US police arrest 200 for protesting against Netanyahu

As we have previously reported, a number of people have been arrested at a US Congress building for protesting against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s scheduled address to lawmakers on Wednesday.

The US Capitol Police now says the number of detained demonstrators is 200.

“Demonstrating inside the Congressional Building is against the law,” read a statement.

‘Shall we cross into the sea?’ displaced Palestinians ask

Israeli forces have carried out new raids in the Gaza Strip, hours before Netanyahu addresses the US Congress.

The UN says more than 150,000 Palestinians have been forced to flee the southern city of Khan Younis – the site of the latest Israeli offensive. Residents said they were ordered to head west towards a designated “humanitarian” area of al-Mawasi but it’s unsafe after several deadly attacks in recent weeks.

“Where should we go? Shall we cross into the sea?” Ghada, who has been displaced with her family six times during the war, said via a chat app from Hamad City in Khan Younis. “We are exhausted, starved and want the war to end now – now, not an hour later.”

Israeli forces also launched air strikes on several areas of central and northern Gaza, including one on the Bureij refugee camp that health officials said killed nine people.

CNN suddenly got interested again, for Netanyahu's visit

Israeli former national security officials and business leaders blast Netanyahu ahead of his speech to Congress

https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/23/politics/israeli-national-security-officials-netanyhu-letter/index.html

A group of senior Israeli figures including former national security officials, academics and business leaders have sent US congressional leadership a blistering letter accusing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is set to speak to Congress on Wednesday, of threatening both Israeli and American national security.

The letter calls Netanyahu an “existential threat” and paints him as selfishly concerned with his political survival and singularly to blame for failing to defeat Hamas in the current war in Gaza. It also highlights Netanyahu’s ongoing legal troubles, including the fact he’s been being charged with bribery and fraud.

Among the more than 30 signatories are five former senior officials from the Mossad intelligence service, including retired director Tamir Pardo, two former heads of the Israeli military and a wide-ranging list of other former military, security, diplomatic, legal and business officials.

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Netanyahu’s long history of confounding US presidents

https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/23/politics/netanyahu-congress-presidents-what-matters/index.html

Benjamin Netanyahu has been weaving in and out of US politics for decades.

When the Israeli prime minister addresses a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, it will be his fourth such appearance since 1996, more than any other foreign leader in history and the same number of addresses to Congress a US president gives during one term.

Netanyahu has known President Joe Biden for decades, but Biden doubts Netanyahu’s sincerity. The Israeli leader is still trying to regain the trust of former President Donald Trump, who he offended after the 2020 election.

Netanyahu earned the undying enmity of former President Barack Obama for trying to tank the Iran nuclear deal. He was close personal friends with Mitt Romney, Obama’s challenger in 2012 and now a US senator, from the time when Romney and Netanyahu worked for the same US-based company in the 1970s.

Former President Bill Clinton exploded after his first meeting with Netanyahu in 1996, telling aides, “Who’s the f—- superpower here,” according to the former Middle East negotiator Aaron David Miller.

In 2015, the last time Netanyahu addressed Congress, it was a rousing and partisan affair, bringing members of Congress to their feet and turning public opinion against the fragile multi-country deal meant to give Iran access to oil money in exchange for controlling its nuclear program.

Republican leaders in Congress invited Netanyahu to deliver the address in 2015, and he used the opportunity to feed a domestic US political split over the Iran nuclear deal.

Netanyahu crossed Obama by interfering in US politics on US soil. Then-Vice President Biden, along with 58 members of Congress, skipped the 2015 speech even though Biden was, at the time, president of the US Senate.

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Netanyahu will make speech to Congress as optimism for a ceasefire in Gaza rises

https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/23/politics/gaza-ceasefire-prospects-netanyahu-congress/index.html

The article is less optimistic than the headline

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On Monday, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said that they “have significantly narrowed the disagreements between the parties,” but there are “a few remaining issues that need to be resolved.”

“We continue discussions with the other mediators, and with the Government of Israel to try to reach resolution, but we don’t have that yet, and I don’t have any kind of forecast about when we might come to one,” Miller said.

Negotiators are currently awaiting a response from Israel to a Hamas document received on July 3, according to that official, and recent Israeli responses have been unexpected and unclear, the official said, pointing to Israel’s reneging on a previous, critical position about allowing the unrestricted return of Palestinians to northern Gaza during a pause in the fighting.

There’s also significant debate around the Philadelphi corridor and Rafah border crossing, both located between Egypt and Gaza. Netanyahu has argued Israel troops will not withdraw from the nine-mile-long Philadelphi corridor while Hamas has insisted on a full eventual Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and their response, according to a source familiar, is expected to stick to that demand.

A central sticking point has been whether a first pause in the fighting would flow seamlessly into a permanent ceasefire, something Israel has rejected. The Biden framework – and a UN resolution that followed – says the first phase will continue as long discussions do over a second phase. That, theoretically, could mean talks could break down and fighting resumes.

Israel is blocking physicians with Palestinian heritage from entering Gaza

https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/24/middleeast/israel-restrictions-palestinian-doctors-gaza-cmd-intl/index.html

Palestinian-American doctor Jiab Suleiman arrived in Jordan last month ahead of an emergency medical mission into Gaza, which he was due to oversee. The Ohio-born orthopedic surgeon had already led two trips into the besieged strip since the Israel-Hamas war broke out in October and was finalizing details for his third.

But his preparation would ultimately be for nothing. The day before the team was set to cross into Gaza, Suleiman received notice that he had been denied entry by Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, or COGAT, the Israeli agency that manages policy for the Palestinian territories and the flow of aid into the strip.

Suleiman’s denial is part of a policy recently communicated to medical missions going into Gaza through Israel. The restrictions block the entry of US healthcare workers, and those of other nationalities, if they are of Palestinian origin or have Palestinian heritage, according to internal memos from the World Health Organization (WHO) obtained by CNN.

CNN spoke with doctors from several medical aid organizations who say the policy has forced them to avoid recruiting any medical workers with Palestinian background or ID on their trips. The rejections often come at the last minute, they say, leaving the groups with no time to fill the empty slots and forcing them to enter Gaza with an incomplete staff.

Netanyahu to address Congress on Wednesday, seeking to redirect American attention from Biden to the Middle East

https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/24/politics/benjamin-netanyahu-address-washington/index.html

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address Congress on Wednesday – seeking to shore up American support for his war in Gaza and redirect the attention of a nation that has been preoccupied for weeks by a stream of domestic political issues.

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Biden’s relationship with Netanyahu has grown steadily colder as the war in Gaza has lagged on and as the death toll in the beleaguered enclave continues to rise. Both leaders have known each other for decades, but have traded not-so-subtle barbs at each other as their disagreements with the war’s future have spilled into the public.

Biden has said that Israel has reached its stated goal, described the country’s actions in Gaza as “over the top,” and plainly stated his desire for the war to end. The president has said it is “uncertain” whether Israel had committed war crimes. He has also hinted that he believes Netanyahu is dragging out the war only for the sake of his own political survival.

Netanyahu, meanwhile, has accused the United States of “withholding weapons and ammunitions to Israel,” claims that American officials flatly rejected.

Progressive House Democrats plan counter-programming to Netanyahu visit

Approximately 80 House Democrats and at least six Democratic senators are expected to skip Netanyahu’s speech on Wednesday, according to sources and public statements reviewed by CNN. House Democratic leadership has given their members room to make their own decisions about whether to attend the speech.

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Ahead of Netanyahu’s address, House Speaker Mike Johnson sent a letter to lawmakers obtained by CNN informing lawmakers that there will be “an increased police presence around the Capitol complex and in the House Chamber” and emphasized that there will be a “zero-tolerance policy for disturbances in the building.”

In a scathing statement, Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, the only Palestinian American member of Congress, called Netanyahu “a war criminal committing genocide against the Palestinian people.” Tlaib’s statement did not say whether she would attend the speech.

“It is utterly disgraceful that leaders from both parties have invited him to address Congress. He should be arrested and sent to the International Criminal Court,” Tlaib added.

Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California, another one of the lawmakers to skip Netanyahu’s speech, told CNN, “I just don’t think we should be listening to a one-way lecture from Netanyahu when he’s had a failed strategy on the board.”

Even some Jewish lawmakers like Democratic Rep. Sara Jacobs of California are not planning on attending.

“I’m not attending the Netanyahu address because I don’t want to condone his behavior over the last 10 months,” Jacobs told CNN. “I think Israel’s security is incredibly important. I have family who live there. But what Netanyahu has done, how he has prosecuted this war, what he has been doing in the West Bank does not actually make Israel any safer.”

‘There is nothing left that resembles life in northern Gaza’

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) says all hospitals in northern Gaza have been either damaged or destroyed.

Small clinics are treating some cases, but even those are underequipped and can’t offer the services or medication needed, the aid group added. There is no fuel for vehicles so the injured need to be transported by donkey cart.

Salma Altaweel, NRC’s support manager in Gaza City, said Palestinians in this area have gone through two “major famine-like scenarios”: The first during the siege in Ramadan and the second experienced by people currently.

“There is very little aid trickling through, there are no vegetables available, let alone fruit or meat. If we are lucky, we get two meals a day. For breakfast, tea, one piece of bread and zaatar without any oil, and for dinner, tinned food,” she said in a statement.

“When you see the stampedes around the only two aid trucks to arrive in weeks, how children are unable to stand up and walk on their feet, the deaths as a result of malnutrition, and the wasting among children, there is no doubt what is happening here,” Altaweel added.

She said that the prices of goods, if they are available, are beyond the purchasing capacity of most people. As examples, she mentioned that one egg sells for $2.20, one kilo (2.2 pounds) of onions is $55 and cooking gas is $41 per litre.

“The economy and commerce are dead here and cash liquidity is non-existent. Water treatment stations are not working. Sewage water floods the streets, and there is garbage everywhere. Diseases such as hepatitis A are spreading and there is no medicine or food to help people recover. Wherever you go, you are breathing toxic smoke,” she added.

‘Summary child executions are happening in Gaza’

Dr Tanya Haj-Hassan, an American-Jordanian paediatric physician who has been to Gaza several times since October, says children in Gaza are being deliberately shot by Israeli soldiers.

“If I hadn’t been there and witnessed children shot by Israeli forces, I would struggle to believe that summary child executions are happening in Gaza. See [the] full CBS report and then mobilise to stop this,” she said in a post on X.

Haj-Hassan was referring to a story by US broadcaster CBS News citing the testimony of Jewish-American surgeon Mark Perlmutter who spent two weeks working in Gaza. He alleged he saw Palestinian children who were shot twice by Israeli forces.

“No toddler gets shot twice by mistake by the world’s best sniper,” Perlmutter said.

If I hadn’t been there and witnessed children shot by Israeli forces, I would struggle to believe that summary child executions are happening in Gaza. See full CBS report, and then mobilize to stop this. https://t.co/kZezri3S7F

— Tanya Haj-Hassan (@Tanyaalih) July 24, 2024

A dark backdrop to Netanyahu’s US visit

The Israeli prime minister is set to speak to Congress. But several issues are marring his trip with protests planned in Washington, DC, as the Israeli war on Gaza continues for a ninth month.

Genocide in Gaza and the decline of a flawed world order

Nine arrests during London protest against Israel arms exports

British police have arrested nine people during a protest against arms exports to Israel that briefly blocked the street outside the Foreign Ministry, highlighting pressure on the new Labour government over its stance on the Gaza war.

Pro-Palestinian protesters in the UK have been campaigning for months for a government ban on arms sales to Israel.

Last week, new Foreign Minister David Lammy said a blanket ban on arms exports to Israel “would not be right”, but added that he would follow a quasi-judicial process in assessing whether sales of offensive weapons that could be used in Gaza could proceed.

While in opposition, Lammy had said earlier this year the government should suspend the sale of UK arms if there was a clear risk they might be used in a serious breach of humanitarian law.

Now in government, he said last week he had requested on his first day in office an assessment of the legal situation and that he hoped to be able to communicate any decisions with “full accountability and transparency”.

Campaign group Workers for a Free Palestine, which organised the protest at the ministry, said that was a sign the government should take a stronger stance on restricting arms sales and called on Lammy to “practice what he preached in opposition”.

_{A police officer detains a protester outside the UK foreign ministry}

Berlin has not decided to end weapons supply to Israel: Scholz

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said Germany had made no decision so far to end its supply of weapons to Israel despite a damning report last week from the United Nations’ highest court on the country’s occupation of Palestinian territories.

Asked if the report, which declared Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories to be illegal, might change Germany’s military support for Israel, Scholz said his government had not made a decision on this matter.

“But of course we decide on a case-by-case basis,” he told an annual summer news conference.

At least 23 people killed in Israeli attacks on Khan Younis

There is a clear military focus on Khan Younis, where at least 23 people have been killed since the early morning hours. Medical teams are trying to recover the injured, but we’re hearing from eyewitnesses that quadcopter drones are attacking them as they try to do so.

The Israeli military is continuing to destroy residential buildings and civil infrastructure in the al-Qarara area, a small village east of Khan Younis, as the security situation deteriorates rapidly. At least five people were also killed in central Khan Younis when a electricity company vehicle was hit.

People have nowhere to flee. Some are heading to al-Mawasi, located west of Khan Younis, which is already overcrowded. Evacuation areas and hospitals are full of people, and humanitarian services cannot be guaranteed even there. Therefore, people are left to live out in the open.

Civil society organisations demand probe into Israeli campaign targeting Americans

Thirty organisations have sent a letter to the Biden administration calling for an investigation and accountability regarding reports that Israel engaged in covert operations aimed at influencing the US’s democratic debate and maligning critics of the Israeli government.

The letter states: “It is incumbent on our government to protect its citizens from efforts by foreign governments to inappropriately interfere in our democratic process by spreading disinformation, targeting US elected officials, and seeking to intimidate members of US civil society.”

The organisations include the Center for International Policy, DAWN and the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights Action (USCPR).

The letter notes that the US has pushed back on similar influence operations undertaken by other countries, including Russia, and the director of national intelligence recently warned about influence operations conducted by Iran.

However, there has apparently been no such effort to protect Americans from Israeli influence operations that are now well documented.

“The United States has failed to protect Palestinian communities, putting them at risk of harm to continue emboldening Israel,” said Mohammed Khader, USCPR’s action policy manager.

“As the Israeli government and its foreign agents attempt to undermine our collective efforts on Palestinian rights, we strongly urge for the federal government to impose sanctions to hold Israeli officials and institutions accountable for violating the law.”