Daily News Digest October 16, 2023 (Palestine Supplement)
Is white phosphorus illegal? Under an international protocol ratified by Israel in 1995, the use of such incendiary weapons is allowed when “not specifically designed to cause burn injury to persons,” CNN previously reported. There is no prohibition, per se, against white phosphorus in conflict. But the timing and location of its use are restricted. For example, it is illegal under the protocol to use white phosphorus against any personnel, civilian or military. It can be directed only against military targets. International law says incendiary weapons cannot be used where civilians are concentrated.
For days now deceitful politicians and traditional media across the globe have parroted the sculpted Zionist talisman that there is war between Hamas and Israel. Not true. It is a battle for survival between a “nation state” of occupiers and a people long beleaguered … but not defeated. To be sure, if Hamas were to disappear tomorrow, the global Palestinian struggle for self-determination, liberty and justice would and will continue till it be had. To hear the unbroken chant of “terrorists” by Israel and its funders beggars the undeniable history of nonstop Zionist terrorism beginning well before the Irgun, Haganah and Palmach hanged British soldiers, bombed the King David Hotel, sent mail bombs across Europe and assassinated Swedish Count Folke Bernadotte, the United Nations mediator for Palestine all in the name of a theft of a land they had not known, if at all, for thousands of years. — Weapons of Mass Lies
Media BIAS On Palestine EXPOSED
Israek White Phosphorus Bombs = Paliestinian Genocide! Humand Rights Watch Israel: White Phosphorus Used in Gaza, Lebanon Use in Populated Areas Poses Grave Risks to Civilians (Beirut, October 12, 2023) – Israel’s use of white phosphorus in military operations in Gaza and Lebanon puts civilians at risk of serious and long-term injuries, Human Rights Watch said today in releasing a question and answer document on white phosphorus. Human Rights Watch verified videos taken in Lebanon and Gaza on October 10 and 11, 2023, respectively, showing multiple airbursts of artillery-fired white phosphorus over the Gaza City port and two rural locations along the Israel-Lebanon border, and interviewed two people who described an attack in Gaza. White phosphorus, which can be used either for marking, signaling, and obscuring, or as a weapon to set fires that burn people and objects, has a significant incendiary effect that can severely burn people and set structures, fields, and other civilian objects in the vicinity on fire. The use of white phosphorus in Gaza, one of the most densely populated areas in the world, magnifies the risk to civilians and violates the international humanitarian law prohibition on putting civilians at unnecessary risk.
Israel Orders Mass Evacuation of Over 1 Million Palestinians in Northern Gaza The order comes as many fear that a ground invasion of Gaza by Israeli forces is imminent. Late Thursday night, Israel’s military ordered 1.1 million Palestinians in Gaza to flee the northern half of the territory within 24 hours — an evacuation order that one U.N. spokesman said would be “impossible” to execute without “devastating human consequences.”The order comes as many fear that a ground invasion of Gaza by Israeli forces is imminent.
I Wish Americans Could See the Humanity of Palestinians as They Do With Israelis As a Palestinian American, I am heartbroken to watch U.S.-backed war crimes unfolding in Gaza. Part of being Palestinian American is having to watch Israel treated as the U.S.’s “special ally” and essentially the 51st state. This week, that feeling is particularly acute as the U.S. is planning to augment its aid to Israel with an additional $2 billion, even as Israeli officials call for genocidal acts, horrific human rights abuses and collective punishment in the Gaza Strip.
Even as US Jews Mourn Israeli Dead, We Must All Decry US-Backed Genocide in GazaAs a rabbi, I see clearly how the Jewish community is faced with a profound moral challenge. We must oppose genocide. As a rabbi for a Chicago-based synagogue that holds a deep shared commitment to the struggle for Palestinian liberation, I am holding so much intensity and emotion right now. I am filled with horror hearing the cries for vengeance voiced by the Israeli government and media, and witnessing the shattering military response that Israel has unleashed on the people of Gaza. Israel has now shut off all electricity and water for over 2 million Palestinians as the military wreaks complete and total devastation across that tiny strip, attacking hospitals, schools, mosques, marketplaces and apartment buildings. As of this writing, the death toll has risen to more than 1,500, with 5,600 wounded. More than 350,000 people have been rendered homeless — and these numbers will almost certainly rise significantly in the coming days and weeks.
For Immediate Release
Monday, October 9, 2023
Cornel West for President
CornelWest2024.com
press@cornelwest2024.com
Let us start with the undeniable and irrefutable truth that we live on lands that were stolen from the people Indigenous to Turtle Island. The impacts of Anglo-Settler colonialism are still felt to this day here and, as we are currently witnessing with great heartbreak, around the world. We also need to be clear that tawdry ‘investments’ in Indigenous communities via milquetoast policies of the duopoly are a drop in the bucket. The truth is, while real investments in these communities are warranted, no amount of money can ever ameliorate the great harms of brutal land theft, genocide, and occupation still experienced by Indigenous people. While our campaign continues to develop more specific and robust policy prescriptions to address the myriad challenges faced by Indigenous folk and their communities, it is clear that they need to be rooted in the codification of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC). Already recognized by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, FPIC requires nation-states to “consult and cooperate in good faith with the indigenous peoples concerned through their own representative institutions to obtain their free, prior and informed consent before adopting and implementing legislative or administrative measures that may affect them.” But we all know that words and declarations in themselves are not close to enough to ensure these ideals are exercised and realized through verifiable and measurable metrics established, maintained, and amended by and for Indigenous peoples. To this end, today I’m pleased to announce that as president, I will establish a Federal Office for Tribal Equity and Liberation. This office will be charged with guiding and assisting me with confronting and dismantling challenges specific to our Indigenous siblings – from access to clean water, clean air, and a healthy environment, to ending the epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, to ensuring that all treaties are upheld and respected in ways that are perpetually monitored and evaluated to increase justice and maximum efficacy. This office will also inform my administration on the best and most expeditious ways to codify and enforce FPIC, as well as the Land Back Commission I’m committed to forming as part of my Policy Pillars for a Movement Rooted in Truth, Love, and Justice.
Moreover, as part of the codification and implementation of FPIC, pursuant to Article 32 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, it shall be the policy of my administration that should an Indigenous community, through their discretion, democratically consent to the extraction of critical and all resources from their sovereign lands, the people’s Bureau of Land Management, as well as the Departments of the Interior, Justice, Commerce, and Treasury will develop and implement rules that require a percentage of all profits generated from these resources, as determined by a given Indigenous community, are allocated such that they be redistributed to said community at their direct and independent discretion. If we are genuine about the rightful celebration of Indigenous lives, culture and sovereignty, then we must be collectively accountable to our declarations, proclamations and commitments to increasing trust and cooperation between the US government and sovereign Indigenous nations. It’s been said that trust is established when people embark on and complete successful initiatives together. My administration will seek to commence these initiatives through the guidance of Indigenous communities and collectives including, but certainly not limited to, Giniw Collective, led by my brilliant sister Tara Houska and her incredible team of water protectors and social justice organizers, and the Indigenous Environmental Network led by my brother Tom Goldtooth and his incredible staff of justice seekers and scholars. I urge you to support these Indigenous-led groups and others, today and perpetually, and their righteous work that invites and pushes all in the direction of right relationship with the planet and each other through tenets of Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination, as well as Traditional Indigenous Knowledge.