In March, I wrote about eight United States Senate members sending a letter to President Joe Biden declaring that Section 6201 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 requires the termination of offensive military aid to the Israel government because the Israel government “prohibits or otherwise restricts, directly or indirectly, the transport or delivery of United States humanitarian assistance.” This declaration seemed then and continues to seem now true to observers of the situation where Gazans suffer from the deprivation of daily needs including food and medical supplies as they also suffer from bombs and bullets. Still, the US military aid flow to Israel has continued at a high rate.
Tag: Israel
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Major Draft Resistance in Israel
Facing mounting deaths, injuries, and exhaustion among its troops in its ongoing war in Gaza, while desiring to escalate the war in Lebanon and beyond, the Israel government began in July to expand conscription to include “ultra-orthodox” men who were previously exempt. That plan, in its first month of implementation, seems not to be going well for the government.
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Will Israel Nuke Lebanon and Iran?
The Israel government won’t stop its decimating of Gaza. Plus, it keeps lashing out at other nations in the region. Doesn’t it worry that it will end up defeated by engaging in war too broadly? The worry may be small because the Israel government has a couple big weapons in its back pocket.
In the first few weeks after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, Max Blumenthal was alerting people via his writing at The Grayzone that a significant portion of the killing the Israel government was blaming on Hamas appeared to have actually been done by the Israel government itself. Apparently contributing to this outcome, wrote Blumenthal, was an Israel government policy called the Hannibal Directive.
Last month, I wrote about how the death toll from Israel’s war in Gaza may be significantly higher than the commonly cited estimate that has lately been stuck at under 40,000 individuals. A Friday article at The Lancet medical journal makes the case that the death toll, conservatively estimated, may be more than four times higher — even if the war were to end immediately.
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The Gaza Death Toll
The often-reported death toll from Israel’s war in Gaza has been stuck at under 40,000. But, the death toll continues to increase and appears to significantly exceed that reported number.
An effort is being undertaken in America to broaden the definition of antisemitism from its commonly understood meaning to include criticism of the government of Israel. The absurdity of this effort is demonstrated by the fact that there are many Jewish people in America and around the world who criticize the Israel government in regard to its war efforts and a variety of other actions.
This week, the members of the United States House of Representatives are scheduled to vote on H.Res. 1215, a resolution “Calling on elected officials and civil society leaders to join in efforts to educate the public on the contributions of the Jewish-American community.”
In the whereas clauses of the resolution there are mentions of Major League Baseball players Sandy Koufax and Hank Greenberg, presented as “Jewish-American athletes” who “excelled at sports while staying true to their heritage.”
But, there is also outright deceit in the resolution’s whereas clauses. In particular, consider the statistic presented in the following whereas clause:
Whereas Hillel International has reported 1,597 antisemitic incidents on college campuses since October 7, 2023, a 700-percent increase over the same period in the prior year;
The Texas Lottery has paid out many millions of dollars to winners of its games of chance since voters in the state approved its creation in 1991. This week, Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced a new lottery of sorts — the “Texas Antisemitism Lottery” — that could rival and maybe even surpass the original Texas Lottery in cash payouts.
You may think that Benjamin Netanyahu would be just about the least likely foreign government leader for the United States government to assassinate. After all, he is the prime minister of Israel, a nation to which US President Joe Biden and all top congressional leaders — Democratic and Republican — have expressed their devotion. Also, it appears that Netanyahu will soon address a joint session of the US Congress. But, before disregarding the possibility, consider the fate of South Vietnam President Ngo Dinh Diem.