Concerned Families of Westchester Newsletter
April 14, 2024
Hello All – As Israel's war on Gaza enters its 7th month, are fears and predictions that it could become a regional war coming true? Like scattered wildfires converging into a holocaust, the hot spots of Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen may spark internal wars in Iraq, the West Bank, and elsewhere. Israel would ask for help from the USA, and unless Biden refuses, the UK, France, and other NATO countries would probably join in. Some reasonable heads fear this is where we are heading.
After years of absorbing bombings and assassinations at the hands of Israel, why did Iran decide that this time they would strike back? Perhaps it was simply the last straw. Perhaps it was domestic pressure from a restive population distressed over Israel's murder of so many Palestinians. In their note to the United Nations, Iran stated that their attack was one of self-defense, delayed in the hopes that the UN would take action to condemn Israel for its April 1 attack on Iran's consulate in Damascus, a clear violation of international law. It was only after the US, the UK, and France blocked any such condemnation that Iran – acting under Chapter 51 of the UN Charter – claimed it had the right to act in self-defense. Also in their note, and in later communications with the US and the UN, Iran stated that, from its point of view, their retaliation against Israel was now completed, and that they did not plan further escalation.
It would be reasonable for the Israelis to conclude similarly: their near-perfect defense against Iran's drones and missiles meant that Israel had suffered no serious damage. Indeed, it sent a signal to Iran and others that Israel had little to fear from missile attacks. But news reports state that, immediately after Iran's attack started last night, Netanyahu wanted to retaliate in force, and was only talked out of this by President Biden. Preliminary reports from today's "war cabinet" in Israel say that Israel would hold off on further retaliation for now, but "reserved the right"…. Etc. etc. This chapter is apparently not closed. Indeed, Israel has worked for many years to drag the US into a war with Iran. It may now see a way forward to realize this plan.
At the moment, therefore, President Biden may be a road block to a regional war, just as he has been an open door to genocide in Gaza. How he responds to the inevitable challenges to making peace or enforcing the status quo in Israel/Palestine may depend in great part in his perception of how the political, diplomatic, and military winds are blowing. It is up to us in the USA to do what we can to be weather-makers, and to make the course of "pragmatism" and "opportunism" be that of peace, not war.
Some commentary on recent events
(Video) Iran attacks Israel with over 300 drones, missiles: What you need to know
From Aljazeera [April 14, 2024]- 22 minutes
[FB – Here is a brief compilation video of Aljazeera commentary & analysis as the attack by Iran was underway. "Iran unleashed a barrage of missiles and drones on Saturday and during the early hours of Sunday, targeting Israel in retaliation for last week's suspected Israeli strike on its consulate in Damascus that killed 13 people. Here is what happened, and what analysts say could happen next." [See the Program]
(Video) Middle East expert on the important of the attack on Iranian/Damascus
[FB – During Saturday's coverage of the Iranian attack, Aljazeera interviewed Mouin Rabbini, editor of the journal Jadaliyya. He framed Iran's attack as an Iranian response to Israel's bombing of the Iranian consulate in Damascus, noting that the US, the UK, and France had blocked any UN Security Council statement condemning this action.] [Link].
Iran's Attack Is a Strategic Opportunity for Israel. Will Netanyahu Squander It?
By Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz [Israel[ [April 14, 2024]
---- It is now up to Israel to calibrate its inevitable response and coordinate it with the Biden administration, to avoid a regional conflagration and minimize fallout for those neighbors that are now de facto allies. Ultimately, in order to allow them to gradually cooperate more openly with Israel in the future and to withstand the criticism within their own countries for the lack of "solidarity" with the Palestinians, Israel's strategy has to be a swift end to the war in Gaza, as part of a wider agreement to release the hostages and implement UN Resolution 1701 in the north, pushing Hezbollah away from the border. But under Netanyahu's far-right governing coalition with its ministers' Pavlovian demands to invade Rafah "now" (Bezalel Smotrich) and launch a "devastating" response on Iran (Itamar Ben-Gvir), there is every chance that Israel will squander this opportunity. [Read More]
CFOW Nuts & Bolts
Please consider getting involved with Concerned Families of Westchester. Weather permitting we meet for a protest/rally each Saturday in Hastings, at 12 noon at the VFW Plaza (Warburton and Spring St.) A "Black Lives Matter/Say Their Names" vigil is held in Yonkers on Mondays from 5:30 to 6:00 pm at the intersection of Warburton Ave. and Odell. Our newsletter is archived at https://cfow.blogspot.com/; and news of interest and coming events is posted on our CFOW Facebook page. Another Facebook page focuses on the climate crisis. If you would like to join one of our Zoom meetings, each Tuesday and Thursday at noon, please send a return email for the link. If you would like to support our work by making a contribution, please send your check to CFOW, PO Box 364, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY 10706. Thanks!
Rewards!
This week's Rewards for stalwart newsletter readers link to the fabulous Sidney Bechet. An early jazz star in the 1920s, he lasted into the 1950s. Here is a brief bio note. Bechet played saxophone and clarinet, and composed many songs. Here is a link to some of his best; there are hundreds more on-line. Enjoy!
Best wishes,
Frank Brodhead
For CFOW
CFOW Weekly Reader
Featured Essays
Numbers That Stagger the Imagination: There's No Way to Quantify the Suffering in Gaza
By Amira Hass, Haaretz [Israel] [April 10, 2024]
---- Due to the limitations of the human imagination (as opposed to the imagination of warmongers and weapons developers), and in the absence of a different dictionary, there's no real way to describe the destruction and loss in Gaza after six months of war. Theoretically, it would be sufficient to view the hundreds if not thousands of video clips that show the trembling children – unable to control their trembling – after Israeli bombings: in hospitals, in the street, some of them sobbing, some unable to utter a word. Covered with dust and bleeding. That's one detail that's sufficient to represent the disaster. Anyone who takes pleasure in revenge, please: Let them watch the video clips, one by one. Practically speaking, in the newspaper words have to suffice. That means that due to the limitations of words we find refuge in numbers. [Read More]
Quaint and Obsolete: The Peril of Forgetting Guantánamo
By
---- Last weekend my father, Larry Greenberg, passed away at the age of 93. Several days later, I received an email from the French film director Phillippe Diaz who sent me a link to his soon-to-be-released I am Gitmo, a feature movie about the now-infamous Guantánamo Bay detention facility. As I was soon to discover, those two disparate events in my life spoke to one another with cosmic overtones. Mind you, I've been covering Guantánamo since President George W. Bush and his team, having responded to the 9/11 attacks by launching their disastrous "Global War on Terror," set up that offshore prison to house people American forces had captured. Previewing Diaz's movie, I was surprised at how it unnerved me. … While viewing it, I was reminded of a question that Tom Engelhardt, founder and editor of TomDispatch, has frequently asked me: "What is it about Guantánamo that's so captivated you over the years?" [Read More]
What Is Palestine's Future After the Carnage?
By Tony Karon and Daniel Levy, The Nation [April 10, 2024]
---- Amid the carnage of Israel's war on Gaza, litigating the parameters of a post-apartheid future may seem frivolous. Still, the events of the past months have rekindled interest in a political solution, even among leaders who had largely ignored the ever-deteriorating circumstances of Palestinian life prior to October 7. Whether in the framing of Israel's allies in the West who center Israeli-Jewish security or in the recognition by the rest that it is the prevailing geography of power between the river and the sea that drives Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation, there has been a default to the principle of "two states for two peoples" on the territory of historic Palestine. … Whether Palestinians reimagine their self-determination within a two-state paradigm in ways that secure liberty, justice, and security or seek those via a one-state pathway, history shows that "solutions" crafted by outsiders to avoid, suppress, and restrict Palestinian agency are bound to fail. [Read More]
Also of interest - (Podcast] "Solidarity Forever: Building Movements Amid Today's Crises," from The Intercept ["Deconstructed"] [April 12, 2024] [Link]; and "The Next Mass Extinction?" by Oliver Whang, New York Review of Books [April 14, 2024] [Link].
The War on Gaza
(Video) "Killing People Around the Clock": Dr. Mustafa Barghouti & Muhammad Shehada on 6 Months of War on Gaza
From Democracy Now! [April 8, 2024]
---- Israel's war on Gaza hit the six-month mark on Sunday, a grim milestone. Over 33,100 Palestinians have been killed, including 14,000 children. Nearly 76,000 have been injured, and tens of thousands are missing. About 1.7 million people have been displaced, and the United Nations is warning that famine is imminent. Meanwhile, Palestinians are returning to Khan Younis after the Israeli military announced it had withdrawn its ground troops from the area four months after invading it, leaving Gaza's second-largest city almost unrecognizable, with much of it turned to rubble. Israel is also still vowing to invade Rafah, Gaza's southernmost city, which is sheltering more than half of Gaza's population. Speaking from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian physician and politician Dr. Mustafa Barghouti says growing outrage against Israel, including among some Western leaders, is largely due to regular people who have been protesting in solidarity with Palestinians. "We have to thank the people of these countries," says Barghouti. [See the Program]
(Video) "A Sea of Misery": Gaza Is Unlike Anything I've Ever Seen, Says NGO Head/Ex-CNN Journalist Arwa Damon
From Democracy Now! [April 9, 2024]
---- Award-winning journalist Arwa Damon has just returned from a humanitarian trip to Gaza in her capacity as the founder of INARA, the International Network for Aid Relief and Assistance, a nonprofit currently providing medical and mental healthcare to children. Damon describes the overwhelming need for aid under Israel's siege of the territory. "Nothing goes in and out of Gaza without Israel's approval. That includes aid, and that includes people," she says, calling the Israeli military's rules for what is allowed in "illogical" and arbitrary. "The zone needs to be flooded, not only with aid … but also with humanitarian workers," concludes Damon. [See the Program] Also of interest is "Here's What to Know About the Hunger Crisis in Gaza," b[Link]
(Video) "Genocidal Machine": Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah on Israel's Destruction of Gaza's Hospitals
From Democracy Now! [April 1, 2024]
---- Israeli forces withdrew from Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City today after a two-week raid that has left most of the medical complex in ruins. Since October, Gaza's health sector has been completely decimated, leaving only a dozen hospitals partially functional as the entire medical infrastructure is relentlessly shelled, besieged and raided. We speak to British Palestinian reconstructive surgeon Ghassan Abu-Sittah, who spent over a month treating patients at Al-Shifa and Al-Ahli Baptist hospitals. "This was a war Israel declared on Palestinian children," he later concludes, "because Palestinian children represent the Palestinian tomorrow that is incompatible with the Zionist settler-colonial project." Plus, we hear from a trauma surgeon currently volunteering at the European Hospital in Khan Younis. Dr. Feroze Sidhwa describes the scene at the hospital as a squalid shelter for thousands of refugees. "There's no privacy, no dignity for any of these people," he says. [See the Program]
Also useful/interesting – "No Victory Awaits Israel in Rafah. Only More Death and Destruction," by Gideon Levy, Haaretz [Israel] [April 10, 2024] [Link]; (Video) :Israeli Scholar Neve Gordon on Israeli Mass Surveillance in Gaza & the Use of AI to Kill Palestinians" from Democracy Now! [April 12, 2024] [Link]; "Save the Hostages, Save Israel," editorial from Haaretz [Israel] [April 12, 2024] [Link]; "The Break-Up? Are the United States and Israel heading toward a divorce?" by April 10, 2024] [LInk]; and "How US Intelligence and an American Company Feed Israel's Killing Machine in Gaza," by James Bamford, The Nation [April 12, 2024] [Link].
Palestinian Voices
(Video) Israel's Ultimate Goal Is to Make Gaza Unfit for Human Habitation: Middle East Analyst Mouin Rabbani
From Democracy Now! [April 10, 2024]
---- President Biden called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's policies in Gaza a "mistake" and urged Israel to call for a temporary ceasefire to allow in more aid in a televised interview on Tuesday. While Israel has pledged to open new aid crossings, the U.N. said on Tuesday that there has been "no significant change in the volume of humanitarian supplies entering Gaza," and the Biden administration has not actually changed its policies or withheld any arms transfers to Israel. "Words are cheap, and statements are a dime a dozen," says Middle East analyst Mouin Rabbani, who explains Israel can safely ignore statements if policy remains unchanged. "What really matters is not what these people say, but what they do." Rabbani also speaks about the United Nations considering Palestinian statehood, ongoing negotiations over a Gaza ceasefire, and Israel attacking the Iranian Consulate in Syria. [See the Program] Also of interest – "Voicing a Third Narrative: How October 7 Jolted These Palestinian-Israeli Peace Activists Into Action," by Allison Kaplan Sommer, Haaretz [Israel] [April 11, 2024] [Link].
The War at Home
How the War in Gaza Mobilized the American Left
Katie Glueck, et al., New York Times [April 12, 2024]
---- Support for Palestinians, a cause once largely championed on college campuses and in communities with ties to the region, has transformed into a defining issue of the Democratic left, galvanizing a broad swath of groups into the most significant protest movement of the Biden era. Through daily organizing sessions on Zoom and grass-roots campaigning in battleground states, a sprawling new iteration of the pro-Palestinian movement is now propelled both by longtime — and sometimes hard-line — activists and by mainstream pillars of the Democratic coalition. Organizations that are usually focused on climate, housing or immigration are regularly protesting Israel's military campaign in Gaza, which followed the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack and has killed more than 33,000 people, according to local officials. Labor activists are calling for a cease-fire. Black clergy leaders have appealed directly to the White House. Young Americans are using online tools to mobilize voters and send millions of missives to Congress. And an emerging coalition of advocacy groups is discussing how to press its case at the Democratic National Convention this summer. [Read More]
Also of interest – "State Department Has Seen Historic Amount of Internal Dissent Over Gaza," by [Link]; "Democratic Coalition Sends Biden a Demand on Military Aid to Israel," bApril 12, 2024] [Link]; and "Military Aid Cannot Be Unconditional," editorial, New York Times [April 13, 2024] [Link].
The War in Ukraine
(Video) "A Stalemate and Attritional Grind": 2 Years of Russia's War in Ukraine
From Democracy Now! [April 12, 2024]
---- We speak with The New Yorker war correspondent Luke Mogelson about the war in Ukraine, where the government has just passed a controversial bill that expands military conscription and cracks down on draft dodgers in an effort to replenish the depleted ranks of the army, more than two years since Russia launched its invasion. Military leaders have warned that Russian forces outnumber Ukrainian troops tenfold in the east. Mogelson says the Ukrainian military ranks are filled with "predominantly working-class men from rural areas or smaller villages," while people in Kyiv and other large cities, where the elites live, can more easily avoid the full impact of the war. [See the Program]
Also of interest – "Battling Under a Canopy of Drones," b[Link]; and "NATO Preparing for Combat in Ukraine?" b [Link].
War with China?
(Video) "Council of War": Walden Bello on Biden's Trilateral Summit with Philippines & Japan to Contain China
From Democracy Now! [April 12, 2024]
---- President Biden hosted Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. at the White House on Thursday, the first meeting of its kind, which comes as the U.S. moves to expand its military presence in the South China Sea to counter China. The Philippines has deepened military ties with both the United States and Japan in recent years as maritime confrontations with China have escalated. The trilateral summit at the White House resembled a "council of war," according to Filipino scholar Walden Bello. He says the U.S. is the primary driver of tensions with China, building up its military footprint in the region as Pentagon officials openly muse about war, while China has focused primarily on its economic reach. "This militarization of the Pacific is very dangerous," says Bello. [See the Program]
The Climate Crisis
(Video) Why has the UN's climate chief set a two-year deadline for the world?
From Aljazeera ["Inside Story"] [April 13, 2024]
---- Further warning that our planet faces irreversible damage without urgent action. Humanity has only two years left "to save the world", United Nations executive climate secretary Simon Stiell said this week. As more people worldwide deal with record-breaking temperatures and natural disasters, what more can be done to cut emissions and cool our heating planet? [Read More]
Also of interest – "Ocean Heat Has Shattered Records for More Than a Year. What's Happening?" from The New York Times [April 10, 2024] [Link]; and "Tenth consecutive monthly heat record alarms and confounds climate scientists," by Jonathan Watts, The Guardian [UK] [April 8, 2024] [Link].
Civil Liberties
Five Years At Belmarsh: A Chronicle Of Julian Assange's Imprisonment
By Kevin Gosztola, The Dissenter [April 11, 2024]
---- At the behest of the United States government, the British government has detained WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in His Majesty's Prison Belmarsh for five years. Assange is one of the only journalists to be jailed by a Western country, making the treatment that he has endured extraordinary. He has spent more time in prison than most individuals charged with similar acts. Since December 2010, Assange has lived under some form of arbitrary detention. He was expelled from Ecuador's London embassy on April 11, 2019, and British police immediately arrested him. Police transported Assange to Belmarsh, a maximum-security facility often referred to as "Britain's Guantanamo." Around the same time, the U.S. Justice Department unsealed an indictment that alleged that Assange had conspired with U.S. Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning to commit a "computer intrusion." The following month the DOJ issued another indictment with 17 additional Espionage Act charges. [Read More] Also of interest is "Biden says he is 'considering' Australian call to drop Julian Assange charges," by Ed Pilkington, The Guardian [April 10, 2024] [Link].
House Passes 2-Year Surveillance Law Extension Without Warrant Requirement
By Luke Broadwater and Charlie Savage, New York Times [April 12, 2024]
---- Speaker Mike Johnson scaled back the measure to two years from five after Donald J. Trump had urged Republicans to "kill" it. An effort to require warrants to search for Americans' messages failed on a tie. In a major turnaround, the House on Friday passed a two-year reauthorization of an expiring warrantless surveillance law that had stalled earlier this week amid G.O.P. resistance — but only after narrowly rejecting a bipartisan effort to restrict searches of Americans' messages swept up by the program. The bill now heads to the Senate ahead of the scheduled April 19 expiration of the law, known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act or FISA. … The final vote was 273 to 147. Republicans were split 126-88 on the matter, while Democrats were split 147-59. … The vote on an amendment to add a warrant requirement failed with a tie — 212 to 212, with 13 members not voting. Under House rules, a tie results in a failure. 126 Democrats and 86 Republicans voted against the warrant amendment, while 128 Republicans and 84 Democrats voted for it. [Read More] Also of interest is "The Final Act on Government Surveillance," by Luke Goldstein, The American Prospect [April 10, 2024] [Link].
The State of the Union
Puerto Rico's Unnatural Disaster [Healthcare]
By Coral Murphy Marcos, The Nation [April 10, 2024]
---- US healthcare is defined by the greed and inequality that its patients must battle, but Puerto Rico's calamity is unique. Thanks to a combination of colonial neglect, a disastrous legacy of privatization that has given health insurance companies outsize control, and a series of devastating austerity measures in recent years, it's not just patients who are feeling the impact; it's also the people who are supposed to look after them. Puerto Rico has seen a mass exodus of doctors that has left it struggling to provide even the most basic level of care. And no medical specialty has been affected more than pediatrics, leaving families like Díaz Rivera's with gut-wrenching choices to make. [Read More]
(Video) Arizona Supreme Court Revives 1864 Abortion Ban Passed Before Women Could Even Vote
From Democracy Now! [April 10, 2024]
---- In a historic ruling, Arizona's conservative Supreme Court has upheld an 1864 law banning almost all abortions in the state. The court sent out this warning: "Physicians are now on notice that all abortions, except those necessary to save a woman's life, are illegal." The 160-year-old law predates Arizona becoming a state and was passed decades before women could even vote. Although Arizona's Attorney General Kris Mayes said she will not enforce the "draconian law," the ruling sent shockwaves across the nation. "The central strategy of the anti-abortion movement is to roll back the clock to the Victorian era, because they know that they cannot win through the democratic process," says Amy Littlefield, abortion access correspondent at The Nation, who says conservatives supporting these unpopular restrictions face an uphill battle this fall. [See the Program]
Our History
These Stunning Images Show Palestinian Life Before the Nakba
By Suyin Hayne, Jacobin Magazine [April 2024]
[FB – This is a review of Against Erasure: A Photographic Memory of Palestine Before the Nakba edited by Teresa Aranguren and Sandra Barrilaro; foreword by Mohammed El-Kurd (Haymarket, 2024)]
---- In the context of Zionist denialism of Palestinian existence, memory, and history, the photographs presented in Against Erasure are monochromatic, physical reminders of an existence that settler colonialism has attempted to destroy multiple times over. Men, women, and children work to prune olive trees and, cross-legged on the ground, press their produce. The outstretched hands of a group of young women reach toward the sky in pursuit of a basketball. A family of three prepares for a portrait, encircled by foliage. A group of women's eyes are trained down at their laps as they concentrate on crafting, sitting in front of a sign that reads "Arab Women's Union of Ramallah." As Mohammed el-Kurd writes in the foreword to the 2024 English-language edition, "Our eyes seldom encounter Palestine before the Israeli regime; a Palestine not defined by its ailments but defined by its industries and cultures." [Read More]
