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The ugly genocide scapegoats: The real evil will not transpire

Posted by: on: July 29, 2021

The ugly genocide scapegoats: The real evil will not transpire

Ottoman Empire

New nascent German Empire colonial behind most of this century genocide.

Germany planned the Armenian genocide because they constantly supported zrussia expansion into the Ottoam empire and they were supporting the Tsar in this WWI war.

Germany was behind the famine in Mount Lebanon because they turned off the lights along the Emperor trip from Damascus to Beirut because they did Not appreciate Guillaum trampeling on The Virgin shrines in Palestine.

Germany committed extensive genocides in its African colonies, in Angola … and eastern Africa.

They supported the genocide in the Congo by Belgium monarch Leopold.

The other colonial powers, England, France and Italy did Not raise a finger and encourage Nazi Germany to go ahead in WWII…

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Poverty for sure, what of starvation in developed States as this pandemics keeps generating waves?

Posted by: on: July 4, 2021

The pandemic driving hundreds of millions of people toward starvation and poverty

By Ishaan TharoorSeptember 25, 2020 at 7:00 a.m. GMT+3

Financiers and traders on Wall Street may be starting to feel optimistic, but for most people the gloom is only deepening.

In the United States, thousands of people continue to die of covid-19 each week, while some 30 million people remain unemployed.

Industrial output and consumer spending are still well below pre-pandemic levels, with experts pointing to evidence of spiraling inequality as winter approaches.

In Europe, a second surge of infections has triggered warnings and shutdowns, compounding the continent’s economic jitters.

Yet the worst pain is centered in the developing world.

In recent weeks, a host of international organizations and agencies have sounded alarms over crises provoked by the novel coronavirus.

While many Western governments managed to hold the line through stimulus programs, poorer nations are floundering amid massive public debt and shortfalls in state revenue. All the while, the roughly 2 billion people who eke out a living in the world’s informal economies face varying degrees of deprivation.

David Beasley, the executive director of the U.N.’s World Food Program, warned during a Sept. 18 briefing that a “wave of hunger and famine still threatens to sweep across the globe.” He said his organization needed close to $5 billion to prevent 30 million people from dying of starvation.

According to the agency, some 135 million people around the world faced acute food insecurity before the pandemic, and that number is expected to double this year.

The World Bank says the pandemic may undermine international efforts to bring down the global extreme poverty rate to 3 percent by 2030 — and projects that existing poverty levels will grow this year for the first time since the 1990s.

Some 160 million people in Asia alone may be forced below the poverty line, according to the Asian Development Bank. In Latin America, that figure is around 45 million people, according to a recent U.N. study.

UNICEF, the U.N. Children’s Fund, calculated that 872 million students in 51 countries are unable to head back to their classrooms. More than half that number live in circumstances where remote learning is impossible — a scale that suggests a generational crisis in education.AD

As hospitals and clinics around the world remain swamped, UNICEF fears new declines in infant and maternal health. “When children are denied access to health services because the system is overrun, and when women are afraid to give birth at the hospital for fear of infection, they, too, may become casualties of COVID-19,” Henrietta Fore, UNICEF’s executive director, said in a statement.

“Without urgent investments to re-start disrupted health systems and services, millions of children under five, especially newborns, could die.

Campaigners who have led the charge to reach the U.N.’s poverty-eradicating “sustainable development goals” warn of an epochal reversal. “We have celebrated decades of historic progress in fighting poverty and disease,” wrote Bill and Melinda Gates in their foundation’s annual “Goalkeepers” report. “But we have to confront the current reality with candor: This progress has now stopped.”

Even with the $18 trillion of stimulus pumped into the global economy, mostly by wealthy governments, the International Monetary Fund projects a cumulative loss of some $12 trillion by the end of 2021.

A separate study from the International Labor Organization, a Geneva-based U.N. body, found that the pandemic has already wiped out $3.5 trillion in income from millions of workers around the world. By the ILO’s calculations, projected global working-hour losses in 2020 will be the equivalent of some 245 million lost jobs.

Coronavirus death toll hits 1 million

Some of the worst-hit places are in countries that cannot afford such setbacks. “India’s economic output shrank by 24% in the three months to June compared to the same period last year, worse than any other major economy,” my colleagues Niha Masih and Joanna Slater wrote in a report on Indian university graduates scrambling for meager wages through a government-run rural labor program.

“During the nationwide lockdown, more than 120 million jobs were lost, most of them in the country’s vast informal sector. Many of those workers have returned to work out of sheer necessity, often scraping by on far lower wages.”AD

In Latin America, the economic disaster may be just as acute, if not more so. Leading U.N. officials warn of a “lost decade” in the region, with spiking poverty and entrenched recessions.

The ILO pointed to a “stimulus gap” between rich and poorer countries. “Just as we need to redouble our efforts to beat the virus, so we need to act urgently and at scale to overcome its economic, social and employment impacts,” Guy Ryder, the ILO secretary general, said in a statement. “That includes sustaining support for jobs, businesses and incomes.

By Ishaan TharoorSeptember 25, 2020 at 7:00 a.m. GMT+3

You’re reading an excerpt from the Today’s WorldView newsletter. Sign up to get the rest, including news from around the globe, interesting ideas and opinions to know sent to your inbox every weekday.

Pastor Tito Matheus teaches children in an improvised classroom in a slum in Caracas, Venezuela, on Sept. 16. (Federico Parra/AFP/Getty Images)
Pastor Tito Matheus teaches children in an improvised classroom in a slum in Caracas, Venezuela, on Sept. 16. (Federico Parra/AFP/Getty Images)

Financiers and traders on Wall Street may be starting to feel optimistic, but for most people the gloom is only deepening. In the United States, thousands of people continue to die of covid-19 each week, while some 30 million people remain unemployed. Industrial output and consumer spending are still well below pre-pandemic levels, with experts pointing to evidence of spiraling inequality as winter approaches. In Europe, a second surge of infections has triggered warnings and shutdowns, compounding the continent’s economic jitters.

Yet the worst pain is centered in the developing world. In recent weeks, a host of international organizations and agencies have sounded alarms over crises provoked by the novel coronavirus. While many Western governments managed to hold the line through stimulus programs, poorer nations are floundering amid massive public debt and shortfalls in state revenue. All the while, the roughly 2 billion people who eke out a living in the world’s informal economies face varying degrees of deprivation.AD

David Beasley, the executive director of the U.N.’s World Food Program, warned during a Sept. 18 briefing that a “wave of hunger and famine still threatens to sweep across the globe.” He said his organization needed close to $5 billion to prevent 30 million people from dying of starvation. According to the agency, some 135 million people around the world faced acute food insecurity before the pandemic, and that number is expected to double this year.

The World Bank says the pandemic may undermine international efforts to bring down the global extreme poverty rate to 3 percent by 2030 — and projects that existing poverty levels will grow this year for the first time since the 1990s. Some 160 million people in Asia alone may be forced below the poverty line, according to the Asian Development Bank. In Latin America, that figure is around 45 million people, according to a recent U.N. study.

UNICEF, the U.N. Children’s Fund, calculated that 872 million students in 51 countries are unable to head back to their classrooms. More than half that number live in circumstances where remote learning is impossible — a scale that suggests a generational crisis in education.AD

As hospitals and clinics around the world remain swamped, UNICEF fears new declines in infant and maternal health. “When children are denied access to health services because the system is overrun, and when women are afraid to give birth at the hospital for fear of infection, they, too, may become casualties of COVID-19,” Henrietta Fore, UNICEF’s executive director, said in a statement. “Without urgent investments to re-start disrupted health systems and services, millions of children under five, especially newborns, could die.

”https://platform.twitter.com/embed/index.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1309141159797837825&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fworld%2F2020%2F09%2F25%2Fpandemic-pushes-hundreds-millions-people-toward-starvation-poverty%2F&siteScreenName=WashingtonPost&theme=light&widgetsVersion=ed20a2b%3A1601588405575&width=550px

Campaigners who have led the charge to reach the U.N.’s poverty-eradicating “sustainable development goals” warn of an epochal reversal. “We have celebrated decades of historic progress in fighting poverty and disease,” wrote Bill and Melinda Gates in their foundation’s annual “Goalkeepers” report. “But we have to confront the current reality with candor: This progress has now stopped.”

Even with the $18 trillion of stimulus pumped into the global economy, mostly by wealthy governments, the International Monetary Fund projects a cumulative loss of some $12 trillion by the end of 2021. A separate study from the International Labor Organization, a Geneva-based U.N. body, found that the pandemic has already wiped out $3.5 trillion in income from millions of workers around the world. By the ILO’s calculations, projected global working-hour losses in 2020 will be the equivalent of some 245 million lost jobs.

Coronavirus death toll hits 1 million

Some of the worst-hit places are in countries that cannot afford such setbacks. “India’s economic output shrank by 24 percent in the three months to June compared to the same period last year, worse than any other major economy,” my colleagues Niha Masih and Joanna Slater wrote in a report on Indian university graduates scrambling for meager wages through a government-run rural labor program. “During the nationwide lockdown, more than 120 million jobs were lost, most of them in the country’s vast informal sector. Many of those workers have returned to work out of sheer necessity, often scraping by on far lower wages.”AD

In Latin America, the economic disaster may be just as acute, if not more so. Leading U.N. officials warn of a “lost decade” in the region, with spiking poverty and entrenched recessions. The ILO pointed to a “stimulus gap” between rich and poorer countries. “Just as we need to redouble our efforts to beat the virus, so we need to act urgently and at scale to overcome its economic, social and employment impacts,” Guy Ryder, the ILO secretary general, said in a statement. “That includes sustaining support for jobs, businesses and incomes.”https://platform.twitter.com/embed/index.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-1&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1306713315759009797&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fworld%2F2020%2F09%2F25%2Fpandemic-pushes-hundreds-millions-people-toward-starvation-poverty%2F&siteScreenName=WashingtonPost&theme=light&widgetsVersion=ed20a2b%3A1601588405575&width=550px

But it’s unclear how much more wealthy governments are willing to give in the face of their own budget crunches. “Developing countries have been exposed to manifold shocks in a context of anaemic global growth,” Stephanie Blankenburg, the head of debt and development finance at the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development, told the Financial Times. “The international response has been extraordinarily hesitant — way too little, way too late.”

The focus may have to fall on private donors. “Worldwide, there are over 2,000 billionaires with a net worth of $8 trillion. In my home country, the USA, there are 12 individuals alone worth $1 trillion,” said Beasley of WFP. “In fact, reports state that three of them made billions upon billions during COVID. I am not opposed to people making money, but humanity is facing the greatest crisis any of us have seen in our lifetimes.”

Read more:

In Denmark, the forest is the new classroom

Trump and Xi clash as U.N. marks a gloomy 75th birthday

Bolivia’s left could win an upcoming election. U.S. Democrats don’t want a repeat of last year’s crisis.Updated October 2, 2020

Coronavirus: What you need to read

The Washington Post is providing some coronavirus coverage free, including:

The latest: Live updates on coronavirus

Coronavirus maps: Cases and deaths in the U.S. | Cases and deaths worldwide

What you need to know: Vaccine tracker | Coronavirus etiquette | Summertime activities & coronavirus | Hand sanitizer recall | Your life at home | Personal finance guide | Make your own fabric mask | Follow all of our coronavirus coverage and sign up for our free newsletter.

How to help: Your community | Seniors | Restaurants | Keep at-risk people in mind

Asked and answered: What readers want to know about coronavirus

Have you been hospitalized for covid-19? Tell us whether you’ve gotten a bill.15 Comments

Ishaan TharoorIshaan Tharoor is a columnist on the foreign desk of The Washington Post, where he authors the Today’s WorldView newsletter and column. He previously was a senior editor and correspondent at Time magazine, based first in Hong Kong and later in New York.FollowMore from The Post

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The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every morning.

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washingtonpost.com © 1996-2020 The Washington Post

The pandemic pushes hundreds of millions of people toward starvation and poverty

By Ishaan TharoorSeptember 25, 2020 at 7:00 a.m. GMT+3

Financiers and traders on Wall Street may be starting to feel optimistic, but for most people the gloom is only deepening.

In the United States, thousands of people continue to die of covid-19 each week, while some 30 million people remain unemployed.

Industrial output and consumer spending are still well below pre-pandemic levels, with experts pointing to evidence of spiraling inequality as winter approaches.

In Europe, a second surge of infections has triggered warnings and shutdowns, compounding the continent’s economic jitters.

Yet the worst pain is centered in the developing world.

In recent weeks, a host of international organizations and agencies have sounded alarms over crises provoked by the novel coronavirus. While many Western governments managed to hold the line through stimulus programs, poorer nations are floundering amid massive public debt and shortfalls in state revenue. All the while, the roughly 2 billion people who eke out a living in the world’s informal economies face varying degrees of deprivation.AD

David Beasley, the executive director of the U.N.’s World Food Program, warned during a Sept. 18 briefing that a “wave of hunger and famine still threatens to sweep across the globe.” He said his organization needed close to $5 billion to prevent 30 million people from dying of starvation. According to the agency, some 135 million people around the world faced acute food insecurity before the pandemic, and that number is expected to double this year.

The World Bank says the pandemic may undermine international efforts to bring down the global extreme poverty rate to 3 percent by 2030 — and projects that existing poverty levels will grow this year for the first time since the 1990s. Some 160 million people in Asia alone may be forced below the poverty line, according to the Asian Development Bank. In Latin America, that figure is around 45 million people, according to a recent U.N. study.

UNICEF, the U.N. Children’s Fund, calculated that 872 million students in 51 countries are unable to head back to their classrooms. More than half that number live in circumstances where remote learning is impossible — a scale that suggests a generational crisis in education.AD

As hospitals and clinics around the world remain swamped, UNICEF fears new declines in infant and maternal health. “When children are denied access to health services because the system is overrun, and when women are afraid to give birth at the hospital for fear of infection, they, too, may become casualties of COVID-19,” Henrietta Fore, UNICEF’s executive director, said in a statement. “Without urgent investments to re-start disrupted health systems and services, millions of children under five, especially newborns, could die.”https://platform.twitter.com/embed/index.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1309141159797837825&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fworld%2F2020%2F09%2F25%2Fpandemic-pushes-hundreds-millions-people-toward-starvation-poverty%2F&siteScreenName=WashingtonPost&theme=light&widgetsVersion=ed20a2b%3A1601588405575&width=550px

Campaigners who have led the charge to reach the U.N.’s poverty-eradicating “sustainable development goals” warn of an epochal reversal. “We have celebrated decades of historic progress in fighting poverty and disease,” wrote Bill and Melinda Gates in their foundation’s annual “Goalkeepers” report. “But we have to confront the current reality with candor: This progress has now stopped.”

Even with the $18 trillion of stimulus pumped into the global economy, mostly by wealthy governments, the International Monetary Fund projects a cumulative loss of some $12 trillion by the end of 2021. A separate study from the International Labor Organization, a Geneva-based U.N. body, found that the pandemic has already wiped out $3.5 trillion in income from millions of workers around the world. By the ILO’s calculations, projected global working-hour losses in 2020 will be the equivalent of some 245 million lost jobs.

Coronavirus death toll hits 1 million

Some of the worst-hit places are in countries that cannot afford such setbacks. “India’s economic output shrank by 24 percent in the three months to June compared to the same period last year, worse than any other major economy,” my colleagues Niha Masih and Joanna Slater wrote in a report on Indian university graduates scrambling for meager wages through a government-run rural labor program. “During the nationwide lockdown, more than 120 million jobs were lost, most of them in the country’s vast informal sector. Many of those workers have returned to work out of sheer necessity, often scraping by on far lower wages.”AD

In Latin America, the economic disaster may be just as acute, if not more so. Leading U.N. officials warn of a “lost decade” in the region, with spiking poverty and entrenched recessions. The ILO pointed to a “stimulus gap” between rich and poorer countries. “Just as we need to redouble our efforts to beat the virus, so we need to act urgently and at scale to overcome its economic, social and employment impacts,” Guy Ryder, the ILO secretary general, said in a statement. “That includes sustaining support for jobs, businesses and incomes.”https://platform.twitter.com/embed/index.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-1&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1306713315759009797&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fworld%2F2020%2F09%2F25%2Fpandemic-pushes-hundreds-millions-people-toward-starvation-poverty%2F&siteScreenName=WashingtonPost&theme=light&widgetsVersion=ed20a2b%3A1601588405575&width=550px

But it’s unclear how much more wealthy governments are willing to give in the face of their own budget crunches. “Developing countries have been exposed to manifold shocks in a context of anaemic global growth,” Stephanie Blankenburg, the head of debt and development finance at the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development, told the Financial Times. “The international response has been extraordinarily hesitant — way too little, way too late.”

The focus may have to fall on private donors. “Worldwide, there are over 2,000 billionaires with a net worth of $8 trillion. In my home country, the USA, there are 12 individuals alone worth $1 trillion,” said Beasley of WFP. “In fact, reports state that three of them made billions upon billions during COVID. I am not opposed to people making money, but humanity is facing the greatest crisis any of us have seen in our lifetimes.”

Read more:

In Denmark, the forest is the new classroom

Trump and Xi clash as U.N. marks a gloomy 75th birthday

Bolivia’s left could win an upcoming election. U.S. Democrats don’t want a repeat of last year’s crisis.Updated October 2, 2020

Coronavirus: What you need to read

The Washington Post is providing some coronavirus coverage free, including:

The latest: Live updates on coronavirus

Coronavirus maps: Cases and deaths in the U.S. | Cases and deaths worldwide

What you need to know: Vaccine tracker | Coronavirus etiquette | Summertime activities & coronavirus | Hand sanitizer recall | Your life at home | Personal finance guide | Make your own fabric mask | Follow all of our coronavirus coverage and sign up for our free newsletter.

How to help: Your community | Seniors | Restaurants | Keep at-risk people in mind

Asked and answered: What readers want to know about coronavirus

Have you been hospitalized for covid-19? Tell us whether you’ve gotten a bill.15 Comments

Ishaan TharoorIshaan Tharoor is a columnist on the foreign desk of The Washington Post, where he authors the Today’s WorldView newsletter and column. He previously was a senior editor and correspondent at Time magazine, based first in Hong Kong and later in New York.FollowMore from The Post

Today’s Headlines

The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every morning.

By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy PolicyPAID PROMOTED STORIES

Recommended bySign in to join the conversationMost ReadWorld

Today’s Headlines

The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every morning.

By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy PolicyPodcastPost ReportsThe Washington Post’s daily podcast: unparalleled reports, expert insight, clear analysis. For your ears.Add to Apple Podcasts, Google PodcastsAbout Us

Get The Post

Help

Terms of Use

washingtonpost.com © 1996-2020 The Washington Post

Financiers and traders on Wall Street may be starting to feel optimistic, but for most people the gloom is only deepening. In the United States, thousands of people continue to die of covid-19 each week, while some 30 million people remain unemployed. Industrial output and consumer spending are still well below pre-pandemic levels, with experts pointing to evidence of spiraling inequality as winter approaches. In Europe, a second surge of infections has triggered warnings and shutdowns, compounding the continent’s economic jitters.

Yet the worst pain is centered in the developing world. In recent weeks, a host of international organizations and agencies have sounded alarms over crises provoked by the novel coronavirus. While many Western governments managed to hold the line through stimulus programs, poorer nations are floundering amid massive public debt and shortfalls in state revenue. All the while, the roughly 2 billion people who eke out a living in the world’s informal economies face varying degrees of deprivation.AD

David Beasley, the executive director of the U.N.’s World Food Program, warned during a Sept. 18 briefing that a “wave of hunger and famine still threatens to sweep across the globe.” He said his organization needed close to $5 billion to prevent 30 million people from dying of starvation. According to the agency, some 135 million people around the world faced acute food insecurity before the pandemic, and that number is expected to double this year.

The World Bank says the pandemic may undermine international efforts to bring down the global extreme poverty rate to 3 percent by 2030 — and projects that existing poverty levels will grow this year for the first time since the 1990s. Some 160 million people in Asia alone may be forced below the poverty line, according to the Asian Development Bank. In Latin America, that figure is around 45 million people, according to a recent U.N. study.

UNICEF, the U.N. Children’s Fund, calculated that 872 million students in 51 countries are unable to head back to their classrooms. More than half that number live in circumstances where remote learning is impossible — a scale that suggests a generational crisis in education.AD

As hospitals and clinics around the world remain swamped, UNICEF fears new declines in infant and maternal health. “When children are denied access to health services because the system is overrun, and when women are afraid to give birth at the hospital for fear of infection, they, too, may become casualties of COVID-19,” Henrietta Fore, UNICEF’s executive director, said in a statement. “Without urgent investments to re-start disrupted health systems and services, millions of children under five, especially newborns, could die.”https://platform.twitter.com/embed/index.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1309141159797837825&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fworld%2F2020%2F09%2F25%2Fpandemic-pushes-hundreds-millions-people-toward-starvation-poverty%2F&siteScreenName=WashingtonPost&theme=light&widgetsVersion=ed20a2b%3A1601588405575&width=550px

Campaigners who have led the charge to reach the U.N.’s poverty-eradicating “sustainable development goals” warn of an epochal reversal. “We have celebrated decades of historic progress in fighting poverty and disease,” wrote Bill and Melinda Gates in their foundation’s annual “Goalkeepers” report. “But we have to confront the current reality with candor: This progress has now stopped.”

Even with the $18 trillion of stimulus pumped into the global economy, mostly by wealthy governments, the International Monetary Fund projects a cumulative loss of some $12 trillion by the end of 2021. A separate study from the International Labor Organization, a Geneva-based U.N. body, found that the pandemic has already wiped out $3.5 trillion in income from millions of workers around the world. By the ILO’s calculations, projected global working-hour losses in 2020 will be the equivalent of some 245 million lost jobs.

Coronavirus death toll hits 1 million

Some of the worst-hit places are in countries that cannot afford such setbacks. “India’s economic output shrank by 24 percent in the three months to June compared to the same period last year, worse than any other major economy,” my colleagues Niha Masih and Joanna Slater wrote in a report on Indian university graduates scrambling for meager wages through a government-run rural labor program. “During the nationwide lockdown, more than 120 million jobs were lost, most of them in the country’s vast informal sector. Many of those workers have returned to work out of sheer necessity, often scraping by on far lower wages.”AD

In Latin America, the economic disaster may be just as acute, if not more so. Leading U.N. officials warn of a “lost decade” in the region, with spiking poverty and entrenched recessions. The ILO pointed to a “stimulus gap” between rich and poorer countries. “Just as we need to redouble our efforts to beat the virus, so we need to act urgently and at scale to overcome its economic, social and employment impacts,” Guy Ryder, the ILO secretary general, said in a statement. “That includes sustaining support for jobs, businesses and incomes.”https://platform.twitter.com/embed/index.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-1&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1306713315759009797&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fworld%2F2020%2F09%2F25%2Fpandemic-pushes-hundreds-millions-people-toward-starvation-poverty%2F&siteScreenName=WashingtonPost&theme=light&widgetsVersion=ed20a2b%3A1601588405575&width=550px

But it’s unclear how much more wealthy governments are willing to give in the face of their own budget crunches. “Developing countries have been exposed to manifold shocks in a context of anaemic global growth,” Stephanie Blankenburg, the head of debt and development finance at the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development, told the Financial Times. “The international response has been extraordinarily hesitant — way too little, way too late.”

The focus may have to fall on private donors. “Worldwide, there are over 2,000 billionaires with a net worth of $8 trillion. In my home country, the USA, there are 12 individuals alone worth $1 trillion,” said Beasley of WFP. “In fact, reports state that three of them made billions upon billions during COVID. I am not opposed to people making money, but humanity is facing the greatest crisis any of us have seen in our lifetimes.”

Tags: , , ,

Assassination period has resumed in Lebanon: A reminder of the period after the assassination of Rafic Hariri and the withdrawal of the Syrian troops in 2005

Posted by: on: June 19, 2021

Umam, la mémoire libanaise de Lokman Slim

Après l’assassinat de l’intellectuel chiite, sa femme, Monika Borgmann, souhaite continuer la mission que le couple s’était fixée.

OLJ / Par Lyana ALAMEDDINE, le 11 février 2021 

Note 1: Monika Borgmann,Chloé Kattar wrote that “The Hangar” was a political decision in order to counter Hezbollah “monopoly” on the kinds of arts and culture prevalent in Al Dahiyat. « Le Hangar, c’était une décision politique, une façon de dire “Ne donnons pas Dahyé uniquement au Hezbollah” », raconte Monika.

Chloé Kattar added: By opening the quarter of Haret Hreik

« En ouvrant à Haret Hreik cet espace culturel qui parle d’arts, qui fait des nuits cinéma et des mini expositions, ils ont répondu à un besoin dans ces régions marginalisées où l’accès à la culture est limité ou monolithique à cause du parti politique dominant. Ils ont offert une alternative », commente Chloé Kattar, qui effectue un doctorat à l’université de Cambridge sur la guerre civile libanaise.

« Vous devriez discuter, vous êtes tous les deux intéressés par les choses morbides. »

C’est cette petite phrase, lancée par l’un de leurs amis en commun, qui est à l’origine de la première rencontre entre Monika Borgmann et Lokman Slim en 2001, au Zico House à Hamra.

Entre la journaliste allemande arabophone et l’intellectuel libanais, « cela a tout de suite été le coup de foudre », confie Monika dans le bureau de son époux, en plein cœur de la banlieue sud, dans la maison patricienne des Slim.

C’est là, dans la villa blanche aux fenêtres et portes vert pastel, « qui a vu passer cinq générations », que le couple a donné naissance à Umam en 2004, une association de documentation et de recherches visant à reconstituer et réconcilier les mémoires libanaises.

Dans les locaux d’Umam, une affiche montrant Lokman Slim. A l’arrière-plan, sa soeur Rasha el-Amir. Photo João Sousa

Umam, c’est avant tout l’histoire de leur rencontre. Celle de deux individus passionnés par la nature humaine, dans ce qu’elle a de meilleur et (surtout) de pire, et par les blessures et les traumas du passé.

« Tout a été très vite entre nous. Nous avons commencé à travailler ensemble, puis nous nous sommes installés ensemble », raconte la cofondatrice de l’association, entourée des livres, objets et cartons qui remplissent la pièce, laissant à peine transparaître les murs.

Dès 2001, le couple se lance dans son premier grand projet, un documentaire sur les massacres de Sabra et Chatila en 1982, racontés par 6 des bourreaux de l’époque.

“Massacre“, coproduction libanaise, suisse et allemande, sort en 2005 et remporte plusieurs prix internationaux dont le Fipresci Award Berlin 2005.

« Cette expérience (commencée en 2001) a été le déclic pour créer Umam », explique la journaliste. « Comme le massacre est extrêmement politique, il fallait vérifier toutes les informations venant des tueurs. Dans un pays normal, nous les aurions puisées dans les archives nationales, mais au Liban, nous ne pouvons pas y accéder », poursuit-elle.

C’est là qu’ Umam entre en scène, pour combler un manque lié à l’absence d’institutions publiques dignes de ce nom. L’association est à la fois un outil et un espace de réflexion sur la guerre et la « banalité du mal » qui lui est intrinsèque.

« Nous voulions comprendre cette violence collective : comment en sont-ils arrivés à commettre des actes si inhumains ? » Confronter le passé pour ne plus répéter les mêmes erreurs. « Je fais partie d’une génération qui a grandi avec la mémoire de la Shoah », dit Monika Borgmann.

L’un des objectifs d’Umam : créer des archives accessibles à tous. Photo João Sousa

« Plus nous creusons, moins nous comprenons »

Au départ, deux objectifs : créer des archives accessibles à tous et sensibiliser le public au Liban via des événements culturels pour provoquer des discussions difficiles mais nécessaires.

Au fil des événements (guerre de 2006, affrontements de mai 2008, soulèvement du 17 octobre 2019), Umam endosse un rôle politique et se donne la mission de traiter de sujets d’actualité tout en les liant au passé. « Ce travail de mémoire a montré la complexité de ce pays. Plus nous creusons, moins nous comprenons », analyse Monika Borgmann.

En 2005, le couple fonde le Hangar, un lieu de discussion et de rencontre poussant des gens de tous les milieux à venir dans la banlieue sud pour assister à des tables rondes, expositions, ateliers ou projections.

« Une fois, lors d’un événement, il y avait un cheikh qui faisait sa prière dans une cabine en vitre près de personnes qui buvaient du vin », se souvient Nathalie, assistante chercheuse depuis trois ans à Umam.

« Le Hangar, c’était une décision politique, une façon de dire “Ne donnons pas Dahyé uniquement au Hezbollah” », raconte Monika.

« En ouvrant à Haret Hreik cet espace culturel qui parle d’arts, qui fait des nuits cinéma et des mini expositions, ils ont répondu à un besoin dans ces régions marginalisées où l’accès à la culture est limité ou monolithique à cause du parti politique dominant. Ils ont offert une alternative », commente Chloé Kattar, qui effectue un doctorat à l’université de Cambridge sur la guerre civile libanaise.

Rasha el-Amir, la sœur de Lokman Slim. Photo João Sousa

« Le travail d’archives force à se poser des questions, enclencher des échanges et des réflexions », explique Nathalie, qui travaille sur les archives en lien avec le Studio Baalbeck, ancien cinéma fondé par un Palestinien et ayant fait l’objet d’une exposition dans le Hangar.

En 2010, alors que le bâtiment du cinéma est sur le point d’être démoli, le matériel cinématographique est donné à Umam. Les dizaines de milliers de documents d’archives sont rangés par thématique et ordre chronologique, organisés par l’équipe qui vérifie les pages manquantes, les rangent mais aussi les numérisent partiellement pour les ajouter à la base de données.

Un véritable travail de fourmi qui témoigne de l’exigence dont faisait preuve Lokman Slim. « Je lui demandais “qu’est-ce que tu veux ?” il me répondait “tout” », se remémore une collègue ayant requis l’anonymat.

Cet amour des archives lui vient de sa famille qui collectait depuis toujours des journaux, des brochures, des tracts ou encore des posters.

Monika Borgmann, la femme de Lokman Slim. Photo João Sousa

« Umam était sa défense »

Dans un pays encore marqué par les blessures de la guerre et qui n’est pas allé au bout du processus de réconciliation des mémoires entre les différentes communautés, la tâche du couple était herculéenne. « Ils ont effectué un travail artisanal pour collecter les archives », estime la collègue précité.

Ces archives ne sont pas que des livres, mais aussi des brochures, des interviews, des journaux, des objets tous rangés dans les locaux et ouverts au grand public. « À la fin de la guerre, il y avait une amnésie collective, conséquence directe de la loi d’amnistie : pas de justice, de tribunaux, de dialogue ou d’initiative publique ou privée, et surtout pas de travail institutionnel de la part de l’État, ce qui a empêché une sorte de catharsis.

Aujourd’hui, le travail se fait de façon dispersée et éclatée entre différents acteurs », explique Chloé Kattar. « Le travail de Lokman est fondateur pour reconstruire une histoire orale. Construire une mémoire, c’est se mettre à la place de l’autre pour mieux se pardonner et avancer », résume l’essayiste Mona Fayad.Lire aussiL’assassinat de Lokman Slim réveille le spectre des liquidations politiques

À partir de 2008, l’association prend une nouvelle envergure. « Nous avons lancé une série d’ateliers sur la justice transitionnelle sur une durée de deux ans, accompagnés d’expositions ouvertes au public sur les disparus de la guerre civile. Nous avions commencé avec 25/30 personnes, puis fini avec 80. C’est là que nous avons commencé à gagner en visibilité », raconte Monika Borgmann.

Esprit libre et téméraire, personnage parfois provocateur, Lokman Slim incarnait une sorte de contre-miroir du Hezbollah, qu’il n’hésitait pas à critiquer sur la scène publique et depuis la banlieue sud. Présenté comme un « chiite des ambassades » par les organes de propagande du parti, qui l’accuse d’être un agent à la solde de « l’ennemi américano-israélien », l’écrivain est menacé de mort à plusieurs reprises, avant d’être assassiné le jeudi 4 février dans le caza de Zahrani.

« Umam était sa défense », explique sa sœur, l’écrivaine Rasha el-Amir. « Sa seule arme était la mémoire. Les archives sont une manière de résister contre l’amnésie. On étudie, on réfléchit, on se remémore puis on continue. » Et maintenant ? Comment l’association peut-elle survivre sans celui qui en était incontestablement le cœur ?

« Personne n’est comme Lokman, il comprenait la valeur de toutes ces archives, même d’une simple note, grâce à ses connaissances », estime Monika Borgmann. Elle refuse toutefois de renoncer à la mission qu’ils s’étaient fixée. « Partir ? Jamais. Encore moins après son exécution… Nous croyons en Umam, nous avons un impact… C’est ma vie, c’est vingt ans de travail. Je me le dois. Je le dois à Lokman. Ma place est ici. »

Un rassemblement aura lieu aujourd’hui dans la demeure familiale en mémoire de Lokman Slim. Il sera à son image, cosmopolite : « Des prêtres de toutes les confessions feront une prière pendant trente minutes, il y aura également une sorte de micro ouvert pour permettre aux gens de dire quelques mots sur Lokman, et une séance Zoom pour se connecter à l’étranger, notamment à la Sorbonne, établissement où a étudié Lokman… » explique son épouse. Sur France Culture en 2019, l’écrivain ne doutait pas du fait que son travail lui survivrait. « C’est un travail infini. Nous sommes tout à fait conscients que, finalement, peut-être qu’il va nous survivre, mais, sûrement, nous n’allons pas lui survivre. »

Note 2: Monika Borgmann stated « Je fais partie d’une génération qui a grandi avec la mémoire de la Shoah ». And I am wondering what the memory of the Shoah has to do with supporting this implanted colonial apartheid State of Israel? I would be interested in reading a few of Borgmann articles on how she views Israel policies and what are her opinions and positions on the Return of the Palestinians to their Homeland.

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During the British mandated power over Palestine (1928-47): British Terror tactics allied and trained the Zionist terrorist organizations

Posted by: on: May 20, 2021

British and Zionist terror tactics in Palestine in years in the 1930’s

Posted on November 4, 2011

In the 1920’s, under British mandated power, the Palestinians delivered countless petition to the British administration to conduct democratic elections for municipal and the Parliament, as did the French mandated power in Syria and Lebanon.

The Zionist Jews, in Palestine and their lobbies in England and the USA, blocked any election process, on the ground that since they are in the minority (one Jew to 10 Palestinians), the election would be at their disadvantage.

As England refused to institute democratic laws and representation in Palestine, the Palestinians realized that the mandated power is intent on establishing a Zionist State in part of Palestine.

In Nov. 1935, sheikh Al Qassam and four of his followers moved to the forest of Jenine and started training and preparing for civil resistance.  The British assassinated all of them.

And the “Great Revolt“, as labeled by the British, lasted 3 years. 

The British engaged 100,000 troops to quell the civil insurrection by all means of cruelty and brutality.

A British physician on the field, Tom Segev, wrote in his diary: “The brute tactics used by the British forces and the methods of humiliation could be efficiently adopted by Nazi Hitler.  Nazi Germany could learn and assimilate the British terror tactics on smooth running of concentration camps...”

The British initiated and trained Jewish colons to participate in the taming of the Palestinian civil disobedience.

David Niv, the official historian of the terrorist Zionist organization, the Irgun, wrote in “The campaign of the National Military Organization 1931-37”:

“The violent attacks of the Irgun are not done in reaction of those who perpetrated acts of violence against Jews, and the random violence were not conducted in localities where violent acts were done.  

The principal criteria were:

First, the targets must be accessible, and

Second, the terror attacks must kill the maximum of civilian Palestinians…”

In their National Bulletin, the Irgun displayed their satisfaction of the 3-week-long terror attacks on Palestinians, throwing bombs in crowded markets, Mosques, hand grenades in buses, machine-gunning passing trains…

The 3 weeks spree of random violence killed over 140 Palestinians, a number far greater that the Palestinian resistance movement killed in 18 months…

The leader of the Irgun, the Polish Zionist Vladimir Jabotinsky, wrote in 1923:

“We must develop the colonies behind a “Wall of Steel”, backed by a protective force that could not be broken.  The Palestinians (labelled Arabs) will never accept any Jewish colony as long as they conserve a slight hope of dislodging it.  A voluntary agreement is not thinkable. We have to resume the colonization process without taking into consideration the humors of the indigenous population...”

David Ben Gurion, leader of the Zionist Haganah organization, rallied to that strategy, though he publicly condemned Jabotinsky fascist methods (Jabotinsky was a staunch admirer of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini)

The terrorist Zionist Stern organization, lead by Menahem Begin and Yitzak Shamir, (both later to be elected Prime Ministers in the 80’s), merged with the Irgun as Ben Gurion proclaimed unilaterally the establishment of Israel in 1948.

The Stern and Irgun and Haganah conducted terror attacks and genocides in many Palestinian towns and villages, forcing the Palestinians to flee: The Palestinians believed the leave will be of short-term duration, as the UN will negotiate their return…

Actually, the Zionist organizations started collecting intelligence pieces on the villages and towns they planned to transfer by terror tactics since 1939.  

They waited for a war to start to give the green light for the execution of detailed plans in 1947, the year England decided to relinquish its mandated power over Palestine.

Note 1 : Article inspired from a chapter in “A history of Lebanon, 1860-2009” by the British journalist David Hirst.  Hirst was the correspondent of the British daily The Guardian in the Middle-East for 43 years.  He was kidnapped twice during Lebanon civil war.

Note 2: The British secret services trained French assassins since 1942 during WW2

Note 3: You may read this link on doctoring reports of random violence by Israel establishment http://www.stoptorture.org.il/files/Doctoring%20the%20Evidence%20Ab

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The “Havana Syndrome”? Are people who visited USA troops around the world are getting Sick?

Posted by: on: May 18, 2021

US investigates second suspected case of mystery ‘syndrome’ near White House

By Katie Bo Williams, Jeremy Herb and Natasha Bertrand, CNN

Updated May 17, 2021

(CNN)Two White House officials were struck by a mysterious illness late last year — including one who was passing through a gate onto the property — newly revealed details that come as investigators are still struggling to determine who or what is behind these strange incidents.

Multiple sources tell CNN that the episodes affected two officials on the National Security Council in November 2020, one the day after the presidential election and one several weeks later.

The cases are consistent with an inexplicable constellation of sensory experiences and physical symptoms that have sickened more than 100 US diplomats, spies and troops around the globe and have come to be known as “Havana Syndrome.“

The intelligence community still isn’t sure who is causing the strange array of nervous system symptoms, or if they can be definitively termed “attacks.”

Even the technology that might cause such an inconsistent set of symptoms is a matter of debate

The first incident, previously reported by CNN, occurred after the 2020 election as the NSC official was attempting to pass through an unstaffed gate near the Ellipse, according to a source with direct knowledge of the incident. That person suffered only mild symptoms after the encounter, including headaches and sleeplessness, all of which went away after a week.

The second official, whose case has not been previously reported, was struck weeks later near an entrance to the White House grounds, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN.

The second official suffered more serious symptoms and was ill enough to seek immediate medical treatment.

The twin incidents in downtown Washington, along with a previous suspected case in northern Virginia in 2019, have raised concerns that the wave of episodes first seen only among Americans overseas is now occurring in rising numbers on US soil — and maybe even at the President’s front door.

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This story is based on interviews with over a dozen current and former officials with knowledge of the US efforts to respond to these mysterious incidents.

For five years now, investigators have struggled to explain the strange experiences reported by US diplomats and other government workers in Cuba, Russia, China and elsewhere — episodes that in some cases have led to chronic headaches and brain injuries.

Victims have reported experiencing sudden vertigo, headaches and head pressure, sometimes accompanying by a “piercing directional noise.”

Some reported being able to escape the symptoms simply by moving to another room — and step back into them by returning to their original position.

The number of suspected cases worldwide is increasing, according to a recent statement from the leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee. There have been more than 130 cases worldwide over the past five years, according to the New York Times, which reported at least one episode taking place overseas in the last two weeks.

There have also been suspected cases in Europe, CNN previously reported, and additional suspected cases are being investigated domestically, according to sources with knowledge of the matter.

‘Anomalous health incidents’

Under pressure from lawmakers and victims, the Biden administration has dramatically ramped up its efforts to “identify the cause of these incidents, determine attribution, increase collection efforts, and prevent” what the intelligence community now terms “anomalous health incidents,” a spokesman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said in a statement on Tuesday.

CIA Director Bill Burns has begun to receive daily briefings on the matter, including some from victims of these strange encounters, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

But even a definitive diagnosis proving any one case is, in fact, “Havana Syndrome,” has proven frustratingly difficult, officials say.

Victims suffer a myriad of different symptoms both initially and over time, and scientists, engineers and medical experts are divided over whether all of the cases under investigation can be attributed to a single cause.

The government has successfully identified and fielded a blood test that can point to some markers that may indicate exposure, according to two US officials with direct knowledge of the matter.

That test was among the diagnostic tools used in recent cases of intelligence officers who reported symptoms consistent with Havana Syndrome, and in the case of at least one of the White House victims, according to sources familiar with the matter.

But the test alone is not enough to offer a clear diagnosis.

Multiple agencies are also trying to create or repurpose a type of sensor that could be used to detect anomalous activity and, theoretically, help establish that personnel are being hit, according to two current US officials and one former US official — although sources cautioned such a tool would only be able to detect the activity, not protect from it.

“How do you counter something you don’t know is coming?” said one intelligence official.

A March report from the National Academy of Sciences found that “directed, pulsed radiofrequency energy” was the most likely cause of the strange set of symptoms — so-called microwave energy — but officials caution that even that isn’t known for sure, and some academics have publicly dismissed the theory as unsupported.

“The whole ‘microwave’ theory is not because someone has any intelligence to suggest it, or someone saw it happen,” said one source familiar with the intelligence on the matter. “This is what’s been so maddening. It’s based purely on symptoms.”

“We have no hard leads — just all circumstantial evidence. And it’s circumstantial evidence that could also be something completely different.”

A National Security Agency memo made public in 2014 revealed that the agency had intelligence from as recently as 2012 pointing to the possible existence of “a high-powered microwave system weapon … designed to bathe a target’s living quarters in microwaves, causing numerous physical effects, including a damaged nervous system.”

But the memo did not definitively confirm the existence of such a weapon, or which country may have developed it.

And some officials have questioned how such a weapon might be discreetly powered — especially in crowded downtown Washington — and focused so precisely that it would only cause injury to the target’s brain and not the rest of the body.

Equally murky is who might be behind these incidents, if they are indeed attacks.

Some evidence points to Russia as a likely culprit, officials say, but it is largely circumstantial: Russia is one of only a few countries that has dedicated research and development to what some experts believe could be the kind of weapon that could cause symptoms consistent with Havana Syndrome.

Some officials tracking Havana Syndrome suggest that, if a foreign adversary is using some kind of directed energy weapon, the intent may not be to harass or maim US personnel, but rather to collect information from their cell phones.

“I don’t know if they stumbled across a collection mechanism that allows it to be used as a weapon system or if they are just trying to collect (data from cell phones) and it (causes) adverse side effects,” said one person with direct knowledge of the incidents. “From what I read that the jury’s still out on what exactly people thought it was.”

‘We don’t have the smoking gun’

The new incidents, including those in Washington, have sparked growing frustration among lawmakers on Capitol Hill, who say the intelligence community has failed to provide Congress with enough information on what it knows and how it’s responding — and has not properly taken care of the victims.

“I’m appalled that many of these individuals who were injured in the line of duty have had to fight to get adequate medical care, to have their injuries even recognize and acknowledge and to receive financial compensation,” said Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Lawmakers on the House and Senate Intelligence and Armed Services committees have been demanding additional details and have urged intelligence officials to declassify information about the attacks.

Lawmakers have praised Burns’ stated commitment to the issue, but a recent closed-door Senate Intelligence Committee briefing on the subject was one of the committee’s most contentious in recent memory, according to two sources familiar with the briefing.

Congress has also expressed concern that the government has failed to sufficiently coordinate efforts out of multiple agencies — including the Pentagon, intelligence community and State Department — to address the problem.

“There are lots of entities in the government looking at this. We need to have it better coordinated,” said Senate Intelligence Chairman Mark Warner. “I think there’s a level of seriousness given to this now that frankly was not there until Director Burns came and made this a priority.”

The Virginia Democrat said it was frustrating that after five years since these apparent attacks began occurring, there’s still difficulty in everything from taking care of those who have been injured to determining who is responsible and even what tools or weapons were used.For some victims of these strange incidents — some of whom are suffering from debilitating ongoing health problems — the government’s response has been equally frustrating.

Current and former officials say that during the Trump administration, individuals who reported experiencing these symptoms weren’t always believed.”

It took awhile for certain people to take it very serious,” said one official with direct knowledge of the incidents

Even now, officials who report these symptoms are closely screened to confirm whether their symptoms are physical or psychosomatic.”

The problem with the handful (of episodes) that I know have happened here in this country (is) the smoking gun,” said the official. “We don’t have the smoking gun.”

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Used for organ harvesting by Israel? Palestinian prisoners and kids

Posted by: on: May 17, 2021

Israel Authorizes Organ Harvesting, Weapons-Testing on Palestinian Prisoners: Report IMEMC

Posted on March 24, 2019

“Palestinian spaces are laboratories,” Professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian said in a lecture at Columbia University.

Authorities of the Israeli occupation have permitted large pharmaceutical firms to carry out tests on Palestinian prisoners and has been testing weapons on Palestinian children, a professor with the Israeli Hebrew University said.

RELATED:
Israeli Troops Kill 15-year-old Boy During Gaza Protests

Professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, a Palestinian feminist activist and the Lawrence D. Biele Chair in Law, said she collected data while working on a research project for the university.

“Palestinian spaces are laboratories,” she said in her lecture titled, ‘Disturbing Spaces – Violent Technologies in Palestinian Jerusalem’ at Columbia University in New York City.

“The invention of products and services of state-sponsored security corporations are fueled by long-term curfews and Palestinian oppression by the Israeli army.”

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem distanced itself from her claims that Israel has been experimenting on Palestinian children with new weapons systems in order to boost the sale of international weapons.

Just weeks ago, Israeli authorities refused to hand over the body of prisoner Fares Baroud, who died in Israeli custody after suffering several illnesses including glaucoma and liver disease.

There are concern and speculation from family and activist site, Palestine Libre, that Baroud was a test subject.

In 2015, the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations Riyad Mansour accused Israeli security forces of harvesting organs from the bodies of Palestinians killed.

“After returning the seized bodies of Palestinians killed by the occupying forces through October, and following medical examinations, it has been reported that the bodies were returned with missing corneas and other organs,” Mansour said

The Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon responded by rejecting the allegations, saying that the charges were anti-Semitic.

Danon wrote to the then Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. “I call on you to repudiate this sinister accusation and to condemn the ongoing incitement by Palestinian leaders.”

As far back as 1997, the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported on the comments of Dalia Itzik, chairwoman of a parliamentary committee, who acknowledged that the Israeli Ministry of Health granted permits to pharmaceutical companies to test their new drugs on prisoners, and noted that 5,000 tests had been carried out, IMEMC reported.

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How Amnesty International Responded to the questions on Gaza genocide of 2014?

Posted by: on: May 17, 2021

A fourth round of genocide committed on Gaza civilians

Mnd you this article was Posted on August 17, 2014 (and written on July 25, 2014)

Israel/Gaza conflict: Questions and Answers

Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike in Al Shejaeiya neighbourhood during a military operation in eastern Gaza City, 22 July 2014.

Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike in Al Shejaiya (Shuja3iya) neighbourhood in eastern Gaza City during a military operation in eastern Gaza City, 22 July 2014. © EPA1.

What does Amnesty International think of the resolution passed by the UN Human Rights Council on 23 July? What should happen next?

Amnesty International welcomes resolution S-21/1 to establish a commission of inquiry and notes that the wording allows the commission to investigate violations of international law by all parties to the current conflict.

The commission of inquiry represents an important opportunity to break the cycle of persistent impunity for crimes under international law in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).

In order to be effective the commission of inquiry must be thorough, independent and impartial, and look into violations by any party to the conflict.

It must be adequately resourced and have unrestricted access to all relevant areas.

Amnesty International urges all states – including all EU member states, who abstained on the resolution – to cooperate with the commission as required.

2. What are the key obligations of the parties to the conflict during the hostilities under international humanitarian law?

During an armed conflict, all parties – whether state or non-state armed forces – must respect international humanitarian law, which aims to protect civilians by regulating the conduct of all sides in hostilities.

States also continue to have an obligation to respect international human rights law during a conflict.

Under international humanitarian law, all sides in an armed conflict must distinguish between military targets and civilians and civilian structures, and direct attacks only at the former.

Deliberate attacks on civilians or civilian objects – such as homes, medical facilities, schools, governmental buildings – that are not being used for military purposes are prohibited and are war crimes.

Indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks (where the likely number of civilian casualties or damage to civilian property outweighs the anticipated military advantage to be gained) are also prohibited.

(Netanyahu told Biden a week ago that he is Not concerned about Palestinian civilians. Hundreds of Palestinians died and were injured for this indiscriminate attacks of Israel planes)

All sides must take necessary precautions in attack to minimize harm to civilians and civilian objects. This includes giving civilians effective warnings ahead of attacks, and cancelling or suspending an attack if it becomes apparent that the target is civilian or that the attack would be disproportionate.

They also must take all feasible precautions to protect civilians under their control from the effects of attacks.

For example, warring parties should avoid endangering civilians by storing ammunition in, and launching attacks from, populated civilian areas.

3. What are the different patterns of violations by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip that Amnesty International has identified since Israel launched Operation “Protective Edge” on 8 July 2014? 

Israeli forces have carried out attacks that have killed hundreds of civilians, using precision weaponry such as drone-fired missiles, as well as munitions such as artillery, which cannot be precisely targeted, on very densely populated residential areas, such as Shuja’iyyeh.

They have also directly attacked thousands of homes. Israel appears to consider the homes of people associated with Hamas to be legitimate military targets, a stance that does not conform to international humanitarian law.

Several medical facilities and non-military governmental buildings across the Gaza Strip have also been destroyed or damaged.

(In this current round, Israel bombed all the roads that lead to the 2 hospitals in Gaza City and north of Gaza. European States funds all the hospitals in Gaza. 35,000 took refuge in the 43 UNRWA schools)

The UN has reported that one of its schools sheltering displaced people in the al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza was shelled by Israeli forces on at least two occasions.

Another such school sheltering displaced families in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza was struck on 24 July, killing at least 15 civilians and injuring many others, and the UN has called for an immediate investigation.

Although the Israeli authorities claim to be warning civilians in Gaza, a consistent pattern has emerged that their actions do not constitute an “effective warning” under international humanitarian law.

Israeli attacks have also caused mass displacement of Palestinian civilians within the Gaza Strip.

4. What is Amnesty International’s position on the firing of indiscriminate rockets and mortars from the Gaza Strip by Palestinian armed groups?

Do other actions of Palestinian armed groups in Gaza since 8 July 2014 violate international humanitarian law?

According to the Israeli army, Hamas’ military wing and other Palestinian armed groups fired over 1,700 rockets into Israel from 8 to 18 July, and scores of rockets continue to be fired every day.

(Mind you that in 2014 the rockets were puny and Not precise. Still, Israel attacked by land and totally destroyed Gaza infrastructures)

(Three civilians in Israel have been killed, a few civilian properties in Israel have been damaged, compared to over 1,500 Palestinians killed and 3 fold injured).

International humanitarian law prohibits the use of weapons that are by nature indiscriminate. The rockets fired from Gaza into Israel cannot be aimed exactly at their objective and their use violates international humanitarian law.

The firing of indiscriminate rockets and mortars also endangers Palestinian civilians inside the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank ?.

Statements by some leaders of Palestinian armed groups also indicate that they have no qualms about launching attacks against civilians and that they in fact carry out such attacks intending to kill and injure Israeli civilians.

Attacks that directly target civilians and indiscriminate attacks that kill or injure civilians constitute war crimes.

5. When the Israeli military has warned residents of a specific area in the Gaza Strip to evacuate the area, does that fulfil its obligations to protect civilians under international humanitarian law?

Effective advance warning to civilians is only one of the prescribed precautions in attack aimed at minimizing harm to civilians.

When Israeli forces have given warning in many cases key elements of effective warning have been missing, including timeliness, informing civilians where it is safe to flee, and providing safe passage and sufficient time to flee before an attack.

There also have been reports of lethal strikes launched too soon after a warning to spare civilians.

In any event, issuing a warning does not absolve an attacking force of its obligations to spare civilians, including by taking all other necessary precautions to minimize civilian casualties and damage to civilian structures.

Israel’s continuing military blockade on the Gaza Strip and the closure of the Rafah crossing by the Egyptian authorities since the hostilities began mean that civilians in Gaza cannot flee to neighbouring countries.

6. The Israeli authorities claim that Hamas and Palestinian armed groups use Palestinian civilians in Gaza as “human shields”. Does Amnesty International have any evidence that this has occurred during the current hostilities? 

Amnesty International is monitoring and investigating such reports, but does not have evidence at this point that Palestinian civilians have been intentionally used by Hamas or Palestinian armed groups during the current hostilities to “shield” specific locations or military personnel or equipment from Israeli attacks.

In previous conflicts Amnesty International has documented that Palestinian armed groups have stored munitions in and fired indiscriminate rockets from residential areas in the Gaza Strip in violation of international humanitarian law. Reports have also emerged during the current conflict of Hamas urging residents to ignore Israeli warnings to evacuate.

However, these calls may have been motivated by a desire to minimize panic and displacement, in any case, such statements are not the same as directing specific civilians to remain in their homes as “human shields” for fighters, munitions, or military equipment.

Under international humanitarian law even if “human shields” are being used Israel’s obligations to protect these civilians would still apply. (Human shields is what Israel practice at a wide scale)

7. There are reports that Israeli forces have used flechettes in the current military operation in the Gaza Strip. What is Amnesty International’s position on the use of flechettes? Has the Israeli military used flechettes in Gaza before? 

Flechettes are 3.5cm-long steel darts, sharply pointed at the front, with four fins at the rear. Between 5,000 and 8,000 of these darts are packed into shells which are generally fired from tanks. The shells explode in the air and scatter the flechettes in a conical pattern over an area about 300m by 100m.

Flechettes are designed to be used against massed infantry attacks or squads of troops in the open, and obviously pose a very high risk to civilians when fired in densely populated residential areas.

Local human rights groups have reported cases in which civilians in Gaza have been killed and injured by flechette shells. Amnesty International has not yet been able to verify particular cases during the current hostilities, but has previously documented Israeli forces’ use of flechette rounds, for example during Operation “Cast Lead”, resulting in the killing of civilians, including children.

Flechettes are not specifically prohibited by international humanitarian law per se, however, they should never be used in densely populated areas.

8. What is Amnesty International calling on the international community to do at this point?

All states (particularly key suppliers, for example USA for Israel) must suspend all transfers of weapons, munitions and other military equipment and technology to all sides until there is no longer a substantial risk that such items will be used for serious violations of international humanitarian law or serious human rights abuses.

The suspension should include all indirect exports via other countries, the transfer of military components and technologies and any brokering, financial or logistical activities that would facilitate such transfers.

States should use the 2009 report of the UN Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict and the upcoming report of the commission of inquiry mandated this week by the Human Rights Council as a basis to exercise universal jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute crimes under international law before their national courts.

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Artillery flechette shells shot by tanks? Used by Israel on Palestinians in Gaza

Posted by: on: May 15, 2021

Flechette shells spraying out thousands of tiny lethal darts.

Posted on January 6, 2018

Israel using flechette shells in Gaza

Palestinian human rights group accuses Israel military of using shells that spray out thousands of tiny and potentially lethal darts

Flechette shell darts
 An image provided by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights of darts from a flechette shell it says the Israeli military fired in Gaza last week.

Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem @harrietsherwood. Sun 20 Jul ‘14

The Israeli military is using flechette shells, which spray out thousands of tiny and potentially lethal metal darts, in its military operation in Gaza.

Six flechette shells were fired towards the village of Khuza, east of Khan Younis, on 17 July, according to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights.

Nahla Khalil Najjar, 37, suffered injuries to her chest, it said. PCHR provided a picture of flechettes taken by a fieldworker last week.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) did nNot deny using the shells in the conflict.

“As a rule, the IDF only employs weapons that have been determined lawful under international law, and in a manner which fully conforms with the laws of armed conflict,” a spokesperson said in response to a request for specific comment on the deployment of flechettes. (Are cluster bombs and phosphorous weapons lawful too?)

B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights organisation, describes a flechette shell as “an anti-personnel weapon that is generally fired from a tank. 

The shell explodes in the air and releases thousands of metal darts 37.5mm in length, which disperse in a conical arch 300 metres long and about 90 metres wide”.

The munitions are Not prohibited under international humanitarian law, but according to B’Tselem, “other rules of humanitarian law render their use in the Gaza Strip illegal. One of the most fundamental principles is the obligation to distinguish between those who are involved and those who are not involved in the fighting, and to avoid to the extent possible injury to those who are not involved.

Deriving from this principle is the prohibition of the use of an imprecise weapon which is likely to result in civilian injuries.”

Flechette shell darts embedded in a wall in Gaza
 A image taken in 2009 of darts from a flechette shell embedded in a wall in Gaza. Photograph: Ben Curtis/AP

The legality of flechette munitions was upheld by the Israeli supreme court in 2002, and according to an Israeli military source, they are particularly effective against enemy fighters operating in areas covered by vegetation.

The source said a number of armies around the world deploy flechette shells, and that they were intended solely for use against legitimate military targets in accordance with international law.

The IDF has deployed flechette shells in Gaza and Lebanon before. B’Tselem has documented the deaths of nine Palestinians in Gaza from flechettes in 2001 and 2002.

Flechettes have also killed and wounded dozens of civilians, including women and children, in conflicts between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The Israeli military deployed artillery shells containing white phosphorous in densely populated areas of Gaza during Operation Cast Lead in 2008 and 2009, causing scores of deaths and extensive burns.

It initially issued a categorical denial of reports of the use of white phosphorous, but later admitted it, saying the weapon was only used to create smokescreens.

Human Rights Watch said its use of the munitions in Operation Cast Lead was indiscriminate and evidence of war crimes.

In response to a legal challenge, the IDF said last year it would “avoid the use in built-up areas of artillery shells containing white phosphorus, with two narrow exceptions.” The exceptions were not disclosed.

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The father was a ruthless terrorist: Should the son Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel bear this heavy weight?

Posted by: on: May 15, 2021

The Ex-Obama White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel case: Father Specialized in Bus Bombings of civilians in Palestine

Posted on January 7, 2016

Wayne Madsen Special to Salem-News.com

Wikipedia deleted the page about Rahm Emanuel’s father in 2008. Makes you wonder.

Irgun, the army of Rahm Emanuel's father, is short for Irgun Zvai Leumi
Irgun, the army of Rahm Emanuel’s father, is short for Irgun Zvai Leumi– “National Military Organization” in Hebrew, was a terrorist Zionist group that operated in Palestine, killing innocent Palestinians and British soldiers; blowing up buildings.

(WASHINGTON D.C.) – Note from Publisher: In an effort to assist our government in keeping information “transparent”, we are publishing this important article by Wayne Madsen, on the father of Rahm Emanuel.

You won’t find his bio on wikipedia, or any where else easily accessed. It has been deleted.

Former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel held a top position in our country’s leadership and his example of ethics and integrity is of the highest importance.

This is not diminished regardless of his aspirations to leave the national spotlight and become the mayor of Chicago.

But, it seems, some secrets must just be harder to share. This revealing article will leave you with a better understanding of why no one wants to talk about Benjamin Emanuel. And why they should.
– Bonnie King

A

well-placed British source informed WMR that Rahm Emanuel’s father, Benjamin Emanuel, specialized in the terrorist bombings of buses carrying British troops and policemen during the British Mandate in Palestine.

British MI-6 files contain information on the elder Emanuel’s participation in the terrorist activities of Irgun Zvai Leumi, a Jewish terrorist organization that targeted British forces, UN officials, and Palestinian Arabs in the lead up to Israeli independence in 1948.


Emanuel’s father Benjamin was part of
the Israeli assassin team that murdered
Sweden’s Count [Folke] Bernadotte in ’48.
Bernadotte was the UN envoy in Palestine
who sought to find a solution to the UN
Partition Plan that gave Palestinian land
to Jews from “beyond the pale.”

Benjamin Emanuel, a Jew from Russia whose real name was Ezekiel Auerbach, was arrested by British police for terrorist activities in the months prior to Israeli independence.

Many of the British policemen killed by Emanuel and his Irgun colleagues between 1947 and 1948 had been transferred to Palestine upon Indian and Pakistani independence in 1947. Irgun saw the increase of British policemen from the Indian subcontinent as a major threat.

The Jewish terrorist murders of British troops and policemen resulted in massive anti-Jewish riots in London, Liverpool, Glasgow, Manchester, and Cardiff in 1947.

In 1946, Emanuel’s Irgun bombed the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, killing 91 people, including 28 British soldiers and policemen.

British intelligence also believed that Benjamin Emanuel may have been related to Vladimir Jabotinsky, a Russian Jew from Odessa who founded Irgun.

Jabotinksy, who was an admirer of Benito Mussolini and who secretly negotiated for the expatriation of Jews to Palestine with the Nazi government in Germany and Admiral Miklos Horthy’s pro-Nazi regime in Hungary, died of a heart attack in New York in 1940.

Wikipedia deleted Benjamin Emanuel’s entry in 2008*, shortly after Rahm Emanuel was designated as President Obama’s chief of staff.

Wikipedia is a favorite device for the perception management goals of Dr. Cass Sunstein, Obama’s director of the White House Office of Regulatory Affairs.

With a record of terrorist acts contained in his MI-6 files, Benjamin Emanuel was permitted by U.S. authorities to emigrate to Chicago from Israel in the 1950s, becoming a citizen. Rahm Emanuel was born in 1959.

*See the original (now deleted) Wikipedia page on Benjamin Emanuel, CLICK HERE.

(Previously published in the Wayne Madsen Report. May 13, 2010)

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Another round (the fourth) of total destruction of Gaza infrastructure: Hospital, social institutions…

Posted by: on: May 14, 2021

Most powerful USA/Israel bombs raining on Gaza

Fadi Quran – Avaaz

I am writing to you from Palestine with a broken heart. Children are being killed. 

I just watched one of them being brought to the hospital. His name is Hamza Nassar. He was just 11 years old.

This vicious spiral of oppression and violence must end.

Our strategy must be to make the economic cost of this conflict too high to bear. It worked to end apartheid in South Africa, and it can end Israeli apartheid in Palestine. Join the call for sanctions on Israel — stand up for freedom and justice.

For many of us reading, Hamza will become a statistic. A number that passes in the news cycle.
(No coverage of colonial powers media on the murder and suffering of the “Palestinian” kids in Gaza and the West Bank)

But Hamza is not a number, he is someone’s son. A brother. A grandchild. A classmate. He was a beautiful dream of a brighter future. And now he is gone, forever. 

This spiral of oppression and violence must end. The only way to stop Israel forcing Palestinians from their lands, the collective punishment of innocent families, Israel bombing Gaza is to make the economic cost of this conflict too high to bear.

This strategy was key to ending Apartheid in South Africa, and it will be key to finally achieving peace in the Middle East. But it won’t succeed unless there’s a massive global movement behind it — and that’s where every one of our voices counts.

When this is huge, we’ll take it directly to members of the UN Security Council demanding sanctions on Israel until it puts an end to the military occupation.

Add your name now, and let’s make sure Hamza’s death is not in vain and no more dreams are vanished.
End the spiral of violence: Sanction Israel Now.

Currently, the Israeli government and extremist settlers make BILLIONS of dollars from the oppression of Palestinians. The settlers stealing the homes of Palestinians are often funded and supported by the Israeli government and USA taxpayers, which allows them to live a subsidized life on land they steal.

The Israeli government steals water and other natural resources from the Palestinian territories it occupies, while many Palestinians are forced to become cheap labour.

Before selling weapons and surveillance technologies to violent regimes, such as the military in Myanmar and dictatorship in Saudi Arabia, Israel often experiments with them on Palestinian communities.

To make freedom and peace viable, we need to shift this broken system that makes crimes against humanity a for-profit endeavor. 

Israel currently occupies, colonises, bombs, raids, and controls the water, trade and the borders of Palestine — a legally free nation that has been recognised by the United Nations.

In Gaza, Israel has created the largest open-air prison in the world, and then blockaded it. Now as bombs fall, the families have no way to escape.

These are war crimes and we wouldn’t accept them anywhere else.

The Israeli government, occupying settlers AND extremists and corrupt leaders benefit from the status quo, and for too long the international community has ignored Palestinian suffering.

To bring peace to the Middle East, that must change. And now is the moment to change it. This must end. 

Israel’s power and wealth dwarfs that of Palestine, and if it refuses to end its illegal occupation, the world must act to make the cost unbearable.

Calling for sanctions on Israel is the most potent non-violent strategy to ensure sustainable peace for Israelis and achieve Palestinian freedom and justice. 


With hope and determination,

Fadi, Marie, Christoph, Mo, Nax, John, Risalat, and the entire Avaaz team.
For more information:
.

Human Rights Watch Report: Israel committing crime of apartheid

Israel’s actions in East Jerusalem are a human rights test for Biden (Vox)

Israeli police storm al-Aqsa mosque ahead of Jerusalem Day march (The Guardian)

What is happening in occupied East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah? (Al Jazeera English)

Hamas fires rockets into Israel after clash at Al-Aqsa Mosque; 20 reported dead in Gaza from Israeli airstrikes (Associated Press)
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