I think HCR under-estimates the current division within the Democratic base over U.S. Israel-Gaza policy, as evidenced by Bernie Sanders' statement that Gaza could become Biden's Vietnam. A deep dive into what is happening may offer a vision for the future of the region very difficult to accomplish. https://jimbuie.substack.com/p/israeli-gaza-war-how-to-stave-off
When President Biden finished his comments, he was asked by a reporter if the peaceful student demonstrations had any affect on his policy. He said to her, "No," turned and walked away. Meanwhile there are many demonstrations all over the world against his policy in Gaza.
I sense that something has happened to change his behavior. His speeches and messages. Betting he lost a lot of voters when he walked away. And many of them were the younger generations that are vital. I dont believe he understood anything about the student protests The first mistake he made was to align himself with Netanyahu and say nothing about Gaza where people are starving. Watching, I thought..I 'saw' this coming. Netanyahu is not well liked in his own country. There was a massive protest by the ISRAELIS against him just a few months ago. Thousands were seen marching on the Internet. The protest appeared on Facebook. Primarily, he's disliked by Israeli journalists, artists and youth. Many Israelis are critical of Netanyahu and his far right ministers. “People see that [protesters] put all Israelis in the same basket and [there is] so much false information that even opponents of the [current Israeli] government can’t accept it. They are united in their resentment of these protests abroad.” Personally, I believe that resentment has an underlying fear from WWII. That fear still lingers
In the right-leaning Jerusalem Post, the commentator David Weinberg wrote that “unbalanced criticism” of Israel was not new. And Israel's far right is holding strong. Do I condone extreme protests.. no. Do I condone the police behavior. No. I've worked in the past with LA police on tactics and behavior. A true leader was needed on both sides. And Biden was absent when we needed a strong leader to speak out in person.
I disagree with this one-sided and often inaccurate depiction, as follows.
"The roots of today’s protests lie in an investigation by the Republican-dominated House Committee on Education and the Workforce, chaired by Virginia Foxx (R-NC)." [Feb. 12]
Students are not protesting hearings or to protect college presidents. The students are protesting to "divest from Israel" and "calling for a cease fire in Gaza.” The divest movement has been going on for a while. The call for a cease fire has been going on for months. For example, the students at UMN in Feb. put on their school-wide ballot for the admin to call for a ceasefire. For that to be on the ballot in Feb, organizing happened way before Feb. 12. (By the way, the AYES got over 4000 votes, the NAYS around 300.) That the UMN admin ignored the vote is one of the reasons for the protest at UMN – not Stefanik’s obvious McCarthyism V2.0. The inspiration for the encampments are the horrors of Gaza and US complicity. The only coincidence is that they happened after congress voted for more aid to Israel, but that is just a coincidence.
“Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken have insisted that Israel has a right to defend itself from Hamas and have continued to provide Israel with military defenses, whose importance in stopping the war from spreading showed on April 14, when those defenses shot down virtually all of the weapons Iran launched at Israel.”
You omit that Israel provoked Iran by bombing the Iranian embassy in Syria. You conflate “Israel’s right to defend itself” with Israel’s acts of aggression inflaming the region. You omit that Iran’s response was largely for show – they notified the US they were going to send drones, even gave the date and the time. You omit that these fireworks were shot down mostly by US military – not the IDF – at a cost to US taxpayers of many $$$$$.
“They are working hard for a ceasefire, with Blinken currently in the Middle East and a proposal on the table that Israel has accepted but Hamas has not.”
Again, this is misleading. Netanyahu very clearly stated that Israel would exterminate Rafah, cease fire or not. That is NOT accepting a cease fire by anyone’s definition except the obfuscating administration. Let's not put our heads in the sand about Rafah either. Israel intends to round up any male they find and commit mass executions - one only need look at Israeli history to know this is their practice.
“The administration has also stood against the initial policy of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration to cordon off Gaza without food, water, or electricity, and has pressured Israel into permitting humanitarian aid into Gaza. “
The New Yorker reports on May 2 that 999 trucks came into Gaza in the MONTH of April. The U.N. Food Program says a minimum of 500 per DAY are what’s needed. Israel continues to use stall tactics to prevent aid from getting through. Israel continues to ration electricity. The U.N. Office for Humanitarian Affairs reported on March 23: “Israel’s management of Gaza’s essential resources has turned into a form of infrastructural attack, and 95% of Gaza’s population has had no access to clean water for months. Across Gaza, only 1.5 to 1.8 liters of water per day is available to each person. The WHO daily recommended allowance of clean water is 100 liters per person. By targeting the sources of Gaza’s water supply, Israel has manufactured a water shortage and a dire humanitarian crisis.”
[Such a report will no doubt lead amoral Biden and crew to cut off funds for the U.N., NOT pressure Israel in any way.] So, HCR, will you and Biden continue to frame this collective punishment as if it’s in the past, with pats on the back for Biden for doing nothing but blow hot air around?
While the administration is angelic in its thoughts and words, unfortunately the reality is that Biden clutches his pearls in public while behind closed doors he’s clandestinely authorized many, many deliveries of the military aid that ENABLES ISRAEL to bomb hospitals, bomb universities, starve Gaza and perpetuate all the rest of the Israeli atrocities. If Biden is so compassionate, he can show it with action - cut off the US aid that makes this horror show possible.
The truth is that Biden doesn’t care one bit about humanity, just the optics.
This “report” on student protests does not include one word from the student side. Not one word on the peaceful activities going on in the encampments. Not one word on the disproportionate riot-gear-clad police response to unarmed peaceful students.
By providing only the carefully constructed White House PR, it appears you are humping water for Biden, the goal being to disseminate biased propaganda that steers people away from the truth and discredits the students and gives Biden the appearance of a peacemaker. Nothing could be further from the truth. Disgusting.
I think HCR under-estimates the current division within the Democratic base over U.S. Israel-Gaza policy, as evidenced by Bernie Sanders' statement that Gaza could become Biden's Vietnam. A deep dive into what is happening may offer a vision for the future of the region very difficult to accomplish. https://jimbuie.substack.com/p/israeli-gaza-war-how-to-stave-off
When President Biden finished his comments, he was asked by a reporter if the peaceful student demonstrations had any affect on his policy. He said to her, "No," turned and walked away. Meanwhile there are many demonstrations all over the world against his policy in Gaza.
I sense that something has happened to change his behavior. His speeches and messages. Betting he lost a lot of voters when he walked away. And many of them were the younger generations that are vital. I dont believe he understood anything about the student protests The first mistake he made was to align himself with Netanyahu and say nothing about Gaza where people are starving. Watching, I thought..I 'saw' this coming. Netanyahu is not well liked in his own country. There was a massive protest by the ISRAELIS against him just a few months ago. Thousands were seen marching on the Internet. The protest appeared on Facebook. Primarily, he's disliked by Israeli journalists, artists and youth. Many Israelis are critical of Netanyahu and his far right ministers. “People see that [protesters] put all Israelis in the same basket and [there is] so much false information that even opponents of the [current Israeli] government can’t accept it. They are united in their resentment of these protests abroad.” Personally, I believe that resentment has an underlying fear from WWII. That fear still lingers
In the right-leaning Jerusalem Post, the commentator David Weinberg wrote that “unbalanced criticism” of Israel was not new. And Israel's far right is holding strong. Do I condone extreme protests.. no. Do I condone the police behavior. No. I've worked in the past with LA police on tactics and behavior. A true leader was needed on both sides. And Biden was absent when we needed a strong leader to speak out in person.
I disagree with this one-sided and often inaccurate depiction, as follows.
"The roots of today’s protests lie in an investigation by the Republican-dominated House Committee on Education and the Workforce, chaired by Virginia Foxx (R-NC)." [Feb. 12]
Students are not protesting hearings or to protect college presidents. The students are protesting to "divest from Israel" and "calling for a cease fire in Gaza.” The divest movement has been going on for a while. The call for a cease fire has been going on for months. For example, the students at UMN in Feb. put on their school-wide ballot for the admin to call for a ceasefire. For that to be on the ballot in Feb, organizing happened way before Feb. 12. (By the way, the AYES got over 4000 votes, the NAYS around 300.) That the UMN admin ignored the vote is one of the reasons for the protest at UMN – not Stefanik’s obvious McCarthyism V2.0. The inspiration for the encampments are the horrors of Gaza and US complicity. The only coincidence is that they happened after congress voted for more aid to Israel, but that is just a coincidence.
“Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken have insisted that Israel has a right to defend itself from Hamas and have continued to provide Israel with military defenses, whose importance in stopping the war from spreading showed on April 14, when those defenses shot down virtually all of the weapons Iran launched at Israel.”
You omit that Israel provoked Iran by bombing the Iranian embassy in Syria. You conflate “Israel’s right to defend itself” with Israel’s acts of aggression inflaming the region. You omit that Iran’s response was largely for show – they notified the US they were going to send drones, even gave the date and the time. You omit that these fireworks were shot down mostly by US military – not the IDF – at a cost to US taxpayers of many $$$$$.
“They are working hard for a ceasefire, with Blinken currently in the Middle East and a proposal on the table that Israel has accepted but Hamas has not.”
Again, this is misleading. Netanyahu very clearly stated that Israel would exterminate Rafah, cease fire or not. That is NOT accepting a cease fire by anyone’s definition except the obfuscating administration. Let's not put our heads in the sand about Rafah either. Israel intends to round up any male they find and commit mass executions - one only need look at Israeli history to know this is their practice.
“The administration has also stood against the initial policy of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration to cordon off Gaza without food, water, or electricity, and has pressured Israel into permitting humanitarian aid into Gaza. “
“initial” policy ????? This is framed as if it happened in the past, and it’s all fixed now thanks to Biden. Today, May 5, Cindy McCain reports the northern Gaza is in famine, a “horror”: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/united-states-gaza-famine-cindy-mccain_n_66359ec1e4b00b1eab53586c
The New Yorker reports on May 2 that 999 trucks came into Gaza in the MONTH of April. The U.N. Food Program says a minimum of 500 per DAY are what’s needed. Israel continues to use stall tactics to prevent aid from getting through. Israel continues to ration electricity. The U.N. Office for Humanitarian Affairs reported on March 23: “Israel’s management of Gaza’s essential resources has turned into a form of infrastructural attack, and 95% of Gaza’s population has had no access to clean water for months. Across Gaza, only 1.5 to 1.8 liters of water per day is available to each person. The WHO daily recommended allowance of clean water is 100 liters per person. By targeting the sources of Gaza’s water supply, Israel has manufactured a water shortage and a dire humanitarian crisis.”
[Such a report will no doubt lead amoral Biden and crew to cut off funds for the U.N., NOT pressure Israel in any way.] So, HCR, will you and Biden continue to frame this collective punishment as if it’s in the past, with pats on the back for Biden for doing nothing but blow hot air around?
While the administration is angelic in its thoughts and words, unfortunately the reality is that Biden clutches his pearls in public while behind closed doors he’s clandestinely authorized many, many deliveries of the military aid that ENABLES ISRAEL to bomb hospitals, bomb universities, starve Gaza and perpetuate all the rest of the Israeli atrocities. If Biden is so compassionate, he can show it with action - cut off the US aid that makes this horror show possible.
The truth is that Biden doesn’t care one bit about humanity, just the optics.
This “report” on student protests does not include one word from the student side. Not one word on the peaceful activities going on in the encampments. Not one word on the disproportionate riot-gear-clad police response to unarmed peaceful students.
By providing only the carefully constructed White House PR, it appears you are humping water for Biden, the goal being to disseminate biased propaganda that steers people away from the truth and discredits the students and gives Biden the appearance of a peacemaker. Nothing could be further from the truth. Disgusting.
You're too prolific. I can't keep up.