Boston cannabis dispensary opens its doors on 4/20, adds to growing industry

Daniel Coates
Sun, April 21, 2024 

On the unofficial holiday of 4/20, another dispensary opened its doors to new customers – part of the booming statewide cannabis industry.

Rebelle on Albany Street in Boston is the first dispensary to open in the South End neighborhood. The company produces its own marijuana products while also selling other brands as well.

Guillermo Erazo, assistant general manager of the store, told Boston 25 that their natural products focus on general wellness.

“We produce our own product,” said Erazo. “We cultivate our own flower. We cultivate our own edibles and concentrates as well too.”

Rebelle is now one of more than a dozen dispensaries across Boston that sell recreational marijuana.

Recreational marijuana was legalized in Massachusetts in 2016. The cannabis control commission reported roughly $1.5 billion in sales in 2023 as the industry grows statewide.

Erazo added, “We have a lot of consumers who came down that are more happy that it’s recreational, that we open up doors for consumers to get it the correct way.”

The growing industry is also opening new doors for local businesses.

Sam Burgess of Bootstrap Compost in Everett held a pop-up at the South End dispensary, saying his company can create a more sustainable marijuana industry.

“We can actually compost green material after the harvesting,” said Burgess. “We can create bioplastics and whatnot for better packaging. So, I think there’s a lot of room for improvement.”

While dozens trickled into the store, Erazo told Boston 25 he hopes cannabis will soon be totally destigmatized.

Citing some benefits, Erazo finished, “Lupis, muscle relaxation, or an increase in appetite too.”

Since retail stores opened in 2018, the cannabis control commission has reported roughly $6 billion in sales

4/20 is the busiest time of year for Florida’s medical marijuana dispensaries

Ivy Nyayieka, Tampa Bay Times
Sat, April 20, 2024



It’s April 20 (or 4/20) — the unofficial holiday celebrating marijuana.

And if history is any indicator, it’s a great day for sales at Florida’s medical pot dispensaries.

In the past two years, Floridians with medical marijuana cards bought more weed during the week of 4/20 than any other week of the year. That’s according to a Times analysis of cannabis dispensary data from the state’s Office of Medical Marijuana Use. (420 is slang for pot smoking; its origins are debated.)

Steve Mazeika, the vice president of communications at Verano, the parent company of cannabis dispensary chain Müv, called April 20 “the cannabis community’s biggest annual holiday.”

Cannabis market research firm BDSA, which is based in Colorado, said in an email that the higher sales are likely due to “the overall hype surrounding the holiday” as well as increased marketing that cannabis dispensaries do around this time of year. It said revenues reached $23.26 million in Florida on April 20 last year.

“Despite being a medical market, the use of cannabis in Florida for relaxation and recreation-adjacent purposes is significant,” said BDSA chief executive officer Roy Bingham.

Florida only allows weed use for those with medical marijuana cards. But voters in November will decide on a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow recreational marijuana for adults in the state.

In 2023, nearly 440 million mg of medical marijuana was dispensed during the week of April 20, a 31% increase compared to 2022, according to state data.

The state saw a 14% growth in the number of medical marijuana patients in that period.

Florida’s not alone. Other states, including Arkansas and Colorado, have in the past reported bumps in medical marijuana sales around April 20, according to news reports.

420 fest draws crowds for cannabis celebration in Chaparral, New Mexico

Corrie Boudreaux
Sun, April 21, 2024 

Several hundred people gathered at an empty lot between two tiny strip malls along County Line Road in Chaparral, New Mexico, for a 420 celebration.

GT 420 Music Fest, organized by James and Christina Perez, owners of GT Dispensary in Chaparral, featured an all-day lineup of bands in English and Spanish and finished with an appearance by California hip-hop rap artist Lil Rob.


Hip-hop and rap artist Lil Rob entertain spectators on Saturday at the GT 420 Music Fest in Chaparral, New Mexico.


Though one myth has it that 420, 4/20 or 4:20 originates from a police code for marijuana, the true story is that a group of teenagers in 1970s California used “4:20” to allude to the time when they would meet after school to smoke. The term spread after it was used on a flyer distributed at a Grateful Dead concert in the early 90s, USA TODAY reported. Now, April 20 is known worldwide as a day to celebrate all things cannabis-related.

The dispensary owners wanted to give back to the community, so they decided to organize the free family-friendly event, they said.

James Perez, organizer of the GT 420 Music Fest in Chaparral, N.M., speaks to the crowd of spectators on April 20, 2024. The free event was organized by James and his wife, Christina Perez, owner of GT Dispensary, because they want to educate the public on the myriad uses of cannabis.

The introduction of New Mexico's cannabis industry to El Paso has facilitated easy access to legal cannabis, and dispensaries consistently attract a significant share of their customers from nearby El Paso.

James Perez uses it for medicinal purposes, but in the past, he had to travel from Chaparral to Las Cruces or Sunland Park to buy it. He and his wife decided to open their own dispensary in 2022 to provide marijuana for their community.

James Perez said that he and his wife want to prove that cannabis is far more useful than the popular stereotype of its recreational use might suggest.

Vintage cars are part of the show as spectators enjoy music, food, and cannabis-themed merchandise at the GT 420 Music Fest in Chaparral, New Mexico, on Saturday, April 20.

“Cannabis is a blessing because it’s medication,” Perez said. “We have customers in wheelchairs, customers with cancer. It can do so much for the body. I’d love for people to see it as medication.”

El Paso law enforcement, however, continues to enforce Texas marijuana laws. Both the city of El Paso and El Paso County have created programs to issue citations for people caught with low-level possession of marijuana. The citations can carry a hefty $500 fine.

Spectators enjoy music, food, and cannabis-themed merchandise at the GT 420 Music Fest in Chaparral, New Mexico.

Hip-hop rap artist Lil Rob performs at the GT 420 Music Fest on Saturday, April 20, in Chaparral, New Mexico.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: 420 fest draws crowds for cannabis celebration in New Mexico

Cherokee Street transforms for St. Louis’ annual 420 bash

Liz Dowell
Fri, April 19, 2024 


ST. LOUIS — This weekend marks a special celebration for cannabis enthusiasts. April 20th, known as “420,” has its roots in the 1970s as a term for cannabis consumption. It was coined by a group of school friends who regularly convened at 4:20 to partake in smoking sessions.

Over the years, the term has evolved into a cultural phenomenon, especially as cannabis legalization has taken hold in states like Missouri and its neighboring state, Illinois. As Missouri enters its second year of cannabis legality, St. Louis gears up to commemorate 420 with a series of city-wide events.

The festivities kick off with the Green Light District Festival on April 19th, running from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Cola Private Lounge on Cherokee Street. The opening act features a comedy show with food available for purchase. On April 20th and 21st, starting at noon, Cherokee Street will transform into a bustling hub of activity with a street crawl parade, vendors, live music, and more.

The mystery of the Des Peres Pickle Jar

Other celebrations in the area:

On 4/20, Steve’s Hotdogs will join the celebration with their Delta-9 THC-infused menu items during an event titled Steve’s 420: All Day Haze, running from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.


The Loop 420 Street Fest returns for its second year, starting at 11 a.m. and running until 7 p.m. The event promises live music, glass blowing demonstrations, vendor booths, and much more.


The 4:20 STL Festival, held from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., boasts 30 cannabis vendors, games, live performances, and prizes for the first 100 attendees.


Taking place inside a movie theater, “Sesh at the Cinema” features 420-themed vendors, live entertainment, a smoke box, and giveaways from 1 to 6 p.m.


On April 21st, The Factory will host its 420 celebration, screening “The Big Lebowski” starting at 3:30 p.m. The event will also feature pop-ups from Missouri cannabis companies showcasing their products, along with a costume contest.


For those seeking an outdoor experience, the Lit ‘N’ Lost Cannabash 4/20 will take place at Lost Hill Lake in Saint Clair, MO. Attendees can enjoy games, live music, smoke sessions, vendor booths, and food trucks.




North Country welcomes first 4/20 celebrations at recreational cannabis dispensaries

Can I be fired for smoking weed in off-hours? Grow cannabis at home? California laws to know

Sarah Linn
Sat, April 20, 2024 

Saturday marks a special holiday for fans of cannabis culture.

April 20, known as 4/20, is celebrated by marijuana enthusiasts across the globe.

Although cannabis use is legal in California, there are a number of laws in the Golden State governing how it can be cultivated and consumed.

Here’s a roundup of our latest cannabis-related coverage:

A man takes a picture of one the cannabis plants on display at the first Cannabis Awards and Exhibit at the California State Fair during media day on Wednesday, July 13, 2022. Hector Amezcua/hamezcua@sacbee.com
Can I grow cannabis at home?

Passed by California voters in 2016, the Adult Use of Marijuana Act allows adults 21 and older to legally grow, possess and use cannabis for recreational use.

You can grow up to six plants at your California residence for personal use only.

Plus, those cultivating cannabis at home can’t use volatile solvents — butane or propane — to process it, according to the California Department of Cannabis Control.

Breaking the rules about residential cannabis cultivation can result in a fine or imprisonment.

READ MORE:

Want to grow weed in your California home? Don’t break the law — but follow these tips
Can I get fired for smoking weed in my off-hours?

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 2188 into law in 2022, banning employers from firing, penalizing or creating employment conditions for workers based on cannabis use off the job or away from the workplace.

The law went into effect on Jan. 1.

However, it only applies to some jobs.

READ MORE:

Can I be fired for smoking weed in my off-hours? What new California cannabis law says

Aaron Grove, right, owner of Elk Grove CBD, helps customer Ray Tamayo on Saturday, April 13, 2024. Elk Grove prohibits marijuana dispensaries from operating in the city limits. Lezlie Sterling/lsterling@sacbee.com

Marijuana sales are prohibited in Elk Grove. Would the city ever reconsider?
What’s the difference between edible cannabis and smoking weed?

Smoking marijuana and consuming cannabis-laced edibles can both lift your mood, but there are some key differences between the two.

Smoked or vaped marijuana enters the lungs and is absorbed into the bloodstream, according to cannabis education site Leafly, while edibles are processed in the stomach and liver.

That means edibles feel stronger and the effects will last a lot longer.

Smoking weed and ingesting cannabis also have varying effects on your health.

READ MORE:

Edible cannabis vs smoking weed: How are they different and what are the health effects?

Chandler Hale, a manager at All about Wellness in Sacramento holds some of the cannabis-infused edible gummies and fruit chews Tuesday, March 22, 2022. Hector Amezcua/hamezcua@sacbee.com

Cooking with cannabis? How edibles have changed

Since California legalized the recreational sale and use of cannabis, marijuana-infused food has become more creative and accessible.

Sacramento dispensaries sell everything from cannabis-injused hot sauce and buffalo jerky to weed lollipops, dulce de leche truffle bars and dark chocolate mocha malt balls.

Meanwhile, major beer brands such as Pabst, Lagunitas and Anheuser Busch-InBev offer flavored seltzers that are alcohol-free but include THC.

You can even cook with gourmet food with cannabis, experts say.

READ MORE:

Cooking with cannabis: How marijuana food edibles in Sacramento went to the next level

Fetterman slams ‘stupidity’ of not legalizing marijuana in Pennsylvania

BY FILIP TIMOTIJA - 04/20/24

WASHINGTON, DC – DECEMBER 12: U.S. Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) speaks to reporters before a Senate luncheon at the U.S. Capitol on December 12, 2023 in Washington, DC. Fetterman spoke on military aid to Ukraine. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)


Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) slammed the “stupidity” of not legalizing marijuana in Pennsylvania, arguing other states, especially those surrounding the Keystone State, have already done so.

“Let’s make it legal,” Fetterman told Fox News Digital on Friday. “I mean, it’s not complicated. Other states have done that. All the states surrounded by Pennsylvania are … and the stupidity of not legalizing marijuana.”


“And now, it’s just so straightforward,” he continued. “And right now, we’re doing this interview in Washington, D.C. and right now I could leave, go buy marijuana legally and the world isn’t spun off its axis, it’s not anarchy and that’s really the truth about it.”

Fetterman emphasized that marijuana should be “safe, pure, taxed and available,” but not be available to those younger than 21.

“I would rather have it come from a safe pure place and then I’ve been very clear, it should not be any younger than 21 just like alcohol,” he said. “Young brains can be impacted [by] marijuana and we want to maintain that it should be 21. Any adult should be allowed to do that legally without any criminal pullback.”

The Pennsylvania senator said he has “directly” encouraged President Biden to “liberalize” marijuana.

Recreationally, marijuana in small amounts can be used by adults in 24 states, not including D.C., according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Biden on Saturday urged all governors to pardon previous state offenses for “simple possession of marijuana.”


“No one should be in a federal prison solely due to the possession of marijuana, and no one should be in a local jail or state prison for that reason, either,” Biden said in a statement.

Fetterman highlights need for 'safe, pure, taxed' marijuana in 4/20 push to legalize weed

Julia Johnson
Sat, April 20, 2024

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Penn., made his case for marijuana legalization ahead of April 20, known as a holiday of sorts for those who enjoy smoking or otherwise consuming the drug.

"Right now, we're doing this interview in Washington, D.C., and right now I could leave [and] go buy marijuana legally," Fetterman told Fox News Digital in an interview on Friday. He compared the capital's policy on the drug to that of his home state Pennsylvania, which only allows residents to legally use marijuana for medicinal purposes.

"Pennsylvanians wanted this five years ago," he claimed, recalling his time campaigning throughout the state. "We're still not there."

Sen. John Fetterman pushed for legalization and de-sheduling of marijuana ahead of Cannabis holiday 4/20.

Fetterman noted that most of the states surrounding the Keystone State had already made the drug legal for adults. "It's not complicated. Other states have done that," he said.

Ohio, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, which surround Pennsylvania, have legalized marijuana for adult recreational use in small amounts.


The origins of 4/20's association with marijuana are not agreed on, but it has been speculated that the holiday could have started in several ways. Some theorize that the number 420 was used by police to reference the drug, while others point to Bob Dylan's "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35," noting that when the numbers are multiplied they equal 420. Despite the various theories, there does not appear to be consensus on how the day began.

Fetterman emphasized that safety is heightened when marijuana is regulated.

"It needs to be safe, pure, taxed and available," Fetterman said, explaining that illegally purchased versions of the drug are difficult to trace and could be cut with dangerous substances, such as fentanyl.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, marijuana in small amounts has been made legal for recreational use by adults in 24 states, as well as Washington, D.C., and two U.S. territories.

"Any adult should be allowed to do that legally without any criminal … blowback," the Pennsylania senator said.

REPUBLICANS ACCUSE BIDEN, SCHUMER OF EMBOLDENING IRAN PRIOR TO ATTACK ON ISRAEL

Fetterman said he has pushed Biden for action on marijuana.

Fetterman told Fox News Digital that he has encouraged President Biden directly to take federal steps towards "liberalizing" the drug.

He has also lobbied Biden to deschedule marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), under which the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) currently lists it as schedule I. This schedule includes drugs "with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse." Marijuana is included in the list of schedule I substances, alongside heroin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), ecstasy, and peyote, among others.

Fetterman stressed he doesn't believe "anyone [should] have their lives impacted criminally for a nonviolent marijuana charge."

Several states have yet to legalize the drug recreationally.

As for illegal markets that still exist in states where marijuana has been legalized, he noted that no states have implemented the policy perfectly, "but I think you'll see that that will continue to evolve."

"Marijuana is going to continue" to become cheaper as policy develops, and "that will absolutely eliminate any of [those] illegal markets," he claimed.

The senator also emphasized the bipartisan nature of efforts to reform marijuana policy. "Republicans want legal weed. Democrats want legal weed," he said. "And I think this is a [place] where we could come together in a bipartisan way to say, 'Look, let's do this and just get on with it.'"

Original article source: Fetterman highlights need for 'safe, pure, taxed' marijuana in 4/20 push to legalize weed

The drug war devastated Black and other minority communities. Is marijuana legalization helping?

Fri, April 19, 2024 



ARLINGTON, Wash. (AP) — When Washington state opened some of the nation's first legal marijuana stores in 2014, Sam Ward Jr. was on electronic home detention in Spokane, where he had been indicted on federal drug charges. He would soon be off to prison to serve the lion's share of a four-year sentence.

A decade later, Ward, who is Black, recently posed in a blue-and-gold throne used for photo ops at his new cannabis store, Cloud 9 Cannabis. He greeted customers walking in for early 4/20 deals. And he reflected on being one of the first beneficiaries of a Washington program to make the overwhelmingly white industry more accessible to people harmed by the war on drugs.

“It feels great to know that I’m the CEO of a store, with employees, people depending on me,” Ward said. “Just being a part of something makes you feel good.”

A major argument for legalizing the adult use of cannabis was to stop the harm caused by disproportionate enforcement of drug laws that sent millions of Black, Latino and other minority Americans to prison and perpetuated cycles of violence and poverty. Studies have shown that minorities were incarcerated at a higher rate than white people, despite similar rates of cannabis use.


But efforts to help those most affected participate in — and profit from — the legal marijuana sector have been halting.

Since 2012, when voters in Washington and Colorado approved the first ballot measures to legalize recreational marijuana, legal adult use has spread to 24 states and the District of Columbia. Nearly all have “social equity” provisions designed to redress drug war damages.

Those provisions include erasing criminal records for certain pot convictions, granting cannabis business licenses and financial help to people convicted of cannabis crimes, and directing marijuana tax revenues to communities that suffered.

“Social equity programs are an attempt to reverse the damage that was done to Black and brown communities who are over-policed and disproportionately impacted,” said Kaliko Castille, former president of the Minority Cannabis Business Association.

States have varying ways of defining who can apply for social equity marijuana licenses, and they're not necessarily based on race.

In Washington, an applicant must own more than half the business and meet other criteria, such as having lived for at least five years between 1980 and 2010 in an area with high poverty, unemployment or cannabis arrest rates; having been arrested for a cannabis-related crime; or having a below-median household income.

Legal challenges over the permitting process in states like New York have slowed implementation.

After settling other cases, New York — which has issued 60% of all cannabis licenses to social equity applicants, according to regulators — is facing another lawsuit. Last month, the libertarian-leaning Pacific Legal Foundation alleged it favors women- and minority-owned applicants in addition to those who can demonstrate harm from the drug war.

“It's that type of blanket racial and gender preference that the Constitution prohibits,” said Pacific Legal attorney David Hoffa.

Elsewhere, deep-pocketed corporations that operate in multiple states have acquired social equity licenses, possibly frustrating the intent of the laws. Arizona lawmakers this year expressed concern that licensees had been pressured by predatory businesses into ceding control.

Difficulty in finding locations due to local cannabis business bans or in obtaining bank loans due to continued federal prohibition has also prevented candidates from opening stores. In some cases, the very things that qualified them for licenses — living in poor neighborhoods, criminal records and lack of assets — have made it hard to secure the money needed to open cannabis businesses.

The drafters of Washington's pioneering law were preoccupied with keeping the U.S. Justice Department from shutting down the market. They required background checks designed to keep criminals out.

“A lot of the early states, they simply didn’t have social equity on their radar,” said Jana Hrdinova, administrative director of the Drug Enforcement and Policy Center at Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law.

Many states that legalized more recently — including Arizona, Connecticut, Ohio, Maryland and Missouri — have had social equity initiatives from the start.

Washington established its program in 2020. But only in the past several months has it issued the first social equity retail licenses. Just two — including Ward's — have opened.

Washington Liquor and Cannabis Board Member Ollie Garrett called the progress so far disappointing, but said officials are working with applicants and urging some cities to rescind zoning bans so social equity cannabis businesses can open.

The state, which collects roughly half a billion dollars a year in marijuana tax revenue, is making $8 million available in grants to social equity licensees to help with expenses, such as security systems and renovations, as well as business coaching.

It also is directing $250 million to communities harmed by the drug war — including housing assistance, small-business loans, job training and violence prevention programs.

Ward's turnaround is one officials hope to see repeated.

He started dealing marijuana in his teens, he said. In 2006, a customer pulled a gun on him, and Ward was shot in the hand.

A single father of seven children, he continued dealing drugs to support them, he said, until he was indicted in 2014 — along with 30 other people — in an oxycodone distribution conspiracy. He served nearly three years in prison.

Ward, now 39, spent that time taking classes, working out and training other inmates. He started a personal training business after he was released, got a restaurant job and joined a semipro football team, the Spokane Wolfpack.

That's where he met Dennis Turner, a Black entrepreneur who briefly owned the team. Turner had worked as a restaurant manager on cruise ships, for the postal service and as a corrections officer before investing his savings — $6,000 — in a friend's medical marijuana growing operation. They used the proceeds to help open a medical dispensary in Cheney, a small college town southwest of Spokane, that eventually became an adult-use marijuana retailer.

In Washington's social equity program, Turner saw an opportunity to make Ward a business executive. The two joined Rashel Palmer, whose husband co-owns the football team, in launching Cloud 9 at a cost of around $400,000. They picked Arlington, Washington — 320 miles (515 kilometers) away — because it's a quickly growing city with limited cannabis competition, they said.

Ward “saw me as a guy that he looked up to, that did good business, was self-made and came out the trenches, and he just wanted to pick my brain,” Turner said.

Turner is working to open cannabis stores in New Mexico and Ohio through social equity programs in those states. He hopes one day to sell them for tens of millions of dollars. In the meantime, he intends to use his businesses to support local charities, such as the Boys and Girls Club in Arlington and the Carl Maxey Center, which provides services to the Black community in Spokane.

Another new social equity licensee is David Penn Jr., 47, who helped persuade Pasco, in south-central Washington, to rescind its ban. Penn, who is Black, was arrested on a crack cocaine charge as a teenager. In 2011, he was kicked out of his apartment after a marijuana bust.

A friend with two other cannabis outlets is financing Penn's store. His location, a dirt-floored building next to a gas station, still needs to be built out. State grants will help, but won't be enough.

“It's like they're giving you the carriage, but you need the horses to get this thing going,” Penn said.

Gene Johnson, The Associated Press

HAPPY 4/20

THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF POT

Cannabis CEOs make over $400,000 on average, while edibles chefs make $46,000. Here’s how weed world pay breaks down

Chris Morris
Sat, April 20, 2024 

David Canales—SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images


It’s 4/20, the happiest day of the year for weed enthusiasts. And while legalized pot isn’t exactly the head-turning event it was a few years ago, it’s quickly growing into an economic force.

The legal marijuana market is expected to see sales of more than $31 billion this year, according to the consulting firm Whitney Economics, a 9% growth rate. Not all the news is good, though.

Last April, weed sales in Colorado, which sparked the legalization movement, were at their lowest point since 2018, coming in at $131 million, compared to $153 million in 2022. The fact that the slump occurred in April is as notable as the retail sector announcing a sales drop in December.

“As an industry, we are struggling—we are in dire need of a regulatory overhaul to prevent more cannabis small business owners from closing their doors and laying off their workers," said Truman Bradley, executive director of the Marijana Industry Group, at the time.


Despite the bumps, salaries for those in the cannabis fields are on the rise. Beal University, in Maine, has compiled a look at national salaries, showing increases from 2022 to 2023 of as much as 10%, with no declines in any job category.

So who's making what? As in many fields, it largely depends on your title.

CEOs - The average salary of a cannabis company CEO sat at $402,350, a 7% increase from 2022. Compare that to the national average for CEOs of $227,000.

Dispensary Manager - Running a cannabis shop will earn you an average of $99,450, a 6% increase over 2022. That’s an increase of over $30,000 per year from 2019.

Edibles Producer - The chefs of the weed world bring in an average salary of $46,640, which is about $3,000 less than chefs and head cooks in the food service world.

Budtender - The person behind the counter at a dispensary acts as counselor and cashier to customers. Last year, they took home an average of $42,000, which was basically unchanged (up 1%) from 2022.

Corporate Controller- Accounting and finance is where the money is, both literally and in terms of salary advancements. Last year, controllers saw their salaries rise 10% on average, to $167,000. Financial analysts also saw a 10% salary bump.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

Unionized cannabis workers picket Phoenix dispensary on 4/20 after contract negotiations stall

Jose R. Gonzalez, Arizona Republic
Sun, April 21, 2024 

Amid 90-degree heat on Saturday and coinciding with 4/20, about two dozen unionized cannabis workers and supporters conducted a two-hour picket outside a Phoenix marijuana dispensary at the heart of stalled bargaining negotiations.

Nicholas Fredrickson stood alongside fellow Curaleaf employees participating in the rally organized by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Local 99 at a company store on East Camelback Road near North Seventh Street. Workers rallied in support of safer working conditions, full-time employment and a living wage, as stated by organizers.

Fredrickson, who was starting a shift at another Curaleaf location soon after, said the pay for cannabis employees is not matching the cost of living as it did when he joined the industry about five years ago."We were able to comfortably take care of our families," Fredrickson said of the time before recreational marijuana was legalized in 2020.

Since then, Fredrickson argued, customer demand has outpaced employee needs.

After legalization, "it all went in the toilet. It absolutely went down the hill," he said, adding there were no employee safeguards upon legalization.

Curaleaf has 5,200 employees and 147 locations across the country, according to the company's website.

Referring to the National Labor Relations Act, a decision and order issued by the National Labor Relations Board on Feb. 29 found that the dispensary had refused and neglected to engage in bargaining with the union.

"We find that these failures and refusals constitute an unlawful failure and refusal to recognize and bargain with the Union in violation of Section 8(a)(5) and (1) of the Act," read the board's ruling.

Curaleaf did not respond to a Saturday morning request for comment.

'It's about every worker having that opportunity'

Protesters marched to the Curaleaf store to deliver an April 9 letter to the company's labor relations manager, Ryan Gonsalves.

The letter alleged misinformation regarding the bargaining process and pay raises. Outside the dispensary, a standoff ensued for a few minutes between chanting protesters attempting to enter the store and a man wearing sunglasses and a Phoenix Suns cap. The man, identified by union organizers as a store manager, eventually accepted the letter and took it inside.

"The Union only asks that Curaleaf give notice of the raises and an opportunity for the Union to quickly review the proposal for any issues, such as fairness. Of course, the Union and Curaleaf may agree to future raises through bargaining, but Curaleaf employees have gone long enough without a pay increase," the letter read.

At the rally, state Rep. Oscar De Los Santos, D-Phoenix, said his presence reflected his commitment to "the working class" and argued that a contract for cannabis workers was only just.

"They're not asking for the moon. This is basic dignity for workers, so that they can retire with a semblance of dignity," De Los Santos said. "It's not just about this industry. It's about every worker having that opportunity 'cause that's how this country was built. That's how you build the middle class."

Appointed to the state Legislature on Wednesday, Rep. Junelle Cavero, D-Phoenix, said she was at the rally to support unions as her family had benefited from her father being a unionized letter carrier.

"A union was able to provide" benefits for the family, Cavero said, adding that the cannabis industry is "a new industry that is giving America tremendous jobs and greater economy but isn't playing fairly."

UFCW Local 99 spokesperson Drake Ridge said during a Sept. 15 protest at Curaleaf's Dispensary Midtown, the company had called police on picketers for trespassing, including Fredrickson, who on Saturday for that reason did not march to the store.

"The retaliation has been strong with this company, especially recently," Fredrickson said. "I think they're getting more aggressive in order to shake up the workforce and try to get the strong voices and the leaders out of the workforce, so that when they finally sit at the table with us, we have a much lower chance of getting a contract we deserve."

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Cannabis workers picket Phoenix dispensary after negotiations stall

Las Vegas casino unions preparing to take on Trump again

Andrew MARSZAL
Sat, April 20, 2024

Ted Pappageorge, secretary-treasurer of the Culinary Workers Union Local 226, speaks during an interview with AFP, April 12, 2024, in Las Vegas. It is the Democrats' not-so-secret weapon in Nevada -- a vast army of maids, cooks and bartenders that helped deliver this razor-tight swing state for Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden in 2016 and 2020. Now ahead of November's election, the Culinary Union, which represents 60,000 mainly Las Vegas-based hotel and casino workers, is preparing to mobilize its formidable network against Donald Trump a third time. "We play a pretty big role," agreed Pappageorge. "But it's a special role."

 (Ronda Churchill)

It is the Democrats' not-so-secret weapon in Nevada -- a vast army of maids, cooks and bartenders that helped deliver this razor-tight swing state for Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden in 2016 and 2020.

Now ahead of November's election, the Culinary Union, which represents 60,000 mainly Las Vegas-based hotel and casino workers, is preparing to mobilize its formidable network against Donald Trump for a third time.

"By election day, we'll have 500 union members -- men and women that are normally cleaning rooms in hotels, or cooking food, or serving drinks -- out full-time, knocking on doors, registering folks to vote, taking folks to the polls," said the union's secretary-treasurer, Ted Pappageorge.

"Getting out the vote. There's no other way to win."

Nevada has become a key battleground in US presidential elections.

Democratic candidates have flocked in particular to Las Vegas, home to three-quarters of the sprawling desert state's population.

Clinton was a frequent visitor in 2016, courting hotel workers and union members in casino back rooms and employee cafeterias. It was one of the few swing states she won.

Biden prevailed in another tight race four years later. He and Vice-President Kamala Harris have recently made time to march on picket lines and celebrate hard-fought new contracts with union members.

In his book "Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present and Future of American Labor," author Steven Greenhouse calls the Culinary Union a "political juggernaut that has gone far in turning Nevada from red to blue."

"We play a pretty big role," agreed Pappageorge. "But it's a special role."

That clout comes not just from being Nevada's biggest union, with a diverse membership that is 60 percent Latino and 55 percent female, but also its political canvassing machine.

In 2022, when Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto was re-elected by fewer than 8,000 votes, the Culinary Union said its canvassers knocked on more than a million doors, speaking with 175,000 voters in a state home to three million people, the union says.

This year, the union will raise funds to pay hundreds of union canvassers to take leave from their jobs and pound the streets again, said Pappageorge.

"They sign up for three to six months during the election year. They walk the neighborhoods every day, 10 hours a day, in 110 degrees, getting chased by dogs and all sorts of other things," he said.

"Workers talking to workers. That's how we move the working class vote in Nevada."

- 'Turnout' -

The Culinary Union has tripled in size since the late 1980s.

Guild-negotiated wage rises have afforded Nevada hospitality workers middle-class lifestyles not seen in much of the US.

For instance, in November the union struck deals with casino giants MGM Resorts, Caesars Entertainment and Wynn Resorts, taking average wages from $26 to $35 an hour.

The union has become more politically focused. Each election it identifies candidates with pro-union policies, and mobilizes voters to tip the balance.

While it has backed Republicans in some past races, these days it is squarely behind Biden, who Pappageorge calls "the best president for working class people and families and unions in my lifetime."

The mobilization focuses on cities like Las Vegas and Reno, blue union-dominated bastions in a state containing vast, conservative, rural counties.

Urban voters are younger and ethnically diverse -- demographics less likely to vote.

"Turnout is everything in Nevada," said Pappageorge. "That's where the Culinary Union comes in."

- 'Closer' -

Yet this year, simply getting traditional voters out may not be enough.

Trump is narrowly leading most Nevada polls.

Independents outnumber Democrats in the state, for the first time.

And Latino and Black voters -- who overwhelmingly backed Biden in 2020 -- are less reliably anti-Trump.

"It's early. We're not too worried about that," said Pappageorge.

Latino working class voters are "not much different than white working class voters," he said.

"Both are concerned about a woman's right to choose. They want law and order on the border, but they want compassion."

Gripes over Biden's management of the economy are perhaps the most common refrain.

Nevada has one of the nation's highest unemployment rates. The cost of living and housing prices have ballooned.

Pappageorge blames Trump's early mishandling of the pandemic, which completely shut the Las Vegas Strip's world-famous casinos, and price-gouging corporations.

But with all these factors combined, "it's going to be even closer" than previous elections, Pappageorge predicted.

"There's a lot at stake," he said. "Nevada matters."

amz/hg/dw

REVERSE ENGINEERING

China's latest supersonic spy drone looks a lot like the Lockheed D-21 that crashed there in 1971

Benjamin Brimelow
Sat, April 20, 2024 



Lockheed developed a spy drone in the 1960s that crashed in China.


China recently debuted a supersonic drone that bears a striking resemblance to Lockheed's D-21.


The D-21's urgent development was marked by ambition and tragedy.

On March 20, 1971, a specially modified US Air Force B-52 bomber from the 4200th Support Squadron took off from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam carrying a unique aircraft mounted under its wing.

The aircraft, shaped like a dart and painted black, was a D-21 supersonic reconnaissance drone. It was to be the fourth such drone to conduct aerial reconnaissance of China's Lop Nor nuclear test site in northwestern China, and despite its sophistication, it would crash into the very country it was intended to spy on.

Created by the renowned Lockheed Corporation, the D-21 was the most advanced unmanned aircraft of its time. Intended to bridge a gap between burgeoning satellite technology and manned reconnaissance flights, the drone's development was filled with ambition, urgency, and tragedy.

Ultimately unsuccessful, the drone would be relegated to the annals of aviation history if not for the appearance of a strikingly similar Chinese drone unveiled at a recent military parade. This delta-shaped drone of similar size also requires being launched by a mothership. But Chinese engineers claim advances that go much farther than the D-21, reaching 30 miles into the atmosphere and speeds up to Mach 6.

This is what we know about the high-flying Chinese spy drone and the D-21 upon which it could be based.

An urgent need

The origins of the D-21 start in 1960, when Francis Gary Powers and his U-2 spy plane were shot down over the Soviet Union by a Soviet surface-to-air missile. The incident pushed President Dwight Eisenhower to discontinue all manned reconnaissance flights over the Soviet Union to avoid future casualties and embarrassments.

But the need to surveil Soviet military sites was still vital, and while reconnaissance satellites were starting to be launched into space, the technology was nascent. Satellites carried a limited amount of film despite being in orbit for days, had limited repositioning ability, and were not as available for short-notice launches in emergencies compared to manned aircraft.

A faster and higher-flying successor to the U-2, the A-12, was in development. However, as a conventional aircraft, it still had to be manned, and the White House and CIA alike were both reluctant to risk the capture of another pilot, especially if it also meant losing an even more advanced aircraft in the process.

Consequently, the CIA needed a stopgap solution until the satellite programs matured. In 1962, the Central Intelligence Agency approached Lockheed's Skunk Works division (which created the U-2 and the A-12) for such a solution.
High altitude, high speed

Lockheed's solution was to create an unmanned high-altitude high-speed reconnaissance aircraft with similar capabilities as the A-12, but much smaller. Originally designated as the Q-12, the drone utilized a delta wing design, had a wingspan of 19 feet, and measured 42 feet long.

It was powered by a Marquardt RJ43-MA-20S4 ramjet engine that ran the entire length of the aircraft. Capable of producing 11,500 lbs. of thrust, the engine gave the drone a top speed of Mach 3.3, and enabled it to reach an altitude of 95,000 feet. The D-21's range, meanwhile, was over 3,000 miles.

Because it was powered by a ramjet engine, the drone had to be launched from a mothership once it reached a speed where the ramjet could be activated. A modified A-12 was judged to be the best candidate. Redesignated as the M-21, the jet would carry the drone, redesignated as the D-21, on its fuselage, then release it once it reached a speed where the ramjet could be activated.

Once released, the D-21 would fly a pre-programmed route utilizing an internal navigation system to the area of interest, where it would take photos.

Once taken, the D-21 would fly to a designated area, eject its film cannister, then self-destruct. The film cannister, meanwhile, would be snatched from the sky as it parachuted down by a waiting JC-130B, or be collected by a Navy vessel.

Dubbed Project Tagboard, the first carry test occurred on December 22, 1964, with the first separation and flight test occurring on March 6, 1966. Two more largely successful tests followed.

But the fourth flight test, on July 30, ended in tragedy when the D-21 collided with the M-21 after release, destroying both aircraft. Pilot Bill Park and Launch Control Officer Ray Torrick successfully ejected, but Torrick's flight suit was likely torn in the process, leading to it filling with water when both men landed in the ocean, causing him to drown.

After the crash, it was decided that using M-21s as a mothership was too dangerous. Instead, a modified B-52H would be used, carrying up to two drones under its wings. As the bomber was unable to fly at the speed required to activate the D-21's scramjet engine, a 44-foot rocket booster was attached underneath it. After release, the booster would ignite to bring the D-21 to the required speed, then detach after its scramjet came online.

A B-52H bomber carries the D-21B. A rocket booster provided the acceleration to start the drone's ramjet engine.US Air Force
Senior Bowl

Now dubbed Project Senior Bowl, the new system was tested multiple times between September 1967 and early 1969 with mixed results. The D-21's first fully successful test occurred on June 16, 1968, which saw it fly some 3,000 miles at 90,000 feet.

Despite its spotty success record, the drone was approved for limited service in 1969. Flying out of Andersen Air Force Base, the D-21s were given the task of spying on China's Lop Nor nuclear test site, where China had detonated its first nuclear weapon five years earlier.

But while the tests had mixed results, the missions were all failures.

The first mission, on November 9, 1969, was perhaps the worst. After launching from its mothership and reaching Lop Nor, contact with the D-21 was lost, and it disappeared.

In fact, the drone continued flying all the way into the Soviet Union, and crashed in the Siberian wilderness. With the wreckage recovered, Soviet engineers drew up plans for a reverse-engineered copy called the Voron, but the project was never pursued.

After more than a year of further testing and preparation the second mission was flown on December 16, 1970. The D-21 launched successfully, reached Lop Nor, took its photographs, and arrived at the return point, but the film canister's parachute didn't deploy properly after ejection, and it was lost at sea.

The third mission, on March 4, 1971, proceeded similarly. The film canister's parachute deployed successfully, but the JC-130B failed to recover it before it splashed into the water. A Navy destroyer attempted to recover the floating canister, but accidentally collided with it, causing it to sink.

The fourth and final mission two weeks later was a complete failure, with the D-21 crashing into China's southwestern Yunnan province while en route to Lop Nor. The drone was recovered by the Chinese, and is on display at the Chinese Aviation Museum in Beijing.

With Senior Bowl resulting in four operational failures, and with each drone costing at least $2.5 million, the D-21 program became hard to justify — especially as satellites were becoming more advanced.

Consequently, the program was canceled in July 1971.

Of the 38 D-21's built, 21 had been used in tests or operations. The remaining D-21s were put into storage, and eventually made their way to the boneyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona.

Apart from the crashed model at the Chinese Aviation Museum, 11 D-21s are on display in the United States.

A WZ-8 reconnaissance drone is on display at the 13th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition on September 28, 2021 in Zhuhai, China.Chen Xiao/Getty Images
A Chinese copy?

The D-21 had largely faded from public memory until 2019, when, at the military parade commemorating the 70th Anniversary of the People's Republic of China on October 1, China unveiled a similar-looking drone.

Dubbed the WZ-8, the drone is a delta-wing design, about 37 feet long, and has a wingspan of 22 feet. Instead of a scramjet running the length of the body, it is powered by two rocket motors.

Like the D-21, the WZ-8 must be launched by a mothership during flight — specifically an H-6M, a version of the H-6 strategic bomber modified to carry cruise missiles on external hardpoints.

Chinese media has reported that the WZ-8 is capable of flying 160,000 feet and as fast as Mach 6. Its sensor suite reportedly includes a daylight electro-optical sensor and a synthetic aperture radar.

Documents reportedly leaked from US intelligence sources last year revealed that China has "almost certainly" established its first operational WZ-8 unit.

One document, alleged to originate from the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, claims that the unit is based at Liuan Airfield, and that its missions could include high-altitude reconnaissance flights of the South Korean coast and virtually all of Taiwan.

According to the document, the drone would be released from its mothership just off the northern or eastern Chinese coast, execute its mission, then return and land at Chinese coastal airfields, whereupon it would be loaded back on an H-6M bomber and return to Liuan. The document lists the WZ-8 as being capable of flying up to 100,000 feet at Mach 3.

It has been separately speculated that the WZ-8 could be used to track US carrier battle groups in the Pacific in real time.

Subsequent reporting confirmed the presence of at least one WZ-8 at Liuan Airfield. The base, which is reportedly home to the 29th Air Regiment of the People's Liberation Army Air Force's 10th Bomber Division, has been receiving extensive upgrades since at least early 2019.

Benjamin Brimelow is a freelance journalist covering international military and defense issues. He holds a master's degree in Global Affairs with a concentration in international security from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. His work has appeared in Business Insider and the Modern War Institute at West Point.

Business Insider

West Bank holds general strike to protest Israeli violence

DPA
Sun, April 21, 2024 

Empty streets and closed stores are seen during a general strike in Hebron, to mourn those killed in Tulkarm, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Mamoun Wazwaz/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa


People in the West Bank launched a general strike on Sunday in protest against Israel's killing of Palestinians in a refugee camp in Tulkarm and in the Gaza Strip.

The Fatah movement, among other groups, had called for the strike.

According to eyewitnesses, there was hardly any traffic on the streets of Ramallah on Sunday morning and stores were closed.


In the northern West Bank city of Hebron, meanwhile, two Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli soldiers on Sunday morning.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported that it had been informed of the men's deaths by the Israeli authorities.

According to the army, they had previously attacked Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint.

The situation in the West Bank has worsened significantly since the war between Israel and the militant Palestinian organization Hamas in the Gaza Strip began on October 7.

According to the Ministry of Health, more than 450 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank alone since then, most of them died in Israeli attacks.

In Gaza, more than 33,000 people have been killed in the last six months and many more thousands injured.

Israeli forces carried out a major operation in the West Bank until Saturday evening. According to the army, they killed at least 10 gunmen. Nine Israeli security forces were also injured in battles in the Nur Shams refugee camp in Tulkarm.

The Ministry of Health in the West Bank reported 14 dead and several injured in the operation, including a 16-year-old.

Israel took control of the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War. The Palestinians claim the territories for their own state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Empty streets and closed stores are seen during a general strike in Hebron, to mourn those killed in Tu

"THE MOST MORAL ARMY IN THE WORLD"

US set to sanction an entire IDF battalion with a history of alleged human rights abuses on the West Bank, report says

Rebecca Rommen
Sun, April 21, 2024 

The US is set to sanction an IDF unit following reported human rights abuses, Axios reports.


The Netzah Yehuda battalion was implicated in the death of an 80-year-old US citizen in 2022.


Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decried the US decision, calling it "a moral low."

The US is poised to sanction a controversial battalion in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for reported human rights abuses, Axios reported.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to announce sanctions against the Netzah Yehuda battalion for alleged human rights violations in the occupied West Bank.

It would be the first time the US has imposed sanctions on an Israeli military unit. The battalion is composed of over 900 soldiers.

The news of the possible sanctioning of the IDF unit came as the House of Representatives on Saturday passed a bill that includes more than $14 billion in military aid to Israel as well as $9 billion in humanitarian assistance, much of which will go to Gaza.

The unprecedented sanctions will prohibit the battalion and its members from receiving US military assistance or training.

The imposed measures are in accordance with the 1997 Leahy vetting policy, which forbids US foreign aid and Defense Department training programs from going to foreign security, military, and police units credibly alleged to have committed human rights violations.

In 2022, the State Department requested the US embassy interview Israelis and Palestinians about the battalion's conduct in the West Bank following reports of abuse of Palestinians, the Israeli outlet Haaretz, reported.

Last month, a State Department panel recommended that Blinken disqualify multiple Israeli military and police units operating in the West Bank from receiving US aid, ProPublica reported.

Blinken confirmed on Friday that he had made determinations based on this investigation and stated, "You can expect to see them in the days ahead" regarding the sanctions, per Axios.

Senior members of the Israeli government pushed back at the potential sanctions move against the Netzah Yehuda battalion.

"Sanctions must not be imposed on the Israel Defense Forces," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote on X.

"At a time when our soldiers are fighting the monsters of terror, the intention to impose a sanction on a unit in the IDF is the height of absurdity and a moral low," he wrote.

Minister of Defense Benny Gantz wrote on X that the Netzah Yehuda battalion was "an inseperable part of the Israel Defence Forces."
Radical settlers

Israeli settlers hold a protest march from Tapuach Junction in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, April 10, 2023.REUTERS/Nir Elias

The Netzah Yehuda unit, part of the Kfir brigade, was originally set up in 1999 to accommodate the religious beliefs of recruits from ultra-Orthodox and national religious communities, including those from extremist settlements.

All of its members are men. The unit has a reputation for recruiting some radical settlers who are not accepted by other IDF formations, said Axios.

Historically, the Netzah Yehuda battalion has been primarily deployed in the West Bank, gaining notoriety for its treatment of Palestinians.

Notably, soldiers from the unit were accused in the death of Omar Assad, an 80-year-old US citizen, who died of a heart attack in 2022 after being detained, bound, gagged, and abandoned by members of the battalion.

While Israel has deployed the Netzah Yehuda battalion out of the West Bank since the incident, the unit has continued to serve— primarily in the country's north and in the Gaza Strip during the ongoing conflict with Hamas.

Business Insider contacted the State Department for comment.

Washington gives $3.8 billion in annual military assistance to Israel and has remained a steadfast ally throughout Israel's military campaign against Gaza, which has killed over 30,000 Palestinians.


US expected to sanction IDF unit over alleged human rights abuses

John Bowden
Sun, April 21, 2024 

A unit of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is expected to be sanctioned by the Biden administration this week after a ProPublica investigation claimed that the State Department sat for months on evidence of serious human rights abuses.

Reports of the expected move have enraged the Israeli government headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and comes as US-Israel relations continue to degrade under the stress of Israel’s military onslaught in the Gaza Strip.

The investigation published by the nonprofit investigative outlet ProPublica on Wednesday revealed that an internal State Department investigation had, months ago, identified several Israeli police and military units facing credible accusations of violating human rights — some even faced allegations of torture. It’s an investigation required by law, with the panel having been set up as part of the so-called “Leahy law”, which prohibits US funding from going to military or security units found to have committed atrocities.

According to ProPublica, the State Department board leading this investigation made recommendations to halt US assistance to these units months ago; Secretary of State Antony Blinken has not acted upon or published the findings, until now.

Now, Axios reports that the agency will take action this week and issue a ban on US military assistance to the Netzah Yehuda battalion, a controversial unit of the IDF which was set up to include ultra-Orthodox Israelis and is described by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz as a “West Bank militia” serving as part of the IDF. The unit draws recruits from the rightwing Israeli settler movement, which often is engaged in violent clashes with Palestinians. The settlement movement has also increasingly come under scrutiny by the Biden administration in recent weeks.

At a press conference on Friday, Mr Blinken was asked about the ProPublica investigation and told reporters that he would issue his response to the internal State Department probe “in the days ahead”.

Axios also reported on Saturday that the Netzah Yehuda battalion was not the only unit identified in the State investigation but others targeted in the probe had supposedly “remedied” their behaviour, evading sanctions.

The Independent has reached out to the State Department for comment.

Founded in 1999, the ultra-Orthodox Netzah Yehuda battalion was created to allow the service of Israel’s Haredi Jewish minority. The battalion’s existence is a point of conflict within that community, which largely opposes Israel’s mandatory military service requirements.


According to Axios, the battalion’s human rights record has been on the US government’s radar since at least 2022 after its members left an 80-year-old Palestinian-American man gagged and bound in the cold for hours, leading to his death.

Benjamin Netanyahu responded to news of the impending sanctions of the IDF Netzah Yehuda unit on Twitter, writing: “It is forbidden to impose sanctions on the Israel Defense Forces!”

“At a time when our soldiers are fighting the monsters of terror, the intention to impose a sanction on a unit in the IDF is the height of absurdity and a moral low,” said the prime minister. “The government headed by me will act by all means against these moves.”

Israeli PM Netanyahu says he will fight any sanctions on army battalions

 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convenes the weekly cabinet meeting, in Tel Aviv

Updated Sun, April 21, 2024

By Maayan Lubell

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he would fight against sanctions being imposed on any Israeli military units for alleged rights violations, after media reports said Washington was planning such a step.

Axios news site on Saturday reported that Washington was planning to impose sanctions on Israel's Netzah Yehuda battalion, which has operated in the occupied West Bank, though the Israeli military said it was not aware of any such measures.


On Friday, the United States announced a new series of sanctions linked to Israeli settlers in the West Bank, in the latest sign of growing U.S. frustration with the policies of Netanyahu, whose coalition government relies on settler parties.

"If anyone thinks they can impose sanctions on a unit of the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) - I will fight it with all my strength," Netanyahu said in a statement.

The State Department declined comment beyond remarks made on Friday by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Blinken said he had made "determinations" regarding accusations that Israel violated a set of U.S. laws that prohibit providing military assistance to individuals or security force units that commit gross violations of human rights.

Earlier this week, the Pro Publica investigative news organization reported that a special State Department panel known as the Israel Leahy Vetting Forum had recommended months ago to Blinken that multiple Israeli military and police units be disqualified from receiving U.S. aid, after allegations of human rights violations.

ON THE RISE

The incidents that were the subject of allegations took place in the West Bank and mostly occurred before Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza began on Oct. 7, the outlet said.

Before the Gaza war, violence had already been on the rise in the West Bank, land that the Palestinians seek for a state, and it has risen since with frequent Israeli raids, Palestinian street attacks and settler rampages in Palestinian villages.

The Israeli military said the Netzah Yehuda battalion is an active combat unit that operates according to the principles of international law.

"Following publications about sanctions against the battalion, the IDF is not aware of the issue," the military said. "If a decision is made on the matter it will be reviewed. The IDF works and will continue to work to investigate any unusual event in a practical manner and according to law,"

In 2022, Netzah Yehuda's battalion commander was reprimanded and two officers were dismissed over the death of an elderly Palestinian-American whom the unit's soldiers had detained in the West Bank, an incident that stirred concern in Washington.

There have been several other incidents in recent years, some captured on video, in which Netzah Yehuda soldiers were accused of or charged with abusing Palestinian detainees.

(Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch and Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem and Humeyra Pamuk in Washington; Editing by Hugh Lawson and David Holmes)


Biden admin sanctions Israel national security minister ally, reportedly weighs expanding to IDF unit

Greg Wehner

FOX
Sat, April 20, 2024 



The Biden administration could announce sanctions against an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) battalion for alleged human rights violations in the West Bank before the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas-led terrorists, according to reports.

Axios reported that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken could announce the sanctions against IDF battalion "Netzah Yehuda" within days, marking the first time the U.S. will have placed sanctions on military units operated by Israel.

If sanctions are imposed, the battalion and its members would no longer receive any type of training or assistance from the U.S. military, sources reportedly told the publication.

The U.S. is prohibited under the Leahy Law, from providing any sort of foreign aid or defense department training to countries responsible for alleged human rights violations based on credible information.

Fox News Digital reached out to the U.S. State Department and White House but did not immediately hear back.

While speaking to reporters on Friday, Blinken was asked about Israel’s violations of human rights in the West Bank and recommendations made by his department to cut military aid to certain Israeli units.

Blinken started by saying the Leahy Law was important and applied across the board.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (L) meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) in Tel Aviv, Israel on Nov. 3, 2023.

"When we’re doing these investigations, these inquiries, it’s something that takes time, that has to be done very carefully both in collecting the facts and analyzing them – and that’s exactly what we’ve done," he said. "And I think it’s fair to say that you’ll see results very soon. I’ve made determinations; you can expect to see them in the days ahead."

On Friday, the U.S. imposed sanctions on an ally of Israel’s national security minister and two entities that raised money for Israeli men who allegedly committed settler violence. The new sanctions came in addition to others placed on five settlers and two unauthorized outposts earlier this year. The increased sanctions also show growing frustration of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by the U.S.

Friday’s sanctions will reportedly freeze U.S. assets held by those targeted while also barring Americans from dealing with them.


Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convenes the weekly cabinet meeting at the Defence Ministry in Tel Aviv, Israel, January 7, 2024.

Right-wing members of Netanyahu’s governing coalition that is pushing to expand Jewish settlements along with the annexation of the West Bank are reportedly upset with the Biden administration for making moves against the Israeli settlers.

Also adding fuel to the fire is the tension between Israel and Washington caused by the latter urging Israel to restrain themselves from attacking Iran.

One of the individuals sanctioned by the U.S. was Ben-Zion Gopstein, the founder and leader of the right-wing group Lehava. The group does not support Jewish assimilation with non-Jews and has about 5,000 members.

"Under Gopstein’s leadership, Lehava and its members have been involved in acts or threats of violence against Palestinians, often targeting sensitive or volatile areas," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement obtained by Reuters.

Miller warned that additional steps would be taken if Israel does not act to prevent extremist attacks as violence continues to escalate in the West Bank.

The European Union also agreed to impose sanctions against Lehava and other groups.

But the U.S. is not just targeting Israel. In fact, last week, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan announced sanctions would be placed against Iran after its regime attacked Israel last Saturday.

The sanctions were announced as Republicans criticized the Biden administration for not being tough enough on Iran, pointing to a waiver extended by the White House in November 2023 that released $10 billion of previously escrowed funds to Iran.

Sullivan said that the actions the U.S. is taking will "continue a steady drumbeat of pressure to contain and degrade Iran’s military capacity and effectiveness and confront the full range of its problematic behaviors."

"Over the last three years, in addition to missile and drone-related sanctions, the United States has sanctioned over 600 individuals and entities connected to terrorism, terrorist financing and other forms of illicit trade, horrific human rights abuses, and support for proxy terrorist groups, including Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Kataib Hezbollah," the statement added.

"The pressure will continue. We will not hesitate to continue to take action, in coordination with allies and partners around the world, and with Congress, to hold the Iranian government accountable for its malicious and destabilizing actions."

Fox News Digital's Andrea Vacchiano and Reuters contributed to this report.


US set to sanction ultra-Orthodox IDF battalion

Melanie Swan
Sun, April 21, 2024 

The Netzah Yehuda is an ultra-Orthodox battalion in the IDF 

- MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP

The US is set to sanction an ultra-Orthodox unit of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) in what would be an unprecedented move.

If confirmed, Joe Biden’s White House would ban the Netzah Yehuda battalion from receiving US military supplies or training. The unit, made up exclusively of ultra-Orthodox fighters, has been accused of human rights violations in the occupied West Bank.

Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, said on Friday that he will soon reveal the results of an investigation using the Leahy Law, which prohibits military assistance to foreign security forces that violate human rights.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has criticised the decision, calling it “the height of absurdity and a moral low”.

He was joined by his defence minister, Benny Gantz, who said sanctioning an IDF unit and its soldiers “sets a dangerous precedent”.

“The Netzah Yehuda battalion is an inseparable part of the Israel Defense Forces. It is subject to military law and is responsible for operating in full compliance with international law,” he said.

“The State of Israel has a strong, independent judicial system that evaluates meticulously any claim of a violation or deviation from IDF orders and code of conduct, and will continue to do so.”

Netzah Yehuda is made up exclusively of ultra-Orthodox fighters - MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP

The US is on a tightrope with Israel and its conflicts with Hamas in Gaza, as well as Iran. Washington has proffered financial and military support even as calls for restraint grow louder.

On Saturday night, the US announced $17 billion (£13.7 billion) in military aid to Israel in the midst of the sanctions scandal. It comes just one week after an aerial bombardment against Israel from Iran, in which a US-led coalition helped intercept almost all the 350 plus drones and missiles fired at the Jewish state.

“I intend on acting to have this decision changed,” Mr Gantz said of the sanctions on Sunday.

Investigations into the unit began when an 80-year-old Palestinian-American, Omar Awad, died in custody of the battalion in 2022. At the time, the IDF said that the unit’s commander was to be reprimanded and the relevant platoon commander and company commander would be removed from their positions and barred from commanding roles for two years.