In light of the Democratic National Committee’s voting down of amendment to end Israeli occupation and building of settlements, Palestinian organizer Laila Abdelaziz reflects on the unrecognized intersectionalities between Native Americans and Palestinians; two indigenous peoples tied with a shared struggle against colonialism.
Hillary Clinton decided to embrace Elie Wiesel as a hero when people who support Palestinian rights pointed out his rank hypocrisy. And she has lots of pro-Israel company in doing so. But she should consider what violent ethnocentric friends she is embracing, and what their extremism is doing to Israel and Palestine.
Video of helmeted Israeli soldiers shooting a slender Palestinian girl holding a knife in the occupied territories would show Americans the overwhelming imbalance of forces in the conflict. If only US media would give it the attention that Gideon Levy does in the Israeli press.
The Democratic Party platform committee voted down an amendment opposing “settlements” and “occupation” in Palestine, as the Clinton establishment elicited the largest boos of the day in Orlando. Bernie Sanders surrogate Cornel West ascribed the vote to racism.
Concern for anti-Semitism has morphed into anti-Palestinianism in the mainstream press, as a means of distracting people from Israel’s crimes.
An Israeli leader once promised the UN that the existence of so many “Jewish hostages throughout the world” would be a guarantee of the good behavior of the “Jewish” state towards Arabs. As it turned out, Israel has caused Diaspora Jews to be responsible for its conduct, and Jewish organizations deny that responsibility by playing the anti-Semitism card.
UN: “In early July 2014, the Palestinian Ministry of Health (MoH) and the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that Gaza’s struggling health sector was near to collapse due to the severe shortages of medicines, medical disposables and fuel, and the lack of capacity to expand services to meet population needs. In the days and weeks following that warning, the health sector was confronted with over 11,200 injuries, among them more than 3,800 children, which is the highest number of injuries for such period of time it had ever faced. The challenge to the health system posed by the 2014 hostilities has extended into the present; approximately 900 of those injured sustained some form of permanent disability and require continued attention, while a significant part of the health infrastructure was damaged.”
The sickening police killings of young black men in the U.S. reflect American problems, from the school to prison pipeline, our failed educational systems, and lack of opportunity for the have nots. But the Israeli model of lynching desperate young Palestinians under occupation, which has been sold to our police departments, is also part of the problem.
Marina Hansen recalls her 8 hour interrogation by Israeli agents at the Allenby border crossing between Jordan and the West Bank. “Real Jewish people don’t support BDS,” one of the agents tells her.
Yesterday, a diverse group of about 150 New Yorkers protested in front of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Westchester County residence, calling on him to rescind his recent executive order attacking the grassroots boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement (BDS) for Palestinian rights. They chanted, “Andrew Cuomo, what a shame, playing Joe McCarthy’s game.”