August, 31 2017, 08:45am EDT
Federal Court Strikes Down Virtually All of Texas' Anti-Immigrant Senate Bill 4
A federal court has struck down virtually all of Texas' Senate Bill 4, a law slated to take effect September 1 that would have forced local law enforcement to carry out federal immigration directives. The American Civil Liberties Union is among the groups challenging the law.
Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project who argued the case on behalf of El Cenizo and Mayor Raul Reyes, Texas LULAC, and Maverick County plaintiffs, including Sheriff Tom Schmerber, had this reaction:
SAN ANTONIO
A federal court has struck down virtually all of Texas' Senate Bill 4, a law slated to take effect September 1 that would have forced local law enforcement to carry out federal immigration directives. The American Civil Liberties Union is among the groups challenging the law.
Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project who argued the case on behalf of El Cenizo and Mayor Raul Reyes, Texas LULAC, and Maverick County plaintiffs, including Sheriff Tom Schmerber, had this reaction:
"The court was right to strike down virtually all of this patently unconstitutional law. Senate Bill 4 would have led to rampant discrimination and made communities less safe. That's why police chiefs and mayors themselves were among its harshest critics -- they recognized it would harm, not help, their communities."
Terri Burke, executive director of the ACLU of Texas, had this reaction:
"The Texas legislature has a reliable history of ignoring the Constitution when writing law, and we're thankful the court blocked SB4 before it could do irreparable damage to our communities. But we do not expect Gov. Abbott or Attorney General Ken Paxton to yield easily. This fight isn't over yet, so we call upon law enforcement, local officials, and supporters who have fought so hard to stop this law not to let up until SB4 is well and truly dead."
The ruling is at: https://www.aclu.org/legal-document/city-el-cenizo-v-state-texas
More information is at: https://www.aclu.org/cases/city-el-cenizo-et-al-v-state-texas-et-al
The American Civil Liberties Union was founded in 1920 and is our nation's guardian of liberty. The ACLU works in the courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to all people in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.
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'Where's My Mom?' 5-Year-Old in Gaza Survives Weight of Building Dropped on Her by Israeli Bomb
"The bomb that killed her family was most likely American. As an American, your tax money paid for it."
May 13, 2024
Footage of a young girl rescued from beneath the rubble of a building in central Gaza overnight is among the latest graphic images to emerge from the Palestinian enclave as Israel intensifies its military assault and anger grows over U.S. complicity in the carnage that has left over 35,000 people—mostly innocent men, women, and children—dead and hundreds of thousands of others missing, severely wounded, or displaced.
Civil Defense teams in Gaza, who spoke to the young child by the name "Tulin," dug her out by hand after following her cries for help. "Where's my mom?" the girl can be heard saying in Arabic.
While footage of the rescue was widely available available on both X and YouTube, all of the versions were restricted and not available for reposting or embedding.
Oh GOD🙏💔www.youtube.com
"Having survived the weight of a building being bombed to pieces on her fragile body, Tulin is crying for her mother," said Rawan Arraf, a lawyer and the executive director of the Australian Centre for International Justice. Arraf was among those who reported that Tulin's mother did not survive the bombing.
"Tulin's mama was murdered by the genocidal Israeli regime," Arraf said. "More than 19,000 children have been orphaned; 6,000 mothers have been murdered."
"The bomb that killed her family was most likely American. As an American, your tax money paid for it," said Trita Parsi, executive vice president for Responsible Statecraft, a U.S.-based foreign policy think tank.
The attack that claimed Turin's mother comes as Israeli forces bombed targets in norther, central, and southern Gaza over the last 24 hours. Airstrikes were reported in Rafah in the far south, where approximately 1.4 million people remain trapped, as well as in the north were the Jabalia refugee camp came under heavy barrage on Sunday and fighting on the ground between Israeli Defense Forces and Hamas fighters was also reported.
Hundreds of thousands have tried to flee Rafah in recent days, according to the United Nations, who warned that providing humanitarian aid would be nearly impossible if the Israelis pressed ahead with a major invasion of the city.
Gaza's Health Ministry on Monday said its entire health system could collapse "within hours" if fuel was not secured for the hospitals that remain active.
Junaid Sultan, a vascular surgeon who spent time volunteering in Rafah, told Al-Jazeera that hospitals without power would be a "death sentence" for patients in Gaza.
Hospitals in Gaza, he said, "are running out pretty much today and if fuel is not provided, then they will basically run out of electricity, water," leaving them incapable of operation. "[If] that fuel does not come in, that will be a death sentence to not only 100, but thousands of patients," he warned.
In a desperate message on Sunday, Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of UNRWA, which administers humanitarian relief in Gaza on behalf of the U.N., said the people of Gaza are "enduring unprecedented suffering" in the current moment.
"Everything has been said already," Lazzarini lamented. "No words are left that can do justice to the people of Gaza. They are people like you and I. They used to have drams, they were part of a vibrant and diverse community... Now it's only broken lives and broken futures."
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Israel 'Has Gone to War Against the Entire Palestinian People': Sanders
"Any objective observer knows Israel has broken international law, it has broken American law, and, in my view, Israel should not be receiving another nickle in U.S. military aid," Sanders said.
May 12, 2024
Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders repeated his calls on Sunday for the U.S. to cut off military aid to the far-right government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as it continues its devastating war on Gaza.
Sanders spoke on NBC's "Meet the Press" in response to a U.S. State Department report released Friday, which found that it was "reasonable to assess" that Israel had used U.S. weapons to violate international humanitarian law in Gaza but that the U.S. was "not able to reach definitive conclusions" as to whether U.S. weapons had been used in any specific incidents.
"Any objective observer knows Israel has broken international law, it has broken American law, and, in my view, Israel should not be receiving another nickle in U.S. military aid," Sanders said.
Friday's report came in response to National Security Memorandum 20 (NSM-20), in which President Joe Biden tasked Secretary of State Antony Blinken with obtaining "certain credible and reliable written assurances from foreign governments" that they use U.S. arms in line with international humanitarian law and will not "arbitrarily deny, restrict, or otherwise impede, directly or indirectly, the transport or delivery of United States humanitarian assistance."
The report, made to Congress, was criticized by human rights organizations who said it mischaracterized both the law and the facts in order to avoid imposing consequences on Israel for waging a war on Gaza that the International Court of Justice has determined could plausibly amount to genocide.
"The people of our country do not want to be complicit in the starvation of hundreds of thousands of children."
Amanda Klasing, Amnesty International USA's national director of government relations and advocacy, called it the "international version of 'thoughts and prayers.'" Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) called it "woefully inadequate" and told reporters, "If this conduct complies with international standards, God help us all."
Speaking before Sanders on "Meet the Press," Blinken denied that the report was an attempt to get out of holding Israel accountable.
"What the report concludes is that, based on the totality of the harm that's been done to children, to women, to men who are caught in this crossfire of Hamas' making, it's reasonable to conclude that there are instances where Israel has acted in ways that are not consistent with international humanitarian law," Blinken said.
He added that both Israel and the U.S. would continue to investigate those incidents.
"When we can reach definitive conclusions, we will," Blinken said, "but it's very difficult to do that in the midst of a war."
In response to Blinken's remarks, Sanders countered that "the facts are quite clear."
He said that Hamas was a "terrible, disgusting terrorist organization" and blamed it for starting the war. But he argued that Israel's response had been beyond disproportionate.
"What Israel has done over the last seven months is not just gone to war against Hamas—it has gone to war against the entire Palestinian people, and the results have been absolutely catastrophic," the senator told NBC.
Sanders went on to outline some of that catastrophe: a death toll that surpassed 35,000 on Sunday, with two-thirds of the dead women and children; the destruction of around 60% of all housing; the devastation of infrastructure such a as water and sewage as well as the healthcare and education systems; and the fact that hundreds of thousands of children are now at risk of starvation.
Sanders referred to Section 6201 of the Foreign Assistance Act: "Any country that blocks U.S. humanitarian aid is in violation of law and should not continue to receive military aid from the United States," Sanders explained. "That is precisely what Israel has done."
Sanders' remarks came as Israel escalated its assault on Gaza over the weekend, issuing new evacuation orders in both Rafah and areas in the north. Biden has said that a major ground invasion into Rafah would be a "red line" and threatened to withhold certain kinds of weapons if Netanyahu ordered such an invasion, but Palestinian and human rights advocates say that Israel's current actions in Rafah should already count as a major ground operation.
Speaking on "Meet the Press," Blinken acknowledged that the U.S. had not seen a "credible plan" from Israel to safely evacuate the more than 1.4 million civilians sheltering in Rafah ahead of an invasion.
Sanders told NBC that he thought many Republicans and also some Democrats wanted Israel to invade Rafah, but that this was not an opinion shared by the majority of people in the U.S.
"Poll after poll suggests that the American people want an immediate cease-fire. They want massive humanitarian aid to get in," Sanders said. "The people of our country do not want to be complicit in the starvation of hundreds of thousands of children."
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As Gaza Assault Intensifies, Egypt Joins ICJ Case Accusing Israel of Genocide
"It's a real diplomatic punch," a former Israeli diplomat said. "Israel would have to take it very seriously."
May 12, 2024
Egypt announced on Sunday that it would join South Africa's case before the International Court of Justice causing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.
The announcement from the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs came nearly a week after Israel seized the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt and the day after the Israel Defense Forces issued new evacuation orders for Rafah and the north of Gaza. It also comes as the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said that around 300,000 people had fled Rafah in the last week and the death toll reported by the Gaza Health Ministry surpassed 35,000.
"The submission… comes in light of the worsening severity and scope of Israeli attacks against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, and the continued perpetration of systematic practices against the Palestinian people, including direct targeting of civilians and the destruction of infrastructure in the strip, and pushing Palestinians to flee,” the Egyptian ministry said in the statement explaining its decision.
South Africa filed its case against Israel in late December 2023, accusing Israel of violating its obligations under the Genocide Convention as it waged its war on Gaza.
In a preliminary ruling in January, the ICJ determined that it was plausible that Israel was conducting a genocide in Gaza and ordered it to "take all measures within its power" to avoid doing so.
In its statement, Egypt's foreign ministry called on Israel "to comply with its obligations as the occupying power and to implement the provisional measures issued by the ICJ, which require ensuring access to humanitarian and relief aid in a manner that meets the needs of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip."
Israel cut off aid when it seized the Rafah border crossing, making it even harder for Gazans to access essential goods like food and fuel, though Israel said on Sunday it had opened a new crossing for aid in the north.
The Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also repeated a call for the U.N. Security Council and the international community to take action to stop violations in Gaza and Israel's attack on Rafah.
"Tel Aviv is forcing Palestinians to be contestants in its murderous game show as it flouts international law and basic human decency."
Egypt is the third country after Colombia and Turkey to request to join South Africa's case. However, it's request is especially significant for Israel, Alon Liel, former director of Israel's Foreign Ministry, told Al Jazeera. Liel said that Egypt was the "cornerstone" of Israel's standing in the Middle East since the two countries signed a treaty in 1979.
"With Egypt joining South Africa now in The Hague, it's a real diplomatic punch. Israel would have to take it very seriously," Liel said. "Israel has to… listen to the world—not only to the Israeli public opinion asking now for revenge."
Israel's devastating assault on Gaza began October 7 in response to a Hamas attack on southern Israel that killed around 1,100 people and captured around 250 hostages. Before that attack, Israel had blockaded Gaza for 16 years.
Egypt's action on Sunday accompanied warnings and expressions of alarm from humanitarian workers, diplomats, and journalists as Israel escalated its campaign in Gaza over the weekend.
"Over the past 48 hours, Israel has intensified its attacks in Gaza as it orders Palestinians in the south to move north and the north to move south," journalist and Intercept co-founderJeremy Scahill wrote on social media Sunday. "Tel Aviv is forcing Palestinians to be contestants in its murderous game show as it flouts international law and basic human decency."
UNRWA on Saturday posted photos of bomb-damaged schools in Khan Younis to which displaced families were now returning following the new evacuation orders.
"The classrooms are torched. Walls are blown out. There is rubble everywhere," UNRWA said. "This situation is unfolding under the world's watch. Enough is enough."
Responding to the images, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini wrote, "Since the war began, most people in Gaza have moved multiple times: on average once a month. They desperately sought safety that they never found. Some have no choice but to stay in bombed-out UNRWA shelters."
"The claim of 'safe zones' is false and misleading," Lazzarini continued. "No place is safe in Gaza. Period."
The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said in a statement Sunday, "A full-scale offensive on Rafah cannot take place."
"I can see no way that the latest evacuation orders, much less a full assault, in an area with an extremely dense presence of civilians, can be reconciled with the binding requirements of international humanitarian law and with the two sets of binding provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice," Turk said.
However, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) argued on social media Sunday that Israel's actions in Rafah already comprised "a large-scale military attack, and not a limited operation as described by Israel."
The group said that Israel had killed at least 116 people—among them 22 women and 38 children—since IDF forces entered Rafah one week ago.
In addition to stepping up its campaign in Rafah, the IDF has increased its attacks on parts of northern Gaza, including Jabalaya, the largest refugee camp in the Gaza Strip.
"We have been hearing from eyewitnesses on the ground, in that very densely populated area, that military tanks are surrounding evacuation centers and residential buildings," Al Jazeera journalist Tareq Abu Azzoum reported.
PCHR concluded: "In sum, Israel is continuing its genocidal military campaign against the Palestinian people in Gaza unabated. We reiterate our call for an immediate cease-fire. This genocide must end now."
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