First up, the latest BURN IT DOWN WITH KIM BROWN.
Now for Idiot of the Week.
So we're all on the same page:
Harrison Butker Jr. is an American football kicker for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League. He played college football for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, and was selected by the Carolina Panthers in the seventh round of the 2017 NFL draft.
Just another boy who can't grow up because he's a "Junior." I've got a daughter but if I had a son, I would never name him after me or any other man if it required "Junior" on his name. I went to school with two Juniors and they overcompensated their entire schooling because they hated being little juniors, branded a little boy forever. And it's got to be worse when you're a man. You become an adult and you're still little junior? So I get it, that f**ked with Harrison Junior's mind. Or did they call him Little Harrison? Little Harry Jr.?
Little Harry Jr is over six feet tall (as am I) but he's a wimpy 199 pounds (I'm 215). He looks like a little wimp and I'm sure Little Harry Jr is little in the crotch as my gay brother pointed out, "In those tight pants, doesn't look like he's packing anything."
We'll come back to my brother.
Marcia's "Harrison Butker is a hate merchant" and my "A kicker thinks he's accomplished something and has wisdom" and "Hate merchant Harrison Butker" covered it earlier this week. And there was Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Harrison Loves Josh" as well.
So little boy and little dicked Harrison Junior -- do they just call him Junior? "Junior, sit down and eat your vegetables or go get the belt right now!" -- gave the commencement speech where he insulted women, he insulted LGBTQ+ people, he lied for the man he wants to take his anal virginity (Donald Trump) and pretended that Joe Biden started the COVID lockdowns (March 15, 2020 was when the lockdowns started, Joe Biden wasn't sworn in as president until January 20, 2021 was when Joe was sworn in), just one lie after another.
And he's such a limp dick, he starts crying in his speech. What a limp dicked little boy.
GLAAD issuedGLAAD issued the following statement:
GLAAD, the world’s largest LGBTQ media advocacy organization, is responding to Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker’s commencement ceremony speech at Benedictine College in Kansas last weekend.
Butker’s remarks included disparaging LGBTQ people, Pride, access to reproductive health care, and choices he believes women should make for their futures. Fact check on several erroneous claims, below.
GLAAD’s President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis (she/her) issued the following statement:
“Traditionally, commencement speeches are meant to celebrate and inspire graduates and their families. Kansas City Chiefs player Harrison Butker’s commencement speech was not only a clear miss, it was inaccurate, ill-informed, and woefully out of step with Americans about Pride, LGBTQ people and women. Those with expansive platforms, especially athletes, should use their voices to uplift and expand understanding and acceptance in the world. Instead, Butker’s remarks undermine experiences not of his own and reveal him to be one who goes against his own team’s commitment to the Kansas City community, and the NFL’s standards for respect, inclusion, and diversity across the League.”
FACT CHECKS:
Butker criticized “dangerous gender ideologies” and described Pride, a celebration of the LGBTQ community created by the community to elevate issues of equality and resilience in the face of discrimination and violence, as “the deadly sins sort of Pride that has an entire month dedicated to it.”
Fact: “Gender ideologies” is a term fabricated by anti-LGBTQ activists to deny the reality that transgender and other gender-diverse people exist.
Fact: There is no official federal recognition of Pride, Pride Month, or LGBTQ history. Pride commemorations, like LGBTQ acceptance overall, have expanded nationwide from the first community-organized events after the Stonewall riots 55 years ago this June.
Fact: There is widespread support for sports leagues hosting Pride Nights and events focused on inclusivity. 47% of U.S. adults support Pride Nights.
Butker baselessly claimed: “I think it is you, the women, who have had the most diabolic lies told to you. Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world, but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world.”
Facts: Benedictine College noted 485 students graduated last Saturday. Three women were among the five valedictorians, and a fourth woman student was honored with a college leadership award. Benedictine’s Dean is Dr. Kimberly Shankman, who led the commencement exercises. It is not known how Butker knows what graduates are most excited about.
Butker reinforced toxic stereotypes about men, power and control: “As men, we set the tone of the culture, and when that is absent, disorder, dysfunction and chaos set in. This absence of men in the home is what plays a large role in the violence we see all around the nation. Be unapologetic in your masculinity. Fight against the cultural emasculation of men. Do hard things. Never settle for what is easy.”
Fact: There is no evidence of so-called “cultural emasculation” or that the “absence of men” fuels violence. Research studies conducted before marriage equality was legalized nationwide in 2015 overwhelmingly show that the children of same-sex couples fare just as well as, if not better than and outperforming, the children of different-sex couples, particularly in educational settings. Those findings about the positive parenting outcomes of same-sex couples have been consistent in studies published as recently as last year.
Butker claimed the response to COVID was the result of “poor leadership and choices.”
Fact (not noted by Butker): Donald Trump was president at the inception of COVID, lied about COVID and downplayed the threat for months as hundreds of thousands of Americans died and got sick.
Butker criticized President Joe Biden and blamed poor leadership for “negative life choices” like “abortion, IVF, surrogacy, euthanasia, as well as a growing support for degenerate cultural values in media.”
Fact: Extremist legislators and Supreme Court justices have restricted access to deeply personal health care decisions that are supported by a majority of Americans across party lines and all faith backgrounds. Voters have chosen to expand access to abortion in every ballot measure proposed since Roe v. Wade was overturned.
Butker inaccurately linked representation in media with negative life outcomes.
Fact: GLAAD’s Accelerating Acceptance Study shows record high support for LGBTQ visibility in media:
- 75% of non-LGBTQ adults feel comfortable seeing LGBTQ people in advertisements.
- 73% of non-LGBTQ adults report feeling comfortable seeing LGBTQ characters included in TV shows or movies.
- 68% of non-LGBTQ adults feel comfortable seeing an LGBTQ family with children included in an advertisement.
Butker urged Catholics to speak up against the “tyranny of diversity, equity and inclusion.”
Fact: Research shows DEI programs help companies and organizations recruit top talent, enhance innovation, and improve competitive position and brand perception.
Butker’s generalizations about Catholics and urging of conservatism in the Church are at odds with Pope Francis, the leader of the Catholic Church, and most Catholics.
Facts: Pope Francis has taken more actions than any pope in history in support of LGBTQ people and to welcome LGBTQ people in the church. American Catholics have supported marriage for same-sex couples at consistently higher rates than the general population over the past two decades.
GLAAD polling of LGBTQ and registered voters show strong agreement with the statement: “Republicans should stop focusing on restricting women’s rights and banning medical care for transgender youth and instead focus on addressing inflation, job creation, and healthcare costs.” 94% of LGBTQ voters, 76% of registered voters, 76% of likely 2024 voters, and 82% of swing voters agree.
Junior, you should have been taken over the knee and spanked on stage.
You're an idiot. And when someone acts like that, they're usually wanting to be punished. So go find you a boyfriend who can spank you. And this is from my brother:
Junior, we get it. You wear those tight pants to show off your ass and wag that butt because you're wanting to be plowed. And you act like a little brat because you need a Daddy to drive it home and to spank you. You're just a little boi pretending. That's why you grow that scraggily bear. You got a baby smooth body -- does hair even grow in your pits -- and you were branded a little boi forever when your parents named you Junior. You clearly jerk off to fantasies of being put in your place. Every time you kick in a practice or game, know that we're looking your ass bottom boi and we know what you want. And as soon as you're ready to get on your knees and beg for it, you're going to get it. Good.
Yeah, I think my brother has Junior pegged pretty good. And Harrison, my brothers are all over six feet tall (I have three) but my gay brother? He's two inches taller than you. So when you're ready to come out of the closet, consider making him your first call.
Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
The International Rescue Committee is warning the scale of the crisis in southern Gaza “defies imagination” as Israel intensifies its attack on Rafah while key border crossings remain shut down. More than 600,000 Palestinians have fled Rafah despite having no safe place to go. Another 100,000 Palestinians have fled in the north. Overnight, Israel deployed an additional commando brigade to Rafah. This is a Palestinian woman in Rafah who is in mourning after Israel killed her husband and son.
Afaf al-Halqawi: “My son was beautiful as a moon. He was a groom. He went inside to his bride, thank God. … There’s no safe place, not in Rafah, not in Khan Younis. They slaughtered Jabaliya, they slaughtered al-Nuseirat, and they slaughtered Rafah. Safety is only with God. May God have mercy on us.”
On Wednesday, Israel shelled a clinic in Gaza City run by the U.N. aid agency UNRWA, killing at least 10 displaced Palestinians, including children. Earlier today, Israeli forces targeted residential buildings and an ambulance in Jabaliya, killing multiple Palestinians, including a pregnant woman. Separately, five Israeli soldiers were killed Wednesday in Jabaliya when they were shelled by an Israeli tank. Seven other Israeli troops were injured in what’s being described as a friendly fire incident.
The US has long been Israel’s largest arms merchant. For the last four years, the US has supplied Israel with 69% of its imported weapons, from F-35s to chemical munitions (white phosphorous), tank shells to precision bombs. Despite this, the Biden administration claims not to know how these weapons are put to use, even when they maim and kil American citizens.
Since the start of the latest war on Gaza, the US has had both defense department and CIA officials in Israel helping the Israelis with intelligence, logistics, targeting and bomb damage assessment. Still, the Biden administration claims not to have any hard evidence that the weapons it has transferred to Israel have been used to slaughter civilians, torture detainees or restrict the flow of humanitarian aid to starving, dehydrated and sick Palestinian civilians.
Under pressure from Bernie Sanders, Chris Van Hollen, Jeff Merkeley and other congressional Democrats, in February, President issued National Security Memorandum 20 (NSM-20, or “National Security Memorandum on Safeguards and Accountability With Respect to Transferred Defense Articles and Defense Services”), which directed the State Department to “obtain certain credible and reliable written assurances from foreign governments receiving [U.S.] defense articles and, as appropriate, defense services” that they will abide by U.S. and international law. NSM-20 also requires the Departments of State and Defense to report to Congress within 90 days on the extent to which such partners are abiding by their assurances. “assessment of any credible reports or allegations that defense articles and, as appropriate, defense services, have been used in a manner not consistent with international law, including international humanitarian law.” The NSM-20 report also required the Biden administration to assess whether Israel has fully cooperated with United States Government-supported and international efforts to provide humanitarian assistance in the area of conflict. They missed the 90-day mark by two days, likely to push the release of the report to late on a Friday afternoon, a traditional dead zone for news you’d like to bury.
Since October 7, the Biden administration has approved more than 100 Foreign Military Sales arms transfers to Israel. Two of the shipments used an emergency authority to circumvent Congressional review. The surge of weapons transfers to Israel began in early October and so much material was being shipped that the Pentagon had a difficult time finding enough cargo aircraft to deliver them. While the Pentagon regularly details weapons sent to Ukraine, it has only issued two updates on the kind and amount of weapons sent to Israel. But those two reports, both issued in December, suggest that the weapons included artillery shells, tank rounds, air defense systems, precision-guided munitions, small arms, Hellfire missiles used by drones, 30-mm cannon shells, PVS-14 night vision devices and disposable (though probably not biodegradable) shoulder-fired rockets. In late October, one sale to Israel including $320 million worth of JDAM kits for converting unguided “dumb” bombs into GPS-guided munitions. This was in addition to a previous sales of $403 million worth of the same guidance systems. From October 7 to Dec. 29 alone, US weapons shipments to Israel included 52,229 M795 155-millimeter artillery shells, 30,000 M4 propelling charges for howitzers, 4,792 M107 155-mm artillery shells and 13,981 M830A1 120-mm tank rounds.
In an emergency hearing furthering South Africa’s genocide case on Thursday, South Africa warned the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that Israel has begun a new stage of genocide in Gaza that the court must move against with “extreme urgency.”
South Africa’s legal team is seeking provisional measures from the ICJ for Israel to immediately withdraw from Rafah and take every action possible to surge humanitarian aid into Gaza, on top of orders for Israel to comply with provisional orders the court issued in January and March.
“Israel is escalating its attacks on Palestinians in Gaza, and in so doing, is willfully breaching the binding orders of this court,” South African ambassador to the Netherlands Vusimuzi Madonsela said in opening remarks.
“South Africa had hoped, when we last appeared before this court, to halt this genocidal process to preserve Palestine and its people,” Madonsela continued. “Instead, Israel’s genocide has continued apace and has just reached a new and horrific stage.”
In oral arguments, the South African delegation stressed the profound danger that Israel’s invasion of Rafah poses for the future of all Palestinians in Gaza, citing Israel’s near-total aid blockade and violent dismantling of nearly all basic infrastructure, including the region’s medical system.
The main argument Israel was bringing today was that the fact that South Africa says that there is at least not enough humanitarian aid coming into Rafah is basically a lie, according to Israel.
And also they said that South Africa’s claim that Rafah is this last refuge for the people in Gaza is untrue. They say they acknowledge that there are a lot of civilians there, but they also say it’s a Hamas stronghold and they have to continue this military operation.
So basically rejecting South Africa’s request to the court to order Israel to stop its military offensive in Rafah and also withdraw from Gaza altogether.
It was an interesting hearing this time, because in the beginning Israel said it didn’t have enough time to prepare – there was far too short notice.
Starving children and adults in Gaza are dying after being reduced to the "size of a skeleton", according to the World Food Programme boss.
Cindy McCain, executive director of the UN agency, said her staff describe it as "a complete disaster" and there are serious problems getting trucks in safely and in sufficient numbers.
Israel's offensive following the Hamas attack on 7 October has displaced much of Gaza's population, many of whom are fleeing again as Israel escalates attacks in the southern city of Rafah.
Hundreds of thousands are starving and desperate, and Mrs McCain told Sky News the reality is devastating.
She told Yalda Hakim: "Imagine a child wasting into the size of a skeleton - and of course passing from it - and an adult doing the same thing. That's what we're seeing on the ground.
"If we could get in now we might be able to fend off a hardcore famine, but we're not there yet and we're not getting in."
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Aid agencies are running out of food in southern Gaza amid Israel’s ongoing offensive in Rafah. The World Food Programme says it’s run out of stocks in Rafah and has suspended food aid distributions there for several days. No food has entered the two main border crossings in southern Gaza for more than a week, since the Israeli assault on Rafah began and Israeli forces seized control of and closed the border crossing with Egypt. Some 1.1 million Palestinians are on the brink of starvation, according to the U.N., while a full-blown famine is taking place in the north. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said today, quote, “The impact is devastating for over 2 million people.”
AMY GOODMAN: This comes just days after Israeli settlers blocked aid trucks headed to Gaza through the occupied West Bank from Jordan. Footage of the incident shows settlers raiding the aid trucks, throwing food into the road and setting fire to vehicles at the Tarqumiyah checkpoint near Hebron in the occupied West Bank. Palestinian truck drivers say they fear for their lives after the attack.
ADEL AMER: [translated] We went to the checkpoint, and after the check, we were surprised to see settlers on the roundabout of the checkpoint. They damaged the cars. They tore the tires off the trucks. They threw the contents of the truck on the ground. We gathered some of the products and sent some of those products on to a bulldozer and sent them to sheep farms. Around 15 trucks were damaged. Their haul was damaged. Windows of the trucks were broken. Some drivers were beaten. Some of the products were thrown away, and the whole loss for Hebron is around $2 million.
AMY GOODMAN: At a White House press briefing Monday, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan was asked by reporters about the attack on the aid convoy.
JAKE SULLIVAN: It is a total outrage that there are people who are attacking and looting these convoys coming from Jordan, going to Gaza to deliver humanitarian assistance. We are looking at the tools that we have to respond to this, and we are also raising our concerns at the highest level of the Israeli government. And it’s something that we make no bones about. This is completely and utterly unacceptable behavior.
AMY GOODMAN: The attack on the aid convoy was the culmination of weeks of Israeli settlers attempting to block aid trucks from reaching Gaza.
For more, we’re going to Tel Aviv to speak with Sapir Sluzker Amran, an Israeli human rights lawyer and peace activist who documented the attack on the aid convoy right near Hebron. She’s the co-director of Breaking Walls, an intersectional feminist grassroots movement.
Welcome to Democracy Now!, Sapir. It’s so good to have you with us. If you can describe exactly what took place, how you ended up there when the Israeli settlers attacked the aid convoy, and what exactly they did to the convoy and to you?
SAPIR SLUZKER AMRAN: Thanks, and thank you so much for having me. Before we get into details, just to say from Tel Aviv that we are calling for ceasefire and safe return of the hostages, and hope to see this war ending as soon as possible and not seeing another one.
So, I came on Monday. It was after a few months where they’re organizing those kinds of actions, those looting actions. Settlers and their supporters, they are organizing in those WhatsApp groups, getting notifications from inside information, actually, to know where the trucks are going and coming from, and then trying to block them or to loot and destroy the entire food on the trucks. And when I came on Monday, it was to — I wasn’t sure. It was trying to document — it was after seeing those footages, those videos that they published a few months now, trying to organize groups. But people were afraid. And they should be afraid, because they’re coming with guns and knives and axes even. And the police and the IDF is totally on their side and not protecting us. But when I was there, I came to document and to understand a bit what’s going on.
And then, after they had this, like, first round of looting the convoy there, they started to go to another crossing in order to see if there was more trucks there, because they got an inside information again that there might be other trucks a few minutes’ drive from that crossing. I was there with another activist, and we went to the drivers of the trucks to see if we can help. And they were very surprised. They didn’t understand why there were Jewish people, Israelis, that want to help them. It took them a minute to understand that we are Arabs, but not Palestinians, we are Arab Jews, and we are with them. So, we started to pack everything again on one of the trucks. And we almost finished, and then they came back, more people — I think there were around few dozens, and then it became almost 150 people. At that time, they did whatever they want.
So, I want to be specific. This event, I got a message on WhatsApp that this event’s starting, and they’re asking people to come around 9:30 in the morning. They were there on their way. So they were there at 10 a.m. I came at 12:00. I left, though, for my own safety. Around 3 p.m., there were dozens of people, and people kept coming. So, it happened for hours. There were a few soldiers there without a supervisor. They didn’t know what to do. They were just going around, maybe two policemen, and that’s it. And what the settlers did is tearing up the entire food that was there. There were bags of rice, bags of sugar and instant noodles in bags. And they did it in a way that we cannot repair it. They did it in a way that they were tearing everything down, jumping on the instant noodles so we cannot save it. And, yeah, that was the situation.
We saw a lot of families there. I think that the youngest person that was there was maybe 3 years old, a kid with his father, like it was like a fun day, a festival day, and more teenagers that were there. And they did whatever they want. They laughed, they enjoyed, and they said it was the best action that we had 'til now. It was in Tarqumiyah crossing. And I think many came because it's in the area of the settlers, so it was very easy for them just to be first and to hold those trucks.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: So, Sapir, could you talk about what the settlers did specifically to you, what happened to you? And then explain who the settlers are and what their justification is for doing that, for disrupting the aid convoys and destroying all the aid. They say that the aid is helping Hamas, and they want to obstruct its delivery until the hostages are released. Who are the settlers? And do they have any connection to the government?
SAPIR SLUZKER AMRAN: Yeah. So, I think, just to say, I’m not the story here. Yes, I will share that I was injured. One of the settlers — so, I was — I’m not sure how, but I couldn’t stand aside when I saw them running again, going on the trucks with sugar bags, going on the trucks with their knives and weapons and axes and all kinds of sharp objects and tearing down everything. And I couldn’t. And I started to run towards them and document it and tell them, “Please, stop. Stop. What are you doing? This is food. This is food. Like, you have to understand, inside of ’48, inside Israel, we have more than 2 million people that are under the poverty line. This is food. We have, an hour from now, people that are hungry. They can be your family that are hungry an hour from here.” And they didn’t care about it.
So I went on the truck and tried to stop them. And I called and I screamed on the IDF. There were like very young soldiers. I told them, “Come! Come and help me! This is your role! This is not my role! Come and help me! I can’t do it on my own!” And my friend was documenting it and trying also to talk with them and trying to stop them while they were doing it. And they tried to prevent her to photograph. And she managed to do it anyway.
So, when I was on the truck, yeah, one of the settlers, in front of an IDF that was right next to us, he kind of slapped me extremely hard, and then he was trying to escape. The police was there. The police took him. I told them, “I want to press charges.” They said, “No,” and they hid him so I couldn’t document him, even though I have his photo and the video. And then, after 10 minutes, he came back, like nothing was happened. So they took him only to protect him, not for something else.
And I was the only one that the government, that the IDF, the police, asked for to see an ID. All that time, they didn’t ask anyone from them, from the settlers, to get out of this area, that it was like a parking lot — only us, only the two of us, just the two of us. And they were just sitting there or standing there while I was telling them, “You’re standing right here. You see someone with a knife. That person, a teenager, took a knife at me.” I told them, “You see him. At least take the knife. At least take the knife so, like, he won’t attack me.” And they didn’t care about it. They were just standing aside like there is nothing that they can do, like it’s normal, what’s happening.
AMY GOODMAN: So, Sapir, we only have a few minutes left —
SAPIR SLUZKER AMRAN: Yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: — and we want to know: Who are these Israeli settlers? Who are the people that destroyed the aid truck?
SAPIR SLUZKER AMRAN: Yeah, so, those are the people, settlers, that are, you know, living in the settlements. They’re Orthodox Jews. They’re from the national Zionist Jewish stream, Zionist stream. They have many supporters in government. They are the government. It’s not that they’re supporters.
And we know that yesterday — I want to say something like that right now I can show you — I can add you right now, Amy, to a WhatsApp group, because they’re organizing right now to do it again. So, they have this information. No one is trying to stop them. I think maybe it’s not clear that nothing has changed from Monday. They are still doing it. I don’t know what is showing on the international media, what the Israeli government is publishing. But they are doing it right now, with their names, with their numbers, and they don’t care about presenting even theirselves and documenting theirselves, because they know that nothing is going to happen to them, no circumstances, no objects, and nothing will happen at all.
So, they are connected to the government. We know that some of them are working with the government. We know that some of them — I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re funded from the government. We have MKs, members of the parliament, the Israeli parliament, that are supporting it and coming to those actions. We have someone that is a CEO of a right-wing organization that just got, a few months ago got — he has a photo with one of the MKs, the chairman of the Knesset, giving him a diploma to thank him for his service to Israel. OK? So, they are — last week, it was the mayor of one of the big cities in the south of Israel. They are the blood, and they are part of it. What you are doing is just, we can call it, privatization, privatization of the violence, which means that the government know. They hide because of the U.S. They have to pretend that they are obeying international law. But, in fact, they don’t want to. So they have these kids, they have these settlers, they have their supporters, that they are part of their political parties, and also they’re also funding them, to tell them, “Go to this crossing and handle it.”
AMY GOODMAN: Sapir —
SAPIR SLUZKER AMRAN: So, that’s why the police is not intervening, because the police belongs to Ben-Gvir and those kinds of people. So, yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: Sapir Sluzker Amran, I want to thank you so much for being with us, Israeli human rights lawyer and peace activist, who went to the Tarqumiyah crossing in Hebron to document the attack on a Gaza-bound aid convoy by Israeli settlers. She’s also the co-director of Breaking Walls, an intersectional feminist grassroots movement.
We had this in The Times of Israel: Israeli extremists mistook, on Wednesday, two days after the attack on the convoy she described — they mistook a regular commercial truck traveling in the West Bank for a convoy carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza and attacked the vehicle. The vigilantes set a fire in the road, dumped the truck’s contents onto the pavement and assaulted the Palestinian driver. Video from the scene showed the driver lying on the street bloodied.
When we come back, we’ll talk with Human Rights Watch about their new report on Israeli forces attacking humanitarian aid convoys in Gaza. The group has also documented Russian forces executing surrendering Ukrainian soldiers. We’ll go to Kyiv to speak with the HRW representative, and we’ll look at ethnic cleansing in Sudan. Back in 20 seconds.
[break]
AMY GOODMAN: Voices of some the hundred university professors and faculty and their allies from higher education institutions across New York, gathering yesterday at Grand Central Station during rush hour to sing and read out a joint letter from faculty across a number of schools calling for an end to genocide in Gaza.
In the face of Israel's ongoing attacks on Rafah and on UNRWA, Iraq has pledged US$25 million to support Palestinian refugees through the agency.
The Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs made the announcement on Tuesday, stating that the country will contribute US$25 million to UNRWA.
Omar Al-Barzanji, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iraq, expressed condolences to the victims of the Israeli invasion of Rafah during a joint press conference with the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations and Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, who paid an official visit to Baghdad. Al-Barzanji also condemned the Israeli incursion into Rafah.
He also expressed Iraq's concern about the severe funding shortage faced by UNRWA and its inability to assist Palestinian refugees, reaffirming Iraq's rejection of the restrictive policies imposed on UNRWA and calling for increased support for the agency.
Whether the crackdown is being nationally coordinated or not—and the timing strongly indicates that it is—the repressive actions of university administrations are in line with demands from the political and media establishment, particularly Labor Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
This week, he has denounced the protests as “divisive” displays of “hatred” and “ignorance” that do not “have a place” in society. Albanese claimed that antisemitism is greater than at any point in his lifetime, in a deepening of the lying conflation of opposition to Israel’s horrific war crimes with anti-Jewish bigotry.
The remarks have had the character of an incitement to the Zionist thugs and far-right forces who, on three occasions over the past fortnight, have violently attacked student encampments in the dead of the night. They have been aimed at creating a climate of intimidation and manufactured hysteria in which the university administrations will feel compelled and emboldened to dismantle the protests.
That was underscored by a statement from University of Melbourne deputy vice-chancellor Michael Wesley yesterday. Referencing the fact that students at the university are continuing an occupation of the Arts West building they began on Wednesday, Wesley declared that “red lines have been crossed.”
Without evidence, he said protesters were “intimidating” other people and “have caused considerable damage.” Speaking more like a national security official than an academic administrator, Wesley asserted that “intelligence” had shown that many involved were not students but “professional protesters.”
“They are outside agitators and the sort of actions they are taking suggest to us that they could be potentially dangerous,” he said. “The way they have organised themselves within the building would suggest to us that they are preparing to resist being forcibly evicted.”
The deputy vice chancellor menacingly stated that police would now “be including the campus in their regular patrols. When it comes to ending the protest, we will largely be reliant on Victoria Police. This is going to be a very substantial operation.” Victoria Police this morning stated there had been no formal eviction notice from the university, and so they could not immediately act.
Wesley’s comments, however, are chilling. The use of quasi-military terminology about “red lines” and “substantial operations” is a warning that the university authorities are prepared to greenlight violence against protesters who are not accused of physically harming anyone, or of committing any real wrongdoing.
Gaza remains under assault. Day 224 of the assault in the wave that began in October. Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out, "Bloodletting as form; murder as fashion. The ongoing campaign in Gaza by Israel’s Defence Forces continues without stalling and restriction. But the burgeoning number of corpses is starting to become a challenge for the propaganda outlets: How to justify it? Fortunately for Israel, the United States, its unqualified defender, is happy to provide cover for murder covered in the sheath of self-defence." CNN has explained, "The Gaza Strip is 'the most dangerous place' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund." ABC NEWS quotes UNICEF's December 9th statement, ""The Gaza Strip is the most dangerous place in the world to be a child. Scores of children are reportedly being killed and injured on a daily basis. Entire neighborhoods, where children used to play and go to school have been turned into stacks of rubble, with no life in them." NBC NEWS notes, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, according to the latest national NBC News poll. The erosion is most pronounced among Democrats, a majority of whom believe Israel has gone too far in its military action in Gaza." The slaughter continues. It has displaced over 1 million people per the US Congressional Research Service. Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) points out, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have condemned the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide." The death toll of Palestinians in Gaza is grows higher and higher. United Nations Women noted, "More than 1.9 million people -- 85 per cent of the total population of Gaza -- have been displaced, including what UN Women estimates to be nearly 1 million women and girls. The entire population of Gaza -- roughly 2.2 million people -- are in crisis levels of acute food insecurity or worse." THE NATIONAL notes, "Gaza death toll reaches 35,303, with 79,261 wounded" Months ago, AP noted, "About 4,000 people are reported missing." February 7th, Jeremy Scahill explained on DEMOCRACY NOW! that "there’s an estimated 7,000 or 8,000 Palestinians missing, many of them in graves that are the rubble of their former home." February 5th, the United Nations' Phillipe Lazzarini Tweeted:
We’re talking about a three-storey building that housed not only residents but also dozens of other displaced Palestinians in Rafah that made it to Nuseirat three days ago.
I met the neighbours. I met the family. I met one of the relatives of people still trapped under the rubble earlier today. They were telling me heartbreaking things.
Imagine escaping the air strikes in Rafah, looking for a safe space but being killed after three days of evacuating – not only being killed but being trapped where the Civil Defence teams do not have any equipment to remove or pull these people from under the rubble.
I saw Civil Defence teams doing their best to pull people from under the rubble. They were digging with their bare hands, with very basic tools. This was not the first time we have seen this scene. We have been seeing this for more than seven months now.
Unfortunately, it may come to a point where the Civil Defence teams will give up on this house because there are more people being targeted every single hour across the Gaza Strip.
-
-
What Happened to Edward?2 hours ago
-
Billie Eilish finally remembers who she is3 hours ago
-
Hate merchant Harrison Butker9 hours ago
-
We can fight back and we can win9 hours ago
-
THE CW?9 hours ago
-
-
-
-
Trump's circus remains in town9 hours ago
-
-
-
Greg Abbott spits on veterans10 hours ago
-
