Slightly edited.
ADC, CAIR-NJ File Title VI Complaint Against Rutgers University
Newark, NJ | www.adc.org | April 23, 2024 – The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) and the New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations today filed a Title VI complaint against Rutgers University for its pattern and practice of anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab, and anti-Muslim bigotry at the Newark law school and New Brunswick undergraduate campuses, especially since October 2023.
The complaint also alleges a lack of appropriate urgency from Rutgers University administrators concerning Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim students’ physical safety and overall wellbeing on university campuses.
“Despite being placed on notice repeatedly, [Rutgers] University has failed to respond or take any steps to protect its students, denying them an education free from harassment and discrimination, a right enshrined under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” the complaint says. “Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims have become defacto second-class students on their own campuses by denying them the benefits they are entitled to through the University. Rutgers must engage in proactive assertions of protection, not reactive remedies.”
ADC Staff Attorney Chris Godshall-Bennett said, “College campuses should be a place where students feel free to be themselves and express their identities. Their power and voice should be protected and uplifted, and university administrators have a duty to ensure that the campus environment fosters that strength.
Instead, Rutgers University has allowed a patently hostile and unsafe climate to relegate its Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim students to a second-class status, denying them their right to an education free of harassment and discrimination. We expect the Department of Education to take these claims seriously and fully investigate this pattern and practice of discrimination.”
CAIR-NJ Executive Director Selaedin Maksut said, “That college campuses across the country have become an increasingly hostile environment to Muslim and Palestinian students and their allies – especially in the wake of Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza – is no secret.
University administrations have effectively enabled this climate of hostility and unsafe environment when they repeatedly refused to act and respond with appropriate urgency to Muslim and Palestinian students’ concerns.
We call on the Department of Education to thoroughly investigate students’ claims and to uphold and protect their civil rights as they pertain to the Civil Rights Act especially.”
ADC: Take Action Now! Help Ensure Safe Delivery of Emergency Aid to Gaza!
Washington, DC | www.adc.org | April 19, 2024 – Your help is urgently needed to push Congress to protect brave civilians on the Freedom Flotilla’s nonviolent mission.
The Freedom Flotilla is an emergency civilian aid mission, in which multiple ships are sailing to Gaza with more than 5000 tons of life-saving aid. Hundreds of people, including many Americans, are on board in order to defy Israel’s genocidal campaign against Palestinians.
This is a humanitarian mission and in normal circumstances aid should be able to be delivered. Given the way Israel has acted, they could act in a grossly inhumane way, which can harm the flotilla participants or its content. Past missions challenging the illegal blockade on Gaza suffered violence by Israeli forces; in the worst incident, ten of the civilian participants were murdered. Pressure from the U.S. may be the only way to prevent Israel from killing these aid workers like many others – most recently in the targeted attack on World Central Kitchen.
Take Action Now! Help Ensure Safe Delivery of Aid!
We need to act now to demand that Congress ensures the safety of the flotilla and prompt delivery of its life-saving cargo. Israel’s deadly campaign has been possible thanks to years of unconditional funding from the U.S. The least our elected officials can do now is exert American influence to insist on safe passage for this humanitarian mission.
Take action today and tell U.S. lawmakers to protect this nonviolent emergency mission. The impact of our collective voices can help overcome barriers and break the blockade. If our representatives speak out for this mission, they will show Israel it can no longer count on U.S. support for its every heinous act.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition is an international nonviolent coalition working to break the blockade of Gaza. FFC action is guided by Palestinian civil society rather than any party, faction or government.
ADC: USC Capitulates to Hate, Bigotry
Washington, DC | www.adc.org | April 16, 2024 – Yesterday, the Provost of the University of Southern California (USC) announced the cancellation of the school’s valedictorian address at the school’s upcoming commencement. Valedictorian Asna Tabassum’s speech was cancelled based on alleged security concerns related to her vocal support for Palestinian liberation and an end to the ongoing genocide. ADC unequivocally opposes USC’s decision and urges the University to reinstate the valedictorian’s speech.
In a statement reacting to the Provost’s decision, Ms. Tabassum reiterated her “uncompromising belief in human rights for all,” refusing to be silenced in the face of a “campaign of hate meant to silence [her] voice” to which USC “abandoned” her. ADC applauds Ms. Tabassum’s resilience and is inspired by her courage.
ADC National Executive Director Abed Ayoub said, “The celebration of this young person’s academic excellence has become marred by USC’s short-sighted decision. This is yet another instance of a university silencing their Arab, Palestinian, and Muslim students under the guise of ‘security’, reinforcing racist and politically motivated conflations between support for Palestinian liberation and danger. Despite their protestations otherwise, canceling Ms. Tabassum’s speech can only be viewed as USC judging her accomplishments and ambitions as less worthy of full recognition because she dared speak out.”
ADC supports the California Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ (CAIR-CA) efforts to support and uplift Ms. Tabassum. Students are at the forefront of the movement for Palestinian human rights, and they need all our support.
If you would like assistance addressing threats or hate targeting you, please contact ADC legal department using this link.
[Her statement: www.counterpunch.org/2024/04/16/statement-by-university-of-southern-california-student-asna-tabassum-class-of-2024-valedictorian/ ]
IFCO Stands with Columbia Students for Palestine [April 17th]
In solidarity with the courageous students at Columbia University, I extend my heartfelt support and admiration for their steadfast commitment to justice. These young leaders, standing against the atrocities in Gaza, remind us of the transformative power of collective action and the urgent need to speak against oppression wherever it arises.
As we witness their efforts to shine a light on the suffering and the cries for help from Gaza, we are reminded that our struggles are interconnected, and that our liberation is bound together. The students’ protests are not just a call for ceasefires but a profound demand for a lasting peace that centers on human rights and dignity for all peoples.
Let us all be inspired by their example to challenge injustice and to build bridges of solidarity that cross continents and cultures. May their activism awaken in all of us a renewed commitment to a world where peace is built on the foundation of justice, not just the absence of conflict. Keep rising, keep fighting, and know that your global community stands with you.
In solidarity and hope,
Gail Walker
Executive Director
IFCO, Pastors for Peace
VFP: Veterans call out Biden again for criminal violations of Federal law by shipping weapons to Israel
For immediate release April 18, 2024
Contact:
Mike Ferner 314-940-2316 mike [ at veteransforpeace org] Terry Lodge: lodgelaw [at yahoo com]
VETERANS TO BIDEN: U.S. LAW SAYS NO WEAPONS TO NATIONS WITH A-BOMBS IF THEY’VE NOT SIGNED THE NON-PROLIFERATION TREATY. THAT MEANS ISRAEL!
In a letter today to President Biden and top members of his administration, Veterans For Peace cited existing federal law that gives the President “…no discretion whatsoever to allow any military assistance of any form to be delivered to Israel,” based on that country’s “serial violations of the Symington-Glenn Amendments, codified at 22 U.S.C. § 2799aa.”
The letter cites a lengthy list of credible reports that Israel has possessed nuclear weapons for decades. Because Israel has not signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT), the Symington-Glenn Amendments to the International Security Assistance and Arms Export Control Act of 1976, which allow no presidential discretion, goes into effect, including:
- termination of assistance under the Foreign Assistance Act, except for humanitarian assistance or food or other agricultural commodities;
- termination of defense sales and licensing of Munitions List exports;
- termination of foreign military financing;
- denial of U.S. government credit, credit guarantees, or other financial assistance (except for medical and humanitarian assistance and agricultural exports from the United States);
- U.S. government opposition to any loan or financial or technical assistance from international financial institutions (IFIs);
- prohibition of any loan or credit from U.S. banks to the foreign government (except for the purchase of food or other agricultural commodities); and
- prohibition under the Export Administration Act of exports to that state of specific goods and technology licensed by the Commerce Department (except for food and other agricultural commodities).
The letter states, “The President may not waive the cutoff of the above aid and exports under the Glenn Amendment where there has been a nuclear weapons detonation, or the offending state has received a nuclear explosive device. Congress would have to enact new legislation authorizing the President to waive some or all of these sanctions.”
VFP National Director, Mike Ferner, said, “Israel’s possession of The Bomb and the U.S.’ refusal to take appropriate action is yet another example of how the Madmen Arsonists – the Raytheons, Boeings, General Dynamics – actually govern our country and determine policy. The law is quite simple – Does Israel have an unregulated nuclear weapons arsenal? Yes, it does. Is Israel a signatory to the NPT? No, it isn’t. So, the question to Biden is, ‘will you obey the law or the Madmen?’”
Ferner added, “This election year our members will ask their Congressional representatives, ‘Will you hold hearings to enforce existing law, or let the Madmen Arsonists continue to run our country?’”
Highlights of the letter:
- Senator John Glenn was prompted to seek a change in the law because of a reported theft of 100 kg of highly enriched uranium from an NRC vendor in 1968, later traced to the Dimona reactor complex in Israel. (pg. 3)
- Repeated CIA assessments and remarks of Colin Powell in 2016 that the U.S. knew Israel had at least 200 warheads at that time. (pgs. 4-9)
- Israel prosecuted and jailed Mordecai Vanunu for his courageous whistleblowing disclosure in the 1980's that Israel has The Bomb. (pg. 7)
- Benjamin Netanyahu was identified by the FBI as being directly involved in an Israeli smuggling operation in the 1980’s that successfully stole 800 krytrons, a prized device used for triggers in nuclear weapons. (pg. 7)
- The Symington-Glenn amendment has been implemented by previous administrations. (pg. 4)
- What the President must do (pg. 10)
- Contrary to other instances where the Biden administration is allowed to ignore aid limitations, this one may be litigable in court. (pg. 10)
Veterans For Peace members across the U.S. are telling their members of Congress to vote NO on any more weapons for Israel and hold hearings to hold the Biden administration accountable They have participated in numerous protests and acts of civil disobedience to highlight Israel’s ongoing genocide in Palestine.
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April 17th
Veterans For Peace denounces false allegations of foreign funding to peace groups by Nancy Pelosi, the media, and Washington politicians.
California Democratic Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi's recent claims that Code Pink and other peace protesters calling for a ceasefire in Gaza are either Russian or Chinese funded is absurd and insulting, and Veterans For Peace calls on her to withdraw such allegations and apologize. In October of 2023, Pelosi told a group of Code Pink protesters (all of whom were White Americans), to "Go back to China where your headquarters is." Then in January of 2024, Pelosi said in an interview, “I think … some of these protesters are spontaneous and organic and sincere ..... Some, I think, are connected to Russia. And I say that having looked at this for a long time now, as you know.” When asked whether she thought some pro-Palestinian protests were Russian plants, the responded, “I don’t think they’re plants.... I think some financing should be investigated... and I want to ask the FBI to investigate that.”
On August 5, 2023, the New York Times attacked Jodie Evans and Code Pink and other peace groups in an article entitled, “A Global Web of Chinese Propaganda Leads to a U.S. Tech Mogul.” But if one reads the article carefully, the evidence provided actually shows that the headline was false, the American tech mogul in question made all his money in America, and is donating his American money to American and international peace organizations.
The peace groups he donates to criticize American foreign policy, but based on fact, not anyone’s propaganda.
When multiple people and groups make similar observations about US aggression around the world and support each other in speaking up about it, the US mainstream media calls it a "conspiracy." But when the CIA and its offshoot the National Endowment for Democracy fund projects such as the "Voice of America" and "color revolutions," stage coups and fund, arm, and train insurgents in foreign countries around the world, they call that "democracy." And when Washington politicians receive money from pro-Israel lobbying groups, the right wing Taiwan DPP party, or American weapons contractors supporting our (big money making) foreign wars, that is considered business as usual. There's a double standard here: peace groups are falsely accused - without evidence - of having funding from foreign sources, while Washington politicians are openly taking money from compromised sources with serious conflicts of interest as a "normal" practice.
VFP: Veterans express April 15th outrage over genocide tax
$17.8 Billion for Israel on top of $250 Billion since 1970
Veterans For Peace joins millions of Americans outraged to have our pockets picked again on April 15, to pay a Genocide Tax of $17.8 Billion for military aid to Israel on top of $250 Billion in current dollars sent since 1970.
Americans have no universal health care but Israeli citizens do, which is their right as it is for all people. In the U.S. the Madmen Arsonists running our government squander 80 Billion of our tax dollars on 750 foreign military bases to operate a global empire, out of an obscene military budget just this year of $883 Billion – more than the average annual spending on World War II, adjusted for inflation.
Where is free college tuition for America's youth to enrich young minds and build a better society? A drop in the ocean of military spending, $2.8 Billion would pay for all public and private college tuition in the U.S. for a year.
Taxpayers just in Missouri, where VFP headquarters are located, sent the military $13.6 Billion in 2023. That could have provided Missouri with 133,000 registered nurses but it didn’t.
These are not abstract questions. They fuel angry, disaffected Americans who rightfully have little use for government or elections, given what they get for their tax dollars. We watch Boeing, Raytheon, General Dynamics and other corporations fatten on public money by making weapons and then invest a small portion of it to buy the next Congress. That kind of civics lesson alienates more citizens every April 15th.
Veterans For Peace is committed to ending corporate control of our government. We join with the vast majority of Americans who want their taxes to buy health care, education, aid for the sick and elderly and a healthy planet -- not death, suffering and bulging bank accounts for the merchants of death.
That is our hope on this Tax Day. It is what we dedicate ourselves to for as many Tax Days as it takes.
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