Some inconvenient news you may have missed 10/26/2023

Middle East Monitor

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20231021-poll-52-of-americans-oppose-sending-weapons-to-israel

The results of a poll conducted in the US revealed that 52 per cent of Americans oppose their government sending weapons to Israel. According to the poll conducted by CBS News, between 16-19 October, 57 per cent of participants support sending aid to Gaza. Fifty-six per cent of Americans also expressed dissatisfaction with President Joe Biden’s policy regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict. Eighty-five per cent of participants expressed concern about the risk of a wider war in the Middle East, while 79 per cent expressed concern about the possibility of terrorism in the US. Fifty-two per cent of Americans opposed Washington sending weapons and equipment to Israel, while 24 per cent said that Biden is providing too much support for Israel.

Ron Paul

http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2023/october/23/biden-election-strategy-let-s-fight-three-wars-at-once/

 President Joe Biden announced last week that the United States would be funding – and possibly fighting – three wars in three different parts of the world at the same time … Nearly every word of Biden’s speech was untrue, including the preposterous suggestion that “American leadership is what holds the world together. American alliances are what keep us, America, safe.” … After a brutal attack on Israel by Hamas earlier this month, Israel declared war not just on the terrorists who attacked its territory, but on the entire population of Gaza itself … By dragging the United States into this war, President Biden has planted the seeds of innumerable 9/11-style blowback attacks on the US. Yet he has the audacity to claim that all of this is keeping us safe.

Washington Examiner

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/foreign/un-chief-rebukes-israel-attacks-hamas-vacuum

 Israel’s bombardment of Gaza entails “clear violations of international law,” according to the top United Nations official, who called for an “immediate ceasefire” as civilian casualties mount in the war against Hamas … The statement represented a stunning rebuke of Israel at the outset of a high-profile U.N. Security Council meeting, convened as U.S. forces in the Middle East and officials around the world brace for a possible expansion of the war … Guterres argued that the crisis was rooted in Israel’s policy toward the Palestinians. “It is important to also recognize the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation,” he said.

Gideon Levy – Haaretz (Israel)

https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/israel-palestine-war-gaza-world-slaughter-stand-watch

 As these lines are being written, Israel has informed the UN that more than one million people in the northern Gaza Strip, including residents of Gaza City, must evacuate their homes. There is nowhere to go in Gaza – not for 10,000 people, not for 100,000 and certainly not for a million. To evacuate one million human beings within 24 hours is impossible, illegal, inhuman and impractical. In other words, Israel is threatening to commit a war crime the likes of which we have not seen since the Nakba of 1948. Very possibly, this is all talk and threats; Israel may not ultimately invade Gaza, and a million people may not be evicted. In any case, nearly half-a-million are newly homeless following unprecedented bombings of Gaza neighbourhoods by the Israeli Air Force. These are dark days.

D. DeCamp – Antiwar

https://news.antiwar.com/2023/10/22/israel-to-consider-civilians-terrorist-accomplices-if-they-stay-in-north-gaza/

 The Israeli military has told Palestinian civilians living in north Gaza that if they don’t evacuate to the south, they will be considered “an accomplice in a terrorist organization.” … Israel previously ordered the evacuation of northern Gaza, an area that’s home to 1.1 million people. Since Gaza is under blockade, the only option for Palestinians in the north is to flee to the south, which is also under constant bombardment … Israel ordered the evacuation of Al-Quds hospital, which is housing more than 400 patients and 12,000 displaced civilians. Since Israel has unleashed its bombing campaign on Gaza in the wake of the October 7 Hamas attack, at least 4,651 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, including 1,756 children, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. On the Israeli side, at least 1,405 people have been killed.

CNN

https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/19/politics/state-department-official-resigns-israel-gaza/index.html

 A State Department official has resigned from the agency over the Biden administration’s approach to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas … Josh Paul, who said he has worked in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs for more than 11 years, said in his LinkedIn post that he resigned “due to a policy disagreement concerning our continued lethal assistance to Israel.” “Let me be clear,” Paul wrote … “I believe to the core of my soul that the response Israel is taking, and with it the American support both for that response, and for the status quo of the occupation, will only lead to more and deeper suffering for both the Israeli and the Palestinian people – and is not in the long-term American interest.”

AFP

https://www.barrons.com/news/s-p-lowers-israel-s-rating-outlook-to-negative-on-war-risks-8af18e66

 S&P Global Ratings said Tuesday it was lowering Israel’s credit outlook from stable to negative, citing risks that the Israel-Hamas conflict could broaden, with a more pronounced impact on the economy. In a notice, the credit rating agency said: “The negative outlook reflects the risk that the Israel-Hamas war could spread more widely or affect Israel’s credit metrics more negatively than we expect.” “We currently assume the conflict will remain centered in Gaza and last no more than three to six months,” it added … S&P’s decision comes less than a week after agency Moody’s Investors Service put the Israeli government’s A1 credit ratings on review for downgrade, pointing to the “unexpected and violent conflict between Israel and Hamas.”

Väktaren

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/21/about-100000-turn-out-in-london-for-pro-palestine-rally

 About 100,000 demonstrators turned out in central London to show their support for Palestine and demand an end to Israel’s bombardment of Gaza. The march in Marble Arch in central London followed the 7 October surprise terror attack by Hamas and the Israeli response. Protesters held signs that read “Freedom for Palestine” and “Stop bombing Gaza”. The Metropolitan police estimated that about 100,000 people had turned out by 2 pm on Saturday.

Associated Press

https://apnews.com/article/germany-migration-scholz-deportations-opposition-b4ae3bfe5c24ae6aa0019d66adeeed6f

 Chancellor Olaf Scholz says Germany needs to start deporting “on a large scale” migrants who don’t have the right to stay in the country, adding to increasingly tough talk on migration since his coalition performed badly in two state elections earlier this month. Scholz’s comments in an interview with weekly Der Spiegel … In Friday’s interview, Scholz reiterated that “too many are coming.” “We must finally deport on a large scale those who have no right to stay in Germany,” he was quoted as saying, adding that “we must deport more and faster.”