Jan 04, 2022
A coalition of eminent progressives from across the globe--including environmentalist Naomi Klein and intellectual Noam Chomsky--demanded Tuesday that the U.S. Navy immediately shutter its aging Red Hill facility in Honolulu, Hawaii, where a major fuel leak has contaminated local drinking water and displaced thousands of residents.
In a new open letter, members of the Progressive International Council noted that since its construction in the 1940s, the Red Hill Underground Fuel Storage Facility has "leaked at least 180,000 gallons of petroleum-based fuel into the soils and waters of the island," and "nearly 200 million gallons still remain in the leaking underground tanks."
"In the face of clear attempts by the U.S. Navy to cover up for it... President Joe Biden remains silent."
"And yet--in the face of clear attempts by the U.S. Navy to cover up for it--President Joe Biden remains silent," the letter reads. "We, the undersigned, call for an immediate closure of the Red Hill facility and full reparations for its victims."
On Monday, Hawaii's Department of Health upheld Democratic Gov. David Ige's emergency order requiring the Navy to drain Red Hill's World War II-era fuel tanks, a decision that environmentalists applauded--while making clear that the steps were long overdue.
The state health department began receiving complaints of a "fuel or gasoline-like odor" from Oahu residents in late November, and the Sierra Club of Hawaii recently argued that the Red Hill fuel tanks have "always leaked."
"While we wish it didn't take families and pets being poisoned to get Hawaii's leaders finally on board with shutting down Red Hill, this is a strong and much-needed shift in action that should have happened years ago," Anna Chua, Red Hill community organizer with the Sierra Club, wrote in a blog post last month.
Navy officials are reportedly mulling whether to challenge the governor's emergency order in court.
David Henkin, an attorney for Earthjustice, urged the Navy not to do so, warning that "the threat to Oahu's irreplaceable drinking water supply is far too dire for lawyers' games."
"It is time for the Navy finally to do the right thing and promptly comply with the Department of Health's order to defuel the Red Hill tanks," Henkin said in a statement.
As the Associated Press reported Monday, Deputy Attorney General David Day has voiced agreement with environmentalists' view of the fuel tanks, which he described as a "ticking time bomb."
Related Content
'Shut Down Red Hill': Solidarity Action Rebukes Navy Over Toxic Water Pollution
Progressive International's open letter argues that "the U.S. government is committing a crime of historic proportions against the people of Hawaii" by refusing to drain Red Hill's fuel tanks and shutter the facility, which bolsters the U.S. military's operations in the Pacific.
"The U.S. Navy continues to reject calls by residents and the state government to drain the remaining tanks," the letter notes. "The health of hundreds of thousands across Oahu is now in jeopardy. To be sure, the tanks sit above the Oahu Basal Aquifer, which provides drinking water for more than 400,000 people, from Halawa to Hawaii Kai."
"This is the legacy of militarization in the Pacific Ocean: death, devastation, and displacement," the letter adds.
Echoing the longstanding calls of local residents, Progressive International said its "demand is simple: Shut down Red Hill. Drain the tanks. And repair what they have destroyed."
Read the full open letter and list of signatories:
At this very moment, the U.S. government is committing a crime of historic proportions against the people of Hawai'i.
At the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility just meters above the metropolitan area of Honolulu, the U.S. Navy has leaked thousands of gallons of petroleum and toxic chemicals--poisoning residents, displacing whole communities, and threatening all life on the island of O'ahu.
And yet--in the face of clear attempts by the U.S. Navy to cover up for it--President Joe Biden remains silent. We, the undersigned, call for an immediate closure of the Red Hill facility and full reparations for its victims.
Since the early 1940s, the Red Hill site has leaked at least 180,000 gallons of petroleum-based fuel into the soils and waters of the island. Nearly 200 million gallons still remain in the leaking underground tanks.
The images now emerging from the disaster site are impossible to ignore. Poisoned drinking water has sickened entire communities. Fumes emanate from the ground and taps. Hundreds of families have left or been evacuated from their homes with no assurance where they will now live.
Yet the U.S. Navy continues to reject calls by residents and the state government to drain the remaining tanks. The health of hundreds of thousands across O'ahu is now in jeopardy. To be sure, the tanks sit above the O'ahu Basal Aquifer, which provides drinking water for more than 400,000 people, from Halawa to Hawai'i Kai.
This is the legacy of militarization in the Pacific Ocean: death, devastation, and displacement.
On Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands, the U.S. government built the "Tomb," a nuclear coffin to bury 88,000 cubic meters of its radioactive waste. It is now leaking into the sea. Thousands of Micronesians continue to suffer from the effects of the 67 atomic and thermonuclear weapons detonated in the Marshall Islands as part of the U.S. Nuclear Testing Program. Likewise, thousands of Polynesians still suffer the health effects of fallout from French nuclear tests--in the Moruroa and Fangataufa atolls and beyond.
In the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. military is expanding with impunity its illegal plans to turn several island homelands of the Indigenous Chamorro people into bombing range sacrifice zones. So too in Guam, where the US military is building a brand new Marine Corps. base and razing an ancient limestone forest for a live-fire training range complex.
We stand in solidarity with the Kanaka Maoli and all Indigenous peoples of the Pacific in their struggle for liberation -- free from the toxins, bombs, and bases of their oppressors.
Right now, our demand is simple: Shut down Red Hill. Drain the tanks. And repair what they have destroyed.
Signed,
Noam Chomsky, USA
Aruna Roy, India
Cornel West, USA
Naomi Klein, Canada
Jeremy Corbyn, United Kingdom
Suzanne Coleman-Haseldine, Australia
Julian Aguon, Guam
Avi Lewis, Canada
Andres Arauz, Australia
Paola Vega, Costa Rica
Slavoj Zizek, Slovenia
John McDonnell, United Kingdom
Harsh Mander, India
Nnimmo Bassey, Nigeria
Nikhil Dey, India
Renata Avila, Guatemala
Nick Estes, Lower Brule Sioux Tribe
Scott Ludlam, Australia
Srecko Horvat, Croatia
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A coalition of eminent progressives from across the globe--including environmentalist Naomi Klein and intellectual Noam Chomsky--demanded Tuesday that the U.S. Navy immediately shutter its aging Red Hill facility in Honolulu, Hawaii, where a major fuel leak has contaminated local drinking water and displaced thousands of residents.
In a new open letter, members of the Progressive International Council noted that since its construction in the 1940s, the Red Hill Underground Fuel Storage Facility has "leaked at least 180,000 gallons of petroleum-based fuel into the soils and waters of the island," and "nearly 200 million gallons still remain in the leaking underground tanks."
"In the face of clear attempts by the U.S. Navy to cover up for it... President Joe Biden remains silent."
"And yet--in the face of clear attempts by the U.S. Navy to cover up for it--President Joe Biden remains silent," the letter reads. "We, the undersigned, call for an immediate closure of the Red Hill facility and full reparations for its victims."
On Monday, Hawaii's Department of Health upheld Democratic Gov. David Ige's emergency order requiring the Navy to drain Red Hill's World War II-era fuel tanks, a decision that environmentalists applauded--while making clear that the steps were long overdue.
The state health department began receiving complaints of a "fuel or gasoline-like odor" from Oahu residents in late November, and the Sierra Club of Hawaii recently argued that the Red Hill fuel tanks have "always leaked."
"While we wish it didn't take families and pets being poisoned to get Hawaii's leaders finally on board with shutting down Red Hill, this is a strong and much-needed shift in action that should have happened years ago," Anna Chua, Red Hill community organizer with the Sierra Club, wrote in a blog post last month.
Navy officials are reportedly mulling whether to challenge the governor's emergency order in court.
David Henkin, an attorney for Earthjustice, urged the Navy not to do so, warning that "the threat to Oahu's irreplaceable drinking water supply is far too dire for lawyers' games."
"It is time for the Navy finally to do the right thing and promptly comply with the Department of Health's order to defuel the Red Hill tanks," Henkin said in a statement.
As the Associated Press reported Monday, Deputy Attorney General David Day has voiced agreement with environmentalists' view of the fuel tanks, which he described as a "ticking time bomb."
Related Content
'Shut Down Red Hill': Solidarity Action Rebukes Navy Over Toxic Water Pollution
Progressive International's open letter argues that "the U.S. government is committing a crime of historic proportions against the people of Hawaii" by refusing to drain Red Hill's fuel tanks and shutter the facility, which bolsters the U.S. military's operations in the Pacific.
"The U.S. Navy continues to reject calls by residents and the state government to drain the remaining tanks," the letter notes. "The health of hundreds of thousands across Oahu is now in jeopardy. To be sure, the tanks sit above the Oahu Basal Aquifer, which provides drinking water for more than 400,000 people, from Halawa to Hawaii Kai."
"This is the legacy of militarization in the Pacific Ocean: death, devastation, and displacement," the letter adds.
Echoing the longstanding calls of local residents, Progressive International said its "demand is simple: Shut down Red Hill. Drain the tanks. And repair what they have destroyed."
Read the full open letter and list of signatories:
At this very moment, the U.S. government is committing a crime of historic proportions against the people of Hawai'i.
At the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility just meters above the metropolitan area of Honolulu, the U.S. Navy has leaked thousands of gallons of petroleum and toxic chemicals--poisoning residents, displacing whole communities, and threatening all life on the island of O'ahu.
And yet--in the face of clear attempts by the U.S. Navy to cover up for it--President Joe Biden remains silent. We, the undersigned, call for an immediate closure of the Red Hill facility and full reparations for its victims.
Since the early 1940s, the Red Hill site has leaked at least 180,000 gallons of petroleum-based fuel into the soils and waters of the island. Nearly 200 million gallons still remain in the leaking underground tanks.
The images now emerging from the disaster site are impossible to ignore. Poisoned drinking water has sickened entire communities. Fumes emanate from the ground and taps. Hundreds of families have left or been evacuated from their homes with no assurance where they will now live.
Yet the U.S. Navy continues to reject calls by residents and the state government to drain the remaining tanks. The health of hundreds of thousands across O'ahu is now in jeopardy. To be sure, the tanks sit above the O'ahu Basal Aquifer, which provides drinking water for more than 400,000 people, from Halawa to Hawai'i Kai.
This is the legacy of militarization in the Pacific Ocean: death, devastation, and displacement.
On Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands, the U.S. government built the "Tomb," a nuclear coffin to bury 88,000 cubic meters of its radioactive waste. It is now leaking into the sea. Thousands of Micronesians continue to suffer from the effects of the 67 atomic and thermonuclear weapons detonated in the Marshall Islands as part of the U.S. Nuclear Testing Program. Likewise, thousands of Polynesians still suffer the health effects of fallout from French nuclear tests--in the Moruroa and Fangataufa atolls and beyond.
In the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. military is expanding with impunity its illegal plans to turn several island homelands of the Indigenous Chamorro people into bombing range sacrifice zones. So too in Guam, where the US military is building a brand new Marine Corps. base and razing an ancient limestone forest for a live-fire training range complex.
We stand in solidarity with the Kanaka Maoli and all Indigenous peoples of the Pacific in their struggle for liberation -- free from the toxins, bombs, and bases of their oppressors.
Right now, our demand is simple: Shut down Red Hill. Drain the tanks. And repair what they have destroyed.
Signed,
Noam Chomsky, USA
Aruna Roy, India
Cornel West, USA
Naomi Klein, Canada
Jeremy Corbyn, United Kingdom
Suzanne Coleman-Haseldine, Australia
Julian Aguon, Guam
Avi Lewis, Canada
Andres Arauz, Australia
Paola Vega, Costa Rica
Slavoj Zizek, Slovenia
John McDonnell, United Kingdom
Harsh Mander, India
Nnimmo Bassey, Nigeria
Nikhil Dey, India
Renata Avila, Guatemala
Nick Estes, Lower Brule Sioux Tribe
Scott Ludlam, Australia
Srecko Horvat, Croatia
From Your Site Articles
A coalition of eminent progressives from across the globe--including environmentalist Naomi Klein and intellectual Noam Chomsky--demanded Tuesday that the U.S. Navy immediately shutter its aging Red Hill facility in Honolulu, Hawaii, where a major fuel leak has contaminated local drinking water and displaced thousands of residents.
In a new open letter, members of the Progressive International Council noted that since its construction in the 1940s, the Red Hill Underground Fuel Storage Facility has "leaked at least 180,000 gallons of petroleum-based fuel into the soils and waters of the island," and "nearly 200 million gallons still remain in the leaking underground tanks."
"In the face of clear attempts by the U.S. Navy to cover up for it... President Joe Biden remains silent."
"And yet--in the face of clear attempts by the U.S. Navy to cover up for it--President Joe Biden remains silent," the letter reads. "We, the undersigned, call for an immediate closure of the Red Hill facility and full reparations for its victims."
On Monday, Hawaii's Department of Health upheld Democratic Gov. David Ige's emergency order requiring the Navy to drain Red Hill's World War II-era fuel tanks, a decision that environmentalists applauded--while making clear that the steps were long overdue.
The state health department began receiving complaints of a "fuel or gasoline-like odor" from Oahu residents in late November, and the Sierra Club of Hawaii recently argued that the Red Hill fuel tanks have "always leaked."
"While we wish it didn't take families and pets being poisoned to get Hawaii's leaders finally on board with shutting down Red Hill, this is a strong and much-needed shift in action that should have happened years ago," Anna Chua, Red Hill community organizer with the Sierra Club, wrote in a blog post last month.
Navy officials are reportedly mulling whether to challenge the governor's emergency order in court.
David Henkin, an attorney for Earthjustice, urged the Navy not to do so, warning that "the threat to Oahu's irreplaceable drinking water supply is far too dire for lawyers' games."
"It is time for the Navy finally to do the right thing and promptly comply with the Department of Health's order to defuel the Red Hill tanks," Henkin said in a statement.
As the Associated Press reported Monday, Deputy Attorney General David Day has voiced agreement with environmentalists' view of the fuel tanks, which he described as a "ticking time bomb."
Related Content
'Shut Down Red Hill': Solidarity Action Rebukes Navy Over Toxic Water Pollution
Progressive International's open letter argues that "the U.S. government is committing a crime of historic proportions against the people of Hawaii" by refusing to drain Red Hill's fuel tanks and shutter the facility, which bolsters the U.S. military's operations in the Pacific.
"The U.S. Navy continues to reject calls by residents and the state government to drain the remaining tanks," the letter notes. "The health of hundreds of thousands across Oahu is now in jeopardy. To be sure, the tanks sit above the Oahu Basal Aquifer, which provides drinking water for more than 400,000 people, from Halawa to Hawaii Kai."
"This is the legacy of militarization in the Pacific Ocean: death, devastation, and displacement," the letter adds.
Echoing the longstanding calls of local residents, Progressive International said its "demand is simple: Shut down Red Hill. Drain the tanks. And repair what they have destroyed."
Read the full open letter and list of signatories:
At this very moment, the U.S. government is committing a crime of historic proportions against the people of Hawai'i.
At the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility just meters above the metropolitan area of Honolulu, the U.S. Navy has leaked thousands of gallons of petroleum and toxic chemicals--poisoning residents, displacing whole communities, and threatening all life on the island of O'ahu.
And yet--in the face of clear attempts by the U.S. Navy to cover up for it--President Joe Biden remains silent. We, the undersigned, call for an immediate closure of the Red Hill facility and full reparations for its victims.
Since the early 1940s, the Red Hill site has leaked at least 180,000 gallons of petroleum-based fuel into the soils and waters of the island. Nearly 200 million gallons still remain in the leaking underground tanks.
The images now emerging from the disaster site are impossible to ignore. Poisoned drinking water has sickened entire communities. Fumes emanate from the ground and taps. Hundreds of families have left or been evacuated from their homes with no assurance where they will now live.
Yet the U.S. Navy continues to reject calls by residents and the state government to drain the remaining tanks. The health of hundreds of thousands across O'ahu is now in jeopardy. To be sure, the tanks sit above the O'ahu Basal Aquifer, which provides drinking water for more than 400,000 people, from Halawa to Hawai'i Kai.
This is the legacy of militarization in the Pacific Ocean: death, devastation, and displacement.
On Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands, the U.S. government built the "Tomb," a nuclear coffin to bury 88,000 cubic meters of its radioactive waste. It is now leaking into the sea. Thousands of Micronesians continue to suffer from the effects of the 67 atomic and thermonuclear weapons detonated in the Marshall Islands as part of the U.S. Nuclear Testing Program. Likewise, thousands of Polynesians still suffer the health effects of fallout from French nuclear tests--in the Moruroa and Fangataufa atolls and beyond.
In the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. military is expanding with impunity its illegal plans to turn several island homelands of the Indigenous Chamorro people into bombing range sacrifice zones. So too in Guam, where the US military is building a brand new Marine Corps. base and razing an ancient limestone forest for a live-fire training range complex.
We stand in solidarity with the Kanaka Maoli and all Indigenous peoples of the Pacific in their struggle for liberation -- free from the toxins, bombs, and bases of their oppressors.
Right now, our demand is simple: Shut down Red Hill. Drain the tanks. And repair what they have destroyed.
Signed,
Noam Chomsky, USA
Aruna Roy, India
Cornel West, USA
Naomi Klein, Canada
Jeremy Corbyn, United Kingdom
Suzanne Coleman-Haseldine, Australia
Julian Aguon, Guam
Avi Lewis, Canada
Andres Arauz, Australia
Paola Vega, Costa Rica
Slavoj Zizek, Slovenia
John McDonnell, United Kingdom
Harsh Mander, India
Nnimmo Bassey, Nigeria
Nikhil Dey, India
Renata Avila, Guatemala
Nick Estes, Lower Brule Sioux Tribe
Scott Ludlam, Australia
Srecko Horvat, Croatia
From Your Site Articles
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LATEST NEWS
'Make Polio Great Again': Alarm Over RFK Jr. Lawyer Who Targeted Vaccine
"So if you're wondering if Donald Trump is trying to kill your kids, yes, yes he is," said one critic.
Dec 13, 2024
Public health advocates, federal lawmakers, and other critics responded with alarm to The New York Times reporting on Friday that an attorney helping Robert F. Kennedy Jr. select officials for the next Trump administration tried to get the U.S. regulators to revoke approval of the polio vaccine in 2022.
"The United States has been a leader in the global fight to eradicate polio, which is poised to become only the second disease in history to be eliminated from the face of the earth after smallpox," said Liza Barrie, Public Citizen's campaign director for global vaccines access. "Undermining polio vaccination efforts now risks reversing decades of progress and unraveling one of the greatest public health achievements of all time."
Public Citizen is among various organizations that have criticized President-elect Donald Trump's choice of Kennedy to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, with the watchdog's co-president, Robert Weissman, saying that "he shouldn't be allowed in the building... let alone be placed in charge of the nation's public health agency."
Although Kennedy's nomination requires Senate confirmation, he is already speaking with candidates for top health positions, with help from Aaron Siri, an attorney who represented RFK Jr. during his own presidential campaign, the Times reported. Siri also represents the Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN) in petitions asking the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) "to withdraw or suspend approval of vaccines not only for polio, but also for hepatitis B."
According to the newspaper:
Mr. Siri is also representing ICAN in petitioning the FDA to "pause distribution" of 13 other vaccines, including combination products that cover tetanus, diphtheria, polio, and hepatitis A, until their makers disclose details about aluminum, an ingredient researchers have associated with a small increase in asthma cases.
Mr. Siri declined to be interviewed, but said all of his petitions were filed on behalf of clients. Katie Miller, a spokeswoman for Mr. Kennedy, said Mr. Siri has been advising Mr. Kennedy but has not discussed his petitions with any of the health nominees. She added, "Mr. Kennedy has long said that he wants transparency in vaccines and to give people choice."
After the article was published, Siri called it a "typical NYT hit piece plainly written by those lacking basic reading and thinking skills," and posted a series of responses on social media. He wrote in part that "ICAN's petition to the FDA seeks to revoke a particular polio vaccine, IPOL, and only for infants and children and only until a proper trial is conducted, because IPOL was licensed in 1990 by Sanofi based on pediatric trials that, according to FDA, reviewed safety for only three days after injection."
The Times pointed out that experts consider placebo-controlled trials that would deny some children polio shots unethical, because "you're substituting a theoretical risk for a real risk," as Dr. Paul A. Offit, a vaccine expert at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, explained. "The real risks are the diseases."
Ayman Chit, head of vaccines for North America at Sanofi, told the newspaper that development of the vaccine began in 1977, over 280 million people worldwide have received it, and there have been more than 300 studies, some with up to six months of follow-up.
Trump, who is less than six weeks out from returning to office, has sent mixed messages on vaccines in recent interviews.
Asked about RFK Jr.'s anti-vaccine record during a Time "Person of the Year" interview published Thursday, the president-elect said that "we're going to be able to do very serious testing" and certain vaccines could be made unavailable "if I think it's dangerous."
Trump told NBC News last weekend: "Hey, look, I'm not against vaccines. The polio vaccine is the greatest thing. If somebody told me to get rid of the polio vaccine, they're going to have to work real hard to convince me. I think vaccines are—certain vaccines—are incredible. But maybe some aren't. And if they aren't, we have to find out."
Both comments generated concern—like the Friday reporting in the Times, which University of Alabama law professor and MSNBC columnist Joyce White Vance called "absolutely terrifying."
She was far from alone. HuffPost senior front page editor Philip Lewis said that "this is just so dangerous and ridiculous" while Zeteo founder Mehdi Hasan declared, "We are so—and I use this word advisedly—fucked."
Ryan Cooper, managing editor at The American Prospect, warned that "they want your kids dead."
Author and musician Mikel Jollett similarly said, "So if you're wondering if Donald Trump is trying to kill your kids, yes, yes he is."
Multiple critics altered Trump's campaign slogan to "Make Polio Great Again."
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) responded with a video on social media:
Without naming anyone, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), a polio survivor, put out a lengthy statement on Friday.
"The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives and held out the promise of eradicating a terrible disease. Efforts to undermine public confidence in proven cures are not just uninformed—they're dangerous," he said in part. "Anyone seeking the Senate's consent to serve in the incoming administration would do well to steer clear of even the appearance of association with such efforts."
Biden Pardon of 'Kids-for-Cash' Judge Michael Conahan​ Sparks Outrage
"It's a big slap in the face for us once again," said one of the disgraced judge's victims.
Dec 13, 2024
Victims of a scheme in which a pair of Pennsylvania judges conspired to funnel thousands of children into private detention centers in exchange for millions of dollars in kickbacks expressed outrage following U.S. President Joe Biden's Thursday commutation of one of the men's sentences.
In 2010, former Luzerne County Judge Michael Conahan pleaded guilty to federal racketeering charges and was sentenced to more than 17 years in prison after he and co-conspirator Mark Ciavarella shut down a county-run juvenile detention facility and then took nearly $3 million in payments from the builder and co-owner of for-profit lockups, into which the judges sent children as young as 8 years old.
"It's a big slap in the face for us once again," Amanda Lorah—who was sentenced by Conahan to five years of juvenile detention over a high school fight—told WBRE.
Sandy Fonzo, whose son killed himself after being sentenced to juvenile detention, said in a statement: "I am shocked and I am hurt. Conahan's actions destroyed families, including mine, and my son's death is a tragic reminder of the consequences of his abuse of power."
"This pardon feels like an injustice for all of us who still suffer," Fonzo added. "Right now I am processing and doing the best I can to cope with the pain that this has brought back."
Many of Conahan's victims were first-time or low-level offenders. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court would later throw out thousands of cases adjudicated by the Conahan and Ciaverella, the latter of whom is serving a 28-year sentence for his role in the scheme.
Conahan—who is 72 and had been under house arrest since being transferred from prison during the Covid-19 pandemic—was one of around 1,500 people who received commutations or pardons from Biden on Thursday. While the sweeping move was welcomed by criminal justice reform advocates, many also decried the president's decision to not grant clemency to any of the 40 men with federal death sentences.
Others have called on Biden—who earlier this month pardoned his son Hunter Biden after promising he wouldn't—to grant clemency to people including Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier and environmental lawyer Steven Donziger.
"There's never going to be any closure for us."
"So he wants to talk about Conahan and everybody else, but what is Joe Biden doing for all of these kids who absolutely got nothing, and almost no justice in this whole thing that happened?" said Lorah. "So it's nothing for us, but it seems that Conahan is just getting a slap on the wrist every which way he possibly could still today."
"There's never going to be any closure for us," she added. "There's never going to be, somehow, some way, these two men are always going to pop up, but now, when you think about the president of the United States letting him get away with this, who even wants to live in this country at this point? I'm totally shocked, I can't believe this."
77 House Dems Call for 'Full Assessment' of Israeli Compliance With US Law
Lawmakers told the Biden administration they are "deeply troubled by the continued level of civilian casualties and humanitarian suffering in Gaza."
Dec 13, 2024
As Israel continues to decimate the Gaza Strip with American weapons, 77 Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives this week demanded that the Biden administration "provide a full assessment of the status of Israel's compliance with all relevant U.S. policies and laws, including National Security Memorandum 20 (NSM-20) and Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act."
Reps. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.), and Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.) spearheaded the Thursday letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, with less than six weeks left in President Joe Biden's term.
Since Biden issued NSM-20 in February, his administration has repeatedly accepted the Israel government's assurances about the use of U.S. weapons, despite reports from journalists and human rights groups about how they have helped Israeli forces slaughter at least 44,875 Palestinians and injure another 106,454 people in the besieged enclave over the past 14 months.
"Our concerns remain urgent and largely unresolved, including arbitrary restrictions on humanitarian aid and insufficient delivery routes."
House Democrats' letter begins by declaring support for "Israel's right to self-defense," denouncing the Hamas-led October 2023 attack, and endorsing the Biden administration's efforts "to broker a bilateral cease-fire that includes the release of hostages," noting the deal recently negotiated for the Israeli government and the Lebanese group Hezbollah.
"Further, we condemn the unprecedented Iranian attacks against Israel launched on April 13, 2024, and October 1, 2024," the letter states, declining to mention the Israeli actions that led to those responses. "We must continue to avoid a major regional conflict—and we welcome the concerted diplomatic efforts by the U.S. and our allies to prevent further escalation."
"We are also deeply troubled by the continued level of civilian casualties and humanitarian suffering in Gaza," the lawmakers wrote, citing the administration's October 13 letter imposing a 30-day deadline for Israel to improve humanitarian conditions in Palestinian territory. "That deadline has expired, and while some progress has been made, we believe the Israeli government has not yet fulfilled the requirements outlined in your letter."
Asked during a November 12 press conference if the Israeli government has met the administration's demands, State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said that "we have not made an assessment that they are in violation of U.S. law."
Shortly after that, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) forced votes on resolutions to block the sale of 120mm tank rounds, 120mm high-explosive mortar rounds, and Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs) to Israel, but they didn't pass.
Progressives and Democrats in Congress have been sounding the alarm about U.S. government complicity in Israel's armed assault and starvation campaign—which have led to an ongoing genocide case at the International Court of Justice—to varying degrees since October 2023, including with a May letter led by Crow and Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.) and signed by 85 others.
Citing that letter on Thursday, the 77 House Democrats wrote that "our concerns remain urgent and largely unresolved, including arbitrary restrictions on humanitarian aid and insufficient delivery routes, among others. As a result, Gaza's civilian population is facing dire famine."
"We believe further administrative action must be taken to ensure Israel upholds the assurances it provided in March 2024 to facilitate, and not directly or indirectly obstruct, U.S. humanitarian assistance," the letter concludes. "We remain committed to a negotiated solution that can bring an end to the fighting, free the remaining hostages, surge humanitarian aid, and lay the groundwork to rebuild Gaza with a legitimate Palestinian governing body. We thank you and the administration for its ongoing work to achieve those shared goals."
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