Showing posts with label Sri Lanka. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sri Lanka. Show all posts

Sunday, September 29, 2024

Statements on the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah 9/27, the attacks on Lebanon, and the anniversary of Sabra and Shatila + indicting Blinken and others

From Samidoun:  Hassan Nasrallah with I think Hamas' Ismail Haniyeh
From Samidoun:  Hassan Nasrallah with I think Hamas' Ismail Haniyeh [and Saleh al-Arouri]   



The Biden-Harris administration claims not to have been involved, but praised the operation, believing that 'some people need killing' (the sort of statement attributed to a leader of the Philippines and a Republican official and candidate in NC), along with any Lebanese civilians unfortunate enough to be nearby at the time.  Is Biden now the Democratic Party's George W Bush?  When did assassinating leaders become a preferred "Western" strategy?  The mainstream media claims that this is a great blow to Hezbollah, but assassination didn't work very well for the US in Iraq or Afghanistan, and Israel has been assassinating leaders for decades without ending the armed resistance.   Biden might even think that the US can use assassination against Russia and other countries with impunity, but Russia isn't a non-state guerrilla army.


From the CPC(M-L):  cpcml.ca/ITN2024/TI5419.HTM#1


husseini.substack.com/p/the-life-of-martyrdom


simplicius76.substack.com/p/israels-short-lived-glory-celebrated


In Sri Lanka:  indi.ca/what-nasrallah-said-about-his-death/


mpr21.info/hachem-safieddin-sucede-a-hassan-nasrallah-al-frente-de-hezbollah/ ]


[ geopoliticaleconomy.substack.com/p/hezbollah-nasrallah-israel-colonialism ]


www.nakedcapitalism.com/2024/09/this-maniac-must-be-stopped-netanyahu-condemned-over-massive-beirut-bombing.html ]


www.aaronmate.net/p/in-lebanon-carnage-biden-deepens


caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2024/09/29/israel-isnt-attacking-because-it-was-attacked-its-attacking-because-it-got-an-excuse/ or www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/israel-isnt-attacking-because-it


Not specifically about the events in Lebanon, but of interest newleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/false-hope


www.normalisland.co.uk/p/today-is-not-a-day-for-satire-its


sonar21.com/exploding-myths-of-middle-east-terrorism/


mpr21.info/las-explosiones-de-libano-muestran-la-fragilidad-de-la-cadena-mundial-de-suministros/


www.veteransforpeace.org/pressroom/news/2024/09/27/aipacs-war-democracy


Also, in Germany www.rt.com/news/604810-germany-arrested-rt-broadcasts


[ fair.org/home/judges-in-tiktok-case-seem-ready-to-discount-first-amendment/ ]


popularresistance.org/hezbollah-confirms-the-death-of-hasan-nasrallah-in-israeli-carpet-bombing/ ]


popularresistance.org/israels-bombing-campaign-backed-by-media-propaganda/ ]


apnews.com/article/lebanon-israel-hezbollah-airstrikes-28-september-2024-c4751957433ff944c4eb06027885a973


[ www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2024/09/29/a-beyrouth-la-stupeur-apres-la-mort-de-hassan-nasrallah_6338190_3210.html ]


www.rt.com/news/604867-hezbollah-leadership-eliminated-israel/ ]


[ www.rt.com/news/604854-hezbollah-chief-killed-israel/ ]


Hezbollah secretary-general (honorific:  Sayed) Hassan Nasrallah:  August 31, 1960 in Bourj Hammoud, Lebanon  September 27th in Dahieh en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hassan_Nasrallah  In Arabic:  (السيد حسن) حسن نصر الله


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Hezbollah_headquarters_strike


The media now highlights that Hezbollah came to the assistance of Palestine and entered the war on October 8th in 2023.  Apparently missiles and mortars were fired from Syria October 12th.  Missiles were fired by Yemen on October 19th, with an official Ansar Allah statement on the 31st.  There were operations by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq and others attributed to Iran beginning that November.  Israel has been carrying out airstrikes, bombings, and assassinations in at least some of these countries for years prior to October 7th:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel–Hamas_war 


In Iraq:


popularresistance.org/iraqi-resistance-ready-for-open-war-against-israel-after-lebanon-attacks/ ]


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Resistance_in_Iraq


www.reuters.com/world/coalition-military-mission-iraq-end-by-sept-2025-us-iraq-say-2024-09-27/


www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/thousands-of-protesters-trying-to-storm-us-embassy-in-baghdad-after-nasrallah-killing/











42 Years Later: The Massacre of Sabra and Shatila Still Haunts Us Amid Gaza's Ongoing Genocide


For Immediate Release
Contact: 
Valentina Pereda, Communications Director, vpereda [at adc org]

 

Washington, D.C. | www.adc.org | September 15, 2024 – Today marks the 42nd anniversary of one of the most brutal acts of violence in modern history: the massacre of the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. Beginning on September 16, 1982, Lebanese militia, operating under the direction of Israeli forces, massacred, wounded, and left homeless thousands of defenseless men, women, and children in the Sabra and Shatila Palestinian refugee camps. The indiscriminate killing was carried out methodically over the course of two days until the morning of September 18. By the end of this campaign of violence and terror, over 3,000 Palestinian refugees had been murdered. 

During the massacre, Israeli forces controlled the area surrounding the Sabra and Shatila camps. They allowed militants to enter the camps, blocked Palestinian refugees from escaping, and illuminated the night sky with flares as the killing raged on. The day after the killings stopped, the United Nations Security Council condemned the “criminal massacre of Palestinian civilians.” Three months later, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously condemned the killings as an act of genocide. A UN-established commission concluded that Israeli authorities were responsible for the massacre, with the intention to destroy the national and cultural identity of the Palestinian people. 

Even the Israeli-established Kahan Commission could not fully exonerate Israeli forces, finding then-Defense Minister Ariel Sharon “personally responsible” for not preventing the bloodshed. Though Sharon was briefly removed from his post, he later rose to become Israel’s Prime Minister, a chilling reminder of how deeply embedded impunity has been in Israel’s nearly century-long campaign of violence against Palestinians.

The ongoing genocide in Gaza today, with relentless bombardments, blockade, and mass casualties, echoes the horrific violence witnessed at Sabra and Shatila. Over the decades, the pattern of targeted massacres, displacement, and dehumanization of the Palestinian people has continued, rooted in the same colonialist ambitions that have driven Israel’s policies since its founding. The Gaza Strip, like the refugee camps of Lebanon, is a testament to the catastrophic consequences of dispossession and the ongoing efforts to eradicate Palestinian existence. 

Israel’s impunity continues as the international community has long failed to deliver justice for the victims of Sabra and Shatila, and that failure persists today as Palestinians in Gaza face yet another chapter of genocidal violence. The families of those massacred, both then and now, demand not only remembrance but urgent action. Ending Israel’s apartheid system and occupation, holding its leaders accountable for their crimes, and implementing the right of return for Palestinian people are essential steps toward justice.




Originally posted at:  www.veteransforpeace.org/pressroom/news/2024/09/27/vfp-letter-blinken-indictment September 27th.


Veterans for Peace letter for Blinken indictment



United States Department of Justice

Criminal Division

Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section

Hope Olds, Chief

Via email only to Hope.Olds [at usdoj gov]

Courtney Spivey Urschel, Deputy Chief

Via email only to Courtney.Urschel [at usdoj gov]

 

Matthew Graves, Esq.

U.S. District Attorney

United States Attorney's Office

601 D Street, NW

Washington, DC 20579

Via email to matthew.graves [at usdoj gov]

 

RE: Request for immediate empanelment of grand jury to investigate criminal violations of federal laws governing provision of military weapons and munitions aid to Israel

 

Dear Ms. Olds, Ms. Urschel and Mr. Graves: 

 

  On behalf of the members of Veterans For Peace (VFP), an international organization of former military, we urgently request that you, as DOJ attorneys entrusted with enforcement of human rights laws, immediately empanel a grand jury to investigate whether U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew have lied to the U.S. Congress or conspired to lie to the U.S. Congress in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001; whether they have violated or conspired to violate the Export Control Act, 22 U.S.C. § 2778(a)(2) by misrepresenting and/or disregarding official U.S. government reports, including an expert report from within the State Department, documenting the commission of multiple acts by the government and military of the nation of Israel to deny and block delivery of humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian population of the Gaza Strip; whether they have violated or conspired to violate the Genocide Prevention Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1091 by concealing or misrepresenting the commission of acts by the government and military of the nation of Israel to deny and block delivery of humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian population of the Gaza Strip in order to further the genocidal destruction of that population; and whether they have violated or conspired to violate the War Crimes Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2441 by concealing or misrepresenting the commission of acts by the government and military of the nation of Israel to deny and block delivery of humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian population of the Gaza Strip, ensuring non-interruption of U.S. military aid to Israel which has allowed the continued perpetration of genocidal acts and war crimes against Palestinians in Gaza. 

 

BACKGROUND

 

  1. Israel’s inducement of famine and disease in Gaza and the State Department’s historical indifference to it

 

On September 24, 2024, the nonprofit investigative journalism group ProPublica published a news article captioned, “Israel Deliberately Blocked Humanitarian Aid to Gaza, Two Government Bodies Concluded. Antony Blinken Rejected Them.” That essay documented that in May 2024, despite having two official reports that concluded the government of Israel was systematically denying and blocking humanitarian food and medical assistance to the Gaza Strip in violation of U.S. foreign aid laws, Secretary of State Blinken reported to the U.S. Congress that “We do not currently assess that the Israeli government is prohibiting or otherwise restricting the transport or delivery of U.S. humanitarian assistance.”

 

ProPublica reported that in late April 2024, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the State Department Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) delivered their assessments to Secretary Blinken and other top diplomats of the role of Israel in directly causing humanitarian aid deliveries to, and within, the Gaza Strip to fail. USAID wrote a detailed 17-page memo on Israel’s misconduct, describing instances of Israeli sabotage and interference with aid efforts, including killing aid workers, razing agricultural structures, bombing ambulances and hospitals, sitting on supply depots and routinely turning away trucks full of food and medicine. Separately, the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration also determined that Israel was blocking humanitarian aid and that the federal Foreign Assistance Act should be triggered to freeze some $830 million in taxpayer dollars earmarked for weapons and bombs to Israel. 

 

These conclusions had significant legal implications because the federal Foreign Assistance Act, (22 U.S.C. § 2378-1) requires the U.S. government to cut off weapons shipments to countries that prevent the delivery of U.S.-backed humanitarian aid. The cutoff of U.S. military assistance to Israel would have considerable effect on Israel’s ability to continue its genocidal war, as some 70% of Israel’s bombs, weapons and other munitions are imported from the U.S. 

 

ProPublica described the USAID memo as indicative of a deep rift within the Biden administration on the issue of unimpeded military aid to Israel. In March 2024, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Jack Lew, sent Secretary Blinken a cable arguing that Israel’s war cabinet, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, should be trusted to facilitate aid shipments to the Palestinians. Lew recommended continued military assistance because he had “assessed that Israel will not arbitrarily deny, restrict, or otherwise impede U.S. provided or supported” shipments of food and medicine. In the months leading up to his March cable, Ambassador Lew’s underlings repeatedly told him of instances where the Israelis blocked humanitarian assistance, according to four government sources, but Lew had retorted that “No other nation has ever provided so much humanitarian assistance to their enemies.”

Secretary Blinken and the Biden administration rejected both the USAID and State Department staff findings. On May 10, 2024, Secretary Blinken formally wrote to Congress, “We do not currently assess that the Israeli government is prohibiting or otherwise restricting the transport or delivery of U.S. humanitarian assistance.” This assessment allowed the U.S. to continue to provide hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of military aid to Israel, in flat contradiction of voluminous contrary evidence in the public domain. When Secretary Blinken lied to Congress, he also violated the Arms Export Act and the Genocide Prevention Act, as detailed below.

  1. Veterans For Peace (VFP) warning of legal violations in February 2024

Secretary Blinken’s false May 10 statement to Congress embodies and is the product of multiple violations of U.S. federal law. 

 

Veterans For Peace is a 39-year-old international organization composed of war veterans and other opponents of war. Throughout its existence, VFP has been a public watchdog and critic of U.S. foreign and military policy toward Palestine for many years and supports the cause of ending the Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Military veterans possess specialized knowledge of how wars happen and how weapons and munitions are used in them. VFP investigators have for decades visited Gaza and the West Bank to bear witness to humanitarian rights violations and war crimes perpetrated by Israel and its military. Since the tragic and unfortunate events of October 7, 2023 caused by the Hamas organization, VFP members have monitored the ongoing hostilities pitting the superior Israel Defense Force against the guerilla resistance of Hamas. VFP’s investigation has particularly tracked suspected and apparent violations of humanitarian laws and treaties and the commission of war crimes by the parties.  

 

On February 9, 2024, VFP delivered a lengthy annotated letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken; Jessica Lewis, Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs; Barbara A. Leaf, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs; Robert S. Gilchrist, Senior Bureau Official of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor; and Diana Shaw, Esq., then Acting Inspector-General of the Department of State, addressing the Department of State’s possible violations of the Foreign Assistance Act, Arms Export Control Act, Leahy Laws, the Conventional Arms Transfer Policy (NSM-18) of February 2023, the U.S. War Crimes Act and the Genocide Implementation Prevention Act. Those laws variously prohibit transfers of weapons and munitions to Israel if there is credible evidence the arms will be used by Israel to commit, or aggravate risks that Israel will commit, genocide, crimes against humanity, grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 1949, or other serious violations of international humanitarian or human rights law. 

 

The U.S. Department of State has never responded to, nor even acknowledged receipt of, VFP’s February 9, 2024 letter.

 

In their letter, VFP recounted credible reports of humanitarian crimes being committed by units of the Israel Defense Force during its ongoing invasion of the Gaza Strip. The IDF, which is heavily dependent on U.S. weapons and munitions to prosecute its operations in Gaza has continually committed genocidal acts and promoted genocidal incitements resulting in war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes of aggression with the material support of the U.S. VFP cited summary executions and intentional mass killings of noncombatant Palestinians, disproportionate attacks by the IDF that had killed thousands, attacks on hospitals and other health services as well as, cultural, historical and governmental properties, ethnic cleansing, intentional starvation of civilians and deprivations of water and energy supplies. We pointed to the Human Rights Watch report of December 2023 which documented allegations that Israel has been using starvation of the Palestinians in Gaza as a weapon of war. We also cited the World Food Programme’s eyewitness observations that exposed Israel’s aid inspection regime as a central culprit in disallowing humanitarian aid.

VFP reminded the State Department of the findings of the January 26, 2024 Order of the International Court of Justice which found that South Africa had shown a “plausible risk” that Israel is conducting genocide in the Gaza Strip. See Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel). In the near-unanimous ruling, the Court ordered Israel to prevent the commission of genocide of Palestinians in Gaza; not inflict conditions calculated to destroy Palestinians; prevent and punish direct as well as public incitement to commit genocide against Palestinians; and to take immediate and effective measures to provide urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. See Order at ¶ 30, ¶ 54, ¶ 59, and ¶ 66. 

 

VFP further brought to Secretary Blinken’s attention certain of the findings made by a U.S. federal judge in his February 1, 2024 “Order Granting Motion to Dismiss.” In Defense for Children International—Palestine, et al. v. Joseph Biden, et al., following an evidentiary hearing on the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction, the court held that:

 

Both the uncontroverted testimony of the Plaintiffs and the expert opinion proffered at the hearing on these motions as well as statements made by various officers of the Israeli government indicate that the ongoing military siege in Gaza is intended to eradicate a whole people and therefore plausibly falls within the international prohibition against genocide.

 

This conclusion was entered upon extensive sworn testimony taken subject to cross-examination on January 26, 2024. 

 

In our February letter to Secretary Blinken, we provided viable evidence that the Department of State likely had violated federal restrictions on exports of military aid to Israel in the form of a sworn declaration of Josh Paul. Mr. Paul, former Director of Congressional and Public Affairs in the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, attested to significant failures by the Department in a declaration filed in the Defense for Children International—Palestine lawsuit:

 

I believe it is clear that the U.S. government is failing not only to execute the due diligence required under existing U.S. laws, but is actively creating and utilizing processes that help insulate Israel from accountability or sanctions in accordance with existing U.S. laws and policies. In my experience, the U.S. government is aware that U.S.-origin weapons, munitions, and equipment will be used by Israel in ways that are contrary to U.S. law, including applicable provisions of the Foreign Assistance Act, Arms Export Control Act, Leahy Laws, the Conventional Arms Transfer Policy (NSM-18) of February 2023, among others, and Israel’s own commitments to the United States under applicable processes and agreements, and other requirements that their end use of U.S.-origin weapons, munitions, and equipment be used in accordance with international law. The failure to execute meaningful due diligence or adequately apply existing U.S. laws permits the unfettered flow of military assistance to Israel forces with minimal oversight that leads to unnecessary civilian harm, gross violations of human rights, and impunity for violations of international law.

 

VFP demanded to know why the State Department’s emergency certification allowing sales of tank and artillery munitions to Israel in December 2023 was allowed in apparent contradiction of the guidelines of Sections 2, 3 and 4 of the Department’s Conventional Arms Transfer (“CAT”) Policy (NSM-18) (February 2023). We expressed skepticism that the provisions of CAT Section 2, to “prevent arms transfers that risk facilitating or otherwise contributing to violations of human rights or international humanitarian law,” were being fulfilled. We suggested that the Department’s ammunition transfer approvals appeared to contradict CAT Section 3’s obligation to weigh that Israel “may use the arms transfer to contribute to a violation of human rights or international humanitarian law, based on an assessment of the available information and relevant circumstances, including the capacity and intention of the recipient to respect international obligations and commitments.”

VFP pointed out that CAT Section 4 clearly directs that “no arms transfer will be authorized where the United States assesses that it is more likely than not that the arms to be transferred will be used by the recipient to commit, facilitate the recipients’ commission of, or to aggravate risks that the recipient will commit genocide; crimes against humanity; grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 1949, including attacks intentionally directed against civilian objects or civilians protected as such; or other serious violations of international humanitarian or human rights law, including serious acts of gender‑based violence or serious acts of violence against children.” But this guidance has been continually disregarded since October 7, 2023.

Two weeks after Secretary Blinken lied, in writing, to Congress about the state of humanitarian assistance to Gaza, the International Court of Justice on May 24, 2024 by a 13-2 vote ordered Israel to immediately halt its military offensive in southern Gaza and for the crossing from Egypt into Rafah to be kept open for the “unhindered provision at scale of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance.” There is no evidence that Israel has complied with these orders.

THE SECRETARY OF STATE AND U.S. AMBASSADOR TO ISRAEL MAY HAVE COMMITTED SERIAL VIOLATIONS OF U.S. DOMESTIC CRIMINAL LAW

VFP submits that the State Department’s maladministration of the Foreign Assistance Act and Export Control Act relative to issues of aid to Israel may comprise criminal wrongdoing.  We thus request that the Department of Justice urgently convene a grand jury to investigate the possibilities of these criminal violations by Secretary of State Blinken and Ambassador Lew:

● The Export Control Act, 22 U.S.C. § 2778(a)(2), requires that “[d]ecisions on issuing export licenses under this section shall take into account whether the export of an article would . . . increase the possibility of outbreak or escalation of conflict.” Violations are punishable by up to 20 years of imprisonment under 22 U.S. Code § 2778(c).

Although he had available expert reports concerning multiple acts by the Israel government and military to thwart the provision of humanitarian assistance, Secretary Blinken neither integrated that information into his report to Congress nor did he take into account the potential for the Israeli wrongdoing to increase or prolong its invasion of Gaza and consequential acts of genocide. Similarly, by intentionally declining to invoke Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act (22 U.S.C. § 2378-1) and not requiring Israel as a recipient of U.S. military aid to facilitate unimpeded delivery of humanitarian assistance to Gaza, Secretary Blinken also failed to account whether under the Export Control Act the provision of military aid would escalate the ongoing genocide by the Israel Defense Force.

Secretary Blinken likely based his decision not to force Israel to deliver sufficient aid to Gaza in part on the knowingly false representations of Ambassador Lew, who ignored multiple reports of Israel’s blocking of assistance and refused to act on them while insisting merely that Israel is superlative in delivering humanitarian aid.

 

● The Material False Statement law, 18 U.S.C. § 1001(a), prohibits falsification or

concealment of material facts orally or in writing to the U.S. Congress. 18 U.S.C. § 1001(c)(1) prohibits falsification of “a document required by law, rule, or regulation to be submitted to the Congress or any office or officer within the legislative branch.” Violations are punishable by up to 8 years of imprisonment under 18 U.S.C. § 1001(a)(3).

Secretary Blinken’s lack of candor with the Congress in order to continue the provision of military aid to Israel meant concealing the existence of the USAID and State Department reports showing the IDF as a repeat violator of federal laws. The concealed significant evidence expressly recommended the immediate cutoff of military aid to Israel. By allegedly lying to Congress, Secretary Blinken perpetuated ongoing genocidal acts and war crimes against the Palestinians of Gaza because the supply of weapons and munitions to Israel continued unabated.

  ● The Genocide Prevention Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1091, forbids intentional destruction of national, ethnic, racial, or religious group by killing, causing serious bodily injury or subjecting them to conditions of life that are intended to cause the physical destruction of the group in whole or in part. 

The intentional refusals by Secretary Blinken and Ambassador Lew to properly conduct the vetting and investigations and make the findings indicated by evidence under the Export Control Act and Foreign Assistance Act comprise the crimes of complicity to, or aiding and abetting the crime of genocide.  Genocide is punishable by fines, imprisonment up to life, or the death penalty, depending on circumstances. 

 

● The War Crimes Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2441, forbids the direct commission of, or

complicity in committing, various offenses that comprise aspects of genocide. 

Complicity can take the form of various kinds of acts, including aiding and

abetting. The provision of weapons has been held to constitute complicity. In Akayesu, the ICTR Trial Chamber held that the “procuring [of] means, such as weapons, instruments, or any other means” satisfies the actus reus (or act requirement) of complicity. In the Zyklon B case, the British military court convicted of aiding and abetting defendants who, through their businesses, supplied poison gas into Germany knowing that it was to be used in extermination camps. The ICJ further clarified that acts of complicity may include the “provision of means to enable or facilitate the commission of the crime.”

Specific intent to commit genocide is not required for a finding of complicity; rather, it is sufficient for a State to act with the knowledge that the direct perpetrator had the specific intent to commit genocide, as affirmed by the ICJ in Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro. The District Court in the Hague, which adjudicated a case involving the application of a Dutch statute implementing the Genocide Convention, held that a finding of complicity requires knowledge of “the genocidal intention of the perpetrator” rather than specific genocidal intent of the accomplice. The Trial Chamber in Akayesu and the Appeals Chamber in Ntakirutimana noted that complicity does not require that the perpetrator share the same specific intent, only that the accomplice must have known of the genocidal plan and that the assistance would help in the commission of the act.

 

CONCLUSION: The Acts of the U.S. Secretary of State and the U.S.

Ambassador to Israel Should Be Criminally Investigated by a Grand Jury

 

Secretary Blinken’s failure to implement our federal law and halt weapons shipments to Israel touches upon and is governed by both domestic and international law. The International Court of Justice has repeatedly reminded Israel since at least January 26, 2024 of its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide to avoid without fail the causation of genocide and associated crimes. The United States enforces domestic criminal laws partly to fulfill our country’s responsibilities under the Genocide Convention. To avoid complicity in the commission of genocide, the U.S. is required to uphold and implement International Court orders, including those aimed at preventing genocide. In short, the Department of Justice need not determine whether the U.S. bears responsibility to prevent genocide. The International Court of Justice has determined it for them by its orders.

 

Against this framework, the alleged wrongdoing of Secretary of State Blinken in the form of lying to Congress, which in turn saved Israel from interruption of deliveries of weapons and munitions and permitted Israel to continue to perpetrate war crimes and genocidal acts, arguably violated the Genocide Convention and the orders of the International Court of Justice, but also, the objectives of U.S. foreign policy against fomenting and increasing war, against allowing war crimes, and against the commission of human rights violations.

 

Israel’s genocidal invasion of Gaza continues as of this writing. In the past week, Israel has undertaken an illegal war against Hezbollah and the nation of Lebanon. Neither of these wars would be possible for Israel absent the provision of weapons and munitions by the United States. 

 

For all of these reasons, we urgently request the empanelment of a federal grand jury to investigate potential criminal violations by Secretary Antony Blinken and Ambassador Jack Lew. 

 

Thank you very much.

 

Sincerely,

Susan M. Schnall, President

Veterans For Peace


Thursday, August 01, 2024

CPC(M-L) and Samidoun statements on the martyrdom of Ismail Haniyeh, in Iran for its presidential inauguration

From the Peoples Dispatchpeoplesdispatch.org/2024/07/31/israel-assassinates-hamas-political-bureau-chief-ismail-haniyeh-in-tehran/


[From the CPGB-ML:  thecommunists.org/2024/10/04/news/ismail-haniyeh-another-resistance-leader-assassinated-by-israel/ ]


Pro-war US and Co. imperialists' statement praising the assassination in Tehranwww.counterextremism.com/press/cep-statement-killing-hamas-leader-haniyeh


www.dropsitenews.com/p/israel-hezbollah-lebanon-war


consortiumnews.com/2024/07/31/netanyahu-risking-regional-war-with-assassination/


thecradle.co/articles/egypt-qatar-say-haniyeh-killing-exposes-israels-lack-of-will-for-gaza-ceasefire


diario-octubre.com/2024/07/31/siria-repudia-flagrante-agresion-de-israel-contra-beirut/


diario-octubre.com/2024/07/31/ataque-israeli-asesina-a-tres-civiles-incluido-dos-ninos-en-libano/


mpr21.info/israel-asesina-en-teheran-al-maximo-dirigente-de-hamas/


thecradle.co/articles/iran-holds-us-responsible-for-tehran-strike-as-washington-denies-involvement


thecradle.co/articles/lebanon-to-file-complaint-against-israel-at-unsc-after-deadly-beirut-strike


thecradle.co/articles/entire-resistance-axis-will-respond-to-haniyeh-assassination-irgc




en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ismail_Haniyeh


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Ismail_Haniyeh


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuad_Shukr


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Haret_Hreik_airstrike


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majdal_Shams_attack


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majdal_Shams


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golan_Heights




A few hours earlier, at 7:40pm in Lebanon, Israel killed Hezbollah official Fuad Shukr, along with two children and a woman, and about 70 people were injured in Haret Hreik, a Shia Muslim and Maronite Christian area in the Al-Dahieh neighborhood of BeirutLebanon.  Israel calls this retaliation for the rocket that killed several Druze children and other youths at a soccer field in the majority Druze town of MajdaShams, a major town in the occupied Golan Heights, south of Mount Harmon, on July 27th.  Apparently none of the victimwere Israeli citizens.  Hezbollah denies having carried out that attack.  I read an article, which I can't find now, claiming that Hezbollah has admitted responsibility in past cases in which civilians were accidentally killed, indicating, if true, that they aren't just trying to evade responsibility in this case.  The assassination was apparently condemned by Iran, Russia, and Syria, and defended by Kamala Harrissupposedly not as anti-Arab nationaliberation as Joe Biden, while in Atlanta, Georgia (Harris' State campaign committee is chaired by Natalie Murdock of the NC Senate, I just heard).


The of assassination of Ismail Haniyeh was condemned or criticized by Mahmoud Abbas of the PA, PIJ, Iraq, Oman, Afghanistan, Qatar, Jordan, China, Malaysia, Pakistan, Russia, Sri Lanka, Turkey, etc., according to the Wikipedia article.  Egypt said that Israel is demonstrating that it doesn't desire a ceasefire, having killed a key negotiator on the Palestinian side, as they kill police (and then there are US or other complaints about the break down of order in Gaza and foreign aid being stolen), medics, doctors, academics, foreign and local relief workers, etc.  The assassination was praised by rightistsuch as Geert Wilders of the Netherlands, while Israel backer Germany urged "restraint."  Israel is very unrestrained, though US-based rabid Zionists such as the Tablet (July 31st -- "an unmistakable message to the leaders of the Axis of Resistance:  We can hit you wherever you are, and neither the Iranians nor the Americans can protect you."seem to think the US was protecting Haniyeh, indicating that they think Israel is fighting the USA, yet Israel is given a free hand under Biden and his predecessors to spy and carry out covert operations and election meddling in this country.  The USA has yet to attribute the attack in Tehran to Israel.  



Also, I'm trying to post a substantial calendar shortly, this week.






Originally posted July 31st at:  cpcml.ca/cpcmlarticle2407311223/  Slightly edited.



CPC(M-L) Statement - Heinous Criminal Act Will Not Deter Palestinian Resistance






Ismail Haniyeh

1962/63 – July 31, 2024



The Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) condemns the assassination of [Islamic Resistance Movement (Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya)] political leader Ismail Haniyeh [around 2am, after the Iranian inauguration,] on Wednesday, July 31 [at a house for veterans in the north of Tehran] as a criminal act of Zionist cowardice. This day will go down as one more day of Zionist infamy. CPC(M-L) also condemns to eternal shame the U.S., Britain and countries such as Canada that are putting their state power behind Israel’s futile attempt to commit genocide of the Palestinian people and make sure Israel realizes its criminal aims.


CPC(M-L) expresses its deepest sympathies to all [Islamic Resistance Movement] members, Ismail Haniyeh’s remaining family and the entire Palestinian people and their heroic Resistance Movement. On the occasion of this great loss, CPC(M-L) reiterates its categorical support for the Palestinian Resistance and conviction that it will prevail over the heinous crimes of genocide the Israeli Zionists are carrying out with the full support of the United States, Britain, Canada and a handful of other mostly European countries.


Ismail Haniyeh devoted his life to the patriotic cause of his people, always upholding the unity of the Resistance under all conditions and circumstances. Today, in the face of the deadly Israeli genocide and this latest heinous cowardly act, we reiterate: We are all Palestinians, we stand as one humanity the world over to make sure justice will prevail.


CPC(M-L) calls on Canadians and Quebeckers to go all out to step up their expressions of support for the Palestinian Resistance and condemn Canada’s appeasement of genocide. Take up the conviction of the Palestinian people as expressed by Ismail Haniyeh’s son, Abdul Salam Haniyeh, who, on hearing of his father’s martyrdom, said of his father: “He was very keen to establish national unity and strived for the unity of all Palestinian factions and we affirm that this assassination will not deter the resistance, which will fight until freedom is achieved.”


This is the profound conviction which imbues the resistance and its martyrs. It is the strongest response to attempts by the apologists of the Zionist criminals who are claiming that Israel has succeeded in expanding the war to involve Iran, Lebanon and other countries so as to draw the U.S. and its fellow partners in crime into achieving Israeli aims. It is the necessary response to defeat attempts to declare that because Haniyeh was conducting the ceasefire talks and prisoner exchange arrangements with great ability, and was instrumental in the talks for a national unity government, the Palestinian Resistance will not be able to overcome this set-back. It is the response required to shame the claims of the Zionists and apologists for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that, by carrying out this assassination in Tehran itself, the criminal Israeli intelligence organization Mossad has now vindicated itself for its intelligence failure on October 7, 2023 and now Israel will achieve its goal of wiping out Hamas. Celebrations in Israel of the assassination reveal the need to stick to the path of the Resistance which is what serves to condemn attempts to promote and join Zionist barbarism.


This is not the first time the Palestinian Resistance has defied the lies spread by the Zionists and their apologists and their heinous crimes and acts of cowardice.


We Are All Palestinians!

We Stand as One Humanity the World Over to Make Sure Justice Will Prevail!






Hamas Confirms Assassination of Political Leader Ismail Haniyeh


On Wednesday, July 31, Ismail Haniyeh, leader of the political bureau of the Palestinian resistance movement [the Islamic Resistance Movement] was assassinated in Tehran, Iran. Haniyeh, who carried out his work in exile in Qatar, had been in Iran to attend the swearing-in of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian the day before.


On July 31, Hamas said of Haniyeh’s killing, “The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas mourns to our great Palestinian people, to the Arab and Islamic nation, and to all the free people of the world: brother, leader, martyr, Mujahid Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the movement, was killed in a treacherous Zionist raid on his residence in Tehran.”


Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said in a statement: “Early this morning, the residence of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran was struck, resulting in his and one of his bodyguards’ martyrdom. The cause is under investigation and will be announced soon.”


Senior Hamas Official Sami Abu Zuhri said: “This assassination by the Israeli occupation of Brother Haniyeh is a grave escalation that aims to break the will of Hamas and the will of our people and achieve fake goals. We confirm that this escalation will fail to achieve its objectives.


“Hamas is a concept and an institution and not persons. Hamas will continue on this path regardless of the sacrifices and we are confident of victory.”


A statement subsequently issued by Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said:


“This terrorist act is not only a flagrant violation of the principles and rules of international law and the United Nations Charter, but also a serious threat to regional and international peace and security.”


“The new aggressive and terrorist act of this regime in the assassination of Martyr Haniyeh is part of the Palestinian genocide plan, especially in the past 10 months, and aimed at increasing insecurity in the West Asia region.


“As a supporter and accomplice of the Zionist regime in the continuation of the occupation and genocide of Palestinians, the US government is responsible in committing this heinous act of terrorism.


“The Islamic Republic of Iran strongly condemns the aggressive act of the Zionist regime in the assassination of the tireless Mujahid Sheikh Ismail Haniyeh and considers it its inherent right to respond appropriately to this aggressive act against its sovereignty and territorial integrity.”


“Haniyeh’s martyrdom in Tehran will strengthen the deep and unbreakable bond between Tehran, Palestine, and the resistance,” Kanaani also said.


In Tehran, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei led the prayers over the body of Ismail Haniyeh at Tehran University to start his funeral procession, Iran’s Mehr news agency reported.


After prayers at 8:30 am local time, the procession went to Azadi (Freedom) Square. Following the Iranian people’s expression of grief and rage, Haniyeh’s body will be flown to Doha, Qatar for his funeral on August 2.













Glory to the martyr:  Ismail Haniyeh, Palestinian leader, assassinated in Zionist attack


[Photo]


Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network joins the entire Palestinian national movement in condemning the assassination, mourning the martyrdom and saluting the life of the leader, Ismail Haniyeh, Abu al-Abed, the chair of the Political Bureau of Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement, in Tehran, Iran. 

Haniyeh was in Iran to attend the inauguration of newly elected Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian and also met with Imam Khamenei today, alongside Ziyad Nakhaleh of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement, and was assassinated along with his bodyguard and companion, the martyr Wassim Abu Shaaban, in the residence where he was staying by a “treacherous Zionist raid,” as Hamas stated in the movement’s first statement on the assassination. 

The assassination policy of the Zionist regime has attempted to erase the leadership of the Palestinian people for over 76 years now. The names of the martyrs of assassination are great, shining figures of history. Ismail Haniyeh. Saleh al-Arouri. Abu Ali Mustafa. Fathi Shiqaqi. Ghassan Kanafani. Kamal Nasser. Abdel-Aziz Rantisi. Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. Abu Jihad. Mohammed al-Najjar. Basil al-Kubaisi. Tareq Izzedine. Samir Kuntar. Kamal Udwan. Imad Mughniyyeh. Sheikh Khader Adnan. Ibrahim al-Rai: A parade of martyrs on the road to the liberation of Palestine.

Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated as part of a comprehensive policy of the Zionist regime that aims to eliminate the leaders, spokespeople and revolutionary voices of the Palestinian liberation movement. 

This aggression was also an act of war against Iran, and came on the same day as the attempted assassination of a leader of Hezbollah, the Lebanese resistance movement, through the Zionist bombing of the southern suburbs of Beirut,  and on a day that the US bombed Iraq, targeting the Iraqi resistance, assassinating three members of the resistance forces. It is also clear that this is not a Zionist crime alone, but a crime bought and paid for by the United States and its imperialist partners. 

These assassinations have not undermined the strength, solidarity, commitment and firmness of the alliance of resistance forces in the region. From Iran to Lebanon, Yemen to Iraq to Syria, and of course, to Palestine, where the people and the Resistance daily confront the genocidal Zionist regime, the people have the right and the determination to resist, to respond and to confront the assassins and genocidaires. Further, this crime does not demonstrate the “strength” of the Zionist entity but rather its desperation and decline. These assassinations and international aggressions come as the Zionist regime is rent with internal contradictions and riots as settlers and soldiers demand the right to rape imprisoned Palestinians, reflecting the death throes of a wounded colonial monster.

Ismail Haniyeh, 61, a husband, father and grandfather, was born a Palestinian refugee in al-Shati camp and struggled all his life for the liberation of the Palestinian people. From his days as a student, a football player, and a leader in the Islamic Bloc at the Islamic University of Gaza, he was dedicated to the Hamas movement and to Palestine. In 1989, amid the great popular Intifada and shortly after the founding of the movement, Haniyeh was abducted and imprisoned by the Zionist regime for three years, before he was among 415 Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders and members forcibly deported to Marj al-Zuhour in southern Lebanon on 17 December 1992, alongside Dr. Abdelaziz al-Rantisi, Sheikh Youssef Sarkji, Sheikh Saleh al-Arouri, Dr. Mahmoud al-Zahhar, and, among many others, Mustafa Abu Ora, the martyr of the prisoners’ movement just five days ago. 

[A photo of  Ismail Haniyeh with Mustafa Abu Ora?]

He headed the office of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in Gaza and was elected the leader of Hamas in Gaza in 2004, following the assassination of Abdel-Aziz al-Rantisi. In 2017 Haniyeh was elected by the Hamas movement to lead its Political Bureau and was reelected to this position in 2021. 

Haniyeh was the chief negotiator mandated by the Hamas movement and all of the organizations of the Palestinian Resistance, and this assassination aims to prevent him from seeing and directly welcoming the prisoners freed by the Resistance and once again underlines that the Zionist regime is only interested in continued genocide. 

Over 60 of his family members have been martyred, killed by the Zionist regime in the past 10 months, including three of his children and five of his grandchildren. “The blood of my children is not more valuable than the blood of the people of Palestine and all the martyrs in Gaza are my children,” he said, cherishing all of the martyrs of Palestine.

“There is no difference between the martyrs, and they have all been chosen by the Most Merciful to pave our way to victory and freedom,” he said. “The blood of the martyrs demands that we do not compromise, do not relent, do not change or alter, do not weaken, and do not despair, but continue our path with determination.”

The martyr Tareq Izzedine, of the Islamic Jihad movement, gave his last statement before his assassination on the martyrdom of Sheikh Khader Adnan, himself assassinated through deliberate refusal of medical care in the Zionist prisons. His words remain resonant today (video by Resistance News Network): “Whenever a leader ascends, ten will emerge to replace them. When a martyr ascends, 100 martyrs will emerge to replace them. The march continues, and it does not stop until the defeat of the occupation.”

Just today, Ismail Haniyeh said, in his meeting with Imam Khamenei, “Yesterday marked the 300th day of the Gaza War, and we have now reached a critical and historic stage in which the Palestinian people and the Resistance Forces must sustain their heroism and victory.”

His last major statement was for the prisoners, and for popular mobilization, urging people everywhere to participate in the August 3 call to action for Gaza and the Prisoners. “Freedom is near for our dignified prisoners and honorable female prisoners, and victory is coming for our people and our valiant resistance.”

“We call for active and massive participation on this national and global day in defense of our prisoners and our people in the Gaza Strip, to expose the brutal crimes of the occupation against them, and to support their rights and just cause….We look forward to making the 3 of August a pivotal day in all parts of Palestine, in the refugee camps and the diaspora, in our Arab and Islamic world, & among all the free people of the world, to support our people in Gaza and our free prisoners in the occupation’s prisons.”

We must all mobilize, on August 3 and beyond. We must all act. We must all continue the struggle, to confront Zionism and imperialism everywhere and to hold them accountable for their crimes.

From Beirut to Tehran to Gaza to Haifa, to all of our communities, this is the time for action and confrontation. They have never killed the resistance and will not succeed in doing so today. 

Ismail Haniyeh and all of the martyrs live on, and their legacy of commitment, sacrifice and love for the people is an inspiration to generations to come. The defeat of Zionism is forthcoming, as is the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea. Every one of the honourable martyrs have sacrificed everything in order to make that vision a material reality that is closer every day.

Glory to the martyr Ismail Haniyeh and all the martyrs of Palestine and the Resistance. Return, liberation and victory to Palestine, all of Palestine, from the river to the sea.