By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
SvennoJ on 08 February 2024
Edit Thread

Minneapolis city in US passes Gaza ceasefire resolution, overrides veto by mayor

The Minneapolis City Council overrode a mayoral veto and approved a resolution that calls for a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to US military funding to Israel, the Associated Press news agency reports. AP said the office of city Mayor Jacob Frey, who is Jewish, said he supported a ceasefire in Gaza, but he vetoed a resolution calling for one last week because he was concerned about its language being “one-sided” amid rising anti-Semitism in Minneapolis.

Council President Elliott Payne and Council Vice President Aisha Chughtai said in a joint statement that they are proud of the nine council members who voted on Thursday to override the mayor’s veto. The resolution calls on state and federal authorities to advance a full, immediate and permanent ceasefire; provide urgently needed humanitarian aid; stop US military funding to Israel; release Israeli captives taken by Hamas; and release thousands of Palestinians “held indefinitely without cause and trial in Israeli military prisons”.

Sana Wazwaz, a leader in American Muslims for Palestine’s Minnesota chapter, said the vote signalled a radical shift in what is considered acceptable criticism of Israel.

Protesters in Tel Aviv hang huge banner demanding truce deal

The banner reads “a deal or a death sentence” over the faces of Israeli captives still held in Gaza, sending the message to officials that delays in striking a deal with Hamas to secure their release endanger the captives’ lives. Local sources report that Israeli police deployed tear gas to break up the demonstration.

Yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed an official Hamas response to a proposed deal for a truce that would include the release of captives, along with a pause in fighting and a beginning of an end to the war in Gaza after last week assuring the families of the captives that everything possible was being done to bring their loved ones home.

Nicaragua requests to join South Africa’s genocide case against Israel

The International Court of Justice says it has received a request from Nicaragua to “intervene in the case concerning Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip”, filed by South Africa.

Late last year, South Africa petitioned the court to halt what it says is an ongoing genocide committed by Israel as it carries out its war on Gaza. Last month, the court issued a series of provisional measures that require Israel to comply with the 1948 Genocide Convention, allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza and act against those who issue genocidal statements.

According to a release from the ICJ, a state may request to become party to one of its cases whenever “it considers that it has an interest of a legal nature which may be affected by the decision in the case”. For its reasoning, Nicaragua said it “has interests of a legal nature that stem from the rights and obligations imposed by the Genocide Convention,” and wishes to “liberate mankind from such an odious scourge”.