US TikTok ban is an attack on Palestinian digital rights

Banning TikTok won't fix privacy issues but will set a dangerous precedent for free speech as more Americans are exposed to realities in Gaza, writes Eric Sype.

Eric Sype
04 Apr, 2024

Regardless of the true motives behind efforts to ban TikTok, it would have a harmful impact for freedom of expression and digital rights. [Getty]


The recent United States Congressional action to ban TikTok is a perfect display of US double standards.

Banning one of the most widely used social media platforms in the world is a major attack on freedom of expression, and forcing a sale to ownership that is more politically acceptable to the US is extremely problematic.

Civil society and digital rights experts have roundly denounced this effort. Furthermore, heads of the US intelligence agencies have explicitly stated that privacy concerns around TikTok are purely hypothetical, leading one to question what the real factors pushing this forward might be.

But regardless of the true motives behind this action, if successful, it will set a dangerous precedent worldwide that will harm freedom of expression.

To understand what is at stake, we must examine this action through the lens of social media’s impact on global perceptions about what is happening in Palestine. Conservative politicians like Nikki Haley would like you to believe that spending time on TikTok directly correlates to becoming more anti-Semitic.

"With the failures of the mainstream media, Palestinians have seen social media as an opportunity to be heard and seen by the world after decades of suffering in forced isolation"

Unpacking this wildly ridiculous and debunked claim points to some important facts. First, the US general public is becoming increasingly more supportive of Palestinians. Second, the mainstream Western media’s coverage of Israel and Palestine has displayed a bias, and Palestinians have taken to social media as a means of trying to show the international community a more honest depiction of realities on the ground in Gaza.

Regardless of whether you believe that social media directly impacts public opinion about Palestine and Israel, it should be undeniable that Palestinians have the right to share their stories with the international community.

With the failures of the mainstream media, Palestinians have seen social media as an opportunity to be heard and seen by the world after decades of suffering in forced isolation. If people change their mind about Palestinians after seeing their stories on social media, it is because they were finally able to see Palestinians as human beings, rather than the stereotypes and statistics that they often are referred to as in the Western media.

That is something all people, and especially oppressed communities, should have access to.

However, social media is certainly not a perfect solution. Palestinians have experienced widespread silencing and censorship across all major platforms.

As TikTok has explained, there is a lot of pro Palestine content on its platform because their user base is broadly sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, but Palestinian advocates have also complained about TikTok’s censorship. Furthermore, there are legitimate privacy concerns with TikTok, as there are with all major social media platforms.

Problems that exist on TikTok are not unique but rather endemic across social media. In the age of surveillance capitalism, all major social media platforms profit off of user data. As the saying goes, “if you aren’t paying for it, you are the product”.

And with the complete lack of data privacy legislation in the US, even if Congress was successful in pushing ByteDance to sell TikTok, it would still be extremely feasible for the Chinese government, or anyone for that matter, to buy US users’ data from a data broker.

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Banning the platform will not solve privacy issues at all, and neither will forcing the sale to presumably US ownership. Just look at how US owned social media platforms treat their users.
US owned social media platforms actually have a horrible track record when it comes to human rights. In the wake of the Rohingya Genocide in 2017, Amnesty International found that the companies “reckless pursuit of profit substantially contributed to the atrocities perpetrated by the Myanmar military against the Rohingya people in 2017”.

Of course, the social media giant apologised and claimed to change its ways. However, reporting from November showed that Facebook has been profiting from paid-for-placement ad campaigns advocating for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.

Moreover, since Elon Musk took over Twitter, and renamed it X, the platform has become a hotbed for hate speech and incitement to violence against Palestinians. Since the beginning of the war on Gaza alone, there have been over 3.5 million documented instances of hateful and inciting posts targeting Palestinians.

"Concerns about foreign actors propagandising social media are neither new or unique to TikTok, and yes, even the United States engages in such activities"

Other concerns have been raised about China’s ability to use TikTok as a propaganda machine to achieve its foreign policy aims. In the context of Israel's information war against Palestine, this is an absolutely ludicrous issue to bring up.

Throughout October of 2023, investigative reporting has shown that Israel invested millions of dollars into a paid-for-placement ad campaign on YouTube, targeting citizens from Western countries, to justify collective punishment against all Palestinians, and to garner support for its campaign of indiscriminate bombing in Gaza.

Moreover, recent reporting also showed that former President Donald Trump implemented a CIA program to use Chinese social media to turn the Chinese population against its government.

These examples again illustrate that concerns about foreign actors propagandising social media are neither new or unique to TikTok, and yes, even the United States engages in such activities.

Banning TikTok would set a dangerous precedent for the world. Authoritarian state actors have long tried to silence their opposition, and many would take this sort of action as evidence that it is okay to ban major media platforms without expecting international condemnation. That would threaten freedom of expression around the globe.

The Biden Administration actually condemned Nigeria for blocking access to Twitter only a few years ago.

It is curious that during an election year, when Biden’s campaign has been severely impacted by Palestinian advocates demanding he call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, that he has now shown his support for potentially banning a platform himself.

Eric Sype is a Community Organizer and Advocate for Palestinian Human Rights. He is 7amleh’s National Organizer in the United States and works to build a broad base of support for Palestinian Digital Rights within the US.

Opinions expressed in this article remain those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The New Arab, its editorial board or staff.

In Israel's war on Gaza, Palestinian women's bodies are battlefields

Israel's violence against Palestinian women is core to its settler colonialism because they sustain indigenous life and resistance, writes Farrah Koutteineh.

Farrah Koutteineh
04 Apr, 2024

The systemic violence and humiliation of Palestinian women by Israeli soldiers goes back 75 years, writes Farrah Koutteineh. [Getty]

In recent weeks disturbing revelations of widespread sexual torture and rape of Palestinian women by Israeli forces invading Gaza have come to light.

Last week it was reported that a pregnant Palestinian woman had been kidnapped and held hostage alongside her family by Israeli soldiers in the vicinity of Gaza’s Al Shifa hospital.

She was brutally beaten for several hours and after telling the Israeli soldiers she was five months pregnant, the beating only intensified. This was then followed by soldiers raping her in front of her husband and children, threatening to shoot any of them that closed their eyes during the ordeal.

These horrifying revelations are in fact nothing new when it comes to Israel’s continuous assault on Palestinian women’s bodies. This is a practice as old as Israel itself. When the settler colonial state of Israel formed just 75 years ago, mass rape of Palestinian women was part of its foundational project.

"Throughout settler colonial history, it has often been the bodies of indigenous women that have been viewed as the battlefields of settler colonial domination"

Zionist terrorist groups used mass rape to assert domination over the native Palestinian towns and villages it was ethnically cleansing.

The countless massacres of Palestinians that took place across the 1940’s during the Nakba, in order to create the state of Israel, from the Tantura massacre, to the Deir Yassin massacre, all document the mass-rape of Palestinian women.

Zionist terrorist groups would often rape Palestinian women in full display of an entire Palestinian village, to terrify others to flee.

The Israeli settlers who perpetrated such barbarity were never held accountable. Instead today they are hailed as heroes in Israeli society. In documentaries about these massacres they laugh and snigger over their role in mass-rape, even gloating that some of their Palestinian victims were as young as 14 years old.

As more of the unsubstantiated Israeli government statements about what really happened on 7th October are being debunked, notably their fictitious statements on alleged ‘mass rape’ of Israeli settlers, it is absolutely vital, now more than ever, to condemn Israel’s 75 year long targetted campaign of rape murder of Palestinian women.

During Israel’s first invasion of Lebanon in 1982, Israeli forces committed some of their most unimaginable violence against Palestinian women.

The Sabra and Shatila massacre in 1982 saw Israeli soldiers torture, rape, mutilate and murder over 3,500 Palestinian refugees, mostly women and children. Horrifying testimonies of survivors recall unthinkable mutilations of pregnant women’s bodies, testimonies that were actually stolen and appropriated by Israel supporters online.

They had deceptively proclaimed these brutally detailed testimonies of mass rape, mass mutilation and mass murder from Sabra and Shatila massacre survivors, were the testimonies of Israeli women on 7th October.

But these claims were then verified by fact checkers and shown to be unsubstantiated. Indeed, many were the stolen testimonies of Sabra and Shatila massacre survivors.

The lived experience of female Palestinian political prisoners exemplifies the intensified violence Palestinian women experience. They experience psychological, physical and sexual torture at the hands of Israeli prison guards. They are even documented cases of pregnant prisoners tortured to the point of miscarriage.

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Unfiltered

Randa Abdel-Fattah

Former Palestinian political prisoner Rasmea Odeh recalls a harrowing but unfortunately not uncommon nor unique female Palestinian experience whilst incarcerated. Odeh was arrested in 1969 by Israel, for being a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

After her arrest she was brutally beaten, tortured and raped by Israeli prison guards. Israeli prison guards later arrested Odeh’s father, whereby they gave him the ultimatum to either be forced to watch guards sexually torture his daughter or do it himself, to which Odeh was forced to falsely confess, worried her father would have a heart attack.

Since 7th October it is estimated over 25,000 Palestinian women and children have been killed by Israeli forces. Israel’s systematic targeting of Palestinian women is not coincidental or abstract, it exactly underpins the violent settler colonial nature of its very existence.

Throughout settler colonial history, it has often been the bodies of indigenous women that have been viewed as the battlefields of settler colonial domination. European settler colonialism is constructed upon power and domination, not only upholding notions of white supremacy, but of violent misogyny.

"The humiliation and violence we are witnessing in Gaza and across occupied Palestine today is not a product only of the current war, it is a systemic byproduct of Israel’s settler colonial survival"

During the vast European colonisation of Turtle Island (US & Canada), violence against indigenous women became a central element of the colonial strategy for conquest and genocide.

Indigenous women were targeted with rape and femicide due to their ability to sustain their tribes through childbearing, and thus the survival of native populations depend on its women.

Indigenous women have always been seen as the demographic threat responsible for sustaining the indigenous population that settler colonial projects seek to dominate or exterminate.

Today across the US and Canada, indigenous women are at the forefront of gendered violence. Despite only making up less than one percent of the population, the murder rate of indigenous women is ten times higher than that of any other ethnicity.

In fact, over 80% will experience sexual violence in their lifetime and indigenous women are more likely to be raped or murdered than go to college. The roots of violence against indigenous women across Turtle Island experience today are deeply colonial.

The disturbing phenomenon of photos coming out of Gaza in recent months of perverted Israeli soldiers posing with Palestinian women’s underwear and lingerie is rooted in similar colonial misogyny.

Israeli settler society since its beginnings has been caught up in the same orientalist obsessions over Arab, Muslim and Middle Eastern women as its colonial predecessors.

Throughout France’s colonisation of Algeria, the modesty of Algerian women, most notably the veil, became a colonial fixation. Algerian women played a fundamental role in the decolonisation of Algeria: veiled women were not only active revolutionaries, but the veil empowered their very resistance by defying European misogynist ideals of women that confined their worth to their appearance.

Post-colonial writer Frantz Fanon summarises this fixation as, “This woman, who sees without being seen, frustrates the coloniser. The occupier was bent on unveiling…because there is in it the will to make this woman within his reach, to make her a possible object of his possession”.

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French soldiers would often hold “unveiling ceremonies” of Algerian women, ceremonies of stark contrast to current scenes of Palestinian women in Gaza being forcefully stripped and humiliated by Israeli soldiers.

So the humiliation and violence we are witnessing in Gaza and across occupied Palestine today is not a product only of the current war, it is a systemic byproduct of Israel’s settler colonial survival.

Palestinian women who resist are amongst the most vilified in the world’s press and the most targeted by Israeli settler forces. Palestinian women like Leila Khaled, Rasmea Odeh, Shireen Abu Akleh, and Ahed Tamimi send tremors through the Israeli settler colony, as do all Palestinian women.

Because when indigenous women revolt, dissent, and resist, they strike settler colonialism at its core, simultaneously challenging its white supremacist and misogynist roots.

Indigenous women lead the way to liberation, and settler colonial states fear them for it.



Farrah Koutteineh is founder of KEY48 - a voluntary collective calling for the immediate right of return of over 7.4 million Palestinian refugees. Koutteineh is also a political activist focusing on intersectional activism including, the Decolonise Palestine movement, indigenous people's rights, anti-establishment movement, women's rights and climate justice.

Biden urged to 'reverse course' on Gaza by 80 Muslim American groups

Letter to President Joe Biden accuses the US leader of risking his presidential legacy and America's reputation by enabling "Netanyahu government's genocide" in besieged Gaza.



REUTERS

Israel has killed nearly 33,000 Palestinians and wounded 75,300 so far in the blockaded enclave amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities. / Photo: Reuters

Eighty Muslim, Palestinian and allied groups have sent a letter to US President Joe Biden to object to his decisions to transfer additional weapons to Israel and "falsely" certify that the Israeli government's brutal war on besieged Gaza complies with US law.

"Your administration is publicly discouraging Israel from launching a full-scale invasion of Rafah unless there is a plan to somehow protect civilians, but that caveat is essentially a green light for Israel to ethnically cleanse Rafah and then reduce the city to rubble like it has done elsewhere," the organisations wrote in the letter on Wednesday.

The Biden administration refuses to take "any concrete action" to force Israel to stop starving and bombing the civilian population, it said.

"The decisions to flout US law by falsely certifying Israel's compliance and ship more weapons to the [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu government represent the latest examples of this pattern."

"The American people do not want a change in rhetoric. The American people want a concrete change in policy," it added.

The letter came one day after the White House was forced to scale back plans for a Ramadan iftar after Muslim American leaders declined to attend.

Dozens of Muslim American community members and their allies braved rain, wind and frigid temperatures on Tuesday to stage a fast-breaking protest outside the White House and demand the president call for an immediate permanent ceasefire to halt the bloodshed in the besieged Gaza.

'We urge you to listen to voices of reason'

The groups urged Biden in the letter to recognise that Israel's actions in Gaza violate US law and to suspend the transfer of all weapons to Israel.

They also asked Biden to use American leverage to secure an "immediate, permanent" ceasefire, the "unimpeded" opening of all land crossings for humanitarian aid, the release of all captives and political prisoners, and to pursue a "just and lasting peace through an end to the Israeli occupation and apartheid policies."

"We urge you to listen to voices of reason and morality inside and outside of the administration."

"Risking your presidential legacy and the reputation of our nation around the world to enable the Netanyahu government's genocide has been a disastrous decision. We implore you to reverse course before thousands more die," they added.

Following Hamaz blitz on October 7 last year, Israel has killed nearly 33,000 Palestinians and wounded 75,300 so far in the blockaded enclave amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which has ordered Tel Aviv to do more to prevent starvation crisis in Gaza. Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the rights situation in the Palestinian territories, said recently there were reasonable grounds to believe Israel was committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

Albanese also addressed allegations that Hamas fighters used rape during their attack on Israel, saying there was an absence of convincing evidence to support the claims.

"What I am very disturbed by was the weaponisation of anything that happened on 7 of October," she said. "Personally, I have not received information. I have read reports that had been written, and I didn't find any convincing evidence."

SOURCE: AA

Palestinian American doctor walks out of White House meeting over handling of Gaza war

BY ALEX GANGITANO - 04/03/24  THE HILL

Demonstrators rally in support of Palestinians, Tuesday, April 2, 2024, at Lafayette Park across from the White House in Washington,. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Thaer Ahmad, a Palestinian American doctor, said he walked out of a meeting at the White House on Tuesday evening over President Biden’s handling of the war in Gaza.

Ahmad, an emergency medicine physician who worked in Gaza in January, said he showed up to a stakeholder meeting at the White House, which was set up in place of a Ramadan celebration. Attendees insisted there shouldn’t be any food at the meeting, he added.

“It made no sense for us to sort of break bread while talking about a famine taking place,” he told CNN host Kaitlan Collins. “We had shown up and the president and the vice president, the national security adviser are in the room, and there was very brief comments by the president saying he wants to hear from us and he wants to listen to us.”

Ahmad said he spoke first in the meeting and then walked out. He told Collins he was the only Palestinian in the room.

“Our heart is broken for what’s been taking place over the last six months, and that the rhetoric that has been coming out of the Biden administration, that’s been coming out of the White House, it’s frustrated a lot of people, especially people who are Palestinian Americans, Muslim Americans, Arab Americans,” he said. “We are not satisfied with what has taken place, there has been no concrete steps.”

“I was able to share that with the president and let him know that out of respect for my community, out of respect for all of the people who have suffered and who have been killed in the process, I need to walk out of the meeting,” Ahmad continued. “And I want to walk out with decision-makers and let them know what it feels like for somebody to say something and then walk away from them and not hear them out, not hear their response.”

When asked for Biden’s response to his walk out, the doctor replied, “He actually said that he understood, and I walked away.”

Biden hosted a meeting with Muslim community leaders to discuss issues of importance to the community Tuesday, a White House official told The Hill. After the meeting, to honor Ramadan, the White House hosted “a small breaking of the fast, prayer, and Iftar with a number of senior Muslim Admin officials.”

The scaled-down iftar dinner came after several people who were invited to the event declined, CNN reported. In 2023, the White House hosted nearly 350 people for a reception celebrating Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan.

Biden has faced protests for months of his handling of the war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas, and last week was interrupted at two campaign stops — one in Raleigh, N.C., and one in New York City, when he was alongside former Presidents Obama and Clinton for a major donor event.

Democrats are fearful that the war in Gaza is turning into a majority political liability for Biden and other candidates as Americans are increasingly disapproving of Israel’s actions. 

The administration is considering selling Israel up to 50 new F-15 fighter jets, 30 AIM-120 advanced medium range air-to-air missile, as well as Joint Direct Attack Munition kits, The Hill confirmed.

And, earlier this week, seven aid workers with World Central Kitchen were killed in a strike that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu took responsibility for, adding to anger about the situation from Biden critics.

White House shows no indication of restricting weapons for Israel

April 03, 2024 9:12 PM
By Patsy Widakuswara

Israeli soldiers move on the top of a tank near the Israeli-Gaza border, as seen from southern Israel, March 21, 2024. U.S. weapons sales to Israel are under increased scrutiny amid outrage over the deaths of more than 33,000 people in Gaza.

WASHINGTON —

U.S. weapons sales to Israel have been under increased scrutiny amid outrage over the reported deaths of tens of thousands of people in Gaza since the start of the war, including seven aid workers killed in an Israeli airstrike this week.

President Joe Biden said in a statement on Tuesday that he was "outraged and heartbroken" by the deaths, his latest stern rebuke of Israel's war conduct.

Israel said the strike was "unintentional" and promised an investigation.

On Wednesday, Biden ignored questions about whether he would put conditions on U.S. military aid. His aides suggest the administration is unlikely to do so, citing U.S. support for Israel's right to defend itself against the "still viable threat" from Hamas.

The administration will wait for results of Israel's investigation, National Security Council communications adviser John Kirby told reporters Wednesday. "I'm not going to get ahead of decisions that haven't been made yet," he said.

In an interview with Reuters on Wednesday, World Central Kitchen founder Jose Andres accused Israel of targeting the group's food convoy "systematically, car by car." He said he had established clear communication with the Israeli military about his aid workers' movements.

Andres is a celebrity chef who is well-known in Washington. That and the fact that the victims included U.S.-Canadian citizen Jacob Flickinger has added a new level of outrage, including among lawmakers of Biden's own Democratic Party, and renewed demands that the president condition military aid to Israel.

"Israel has killed more than 200 aid workers in 6 months. That's not an accident. No more aid for Netanyahu's war machine," Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders said in a social media post Tuesday.

Weapons transfer

Israel is the largest recipient of U.S. aid, nearly $4 billion a year, most of it in the form of military assistance.

Under U.S. law, the administration must notify Congress of weapons transfers to Israel that are worth more than $25 million.

In December, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken approved two emergency weapons transfers to Israel, bypassing the congressional review requirement for foreign military sales.

Since the October 7 Hamas attack, two additional transfers have been made public, said Josh Paul, former director at the State Department agency that handles weapons transfers, who resigned in October in protest over the U.S.'s "continued lethal assistance to Israel."

Those two were made under the direct commercial sales process and Congress was notified, Paul told VOA. "But with less visibility, because there is less information that is provided to the public on direct commercial sales," he said.

In addition to the four that were made public, since October 7 more than 100 arms transfers to Israel have taken place without informing Congress, mainly because the packages were structured to fall below the notification threshold, according to reporting by The Washington Post, which VOA confirmed with a Department of Defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Ari Tolany, director of security assistance, arms trade and technology at the Center for International Policy, said the moves amount to a "deliberate dodge of transparency" by the administration.

"When they are publicly saying that Israel needs to take more steps to protect civilians but privately pushing through hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of weapons, there's really no credibility," she told VOA.

The Biden administration refuses to use the most significant source of leverage it has, she said, which is "the massive amount of arms provided to Israel."

The Post reported that the transfers included billions of dollars in bombs and fighter jets in recent weeks, even as the administration publicly criticized Israel's intention for a ground invasion of Rafah, where 1.5 million displaced Palestinians seek safety.

Unconditional support

Since Harry Truman recognized Israel minutes after its founding in 1948, American presidents have supported the country.

Almost all have done so unconditionally, with the exception of President George H.W. Bush, who in 1991 gave Israel an ultimatum to freeze settlements on Palestinian land in exchange for $10 billion in loan guarantees.

That approach worked. But not all agree that restricting aid will effect change.

"The emotive issue of providing for a country's means for their own defense can sometimes trigger different responses in different theaters. It's just been a sort of inexact tool for the U.S in the past," said Grant Rumley, a senior fellow specializing in military and security affairs at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

"I think that's internalized within this administration right now," he told VOA. "That, coupled with the president's long-standing commitment to Israel, is why you haven't seen any real steps taken on this route."

There is also the fear that putting conditions on aid may send the wrong signal to Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies, increasing the prospects of opening a second front to the conflict at Israel's northern border with Lebanon.

In March, to meet the Biden administration's requirement set out in February, Israel provided assurances that American weapons are used in accordance with international and humanitarian law, which the administration accepted.

Those assurances are "not credible," said Human Rights Watch and Oxfam. The rights groups submitted examples of what they call Israeli violations of international humanitarian law, including "deprivation of services critical to the survival of the civilian population, and arbitrary denial and restrictions of humanitarian aid."

Eighty Muslim and Arab American organizations sent a similar letter to Biden on Wednesday, objecting to his "administration's decisions to falsely declare that Israel's war on Gaza complies with U.S. legal requirements and authorize the continued transfer of U.S.-manufactured weapons."

The groups cited the attacks on the World Central Kitchen aid workers as the latest example of Israel's violation of the laws of war.

In Pictures

Taiwan rocked by most powerful quake in 25 years

The earthquake was the strongest since one of magnitude 7.6 struck in September 1999, killing about 2,400 people.

A damaged building in Hualien, after a major earthquake hit Taiwan's east.

 [CNA via AFP]
Published On 3 Apr 2024

Taiwan’s strongest earthquake in 25 years has rocked the island during the morning rush hour, damaging buildings and highways and causing the deaths of four people.

Taiwan’s national fire agency said four people died in Hualien County and at least 57 were injured in the quake that struck just before 8am (00:00 GMT) on Wednesday.

Train services were suspended across the island of 23 million people, as were subway services in Taipei, where a newly constructed above-ground line partially separated.

Traffic along the east coast was at a virtual standstill, with landslides and falling debris hitting tunnels and highways in the mountainous region, causing damage to vehicles.

Despite the quake striking at the height of the morning rush hour, the initial panic faded quickly on the island, which is regularly rocked by tremors and prepares for them with drills at schools and notices issued via public media and mobile phones.

Taiwan’s worst quake in recent years struck on September 21, 1999, with a magnitude of 7.6, causing 2,400 deaths, injuring about 100,000 and destroying thousands of buildings.

Taiwan’s earthquake monitoring agency gave the magnitude as 7.2 while the United States Geological Survey put it at 7.4. It struck about 18 kilometres (11.1 miles) south-southwest of Hualien and was about 35 kilometres (21 miles) deep. Multiple aftershocks followed, and the USGS said one of the subsequent quakes was magnitude 6.5 and 11.8 kilometres (7 miles) deep. Shallower quakes tend to cause more surface damage.

A damaged apartment in New Taipei City. [Fabian Hamacher/Reuters]
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A man reacts after a brick wall in his house collapsed, in Taipei. [CNA via AFP]
At least 26 buildings have collapsed, more than half in Hualien. [CNA via AFP]
Damaged buildings in Xindian district of New Taipei City. [CNA via AFP]
Rescuers helping a man from a damaged building in New Taipei City. [CNA via AFP]
Emergency workers assisting a man trapped in a damaged building, in New Taipei City. [CNA via AFP]
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Firefighters work at the site where a building collapsed following the earthquake, in Hualien. [Taiwan National Fire Agency/Handout via Reuters]
A sign showing a subway train suspension following the earthquake, in a subway station in Taipei. [Daniel Ceng/EPA]

New sonar images show mangled heap of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge at bottom of river

By Katherine Donlevy

NY POST
Published April 3, 2024

The mangled remnants of the Francis Scott Key Bridge can be seen lying at the bottom of the Patapsco River in new sonar images released on Tuesday.

The once-iconic bridge appears unrecognizable in the 3D renderings as it sits shrouded in the dark waters of the channel.

“These 3D images show the sheer magnitude of the very difficult and challenging salvage operation ahead,” the US Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District said.

The 3D images will be used by divers to navigate the mangled disaster zone.

twitter/USACEBaltimore

Taken by the US Navy’s Naval Sea System Command’s primary sonar tool called CODA Octopus, the images will be used to create maps to help divers navigate the chaotic scene, where visibility is limited to just one or two feet.

Several feet of mud and soot were dislodged from the river floor last week when the Dali container truck smashed into the bridge, causing it to crumble and plunging at least eight construction workers into the water.

The Army compared the cloudy conditions to “driving through a heavy snowfall at night with high-beam headlights on.”

As recovery efforts continue, divers will rely on detailed verbal directions from operators in vessels who are viewing the real-time CODA imagery.

The renderings were taken by the US Navy’s Naval Sea System Command’s primary sonar tool called CODA Octopus.

twitter/USACEBaltimore

US Army Corps of Engineers Col. Estee Pinchasin said the underwater conditions are “extremely unforgiving” for divers.

“The magnitude of this is enormous,” she said.

Crews are in the process of removing the heaps of steel and concrete at the site of the collapse, where authorities believe the bodies of four of the eight victims are still trapped.

The visibility around the wreckage is just one or two feet.

The bodies of two construction workers with Brawner Builders were pulled from a red pick-up truck submerged 25 feet below the surface near the middle span of the bridge one day after the disaster.

Two people — a state inspector and a contractor from an engineering firm — were rescued shortly after, one of whom was seriously injured and the other who refused treatment.

All eight victims were part of the construction crew working to repair potholes on the bridge when the cargo ship Dali lost power in the early hours of March 26, shortly after leaving Baltimore on its way to Sri Lanka.

US Army Corps of Engineers Col. Estee Pinchasin said the underwater conditions are “extremely unforgiving” for divers.

The ship issued a mayday alert, allowing just enough time for police to stop traffic.

The owners of the ship, Synergy and Grace Ocean, filed a court petition Monday seeking to limit their legal liability, a routine but important procedure for cases litigated under US maritime law. A federal court in Maryland will ultimately decide who is responsible and how much they owe.

With Post Wires

Biden honors Martin Luther King Jr. on 56th anniversary of his assassination

BY SARAH FORTINSKY - 04/04/24 - THE HILL

Andrew Harnik, Associated Press

President Biden is seen after meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah II in the Cross Hall of the White House, Feb. 12, 2024, in Washington.

President Biden marked the 56th year since the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. with a statement paying tribute to King’s legacy and warning against the reemergence of political violence.

“Fifty-six years ago today, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his last breath in the cause to redeem the soul of our nation,” Biden said in a statement Thursday, calling King one of his “political heroes.”

“But then, an extremist – armed with a rifle in his hands and fueled by the poison of white supremacy in his heart – shot and killed a great American who loved his country so deeply to make it better – even greater – even when it didn’t always love him back,” Biden said. “Dr. King and generations of foot soldiers known and unknown embody a patriotism that continues to inspire generations of Americans, including me.”

Biden warned against the reemergence of political violence, saying it should be condemned universally and taught extensively to ensure it never repeats.

“But on this day, and in this time, we all do well to remember another essential lesson about Dr. King’s life and legacy. All Americans – regardless of party or background – should be able to reject political violence and hate-fueled violence in any form,” Biden said. “We must condemn it, not condone it. We must confront it, not whitewash it. As we do, we must teach history and make history, not erase history. We must choose community over chaos.”

Concerns about political violence have grown in recent years, in particular since the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol that resulted in multiple fatalities.

In a December poll, 83 percent of Americans said they were concerned about political violence. On Wednesday, a new poll revealed that more than 20 percent of Americans said they thought violence may be necessary to secure political objectives in 2024.

Biden also noted the influence King has had on his own life, noting that after King’s assassination, Biden left a prestigious law firm and became a public servant.

“Since then, I’ve seen the push and pull and progress and setback on everything he stood for from voting rights to jobs and justice for all Americans,” Biden said. “I’ve had the greatest honor to serve as Vice President to the first Black President and now President with the first woman Vice President, as we carry forward his vision of a beloved community.”

Wisconsin governor signs bill requiring schools to teach Asian American history 

BY TARA SUTER - 04/04/24 - THE HILL

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers addresses a joint session of the state Legislature in the Assembly chambers during the governor’s State of the State speech at the state Capitol in Madison, Wis., Feb. 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Andy Manis, File)

The Wisconsin governor has signed a bill requiring K-12 schools to teach Asian American history, according to a press release from the governor’s office.

The bill, which Gov. Tony Evers (D) signed Thursday, also requires schools to teach Hmong American history, per the release. In the release, Evers said that “[t]he Hmong and Asian American communities are a critical part of our state’s history, culture, economy, and our future.”

“It’s important that we celebrate our shared histories and honor the people who help make Wisconsin the state it is today,” Evers continued in the release. 

“I’ve been proud to sign several key pieces of bipartisan legislation into law to recognize the contributions Hmong and Asian American folks have made to our state and our country, and this bill builds upon those efforts, ensuring the histories and stories of Hmong and Asian American communities are part of state curriculum for future generations,” Evers continued.

The bill builds on previous state law that mandates schools instruct on “an understanding of human relations” with regards to American Indians, Black Americans, and Hispanics.

Earlier this week, Evers vetoed a bill that would’ve barred transgender student-athletes from competing on sports teams in line with their gender identity. He called the GOP legislation “hateful and discriminatory.”

“I am vetoing this bill in its entirety because I object to codifying discrimination into state statute,” Evers said in a veto message about the bill.

“I believe this bill fails to comport with our Wisconsin values. We expect our kids to treat each other with kindness, respect, empathy, and compassion, and we should be able to expect adults to lead by example,” Evers wrote. “I urge the Republican majority to do so while fully considering the harmful consequences its efforts and actions have on our kids prior to introducing similar legislation in the future.”

Is Saudi Arabia trying to sabotage Biden?

BY LIZ PEEK, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR - 04/04/24 -THE HILL

Is Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman trying to sabotage Joe Biden’s reelection bid? It’s quite possible. The Saudi leader, known as MBS, has made clear his disdain for President Biden, and his fury over insults lobbed at him by this White House. He is a powerful force behind the current surge in oil prices, which could — if sustained — contribute to Biden’s defeat.

Oil prices are soaring — up 19 percent since the start of the year. Since they lag behind crude oil, gasoline prices have only jumped 14 percent so far. But, unless oil markets take a giant step backwards, prices at the pump will steadily increase into the summer driving season and pummel Biden’s popularity.

This happened two years ago. As gasoline prices rose to an all-time high of $5 per gallon in June 2022, Biden’s approval ratings tanked. He started the year at 43.2 percent approval and by the July 4 holiday, when millions of Americans take to the roads, he had slipped to 38.1 percent.

Why are oil prices rising? There are a number of factors, including Russia’s war against Ukraine, turbulence and fear of escalation in the Middle East and also some revival in China’s growth and demand for energy. But it is the ongoing production cuts agreed to by OPEC+, engineered in large part by Saudi Arabia, that are really lifting prices.

In recent days, OPEC+ held a ministerial meeting at which members recommitted to continuing voluntary cuts of 2.2 million barrels per day until June. The decision had been expected, but nonetheless signaled that Saudi Arabia and Russia, the world’s leading oil exporters, are determined to keep prices high. MBS is the key decision-maker for Saudi Arabia; by virtue of the kingdom’s unique position as “swing producer,” he is also the dominant voice within OPEC+.

For Russia, high oil prices are critical to winning its battle with Ukraine. Biden, after Putin invaded its neighbor, boasted that the U.S. and its allies were imposing draconian penalties to hold Moscow accountable. Biden said, “The totality of our sanctions and export controls is crushing the Russian economy.” He cited the sharp decline of the ruble and predicted the Moscow stock exchange would “probably collapse.”

Since that day, one month into the conflict, the ruble has rebounded 47 percent and the main Russian stock index is up 37 percent, only 25 percent below its all-time high. How has Russia managed? By teaming with the Saudis to curtail production and boost oil prices.

For the Russians, high oil prices are a matter of survival. For the Saudis, skyrocketing oil costs are essential to fulfilling the grandiose economic vision of MBS. They are also key to exacting revenge against Biden, who early on went out of his way to insult the young heir apparent. The White House indicated it intended to “recalibrate” its relationship with the Saudis, and especially with MBS, who had worked successfully with the Trump White House.

Having vowed on the campaign trail in 2019 to make Saudi Arabia “the pariah that they are,” Biden initially shunned the crown prince, agreeing to speak only to his ailing father King Salman. In addition, the White House released a report accusing MBS of responsibility for the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and terminated sales of offensive weapons needed by Saudi Arabia to conduct its war in Yemen. Moreover, Biden rescinded Trump’s terror designation for the Houthis, despite the group having attacked Saudi oil infrastructure.

Worse, the Biden team attempted to revive the nuclear deal with Iran, Saudi Arabia’s bitter enemy.

Early in Biden’s presidency, the Saudis surprised oil traders by leading OPEC to not increase oil output, despite rising demand; prices jumped 4 percent. It was MBS’s first salvo, reminding Biden of the importance of the U.S.-Saudi alliance, which has been in place since 1945, and of his own ascendance.

When oil prices soared in 2022, Biden went to MBS for help, begging him to increase output. But he would not shake hands with the crown prince, offering instead a widely-mocked “fist bump.” That’s how idiotically Biden has managed this critical relationship.

In coming months we will find out just how critical the relationship is. If oil prices continue to march higher, Biden will no doubt pull out all the diplomatic stops to get OPEC+ to open the spigots. Last time, he dampened rising prices by draining the Strategic Petroleum Reserve; that emergency storage is down to 362,000 barrels, the lowest level since 1983. Biden cannot go there again.

Other factors will certainly influence Biden’s standing in coming months, but oil prices could prove key as they drive inflation higher. In a recent poll, 22 percent of voters ranked inflation as their top issue; rising prices at the pump will keep the problem top of mind even if the overall inflation level continues to moderate. The same survey showed only 38 percent of voters describing the economy under Biden as good, compared to 65 percent saying it was good under Trump.

Rising oil prices will likely complicate Fed Chair Jay Powell’s expected pivot to cutting rates, which Wall Street expects. The Fed has engineered one of the most aggressive rate-hiking cycles ever, and is poised to reverse course once inflation recedes to its stated 2 percent goal. Stocks have rallied strongly in anticipation of that easing; rising oil prices could prove a speedbump.

Energy prices are volatile, so they are excluded from the data that the Fed studies for signs that inflation is under control. But if oil prices remain high for several months, they will bleed into the cost of shipping, airline tickets, plastics and innumerable other items. Powell clearly intends to follow through with his projected cuts, but has also said the Fed will be “data dependent.” Oil prices will be a critical part of the data.

And MBS could make sure those prices, and interest rates, stay “higher for longer.” That will not help Joe Biden.

Liz Peek is a former partner of major bracket Wall Street firm Wertheim & Company. 

Haiti gangs loot national library, putting historic documents at risk

Haiti's National Library was looted Wednesday by armed gangs terrorising the Caribbean nation's capital Port-au-Prince, its director told AFP, as UNESCO condemned multiple "devastating" attacks on educational and artistic institutions in the city.


Issued on: 04/04/2024 

A man looks at vehicles that were burned near his garage in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on March 25, 2024. © Clarens Siffroy, AFP

Haiti's National Library was looted Wednesday by armed gangs terrorising the Caribbean nation's capital Port-au-Prince, its director told AFP, as UNESCO condemned multiple "devastating" attacks on educational and artistic institutions in the city.

Library director Dangelo Neard said the history of Haiti -- the Western Hemisphere's second-oldest republic -- was being threatened.

"Our documentary collections are in danger. We have rare documents over 200 years old, with importance to our heritage, which risk being burned or damaged by bandits," he said.

"I was told that the thugs are taking away the institution's furniture. They also ransacked the building's generator."

Armed groups control most of Port-au-Prince and swaths of countryside in the absence of a functioning government and continued delays in establishing a promised transitional authority.

After several days of relative calm, attacks picked up again in several neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince from Monday.

The attack on the National Library comes after assaults last week on two universities, the Ecole Normale Superieure and the National School of Arts.

The National School of Arts "promotes the development of artists and the influence of Haitian art throughout the world," UNESCO, the UN's education, science and cultural organization, said in a statement condemning vandalism at the institution.

The Ecole Normale Superieure, meanwhile, which UNESCO said was the site of an arson, is "one of the pillars" of the country's education system, as well as the oldest training institution for teachers in the country.

"These acts of vandalism, looting and arson against the country's educational institutions have devastating consequences for the future of Haitian society," UNESCO said.

Also last week, two health care facilities and 10 pharmacies were looted, the UN's humanitarian office said Wednesday, while the remaining hospitals are facing increasing strain.

The country's embattled national police said in a statement Tuesday that they were "determined and committed to restoring order and peace."

New PM incoming?

Haiti has been rocked by a surge in violence since February, when its powerful criminal gangs teamed up to attack police stations, prisons, the airport and the seaport.

They are seeking to oust Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who has been in power since the assassination of president Jovenel Moise in 2021. The country has no sitting parliament, with its last election in 2016.

The country has also been wracked for decades by poverty, natural disasters, political instability and gang violence, with Moise's assassination setting off months of spiraling insecurity even before February's clashes.

Unelected and unpopular, Henry announced March 11 he would step down as part of an internationally brokered plan to make way for a so-called transitional council.

But weeks later the council has yet to be officially formed and installed amid disagreement among the political parties and other stakeholders due to name the next prime minister -- and because of doubts over the very legality of such a council.

"We spent two and a half years with Ariel Henry who did nothing, and now in two weeks we want to do a lot of things," council member Leslie Voltaire told AFP.

He also blamed regional body CARICOM for rushing the formation of the council, though he said it would be stood up by Thursday and would elect a prime minister within a week.

(AFP)