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https://www.facebook.com/events/s/art-of-movement-and-evening-of/370445182255203/?mibextid=RQdjqZ
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We are all Palestinian
Listen and view this beautiful, powerful, song by Mistahi Corkill on YouTube at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQwuhbLczgI
Greetings,
Here is my new song and music video, We are all Palestinian, linked below. If you find it inspiring, please feel free to share with others. All the best!
Mistahi
We are all Palestinian
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Labor for Palestine
Thousands of labor representatives marched Saturday, December 16, in Oakland, California. —Photo by Leon Kunstenaar
Video of December 16th Labor rally for Palestine.
Bay Area Unions and Workers Rally and March For Palestine In Oakland
https://youtu.be/L9k79honqIA
For More Information:
bayarealabor4palestine@gmail.com
Production of Labor Video Project
www.labormedia.net
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Free Julian Assange
Immediate Repeated Action Needed to Free Assange
Please call your Congressional Representatives, the White House, and the DOJ. Calls are tallied—they do count. We are to believe we are represented in this country. This is a political case, so our efforts can change things politically as well. Please take this action as often as you can:
Find your representatives:
https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member
Leave each of your representatives a message individually to:
· Drop the charges against Julian Assange
· Speak out publicly against the indictment and
· Sign on to Rashida Tlaib's letter to the DOJ to drop the charges:
202-224-3121—Capitol Main Switchboard
Leave a message on the White House comment line to
Demand Julian Assange be pardoned:
202-456-1111
Tuesday–Thursday, 11:00 A.M.–3:00 P.M. EST
Call the DOJ and demand they drop the charges against Julian Assange:
202-353-1555—DOJ Comment Line
202-514-2000 Main Switchboard
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Mumia Abu-Jamal is Innocent!
FREE HIM NOW!
Write to Mumia at:
Smart Communications/PADOC
Mumia Abu-Jamal #AM-8335
SCI Mahanoy
P.O. Box 33028
St. Petersburg, FL 33733
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Write to:
Leonard Peltier 89637-132
USP Coleman 1
P.O. Box 1033
Coleman, FL 33521
Note: Letters, address and return address must be in writing—no stickers—and on plain white paper.
Sign our petition urging President Biden to grant clemency to Leonard Peltier.
https://www.freeleonardpeltier.com/petition
Email: contact@whoisleonardpeltier.info
Address: 116 W. Osborne Ave. Tampa, Florida 33603
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Updates From Kevin Cooper
A Never-ending Constitutional Violation
A summary of the current status of Kevin Cooper’s case by the Kevin Cooper Defense Committee
On October 26, 2023, the law firm of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, LLP wrote a rebuttal in response to the Special Counsel's January 13, 2023 report upholding the conviction of their client Kevin Cooper. A focus of the rebuttal was that all law enforcement files were not turned over to the Special Counsel during their investigation, despite a request for them to the San Bernardino County District Attorney's office.
On October 29, 2023, Law Professors Lara Bazelon and Charlie Nelson Keever, who run the six member panel that reviews wrongful convictions for the San Francisco County District Attorney's office, published an OpEd in the San Francisco Chronicle calling the "Innocence Investigation” done by the Special Counsel in the Cooper case a “Sham Investigation” largely because Cooper has unsuccessfully fought for years to obtain the police and prosecutor files in his case. This is a Brady claim, named for the U.S. Supreme court’s 1963 case establishing the Constitutional rule that defendants are entitled to any information in police and prosecutor's possession that could weaken the state's case or point to innocence. Brady violations are a leading cause of wrongful convictions. The Special Counsel's report faults Cooper for not offering up evidence of his own despite the fact that the best evidence to prove or disprove Brady violations or other misconduct claims are in those files that the San Bernardino County District Attorney's office will not turn over to the Special Counsel or to Cooper's attorneys.
On December 14, 2023, the president of the American Bar Association (ABA), Mary Smith, sent Governor Gavin Newsom a three page letter on behalf of the ABA stating in part that Mr.Cooper's counsel objected to the state's failure to provide Special Counsel all documents in their possession relating to Mr.Cooper's conviction, and that concerns about missing information are not new. For nearly 40 years Mr.Cooper's attorneys have sought this same information from the state.
On December 19, 2023, Bob Egelko, a journalist for the San Francisco Chronicle wrote an article about the ABA letter to the Governor that the prosecutors apparently withheld evidence from the Governor's legal team in the Cooper case.
These are just a few recent examples concerning the ongoing failure of the San Bernardino County District Attorney to turn over to Cooper's attorney's the files that have been requested, even though under the law and especially the U.S. Constitution, the District Attorney of San Bernardino county is required to turn over to the defendant any and all material and or exculpatory evidence that they have in their files. Apparently, they must have something in their files because they refuse to turn them over to anyone.
The last time Cooper's attorney's received files from the state, in 2004, it wasn't from the D.A. but a Deputy Attorney General named Holly Wilkens in Judge Huff's courtroom. Cooper's attorneys discovered a never before revealed police report showing that a shirt was discovered that had blood on it and was connected to the murders for which Cooper was convicted, and that the shirt had disappeared. It had never been tested for blood. It was never turned over to Cooper's trial attorney, and no one knows where it is or what happened to it. Cooper's attorneys located the woman who found that shirt on the side of the road and reported it to the Sheriff's Department. She was called to Judge Huff's court to testify about finding and reporting that shirt to law enforcement. That shirt was the second shirt found that had blood on it that was not the victims’ blood. This was in 2004, 19 years after Cooper's conviction.
It appears that this ongoing constitutional violation that everyone—from the Special Counsel to the Governor's legal team to the Governor himself—seems to know about, but won't do anything about, is acceptable in order to uphold Cooper's conviction.
But this type of thing is supposed to be unacceptable in the United States of America where the Constitution is supposed to stand for something other than a piece of paper with writing on it. How can a Governor, his legal team, people who support and believe in him ignore a United States citizen’s Constitutional Rights being violated for 40 years in order to uphold a conviction?
This silence is betrayal of the Constitution. This permission and complicity by the Governor and his team is against everything that he and they claim to stand for as progressive politicians. They have accepted the Special Counsel's report even though the Special Counsel did not receive the files from the district attorney that may not only prove that Cooper is innocent, but that he was indeed framed by the Sheriff’s Department; and that evidence was purposely destroyed and tampered with, that certain witnesses were tampered with, or ignored if they had information that would have helped Cooper at trial, that evidence that the missing shirt was withheld from Cooper's trial attorney, and so much more.
Is the Governor going to get away with turning a blind eye to this injustice under his watch?
Are progressive people going to stay silent and turn their eyes blind in order to hopefully get him to end the death penalty for some while using Cooper as a sacrificial lamb?
An immediate act of solidarity we can all do right now is to write to Kevin and assure him of our continuing support in his fight for justice. Here’s his address:
Mr. Kevin Cooper
C-65304. 4-EB-82
San Quentin State Prison
San Quentin, CA 94974
Call California Governor Newsom:
1-(916) 445-2841
Press 1 for English or 2 for Spanish,
press 6 to speak with a representative and
wait for someone to answer
(Monday-Friday, 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. PST—12:00 P.M. to 8:00 P.M. EST)
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The writers' organization PEN America is circulating this petition on behalf of Jason Renard Walker, a Texas prisoner whose life is being threatened because of his exposés of the Texas prison system.
See his book, Reports from within the Belly of the Beast; available on Amazon at:
https://www.amazon.com/Reports-Within-Belly-Beast-Department-ebook/dp/B084656JDZ/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8
Petition: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/protect-whistleblowers-in-carceral-settings
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Sign the petition:
https://dontextraditeassange.com/petition/
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Tell Congress to Help #FreeDanielHale
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Resources for Resisting Federal Repression
https://www.nlg.org/federalrepressionresources/
Since June of 2020, activists have been subjected to an increasingly aggressive crackdown on protests by federal law enforcement. The federal response to the movement for Black Lives has included federal criminal charges for activists, door knocks by federal law enforcement agents, and increased use of federal troops to violently police protests.
The NLG National Office is releasing this resource page for activists who are resisting federal repression. It includes a link to our emergency hotline numbers, as well as our library of Know-Your-Rights materials, our recent federal repression webinar, and a list of some of our recommended resources for activists. We will continue to update this page.
Please visit the NLG Mass Defense Program page for general protest-related legal support hotlines run by NLG chapters.
Emergency Hotlines
If you are contacted by federal law enforcement, you should exercise all of your rights. It is always advisable to speak to an attorney before responding to federal authorities.
State and Local Hotlines
If you have been contacted by the FBI or other federal law enforcement, in one of the following areas, you may be able to get help or information from one of these local NLG hotlines for:
Portland, Oregon: (833) 680-1312
San Francisco, California: (415) 285-1041 or fbi_hotline@nlgsf.org
Seattle, Washington: (206) 658-7963
National Hotline
If you are located in an area with no hotline, you can call the following number:
National NLG Federal Defense Hotline: (212) 679-2811
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1) The best way to stop Houthi attacks is to end the war in Gaza, Qatar’s leader says.
By Vivian Nereim reporting from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Jan. 16, 2024
The prime minister of Qatar, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday. Credit...Gian Ehrenzeller/Keystone, via Associated Press
U.S.-led strikes will not stop the Houthis from attacking ships in the Red Sea, and the only effective way to deter the Yemeni militia is to end the war in Gaza, Qatar’s prime minister said on Tuesday.
The war is the “real issue” that is inflaming tensions across the Middle East, the prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“If we are just focusing on the symptoms and not treating the real issue, it will be temporary,” he said, arguing that the U.S.-led campaign of strikes in Yemen last weekend will create “a high risk of further escalation.”
Qatar, a close U.S. ally, has played a key role in negotiations with Hamas, the Palestinian armed group that controls Gaza and launched the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel, killing around 1,200 people, according to Israeli officials. In response to the attacks, the Israeli military launched an aerial bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza that has killed more than 24,000 Palestinians, according to Gazan health authorities.
In the wake of that war, Yemen’s Houthi militia has propelled itself into an unlikely global spotlight by sowing chaos in the Red Sea, attacking commercial ships and hobbling global trade. The group — a once-scrappy tribal militia that is now the de facto government of northern Yemen — has portrayed its campaign of missile and drone attacks as a righteous battle to force Israel to end its siege of Gaza, although many of its targets have had no clear connection to Israel.
Dozens of U.S.-led strikes on Friday and Saturday hit Houthi installations in Yemen in an attempt to deter the group and curb its ability to launch attacks. But Yemeni experts and Arab officials have warned repeatedly that a military response would play into the Houthis’ agenda and fan the flames of regional conflict. After the strikes, the Houthis vowed to retaliate, and the group attacked a U.S.-owned commercial ship on Monday.
“We don’t care — make it a great world war,” Yemenis have chanted at Houthi rallies recently, reciting lines from a Houthi propaganda poem.
The Qatari prime minister’s remarks are the latest from a U.S. ally in the Middle East expressing deep concern about the implications of the U.S.-led strikes. On Friday, the foreign ministry of Oman publicly denounced the strikes.
In order to address the threat posed by the Houthis — whose attacks have stoked their domestic and regional popularity — the international community should focus on diplomacy and resolve “the main conflict in Gaza,” Sheikh Mohammed said.
“As soon as it’s defused, I believe everything else will be defused,” he said.
U.S. officials and those from allied Western governments have said the Houthis’ continuing attacks on ships left them with little choice but to respond.
Sheikh Mohammed also cautioned that Arab countries “normalizing” their relationships with Israel — a key goal of the Biden administration — would do little to tame conflict in the region unless a Palestinian state is created. The Israeli government remains publicly dismissive of that idea.
The international community’s response to the war in Gaza has been “very disappointing for the region and the people of the region,” he added.
“What kind of generation do we expect in our region — or even in Europe or elsewhere — watching all of these images and seeing the world just staying silent about it?” he said. “It will just create rage and anger.”
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2) After a taunting promise of news about captives, Hamas said two are dead and one is wounded.
By Matthew Mpoke Bigg and Adam Rasgon, Jan. 16, 2024
Hamas said on Monday that Yossi Sharabi, left, and Itai Svirsky, right, both of whom were captured on Oct. 7, had been killed in Israeli airstrikes. The chief spokesman for the Israeli military said that at least one of the hostages was not killed by Israeli forces, and did not confirm their deaths. Credit...Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images; Manu Fernandez/Associated Press
Hamas said on Monday that two of the hostages captured on Oct. 7 had been killed in Israeli airstrikes and released images that appeared to show their bodies, but the Israeli military cast doubt on the claim.
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, chief spokesman for the Israeli military, said at a press briefing that at least one of the hostages was not killed by its forces. “That’s a Hamas lie,” he said. He did not address the fate of the other hostage.
“We are investigating the event and its circumstances, examining the images distributed by Hamas, alongside additional information at our disposal,” he added.
The claim of the hostages’ deaths, in a video released by Hamas’s military wing, came after two taunting messages from the group promising news on Monday about the fate of three hostages — the two it later said were killed, and a third it said was injured.
A senior adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel declined to comment on the video, but the Israeli government has condemned such messages as psychological warfare.
The video included clips, apparently recorded earlier, of the two hostages who it claimed were killed, Yossi Sharabi, 53, and Itai Svirsky, 38, speaking while looking into a video camera, and then showed video apparently showing their bodies. It included narration by the hostage who reportedly survived, Noa Argamani, 26, who told of her companions’ deaths and described being wounded, herself.
It was not possible to determine when or where any scenes in the video were recorded.
Admiral Hagari, while not confirming the deaths, said that “in recent days,” the military had met with the men’s families “and expressed grave concern for their fate, due to information available to us.”
A previous video, released on Sunday, showed the three hostages identifying themselves by name and age, and ended with a caption that read: “Tomorrow we will inform you of their fate.”
Another video, released early Monday, featured headshots of the three hostages and said, “Tonight we will inform you of their fate.”
The videos appeared designed to taunt Israelis desperate for news of the hostages and to ratchet up pressure on the Israeli government to make concessions to secure their release. At the same time, the videos appeared to demonstrate the leverage which Hamas can exert on Israeli society through the hostages.
In a third video that announced the two deaths, Ms. Argamani addressed a camera while seated against a white background. It was not possible to determine whether she was speaking from a script that had been prepared for her; Mia Schem, a hostage released in late November, has said that Hamas dictated to her what to say for a video that was published in October.
Previous videos released by Hamas about the hostages have omitted or distorted crucial details.
Rights groups and international law experts say that any hostage video is, by definition, made under duress, and can constitute a war crime.
In the last of the three videos, Ms. Argamani said that she had been in a building with the two others when it was hit by three missiles fired by an Israeli warplane, with two exploding and burying them under rubble. She said that Hamas fighters dug her and Mr. Svirsky out but that Mr. Sharabi had been killed. She did not say when the attack happened.
She said that two nights later, she and Mr. Svirsky had been relocated to another location. En route, Mr. Svirsky was killed by an Israeli strike, she said, and she received shrapnel wounds to her head and body. The video ended with images of what appeared to be the two men’s dead bodies lying on white sheets.
Admiral Hagari later said that Mr. Svirsky had not been hit by Israeli forces.
“The building where they were being held was not a target, and it was not struck by our forces,” he said. “We did not know their real-time location; we do not strike in places where we know there may be hostages. In hindsight, we know we struck targets near to the location where they were being held.”
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3) Little food, weeks of fear, a toy ripped from her hands: A teenager recounts her captivity in Gaza.
By Nadav Gavrielov, Jan. 16, 2024
Hila Rotem Shoshani, 13, in New York on Friday. She was 12 when she, her mother and her 8-year-old friend were abducted from Kibbutz Be’eri on Oct. 7. Credit...Dana Golan for The New York Times
Hila Rotem Shoshani had invited her friend Emily Hand over for a sleepover in Kibbutz Be’eri, Israel. The girls, then 12 and 8, woke early the next morning, Oct. 7, to the sound of thundering booms — the start of the deadliest attack in the history of their country.
For about six hours, Hila and Emily hid in the home’s safe room with Hila’s mother, Raaya Rotem, 54, as Hamas attackers overran the kibbutz. Then armed gunmen burst in with guns and knives and took the three out into a landscape of horror, past dead bodies and burning buildings, to a car. One of the attackers noticed Hila clutching a stuffed animal. He grabbed it and tossed it aside.
“I had it in my hand the entire time. I didn’t notice,” Hila said on Friday in an interview in New York, before she spoke at a rally in support of the remaining hostages. “When you’re afraid you don’t notice.”
Hila was one of more than 30 children kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7, and held until late November, when they, along with dozens of adults, were released during a brief truce. Hila, now 13, is the youngest of the returned hostages to speak out about the harsh conditions in which they were held, seeking to highlight the plight of more than 100 hostages who remain in Gaza.
The terrifying drive to Gaza, surrounded by Hamas terrorists, was the first time, Hila said, that she fully realized how “really close” the territory was to the community she had grown up in.
She said she, her mother and Emily were taken to a home in Gaza, where they were put in a dark room with a couple of other hostages. At first, an armed guard stayed in the room, but eventually moved to the living room.
“They understood we’re not going to run away,” Hila said. “Outside it’s dangerous too — why would we run?”
They were warned not to try to escape, Hila said, told that “if we go outside ‘the people out there don’t like you, so you’ll be killed anyway.’”
Their captors gave them little food — half a pita and a bit of halva on some days, canned beans on others — and very little water, often well water so distasteful, Hila said, that she had to force herself to drink.
At times, the captors ate while the captives did not, she said: “There were days when there just wasn’t food, and they would keep it for themselves.”
Occasionally, Hila said, they heard other children’s voices, and wondered if they were elsewhere in the home. They had to request permission to use the bathroom, and Hila learned the Arabic word for it, hammam.
Once, an explosion nearby caused the window of their room to break, Hila said, but they escaped injury.
A few times, she recounted, they were woken in the middle of the night and hastily moved in the darkness.
“They told us at first, ‘you’re moving to a safer place,’ ” Hila said. “But we didn’t know if we would be killed.”
The girls were told to keep quiet. Emily turned 9, and Hila’s own birthday was nearing. They tried to keep themselves occupied, with drawing or games.
“We played cards, but how much can you play cards, all day, every hour?” Hila said.
Freedom came suddenly, she said.
About a month and a half into their captivity, the captors suddenly separated the girls from Hila’s mother.
“Mom had started to be scared that something wasn’t OK, that they weren’t taking her,” Hila said, adding, “and then they just came and took us, and she stayed.”
The girls were then released and returned to Israel. The separation of mother and child violated the terms of the exchange deal, drawing outrage in Israel. Raaya was ultimately released several days later, just after Hila’s 13th birthday.
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4) Videos show people leaving Nasser hospital amid fighting in the area.
By Adam Rasgon reporting from Jerusalem, Jan. 17, 2024
Displaced Palestinians sheltering inside Nasser Medical Center in Khan Younis, Gaza, last week. Credit...Ahmed Zakot/Reuters
Displaced Palestinians sheltering at the largest hospital in the southern Gaza Strip fled the grounds of the medical facility early Wednesday morning amid intense fighting nearby, according to videos on social media and news footage broadcast by Arab television networks.
Videos verified by The New York Times show families walking out of the hospital, the Nasser Medical Center in Khan Younis, carrying duffel bags, backpacks, and blankets.
About 7,000 people are believed to have been sheltering on the hospital grounds, the United Nations humanitarian office said in its daily update on Wednesday, adding that an “intensification of hostilities” in the area was further obstructing access for patients and health workers. Many displaced Palestinians in southern Gaza have relocated several times since the war between Israel and Hamas began on Oct. 7, an experience that has reinforced the feeling that nowhere is safe in the enclave.
The fighting around Nasser has raised fears that Israeli troops might be advancing toward the hospital, as Israeli officials say they are trying to rout Hamas from Khan Younis. Israeli forces raided Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza in November in a move that the Gaza Health Ministry officials said put the hospital out of service. Israel has accused Hamas of using hospitals for military purposes, and its raid on Al-Shifa revealed a stone-and-concrete tunnel shaft below the hospital.
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the chief spokesman of the Israeli military, said on Tuesday that the army’s radar systems had detected the launch of a munition from the Nasser complex toward Israeli soldiers. The Israeli military did not immediately provide additional details.
“The Hamas terrorist organization systematically operates in Gaza’s hospitals and nearby areas using civilians as human shields,” he wrote on social media.
The New York Times was not able to reach medical workers at the hospital on Wednesday as a days-long telecommunications blackout in Gaza continued.
The United Nations said on Wednesday that Nasser and two other major hospitals in Gaza were at risk of being shut down because of evacuation orders for areas next to the medical facilities as well as fighting close by.
As fighting escalated in southern Gaza, the World Health Organization reported that Nasser treated 700 patients on Monday, double its usual daily caseload, requiring some patients to be cared for on the floor. It noted Wednesday that only 15 out of Gaza’s 36 hospitals were even partially functional.
Amid Israel’s airstrikes and ground invasion, hospitals in Gaza have struggled to deal with a seemingly constant stream of wounded people, grossly inadequate medical supplies, unsanitary conditions and significant staffing challenges.
On Wednesday, the Jordanian Army said that the Jordanian field hospital, which is near Nasser, had been severely damaged by Israeli fire in the area. It said a person working at the hospital had been wounded and would be airlifted to Jordan for treatment.
Nader Ibrahim and Malachy Browne contributed reporting.
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5) Israel and Hamas confirm a deal to allow medicine to reach hostages.
By Adam Rasgon and Aurelien Breeden reporting from Jerusalem and Paris, Jan. 17, 2024
Demonstrators calling for the release of hostages in Tel Aviv on Sunday. Credit...Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters
Israel and Hamas have reached a deal that would allow medications to be delivered to Israeli hostages in return for additional medicine and aid for Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, officials said, marking a significant breakthrough in the indirect talks between the warring sides.
The agreement was announced on Tuesday by Qatar, which has served as a mediator. A Hamas official, Basem Naim, later confirmed the agreement, and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said a deal had been reached to send medicine to the hostages.
More than 120 hostages have been held in Gaza since Oct. 7, and many have health conditions that require regular medical care, including cancer and diabetes. Their families have grown increasingly concerned as the war entered its fourth month and as hostages released in late November have shared harrowing accounts of their captivity.
The agreement was brokered by Qatar and France, and involves Israel allowing more medicine and humanitarian aid to reach civilians in Gaza in exchange for delivering medication to Israeli captives, the spokesman for the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Majed bin Mohammed Al-Ansari, said in a statement.
Mr. Al-Ansari said the medications and aid will leave Doha on Wednesday and be taken to Al-Arish in Egypt, on board two Qatari military aircraft, in preparation for their transport to “the most affected and vulnerable areas” in Gaza.
Philippe Lalliot, a diplomat in charge of the French foreign ministry’s Crisis and Support Center, said in a radio interview on Tuesday that the center, acting on instructions from President Emmanuel Macron, had bought medication for the hostages in France and then shipped it via diplomatic pouch to Qatar last Saturday.
He said the push to get medication to hostages in Gaza came primarily from their relatives. The families “came to us and said ‘there are people among the hostages who need major treatments that they are deprived of, and we need to collect these treatments and send them there,’” Mr. Lalliot said.
Israeli medical authorities had initially identified 85 hostages in need of medication, but Mr. Lalliot said that number was brought down to 45 after some of the hostages were released or died. Doctors at the crisis center identified the necessary treatments those people needed, bought them in France, and packaged them — some treatments need to be kept at cold temperatures — before sending them to Qatar, Mr. Lalliot said.
Qatar bought medications for Palestinian civilians, said two officials briefed on the talks, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the sensitive arrangement.
One of the most complicated aspects of the deal was how to get the medications to the hostages, many of whom are believed to be held in underground tunnels and rooms. At a news conference on Saturday, Osama Hamdan, a spokesman for Hamas, spoke of the challenge of overcoming what he called the “security aspect” of delivering medications, without elaborating.
A Middle Eastern official, however, said the medications would be sent to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza under Qatari supervision before being distributed to the hostages and Palestinian civilians. A Qatari official said representatives of the Health Ministry would transport the medications to the hostages.
Doctors in Gaza and the United Nations have said that hospitals are facing steep shortages of medical supplies, including anesthetics, baby formula and painkillers. Israel has been permitting trucks carrying medicine to enter Gaza.
But U.N. officials say that those amounts are far less than needed in Gaza, where tens of thousands have been wounded under Israeli bombardments, and disease is rampant among a displaced population with insufficient food, water, shelter and sanitation.
The deal was arranged separately from the broader indirect talks between Israel and Hamas aimed at securing the release of more hostage releases and agreeing to a cease-fire.
Advocates for hostage families said the said the agreement was welcome news, but they said the hostages were still in peril and in need of visits from the Red Cross to assess their health.
“We welcome all efforts to transfer medicine to the hostages, but their lives are at risk and they need to be released immediately,” said Hagai Levine, the chairman for the medical team of the Hostage and Missing Families Forum, an advocacy group. “We believe it’s imperative that we receive visual proof that the hostages received their correct medications.”
Daniel Lifshitz, the grandson of Oded Lifshitz, an 83-year-old journalist and peace activist who is among the hostages, said he hoped the agreement was a sign that Israel and Hamas were on the cusp of a broader deal.
“The most important thing here is that this is a confidence-building step ahead of an arrangement leading to my grandfather’s freedom,” he said.
Aaron Boxerman contributed reporting from Jerusalem.
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6) There is ‘no hope’ in Gaza without a cease-fire, a Palestinian diplomat says.
By Matthew Mpoke Bigg, Jan. 17. 2024
Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian ambassador to Britain, said in a news briefing on Tuesday that without an immediate ceasefire there is no hope to end what he described as an apocalyptic situation in Gaza. CreditCredit...Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters
A Palestinian diplomat on Tuesday accused Israel of trying to make the Gaza Strip uninhabitable and called on the international community for a major reconstruction effort.
The diplomat, Husam Zomlot, who heads the Palestinian mission to Britain, told reporters in London that “without an immediate cease-fire, there is no hope.” He added “that there has to be a massive international humanitarian effort to address Gaza’s acute needs,” as well as an enormous reconstruction effort to make the area inhabitable again.
Mr. Zomlot, a member of the Palestinian political movement, Fatah, is a senior adviser to Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the Palestinian Authority, a rival of Hamas. The United States sees the authority as the natural candidate to govern postwar Gaza, though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has rejected the idea.
Mr. Zomlot said he saw no sustained effort from the United States and Britain to put pressure on Israel to agree to a cease-fire in Gaza. The United States, Israel’s most important ally, has urged Israel to scale back its war, but the Biden administration has continued to support military aid, and the United States vetoed a United Nations resolution calling for a cease-fire.
Mr. Zomlot described Israel’s ongoing campaign in Gaza as a genocide, echoing language used by Mr. Abbas. Israel, which defended itself against such accusations at the International Court of Justice last week, has rejected the claim and sees its campaign as a war of defense.
Israel has vehemently rejected the charge of genocide, saying it has taken steps to avoid civilian casualties, and also pointing out that Hamas has hidden its forces among the civilian population as well as in tunnels beneath civilian areas. Israeli leaders have also mentioned that Hamas openly advocates the killing of Jews.
According to Gazan health officials, more than 24,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 60,000 injured since Oct. 7. Mr. Zomlot said the death toll was likely even higher because there were still bodies under rubble and because people with pre-existing medical conditions such as cancer have been unable to get medical treatment.
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7) A Biden aide tries to calm fears that Mideast tensions will spread globally.
By Gaya Gupta, Jan. 17, 2024
Jake Sullivan, the president’s national security adviser, in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday. Credit...Fabrice Coffrini/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Jake Sullivan, President Biden’s national security adviser, sought to assure top global and business leaders on Tuesday that the war in Gaza and rising tensions in the Middle East would not escalate into a global conflict.
Speaking at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Mr. Sullivan said it is incumbent upon the United States and its allies and other regional powers to produce a “common, coherent response” to prevent war from spreading.
“We’re going to stay the course and look to our partners, including all of you, to continue with us,” he said. “To make clear that violent disruption of the international system will fail. To remain committed to diplomacy, which is even more vital as geopolitical tensions rise. And to take the steps needed to lead in the sources of technological and economic growth that will be the foundation of success and strength in free societies.”
He recalled how dozens of countries, led by the United States, have rallied in support of Ukraine against Russia, which has strengthened both Kyiv and NATO, the Western military alliance.
The United States has tried to rally another international response to attacks by Houthi militia on cargo ships in the Red Sea, which have compromised shipping lanes essential for global trade. The U.S. military and allies have carried out three rounds of strikes in Yemen against the rebels over the last week. Mr. Sullivan, though, stressed that Washington remained focused on fostering stability in the region.
How long the conflict in the Red Sea lasts — and “how bad it gets,” Mr. Sullivan said — depends on the willingness of countries with influence in Tehran, and other Middle Eastern powers, to react to and condemn the Houthi attacks. Mr. Sullivan did not elaborate how Washington might push for such a response.
Bahrain is the only Middle Eastern country so far to have joined a U.S.-led task force created to deter the Houthis, who are backed by Iran and have said that their attacks are in support of Palestinians in Gaza. Analysts have said that other countries in the region have tended to sympathize with the Palestinian people and have hesitated to associate themselves with the United States, one of Israel’s closest allies and biggest benefactors.
He also reiterated the United States’ push for normalization between Israel and Arab states, but again urged that it would require the nations involved to “pull together and make the wise and bold decisions to choose this course.”
Last week, Antony J. Blinken, the secretary of state, and a Saudi ambassador discussed the possibility of diplomatic recognition of Israel by Saudi Arabia, provided that the Israeli government would take tangible steps toward Palestinian statehood.
Mr. Blinken, however, did not expand on what might persuade Israel’s right-wing government to reverse its stance against Palestinian statehood. Under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the government has approved thousands of new housing units and has pushed to expand settlements in the occupied West Bank, undermining the Palestinian Authority.
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8) Team Biden Needs a Reset on Israel
By Daniel Levy, Jan. 17, 2024
Mr. Levy is the president of the U.S./Middle East Project and a former Israeli peace negotiator.
Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times
Back in 2001, in a visit to the illegal West Bank settlement of Ofra, an out-of-office Benjamin Netanyahu, apparently unaware he was being recorded, boasted to his hosts that “America is a thing you can move very easily — move it in the right direction.”
At the time, Mr. Netanyahu was talking about his experience with the Clinton White House; he had undermined Washington-led peace efforts during his first stint as Israel’s prime minister. But more than 20 years later, Mr. Netanyahu’s assessment feels uncomfortably familiar.
Since the Biden administration pledged its early and unwavering support to Israel following Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks, Mr. Netanyahu has repeatedly slow-walked Washington’s behind-the-scenes requests regarding the war, including that Israel use greater restraint in prosecuting its war in Gaza, avoid provoking a broader regional conflagration and work to forge a postwar path toward peace.
As a result, as the war has entered its fourth month, the Biden administration has achieved almost none of its goals regarding Israeli policies and actions. More than 23,000 Palestinians, including over 10,000 children, have been killed so far, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, and the threat of mass starvation and disease looms. Israel’s government has rejected any horizon for peace, and, after an initial pause in fighting and a hostage/prisoner exchange, such talks seem now to be at an impasse. The only “success” the United States can claim is in its steadfast support for Israel. And yet the unconditional nature of that backing stands in the way of any prospect of achieving its other policy goals and finding a path out of this horror.
It’s true that in recent days, Israel has signaled a certain shift in its war strategy, using fewer troops and focusing more on central and southern Gaza. These steps appear partly driven by the need to keep down Israeli losses in the close quarters of urban combat, to offer some relief to Israel’s suffering economy — and possibly in preparation for an escalation on Israel’s northern border. Such shifts don’t seem intended to dial back the snowballing regional tensions, nor will they prevent the increasing humanitarian suffering. President Biden has sounded increasingly exasperated by developments on all of these fronts, frustrations echoed in comments by his secretary of state, Antony Blinken, during his latest visit to the region.
Rather than slowly amplifying expressions of disquiet, Team Biden should make a course correction — starting with exercising the very real diplomatic and military leverage at its disposal to move Israel in the direction of U.S. interests, rather than vice versa.
The first and most critical shift required is for the administration to embrace the need for a full cease-fire now. That demand cannot be one of rhetoric alone. The administration should condition the transfer of further military supplies on Israel ending the war and stopping the collective punishment of the Palestinian civilian population, and should create oversight mechanisms for the use of American weaponry that is already at Israel’s disposal. Ending Israel’s Gaza operation is also the surest way to avoid a regional war and the key to concluding negotiations for the release of hostages.
Washington can also leverage the deliberations underway at the International Court of Justice, where South Africa has accused Israel of being in violation of its obligations as a signatory to the 1948 international genocide convention. Israel is demonstrably nervous about the proceedings and understands that an International Court of Justice ruling has heft; indeed, South Africa may have already done more to change the course of events than three months of American hand-wringing. The Biden administration does not need to support the South African claims, but it can and should commit to being guided by any findings of the court.
Finally, the United States should desist from making endless ritual incantations about a future two-state outcome, which are all too easily brushed off by Mr. Netanyahu. It should take at face value his government’s categorical rejection of Palestinian statehood and its written coalition guidelines that assert “the Jewish people have an exclusive and inalienable right to all parts of the Land of Israel.” Washington should instead challenge Israel to set out a proposal for how all those living under its control will be guaranteed equality, enfranchisement and other civil rights.
Doing so could have the added benefit of challenging Mr. Netanyahu’s position. Although he appears to have consolidated his political base for now, his governing majority would be lost with just a handful of defections. Only around 15 percent of Israelis want Mr. Netanyahu to remain in power after this war ends, according to recent polls, and street protests could reignite at any moment.
For a combination of ideological, military and personal political reasons, Mr. Netanyahu probably doesn’t want this war to end. And while his demise is not a panacea for progress — nor can it be an explicit U.S. goal — it is nevertheless a prerequisite for creating the conditions under which Palestinian rights can be advanced. The United States can and should distance itself from the Gaza debacle and the extremism of Israel’s leaders.
If Washington does not change its approach, its failures in this war will have consequences, even beyond the immediate crisis in Gaza, the hostilities involving the Houthis in Yemen and the gathering threat of a wider regional conflict.
The world, after all, is watching, and Washington should not underestimate the extent to which the extremely unpopular assault on Gaza is seen globally as not only Israel’s war, but America’s as well. The U.S. government’s transfer of arms to Israel and the political-diplomatic cover it provides, including by deploying or threatening its veto at the United Nations Security Council, makes its ownership of this war highly conspicuous — and damaging.
There are long-term security implications, too. The callous Israeli military campaign and its profound impact on civilians will almost certainly provide recruitment material for armed resistance for years to come. Arab countries will find cooperation and normalizing relations with Israel more burdensome, and Israel’s opponents are gaining greater resonance: Hamas displaying resilience, the Houthis an impressive disruptive capacity and Hezbollah disciplined restraint.
With Israel making clear in word and deed its intention to continue down this dangerous path — indifferent to U.S. needs and expectations — shouldn’t Mr. Biden be keeping a greater distance?
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