"What’s “extremist” about Ben Gvir is that he says out loud what Israel’s mainstream political establishment prefers to do quietly under the false pretense of “fighting terrorism.” At the height of the genocide, Israel was murdering a far greater daily number of children " Omar Baddar

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Jewish Voice for Peace

@jvplive

Ben-Gvir has been making genocidal threats for years. And, as the Israeli National Security Minister and part of Netanyahu’s government, he’s been able to act on them. 

 

 The Israeli government has always worked towards the same goal—maximum land with minimum Palestinians. And now Israeli officials are saying all the quiet parts out loud. The question is, when will our elected officials actually do something?

https://x.com/jvplive/status/2089403921391349950

Omar Baddar عمر بدّار

@OmarBaddar

·

Aug 16

What’s “extremist” about Ben Gvir is that he says out loud what Israel’s mainstream political establishment prefers to do quietly under the false pretense of “fighting terrorism.” 

 

At the height of the genocide, Israel was murdering a far greater daily number of children 

 

https://x.com/OmarBaddar/status/2089085650410553584

 

https://x.com/jvplive/status/2089403921391349950 

 
 

*  Jewish Voice for Peace

@jvplive

·

Over the weekend, Itamar Ben-Gvir said the Israeli military should “kill 30 or 40” people in Gaza every night.”⁣ He also called for the targeted killing of Palestinians, declaring, “Not just those who pose an immediate threat. There are people there who don’t deserve to live… They are not even people.” This is genocidal speech, dehumanizing hate speech. But for Ben-Gvir, it’s just another day advocating mass death and suffering.

 

Ben-Gvir isn’t a random individual—he’s a senior Israeli minister openly calling for the daily killing of Palestinians. He controls Israel’s police and prison services, giving him jurisdiction over Palestinian detainees in the occupied West Bank. He spearheaded legislation imposing the mandatory death penalty by hanging on Palestinians, which the Knesset approved earlier this year. Ben Gvir is also a follower of Kahanism, an extremist Jewish political ideology stemming from Zionism; Baruch Goldstein, who killed 29 Palestinians at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron in 1994, was also a Kahanist.

 

Ben-Gvir’s words are grounded in Jewish supremacy and Zionism, the intertwined ideologies that are the foundation for the Israeli state, and used to justify an apartheid regime run on land stolen from massacred and forcibly exiled Palestinians. 

 

Instead of being held to account for its countless war crimes, the US government continues to provide support, weapons and funds to the Israeli government. We demand a complete end to US backing to Israeli oppression of Palestinians. Join us: Call Congress today and tell them to stop arming Israel

 

Tell Congress: Vote NO to funding war.

https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/resource/tell-congress-vote-no-to-funding-war/

A generational shift is transforming the US-Israel relationship. The Iran war has accelerated the fraying of ties. An end to unconditional US support would force a reckoning with reality - Kenneth Roth in the Guardian

A generational shift is under way in the relationship between the United States and Israel. Tensions were already palpable because of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Benjamin Netanyahu’s role in pushing Donald Trump to join a counterproductive war against Iran was the last straw.

Stopping unconditional US support for Israel would certainly be important for curbing US complicity in Israeli war crimes. It may also be the best thing for Israel if it is to have any hope of avoiding the dangerous dead end of relentless military escalation. And it is a prerequisite for Palestinians to have any prospect of escaping Israel’s endless occupation.

The relationship between the two countries was not always as close as in recent decades. At Israel’s founding in 1948, Washington was supportive but with a certain reserve. President Harry Truman refused to send weapons to the new state. In 1957, President Dwight Eisenhower forced Israel to withdraw from the Sinai.

But things changed when neighboring states attacked Israel in 1967 and 1973. Israel also benefited from portraying itself during the cold war as a bulwark against Soviet influence in the Middle East.

For many years, it became impossible to question Israel in discussions with most US officials. When in 2021 Human Rights Watch issued a report on Israel’s apartheid in the occupied Palestinian territory, it was widely welcomed around the world but landed in Washington like a lead balloon.

That extreme deference was visible even as Israel committed genocide. President Joe Biden stopped delivering the 2,000lb bombs that Israel used to indiscriminately decimate Palestinian neighborhoods but kept billions flowing in other military aid and arms sales.... READ MORE https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/30/us-israel-relationship-shift  

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A world on edge as Trump bombs Iran and triggers war in the Middle East. There was no need for this: We cannot know where this foolish, reckless attack will end – but new hatreds will be seeded, terrorist vendettas sown and, ultimately, little will be achieved.

 

Simon Tisdall - Guardian foreign affairs commentator  

Blocked roads in Tehran after Israeli and US strikes on Iran, 28 February 2026. Photograph: Majid Asgaripour/Reuters

They never learn. Once again, a bellicose US president has unleashed overwhelming military firepower to force a sovereign nation to its knees. Once again, blatant lies and exaggerated claims are being propagated to justify the attack. Duplicitous American diplomacy became a fig leaf for premeditated aggression. The cautionary advice of allies was spurned. The UN, international law and public opinion were ignored. Democratic consent is lacking. And once again, there are few defined goals by which to gauge success, and no long-term plan.

Now, as in the past, the predictable result of today’s renewed, expanded and apparently open-ended US-Israeli aggression against Iran will be instant, spreading chaos. Civilians will be killed, children orphaned, families torn apart. Regional turmoil and international oil-price panic will follow the Iranian retaliation that has already begun, and which may be backed by Tehran’s Hezbollah and Houthi allies. New hatreds will be seeded, terrorist vendettas sown. The west’s foes will rejoice. And nothing of enduring value will be achieved. That was the bitter outcome of the failed US-led interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq. Today, it’s Tehran’s turn to reap the whirlwind.

How dismaying – how unforgivable! – that those past lessons have not been learned. How incredible that an elected 21st-century American president still believes it’s effective and permissible, let alone moral, to dictate to the world from the barrel of a gun. By what conceivable right does the US behave in this way?

While there are certain differences, the similarities between Donald Trump’s siege of Iran and George W Bush’s disastrous 2003 invasion of Iraq are striking. Both crises fit a wider pattern of unsuccessful, costly US interventionism dating back to Vietnam – and the 1953 CIA-led Iran coup. Trump promised to avoid foreign adventures. Surprise! He lied. Anyone who believes he has radically changed the way the US engages with the world should review this sordid saga of post-1945 imperial hubris. In this, he’s no different from his predecessors... READ MORE https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/28/donald-trump-bombs-iran-war-middle-east

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UN general assembly votes to back Hamas-free government for Palestine. Compromise plan sees Arab states condemning 7 October attacks in return for clear UN support for a Palestinian state

The declaration contains some of the sharpest criticism of Hamas ever endorsed by the UN. Photograph: Mike Segar/Reuters

Patrick Wintour Diplomatic editor

Fri 12 Sep 2025 08.26 EDT

The UN general assembly has voted to back a Hamas-free government for Palestine as part of a carefully crafted compromise that sees Arab states go further in condemning its October 2023 attack on Israel in return for clear support for a Palestinian state.

The aim is to show that Israel and the US are isolated in opposing a long-term solution to the Gaza war, and how countries such as Germany, a strong supporter of Israel, are backing a solution in which the Palestinian Authority governs the West Bank and Gaza.

The 142-10 vote on Friday was to endorse the so-called New York declaration, a statement calling for a two-state solution, crafted by France and Saudi Arabia in July.

It includes some of the sharpest criticism of Hamas ever endorsed by the UN. The text states: “We condemn the attacks perpetrated on 7 October by Hamas against civilians,” and “Hamas must release all hostages” held in Gaza.

Israel, the US, Hungary and Argentina were among the countries voting against. There were 12 abstentions.

The vote for the declaration will be seen as paving the way for the one-day UN conference on a two-state solution, due to be held in New York immediately before the UN general assembly high level week. At that conference a host of states, including France, UK, Canada and Australia, will formally recognise the state of Palestine.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, insisted on Thursday that Israel would never accept a Palestinian state. Around three-quarters of the 193 UN member states recognise the Palestinian state proclaimed in 1988 by the exiled Palestinian leadership... READ MORE https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/12/un-general-assembly-to-back-hamas-free-government-for-palestine

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Sept. 12th, 2025: UN General Assembly ADOPTS resolution endorsing the New York Declaration on the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution

UN General Assembly ADOPTS resolution endorsing the New York Declaration on the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution 

Voting result 

In favor: 142 

Against: 10 

Abstain: 12

“I disagree with Kamala’s position on the war in Gaza. How can I vote for her?” ... Here is Bernie Sanders well thought out answer

https://youtu.be/Vf5MThSniiY?si=EG00V7jFgx6sr_EZ

"Never in history has a military targeted hospitals, doctors, patients, and fleeing refugees as Israel is doing now..."

Susan Abulhawa

"Never in history has a military targeted hospitals, doctors, patients, and fleeing refugees as Israel is doing now. 

 

To hell with the United Nations and every tenet of international law that is paralyzed to stop this mind blowing genocidal zionist violence against utterly defenseless civilians, babies in incubators, and the hospitalized sick and injured. 

 

I'm in Cairo since two days ago with a delegation trying to get simple permission to travel to Rafah with aid and journalists. There are no words to capture the devastation. 

 

Israel's bombing of Gaza has been so intense that geologists are warning of a regional earthquake as a result. Imagine the terror, if you can. The equivalence of two nuclear bombs have been dropped on the most densely populated place on earth in the span of one month. ENOUGH! ENOUGH! ENOUGH!!!

 

Whether through boycotts, direct actions, voting booths, social media, social shunning or otherwise, we as peoples of the world must make sure that Israel pays for their wanton murder and criminality."

Susan Abulhawa 

susanabulhawa.com

My letter to the NYTimes RE Room for Debate: Should Nations Recognize a Palestinian State?

Pro-Palestinian supporters position a giant banner calling for a recognised Palestinian State, in Parliament Square, central London on October 13, 2014 (AFP Photo/Leon Neal)

RE: Recognition’s Diplomatic Leverage Could Strengthen Palestinian Rights
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/10/16/should-nations-recognize-a-palestinian-state
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/10/16/should-nations-recognize-a-palestinian-state/recognitions-diplomatic-leverage-could-strengthen-palestinian-rights

Dear Editor,

Delighted, and relieved, to see NYTimes Room for Debate asking if nations should recognize a Palestinian state, especially because crucial points were made such as pointing out that  "The Palestinian right to self determination, according to the United Nations, includes, aside from national sovereignty, “the inalienable right of the Palestinians to return to their homes and property from which they have been displaced and uprooted.”  " (Omar Barghouti - Recognition of a Palestinian State Without Full Rights Is Meaningless)

I agree with Nadia Hijab that you can't go wrong with rights!  But I think one can go wrong, very very wrong with one state activism.  One state is an empty promise with no real foundations, no workable plan, and no serious mainstream international support.   One state errs the same way Israel errs- by ignoring important UN Resolutions.

Day by day, year after year, decade after decade, as long as the Israel-Palestine conflict continues, Palestinian individuals are being further disenfranchised by Israeli antics, as well as by misguided  'pro-Palestine' activists (including agent provocateurs) who scorn diplomacy and sabotage support for Palestinian state building efforts...  Many 'pro-Palestine' activists like to dwell on generous U.S. aid to Israel, as if that is the only reason Israel is able to build and defend its Jews-only settlements in the illegally occupied territories, but these 'pro-Palestine' activists foolishly ignore massive U.S. aid to Palestinians, not only more recent state building efforts but also to UNWRA, The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees the relief and human development agency, established in 1948 which has helped keep Palestinian men, women and children from dying of hunger and thirst. 

Furthermore, many stateless Palestinians have been welcomed to America with full and equal rights and good job opportunities.  Diplomacy helps keep that door open for now, as well as for future generations.

Avital Leibovich, Israel's director of the Jerusalem office of the Jewish advocacy group AJC, has a good point that Only Negotiations Can Lead to Palestinian Statehood and she is right to point out that "A future Palestinian state will need to ensure the safety of its citizens and the security of its contiguous neighbors. A Palestinian government that cannot disarm Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other terrorist groups will not be able to provide that protection. " She is right to worry about Islamists (we all should be worried) and she is also right to conclude by asking if the Middle East needs another failed state.

Richard Ottaway states the obvious in realizing that a Vote to Recognize a Palestinian State Is a Wakeup Call for Israel ... I think it should also be a wakeup call for Palestinians and their supporters. Do you want Palestine to be a rally cry for Islamists and religious tyranny, or do you want Palestine to be a real nation state, a fully sovereign and free nation state of the people, for the people and by the people with fair and just laws and a future living alongside and with Israel in peace and security:  A fully secular two state solution firmly rooted in international law with full respect for universal human rights is the best way forward.

As American Task Force on Palestine's astute Ziad Asali (who was born in Jerusalem) says in his inspiring essay To honor a tragic history, we must work for peace : "The only way to honor our tragic histories is to create a future for our children free of man-made tragedy. This means making peace fully, completely and without reservation, between Israel and Palestine."

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES
STAY CONNECTED... Given the U.S. commitment to religious freedom, and to the international covenants that guarantee it as the inalienable right of every human being, the United States seeks to: Promote freedom of religion and conscience throughout the world as a fundamental human right and as a source of stability for all countries

Our words have a way of echoing out into either war or peace.... My Published Letters 2014

Citizens of the Earth

Hussein Ibish: The three-way Israeli-Palestinian impasse- Israel, the PA and Hamas are all trapped in their own policies with no idea how to move forward.

In #Palestine #Olive Trees witnessed foreign invaders for thousands of years...

THIS WEEK IN PALESTINE: Ethnographic Habitat, Place Memories, and Cultural Identity

UK Parliament votes to recognize Palestinian state- a symbolic move intended to increase pressure for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Dorothy Shea: "Palestinians should be applauded for largely eliminating the gender gap in education. Unlike in some parts of the Middle East and North Africa, Palestinian girls and young women enjoy equal access to education as their male counterparts."

Islamic State Seeks to Justify Enslaving Yazidi Women and Girls in Iraq... The article on slavery confirms practices documented by Human Rights Watch, which says Yazidi women and girls were forced to marry Islamic State fighters and shipped out in busloads from Iraq to Syria to be sold off as prizes

UK MPs To Vote On Recognition Of Palestine... "Dr Hanan Ashrawi, executive committee member of the PLO, told Sky News the Palestinian cause must be "rescued" to prevent jihadists [from] using it to fuel radicalisation and further extremism in the region."

Translating the Obvious ... A poem for peace in Growing Gardens for Palestine by Anne Selden Annab

U.S. calls for renewed commitment to lasting Mideast peace: "... a renewed commitment from everybody to work for peace that meets the aspirations of all, for Israelis, for Palestinians for all people of this region"

In a common struggle for education and against extremism: "“If with my humble efforts the voice of tens of millions of children in the world who are living in servitude is being heard, congratulations to all,” Kailash Satyarthi on winning the Nobel Peace Prize 2014

Today is International Day of the Girl Child! To mark the day, Hina Jilani calls on the international community and civil society to work together to improve the lives of girls and women: Let's not be afraid to challenge the traditions that harm girls

New Ibish article: Hisham, Hope and Despair..."The crucial point is that the one thing that is certain is that the choices that we make individually and collectively will have a direct and profound impact on the short, medium and long-term outcomes. And, therefore, our choices must be carefully considered, deliberate and purposive, while apathy and inaction are not options."

To promote the values of dialogue, tolerance and mutual respect, among religions and cultures... Let’s teach our youth to build, not destroy

Ashrawi: The recognition of Palestine is Human, Moral, Legal, and Political Imperative

"Let’s not feed Islamophobic bigotry... The great divide is not between faiths, but one between intolerant zealots of any tradition and the large numbers of decent, peaceful believers likewise found in each tradition." Nicholas Kristof

Last Thursday, the United Nations released a report that could provide us with one of the keys to defeating ISIS. Unfortunately, it received almost zero media attention.

"We see martyrs, children as young as 7, being portrayed as resistance fighters after being slaughtered by Israeli forces. Although we would like to convince ourselves that they have died for “the cause”, they have in fact died because of the cause." Mariam Barg

Hussein Ibish: US has a responsibility to rein in Israeli settlements

Tala Haikal: "It may not be possible to immediately free all the kidnapped girls and women due to the scope of the conflict with ISIS and the geographical dispersal of the captives in various locations. Some of these women and girls can be freed only once ISIS is destroyed."

UN report spotlights 'staggering' Islamic State atrocities in Iraq... "The group, which is fighting in Iraq and Syria, has carried out a wide range of atrocities, including mass executions, abductions, rape and other forms of sexual and physical violence against women and children"

Vatican seeks Mideast Christians' right of return

US sharply criticizes new Israeli housing project

Non-violent resistance is Palestine’s most powerful weapon

Tala Haikal: Empathy Is Essential to Humanity

Normalizing Intelligent Conversations, Diplomatic Support, and Hope for Palestine... ATFP Panel Briefing: Israeli-Palestinian War in a New Regional Landscape.

ATFP... American Task Force on Palestine

ATFP Calls for De-Escalation between Israel and the Palestinians

International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People 2014

UNRWA photo and film archive for Palestine refugees

About UNWRA: ’The Long Journey of Palestine Refugee Women’ candidly portrays the lives and experiences of Palestine refugee women, this collection is a testament not only to their own strength and dignity, but also to the richness and resilience of their community.

Walking Palestine & The Abraham Path... a creative space for stories that highlight the unique culture, heritage and hospitality of the region

It's time for Palestinians and Israelis to share a just peace... It's time for freedom from occupation... It's time for equal rights.... It's time for the healing of wounded souls..... World Week for Peace in Palestine Israel: "Let my people go!"... 21 - 27 September 2014 An initiative of the Palestine Israel Ecumenical Forum (PIEF) of the World Council of Churches

Palestinian Refugees (1948-NOW) refused their right to return... and their right to live in peace free from religious bigotry and injustice.

1948

Time and time again I have watched the cycle of incitement and spin sabotage support for Palestine

Clarifying why Arab and Muslim Americans should be smart rather than stupid

Live by the Golden Rule

• “Forgiving is not forgetting; it’s actually remembering - remembering and not using your right to hit back.”

An Anne Frank Moment ... a poem by Anne Selden Annab

"Where, after all, do universal human rights begin?

1940s: The United Nations General Assembly adopts resolution 194 (III), resolving that “refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible.”

America/Israel/Palestine 1776

America/Israel/Palestine 1948: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

The Golden Rule... Do unto others as you would have them do unto you

UK Parliament votes to recognize Palestinian state

UK MPs receive 136,000 emails on Palestine before elections

 

[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]

http://news.yahoo.com/uk-parliament-votes-recognize-palestinian-state-214234377.html

LONDON (AP) — British lawmakers voted Monday in favor of recognizing Palestine as a state, a symbolic move intended to increase pressure for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

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5. UK PM Cameron to abstain in symbolic vote on Palestine status Reuters

Legislators in the House of Commons voted 274 to 12 to support a motion calling on the British government to "recognize the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel."

Prime Minister David Cameron and other government leaders abstained, and more than half of the 650 Commons members did not participate in the vote.

But the motion had support from both government and opposition lawmakers, who said it could help kick-start the peace process following a summer war in Gaza that claimed the lives of more than 2,100 Palestinians, the majority civilians, and more than 70 Israelis, most of them soldiers.

Labour Party legislator Grahame Morris said recognizing a Palestinian state could help break the impasse in peace negotiations before it was too late.

Otherwise, he said, "any hope of a two-state solution — the only viable solution — will have disappeared altogether."

Conservative lawmaker Nicholas Soames — grandson of World War II Prime Minister Winston Churchill — said that "to recognize Palestine is both morally right and is in our national interest."

The government said the vote would not change Britain's official diplomatic stance. Middle East Minister Tobias Ellwood said the U.K. would recognize Palestinian statehood when it would help bring about peace...READ MORE