Bernie Sanders gave an impassioned speech on the Senate floor yesterday, demanding what most of the US (who care about foreign relations) want: a cease fire in Gaza and a recognition of Palestinian people as humans.
In the comments, more news, tweets, and videos, including Bernie’s guest appearance on Seth Meyers’ show.
Andrew Yang still unwilling to acknowledge the Israeli government’s human rights violations (even as recognized by the UN), including ethnic cleansing through forced evictions, the attack on the Al-Aqsa mosque, and the occupation.
This is a sad attempt to pander to both sides. https://t.co/dQgz8UhefW
— David Doel (@daviddoel) May 12, 2021
Context:
Utterly shameful for Yang to try to show up to an Eid event after sending out a chest-thumping statement of support for a strike killing 9 children, especially after his silence as Al-Aqsa was attacked.
But then to try that in Astoria? During Ramadan?! They will let you know. https://t.co/r721mHyfri
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 11, 2021
Peak Astoria 😎 https://t.co/FrPJg0M9y4
— Jessica Ramos (@jessicaramos) May 11, 2021
More tweets, news, perspectives, etc in the comments.
The anti-BDS laws are being proposed and promoted by Republicans who have made a political calculation about their conservative, evangelical base’s priorities. The conservative, evangelical movement was courted by the Israeli right-wing several decades ago. Even 35 years ago though, much of the American Jewish community understood what an alliance with conservative, evangelical movement meant: But while many Jewish leaders have openly welcomed the evangelicals’ eagerness to build ties, others say they are uneasy. They say they harbor deep doubts about the wisdom of alliances with conservative Christian groups that, they feel, want ultimately to convert the Jews and, on … Continue reading →
Over the past few days, we have discussed how the wrong words used in service of advocacy for Palestinian rights may cause offense to some Jewish-Americans. It is right and proper to have this discussion. In the pursuit of a better world, in our search for the right path to a better foreign policy, we should not inadvertently cause harm to our allies and innocents. Nor should we further any form of bigotry. Let’s also stop for a moment and consider the feelings of Palestinians, Palestinian-Americans and their allies. They have been largely absent from most commentator’s consideration during this week’s debate. By conjunction, let … Continue reading →
Hundreds arrested as activists pick up where Martin Luther King left off
Hundreds of low-wage workers, faith leaders, civil rights organizers and liberal activists were arrested in demonstrations in Washington and outside statehouses across the US on Monday as they resumed the work Martin Luther King left unfinished.
Fifty years after King launched the Poor People’s Campaign against economic inequality, militarism and racial injustice, demonstrators revived that fight, kicking off 40 days of nonviolent action.
The new effort, The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, is being led by co-chairs William Barber, a pastor at Greenleaf Christian Church in Goldsboro, North Carolina, and Liz Theoharis, an ordained minister and anti-poverty campaigner from New York City.
In Washington, the group gathered on the lawn outside the US Capitol to hear Barber declare: “Something’s wrong in America.”
Their action on Monday, Barber continued, was not just a commemoration of King’s anti-poverty efforts, it was a new call-to-arms.
“We are here to have a reconsecration and a re-engagement because you do not commemorate the death of [a] prophet,” Barber said, his voice building as he spoke. “You go to where they were killed, reach down in the blood, pick up your baton and carry it the next round of the way. Now who’s ready?”
The crowd parted and Barber and Theoharis led a procession of activists trained in civil disobedience toward the street, where they were prepared to be arrested. Two-by-two the demonstrators walked, representing nearly three-dozen states and Native American reservations.
More news/video/tweets/etc. in the comments.
On Saturday it was revealed that one year ago:
Trump team hired spy firm for ‘dirty ops’ on Iran arms deal
Israeli agency told to find incriminating material on Obama diplomats who negotiated deal with Tehran
People in the Trump camp contacted private investigators in May last year to “get dirt” on Ben Rhodes, who had been one of Barack Obama’s top national security advisers, and Colin Kahl, deputy assistant to Obama, as part of an elaborate attempt to discredit the deal.
Yesterday, via Ronan Farrow with the New Yorker, more details of that operation are coming out.
sources familiar with the effort and pages of documents obtained by The New Yorker reveal that there is more to understand. Two of those sources told me on Sunday that the operation was carried out by Black Cube—a firm that was also employed by Harvey Weinstein and that offers its clients access to operatives from “Israel’s élite military and governmental intelligence units,” including the Mossad
It appears that not only did those involved in this effort target Ben Rhodes, but perhaps also his wife Ann Norris, who is an ex-State Department official, as well as the wife of Colin Kahl, Rebecca Kahl:
Rhodes said that the campaign represented a troubling situation in which public servants were being targeted for their work in government. “This just eviscerates any norm of how governments should operate or treat their predecessors and their families,” he said. “It crosses a dangerous line.”
I’ll say!!
Please share any weekend or Monday goings on below!
So Netanyahu made a big show yesterday out of what was billed as a big reveal of supposed evidence of Iran lying about their nuclear weapons capacity. And when I say “big show”, I mean Netanyahu was up there on stage acting like a carnival barker. He was whipping black (natch) cloth off of bookcases full of ‘very serious’ looking binders and off of a large display of shiny CDs all neatly lined up for dramatic effect. All to demonstrate that: Convinced yet? Neither is the rest of the world..for the most part at least. From PBS: Netanyahu’s nuclear presentation gets cool reception in … Continue reading →
‘Opposing Netanyahu’s policies doesn’t make us anti-Semitic’
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who sought the Democratic presidential nomination in the 2016 election but lost out to Hillary Clinton, on Monday criticized Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his policies.
“As someone who believes absolutely and unequivocally in Israel’s right to exist… we must say loudly and clearly, that to oppose the reactionary policies of Prime Minister Netanyahu does not make us anti-Israel,” Sanders told the annual conference of the J Street organization.
He took issue with Israel’s response to the recent riots along the border with Gaza, claiming Israel “massively overreacted” to the protests.
“The presence of Hamas members among a crowd of tens of thousands does not justify the level of violence we saw, and frankly it’s amazing to me that anyone would find that point controversial,” Sanders said.
“I have condemned Hamas’s use of terrorist violence and will continue to do so. But that violence cannot excuse shooting at unarmed protesters, and it cannot excuse trapping almost two million people inside Gaza,” he charged.
Sanders also said that the United States “must play a much more aggressive and even-handed role in ending the Gaza blockade and helping Palestinians and Israelis build a future that works for all.” He added that, If the White House does not do that, Congress must take the lead.
“Too often, our foreign policy debate here in Washington is dominated by those whose answer to complicated international situations seems always to involve dropping more bombs, rather than engage in the hard work of diplomacy and negotiation,” said Sanders, who opined that the best way to achieve peace between Israelis and Arabs is the “two-state solution”.
More news/video/tweets/etc. in the comments, including:
*Sanders Speaks To The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW)
*The Working Families Party endorsement of Nixon over Cuomo helps fuel deepening split among New York Democrats.
*Why Democrats everywhere are watching Beto O’Rourke’s Senate campaign in Texas
*Protect indigenous people’s land rights and the whole world will benefit, UN forum declares
*New AUMF? Critics Warn Against Giving Trump—or Any President—Power to Wage War ‘Virtually Anywhere on the Planet’
*Pipeline news, Water Protector updates & More
