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Samidoun statement on the International Criminal Court, the Resistance, and justice for Palestine

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network | May 20, 2024

For years, the Palestinian people, at all levels of organization and struggle, have been demanding that the leaders of the Zionist regime are held accountable in international courts, including and especially the International Criminal Court, for their ongoing genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in occupied Palestine. Today, on 20 May 2024, ICC prosecutor Karim Khan announced his intention to seek arrest warrants against not only the Zionist war criminals Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, but also against the Palestinian resistance leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh.

Let us be clear: There is no equation to be made between the legitimate resistance of the Palestinian people and its leadership, including Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh, and the illegitimate Zionist colonizer. The attempt to equate victim and perpetrator is a fundamental injustice, not the pursuit of long-denied justice.

It is certainly true that the Palestinian resistance recognized this risk, especially given the powerful political interests involved and the track record of the ICC in prosecuting Africans and now, enemies of the imperialist West. In 2014, when the Palestinian Authority acceded to the Rome Statute, and again in 2024, the Palestinian resistance leadership, particularly Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement, has stated its openness to international investigations and its willingness to face the ICC if there is an attempt to meaningfully pursue justice against the occupiers and genocidaires of Palestine and their imperialist backers and accomplices.

However, the fact that the resistance is, as always, willing to sacrifice for Palestine, to be subjected to injustice so that their people may see freedom, does not make Khan’s actions any more just, acceptable or fair, nor does it make them legally valid.

Khan’s repeated references to the “rights” of Zionist colonizers, while failing to address Palestinian rights, as well as his legally invalid reference to the so-called “right of ‘Israel’ to defend itself,” when an occupier and colonizer has no right to defend itself against the people it is occupying and colonizing, highlight the ongoing bias of the ICC Prosecutor and his embrace of an imperialist framework for the operations of the Court. He made no mention of the right of the Palestinian people to resist and to liberate themselves through armed struggle, despite its broad support in international law.

It is, in fact, only because of the Resistance, because of the willingness of the resistance fighters, surrounded and nurtured by its popular cradle, that these arrest warrants for the Zionist war criminals are even being proposed and considered. It is the bravery, creativity and revolutionary steadfastness of the Palestinian people and their Resistance, including and particularly through the armed struggle, that has reset the balance of power to the extent that the crimes of the occupier can no longer be greeted with pure impunity.

Every legal achievement has been brought about not by the objective power or application of law, but by the shifting of reality brought about by the Palestinian armed struggle, accompanied by the regional and global forces of Resistance, especially the Lebanese resistance, the Yemeni armed forces, people, government and AnsarAllah movement, stretching through Iraq, Syria and Iran. It also speaks to the growing international popular cradle of the resistance, from student encampments to mass demonstrations to direct actions at arms manufacturers, that are making it clear that business as usual inside the imperial core is impossible so long as the genocide continues.

It is clear that 7 October changed the world. While Khan seeks to pretend that history began on 7 October and ignore the lengthy history of colonialism, ongoing Nakba and ongoing genocide since 1948, the Palestinian resistance made clear on 7 October that the horizon of true decolonization was opened in Palestine, that it was possible not only to imagine but to achieve a Palestine liberated from Zionism and a region liberated from imperialism.

The choice to seek warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant, while not against Benny Gantz, Gadi Eisenkot, Itamar Ben-Gvir, Isaac Herzog, Herzi Halevi and other war criminals, also indicates its bias toward appeasing the political leadership of imperialist powers. Of course, Netanyahu and Gallant are genocidal war criminals whose direction of the current genocide in Palestine cannot be overstated. They have the blood of over 40,000 Palestinians on their hands in just the past seven months alone.

However, the omissions seem to seek to clear the road for a Gantz (or other similarly affiliated) prime ministership of the Zionist regime. The fact that various imperialist powers, and even a significant sector of the Zionist security establishment, think that Netanyahu is not good for the future of the Zionist and imperialist project is not a secret; they believe that other figures are far more trustworthy to secure their prime colonial project in the region. They believe that Netanyahu is securing his own political future and protection from prosecution at the expense of the future of the Zionist project in the region, and this has been one of the major causes of the growing unrest and internal disarray within the “Israeli” regime.

The application for arrest warrants indicates that imperialist powers, including the United States and the European Union, are very worried about the future of the Zionist colony in the region and recognize that it is on the road to its defeat, removal and dissolution.

It must be noted that these imperialist powers, especially the United States, which has threatened a war if its leaders are indicted, refuse to be held accountable before the ICC, a fate they have traditionally deemed acceptable only for the targets of imperialism, especially Africans. The Zionist colonial project in Palestine has always been genocidal. Its existence is a war crime and a crime against humanity. The ICC prosecutor’s application for arrest warrants do not even begin to touch the magnitude of its crimes in Palestine.

These omissions are particularly egregious given that the ICC’s limited mandate in Palestine extends back to 2014, yet no crimes before 7 October 2023 are considered in Khan’s decision to seek these arrest warrants. This comes alongside the decision to charge three Palestinian leaders (of the legitimate resistance) as opposed to two Zionist officials (of the illegitimate settler colony and imperialist outpost), and to proffer eight charges against Palestinians, vs. seven against Zionists; and to fail to seek any charges under Article 6 of the Rome Statute, which covers genocide, against the Zionist war criminals.

It is particularly outrageous that while Khan seeks to charge Palestinian resistance leaders with “torture,” he has failed to seek any such charges against the Zionist regime, which is currently imprisoning and torturing over 9,400 Palestinian prisoners. Sixteen Palestinian prisoners’ martyrdom has been documented since 7 October 2023, while at least 27 Palestinians have been martyred in the concentration and torture camps for Palestinian civilians kidnapped from Gaza at Sde Teiman. Palestinian and international sources – and even Zionist whistleblowers – have repeatedly documented and exposed the horrific conditions, medical abuse, brutal torture, forced amputations and starvation being used against Palestinian detainees in both these concentration camps and the Zionist prison system. The photos of Palestinian detainees released after months in prison – such as those of Omar Assaf and Imad Barghouti – underline the level of mistreatment and torture that has become standard in the Zionist jails.

As a counter to the failure to seek to indict Gantz, his fellow members of the “war cabinet” and IOF chief Halevi – let alone all of the Zionist officials responsible for the crimes against humanity and genocide in Palestine since 2014, let alone 1948 — we see the indictment of Ismail Haniyeh, as a political leader of the Palestinian resistance. The pursuit of an indictment against Haniyeh appears to be an attempt to undermine Palestinian presence in current ceasefire negotiations and to add another level of pressure to the Palestinian resistance to accept permanent Zionist and imperialist occupation in Gaza.

It also makes clear that the indictments of Zionist war criminals are selective, while Palestinian resistance leadership is to be targeted in total. We have all confidence in the resistance’s willingness to sacrifice, ability to defend itself brilliantly in court and to win decisively in any fair trial.

The choice of charges against the resistance leaders (exceeding by one those against the Zionists in all cases), invoking numerous debunked and propagandistic Zionist claims, including “rape” and “extermination,” while failing to pursue charges of genocide and apartheid against the Zionist war criminals, further underlines this bias.

We all look forward to seeing Netanyahu and Gallant in the dock and appreciate this clear crack in the armor of impunity for the Zionist regime. We know that it is they who constantly travel around the world to receive billions of dollars in support from their imperial sponsors. At the same time, it is also clear that the ICC Prosecutor is not acting as a truly neutral party and is instead carrying out the directives of imperialist powers who would not accept any charges against the Zionist leadership without a “both sides” clause targeting the already criminalized and repressed Palestinian resistance. The equation of the indigenous resistance with the illegitimate colonizer is part of the minimization of genocide rather than its prosecution.

It is further clear that the ICC is not an institution into which we can place trust, as evidenced by its own history and failures to hold accountable any of those responsible for the horrific attacks on Iraq and Afghanistan, Libya and Syria; the starving of Venezuela through sanctions and blockades, the extraction of wealth in Africa, the attempted mass starvation and genocide in Yemen, the ongoing destabilization and destruction of Haiti.

The ICC has served for too long as a weapon of colonialism rather than a tribunal of justice. We trust the revolutionary justice of the victorious Palestinian people. There can be no equation of colonizer and colonized, of the executioner and the victim.

Glory and victory to the Palestinian resistance, to the Lebanese and Yemeni resistance, to all of the forces of resistance in the region and the world.

Imperialism and Zionism will be defeated, and from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.

May 20, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Progressive Hypocrite, Timeless or most popular, War Crimes | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

ICC applies for arrest warrants against Netanyahu, Sinwar

The Cradle | May 20, 2024

The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has applied for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, the Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, the movement’s military wing chief, Mohammad Deif, and Political Bureau head, Ismail Haniyeh, for war crimes.

Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan said there were reasonable grounds to believe that all bore criminal responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity from at least 7 October 2023.

The ICC, based in The Hague, opened an investigation into Israel’s actions in the occupied territories in 2021. The investigation has been expanded to cover both Israeli and Hamas actions since the start of the Gaza war on 7 October.

The ICC accused Hamas of killing several hundred Israelis and of committing various war crimes during its assault on Israeli military bases and settlements during Operation Al-Aqsa Flood. The ICC accusations include extermination, murder, taking hostages, rape and other sexual crimes, and torture.

The ICC statement also does not mention that during the 7 October Hamas attack, Israeli forces killed many of their own civilians by responding with heavy weapons. Israeli media has reported that the army used helicopters, drones, and tanks to open fire on Hamas fighters and their Israeli captives in settlements (kibbutzim), military bases, and the Nova music festival site.

These heavy weapons burned many Israelis alive or buried them under the rubble of the houses they destroyed. The killings and resulting mutilation of the bodies were then blamed on Hamas by Israeli authorities, who suggested fighters from Hamas’ armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, had tortured them.

UN investigators have sought evidence that Hamas has committed mass rapes on 7 October in response to Israeli claims, but Israel has failed to provide it. Many reports of Hamas committing mass rape, including in a widely publicized article in the New York Times in December, have been shown to be false.

The ICC also accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant of war crimes, including extermination, murder, directing attacks at civilians, and using starvation as a weapon of war.

The ICC statement focused on Israel’s efforts to starve Palestinians in Gaza, citing its efforts to cut off food, water, medicine, and electricity to the enclave starting on 9 October. The ICC statement mentions Israeli attacks on civilians, including those queuing for food.

The statement claims that Israel carried out these war crimes as part of a right to self-defense and to defeat Hamas, win the release of Israeli captives held by the group, and punish civilians it viewed as a “threat.”

At the same time, the ICC statement did not mention the reason for the Hamas attack, namely to break the 17-year siege on Gaza, end decades of illegal occupation and settlement in the West Bank, and free thousands of Palestinians held hostage in Israeli prisons.

The ICC statement makes no mention of Israel’s relentless bombing of Gaza, of Israeli sniper drones killing civilians, and of the torture and sexual abuse of Palestinian detainees swept up in Gaza and taken to detention facilities in Israel. The ICC statement also makes no mention of Israeli efforts to ethnically cleanse Gaza nor of the estimated number of Palestinians killed by Israeli bombings and other actions, which now exceeds 34,000, including some 8,000 children, according to conservative UN estimates.

In response, an Israeli official told the Times of Israel that Karim Khan’s “baseless blood libel against Israel has crossed a red line in his lawfare efforts against the lone Jewish state and the only democracy in the Middle East.”

“The blood libel will not deter Israel from defending itself and accomplishing all its just war objectives,” says the official. Netanyahu will issue a video statement later in the day.

May 20, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Progressive Hypocrite, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

Japan’s most senior cancer doctor: COVID shots are ‘essentially murder’

By Emily Mangiaracina | Life Site News | May 14, 2024

The most senior medical oncologist in Japan recently slammed the COVID-19 mRNA shots as “the work of evil” that has caused “essentially murder.”

In an interview published April 19, Dr. Masanori Fukushima, who spearheaded the first cancer outpatient clinic at Kyoto University and launched the first course in pharmacoepidemiology there, listed a slew of problems with the COVID mRNA jabs, evidencing what he called an evil “abuse of science.”

He pointed out that “turbo cancers,” a kind “previously unseen by doctors” that progress extremely quickly and are typically in stage four by the time they are diagnosed, have started to appear after the jab rollouts. These “turbo cancers” are emerging along with excess mortality due to cancer in general, which Fukushima says cannot be explained only by lost opportunities for screenings or treatment during the COVID outbreak.

As a tragic example of the fatal danger of the COVID shots, the oncologist shared the story of a 28-year-old man who was found dead by his wife when she tried to wake him in the morning, five days after he received his second Pfizer shot.

“The doctor who did the autopsy said that when he tried to remove the heart, it was soft and had disintegrated,” Fukushima said. “And even just one case like this shows how dangerous this vaccine can be.”

He pointed out that these severe harms, including death, have been afflicting people – post-jab – who have a history of good health.

“It’s serious. It’s essentially murder. In the end, I want to state clearly that this is my view,” the doctor said.

He lamented that the media, including newspapers, generally have not reported on these harms, and that in fact those who question the safety of the COVID shots – just as with the flu shots – have been characterized as anti-science “heretics.” He described the attitude of those who shut down the voices COVID “vaccine” critics, however, as far from scientific, and “more akin to faith, hysteria or even cult behavior.”

“I am now deeply concerned not only about a serious crisis in medicine but in science and democracy,” Fukushima said.

He highlighted the fact that countries that most aggressively pushed the COVID shot, such as Israel, saw the highest rates of death and infection, as shown by studies comparing Middle Eastern countries, including Jordan, Syria and Egypt. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arranged a special deal with Pfizer to use Israelis as lab rats in a national injection program with the Pfizer Covid “vaccine.”

“Israel led in early and widespread vaccination but also had the highest death and infection rates. The less aggressively vaccinated areas saw less harm,” said Fukushima, noting that “Israel was quick to halt the vaccine.”

There were problems, moreover, with the very technology used to administer the mRNA – the lipid nanoparticles – that the doctor said result in “off-target effects” on various organs, including the ovaries, brain, liver, and bone marrow.

Worse, the spike proteins produced by the mRNA have been detected in the human body more than a year after the administration of the COVID shot, noted the oncologist, indicating “a severe problem.”

The doctor took aim at the World Health Organization (WHO) for “hastily” pushing the COVID shots without proper investigation, and moreover for trying to enforce a one-size-fits-all approach in countries with widely varying “medical circumstances, habits, and systems,” calling it “somewhat absurd.”

He argued that it is “crucial” that the WHO take responsibility for the harms of the COVID shots, which he called “an abuse, a misuse of science and an evil practice of science, to be frank.”

Fukushima pointed out that the WHO is “aware” of harms from the so-called vaccines because they are compensating for these damages in certain countries, and yet they are not properly addressing the COVID shot-induced death and injury through an investigation and report.

“Imagine finding your spouse dead in the morning. It’s no joke. A vaccine that causes such outcomes, even a single death, is unacceptable,” said Fukushima, adding that in Japan alone, the government has documented 2,134 deaths reported due to the COVID shot, which is likely a low estimate.

“There are tens of thousands of people who must see a doctor because of vaccine-related issues,” he continued, asserting that a big chunk of them – 30 percent – are “suffering from ME (myalgic encephalomyelitis) or chronic fatigue syndrome.”

This is just the beginning, according to Fukushima, because the rates of all sorts of diseases have been spiking since the COVID shot rollout, including “autoimmune disease, neurodegenerative diseases, cancer, and infections.”

“It’s as if we’ve opened Pandora’s box… We must take these damages seriously and address them earnestly. Any efforts to dismiss these damages as if they didn’t happen are frankly the work of evil. This is a quintessential example of the evil practice of science,” Fukushima said.

He called on scientific and medical institutions, led by the WHO, to directly confront these outcomes through research efforts in order to “shine the light of science” on the shots.

“We should never again use such vaccines,” he said. “This is a shame for humanity. It’s a disgrace that we did this.”

U.S. citizens: Demand Congress investigate soaring excess death rates

May 19, 2024 Posted by | Timeless or most popular, War Crimes | | Leave a comment

One civilian killed as Ukrainian drone strikes minibus – governor

RT | May 19, 2024

One person has been killed and “many” others wounded in a Ukrainian drone strike on a minibus carrying civilians in Russia’s Kherson Region, Governor Vladimir Saldo said on Sunday.

The attack took place in the village of Radensk on Sunday morning, Saldo wrote on Telegram. The UAV targeted a vehicle with workers on their way to harvest strawberries, he added.

“The explosion killed one person. There are many wounded, who are receiving necessary medical assistance,” the governor said.

Russian regions have seen several attacks on buses by Ukrainian drones since the start of this month.

On May 6, seven people were killed and dozens wounded after UAVs targeted two minibuses carrying farmers near the village of Beryozovka in Belgorod Region.

Two days earlier, two people were injured when a drone struck a bus in the village of Voznesenka, also in Belgorod Region.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Sunday that “a number of attempts by the Kiev regime to carry out terrorist attacks” on Russian territory with the use of US-supplied ATACMS missiles and drones were prevented overnight.

Nine ATACMS were shot down by air defenses over Crimea, while a total of 57 drones were intercepted in the Krasnodar Region, the ministry said. Three UAVs were destroyed in Belgorod Region, it added.

May 19, 2024 Posted by | War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

Another Palestinian journalist killed in Gaza, death toll climbs to 145 since Oct. 7

Press TV – May 19, 2024

The government media office in the Gaza Strip says one more Palestinian journalist has been killed in an Israeli airstrike on the blockaded coastal territory, taking the death toll to 145 since last October when resistance fighters launched a large-scale operation against the occupying regime.

Journalist Abdullah al-Najjar lost his life on Saturday when Israeli fighter jets carried out an airstrike against a neighborhood in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip.

Earlier in the day, Palestinian medical sources said at least 28 people, including women and children, were killed in Israeli continuous raids on the camp.

Palestinian security sources added that Israeli warplanes targeted several residential houses and a shelter center for displaced people in the area with missiles.

The raids caused large explosions in the Jabalia refugee camp, which had been witnessing a ground invasion for several days.

Israeli forces in Gaza killed Palestinian journalist Mahmoud Juhjouh along with his wife and children on Thursday.

Local Palestinian media reported that Juhjouh was killed in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City, when a bomb struck his family home.

The journalist worked for the Palestine Post Network.

According to reports, Jahjouh had been forcibly displaced several times due to Israeli bombardment, and had finally returned to his home after Israeli forces withdrew from areas in northern Gaza.

The United Nations has raised concern over the “extraordinarily high numbers of journalists and media workers who have been killed, attacked, injured and detained” in recent months.

“We pay special tribute to the courage and resilience of journalists and media workers in Gaza who continue to put their own lives on the line every day in the course of duty, while also enduring enormous hardship and tragic loss of colleagues, friends and families in one of the bloodiest, most ruthless conflicts of our time,” UN experts said in a statement.

Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after Palestinian resistance groups carried out a surprise retaliatory operation into the occupied territories.

Concomitantly with the war, the regime has been enforcing a near-total siege on the coastal territory, which has reduced the flow of foodstuffs, medicine, electricity, and water into the Palestinian territory into a trickle.

So far during the military onslaught, the regime has killed at least 35,386 Gazans, most of them women, children, and adolescents. Another 79,366 Palestinians have sustained injuries as well.

May 19, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Full Spectrum Dominance, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

West ‘playing with fire’ – Moscow

RT | May 18, 2024

The West only risks further escalation by arming and encouraging Kiev to strike Russian territory, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Friday.

The warning comes as Ukrainian strikes against Russian cities intensify on the backdrop of Kiev losing ground in the Kharkov Region.

“The profile of the American and British handlers of the [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky regime is clearly visible behind these barbaric attacks,” Zakharova told reporters. “They are not only providing longer-range missiles and heavy weapons, but are giving a green light to their use against Russia.”

“Once again, we would like to unequivocally warn Washington, London, Brussels and other Western capitals, as well as Kiev, which is under their control, that they are playing with fire. Russia will not leave such encroachments on its territory unanswered,” the spokeswoman stressed.

On Thursday and Friday, the Ukrainian troops launched a combined assault on Crimea, Krasnodar and other Russian regions using UAVs and naval drones. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, more than 100 drones were intercepted mid-air, while six unmanned boats were destroyed by the Black Sea Fleet.

During its briefing on Friday, the MOD added that over the course of the week Russian troops had intercepted dozens of US-made ATACMS missiles, as well as nearly 200 rockets, including projectiles fired from US-made HIMARS and Czech-made Vampire launchers. The Hammer guided bombs delivered by France, the Storm Shadow cruise missiles made by the UK, and nearly 330 UAVs were also used in the attacks, it said.

A total of 19 civilians were killed in Russia’s Belgorod region on May 12 alone, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said. On Friday, Gladkov wrote on Telegram that a Ukrainian drone hit a civilian car, killing a mother and her four-year-old daughter.

On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated that the shelling of residential areas is pushing Moscow to create a buffer zone along the border with Ukraine. “If this continues, we will be forced to create a security zone. This is what we are doing,” he said during his trip to China.

Last month, the New York Times cited senior Pentagon officials as saying that the US had allowed Ukraine to use ATACMS missiles against targets in Crimea. British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps confirmed to journalists on Tuesday that London allows Kiev to strike Crimea with UK-supplied weapons.

The largely Russian-speaking peninsula voted in 2014 to leave Ukraine and join Russia following the Western-backed coup in Kiev that took place earlier that year.

May 18, 2024 Posted by | Militarism, War Crimes | , , | Leave a comment

Over 600 mosques destroyed in Israeli onslaught on Gaza since Oct. 7

Press TV – May 18, 2024

The Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs in the Gaza Strip says Israeli military forces have fully destroyed or damaged hundreds of mosques in the besieged coastal territory ever since the Tel Aviv regime started its bloody onslaught in early October last year.

The ministry announced in a statement that the total number of mosques completely destroyed in the current conflict stands at 604, while another 200 have been partially destroyed.

The statement said Israeli troops have also desecrated at least 60 cemeteries during their ground invasion of Gaza, and used bulldozers to dig up graves and steal the bodies of more than 1,000 people.

It said 15 buildings belonging to the Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs were destroyed during the Israeli aggression, among them the headquarters of the ministry, the main office of the Holy Quran Radio in Gaza City, the Endowment Management office in Khan Younis, and a repository for documents and manuscripts.

The statement said that 91 employees of the ministry have been killed in the Israeli attacks.

Israel launched its onslaught against the Gaza Strip, targeting hospitals, residences, and houses of worship, after Palestinian resistance movements launched a surprise attack, dubbed Operation al-Aqsa Storm, against the usurping entity on October 7 last year.

At least 35,386 Palestinians have been killed, most of them women and children, according to the latest health ministry update in Gaza on Saturday. More than 1.7 million people have been internally displaced during the war as well.

May 18, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Full Spectrum Dominance, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

US university president placed on leave for accepting demands of Palestine supporters

MEMO | May 17, 2024

Sonoma State University’s President, Mike Lee, has been placed on administrative leave for announcing an agreement with pro-Palestinian activists to pursue an academic boycott of Israeli institutions and divestment strategies.

California State University Chancellor Mildred Garcia said yesterday that Mike Lee was put on leave for accepting the demands of protesting students without obtaining “proper approvals.”

She added in a statement published on the website of the University of California, to which Sonoma University is affiliated: “For now, because of this insubordination and consequences it has brought upon the system, President Lee has been placed on administrative leave.”

This decision is considered the harshest disciplinary action imposed on the president of any of the US universities that have witnessed anti-war protests.

Since April, US, Canadian, British, French and Indian universities have witnessed protests rejecting the Israeli war on Gaza and demanding university administrations stop their academic cooperation with Israeli academic institutions.

Protesters also demand that their universities withdraw their investments from companies that support the occupation of Palestinian territories and arm the Israeli army.

In New York riot police were sent into campuses to disperse protesters and remove encampments set up in support of Palestinians in Gaza.

May 17, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Solidarity and Activism, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Belgium’s Ghent university severs ties with 3 Israel institutions

MEMO | May 17, 2024

Belgium’s University of Ghent (UGent) is severing ties with three Israeli educational or research institutions which it says no longer align with UGent’s human rights policy, Reuters reports its rector saying.

Pro-Palestinian protesters in Ghent have been demonstrating against Israel’s military offensive in Gaza and have been occupying parts of the university since early this month.

The university’s rector, Rik Van de Walle, said in a statement that ties were being cut with Holon Institute of Technology, MIGAL Galilee Research Institute and the Volcani Centre, which carries out agricultural research.

“We currently assess these three partners as (very) problematic according to the Ghent University human rights test, in contrast to the positive evaluation we gave these partners at the start of our collaboration,” Van de Walle said.

Partnerships with MIGAL Galilee Research Institute and the Volcani Centre “were no longer desirable” due to their affiliation with Israeli ministries, an investigation by the University of Ghent found, and collaboration with the Holon Institute “was problematic” because it provided material support to the army for actions in Gaza.

A spokesperson for the university said the move would affect four projects.

The three Israeli institutions did not immediately comment.

The protesters told Belgian broadcaster VRT they welcomed the decision but regarded it as only a first step. They said they would continue their occupation of parts of the university “until UGent breaks its ties with all Israeli institutions”.

The actions mirror those of students in the United States and elsewhere in Europe, calling for an immediate permanent ceasefire and for schools to cut financial ties with companies they say are profiting from what they regard as the oppression of Palestinians.

May 17, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Solidarity and Activism, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

Meet Benjamin Netanyahu, Unconvicted War Criminal

Corbett | May 14, 2024

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

The International Criminal Court is supposedly mulling war crimes charges against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other high-ranking Israeli political and military officials. But what reason could they possibly have for charging Netanyahu with war crimes? Uncover all the dirt on the unindicted war criminal presiding over Israel’s crimes against humanity in this important edition of The Corbett Report podcast.

WATCH ON: ARCHIVE / BITCHUTE / ODYSEE / RUMBLE / ROKFIN / SUBSTACK or DOWNLOAD THE MP4

DOCUMENTATION

Israel lashes out at possible ICC warrants as “outrage of historic proportions”
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Bibi: My Story
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The Resistible Rise of Benjamin Netanyahu
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Can the ICC Actually Arrest Netanyahu?
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Agnellis, Rothschilds close in on Economist
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Could the International Criminal Court indict Binyamin Netanyahu?
Time Reference: 09:09

 

US Working To Prevent ICC Arrest Warrant for Netanyahu
Time Reference: 10:24

 

Victor’s Justice: The Truth About the International Criminal Court
Time Reference: 11:49

 

Episode 261 – International Law?
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Who Is Benjamin Netanyahu?
Time Reference: 13:34

 

The Rise of Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu | NowThis World
Time Reference: 13:44

 

Netanyahu at War (full documentary) | FRONTLINE
Time Reference: 14:05

 

From Soldier to Statesman : Biography of Benjamin Netanyahu
Time Reference: 14:22

 

Bibi in the gas mask (CNN January 18, 1991)
Time Reference: 17:20

 

Likud’s Late Grandfather
Time Reference: 19:39

 

1946 King David Hotel Bombing
Time Reference: 21:08

 

PM Netanyahu’s Remarks at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center Event Marking Israel’s 70th Anniversary
Time Reference: 24:04

 

Zionism’s Terrorist Heritage
Time Reference: 24:55

 

Corbett Report Radio 214 – Israel’s Nuclear Smuggling with Grant F. Smith
Time Reference: 28:23

 

Bibi’s bribery case
Time Reference: 32:00

 

What is the latest on Netanyahu’s corruption trial?
Time Reference: 32:04

 

Charter of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East
Time Reference: 34:26

 

Israeli Perspective on Conflict with Iraq
Time Reference: 37:11

 

False Flags: The Secret History of Al Qaeda
Time Reference: 40:17

 

Sept. 11 Was Good For Israel – Benjamin Netanyahu
Time Reference: 43:04

 

Israel PM Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu Address to United Nations Sept 27, 2012
Time Reference: 44:50

 

Watch Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s full speech to Congress
Time Reference: 45:17

 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives statement on Iran Nuclear Deal
Time Reference: 46:03

 

Israel – Prime Minister Addresses United Nations General Debate, 78th Session
Time Reference: 46:40

 

Israel election 2019: Netanyahu vows to annex West Bank settlements | DW News
Time Reference: 47:58

 

West Bank settler expansion: a year on the frontline
Time Reference: 48:28

 

Inside Israeli Apartheid
Time Reference: 49:45

 

‘Absolute Apartheid’: Israeli general joins chorus of voices condemning persecution of Palestinians
Time Reference: 50:18

 

‘That sounds like ethnic cleansing’: CNN questions lead figure in Israel’s settler movement
Time Reference: 50:54

 

Israeli Settlers Are Terrorizing Palestinians In Record Numbers
Time Reference: 51:42

 

Palestine Remix – Israeli Brutality Caught on Tape
Time Reference: 52:37

 

Statement by PM Netanyahu Regarding Operation Protective Edge
Time Reference: 54:59

 

‘Operation Protective Edge’ is underway in Israel
Time Reference: 55:36

 

Gaza Conflict Takes Heavy Toll on Palestinian Children
Time Reference: 56:22

 

Gaza conflict: Israel & Hamas face allegations of war crimes – BBC News
Time Reference: 56:49

 

U.N. Human Rights Official Accuses Israel, Hama Of War Crimes
Time Reference: 57:22

 

Gaza: Israel strike kills four boys on beach | Channel 4 News
Time Reference: 57:42

 

Israhell and the Hannibal Directive – #NewWorldNextWeek
Time Reference: 58:52

 

‘Cold-blooded massacre’: Israeli forces kill over 104 aid seekers in Gaza
Time Reference: 59:53

 

Israeli government under fire after airstrike kills aid workers
Time Reference: 1:00:10

 

Israel likely violated international humanitarian law in Gaza war, U.S. report says
Time Reference: 01:00:34

 

Children in Gaza dying from “malnutrition and disease, Blinken set to meet Arab leaders in Cairo
Time Reference: 01:01:03

May 17, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, False Flag Terrorism, Timeless or most popular, Video, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

Spain turns away ship carrying arms to occupied territories

Press TV | May 16, 2024

Spain has turned away a ship carrying arms to the occupied territories amid the Israeli regime’s ongoing genocidal war against the Gaza Strip.

Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares announced the development on Thursday.

“This is the first time we have done this because it is the first time we have detected a ship carrying a shipment of arms to Israel that wants to call at a Spanish port,” he told reporters in Brussels.

Transport Minister Oscar Puente identified the vessel as Marianne Danica, which had requested permission to berth at the southeastern Spanish port of Cartagena on May 21.

The country’s El Pais newspaper, meanwhile, reported that the Danish-flagged ship was carrying 27 tons of explosive material from Madras in India to the port of Haifa in the occupied territories.

‘Consistent policy’

Adding to his remarks, Albares said, “This will be a consistent policy with any ship carrying arms to Israel that wants to call at Spanish ports.”

“The foreign ministry will systematically reject such stopovers for one obvious reason. The Middle East does not need more weapons, it needs more peace,” he noted.

The remarks came as the Israeli regime presses on with the war that it launched against Gaza on October 7 last year following a retaliatory operation by the coastal sliver’s resistance movements.

The overall death toll from the brutal military onslaught has reached 35,272 people, most of them women and children. Some 79,205 others have also been wounded.

The figures exclude the tens of thousands of dead, who are believed to be buried in the bombed-out ruins of buildings.

Spain has been one of Europe’s most critical voices about the war.

It halted arms sales to the Tel Aviv regime after the latter launched the aggression.

The country has also been working to rally other European capitals behind the idea of recognizing a Palestinian state.

May 17, 2024 Posted by | Solidarity and Activism, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

USAID whistleblowers accuse Biden of ‘direct complicity’ in Gaza famine

The Cradle | May 16, 2024

Current and former officials from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the State Department say the White House has ignored months of internal warnings about the spread of famine in the besieged Gaza Strip, according to an in-depth investigation by the Independent.

“I believe the US to be complicit in creating the conditions for famine. Not only has our response been woefully inadequate, but we’re actively responsible in large part for it,” a USAID employee told the British daily.

Internal documents reviewed by the Independent show that staffers have repeatedly warned USAID administrator Samantha Power and other senior leaders about the intensifying crisis in Gaza “often to no avail.”

“What was surprising to me, and deeply disappointing, was the fact that we were hearing nothing about imminent famine in Gaza,” a USAID staffer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, is quoted as saying.

According to the investigation, at least 19 internal dissent memos have been sent since the start of the Israeli genocide in Gaza by USAID staff, with one of the most recent ones chastising the White House for its “failure to uphold international humanitarian principles and to adhere to its mandate to save lives.”

In an internal dissent cable leaked to HuffPost in early April, officials warned that “the threshold to support a famine determination has likely already been crossed” and that the level of hunger and malnutrition in Gaza was “unprecedented in modern history.”

“Having worked in the administration during the Afghan withdrawal and also the Russian invasion of Ukraine, so many efforts were spearheaded and led, and normal procedures were bypassed given the urgent humanitarian situation. [In Gaza], however, it has been a totally different ballgame. There are systemic issues with how we issue Palestinian cases,” a homeland security official told Responsible Statecraft earlier this week.

“Any kind of initiative to expedite help for Palestinians has been blocked or quelled or slowed down dramatically in a way that I’ve never seen before … As the months dragged on, it became evident that the dissent channels that the State Department likes to tout are about placating staff more than actually listening to those with deep regional and policy expertise and making changes,” the 15-year federal employee added.

Furthermore, the USAID whistleblowers who spoke with the Independent described Washington’s public proclamations of doing all it can to stop the spread of hunger as “very disingenuous.”

“I don’t believe that the President of the United States – Israel’s most important ally and benefactor – has so little leverage that he can’t force them to take meaningful steps to really allow in the amount of aid that is necessary to save lives. It feels like there was no real effort to force Israel’s hands in terms of ensuring greater access to humanitarian assistance,” the US officials say.

Jan Egeland, the Secretary-General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, a humanitarian organization with dozens of aid workers operating in Gaza, told the British daily that there is a “double standard” from the White House when it comes to Israel.

“The administration could have [pressed Israel to cease its aid restrictions] through the application of Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act, which prohibits assistance to countries restricting US-funded humanitarian assistance; it could have done so through the withholding of arms shipments; it could have done so by supporting resolutions at the UN calling on Israel to stop restricting humanitarian assistance,” Egeland says, stressing that Washington’s “diplomatic impotence has been astounding.”

Dozens of Palestinians – most of them children – have died from starvation as hundreds of thousands are living under conditions of “full-blown famine” in the north of the enclave.

Despite the critical situation, the Israeli army has routinely blocked the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza. Moreover, mobs of Israeli settlers regularly attack the small trickle of aid deliveries headed for the strip, destroying the food and attacking truck drivers.

On 16 May, the World Food Programme (WFP) announced that it ran out of stock in southern Rafah and had suspended food aid distributions there since 11 May. As conditions worse, US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced on Thursday it had anchored a floating pier off the coast of Gaza that will allegedly allow for limited aid deliveries.

Speaking to the Independent, Jeremy Konyndyk, a former high-ranking USAID official, described Washington’s plan as a “major policy failure.”

“When the US government has to use tactics that it otherwise used to circumvent the Soviets in Berlin and circumvent ISIS in Syria and Iraq, that should prompt some really hard questions about the state of US policy,” he said.

May 16, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | Leave a comment

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