The International Criminal Court’s decision to investigate war crimes in Palestine continues to stir things up. Israel and its lobby are incensed by the move, and yesterday Vice President Kamala Harris had a call with her friend Benjamin Netanyahu and the two agreed on their opposition to ICC jurisdiction “over Israeli personnel.”
The jurisdiction issue was central to State Department spokesperson Ned Price’s rejection of the ICC case when asked on Wednesday. “The Palestinians do not qualify as a sovereign state.”
But Matt Lee of AP wouldn’t let the question go, demanding 12 times, Where do they go. And all the State Department spokesperson could do is talk about the two state solution and the Jewish state. This is heroic. Transcript:
Lee: Considering your position on the Palestinians now, so where – where do the – where should the Palestinians go to get accountability for what they claim to be problems? To Israeli courts? Where do they go?
Spokesperson Ned Price: Matt, look, we – of course the United States is always going to stand up for human rights. We’re always going to stand up —
Lee: Where do they go? Where do they go?
Price: Matt, that is why I think you have —
Lee: Where?
Price: That is why you have heard us continue to endorse and —
Lee: Ned– where?
Price: — to call for a two-state solution to this long-running conflict. A two-state solution —
Lee: Should they go to the Israeli courts? Where do they go?
Price: — because it protects Israel’s identity as a Jewish and democratic state, but also because it will give the Palestinians —
Lee: Where do they go?
Price: — a viable state of their own and fulfill —
Lee: Where do they go?
Price: — their legitimate aspirations for dignity and self-determination.
Lee: Where do they go? Where do they go? Where do they go?
The Institute for Middle East Understanding summed up the exchange: “State Dept Spox refuses to answer where else Palestinians should turn for justice.”
The IMEU takes up the “Where do they go?” question:
If the list of things the US deems unacceptable includes Palestinian armed resistance, non-violent protest like BDS, conditioning aid to Israel, and seeking out a third party to investigate Israeli war crimes, then how are Palestinians supposed to resist their oppression?
Yes it’s a joke, and a public joke. Yousef Munayyer echoes the point.
Does this standard exist anywhere else in US policy? The idea that there can be no avenues for human rights violations accountability for a people outside an all encompassing political solution to settle all claims which may never happen? I don’t think so.
There is now critical mass on the left in American politics, and support for ICC has resonated from the squad to Bernie Sanders. Rep. Rashida Tlaib:
No one is above the law. The @IntlCrimCourt has the authority and duty to independently & impartially investigate and deliver justice to victims of human rights violations and war crimes in Palestine and Israel. The U.S. should not interfere with its ability to do so.
Matt Duss of Sanders’s staff retweeted Rashida Tlaib’s tweet.
Munayyer lands on Secretary of State Blinken’s denunciation of the probe:
When you enable war crimes AND systemically oppose any accountability for them you are complicit in them. This is embarrassing and incoherent stuff unbecoming of a secretary of state.
While human rights lawyer Sari Bashi notes the credibility issue for the ICC. This is just the fourth of 14 ICC investigations not of African countries.
Excellent question indeed. Where Do They Go to get justice? They are blocked(shamelessly) by the US from going to legitimate venues, where they are entitled to seek justice, and the US, as usual, is protecting the zionist criminals from being held responsible, for their never ending human rights violations. At the rate the US keep blocking the Palestinians, there is no choice but to acknowledge that the US is complicit in all Israel’s crimes, and human rights violations.
THIS IS HOW THEY SHOULD BE QUESTIONED, WITH INSISTENCE AND GIVING NO ROOM TO TALK THEIR WAY OUT OF ANSWERING THE QUESTION.
‘Where do they go?”, indeed! The US/Israeli government is telling them to go to hell!
A consequence of Zionism:
Take Action: End solitary confinement – No Way to Treat a Child (dci-palestine.org)
No Way to treat a child.
“Demand Israeli authorities immediately end solitary confinement of Palestinian child detainees”
“Israeli authorities routinely detain Palestinian children in solitary confinement solely for interrogation purposes, a practice that amounts to torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, as documented by Defense for Children International – Palestine.
“Join us in urging the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom to demand that Israeli authorities immediately end the practice of using solitary confinement on Palestinian child detainees, whether in pretrial detention for interrogation purposes or as a form of punishment. The prohibition must be enshrined in law.
“Over a four-year period, between January 1, 2016, and December 31, 2019, DCIP documented 108 cases where Palestinian children detained by the Israeli military were held in isolation for two or more days during the interrogation period. All were boys aged 14-17. Children were isolated for an average of 14 days and Israeli authorities held one child in solitary confinement for 30 days.
“Evidence and documentation collected by DCIP overwhelmingly indicate that the isolation of Palestinian children within the Israeli military detention system is practiced solely to obtain a confession for a specific offense or to gather intelligence under interrogation. DCIP has found no evidence demonstrating a legally justifiable use of isolation of Palestinian child detainees, such as for disciplinary, protective, or medical reasons. Solitary confinement has been used, almost exclusively, during pre-charge and pretrial detention. Solitary confinement is designed to psychologically break children and coerce them into confessing.
“Israel has the dubious distinction of being the only country in the world that automatically and systematically detains and prosecutes children in military courts that lack fundamental fair trial rights and protections. Israel detains and prosecutes between 500 and 700 Palestinian children in military courts each year. Nearly three out of four Palestinian children detained by Israeli forces experience some form of physical violence, according to documentation collected by DCIP.”
Reporter: What about the human rights of the Palestinians who for decades have been and who, as we speak, continue to be the victims of Israeli colonialism and (war) crimes?
Ned Price: Excuse me a moment while the United States and I sit down.
For several decades AP’s Matt Lee has been the only reporter in that press room to ask any tough questions about the I/P conflict. The only reporter to bull dog this issue. Helen Thomas before that. Who else?
Biden and Harris are so terribly disappointing on this issue. Right wing/status quo stances streamlined from the Trump administration. “Where do they go”
Peacock’s (The Intercept’s) Medhi Hasan steps out of line on his MSNBC operation/Peacock on the Israel/Palestine issue. He talks about hypocrisy of Israel having nuclear weapons continually pushing the U.S. to keep Iran on the enemies list while coddling Israel on the nuclear weapons issue.
Medhi, Ali Velshi (once in a while) the long gone Melissa Harris Perry (used to bring up these issues) are the only host on Comcast owned MSNBC/Peacock empire to bring these critical issues up. Not Maddow ever, Reid, O’Donnell etc. They will not touch the issue.
Medhi and Vali Nasr discuss Iran, Syria strike, Bibi on Fox News, Israel’s nuclear weapons etc @16:50. Medhi brings up the massive contradiction in Blinken’s recent comments about human rights.
https://www.peacocktv.com/watch/playback/vod/GMO_00000000364311_01/a77c232a-ec20-35ef-b5cb-8ef7e55de846