Opinion
The Guardian view on Rishi Sunak: the prime minister is fighting for his political life

Editorial
Mon, 11 December 2023 

Photograph: UK Covid-19 Inquiry/AP

In the past decade, Nigel Farage has traumatised the Conservative party and transformed it for the worse. His suggestion that he could return to politics after his stint on reality TV will trigger paroxysms of Tory despair. The prospect of the former Brexit party leader’s comeback only emphasises that Rishi Sunak is fighting for his political life after his party’s civil war restarted over immigration. The prime minister’s appearance at the Covid inquiry is unlikely to help much. His flagship scheme to boost the restaurant industry after the first lockdown was known in Whitehall as “eat out to help out the virus”.

The Tory splits over shutting down the country were shallower and less treacherous than on immigration, which has replaced Europe as the party’s great division. But they run along similar lines, with each side having their own facts. Tory MPs are restive because they were elected as Brexiters who have proved incompetent at exercising the control over immigration that they sought. For some, Mr Sunak’s proposed law goes too far in limiting migrants’ rights to challenge deportation, while for others it does not go far enough. The return of Mr Farage in such circumstances torments Conservatives.

Another cause for Tory unease is the widespread perception that 13 years of Conservative prime ministers have run the country into the ground. Patients in the UK are waiting longer to see a doctor than people in Kenya. Crumbling concrete means schools and courts are being closed down before they fall down. Unicef said this month that the UK, among 39 of the world’s richest nations, had the biggest jump in child poverty in the past decade. The extent to which Mr Sunak prioritised the economy over wider society’s needs as chancellor during the pandemic was at the heart of his evidence. When campaigning to lead the Tory party, he told the Spectator last year that scientists were given too much power and that he had complained about the cost of lockdowns early in the pandemic. However, in response to questioning, Mr Sunak would only admit to resisting the imposition of restrictions in September 2020, shamelessly saying he had been talking to the Spectator about the government’s communications strategy.

Britain’s direction of travel needed reappraising post-pandemic. Countries that had handled the emergency well had strong welfare states. However, the government prefers a more simplistic, Panglossian and selective view. In education, the international rankings for England’s secondary school pupils flattered to deceive and were based on ropey statistics. But ministers opted for cheap political point-scoring – no doubt influenced by the fact that Mr Sunak’s Treasury was accused of starving schools of the cash required for children’s learning recovery. At the Covid inquiry, he was forced to deny claims he called parents who couldn’t afford to buy food for their children “freeloaders”.

Mr Sunak has overseen rising inequality, public-sector austerity and regressive tax reforms. Today’s Conservative party has a clear interest in diverting public attention from its policy failures. Mr Sunak gambled that, in the short term, his party benefited by shifting attention from unpopular economic policies to cultural issues that inflame public opinion, such as immigration. But in the long term, this strategy strengthened the hard right – both within and without his party – so much that it has left him facing the biggest test of his premiership.

Supreme Court justices agonize over Purdue Pharma settlement that would let Sackler family walk away with billions: ‘There is no other deal’

BYMARK SHERMAN AND THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
December 5, 2023 

Jen Trejo holds a photo of her son Christopher as she is comforted outside the Supreme Court on Dec. 4, 2023, in Washington.
STEPHANIE SCARBROUGH—AP

The Supreme Court on Monday wrestled with a nationwide settlement with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma that would shield members of the Sackler family who own the company from civil lawsuits over the toll of opioids.

The justices seemed by turns reluctant to break up an exhaustively negotiated agreement, but also leery of somehow rewarding the Sacklers.

The agreement hammered out with state and local governments and victims would provide billions of dollars to combat the opioid epidemic. The Sacklers would contribute up to $6 billion and give up ownership of the company, but retain billions more. The company would emerge from bankruptcy as a different entity, with its profits used for treatment and prevention.

The high court put the settlement on hold during the summer, in response to objections from the Biden administration.

Justice Elena Kagan seemed to sum up the questions that were nagging at some of the justices.

“It seems as though the federal government is standing in the way of that as against the huge, huge, huge majority of claimants,” Kagan said.

But later, she also said that in bankruptcies, protection against lawsuits has a price.

“You get a discharge when you put all your assets on the table,” she said. “The Sacklers didn’t come anywhere close to doing that.”

Arguments lasted nearly two hours in a packed courtroom, its doors draped in black in memoriam to retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who died Friday. Chief Justice John Roberts offered a remembrance of the first woman to serve on the court. “She changed the world,” Roberts said.

Outside the court, a small but vocal group of protesters opposed the Purdue Pharma agreement. “Shame on Sackler,” one banner read. “No Sackler immunity at any $$,” read another.

The issue for the justices is whether the legal shield that bankruptcy provides can be extended to people such as the Sacklers, who have not declared bankruptcy themselves. Lower courts have issued conflicting decisions over that issue, which also has implications for other major product liability lawsuits settled through the bankruptcy system.

The U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee, an arm of the Justice Department, contends that the bankruptcy law does not permit protecting the Sackler family from being sued. During the Trump administration, the government supported the settlement.


Justice Department lawyer Curtis Gannon told the court Monday that negotiations could resume, and perhaps lead to a better deal, if the court were to stop the current agreement.

Proponents of the plan said third-party releases are sometimes necessary to forge an agreement, and federal law imposes no prohibition against them.

“Forget a better deal,” lawyer Pratik Shah, representing victims and other creditors in the bankruptcy, told the justices. “There is no other deal.”

Lawyers for more than 60,000 victims who support the settlement called it “a watershed moment in the opioid crisis,” while recognizing that “no amount of money could fully compensate” victims for the damage caused by the misleading marketing of OxyContin, a powerful prescription painkiller.

A lawyer for a victim who opposes the settlement calls the provision dealing with the Sacklers “special protection for billionaires.”

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson seemed more inclined toward the opponents, saying the Sacklers’ insistence on a shield against all lawsuits is “causing this problem.”

By contrast, Justice Brett Kavanaugh sounded like a vote to allow the deal to proceed. He said the government was seeking to prevent payment to victims and their families, as well as money for prevention programs “in exchange really for this somewhat theoretical idea that they’ll be able to recover money down the road from the Sacklers themselves.”

OxyContin first hit the market in 1996, and Purdue Pharma’s aggressive marketing of it is often cited as a catalyst of the nationwide opioid epidemic, persuading doctors to prescribe painkillers with less regard for addiction dangers.

The drug and the Stamford, Connecticut-based company became synonymous with the crisis, even though the majority of pills being prescribed and used were generic drugs. Opioid-related overdose deaths have continued to climb, hitting 80,000 in recent years. Most of those are from fentanyl and other synthetic drugs.

The Purdue Pharma settlement would be among the largest reached by drug companies, wholesalers and pharmacies to resolve epidemic-related lawsuits filed by state, local and Native American tribal governments and others. Those settlements have totaled more than $50 billion.

But the Purdue Pharma settlement would be one of only two so far that include direct payments to victims from a $750 million pool. Payouts are expected to range from about $3,500 to $48,000.

Sackler family members no longer are on the company’s board, and they have not received payouts from it since before Purdue Pharma entered bankruptcy. In the decade before that, though, they were paid more than $10 billion, about half of which family members said went to pay taxes.

A decision in Harrington v. Purdue Pharma, 22-859, is expected by early summer.

Dengue fever: Dangerous mosquito-borne disease could arrive in England this century - thanks to climate change

In a new report about the health effects of climate change, the UK Health Security Agency warns dengue fever could be transmitted in London by 2060

By Amber Allott

Published 11th Dec 2023,

Warmer temperatures mean that Asian tiger mosquitos carrying dengue fever and other tropical diseases could become established in England inn the next few decades, government health experts have warned.

Dengue fever - a virus found in many more tropical parts of the world - is spread by bites from an infected mosquito, and is not usually serious. But doctors warn that between one and 5% of patients may develop potentially fatal severe dengue, or dengue haemorrhagic fever.

The virus is spread by the Aedes family of mosquitoes. But climate change means that one species, the Asian Tiger mosquito, has now become widespread in southern Europe. It has also been detected by authorities at UK ports several times in recent years, but so far no local populations have become established. It is known for its striped body and its potential to spread dengue fever, zika virus and chikungunya – and the species tends to live in urban areas as opposed to wetlands and feed during the day, putting people at greater risk of being bitten.

In a new report about the health effects of climate change, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) warned dengue fever could be transmitted in London by 2060 while the mosquito itself could become widely established across England in the 2040s. Officials also said other infectious diseases spread through food or water could become more prevalent, with the risk of future pandemics increasing.

Opinion
UK factories help build the jets used by the Israeli military. They should be stopped

Amelia Horgan

THE GUARDIAN
Mon, 11 December 2023 

Photograph: Guy Smallman/Getty Images

Last Thursday morning, a thousand people across Britain made their way to a series of arms factories – in Bournemouth, Brighton, Lancashire and Glasgow – and blockaded them so that nothing could go in or out. They were protesting under the banner of a new network called Workers for a Free Palestine, which has responded to a call from Palestinian trade unions to stop arming Israel – and by extension stop the bombardment and invasion of Gaza by the Israel Defense Forces.

These actions have two goals. First, to immediately halt the flow of military goods and components in the Israeli military’s supply chain. But second, to reveal Britain’s contribution to Israel’s assault on Gaza. Many Britons are still unaware of the fact that weapons that are used to murder Palestinians are manufactured in anonymous, nondescript sites in towns and cities across the country.

The Israeli war machine is driven by two preconditions: political support and military assistance, including aid and imports. These are what enable Israel’s current attack on Gaza. Millions have already protested across the world, with massive popular support for a ceasefire, and beyond that, for an end to occupation and long overdue justice for Palestinians. They have called on their leaders to apply pressure on Israel to halt its attack.


These actions have had an effect. In a recent speech to local government officials obtained by the Israeli newspaper Hayom, Benjamin Netanyahu remarked, “There are huge demonstrations in western capitals. We need to apply counter-pressure … There have been disagreements with the best of our friends.”

But Netanyahu also noted that what he most needed from those allies was “munitions, munitions, munitions”. It is for this reason that actions like those initiated by Workers for a Free Palestine are so important. The four sites that it targeted last week help produce an advanced fighter jet known to be used by the Israeli military.

What exactly is Britain’s contribution? Arms exports are secretive, making it difficult to assess their scale. Where public information about these export licences exists, it is often vague – the value and number of arms sold to Israel are hidden through scores of “open licences” that allow the unlimited export of particular goods. What we do know is that since 2008, Britain has also licensed at least £560m worth of arms exports to Israel in the more transparent standard “closed licences”.

Some parts of the British military supply chain are more traceable. The US producer Lockheed Martin describes its F-35 fighter jet as “the most lethal, survivable and connected fighter jet in the world”. Israel has bought dozens since 2016, and struck a deal this year for an additional 25 jets financed by the annual $3.8bn (£3bn) it receives in US military aid. These planes are used to conduct aerial bombardments, including the present assault on Gaza.

While Lockheed Martin is the lead contractor for the F-35, the jet is built through an international coalition, with 15% of the value of all F-35s made in Britain. According to Lockheed Martin, “the fingerprints of British ingenuity can be found on dozens of the aircraft’s key components”. Ingenious British hands look extremely bloody.

The four sites and companies that Workers for a Free Palestine targeted last Thursday help to produce the F-35 fighter jets. For example, BAE Systems at Samlesbury Aerodrome makes the rear fuselage for every F-35. This year, it delivered its 1000th rear fuselage for the F-35 programme. In Brighton, a subsidiary of L3Harris produces the release system that allows the jet to drop its lethal bombs.

Combat aircraft such as the F-35 need warehouses full of spare parts, especially during a war. Almost any of the 79 companies that hold open licences to export F-35 components from the UK may be supplying spare parts to keep the jets flying over Gaza.

The Dutch government, for instance, operates a warehouse holding US-owned F-35 parts which have been exported to Israel for use in its ongoing bombardment.

Britain’s role in supplying the Israeli military in recent weeks is secretive, but at least 30 RAF flights have taken off from British army bases on Cyprus, including military transport aircraft. Beyond supplying critical components from the British arms industry, the British military is playing a fundamental role in facilitating arms shipments by other countries and flying its own surveillance drones over Gaza.

A new movement of solidarity in the UK and across the world is targeting the weapons industry. At Workers for a Free Palestine’s first action there were 100 people involved, at the second, 400; last week, there were 1,000. When politicians refuse to listen, taking action by organising in local communities and workplaces to stand in solidarity with Palestinians under attack is one of the few political avenues available to people in Britain.

Amelia Horgan is a writer from London. She is the author of Lost in Work and attended the Workers for a Free Palestine action on 7 December

SCOTISH PM
Humza Yousaf says UK ‘complicit in killing of thousands of children’ in Gaza

Sarah Ward and Lydia Chantler-Hicks
Sat, 9 December 2023 

Scotland's First Minister Humza Yousaf (PA Wire)

First Minister Humza Yousaf said the UK was “complicit in the killing of thousands of children” after the UK voted against a ceasefire in Gaza, as activists protested in Glasgow.

Mr Yousaf, who has Palestinian in-laws, said it was “incomprehensible” that the UK abstained from a vote at the UN Security Council.

Writing on X, formerly Twitter, he said: “I agree with @savechildrenuk. I find it incomprehensible that the UK did not vote for a ceasefire. How can you choose to be complicit in the killing of thousands of children?

“Shame on the UK Government & Keir Starmer’s Labour Party who refuse to back a #CeasefireNow”.

The Gaza Genocide Emergency Committee organised protests across Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen.

Activists protested outside Barclays on Union Street, Aberdeen, and Glasgow Central Station was filled with Palestinian flags as people held a sit-in protest – while a demo was also held outside Buchanan Galleries.

Organisers had asked that those who attended refrained from using “hate speech” or offensive language, or from breaking the law in any way.

People were asked to behave inclusively and to avoid discrimination.

Signs reading “ceasefire now” were held, while marchers carried a banner reading “stop the genocide”.

 

Ahead of White House Hanukkah celebration, a wave of faith-led cease-fire demonstrations

The demonstrators, who were later arrested, noted the ongoing Jewish holiday, shouting, 'No Hanukkah to celebrate, cease-fire cannot wait!'

A group of Jewish women chain themselves to the fence in front of the White House and call for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war, Monday, Dec. 11, 2023, in Washington. The Jewish Voice for Peace affiliated activists timed their protest with the White House Hanukkah celebration, which also occurs Monday. (RNS photo/Jack Jenkins)

December 11, 202

By 

Jack Jenkins

WASHINGTON (RNS) — The nation’s capital played host to another wave of faith-led protests on Monday calling for a cease-fire in Gaza, hours before the White House’s scheduled Hanukkah celebration.

One of the more dramatic demonstrations took place around midday, when a group of 18 older Jewish women affiliated with the activist organization Jewish Voice for Peace chained themselves to the White House’s fence and unfurled a banner calling on President Biden to “stop the genocide, ceasefire now!”

Calling themselves “elders,” the activists noted the ongoing Jewish holiday as they demonstrated, shouting, “No Hanukkah to celebrate, cease-fire cannot wait!”

The White House Hanukkah celebration, scheduled for Monday evening around 7:00 p.m., is slated to feature appearances from Biden as well as second gentleman Douglas Emhoff, who is Jewish. Emhoff is expected to help light menorah candles with descendants of Holocaust survivors.

In an interview with Religion News Service, Esther Farmer, a JVP spokesperson, said the group chose to protest today to “be here at Hanukkah to let some light into this, because this is a really dark thing that’s happening.”

Demonstrators also read the names of Palestinians killed during Israel’s ongoing assault into Gaza, which resumed this month after a roughly weeklong pause. The military advance followed the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel by Hamas that killed 1,200 people and resulted in hundreds more kidnapped. Activists in the U.S. and elsewhere, however, have expressed outrage at the scale of Israel’s response, with at least 17,700 Palestinians killed during the Israeli operation, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. In addition, the United Nations estimates 85% of the region’s 2 million residents have been displaced in what human rights advocates warn is a spiraling humanitarian crisis.

Shortly after the demonstration began, police cleared the area in front of the White House. Officers then began slowly arresting all 18 participants, leading them away one by one after shearing them loose from the fence using bolt cutters.

A police officer escorts a chanting protester away from the White House fence, Monday, Dec. 11, 2023, in Washington. (RNS photo/Jack Jenkins)

As they departed, the group — as well as a small band of supporters nearby — chanted, “Biden, Biden, pick a side, cease-fire, not genocide!”

The protest comes ahead of a larger event planned for later in the evening, when hundreds are expected to participate in a “Chanukah for Ceasefire” service outside the White House at the same time officials are celebrating the Jewish holiday inside.

“We are Jews calling for a cease-fire because we believe in the equal sacredness of all human life,” Eva Borgwardt, a spokesperson for If Not Now, a Jewish activist group organizing the event alongside Jewish Voice for Peace, told RNS. “The only way to secure that is through a cease-fire, a de-escalation, a hostage exchange and an actual political solution that will secure freedom and safety and a thriving future for all.”

In addition to Jewish voices, the event is expected to include speeches from lawmakers such as Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri, a Christian and former pastor, who introduced legislation last month calling for a cease-fire.

Borgwardt argued there was a “clear divide” between the dueling Hanukkah events.

“While we are honoring the sacredness of every single human life, President Biden, as well as many members of Congress, are pushing for billions of dollars in unconditional weapons funding for Israel to continue committing war crimes against Palestinians in Gaza,” Borgwardt said.

A Jewish woman holds a placard and a candle as Jewish rabbis and members of the community gather demanding a permanent cease-fire in Gaza, during the first night of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

Both demonstrations come on the heels of a separate cease-fire protest that took place at the Hart Senate Building on Capitol Hill earlier Monday morning. There, police arrested 49 people who held a banner that read “Aid to Israel = bombing Palestinians,” as they stood around what appeared to be bags of fake money splattered with red paint. One of the participants also scaled a sculpture in the building’s lobby before eventually climbing down, where officers arrested the protester, according to NBC News.

Yet another cease-fire-themed event is scheduled for Monday evening, when a group of Christians plan to host a prayer service at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in downtown Washington before leading a prayer walk over to the White House. 

“We grieve and stand in solidarity with Christians in Bethlehem and the Middle East who will worship Jesus but not have Christmas celebrations this year,” the Rev. Dr. Mae Elise Cannon, head of Churches for Middle East Peace, said in a statement. “We remain steadfast in our call for a comprehensive ceasefire and an end to all violence.”

The event is sponsored by an array of Christian denominations and groups, including the CMEP, the American Baptist Churches USA, American Friends Service Committee, Church of the Brethren Office of Peacebuilding, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Franciscan Action Network, Global Ministries of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and United Church of Christ, Presbyterian Church (USA), Progressive National Baptist Convention Inc., Sojourners and the United Methodist Church’s General Board of Church and Society.

In statements, multiple participants in Monday’s planned Christmas vigil referenced that Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem, which is in the occupied West Bank, have been largely canceled in solidarity with those killed in Gaza. A delegation of Christian leaders from the city visited Washington last month, where they met with White House staff and members of Congress and presented them with a letter signed by Bethlehem churches calling for a cease-fire.

But at a vigil in November, convened at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church just two blocks from the U.S. Capitol, the Rev. Munther Isaac, a member of the delegation and a pastor of Bethlehem’s Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church, suggested their group struggled to rally policymakers — including Biden, who is Catholic, and members of Congress, who are overwhelmingly Christian — behind their cause.

The Rev. Munther Isaac, pastor of Bethlehem’s Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church, addresses a vigil at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023. (RNS photo/Jack Jenkins)

“We had meetings at the Hill and the White House, and it feels like speaking to a judge who neither fears God nor has respect for people,” Isaac said, referencing the Gospel of Luke.

A White House National Security Council spokesperson told RNS their staff “valued the opportunity to meet with the group of Palestinian Christian leaders and to hear directly from them their perspectives on the current crisis.” The spokesperson added that officials conveyed to the faith leaders how the Biden administration backed the deal that led to the recent humanitarian pause, which allowed for the release of hostages and flow of aid into Gaza.

Even so, Isaac’s frustration was still evident on Sunday. In a post published on X, the pastor and theologian referenced last week’s United Nations Security Council vote on a proposal to demand an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza. Thirteen of the 15 council members voted in favor, while the United Kingdom abstained. The United States cast the lone “no” vote.

“I was asked today by a journalist if we received a response from the white house to the letter we sent from the churches in Bethlehem asking for a ceasefire,” Isaac wrote in his post. “I answered that the response was the veto vote in the UN. They celebrate Christmas in their land, and wage war in our land.”

Protesters chain themselves to White House fence demanding Gaza cease-fire

'As Jewish elders, we know what genocide looks like, and we know what it feels like,' says demonstrator

Michael Gabriel Hernandez |11.12.2023 - 

A group of Jewish elders chained themselves to the White House perimeter fence Monday in protest of US President Joe Biden's policies during the war in the Gaza Strip in Washington DC, United States on December 11, 2023.

 Photo : ( Celal Güneş - AA )

WASHINGTON

A group of Jewish elders chained themselves to the White House perimeter fence Monday in protest of US President Joe Biden's policies during the war in the besieged Gaza Strip.

The group of about a dozen protesters read aloud the names of those killed in Gaza during the over two-month war there, reciting a Jewish chant asking that their memory be a blessing after each name was called out.

"We're here today because as Jewish elders, we know what genocide looks like, and we know what it feels like. It's in our memories. It's in our bodies," Esther Farmer, a spokesperson for the group Jewish Elders for Palestinian Freedom, said during a brief interview with Anadolu. "We are here to tell Biden he needs to stop funding and arming this genocide."

Police ultimately broke up the demonstration, using bolt cutters to sever the chain that affixed protesters to the White House fence. Many were escorted away with their fists raised in a sign of defiance.

The protest took place just hours before Biden and First Lady Jill Biden host the annual Haukah party at the White House. Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff are slated to host another holiday reception at the Naval Observatory on Monday evening.

Activists calling for Gaza ceasefire protest in US Senate office building

US Capitol Police said they arrested 51 people in total as a result of the demonstration.

By REUTERS

DECEMBER 11, 2023

 

Activists engage in civil disobedience in Hart Senate Office Building, part of the U.S. Capitol complex, to call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and redirection of military aid for Israel, in Washington, U.S. December 11, 2023.(photo credit: ALLISON BAILEY/REUTERS)

Several dozen activists calling for the United States to push for a permanent ceasefire between Israel and Hamas briefly protested in a US Senate office building on Monday before police ended the protest and took dozens into custody.

Groups, including the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights and Jewish Voice for Peace organized the protest, which called for the US government to divert funds to domestic priorities such as affordable housing and childcare instead of further arming Israel with US weapons.
Arrests made during the protest

One activist was arrested after he climbed up onto a 51-foot (15.5 m) high black steel sculpture by artist Alexander Calder. Others chanted "ceasefire now" and wore shirts with the slogan "invest in life" as they linked arms.

US Capitol Police said they arrested 51 people in total as a result of the demonstration. Reuters images show activists engaging in civil disobedience in Hart Senate Office Building, part of the US Capitol complex where many senators and committees have their offices.

Activists engage in civil disobedience in Hart Senate Office Building, part of the U.S. Capitol complex, to call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and redirection of military aid for Israel, in Washington, U.S. December 11, 2023. (credit: ALLISON BAILEY/REUTERS)

"Funding more death and destruction of human life...makes no one secure, and instead fuels hatred and continued war," Sandra Tamari, executive director of the Adalah Justice Project, one of the groups involved in the protest. "The Senate must heed our urgent demand to stop funding militarism and instead invest in life."

The Gaza health ministry said 18,205 people had now been killed and 49,645 wounded in air strikes on Gaza since Israel attacked the territory in retaliation for Hamas' Oct. 7 attack, which led to the deaths of roughly 1,200 Israelis.

Bethlehem's wartime Christmas brings no comfort or joy

Since the start of the war in early October when Hamas gunmen attacked Israeli towns, interest in visiting Israel has all but collapsed.

Scripps News
Dec 11, 2023

In the past, as many as 150,000 people have traveled to Bethlehem in the West Bank for Christmas. This year, however, war has all but stopped tourism there, leaving empty shops and a spiritual void.

Shopkeeper Ahmed Danna says that with no tourists, he spends his days drinking tea and coffee, waiting for customers who never come.

Since the start of the war in early October when Hamas gunmen attacked Israeli towns, interest in visiting Israel has all but collapsed. Reuters reports that October saw 39,000 visitors compared to the typical 300,000 per month, leaving empty shops in the Israeli-controlled West Bank.

The Sancta Maria Hotel would typically be booked full around Christmas with Christians from around the world, coming to celebrate the birth of Christ — this year, its lobby is empty.

The manager, Sami Thaljieh, said that nearly 70 hotels around Bethlehem are closed and 6,000 workers in the tourism industry have been laid off.

Most Americans disapprove of President Biden's handling of the economy and the war in Israel less than a year before the 2024 election.LEARN MORE

The Rev. Munther Issac pastors the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem.

"This year, Christmas celebrations are canceled in Bethlehem and for obvious reasons," he says. "It's impossible to celebrate while our people in Gaza are going through a genocide."

Issac was part of a religious delegation that met with President Biden in late November at the White House. He delivered a letter on behalf of other religious leaders from Bethlehem calling for a constant cease-fire, saying, in part: "Enough death. Enough destruction. This is a moral obligation."

"All the heads of churches in Jerusalem decided that Christmas celebrations will be mainly prayers with no festive celebrations," he said.

While fighting in the West Bank is not at the level of the Gaza Strip, The Associated Press reports dozens of Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed and hundreds arrested since the beginning of the war. Israel says it is pursuing militants following the deaths of 1,200 Israelis in the initial Hamas assault.

At Issac's church, a display has been built that he says reflects the harsh conditions this Christmas: A pile of rubble symbolizing the destruction in Gaza centered by a baby Jesus.


"To us, this is a message that Jesus identifies with our suffering. He is in solidarity with those who are oppressed. He's in solidarity with those suffering. So it's a message of comfort and hope to us," the pastor said.

 

Anti-Zionism is not antisemitism

Equating the two is designed to stifle criticism and instill fear in those who speak out, Jews and non-Jews alike. 

Members of the anti-Zionist subset of the U.S. ultra-Orthodox Jewish community counterprotest during the March for Israel on Nov. 14, 2023, in Washington. (RNS photo/Jack Jenkins)

December 8, 2023

By 

Omar Suleiman

(RNS) — The Muslim and Jewish communities in the West have a decadeslong history of standing together in solidarity against Islamophobia and antisemitism and supporting one another in times of pain. We have faced a similar bigotry and an uptick of hate-fueled attacks on our communities in recent years. We have been familiar faces to one another at the endless press conferences in the aftermath of so many of those incidents.

But these relationships cannot be confined to empathy at home. When that same hatred is overseas, it has to be just as near to our hearts. And at a time in which Palestinian civilians — two-thirds of whom are women and children — are being killed at a rate of 280 per day, we must affirm that anti-Palestinian racism and bigotry are also extensions of Islamophobia. We must also be crystal clear as to what anti-Zionism is and is not. 

Anti-Zionism is not antisemitism

It is a travesty that we are forced to state and defend what should be an undeniable fact. It is a strategic conflation made by the Zionist lobby, engineered to suppress a shift in narrative and public opinion that increasingly humanizes Palestinians and rejects the Israeli occupation. Over the past two months, Israel’s indiscriminate bombardment and ground invasion has resulted in more than 16,000 Palestinians killed and at least 40,000 more injured. And with that, a global audience otherwise ignorant of the Palestinian catastrophe has been granted firsthand access to the crimes of the Israeli occupation.

House Resolution 894, a resolution that strongly condemns and denounces the “drastic rise of antisemitism in the United States and around the world,” also states “that anti-Zionism is antisemitism.” This is an ignorant at best — malicious at worst — attempt to amalgamate two disparate concepts. Antisemitism is a discriminatory and bigoted view of the Jewish people, a people with a millennialong history, while anti-Zionism opposes a political ideology introduced in the late 19th century that sought the establishment of an ethnostate on Palestinian territory. 

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RELATED: Democrats fracture over antisemitism vote

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On December 5, the resolution passed despite last-ditch efforts by three Jewish Democrats, who urged their colleagues to avoid what they termed an “attempt by Republicans to weaponize Jewish pain.” They described the resolution as “just the latest unserious attempt by Republicans to weaponize Jewish pain and the serious problem of antisemitism to score cheap political points.” While 92 Democrats voted merely “present,” a majority voted in favor, marking a dramatic disconnect between Democrats in Congress and their constituents — at a time when Gallup data shows “Democrats’ sympathies in the Middle East now lie more with the Palestinians than the Israelis.”

And the impact of AIPAC lobbying cannot be overstated. As M.J. Rosenberg wrote for the Huffington Post in 2017, “(Democrats) are in the grip of a foreign policy lobby as powerful as the NRA, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC.” Rosenberg alluded to Democrats’ decadeslong frustration with the National Rifle Association’s lobbying efforts against gun control measures. “Sorry, Democrats: your NRA is spelled AIPAC,” he titled the piece. 

House Republicans, and the GOP at large, began this deliberate mischaracterization of anti-Zionism years ago. In his remarks at the 2019 AIPAC Policy Conference, then-U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo catered to the crowd. “Let me go on the record,” he said. “Anti-Zionism is antisemitism.” He defined anti-Zionism as denying “the very legitimacy of the Israeli state and of the Jewish people.”

And that is exactly the conflation AIPAC hopes to embed and establish in the public discourse, the idea that the Israeli occupation and the Jewish people are inseparable. But as Dave Zirin of The Nation puts it, this is the greatest disservice to the Jewish people. “Anyone who attempts to fasten a 5,000-year-old religion to a 150-year-old colonial project is guilty of antisemitism. They are pushing the idea that my family, merely because of our religion, supports war crimes abroad and the crackdown on critics at home.” It also assumes American Jews are a homogenous group; a Pew Research Center survey found that most American Jewish adults take the position that God “did not literally give” the land of Israel to the Jewish people. 

Anti-Zionists, including thousands of Jews across the globe, reject the notion of an ethno-state that expels the existing Palestinian population. Anti-Zionists oppose the Israeli occupation on the basis of the myriad human rights abuses that Israel has carried out since its founding. These include the displacement and ethnic cleansing of millions of Palestinians, the establishment of an apartheid system that systematically disenfranchises Palestinians, a sustained illegal occupation, the murder of tens of thousands of Palestinians over the past seven decades and the ongoing genocide in Gaza. 

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RELATED: Why you’re not seeing Palestinian suffering

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Anti-Zionism is not antisemitism. It would be absurd to be forced to make the same clarifications regarding other distinctly independent concepts, and it is an indictment of the uninformed level of discourse Congress has succumbed to. Equating anti-Zionism and antisemitism is a strategic and calculated measure designed to stifle criticism of the Israeli occupation and instill fear in those who speak out, Jews and non-Jews alike. 

After the resolution’s passage, I wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that, “according to the House of Representatives, the Muslim community that has stood in solidarity in front of synagogues and Jewish community centers against hate for years — yet also opposes Zionism — is to be considered antisemitic. And all of the brave members of the Jewish community standing in solidarity against occupation are also apparently antisemites. Make it make sense.”

Unfortunately, it will never make sense. To equate anti-Zionism and antisemitism is to conflate being Jewish with being Zionist, and, as Dave Zirin posited, “this is rank antisemitism: the assumption that to be Jewish is to support Israel’s crimes.” Ironically, despite the resolution’s stated attempts to condemn antisemitism, it — in fact — fans the flames of bigotry. This resolution seeks to weaponize Jewish pain by criminalizing criticism of the occupation, apartheid and systemic racism, all of which are part and parcel of the current Israeli fabric.

 

As Druze fight alongside Jewish soldiers, Israel looks back on controversial Nation-State Law

For many Druze, an Arabic-speaking minority in Israel, the bill was seen as an insult and ignorant of the role the Druze have played in Israel’s military history. 

Mourners gather around the flag draped coffin of Druze Israeli Lieutenant Colonel Salman Habaka in the village of Yanuh Jat, northern Israel, Friday, Nov. 3, 2023. Habaka was killed during a ground operation in the Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

December 11, 2023

By 

David I. Klein

(RNS) — As thousands of Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv Nov. 24 to celebrate the return of the first batch of hostages freed amid Israel’s ceasefire agreement with Hamas, the crowd broke into applause at the sight of a group of men, sheikhs in long, flowing robes and white turbans.

These were not leaders of Israel’s Arab Muslim minority but of the Druze — adherents to a syncretic religion native to the Levant that broke from Shia Islam in the 11th century and holds reverence for not only Muhammad, Jesus and figures of the Hebrew Bible such as Jethro, but also for Greek philosophers like Pythagoras and Plato as prophets.

Today, the Druze community is estimated at 800,000 spread over Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Israel. The vast majority of Druze live in southwest Syria, followed by Lebanon and then Israel, which is home to around 150,000. 

In the more than 50 days since war broke out between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Israel’s Druze minority joined their Jewish countrymen in participating in the war. Of the 104 IDF soldiers who died in combat since the war began, at least six have been Druze, say community members. 

“In this war, the Druze view themselves as proud Israelis,” Anan Kheir, a lawyer and community activist from the majority-Druze village of Peki’in in northern Israel, told Religion News Service. “We don’t see any difference between the Druze soldier and the Jewish soldier.”

“If you go all over our towns, you will see the Israeli flags at each corner,” Adi Hassan, a Druze man from Daliat al-Carmel, Israel’s largest Druze community, told RNS, adding, “I can tell you that we are more patriotic than the Jews themselves.” 

Druze communities have also dived into volunteer efforts to support the hundreds of Israelis displaced from the country’s south. In Daliat al-Carmel, according to the Jerusalem Post, a center was set up where Druze, as native Arabic speakers, combed through videos shared by Hamas and on Palestinian media since Oct. 7 to aid Israeli intelligence in locating hostages and identifying the perpetrators of the attack. 

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RELATED:  Feeling sidelined, Israel’s Druze protest Jewish nation bill

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Despite their patriotism, many Druze feel their place in Israel has been overlooked — a concern that has grown since the passage of the controversial Nation-State Law five years ago.

An Israeli man from the Druze community participates in a rally against Israel’s Jewish Nation bill in Tel Aviv, on Aug. 4, 2018. Thousands of members of Israel’s Druze minority and their Jewish supporters packed a central Tel Aviv square to rally against a contentious new law that critics say sidelines Israel’s non-Jewish citizens. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

That law, many Druze feel, cut them out of Israel’s national identity. 

“Now is the time for the government and the Knesset to initiate a change to the Nation-State Law and repair the historical distortion regarding the Druze community while anchoring the community and its rights in legislation,” Sheikh Muwafaq Tarif, the spiritual leader of the Israeli Druze community, said in a letter sent last month to Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition leader Yair Lapid. 

“Let us fix the Nation-State Law at this moment to make it clear that in life and in death, we are equal,” Lapid said in response to the letter. 

The Nation-State Law, which amended Israel’s basic laws — the closest thing the country has to a constitution — codified Jewish symbols, such as the Star of David and menorah, as Israel’s national symbols, Hebrew as its national language and Jewish festivals as its national holidays. 

The bill also downgraded Arabic from an official language of the state to one of just a “special status” and, most controversially, codified that the right to national self-determination in Israel belonged to Jews and Jews alone. 

For many Druze, an Arabic-speaking minority in Israel, the bill was seen as an insult and ignorant of the role the Druze had played in Israel’s military history. 

“We are very frustrated about this,” Hassan said. “We feel that we are equals. We do our duties, serve in the army, pay taxes, be good citizens and follow the laws

“This law was no more than a declarative law, there was no content to it,” Hassan added. “I don’t think the lives of Druze in Israel changed from before and after, but it gave a sore feeling. Suddenly you feel that you are not equal, and this is the main issue.”

Unlike Arabic-speaking Christians and Muslims in Israel, who still largely identify as Palestinian and are exempt from military service, Druze have fiercely adopted Israeli identity and not only serve in the IDF — under a mandatory conscription law like Jewish Israelis — they do so at higher rates than Jews, especially in combat units and the officer corps.

Yet the law treats them as second-class citizens, said Kheir.

“We’re integrated in the Israeli community, we’re a proud part of Israel, we have soldiers who lost their lives. So where are we in this?” he added. 

Druze faith leaders tour Kibbutz Kfar Azza with their Muslim, Jewish and Christian counterparts ahead of an interfaith joint prayer near the Israel-Gaza border, Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

The Nation-State Law is not the only issue Israel’s Druze have with the government. Many feel that Druze communities, mostly in Israel’s north in the area around Mount Carmel, have not received equal funding for education or infrastructure projects.

“Over the years, successive Israeli governments have treated the Druze with respect only when Druze soldiers have fallen in battle and/or on Memorial Day,” Amal Asad, an Israeli Druze and former IDF general, wrote in an op-ed in Haaretz earlier this week. “Right now, the absurdity is that equality between Druze and Jews exists in only two places: in the army and in the cemeteries

“A Druze pilot or Druze commander of an elite military unit or Druze ambassador or Druze high-tech developer is not going to say ‘thank you’ for getting an electricity hookup or a paved road,” Asad added.

Tarif’s letter has sparked a response from Israeli lawmakers. 

“The Druze people are a valuable community,” Netanyahu acknowledged after the letter went public, according to the Jerusalem Post. “They fight and they die. We will give them everything they are due. We will find the way to do it. It’s essential.”

Lawmakers in Netanyahu’s Likud party have floated a bill to add another basic law — which would clarify the position of the Druze community, though what exactly it would entail has not yet been revealed. Other Knesset members noted that such a law should include the Bedouin community who also serve in the IDF.

For many Druze, though, that was not seen as enough. 

“If you want to solve a problem, you need to address the problem itself,” Kheir said. “The problem is called the Nation-State Law, so what I think needs to be done is amending the Nation-State Law.”

Hassan, however, is hopeful that the realities of the current war will be enough to spark a change in attitude.

“I have no doubt that our leadership and the government will find the solution because it’s something that is important for both sides. Both sides really do want to cancel this feeling of frustration among our people,” he said. “I think that the Jews in Israel really appreciate what we are doing and, when speaking, you can see that they really admire the Druze strength, patriotism and solidarity.”