Iran blames United States and Israel for attack on its embassy in Syria

Iran is engaged in the first part of its response to an airstrike on Monday in Damascus, which it blames on Israel. It also blames the United States.

This shows how Iran is seeking to link the incident that killed several key Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members to a wider regional struggle in which Iran is engaged in trying to reduce US influence in the region.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian has highlighted the attack on the consulate compound in Damascus and also sought to spotlight what Iran claims is the “American administration’s responsibility.”

Iran buried members of the IRGC killed in Damascus, which included Quds Force commander for operations in Syria and Lebanon Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, his deputy, and five of their accompanying officers, according to Iran’s pro-government Fars News.

Meanwhile, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi phoned Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad and lashed out at the West for continuing to provide financial and military support to Israel amid the Gaza war, and stressed the Zionist regime does not adhere to any of the humanitarian and international principles.

“There is no doubt that Zionists and their supporters are responsible,” Raisi said.

“The Syrian president stressed that the Zionist regime seeks to escape from the quagmire it is caught in by the Palestinian resistance in the besieged enclave and emphasized the need to support the axis of resistance,” the report noted.

At the same time, in a statement to the UN, the Iranian envoy said, “Yesterday, we urgently notified the Security Council members of yet another flagrant violation of international law committed by the Israeli regime within Syria territory.

As reflected in our letter, on April 01, 2024 our diplomatic premises in Damascus came under terrorist attacks carried out by the Israeli regime.

Seven missile airstrikes from the occupied Golan Heights, specifically and intentionally targeted the diplomatic premises of Iran including the consular section building and the ambassador’s residence.”

The Iranian envoy said, “The final and accurate death toll remains uncertain as the entire diplomatic premises has been destroyed, with individuals trapped under the rubble.”

Iran wants the United Nations Security Council to do more in the wake of the airstrike. Iran has also sought to get Russia’s support and to mobilize condemnation in the Gulf countries which have reconciled or normalized with the Syrian regime in the last two years.

This means that they have a vested interest in condemning an attack on a diplomatic post in Damascus. The fact is the building next to the Iranian consulate was not a purely diplomatic site, as it was used by the IRGC.

However, from the standpoint of the Gulf states, it is worthwhile to appear to condemn the strike. Iran and Saudi Arabia also reconciled last year, meaning Riyadh has an interest in appearing to condemn the attack.

Iran is trying to mobilize this diplomatic support before lashing out with its promised retaliation.

 In the past, Iran has attacked Erbil in Iraq when it wanted to retaliate. In 2020 it fired ballistic missiles at a base in Iraq in retaliation for the US killing of IRGC Quds Force head Qasem Soleimani.

Iran has already mobilized its militias and proxies in various countries since October 07 to attack Israel and US forces in Iraq and Syria. In addition, the Iranian-backed Kataib Hezbollah targeted US forces in Jordan in January.

As such, the Iranian claim that is retaliating is a bit of a stretch, because it is Iran that has been attacking throughout the region. However, Iran wants the sympathy of other countries and it wants an official record of this attack in Damascus, so it can claim a right to respond. Iran also wants to leverage this with Russia, China and other states. 

 

Qatar: Al Udeid US Air Base

According to a CNN report the United States has quietly reached an agreement that extends its military presence at a sprawling base in Qatar for another 10 years.

The deal, which has not been announced publicly, highlights Washington’s reliance on the tiny Gulf country that has recently played a central role in mediating the release of Americans from captivity in Gaza and Venezuela.

The Al Udeid Air Base, located in the desert southwest of Doha, is the biggest US military installation in the Middle East and can house more than 10,000 American troops.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin personally visited Al Udeid and thanked Qatar for their increased spending on the base.

Austin made no mention of the renewal and the Biden administration has not publicized it – at a time when Qatar has come under growing scrutiny for hosting senior Hamas leaders.

Qatari officials have countered that it was only after a US request during the Obama administration that Hamas was allowed to open a political office in Doha.

The base has been a pivotal hub for the US Central Command’s air operations in or around Afghanistan, Iran and across the Middle East. The Qatari and British Air Forces also operate from the base.

The extension comes as the US has bolstered its presence in the region amid escalating threats from Iran-backed militant groups in Iraq, Syria and Yemen.

After Hamas kidnapped some 240 hostages from Israel on October 07, 2023 Qatar has been the primary go-between with Hamas to broker the initial release of scores of the Israeli and international hostages. It continues to be central in the talks to try to revive hostage negotiations, coordinating with the CIA and Israel’s Mossad, as well as Egypt.

Their part in the months of negotiations over Americans detained by Venezuela was less public but came to light after President Nicolas Maduro released 10 Americans last month in exchange for a close ally accused by the US of laundering hundreds of millions of dollars.

Qatar’s involvement in both sets of negotiations has been seen as an extension of the mediating role the country has taken on with other US enemies, including Iran and the Taliban. 

Its vast oil and natural gas wealth, coupled with ability to act as a facilitator, allow Qatar to punch above its weight.

While their hosting of Hamas leadership was no secret, the brutality of the October 7 massacre in Israel has ignited criticism of Qatar and calls for them to expel Hamas.

President Joe Biden has spoken about his conversations with Qatar’s emir but at times hasn’t given them the credit they feel they deserve.

Biden did not mention Qatar in a November op-ed in The Washington Post, while Egypt and other Middle East allies were referenced. Nor did Biden highlight Qatar’s part in the release of the detainees in Venezuela in his official statement.

Thousands of Afghans were flown from Kabul to Al Udeid during the chaotic American withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. US military personnel struggled to provide for the massive influx of refugees from what Biden called “one of the largest, most difficult airlifts in history.”

Qatar has committed billions of its own funds upgrade the facilities for US Airmen at the base. Al Udeid became CENTCOM’s main air base in 2003, shifting forces and assets from the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, where the presence of a large number of American military personnel was more sensitive and controversial.

“We’ll do this through Qatar’s commitment to contribute significant resources to increase capabilities here at Al Udeid Air Base, and that will support both of our forces for years to come,” Austin added.

 

 

Enough is Enough, Muslims must stop trading with United State and its allies, immediately

Since October 2023 Israel has killed nearly 35,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children. It has been using munitions mainly supplied by the United States of America and its allies.

The US has also vetoed resolutions seeking ceasefire in Gaza.

Lately, the super power has approved sending more munitions to facilitate genocide by Israel in Gaza.

During these days Muslim countries have done nothing except requesting United States and its allies to request Israel to stop killing.

Enough is enough; the time has come for the joint army of Muslim countries to attack Israel.

If they are afraid of taking military action against Israel, they should suspend trade with the United States and its allies immediately, at the least.

On top priority Muslim countries should stop selling oil to United States and all those countries which are supplying munitions to Israel to kill Gazans  

US urges fair legal process for Arvind Kejriwal

The United States has reiterated that it encourages a transparent legal process in a corruption case against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

State Department spokesperson Mathew Miller said that the US was closely following actions taken against opposition parties in India.

Miller's remarks came hours after India summoned a US diplomat over a similar comment he made earlier.

Kejriwal, who was arrested last week, has denied any wrongdoing.

Hours before his arrest, India's main opposition Congress party had held a press conference saying that its bank accounts were frozen by the tax department ahead of the general elections.

Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress have accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of political vendetta.

The BJP denies the allegation, saying investigative agencies were doing their work independently.

Miller told reporters that US was also aware of the Congress party's allegations that the freezing of their bank accounts would make it challenging to effectively campaign in the upcoming elections.

"We encourage fair, transparent, timely legal processes [in both cases]. We don't think anyone should object to that," he added.

India's foreign ministry had summoned US acting deputy chief of mission, Gloria Berbena, to protest against similar remarks by Miller.

India had also issued a statement saying that in diplomacy, states are expected to be respectful of the sovereignty and internal affairs of others.

"India's legal processes are based on an independent judiciary which is committed to objective and timely outcomes. Casting aspersions on that is unwarranted", the statement added.

The US is the second country to comment on Kejriwal's arrest. Last week, the German foreign ministry said it hoped that Kejriwal would get a fair and impartial trial as India is a democratic nation.

India reacted strongly to these remarks as well and summoned a German diplomat to raise its objections.

Indian opposition leaders have accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP of using investigative agencies to cripple their parties and stifle dissent before the elections.

In January, the Enforcement Directorate (ED — India's financial crimes agency) arrested top opposition leader Hemant Soren in a corruption case, hours after he resigned from the position of the chief minister of Jharkhand state.

Soren and his party denied any wrongdoing and accused the BJP of stifling opposition. The BJP has rejected his claim.

Amnesty International has also said that that the crackdown on peaceful dissent and opposition in India has now reached a crisis point.

Kejriwal is the third AAP leader to be arrested over the alleged corruption case related to a now-scrapped liquor policy in Delhi.

The BJP has alleged that the policy — which ended the government's monopoly on alcohol sales — gave undue advantages to private retailers.

The ED has accused AAP leaders of receiving kickbacks to be used in state elections. The party denies the allegation.

Who Supply Israel Murder Weapons?

Over 9,000 Palestinian women have been killed since the start of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip. Mothers have been the largest share of Israeli killings, at an average of 37 mothers per day since October 07, 2023.

The numbers above, from the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza and the Red Crescent Society respectively, only convey part of the suffering experienced by 2.3 million Palestinians in the Strip.

There is not a single section in Palestinian society that has not paid a heavy price for the war, although women and children are the ones who have suffered most, constituting over 70% of all victims of the ongoing Israeli genocide.

These women and their children are killed at the hands of Israeli soldiers, but they are murdered with US-western supplied weapons.

We are told that the world is finally turning against Israel, and that the west’s nod of approval to Tel Aviv to carry on with its daily massacres may soon turn into a collective snub.

This claim was expressed best in the March 23 cover of the Economist magazine. It showed a tattered Israeli flag, attached to a stick, and planted in an arid, dusty land. It was accompanied by the headline “Israel Alone”.

The image, undoubtedly expressive, was meant to serve as a sign of the times.

Its profundity becomes even more obvious if compared to another cover, from the same publication soon after the Israeli military conquered massive Arab territories in the war of June 1967. “They did it,” the headline, back then, read. In the background, an Israeli military tank was pictured, illustrating the west-funded Israeli triumph.

Between the two headlines much, in the world and in the Middle East, has changed. But to claim that Israel now stands alone is not entirely accurate, at least not yet.

Though many of Israel’s traditional allies in the west openly disown its behavior in Gaza, weapons from various western and non-western countries continue to flow, feeding the war machine as it, in turn, continues to harvest more Palestinian lives.

Does Israel truly stand alone when its airports and seaports are busier than ever receiving massive shipments of weapons coming from all directions?

Almost every time a western country announces that it has suspended arms exports to Israel, a news headline appears shortly afterwards, indicating the opposite. Indeed, this has happened repeatedly.

Last year, Rome had declared that it was blocking all arms sales to Israel, giving false hope that some western countries are finally experiencing some kind of moral awakening.

Alas, on March 14, Reuters quoted the Italian Defense Minister, Guido Crosetto as saying that shipments of weapons to Israel are continuing, based on the flimsy logic that previously signed deals would have to be ‘honored’.

Another country that is also ‘honoring’ its previous commitments is Canada, which announced on May 19, following a parliamentary motion that it had suspended arms exports.

The celebration among those advocating an end to the genocide in Gaza were just getting started when, a day later, Ottawa practically reversed the decision by announcing that it, too, will honor previous commitments.

This illustrates that some western countries, which continue to impart their unsolicited wisdom about human rights, women’s rights and democracy on the rest of the world, have no genuine respect for any of these values.

Canada and Italy are not the largest military supporters of Israel. The US and Germany are. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, in the decade between 2013 and 2022, Israel has received 68% of its weapons from the US and 28% from Germany.

The Germans remain unperturbed, even though 5% of the total population of Gaza has been killed, wounded or are missing due to the Israeli war.

Yet, the American support for Israel is far greater, although the Biden Administration is still sending messages to its constituency – majority of whom want the war to stop – that the president is doing his best to pressure Israel to end the war.

Though only two approved military sales to Israel have been announced publicly since October 07, the two shipments represent only 2% from the total US arms sent to Israel.

The news was revealed by the Washington Post on March 06. It was published at a time when US media was reporting on a widening rift between US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“That’s an extraordinary number of sales over the course of a pretty short amount of time,” a former senior Biden Administration official told the Post. Jeremy Konyndyk reached the obvious conclusion that the “Israeli campaign would not be sustainable without this level of US support”.

For decades, the US military support to Israel has been the highest anywhere in the world. Starting 2016, this unconditional support exponentially increased during the Obama Administration to reach US$3.8 billion per year.

Immediately after October 07, the weapons shipments to Israel reached unprecedented levels. They included a 2,000-pound bomb known as 5,000 MK-84 munitions. Israel has used this bomb to kill hundreds of innocent Palestinians.

Though Washington frequently alleges to be looking into Israel’s use of its weapons, it turned out, according to the Washington Post, that Biden knew too well that Israel was regularly bombing buildings without solid intelligence that they were legitimate military targets”.

In some ways, Israel ‘stands alone’, but only because its behavior is rejected by most countries and peoples around the world. However, it is hardly alone when its war crimes are being executed with western support and arms.

For the Israeli genocide in Gaza to end, those who continue to sustain the ongoing bloodbath must also be held accountable.

 

US refuses to support Pak-Iran gas pipeline

The news that United States could impose sanctions on the country if it goes ahead with Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline has been received with utter disappointment. It is likely to increase hatred against the super power, which is alleged of toppling Iman Khan Government in Pakistan.

According to DAWN, the US said on Tuesday it does not support a Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline project from going forward and cautioned about the risk of sanctions in doing business with Tehran.

A day earlier, Petroleum Minister Musadik Malik had said that Islamabad would seek exemption from US sanctions over the gas pipeline project.

The Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline is a long-term project between Tehran and Islamabad, and has faced delays and funding challenges for several years.

“We always advise everyone that doing business with Iran runs the risk of touching upon and coming in contact with our sanctions, and would advise everyone to consider that very carefully,” a US State Department spokesperson told reporters in a press briefing.

“We do not support this pipeline going forward,” the spokesperson added, saying that Donald Lu, the State Department’s top official for South and Central Asia, had said as much to a congressional panel last week.

 

 

Biden, Netanyahu on collision course

Relations between President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sank to a wartime low on Monday with the US allowing passage of a Gaza ceasefire resolution at the United Nations and drawing a sharp rebuke from the Israeli leader.

Netanyahu abruptly scrapped a visit to Washington this week by a senior delegation to discuss Israel’s threatened offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah after the US abstained in a Security Council vote that demanded an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and the release of all hostages held by the Palestinian militants.

The suspension of that meeting puts a major new obstacle in the way of efforts by the US, concerned about a deepening humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, to get Netanyahu to consider alternatives to a ground invasion of Rafah, the last relatively safe haven for Palestinian civilians.

The threat of such an offensive has increased tensions between longtime allies the United States and Israel, and raised questions about whether the US might restrict military aid if Netanyahu defies Biden and presses ahead anyway.

"This shows that trust between the Biden administration and Netanyahu may be breaking down," said Aaron David Miller, a former Middle East negotiator for Republican and Democratic administrations. "If the crisis is not managed carefully, it’s only going to continue to worsen."

Biden’s decision to abstain at the UN, coming after months of mostly adhering to longtime US policy of shielding Israel at the world body, appeared to reflect growing US frustration with the Israeli leader.

The president, running for re-election in November, faces pressure not just from America's allies but from a growing number of fellow Democrats to rein in the Israeli military response.

Netanyahu confronts domestic challenges of his own, not least his far-right coalition members’ demands for a hard line against the Palestinians.

He also must convince hostages’ families he is doing everything for their release while facing frequent protests calling for his resignation.

As Netanyahu's office announced the cancellation of the visit, he said the failure of the US to veto the resolution was a clear retreat from its previous position and would hurt Israel's war efforts.

US officials said the Biden administration was perplexed by Israel's decision and considered it an overreaction, insisting there had been no change in policy.

Washington had mostly avoided the word ceasefire earlier in the nearly six-month-old war in the Gaza Strip and had used its veto power at the UN to shield Israel as it retaliated against Hamas.

But as famine looms in Gaza and amid growing global pressure for a truce in the war that Palestinian health authorities say has killed some 32,000 Palestinians, the US abstained on a call for a ceasefire for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which ends in two weeks.

The challenge now for Biden and Netanyahu is to keep their differences from escalating out of control, analysts say.

Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington, said there was no reason this should be a mortal blow to relations. "So I don’t think the door is closed to anything," he said.

Signalling that the two governments remain in close communication, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, on a visit separate from the one Netanyahu's delegation scrubbed earlier, went ahead with high-level meetings in Washington on Monday.

But the US abstention adds to a deepening rift between Biden and Netanyahu, who have known each other for years but have had a testy relationship even in the best of times.

Earlier this month, Biden said in an MSNBC interview that a Rafah invasion would be a red line, though he added that the defense of Israel is critical and there is no way "I’m going to cut off all weapons so that they don’t have the Iron Dome (missile defense system) to protect them."

Netanyahu dismissed Biden's criticism and vowed to press forward in Rafah, the last part of the Gaza Strip where Israeli forces have not carried out a ground offensive, though US officials say there are no signs of an imminent operation.

That was followed last week with US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the country’s highest-ranking Jewish elected official, describing Netanyahu as an obstacle to peace and calling for new elections in Israel to replace him.

Biden called it a "good speech."

But Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters on Wednesday he was thinking of inviting Netanyahu, who spoke by videolink to Republican senators last week, to address Congress. That would be seen as a jab at Biden, giving Netanyahu a high-profile forum to air grievances against the US administration.

Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse told Reuters that Netanyahu appeared to be working with Republicans to weaponize the US-Israel relationship in favor of the right wing.

Biden’s 2024 re-election bid limits his options: he needs to avoid giving Republicans an issue to seize on with pro-Israel voters, while also halting the erosion of support from progressive Democrats dismayed by his strong backing for Israel.

Netanyahu, aware that polls show him being soundly defeated in any election held now, knows there is wide support for continuing the war in Gaza among an Israeli population still deeply traumatized. He appears willing to risk testing Washington's tolerance.

All members of Netanyahu's emergency unity government support continuing the war until Hamas is destroyed and the hostages are returned, and there has been little sign of willingness to meet US calls for moderation, despite the growing risk of international isolation.

Hard-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Israel was a partner but the United States was not its patron state.

Pakistan Day reception in Washington

Discussions at the Pakistan Day reception at the embassy underscored the importance of political unity in Pakistan, while the PTI’s protests dominated conversations among the guests.

Ambassador Masood Khan also acknowledged the necessity of political stability in Pakistan when he addressed his guests, “We continue to work for political cohesion in our country and economic development.”

The other speaker, USAID Assistant Administrator of the Bureau for Asia Michael Schiffer, emphasized Pakistan’s long-term development aspirations. “Enhancing Pakistan’s economic growth is a bedrock of our work,” he declared.

Ambassador Khan assured the audience both sides were working to recalibrate ties structured around trade, investment, green energy, healthcare, education, and science and technology.

Schiffer identified sustainable economic growth, greater access to energy, gender equality, strengthening peace and inclusion, education, and health as shared objectives.

Ambassador Khan said, “Together, we would continue to work for regional and global security and counter transnational threats, especially terrorism.”

Over 450 guests, including ambassadors of friendly countries, other diplomats and military attaches, high-ranking officials from the US State Department, the World Bank, IMF, US lawmakers, think tank scholars, media representatives, and members of the Pak-American community, attended the event.

 

US opposition of Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline

While US Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu’s recent testimony before a Congressional panel contained no bombshells about the cipher saga, the American diplomat’s replies to questions from lawmakers about the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline should certainly be cause for concern.

American reservations over the gas project clearly infringe on Pakistan’s sovereign right to take independent foreign policy decisions.

Lu told lawmakers that it was an American goal to ensure the pipeline is not completed. Using highly undiplomatic language, he observed that if they [Pakistan] get in bed with Iran, it will be very serious for our relationship.

The Foreign Office reaction to these comments was measured, as the spokesperson told the media that there was no room for discussion on a third-party [US] waiver, while the pipeline plays an important role in Pakistan’s energy security.

It is hoped that the state remains steadfast in upholding its commitments to the project, and rejects unwarranted foreign pressure.

Until the caretaker government gave the go-ahead for revitalizing the pipeline last month, the scheme had been in the doldrums for over a decade, mainly out of concern over attracting America’s wrath.

Pakistan should be the best judge of its energy requirements, and unsolicited advice such as that offered by Lu should be rejected with thanks. The American official also questioned how Pakistan would procure the financing to complete the scheme. Again, that should be Pakistan’s headache, not anyone else’s.

The fact is that the Iran pipeline appears to be a viable energy project, as the other major regional scheme — the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline — is in deep freeze particularly after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. Moreover, if Pakistan reneges on the deal with Iran, it risks entering a messy litigation process, and paying a hefty US$18 billion in penalty.

Lu’s comments should also serve as a warning to our policymakers of the demands some of our friends may make of us in future as geopolitical turbulence increases.

For instance, today, Washington has issues with CPEC and the Iran pipeline; tomorrow it could let its displeasure be known regarding our relations with Moscow or other American foes.

Pakistan should be ready to face such criticism, and take decisions that are in the national interest.

Pakistan values its ties with the US and other Western states. But this does not mean relations with other states/ blocs should be held hostage to the whims of its Western partners.

However, it is also true that Pakistan can only take truly independent decisions when it does not have to depend on others to keep its economy afloat.

India and China can ignore US strictures about not trading with Russia because of their economic heft. Pakistan must heal itself if it wants to achieve true sovereignty.

Courtesy: Dawn

United States has ruined Haiti and Honduras

Haiti and Honduras have made headlines in the last few weeks. Honduras’ former president, Juan Orlando Hernández, was just convicted in a US court of drug trafficking. He faces life in prison. Haiti is a nation without a government, as armed groups have united against the US-backed, unelected Prime Minister installed after the assassination of their president in 2021.

US intervention in Haiti, Honduras and other countries is one of the principal drivers of people seeking asylum in the United States, as they flee violence, poverty and persecution at home. This point is almost never mentioned in the US press. To understand and ultimately solve the immigration crisis, Americans need to understand what their government has long done in their name, with their tax dollars–arming and propping up brutal regimes abroad.

In both cases, what is missing from mainstream news coverage is the role of US intervention that brought them to this point. “The crisis in Haiti is a crisis of imperialism,” University of British Columbia Professor Jemima Pierre, a Haitian American scholar, explained on the Democracy Now! news hour. 

In her NACLA Report article headlined, Haiti as Empire’s Laboratory, she describes her home country as the site of the longest and most brutal neocolonial experiment in the modern world.

Haiti was the world’s first Black republic, founded in 1804 following a slave revolt. France demanded Haiti pay reparations, for the loss of slave labor when Haiti’s enslaved people freed themselves. For more than a century, Haiti’s debt payments to France, then later to the US, hobbled its economy.

The United States refused to recognize Haiti for decades, until 1862, fearful that the example of a slave uprising would inspire the same in the US.

In 1915, the US invaded Haiti, occupying it until 1934. The US also backed the brutal Duvalier dictatorships from 1957 to 1986. Jean-Bertand Aristide became Haiti’s first democratically-elected president in 1991, only to be ousted in a violent coup eight months later. The coup was supported by President George W. Bush and later by President Bill Clinton.

Public pressure forced Clinton to allow Aristide’s return in 1994, to finish his presidential term in 1996. Aristide was reelected in 2001.

“In 2004…the US, France and Canada got together and backed a coup d’état against the country’s first democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide,” Jemima Pierre continued. “The US Marines… put him on a plane with his security officials, his wife and aide, and flew them to the Central African Republic.”

Democracy Now! traveled to C.A.R. in 2004 covering a delegation led by Transafrica founder Randall Robinson and US Congress member Maxine Waters who defied US policy and escorted the Aristides back to the Western Hemisphere. Aristide confirmed to Democracy Now! then that he had been ousted in a coup d’état backed by the United States. Aristide then went to live in exile in South Africa for the next seven years. In response to allegations that gangs are currently controlling Haiti, Professor Pierre said, “The so-called gang violence is actually not the main problem in Haiti. The main problem in Haiti is the constant interference of the international community, and the international community here is, very explicitly, the US, France and Canada.”

The Biden administration is reportedly now considering the transfer of Haitian asylum seekers to the controversial US Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba – a repeat of some of the worst US policies in its long history of exploitation of Haitians. Honduras, meanwhile, currently has a democratically elected president, Xiomara Castro. Her husband, Manuel “Mel” Zelaya, was elected president in 2006, then ousted in a US-backed coup in 2009. In the following years, Honduras descended into a narco-state, forcing hundreds of thousands to flee violence, seeking asylum in the United States and elsewhere.

In 2013, Juan Orlando Hernández was elected president amidst allegations of campaign finance violations, then again in 2017 in an election widely considered fraudulent.

Shortly thereafter, his brother Juan Antonio Hernández was arrested in Miami for drug trafficking. Then, following Xiomara Castro’s election, Juan Orlando Hernández himself was arrested and extradited to the US for cocaine trafficking. On March 8th, he was convicted in US federal court, and is currently awaiting sentencing.“

The evidence was chilling,” history professor Dana Frank, who was in the courtroom, said on Democracy Now! “This litany of assassinations of prosecutors, assassinations of journalists, corruption of the police, the military, politicians, the president, his brother, you name it. And it was like the curtain was drawn back, and you could see the day-to-day workings of this tremendous violent, corrupt mechanism that was the Juan Orlando Hernández administration…this was what happened after the 2009 coup that opened the door for the destruction of the rule of law in Honduras.”

Courtesy: Information Clearing House

Stopping military operations in Gaza

Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a meeting in Jeddah on Wednesday.

During the meeting, they discussed the latest regional and international developments, foremost of which were the developments in the Gaza Strip. The efforts to stop military operations in Gaza, and dealing with its security and humanitarian repercussions were figured high in their talks.

The entire population in Gaza is experiencing high levels of acute food shortage, with around 1.1 million people or half the population living through catastrophic food insecurity.

Famine is now projected and imminent in the North Gaza and Gaza Governorates and is expected to become manifest during the projection period from mid-March 2024 to May 2024.

The famine is projected to occur in Gaza’s northern governorates if conflict escalates, including the impending ground offensive in the southern city of Rafah, and if the hostilities continue to obstruct the flow of humanitarian aid to parts of Gaza where people in need reside.

Some households face massive food shortages, being in the phase four and five categories and the latest data shows that people are resorting to eating animal fodder, scavenging or begging.

“There is an imminent risk of famine in North of Gaza and a risk of famine across the [Gaza] Strip,” Nour Shawaf, the MENA policy adviser at Oxfam, told Al Jazeera.

The Crown Prince and Blinken also reviewed bilateral relations and areas of cooperation between the two countries and issues of mutual concern.

The meeting was attended by Minister of Defense Prince Khalid bin Salman, Saudi Ambassador to the United States Princess Reema bint Bandar, Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal bin Farhan, and Minister of State, Cabinet Member and National Security Advisor Dr. Musaed Al-Aiban, as well as the US Secretary of State’s accompanying delegation.

United States: Disrupter of Global Trade

Washington has taken further steps to increase pressure on Tehran. This time, the White House, despite the negative impact of its decisions on the global stage, has leveraged its political influence on Panama to counter Tehran’s expansion of foreign policy.

The US has opted to exert pressure on Panama to prohibit Iranian vessels, sanctioned by Washington, from flying its flag. During a visit to Panama on Wednesday, Abram Paley, Deputy Special Envoy in the US Office of the Special Envoy for Iran, stated that the measure aims to prevent ships from being utilized for what he termed as illegal actions.

Paley emphasized in a statement that the US is endeavoring to enhance the enforcement of sanctions as part of a broader diplomatic outreach campaign. "Iran and affiliated entities are attempting to circumvent sanctions here in Panama," he remarked. "They seek to exploit Panama's flag registry."

"We anticipate that the Panamanian government will continue to collaborate with us in accordance with their domestic legislation and international commitments," Paley added.

Washington's recent action follows shortly after Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji declared that Tehran's oil sales would remain unaffected by sanctions, even if Donald Trump were to win the US presidential elections in November.

Panama leads globally in providing flags of convenience, enabling shipping companies to register their vessels in countries with which they have no connection — for a fee and exemption from oversight.

It appears that the White House intends to reinforce the implementation of existing sanctions as the regional crisis escalates. This move by Washington stands in stark contrast to what Washington's Iran hawks call Biden's appeasement policy in West Asia.

The United States has consistently wielded its power as leverage to advance its interests, regardless of the potential repercussions on the regional and international scale. This approach is evident in the consistent US formula for intervening in the policy-making systems of other countries.

For instance, Washington's policy towards Caracas and the imposition of sanctions on Venezuela have served as tools for intervening in Venezuela's political system. Similarly, the US employs similar tactics in West Asia, as evidenced by the array of American military bases in the region and unwavering support for Tel Aviv. These actions reflect a policy that prioritizes Washington's interests above all else, irrespective of their broader effects.

The Biden Administration's pressure on Panama exemplifies this approach, indicating that Washington is not inclined to pursue diplomatic channels in its dealings with Iran. Instead, the primary objective appears to be preventing the Islamic Republic of Iran from expanding its political influence.

Despite the Biden administration's initial endorsement of a more conciliatory policy in West Asia and its expressed willingness to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, formally called the JCPOA, the White House has demonstrated a lack of political resolve to take concrete actions. Moreover, the Biden administration has yet to lift any sanctions on Iran, failing to demonstrate a tangible commitment to resolving issues through diplomatic means. 

The recent US stance in Panama and its maneuver in the Red Sea have triggered alarm bells regarding their potential ramifications on the seamless flow of global trade. What emerges from these developments is a pattern of US behavior wherein the pursuit of its own interests takes precedence, even at the expense of disrupting international commerce. 

Take, for instance, the situation in Panama. The US exertion of pressure seems to transcend the immediate issue at hand, instead serving as a means to constrain Iran's influence. This strategic maneuver underscores Washington's inclination to prioritize geopolitical objectives over the broader interests of global trade. Similarly, the US confrontational stance towards certain factions in the Red Sea region has stirred unnecessary friction along a crucial trade artery.

Such actions raise legitimate concerns about the US approach to international affairs. By prioritizing its own objectives over collaborative efforts aimed at fostering global economic stability, the US risks sowing seeds of discord that could have far-reaching consequences. Indeed, this prioritization of unilateral interests over multilateral cooperation threatens to set off a chain reaction of instability, imperiling the very foundation upon which the global economy rests.

As the world navigates through increasingly complex geopolitical terrain, it becomes imperative for nations to uphold principles of cooperation and mutual benefit. The recent US actions serve as a sobering reminder of the dangers inherent in a myopic pursuit of national interests at the expense of broader global imperatives. Only through concerted efforts to promote dialogue, understanding, and collaboration can we hope to safeguard the integrity of the global trade system and steer clear of the choppy waters of economic uncertainty.

 

 

Putin’s victory attracts mixed reactions

Western governments lined up on Monday to condemn Vladimir Putin's landslide election victory as unfair and undemocratic, but China, India and North Korea congratulated the veteran Russian leader on extending his rule by a further six years.

The contrasting reactions underscored the geopolitical fault lines that have gaped wider since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago, triggering the deepest crisis in relations with the West since the end of the Cold War.

Arriving in Brussels on Monday, EU foreign ministers roundly dismissed the election result as a sham ahead of agreeing sanctions on individuals linked to the mistreatment and death of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.

"Russia's election was an election without choice," German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said at the start of the meeting.

Playing on Moscow's reference to its war in Ukraine as a special military operation, French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne said Paris had taken note of the special election operation.

"The conditions for a free, pluralistic and democratic election were not met," his ministry said.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said the election outcome highlighted the depth of repression in Russia.

"Putin removes his political opponents, controls the media, and then crowns himself the winner. This is not democracy," Cameron said.

France, Britain and others condemned the fact that Russia had also held its election in occupied regions of Ukraine that it claims to have annexed during the war.

The Kremlin dismissed such criticism, saying the 87% of the vote won by Putin during the three-day election showed that the Russian people were consolidating around him.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia's election had no legitimacy.

A White House spokesperson on Sunday said Russia's election was obviously not free nor fair. President Joe Biden has not yet commented.

In sharp contrast, Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated Putin, and said Beijing would maintain close communication with Moscow to promote the no limits partnership they agreed in 2022, just before Russia invaded Ukraine.

"I believe that under your leadership, Russia will certainly be able to achieve greater achievements in national development and construction," Xi told Putin in his message, according to Xinhua News.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi echoed that message, saying he looked forward to strengthening New Delhi's time-tested special and privileged strategic partnership with Moscow.

India and China, along with Russia, are members of the BRICS group of emerging economies that aims to challenge US domination of the global economy.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi, accused by the West of supplying weapons to Russia, also extended congratulations to Putin, stressing their desire for further expansion of bilateral relations with Moscow.

In Africa, where the West has been struggling to win support for its efforts to isolate Moscow over the Ukraine war, some newspapers saw Putin's re-election as reinforcing the stance of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.

Those three states in the Sahel region have strengthened ties with Russia following coups in recent years at the expense of their traditional French and US allies.

"In Africa, this re-election could sound like a non-event, but given the context in the Sahel it takes on a particular meaning, because Putin embodies the new geopolitical balance of power on the continent with a growing (Russian) presence and influence," said Burkina Faso daily Aujourd'hui au Faso".

 

 

Israel approves plan to attack Rafah

Israel on Friday approved a potential assault on the Gaza city of Rafah while also keeping ceasefire hopes alive with plans to send another delegation to Qatar for talks on a possible hostage deal with Islamist militant group Hamas.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said he had ok'd a plan to attack the city on the southern edge of the shattered Palestinian enclave where more than half of its 2.3 million residents are sheltering after five months of war.

Global allies and critics have urged Netanyahu to hold off attacking Rafah, fearing mass civilian casualties. But Israel says it is one of the last strongholds of Hamas whom it has pledged to eliminate and that residents will be evacuated.

In Washington, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said the US had not seen the Rafah plan, but would like to. He told a regular briefing a Hamas ceasefire-for-hostages proposal was within the bounds of what was possible and expressed cautious optimism about it.

Hamas has presented a Gaza ceasefire proposal to mediators and the US, which includes release of Israeli hostages in exchange for freedom for Palestinian prisoners, 100 of whom are serving life sentences.

A statement from Netanyahu's office on the Rafah attack plan said Hamas' demands for the release of hostages remained unrealistic, but an Israeli delegation would still head to Doha once the security cabinet had discussed its position.

The Israeli statement said the Israeli Defence Force was preparing operationally and for the evacuation of the population of Rafah.

It gave no time frame and there was no immediate evidence of extra preparations on the ground.

Negotiators failed this week to reach a ceasefire agreement in time for the Ramadan Muslim holy month. Washington and Arab mediators are still determined to reach a deal to head off an assault on Rafah and let in food to stave off starvation.

Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri accused Netanyahu of "manoeuvring ... to conduct more crimes of genocide."

"He isn't interested in reaching an agreement," he told Reuters.

Israel has rejected claims of genocide, saying it is purely focused on destroying all Hamas fighters.

There is increasing friction between Washington and Israel, which officials in President Joe Biden's administration say is waging war with too little care for civilians.

US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish elected US official and a leader of Biden's Democratic Party, called on Thursday for Israelis to replace Netanyahu, whose hardline policies he said were wrecking Israel's international standing.

In the centre of Gaza City late on Friday, an Israeli air strike destroyed a seven-floor residential building, killing or wounding several people, the spokesman of the civil emergency service there said. He said emergency workers were searching the rubble for casualties.

 

 

US announces sanctions against Israeli settlers

The United States has announced sanctions against three more Israeli settlers and, for the first time, two farming outposts, as part of new measures by Washington and London to stop the violent displacement of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Fares Samamreh may not carry a gun, but he has a global superpower defending him. He's still losing the fight.

A Palestinian sheep farmer on the sun-tinged slopes of the South Hebron Hills in the occupied West Bank, his battle with his neighbor, an Israeli settler called Yinon Levy, has drawn both the US and the UK into the dispute.

"Yinon Levy came here three years ago and started bothering me," Fares said, his head wrapped in a piece of white cotton, his eyes narrowed in a permanent squint against the sun.

"Before the war [in Gaza] it was the usual thing; they would come with drones. But a few days after October 07, it became serious. They all had guns. They started coming to us day and night. I have little kids, some of them are four and five years old."

Fares said Yinon was one of a group of local Israeli settlers who would regularly come to harass his sheep with their dogs and weapons, and even, he says, to assault his family.

"They destroyed water tanks, closed down roads, they fire at the sheep," he said. "He told my wife if we didn't leave here, we'd all be killed."

He said when his wife then swore at him, Yinon Levy hit her with the butt of his gun.

Soon afterward, Fares and his family left their village of Zanuta. Activists say it's one of four communities around the settler's farm that have been abandoned by their residents.

Yinon has denied acting violently toward Palestinians in the area -- and said he didn't own a gun until very recently.

But he's the subject of sanctions from both the US and the UK.

The road to Yinon's farm is straight out of a children's picture-book; a narrow path that winds back and forth up a steep hill, slopes and valleys dropping away to the horizon on either side.

At the top, a spacious bungalow stands next to a large shed, full of bleating sheep smothering the strains of pop music from a radio.

"We're safeguarding these lands to ensure they remain under Jewish ownership," Yinon said. "When there is a Jewish presence, then there is no Arab presence. We keep a watchful eye on the land, ensuring that no unauthorized construction takes place."

Most countries deem the settlements, which are built on land captured by Israel in 1967 in the Middle East War, to be illegal under international law, although Israel disagrees. The settler outposts are also illegal under Israeli law.

The UK said that Yinon and another man had "used physical aggression, threatened families at gunpoint, and destroyed property as part of a targeted and calculated effort to displace Palestinian communities".

Yinon denied the allegations, and said that the Israeli government was on his side.

"I'm not worried," he told the BBC. "This is not against me personally - it's against those who obstruct the creation of a Palestinian state. There's no legal process against me [in Israel]. Here, everything is fine."

Both the UK and the US say there is a threshold of evidence that must be met - but neither have made that evidence public and declined to share it with the BBC.

We sent Yinon a video appearing to show him on Palestinian land, approaching activists with a snarling dog. He said it was misleading, and that he was defending his flock.

We sent him another video apparently showing him entering another Palestinian village with a gun last October. He declined to comment.

The sanctions came after a surge in violence in the West Bank, following the October 07 Hamas attacks and Israel's war in Gaza.

The UN says violence by Israeli settlers included physical attacks and death threats, and that the number of Palestinians displaced from their homes last year doubled to 1,539 - with more than 80% of them leaving after October 07.

The UK has said Israel is failing to act, and has described "an environment of near total impunity for settler extremists in the West Bank".

Yinon said that he had received support from Israeli politicians.

"Many called and encouraged us," he said. "Everyone said that when the bad people are against you, you must be doing something right."

One of the politicians who publicly backed Yinon in the wake of the sanctions was Zvi Sukkot of the ultranationalist Religious Zionism party - a settler himself.

He said that settler violence was a "marginal phenomenon" and that those like Levy were the victims of conspiracies.

"When we have a functioning judicial system in Israel, we don't want our allies to say, 'we'll do the job for you'," he said.

"If there was evidence against Yinon Levy, he would be in Israeli prison. Who is Britain to come and say, 'we are smarter than Israeli intelligence'?"

The Israeli police commander responsible for investigating complaints in the West Bank told Sukkot's parliamentary committee this week that half the complaints filed about settler violence there were false, and that they originated from "radical left-wing organizations in Tel Aviv".

Against this backdrop, sanctions on a handful of individual settlers have not shifted Israeli policies in the West Bank, but they are having a financial impact.

Yinon's Israeli bank account was frozen last month.

Some of those currently under US and UK sanctions have used crowdfunding to finance projects for their area - including one for a synagogue and educational centre at another hilltop outpost called Moshe's Farm.

Its owner, Moshe Sharvit, was sanctioned along with Yinon Levy last month.

On Thursday the US expanded sanctions to cover several new targets, including the farm itself - putting this kind of funding at risk.

These sanctions may be more symbolic than substantial, but they signal American displeasure - both to Israel's leaders, and to the parts of President Biden's Democratic base who have been dismayed by images of the war in Gaza, in an election year.

The chairman of the local Yesha (settlers) Council, Shlomo Ne'eman, called it "a disgusting phenomenon" and said the West Bank was being used as a scapegoat.

"I think more than anything, what drives the response of the UK [and] the US is the fear of one settler attack that goes 'out of control'," said Yehuda Shaul, founder of the Ofek Centre, a think tank which campaigns to end Israel's occupation.

"The West Bank [then] erupts like a volcano. And we have another front, as if Gaza is not enough, and the road to regional war is almost unstoppable then."

Two sheep farmers in the occupied West Bank - one backed by a superpower, the other by the Israeli state. If the lifestyle here is simple, the politics are complicated.

From Yinon's hilltop farm, you can clearly see the ruins of Zanuta perched on the next hill, with the home Fares Samamreh left months ago.

Many of the houses are ravaged - roofs and furniture taken by their owners into exile; walls smashed by settlers to prevent them returning, activists say.

The deserted village is slowly being taken over by vast banks of wild mallow.

On a post near the entrance, a large Star of David has been scrawled in blue paint.

Settlers here point to attacks by Palestinians, and say they are scared. But it's Palestinians who are leaving.

Supply Lines: Red Sea Update

According to the Bloomberg, Red Sea shipping diversions may last a few more months, and some people think they could go on even longer.

That’s among the takeaways from the CEO of Hapag-Lloyd, the world’s No. 5 container line, in an interview Thursday on Bloomberg TV. Rolf Habben Jansen was speaking as the Hamburg, Germany-based company announced 2023 earnings that showed a steep drop in revenue and profits from a year earlier.

Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea have disrupted supply chains since mid-December 2023, forcing carriers to change routes and redo schedules — adjustments that have helped absorb excess capacity.

As a result, they’re burning more fuel and taking longer to deliver, with some needing to purchase more containers given the extended routes. The added costs are getting past along to customers.

The longer routes around southern Africa initially boosted spot container rates but those are coming down, Jansen said. “The services are stabilizing, which also means that the market is getting calmer.”

He indicated, though, that there’s no telling when the Red Sea will be safe enough to transit again.

“We hope that we’re going to be able to go back through in a couple of months,” Jansen said. “But I know there are also people that think that it will last quite a while longer.”

In the medium term, excess capacity may return to weigh on freight rates. Hapag-Lloyd expects the market to remain difficult for carriers given the large number of ship deliveries this year, Jansen said in the company’s 2023 annual report.

Sharing that view was Zim Integrated Shipping CEO Eli Glickman, who spoke on a conference call on Wednesday. “Once the Red Sea crisis is resolved, we will likely revert to the supply-demand scenario that began to play out in ‘23, setting up a more challenging third and fourth quarter of 2024 for the industry, including us,” he said.

It’s not just the shipping companies facing a tough environment. World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told Bloomberg in an interview that “the risks are all on the downside.”

But corporate supply chains have gotten more resilient and flexible. Here’s a rundown of comments that a few big shippers and a major port operator have offered this week:

Samsonite CFO Reza Taleghani: “So if you think about things you read about in the news, shipping delays, Red Sea, et cetera, we are just fine. We have inventory exactly where we need it to be. All of our facilities, even if there is a week or two delays, not that big of a deal.”

Adidas CEO Bjorn Gulden: “We have a little bit of headwind in freight in the first half because of the Red Sea situation, and as you know, if the freight companies have a chance to do something they increase prices. That should normalize and then the rest of everything that has to do with margin is going in the right direction.”

Williams-Sonoma CEO Laura Alber: “When a problem comes along, they’re real. The Red Sea disruption is pretty terrible. However, it is not costing us any more money. So far it is costing us about 10 days of delivery, give or take. And as I mentioned last time, we padded the deliveries to our customers once we heard about it, so we didn't disappoint them.”

DP World Group Chairman Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem: “Despite the uncertain start to 2024 with the ongoing Red Sea crisis, our portfolio has continued to demonstrate resilience. The outlook remains uncertain due to the challenging geopolitical and economic environment.”

 

Iranian oil output exceeds 3 million bpd

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) in a report put Iran’s oil output at 3.2 million barrels per day (bpd) for February 2024.

According to the report OPEC’s total output during the month under review was up 170,000 bpd to 26.47 million bpd.

OPEC’s latest monthly report, however, has put Iran’s crude oil production at 3.148 in February, noting that the Islamic Republic maintained its place as OPEC’s third-biggest oil producer in the month.

According to the mentioned report, the price of Iran’s heavy crude increased by 20 cents in February to reach US$80.34 per barrel.

The director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Explorations Department has said the country’s oil explorations registered a 300 percent growth in two years of the administration of President Ebrahim Raisi, who assumed office in August 2021.

Mehdi Fakour said the oil explorations have shown a considerable increase in various sectors as compared to the past five years, Mehr News Agency reported.

He added that the oil explorations made in the first two years of the current administration have registered a 300 percent hike.

The feasibility studies of some explorations have started in the country, he said, adding that negotiations have been made with a number of industrial production companies.

Currently, the oil exploration activities in the country are at a satisfactory level, Fakour added.

Earlier, the Head of the National Iranian Oil Company Mohsen Khojasteh Mehr said that the company has a 100-year vision for exploration, emphasizing that the company is determined to carry out maximum exploration operations to discover and maintain the country’s reserves.

Back in February, the International Monetary Fund in a report on Iran’s microeconomic indicators said the increase in Iran’s oil production in 2023 exceeded expectations.

The fund attributed the increase in its estimate of Iran's economic growth in the mentioned year to the higher-than-expected increase in the country’s oil production.

According to the new estimates of this international entity, Iran's economic growth in 2023 reached 5.4 percent, registering a significant increase compared to the previous year.

The International Monetary Fund had previously estimated that Iran's economic growth would reach only 3.0 percent in 2023.

Iran's crude oil exports grew by roughly 50 percent in 2023 to a five-year high of about 1.29 million bpd, with the vast majority going to China, according to Nikkei Asia.

The report, citing the International Energy Agency (IEA), put Iran’s oil production at 2.99 million bpd last year, 440,000 barrels more than in 2022.

As reported, IEA predicts a further rise of 160,000 barrels of Iran’s oil exports in 2024.

This increase is expected to contribute to a less tight market, alongside increases by the US and Brazil. The IEA sees global supply rising by 1.5 million bpd to an all-time high this year.

 

A pier for Gaza can change almost nothing

A few observations on US President Joe Biden building a “temporary pier” – or what his officials are grandly calling a “port” – to get aid into Gaza:

1. Though no one is mentioning it, Biden is actually violating Israel’s 17-year blockade of Gaza with his plan. Gaza doesn’t have a sea port, or an airport, because Israel, its occupier, has long banned it from having either.

Israel barred anything getting into Gaza that didn’t come through the land crossings it controls. Israel stopped international aid flotillas, often violently, from reaching Gaza to bring in medicine. The blockade also created a captive market for Israel’s own poor-quality goods, like damaged fruit and vegetales, and allowed Israel to skim off money at the land crossings that should have gone to the Palestinians in fees and duties.

2. It will take many weeks for the US to build this pier off-shore and get it up and running. Why the delay? Every western capital, including the United States, has supported the blockade for the past 17 years.

The siege of Gaza caused gradual malnutrition among the enclave’s children, rather the current rapid starvation. By helping Israel inflict collective punishment on Gaza for all those years, the US and Europe was complicit in a gross and enduring violation of international law, even before the current genocide.

With his pier, Biden isn’t reversing that long-standing collusion in a crime against humanity. He has stressed it will be temporary. In other words, it will be back to business in Gaza as usual afterwards: any children who survive will once again be allowed to starve in slow-motion, at a rate that doesn’t register with the establishment media and put pressure on Washington to be seen to be doing something.

3. Biden could get aid into Gaza much faster than by building a pier, if he wanted to. He could simply insist that Israel let aid trucks through the land crossings, and threaten it with serious repercussions should it fail to comply. He could threaten to withhold the US bombs he is sending to kill more children in Gaza. Or he could threaten to cut off the billions in military aid Washington sends to Israel every year. Or he could threaten to refuse to cast a US veto to protect Israel from diplomatic fallout at the United Nations. He could do any of that and more, but he chooses not to.

4. Even after Biden buys Israel a few more weeks to further aggressively starve Palestinians in Gaza, while we wait for his temporary pier to be completed, nothing may actually change in practice. Israel will still get to carry out the same checks it currently does at the land crossings but instead in Lanarca, Cyprus, where the aid will be loaded on to ships. In other words, Israel will still be able to create the same interminable hold-ups using “security concerns” as the pretext.

5. Biden isn’t changing course – temporarily – because he suddenly cares about the people, or even the children, of Gaza. They have been suffering in their open-air prison, to varying degrees, for decades. If he had cared, he would have done something to end that suffering after he became president. If he had done something then, October 7 might never have happened, and all those lives lost on both sides – lives continuing to be lost on the Palestinian side every few minutes – might have been saved.

And if he really cared, he wouldn’t have helped Israel in its efforts to destroy UNRWA, the UN relief agency for Palestinians and a vital lifeline for Gaza, by freezing its funding, based on unevidenced claims against the agency by Israel.

No, Biden doesn’t care about Palestinian suffering or about the fact that, while he’s been busy eating ice cream, many, many tens of thousands of children have been murdered, maimed or orphaned – and the rest starved. He cares about the polls. His timetable for helping Palestinians is being strictly dictated by the schedule of the presidential election. He needs to look like Gaza’s saviour when Democrats are deciding who they are voting for.

He and the Democratic Party are betting voters are dumb enough to fall for this charade. Please don’t prove them right.

 

Netanyahu hurting Israel more than helping it

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is undermining the values on which Israel was founded and is harming the country with his handling of the Gaza war, US President Joe Biden charged during an interview he gave to MSNBC on Saturday.

“He has a right to defend Israel, a right to continue to pursue Hamas, but he must, he must, he must pay more attention to the innocent lives being lost as a consequence of the actions taken.”

“He is hurting Israel more than helping Israel by making the rest of the world … it is contrary to what Israel stands for, and I think it’s a big mistake,” Biden said.

He spoke amid growing tensions between Israel and the United States over Israel’s conduct of its military campaign to destroy Hamas in Gaza, an operation which it supports in principle, but has otherwise opposed elements of its operation.

The United States has been concerned in particular by the high fatality count, with Hamas asserting that over 31,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war.

Israel has stated that over 11,000 of the fatalities have been combatants.

The US has also argued that Israel has not done enough to contain the humanitarian disaster that accompanied its military campaign, during which it has taken out roads, infrastructure, and the governance system, making it difficult to distribute and in some cases impossible to distribute aid.

Biden was careful to stress to MSNBC that irrespective of his thoughts on Netanyahu, he supported Israel, particularly concerning defensive weapons.

"I am never going to leave Israel,” Biden emphasized.

“The defense of Israel is still critical, so there is no red line where I am going to cut off all weapons so they do not have the Iron Dome to protect them,” Biden said.

Within that framework there are still red lines Israel should not cross, such as a military operation in Rafah, Biden said. He has stressed in the past that the US would only support such an operation if Israel presented a plan to protect the over 1.3 million Palestinians located in the area of that southern city, many of whom fled there to escape Israeli aerial bombings in the northern part of the enclave.

US to build emergency port on Gaza shore

The United States military plans to build an emergency port off the Gaza coast to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance to the 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza and help alleviate the hunger crisis in the enclave.

“The port can receive large ships carrying food, water medicine, and temporary shelters,” top US officials told reporters.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government welcomed news of the plan, an Israeli official said, while others in the Defense Minster expressed surprise.

US President Joe Biden is expected to announce the initiative during his annual State of the Union speech on his domestic and foreign policy.  

Biden faces pressure to help those in Gaza

It comes as Biden’s re-election campaign for the White House is kicking into full gears and as he is under pressure to do more to help Palestinians in Gaza, particularly in light of United Nations reports of hunger and possible starvation in the enclave.

The Biden administration's decision to jump into hyper gear over humanitarian aid to the enclave was taken as American officials worked with Egypt and Qatar for a hostage deal that would include a six-week pause to the Israel-Hamas war and allow for Palestinians to return to northern Gaza. 

The Biden administration has been blunt in the last week about its frustrations with Israel, charging that the IDF could and should do more to ensure that humanitarian aid is distributed within Gaza, a move that has been complicated by the IDF’s military campaign to destroy Hamas. 

“The aid flowing into Gaza is nowhere near enough and nowhere near fast enough,” US officials told reporters, as they explained that Biden now wanted to take matters into his own hands.

“The President has directed that we look at all options [and] that we do not wait for the Israelis. We are pursuing every channel possible to get assistance into Gaza. So we will do it by air by sea by land however we can get the maximum amount in as possible,” the US officials said.