Fund social needs, not war

 

By Reginald Johnson

     

     NORWALK --- How much has the Iran War cost US taxpayers?

    Try $35 billion.

    You read it right --- $35 billion.

   And that's just since February 28, when the US and Israel launched their unprovoked attack on Iran. Since then the cost of the war is running $1 - $2 billion a day.

  If the ceasefire falls apart, as expected, the cost of the war will run over $100 billion in a matter of weeks.

  A growing number of people, including peace advocates and others, are seeing the Iran War as not only illegal and immoral, but a huge theft of taxpayer money that should be used to address a myriad of social needs at home.

One of those is Benjamin Wesley, who gathered with other activists last Sunday on the bridge over I-95 off Exit 16, to hold banners and signs protesting the war and demand that the nation's priorities be redirected.

                                 

Benjamin Wesley protesting the Iran War at Sunday's demonstration in Norwalk.

 "The US government is cutting a number of social programs like Medicare, Medicaid, Head Start and others to fund the war," said Wesley, of the organization The Peace Pact.

 "We're out here today with colleagues from World Beyond War, Veterans for Peace, Jewish Voices for Peace and others to say, bring those resources back home to meet the needs of the people and create a more equitable society," he said.

  The group unfurled a banner that read "Stop the War in Iran" and placed it over the top of the bridge in the view of motorists on the thruway. Members of the group also held signs urging an end to the war and handed out fliers that read "Stop the US taxpayer funded slaughter."

 The demonstration got a good reception from most drivers going by on East Avenue, with many honking their horns in approval or giving the thumbs up. One or two gave the finger.

                           

Demonstrators opposing the Middle East wars in Norwalk. From left to right, Andrew Rice, Benjamin Wesley, John Miksad and Stephanie Carrow.

  The fliers said people can get involved in the anti-war effort by calling members of the state's congressional delegation at 202-224-3121 and demand that the war end and that senators or congress members vote "no" on any more funding for the war.

  "That's the way the Vietnam War ended.  They stopped the funding," said Wesley.

   He also urged people to protest outside Connecticut's many defense contractors, such as Colt Manufacturing and Sikorsky, which receive millions in US dollars to make weapons used by Israel in the wars in Iran, Lebanon and Gaza.

  Local resident Patrick Servidio showed up at the protest dressed as General George Washington.

 "I led the fight for freedom against the British," he said. "Now we are the British."

                           

General George Washington at the protest.

 

  

'This could go nuclear'

 

     By Reginald Johnson

         Although there's still hope for a diplomatic solution to settle the dispute between the United States and Iran, chances remain high that the US and Israel will attack the Middle Eastern country.

    And should war break out with Iran, a global conflict involving the major powers could be triggered, and the possibility that nuclear weapons will be used is not out of the question.

   That's the view of one the most prominent US foreign policy critics, Prof. Jeffrey Sachs.

    Speaking on the Danny Haiphong podcast recently, Sachs said:  "No war is inevitable, but this war is likely. It's championed by Israel, and Israel is running American foreign policy in the Middle East."

   Sachs added that US President Donald Trump is a "puppet" of Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu, who, he said, "has wanted a US attack on Iran for 30 years." 

  The former advisor to the UN Secretary-General and now teacher at Columbia made his remarks as tensions build between Washington and Tehran, with Trump demanding that Iran end its nuclear development program and threatening to use military force against Iran if it refuses to do so. Talks are ongoing between the two nations, but there's skepticism about whether the negotiations are going anywhere.

Sachs said the situation vis a vis Iran is "fraught with danger."

Unlike other countries like Venezuela, Syria or Somalia that US has been able to attack with little or no  pushback, Iran would be a much more formidable opponent. Iran is a much larger country with a strong ballistic missile system; it has a nuclear energy program which could be retooled to build a nuclear bomb, if leaders chose to do that; and it has major powers for allies, in Russia and China, both nuclear-armed.

  "Iran is not isolated in this and their friends are many, and some are nuclear-armed. This is just the kind of thing that can absolutely lead to a disastrous cycle of escalation." Sachs said.

  "This could go nuclear," he said. 

Sachs said it was critical at this point for the leaders of other large countries that have a stake in the Middle East, such as Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Russia and China, to get involved and "explain to Mr. Trump, 'Don't do this.' "

  " And whether that is enough remains to be seen," he said. 

  

  

Activists call for UN military intervention in Gaza

   By Reginald Johnson

  A group of pro-Palestinian activists are leading a campaign to push the United Nations to intervene in Gaza.

 Led by former Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, the coalition wants the General Assembly to use a little-known process called “Uniting for Peace” to send a peacekeeping force to Gaza to protect civilians, ensure that food supplies are reaching the people and impose an embargo on military aid to Israel.

 The General Assembly used the Uniting for Peace resolution once before in 1956, when the assembly forced Israel, Britain and France to withdraw their troops from the Sinai during the Suez Canal dispute with Egypt.

 By invoking the process, the General Assembly is able to circumvent the Security Council where the United States has repeatedly used its veto power to block any punitive action against Israel.

 Members of the coalition called Lifeline for Palestine believe they have the votes to reach the two thirds majority needed to invoke the Uniting for Peace provision.

 “This is an unprecedented opportunity,” said Stein. “We do have the power to end the genocide and we should not accept powerlessness.”

 September 18th (Thursday) is the one year anniversary of the General Assembly voting by a 10 to 1 margin for a resolution demanding that Israel withdraw its forces from the Gaza Strip, or face UN penalties.

 Thursday will see a “Global Day of Action” on ending the war in Gaza, including a march and rally starting outside the public library at 41^st Street and Fifth Avenue in New York City, beginning at 12 noon. The musician and activist Roger Waters will perform.

 It is almost two years since the Gaza war began, touched off by an attack on Israel by Hamas militants, which left 1200 Israelis dead. Since then, Israel has waged a brutal and unrelenting military campaign, which has left by official counts 65,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, dead. But recent calculations by researchers put the death toll as high as 680,000. Most of Gaza's infrastructure, including hospitals and schools have been heavily damaged or destroyed. Blocks of high-rise housing have been leveled.

 Meanwhile, people have starved to death because Israel has impeded the supply of food aid.

 The World Court and human rights organizations have labeled the Israeli campaign a genocide.

  Craig Mokhiber, a former human rights official with the UN, said that if the General Assembly votes to approve an intervention through the Uniting for Peace process, Israel has no right to block the action, according to a previous World Court ruling.

  "Israel has no right to refuse or obstruct," Mokhiber said.

 The coalition is also asking that the UN remove Israel's credentials as a General Assembly member; reactivation of the UN's long-dormant anti-apartheid mechanism; and establishment of a war crimes tribunal.

 Endorsing the Lifeline for Palestine campaign include the following organizations: CODE Pink; Doctors Against Genocide; various Green Party chapters; and a number of state and local peace organizations.

   (For more information go to lifelineforpalestine.com)

Trump heats up war with Iran with disturbing posts

By Reginald Johnson

In another unhinged social media post today, President Trump said that "we" know where Ayatollah Khameni, the Supreme Leader of Iran is hiding, and "we could take him out now" but won't "for now." Trump demanded Iran surrender to avoid further death and destruction. Trump sounds like some mob boss plotting the death of his enemies.

 He also said in another post that "we" control the skies over Iran, making it abundantly clear the US is working closely with Israel on the attack against Iran. There's no pretense anymore that the US is not fully involved in the Iran war.

 The American people have to rise up and say NO to this war! This could turn into a catastrophic regional war, or even a world war, where millions would die.

 Though the horse is out of the barn, people should still back Sen. Tim Kaine's Senate resolution to block Trump from attacking Iran without Congressional approval. Call 202-224-3121 and demand your senators support the resolution.

At this stage, people better start demanding impeachment as well. Trump is acting recklessly and in violation of the Constitution in many ways.

 

 

Starvation in Gaza? Congress yawns

 

     By Reginald Johnson

                                                  Commentary

  

 It doesn’t appear that members of Congress, including those from Connecticut, are very upset about the desperate conditions in Gaza.

The nation of Israel imposed a blockade on all shipments of humanitarian supplies including food and medicine into Gaza for nearly 3 months, creating starvation conditions. In the last two days Israel decided to lift the blockade, but only partially --- allowing a small number of trucks to come in with food.  UN officials said that while they were pleased that the full blockade had been lifted, what has been delivered represents only a drop in the ocean in terms of need.

Gaza health officials recently reported that there have been dozens of cases of starvation and hundreds if not thousands of young children are being treated for malnutrition in the few hospitals that are left in the territory.

Despite these dire conditions, members of Congress from Connecticut are not saying anything. They are not condemning Israel for the illegal blockade that went on for so long and now has only been partially lifted, and they’ve done nothing to urge President Trump to take action against Israel for this embargo of desperately needed food.

I placed calls to Congressman Jim Himes, who represents the Fourth Congressional District in Connecticut, urging him to make a statement condemning the blockade and calling for urgent action to deliver food. But his office indicated twice now in the last two weeks that he has not made such a statement criticizing Israel. I indicated that I was extremely upset over this and would not vote for him as a result in the future.

 I also called Sen. Richard Blumenthal’s office twice and on one call his office indicated that the senator as well had not made a statement criticizing Israel nor indicated any concern about the desperate situation in Gaza. I don’t know whether this has anything to do with the substantial donations that Blumenthal gets from the Israeli lobby called AIPAC. I hope that there is no connection, but I suspect that there might be.

 When I called Blumenthal’s office on Tuesday there was a three minute hold with nice classical music playing. Nobody picked up. After three minutes. I got disgusted and dropped the call. Last week I called Sen. Chris Murphy’s office. I was met with a taped greeting and no human being to speak with. I left a message stating my concern about Gaza and urged the office to get back to me. That never happened.

It is shameful that these representatives of ours in Congress are not showing more compassion for the people of Gaza and recognize their desperate plight. In addition to facing starvation conditions, thousands of Gazans are being forced to move once again by the Israeli army which has mounted a new offensive in the northern part of the strip. This is really a barbaric situation and it has been condemned by many world leaders, officials in the UN and human rights organizations.

 Unfortunately, most members of Congress are staying quiet. Again, I have to think that the widespread contributions by AIPAC to members of our national legislature have something to do with this. It appears that our elected representatives are putting their political needs ahead of the needs of starving people overseas. How low is that?

 It should be noted as well, that my former profession, the press, has not stood tall in regard to the terrible situation in Gaza. I’m hardly seeing anybody in television news or in the newspapers denouncing Israel for the genocide taking place. There's also little hard news coverage of Israel's brutal bombing or reporting on the famine conditions. And newspapers turn away opinion pieces that criticize Israel. I know this first-hand, since the Connecticut Post failed to run my op-ed calling for an end to the blockade.

  It’s going to be up to regular people on the ground to speak out on the catastrophe going on now in the Middle East --- to condemn Israel, to condemn the Trump administration for failure to stop Israel’s barbaric campaign and to push members of Congress into taking action.

 Only through grassroots pressure will the horror of Gaza be brought to an end.

 

 

 

 

Media ignores starving children in Gaza

 

  ­(I submitted the following op-ed to the Connecticut Post (part of the Hearst chain) last week and so far it hasn’t run. I don’t think it will. I mention the sacred cow, Israel, in a negative light, so that generally means you’re in a no-go zone for most media. It doesn’t matter apparently that tens of thousands of people, many children, will die of starvation because of Israel’s supremely cruel blockade that prevents food from getting in to Gaza.  Nope, can’t run it. The Connecticut Post is not alone. Did you see anything about the Gaza famine on last weekend’s TV news shows? No. This terrible catastrophe is being ignored. Shame on the media. I reprint here the op-ed piece I submitted to the Post,)

 

 

                           END THE GAZA BLOCKADE

 

    By Reginald Johnson

    May 7, 2025

 

    A human catastrophe is unfolding in Gaza.

    For the past two months, Israel has been imposing a blockade on the shipment of all food and medical supplies into Gaza, where Israel has been fighting Hamas militants since October of 2023. Trucks loaded with food are lined up at the Gaza border and they can’t get in.

  As a result, some 1.1 million residents are trapped in the zone without any new food, medicine and precious little water. Starvation is on the rise.

 Just days ago, officials of the Gaza Health Ministry reported that 57 Palestinians have died of starvation. According to officials of the Gaza Government Media Office, some 3500 children under the age of five years “face imminent death by starvation” and some 290,000 children are “on the brink of death.”

 Olga Cherevko, an aid worker with the United Nations Humanitarian Office (OCHA) in Gaza City said, “Hungry people are scavenging in mounds of waste for anything that would help them survive…I am seeing children and I am seeing elderly people rummaging through these piles of trash not only in search of things to burn but also things to eat daily.”

 The CEOs of 12 major aid organizations, including Oxfam, Save the Children, CARE and NRC, said in a joint statement recently that, “Survival itself is now slipping out of reach and the humanitarian system is at a breaking point.”

 Those organizations said that they are ready to begin resupplying humanitarian aid if they get the go-ahead, but they’re still waiting. Israeli officials say they are imposing the blockade in order to put pressure on Hamas to release the remaining Israeli hostages they have been holding.

 But officials of human rights organizations and the UN say Israel is violating international law by imposing the blockade. “Any use of starvation of the civilian population as a method of war constitutes a war crime and so do all forms of collective punishment,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk.

 If the blockade is not ended very soon, a famine of catastrophic proportions will set in for the people of Gaza. It is imperative now that world leaders, including President Trump, European heads of state and others, put pressure on Israel to end the blockade and allow desperately needed food supplies to reach Gaza.

  

 

 Reginald Johnson is a freelance writer who lives Bridgeport, CT

 

 

Israeli TV: Netanyahu blocked peace in Gaza while Biden did nothing to stop the slaughter

    By Reginald Johnson

  

  An investigation by Channel 13 in Israel has revealed that during the first 16 months of the Gaza War, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu actively impeded efforts to bring about a peace settlement and that at no point did the US administration of former US President Joe Biden demand that Israel curtail its brutal military operation and agree to a cease-fire, despite a mounting death toll.

The bombshell report also showed that American officials were aware of Israeli war crimes but covered them up in order to give legal clearance for continuing to ship weapons to Israel.

The report was posted on the Drop Site News site on X.

“A sweeping Israeli channel 13 investigation has exposed the administration’s complicity in Israel’s 19-months long war in Gaza. Nine top Biden officials acknowledged avoiding real pressure on Israel – even as the death toll surpassed 30,000. Israeli leaders openly bragged they dragged out the war playing for time until Donald Trump’s return to the presidency,” said the cover story by Drop Site News. Former Israeli officials were also interviewed.

“God, did the state of Israel favor that Biden was the president,” said former Israeli Ambassador Michael Herzog. “We fought for over a year in Gaza and the administration never came to us and said ‘cease-fire now.’  It never did. And that’s not to be taken for granted.”

 The report said that Biden aides privately admitted that Netanyahu was prolonging the war. “He’s undercutting it every step of the way,” said Ilan Goldenberg, a senior national security aide. “All the security people are coming out and saying it,” he said.

The report said Netanyahu spurned possible peace plans, including a proposal by the US and Saudi Arabia. That plan collapsed because it required acceptance of a “political horizon” for the Palestinians and Netanyahu would not agree to it.

The Channel 13 investigation also said Netanyahu sabotaged the talks on the release of the Israeli hostages, in order to extend the war. The Israeli prime minister “deliberately tanked negotiations” fearing a deal would force him to end the war.

  The investigation also found that American officials were aware of Israeli forces illegally blocking humanitarian aid shipments into Gaza but covered it up. State Department official Stacy Gilbert resigned after the revelations about the Israeli violations were taken out of a required aid compliance report.

  “The final version cleared Israel of violating US law despite overwhelming evidence of aid obstruction.” Gilbert called it “shocking in its mendacity”  and said “everyone knows this is not true.”

  The Channel 13 story added, "Even as settlers looted Gaza-bound trucks and Israel blocked humanitarian aid, Biden certified compliance and kept weapons flowing."

   The Gaza War began in October of 2024, after Hamas militants raided a southern Israel music fair, and killed 1200 people. Some 240 hostages were taken. Israel then launched a furious air and ground assault into the Palestinian enclave and thousands were killed in the first few weeks.

  The war has dragged on since then with staggering results. Some 60,000 Gazans, mostly civilians, are dead; much of Gaza's infrastructure has been leveled, including universities and apartment buildings; and most of Gaza's hospitals are destroyed or heavily damaged. Now 2.2 million residents are under threat of starvation, as Israel has imposed a food and water blockade.

  UN officials have accused Israel of waging a genocide in Gaza, which Israel has strenuously denied.

  The US has fully backed Israel in the war and billions of dollars in military aid has been provided.

"Survival itself is now slipping out of reach"

  By Reginald Johnson

   Commentary

 There is a humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Palestine.

 Hundreds of thousands of people could die from lack of food due to an Israeli blockade.

 Will the world stand by and let this happen?

This is a post from the website "Drop Site News":

 "URGENT: Multiple credible sources – including UN agencies, 12 major international NGOs, and journalists on the ground – report that most of Gaza’s 2.2 million people are now surviving on just one meal per day or less due to Israel’s total blockade on food and other essentials since March 2.

 The CEOs of 12 major aid organizations, including Oxfam, Save the Children, CARE, NRC, and others, said in a joint statement on April 17, 2025:

 'Survival itself is now slipping out of reach and the humanitarian system is at breaking point.

 'Every single person in Gaza is relying on humanitarian aid to survive. That lifeline has been completely cut off since a blockade on all aid supplies was imposed by Israeli authorities on 2 March.

 'We have supplies ready. We have trained medical staff. We have the expertise. What we don’t have is the access – or the guarantee by Israeli authorities that our teams can safely do their job.' " 

  There needs to be a massive outcry against Israel's cruel blockade. People must demand that it be lifted --- immediately. We cannot let a mass starvation event take place on our watch.

 Call the White House comment line at 202-456-1111 and make your voice heard.  Also call the Capitol Switchboard, at 202-224-3121 and ask to be connected to your members of Congress in the House and Senate. Tell them you want them to call for an end to the Israeli blockade and an end to the vicious war against Gaza. If they won't agree to do this, say you will vote against them in the next election.

 One other suggestion. This is from Facebook friend Mary Anne Doty: "Email the Israeli embassy and demand they stop the deliberate starvation of 2.2 million human beings in Gaza. Consular@washington.mfa.gov.i"

'Nobody's going to force us out'

   By Reginald Johnson 

 Lana Savoca was stunned.

 President Donald Trump had just announced that the United States would take over the war ravaged Gaza Strip “clean it up” and redevelop it as a new “Riviera” on the Mediteranean.

  At a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said the “spectacular” new development would bring new jobs, new housing and finally peace to the area. But he also said the people there would have to relocated and it was possible US troops might be used to assist in the operation, although administration officials later walked that back.

  “It’s really a shock to me. I couldn’t believe it,” said Savoca, a writer and Palestinian activist who lives in Greenwich, CT.

 “It’s a real slap in the face to see them sitting next to each other (Trump and Netanyahu) talking about Gaza and just prime real estate and how they were going to clean it up and how it’s destroyed now and how people can’t live there and trying to find a better place for Palestinians,” she said. “In other words, ethnic cleansing them and saying it in such a calm, methodical manner. I mean, I wish I had better words for it, but it’s kind of unbelievable.”

 Savoca, who lost over 90 members of her extended family during Israel’s brutal 15-month military operation in Gaza, said she was surprised by the President’s words because during his campaign Trump had expressed anger at Netanyahu for the way Israel had acted during the war. She thought he would have come up with a better plan for the future.

  Savoca said the idea of the Palestinians being forced out of Gaza is appalling and brings back memories of the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes to create land for Israel in 1948. This followed approval of a UN partition plan dividing the old Palestine, which had been held by the British.

 Palestinians call that period “The Nakba,”  which in Arabic means, catastrophe.

 “It’s just awful, these people who’ve been through so much, and now they’re choosing to stay, and they’re traveling back up north where their homes used to be and now there’s nothing but rubble and poisons from all the destruction and they desperately want to stay there,” she said.

 

Lana Savoca at a protest against the Gaza war in Washington, D.C.

                  

  Trump’s plan for a Gaza takeover has been widely criticized by leaders in the Middle East and also some in the West including Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Legal experts have also said that the US taking Gaza over and driving people out is a breach of international and humanitarian law.

 Despite the criticism,Trump has doubled down on his plan in interviews and in social media posts. While Democrats have attacked Trump’s idea some Republicans have endorsed it.

  Observers also worry that Trump’s proposal for a US takeover of Gaza and relocation of the Palestinians undermines the chances that the fragile cease-fire in place for the past several weeks can still hold. The truce put at least a temporary stop to a war which has taken 66,000 lives and left Gaza in ruins. World court officials have labeled Israel’s campaign an act of genocide.

 Another Palestinian who is sharply critical of  the Trump plan is Johnny Sakakini, who operates  Abby’s Falafel restaurant in Trumbull.

 “He’s got a mad dog mentality," Sakakini said of Trump. "This is barbaric. So much has been destroyed and so many killed and now America is coming to steal the rest. There’s no respect for anything. I don’t even know why the United Nations even exists, if America can come along and do whatever the hell they want and nobody can stop them.”

  “So basically it’s 1948 all over again in a different way – with American hands,”  he said. “Before it was British hands, now it’s American hands. Steal and grab land from Palestinians and expel them and keep them as refugees for the rest of  their lives somewhere else.”

 Sakakini, who grew up in the West Bank and then immigrated to the United States over 30 years ago, said the Trump idea is doomed to failure, because the Palestinian people will not be expelled.

 “They’re not going to leave, no matter what he does,” he said. “If Israel could not do anything for 15 months, with all the power, all the weapons it has engaged in, almost like nuking the place down, and we stayed, we’re not going anywhere, we’re staying. Nobody’s going to force us out.”

        

Johnny Sakakini, a Palestinian-American, at his restaurant in Trumbull.

  Harold Koh, Professor of International Law at Yale Law School,  told the BBC that the Gaza takeover idea  "is an astonishingly misguided policy proposal that would also be massively illegal.”

  “As a matter of policy. we have a President who’s proposing to fix the century-old Middle East problem by building a beach resort on destroyed property of people of color, who’ve been involuntarily displaced maybe even by the U.S. Army. It’s a bit of an Atlantic City solution to a serious and horrible problem,” Koh said.

 He added,  “The way that he proposes to do it sounds like forcible displacement which is a war crime, a crime against humanity and also an invasion of sovereignty and a violation of the right of self-determination which is a violation of the UN Charter.”

  Sakakini was asked what can be done at this point to help the Palestinians and solve the conflict with Israel.

  “What can be done is, leave it to the United Nations. The only way is for the Palestinians to have their own place, what it was in 1967 (prior to the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank) and Israel has their land. Just leave us alone, let us live in peace. Stop poking with us. That’s the only way,” he said.

 

 

 

 

Proud moment for Bridgeport

           

         By Reginald Johnson

                                                     Commentary

          

   This past year has been a blur. So much has been happening with me both on a personal level and also in terms of what I’ve been writing about and working on I really wouldn’t know where to start in terms of a recap.

   But none of this would be very interesting to anybody else so I’m not going give some long recounting. But I just want to say one thing. I can’t be more proud of the fact that officials in my hometown of Bridgeport, Connecticut stood up and were counted on the absolutely awful events that are going on in Palestine.

 A year ago at this time the City Council was debating whether they should pass a resolution urging Congress and the President to push for a cease-fire in the Gaza-Israeli war. Already at that point thousands had died and there were numerous war crimes. It was clear to anybody who was reasonable and looking at the facts objectively that Israel needed to stop their brutal attack and the United States had to stop enabling their campaign.

 There were a number of packed and emotional meetings in the City Council chambers in which pro-Gaza supporters and pro-Israel supporters vented their feelings on the proposed resolution. Some members of the Palestinian community, in particular, gave moving speeches. Things got heated and police at one point intervened to stop a fracas.

 In the end, despite harsh attacks by some from the Israeli side, council members voted overwhelmingly to pass the nonbinding resolution. The moment the resolution passed, the council chambers erupted in cheers and people were hugging and waving Palestinian flags. It was a powerful moment.

 Several weeks later, the council stood strong and rejected an effort to overturn the resolution.

 There were those who said that the resolution was inappropriate for the Council to work on since it didn’t deal specifically with any city issue and was a waste of time. But from my point of view. the vote was one of the best things the city ever did. People were taking a stand on a deep moral issue which in the long run means a lot more than just voting to pass money for a new road or a new school. 

 I was proud of what the City Council and Mayor Ganim (who I’ve been often been critical of over the years) did that night. Thank you.

 Unfortunately, it’s just too bad that now, almost a year after that resolution was passed (resolutions were passed in a number of other cities as well ---  thank you to them) the war drags on and Israel is still carrying out its genocidal campaign, aided and abetted by the United States. Now, 45,000 are dead, and that’s in all likelihood a severe undercount. Thousands are starving from lack of food and Gaza's health care system is collapsing as Israeli forces bomb hospitals.

 There has been no concerted effort by our so-called leaders in Washington, DC. to stop the carnage. This has been one of the most disgraceful performances by members of Congress, in both parties, and by a President, in US history. The cowardice being shown is just beyond words.  An unspeakable horror is continuing and these people sit back and worry about their AIPAC contributions. Disgusting.

 The US could put an end to this war very quickly if it wanted to, and it’s just a shame that hasn’t happened.  Tell Israel to stop the killing and agree to a ceasefire or all aid and support, stops.

 So in the new year we still have a lot more work to do to turn this policy around. But it can be done.  In the spirit of what Bridgeport and other cities have done, let’s keep pushing for a permanent ceasefire.

 That's the least we can do for the people of Palestine.

   

Greenwich woman loses family in Gaza genocide

 

 By Reginald Johnson

 

  For years, Raghda Shawa was a beloved doctor in Gaza.

 A pediatrician, Dr. Shawa cared for thousands of young children when they were sick, according to Lana Shawa Savoca, a relative who lives in Greenwich, CT and who was treated by Dr. Shawa at age 1-1/2.

 Shawa rose to be head of the Children’s Department at Al-Shifa Hospital, a top medical institution in Gaza City.

“She was a brilliant, kind woman,” said Savoca.

  Last November, Dr. Shawa, 85, confined to a wheelchair, was living in her home near Al-Shifa Hospital with her two ailing sisters, and two nurses, as the Israeli military campaign raged in the Gaza Strip. Israeli forces were fighting near the hospital and homes in the area were being bombed.

  “One day, two young Israeli soldiers came to the door. They said her home was marked to be bombed and they needed to evacuate,” said Savoca. “She looked at them and said, ‘You know I’m in a wheelchair. Where can I possibly go? There’s nowhere to go. Everything’s been bombed. I’m elderly. I have two older sisters who are sick here and two nurses. Why would you bomb my home?’ ” recounted Savoca.

  Savoca continued, “after she explained her situation they decided to leave. They apologized and said, ‘It’s okay, we’ll make sure that your home won't be bombed.’ “

    After a number of days the army pulled out of the Al-Shifa area, and Dr. Shawa and the other women were spared --- for now. But fierce fighting continued throughout the Gaza Strip, with Israel bombing at will --- striking hospitals, refugee camps, universities, food warehouses and wiping out whole neighborhoods. Despite international condemnation for the brutality of their campaign, Israel  --- fully backed by the United States --- refused to agree to a ceasefire.

  In March, fighting returned to the Al-Shifa hospital area, with the hospital itself coming under attack. Doctors and medical personnel who refused to leave were shot.

  Perhaps with a sense of foreboding, Dr. Shawa left the following voice recording with a relative: “Gaza has been exterminated. Look at your TV and watch… The whole world is watching… That’s all you’re doing, just watching, not doing anything.… Everyone is dancing on our wounds.”

  The exact details are not clear, but Savoca’s uncle, Mirwan Shawa, said Israeli warplanes which were bombing the area, also bombed Dr. Shawa’s home, despite the earlier pledge this would not happen. All the inhabitants were killed. No evacuation warning had been given, he said.

  After the Israeli army withdrew weeks later, relatives returned to where the house once was, and recovered the remains of those killed. A record of the deaths was made at the Gaza Health Ministry.

 Savoca’s aunt in Ramallah in the West Bank, who knew Dr. Shawa personally, sent out a text relaying the sad news. “I can’t believe this monstrous act,” she wrote.

                              

Dr. Raghda Shawa, center.  A distinguished doctor in Gaza for decades, she was killed along with her sisters and two nurses when an Israeli warplane bombed her home in March. No evacuation warning was given before the bombing.

 Tragically, Dr. Shawa’s death was just one of many among the wider Shawa family in Gaza. Savoca said that the Health Ministry has recorded some 92 members of her family who have died since the Gaza war began in October of last year.

 “They were killed by bombing, shelling, and possibly starvation,” Savoca said.

 The news of Dr. Shawa’s death, and so many others in the Shawa family, has left Savoca shattered.

 “It’s just so, it’s beyond words at this point,” she said. “I mean there is no regard for Palestinian lives, at all. I mean the elderly are not valued, the young are not valued, doctors, especially, are not valued, nor are the lives of writers or journalists. This is unprecedented what is happening… this is indiscriminate killing,” she said.

           

The spreadsheet put together by the Shawa family of Gaza showing the names of 92 family members who have been killed in the Israel-Gaza War. The names were taken from the Gaza Health Ministry.

  

 What happened to the Shawa family has happened to many other extended families in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas conflict. An investigation by the Associated Press published in June said that 60 families in Gaza lost dozens or more members in the war during the deadliest period of the war, between October and December of last year.

  The AP investigation found in those families that at least 25 people were killed – sometimes four generations from the same bloodline.

 “To a degree never seen before, Israel is killing entire Palestinian families, a loss even more devastating than the physical destruction and the massive displacement,” the article said. https://apnews.com/article/gaza-palestinians-families-israel-war-deaths-a9f8bcfe402c17f1f78903eae67b7a7d

  “It’s just so horrifying,” said Savoca. “They say ‘Never Again.’ But it doesn’t apply to the Palestinians.”

  The war in Gaza began in October of last year when Hamas militants raided a music fair in southern Israel and killed 1200 people. Israel responded with a major counter attack and has waged a relentless campaign in the months since in efforts to root out Hamas, the faction that leads the government in Gaza.

  Some 38,000 people in Gaza have been killed, the majority women and children, according to the Health Ministry. A recent study by the medical publication Lancet, however, reported that the real death toll is more like 186,000.  “The study pointed out that the death toll is higher because the official toll does not take into account thousands of dead buried under rubble and indirect deaths due to destruction of health facilities, food distribution systems and other public infrastructure,” said an article on the Lancet report in al-Jazeera. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/7/8/gaza-toll-could-exceed-186000-lancet-study-says

  A number of human rights groups and UN officials have accused the Israeli military of using disproportionate force and committing numerous war crimes. In February, the International Court of Justice said there was a plausible case to be made that Israel was committing a genocide in Gaza.

 There's also reports by UN officials that famine is setting in in Gaza, due to food shortages, caused in part by Israeli attacks on relief trucks and food centers.

   Israeli officials have countered the criticism by maintaining that they use precision in targeting Hamas fighters and try to avoid killing civilians. They further maintain that Hamas combatants use Palestinians as shields, so the loss of Palestinian lives is unavoidable.

  They also deny trying to impede relief efforts.

  Meanwhile, despite the widespread criticism of Israel and its tactics, the Biden administration has continued to provide all the funds necessary for Israel to wage war and most members of Congress from both parties have also given Israel full backing. Only a few representatives have said that they would not vote for further appropriations for Israel and support a permanent cease-fire.

  The devastating losses of her family members in Gaza has prompted Savoca to turn to activism to try to change US policy and stop the war. She spends almost all her time now calling the White House and members of Congress including U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-4, who represents lower Fairfield County, and Connecticut’s two senators, Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy --- urging them to back a permanent ceasefire.

 She also attended a massive demonstration against the war in Washington, DC in January and joined others to protest President Joe Biden when he came to Greenwich for a campaign fundraiser at the home of an HBO executive.

                      

Lana Shawa Savoca, of Greenwich, at a demonstration against the Israeli-Gaza War in Washington, DC in January. 

 Savoca has also worked hard to get cease-fire resolutions passed by local city and town councils.

 While she’s been heartened by the support given by some for her work she’s had some real disappointments, too.

  Savoca and other pro-Palestinian activists tried unsuccessfully to get the City Council in Yonkers, New York (where she used to live)  to pass a cease-fire resolution for Gaza. Such resolutions have been passed by more than 100 other towns and cities around the country including Bridgeport, CT,  Albany, NY, Chicago, Ill., Atlanta, GA, San Francisco, CA and Seattle, WA.

  At the meeting to consider the resolution proposal, Savoca told the heartbreaking story of what happened to Dr. Shawa and her other relatives.

 “I probably sobbed the whole way through,” Savoca said. “We had 60 people that shared their stories and the entire time, one of the councilmen was on the phone. Another one was eating. We were just standing up pouring out our feelings crying, pleading, saying, please!” she said.

 “We know that the City Council in Yonkers doesn’t have much say on world issues, but my God, we just want you to listen to your constituents, like there are so many Arabs in Yonkers --- so many Jordanians, Palestinians and a huge Christian Jordanian community,” she said.

 Savoca was stopped from finishing her testimony when the council chairwoman, Tish James, who did not look at her while she was speaking, slammed down her gavel and said ‘Your time is up! Your time is up!’ “

Another upsetting experience for Savoca has been how her career has evaporated since she began her activism on behalf of Palestine.

  Previously a blogger and writer promoting products online, Savoca said many of her business contacts have dried up once she made known that she was an advocate for the Palestinian cause.

 “Some people blacklisted me. There are some people who live in Westchester that are Jewish and maybe they feel like they have a connection to Israel. I found out later they actually blocked me. I’m not invited to any of the influencer events or blogger events. I kind of had to reinvent myself because I’m a very social person,” she said.

  “I’ve lost all revenue, everything,” said Savoca. “Which is fine. I mean I will always speak my opinion, especially when it comes to Palestine. I can’t stay silent on this.”

  As the US presidential election campaign heats up and news outlets turn their attention to Joe Biden and Donald Trump, as well as to developments in the Ukraine war, the focus on the Gaza conflict has receded.

 "That shouldn't happen, because it's becoming this terrible norm," Savoca said. "We need to have brave journalists to talk about it and people still to call Congress to protest. It's just, it's a living hell – it's an absolute living hell for those people."

 

 

 

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Right-wing media smears student protesters, genuflects to Israel

                                                          

                                                         OPINION

    By Reginald Johnson 

 

 

  The bias being shown by right-wing media towards the college students protesting Israel's brutal war on Gaza is really extraordinary and quite frankly, shameful.

 Citing little or no hard evidence to back up their characterizations, commentators on FOX and Newsmax are labeling university protesters as “pro-Hamas sympathizers,” “anti-Semites,” and even terrorists.

I heard Jesse Waters on FOX call the campus protesters “Hamas lunatics” and “Jihadists.”  Sean Hannity and other talk show hosts on FOX say much the same thing.

  Dick Morris, a pollster/commentator who years ago worked for the Clintons and who I thought was a fairly critical thinker, said on Newsmax recently that the campus protests were a burgeoning form of “Naziism.”  Really? Naziism?

  Morris offered no video to back up his wild claim --- showing, say, large numbers of students marching around shouting “Seig Heil!” while waving swastikas or calling for Jews to be killed. No. Zero proof. This is just incredibly irresponsible and I think defammatory.

It is true that a small minority of people in and around the demonstrations, some wacky extremists, have said irresponsible things. A few people have uttered anti-Semitic comments or said stupid things like  “Long-live Hamas!”

 But from what I’ve seen, the vast majority of the students are involved in legitimate and constructive protest. They’re calling out the utter brutality and carnage that is going on in Gaza perpetrated by the Israeli military and saying they don’t want their schools to be in any way associated with helping the Israeli state. They are saying they want a cease-fire in this terrible war and they want aid to be sent in to help the people of Gaza. Again, this is the message from the vast majority of demonstrators and I have not seen any evidence to show otherwise.

 I saw FOX News show a clip of one person shouting from the outside of a protest that the slaughter of October 7 should be take place “again and again and again.” This clip was shown repeatedly over a number of days but it was just one person ---  there were no other people picking up the chant. This person was either a sick extremist or possibly a provocateur sent in by people who support Israel and are trying to discredit the student protest movement.

 The fact that FOX would show this kind of a clip of just one person repeating a depraved chant over several days and then acting as if it was somehow indicative of the way many protesters feel is really the height of the irresponsibility. You have to wonder sometimes whether that news organization is being paid by somebody to carry out this kind of propaganda.

  FOX talking heads have also been claiming recently, without evidence, that protesters in different places are shouting “Death to America!” But again no videos are shown.

 Another claim from right-wing outlets is that Gaza War  protesters are advocating  the “destruction of Israel” because they are chanting “From the river to the sea Palestine shall be free.” This is a complete smear. The meaning of the chant is that Palestinians who are NOT free now in their homeland because they are under military siege in Gaza and under a nearly 60-year Israeli military occupation in the West Bank, should be set free.  They’re saying that the Palestinians should have their rights and freedoms just like Israelis have in their country.

 The false accusation relating to the use of this slogan is particularly irresponsible given the fact that it is the Israelis going back to the Zionist leaders who were pushing for an Israeli state in the 1920s and 1930s who were using the same line --- declaring that from the Meditteranean Sea to the Jordan River there should be a Jewish homeland. Likud Party members wrote in their charter in 1970 that from ‘the river to the sea Israel should have sovereignty.’

 As recently as early October last year, prior to the October 7 attack, the foreign minister of Israel was saying the same thing about Israel’s rights, restating that from the sea to the river Israel should have dominion. So it is complete hypocrisy by Israelis and their allies in the US media to be saying that the use of this line by pro-Palestinian activists is ‘threatening’ and irresponsible. Israelis are using it themselves.

   Meanwhile, there has been little effort by FOX or Newsmax, especially, to send reporters to the demonstrations and make a concerted effort to find out what the protesters are thinking. The basic “Why?” question of journalism is not being asked. Why are you here?

 If they did ask this, they’d find people deeply concerned about the slaughter going on in Gaza, considered by international officials to be a genocide. They desperately want a ceasefire in Gaza and an immediate delivery of massive amounts of food to the area, to stave off a famine.

 But right-wing outlets don’t want to hear about genocide or war crimes or famine created by Israel blocking deliveries, because such truths hurt Israel, and they’re on Israel’s side.

 Some of the show hosts are very open about this. For instance, I heard Greg Kelly on Newsmax say one night,  “I’m rooting for Israel.”

 So shows on FOX and Newsmax are not journalism, they’re propaganda for Israel. These stations cannot call themselves “news” outlets anymore. They’re in public relations.

(By the way I have watched the conservative channels in recent years, in addition to the others, simply get a more balanced picture about American politics and also to hear discussions about important issues that you don’t hear on the other channels such as the attack on civil liberties including censorship and curbs on free speech. So they have had their moments in the past but relating to the Gaza war and Israel these stations have been a disaster.)

Coverage by the so-called moderate or liberal cable news channels like CNN and MSNBC of the student protests and the Gaza war has been a little bit better. Their coverage is not outright public relations like FOX and Newsmax. But then again, the reporting is not very strong, either. MSNBC has been spending recent weeks obsessively covering the Trump trials and devoting precious little time to this absolutely horrendous war going on in the Middle East. Reporting on the Trump circus day and night is really not very good journalism.

CNN, from what I can see, has not been covering the war terribly well either, but there have been a few segments that I thought were good.

The only TV/cable news outlets that have been doing a good job on the protests and the Gaza war are of course, foreign-based, namely Euronews and BBC. BBC in particular has been doing a nice job, making a real effort to talk with people on the ground whether they are demonstrators in the US or Palestinians themselves who are being directly impacted by the war. They’ve delved into the issue of genocide, talking with officials of the UN and human rights organizations. There’s also been interviews with leaders of the Palestinian Authority and leaders of Arab countries.

 The BBC has also aired a number of interviews with Israeli officials to get their side. This is the way it’s supposed to be done.

 I've also heard a lot of good things about al-Jazeera coverage, but I can't get this on cable TV. I'll have to check it out on-line.

 I'm not going to focus on print media coverage, because I'm not reading papers much. I gave up on the New York Times several years ago after they blew it on the Russia-gate affair and have been uncritical in their coverage of the Hunter Biden scandal. The Times reportedly did a poor job on the big story they put out in December on alleged sexual assaults by Hamas fighters against Israeli hostages. Many questions have been raised about the accuracy of the claims.

  Two tabloids in New York, the Post and Daily News are hopelessly pro-Israel and their coverage of campus protests has been very disparaging.

 So that's a smattering of the quality of the Gaza War coverage by the print media. Not too good. But there may be exceptions.

 It is time some protests land at the door of FOX, Newsmax and the New York Times over their one-sided coverage of the Gaza-Israel War.