Tuesday, May 25, 2021

Genocidin' With Biden

 

Genocidin' With Biden

It's a mixed bag of stories in the headlines this week--Covid-19 is still decimating Americans, Palestinians are dying, Cops are murdering Americans of color when they can get away with it--which is most of the time.  There's one thread that ties these disparate stories together: Joe Biden. The man who could do much to ease the suffering, prevent the deaths of many at home and worldwide, but also the same man who boldly proclaimed during his campaign that "nothing will fundamentally change" and meant it. 

The US gives $3.8 billion a year to the apartheid state of Israel and turns a blind eye whenever they discriminate against or actively kill Palestinians. Biden proposes a $735 million weapons sale to Israel, a sale that will only provide more death and destruction. He could put a stop to this genocidal madness in the Middle East by simply cutting off  all US money and weapons flooding into Israel, but he... doesn't. He just allows the genocide to continue.

It's business as usual as America opens up from the Covid-19 lockdowns and governors tell folks they can ditch the masks. No state is waiting to open until they've reached the 70% of the population vaccinated necessary to develop herd immunity. Consequently, many more Americans will get sick and die from Covid because the capitalists want the "essential" workers back slaving away in the salt mines of underpaid work. They want maskless, mindless consumers to "Buy, buy, buy!" until they drop over dead. 

We may be "essential," but obviously we're also quite expendable.

State Senator Teresa Fedor addresses a group on Ohio's M4A legislation.

It doesn't have to be this way. There could be strong leadership from the White House to keep the masking laws in place until the percentage of Covid-19 cases has dropped nationwide and the 70%+ vaccinated populace number reached. The president could take a strong stand made against the for-profit health care industry. With a stroke of a pen, the president could enact Medicare for All, ending the deathly disparity of health outcomes. 

But Joe Biden has been quoted as saying he'd veto any Medicare for All bill that came across his desk. It's okay by him if Americans go bankrupt from medical debts or just plain avoid seeing a doctor when they're sick because they can't afford to even with private health insurance coverage. The death toll is free to keep rising... 600,000 dead from Covid-19 and counting.

And, of course, Joe "I wrote the Crime Bill" Biden is all for over-funding our corrupt and violent police forces. The more people arrested, the more he can fill his campaign donors' for-profit prisons with cheap slave labor. It's just a side benefit that it's mostly people of color who wind up on the receiving end of this genocidal behavior. Enough said.

We're living--or is it dying?--in a time and country where average people's lives are cheap and only billionaires have the right to survive and thrive. 

Yeah, "I'm genocidin' with Biden" says it all.

And now, a song parody that sums up nicely the neoliberal outlook of the Blue MAGA cultists. 

A Broken Halle-Blue-ya!

(with apologies to Leonard Cohen)

by Coast Watcher


They say Joe Biden’s such a turd.

A man who’ll never keep his word.

But that should come as no surprise to ya.

It goes like this, the budget shift, the watered-down Covid relief,

and the big landlords cried out Hallelujah!


Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

 

Big Business must be fed, although there’s over a million dead,

But there’s no more relief cash for you, screw ya!

College debt will have to stand, no Medicare for all the land,

And the brunch-eaters cry out Hallelujah!


Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!


To Biden, genocide’s not harsh, and DC’s still that fetid marsh,

But Vote Blue no matter who has fooled ya!

See AOC f-ing Pelosi, with the full approval of the DNC,

and Blue MAGA cries out Hallelujah!


Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

 

Seen on Twitter this week:

https://youtu.be/a4v3x5jMX2c

***

True justice would be if George Floyd were still alive. True justice would be Daunte Wright, Adam Toledo, Breonna Taylor, Philando Castile, Eric Garner, Sandra Bland – and countless others – still being alive. Instead, their lives were lost at the hands of law enforcement largely because in the U.S. heavily armed police officers are the first, last, and only resort in Black communities.

It's time to fully fund true community safety and health in Black communities that helps bring the era of racist and violent policing to an end. Are you with us?

Our country needs to re-examine public safety to save Black lives and reduce racist police violence – and the critical solutions to do so are straightforward: from training civilian professionals as first responders in mental health crises to dealing with low-level offenses through tickets instead of force, arrests, and preventable death. Sign our petition and urge President Biden to use the power and purse strings of the federal government to make sure these proven alternatives are embraced by every city across America.

We know that real justice will only be achieved when no more Black lives are harmed or taken by the police – and the ACLU will fight to make sure that day comes. Add your name today to join the fight.

Thank you for taking action,

ACLU Team

 ***

Mental healthcare should be a right, not a privilege! Demand free mental healthcare for all!
 
Sign Now

It's Mental Health Awareness Month, and in light of the pain, stress, isolation, and grief we've all experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, there couldn't be a more crucial time to highlight this topic. Millions of Americans live with mental health challenges — which is already difficult enough, when not compounded by rampant stigmas and misunderstandings that accompany such experiences. In fact, 1 in every 5 Americans will face a mental health challenge during their lifetime. It's more important than ever that we increase access to treatment for anyone who needs it AND reduce the stigmas that often prevent people from seeking help.

Mental health disorders and challenges come in many forms — and are extremely common. These range from anxiety and depression to substance use to eating disorders and more. In addition to the everyday pain and distress these conditions cause, many of them are also deadly. For example, nearly 50,000 Americans die by suicide each year, making it the second leading cause of death for young Americans.

Clearly, something needs to be done. And our current private health insurance system is obviously not meeting these serious needs. Sign the petition to tell Congress that mental healthcare should be provided as a right — free of charge!

Thank you,


 

Miranda
The Care2 Petitions Team


P.S. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for young Americans, claiming nearly 50,000 lives each year. Tell Congress: good mental health is a right, not a privilege.

 ***

 


The Revolution Continues is now in our sixth year taking on the propaganda of the fauxgressives and their friends in the corporate-owned duopoly. We need passionate revolutionaries like you to help us provide progressive insights that are being actively censored elsewhere. If you can donate a little to the cause, please do so at the Paypal.me link below.

http://paypal.me/camatthews

Thanks for all you do in making the world a better place. Power to the people!

 

Tuesday, May 18, 2021

The Definition of Genocide


The Definition of Genocide

Photos by C.A. Matthews

gen•o•cide jĕn′ə-sīd″

  • n.
    The systematic and widespread extermination or attempted extermination of a national, racial, religious, or ethnic group.
  • n.
    The systematic killing of a racial or cultural group.
  • n.
    The systematic killing of substantial numbers of people on the basis of ethnicity, religion, political opinion, social status, or other particularity.
     
    The New American Dictionary, 5th Edition 

     
    What is Genocide?

    1. Killing members of the group
    2. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group
    3. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part
    4. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group
    5. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group

    There are a number of other serious, violent crimes that do not fall under the specific definition of genocide. They include crimes against humanity, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and mass killing.

    --United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

The United Nations (UN) Definition of Genocide

The definition of the crime of genocide as contained in Article II of the Genocide Convention was the result of a negotiating process and reflects the compromise reached among United Nations Member States in 1948 at the time of drafting the Convention. Genocide is defined in the same terms as in the Genocide Convention in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (Article 6), as well as in the statutes of other international and hybrid jurisdictions. Many States have also criminalized genocide in their domestic law; others have yet to do so.

The United Nations (UN) Defines genocide as any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

  • Killing members of the group;
  • Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
  • Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
  • Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
  • Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

The word “genocide” was first coined by Polish lawyer Raphäel Lemkin in 1944 in his book Axis Rule in Occupied Europe. It consists of the Greek prefix genos, meaning race or tribe, and the Latin suffix cide, meaning killing. Lemkin developed the term partly in response to the Nazi policies of systematic murder of Jewish people during the Holocaust, but also in response to previous instances in history of targeted actions aimed at the destruction of particular groups of people. Later on, Raphäel Lemkin led the campaign to have genocide recognised and codified as an international crime.

Are you starting to get the picture?

Homes bombed, skyscrapers crumbled, schools targeted, children killed... Even the Covid-19 response has been disabled in Gaza by Israeli airstrikes. Do these violent actions not meet the definition of genocide?

How do you respond to those who commit genocide? Do you continue to sell them weaponry and turn a blind eye? The US does. We give Israel almost $4 billion a year, and this is what they do with that money--they buy more weapons to kill their neighbors.

It needs to stop. NOW. 

Do what these brave protesters did recently--take it to the streets. Get your signs and get loud. Flood your Congressmember's email and mail box with correspondence stating in no uncertain terms that the US must end its support of  Israeli terrorism targeted at the Palestinian people. Killing civilians based on their ethnicity and/or religion is genocide.

Don't ignore what is happening. It could happen to you and yours someday. And then who will be left to speak up for you?

https://youtu.be/PYGgUfUi3J0

 

 


Related Articles:

Israeli Predawn Bombing Kill Another 42 in Gaza as Rescuers Dig For Survivors https://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/69406-israeli-predawn-bombing-kill-another-42-in-gaza-as-rescuers-dig-for-survivors

Israeli Airstrike on Gaza Claims Eight Young Cousins https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/15/israeli-airstrike-on-gaza-claims-eight-young-cousins

Palestinians Flee Their Homes as Israel Launches Hundreds of Strikes Into Gaza https://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/69362-palestinians-flee-their-homes-as-israel-launches-hundreds-of-strikes-into-gaza 

Palestinians in Gaza Recount Ruthless Horror of Israeli Raids https://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/69381-palestinians-in-gaza-recount-ruthless-horrors-of-israeli-raids

How Biden Enabled Israel's Ethnic Cleansing of Palestinians https://scheerpost.com/2021/05/12/how-biden-enabled-israels-ethnic-cleansing-of-palestinians/

On Palestine, the Media is Allergic to the Truth https://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/69347-on-palestine-the-media-is-allergic-to-the-truth

Digital Apartheid: Palestinians Being Silenced on Social Media https://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/69366-digital-apartheid-palestinians-being-silenced-on-social-media

Israeli Propagandists Launch Global PR Offensive https://www.mintpressnews.com/human-rights-watch-apartheid-report-act-il-israel-propoganda/277026/ 

Israel Military Draws Up Plan for Ground Invasion of Gaza https://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/69350-focus-israel-military-draws-up-plan-for-ground-invasion-of-gaza 

Without US Aid Israel Wouldn't Be Killing Palestinians En Masse https://truthout.org/articles/chomsky-without-us-aid-israel-wouldnt-be-killing-palestinians-en-masse/

 Israeli Real Estate Agent (political cartoon) https://scheerpost.com/2021/05/12/israeli-real-estate-agent/

 

***

From Roots Action:

Congresswoman Betty McCollum from Minnesota has introduced a bill (H.R.2590) "to promote and protect the human rights of Palestinians living under Israeli military occupation and to ensure that United States taxpayer funds are not used by the Government of Israel to support the military detention of Palestinian children, the unlawful seizure, appropriation, and destruction of Palestinian property and forcible transfer of civilians in the West Bank, or further annexation of Palestinian land in violation of international law."

It's terrific for Congress Members and special envoys to speak out against brutal ethnic cleansing by the rightwing Israeli government. But ceasing to fund the killing would carry more weight. If the U.S. State Department had a secret "off" switch for all U.S.-manufactured weapons, there would be very few places on earth it would ever have to send anyone to plead for peace. In the absence of such a fantasy solution, we have the commonsensical steps taken in H.R.2590.

This bill would prohibit Israel from using U.S. taxpayer dollars in the Occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem for:

  • the military detention, abuse, or ill-treatment of Palestinian children in Israeli military detention;
  • the seizure and destruction of Palestinian property and homes in violation of international humanitarian law; or,
  • Israel’s unilateral annexation of Palestinian territory in violation of international humanitarian law.

Click here to quickly ask your Representative to cosponsor this bill, and to ask your Senators to introduce and pass the same legislation.

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If H.R.2590 becomes law, here are things the Israeli government will be forbidden to do to children with U.S. dollars: torture, physical violence, restraint in stress positions, hooding, sensory deprivation, death threats, solitary confinement, imprisonment without charge or trial, denial of access to parents or legal counsel, the use of force to coerce confessions.

The Israeli government imprisons around 700 Palestinian children a year, with the support of U.S. tax dollars, which flow in at a rate of nearly $4 billion a year. Armed soldiers barge into homes in the middle of the night, taking children away from their parents. Israel subjects children to torture and abuse, deprives them of food and water, and denies them their right to an attorney. U.S. tax dollars should not fund this immoral and illegal activity! (See documentation in background links at bottom.)
 
Israel routinely destroys Palestinian homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, leaving thousands of Palestinians homeless. Israel has demolished more than 48,000 Palestinian structures since 1967, 24,000 of which are estimated to be homes. These numbers have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, Israel demolished or seized 851 Palestinian structures, displacing over 1,000 Palestinians, including over 524 children. Families are often given just minutes to gather their belongings before bulldozers destroy their homes. In some cases, Palestinians are forced to even pay for the demolition of their own homes. (See documentation in background links at bottom.)

This week the residents of an apartment building in Gaza were given one hour to get out before it was destroyed with a missile.

A poll of 53 countries released last week found 44% of people see the U.S. government as a threat to democracy, while 38% see the Chinese government, and 28% see the Russian government as threat to democracy. A likely factor in the U.S. lead in this polling is its endless support for an apartheid state that gives basic rights to only one kind of people. If President Biden is serious about "winning the 21st century" on behalf of "democracy," it is in his immediate interest to change this shameful policy. 
 
Most of the world's oppressive governments receive funding for their militaries from the U.S. government, but Israel's receives the most. If you think putting some basic limits on what can be done with that money is the very least the U.S. Congress could do, click here to send an email. We've drafted it for you but encourage you to edit and add your own words!

GRAPHIC: Sign here button

 ***




A call to strike! Launched from Jerusalem and extending out to every village, city, and refugee camp across Palestine and beyond its borders to Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan, this call to strike is extended to all of us in the diaspora and supporters the world over to take action in maintaining this moment of unprecedented popular resistance. 

Israel's settler-colonial project and military occupation has suffocated us for seventy-three years and counting. They have systematically tried to erase us, but still we rise and resist—for the lives taken from us, for the countless injured, for those whose homes have been destroyed, and for the thousands arbitrarily imprisoned for daring to speak truth. 

In Gaza, over 40,000 Palestinians have lost their homes in the last week because of Israel's carpet bombings. Just this morning, Israel announced it would be targeting two elementary schools in Gaza. The death toll is rising so fast, the updates are in constant need of updating. 

In the US, our actions need to be more than just solidarity, they must build toward ending US complicity. The bombs falling in Gaza are paid for by US tax dollars. $3.8 billion a year to be exact. 

We call on °you° to contribute to our general strike tomorrow, Tuesday May 18. How?  By organizing and participating in actions in your cities, communities, unions, and campuses. Hold protests, strikes, rallies. We invite you to participate in any way you can, whether that be a small gesture of solidarity in your workplace, home, or neighborhood, or a large city-wide event. Every act, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, is part of this global wave of resistance. 


Keep up to date on the latest happenings unfolding on the ground in Palestine by following us on Instagram and Twitter. Share or send us photos/videos of your participation and use the hashtags: #PalestineOnStrike #Gaza #GazaUnderAttack. 
Your support is part of this tidal wave of freedom. Don't stay back out of fear or hesitation. 

Onwards,
Sumaya 

 

Tuesday, May 11, 2021

Why Do Rich White People Get Away With Crime?

 


Why Do Rich White People Get Away with Crime?

 by C.A. Matthews

Editor's note: The pronoun "they" is being used occasionally in this article to keep the gender of the "rich white person" anonymous. 

Why do rich white people get away with crime? Why do they only get a tiny slap on the wrist whenever they get caught in the act of committing a crime? Anyone else—especially the poor and people of color (or POC)--would get the book thrown at them for the same offense. It ruins POC's lives and livelihoods, but rich white people (RWP for short) are able to commit crimes and go back to business as usual. It makes no sense. It keeps me awake at night.

I've had the unfortunate experience to encounter just such a crime. I won't name names or give too many specifics here because I realize that I'm not a rich white person. (I'm far from rich, and I'm partially non-white.) RWP could use the current justice system against me for calling out their despicable behavior. So, instead I will give a general outline of the crime and how it has affected me and others. Then, I will give a call to action so we can all take steps to stop this sort of thing from ever happening again. 

One day a certain rich white person was given the authority to disburse money from several different state Medicaid grant funds in a public institution of higher learning in which they worked. At some point, this person decided to give some of the grant money to a relative's private non-profit without going through proper channels or disclosing their conflict of interest. 

Now, this non-secular non-profit, among other things, runs some social programs to help feed the area poor and help school kids, particularly students of color. One could argue this was a good place to use the grant money for the benefit of the community. There's no disputing that the non-profit's programming was worthy of financial support. However, apparently giving grant money to this non-profit was never okayed by the school. Possibly the grant money wasn't designated for these types of programs, or this decision was not one that should have been made solely by the rich white person.

You might think this is a "slap on the wrist" type of infraction at first, but it gets worse. This "misuse of funds" didn't happen once or in small amounts. The rich white person continued to take more and more money from the institution's Medicaid grant funds and to give it to their relative's non-profit over and over again over a period of several years. It added up—big time. 

 

The institution eventually caught on to what was happening and the state ran an audit. The amount of missing money is… Well, it's more than many of us could ever dream of making in over a decade working full-time at minimum wage or even at $15/hour. And not all of the stolen money went to the relative's non-profit programs—some of it went toward purchasing personal items, such as expensive fashion accessories. 

The rich white person was eventually fired from their lofty position at the school and charged with several felony counts of misappropriation of funds/theft in office. According to state law, each count could have landed this person in jail for many years and restitution more than likely would have been ordered.

To make a long story short, the rich white person went to court but did not go to jail. It's unclear at this time whether any of the grant money taken will be paid back/has been paid back or not. To add icing to the cake of white privilege, the rich white person did not lose their license to practice their esteemed profession in the state where these felonies were committed.

The judge did the defendant a further favor by making it so they won’t even have a criminal record if they promise they won't commit a similar crime again. It's a type of adjudication that's usually reserved for young adults who commit a serious crime but seem to have a promising future. Judges can use their discretion and apply this "diversion program" to help kids out so they can grow up without a permanent black mark on their record. (Suffice it to say, this rich white person is much older than eighteen, and it is rare for this program to be implemented for anyone other than young adults.)

I dare you now to go back and substitute "poor person of color" for "rich white person" in this story and tell me how you think the story would end. You and I both know it would end very differently! A poor person of color would be sentenced to jail time and definitely would have been forced to pay back all the money they'd stolen plus interest. Their criminal record would be made public, not expunged, and it would destroy their chances of finding decent employment ever again.

What really drives a stake into my heart is that this money was not stolen from an obscenely wealthy capitalist. It wasn't stolen from a corporation that treats its workers with contempt by not providing health insurance. No, this money came from We the People, the taxpayers, and it was stolen from a public institution that had been given it through a state Medicaid program. It was the public's money—not a private corporation's or individual's money. There were no "Robin Hood" antics going on here. 

I worked as a Medicaid caseworker, so I know how much Medicaid programs can help struggling families, especially poor families of color. The rich white person decided to steal from us, the taxpayers, via a grant funded by a government program that helps the poor. Stealing from a government program that helps the poor to "help" other poor people doesn't make sense, unless you think of how giving large sums of money to a private non-profit might make it appear "successful" in the eyes of others. A successful non-profit usually has an easier time raising more money from donors than a not-quite-as-successful-looking one.

It seems clear to me: The rich white person who took this grant money wasn't motivated to help poor people in particular. They were more interested in helping their relative's non-profit look successful. They might have even done it to elevate their own status in the larger community, by being seen as "savior" of sorts through their "generous donations." 

Now that the grant money gravy train is gone, will the lack of regular infusions of  stolen money cause the non-profit to eventually close its doors? What will happen to the social programs that the stolen money funded? Will donors who thought the non-profit was successful in its own right quit donating to it? Will these programs disappear? What happens to the people—the poor people, the people of color—who were helped out by those programs? Who knows? 

Will the public institution lose all access to federal and state grant monies in the future because an employee easily helped themselves to it? Will they be penalized by the government because of the theft? Will a lack of government grant monies in the future hurt funding programs to help students at this school? It's possible. 

The rich white person had a great lawyer and got off easy. They got to go back to their existence pretty much as it was before they decided to commit these felonies. Their future looks relatively rosy compared to the poor people who benefited from the non-profit's social programs. The rich white person won't be missing any meals or going without food tonight.

Why do RWP get away with crime? Because they can and they do.

I'm telling this story because I want you to know that this is not an isolated incident. RWP get off easy more often than not in court if and when they're even caught and charged with a crime in the first place. This wasn't a "victimless white-collar crime." Real social programs that helped real people are now at risk and a public higher learning institution has had its reputation tarnished--all because a person of means enjoyed playing around with the public's purse.

The American justice system doesn't need to be reformed--it needs to be totally obliterated. It's corrupt to its core. It's run by RWP for RWP who don't give a shit about the rest of us struggling to survive. It should be completely reworked until it's actually about delivering justice and not about letting rich white people have their way at the expense of others.

You might think I'm being unfair to this particular rich white person, that this person might have some sort of mental illness or an addiction that caused them to steal the grant money. I'm not unkind. I know there are many people who need mental health care and either cannot afford it or are too prideful to seek help. I've worked in drug rehab/psych wards and have encountered these individuals many times before.

But I also know that the law holds addicts and mentally ill persons accountable for their criminal actions—especially poor mentally ill people and addicts of color. If a poor drunk runs over and kills a person, that drunk goes to prison for vehicular manslaughter. The legal definition of sanity only considers if the person was able to understand what they did was wrong according to the law. I truly believe in this case this rich white person knew that taking the grant money was stealing, and that stealing is wrong, but they decided to do it anyway.


This is why we need to tear down and reconstruct our justice system from the ground up. We need to make it clear that no one gets a free "get out of jail card" simply because they belong to a privileged group. Your RWP connections do not grant you special privileges when it comes to crime sentencing, either. You are to be judged for your crimes the same as the poor and POC.

If anything, reparations should be made to the local POC community. For too long, RWP have enjoyed abusing the privileges of their high-status positions. They should pay double the restitution for all the monies and properties they've appropriated for their own use from the powerless. The rich white person in this story should pay double what they stole—once to the school they took the grant money from, and then again to the non-profit (under new management?) so that it can continue helping the poor uninterrupted and without the taint of stolen money.

I'm not the only American tired of rich white people getting away with crimes—just look at the huge outcry and numerous protests in the last year since George Floyd and other African-Americans have been brutally murdered. It's time arrogant rich assholes are forced to pay back what they took from the rest of us. It's time RWP tasted justice the same as the rest of us.

I will be hitting the law books hard this coming term, learning what I can do to help bring justice to asylum-seekers denied due process. Each of us has to get out of our comfort zone and do our part. We need to fight together to defeat the scourge of RWP justice once and for all. RWP justice must die so true justice can be reborn. Only then will freedom ring for all, not just a few.

***

Families Belong Together (Logo)

I am overjoyed - this week, four families will be reunited years after they were ripped apart by the Trump administration’s cruel and sadistic child separation policy, including a toddler who was just three years old when he was taken away.

This is a historic milestone to unwinding the cruelty, hate and chaos the previous administration left behind, and to know that these parents will be able to hold their kids in their arms again after years of agonizing separation means everything.

These families should NEVER have been separated in the first place. It is our moral obligation to re-unite them, but the political reality is that these reunifications are the result of the tireless work of Immigrant Defenders, Las Americas, Al Otro Lado, CLINIC, and so many other fearless advocates, attorneys, and activists that makeup the Families Belong Together coalition.

The four families reuniting this week is and must only be the beginning. Hundreds of children remain separated. So much work remains to be done, not just for these families, but for the millions of families who live in fear of being separated by our broken immigration system.

Reunification is just the first step, the truth is that healing from this trauma will be a long journey. That's why we're calling on Congress to pass the Families Belong Together Act to make sure these families have the resources they need to heal.

Will you take two minutes to contact your Members of Congress and ask them to co-sponsor the Families Belong Together Act?

Our movement has fought so hard to get here, but we won't stop until every child is reunited. We'll continue our work with the Biden administration's Family Reunification Task Force, will keep supporting our partners, and will keep you posted on what I hope will be many more joyous reunifications to come.

With joy, determination and gratitude,

Paola Luisi, Director
Families Belong Together

***

From Roots Action:

The Israeli government is threatening mass evictions of non-Jews and brutalizing protesters in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jersusalem.

At least three U.S. senators have spoken out. All 100 U.S. senators should do so immediately.

Click here to quickly email your senators.

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Aryeh King, a settler leader and deputy mayor of Jerusalem, said, as reported by the New York Times, that the policy of evicting people from their homes of many years "is the way to secure the future of Jerusalem as a Jewish capital for the Jewish people."

Videos of people losing their homes are fueling protests, and the Israeli militarized police are attacking protesters. On Friday, according to Haaretz, 205 Palestinians and 17 police officers were injured. On Saturday, the Palestinian Red Crescent said, 64 Palestinians, including five childen and one infant, were wounded, many by sponge-tipped bullets and stun grenades. They added that Israeli police prevented ambulances from reaching the site.

Senators Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Chris Murphy have called on the Israeli government to cease eviction efforts.

"The forced removal of long-time Palestinian residents in Sheikh Jarrah is abhorrent and unacceptable," Warren tweeted, saying that the Biden administration must make clear to Israel that these evictions are illegal.

"The United States must speak out strongly against the violence by government-allied Israeli extremists in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, and make clear that the evictions of Palestinian families must not go forward," Sanders said.

Click here to urge more senators to speak out.

A memo by the National Lawyers Guild this week urged the Biden administration to take steps including:

  • Relocate the U.S. Embassy from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv;
  • Reverse the Trump administration's repudiation of a 1978 State Department legal opinion declaring Israel's settler colonies in the occupied West Bank to be illegal;
  • Rescind the previous administration's rule requiring "Made in Israel" labeling on goods produced in the unlawful settlements, as well as former President Donald Trump's formal recognition of Israel's illegal annexation of Syria's Golan Heights;
  • Reinstate aid to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency;
  • Call for an immediate end to Israel's 15-year closure and blockade of Gaza;
  • Refrain from further interference in International Criminal Court proceedings and consider ratifying the Rome Statute;
  • Reverse Trump's order falsely conflating criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism; and
  • Affirm that boycotts for human rights such as the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement "are a form of highly protected speech under the U.S. Constitution."

Senator Warren has proposed putting at least some conditions on the billions of dollars the U.S. Congress gives to the Israeli government for weapons every year.

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-- The RootsAction.org Team

Background:
>> Haaretz: "Democrats Urge U.S. to Act Against Israel's 'Abhorrent' East Jerusalem Evictions"
>> Common Dreams: "National Lawyers Guild Urges Biden to Align US Israel-Palestine Policy With International Law"
>> Al Jazeera: "What Can Stop Palestinians Being Evicted from Sheikh Jarrah?"
>> New York Times: "Evictions in Jerusalem Become Focus of Israeli-Palestinian Conflict"
>> The Intercept: "Elizabeth Warren Suggests U.S. Explore Conditional Aid to Israel"