday afternoon, making it the second-largest wildfire on record in Texas, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service. It remains completely uncontained and is likely to grow further. The largest wildfire was the East Amarillo Complex fire in 2006, which consumed more than 900,000 acres, according to Texas A&M.
Israel and the US, partners in land theft, genocide and apartheid.
West Bank settler expansion: a year on the frontline - YouTube
In the West Bank tensions between Israelis and Palestinians have been a fact of life for decades. But since the October 7th attacks, the situation has only got worse, with hundreds of Palestinians being killed - and more illegal Israeli settlements spreading across the land.
In a recent thread about Israel’s ongoing atrocities against Palestinians on Micro.Blog, these two excellent posts stood out to me. First, David Marsden offered this postwhich included a link to the history of the Palestinian slogan “from the river to the sea” . Then this:
For almost 20 years Hamas has repeatedly offered Israel a peace process and effectively a two state solution, based on an Israeli military withdrawal to its 1967 borders, the establishment of a Palestinian mini-state on the West Bank and Gaza, with a ten year truce to negotiate other outstanding issues, such as the right of return for refugees.
Then Samjc offered this:
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable” ~ JFK
Without justifying the atrocities of Oct 7, the structural reality of Israel makes violence inevitable. You have one group who has taken the land of another to create an ethno-state, leaving most of the original inhabitants with no rights. Until that basic structure changes, we can expect outbursts of violence from both sides – for Palestinians as resistance, and perhaps also vengeance as you put it; for Israel, it is “security” (even though it is the structural violence of the situation that reproduces Israel’s vulnerability)
Republican House Rep. Andrew Ogles on Gaza: “We Should Kill Them All”…
In a stunning admission, a House Republican was caught on camera this week saying that he thinks the U.S. and Israel should kill all Palestinians in Gaza.
Tennessee Rep. Andy Ogles made the comments in response to pro-Palestine activists who confronted him in a hallway about the U.S.’s continued support for Israel’s genocidal assault in Gaza, which has killed 30,000 Palestinians so far, including 12,300 children.
HunterNP: Rest in power, Aaron Bushnell…
“Many of us like to ask ourselves, ‘What would I do if I was alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? What would I do if my country was committing genocide?’ The answer is, you’re doing it. Right now."
Suicide vs genocide: Rest in power, Aaron Bushnell
On Sunday, February 25, 25-year-old active duty member of the United States Air Force Aaron Bushnell set himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in the US capital of Washington, DC, in a one-airman revolt against the US-backed slaughter currently being perpetrated by the Israeli military in the Gaza Strip.
Over the past 143 days, Israel has killed nearly 30,000 Palestinians in the besieged coastal enclave…
Nancy MacLean, “The Pre-History—and Likely Sequels—of the Insurrection at the U.S. Capitol”
The attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, was just a hint. Nancy MacLean on decades of intentional cultivation:
What we are seeing in the United States today is the coming together of a network of far-right corporate donors determined to remake the world, a major political party their grantees have radicalized beyond recognition, and vigilantism in multiple arenas being spurred by highly profitable media outlets.
Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Feb 21
Steve Bannon: “MAGA will govern for fifty years”.
Pizzagate conspiracist Jack Posobiec:
“Welcome to the end of democracy. We are here to overthrow it completely. We didn’t get all the way there on Jan. 6, but we will endeavor to get rid of it…. Bcz all glory is not to government. All glory to god”
Trump’s address is set for Saturday, 24 Feb.
Linked: Palestinian and Gaza News
Mhairi Black’s incredible speech demanding a ceasefire in Gaza…
The SNP Westminster Deputy Leader kicked off the debate before tonight’s Gaza vote with a stirring plea to the House.
Over 2/3 of Jewish Israelis oppose humanitarian aid to Palestinians starving in Gaza…
This is a shocking data point. The Israeli Democracy Institute released a survey this week showing that over 2/3 of Jewish Israelis – 68% that is – opposed “the transfer of humanitarian aid to Gaza residents at this time.”
It gets even worse – the survey lowered the bar to exclude any possible opposition to either UNRWA (which Israel has been inciting against) or the Hamas authorities (which Israel considers terrorists). To no avail. Over two-thirds still oppose humanitarian help “via international bodies that are not linked to Hamas or to UNRWA… A majority of Jewish respondents (68%) oppose the transfer of humanitarian aid even under these conditions,” the survey notes.
Democrats Back Effort To Vote Against Biden In Michigan Primary…
Democratic congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, along with former Democratic congressman Andy Levin, have both backed an effort within Michigan to vote “uncommitted” and against President Joe Biden as a way to send a message. Here’s the breakdown and my thoughts.
US isolation grows amid international scrutiny: Marwan Bishara…
It’s day four at the UN’s top court for public hearings on the impact of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories. China, Ireland, Iran, and Jordan are among a host of countries that say Israel’s nearly six-decade-long occupation is a flagrant violation of international law.
U.S. isolated at G-20 as Gaza crisis worsens…
RIO DE JANEIRO — The U.S. opposition to an immediate cease-fire in Gaza came under repeated criticism during a two-day meeting of the chief diplomats of the world’s 20 largest economies in the latest sign of Washington’s isolation on the issue.
Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira, the host of this year’s annual Group of 20 gathering, began the meeting by decrying the “paralysis” at the United Nations Security Council, where Washington vetoed a third resolution for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza earlier in the week.
Claims of Israeli sexual assault of Palestinian women are credible, UN panel says…
UN experts say they have seen “credible allegations” that Palestinian women and girls have been subjected to sexual assaults, including rape, while in Israeli detention, and are calling for a full investigation.
The panel of experts said there was evidence of a least two cases of rape, alongside other cases of sexual humiliation and threats of rape. Reem Alsalem, the UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, said the true extent of sexual violence could be significantly higher.
“Moral Failure”: Democrats Urge Biden to Change Gaza Policy…
As the death toll of Palestinians killed by Israel’s assault on Gaza approaches 30,000 and the United States vetoes a ceasefire resolution at the U.N. Security Council for the third time, the Biden administration’s support for Israel has come under fierce criticism both around the world and in the U.S. In Michigan, which is a key battleground state and home to one of the largest Arab American populations in the country, a campaign is growing to vote “uncommitted” in next week’s Democratic primary in protest of Biden’s policies backing Israel. “We’re not standing against anyone, but we’re simply reaffirming our stance for humanity and for the basic tenets of human rights,” says Democratic state Representative Abraham Aiyash, Michigan’s highest-ranking Arab and Muslim leader. “The administration needs to change course in foreign policy in the Middle East in order to gain the trust of people who we have lost,” says California Democratic Congressmember Ro Khanna, who says the U.S. must call for an immediate ceasefire and place conditions on aid to Israel.
More Than 50 Countries Argue Before World Court Against Israeli Occupation of Palestine…
Arguments are underway at the International Court of Justice, where more than 50 countries are asking the World Court to issue a nonbinding legal opinion against Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza since 1967. The request is separate from South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the ICJ. “Israel has been instrumentalizing the rules of international humanitarian law … to further its settler-colonial project in Palestine,” says Ahmed Abofoul of the Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq, which submitted an advisory opinion on the case. “I have no doubt that the court will decide that Israel’s occupation is illegal,” he says. We also discuss what comes after the ruling and Israeli society’s reaction to the war.
ICJ ruling will have ramifications across the board: Marwan Bishara…
Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst, has has said that the ICJ is not judging whether the occupied Palestinian territories are occupied or not in this case. They are occupied and there is no dispute about it, according to the UN Security Council resolutions on the issue, he said. “Israel can make the [opposite] claim if it wants and it does with huge lies for the last 50 years,” he said.
Brazil’s Lula compares Israel’s war on Gaza with the Holocaust…
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has accused Israel of committing “genocide” against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and compared its war on Gaza with Adolf Hitler’s campaign to exterminate Jewish people.
“What’s happening in the Gaza Strip isn’t a war, it’s a genocide,” Lula told reporters in Addis Ababa where he was attending an African Union summit on Sunday.
“It’s not a war of soldiers against soldiers. It’s a war between a highly prepared army and women and children,” added the Brazilian president.
Today Adobe announced its annual MAX conference would take place in Florida. A US state the NAACP has declared unsafe for Black travelers. 500 employees signed an internal letter, condemning the decision…
Serif’s Affinity suite of apps: Publisher, Photo, Designer are excellent alternatives to Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. A one time purchase, option to buy a universal license to use all three apps on 3 platforms: Windows, Mac and iPad.
Linked: Palestinian and Gaza News
Not a surprise but with the latest UN Security Council Veto the US is alone in its ongoing support of Israel’s genocide against Palestine. In our support of war crimes and genocide we are guilty of war crimes and genocide.
US veto sinks Algeria’s ceasefire resolution at UN Security Council…
The United States has once again vetoed a draft resolution on Gaza at the UN Security Council. It’s the third veto by the US since the start of the war. The text put forward by Algeria called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, and had 13 members voting in favour. The US was the only country to vote against it.
More Than 50 Countries Argue Before World Court Against Israeli Occupation of Palestine…
Arguments are underway at the International Court of Justice, where more than 50 countries are asking the World Court to issue a nonbinding legal opinion against Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza since 1967. The request is separate from South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the ICJ. “Israel has been instrumentalizing the rules of international humanitarian law … to further its settler-colonial project in Palestine,” says Ahmed Abofoul of the Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq, which submitted an advisory opinion on the case. “I have no doubt that the court will decide that Israel’s occupation is illegal,” he says. We also discuss what comes after the ruling and Israeli society’s reaction to the war.
Hearing on Israeli occupation could help peace process under international law…
Daniel Levy, president of the US/Middle East Project think tank, says the likely response of Israel’s allies to this week’s proceedings at the ICJ is that the court should “keep its nose out” of an issue that they will argue is political and not legal. “Why is that so important? Because the question here is whether the peace process, the 30 years of agreements, … is something that should be untouched by international law,” Levy told Al Jazeera.
Momentum grows for protest vote against Biden in Michigan primary…
Activists are calling for a ballot protest at Michigan’s February 27 primary, in an effort to push President Joe Biden to support a ceasefire and end the administration’s support for Israel’s brutal assault on Gaza.
Our Revolution has become the latest organization to back the movement. The progressive action group recently sent an email to 87,000 of its members in Michigan and nearly 225,000 supporters in other states, calling on them to vote uncommitted.
“We need to send President Biden a message: We are outraged by U.S. complicity in the destruction of Gaza, the killing of thousands of civilians, including more than 10,000 children, and it must STOP!” read the email. “By voting uncommitted on 2/27, Our Rev supporters can push Biden to change course on Gaza now and increase his chances of winning Michigan in November.” I’m the Mayor of Dearborn, Mich., and My City Feels Betrayed…
Dearborn does not sleep. We have not slept. Our entire city is haunted by the images, videos and stories streaming out of Gaza. Life seems heavily veiled in a haze of shared grief, fear, helplessness and even guilt as we try to understand how our tax dollars could be used by those we elected to slaughter our relatives overseas.
We don’t have to imagine the violence and injustice being carried out against the Palestinian people. Many of us lived it, and still bear the scars of life under occupation and apartheid.
“What I Saw Wasn’t War — It Was Annihilation,” Says U.S. Doctor Who Volunteered in Gaza Hospital…
We speak with an American doctor just back from Gaza about the “unimaginable scale” of its humanitarian crisis. Irfan Galaria, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon, recently wrote an op-ed for the L.A. Times describing Israel’s assault on Gaza’s civilians as “annihilation.” Dr. Galaria, who has worked in conflict zones around the world, says he and his team witnessed “a collateral humanitarian crisis of an unimaginable scale,” involving the “deliberate attempt” to both target civilians with military assault and to deprive them of aid. “I thought I was going to be prepared, but I was not prepared for what I saw,” he says.
Linked: Palestinian and Gaza News
Palestine awakens the revolution…
Since Israel began its slaughter in Gaza on October 7, I have felt my own heart become a grave for over 25,000 people in Palestine. I, along with the rest of the world, have borne witness to the world’s most documented genocide in history. I have watched, from my phone, the attempted annihilation of an entire nation.
These 100 days of genocide have replaced every cell in my body and made me into a different person. I am not the same as I was before witnessing these atrocities; my soul has shifted to revolve around this revolution. I’m not alone. The world has changed right along with me.
Total Chaos: What A Palestinian American Doctor Saw In Gaza…
Dr. Thaer Ahmad, emergency room physician and assistant program director of the Advocate Christ Emergency Medicine Residency Program, discusses his recent experience volunteering at the Al Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip.https://www.instagram.com/tahmadmd/?hl=enhttps://christem.com/Thaer Ahmad then walks through his assessment of the already shaky state of the healthcare system in pre-October 7th Gaza, as well as his relationship to the healthcare system, as a first-generation Palestinian-American doctor, before tackling the extensive effort it took to get into Gaza as a healthcare worker. Next, Dr. Ahmad explores the extreme changes in quality of life in Southern Gaza from his previous experiences providing healthcare, parsing through the impact of mass displacement into Rafah alongside the dwindling number of functioning hospitals in the region creating a system of severely overworked, underfunded, and under-resourced healthcare workers.
Gaza Besieged, Jews Divided, & a World in Pain: Gabor, Aaron, & Daniel Maté in Conversation…
This conversation took place in early 2024, three months into Israel’s bombardment and invasion and the ensuing humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. Gabor Maté and sons Aaron and Daniel got together in Vancouver BC to discuss what’s happening in Gaza, Israel, and the worldwide Jewish community.
Which Countries Supply Arms to Israel…
As civilian casualties continue to mount in Gaza, global calls for countries to halt arms sales to Israel grow. The United States Senate has approved a bill committing $14bn to support Israel’s war on Gaza this week.
Even before the start of the war last October, the US firmly supported Israel with the supply of military equipment, contributing $3bn annually in military aid. Many other countries provide military support to Israel via arms sales.
Civilian casualties continue to mount in Gaza – currently standing at more than 28,000 dead with thousands more trapped under rubble and presumed dead in just four months of bombardment and ground invasions. The rising death toll is prompting international condemnation.
Human Rights Discourse Has Failed to Stop the Genocide in Gaza…
Four months into the assault on Gaza, the Israeli military has forced over a million refugees to the edge of the Egyptian border and is now bombing them while threatening to mount a ground assault against them. In the following text, Jonathan Pollak, a longtime participant in Anarchists Against the Wall and other anti-colonial solidarity efforts, explains why we should not look to international institutions or protest movements within Israeli society to put a stop to the genocide in Gaza and calls on ordinary people to take action.
Ongoing link round-up of events in Gaza
Bombs, Disease, Starvation: Canadian Doctor Describes the Desperate Situation Inside Gaza…
As Israel continues to threaten to invade Rafah, where over a million Palestinians have sought refuge, we speak to a surgeon who recently returned from a humanitarian mission at the European Hospital in Khan Younis in Gaza. “What I saw in Khan Younis were the most horrific scenes in my entire life,” says Canadian ophthalmologist Dr. Yasser Khan. He describes the dire conditions of injured civilians in Gaza, the majority of whom are children. “The genocidal intent of Israeli politicians, the Israeli army, is really clear. What is really bizarre is that they haven’t hid it,” says Khan. “The killing machine that Israel has unleashed on the healthcare system, I think, is unprecedented. … If the bombings are not going to get you, then disease will surely get you.”
‘There will be no Gaza’: Palestinian policy expert slams U.S. policy toward Israel and Gaza…
President Biden has been venting his frustration in recent private conversations over his inability to persuade Israel to change its military tactics in the Gaza strip, according to NBC News reporting. Yet, as Biden reportedly disparages Netanyahu in private, not much has changed in terms of U.S. policy toward Israel and Gaza, as the death count soars. Rula Jebreal, a Palestinian policy expert and visiting professor at the University of Miami, joins Joy Reid with her analysis.
Is Israel in breach of the ruling by the ICJ? | Inside Story - YouTube…
The United Nations' top court has ordered Israel to prevent and punish actions that could lead to or incite genocide in Gaza. The ruling was widely viewed as a step towards ending Israel’s war. But in the weeks that followed, troops have continued to act with impunity – intensifying their indiscriminate killing of Palestinians. Now Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is threatening a possible military offensive in Rafah, the southern-most point of the territory. Palestinians are trapped, with nowhere to go. So, what can be done to end Israel’s brutality?
Mother in Rafah Desperate to Escape as Israel Prepares Ground Invasion…
As Palestinian health officials say overnight Israeli strikes killed dozens in Rafah, where over 1 million Palestinians have sought refuge, we speak with a teacher trying to evacuate Rafah with her young children, who urges the U.S. government to stop the bloodshed. “My message to President Biden: We are innocent civilians, and we have no fault in what is happening,” says Duha Latif. “Our children deserve to live a normal life like the rest of the world’s children.” Latif is fundraising to gather the money she needs to enter Egypt. The latest Israeli bombardment was conducted as part of an operation to free two Israeli hostages and came amid warnings from U.S. President Joe Biden and other world leaders against Israel’s expected ground invasion of Rafah. Aid agencies fear the offensive would cause massive casualties.
Why does the US refuse to call for a ceasefire in Gaza? | The Bottom Line - YouTube…
The United States' support for Israel’s war on Gaza makes the country look ineffectual and hypocritical to the rest of the world, according to Harvard University professor Stephen Walt, co-author of The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy. Walt tells host Steve Clemons that Israel and the US-Israel relationship have changed over the decades, but US President Joe Biden is holding on to a view of Israel formed in the West in the 1970s.
Gaza: 67 dead in Rafah strikes as Israel plans ground assault…
While in Gaza they mourned the nearly 70 who were killed by the bombardments that accompanied the raid. The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza puts the figure of those killed since Israel began military action in response to the 7th of October attacks at more than 28,000. Israel is proposing a ground invasion of Rafah which is now estimated to be housing more than a million Palestinians.
How Israel automated occupation in Hebron | The Listening Post…
Palestinians in Hebron are some of the most heavily monitored and controlled people on the planet. In the first episode of a two-part special, Tariq Nafi reports from the occupied West Bank on the previously unknown facial recognition system ‘Red Wolf’, uncovered by Amnesty International and Breaking the Silence.
How Israeli Apartheid Destroyed My Hometown - YouTube…
Segregated streets. Settler violence. Military harassment. This happens all over the occupied West Bank, but perhaps nowhere are these scenes more concentrated than in the Old City of Hebron. The once vibrant Palestinian cultural center is now ground zero of Israeli apartheid. It’s also where AJ+‘s Dena Takruri’s family calls home. In this deeply personal documentary, Dena spends a day in Hebron retracing the footsteps of her father, who was born and raised in Hebron. She talks to Palestinians who are subjected to daily harassment from the Israeli military and settlers. And she is guided through the city by former Israeli soldiers, who tell her why their conscience is now forcing them to speak out against the occupation.
Jon Stewart Tackles The Biden-Trump Rematch That Nobody Wants | The Daily Show - YouTube
He’s back. And his take on the upcoming presidential election is spot on.
Photos: Superb Owl Sunday VIII - The Atlantic
A special Sunday event: our eighth annual photo collection celebrating the magnificent birds of prey. These nocturnal hunters hail from Europe, Asia, North America, and South America, and are depicted here in photos from recent years. If you have some time today before the big game (or are skipping the event entirely), we invite you to take a look.
Kimberley Rose - The definition of antisemitism that has become a weapon to defend Israel…
The Palestinian death toll is over 28,000 and yet here I am debating words? Why? Because words, in particular the working definition of antisemitism by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance IHRA, is being used as a weapon to silence people and defend Israel. And these words are increasing being worked into laws. Lawmakers in more than half-dozen US states are pushing laws to define antisemitism
As millions in the US entertained themselves with the Super Bowl Sunday night Israel, with the full support of the US, continued its genocide in Gaza.
Noura Erakat: Israel’s Looming Invasion of Rafah is the “Worst-Case Scenario” - YouTube…
As the United States, the European Union and countries around the world are warning Israel against a ground invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza, we speak with Palestinian human rights attorney Noura Erakat. “This is disproportionate, excessive force that is meant to terrorize a population,” says Erakat. “Israel must stop its genocidal campaign now.” Erakat also responds to news that one of President Biden’s top foreign policy aides has admitted the administration has made “missteps” in the Middle East, and discusses calls to stop arms transfers under international law to prevent war crimes.
Prince at 3:30.
2021 Remastered Edit: Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, Steve Winwood, Dhani Harrison & Prince pay tribute to George Harrison at the 2004 Induction Ceremony
Linked: Palestinian Gaza News
Chris Hedges “The Genocide in Gaza”…
Best-selling author, foreign correspondent, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges addressed the Middle East crisis with a talk titled “The Genocide in Gaza” on December 6, 2023 at The Sanctuary for Independent Media in North Troy NY.
31 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes in Rafah after Netanyahu says invasion there is inevitable…
RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli airstrikes killed at least 31 Palestinians in Rafah early Saturday, hours after Israel’s prime minister said he asked the military to plan for the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people from the southern Gaza city ahead of a ground invasion.
Benjamin Netanyahu did not provide details or a timeline, but the announcement set off widespread panic. More than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are packed into Rafah, many after being uprooted repeatedly by Israeli evacuation orders that now cover two-thirds of Gaza’s territory. It’s not clear where they could run next.
Medical teams targeted: Israeli sniper fire hits operating room staff…
Palestinian medics targeted by Israelis; hospitals disrupted. Plea for foreign intervention. Blockades worsen situation. Medical workers in Gaza are under attack, as Israeli forces have deliberately shot and injured them while they were on duty. The shortage of medical personnel at Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis has made it difficult to treat sick and injured Palestinians. The doctors at Nasser hospital are calling for foreign intervention to ensure the safety of medical workers. Israel’s blockade on food, fuel, and medicine entering Gaza has worsened the situation, making it harder for understocked hospitals to operate effectively.
Ex-UNRWA Official: Funding Cuts Make Donor Countries Complicit in Starvation of Gaza…
As Israel’s assault on Gaza has displaced the majority of Palestinians in Gaza, more than half are sheltering in facilities run by UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees. Despite being the largest humanitarian agency in Gaza, UNRWA says it may run out of funds by the end of the month, after at least 18 states or institutions, including many of the agency’s biggest funders, announced they were suspending their donations in January. The cuts came after the Israeli government accused several UNRWA employees of participating in the Hamas attack on October 7. Israel made the allegations in a document it provided to foreign governments which apparently contained no direct evidence of the claims. “As of now, the evidence simply does not exist” outside of this “dodgy Israeli dossier,” says Chris Gunness, former chief spokesperson for UNRWA. He slams donors who have pulled their funding as “doing Israel’s political bidding” in its “scheme to dismantle UNRWA” and further dispossess Palestinians in Gaza.
How to End America’s Hypocrisy on Gaza…
The military campaign that Israel launched in response to Hamas’s brutal October 7 attacks has killed more than 27,000 people in the Gaza Strip and injured more than 60,000 others, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. About 75 percent of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million has been displaced. Some 400,000 people are enduring famine because of the blockade Israel has imposed on Gaza and the severe restrictions on humanitarian aid that have deprived civilians of what they need to survive. This number could grow if international funding for aid falters.