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palestinian statehood
Italy's Unions Lead General Strike for Gaza
"Meloni should take a stand with the facts against those who have slaughtered 20,000 children, rather than limiting herself to saying 'I do not agree,'" said one critic of Italy's right-wing prime minister.
Sep 22, 2025
Italian labor unions led a massive 24-hour general strike on Monday to protest Israel's ongoing genocide in Gaza, with estimates of hundreds of thousands of demonstrators rallying in dozens of cities across Italy.
Protesters took to squares, streets, transport hubs, ports, university campuses, and other spaces in more than 75 cities and towns, rallying under the call to "Block Everything." Places including schools, train stations, and retail stores were shut for the day.
"The strike is called in response to the ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip, the blockade of humanitarian aid by the Israeli army, and the threats directed against the... Global Sumud Flotilla, which has on board Italian workers and trade unionists committed to bringing food and basic necessities to the Palestinian population," explained Unione Sindacale di Base (USB), a grassroots union confederation known for its militant stance on labor and political issues.
In Rome, tens of thousands of Palestine defenders rallied at the Termini rail station, Italy's largest, with many of the demonstrators occupying the building.
While protest activities snarled traffic in some parts of the Italian capital, many Roman motorists showed solidarity with the demonstrators by honking their horns and raising their fists into the air.
Watch: Pro-Gaza protesters who blocked a highway near Rome were met with visible solidarity from drivers. Regional news coverage of the paralyzed Central Station showed only people expressing support for the protest.Source: Paolo Mossetti on X (@paolomossetti)
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— Drop Site (@dropsitenews.com) September 22, 2025 at 11:35 AM
Milan saw an estimated 50,000 people turn out to locations including the central rail station, where some protesters damaged property and clashed with police, who said 10 people were arrested and 60 officers were injured.
“If we don’t block what Israel is doing, if we don’t block trade, the distribution of weapons and everything else with Israel, we will not ever achieve anything,” protester Walter Montagnoli, who is the Base Unitary Confederation's (CUB) national secretary, told The Associated Press at a march in Milan.
In Bologna—home to the world's oldest continuously operating university—students occupied lecture halls and thousands of demonstrators took to the streets, including the Tangenziale, the ring highway around the city, where police attacked them with water cannons and tear gas.
Dockworkers and other demonstrators marched and blocked ports in cities including Genoa, Trieste, and Livorno.
Thousands of protesters also blocked the main train station in Naples.
Source: Potere al Popolo via X (@potere_alpopolo)
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— Drop Site (@dropsitenews.com) September 22, 2025 at 11:06 AM
In the Adriatic seaside resort of Termoli, hundreds of student-led Palestine defenders rallied in St. Anthony's Square and, with Mayor Nicola Balice's permission, draped a Palestinian flag from the façade of City Hall.
"Faced with such an important subject, the genocide in Palestine, we students... said this would be a nonpartisan demonstration because in the face of what is happening in the Gaza Strip—hospitals bombed, children killed every day—there can be no political ideology," said one Termoli protester. "We must all be united.”
Some participants in Monday's general strike pointed the finger at their own government.
"In the face of what is happening in Gaza you have to decide where you are," Italian General Confederation of Labor leader Maurizio Landini told La Stampa. "If you don’t tell the Israeli government that you have to stop and don't send them more weapons, but instead you keep sending them... you actually become complicit in what’s happening.”
While European nations including Ireland, Norway, Spain, Slovenia, the United Kingdom, Portugal, France, Luxembourg, and Denmark have formally recognized Palestine or announced their intent to do so since October 2023, Italy has given no indication that it will follow suit. More than 150 of 193 United Nations member states have recognized Palestine.
Although increasingly critical of Israel's 718-day genocidal assault—which has left at least 241,000 Palestinians dead, wounded, or missing in Gaza—right-wing Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has been accused of complicity in genocide for actions including presiding over arms sales to the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. Meloni has rejected the ICC warrants and said Netanyahu would not be arrested if he enters Italy.
"Meloni should listen to the voice of those who are peacefully protesting and asking her to act, rather than curling up to Washington to protect her friend, the war criminal Netanyahu," Giuseppe Conte, who leads the independent progressive Five Star Movement, said Monday on social media. "Meloni should take a stand with the facts against those who have slaughtered 20,000 children, rather than limiting herself to saying, 'I do not agree.' And she should stop running away from the debate in Parliament."
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Senate Dems, Sanders Call for US Recognition of Palestinian Statehood
"The goal of a Palestinian state can’t be put off any longer if we want the next generation to avoid suffering from the same insecurity and affliction," said Sen. Jeff Merkley.
Sep 19, 2025
As some of the United States' closest allies join most of the world's nations in officially recognizing Palestinian statehood amid Israel's worsening genocide and famine in Gaza, US Sen. Jeff Merkley and seven colleagues on Thursday urged President Donald Trump to follow suit.
The senators introduced a nonbinding resolution calling on the president "to recognize a demilitarized state of Palestine, as consistent with international law and the principles of a two-state solution, alongside a secure state of Israel."
The resolution—which is cosponsored by Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii)—repeatedly mentions Hamas "terrorism" while ignoring the alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes for which fugitive Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant are wanted by the International Criminal Court.
The resolution's demands are "first, an immediate ceasefire, return of all hostages, and influx of aid. But then, a foundation for peace and prosperity for the future—and the only viable path for that is two states for two peoples," said Merkley, who was the first senator to back a Gaza ceasefire.
"The goal of a Palestinian state can’t be put off any longer if we want the next generation to avoid suffering from the same insecurity and affliction," Merkley added.
I’m leading the first-ever Senate resolution in support of Palestinian statehood. There is only one pathway that builds security, peace, and prosperity for Israelis and Palestinians. That path is two states for two peoples.
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— Senator Jeff Merkley (@merkley.senate.gov) September 18, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Van Hollen—who has been one of the Senate's strongest critics of US complicity in Israel's obliteration of Gaza and even tried to visit the strip with Merkley last month—said, "The most viable way to create some light at the end of the very dark tunnel in the Middle East, and assure security and self-determination for Israelis and Palestinians alike, is a two-state solution."
"Given that the Netanyahu government has obstructed that goal and the Trump administration has abandoned it, the Congress must make its position clear," he added.
Kaine said: "The US supported a historic United Nations resolution in 1947 to establish two states—Israel and Palestine. After nearly 80 years, the world has only kept one of those two promises and the lack of progress toward Palestinian autonomy has been a source of continuing tension in the region."
"Since July 2024 when the Israeli Knesset voted to deny a path to Palestinian statehood and made clear that Israel would not accept Palestinian autonomy, I have believed the US should no longer condition recognition on Israeli assent but rather on Palestinian willingness to live in peace with its neighbors," he added.
Approximately 150 of the UN’s 193 member states have officially recognized Palestine. Since October 2023, countries including Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Norway, and Spain have either recognized Palestine or announced their intent to do so.
Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders have openly boasted about thwarting Palestinian statehood. The prime minister has made clear his intention for Israel to control "from the river to the sea"—meaning all of Palestine—as envisioned in the founding platform of his Likud party.
Last month, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich—who, like many of his far-right compatriots, denies the very existence of the Palestinian people—proposed another expansion of Israel's illegal settler colonization of the occupied West Bank, asserting that the construction of thousands of new apartheid homes "buries the idea of a Palestinian state."
Netanyahu signed the proposal last week, declaring that "there will be no Palestinian state"—a position shared by all 15 Likud ministers, who want the prime minister to annex the entire West Bank by year's end.
Smotrich is also among the Israeli officials who favor annexing Gaza, ethnically cleansing its Palestinian population, and opening the strip for Israeli colonization. Trump, meanwhile, has proposed US control of Gaza and transformation of its Mediterranean coast into the "Riviera of the Middle East."
Lawmakers in Israel's Knesset, or Parliament, have also worked to block progress toward a two-state solution. In July, they hosted a conference titled "The Gaza Riviera–From Vision to Reality" advocating the conquest of Gaza and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in order to make the strip what Smotrich called "an inseparable part of Israel."
Critics allege that the ultimate goal of some Israeli leaders is the realization of a so-called "Greater Israel" stretching from the Nile River in Egypt to the Euphrates in Iraq.
The senators' resolution comes as more and more congressional Democrats accuse Israel of genocide, and reflects the wishes of a majority of Americans, according to recent polling.
On Wednesday, Sanders became the first upper chamber lawmaker to say that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza following the publication of a United Nations commission report that reached the same conclusion. Israel is currently facing a genocide case at the International Court of Justice launched by South Africa and backed by around two dozen countries.
However, on the whole, the US government—which provides Israel with tens of billions of dollars in armed aid and diplomatic support—continues to back Israel. On Thursday, the US for the sixth time vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an immediate Gaza ceasefire and release of all hostages held by Hamas.
This, as Israeli forces intensified their bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza City during Operation Gideon's Chariots 2, a campaign of conquest, occupation, and ethnic cleansing that aims to leave Israel fully in control of the strip.
Israeli forces killed dozens more Palestinians on Friday, the 714th day of a genocide that's left more than 240,000 Gazans dead, maimed, or missing and hundreds of thousands more starving, with no end in sight.
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US 'Denying and Revoking' Visas of Palestinian Officials Ahead of UN General Assembly
The Palestinian presidency said the decision—which comes as more and more nations formally recognize Palestine's statehood—"stands in clear contradiction to international law and the UN Headquarters Agreement."
Aug 29, 2025
The Trump administration said Friday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio "is denying and revoking visas from members of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority" ahead of next month's United Nations General Assembly in New York.
The US State Department said Friday that "the Trump administration has been clear: It is in our national security interests to hold the PLO and PA accountable for not complying with their commitments, and for undermining the prospects for peace."
"Before the PLO and PA can be considered partners for peace, they must consistently repudiate terrorism—including the October 7 massacre—and end incitement to terrorism in education, as required by US law and as promised by the PLO," the statement continues.
No US administration in modern times has ever demanded that Israel repudiate its generations-long illegal occupation and settler colonization of Palestine, its ongoing genocide in Gaza, or any other violation of international law or human rights.
"The PA must also end its attempts to bypass negotiations through international lawfare campaigns, including appeals to the [International Criminal Court] and [International Court of Justice], and efforts to secure the unilateral recognition of a conjectural Palestinian state," the State Department added. "Both steps materially contributed to Hamas' refusal to release its hostages, and to the breakdown of the Gaza ceasefire talks."
The ICC last year issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, including murder and the forced starvation of Palestinians that is driving a famine that has killed at least hundreds of Palestinians and is starving hundreds of thousands more. The ICJ is currently weighing a genocide case against Israel filed by South Africa—not the PA.
As for ceasefire talks, Matthew Miller, who served as a State Department spokesperson during the Biden administration, recently admitted that Israel habitually torpedoed ceasefire agreements each time they were nearing a conclusion in what he called a sustained effort to "try and sabotage" a deal. Miller repeatedly stood at his podium and told reporters that Hamas was to blame for thwarting a truce.
Miller added that Netanyahu openly admitted to US officials that he wanted to continue the Gaza war for "decades."
It is not clear which Palestinian officials will have their visas denied or revoked. The office of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said in a statement responding to the US announcement that "this decision stands in clear contradiction to international law and the UN Headquarters Agreement—which effectively shields UN member-state officials from US immigration policies—particularly since the state of Palestine is an observer member of the United Nations."
This isn't the first time the US has blocked Palestinian officials from attending a General Assembly. In 1998, the Regan administration denied then-PLO Chair Yasser Arafat a visa and the General Assembly was convened in Geneva instead of New York. There have already been numerous calls to relocate this year's General Assembly to the Swiss city following the US move.
The US announcement comes as more and more countries formally recognize Palestinian statehood or move to do so amid Israel's genocidal assault, siege, and famine in Gaza, which, combined, have left more than 230,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing and the strip in ruins.
Approximately 150 of the UN's 193 member states have officially recognized Palestine. Since October 2023, countries including Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Norway, and Spain have either recognized Palestine or announced their intent to do so.
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Israeli Government Social Media Urges Europe to 'Remove' Muslims
"What would the reaction would be if an Arab state wrote this about synagogues and Jews?" asked one critic.
Aug 27, 2025
Israel faced backlash this week after its Arabic-language account on the social media site X published a message warning Europeans to take action against the proliferation of mosques and "remove" Muslims from their countries.
"In the year 1980, there were only fewer than a hundred mosques in Europe. As for today, there are more than 20,000 mosques. This is the true face of colonization," posted Israel, a settler-colonial state whose nearly 2 million Muslim citizens face widespread discrimination, and where Palestinians in the illegally occupied territories live under an apartheid regime.
"This is what is happening while Europe is oblivious and does not care about the danger," the post continues. "And the danger does not lie in the existence of mosques in and of themselves, for freedom of worship is one of the basic human rights, and every person has the right to believe and worship his Lord."
"The problem lies in the contents that are taught in some of these mosques, and they are not limited to piety and good deeds, but rather focus on encouraging escalating violence in the streets of Europe, and spreading hatred for the other and even for those who host them in their countries, and inciting against them instead of teaching love, harmony, and peace," Israel added. "Europe must wake up and remove this fifth column."
Referring to the far-right Alternative for Germany party, Berlin-based journalist James Jackson replied on X that "even the AfD don't tweet, 'Europe must wake up and remove this fifth column' over a map of mosques."
Other social media users called Israel's post "racist" and "Islamophobic," while some highlighted the stark contrast between the way Palestinians and Israelis treat Christian people and institutions.
Others noted that some of the map's fearmongering figures misleadingly showing a large number of mosques indicate countries whose populations are predominantly or significantly Muslim.
"Russia has 8,000 mosques? Who would've known a country with millions of Muslim Central Asians and Caucasians would need so many!" said one X user.
Israel's post came amid growing international outrage over its 691-day assault and siege on Gaza, which has left more than 230,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing and hundreds of thousands more starving and facing ethnic cleansing as Operation Gideon's Chariots 2—a campaign to conquer, occupy, and "cleanse" the strip—ramps up amid a growing engineered famine that has already killed hundreds of people.
Israel is facing an ongoing genocide case at the International Court of Justice, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, his former defense minister, are fugitives form the International Criminal Court, where they are wanted for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity including murder and forced starvation.
European nations including Belgium, Ireland, and Spain are supporting the South Africa-led ICJ genocide case against Israel. Since October 2023, European countries including Belgium, France, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Norway, and Spain have either formally recognized Palestinian statehood or announced their intention to do so.
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Head of College Dems, Progressive Groups Back DNC Resolution for Israel Arms Embargo, Palestinian State
"Young Americans have made their voices clear," said the national president of the College Democrats. "A modern Democratic Party must stand against global injustice."
Aug 21, 2025
The national president of the College Democrats is co-sponsoring a Democratic National Committee resolution calling for party members to support an arms embargo and the suspension of military aid to Israel, as well as the recognition of a Palestinian state.
The resolution comes after just 8% of voters in the Democratic Party said in a July Gallup poll that they support Israel's military actions in the Gaza Strip, a dramatic sea change from October 2023, when 36% expressed support.
According to an Economist/YouGov poll from mid-August, 69% of Democratic voters said they believed Israel was committing a genocide against Palestinian civilians.
Disapproval of Israel's actions is most staggering among young voters. Among Democrats ages 18 to 49, Pew Research found that unfavorable views of Israel have shot up to 71% from just 62% in 2022. Just 6% of Americans under 35, across all parties, said they had a favorable opinion of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"Young Americans have made their voices clear," said the national president of the College Democrats, Sunjay A. Muralitharan. "A modern Democratic Party must stand against global injustice."
The College Democrats were joined by a trio of activist groups—Progressive Democrats of America, RootsAction, and Our Revolution—who signed on in support of the proposal Thursday.
"This resolution is a critical step toward aligning our foreign policy with our values," said Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of Our Revolution. "By calling for an arms embargo and suspending military aid to Israel, the DNC would be recognizing what grassroots movements have long demanded: that American taxpayer dollars must not bankroll human rights abuses."
The resolution is one of two dueling proposals that will be considered at the DNC meeting on August 26. Another, backed by DNC chair Ken Martin, expresses support for long-held Democratic Party policies of a "two-state" solution and a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
RootsAction political director Sam Rosenthal describes it as a "watered-down resolution that stops far short of calling for an end to arms shipments to Israel."
That proposal closely mirrors the one put forward during the 2024 Democratic National Convention, which stopped short of calling for the suspension of weapons sales to Israel and emphasized the importance of maintaining Israel's "qualitative military edge."
Allison Minnerly, the 26-year-old DNC member from Florida who introduced the embargo resolution earlier this month, told The Intercept that Martin offered his resolution as a compromise in the face of her more ambitious one.
Though her resolution now has the support of the College Dems and delegations from Maine, California, and Florida, it nevertheless faces an uphill battle to pass. If it fails, Minnerly says, it will further exacerbate the yawning rift between the Democratic Party and its supporters.
"Our voters, our base, they are saying that they do not want US dollars to enable further death and starvation anywhere across the world, particularly in Gaza," Minnerly said. "I don't think it should be a hard decision for us to say that clearly."
Though the vote is largely symbolic, Matt Duss, a former foreign policy adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), said that "the position of the DNC does matter" because "it sets the tone for the entire party."
"There are two Gaza-related DNC resolutions," said Prem Thakker, a reporter and commentator at Zeteo. "A status quo one. And one that recognizes public opinion and events in the past 22 months."
"We have a moral obligation to do what we can to stop the slaughter, but most people feel powerless," said Alan Minsky, the executive director of Progressive Democrats of America. "However, it is well understood that Israel would not be able to maintain the siege of Gaza without the steady flow of US weapons."
Update: This article has been updated to include comments from Our Revolution, RootsAction, and the Progressive Democrats of America and note their endorsement of the resolution.
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As Israeli Genocide Intensifies, Majority of Americans Support Palestinian Statehood
"Israel has lost the support of the world, including the American people," said policy analyst Jeffrey Sachs.
Aug 20, 2025
As the US backs Israel's plans to occupy Gaza and expand illegal settlements in the West Bank, a solid majority of Americans say the world should recognize a Palestinian state.
According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll published on Wednesday, 58% of Americans believe that every country in the United Nations should recognize a Palestinian state, compared with just 33% who said they should not and 9% who said they were unsure.
In recent weeks, as Israel's blockade of humanitarian aid has inflicted mass starvation across the enclave, many American allies—including Canada, the UK, and France—have broken with the US by indicating their intent to recognize the State of Palestine. In total, 147 of the UN's 193 member states—over 75%—now recognize Palestine as a sovereign nation.
Last week, the foreign ministers of 26 states signed onto a statement that the crisis in Gaza has reached "unimaginable levels" and called on Israel to allow unrestricted humanitarian aid into the strip. As of Tuesday, the Gaza Health Ministry reported that 266 people, including 122 children, had been starved to death as a result of the blockade.
In Gaza City, where Israel has begun a devastating campaign of bombing, shelling, and shooting civilians and demolishing their homes, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) reported Friday that malnutrition has reached 21.5%, "meaning nearly one in five young children is now malnourished."
Amnesty International says the rise in malnutrition is the result of a "deliberate campaign of starvation" by Israel aimed at "systematically destroying the health, well-being, and social fabric of Palestinian life." Israeli human rights groups, including B'Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, have described their nation's military actions as "genocide."
While the administration of US President Donald Trump, the Republican Party, and many Democrats continue to back Israel's actions to the hilt, they are increasingly out of step with the views of the American public.
In a July 29 Gallup poll, just 32% said they approved of Israel's military actions in Gaza, while 60% disapproved. The decline in support among Democrats is especially striking: Where 36% said they supported Israel's actions in October 2023, that number has plummeted to just 8%.
But unlike elsewhere in the world, this has not resulted in a sea change among politicians. Just 13 House Democrats signed onto a letter earlier this month calling on the Trump administration to recognize Palestinian statehood.
Israel has meanwhile moved forward with actions explicitly aimed at making a Palestinian state impossible.
On Wednesday, Israel gave the final approval for a massive new illegal settlement in the West Bank known as E1, which slices the Palestinian territory in two and cuts off Palestinian communities between Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley.
Finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has championed the proposal, saying it "buries the idea of a Palestinian state."
Trump and US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee have reportedly given approval to the plan, as part of a reversal in the decades-old US policy opposing Israel's settlements in the West Bank, which violate international law.
International business professor Avraham Shama argued in The Hill on Wednesday that Israel's "increasingly brutal" actions will only continue to galvanize the world toward the plight of the Palestinians.
"Soon, the Palestinian people will be recognized as a sovereign nation in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank by most countries. They now have the political and moral momentum toward achieving this goal," Shama said. "The case for Palestinian independence has been getting clearer and more urgent with every Israeli bombing of mostly innocent Gazans, and with every death from starvation caused by Israel's withholding of food."
Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, told Common Dreams that through its continued support for Israel, the US government is increasingly isolating itself.
"Israel has lost the support of the world, including the American people," Sachs said. "Israel's genocide has made it a pariah state, propped up by the White House over the objections of the American people."
"The only way to peace, and to rescue Israel from its murderous ways," he said, "is to implement the two-state solution immediately, as almost all of the world demands. It's now up to Trump to end US complicity in the genocide and to recognize Palestine."
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Spanish PM Urges NATO Leaders to Eschew 'Double Standards' on Gaza and Ukraine
"If we demand respect for international law in Ukraine, we must demand it in Gaza as well," asserted Pedro Sánchez.
Jul 11, 2024
While joining leaders of fellow NATO countries in voicing support for defending Ukraine from Russian aggression, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Wednesday implored Western nations to avoid "double standards" in the application of international law regarding Israel's war on Gaza.
Sánchez, a member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party who has led his country since 2018, said during the NATO Public Forum in Washington, D.C. that Western leaders must have "consistent political positions" on Ukraine and Gaza.
"If we are telling our people that we are supporting Ukraine because we are defending the international law, this is the same that we have to do toward Gaza... say that we are backing the international law, especially the international humanitarian law," Sánchez said, drawing applause from the audience.
We cannot have double standards in our approach to Ukraine and Gaza - international law must be upheld in both situations, Prime Minister of Spain @sanchezcastejon said in his conversation with GMF Trustee Steve Biegun at the NATO Public Forum. pic.twitter.com/VdNa4laImY
— German Marshall Fund (@gmfus) July 10, 2024
"We need to create the conditions for an immediate and urgent cease-fire," the prime minister stressed. "There is a real risk of escalation to Lebanon."
Sánchez urged his fellow NATO leaders to do everything they can to "stop this terrible humanitarian crisis" in Gaza and called for an international conference for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
In late May, Spain, Norway, and Ireland formally recognized the state of Palestine, brushing off Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz's threat of "severe consequences" for the three nations. Earlier that month, the United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly in favor of a resolution supporting full U.N. membership for Palestine.
Nearly 150 of the world's 193 nations now officially recognize Palestinian statehood, with more considering the move amid what South Africa and dozens of other nations say is Israel's genocidal war on Gaza. Last month, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares announced that his country had applied to join the South African-led genocide case against Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.
As the ICJ determines whether Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, the tribunal has ordered Israel to prevent genocidal acts in the embattled enclave, to "immediately halt" its offensive in Rafah, and to stop blocking humanitarian aid from entering Gaza in the face of worsening "famine and starvation."
Israel has been accused of flouting all three orders.
In November, Ione Belarra, then Spain's minister of social rights, called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes. In May, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said he is seeking arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity including extermination and using starvation as a weapon of war. He is also pursuing arrest warrants for three Hamas leaders for alleged extermination, rape, and other crimes.
According to Palestinian and international agencies, Israel's nine-month bombardment, invasion, and siege of Gaza has left more than 137,500 Palestinians dead, injured, or missing. Around 90% of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been forcibly displaced. The majority of homes and other structures in the embattled strip are destroyed or damaged. Children are starving to death amid a severe shortage of food, water, and medical treatment.
Israel's war—which is a response to the October 7 Hamas-led attacks on Israel that left more than 1,100 Israelis dead and over 240 people from Israel and other countries kidnapped—has sparked ongoing protests around the world, including in Spain.
In November, the city councilors in Barcelona, Spain's second-largest city, voted to suspend relations with Israel in a resolution asserting that "no government can turn a blind eye to genocide."
Sánchez isn't the first political leader to call out the West's double standards on Gaza and Ukraine.
"Two years ago, when Americans across the country rallied to offer support and aid to Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression, so did we," Abdullah Hammond, the mayor of Dearborn, Michigan—home to the highest Muslim population per capita in the U.S.—wrote in a February New York Times guest opinion essay decrying the Biden administration's "unwavering" support for Israel.
"There are still blue and yellow flags fading against the facades of homes and businesses across my city," Hammond added. "But when Dearborn residents flew the Palestinian flag this past fall, they were met with threats."
On the world stage, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres told European Union leaders at a March summit in Brussels that "the basic principle of international humanitarian law is the protection of civilians."
"We must stick to principles in Ukraine as in Gaza without double standards," he added.
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'Total Unchecked Impunity': Netanyahu Plots Illegal Settlement Expansion in West Bank
"The right-wing, extremist Netanyahu government is not only breaking international law in Gaza, they are doing the same in the West Bank, where they are pursuing illegal annexation by force," said U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Jun 17, 2024
Top Israeli officials on Sunday discussed plans to expand illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank as an act of retaliation against countries that recently joined the majority of the international community in recognizing Palestinian statehood.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a
statement Sunday announcing that government officials "discussed steps to strengthen settlement in Judea and Samaria, including in response to the countries that unilaterally recognized a Palestinian state after October 7, as well as a series of responses against the [Palestinian Authority] following its actions against Israel in [international] bodies."
"The defense minister and the attorney general requested additional time to comment on several of the proposed clauses," the statement added.
The government's announcement, released hours before Netanyahu dissolved Israel's war cabinet, comes amid an unprecedented wave of settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank—violence that Israeli soldiers have abetted and frequently joined. Settlers and Israeli forces have demolished homes, razed refugee camps, set fire to cars and businesses, and carried out summary executions of West Bank residents—including children—in the eight months since Israel launched its assault on Gaza.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has vocally supported the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian territories, recently threatened that Israel's military would turn the West Bank into "ruined cities like in the Gaza Strip."
CNN noted Sunday that Smotrich suggested last month that "Israel should approve 10,000 settlements in the West Bank, establish a new settlement for every country that recognizes a state of Palestine, and cancel travel permits for Palestinian Authority officials."
"This is what total unchecked impunity sounds like," researcher Abe Silberstein wrote on social media following the latest news of Israel's settlement-expansion plans. "Netanyahu knows Biden will do nothing, and that he will in fact stop others from doing anything."
The Biden administration, which acknowledged earlier this year that Israeli settlements are "inconsistent with international law," has sanctioned a handful of settlers as well as an entity accused of fundraising for them, but critics say the actions were largely a public relations stunt.
"Netanyahu should be facing serious consequences for these violations, not receiving an invitation to address a joint session of Congress."
In May—amid growing global outrage over Israel's brutalization of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank—Norway, Ireland, and Spain announced their decision to formally recognize Palestinian statehood, drawing a furious response from Israel's right-wing government, which warned of "severe consequences" for the move.
Earlier this month, Slovenia's Parliament overwhelmingly voted to recognize Palestine, becoming the latest European country to do so.
Meanwhile, Israeli leaders—including Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant—are facing the possibility of arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court's top prosecutor, who applied for the warrants against Israeli officials and Hamas leaders last month.
A United Nationsreport published last week found that Israeli forces in the West Bank have "committed acts of sexual violence, torture, and inhuman or cruel treatment and outrages upon personal dignity, all of which are war crimes."
"Furthermore," according to the report, "the government of Israel and Israeli forces permitted, fostered, and instigated a campaign of settler violence against Palestinian communities in the West Bank."
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said in a statement Friday that "while the world is understandably focused on the destruction unfolding in Gaza, we should not lose sight of what is happening in the West Bank—actions which are in violation of both American and international law."
"Let's be clear: The right-wing, extremist Netanyahu government is not only breaking international law in Gaza, they are doing the same in the West Bank, where they are pursuing illegal annexation by force," said Sanders. "Netanyahu should be facing serious consequences for these violations, not receiving an invitation to address a joint session of Congress."
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After General Assembly Vote, UN Experts Demand All Nations Recognize Palestinian State
"The recognition of the state of Palestine is not only a matter of historical justice with the legitimate aspirations of the Palestine people, but it is also an imperative need to achieve peace," said a group of top rights experts.
Jun 03, 2024
After a United Nations General Assembly vote last month that made clearer than ever that global support for Israel's policies in the occupied Palestinian territories is shrinking, top experts at the U.N. on Monday issued a demand for all nations to recognize Palestinian statehood and said such a move is a necessary step toward peace in the Middle East.
"All states must follow the example of 146 United Nations member states and recognize the state of Palestine and use all political and diplomatic resources at their disposal to bring about an immediate ceasefire in Gaza," said the experts as Israel's bombardment of the blockaded enclave neared its eighth month.
Palestine's bid to become a full member of the U.N. was supported by 143 member states on May 10, and was followed by announcements by Irish, Spanish, and Norwegian officials that the three countries now recognize the occupied Palestinian territories as a state.
Israel is now joined by just a handful of countries—mostly wealthy Western nations including the U.S., Canada, Australia, and the U.K.—in refusing to recognize Palestinian statehood.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said last week that his government's recognition of Palestinian statehood has "a single goal: to contribute to achieving peace between Israelis and Palestinians."
"The recognition of the state of Palestine is not only a matter of historical justice with the legitimate aspirations of the [Palestinian] people, but it is also an imperative need to achieve peace," said Sánchez.
The U.N. experts on Monday expressed agreement, saying the global recognition of a Palestinian state would be "an important acknowledgement of the rights of the Palestinian people and their struggles and suffering towards freedom and independence."
"This is a pre-condition for lasting peace in Palestine and the entire Middle East—beginning with the immediate declaration of a cease-fire in Gaza and no further military incursions into Rafah," said the experts, including George Katrougalos, independent expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order; Francesca Albanese, special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967; and Cecilia M. Bailliet, independent expert on human rights and international solidarity.
The experts' statement came as the number of people forcibly displaced from Rafah, the southern Gaza city, surged past 1 million as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) continued its attacks there. The International Court of Justice—the top judicial body of the U.N.—ordered Israel to stop its military operations in Rafah on May 24, days before Israel killed at least 46 people by bombing a tent encampment that had been set up in a designated "humanitarian area."
U.S. President Joe Biden last week endorsed an Israeli plan for a cease-fire in Gaza—one that was similar to a proposal made by Hamas earlier in May, which had been rejected by Israel—but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his government would not agree to a permanent cease-fire until "the destruction of Hamas military and governing capabilities" is complete.
Netanyahu earlier this year said he would not agree to a Palestinian state, demanding control "of all territory west of the Jordan" River and reaffirming his opposition to the two-state solution that has long been the policy objective of the United States.
"A two-state solution," said the U.N. experts, "remains the only internationally agreed path to peace and security for both Palestine and Israel and a way out of generational cycles of violence and resentment."
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US 'Troubled' by Video of Israel Forces Beating American Teen
Video footage appears to show American teen, whose Palestinian cousin was murdered last week, being severely beaten by Israeli police forces
Jul 06, 2014
Israel detained six individuals on Sunday who may have ties to the murder of a Palestinian teenager, Mohammad Abu Khdair, who was abducted near his home in East Jerusalem earlier this week and later found burned to death in a wooded area outside the city.
According to Al-Jazeera:
Police declined to officially comment or to identify the suspects. A gag order largely bars local media from reporting on the case, but Ha'aretz newspaper described their motive as "nationalistic," implying that they are Jewish Israelis.
A police source told Al Jazeera that at least two of those arrested are well-known right-wing activists.
Also on Sunday, an Israeli court ordered a cousin of the recent murder victim, a 15-year-old American named Tariq Khdair, who was filmed being beaten while handcuffed by two Israeli Border Police officers, to remain under house arrest while an "investigation" is conducted into the incident which occurred head of Mohammad's funeral on Thursday.
In comments to reporters after his release on Sunday, Tariq said that he was not participating in protests--only "watching" when he was grabbed by what he believes were Israeli police officers who grabbed him from the side. "And they hit me," Tariq said, "and they kept hitting me and then I fell asleep and then I woke up in the hospital."
Watch:
Palestinian child Tarek speaks about his brutal beating at the hands of Israeli undercover policeTarek Abu Khdeir, a 15 year old Palestinian American child, was brutally beaten by Israeli undercover police in Shofat on 3 July ...
The treatment of Tariq prompted a response by the U.S. government which released a statement cautiously objecting to possible 'excessive force' by Israeli police.
Photographs posted online Saturday showed Tariq's badly swollen face:
As Euronews reports:
US calls on Israel for investigation over teen allegedly beaten by police in JerusalemThe US State Department has called on Israeli authorities for a transparent and credible investigation and full accountability for ...
Israel's Border Police units and the IDF have a long and well-documented history of excessive force and brutality against Palestinians from which children receive little immunity.
As Palestinian journalist and activist Ali Abunimah noted on his widely-read Electronic Intifada website, "Tariq's experience is far from rare. As of the end of April 2014, a total of 196 Palestinian children were in Israeli prisons, according to Defence for Children International Palestine Section."
The case, continued Abunimah, has "garnered massive international media attention both because the brutal beating was caught on video and because he is a US citizen," but typically "Israeli forces who attack Palestinians are almost never held accountable due to a pervasive culture of impunity."
In response to Tariq's arrest and the evidence of his treatment, the U.S. State Department said in a statement it was "profoundly troubled by reports that he was severely beaten while in police custody and strongly condemn any excessive use of force. We are calling for a speedy, transparent and credible investigation and full accountability for any excessive use of force."
The related stories of the Khdair family now frame heightened tensions in the occupied territories and the Gaza Strip as Palestinians react angrily to what has largely been seen as the Israeli government's policy of "collective punishment" that followed the recent murder of three Israeli teenagers.
On Saturday, the results of an autopsy performed on Mohammad Abu Khdair's body showed that the Palestinian teenager was likely burned alive by those who abducted him on Wednesday.
As the Washington Post reports, the news of the autopsy results arrived amid continued protests that centered in the Khdair family's East Jerusalem neighborhood of Shuafat:
After days of clashes between young Palestinians and Israeli security forces, Shuafat has taken on the look of a war zone, with rocks and empty pipe bombs littering the street. Sections of the light-rail track -- which normally ferries workers from their homes in Shuafat to their jobs in West Jerusalem -- were smoldering Saturday after being set on fire Friday night.
Israeli police reported that 20 people had been arrested during clashes Friday in Shuafat. Palestinians asserted that several of those detained were badly beaten by police. One local hospital reported treating more than 100 people, mostly for minor injuries. Thirteen Israeli policemen were lightly wounded.
Fresh clashes erupted late Saturday after residents were set on edge by reports that 16-year-old Khieder had been burned alive.
Street protests and clashes continued throughout the weekend in the West Bank while Israeli military forces have amassed on the Gaza border amid new airstrikes.
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