UN Report Details Rampant US Human Rights Violations at Home and Abroad

Two-thirds of U.S. breaches of the civil and political rights covenant involve racial discrimination.

By Marjorie Cohn , 

TRUTHOUT

November 9, 2023

The flag of the United Nations is pictured in front of the UN building  in New York City.

A United Nations body has issued a damning report blasting the United States for its rampant violations of a major human rights treaty that it ratified in 1992.

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) enshrines the rights to life, to vote, and to freedom of expression and assembly; and the prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. It forbids discrimination in the enjoyment of civil and political rights based on race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status (which includes sexual orientation).

In its blistering November 3 report, the UN Human Rights Committee — a group of 18 independent experts that monitors the implementation of the ICCPR — documented how little the U.S. has done to challenge the systemic, wide-ranging racism that continues to infuse every aspect of our society. Racial discrimination permeated two-thirds of the documented U.S. violations of the human rights treaty.

Jamil Dakwar, director of the ACLU’s Human Rights Program, called the UN report “scathing.”

“The United States touts itself as a beacon of democracy and human rights, yet the Committee’s findings prove that this could not be further from the truth, underscoring the critical need to prioritize and strengthen human rights at home and establish a National Human Rights Institution to ensure that our most basic rights are protected,” Dakwar said in a statement.

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Here are some of the committee’s “Concluding Observations,” which are the culmination of its periodic review in Geneva last month:

The committee expressed concern about violence — including mass shootings and hate speech — against Black people, Indigenous peoples, Latinos, Asians, Muslims and Jews, as well as migrants, asylum seekers and people targeted on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

An increase in gun-related deaths and injuries disproportionately affects racial and ethnic minorities, as well as women and children, the committee noted. It recommended strengthening legislation requiring background checks and banning assault weapons.

Discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity concerned the committee, which condemned the increase of severely restrictive state legislation, including criminalizing gender-affirming health care for transgender persons, and limiting discussions on sexual orientation and gender identity issues in school. The committee urged that discriminatory state laws be repealed and that the U.S. intensify its efforts to combat violence and discrimination in access to housing, health, employment and in detention facilities.

Criminalization of homelessness and violence against unhoused persons disproportionately impact people based on their race, real or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity, and disability. The committee, which cited “violence against homeless persons” who are at “higher risk of premature death” due to homelessness, recommended the abolition of laws criminalizing homelessness.

The report zeroed in on racial profiling, citing violations by law enforcement officials, including Customs and Border Protection, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as the targeting of ethnic and racial minorities, particularly Black people, Indigenous peoples, Latinos and Muslims.

Police brutality and the excessive and deadly use of force by law enforcement officials have a disparate impact on Black, Latino and Indigenous peoples, as well as migrants and asylum seekers, the committee concluded. It urged bringing federal and state laws and policies into conformity with international principles on the use of force and firearms by law enforcement and UN guidelines on less lethal weapons in law enforcement.

The report noted the overrepresentation of racial and ethnic minorities in the criminal legal system. They are disproportionately held in pretrial detention and placed on probation and parole, and are more often subject to prison labor and harsher sentences. The committee recommended reducing unnecessary criminal justice interventions, increased use of alternatives to incarceration, reasonable bail requirements, and parole and probation sentences that are necessary and proportionate to the offense.

Racial disparities in the imposition of the death penalty were also of concern to the committee, which recommended a moratorium at the federal level and concrete steps toward the abolition of capital punishment. U.S. officials were urged to strengthen safeguards against racist and wrongful sentencing and execution. Life imprisonment without possibility of parole (LWOP) similarly disproportionately affects Black people. The report also urged the U.S. to prohibit and abolish LWOP for juveniles and consider imposing a moratorium on the imposition of LWOP sentences.

The Committee was also concerned about discrimination on the basis of nationality, including residual effects from Donald Trump’s now-revoked “Muslim ban.” Prolonged delays in family reunification and a backlog of visa applications persist. The committee suggested an accessible, fair and effective reconsideration process for all visa applicants who continue to be affected by the ban, and additional measures to prevent future discriminatory bans.

Of grave concern were recent U.S. policies that “excessively restrict” effective protection of the right to seek asylum. The committee was concerned that they may breach the principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits returning someone to a country where there is a substantial risk they will face torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The report also points to mandatory and prolonged detention, lack of access to counsel and poor detention conditions, leading to the deaths of many detained people.

More than 5,000 children were forcibly separated from their parents at the southern U.S. border, and hundreds still remain separated. The committee urged the U.S. to redouble its efforts to reunite all separated children with their families and prohibit future family separations.

Children belonging to racial and ethnic minorities are overrepresented in the child welfare system, and police presence in schools — part of the “school-to-prison pipeline” — disproportionately affects children of color. The committee advocated eliminating discriminatory bias in student discipline.

The committee was concerned about human trafficking, including children, as well as the criminalization of victims of trafficking and limited access to effective protection, particularly for noncitizens who are at risk of becoming victims of forced labor. The committee recommended on-site inspections, especially in the agricultural sector, as well as measures to prevent the criminalization of sex trafficking victims.

The committee also highlighted violence against women, including domestic and sexual violence. Victims disproportionately include low-income women; Black, Latina and Indigenous women; incarcerated women; and women with disabilities. The committee recommended effective implementation of the Violence Against Women Act and encouraged states to pass legislation prohibiting and criminalizing female genital mutilation. The report added that the U.S. should redouble its efforts to protect against sex- and gender-based discrimination through the Equal Rights Amendment and should consider ratifying the Convention on All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. Missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, and the lack of comprehensive data and resources, which hinders effective and culturally appropriate investigations, were also cited.

The report noted that the U.S. has the highest maternal mortality rate among developed nations, which particularly affects women of color. It cited the “immediate and devastating impact” of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization on access to safe and legal abortion, including racial and ethnic disparities in reproductive health. The committee was alarmed at the criminalization of health care providers and people, including family members, who assist women in obtaining abortions, and was deeply concerned about restrictions on interstate travel for abortions, bans on medication abortion and surveillance of those seeking abortion care.

Another focus was the lack of protection of Indigenous lands and sacred sites from extractive industries, toxic and nuclear waste, and military infrastructure. The committee exhorted the U.S. to ensure meaningful and good faith consultations with Indigenous peoples and ensure their active participation to obtain free, prior and informed consent before taking any measures that can substantially affect their rights, way of life and culture.

The committee was concerned that climate change could threaten the right to life. It said it regretted that the U.S. failed to provide specific information about what measures have been taken to protect the most vulnerable people from the negative impacts of climate change and natural disasters. The committee cited concerns about “various water crises” in the U.S., such as the leaking of high levels of lead into water systems and outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease in Flint, Michigan, disproportionately impacting Black and Indigenous peoples. The committee called on the U.S. to intensify its efforts to prevent and mitigate the effects of climate change and environmental degradation.

Voter suppression was also a major focus of the report, which cited partisan gerrymandering, voting restrictions and burdensome voter ID requirements. These policies have a disproportionate impact on low-income voters, persons with disabilities, and racial and ethnic minorities. The committee also criticized disenfranchisement laws targeting those with felony convictions and the role of dark money in elections.

The committee noted that freedom of assembly was in peril, citing the use of anti-terrorism laws to prosecute peaceful protesters, including anti-racism demonstrators, environmental activists and Indigenous protesters. The committee was also critical of excessive force by law enforcement officers, surveillance, arbitrary arrests and mass detention of peaceful demonstrators.

The report also mentioned the threat of anti-boycott laws that sanction those who boycott foreign countries and corporations for their human rights violations, likely referring to the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement to pressure Israel to end its occupation of Palestinian territory. The committee recommended that officials refrain from attacking journalists and review anti-boycott laws that may restrict freedom of expression.

The committee condemned the continuing U.S. practice of killing in extraterritorial counterterrorism operations with armed drones, and the lack of transparency and accountability for the serious harm it causes, especially to civilians. It pushed for compliance with the principles of precaution, distinction and proportionality in armed conflict, and reminded the U.S. of its obligations under international human rights law and international humanitarian law.

The committee was concerned about the extensive use of solitary confinement, including prolonged and indefinite confinement. It recommended prohibition of solitary confinement for juveniles and people with intellectual or psychosocial disabilities in prison.

Some of the detainees at Guantánamo Bay have been held there without charges or trial for more than 20 years. The committee recommends that the U.S. expedite the transfer of detainees and close the prison at Guantánamo. It also urged the U.S. to end its system of administrative detention without charge or trial and ensure that detainees are afforded fair trial rights and specialized health care.

The United States must thoroughly investigate, prosecute and punish violations of the ICCPR and provide effective remedies for victims and their families, the committee said, condemning the impunity of violators, including perpetrators and people in positions of command, as well as lawyers who “provided legal pretexts for manifestly illegal behavior.” The committee was likely referring to John Yoo, Jay Bybee, and other lawyers who wrote memos telling the George W. Bush administration how to torture detainees and get away with it. The committee deplored the widespread U.S. impunity for past human rights violations, including torture and “enhanced interrogation techniques.”

The committee also recommended that evidence and confessions obtained by torture be inadmissible in legal proceedings without exception.

In addition, the committee emphasized that the U.S. must incorporate its obligations under the ICCPR into its domestic laws at the federal, state, local and territorial levels, and once again called for the establishment of a national human rights institution.

“It is critical that the U.S. government take this opportunity to heed the United Nations’ recommendations and deliver on behalf of the American people — including immigrants, racial and ethnic minorities, women and girls, LGBTQ+ people, incarcerated people, Indigenous people, and other marginalized communities that are disproportionately impacted by the government’s continued violations,” ACLU’s Dakwar said.

The breadth of the U.S. violations of the ICCPR is overwhelming. The committee found breaches of the treaty in nearly every aspect of life in the United States. We should heed the committee’s recommendations and demand that our federal, state and local governments in the U.S. comply with our human rights obligations.

Copyright © Truthout. 

MARJORIE COHN is professor emerita at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, former president of the National Lawyers Guild, and a member of the national advisory boards of Assange Defense and Veterans For Peace, and the bureau of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers. She is founding dean of the People’s Academy of International Law and the U.S. representative to the continental advisory council of the Association of American Jurists. Her books include Drones and Targeted Killing: Legal, Moral and Geopolitical Issues. She is co-host of “Law and Disorder” Radio.

Texas must remove floating barrier from Rio Grande, appellate court orders

The federal appellate court upheld an earlier ruling by an Austin federal judge to remove the 1,000-foot-long barrier the state deployed near Eagle Pass.

Anti-immigration buoys that were placed in the Rio Grande River by the state of Texas must be removed, a federal appellate court panel has ruled. File Photo by Adam Davis/EPA-EFE

Dec. 2 (UPI) -- A federal appellate court panel has ordered Texas to remove the floating barrier it deployed in the Rio Grande at Eagle Pass this summer, affirming a lower court's ruling.

In a 2-1 decision issued Friday, a panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals found that the river is navigable where the barrier was placed and that it is "an obstruction," meaning that Texas needed to receive permission from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers -- which regulates activities in waterways and wetlands under federal law -- before deploying it.

Judge Don Willett, a Trump appointee, was the dissenting vote in the ruling, arguing that the Rio Grande cannot accommodate commercial boat traffic and is therefore not navigable.

Texas argued that the barrier was also meant to save lives and force migrants to cross the border at ports of entry, but Willet said Texas hasn't proved that's the case.

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"At this stage, however, Texas has not offered concrete evidence that the barrier has saved lives or reduced illegal crossings and drug trafficking," Willet wrote.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott posted a statement on X calling Friday's ruling "clearly wrong" and said he and Attorney General Ken Paxton will seek an immediate rehearing by the entire Fifth Circuit. "We'll go to SCOTUS if needed to protect Texas from Biden's open borders," he said, referring to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The barriers sparked protests from the Mexican government and migrant advocates. In July, the U.S. Justice Department sued Texas in an Austin federal court, arguing that the barrier was installed without required federal authorization. Texas argued that the barrier was designed to direct migrants to appropriate entry points and deter unlawful crossings and drug smuggling.

San Antonio-based Federal District Judge David A. Ezra ruled in September that Texas must remove the barrier. The state appealed to the New Orleans-based Fifth Circuit, halting Ezra's order while the Fifth Circuit considered the case.

Swing state Muslims outraged by president’s war stance vow to ditch Biden in 2024

BY CLAIRE SAVAGE
 December 2, 2023

CHICAGO (AP) — Muslim community leaders from several swing states pledged to withdraw support for U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday at a conference in suburban Detroit, citing his refusal to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Democrats in Michigan have warned the White House that Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war could cost him enough support within the Arab American community to sway the outcome of the 2024 presidential election.

Leaders from Michigan, Minnesota, Arizona, Wisconsin, Florida, Georgia, Nevada and Pennsylvania gathered behind a lectern that read “Abandon Biden, ceasefire now” in Dearborn, Michigan, the city with the largest concentration of Arab Americans in the United States.

More than 13,300 Palestinians — roughly two-thirds of them women and minors, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza — have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war. Some 1,200 Israelis have been killed, mostly during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war.


Breaches by Iran-affiliated hackers spanned multiple U.S. states, federal agencies say

Biden’s unwillingness to call for a ceasefire has damaged his relationship with the American Muslim community beyond repair, according to Minneapolis-based Jaylani Hussein, who helped organize the conference.

“Families and children are being wiped out with our tax dollars,” Hussein said. “What we are witnessing today is the tragedy upon tragedy.”

Hussein, who is Muslim, told The Associated Press: “The anger in our community is beyond belief. One of the things that made us even more angry is the fact that most of us actually voted for President Biden. I even had one incident where a religious leader asked me, ‘How do I get my 2020 ballot so I can destroy it?” he said.

Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania were critical components of the “blue wall” of states that Biden returned to the Democratic column, helping him win the White House in 2020. About 3.45 million Americans identify as Muslim, or 1.1% of the country’s population, and the demographic tends to lean Democratic, according to Pew Research Center.

But leaders said Saturday that the community’s support for Biden has vanished as more Palestinian men, women and children are killed in Gaza.

“We are not powerless as American Muslims. We are powerful. We don’t only have the money, but we have the actual votes. And we will use that vote to save this nation from itself,” Hussein said at the conference.

The Muslim community leaders’ condemnation of Biden does not indicate support for former President Donald Trump, the clear front-runner in the Republican primary, Hussein clarified.

“We don’t have two options. We have many options. And we’re going to exercise that,” he said.
___

Savage is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

Gallup Poll shows half of U.S. approves of Israel's war in Gaza as 45% oppose it

Survey also indicates 4 in 10 think United States sending too little humanitarian aid to Palestinians

Displaced Palestinians who fled Israeli attacks in northern Gaza, try to continue their daily lives In tents, at Alqds School in Rafah southern Gaza strip, Thursday, amid a truce in fighting between Israel and Hamas. Half of Americans support Israel's war in Gaza while 45% oppose it, according to a Gallup poll published Thursday

 Photo by Ismael Mohamad/UPI | License Photo

Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Half of Americans back Israel's Gaza war while 45% are against it, according to a Gallup Poll published Thursday. Four in 10 said the United States is sending too little humanitarian aid to Palestinians.

Gallup asked, "Do you approve or disapprove of the military action Israel has taken in Gaza?" The poll was conducted Nov. 1-21.

The poll showed Israel's war in Gaza divides Americans along gender, age, race and political party affiliation.

The poll showed 32% support President Joe Biden's handling of the Israel-Gaza war, compared to Biden's general job approval rating of 37%.

A solid 72% of Americans polled say they are paying close attention to the Israel-Gaza war.

The biggest margins of support for Israel's Gaza war actions were among Republicans (71%), adults 55 and older (63%) and white adults (61%).

But 63% of Democrats disapprove. Among adults under 35, 67% oppose Israel's military actions in Gaza and 64% of people of color disapprove.

Men favor Israel's war in Gaza 59%-37% while women oppose it 52%-44%.

"With no meaningful differences by education in these attitudes, college graduates' and college non-graduates' reactions mirror the national average. Political independents are evenly split in their views," Gallup said in a statement.

In a separate question, Gallup asked about opinions on U.S. aid to both Israel and Gaza.

"The largest segment of Americans, 42%, say the U.S. is providing about the right amount of military aid to Israel, and another 25% say the U.S. is not doing enough, totaling 67% who endorse at least the current level of military aid to Israel," Gallup's statement said. "In contrast to the balance of views on military aid to Israel, the percentage saying too little humanitarian aid is going to the Palestinians well exceeds the 22% saying the U.S. is doing too much."

Overall, Gallup said, Republicans, white adults and adults without college degrees are the groups most supportive of U,S, aid to Israel. They also are less likely to support increasing aid to Palestinians.

Democrats, people of color, women and young adults are most opposed to Israel's military actions in Gaza.

  Sarandon, Margulies apologize for Isarael-Hamas War remarks after backlash

By Karen Butler

Susan Sarandon has apologized for controversial remarks she made about the Israel-Hamas war.

 File Photo by Christine Chew/UPI | License Photo

Dec. 2 (UPI) -- Oscar-winning actress Susan Sarandon and Emmy-winning actress Julianna Margulies have issued statements apologizing for public remarks they made regarding the Israel-Hamas War.

"There are a lot of people that are afraid, that are afraid of being Jewish at this time, and are getting a taste of what it feels like to be a Muslim in this country, so often subjected to violence," Sarandon said at a pro-Palestine demonstration in New York last month.

The Thelma & Louise icon was widely criticized in the media and dropped as a client from her talent agency UTA in response to her impromptu speech.

"This phrasing was a terrible mistake, as it implies that until recently Jews have been strangers to persecution, when the opposite is true. As we all know, from centuries of oppression and genocide in Europe, to the Tree of Life shooting in Pittsburgh, PA, Jews have long been familiar with discrimination and religious violence which continues to this day. I deeply regret diminishing this reality and hurting people with this comment," Sarandon wrote on Instagram Friday.

"I will continue my commitment to peace, truth, justice, and compassion for all people. I hope that we can meet with love and willingness to engage in dialogue, especially with those with whom we disagree."

The Morning Show actress Margulies, who is Jewish, issued an exclusive statement to Deadline Friday, expressing her regret for remarks she made on a recent episode of The Back Room with Andy Ostroy podcast.

In condemning antisemitism, Margulies questioned why many people in the Black and LGBTQIA+ communities are supporting Palestine and not Israel in the ongoing conflict because, she said, Jews are more tolerant of marginalized communities than Muslims are.

"I wanna say to them: 'You [expletive] idiots. You don't exist. You're even lower than the Jews. A. You're Black, and B. You're gay and you're turning your back against the people who support you?' Because Jews, they rally around everybody," she said on the podcast.

"The fact that the entire Black community isn't standing with us to me says either they just don't know, or they've been brainwashed to hate Jews."

In her apology statement, Margulies said she was "horrified" to have offended the Black and LGBTQIA+ communities, which she said are people "I truly love and respect."

"I want to be 100% clear: Racism, homophobia, sexism, or any prejudice against anyone's personal beliefs or identity are abhorrent to me, full stop," she said.

"Throughout my career I have worked tirelessly to combat hate of all kind, end antisemitism, speak out against terrorist groups like Hamas, and forge a united front against discrimination. I did not intend for my words to sow further division, for which I am sincerely apologetic."

Statement to the Paris Peace Conference (WWI) re Zionism

by Dissident Voice Communications / December 1st, 2023

A Statement to the Peace Conference¹

“As a future form of government for Palestine will undoubtedly be considered by the approaching Peace Conference, we, the undersigned citizens of the United States, unite in this statement, setting forth our objections to the organization of a Jewish State in Palestine as proposed by the Zionist Societies in this country and Europe and to the segregation of the Jews as a nationalistic unit in any country.

“We feel that in so doing we are voicing the opinion of the majority of American Jews born in this country and of those foreign born who have lived here long enough to thoroughly assimilate American political and social conditions. The American Zionists represent, according to the most recent statistics available, only a small proportion of the Jews living in this country, about 150,000 out of 3,500,000. (American Jewish Yearbook 1918, Philadelphia.)

“At the outset we wish to indicate our entire sympathy with the efforts of Zionists which aim to secure for Jews at present living in lands of oppression a refuge in Palestine or elsewhere, where they may freely develop their capabilities and carry on their activities as free citizens.

“But we raise our voices in warning and protest against the demand of the Zionists for the reorganization of the Jews as a national unit, to whom, now or in the future, territorial sovereignty in Palestine shall be committed. This demand not only misinterprets the trend of the history of the Jews, who ceased to be a nation 2000 years ago, but involves the limitation and possible annulment of the larger claims of Jews for full citizenship and human rights in all lands in which those rights are not yet secure. For the very reason that the new era upon which the world is entering aims to establish government everywhere on principles of true democracy, we reject the Zionistic project of a ‘national home for the Jewish people in Palestine.’

“Zionism arose as a result of the intolerable conditions under which Jews have been forced to live in Russia and Roumania. But it is evident that for the Jewish population of these countries, variously estimated at from six to ten millions, Palestine can become no homeland. Even with the improvement of the neglected condition of this country, its limited area can offer no solution. The Jewish question in Russia and Roumania can be settled only within those countries by the grant of full rights of citizenship to Jews.

“We are all the more opposed to the Zionists, because they, themselves, distinctly repudiate the solely ameliorative program. They demand and hail with delight the ‘Balfour Declaration’ to establish ‘a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine,’ i.e., a home not merely for Jews living in countries in which they are oppressed, but for Jews universally. No Jew, wherever he may live, can consider himself free from the implications of such a grant.

“The willingness of Jews interested in the welfare of their brethren to aid in redeeming Palestine from the blight of centuries of Turkish misrule, is no acceptance of the Zionist project to segregate Jews as a political unit and to re-institute a section of such a political unit in Palestine or elsewhere.

“At the present juncture in the world’s affairs when lands that have hitherto been subjected to foreign domination are to be recognized as free and independent states, we rejoice in the avowed proposal of the Peace Congress to put into practical application the fundamental principles of democracy. That principle, which asserts equal rights for all citizens of a state, irrespective of creed or ethnic descent, should be applied in such a manner as to exclude segregation of any kind, be it nationalistic or other. Such segregation must inevitably create differences among the sections of the population of a country. Any such plan of segregation is necessarily reactionary in its tendency, undemocratic in spirit and totally contrary to the practices of free government, especially as these are exemplified by our own country. We therefore strongly urge the abandonment of such a basis for the reorganization of any state.”

Objections to Segregation of Jews as a Political Unit

“Against such a political segregation of the Jews in Palestine or elsewhere we object:

1. “Because the Jews are dedicated heart and soul to the welfare of the countries in which they dwell under free conditions. All Jews repudiate every suspicion of a double allegiance, but to our minds it is necessarily implied in and cannot by any logic be eliminated from the establishment of a sovereign State for the Jews in Palestine.

“By the large part taken by them in the great war (WWI), the Jews have once and for all shattered the base aspersions of the Anti-Semites which charged them with being aliens in every land, incapable of true patriotism and prompted only by sinister and self-seeking motives. Moreover, it is safe to assume that the overwhelming bulk of the Jews of America, England, France, Italy, Holland, Switzerland and the other lands of freedom, have no thought whatever of surrendering their citizenship in these lands in order to resort to a ‘Jewish homeland in Palestine.’ As a rule those who favor such a restoration advocate it not for themselves but for others. Those who act thus, and yet insist on their patriotic attachment to the countries of which they are citizens, are self-deceived in their profession of Zionism and under the spell of an emotional romanticism or of a religious sentiment fostered through centuries of gloom.

2. “We also object to political segregation of Jews for those who take their Zionistic professions seriously as referring not to ‘others’ but to themselves. Granted that the establishment of a sovereign Jewish State in Palestine would lead many to emigrate to that land, the political conditions of the millions who would be unable to migrate for generations to come, if ever, would be made far more precarious. Roumania – despite the pledges of the Berlin Treaty – has legally branded her Jews as aliens, though many are descended from families settled in that country longer than the present Roumanian government has existed. The establishment of a Jewish State will manifestly serve the malevolent rulers of that and other lands as a new justification for additional repressive legislation. The multitudes who remain would be subject to worse perils, if possible, even though the few who escape might prosper in Palestine.

3. “We object to the political segregation also of those who might succeed in establishing themselves in Palestine. The proposition involves dangers, which, it is manifest, have not had the serious consideration of those who are so zealous in its advocacy. These dangers are adverted to in a most kindly spirit of warning by Sir George Adam Smith, who is generally acknowledged to be the greatest authority in the world on everything connected to Palestine, either past or present. In a recent publication, Syria and the Holy Land, he points out that there is absolutely no fixity to the boundaries of Palestine. These have varied greatly in the course of the centuries. The claims to various sections of this undefined territory would unquestionably evoke bitter controversies. ‘It is not true,’ says Sir George, ‘that Palestine is the national home of the Jewish people and of no other people.’ ‘It is not correct to call its non-Jewish inhabitants “Arabs,” or to say that they have left no image of their spirit and made no history except in the Great Mosque.’ ‘Nor can we evade the fact that Christian communities have been as long in possession of their portion of this land as ever the Jews were.’ ‘These are legitimate questions,’ he says, ‘stirred up by the claims of Zionism, but the Zionists have not yet fully faced them.’

“To subject the Jews to the possible recurrence of such bitter and sanguinary conflicts which would be inevitable, would be a crime against the triumphs of their whole past history and against the lofty and world-embracing visions of their great prophets and leaders.

4. “Though these grave difficulties be met, still we protest against the political segregation of the Jews and the re-establishment in Palestine of a distinctively Jewish State as utterly opposed to the principles of democracy which it is the avowed purpose of the World’s Peace Conference to establish.

“Whether the Jews be regarded as a ‘race’ or as a ‘religion,’ it is contrary to the democratic principles for which the world war was waged to found a nation on either or both of these bases. America, England, France, Italy, Switzerland and all the most advanced nations of the world are composed of representatives of many races and religions. Their glory lies in the freedom of conscience and worship, in the liberty of thought and custom which binds the followers of many faiths and varied civilizations in the common bonds of political union. A Jewish State involves fundamental limitations as to race and religion, else the term ‘Jewish’ means nothing. To unite Church and State, in any form, as under the old Jewish hierarchy, would be a leap backward of two thousand years.

“‘The rights of other creeds and races will be respected under Jewish dominance,’ is the assurance of Zionism. But the keynotes of democracy are neither condescension nor tolerance, but justice and equality. All this applies with special force to a country like Palestine. That land is filled with associations sacred to the followers of three great religions, and as a result of migration movements of many centuries contains an extraordinary number of different ethnic groups, far out of proportion to the small extent of the country itself. Such a condition points clearly to a reorganization of Palestine on the broadest possible basis.

5. “We object to the political segregation of the Jews because it is an error to assume that the bond uniting them is of a national character. They are bound by two factors: First, the bond of common religious beliefs and aspirations and, secondly, the bond of common traditions customs, and experiences, largely, alas, of common trials and sufferings. Nothing in their present status suggests that they form in any real sense a separate nationalist unit.

“The reorganization of Palestine as far as it affects the Jews is but part of a far larger issue, namely, the constructive endeavor, to secure the emancipation of the Jews in all the lands in which they dwell. This movement, inaugurated in the eighteenth century and advancing with steady progress through the western lands, was checked by such reactionary tendencies as caused the expulsion of the Poles from Eastern Prussia and the massacre of Armenians in Turkey. As directed against Jews these tendencies crystallized into a political movement called Anti-Semitism, which had its rise in Germany. Its virulence spread (especially) throughout eastern Europe and led to cruel outbreaks in Roumania and elsewhere, and to the pogroms of Russia with their dire consequences.

“To guard against such evils in the future, we urge that the great constructive movement, so sadly interrupted, be reinstituted and that efficient measures be taken to insure the protection of the law and the full rights of citizenship to Jews in every land. If the basis of the reorganization of governments is henceforth to be democratic, it cannot be contemplated to exclude any group of people from the enjoyment of full rights.

“As to the future of Palestine, it is our fervent hope that what was once a ‘promised land’ for the Jews may become a ‘land of promise’ for all races and creeds, safeguarded by the League of Nations which, it is expected, will be one of the fruits of the Peace Conference to whose deliberations the world now looks forward so anxiously and so full of hope. We ask that Palestine be constituted as a free and independent state, to be governed under a democratic form of government recognizing no distinctions of creed or race or ethnic descent, and with adequate power to protect the country against oppression of any kind. We do not wish to see Palestine, either now or at any time in the future, organized as a Jewish State.”

Source: Anti-Zionism – Analytical Reflections, Amana Books, 1988, p. 341-349. Submitted by Michael K. Smith.

ENDNOTE:

1. The statement was prepared conjointly by the Rev. Dr. Henry Berkowitz, of Philadelphia, Mr. Max Senior, of Cincinnati, and Professor Morris Jastrow, Jr., of the University of Pennsylvania.

 

The Israeli Mind and the Ultra-Right

by Dan Lieberman / December 2nd, 2023

A few days of truce allows a few days to ponder events and examine apartheid Israel’s response to Hamas’ October 7 attack. Engaging in talks and achieving mutual agreements that release captives prompts the question of why wasn’t this done much earlier, before the entire population of Gaza was subjected to brutal bombardments that killed 14000 Palestinians, displaced  80 percent, destroyed 50 percent of the buildings in Gaza city, and killed more than 50 of the captured Israelis?

From the devastation emerges a chilling vision of a new world order — a nationalist, militarist, irredentist, far-right command of governments, kept in play by obedient media that shape information and exercise mind control. Coincidental with Israel’s attack on Gaza’s population and the West Bank Palestinians, Argentina and the Netherlands elected far-right leaders who are ardent supporters of Israel’s government, adding to established far-right governments in Italy and Hungary.

Post-World War II featured 45 years of a Cold War, of Capitalism contending Communism, followed by democratic neo-liberalism extending its reach worldwide, and igniting populist movements against globalization and liberalism from ultra-conservatives and authoritarians. The responses have graduated to a worldwide battle between those who believe everyone has the right to live freely, peacefully, equally, and without oppression and those who compose a ‘might make right’ force that acts with license to commit genocide. Revelations from an Israeli intelligence ministry document and a pronouncement by the director of the New York office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights certify the intended genocide.

Although not entirely authoritative, the Asia Times has discovered “What Gaza might look like ‘the day after’ the war.”

Less than a week after Hamas’s devastating attacks on October 7, Israel’s intelligence ministry produced a chilling document. It advocated that Israel remove all of Gaza’s Palestinian population and forcibly resettle them in the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula. What is more likely is that Israel will indefinitely occupy parts of Gaza, while seeking to eschew responsibility for civilian governance.

Craig Mokhiber, director of the New York office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, resigned and said, “The current wholesale slaughter of the Palestinian people, rooted in an ethno-nationalist colonial settler ideology, in continuation of decades of their systematic persecution and purging, based entirely upon their status as Arabs … leaves no room for doubt that this is a text book case of genocide.”

Hamas’ attack was more due to failure of Israeli border security than the well-prepared and well-coordinated Hamas militia. Failure has consequences and attempts to circumvent consequences and properly address failure may lead to greater failures, and this has happened. A rational government that placed its people before embarking on a mission of ‘might make right’ and  ’might cannot fail’ would  have:

(1)    Operated behind the scenes and obtained agreement to release all captives. Each day that women and children are captive is a day of mental and physical deterioration leading to lifelong illnesses and possible death.

(2)    Immediately secured the border in a firm and organized manner so there is no possibility of another Hamas attack.

(3)    Carefully ascertained the reasons for the attack, determined what may follow, and learned if the attack might be part of a larger campaign that includes other adversaries. Gather the facts before facing the facts.

News reports have not shown that Israel prioritized captive release and firm border security before waging destruction.

The media uses the word ‘war’ instead of ‘destruction.’ Where is the war, where is anybody able to contest Israel’s unilateral actions? Buildings and civilians do not fight and wage war; they are victims of destruction. Why does Israel wage destruction? The answer is obvious ─ Israel considered Hamas’ vicious attack as an opportunity to advance its agenda of physically and psychologically destroying the Palestinians. Keeping the conversation on the Hamas massacre alive while Israel mobilized its forces for its intended massacre and constantly referring to the brutality of the hostage-taking suppressed complaints to Israel’s genocidal tactics. But not for long. International protests to Israel’s deranged actions and an internal outcry at the neglect of the hostages forced Netanyahu to grant a temporary truce and trade captives.

To give a twisted rationale to Israel’s genocidal plan, Israeli officials and its worldwide media companions embarked on a media campaign that dehumanized the Palestinians and aroused sympathy for Israeli suffering. The Israeli propaganda machine worked quickly, using rumors and unverified stories to replace demon ISIS with new demon Hamas. Stop here for a moment of contention. Does the brutality of Hamas’ vicious attack permit unverified stories to circulate and prevent the airing of narratives that contradict the accepted narratives?

CNN commentator, Erin Burnett, interviewed  Yasmin Porat, an Israeli woman taken hostage. Ms. Porat related her witnessing the killings, being taken hostage, and being used as a human shield, but not really, she wasn’t a shield for a gun-toting killer; Yasmin Porat shielded a defenseless Hamas operative from being killed by Israeli forces before surrendering. Cutting the interview at its most crucial point, when Ms. Porat was prepared to reveal information inconsistent with published reports demonstrated how the media manipulates the message. In a radio interview, which can be heard below, the Israeli woman gave additional details of her capture.

AnIsraeli woman gave details of her capture at msn.com, which summarized her radio interview.

Yasmin Porat spoke in an exclusive interview about the events she witnessed. Amid the chaos of heavy crossfire and the ominous sound of tank shells exploding, Porat made a shocking claim: Israeli forces didn’t spare anyone in their path. “They eliminated everyone, including the hostages,” Porat said during her conversation with Israeli radio.

Her account paints a picture where the hostages, instead of being rescued, were caught in a deadly crossfire instigated by the very forces meant to save them. The event turned from a potential rescue operation to an unfortunate catastrophe where lives from both sides were lost.

In a surprising revelation, Porat also mentioned that Palestinian fighters treated the hostages with humanity. Despite the volatile situation, they offered the hostages hope, hinting at a safe passage to Gaza.

This act of compassion stands in stark contrast to the later chaos where the hostages found themselves caught between warring factions. Yet, the revelation hasn’t found widespread coverage. Porat’s testimony mysteriously disappeared from the “Haboker Hazeh” program, leading to rampant speculation about censorship.

Israeli official interpretation of the events made the Gazans who voted for and supported Hamas equally guilty in the slaughter and deserving equal retribution. By similar logic, this makes the slaughtered Israelis who voted for the present government, equally guilty in the destruction of the Palestinians. Although Hamas attacked and kidnapped Asian workers, and Hamas would have acted the same if Israelis were Mormons, Israel insisted Hamas was intent on committing genocide of world Jewry. The Hamas military wing of supposed 50,000 warriors, which has few armored vehicles, no air force, no naval force, and already demonstrated that it cannot penetrate Israel for more than a few kilometers without being demolished, is considered able to defeat the fourth most powerful military in the world and destroy world Jewry. Meanwhile, Israel’s military is committing genocide against the Palestinian people, and “powerful” Hamas is unable to prevent the catastrophe.

Hamas committed a despicable massacre and deserves the most serious condemnation. Israel commits continuous massacres plus human crimes plus human rights violations that daily impinge on the survival of the Palestinians. Add them up and Israel has committed a massacre that has a beyond comprehension magnitude.

The physical nature of the genocide is apparent but its numbers are relatively small, not what is expected in a genocide. Not apparent is the psychological genocide — the anxiety Israel creates for the Palestinians, the violence that causes traumas and deadens spirit and emotions. This is the major component of the genocide. Two examples:

After the release of Palestinians held in Israel’s prisons, the Israeli military forbade the Palestinian families to celebrate. Denying expression of joy after internalizing grief maintains the grief. No relief for the suffering.

Randomly, Israeli soldiers will stop an auto, take the driver, beat him senselessly, and throw him down on the road; the purpose being to terrorize Palestinians, show they are powerless, cannot control their lives, and have nobody to protect them. This practice enraged one young Palestinian who suffered a random beating. The next day he shot dead an Israeli soldier in what was described as a terror attack. The Israeli military followed the ‘“terror attack” with their usual practice of demolishing the “terrorist’s “ home, causing more trauma to those in the extended family.

After tying together the usual spurious charge of anti-Semitism, substituting killings of Jews for killing of Israelis, and associating the violence with the WWII Holocaust (worst attack on the Jewish community since the Holocaust), the pro-Israel contingent introduced a new sorrowful element to grab the twisted sensibilities of their legions of dishonor. Israel, which has the backing of the most powerful forces in the universe and gets more attention than other nations, is alone, nobody considers Jewish suffering, and the Jews are the lonely people of history.

Yossi Klein Halevy, an American-born Israeli author and journalist, who led a confusing and peripatetic intellectual life, had an initial attraction to the extremist Rabbi Meir Kahane, eventually supported the two-state solution, and criticizes the Israeli settler movement, wrote an article titled, The Lonely People of History in the November 16, 2023 edition of the Times of Israel. The article received excessive attention and mass circulation. Some excerpts that describe the Israeli mind.

But now we are at one of those defining moments in Jewish history when we find ourselves at a moral disconnect with much of the international community. As we struggle to absorb the enormity of the October 7 massacre and to confront a global wave of antisemitism, the trauma of aloneness has returned.

Instead of delving into self-pity and victimization, Halevi should find reality. The moral disconnect comes from Halevi’s cohorts’ refusal to recognize and halt the oppression of the Palestinian people – resolve that situation and the “global wave of antisemitism” will disappear.

During the Second Intifada, when the IDF fought suicide bombers in Palestinian towns and villages, an exasperated Kofi Anan, then secretary-general of the UN, demanded: “Can the whole world be wrong and only Israel is right?” Israelis unhesitatingly replied: Absolutely.

A sure way to become alone.

Speaking at the gravesite, Yonadav’s brother called on the government to resist world pressure and persevere. He invoked Israel’s first prime minister: “David Ben-Gurion said that it doesn’t matter what the gentiles say, only what the Jews do.”

Really? Can any rational person accept David Ben-Gurion’s bigoted and egocentric statement?

More disconcerting than Halevi’s separatist attitude that invites exclusion were comments to the article that indicate paranoia, delusion, and mental aberration.

“We are always alone. On a good day, we are tolerated. When we suffer enough, we receive sympathy from some. But accepted? Never.”

“When Jews suffer, nobody sees it. That is going for 2 thousand of years. And suddenly Israelis do not have rights to protect themself. Just be quiet and do not resist! This is a new Muslim norm!

The Israeli mind

It is impossible for a rational and thoughtful human being to be unable to recognize that Israel intends to totally destroy the Palestinian community. Where will the Gazans go after hostilities end? Almost all of North Gaza, which is mainly Gaza City, is destroyed. There will be few places to live, less agricultural land to provide food, no work to find, few places to shop, nowhere to relax, and fewer schools to attend. The already crowded Gazan prison will have six times the number of people in a square mile. The precarious life of a Gazan will become many times more precarious. What mind prepares a future of pain and anguish leading to death for a community of millions? It is a distorted mind, characterized by the actions of Jewish settlers in the West Bank. From https://www.972mag.com/hebron-area-settler-violence-expulsions/.

At 10 p.m. on Oct. 13, I received a phone call from Amer Abu Awad, a Palestinian resident of Khirbet Al-Radeem, a small rural community south of Hebron in the occupied West Bank. “The settlers attacked me,” he told me in a frightened voice. “Some of them were wearing army uniforms.”

“They assaulted me, beat my elderly father, pushed him to the ground, dragged him through the puddles, and pointed weapons at us,” Abu Awad continued, pausing to catch his breath. “They said I had to leave by morning, or my family and I will be finished.”

Early the next day, Abu Awad called me again. “I want to leave, but the roads are closed.” After hours of interventions, he managed to escape with his family of five along with his flock of sheep to the town of As-Samu, leaving behind his house, furniture, livestock barracks, and grain for the sheep. Abu Awad and his family had to carry all their belongings by foot; the Israeli army would not allow any vehicles to enter the area.

Palestinians in the rural communities surrounding Hebron live marginal and peaceful lives. They need assistance to enrich their living standard. Instead of giving assistance, the Jewish settlers, strangers to the land and for no valid reason, push the marginal Palestinians to desperation, hopelessness, and impoverishment, leaving them bare of means to survive, all done with blessing from the apartheid Israeli government.

Incidents of bodily injury to Palestinians in the United States indicate how pro-Israel media foments terrorism. In the south Brooklyn neighborhood of Bay Ridge, men, waving Israeli flags, attacked a Palestinian man, three Palestinian students were shot in Vermont and a Muslim-American child was stabbed to death in Illinois by a man enraged against Muslims.

Those who demonstrate against the genocide are accused of anti-Semitism; those who support the genocide are defending the Jews who commit the genocide. Students for Justice in Palestine has been banned or suspended by Brandeis, Columbia, and George Washington University. Columbia University suspended a student chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) after JVP held demonstrations that Columbia said, “repeatedly violated university policies.” Universities are defending the initiators of genocide and protecting those who approve of the genocide.

Getting it backward does not lead to a path forward. Permitting right-wing extremists to engineer a front-seat genocide cannot be accomplished without thought control and threatens all civilization. The Israeli Jews and their Western supporters must be challenged, stopped, and removed from positions of power. One manner of challenge spreads information that reveals the truth of the genocide. Tough to find when Israel blocks and assassinates reporters in Gaza and the West Bank.

Al Jazeera manages to have on-site correspondents and receives videos, images, and reports from locals. Click on LIVE and receive Al Jazeera TV.

Another means is economic boycott, guidance from the BDS movement and other institutions that highlight companies that actively support Israel. BDS is reached at here; another list is available from Innovative Minds.

Keep it up, support the demonstrations, spread the word, and shout it loud,

STOP THE GENOCIDE OF THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE

Dan Lieberman publishes commentaries on foreign policy, economics, and politics at substack.com. He is author of the non-fiction books A Third Party Can Succeed in America, Not until They Were Gone, Think Tanks of DC, The Artistry of a Dog, and a novel: The Victory (under a pen name, David L. McWellan). Read other articles by Dan.

The International Labor Movement Is Mobilizing for a Free Palestine

Global labor unions are responding to Palestinian workers’ calls for solidarity and demanding an immediate ceasefire.

By Shane Burley , 

TRUTHOUT

November 29, 2023

Protesters march in solidarity with Palestine, demanding a ceasefire amid the ongoing conflict between the Israeli government and Palestine, on November 25, 2023, in London, England.

ALISHIA ABODUNDE / GETTY IMAGES

“Which side are you on?” a worker with the independent New Seasons Labor Union asked other unionized workers at a November 11 rally in Portland, Oregon. “Now normally this means, ‘Are you on the side of the workers, or are you on the side of the bosses….’ But today when we ask what side are you on, we are asking, ‘Are you on the side of the oppressed, or on the side of the oppressor?'”

The rally was organized by the labor coalition Portland Jobs with Justice (JWJ)* and a group of union activists concerned with the growing death toll in Gaza. A recently extended “humanitarian pause” between Israel and Hamas has been in effect since November 24, but as Truthout reported, “Israeli forces have continued killing Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza throughout the supposed pause.” Moreover, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has said the assault will resume once the temporary truce ends. This means that a true ceasefire has yet to be established.

While many of the groups who joined the rally were familiar to the fight for Palestinian rights, such as the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), what was notable was that this was a rally by and for the labor movement. “At Portland Jobs with Justice, we mean it when we say ‘solidarity to workers everywhere,’” Jill Pham, the executive director of Portland JWJ, told Truthout. “Palestinian trade unions made a call for labor to take a stand and we’ve answered.

Despite being some of the most powerful organizations fighting for economic justice in the country, labor unions are often the slowest to act on contentious global political issues, particularly when Democratic leaders are not. Some union leaders have even fought back against calls for a ceasefire, leading to rank-and-file pressure from members of unions like SEIU to move leadership on this issue. But there is also a long history of unions taking a stand on issues of worldwide importance, and because they have such a critical position at the point of production, their entry into the campaign for a ceasefire may be a critical factor in ending Israel’s war on Gaza.

Palestinian Labor Movement

Labor’s entry into the ceasefire movement was motivated, in part, by a call from the Palestinian labor movement for unions to join them in demanding an end to the assault on Gaza and working towards undoing Israel’s decades-long occupation. On October 16, the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions — which includes unions specifically for Palestinian women, teachers, engineers, journalists, and other demographics and professions — put out a call for solidarity from labor unions around the world. This includes supporting the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement to force Israel to follow international law; refusing to participate in weapons manufacture and delivery to the Israel Defense Forces; researching to see if unions or organizations are dealing with any companies profiting off of Palestinian subjugation; divesting from any such companies in pension or investment funds; and publicly advocating for justice in the region.

“[We] have a moral obligation to answer their appeal, particularly since Israel’s crimes are only possible because of billions in bipartisan U.S. military aid that gives Israel the guns, bullets, tanks, ships, jet fighters, missiles, helicopters, white phosphorus, and other weapons to kill and maim the Palestinian people,” said Michael Letwin, an activist with the organization Labor for Palestine, which works to connect unionized workers with the global solidarity movement. Letwin mentioned that there are even further actions that can be taken by unions, such as divesting from Israel bonds and breaking relationships with Israel’s labor federation, the Histadrut, which had a unique role in Israeli state-building.

As has often been the case with large progressive steps in the labor movement, the independent United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) was among the first to release a public labor statement demanding a ceasefire, which it cosponsored along with United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 3000. Other locals signed on as well, including International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 520, the Massachusetts Teachers Association, United Auto Workers Region 6 and the San Antonio Alliance of Teachers and Support Personnel Local 67. The petition demands first a ceasefire in Gaza, for Hamas to release all hostages and that the “basic rights of people must be restored,” including access to “water, fuel, food, and other humanitarian aid.”

Tove Holmberg is a board member with International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 5 and bargaining unit representative for the workers at Powell’s Books (whom Local 5 represents). “When a member raised the question of what we could do to support Palestine, we looked to our union’s history and found multiple resolutions, dating as far back as 1988.… Each of those resolutions called for an end to the violence against Palestinians in the occupied territories, and an end to Israel’s occupations,” Holmberg told Truthout.

Passed by the union’s International Conventions in 1988 and 1991, the resolutions called upon the U.S. government to “pressure Israel to stop the killings and beatings of Palestinians,” commended South African dock workers for refusing to offload an Israeli vessel in 2009 and celebrated multiple instances where ILWU dockworkers refused to cross community picket lines that were protesting Israeli cargo vessels.

“Not only was it clear the ILWU had a long history of solidarity with the people of Palestine[,] it was also clear that in order to honor that history and address the horrific injustice we were all witnessing, we needed to add our voices to the mounting call for a ceasefire and encourage our membership to take action,” Holmberg said.

That legacy was again taken up on November 3 at the port in Oakland, California, and November 6 at the port in Tacoma, Washington, where protesters attempted to block weapons headed for Israel, showing the kind of power that dock workers can have when intervening on business as usual. This action mirrored a similar one by unionized Belgian transport workers, and other unions across the world have taken actions to either block participation with the encroaching genocide or firmly assert their unambiguous opposition to the current military barrage.

The Power of the Pen

While support has been growing across many industries, journalists and media workers are speaking out at unprecedented levels. Built on the history of Writers Against the War, a group of professional authors and journalists who spoke against the Vietnam War in the 1960s-70s, a group of journalists working at organizations Jacobin and Jewish Currents formed Writers Against the War on Gaza, with hundreds of high-profile signatories demanding a ceasefire. The radical Industrial Workers of the World Freelance Journalists Union (FJU) took a stand almost immediately, voicing support for a ceasefire and signing onto the requests from the Palestinian labor movement. The FJU also spoke up in solidarity with the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate (a member of the International Federation of Journalists), specifically highlighting “the humanitarian catastrophe facing all aspects of life in Gaza” and the killing of Palestinian journalists.

“Worldwide, journalists face dangers reporting on conflict. Freelance journalists, without institutional backing, are in a more precarious place, often asked to gather information in circumstances that are riskier and with less support,” said Morgan Parker, a union officer in the FJU. “All journalists should stand in solidarity with those who are targeted for reporting on conflicts that aggressors would prefer the world not see.”

Both the Pacific Media Workers Guild (CWA) and the National Writers Union (NWU), which is an affiliate of the UAW, likewise put out similar statements of support as members of the International Federation of Journalists. “[NWU] is a pretty small union, which I think allows us to be pretty agile and to have pretty progressive politics,” said Tammy Kim, a member of the National Writers Union, and that statement acted as a bridge for other unions to take similar steps. “It’s led to a bunch of organic organizing connections with other groups of cultural workers and activists who are wanting to speak out about the war.”

Kim notes that there is overlap between those organizing in NWU and those who are building Writers Against the War on Gaza; NWU members participated in a November 9 New York City march and sit-in at The New York Times building to challenge the paper’s coverage, which activists say is inaccurate and biased against Palestinians. Because so many professionals have faced backlash for sharing pro-Palestinian views, writers included, the NWU has now created an intake form for freelance workers to share their story if they have faced reprisals in their own career.

Solidarity Unionism

Many of the signatories to the petition put out by UE and UFCW 3000 are also leaders in the growing independent labor movement, which are unions not affiliated with larger federations or the AFL-CIO and which are often younger and more radical. The Coalition of Independent Unions (CIU), a collection of workers organizing across different service sector locations in Portland, Oregon, is one such example. “The CIU supports the incredible work of the Palestinian labor movement, and we believe in the lessons learned by the workers movement in the fight against apartheid in South Africa,” said Sinead Steiner, who works with the CIU. “We can bring all settler colonialism, from Portland to Palestine, crashing down and build a world built on peace, not stolen labor and stolen land.”

For health care unions, a slightly different angle was taken. The resolution that passed through several unions representing nurses, techs, and other frontline professions was focused specifically on how the violence in Gaza affects health care workers and their patients. “The California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee calls for an immediate ceasefire, delivery of humanitarian aid, release of all hostages, and an end to this violence,” reads a statement from the California Nurses Association (CNA). National Nurses United, associated with CNA, has a history of supporting the Palestinian movement and put out a similar statement criticizing Israeli militarism and apartheid in 2022.

Despite growing support, it is still a challenge to move unions on this issue, and those that have spoken out remain in the minority. When unions have spoken out, it was because of rank-and-file pressure from below. Battles between leadership and the rank-and-file have taken place in some locals, such as the alleged ouster of SEIU’s State Council for Connecticut Executive Director Kooper Caraway after she voiced support for Palestine and a ceasefire.

There have also been situations in which workers say they have faced backlash after their union took a stand. In Portland, after the New Seasons workers joined the November 11 rally and several union workers wore Palestine flag pins at work (which they say has usually been a place where political pins are welcome), workers say that management has put out a statement countering the union’s position and began pressuring employees to stop showing support at work. This led to a November 22 picket at a popular Portland location of the grocery chain where community supporters blocked the entrances to the store, effectively severing business on one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

“We need to point out that Israel represents the same system of racist state violence that, through shared surveillance technology and police exchange programs, brutalizes BIPOC and working-class people in the United States and around the world,” said Letwin. Many activists point to a new future where the Israeli and Palestinian working class could unite against those in power, winning a more just arrangement for everyone.

After a series of speeches in Portland, hundreds hit the streets with signs demanding an end to the occupation and a free Palestine, indicating that a ceasefire is just the first step in what many hope will be lasting change in the region and a movement towards sustained peace and justice.

“As union laborers, we know that solidarity is our word. Solidarity is our life. As one person, we cannot do anything. But through solidarity, there is nothing we cannot do,” said Hannah Winchester, a health care union leader in Portland, during her speech to a cheering crowd at the November 11 rally. “Not one more day, not one more life.… I know it seems like a really hard thing to do as just one person, but I know I will scream until I have no more voice. Ceasefire now!”

* Full disclosure: The author is a board member of Portland Jobs with Justice.

SHANE BURLEY  is the author of Why We Fight: Essays on Fascism, Resistance, and Surviving the Apocalypse (AK Press, 2021) and Fascism Today: What It Is and How to End It (AK Press, 2017). His work has appeared in places such as NBC News, Jacobin, Al Jazeera, The Baffler, The Daily Beast, Truthout, In These Times and Protean. He is currently working on an anthology of antifascist writing called ¡No pasarán! and writing a book on antisemitism. Follow him on Twitter: @shane_burley1.

A “Pause” Isn’t a Ceasefire — and a Ceasefire Isn’t an End to the Siege of Gaza


A lasting peace can only be achieved when the legitimate rights and grievances of Palestinians are addressed.

By Michel Moushabeck , 

TRUTHOUT

November 28, 2023

Palestinian children, sitting in a destroyed house, look at ruins during the temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in the village of Khuza'a near the border fence between Israel and the southern Gaza Strip on November 28, 2023.

MOHAMMED TALATENE / PICTURE ALLIANCE VIA GETTY IMAGES

Like many Palestinians, I’ve been glued to the news during the past 50 days following Israel’s senseless, illegal and immoral genocide in Gaza. Our eyes are filled with painful and horrific images showing massive death and devastation wrought on innocent civilians who lost loved ones — entire families in some cases — homes and dreams. I’ve also watched the terror being inflicted by Israeli soldiers and armed settlers on Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem that resulted in the death of 240 Palestinians, 52 of them children, with more than 2,959 injured since October 7.

UNICEF recently warned world leaders about the catastrophic impact of the Israeli bombardment on children and families. “Children are dying at an alarming rate — more than 5,000 have reportedly been killed and thousands more injured. Well over 1.7 million people in the Gaza Strip have been displaced — half of them children,” it reported. “They’re running out of water, food, fuel and medicine. Their homes have been destroyed; their families torn apart.” Doctors Without Borders described the humanitarian situation in Gaza as “dire.” The desperately needed aid trucks that have recently been allowed into Gaza are insufficient for dealing with a humanitarian catastrophe of this magnitude.

Pope Francis also spoke about the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza during his Wednesday general audience in St. Peter’s Square on November 22. He said: “We have gone beyond wars. This is not war. This is terrorism.” He made his comments hours after an agreement was reached between Israel and Hamas for a four-day “humanitarian pause” and a reciprocal exchange of women and child hostages/prisoners.

The four-day, Qatar-mediated “humanitarian pause” that allowed for 50 Israeli hostages and 150 Palestinian captives to be reunited with their families was a welcome reprieve from the relentless bombardment for the people of Gaza. Now extended for two additional days, the temporary truce means that 20 more Israeli captives and 60 Palestinian captives will be released. The United Nations secretary general called this short respite “a glimpse of hope and humanity” as he made an appeal to the Israeli government to open extra passage points for the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza. At the moment, aid trucks are only allowed to enter Gaza through the Rafah crossing on the border with Egypt.

This temporary “pause” — or “pauses,” if they continue to be extended for additional days — is not a permanent ceasefire. It will not bring safety to the people of Gaza; nor will it alleviate their suffering or lessen their grief. It is maddening to think that it took six weeks to arrive at this “pause.” Even during this brief “pause,” Israeli soldiers killed at least eight Palestinians in the West Bank towns of Jenin, Al-Bireh and Yatma, south of Nablus. Moreover, Israel intends to resume its attacks when the pause expires; as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated clearly: “We are at war, and we’ll continue the war until we achieve all our goals: to destroy Hamas, return all our hostages, and ensure that nobody in Gaza can threaten Israel.”

Even if the international community’s mounting pressure prevents such a calamity and brings about a permanent ceasefire, it will not end the suffocating siege that caged Palestinians in Gaza for close to 17 years and got us to where we are now. It will not bring safety, security and lasting peace to Israelis and Palestinians; it will not end the 56-year Israeli occupation or the Palestinian resistance to it; and it will not change the apartheid system that privileges one people over another, uses a brutal form of collective punishment, and denies the rights of Palestinians to freedom and equality. In short, it will not change the status quo.

While Israel’s officially declared objective is the destruction of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, many in the Netanyahu government want to see the Gaza Strip emptied of all its inhabitants. In a November 19 article in The Jerusalem Post, Israeli Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel advocated for “the voluntary resettlement of Palestinians in Gaza, for humanitarian reasons, outside of the Strip.” Note how Israel wants you to believe that it is only proposing the transfer of Palestinians out of Gaza to the Sinai desert “for humanitarian reasons” — because Israeli leaders want you to believe that they care deeply about Palestinians’ safety and well-being.

Israeli Forces Have Still Killed Palestinians Amid 4-Day “Ceasefire”

Officials announced on Monday that the pause will be extended by two days.

By Sharon Zhang , TRUTHOUT   November 27, 2023

Will Israel Be Allowed to Proceed With a Second Nakba?

The U.S. and its Western allies fail to see the real plan, which is no longer a secret: the ethnic cleansing of Gaza and the transfer of Palestinians to Sinai. It was leaked a few weeks ago and later confirmed by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi when he spoke of the Israeli attempts to pressure Egypt into accepting the 2.3 million Palestinians into Sinai. Ordering half the population of Gaza to be evacuated to the south, as Israel wiped out neighborhoods and flattened buildings, was the first phase of the transfer strategy to depopulate Gaza. Israel has already announced that displaced Palestinians are not allowed to return to their homes in northern Gaza, which has become a near-total wasteland.

Depriving the Palestinians in Gaza of access to food, water, fuel, electricity and medical supplies will undoubtedly cause the death toll to rise to a level far greater than the more than 14,000 deaths caused by Israeli airstrikes since October 8. The humanitarian disaster has reached terrifying levels with a near-total collapse of Gaza’s health care system due to the destruction of Gaza’s medical facilities, forced closure of and evacuation of hospitals, and the severe shortages of medical supplies in others. Squeezing the 2.3 million inhabitants of Gaza — already living in one of the most densely populated places on Earth — into the southern part of the Strip will no doubt expose the population to an array of diseases.

Palestinians Are Being Killed by Starvation, Dehydration and Disease

In a piece published in the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth on November 22, Giora Eiland, a decorated former head of the Israeli military’s Operations and Planning Division and former head of the National Security Council, proposed disease as an effective method of killing the Palestinian people in Gaza. He wrote: “After all, severe epidemics in the southern Strip will bring victory closer and reduce fatalities among IDF soldiers.” The day after Eiland wrote about his proposal, Israeli journalist Gideon Levy published a piece in Haaretz headlined: “Giora Eiland’s Monstrous Gaza Proposal Is Evil in Plain Sight.”

Whatever plan is underway, it will surely be conducted with the full support of the U.S. government and the blessing of President Joe Biden, who said that Israel has the right to resume its assault on Gaza — although he urged the Israeli prime minister to try to minimize civilian casualties. In a Washington Post op-ed, Biden portrayed Israel’s devastating military assault as a war for democracy and erased the context of 75 years of Palestinian resistance against Israeli occupation, apartheid and oppression.
Will Israel Resume Its Imprisonment of Palestinians Soon After the Exchange Has Been Completed?

The 150 prisoners that Israel agreed to release as part of its deal with Hamas and the 60 that will be released as a result of the two-day truce extension are only a small fraction of the 7,200 imprisoned Palestinian hostages languishing in Israeli jails. Since October 7, Israel has drastically escalated its raids on Palestinians in the West Bank and arrested more than 3,000, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, an advocacy group. But even if you don’t trust Palestinian sources and only want to believe the figure of 1,850 new arrests reported by The New York Times, you’ll still be able to see how this number compares with the number of hostages Hamas took on October 7 or the small number Israel agreed to release in the hostage/prisoner exchange.

Every Palestinian family I know has had one or more of its members detained by the Israeli authorities, many of them teenagers accused of throwing stones at Israeli soldiers. About 200 boys, most of them teenagers, were in Israeli detention as of last week, along with about 75 women and five teenage girls, according to Addameer, a Palestinian prisoners’ rights group. Administrative detention, a practice of holding detainees indefinitely without a charge or trial — which Israel claims is an effective counterterrorism measure — is a tool of repression that has long been used by the Israeli state to instill fear among Palestinians and stop them from demanding or exercising their rights. Human rights groups, including Israel’s B’Tselem, and the UN have concluded that Israel’s use of administrative detention is a blatant violation of international law.

Israel is the only developed country in the world that prosecutes minors as young as 12 in military courts. The most common charge is stone-throwing, carrying a 20-year prison sentence. The United Nations estimates that since Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem in 1967, it has detained “approximately one million Palestinians in the occupied territory, including tens of thousands of children.”

There Is No Military Solution to the Palestine/Israel Crisis

No matter how superior an army, navy and air force Israel has; no matter how much destruction, devastation and human suffering it can wreak on Palestinian civilians; and no matter how many UN vetoes the U.S. uses to shield Israel from accountability, it will not succeed in suppressing the Palestinian people’s quest for freedom and equality. It will not be able to crush their determination to continue their resistance until their freedom is achieved.

In the absence of justice, there will be protests, riots and intifadas. The tide is turning and Palestinians today have greater support globally — especially among the younger generation — than ever before. I am in awe of thousands of young protesters who are organizing and coming together in this critical moment in Middle East history. The massive protests in major cities and on university campuses around the world have shown us “youth power” in numbers we have not seen before. Palestinians have also received overwhelming support and recognition of the State of Palestine among members of the UN General Assembly, and especially among countries of the Global South. It is only the U.S. (and a handful of allies) that has always used its veto power to prevent any resolution condemning Israeli actions.

The current system of apartheid is not sustainable. The sooner the Israeli government — and its enablers the U.S., U.K. and EU — accept the fact that Israeli safety and security cannot be achieved by military force, the better the chances of a negotiated settlement become. A lasting peace can only be achieved when the legitimate rights and grievances of the Palestinians are addressed. Palestinians will not give up on their aspiration of living in their homes, on their land, in dignity, equality, and without fear.

November 29 is the 46th anniversary of the United Nations’ International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people. On this day in 2012, the General Assembly voted overwhelmingly — 138 in favor to 9 against — to accord Palestine “Non-Member Observer State” status at the United Nations.

In his message issued in advance of tomorrow’s International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people, the UN secretary general said, “[T]his is a day for reaffirming international solidarity with the Palestinian people and their right to live in peace and dignity.” He added:

It is long past time to move in a determined, irreversible way towards a two-State solution, on the basis of United Nations resolutions and international law, with Israel and Palestine living side-by-side in peace and security with Jerusalem as the capital of both States.

The United Nations will not waver in its commitment to the Palestinian people. Today and every day, let us stand in solidarity with the aspirations of the Palestinian people to achieve their inalienable rights and build a future of peace, justice, security and dignity for all.

For over five decades, the United States has acted as an obstacle to peace — denying Palestinians their rights. Since October 7, the U.S. has continued to be a major hurdle to saving lives, refusing to demand an immediate ceasefire. The U.S. can no longer play the role of honest broker in any future negotiations to resolve the crisis and achieve a lasting peace in the region. In order to have a negotiated settlement that would allow Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace and security — in a homeland free from apartheid and oppression — this task now needs to be taken up solely by the United Nations.

Copyright © Truthout. 

MICHEL MOUSHABECK is a Palestinian American writer, editor, translator and musician. He is the founder and publisher of Interlink Publishing, a 36-year-old, Massachusetts-based, independent publishing house. Follow him on Instagram: @ReadPalestine.
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PART OF THE SERIES
Struggle and Solidarity: Writing Toward Palestinian Liberation
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