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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UN warned about danger of nuclear war over Ukraine

 

      By Reginald Johnson

     The outstanding writer and peace activist Dan Kovalik urged the UN Security Council this week to deal with the growing crisis in Ukraine, which threatens to spark a nuclear war between the United States and Russia.

  Speaking as a member of the executive committee of the U.S. Peace Council, Kovalik said “we are very alarmed by what appears to be a creep towards World War III emanating from the Russia-Ukraine conflict.”

  Kovalik said the Biden administration’s recent decision to allow Ukraine to use US weaponry to strike deep inside Russia is a provocative step that ratchets up tensions with the Russians. He said that Ukraine will now be able to hit early warning radar systems that were built by the Russians years ago to warn them about incoming ICBM missiles from the US.

  “This raises the question for Russia: what are you attacking these particular radar sites for? Are you planning for a first strike?” he said.

  Kovalik said the situation is similar to the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 when America and the Soviet Union almost went to war over the placement of Russian missiles on Cuban soil.

   The author and human rights activist also criticized the Biden administration for its decision to arm the Azov Battalion, a neo-Nazi group in Ukraine.

  The administration announced its support for Azov shortly after the 80th anniversary celebration of D-Day in World War II when American and Allied forces launched the invasion of Europe and began the offensive which led to the defeat of the Nazi regime in Germany.

  He said the Azov Battalion is part of a right-wing network which is spreading racism and Naziism in Europe.

  "How can the West and the United States in particular talk about democracy and human rights when it is arming Nazis in Ukraine?" Kovalik asked. 

 He urged the Security Council to “address this issue and halt support for modern-day Nazis in Europe.”

 To hear the full briefing by Kovalik before the Security Council, go to https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1h/k1heo8r3qy?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR2bKtEdznDmvUYSyvwgRcbVEUFlv1kzWS6Qrz-QRlUJ5Wj60uiSteoGceI_aem_ZmFrZWR1bW15MTZieXRlcw

 

US and NATO risk nuclear war in Ukraine

 

   By Reginald Johnson 

   While the world's attention has been focused in recent months on the utter horror of the Israel-Gaza war, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has taken a turn for the worse.

 The United States under Joe Biden has changed course and given Ukraine permission to use American-made weapons to strike inside Russia.  Also, NATO is creating "land corridors" to rush US troops to the frontlines in the event of war and NATO member France said it will put boots on the ground to "train" Ukrainian soldiers.

 These are reckless steps which escalate the crisis over Ukraine and increase the danger of this conflict becoming a world war, with nuclear weapons being used. Madness.

 Joe Lauria, editor of Consortium News, has just written an excellent piece on the danger of the Ukraine war and how the US has been using fascists from that country to undermine Russia for nearly eight decades. (See "Using Ukraine Since 1948" at https://consortiumnews.com/.../10/using-ukraine-since-1948/

 Here are the opening graphs:

 "The United States has for nearly 80 years seen Ukraine as the staging ground for its covert and increasingly overt war with Russia.

 "After years of warnings, and talk since 2008 of Ukraine joining NATO, Russia fought back two years ago. With neither side backing down, Ukraine is increasingly becoming a flashpoint that could lead to nuclear war."

 Please read the piece.

 

Good news in Bridgeport

 

 

 Br Reginald Johnson

 

    BRIDGEPORT, CT --- In this city’s long running saga of election fraud, there may finally be some accountability for the key players.

  Democratic Town Committee Vice Chair Wanda Geter-Pataky and former Council Member Alfredo Castillo and two others, have been arrested.

Here is the statement by the reform group Bridgeport Generation Now:

 "Today, almost 5 years after the 2019 mayoral election, the voters of Bridgeport are finally able to see a level of accountability. The arrests of Wanda Geter-Pataky, Vice-Chair of Bridgeport’s Democratic Town Committee, and Alfredo Castillo, City Councilman in the 136th District, on charges related to election fraud, represent a measure of justice that the people of Bridgeport have been painstakingly waiting for.

 "Both officials have been charged with unlawful possession of absentee ballots, misrepresenting the eligibility requirements for absentee voting, and being present when voters completed their absentee ballots. Ms. Geter-Pataky has also been charged with witness tampering. Two other individuals – Nilsa Heredia and Josephine Edmonds – have also been arrested and charged.

 "We hope that today’s arrests send a message to everyone who is complicit in upholding the decades-long election abuse in Bridgeport: If you cheat to win, you will eventually lose. Today, Mayor Ganim should finally end the over 250 days of Ms. Geter-Pataky’s paid administrative leave.

 "Finally, in April, the SEEC forwarded two complaints of possible absentee ballot fraud in the 2023 Democratic mayoral primary to the chief state’s attorney office. We hope they investigate these matters swiftly and bring those responsible to justice. This coercive, fraudulent election rigging behavior that has destroyed our local democracy must end and the people of Bridgeport’s civil rights must be restored."

  Hopefully, the chief states' attorney will thoroughly investigate the election abuses from the last election. They were a disgrace. 

  At some point, one Joe Ganim must pay a price for his almost certain involvement in these irregularities. Bridgeport can never be made right until this happens.

 

Democratic Party blocks democracy in New York

 

    By Reginald Johnson

   

     Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein will not be on the ballot in New York State, despite the party collecting a whopping 42,000 signatures on petitions. This total fell short of the 70,000 threshold demanded by the state. That figure was set by Democratic Party leaders who run the state and want to keep third party candidates out of  elections and have set up impossible requirements for independent candidates to be on the ballot.

  The conduct by Democratic officials in New York puts the lie to the Democratic Party claim that their party is fighting to “protect democracy” and stop “authoritarianism.”

  Here is part of the statement about the result in New York by Stein:

  “Right now, New York is poised to have fewer choices on its ballot than any other state. This suppression of voter choice is part of the Democratic Party’s broader assault on democracy. After taking control of New York state government, Democrats tripled ballot access signature requirements while keeping the same short 6-week petitioning period. The DNC has broadcasted that they are paying lawyers and operatives to try to keep their competitors off the ballot, and recently posted a job to infiltrate opponents’ campaigns.

  "The Democrats’ attacks on democracy are too numerous to list, but maybe the most notorious is how they impersonated Green Party officials to call voters in North Carolina to pressure them into removing their names from the Green Party’s ballot access petitions. This is authoritarian, anti-democratic voter suppression and the height of hypocrisy from the Democratic Party, which claims to fight for voter’s rights, but in reality only fights to tighten the duopoly’s stranglehold on power.”

Peace walkers come to Bridgeport

     

         By Reginald Johnson

        BRIDGEPORT, CT ---- A group of veterans and others taking part in the “Peace Walk 2024” from Maine to Washington, DC came to Bridgeport yesterday bringing their message of peace, nuclear disarmament and an end to war.

  Participants in the 700-mile walk organized by Veterans for Peace, which began May 7 in Ogunquit, Maine, walked along Route 1 from Milford and Stratford and then into Bridgeport following Barnum Avenue and then onto other streets over to downtown and then eventually to the Islamic Community Center on State Street. The walkers held aloft the Veterans for Peace flag, the Palestinian flag and a huge black and red banner which read “Ceasefire Now.”

   As they stopped for a bite to eat at Frankie’s Diner on Barnum Avenue the walkers and others who accompanied them in support vehicles said they came from all over the country for the peace walk. Alexis said she was from a small town near Sacramento California; Tito was from a town near Waco, Texas; Russell and Diane were from Buffalo, New York. Another participant was from Cambridge, Massachusetts.

 Others joining the group at the diner were Jim from West Haven and Angelo from Milford.

  “We’re kind of a band from every different location, right?” said Alexis.

  She said she found out about the walk by looking at the Veterans for Peace website because she was looking for peace walks to participate in.

 “I knew about Veterans for Peace but I’d never been involved with them,” she said. “So here I am deeply involved with Veterans for Peace.”

  Alexis and the others said they were taking part because they want to see an end to wars in general but were particularly motivated recently because of the brutal war that is going on in Gaza. Israel is waging a relentless campaign in the Palestinian enclave and some 34,000 people, a majority of them civilians, have been killed. There have been widespread calls for a cease-fire but so far Israel has balked at stopping its military assault. The Biden administration is being criticized strongly for continuing to send arms aid to Israel.

         

Participants in the Veterans for Peace "Peace Walk 2024" stop at Frankies Diner in Bridgeport. The walk, a protest against wars and militarism, began in Ogunquit, Maine and will end in Washington, DC in July.

 

Several members of the group were veterans of the Vietnam War. Angelo, who is 95, is a veteran of the Korean War.

 Friday the group will march to Black Rock in Bridgeport then into Fairfield and continue in the next few days into lower Fairfield County and New York State.

   The peace walk will conclude on July 5 in Washington, DC and participants will take part in a demonstration against NATO which is holding its 75^th anniversary celebration.

 

 

Veterans walk for peace

 

 By Reginald Johnson

 

 One time they marched to war.

Now they’re walking for peace.

Members of the national group Veterans for Peace are walking 700 miles from Maine to Washington, DC to highlight the need to end wars and militarism.

They’re also pressing for action on the existential threat of climate change.

The long walk is entitled “Peace Walk 2024 --- Silencing the Drums of War.”

“What these veterans want is independence from the dark prison of war and militarism so that our nation can focus its attention, energy, resources, and creativity on addressing the real threats of nuclear war, climate collapse and future pandemics,” said a release from Veterans for Peace.

  “They believe that our focus on military and economic primacy in the world is misguided because the only way to address these global threats is collaboratively through global cooperation,” the statement read.

The walkers started out from Ogunquit, Maine on May 7 and are now in Connecticut. They marched through eastern Connecticut towns along the shoreline last week, were in Norwalk for the Memorial Day Parade on Monday, will be in Milford Wednesday and in Bridgeport on Thursday.

 The walk will end on July 5 in the nation’s capital, where participants will take part in demonstrations against NATO at that organizations 75^th anniversary celebration.

  VFP leaders said anyone can take part in the event and walk any distance they can along the designated route. To register to walk, volunteer or donate, go to this website: http://peacewalk2024.org/get-involved/

 Jim Brasile, a Vietnam War veteran from Newington who walked a number of miles in eastern Connecticut, said marchers carry a variety of anti-war signs, like “Stop War” and “Stop the Killing in Gaza” and “Nuclear Weapons are Illegal."  

 People are walking on either the sidewalks or in the bike lanes.

Brasile said while most drivers ignore the walkers, others honk or give them the thumbs up.

 “With about 70%, there is no response. They’re busy. About 20%, we get thumbs up or the peace sign. And then with 10 percent maybe, you get half the peace sign turned around and a lot of them shaking their heads. They can’t mentally understand what we’re trying to say.”

  But Brasile is happy with the people that are responding positively. “Every little bit helps.” he said.

     

Members of Veterans for Peace are taking part in a 700-mile walk from Maine to Washington, DC to protest war. Here some of the walkers stop in New London, Connecticut, holding anti-war signs outside the Electric Boat company, which makes submarines for the Navy.

  John Miksad, a Veterans for Peace member from Wilton said a group of about 30-40 people joined together to take part in the Norwalk Memorial Day Parade where they carried peace banners and got a good reception from the crowd.

  The peace group had veterans (including a 92-year-old Korean War vet), members of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Norwalk, Quakers and others.

 “I’ve been marching in the parade for about five years and this is the best turnout we’ve had,” said Miksad.

   “This is a good sign because it appears the peace movement is growing again. My guess is what’s happening is, particularly young people, are seeing this war in Gaza, the horror of civilians being killed, 14,000 children killed, people buried in the rubble and I think they’re seeing firsthand the violence and the barbarity of war.”

 He added, “People are repulsed by it. It’s being live streamed onto people’s phones and tablets and computers and they’re saying, ‘Not in my name.’ Certainly that’s what these veterans who are are walking are saying, ‘Not in our name.’ “

  The peace walk is dedicated to Daniel Ellsberg, the long-time anti-war activist who died last year.  In 1971, Ellsberg released the trove of classified documents known as "The Pentagon Papers" which revealed the lies the government had told about the Vietnam War.  The revelations helped swing public opinion against the war and led to an end to the conflict.