December, 05 2017, 04:30pm EDT
Human Rights Attorneys Decry Trump Plan to Recognize Jerusalem as Israeli Capital
WASHINGTON
In response to reports that the Trump administration plans to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, the Center for Constitutional Rights issued the following statement:
Trump's reckless and disruptive plan to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel runs contrary to fundamental principles of international law as well as decades of U.S. recognition of those principles. Israel unlawfully occupied the West Bank, including Jerusalem, in 1967, along with Gaza. This sudden move flies in the face of a fundamental pillar, and customary norm, of international law: the prohibition of the acquisition of territory by force. With this move, the United States would be in violation of the duty to not recognize an unlawful situation and in violation of UN Security Council resolutions.
This cynical move is part of a pattern of lawlessness when it comes to Israel, from Trump's advisor, Michael Flynn, approaching Russia to quash a UN Security Council resolution on illegal settlements before he was in office, to Trump's son in law Jared Kushner's failure to report his financial ties to settlements, including via a charity run by their controversial appointment for U.S. ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, to their current efforts to stop the UN from publishing a list of corporations doing business with and in the settlements.
Trump is once again playing to the furthest possible right wing position, even aligning himself with the settler movement on Israel's farthest right. He does so in complete disregard for the long-term consequences of his actions - including the erosion of the rule of law - and undercuts Palestinian self-determination. Palestinians in East Jerusalem and beyond have for decades demanded an end to the Israeli occupation, and an end to international complicity in its further entrenchment. It is time we heed their call.
The Center for Constitutional Rights is dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. CCR is committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change.
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The president-elect's advisers are reportedly discussing plans to shrink or eliminate key bank watchdogs, including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
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President-elect Donald Trump and his advisers are reportedly considering plans to weaken—or abolish altogether—top bank regulators, including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
The Wall Street Journalreported Thursday that members of Trump's transition team and the new Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency have asked nominees under consideration to head the FDIC and OCC if the bank watchdogs could be eliminated and have their functions absorbed by the Treasury Department, which is set to be run by a billionaire hedge fund manager and crypto enthusiast.
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Guterres "is particularly concerned over the hundreds of Israeli airstrikes on several locations in Syria" and has stressed the "urgent need to de-escalate violence on all fronts throughout the country," said U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.
Israel claims its invasion and bombardment of Syria—which come as the United States and Turkey have also violated Syrian sovereignty with air and ground attacks—are meant to create a security buffer along the countries' shared border in the wake of last week's fall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and amid the IDF's ongoing assault on Gaza, which has killed or wounded more than 162,000 Palestinians and is the subject of an International Court of Justice genocide case.
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"What you're seeing, the outpouring of anger at the insurance companies, is a reflection of how people feel about the current healthcare system."
"What you're seeing, the outpouring of anger at the insurance companies, is a reflection of how people feel about the current healthcare system," he continued, noting the tens of thousands of Americans who die each year because they can't get to a doctor.
"Killing people is not the way we're going to reform our healthcare system," Sanders added. "The way we're going to reform our healthcare system is having people come together and understanding that it is the right of every American to be able to walk into a doctor's office when they need to and not have to take out their wallet."
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