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"Historically, the most terrible things - war, genocide, and slavery - have resulted not from disobedience, but from obedience."

-- Howard Zinn

News and Opinion

Federal Court Hears Appeal in Case Accusing Biden of Complicity in Gaza Genocide

Following the dismissal earlier this year of a federal lawsuit accusing senior Biden administration officials of failing to prevent Israel's U.S.-backed genocide in Gaza, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Monday began hearing an expedited appeal by Palestinian plaintiffs in the case.

Arguing that U.S. leaders "have a legal duty to prevent, and not further," genocide, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) first filed a lawsuit last November in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in Oakland on behalf of the rights groups Defense for Children International-Palestine (DCI-P) and al-Haq, as well as a group of individual Palestinians in Gaza and the United States.

"Genocide can never be a legitimate foreign policy choice," CCR senior staff attorney Katie Gallagher argued during Monday's proceedings.

The suit—which names President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin as defendants—seeks to force the U.S. administration to stop "providing further arms, money, and diplomatic support to Israel" as it wages a war of annihilation in which more than 132,000 Palestinians have been killed, maimed, or left missing; nearly 90% of Gaza's population has been forcibly displaced; and at least hundreds of thousands of people are starving.

Palestinian American writer Laila al-Haddad, a plaintiff in the case, lost her aunt and three of her cousins to a November Israeli airstrike on a United Nations school in the Jabalia refugee camp that killed more than 30 people.

"I promised my surviving family members in Gaza that I would do everything in my power to advocate on their behalf," al-Haddad wrote in an article published Monday by The Nation.

"Although I knew the case would be an uphill battle, I testified to make a record of Israel's horrific slaughter of my family, the displacement and dispossession and starvation of the surviving members, the deliberate destruction of my hometown and everything that sustains life there, and ethnic cleansing of my people," she continued.

"As a Palestinian, I struggle to balance the disgust and impotence I feel knowing that my tax dollars are being used to kill my family members in Gaza with an urgency to do everything in my power to demand an end to this administration's complicity in genocide," al-Haddad added.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White ruled on January 31 that the case fell "outside the court's limited jurisdiction" and rejected the suit on technical grounds—even as he wrote that "the current treatment of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip by the Israeli military may plausibly constitute a genocide in violation of international law."

On February 27, the 9th Circuit Court granted a motion by CCR and co-counsel at Van Der Hout LLP to expedite plaintiffs' appeal amid soaring Palestinian civilian casualties and destruction wrought by Israel's assault on Gaza.

Last week, 9th Circuit Judge Ryan Nelson recused himself from the new case following pressure from plaintiffs who questioned his impartiality after he visited Israel in March with 13 other federal judges on a trip sponsored by the World Jewish Congress meant to convince U.S. jurists of the legality of Israel's Gaza onslaught.

Genocide is defined under the 1948 Genocide Convention as killing or causing serious physical or psychological harm to members of a group, "deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part, imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group," or "forcibly transferring children of the group to another group."

At least hundreds of jurists and genocide experts around the world concur that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. The International Court of Justice is currently weighing a genocide case against Israel brought by South Africa and backed by more than 30 nations and regional blocs. Last month, International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan said he is seeking to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders for alleged crimes including extermination.

As CCR noted:

Numerous Israeli government leaders have expressed clear genocidal intentions and deployed dehumanizing characterizations of Palestinians, including "human animals." At the same time, the Israeli military has bombed civilian areas and infrastructure, including by using chemical weapons, and deprived Palestinians of everything necessary for human life, including water, food, electricity, fuel, and medicine. Those statements of intent—when combined with mass killing, causing serious bodily and mental harm, and the total siege and closure creating conditions of life to bring about the physical destruction of the group—reveal evidence of an unfolding crime of genocide.

The Biden administration has provided Israel with billions of dollars in military aid and arms and ammunition sales, as well as diplomatic cover in the form of United Nations Security Council vetoes and genocide denial, as its forces continue to obliterate Gaza 248 days after the Hamas-led attacks on October 7 that left more than 1,100 Israelis and foreign nationals dead—at least some of whom were killed by so-called "friendly fire"—and over 240 others taken hostage.

"The U.S. courts have an opportunity in front of them: Judges can choose to take a minimal step towards allowing DCI-P and the other plaintiffs to have a chance at holding the Biden administration accountable for its role in the genocide of Palestinians, or they can sit back and refuse to carry out checks on the executive branch," DCI-P advocacy officer Miranda Cleland wrote in an opinion piece published Friday by Middle East Eye. "It is a choice, quite literally, between life and death."

"Israeli forces, emboldened by the so-called ironclad support of the Biden administration, have killed on average more than 60 Palestinian children every day since October 7," she continued. "That's more than 15,000 children who won't go back to school, or play with their friends, or hug their parents ever again. Those 15,000 children will not grow up and live in a free Palestine."

"If the U.S. courts continue to green-light Biden's impunity, more Palestinian children and their families will pay the price," Cleland added. "It is a price that I, alongside many other voters in the U.S., are not willing to accept."

Anya Parampil: Where Are the Nazis Today?

UN security council endorses US-backed hostages-for-ceasefire Gaza deal

The UN security council has adopted a resolution calling for Hamas to agree to a three-phase hostage-for-ceasefire proposal outlined by Joe Biden, the first time the body has endorsed a comprehensive peace deal to end the Gaza war. A Hamas statement said the group welcomed the resolution, though it was not immediately clear if that meant the leadership in Gaza accepted the ceasefire plan.

The position of the Israeli government is also ambiguous. It has officially accepted the peace plan but the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has sought to distance himself from it, and his coalition has shifted to the right since the proposal was put forward. Fourteen council members voted for Monday’s resolution, none against, and only Russia abstained on the US-drafted resolution, which calls for an initial exchange of elderly, sick or women hostages for Palestinian detainees held by Israel in the course of an initial six-week ceasefire. ...

The resolution calls on Hamas to accept the agreement and urges both parties “to fully implement its terms without delay and without condition”. The US has been seeking UN endorsement for the proposal since it was unveiled by Biden on 31 May. It won the support of the Palestinian mission, with a clause saying that an initial six-week ceasefire would be extended as long as talks continued over a second phase. ...

The text stated that Israel had already accepted the ceasefire terms, though that claim is increasingly in question, as the country’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has made a string of sceptical comments on it, claiming that the US had only revealed parts of the plan, and insisting that any proposal for a lasting ceasefire without the complete destruction of Hamas’s military and governing capacity is a “non-starter”.

The resignation over the weekend of a centrist minister, Benny Gantz, has left Netanyahu even more dependent on far-right members of his coalition, who adamantly oppose the deal.

Prof. Jeffrey Sachs : American Wars and Govt Debt

Prospect of Israeli hostage deal recedes as far-right minister signals opposition

The prospect of a hostage deal between Israel and Hamas appears to be rapidly receding after the far-right Israeli cabinet member Bezalel Smotrich – on whom Benjamin Netanyahu is now reliant after the resignations of more moderate ministers at the weekend – said he would oppose a deal.

Smotrich’s comments, during a Knesset committee meeting, came amid the fallout from the resignation of the former army chief of staff Benny Gantz from the war cabinet. Gantz quit on the same weekend that Israel rescued four Israeli hostages held in Gaza in an operation that Gaza’s health ministry said killed more than 270 Palestinians and injured hundreds more.

The departure of Gantz, the leader of the centre-right National Unity party, leaves Netanyahu with enough seats in his coalition but has made him even more reliant on the support of far-right allies including Smotrich, the finance minister, and Itamar Ben-Gvir, the national security minister, who have repeatedly threatened to walk away over any deal for a ceasefire in exchange for hostages.

Smotrich said Hamas was “demanding the release of hundreds of murderers [held by Israel] so that the hostages be freed” and called the deal that was being negotiated “collective suicide”, saying it would lead to the murder of Jews. “When Hamas demands to end the war while it’s surviving in Gaza, it means that the group is arming itself, digging tunnels, buying rockets and that many Jews could be murdered and taken hostage on another October 7,” Smotrich said.

His comments underlined Netanyahu’s shrinking room for political manoeuvre barely 24 hours after the celebratory headlines in the Israeli media over the hostages’ rescue.

Details emerge of Israel’s Nuseirat refugee camp massacre

Details have begun to emerge of Israel’s massacre at the Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza Saturday, in which 274 people were killed and hundreds more were injured. The Washington Post confirmed Sunday that Israeli forces used civilian vehicles in the military operation and that the operation was staged near the “humanitarian” port built by the US military. Gaza’s Government Media Office reported that Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers pretended to be refugees before opening fire on the camp.

The massacre was carried out under the pretext of a “hostage rescue,” although nearly as many hostages (three) were killed during the massacre as were rescued (four). According to US media accounts, the massacre, which killed or injured nearly 1,000 and destroyed nearly 100 buildings, aimed to simply destroy everything in the path of the Israeli commando team. “The air force started shooting to give them a corridor, a wall of fire,” retired IDF Maj. Gen. David Tsur told the Washington Post.

The IDF boasts of close US collaboration in the massacre. It reported that “the US hostage cell played a decisive role in freeing the hostages” and that it used “high-precision American technology that had not been used before in the process of freeing the hostages.” The Pentagon denied direct US military participation in the attack. “The pier facility, including its equipment, personnel and assets, were not used in the [Israeli military’s] operation to rescue hostages in Gaza,” said Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder. He admitted, however, “there was some type of helicopter activity” by the IDF near the pier, but claimed this was “not associated” with the US military.

The Euro-Med Monitor reported that “massive, indiscriminate air and artillery attacks were launched by the Israeli army during the operation in order to conceal the withdrawal of Israeli forces.” The massacre sent a flood of wounded people into Gaza’s overloaded hospital system. “We placed the injured along the internal corridors and in between beds. There is no room at all inside this hospital. We had them sleep in external tents,” Dr. Khalil al-Dakran of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital told Al Jazeera, noting that there are four times more wounded people at the hospital than beds. ...

Some 274 Palestinians were killed during the massacre and another 700 were wounded. The dead included 64 children and 57 women. “The streets are filled with dead bodies,” one witness told the Associated Press. Eighty-nine homes or residential buildings had been bombed during the massacre.

Israel perpetrated Nuseirat massacre to ‘block’ ceasefire deal: Hamas

Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the Hamas movement’s political bureau, says Israel launched its bloody massacre and captive rescue operation in Gaza’s Nuseirat camp Saturday to block a ceasefire deal. Speaking with Al Jazeera Arabic on 10 June about the US-proposed ceasefire deal and prospects for ending the war, Haniyeh said Israel attacked the Nuseirat camp, killing at least 274 Palestinians and retrieving four Israeli captives to block any agreement that would end the war.

Israeli forces bombed various civilian areas of Gaza from the air to create chaos and pave the way for Saturday’s operation while executing Palestinians in cold blood in their homes where no Israeli captives were present.

Haniyeh also accused the US of being a part of the attack, saying the Biden White House is “no less criminal” than the Israeli leadership. ... On Sunday, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said the US offered help with the rescue of four Israeli captives but did not specify how, citing security reasons.

A senior White House official told NBC News on Monday that the operation will likely complicate efforts to reach a ceasefire and captive exchange between Israel and Hamas.

U.S. Jewish Army Intel Officer Quits over Gaza, Says "Impossible" Not to See Echoes of Holocaust

Ukraine Says Some of Its F-16 Fighter Jets Will Be Stored Abroad

A senior Ukrainian Air Force official said Monday that Ukraine plans to keep some of the Western-provided US-made F-16 fighter jets that it will receive at foreign military bases to protect them from Russian strikes, an arrangement that risks provoking Russian attacks on NATO territory.

“There are a certain number of aircraft that will be stored at secure air bases, outside of Ukraine, so that they are not targeted here,” said Brig. Gen. Serhiy Holubtsov, the chief of aviation in Ukraine’s air force. “And this will be our reserve in case of need for replacement of faulty planes during routine maintenance.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials have previously warned that NATO bases housing Ukrainian jets that are being used in the war could be potential targets.

QUIET PART OUT LOUD: Lindsey Graham DROOLS Over Ukraine Minerals

Scholz & Greens will learn nothing from election results

US Begins Withdrawal from Niger

US Africa Command announced on Saturday that it has begun the process of withdrawing military assets from Niger as the US has a September 15 deadline to get out of the country.

“The US Department of Defense and the Nigerien Ministry of National Defense of the Republic of Niger announce that the withdrawal of US forces and assets from Niger has progressed from initial preparations to redeployment,” AFRICOM said in a joint statement with Niger’s military.

Caught on Tape, Alito Exposed as 'Crusader for Christian Nationalism'

Judicial reform advocates on Monday demanded that the U.S. Senate take decisive action to hold Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito accountable for his clear display of bias and conflicts of interest, after a documentary filmmaker released audio clips she had recorded of the justice discussing ideological battles in the U.S. he said "can't be compromised."

Shared exclusively with Rolling Stone, tapes recorded by filmmaker Lauren Windsor at the Supreme Court Historical Society's annual dinner on June 3 include comments from Alito about the need to return the country to "a place of godliness" and suggesting that he sympathizes with right-wing activists who believe they can't "negotiate with the left."

Windsor attended the annual dinner, which is frequented by right-wing activists who are able to interact with the justices at the event, using her real name and as a dues-paying member of the society, which costs $150 per year to join. The liberal filmmaker asked questions of Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts "as though she were a religious conservative," Rolling Stone reported.

Alito replied, "I agree with you," when Windsor said people who are conservative Christians need "to return our country to a place of godliness." He said Windsor was "probably right" when she said, "I don't know that we can negotiate with the left in the way that needs to happen for the polarization to end. I think that it's a matter of, like, winning."

"One side or the other is going to win," agreed the justice. "I mean, there can be a way of working—a way of living together peacefully, but it's difficult, you know, because there are differences on fundamental things that really can't be compromised. It's not like you can split the difference."

EXCLUSIVE UNDERCOVER AUDIO:
Sam Alito x John Roberts x The Undercurrent

1/ Justice Alito admits lack of impartiality with the Left, says: “One side or the other is going to win.” pic.twitter.com/b5nmxToZ9z

— Lauren Windsor (@lawindsor) June 10, 2024

In her response, Sarah Lipton-Lubet, president for the Take Back the Court Action Fund, referred to the display of an upside-down American flag at Alito's house in early 2021—which the justice said was an action taken solely by his wife.

"Justice Alito can hardly blame his wife this time," said Lipton-Lubet. "In case it wasn't glaringly obvious to anyone paying attention, Alito is now on tape declaring himself a political crusader for Christian nationalism."

Trump will not be charged for waving around classified papers, judge says

The federal judge overseeing Donald Trump’s prosecution on charges of retaining classified documents agreed on Monday to expunge from the indictment a paragraph about an episode where the former president waved around a classified document at his Bedminster club in New Jersey.

The US district judge Aileen Cannon ruled she would strike the paragraph because Trump was not charged with a crime for the conduct it described and would be unfairly prejudicial if a jury later saw it at trial.

Cannon’s ruling is notable because it could indicate how she will rule on future motions by Trump to suppress evidence as he attempts to limit the scope of the evidence prosecutors can introduce against him – and thereby dramatically undercut the case.

The move to strike the paragraph was unusual, legal experts said.

TERRIFIED James Carville: Biden NEVER Should've Run

Biden supporters mostly back him in 2024 election because they oppose Trump, poll finds

More than half of Joe Biden’s supporters are primarily motivated to cast their vote for the president in order to prevent a return of Donald Trump to the White House, according to a new poll.

Opposing Trump is the main reason to back Biden for 54% of the Democratic incumbent’s voters, the new CBS/YouGov poll found, up from 47% in a similar survey conducted in March, which was prior to the presumptive Republican nominee being found guilty of business fraud by a New York jury.

A further 27% of Biden voters are supporting the president because they like him – down from 31% in March – while 19% say that they are backing him because he is the Democratic nominee for president.

Microplastics found in every human semen sample tested in study

Microplastic pollution has been found in all human semen samples tested in a study, and researchers say further research on the potential harm to reproduction is “imperative”.

Sperm counts in men have been falling for decades and 40% of low counts remain unexplained, although chemical pollution has been implicated by many studies.

The 40 semen samples were from healthy men undergoing premarital health assessments in Jinan, China. Another recent study found microplastics in the semen of six out of 10 healthy young men in Italy, and another study in China found the pollutants in half of 25 samples.

Recent studies in mice have reported that microplastics reduced sperm count and caused abnormalities and hormone disruption. ...

Microplastics have also recently been discovered in human blood, placentas and breast milk, indicating widespread contamination of people’s bodies. The impact on health is as yet unknown but microplastics have been shown to cause damage to human cells in the laboratory.

Supreme court ruling delays climate litigation big oil has sought to thwart

The supreme court on Monday asked the Biden administration to weigh in on big oil’s request to thwart litigation that could put them on the hook for billions of dollars. The one-line order will delay the litigation from advancing to trial. It follows an unprecedented pressure campaign from far-right fossil fuel allies on the court.

“Big oil companies are fighting desperately to avoid trial in lawsuits like Honolulu’s, which would expose the evidence of the fossil fuel industry’s climate lies for the entire world to see,” said Richard Wiles, president of the non-profit Center for Climate Integrity, which supports climate accountability litigation.

Honolulu is one of dozens of cities and states to sue oil majors for allegedly hiding the dangers of their products from the public. In October, Hawaii’s supreme court ruled that the suit can go to trial.

But the defendants petitioned the US supreme court in February to review that decision, arguing the cases should be thrown out because emissions are a federal issue that cannot be tried in state courts.

The high court receives thousands of petitions each year, giving each one only a small chance of being reviewed. But in recent weeks, rightwing fossil fuel allies have pushed the justices to take up oil companies’ request, publishing a slew of op-eds and social media advertisements.

Also of Interest

Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.

Using Ukraine Since 1948

Saving Gaza Is About More Than Saving Gaza. It’s Also About Saving Ourselves

When Israel Burned Refugees Alive, Establishment Media Called It a ‘Tragic Accident’

Gaza & UN Veto Power

Academia Only as Free as Powerful Donors Allow

The Russian Endgame in Ukraine and European Resistance to “Right Wing” Advances: A Thought Experiment

Le Pen Is Delusional But Macron Deserves To Lose

Leonard Peltier, Indigenous activist in prison for 47 years over FBI killings, has parole hearing

Briahna CANCELED for Being Pro-Palestine? What Really Happened? (w/ Due Dissidence)

Palestine Talks | In conversation with Aaron Mate

Cars SECRETLY Snitching On Drivers To Insurance Cost

Russia Sends Ships & Nuclear Subs To Cuba!

A Little Night Music

Robert Lowery - If I Had Possesion Over Judgement Day

Robert Lowery - They Call Me the Blues Man

Robert Lowery - Crossroads Blues

Robert Lowery - Hobo Blues

Robert Lowery - Sliding the Blues

Robert Lowery - Leaving You Now

Robert Lowery - Don't Treat Me This Way

Robert Lowery - Mojo Hand

Robert Lowery - Blacktop Blues

Robert Lowery - Snake Hippin' Mama