July, 24 2023, 01:02pm EDT
At Least 74 New Poison Pill Riders in House Spending Bills This Week. Lawmakers Must Remove All of Them.
At least 74 new poison pill policy riders were added to or spotted in appropriations bills drafted in the U.S. House over the past week, according to the Clean Budget Coalition, which is tracking them, bringing the total number of new poison pill riders to at least 291.
Coalition members are calling on lawmakers to remove all of them and oppose passage of any legislation that includes these unpopular and controversial special favors for big corporations and ideological extremists. Below is a list of new poison pills added or found in the past week:
Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies
- The Health Research Rider would prohibit funding for the Wuhan Institute of Virology and any lab controlled by China, Russia, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and Venezuela.
- The Packers and Stockyards Act Report Rider would falsely claim that the act requires farmers to meet the impossible burden of proving that harms they experienced from meatpackers or poultry companies also harmed competition in the entire industry.
- The Same-Sex Marriage Rider would prohibit denial of funds to anyone with a religious belief or moral conviction that marriage should be a union of one man and one woman.
Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies
- The “Politically Sensitive Investigations” Rider would block funding for any politically sensitive investigation until the U.S. Department of Justice establishes a policy requiring non-partisan career staff to oversee such investigations. The potential targets of such investigations would include elected officials or their family members, political candidates or their family members, political organizations, religious organizations, and members of the media.
- The Merger Guidelines Rider would block funding for revising the Merger Guidelines issued by the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department. The previous guidelines allowed unprecedented monopolization, creating massive corporations at the expense of small businesses, startups, and consumers. The agencies issued updated merger guidelines aimed at strengthening enforcement against illegal mergers on July 19, 2023.
- The EU Digital Markets Rider would block funding for any action that supports the EU’s Digital Markets Act, which aims to ensure a higher degree of competition in European digital markets by preventing large companies from abusing their market power and allowing new players to enter the market.
- The Antitrust Employees Rider would block the Justice Department from using funds to add new employees to its Antitrust Division. This rider would ensure that the department is even more outmatched by enormous corporations willing to spend princely sums for lawyers to protect their monopoly positions.
- The COVID Vaccine Rider would block funding to enforce any COVID-19 vaccine mandates or passports.
- The China Coordination Rider would block the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the National Space Council from coordinating in any way with China or any Chinese-owned company without explicit authorization by law or by the FBI.
- The Guantanamo Bay Rider would block the transfer or release of any prisoner held at Guantanamo Bay since June 2009 or setting up alternative detention facilities.
- The Red Snapper Rider would delay urgently needed fisheries management measures in the South Atlantic potentially for years. South Atlantic red snapper is overfished and needs new management measures to rebuild fish stocks.
- The Firearms Registry Rider would block funding for a federal firearms registry.
- The Health Research Rider would prohibit funding for the Wuhan Institute of Virology and any lab controlled by China, Russia, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and Venezuela.
- The Solar Imports Rider would block funding to implement a two-year delay on imposing anti-dumping and other countervailing duties on solar panels imported from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.
- The Iran Rider would ban funding for any formal or informal negotiations with the government or representatives of Iran.
- The Transgender Lawsuits Rider would block funding for suing a state or local government over transgender laws.
- The Student Religious Beliefs Rider would block funding to discriminate against or denigrate the religious or moral beliefs of students who participate in programs for which financial assistance is provided or the parents or legal guardians of such students.
Defense
- The Guantanamo Bay Rider would block the transfer or release of any prisoner held at Guantanamo Bay since June 2009 or setting up alternative detention facilities.
- The Guantanamo Bay Closure Rider would block the closure or realignment of Guantanamo Bay.
- The Health Research Rider would prohibit funding for the Wuhan Institute of Virology and any lab controlled by China, Russia, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and Venezuela.
- The Armed Forces Anti-Extremism Rider would block funding for the appointment of a deputy inspector general in the U.S. Department of Defense whose job is to prevent and respond to supremacist, extremist, and criminal gang activities by members of the Armed Forces.
- The Defense Contractor Climate Emissions Rider would block funding for a rule to require federal defense contractors to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions and climate-related financial risks and set science-based targets to reduce their emissions.
- The Pride Flag Rider would restrict which flags can be flown over federal facilities – and notably excludes pride flags.
Energy and Water Development, and Related Agencies
- The Strategic Petroleum Reserve Rider would require the U.S. Energy Secretary to sell one million barrels of refined petroleum from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and then permanently close the Northeast Gasoline Supply Reserve. The Northeast Reserve protects consumers by having a federal backstop available to be released into the northeast market to combat high prices or provide supply in an event of a disruption.
- The Energy Loan Guarantee Rider would through funding cuts effectively shut down the U.S. Energy Department’s Title 17 Clean Energy Financing Program – a critical tool for accelerating deployment of clean energy and decarbonization technologies.
Financial Services and General Government
- The Outbound Investment Review Rider would prohibit funds for the U.S. Treasury Department outbound investment review program until a briefing is provided.
- The Standalone Authority Rider would prevent the Federal Trade Commission from abandoning its guidance on “standalone” Section 5 authority.
- The Prior Approval Rider would prohibit funds to implement, administer, or enforce the Federal Trade Commission's “Use of Prior Approval Provisions in Merge Orders,” which would negatively impact the mergers process.
- The D.C. Policing Rider would prohibit the District of Columbia from implementing its policing bill, the Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act of 2022.
- The Out-of-State Gun Permits Rider would allow an individual with a valid weapons carry permit from any state or territory to possess and carry a concealed handgun in areas governed by the District of Columbia and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.
- The Retail Investor Information Rider would prohibit funds for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to collect retail investor personal information even when there is evidence of wrongdoing and would require that an analysis of privacy concerns be submitted to Congress. The SEC collects this information for tax purposes.
- The Small Business Rules Rider would direct the U.S. Small Business Administration to issue an economic impact report on small business concerns stemming from rules issued by the agency during the last two fiscal years.
- The Cocaine Discovery Rider would require the White House to submit a report on the investigative materials associated with the cocaine discovery on July 2, 2023.
- The IRS Guns Rider would prevent the IRS from purchasing firearms or ammunition above the levels in the agency’s possession as of July 13, 2023. This rider stems from the right-wing conspiracy theory that the IRS is stockpiling firearms to initiate an assault against Americans and to prevent Americans from accessing ammunition during an ammo shortage.
Homeland Security
- The COVID Vaccine Rider would block funding for any requirement that employees of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) receive COVID-19 vaccines.
- The COVID Travel Rider would block funding for any rules current or future that advance safer travel to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
- The Guantanamo Bay Rider would block the transfer or release of any prisoner held at Guantanamo Bay since June 2009 or setting up alternative detention facilities.
- The ICE Prosecutorial Discretion Rider would block funds for implementing the Biden administration's “Guidelines for the Enforcement of Civil Immigration Law’’ that the U.S. Supreme Court approved as lawful on June 23, 2023.
- The Border Wall Rider would prohibit any funds being used or transferred to any other federal agency, board, or commission to dismantle existing parts of the current border wall.
- The CBP One Application Rider would block funds being used for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) One Application or any successor application to parole immigrants into the U.S.
- The ICE Detention Rider would direct DHS to prioritize detention of immigrants and ensure that the average daily population of detainees is maintained at full capacity throughout the year. It also specifies that immigrants in the Alternative to Detention program have mandatory ankle monitoring throughout the duration of all immigration proceedings.
- The Same-Sex Marriage Rider would prohibit denial of funds to anyone with a religious belief or moral conviction that marriage should be a union of one man and one woman.
Interior, Environment and Related Agencies
- The Glacier National Park Reservation Rider would prohibit the park from implementing a reservation system to address overcrowding.
- The Bison Rider would prohibit the U.S. Department of the Interior from establishing a working group to help restore bison populations.
- The Mercury and Air Toxics (MATS) Rule Rider would block the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from finalizing and implementing its new rule to reduce mercury and other toxic air pollution, including lead, chromium, arsenic, and soot from coal- and oil-fired power plants.
- The Lead Ammunition and Tackle Rider would prevent agencies charged with wildlife protection from banning toxic lead in ammunition and fishing tackle on federal lands unless an impossible set of criteria are met.
- The Carbon Pollution Rule Rider would block the EPA from finalizing and implementing new carbon pollution limits for coal- and gas-fired power plants.
- The Same-Sex Marriage Rider would prohibit denial of funds to anyone with a religious belief or moral conviction that marriage should be a union of one man and one woman.
- The Smithsonian Rider would prevent the museum from partnering with the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices
- The Dunes Sagebrush Lizard Rider would prohibit listing the animal under the Endangered Species Act.
- The Ethylene Oxide Emissions Rider would block the EPA from enforcing its proposed rule to limit the hazardous air pollutant.
- The Rat Poison Rider would block the EPA from restricting rodenticides that pose health risks to humans and other mammals and birds.
- The Tailpipe Emissions Rider would block the EPA from implementing its proposed rules to reduce harmful air pollutants from light, medium, and heavy-duty vehicles.
- The Conservation Land Use Rider would prohibit the U.S. Bureau of Land Management from implementing the Conservation and Landscape Health rule, which allows the agency to better prioritize conservation of public lands.
- The Grizzly Bear Rider would delist the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem population of Grizzly Bears under the Endangered Species Act.
- The Pride Flag Rider would restrict which flags can be flown over federal facilities – and notably excludes pride flags.
- The Health Research Rider would prohibit funding for the Wuhan Institute of Virology and any lab controlled by China, Russia, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and Venezuela.
Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies
- The Independent Contractor Rider would require that no funds be used to block a Trump-era rule published in the final days of his administration that made it easier for employers to misclassify workers as independent contractors, removing them from minimum wage and other labor protections. This would include blocking a rule currently still being finalized by the U.S. Department of Labor that would replace the previous one with clearer protections from misclassification for workers.
- The Federal Employee Benefits ESG Investing Rider would block implementation of the U.S. Department of Labor’s ESG investing rule for the Employee Benefits Security Administration, which has been the subject of failed Congressional Review Act attempts.
- The H-2A Visas Rider would block implementation of the Labor Department’s rule on H-2A visas to strengthen protections and wage calculations for temporary foreign workers. This rule is facing a Congressional Review Act challenge. Overturning it would take away an estimated $38 million wage increase from impacted H-2A farmworkers.
- The Gun Control Rider would block any funding for the advocacy or promotion of gun control.
- The EcoHealth Rider would block funding for the EcoHealth Alliance, which leads scientific research into the connections between human, animal, and environmental health and develops solutions to prevent pandemics and promote conservation.
- The Medicare and Medicaid Vaccines Rider would block funding for a rule requiring Medicare and Medicaid providers to ensure COVID-19 vaccination of their staff and offer vaccines and educational information to patients, clients, residents, and staff.
- The ACA Discrimination Rider would block funding for a rule that bans discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability in certain health programs and activities under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
- The School Prayer Rider would block funding to prevent the implementation of voluntary prayer and meditation programs in public schools.
- The Embryo Research Rider would ban research on human embryos.
- The Drug Legalization Rider would ban funding to promote the legalization of any Schedule I controlled substance, including marijuana, except in cases when there is significant medical evidence of a therapeutic benefit or federally funded clinical trials are underway.
- The Health Research Rider would prohibit funding for the Wuhan Institute of Virology and any lab controlled by China, Russia, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and Venezuela or any gain-of-function research involving a potential pandemic pathogen in these countries.
Legislative Branch
- The Same-Sex Marriage Rider would prohibit denial of funds to anyone with a religious belief or moral conviction that marriage should be a union of one man and one woman.
Military, Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies
- The Gender Affirming Care Rider would prohibit funds for surgical procedures or hormone therapies for the purposes of gender affirming care.
- The Same-Sex Marriage Rider would prohibit denial of funds to anyone with a religious belief or moral conviction that marriage should be a union of one man and one woman.
State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs
- The Pride Flag Rider would restrict which flags can be flown over federal facilities – and notably excludes pride flags.
Transportation, Housing, Urban Development and Related Agencies
- The Same-Sex Marriage Rider would prohibit denial of funds to anyone with a religious belief or moral conviction that marriage should be a union of one man and one woman.
- The Pride Flag Rider would restrict which flags can be flown over federal facilities – and notably excludes pride flags.
Please reach out to speak with an expert on the Clean Budget Coalition’s work or specific riders listed here.
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Rights Groups Urge Biden to Make Delayed Report on Israel's Use of US Arms Public
The report—due Wednesday under the terms of a White House directive—has been indefinitely postponed, according to congressional aides.
May 07, 2024
Before Tuesday's reporting that the Biden administration will delay a highly anticipated report on whether Israel is using U.S. military aid in compliance with international law, a coalition of advocacy groups circulated a letter urging the White House to share the document with the public once it's published.
In February, President Joe Biden issued National Security Memorandum (NSM)-20, which requires Secretary of State Antony Blinken "to obtain certain credible and reliable written assurances from foreign governments" receiving U.S. arms "that the recipient country will use any such defense articles in accordance with international humanitarian law" and then provide Congress with periodic reports "to enable meaningful oversight."
The first report is due by Wednesday. However, four congressional aides
toldPolitico Tuesday that publication would be postponed indefinitely.
"It is not clear if your administration intends to... make this report available to the public," coalition members Amnesty International USA, Defending Rights & Dissent, Freedom of the Press Foundation, National Press Photographers Association, Radio Television Digital News Association, and Reporters Without Borders said in a letter to Biden drafted ahead of Politico's reporting.
"We strongly urge you to make the report available to the public and the press to the greatest extent possible," the groups added.
Access to the document, the coalition argued, "will allow the press to more fully and accurately report on how elected leaders are making decisions about military aid to foreign countries" and "will help Americans make informed judgments about our leaders' decisions on foreign military aid."
"We strongly urge you to make the report available to the public and the press to the greatest extent possible."
The letter comes as Israel uses U.S.-supplied arms and ammunition to wage what hundreds of international legal experts and others say is a genocidal war on Gaza. These include 155-millimeter artillery shells and 2,000-pound guided "bunker-buster" bombs, which Israel says are necessary to target Hamas' underground tunnels.
Aided by artificial intelligence-based target selection systems, Israel Defense Forces commanders are ordering strikes they know will cause large numbers of civilian casualties. In a bid to assassinate a single Hamas commander, the IDF dropped at least two 2,000-pound bombs on the densely populated Jabalia refugee camp on October 31, killing more than 120 civilians.
Even the U.S. military—which since 2001 has killed hundreds of thousands of people during the open-ended so-called War on Terror—avoids using 2,000-pound bombs in densely populated areas due to the tremendous damage they cause.
One prominent U.S. military historian called Israel's Gaza onslaught "one of the most intense civilian punishment campaigns in history," comparing it to the Allied firebombing of Dresden during World War II, which also killed tens of thousands of civilians.
The letter also comes as the Biden administration reportedly believes that Israel's nascent ground invasion of Rafah does not cross the president's "red line" warning that any "major operation" in the southern city—where more than 1 million Palestinians forcibly displaced from other parts of Gaza are sheltering alongside around 280,000 local residents—would damage U.S.-Israeli relations.
The International Court of Justice found in January that Israel is "plausibly" perpetrating genocide in Gaza, where Israeli bombs, bullets, and blockades have left more than 123,000 Palestinians—most of them women and children—dead, injured, or missing since October 7, and hundreds of thousands more suffering full-blown famine.
While the Biden administration has accepted the Israeli government's claims that it is not breaking international law when using American weapons, a number of House Democrats have challenged Israel's assurance, citing "mounting credible and deeply troubling reports and allegations" of human rights crimes committed by IDF troops in Gaza, and by soldiers and settlers in the illegally occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Officials at the United States Agency for International Development also concluded in a confidential April memo to Blinken that Israel is violating NSM-20 by blocking humanitarian aid from entering the besieged Gaza Strip as children there starve to death.
Furthermore, a leaked State Department memo revealed last month that officials at four of the agency's bureaus concluded that Israel's assurances of legal arms use are "neither credible nor reliable."
In addition to NSM-20, federal legislation including the Arms Control Export Act and Leahy Laws also proscribe U.S. arms transfers to human rights violators—although there are many examples of these statutes being ignored for the benefit of key allies including Israel, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and other nations.
"The public has a profound interest in understanding how the U.S. ensures that its military aid doesn't go to human rights abusers," Caitlin Vogus, deputy advocacy director at Freedom of the Press Foundation, said in a statement Tuesday.
"If the Biden administration can stand behind its decisions about defense assistance, it should have no reason to withhold the report that members of Congress will see from the press and the public," Vogus added.
While Biden has criticized Israel's "indiscriminate bombing" of Gaza and is reportedly holding up two shipments of precision-guided bombs to send a message to Israeli leaders, the president continues to affirm his steadfast support for Israel and has recently approved the transfer of more warplanes, 2,000-pound bombs, and other arms to its key Middle Eastern ally. The administration is also pushing Congress to approve the sale of $18 billion worth of F-15 fighter jets to Israel.
Earlier this year, a group of mostly Democratic members of Congress asked Blinken to explain what they called "highly unusual" moves by the Biden administration to bypass lawmakers in order to fast-track emergency military aid to Israel. Biden—who recently signed off on $14.3 billion in new armed aid to Israel atop the $4 billion it already gets from Washington each year—has also come under fire for approving more than 100 weapons sales to Israel since October.
Human rights defenders slammed Biden's reported decision to postpone publication of the report due on Wednesday.
"It's obvious why Biden is burying the NSM-20 report on Israel: He won't hold Israel accountable," Georgetown University adjunct professor Josh Reubner asserted on social media. "There's no way to conclude that Israel hasn't violated assurances it won't use U.S. weapons to break international law or block aid. Of course it's doing both."
Palestinian American author and political analyst Yousef Munayyer asked: "Hey, Joe Biden, what are you hidin'?"
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'Overdue But Welcome': Biden Reportedly Holds Back Bombs for Israel
"The White House must leave no stone unturned in its effort to stop the Israeli government's offensive on Rafah—the hundreds of thousands displaced there do not have more time," said the head of Win Without War.
May 07, 2024
Anti-war voices on Tuesday welcomed Politico's reporting that U.S. President Joe Biden's administration is delaying "shipments of two types of Boeing-made precision bombs to send a political message to Israel," which on Monday launched a long-awaited invasion of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
"The U.S. has yet to sign off on a pending sale of Boeing's Joint Direct Attack Munitions—both the munitions and kits that convert them to smart weapons—and Small Diameter Bombs," according to Politico, which cited unnamed congressional and industry sources. "While the Biden administration has not formally denied the potential sale, it is essentially taking action through inaction—holding off on approvals and other aspects of the weapons transfer process."
The piece followed Axiosreporting Sunday that Israeli officials said the administration "last week put a hold on a shipment of U.S.-made ammunition" and The Wall Street Journal's Monday revelation that it "has held up delivery of Joint Direct Attack Munitions."
"If President Biden is taking the overdue but necessary step... he cannot leave his intentions open to miscommunication or spin."
The White House has neither confirmed nor denied Politico's report, which came as Biden again conflated campus protests against Israel's war on Gaza with antisemitism. Since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched the U.S.-backed offensive in October, Biden has faced mounting pressure to cut off arms to the country and use his influence to end the bloodshed.
"Reports that the Biden administration is delaying the sale of at least two types of bombs to the Israeli government, in reaction to its disastrous conduct of the war in Gaza, are highly welcome. That conduct is again on international display in Rafah this week, where the Israeli military has begun an invasion that, as we at Win Without War have previously warned, could lead to further horrific war crimes," the group's executive director, Sara Haghdoosti, said in a statement Tuesday.
"Now that this news has leaked, senior administration officials must publicly confirm this policy shift," she said. "If President Biden is taking the overdue but necessary step to condition weapons sales in line with U.S. law and policy and to force changes in Israeli government strategy, he cannot leave his intentions open to miscommunication or spin from those, including Prime Minister Netanyahu, who are continuing this conflict for their own political benefit. The White House must leave no stone unturned in its effort to stop the Israeli government's offensive on Rafah—the hundreds of thousands displaced there do not have more time."
Over a million Palestinians from across Gaza have crowded into Rafah since October, as Israeli forces have killed at least 34,789 people, wounded another 78,204, and destroyed civilian infrastructure in the strip, which has been under Hamas control for nearly two decades. The International Court of Justice has said Israel is "plausibly" committing genocide in the besieged enclave.
While multiple congressional Republicans condemned the Biden administration's supposed move to delay the delivery of the bombs to Israel, critics of the Israeli assault joined Haghdoosti in welcoming the development—which comes on the heels of Congress and the president approving billions more in military aid for Israel.
"Glad to see it. I wish they would've started sending this message thousands of lives ago, as so many urged," Matt Duss, executive vice president at the Center for International Policy, said on social media.
Brian Finucane, senior adviser to the Crisis Group's U.S. program, agreed the move is "good if true" and "an easy step the Biden administration should have taken months ago."
Refugees International president Jeremy Konyndyk, called it an "overdue but welcome development" that "hopefully... signals a pivot to beginning to impose more overt conditionality on U.S. arms transfers."
Politico separately reported Tuesday that according to congressional sources, "the Biden administration's report on whether Israel has violated U.S. and international humanitarian law during the war in Gaza has been delayed indefinitely."
The Israeli War Cabinet—made up of Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Benny Gantz, former chief of the general staff for the Israel Defense Forces—opted to attack Rafah on Monday despite Hamas agreeing to a cease-fire and hostage release deal. Biden previously said that Israel invading the crowded city was a "red line" and is now facing calls to stand by that position.
"The Israeli government has once again proven that it will respect no red lines and that it will go to any lengths to slaughter Palestinians and push them off their land," said Council on American-Islamic Relations national executive director Nihad Awad.
"The Biden administration can no longer enable these genocidal war crimes or Benjamin Netanyahu's brazen flouting of the United States," Awad added. "We urge the Biden administration to condemn the Israeli government's latest crimes, suspend military funding, and use American leverage to secure an immediate end to the genocide."
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NYC Driver Rams Into Anti-Genocide Protest, Hospitalizes One
"Zionists on the streets and in police precincts have declared open season on young people fighting for Palestinian liberation," said one Columbia University student group.
May 07, 2024
One pro-Palestinian protester was hospitalized on Tuesday after a pro-Israel driver "intentionally drove" into a group of picketers outside the home of one of Columbia University's trustees on New York City's Upper East Side, as demonstrations against Israel's bombardment of Gaza continued.
According to Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), the protesters "were attacked on the crosswalk" by an "Upper East Side Zionist."
CUAD reported that the man drove up to the demonstrators, who have been calling on Columbia to divest from companies that contract with Israel and for the U.S. government to stop supporting the Israel Defense Forces, and asked for a flyer before grabbing a protester by the arm.
He then "circled the block to drive into our peaceful demonstration," striking one person who was "arrested and handcuffed to the bed while in the hospital," said CUAD.
The New York Police Department
toldUSA Today that an argument broke out between the driver and the protesters and that "as the group of roughly 25 demonstrators walked away, a driver hit one person with his Volvo."
CUAD noted that the alleged attack took place as U.S. politicians including President Joe Biden have condemned the campus protest movement, with at least one lawmaker
applauding abusive behavior by anti-Palestinian counter-protesters and New York City Council member Vickie Paladino (R-19) saying last week that the student movement is being led by "monsters, and it's now our job to slay them."
Paladino's "call for vigilante justice was almost fulfilled today," said CUAD.
USA Today also reported that at a separate protest on the Upper West Side near the apartment building of the co-chair of Columbia's board of trustees, "a woman punched a demonstrator in the face, seemingly at random."
In Los Angeles last week, city police stood by while a mob of pro-Israel counter-protesters
attacked nonviolent students who had set up an encampment in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel has killed at least 34,789 and on Monday invaded Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians have been forcibly displaced.
On Tuesday, in honor of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's Annual Days of Remembrance, Biden gave a speech on antisemitism, conflating protests in support of Palestinian rights with the hatred of Jewish people.
CUAD and independent reporter Talia Jane said the driver is a relative of the late Meir Kahane, an American-born Israeli far-right extremist.
The driver's "actions today model a trend in which Zionists weaponize their discomfort over political slogans as an excuse to assault Palestinian, Muslim, Arab, Black, brown, and dissident Jewish protesters in violent retaliation for imagined threats," said CUAD. "Just as white supremacists ran over a protester in Charlottesville, Zionists on the streets and in police precincts have declared open season on young people fighting for Palestinian liberation."
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