Dear America, Happy Fourth of July... Happy that we have the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, The Bill of Rights, The Rule of Fair and Just laws, and all the brave civil rights heroes through out our history who helped America become a more real democracy for all people... Not so happy that America is funding and arming Israel's ongoing violations of international law and human rights in both Gaza and the West Bank.

Letter I just sent to my elected leaders

Dear America,

Happy Fourth of July... Happy that we have the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, The Bill of Rights, The Rule of Fair and Just laws, and all the brave civil rights heroes through out our history who helped America become a more real democracy for all people.

Happy that we have libraries and museums and public schools and PBS for those who can not get to libraries, museums or schools.

Also happy that we have that great American invention- the internet, giving US and everybody else the ability to seek out and read news published worldwide.

Not so happy that America is funding and arming Israel's ongoing violations of international law and human rights in both Gaza and the West Bank. 

Also not so happy that Israel is doing all it can to destroy UNWRA & The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 

The United Nations and UNWRA are a good choice, GHF is not, nor is Israel, despite the manipulative propaganda and cheer-leading by Israel-firsters who believe that arming state sponsored bigotry, violence, injustice and home demolitions is the best way forward.

Sincerely,

Anne Selden Annab

NOTES https://anniesnewletters.blogspot.com/search/label/Notes

Churches, Cinemas — and Moon Artifacts — Top List of Endangered Monuments 2025: Aerial bombardment has caused severe damage to monuments across the Gaza Strip, including the roughly 1000-year-old church of St Porphyrius, partly destroyed by a bomb in October 2023 that also killed 16-18 civilians.

“The situation in Gaza is apocalyptic.” ... “Palestinians continue to endure suffering beyond imagination.” ... “Israel is responsible for one of the cruelest genocides in modern history.” —Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur

“We had a population on the verge of starvation and those conditions are getting immeasurably worse – this needs to come to an end,” UNRWA Sam Rose tells @AJEnglish , referring to the current, deadly aid distribution in #Gaza. The GHF aid distribution system is not designed to address hunger. Instead of "orderly food distribution”, it brings dehumanisation, chaos and death to the people in Gaza. Lift the siege and let the UN do its work. Aid distribution must be safe and follow humanitarian principles.

“The humanitarian community calls for an end to the so-called "Gaza Humanitarian Foundation" (GHF) since it provides nothing but starvation and gunfire to the people of Gaza. Since this scheme began, at least 500 starving people have been reported killed and nearly 4,000 injured while desperately struggling to get food. Under this new abomination, Gaza has gone from 400 aid distribution points to only four militarized distribution sites. Today, over 130 NGOs have called for the restoration of unified, UN-led coordination and distribution based on international humanitarian law inclusive of UNRWA.” Read the joint statement

Read the joint statement : https://oxfam.org/en/press-releases/gaza-starvation-or-gunfire-not-humanitarian-response

Families in Gaza are in desperate need. When trying to retrieve the limited food that the Israeli authorities have permitted to enter, they have been shot at and crushed by trucks. The UN calls for investigations into the killing and injury of Palestinians trying to access food through the current food distribution in Gaza. Lift the siege now. Aid delivery must be safe, dignified, and accessible to all. Let the UN, including UNRWA, do the work.

“Gaza: no fuel allowed into the enclave for more than 4 months now. Without fuel, waste is piling up, clean water running out, clinics shutting down, electricity and telecoms patchy. All is deepening the immense suffering of 2 million people who continue to endure de-humanization and humiliation: a collective punishment. There must be a deal that will allow in a flow of basic supplies including fuel.” UNWRA

Forcing two million Palestinians out of Gaza isn’t ‘resettling’. It’s ETHNIC CLEANSING.

WATCH NOW: 'Gaza: Doctors Under Attack' – The Full Film They Didn't Want You To See

The timing of Israel’s assassination of Dr. Marwan al-Sultan, the director of the Indonesian Hospital and one of Gaza’s top cardiologists, was no coincidence. It happened on the very same day 'Gaza: Doctors Under Attack' was scheduled to air ...

BBC staff: we're forced to do pro-Israel PR.... A devastating letter signed by over 100 BBC journalists underlines one of the great scandals of our age- Owen Jones Jul 02, 2025

"Out of the 30 relatives killed, 18 were children, 5 were mothers, one was an unmarried young woman, and one was a 68-year-old elderly man. That’s 24 civilians, without any stretch of definition. That means 80% of those Israel slaughtered were clearly civilians. And if I may add one final detail: the husband of my first cousin—41-year-old Mujahed—was disabled and confined to a wheelchair." Mosab Abu Toha

The US government has tried for the second time to deport a stateless Palestinian woman, according to court documents – despite a judge’s order barring her removal.

If you care for the sanctity of human life and freedom of speech, we urge you to speak up, too. FREE PALESTINE!

Israel drops bombs on refugee camps: Israeli bombs have been blasting away at tents full of families with babies and little children

'Lucrative' business deals help sustain Israel's Gaza campaign- UN expert Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese... U.N. report names firms aiding Israeli settlements & Albanese calls for legal action against executives for international law violations

"I am sorry to say that my cousin Amna was killed today in an Israeli air strike on a cafe where journalists were meeting in #Gaza. She was nicknamed Frans/France as a child because she was so pretty. " Abdallah Alsalmi

In one of the massacres committed 30 June 2025 by Israel in Gaza, the artist Frans Al-Salmi and the journalist Ismail Abu Hatab were Killed. A month ago, she had made this portrait of him.

Exclusive Part 1: After the latest Israeli settler attacks, Christians in the Holy Land ask American Catholics for help: “Soldiers are usually with the settlers. They’re protecting the settlers, and they’re not doing anything” to protect those [the Palestinians] under attack. There’s nothing we can do. It’s a peaceful village, very quiet. I have a family tree of 600 years in Taybeh. I’m not gonna leave.”

Artist Frans Al-Salmi was murdered 30 June 2025 by Israel when the IDF bombed a beautiful seaside cafe in Gaza

Israeli attack on Gaza City beach cafe kills dozens, including journalist Palestinian photojournalist Ismail Abu Hatab killed in attack, bringing journalist death toll to 227

Gaza: ‘Unbearable’ suffering continues, UN official tells Security Council

The UN Charter “brought rules and hope to a world in ruins”, Secretary-General António Guterres told a virtual ceremony on Friday [June 2020] commemorating 75 years since the Organization’s foundational text was signed... Eighty years on, UN Charter marked by reflection, resolve- and a run [2025]

Its preamble – “We the peoples of the United Nations” – echoed the determination to prevent future conflict, reaffirm faith in human rights, and promote peace and social progress.

It is the bedrock of international relations

LETTERS https://anniesnewletters.blogspot.com/search/label/letters

Dear America, Set the right example by scorning violence and racist hate... The world does not need more weapons of war. We need to prioritize peace and progress with respect for ALL human beings, regardless of supposed race or religion.

Dear America- Invest in the people's needs... Be for real freedom, justice, true equality, and respect for all of humankind!

Dear America- Stand up for international law and Human Rights, not the weapons industry.

Dear America- PLEASE SCORN VIOLENCE and stop arming Israel with lethal weaponry plus dumb excuses to cause cruel harm to others!

Life is not a video game. These are real human beings and American made weaponry has been creating a Holocaust with The Rule of Lawlessness in the Holy Land.

Taxpayers' money should not be shoring up greed, corporate corruption, injustice, and war.

Please, let Golden Rule thinking and the rule of fair and just laws guide US all towards a better way forward.

State sponsored violence is not the way to convince vulnerable people to veer away from arming religious tyranny and terrorism.

Hate crimes are escalating here in America with people primed by to think, say and do horrible things...

Slavery, Segregation and Forced Displacement are wrong. Wrong then and wrong now

This Earth Day please start noticing how much pollution and injustice war creates.

Building a Culture of Peace ...

"The United Nations was not created to take mankind to heaven, but to save humanity from hell." ~Dag Hammarskjöld, second Secretary-General of the United Nations

"Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world..."   https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights

Dear Elected Leaders... Happy 4th of July!

Dear Biden etc.,

Happy 4th of July! 

May this American celebration day marking the start of our freedom and independence help remind you of why America was founded, what our ideals are, and how best to empower real freedom, justice, and equality for ALL people, regardless of supposed race or religion.

Please ARM PEACE & JUSTICE worldwide with full respect for Universal Human Rights.

Empower fair and just laws... Curtail religious bigotry and violence... Start by stopping Israel.  Yes big money is to be made with the weapons industry, but you should not allow corporate lobbyists, propagandists, plus agents from foreign countries to bribe or bully you into arming and instigating more religious war and hate in the Middle East. 

America should be investing in jobs and infrastructures, including schools.  

We should be cleaning up, not polluting our planet with cruel foreign policies that destroy homes, farms, gardens, cities, refugees camps, and countless human beings.

America should be feeding the hungry and helping, not hurting children, our own and all "others"

Sincerely,

Anne Selden Annab

NOTES  https://anniesnewletters.blogspot.com/search/label/Notes

Report: Israel demolished 318 facilities + uprooted 10,000 olive trees in West Bank this year

Forced displacement is once again pushing people to look for safety where there is none in #Gaza Palestine

Twelve former Biden administration officials who resigned over policy on Israel and the Gaza war say the government’s actions have endangered US national security... The US is by far the biggest supplier of arms to Israel, having helped it build one of the most technologically sophisticated militaries in the world.

The Arabic word for God is “Allah” whether you are A CHRISTIAN or a MUSLIM ... Inshaa Allah

Before I Was A Gazan -poem by Naomi Shihab Nye

CNN: A group of US officials who publicly resigned over the Biden administration’s Gaza policy are banding together to support ongoing dissent and put pressure on the government to change course.

Why are America’s elite universities so afraid of this scholar’s paper? ... The Palestinian human rights lawyer Rabea Eghbariah's article was censored- disappeared... The Columbia Law Review website was temporarily shut down after it published a Palestinian human rights lawyer’s article proposing a new way to understand Palestinian life under Israeli rule

Where Olive Trees Weep: Official Trailer (2024).... "There is no post traumatic disorder because THERE IS NO POST " - Dr Gabor Mate’ #Palestine

United Nations: More than 78 years ago, 50 nations came together to create a new organization for peace, prosperity & human rights.

Israel rescues 4 hostages today - headlines world wide celebrate this... meanwhile Palestinian prisoners- hostages of Israel- are being raped: Since the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory in 1967, more than 800,000 Palestinians [including children] have been detained under Israeli military orders in the occupied Palestinian territory

If Americans Knew

Political Prisoners in Israel/Palestine

103 Israelis are possibly being held prisoner by Palestinians, while 9,000 are currently imprisoned by Israel.

Manger Square 120 years ago. Photo taken from the church with the Masjid Umar in the background. A 120 years ago, Palestinians could travel without being shot at a check point or be worried their animals would be die because the settlers poisoned their water wells.

Gaza now has the largest population of child amputees in the world.

Don't give Israel the power to destroy the United Nations, the International Court of Justice, International Law, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights... and America.

The RED LINE happened way back in 1948 when Zionist terrorists murdered Palestinians, destroyed Palestinian homes and villages, and pushed countless Palestinians into poverty and forced exile.

Connect The Dots

Please stop aiding and abetting Israeli insanity. Full Stop.

Will our own democracy and established Fourth Estate survive the decades old insidious invasion of a very foreign country that pretends to be our friend, but really is no one's friend, including its own Apartheid building citizens?

Americans should not be helping racist Israel maim, wound and kill the children of Palestine.

Part of Israel's nefarious Ethnic Cleansing campaign is stealing the story- pressuring newspapers and politicians worldwide to favor "The Jewish State" above and beyond all else. Israel Uber Alis.

Arresting students and banning Tiktok will not stifle the truth about Israeli crimes against humanity.

There are enough weapons of war and destruction already on planet earth.

Stop wasting America's time and resources playing word games for racist Israel

Please no more funds, weaponry, and support for war mongering Israel

American taxpayers should not be forced to fund Israeli crimes against humanity

Hate is evil and leads to evil things. Please no more wars and weaponry for Israel.

Where, after all, do universal human rights begin?

The UN Mediator for Palestine, Count Folke Bernadotte, believed that the Palestinians displaced had a right to return to their homes and wrote several UN reports to that effect.

"It would be an offence against the principles of elemental justice if these innocent victims of the conflict were denied the right to return to their homes while Jewish immigrants flow into Palestine, and, indeed, at least offer the threat of permanent replacement of the Arab refugees who have been rooted in the land for centuries."

Bernadotte was assassinated on Friday 17 September 1948 by members of the group Lehi, a Zionist terrorist organization, commonly known in the West as the Stern Gang 

 PALESTINE REMEMBERED

 

"Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world..."   https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights

 

Israeli racism & Zionist violence creates an ongoing Nakba with Palestinians displaced- again and again pushed into forced exile- Top photo Palestinian refugees in 1948: Bottom photo Palestinian refugees in 2024

My Letter Published online in my local paper. Their title: Our nation’s founding mothers and fathers envisioned equality and justice for all -- not just for some

 

Our nation’s founding mothers and fathers envisioned equality and justice for all -- not just for some

I very much appreciated your inspiring 4th of July editorial. In my opinion, our American founding fathers (and mothers) were not totally perfect, but in seeing the big picture more than 200 years later I’d much rather focus in on the gift of great hope they gave all of us.

They painstakingly established a solid foundation to build real freedom, justice and equality for what is now all people, not just a chosen few white males.

Democracy is most certainly an ongoing process and project.

In light of that, this past week it was good to see the revealing letter by Suhail Shafi “Palestinians deserve human rights, too” in our Patriot newspaper July 27. Respect for the rule of fair and just laws matters immensely, for all our sakes, and a crucial part of that equation worldwide is freedom of religion, as well as freedom from religion.

We need to set the right example with what we say and what we do: American taxpayers should not be forced to fund religious schools or Israel’s supposed Jewishness and the cruel Zionist war on the native non-Jewish men, women and children of historic Palestine.

Religion should be a personal, private choice, not a local, state or federally funded program.

Anne Selden Annab, Mechanicsburg Pa.

https://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2023/07/our-nations-founding-mothers-and-fathers-envisioned-equality-and-justice-for-all-not-just-for-some-pennlive-letters.html

 [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]  

My letter to the Patriot News July 1, 2022 RE Suhail Shafi's June 30th letter "The killing of an American journalist is a sign of increasing Israeli human rights abuses against Palestinian"

RE Suhail Shafi's June 30th letter "The killing of an American journalist is a sign of increasing Israeli human rights abuses against Palestinian"

Dear Editor,

Here we are in America, 4th of July weekend 2022, celebrating the freedoms and good fortune we have thanks to our brave & beautifully insightful Declaration of Independence of 1776:  "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness"

Yes, it took time for slaves to be freed, and for full and equal rights and respect to be given to all Americans, including women- but we started on the right path in 1776.

After the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 was also establishing the right path on a global level: "Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world"

Israel's most recent extra judicial killing of yet another unarmed journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh, is shocking and should be a rude awakening for America's misguided supporters of the dangerous myths and deceptions inspired by Zionist Israel. 

Israel is not on the right path, and never has been on the right path. Modern man-made Israel has been oppressing, impoverishing and displacing the native non-Jewish population of historic Palestine for generations.  America should not be supporting Israel in any way, shape or form. 

Sincerely,

Anne Selden Annab

 

Women delegates from various countries played a key role in getting women’s rights included in the Declaration. Hansa Mehta of India (standing above Eleanor Roosevelt) is widely credited with changing the phrase "All men are born free and equal" to "All human beings are born free and equal" in Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

 

 PATRIOT NEWS

The killing of an American journalist is a sign of increasing Israeli human rights abuses agains Palestinians | PennLive letters

Updated: Jun. 30, 2022, 9:43 a.m. | Published: Jun. 30, 2022, 9:42 a.m.

https://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2022/06/the-killing-of-an-american-journalist-is-a-sign-of-increasing-israeli-human-rights-abuses-agains-palestinians-pennlive-letters.html

Over a month ago, Shireen Abu Akleh, a U.S. citizen of Palestinian heritage working as a journalist with the Al Jazeera network was killed by Israeli occupation forces while wearing a press vest clearly identifying her as a journalist. One month after this brazen extra judicial killing of an unarmed journalists, the Biden administration has refused to take a stand against the killing of a U.S. citizen by a supposed U.S. ‘’ally’' and has instead vaguely advocated for an ‘’investigation’' into the killing, while ignoring the mounting evidence the killing was conducted by the Israeli military.

The murder of a prominent Palestinian American journalist comes at a time when the human rights situation in the illegally occupied Palestinian territories under Israel control for five and a half decades appears to be deteriorating with extrajudicial killings, ethnic cleansing and house demolitions against Palestinian civilians becoming increasingly the norm.

The human rights violations are paid for by U.S. tax dollars sent by the United States to the tune of $3 billion a year. In other words, at a time of increasing economic challenges in the US, American tax dollars continue to be funneled into one of the world’s most repressive regimes whose human rights record Amnesty International, in one recent report, compared to South Africa’s apartheid.

The murder of a U.S. citizen and journalist should come as a reminder at a time of economic uncertainty no reason exists why U.S. overseas aid should be paying for human rights abuses by Israel.

Suhail Shafi, Mechanicsburg, Pa.

My letter to the IHT RE Thomas L. Friedman's "What Does Morsi Mean for Israel? "

4th of July fireworks in Washington DC

RE: What Does Morsi Mean for Israel?
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/04/opinion/what-does-morsi-mean-for-israel.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&ref=global&adxnnlx=1341396049-j77iUXHF6s+5dtbhoXmZiA

Dear Editor,

There are many different writers supplying a diverse marketplace of ideas and opinions available online that one can read and quote when exploring what anything might mean in the Middle East. Some are infinitely more helpful and wise and compassionate than others. I am delighted to see that Thomas L. Friedman of the New York Times has discovered the indubitable Hussein Ibish, one of the best and most brilliant analysts (and a staunch supporter of Palestine- as in a two state solution to actually end the Israel-Palestine conflict) who points out the importance of creating a constitution that ensures “ironclad, inviolable protection for the rights of individuals, minorities and women.”

But the indubitable Ibish does not stop with that, Ibish also points out the crucial importance of developing "a positive narrative about the virtues, rights and responsibilities of citizenship." 

As an American citizen, very much schooled in the importance of making a more real democracy with full and equal rights for all, as well as the idea of meritocracy, I have to seriously object to Friedman's claim that Israel is or should remain a "Jewish Democracy".  Individual freedom, including freedom from religion and institutionalized bigotry as well as sectarian conflict is a key part of democracy and forging a just and lasting peace:  People here and there should not be forced to pay taxes that arm and empower religious "scholars" and schemes.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES
"...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."

The Folly of Israel's Settlement Policy by Raja Shehadeh

Fayyad: UNESCO decision a victory for rights, humanity

CSM: UNESCO designates Church of the Nativity as endangered site... "Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who heads a self-rule government in charge of 38 percent of the West Bank, says negotiations with Israel remain his preferred choice, but wants global recognition to improve his leverage [for negotiations]."

Due Diligence: Questions for the One-Staters

MSNBC: Palestinian: US supports 'an apartheid system that is suffocating us'

Israel subjecting Palestinian children to 'spiral of injustice': Foreign Office-backed delegation of UK lawyers says treatment may stem from belief every Palestinian child is potential terrorist

The perils of alienation over Palestine

“Drought the people out”... the continuing plight of the Palestinians

"I don’t need another declaration of statehood — we already have one."

"It is in Israel's vital interest to come to a complete resolution of the conflict between it and the Palestinian people sooner rather than later, relieving the weight of this tragic conflict from both of our peoples' shoulders. We owe it to ourselves. We owe it to the world." Maen Rashid Areikat: The Time for a Palestinian State Is Now

The Office of International Religious Freedom ( http://www.state.gov/j/drl/irf/ )  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

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

"Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world."Eleanor Roosevelt