United States: Netanyahu to face deep divide

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be greeted by deep divide among US lawmakers, a distracted US public and large protests on Wednesday as he addresses the US Congress for a record fourth time.

The long-time Israeli leader will speak to a joint meeting of the Senate and House of Representatives at 1900 GMT, passing British wartime leader Winston Churchill, who made such addresses three times.

Netanyahu's speech is expected to focus on coordinating the Israeli and US response to the volatile situation in the Middle East, where there is a growing danger of the Gaza war spilling over into a wider regional conflict.

He is also expected to use his speech to call for stronger action against Iran, which supports Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah fighters and has drawn increased US condemnation over its recent nuclear advances.

Though Netanyahu's visit was orchestrated by Congress' Republican leaders, it is likely to be less confrontational than in 2015, when Republicans sidestepped then-President Barack Obama and invited Netanyahu's to Congress to criticize the Democrat's Iran policy.

This time, Netanyahu will seek to bolster his traditional links to Republicans but also look to ease tensions with Biden, whom he will rely on for the remaining six months in the president's term.

He must also reach out to Vice President Kamala Harris, who has at times been more forward-leaning than her boss in criticizing Israel for heavy Palestinian civilian casualties in Gaza.

Activists have promised mass protests, and the Capitol building was surrounded by high fencing and additional police. Dozens of Washington streets were also due to be closed on Wednesday.

Netanyahu's speech comes as Washington is largely preoccupied with the fallout from Biden’s announcement on Sunday that he was ending his re-election bid and endorsing Kamala for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Dozens of Democrats plan to skip the speech, many expressing dismay over Israel's war in the Palestinian enclave and saying they do not want to help Netanyahu offset declining domestic poll numbers. The Palestinian death toll from the offensive has exceeded 39,000, Gaza health officials said.

"For him, this is all about shoring up his support back home, which is one of the reasons I don't want to attend," Senator Chris Van Hollen told reporters. "I don't want to be part of a political prop in this act of deception. He is not the great guardian of the US-Israel relationship."

The Democrats planning to stay away also included Senators Dick Durbin, the chamber's number two Democrat, Tim Kaine, Jeff Merkley and Brian Schatz, all members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as well as Patty Murray, who chairs Senate Appropriations.

In the House, those staying away included progressives like Representatives Rashida Tlaib and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, as well as Ami Bera, a senior member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, and Adam Smith, the top Democrat on Armed Services.

Smith said he never attends joint meetings but also described himself on Tuesday as "very, very opposed to what Prime Minister Netanyahu is doing in Israel."

Murray normally would have presided, as the senior Senate Democrat, because Harris will not attend. Democratic Senator Ben Cardin, who leads the foreign relations committee, will replace her.

Some Republicans criticized Kamala for traveling outside Washington instead of going to the speech. She will meet with Netanyahu separately.

But she was not the only candidate staying away. Republican Senator JD Vance, running for vice president on the ticket with former President Donald Trump, will be away "as he has duties to fulfill as the Republican nominee for Vice President," Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller said in a statement.

Netanyahu was to travel to Florida to meet with Trump later this week. The meeting will be their first since the end of Trump's presidency, during which the two forged close ties.

 

 

 

 

"End Fossil Fuels" protests kick off worldwide

Climate catastrophe is already devastating the lives and livelihoods of people across the world and primarily those in the Global South, who are least responsible for causing it.

According to Common Dreams, hundreds of demonstrations around the world are demanding a rapid, just, and equitable phase out from fossil fuels in favor of sustainable renewables. Thee demonstrations began on Friday ahead of United Nations Secretary General António Guterres' Climate Ambition Summit in New York City.

"From Pacific nations, heavily affected by sea-level rise and storms, through Mumbai to Manila, London to Nairobi, over 650 actions are planned in 60 countries, culminating in a march in New York City on September 17," according to protest organizers.

The Global Fight to End Fossil Fuels opposes the fossil fuel industry, which has made obscene profits at the expense of the world's people, biodiversity, and a safe and livable climate," added organizers, who expect millions to join the protests over the coming days. "It calls on governments and companies to immediately end fossil fuel expansion and subsidies."

The actions come amid the hottest summer on record and as experts continue to sound the alarm over unwavering environmental destruction, especially by the fossil fuel industry and its political and financial backers.

International scientists revealed this week that six of nine barriers that ensure Earth is a "safe operating space for humanity" have been breached, which followed recent findings that greenhouse gas concentrations, global sea level, and ocean heat content hit record highs last year.

Climate chaos—fueled by oil and gas giants that have spent decades lying about their planet-heating pollution along with rich governments and institutions that continue to break their promises and pump billions of dollars into the fossil fuel industry—is already killing people. The death toll from flooding in Libya this week has climbed to 11,300.

"The world is at a tipping point," said Tyrone Scott of the War on Want and the Climate Justice Coalition in the United Kingdom ahead of protests this weekend. "Climate catastrophe is already devastating the lives and livelihoods of people across the world and primarily those in the Global South, who are least responsible for causing it."

"We must uproot the systems of exploitation and oppression which keep the majority of the world's population in poverty while lining the pockets of corporates and rich shareholders. This is a watershed moment. How we respond will determine how the world is shaped for generations," Scott stressed. "We demand an end to fossil fuels. We demand a fast and fair transition. We demand climate justice."

Tens of thousands of activists from across the United States are expected to join the March to End Fossil Fuels in New York City on Sunday. Marchers—backed by hundreds of organizations and scientists—have four key demands for President Joe Biden:

Stop federal approval for new fossil fuel projects and repeal permits for climate bombs like the Willow project and the Mountain Valley Pipeline; 2) Phase out fossil drilling on our public lands and waters; 3) Declare a climate emergency to halt fossil fuel exports and investments abroad, and turbocharge the build out of more just, resilient distributed energy (like rooftop and community solar) and 4) Provide a just transition to a renewable energy future that generates millions of jobs while supporting workers' and community rights, job security, and employment equity.

"Despite his numerous and explicit pledges to the contrary, President Biden has turned out to be a strong supporter of fossil fuels," Food & Water Watch Northeast region director Alex Beauchamp, an organizer of the NYC march, said in a statement Friday.

"With each passing day, Biden's failure to lead on clean energy drives the planet deeper into the abyss of irrevocable climate chaos," he added. "We're marching to send a message that true climate leadership means halting new oil and gas drilling and fracking, and rejecting new fossil fuel infrastructure like pipelines and export terminals—beginning now."

Betamia Coronel, senior national organizer for climate justice at the Center for Popular Democracy, highlighted in a Friday opinion piece for Common Dreams that "BIPOC communities have always lived at the intersection of wealth disparity and the climate crisis and it is Black, Indigenous, immigrant, working-class people of color who have been leading the efforts in the lead up to this historic march in NYC."

Dozens of actors, activists, and climate leaders—including Bill McKibben, Blair Imani, Cornel West, Jameela Jamil, Jane Fonda, Lennox Yearwood Jr., Mark Ruffalo, Naomi Klein, Rosario Dawson, Rashida Tlaib, Rebecca Solnit, and Vanessa Nakate—joined more than 700 groups on Friday in sending a pre-march letter to the US president.

"The United States is the top global oil and gas producer and the largest historic greenhouse gas emitter. It is imperative that the US change course and become a true global climate leader by ending the extraction and use of fossil fuels," they wrote, urging Biden to commit to phasing out fossil fuels at the UN summit on September 20. "The world is watching."

Biden has also faced mounting pressure to declare a climate emergency this year, as the United States has endured a record-setting number of billion-dollar disasters, from a deadly fire in Hawaii to Hurricane Idalia. Since last week, eight campaigners have been arrested outside the White House for a series of protests demanding a climate emergency declaration and other executive action to end the era of fossil fuels.

Organizers planned to continue the nonviolent civil disobedience campaign in Washington, DC on Friday, and warned that each day Biden delays in taking this step is precious time lost to save lives and secure a livable future for humankind and countless other species.