April, 12 2011, 08:20am EDT
Syria: Security Forces Barring Protesters from Medical Care
At Least 28 Killed in Bloody Friday Crackdown in Daraa, Harasta, and Douma
NEW YORK
Syrian security forces in at least two towns prevented medical personnel and others from reaching wounded protesters on April 8, 2011, and prevented injured protesters from accessing hospitals, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch, which interviewed 20 witnesses from three Syrian towns, urged Syrian authorities to allow injured protesters unimpeded access to medical treatment and to stop using unjustified lethal force against anti-government protesters.
"To deprive wounded people of critical and perhaps life-saving medical treatment is both inhumane and illegal," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "Barring people from needed medical care causes grave suffering and perhaps irreparable harm."
Blocking access to necessary medical treatment for people who have been injured violates the government's obligations to respect and protect the right to life and not to subject anyone to inhuman treatment, Human Rights Watch said.
Human Rights Watch interviewed six witnesses from the town of Daraa, ten from Harasta, and four from Douma, towns where protests took place on Friday April 8. Those interviewed included four doctors, four injured protesters, formerly detained protesters, and families of wounded protesters.
Human Rights Watch confirmed that at least 28 people were killed in protests in the three towns on that day. Syrian human rights groups provided a list of 27 protesters killed in Daraa on April 8, and Human Rights Watch confirmed the death of at least one additional protester in Douma. Protests also took place in Qamishli, Derbassiye, Banyas, Amuda, Homs, Latakia, Tartous, and Arbeen, but Human Rights Watch was unable to obtain reliable information about any casualties in these towns.
"Syria's leaders talk about political reform, but they meet their people's legitimate demands for reform with bullets," said Sarah Leah Whitson, director of the Middle East and North Africa division at Human Rights Watch. "They accuse the protesters of inciting divisions in Syria's society, but the violence of their security forces is what is harming Syria the most."
Daraa
Two large protests took place in Daraa after midday prayer on April 8. One departed from Daraa al-Balad and the other from Daraa al-Mahatta, districts separated by a bridge. Several thousand protesters marched from Sheikh Abd al Aziz mosque in Daraa al-Mahatta toward the bridge, two protesters told Human Rights Watch. One of them, "Ahmad" (not his real name), said people were carrying olive branches to symbolize their peaceful intentions.
The security forces set up a roadblock near the bridge to prevent the protesters from crossing to the other part of town. Ahmad said that about 50 soldiers were in front, surrounded by several thousand members of security services, some in uniforms and others in civilian clothes, as well as snipers on nearby rooftops. When the protesters approached the bridge, Ahmad said, the army told them to stop. They continued moving, though, and security servicemen opened fire with live ammunition. Another witness said that the security forces also fired teargas into the crowd.
The security forces fired straight into the crowd with Kalashnikovs, and snipers opened fire at the same time, Ahmad said. He said he personally saw about 35 people fall immediately, hit by bullets, although he was not sure whether they were injured or killed:
I saw one man - he was hit by three bullets, and fell on the ground, he was clearly dead. The security forces ran toward him, and, although he was already dead, started beating him with sticks on the face. Nobody could stop them, and when we finally managed to retrieve the body, it was unrecognizable - we could only identify him because he had his civil ID in his pocket.
Another witness, who was on the same street, told Human Rights Watch that he saw about 10 people with bullet injuries around him.
Ahmad said that the security forces did not allow the ambulances to approach the road to pick up the wounded, and kept shooting when other protesters tried to carry the wounded away. Footage posted anonymously on YouTube showed protesters, apparently in Daraa, trying to retrieve the wounded and coming under fire. Ahmad said that he later saw the bodies of a doctor, a nurse, and an ambulance driver who, other witnesses told him, were shot when their ambulance tried to reach the wounded protesters.
Two protesters told Human Rights Watch that some of the protesters seized weapons from a checkpoint abandoned by soldiers and shot at the security services, killing about a dozen security personnel, and setting two cars belonging to the military and the security services on fire. An unnamed Syrian official in the Interior Ministry told SANA, the Syrian state news agency, that "armed groups" shot at security services in Daraa on April 8, killing 19 people. SANA only reported the names of three of the security forces killed in Daraa.
"Death and violence is deplorable regardless of who initiates it," Whitson said. "The best way to stop the killings is for security forces to immediately stop using live fire and allow protesters to gather peacefully."
Around the same time, after the midday prayers, another group of protesters marched from Omari mosque in Daraa al-Balad toward the bridge, intending to join the other protesters, three protesters told Human Rights Watch. As they tried to cross the bridge, security forces from the same roadblock first fired tear gas, and then opened fire with live ammunition as well. "Muhammad" (not his real name), one of the protesters, said he saw three people hit by bullets and carried into the Omari mosque. He said that he followed them to the mosque where he saw about ten wounded protesters, three of whom died from their wounds while he was still in the mosque. Another protester who also went to the Omari mosque told Human Rights Watch:
People were lying on the floor [of the Omari mosque], all over the place, and there were a couple of doctors and nurses, and also local women struggling to help the injured. But they could not do much - they only had the basic supplies brought from the local pharmacies; the hospitals were blocked by the security forces and it was impossible to bring the necessary equipment or supplies into the mosque. Several people with serious injuries were dying, and there was nothing we could do to help them.
A doctor from Daraa told Human Rights Watch that he counted 18 corpses at the Daraa national hospital, and that five of them were returned to their families while the other thirteen remained in the hospital's morgue.
Three witnesses said that between 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m., security services arrested large numbers of people, putting them in civilian cars, white cars with no official markings. Around 5:30 p.m., an estimated 500 protesters went to the Political Security building in Daraa - one of Syria's main security services - to request the release of the protesters arrested earlier that day. But snipers on the roofs of the nearby White Rose hotel and several governmental buildings opened fire, and the crowd had to disperse, two witnesses told Human Rights Watch. A Human Rights Watch researcher could hear continuous gunfire in the background when speaking to witnesses in Daraa at around 6 p.m.
The April 8 shootings brought the total of protesters killed in Daraa and surrounding villages since March 18 to at least 130, according to lists compiled by Syrian human rights groups and information received by Human Rights Watch.
Harasta
On April 8, in Harasta, a town near Damascus, about 2,000 protesters left the main mosque after the Friday prayer, several witnesses and protesters told Human Rights Watch. The protesters emphasized that the demonstration was peaceful and provided Human Rights Watch with video footage of the protest showing a large group of men walking along the street with olive branches in their hands.
At around 2 p.m., the protesters reached a large group of security forces blocking the road. The two sides threw rocks at each other, the protesters said, though two of the protesters said security forces had initiated the rock throwing. One of the protesters, "Khalil" (not his real name), who was subsequently injured, told Human Rights Watch that a large group of men in plain clothes emerged suddenly from a side street and immediately opened fire with Kalashnikovs, with no warning. He said:
When they opened fire, everybody started running. The guy next to me was shot in the leg, and fell to the ground. I hid in the nearby building and saw security men come up to him and beat him with sticks. I was among 20 people who were trying to rescue him - we would hide, and then try to run out. I ran out, waving an olive branch and saw four security men aiming at me. They all fired simultaneously, and I was hit by four bullets. One bullet went directly through my chest and the other three ricocheted from the wall and the ground and hit me in the neck and in the hand. I fell, and several people tried to rescue me - security forces continued to shoot, and two or three of the rescuers were injured as well, but others managed to carry me away and put me in the car.
Another injured protester, "Mahmud" (not his real name), provided Human Rights Watch with a similar account of security forces firing on protesters seeking to help the wounded. He said that security forces started beating his father when he tried to rescue a young boy whom the security services were beating with sticks. When Mahmud tried to run toward them to help his father, his brother grabbed him and tried to pull him back. At that moment, security forces, who were some 50 meters away, opened fire, hitting Mahmoud in his right hip. Mahmoud's brother said that at the same time five or six other protesters who were in a group next to him were also hit.
Two doctors told Human Rights Watch that they each treated four wounded protesters in Harasta. They said all had bullet wounds in various parts of their bodies, and that several were children. The doctors explained that it was impossible to bring the injured into the hospital because it was surrounded by the security forces. He said families were afraid to bring the injured there, having heard that security forces arrested wounded protesters in hospitals after previous protests in Douma and Daraa. One of the doctors said:
I was in the hospital in the afternoon, when I started getting calls from people asking for help. I knew people could not bring the wounded in - the hospital was surrounded by the security personnel. We also couldn't send an ambulance, fearing the security forces would open fire, as happened in other places.
I rushed out and went to private homes where the rescuers brought the wounded. I could not take any major supplies or tools; only the most basic things. The injuries were serious and we had nothing to work with - in one case, we had to probe a wound with a metal spoon to see how deep the bullet went.
Another doctor said that five protesters with bullet wounds came to the house he was in, and that he knew of at least six other houses where doctors treated wounded people. He added that one of his patients was 17, and he knew of several other patients under 18.
A family of an injured protester told Human Rights Watch that they tried taking him first to the military hospital, but were told that civilians could not get treatment there, and then to the civilian hospital - but the security personnel at the hospital said that only servicemen could receive treatment, not wounded civilians. A doctor interviewed by Human Rights Watch reported that he heard from friends that the government hospital was under the control of security forces, who were turning away injured protesters.
Douma
In Douma, another town neighboring Damascus, security forces allowed protests to proceed in the afternoon, but later in the evening killed at least one man and injured at least one other in an incident on the edge of Douma. Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that, at about 5:30 p.m., three men on a motorcycle encountered a large group of security forces from the riot control unit (Hafz al-Nizam) at the entrance to the town. The security forces were preventing people from entering or leaving.
As the three men turned around and tried to go back, one of the servicemen fired at them with his pistol. Four bullets hit the man who was on the back of the motorcycle, and two of the bullets went through him and fatally injured the man who was sitting in front of him. The driver, who was unharmed, rushed the two men to a private hospital near Douma, but there was no specialist available to treat them. One of the injured died before he could receive treatment, while the other survived, received treatment in another hospital, but then fled, fearing arrest.
Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that the same night, at least 11 men and boys, were arrested in various parts of Douma by groups of security personnel who first brutally beat them with sticks and then put them in buses and drove them away. The detainees were released on April 10 - all had been subjected to prolonged beatings and other forms of torture while in detention, the people who spoke with Human Rights Watch said.
"The Syrian authorities are responding to protests against repression with more repression: killings, mass arbitrary arrests, beatings and torture," Whitson said. "Syria's security forces should free those arbitrarily detained for participating in public protests and put an end to torture and ill treatment of detained protesters."
Human Rights Watch is one of the world's leading independent organizations dedicated to defending and protecting human rights. By focusing international attention where human rights are violated, we give voice to the oppressed and hold oppressors accountable for their crimes. Our rigorous, objective investigations and strategic, targeted advocacy build intense pressure for action and raise the cost of human rights abuse. For 30 years, Human Rights Watch has worked tenaciously to lay the legal and moral groundwork for deep-rooted change and has fought to bring greater justice and security to people around the world.
LATEST NEWS
Cutting Off Lifeline for Starving Gazans, Israel Seizes Control of Rafah Crossing
"This has devastating impacts for the people of Gaza who are already on the verge of famine," said the UNRWA's director of planning.
May 07, 2024
With tanks and ground forces, the Israeli military seized control of the Gaza side of Rafah's border crossing with Egypt on Tuesday, cutting off a critical humanitarian aid route as much of the enclave's population faces imminent famine.
Israel's takeover of the Rafah crossing came hours after the country's military ordered more than 100,000 people in the southern Gaza city to evacuate ahead of a ground assault, which is moving forward after the right-wing Israeli government rejected a cease-fire proposal accepted by Hamas. Cease-fire negotiations mediated by Egypt and Qatar are expected to continue in the coming days.
Video footage posted to social media shows an Israeli tank running over a Gaza sign as Israeli forces took control of the Rafah crossing on Tuesday.
Israeli tank bulldozers Gaza sign as Israeli army captures Rafah crossing this morning.
pic.twitter.com/JNnAXKeW9h
— Ragıp Soylu (@ragipsoylu) May 7, 2024
Reporting from Rafah, Al Jazeera's Hani Mahmoud said the Israeli military is "cutting off the only lifeline right now to the people in Gaza, particularly for the 1.5 million displaced Palestinians here in Rafah."
The Rafah crossing is closed, cutting off the life line for 1.5m people crammed into this tiny piece of land right at the southern end of the Gaza strip.
Hani Mahmoud reporting from Rafah. pic.twitter.com/kPeImrntDj
— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) May 7, 2024
Two key humanitarian aid routes—the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings—have been shut down for days as the Israeli military plows ahead with its Rafah assault in the face of international outrage. More than 600,000 children are currently living in Rafah, and aid organizations say Israel has no credible plan to protect them.
Overnight, Israel launched deadly airstrikes in Rafah, describing its military operation in the overcrowded city as "very precise." One resident
toldReuters that the Israeli strikes killed his wife and children.
Jens Laerke, a spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, toldThe Associated Press that Israeli authorities have denied the agency access to the Rafah crossing.
A lasting shutdown of the route, Laerke warned, "will plunge this crisis into unprecedented levels of need, including the very real possibility of a famine." He added that Israel's military is "ignoring all warnings about what this could mean for civilians and for the humanitarian operation across the Gaza Strip."
Speaking to Al Jazeera on Tuesday, the director of planning at the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)—the most important aid organization operating in Gaza—said the closure of the Rafah crossing is having "catastrophic impacts on everyone in Gaza."
"Since October, this has been the main entry point of goods coming into Gaza," said Sam Rose. "There has only been a trickle of goods coming in, and since Sunday the crossing has been closed completely. And this has devastating impacts for the people of Gaza who are already on the verge of famine."
"No aid coming in means no aid distributed after a couple of days," Rose continued. "And equally importantly, Rafah and Kerem Shalom are the only entry points for fuel in Gaza, so without the fuel there's no ability for trucks to move around, there's no ability for desalination plants to operate and provide safe water, there's no electricity. It cuts off everything. Rafah and Kerem Shalom—they're the lifeblood for the small amount of goods that have been coming into Gaza since October, so absolutely devastating."
"Absolutely devastating"
This morning the IDF have seized the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, and Sam Rose from UNRWA explains what it means now that the crossing is closed. pic.twitter.com/iC1w8AWnt5
— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) May 7, 2024
Laerke of the U.N. humanitarian affairs office said that cutting off the supply of fuel to Gaza for an extended period of time "would be a very effective way of putting the humanitarian operation in its grave."
Volker Türk, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said in a statement that "more attacks on what is now the primary humanitarian hub in the Gaza strip are not the answer."
"First and foremost, there must be a cease-fire. Humanitarian aid must be allowed to flow freely and at scale. And the hostages and those arbitrarily detained must be released at once," said Türk. "Those that elect to flout international humanitarian law and international human rights law must be held to account."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Trustee Reports Show Medicare, Social Security Must Be Defended From Trump
"The future of these earned benefit programs depends on who is elected this fall—both as president and to Congress," said one campaigner.
May 06, 2024
Advocacy groups, congressional Democrats, and U.S. President Joe Biden's reelection campaign on Monday pointed to new government reports on Medicare and Social Security as proof that the key programs must be protected from Republican attacks.
The annual trustee reports show that Social Security is projected to be fully funded until 2035, a year later than previously thought, while Medicare is expected to be fully funded until 2036, five years beyond the earlier projection.
Former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee to face Biden in November, "proposed cutting Social Security and Medicare every year he was in office, he's said repeatedly he would cut them, his allies openly plan to target them, and just this weekend he dismissed them as bribes," noted James Singer, a spokesperson for the Democrat's campaign.
"Let's be clear, Donald Trump will steal the hard-earned Social Security and Medicare benefits Americans have been paying into their entire lives and he'll use it to fund tax cuts for rich people like him," Singer warned. "President Biden keeps his promises. He has and will continue to protect Social Security and Medicare from MAGA Republican efforts to cut them—Donald Trump won't."
"No doubt we will hear cries from so-called 'fiscal conservatives' that Social Security is going 'bankrupt,' supposedly requiring Draconian measures—which couldn't be further than the truth."
Richard Fiesta, executive director of the Alliance for Retired Americans, said Monday that "current and future American retirees should feel confident about both Medicare and Social Security, which [are] stronger due to the robust economy under President Biden. But the future of these earned benefit programs depends on who is elected this fall—both as president and to Congress."
Fiesta highlighted that Biden's latest budget "calls for strengthening" the programs whereas Trump recently said that "there is a lot you can do... in terms of cutting" them and "the Republican Study Committee (RSC), which includes around 80% of House Republicans, stands ready to make cuts as well."
Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, similarly declared that "today's report shows that our Social Security system is benefiting from the Biden economy. Due to robust job growth, low unemployment, and rising wages, more people than ever are contributing to Social Security and earning its needed protections."
"That said, Congress should take action sooner rather than later to ensure that Social Security can pay full benefits for generations to come, along with expanding Social Security's modest benefits," she argued, noting various plans from Democrats in Congress that "are paid for by requiring millionaires and billionaires to contribute more of their fair share."
Unlike Democratic leaders in Washington, D.C., "Republicans want to cut benefits despite overwhelming opposition from the American people," Altman said of federal lawmakers and the former president. Additionally, "Trump plans to sharply restrict immigration. This would harm Social Security by reducing the number of workers paying in."
"The United States is the wealthiest nation on Earth at the wealthiest moment in our history. We can use that wealth to protect and expand Social Security, or to provide yet more tax handouts to billionaires," she concluded. "This report is a reminder that the next decade is a crucial one for Social Security's future. Americans should vote accordingly this November."
Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare, also asserted that "Congress must act NOW to strengthen Social Security for the 67 million Americans who depend on it. We cannot afford to wait to take action until the trust fund is mere months from insolvency, as Congress did in 1983."
According to Richtman:
No doubt we will hear cries from so-called 'fiscal conservatives' that Social Security is going 'bankrupt,' supposedly requiring Draconian measures—which couldn't be further than the truth. Revenue always will flow into Social Security from workers' payroll contributions, so the program will never be 'broke.' But no one wants seniors to suffer an automatic 17% benefit cut in 2035, so Congress must act deliberately, but not recklessly. A bad deal driven by cuts to earned benefits could be worse than no deal at all.
We strongly support revenue-side solutions that would bring more money into the trust fund by demanding that the wealthy pay their fair share. Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.) has offered legislation that would do just that—by maintaining the current payroll wage cap (currently set at $168,600), but subjecting wages $400,000 and above to payroll taxes, as well—and dedicating some of high earners' investment income to Social Security. Rep. Larson's bill also would provide seniors with a much-needed benefit boost.
Larson was among the lawmakers who responded to Monday's Social Security report by demanding urgent action. The Democrat also called out his Republican colleagues for pushing cuts and trying to "ram their dangerous plan through an undemocratic and unaccountable so-called 'fiscal commission,'" which critics have dubbed a "death panel."
"The Social Security 2100 Act is co-sponsored by nearly 200 House Democrats and would improve benefits across the board while extending solvency until 2066, while Donald Trump and House Republicans continue their calls to slash Americans' hard-earned benefits!" Larson said. "By contrast, President Joe Biden and Democrats are working to strengthen Social Security, not cut it."
Co-sponsors of Larson's bill include Congressman Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), ranking member of the House Budget Committee.
"Social Security is the greatest anti-poverty program in history, and ensuring its solvency for future generations has been one of my top priorities in Congress," Boyle said Monday, promoting the Medicare and Social Security Fair Share Act, his bill with Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.). "Unfortunately, while Democrats and President Biden want to protect Social Security and Medicare, Republicans have made clear they want to tear them down."
Keep ReadingShow Less
'War Criminals': IDF Strikes Rafah After Hamas Agrees to Cease-Fire
"Why?" asked Israeli lawmaker Ofer Cassif. "Because killing Palestinians is more important for the Israeli government than saving Israelis."
May 06, 2024
Israel on Monday launched long-awaited strikes on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip despite Hamas publicly confirming it agreed to a cease-fire and hostage release proposal from Egyptian and Qatari mediators.
The Israel Defense Forces said on social media that "the IDF is currently conducting targeted strikes against Hamas terror targets in eastern Rafah," the city to which over a million Palestinians have fled since October 7, when Israel launched a retaliatory war that has already killed at least 34,735 people in Gaza and wounded another 78,108.
Earlier Monday, the IDF had dropped leaflets directing residents and refugees in that part of Rafah to relocate to a strip along Gaza's coast, ignoring warnings from the international community and humanitarian groups that a full-scale Israeli attack on the crowded city would further endanger civilians and relief efforts.
"It is obvious Netanyahu wants this genocidal war to continue indefinitely so that he can remain in power."
In addition to sparking outrage around the world, the Israeli government's Rafah attack and rejection of the Hamas-backed proposal was met with criticism from people across Israel. The Associated Pressreported that "thousands of Israelis rallied around the country Monday night calling for an immediate deal to release the hostages still held in the Gaza Strip."
Ofer Cassif, a member of the Knesset who was almost expelled by fellow Israeli lawmakers earlier this year for backing South Africa's ongoing genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), again called out his own government.
"Israeli tanks and infantry enter east Rafah while planes bomb from above, just hours after Hamas' decision to accept the hostages/prisoners exchange deal," Cassif said Monday. "Why? Because killing Palestinians is more important for the Israeli government than saving Israelis. War criminals!"
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that "the War Cabinet unanimously decided this evening Israel will continue its operation in Rafah, in order to apply military pressure on Hamas so as to advance the release of our hostages and achieve the other objectives of the war."
Along with the prime minister, Israel's War Cabinet includes Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Benny Gantz, former IDF chief of the general staff, along with three observers.
Netanyahu added that "while the Hamas proposal is far from meeting Israel's core demands, Israel will dispatch a ranking delegation to Egypt in an effort to maximize the possibility of reaching an agreement on terms acceptable to Israel."
Reutersreported that "an Israeli official said the deal was not acceptable to Israel because terms had been 'softened.'"
According to the news outlet, the first part of a three-phase plan that Hamas—which has controlled Gaza for nearly two decades—agreed to includes a 42-day pause in fighting, the release of 33 hostages held by the group and some Palestinians in Israeli jails, a partial IDF withdrawal, and free movement in the besieged enclave.
Phase two would be "another 42-day period that features an agreement to restore a 'sustainable calm' to Gaza, language that an official briefed on the talks said Hamas and Israel had agreed in order to take discussion of a 'permanent cease-fire' off the table," Reuters detailed. This phase also includes withdrawing most Israeli troops and Hamas releasing some soldiers and reservists.
The third phase would involve the exchange of bodies; reconstruction of Gaza overseen by Egypt, Qatar, and the United Nations; and ending the complete blockade on the strip, the outlet added.
Shortly before Israel's Monday night strikes on Rafah began, Stéphane Dujarric, a spokesperson for United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, said that the U.N. chief "reiterates his pressing call to both the government of Israel and the leadership of Hamas to go the extra mile needed to make an agreement come true and stop the present suffering."
Expressing concern about the then-imminent Israeli operation in Rafah, the spokesperson said that "we are already seeing movements of people—many of these people are in desperate humanitarian condition and have been repeatedly displaced. They search safety that has been so many times denied. The secretary-general reminds the parties that the protection of civilians is paramount in international humanitarian law."
Other U.N. officials have been warning of what an assault on Rafah will mean for the over 1.4 million Palestinians there, among them 600,000 children. So have humanitarian and political leaders, including U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)—who on Monday urged President Joe Biden to stand by his earlier position that attacking the city was a "red line" and "end all offensive military aid to Israel."
Council on American-Islamic Relations national executive director Nihad Awad issued a similar call Monday evening, warning that "the Israeli government is hellbent on using American financial, military, and diplomatic support to ethnically cleanse what remains of Gaza and commit another massacre."
"President Biden must stand up to Benjamin Netanyahu and take concrete action to end the genocide now," Awad continued, nodding to the Israeli leader's legal trouble. The prime minister faces not only potential consequences on a global scale for what the ICJ has deemed a "plausibly" genocidal war on Gaza but also a corruption trial in his own country.
"It is obvious Netanyahu wants this genocidal war to continue indefinitely so that he can remain in power, avoid jail, and fulfill his racist, far-right Cabinet's demands for the complete destruction of Gaza and the massacre of its people," Awad said. "It is long past time for President Biden to end our nation's complicity in this 21st-century genocide."
Biden spoke with Netanyahu by phone ahead of the IDF strikes on Monday and "reiterated his clear position on Rafah," according to a White House readout. They also discussed the hostage negotiations, humanitarian aid, the Holocaust, and antisemitism.
Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, also suggested that the Israeli prime minister wants the bloodshed in Gaza to continue for personal reasons.
"Netanyahu does not want an end to the war because the moment the war ends, his political career ends as well. And his prison sentence will commence," said Parsi. "Yet, Biden has for seven months deferred to Netanyahu."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular