Paul Rudnick nails it in this Tweet.
Giuliani, Bannon and Alex Jones walk into a bar. The bartender says, "I've got a free beer for the most corrupt chump who's ever lived, and whose life is in ruins." The three guys looked at each other, until Rudy mentioned, "We're meeting Mike Lindell"
— Paul Rudnick (@PaulRudnickNY) July 3, 2024
And let me note this video.
I'm with Marv Weatherstone (COMMON DREAMS):
If Joe Biden wants to recuperate his lagging campaign and demonstrate his presidential strength, he should immediately seize upon the opportunity just presented to him by the six wingnuts on the Supreme Court in their ruling in Trump v. United States (the most appropriately named case this term). He should begin by unilaterally (or unitarily as the theory goes) defining what constitute “official acts” of the President. As the power now vested in him by this decision this should be well within his purview and should be conceived as broadly and deeply as possible.
Of course, one of his first such “official” acts should be to issue an arrest warrant for his insurrectionist predecessor for trying to overthrow the U.S. government and the constitution. Under his new authority, he should be able to waive any trial (or associated delays and appeals) and summarily jail the now convicted felon, forthwith. And, it should be crystal clear that he would be able to deal appropriately with any of the MAGA crowd that attempts to rise up in response to this action. National Guard anyone?
Of course, Biden being Biden, he has already snatched defeat from the jaws of victory by declaring that he will “follow the law” no matter what kinds of powerful openings this ruling provides. You can bet that his predecessor and successor will have no such compunction.
He should then turn his attention to making the government and our “democracy” functional. A first task here would be rectifying the stolen U.S. Supreme Court seats by packing the Court with sane justices who will follow the law instead of their cultish “leader.” I recognize the risk here that such a Court might seek to reign in a newly empowered President, but careful vetting and selection could circumvent these possible inconveniences. He might then turn his attention to the electoral system to make sure that one person/one vote is the rule rather than the too rare exception. Get rid of the Electoral College, outlaw partisan gerrymandering, and expand access to the vote and make voting itself easier. Then it’s on to Congressional reform: eliminate the filibuster, greatly expland the power of Presidential signing statements to shape legislation to his liking, declare Presidential vetoes the final word on legislation he dislikes.
Beyond these good government tasks, it is tantalizing to imagine a slate of non-reversible executive orders covering all those vital national needs that an oppositional Congress and the courts have impeded for years: women’s’ bodily autonomy, universal health care, child tax credits, climate legislation and a real green deal, strengthening pro-labor and environmental protection laws, real immigration reform, curbing wealth and income inequality, reshaping tax policy and spiraling corporate greed, addressing homelessness, and on and on.
Of course, Biden being Biden, he has already snatched defeat from the jaws of victory by declaring that he will “follow the law” no matter what kinds of powerful openings this ruling provides. You can bet that his predecessor and successor will have no such compunction.
Donald Trump must be stopped. If he makes it back into the White House, we have no democracy left.
Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
May 26, 2020, Poppy Noor (GUARDIAN) reported:
“If you don’t live in these regions … think long and hard before you take a trip into them. A small spike could put the hospital system in dire straits pretty quickly. That’s precisely why we’re asking everyone to continue doing their part,” said Whitmer before she eased restrictions last Monday.
But Whitmer’s husband, Marc Mallory, might have missed that message. According to a local marina owner, Mallory called asking if the facility could put his boat in the water by Memorial Day weekend.
When Tad Dowker, the owner, said it would not be possible to dock his boat in time, Mallory identified himself as the governor’s husband and asked whether that might help him.
In a Facebook post that has since been removed, Dowker said: “This morning, I was out working when the office called me, there was a gentleman on hold who wanted his boat in the water before the weekend. Being Memorial weekend and the fact that we started working three weeks late means there is no chance this is going to happen … Well our office personnel had explained this to the man and he replied, ‘I am the husband to the governor, will this make a difference?’”
A spokesperson for Whitmer initially warned against rumors and misinformation when asked about the claims – although the representative did not deny them outright.
But today Whitmer accepted that her husband had made the call, calling it “a failed attempt at humor”.
Again, she imposed the rules. And she didn't follow them. Then you get her corrupt husband. And her office lies and said that didn't happen. Then she's forced to admit it did happen -- after having lied that it didn't -- and she tries to pass off her husband's corruption as "a failed attempt at humor."
That freak show doesn't belong on the national stage.
Her name should not be thrown around by pundits or the press but it is being thrown around.
She would be a nightmare candidate. And that is a consideration when anyone other than Joe is being considered. Joe's known. The country knows who he is. He has no new scandals and pretty much all the dirty laundry there is on him is already out there.
Whomever the nominee is -- Joe or anyone else -- the press and the GOP are going to try to destroy them.
On paper, John Kerry looked so good. Years in the Senate, a Vietnam veteran, very few rumors of affairs, etc. Then we were stuck with him. And the press did it's usual garbage. October 4, 2004, Geraldine Sealey (SALON) noted:
Avid New York Times readers probably recognize this quote from the paper of record's campaign coverage: "Who among us does not like NASCAR?"; or perhaps, "Who among us does not love NASCAR?" The paper has attributed some iteration of the quote to John Kerry in several opinion columns and news stories since March, always to make the point that try as he might, John Kerry just doesn't get the common, NASCAR-loving man, and when he tries to adopt a regular-guy persona, the result is laughably unconvincing.
As Sealey goes on to note, the quote -- which was not true -- popped up in the columns of Maureen Dowd, Frank Rich and in the reporting of Sheryl Gay Stolberg. Again, completely made up. And the GOP made up their Swift Boat Bums.
And that'll happen again (and again and again because the press is so inherently f**ked up -- they need their lies or they can't function and because the GOP identifies your biggest strength that could attract swing voters and rips that apart).
And then we got the things John Kerry actually did. That embarrassing wind surfing. He looked -- and looks -- like Ichabod Crane and he was over 60 year old at the time, no one needed that in any swim ware or compression shorts.
Selecting another candidate as this point would have to be done very carefully.
Kamala is a known and there's nothing that they can throw at her that the whole country isn't already aware of -- unless the press didn't do their job in 2019 and 2020. That's not true of Gretchen. That's not true of the basically unknown man that David Sirota's supporting (Josh Shapiro). The national stage is not for the squeamish or the sensitive or those who have not been vetted by the national press. B-b-but we're talking governors!!!!!!
The state press? That's what we're expecting to have done the job? This is not meant as an attack on Sarah Palin. But John McCain picked her as a running mate because she was a governor. And the press in Alaska had 'vetted' her for some time. But the national press looked at her much differently -- in part because state press tends to kiss up to governors.
So this notion that someone's a governor so they've been vetted. No, they haven't.
If they're Gavin Newsom, you can say that. Gavin is on the national stage and has been for years. The GOP has vilified him for years on the national stage. Americans have an idea of who he is.
If the GOP was debating whether to dump Donald Trump or not (which they should), you could point to Ron DeSantis and Chris Christie as two governors who were known on the national stage.
So the point is Gavin's a good prospect if Joe was not the nominee. I love Gavin and have known him for years -- that's not the first time that's been disclosed here. My concern with Gavin is the ex-wife. I never trusted her, post-divorce she became a Republican and I'd wonder what she might be willing to do to tank Gavin if he was the nominee.
I want to get to Gaza in terms of the election. But let's wait on that so we can go from Gaza in terms of the election to what's going on in Gaza right now.
Let's talk about sexism for a moment. I agree with Roland that it's bothersome that Kamala is not even mentioned by the pundits and the 'activists' (fake ones like Norman Solomon). I don't like Kamala. Check the archives, that's long been disclosed. I've known her before she threw her hat in the ring to run for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. I don't like her. But don't tell me that she shouldn't at least be considered when she's served four years as the vice president and when she's a known figure on the national stage. Again, I think she would be too closely tied to Joe to be an effective candidate (weighed down by his baggage) but, if we're talking about replacing Joe, yes, she deserves to be part of the candidates we're considering. And it is sexism to pretend otherwise.
Sexism? It needs to stop with regards to Jill Biden. I've noticed how THE VANGUARD and others have distorted photos of her to make her look weird and strange. That's outrageous.
I know Jill. I like Jill. When she was The Second Lady, I believe she only got noted by me in one entry -- those entire eight years -- because I didn't want to sit in judgment on her. I noted before Joe took the oath for Vice President that I would not be noting her because if I did, I'd also have to note her if something negative came up. Nothing negative did in those eight years. We noted her once because of a column she'd done on veterans issues and we cover veterans issues here.
As First Lady? I've avoided noting her unless it was with regards to Hunter Biden and a line was being crossed in my mind that shouldn't be.
People have written outrageous things about her in the last four years and that's upset me but I haven't brought it here because there's a conflict of interest since I do know her.
But this is different because Jill's being distorted and attacked. There's no reason to photo shop her to make her look different.
There's also no reason for anyone to write a column or insist in a video that Jill needs to tell Joe to step down. Joe's the one to decide that. Who the hell are you to tell someone that it's their job to get their spouse to step down?
Who the hell are you?
That's outrageous and it's also very sexist. And her duty? Joe ran for office. She did not. Joe holds elected office. She does not. Her 'job' is to support her spouse. Her job is not to do whatever it is you want her to do.
I've got one more thing to deal with that I forgot and we're going to shoe-horn it in here. I noted that I don't like Kamala. I also don't like Liz Cheney.
That's one of two videos we noted in the last 24 hours on Liz.
I don't like Liz. I would never vote for Liz. We have never glorified her here. My favorite Cheney moment in my life was when Dick Cheney smiled at me thinking he might come over -- for an autograph? -- and I flipped him off and watched him scowl. That moment still makes me smile.
But anyway, what Donald Trump just did is outrageous. It is offensive. It should be seen as the threat to her that he meant it to be. This is why this idiot cannot be allowed to have four more years in the White House.
We didn't praise Liz when she was 'on our side' in the eyes of some on the left. We didn't do a revisionary take on her.. I didn't like her and I don't like her. But that's a threat on her life and it is outrageous that Donald Trump made it. That should have been headlines. THE NEW YORK TIMES should have immediately published an editorial calling for Donald to drop out of the race for making that threat.
If you're going to replace Joe you need to accept some realities. We're getting into Gaza now but I'll probably have a bit more on other things before we're actually there.
Joe is a disappointment on Gaza. And if another Democrat runs and is elected president in November, it's going to be the same.
Maybe not if Marianne's the nominee and gets elected.
But the reality is that basically any other Democrat is going to be operating as Joe did on Gaza.
It's our job to pressure Joe. It's our job to pressure whomever is elected in November.
I call out Joe here on Gaza all the time. I will continue to do so.
But I'm aware that there's a lot of money involved and I am aware that politics are corrupt.
I feel we need to be at point Z with regards to Gaza. I'd define that as the Israeli government ending its assault and of the Palestinian people having self-rule and that electricity and water do not depend upon or go through Israel.
That's where we need to be.
A Democrat probably only gets us to H on the A to Z scale.
A Republican in the White House takes us back to A.
Mike rightly noted last week:
Hey, Owen Jones, I'm looking at you. Shut your f**king pie hole. You're not an American, you don't live in this country. The only reason I've listened to you in the past is because of the plight of the Palestinians. I don't need you -- foreigner -- doing a segment with your 'thoughts' on the debate. Nor do I see how your attacks on Joe -- which pimp Donald Trump -- help Palestinians. Joe's not the one who moved the Embassy in Israel, for example. Joe's not the one in the debate Thursday night who made vile comments about Palestinians.
Exactly. Owen Jones embarrassed himself and acted a whore in that segment. We haven't noted him since. I'm not fond of whores or con artists. If Gaza is your issue, then be smart on it.
US elections really aren't your business, Owen. Butt the hell out. That's goes for Glynneth Greenwald whose chosen to make his life in Brazil as well. Their glee after the debate should have exposed them to everyone.
Donald will not help the Palestinians. Nor will Robert Kennedy Junior who's made that clear in his remarks (which is why the Libertarian Party refused to give him their nomination when he begged for it). Jill Stein! That dried up whore couldn't stand up on Iraq. When THE NEW YORK TIMES (Tim Arango) reported in September of 2012 that Barack Obama was secretly sending US troops back into Iraq, Jill didn't touch it even when her supporters begged her to -- even when her inner circle begged her to. She's a whore who rides any cause that's got attention. Otherwise, she's just doing her anti-vax nonsense. That's really all she's ever had. Not only is she a fake, she can't win.
So you're reality is Cornel West, Chase Oliver or a Democrat if you're voting for president in 2024. Donald's going to destroy Palestine even more. And his vile and disgusting comments in the debate received no pushback from Owen or Glynneth. Or anyone else.
A lot of money goes into each election cycle -- as Jamaal Bowman can attest -- and the Democratic Party and their nominee is not going to walk away from that or risk alienating those donors. Or risking those votes.
Joe deserves to be pressured, he deserves to be called out. And that's going to be true of any Democrat who could be in the White House in 2025 (except maybe Marianne).
Change happens slowly.
The Palestinians have suffered for decades. Today, they have the most support in the US that they have ever had. And if we talk about this issue and explore this issue, the support will increase. When that happens, we can see a US government that doesn't repeatedly give the government of Israel a pass -- not on bombing and attacking a US ship, not on carrying out a genocide.
It is our job to press on this issue. It is our job to do so in an informed manner.
That means (A) post debate you're not attacking the nominee that you can push especially when the nominee he's on stage with is make disgusting remarks about Palestinians gets a pass from you, (B) you grasp that a propaganda operation went on for decades -- carried out by the press -- that has given a false perspective of the 1948 creation of the Israeli government. That means you grasp that the people who first moved in in 1948 (moved into occupied territories) were willing to be in UK camps. The horror of the Holocaust didn't lead to a demand that, "No, you're not going to cage me." Why? Because it was already occupied land.
From The Holocaust Memorial Museum's HOLOCAUST ENCYCLOPEDIA:
In all, the British detained about 52,000 ma’apilim (illegal immigrants) on Cyprus, including about 1,300 from North Africa. The Cyprus detainees were primarily young people who had joined Zionist youth groups before departing Europe. Approximately 80 percent were aged 12 to 35, while 8,000 were between the ages of 12 and 18. The majority were orphans.
The mossad l’aliyah bet branch of the Hagana (an underground Jewish military organization) was responsible for organizing the illegal immigration movement. It was most interested in recruiting young and hardy immigrants who were dedicated to the Zionist cause and capable of participating in the struggle to create a Jewish state. The mossad l’aliyah bet relied upon the Zionist youth movements in the displaced persons camps of central Europe—Hashomer Hatzair, Dror, Gordoniah, Nocham, and Betar—to provide the immigrants. This arrangement determined the unique demographic make-up of the Cyprus camps. Despite the diverse political movements represented in the camps, the internees established a joint movement structure to represent their needs before the authorities.
Conditions in the camps
The British military ran the detention camps in accordance with the harsh model of the POW camp. Surrounded by barbed wire and watch towers, the camps were under constant guard. The Joint Distribution Committee provided for the welfare of the detainees, including supplying food and medical care, mitigating the hardships suffered by the detainees. JDC Cyprus director Morris Laub served as the representative of the detainees vis-a-vis the British authorities.
There were two types of refugee camps on Cyprus. Five summer camps (nos. 55, 60, 61, 62, 63) were located at Kraolos, near Famagusta. The detainees were housed in tents. Seven winter camps (nos. 64-70) were located at Dekalia. Housing there consisted of tin Nissen huts and some tents. After December 1946, the majority of the children and teenagers were placed in Camp 64, known as the youth village.
Conditions were generally harsh. People were squeezed into tents and tin huts that were unbearably hot in the summer and freezing cold in the rainy winter, with little furniture, no electric lighting, limited access to water, bad food, and poor sanitary conditions.
Approximately 2000 babies were born in the Cyprus camps. The births took place in the Jewish wing of the British military hospital in Nicosia. Four hundred Jews died during their internment on the island and were buried in the Margoa cemetery.
The British were successful in apprehending most of the 70,000 illegal immigrants who embarked for Palestine. Nonetheless, as space for refugees on Cyprus became scarce and ships continued to sail from Europe carrying ma’apilim, it became apparent to the British that the policy of detention in Cyprus was not successful in deterring the Ha’apala movement. The conditions in the Cyprus detentions camps and the sight of Jewish Holocaust survivors being held behind barbed wire also excited widespread criticism of British handling of the problem of Jewish immigration to Palestine. The British decision to send the refugee ship Exodus 1947 back to Europe in July 1947 instead of detaining its passengers on Cyprus represented an admission of the failure of the Cyprus deterrent.
For most of those survivors interned on Cyprus, the experience only served to strengthen their resolve to reach Palestine, which they almost all did following the creation of Israel in May 1948.
At one time, from 1946 through 1948, it was the opinion of the world leaders that these people could not just storm into Palestine. "The Jewish immigration to Palestine." The lie that some pro-genocide Americans keep repeating today that Palestine didn't exist and blah blah blah? It's a lie. And we need to call it out.
I'm hoping global pressure will be enough to end the slaughter in Gaza before the end of the year. In 2006, at THIRD, a roundtable, I upset some -- including Jim -- when I shared that the Iraq War would still be going on after we closed down THIRD. At that point, the plan was to close THIRD at the end of 2008. That was the plan. And it was 2006, before the mid-term elections. And Jim and many others were young and thought that the Iraq War would have to be over because the American people had turned against it. I understand why they thought that way. But that's not what I was expecting based on the life I'd lived. And I'm not expecting equality for Palestinians this calendar year. If I'm wrong, I'll be thrilled. But I'm not seeing it happening.
So we need to be pressuring whomever is the president and we need to be addressing this issue with our friends and our families and strangers and what have you. Education is our strongest tool in any peace movement.
Education means making smart choices as well. And a Democratic candidate who we need to get to Z but is only at H right now is always preferrable to a GOP candidate who is at A.
Owen Jones, who does not live in the US, looked at a US debate where one candidate outright attacked Palestinians and smeared Palestinians. Owen Jones did not make that the thrust of his video. Instead, he chose to focus on Joe and mock Joe and take glee in mocking Joe. And that might be fine if he'd done a video on Donald and what Donald said about Palestinians in the debate. But he didn't do that. He's made it very hard for me to take him seriously.
Norman Solomon's showing up to again attack Joe. I don't take him seriously. And a 78-year-old in October Democrat saying Joe needs to step aside? No, I don't take him seriously. (See Mike's "Hollywood poser Lloyd Doggett wants Joe to step down -- 78 in October, Lloyd should retire.")
And I don't take seriously anyone who doesn't live in the US trying to attack Joe. As Betty's "We are so screwed" and Rebecca's "posers and the crooked court'' note -- what do we have left right now in terms of remedy with regards to the corrupt Supreme Court -- prayer?
Tom Bateman (BBC NEWS) reports this morning:
Twelve former Biden administration officials who resigned over policy on Israel and the Gaza war say the government’s actions have endangered US national security.
The policies have further destabilised the region and “put a target on America’s back”, they say in a joint statement.
One of the 12 resigned only on Tuesday from the US Department of the Interior.
The US Department of State has previously denied such claims, pointing to its criticism of civilian casualties in Gaza and its efforts to boost humanitarian aid.
The joint statement by the former officials says: "America’s diplomatic cover for, and continuous flow of arms to Israel has ensured our undeniable complicity in the killings and forced starvation of a besieged Palestinian population in Gaza."
Maryam Hassanein is the latest official to step down. THE NATIONAL noted yesterday:
Maryam Hassanein, appointed by President Joe Biden to the US Department of Interior, resigned on Tuesday over the government's support of Israel.
"As a Muslim American, I cannot continue working for an administration that ignores the voices of its diverse staff by continuing to fund and enable Israel's genocide of Palestinians," Ms Hassanein wrote on X.
She joined the Biden administration in January but said: "It has become clear to me that I do not have a place in this administration."
Ms Hassanein became the latest of at least 10 government officials and staff members to resign over the US support of Israel as the civilian death toll grows and humanitarian crises worsen in Gaza.
Akbar Shahid Ahmed (HUFFINGTON POST) reports:
In 2020, Maryam Hassanein cast a ballot for Joe Biden in the first presidential election she was old enough to vote in because she felt he represented “hope” and a chance of “justice for Muslim Americans and for marginalized communities as a whole.” On Tuesday, Hassanein became the latest member of the Biden administration to publicly quit over the president’s policy in the Gaza war — and the youngest known resignee so far, at 24.
“I came to understand that even if the agency I’m working at is not producing foreign policy, serving in the administration in any capacity does essentially make you complicit in the genocide of the Palestinians,” Hassanein told HuffPost of her resignation from the Interior Department, which has not previously been publicly reported. She worked as a special assistant to the assistant secretary for land and minerals management.
She described quitting as a way “to leverage privilege” to make a statement against Biden’s support for Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip, which has killed close to 38,000 people, displaced the vast majority of Gaza’s residents and plunged the region into a humanitarian crisis.
Hassanein joins a group of at least 11 resignees across the government who felt Biden’s approach made it impossible for them to continue serving under him. Many of them worked in national security positions, including veteran former State Department official Josh Paul, who was the first to quit in a development HuffPost first reported. Frustration with the moral and strategic toll of Biden’s support for the Israeli offensive has been significant across government agencies, sources have told HuffPost, with some saying it has reached heights only comparable to outrage among U.S. officials over the decision to invade Iraq in 2003. Government officials have organized several protests and signed internal and public expressions of dissent.
Two of the group spoke with Leila Fadel (NPR's MORNING EDITION):
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
There's a small but growing number of resignations from the government and now the American military over U.S. policy in Gaza. Today, we hear from two service members.
Army Maj. Harrison Mann spent 13 years in the military. He describes his most recent job as assistant to the director who oversaw all things Middle East at the Defense Intelligence Agency, including the Israel crisis response. One day in the fall, he says, he couldn't do the work anymore.
HARRISON MANN: October 17, there was this explosion at al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza that killed upwards of a hundred people, and it was the only time that I'd seen the intelligence community actually make a concerted effort to investigate what looked like some of war crime. And in that instance, we determined that it was not the Israelis.
And that was very heartening for me 'cause I thought, wow, there's going to be intense interest in investigating possible war crimes or killings of civilians. But shortly after that process, I understood that that was an outlier and that we were really never going to drill deep into any killings of civilians ever again.
FADEL: After his resignation went into effect, he published an open letter online explaining that his decision to walk out was due to moral injury, noting that he is the descendant of European Jews.
MANN: Seeing videos of burnt corpses and dead kids and people starving to death, I think, should be very affecting for anybody, but if you're Jewish, you can't look at that and not think of your own people's history. It's impossible not to if you think that Arabs are human beings, too.
FADEL: I also connected with 1st Sgt. Mohammed Abu Hashem, a Palestinian American. He says his aunt's killing in a strike on her building in Gaza's Jabalia refugee camp in October sealed his decision to end a 22-year career in the U.S. Air Force. The strike, he says, killed nearly two dozen people, including children.
MOHAMMED ABU HASHEM: I never received a single answer from my leadership team or from our government as to what happened on that day. And it didn't matter how far I made it in the military that I was not going to be able to affect change based on the rank and based off of my leadership. On October 21, I submitted my decision to step away.
FADEL: Abu Hashem's aunt is one of six relatives he's lost in Gaza. Both Harrison Mann and Mohammed Abu Hashem say they resigned so they could speak out but also because they felt guilt.
MANN: You're going into work every day understanding that you're partially supporting this military that is deliberately starving and killing massive numbers of civilians.
FADEL: Israel denies that they're deliberately killing civilians. Biden has said it's possible that U.S. weapons have been used in war crimes in Gaza.
MANN: Could I respond to that...
FADEL: For...
MANN: ...Statement?
FADEL: Sure.
MANN: Yeah, I just say the Israeli military is totally dependent on the U.S. for munitions. Especially at the start of the war, they were expending them at an extremely high rate. So the idea that they even have anything left that's not U.S.-made is very unlikely.
At COMMON DREAMS, Ramzy Baroud notes:
Humanitarian aid should never be politicized though, quite often, the
very survival of nations is used as political bargaining chips.
Sadly, Gaza remains a prime example. Even before the current war, the Gaza Strip suffered under a 17-year hermetic blockade, which has rendered the impoverished area virtually “unlivable.”
That very term, “unlivable” was used by the then-United Nations Special Rapporteur for the Situation of Palestine, Michael Lynk, in 2018.
As of mid-December of last year, “nearly 70% of Gaza’s 439,000 homes and about half of its buildings have been damaged or destroyed,” The Wall Street Journalreported, citing experts who conducted a thorough analysis of satellite data.
As tragic as the situation was in December, now it is far worse.
Sixty-seven percent of Gaza’s water, sanitation facilities, and infrastructure have been destroyed or damaged, according to a statement by the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees, UNRWA, on June 19, leading to the spreading of infectious diseases, which has ravaged the beleaguered population for months.
The spread of disease is also linked to the accumulation of garbage everywhere in Gaza. Earlier, the refugees agency reported that “as of June 9, over 330,000 tons of waste have accumulated in or near populated areas across Gaza, posing catastrophic environmental (and) health risks.”
The situation was already disastrous. Indeed, three years before the war, the Global Institute for Water, Environment, and Health (GIWEH) said, in a joint statement with the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, that 97% of Gaza water was undrinkable and unfit for human consumption.
Yet, so far, any conversation on allowing aid to Gaza, or the rebuilding of Gaza after the war, has been placed largely within political contexts.
By shutting down all border crossings, including the Egypt-Gaza Rafah Crossing—which, on June 17, was set ablaze—Israel has politicized food, fuel, and medicine as tools in its war in the strip.
THE NATIONAL notes, "China has condemned Israel for its obstruction of aid into Gaza, warning that the man-made humanitarian crisis is at an unprecedented level and amounts to a 'serious breach' of international law."
Gaza remains under assault. Day 271 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 37,953 , with 87,266 injured." 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:
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