Palestinian poll shows a rise in Hamas support and close to 90% wanting US-backed Abbas to resign

KARIN LAUB
Updated Wed, December 13, 2023 

Palestinians look for survivors of the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip in Rafah on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023. A wartime opinion poll among Palestinians shows a rise in support for Hamas, even in the devastated Gaza Strip. The survey published Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2023 also reflected an overwhelming rejection of Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas, with nearly 90% saying he must resign. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali)

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — A wartime opinion poll among Palestinians published Wednesday shows a rise in support for Hamas, which appears to have ticked up even in the devastated Gaza Strip, and an overwhelming rejection of Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas, with nearly 90% saying he must resign.

The findings by a Palestinian pollster signal more difficulties ahead for the Biden administration's postwar vision for Gaza and raise questions about Israel's stated goal of ending Hamas' military and governing capabilities.

Washington has called for the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, currently led by Abbas, to eventually assume control of Gaza and run both territories as a precursor to statehood. U.S. officials have said the PA must be revitalized, without letting on whether this would mean leadership changes.

The PA administers pockets of the Israeli-occupied West Bank and has governed Gaza until a takeover by Hamas militants in 2007. The Palestinians have not held elections since 2006 when Hamas won a parliamentary majority.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who leads the most right-wing government in Israel's history, has soundly rejected any role for the PA in Gaza and insists Israel must retain open-ended security control there.

Arab allies of the U.S. have said they’ll only get involved in post-war reconstruction if there’s a credible push toward a two-state solution, which is unlikely under the Netanyahu government dominated by opponents of Palestinian statehood.

With survey results indicating a further erosion of the PA’s legitimacy, at a time when there's no apparent path toward restarting credible negotiations on Palestinian statehood, the default for postwar Gaza is an open-ended Israeli occupation, pollster Khalil Shikaki said.

“Israel is stuck in Gaza,” Shikaki told The Associated Press ahead of the publication of the survey's results by his Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, or PSR. "Maybe the next (Israeli) government will decide that Netanyahu is not right in putting all these conditions, and they might decide to withdraw unilaterally from Gaza. But the default for the future, for Israel and Gaza, is that Israel is in full reoccupation of Gaza.”

The survey was conducted from Nov. 22 to Dec. 2 among 1,231 people in the West Bank and Gaza and had an error margin of 4 percentage points. In Gaza, poll workers conducted 481 in-person interviews during a weeklong cease-fire that ended Dec. 1.

Shikaki, who runs regular polls, said the error margin was one percentage point higher than usual because of disruptions caused by the mass displacement of residents during the Israel-Hamas war. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had fled fierce fighting in northern Gaza, and poll workers only conducted interviews in central and southern Gaza, including among displaced people, because they could not reach the north during the cease-fire.

The survey provided insights about Palestinian views of the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas and other Gaza militants in southern Israel, in which about 1,200 people were killed, most of them civilians. More than 18,400 Palestinians, about two-thirds of them women and children, have been killed in a sustained bombing campaign and ground offensive in Gaza during Israel’s subsequent war on Hamas, now in its third month.

Shikaki said that Gaza residents are more critical of Hamas than those in the West Bank, that support for Hamas typically spikes during periods of armed conflict before leveling out, and that even now most Palestinians do not back the militant group.

Despite the devastation, 57% of respondents in Gaza and 82% in the West Bank believe Hamas was correct in launching the October attack, the poll indicated. A large majority believed Hamas' claims that it acted to defend a major Islamic shrine in Jerusalem against Jewish extremists and win the release of Palestinian prisoners. Only 10% said they believed Hamas has committed war crimes, with a large majority saying they did not see videos showing the militants committing atrocities.

The videos, along with extensive eyewitness testimony and reporting by The Associated Press and others, show that hundreds of civilians in southern Israel, including women and children, were abducted or gunned down inside their own homes. There have also been accounts of widespread sexual violence.

But while Israeli media coverage has focused intensely on the attack in the weeks since, Palestinian outlets have been fixated on the war in Gaza and the suffering of civilians there.

Shikaki said the most popular politician remains Marwan Barghouti, a prominent figure in Abbas' Fatah movement who is serving multiple life terms in an Israeli prison for his alleged role in several deadly attacks during the second Palestinian uprising two decades ago. In a two-way presidential race, Ismail Haniyeh, the exiled political leader of Hamas, would trounce Abbas while in a three-way race, Barghouti would be ahead just slightly, the pollster said.

Overall, 88% want Abbas to resign, up by 10 percentage points from three months ago. In the West Bank, 92% called for the resignation of the octogenarian who has presided over an administration widely seen as corrupt, autocratic and ineffective.

At the same time, 44% in the West Bank said they supported Hamas, up from just 12% in September. In Gaza, the militants enjoyed 42% support, up slightly from 38% three months ago.

Shikaki said support for the PA declined further, with nearly 60% now saying it should be dissolved. In the West Bank, Abbas' continued security coordination with Israel's military against Hamas, his bitter political rival, is widely unpopular.

Netanyahu has attacked Abbas for years, alleging he was enabling anti-Israeli incitement in the West Bank, while at the same time permitting regular Qatari support payments to Gaza that strengthened Hamas. Critics of Netanyahu's overall approach say it was aimed at preventing negotiations on Palestinian statehood.

The poll also signaled widespread frustration with the international community, particularly the United States, key European countries and even the United Nations, which has pushed for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza.

“The level of anti-Americanism and anti-Westernism is huge among Palestinians because of the positions they have taken regarding international humanitarian law and what is happening in Gaza,” Shikaki said.

US agency will not reinstate $900 million subsidy for SpaceX Starlink unit

David Shepardson
Tue, December 12, 2023 

Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk attends the VivaTech conference in Paris


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday reaffirmed its 2022 decision to deny SpaceX satellite internet unit Starlink $885.5 million in rural broadband subsidies.

The FCC said the decision impacting Elon Musk's space company was based on Starlink's failure to meet basic program requirements and that Starlink could not demonstrate it could deliver promised service after SpaceX had challeged the 2022 decision.

"The FCC followed a careful legal, technical and policy review to determine that this applicant had failed to meet its burden," FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel said.

The FCC cited among its reasons SpaceX's failure to successfully launch its Starship rocket, saying "the uncertain nature of Starship's future launches could impact Starlink's ability to meet" its obligations.

The FCC had rescined the funding in August 2022 based on speed-tset data after Starlink had agreed to provide high-speed Internet service to 642,000 rural homes and businesses in 35 states.

SpaceX said it was "deeply disappointed and perplexed" by the FCC decision, adding Starlink "is demonstrably one of the best options - likely the best option" to accomplish the goals of the rural internet program.

The two Republican commissioners on the five-member FCC dissented from the decision saying the FCC was improperly holding SpaceX to 2025 targets three years early and suggesting the Biden administration's anger toward Musk was to blame.

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said the commission was joining "the growing list of administrative agencies that are taking action against Elon Musk’s businesses" and said the decision "certainly fits the Biden Administration’s pattern of regulatory harassment."

Musk said in a post on X the FCC decision "doesn’t make sense. Starlink is the only company actually solving rural broadband at scale! They should arguably dissolve the program and return funds to taxpayers, but definitely not send it (to) those who aren’t getting the job done."

Republican FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington, who noted Starlink had about two million subscribers in September 2023, added: "SpaceX continues to put more satellites into orbit every month, which should translate to even faster and more reliable service."

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Stephen Coates)

Elon Musk goes after Biden Administration following $900 million SpaceX loss
Musk doesn't agree with the FCC's recent decision.

Ian Krietzberg

THE STREET
Dec 13, 2023

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Dec. 12 reaffirmed its 2022 decision to reject SpaceX's application for nearly $900 million in broadband subsidies.

Following SpaceX's challenge of the initial decision, the FCC said in a statement that Elon Musk's space company failed to "meet basic program requirements" in its bid to receive funding through the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund program.

The program is meant to expand broadband access in rural areas.


The critical differences between Elon Musk's first and second Starship flight

The FCC said that, after passing an initial application stage, SpaceX later failed to demonstrate to the agency that it "could deliver the promised service." The agency said in its statement that funding the request would "not be the best use of limited" resources.

“The FCC followed a careful legal, technical and policy review to determine that this applicant had failed to meet its burden," FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement.

Brendan Carr, a Republican commissioner on the FCC, wrote in a dissenting opinion that the FCC's decision "cannot be explained by any objective application of law, facts or policy," suggesting instead that it is actually the result of what he called the Biden Administration's "pattern of regulatory harassment" of Musk.

Carr said that the agency was unfairly holding SpaceX to 2025 service expectations, rather than assessing if the company's Starlink service would be capable of meeting those expectations by 2025.

The decision, Carr said, will leave rural communities "stuck on the wrong side of the digital divide."

Musk, agreeing with Carr's statement, said that the decision "doesn't make sense."

Starlink, he said, is the only service that is actively "solving rural broadband at scale."


Why Elon Musk's SpaceX is a major driver for the space industry

"What actually happened is that the companies that lobbied for this massive earmark (not us) thought they would win, but instead were outperformed by Starlink, so now they’re changing the rules to prevent SpaceX from competing," Musk said.

The billionaire added that the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund ought to be dissolved and the funds returned to the taxpayers.

In September, Musk, responding to a Wall Street Journal editorial that questioned whether the Biden Administration had "it in" for him, said: "Sure seems that way."



SpaceX completed its second test flight of Starship in November.
TIMOTHY A. CLARY/Getty Images

SpaceX alone, as of April 2023, has received more than $15.3 billion in government awards since 2003, according to The Information.

SpaceX's Starlink service earned the company $1.4 billion in revenue in 2022, a significant increase from the $222 million it earned the year before.

The company expects to earn $15 billion in revenue in 2024, with Starlink alone responsible for a $10 billion share.

But even as Musk works to expand the internet service, which boasts a constellation of more than 5,000 satellites, its growth has been tainted by concerns over the geopolitical role the satellite arm has granted him.

Investors, meanwhile, remain excited about the many revenue opportunities associated with Starlink, with some expecting to see a Starlink spinoff and IPO sooner, rather than later.


Elon Musk has even bigger plans for SpaceX next year



BY IAN KRIETZBERG
is a breaking/trending news writer for The Street with a focus on artificial intelligence and the markets. He covers AI companies, safety and ethics extensively. As an offshoot of his tech beat, Ian also covers Elon Musk and his many companies, namely SpaceX and Tesla.

SETUP BY REPUBLICANS

Harvard board backs university president amid anti-Semitism criticism

Claudine Gay, the president of Harvard University, along with the presidents of other universities, failed to explicitly say that the calls for genocide of Jewish people constituted bullying and harassment on campus.

Harvard University President Claudine Gay during a House Education and The Workforce Committee hearing titled "Holding Campus Leaders Accountable and Confronting Antisemitism" on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Reuters file photo)

Reuters
Washington,

UPDATED: Dec 12, 2023 

Posted By: Chingkheinganbi Mayengbam

Harvard University's governing board declared its support for the Ivy League school's president on Tuesday, a day after meeting to weigh the public backlash following remarks she made at last week's congressional hearing on antisemitism.

The Harvard Corporation, the university's governing body, in a statement said it had reaffirmed its support for Harvard President Claudine Gay's continued leadership.

"Our extensive deliberations affirm our confidence that President Gay is the right leader to help our community heal and to address the very serious societal issues we are facing," the 11-member board wrote.

Its decision was first reported by the Harvard Crimson. A representative for Harvard on Monday did not respond to a request for comment on the board's reported meeting.

Some donors, alumni and members of Congress called for Gay to resign, as her fellow Ivy League president at University of Pennsylvania, Liz Magill, did over the weekend. But many faculty and other alumni have rushed to defend Gay and asked the governing body to do the same.

A House of Representatives hearing last week increased public outcry over how US colleges are handling campus protests since Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Three university presidents declined to give a simple "yes" or "no" answer when asked if calling for the genocide of Jews would violate school codes of conduct regarding bullying and harassment.

Gay, Magill and Sally Kornbluth of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology told lawmakers context was important and they had to take free speech into consideration. Gay later apologised for her remarks in an interview with Harvard's student newspaper.

"At Harvard, we champion open discourse and academic freedom, and we are united in our strong belief that calls for violence against our students and disruptions of the classroom experience will not be tolerated," the Corporation wrote in its statement supporting Gay.

US university leaders have taken heat from both Jewish communities, which have said they are tolerating antisemitism, and Pro-Palestinian groups, which have accused schools of being neutral or antagonistic towards their cause.

Harvard President Claudine Gay To Stay In Office

Anna Esaki-Smith
Dec 12, 2023


Harvard President Claudine Gay will stay in office with the support of the university’s highest governing body, according to a statement made by the Harvard Corporation after the group met on Monday.

“As members of the Harvard Corporation, we today affirm our support for President Gay’s continued leadership of Harvard University,” the statement read. “Our extensive deliberations affirm our confidence that President Gay is the right leader to help our community heal and to address the very serious societal issues we are facing.”


Harvard President Claudine Gay has come under fire after her testimony during a congressional 

Gay faced tremendous backlash after her testimony before a House Committee on Education and the Workforce hearing last week regarding antisemitism on college campuses. The presidents of the University of Pennsylvania and MIT also testified, and all three leaders faced calls to resign as they appeared to dodge questions about whether students should be disciplined if they call for the genocide of Jews.

After their testimony, more than 70 members of Congress demanded that the university leaders be removed, citing dissatisfaction with their performance. The White House condemned the university presidents after their testimony as well.

Penn President Elizabeth Magill resigned Saturday. Earlier, she had drawn intense criticism from donors and students after allowing a controversial Palestinian writers conference to be held on campus in September.

The executive committee of the MIT Corporation — the school’s governing board — declared their “full and unreserved support” for MIT President Sally Kornbluth in a statement last week.

In their statement, the Harvard Corporation voiced similar support for Gay as well.

“In this tumultuous and difficult time, we unanimously stand in support of President Gay,” the statement read. “At Harvard, we champion open discourse and academic freedom, and we are united in our strong belief that calls for violence against our students and disruptions of the classroom experience will not be tolerated.”

Protests have engulfed university campuses since the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza.

Earlier this month, pro-Palestinian demonstrators occupied campus buildings at Cornell University. In early November, Cornell had cancelled a day of classes due to “extraordinary stress” after an engineering student was arrested on a federal criminal complaint for making online threats to Jewish students.

Columbia University also closed its campus for a day due to a wave of protests shortly after the Hamas attack. More recently, there were protests on campus after the school suspended 2 pro-Palestinian groups.

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My book for high schoolers, Make College Your Superpower: It's Not Where You Go, It's What You Know, will be published by Rowman & Littlefield in April

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Police arrest 41 students at Brown University following a sit-in protest, the 2nd in over a month

Stepheny Price

FAUX NEWS
Tue, December 12, 2023 

Officers arrested 41 students on Monday following a demonstration at Brown University as students staged a sit-in and called for a cease-fire in Gaza, according to the Brown Daily Herald.

Providence Police Department and Brown Department of Public Safety officers arrested and booked all 41 students from Brown Divest Coalition who occupied University Hall on Tuesday afternoon and demanded the school divest from weapons manufacturers amid the Israel-Hamas war, according to the Herald.

"The disruption to secure buildings is not acceptable, and the University is prepared to escalate the level of criminal charges for future incidents of students occupying secure buildings," University Spokesperson Brian Clark wrote in a statement to The Herald.

The arrests come just one month after twenty members of Jews for Ceasefire Now were charged with trespassing after staging a sit-in at University Hall, calling for divestment and a ceasefire, according to the Herald.

Sayles Hall and Campus, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA.

"Given that this is the second prominent incident in recent weeks of students trespassing in a secure, non-residential building after operating hours, the University fully expects to recommend more significant criminal misdemeanor charges for any future incidents after the Dec. 11 sit-in," Clark said.

RUTGERS UNIVERSITY SUSPENDS STUDENTS FOR JUSTICE IN PALESTINE CHAPTER

People hold up signs and protest following a vigil held on the grounds of Brown University, after three students of Palestinian descent were shot and wounded in Vermont, at the school's main green in Providence, Rhode Island, U.S. November 27, 2023.

Clark added that arresting students is not an action that the school takes lightly.

"It’s essential to highlight that arresting students is not an action that Brown takes lightly, and it’s not something the University ever wants to do," Clark wrote, adding that the University issued repeated warnings to ensure "that the students fully understood that they would not be allowed to remain in the building after normal operating hours for security reasons, and that they could face disciplinary action for violating policies, as well as arrest."

Israel-Hamas war tensions roil campuses; Brown protesters are arrested, Haverford building occupied

MICHAEL RUBINKAM
Wed, December 13, 2023 


Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) President Sally Kornbluth speaks during a hearing of the House Committee on Education on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023, in Washington. The university presidents called before last week’s congressional hearing on antisemitism had more in common than strife on their campuses: The leaders of the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard and MIT were all women who were relatively new in their positions. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

Dozens of student protesters at Brown University were arrested, and a weeklong sit-in at Haverford College ended Wednesday under threat of disciplinary action as U.S. college campuses continue to be roiled by tensions over the Israel-Hamas war.

Brown's police department charged 41 students with trespass when they refused to leave the University Hall administrative building after business hours on Monday, according to officials at the Ivy League school in Providence, Rhode Island.

Earlier that day, protesters had met with Brown President Christina H. Paxson and demanded that Brown divest “its endowment from Israeli military occupation," the school said in a statement on the arrests. Students were photographed and fingerprinted at the administration building before their release Monday night. Other students waited outside to cheer them on.

It was the second round of arrests at Brown in a little over a month as college administrators around the country try to reconcile the rights of students to protest with the schools' imperative to maintain order.

Twenty students protesting Israel’s invasion of Gaza were arrested for trespass on Nov. 8, although Brown dropped the charges on Nov. 27, two days after a Palestinian student at Brown, Hisham Awartani, and two other Palestinian college students were shot in Burlington, Vermont.

Brown said Wednesday that while protest is “a necessary and acceptable means of expression on campus,” students may not “interfere with the normal functions of the University." The school warned of even more severe consequences if students fail to heed restrictions on the time, place and manner of protests.

“The disruption to secure buildings is not acceptable, and the University is prepared to escalate the level of criminal charges for future incidents of students occupying secure buildings,” Brown said.

At Haverford, outside Philadelphia, student activists began their sit-in on Dec. 6 and occupied Founders Hall, which houses administrative offices. They are demanding that college President Wendy Raymond publicly call for a cease-fire in Gaza, which Israel invaded after the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants.

Hundreds of students participated over the last week, taking deliveries of food and setting up study spaces. Professors even dropped in to teach, according to student organizers.

The college asserted that the protesters were hindering fellow students, staff and faculty, and told the sit-in organizers Tuesday night that “they must discontinue actions that impede student learning and the functions of the College, which include the sit-in inside Founders Hall,” Raymond and the college dean said in a campus message Wednesday morning.

Student organizers told The Associated Press that college officials threatened to haul protesters before a disciplinary panel if they didn’t leave the hall. About 50 students defied the warning and slept in the building overnight before protesters held one last rally Wednesday morning and delivered letters to Raymond before disbanding.

The threat of discipline played a role in the decision to end the sit-in, according to Julian Kennedy, a 21-year-old junior and organizer with Haverford Students for Peace. But he said organizers also concluded that the sit-in would not compel Haverford to meet the group's demands.

“At this point, we just see that this college as an institution is broken and has lost its values,” said Kennedy, accusing Haverford of betraying its Quaker pacifist roots.

Ellie Baron, a 20-year-old junior and protest organizer, said the group will pressure Haverford in other ways.

“Just because the sit-in is over, doesn't mean our efforts are over. We are extraordinarily upset our president refuses to call for a cease-fire," Baron said.

A Palestinian American student at Haverford, Kinnan Abdalhamid, was also among the three Palestinian college students who were shot over Thanksgiving break in Vermont. The suspected gunman was arrested and has pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted murder. Officials are investigating whether the shooting, which seriously injured one of the other students, was a hate crime.

Abdalhamid, who took part in Wednesday's rally, said in a statement that "our presence here is a powerful message that we will not stay silent, we will not be passive observers.”

The arrests and sit-in came amid continuing fallout over the testimony given by leaders of the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard and MIT at a congressional hearing on antisemitism last week. The presidents drew fire for carefully worded responses to a line of questioning from New York Republican Elise Stefanik, who repeatedly asked whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” would violate the schools’ rules. Penn’s president resigned over the weekend while, at Harvard, the governing board declared its support for the school's embattled president.

Alabama is going to use gas to execute someone, but corrections officials warned it could hurt other people in the room

Paul Squire
Tue, December 12, 2023 


Alabama is planning to execute a man using nitrogen gas.


But the untested execution method may be dangerous.


State officials warned the inmate's spiritual advisor that a mishap could put others in danger.

Alabama plans to be the first US state to use nitrogen gas to execute a prisoner.

But the untested method of execution could be dangerous to those nearby, specifically the man's spiritual advisor, who would be in the room when he's killed, according to the exclusive report by NPR.

Kenneth Smith is due to be killed using nitrogen hypoxia in January, over a year since Alabama tried to execute him by lethal injection.

That attempt failed when corrections workers tried to stick the needles into his veins, but couldn't do it; the botched execution left him strapped to a gurney for hours, according to legal papers filed by Smith.

"They didn't even have anybody that could run a line on Kenny," Smith's spiritual advisor, Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood, told NPR's Chiara Eisner, referring to the botched procedure. "And we're supposed to trust these people with nitrogen? They could kill all of us."

NPR reported that the Alabama Department of Corrections made Hood sign an acknowledgment form that said the method could create a "small area of risk" if the tube carrying the odorless, colorless, deadly gas to a mask on Smith's face were to detach.

"Additionally, overpressure could result in a small area of nitrogen gas that displaces the oxygen in the area around the condemned inmate's face and/or head," the document states, according to NPR. Alabama corrections officials had Hood agree to keep at least 3 feet away from Smith during his execution.

Hood told NPR he won't be able to perform Christian last rites on Smith because he won't be able to get close enough to touch him.

Smith is on death row after being convicted in a 1988 murder-for-hire killing, according to AL.com. Smith and another man beat Elizabeth Sennett to death in a staged home invasion after her husband, Pastor Charles Sennett, paid them, the Alabama outlet reported.

Charles Sennett killed himself before he was charged, AL.com reported.

Smith admitted to his role in Elizabeth Sennett's death and the jury recommended life in prison, according to AL.com. The judge in the case overruled their suggestion and sentenced him to death, AL.com reported.

The Supreme Court previously declined to block his execution.

Trudeau urges pause in Israel-Hamas conflict, backs ‘sustainable ceasefire’

By David Baxter & Sean Boynton Global News
Posted December 12, 2023 

WATCH: Canada to support calls for ceasefire in ongoing conflict in Gaza, Joly announces


Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is calling for a resumption of a pause in the Israel-Hamas conflict, and says Canada supports efforts “towards a sustainable ceasefire.”

This comes from a joint statement issued Tuesday from Trudeau and his Australian and New Zealand counterparts.

Canada later voted in favour of a resolution in the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday that calls for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in Gaza and the immediate release of all hostages. The non-binding measure received overwhelming support from the international body.

Prior to question period, Trudeau told reporters that he spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prior to the UN vote.

“I just got off the phone with a long and detailed conversation with Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel in which I outlined Canada’s position. And we are committed to working with partners in the region and around the world towards an enduring two-state solution,” Trudeau said.
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“Canada is committed to ensuring that Israelis and Palestinians get to live in peace and security within internationally recognized borders in peaceful and successful states.”

In his comment, Trudeau did not say “ceasefire,” instead that Canada put out a “clear and comprehensive statement” on the country’s Middle East position.

In the earlier statement from Trudeau and his counterparts, it goes on to say that it recognizes Israel’s right to defend itself in the wake of the deadly Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas that Israel says killed 1,200 people and in which 240 people were taken hostage.

“In defending itself, Israel must respect international humanitarian law. Civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected. We are alarmed at the diminishing safe space for civilians in Gaza,” the statement says. “The price of defeating Hamas cannot be the continuous suffering of all Palestinian civilians.”

Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry says more than 18,000 people have been killed in the conflict since the Oct. 7 attacks.

“We must recognize that what is unfolding before our eyes will only enhance the cycle of violence,” Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly said Tuesday on Parliament Hill.

“This will not lead to the durable defeat of Hamas, which is necessary, and the threat that it poses to Israel. With the future of Israelis and Palestinians in mind, Canada is joining the international call for humanitarian ceasefire.”

Canada has stated from the beginning that Israel has the right to defend itself, Joly said. “And how Israel defends itself matters. It matters for the future of both Israelis and Palestinians, and it matters for the future of the region,” she added.


During the UN debate over the ceasefire motion, Ambassador Bob Rae maintained that Canada “continues to unequivocally condemn Hamas’ brutal terrorist attacks” on Israel, but noted the growing humanitarian crisis affecting innocent Palestinians.

“We are alarmed at the diminishing safe space for civilians in Gaza,” he said. “The price of defeating Hamas cannot be the continuous suffering of Palestinian civilians.”

The vote in the 193-member world body was 153 in favor, 10 against and 23 abstentions — stronger support than an earlier ceasefire resolution received in October. The United States voted against it after its proposed amendment to include condemnation of Hamas was voted down.

Yet U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday also shifted his rhetoric when speaking about the conflict, warning during a campaign reception that Israel was at risk of losing global support because of what he described as “indiscriminate bombing” of the Gaza Strip.

A Biden administration official told Global News there is no change to the U.S. position the opposes a ceasefire, adding on background that it continues to support temporary “humanitarian pauses” that allow aid into Gaza and for civilians to flee violence, as well as the safe return of hostages.

“What we do not support are calls for Israel to stop defending itself from Hamas terrorists, which is what a permanent ceasefire would be,” the official added.

The National Council of Canadian Muslims called the UN vote a “milestone” that needs to translate into “the reality of action and deeds.”

Yet the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs said it was “disgusted and frankly shocked” by Canada’s stance, given that the motion does not explicitly call out Hamas for its crimes or urge the group to surrender.

“Canada’s decision to support the resolution will undoubtedly lead to further hate being directed towards Jews here in Canada,” it said in a written statement.

Hamas “cannot be rewarded and left unaccountable,” said the group, which represents Jewish federations across Canada.

In an interview with Global News, Israel’s ambassador to Canada Iddo Moed said the statements from Trudeau and Joly, as well as the UN vote, represented a change in Canada’s position on Israel and the conflict in Gaza.

“I think that it has changed for the worse in Israel’s eyes because calling for a ceasefire in a situation that Isael is forced into a war … actually does not strengthen us,” he said. “It emboldens the terrorists.”


The joint statement from Trudeau, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says there is no place for Hamas in the future governance of Gaza.

Trudeau has previously backed a “humanitarian pause” along with other western leaders in order to get aid into the Palestinian territory.

Those are different from ceasefires, which are formal temporary or longer-lasting agreements between parties or actors in a conflict to agree to end hostilities.

“The recent pause in hostilities allowed for the release of more than 100 hostages and supported an increase in humanitarian access to affected civilians. We acknowledge the persistent diplomatic efforts of the United States, Qatar, and Egypt to broker this pause, and we regret it could not be extended,” the statement issued Tuesday said.

“We want to see this pause resumed and support urgent international efforts towards a sustainable ceasefire. This cannot be one-sided. Hamas must release all hostages, stop using Palestinian civilians as human shields, and lay down its arms.”

The statement adds: “There is no role for Hamas in the future governance of Gaza.”

—With files from the Canadian Press

‘Disgusted and...shocked’: Jewish support group denounces Trudeau government’s ‘hypocritical’ foreign policy as Canada calls for ceasefire in Gaza

Canada's vote for a 'sustainable ceasefire' at the UN, pushed by much public support, draws ire and criticism by some politicians and residents

Joy Joshi
·Writer, Yahoo News Canada
Wed, December 13, 2023 

A Jewish advocacy organisation is taking aim at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his government, accusing them of hypocrisy, as Canada voted in favour of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas at the United Nations.

Canada joined Australia, New Zealand and 150 other nations in backing a non-binding resolution calling for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in the Middle East conflict that has claimed more than tens of thousands of Gazan lives since the events of Oct. 7.

​​“Since October 7, over 18,000 Palestinian civilians have been killed in Gaza, thousands of children are now orphans. Countless Palestinian civilians in Gaza are suffering without water, food, fuel or medicine and their homes have been reduced to rubble. We must recognize that what is unfolding before our eyes will only enhance the cycle of violence,” Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly said during a presser Tuesday afternoon.

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs expressed its dissatisfaction with the Canadian government’s latest stance on the issue and accused them of appearing to be “hypocritical” in their ever-shifting position on the matter.

“Canadian foreign policy shows itself to be hypocritical,” CIJA President and CEO Shimon Koffler Fogel said in a statement shared with Yahoo News Canada.

“We’re disgusted and frankly shocked that only hours after issuing a statement that a ceasefire would only be possible under the condition that Hamas release the hostages, stop its use of Palestinians as human shields, lay down its arms, and surrender its control of Gaza, Canada voted in support of a UN General Assembly resolution supporting a ceasefire.”

In the hours leading to the UN vote, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a joint statement with his Australian and New Zealand counterparts, calling for a “sustainable ceasefire” in the war between Israel and Hamas while also urging on an “immediate and unconditional release” of the Israeli hostages and for Hamas to “lay down its arms.”

The joint statement also marks the first time Trudeau used the term "ceasefire" in reference to the Israel-Hamas war as until then he called for a humanitarian pause in the conflict.

Related: Canadians scoff at PM Trudeau's calls for humanitarian pause instead of ceasefire

The CIJA chief pointed out how Canada initially reaffirmed “Israel's right to exist and defend itself” as it further denounced Hamas but then went on to support a resolution that, according to the Jewish support group, fails to hold Hamas accountable.

“Did anything change on the ground in the short hours between Canada’s statement and the scheduled UN vote? The answer is no. Hamas still holds more than 100 Israelis hostage. It is still using Palestinians as human shields. And it is still indiscriminately firing rockets at Israelis,” the statement read.

A total of 153 countries voted in favour of the resolution with 10 against, including the United States and 23 abstaining, including the United Kingdom.

Some Liberal party MPs are not in favour of their government’s latest position

Liberal MPs like former cabinet minister Marco Mendicino and Quebecer Anthony Housefather expressed their disagreement on X, formerly known as Twitter, while specifically stating calls for an unconditional ceasefire only jeopardise the safety of Israelis and Palestinians in Gaza.

“I do not support [the resolution's] call for Israel to agree to what is, effectively, an unconditional ceasefire. At present, that would only place in further jeopardy the safety and security of Israelis & Palestinians in Gaza," he wrote.

‘Our pressure is working,’ Canadians welcome government’s support for ceasefire

Many Canadians welcomed the Trudeau government’s push for a ceasefire, calling it a “positive step” in building “lasting peace” in the region.

“Today marks a positive step. We must continue working to achieve a permanent ceasefire & commit to build a better & lasting peace,” wrote Mississauga MP Iqra Khalid on X.

The National Council of Canadian Muslims, too, lauded the Trudeau government's vote in favour of a ceasefire, however, acknowledged that it was "late" to act.

"Today’s vote in calling for a ceasefire came late. But it was an important moment to finally stand on the right side of history from @JustinTrudeau and @melaniejoly. Over 70% of Canadians wanted to see a ceasefire. Canadians stand for peace," NCCM posted on X.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa that he made Canada’s position clear to his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, in a “long and detailed” phone call.

Trudeau did not use the term "ceasefire" in his brief exchange with reporters, according to CBC.

The Gaza war calls into question the moral rectitude of Western democracies



While the need for a ceasefire to halt Gaza’s human carnage is self-evident, some drivers of the Biden administration’s debate about the timing of a ceasefire.

BY DR. JAMES M. DORSEY
DECEMBER 12, 2023
photo by Haim Zach, GPO source:.flickr /israelipm

The question is no longer if but when the United States will support a ceasefire in the Gaza war.

While the need for a ceasefire to halt Gaza’s human carnage is self-evident, some drivers of the Biden administration’s debate about the timing of a ceasefire raise questions about the moral underpinnings of Western democracies.

The debate suggests decisions are driven as much by perceived strategic and national interests as by perceptions of political fortunes and electoral calculations, even if that is at the expense of thousands of innocent lives.

To be fair, the Biden administration’s balancing of support for Israel’s war goals – destruction of Hamas and release of hostages – with the electoral fallout of a confrontation with Israel over a ceasefire works in favour of an earlier rather than a later end to the Gaza war, at least on the administration’s timetable.

The United States last week vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an immediate Gaza ceasefire. Senior Israeli officials worry the US could abstain, or even vote in favour, of a similar resolution if, and when, one is again tabled in the coming weeks.

Already, the United States has reportedly given Israel a three-week deadline for ending the Gaza fighting. The White House denied giving Israel a “firm deadline.”

This weekend, the United States fired a shot across Israel’s bow by not stopping the adoption by the World Health Organisation’s Executive Board of a resolution calling for the “immediate, sustained and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief” into Gaza.

In addition to signalling Israel that it cannot continue to count on unconditional support, the United States, a member of the WHO’s 34-nation board, likely did not want to be seen opposing badly needed humanitarian aid.

Even so, the fact that limiting the sacrifice of innocent lives doesn’t figure, at least not prominently, in US political calculations, particularly given the military and political alternatives available to Israel in responding to Hamas’ brutal October 7 attack, calls into question the moral and ethical underpinnings of politics in Western democracies.

It also calls into question the integrity of democratic checks and balances that fail to distinguish between what is right and what is a political rather than a national interest.

The prioritization of political fortune is no truer than for Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu who prides himself on governing a Western democracy.

To be fair, Israeli democracy is likely to ensure that Mr. Netanyahu’s political days are numbered once the guns fall silent.

Lack of moral rectitude is equally true for Hamas leaders, although they make no pretence to adhere to democratic and humanitarian norms.

Hamas, even if it survives the war with a political victory of kinds, wantonly sacrificed innocent Gazan lives and made no provisions for a modicum of security for the civilian population in times of war.

Like Israel, Hamas discarded alternatives at its disposal in the way it fights its battles.

To be sure, failure to distinguish between national and domestic political interests pervades national security discussions far beyond the Gaza war.

There may be no immediate or obvious formula for introducing a mechanism capable of making the distinction without taking domestic political interests into account.

Moreover, in a world of extreme polarization, fear, and rage, the survival of a leader, even if he or she lacks the moral rectitude to make preservation of life an imperative, may be perceived as a national interest.

Leaving aside whether President Joe Biden’s support for Israel enhances or damages his election prospects, the choice between Mr. Biden and Donald J. Trump, who many perceive as authoritarian or a potentate, is a case in point in the run-up to next year’s US presidential election.

Even so, the question remains whether Gaza’s population that does not vote in the United States should be required to pay the price of US domestic politics.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict’s role in undermining the moral backbone and pillars of democracy goes far beyond Western support for Israel in Gaza.

The war has magnified the successful, years-long Israeli campaign to prevent unfettered debate about the conflict by equating criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism.

To put the campaign in perspective, one equivalent would be to assert that criticism of sub-Saharan nations amounts to anti-Black racism.

To be sure, the lines separating anti-Israel and anti-Zionist attitudes and anti-Semitism are often blurred. Critics of Israel and anti-Zionists have frequently failed to distance themselves from anti-Semitic expressions that, for example, surface at times on the margins of pro-Palestinian protests.

Nevertheless, Israel’s successful effort, aided by Western politicians, to impose its narrative on public debate has undermined freedom of expression in democracies and elevated support of Israel to the status of loyalty to one’s own country.

It turns on its head the anti-Semitic allegation that Jews cannot be trusted because they have double loyalties to their country of origin and Israel.

A recent survey of 963 scholars, two thirds of whom are based in the United States, illustrated the impact of the Israeli effort.

Eighty-two per cent of all US-based respondents said they self-censor when they speak about the Israeli-Palestinian issue. That figure rose to 98 percent among more junior assistant professors.

Just over 81 per cent of those self-censoring said they primarily refrained from criticising Israel, while 11 percent said they held back from criticizing Palestinians.

Moreover, Israel has managed to enshrine the limiting or banning of criticism of the Jewish state and anti-Israeli activism in the laws and regulations of Western democracies.

Twenty-seven US states have adopted laws or policies that penalize businesses, organizations, or individuals that engage in or call for boycotts against Israel.

The German parliament condemned as anti-Semitic the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement that calls for economic pressure on Israel to end the occupation of Palestinian land, grant Arab citizens equal rights, and recognize Palestinian refugees’ right of return.

Israel views the call for the right of return as a veiled quest for the destruction of Israel as a Jewish state because Jews would no longer be a majority.

While having merit in the past, the argument increasingly rings hollow with Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian territory threatening the viability of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel.

Doubts about the feasibility of a two-state solution have revived debate about one state in which Jews and Palestinians would have equal rights.

Responding to the Israeli concern, the German state of Saxony-Anhalt decided by ministerial decree that applicants for German citizenship must declare their support for Israel’s right to exist. The Bundestag, the German parliament is considering making the requirement mandatory nationwide.

Although the German measures may be explained in part by what The New Yorker describes as the “politics of memory” of the Holocaust, they, like the steps taken by US states, amount to an undefendable restriction on freedom of expression.

Moreover, criticism of anti-BDS moves does not by definition constitute support for a boycott of Israel. It is, first and foremost, a defense of freedom of choice, including the freedom to choose whose products one buys, with whom one does business, and what one invests in.

It is also a defence of democracy.

“The unprecedented carnage in Israel and Palestine is having repercussions in the United States, testing pillars of democracy including the fundamental human rights to free speech and assembly,” warned Human Rights Watch’s US program director Tanya Greene.

Dr. James M. Dorsey
Dr. James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, co-director of the University of Würzburg’s Institute for Fan Culture, and the author of The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer blog, a book with the same title, Comparative Political Transitions between Southeast Asia and the Middle East and North Africa, co-authored with Dr. Teresita Cruz-Del Rosario and three forthcoming books, Shifting Sands, Essays on Sports and Politics in the Middle East and North Africaas well as Creating Frankenstein: The Saudi Export of Ultra-conservatism and China and the Middle East: Venturing into the Maelstrom.