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Saturday, August 31, 2024
US soldiers injured in raid during 'non-combat' mission in Iraq | Responsible Statecraft
US soldiers injured in raid during 'non-combat' mission in Iraq | Responsible Statecraft
The US military is engaging in raids and troops continue to get injured in our "non-combat, advise, assist and enable" mission in Iraq. Today we hear about 7 US military injuries from a raid on ISIS in the middle of the Iraqi desert.
What doesn't square here? A short piece about what happened and the continual shell game being played by Centom and Washington on our role there:
[Salon] Israeli extremism unrestrained. Our book launching. And more. - Guest Post by Helena Cobban
From the desk of Helena Cobban,
Pres., Just World Educational
View this newsletter in your browser. Sign up for future newsletters here.
Dear friends--
I hope you're well?
(Scroll on down to see some exciting news about the roll-out of launch events for our book Understanding Hamas And Why That Matters, and about our PalCast podcast.)
Meantime, the situation in Gaza continues to spiral down toward-- though not yet reaching-- the extermination of the enclave's remaining 2 million people. Over the past eleven months these long-beleaguered Palestinians have been forcibly moved from place to place within the Strip multiple times. Their homes, schools, and vital infrastructure such as water, sewage, and medical systems have been systematically destroyed by Israel's military. Starvation, disease, destruction, and loss now stalk their every move.
As the UN-OCHA graphic above shows, the number of aid trucks that Israel allowed in during the first 25 days of August plunged to 69 per day. That, compared with the 500 trucks/day going in prior to October 7, and the 139 trucks/day that went in during March-- at which point Pres. Joe Biden had urgently called on Israel to increase the number significantly. (April saw a small increase, then the number plummeted again.)
And polio. Like me, you may have seen photos of aid workers shouldering large boxes containing the vaccines that, per an agreement reached on Thursday, are to be distributed and delivered to infants in three separate areas of Gaza starting tomorrow. Rolling, partial ceasefires have been agreed to allow that to happen.
But even if the large insulated boxes of vaccine get into the Strip, what then? A recent survey of healthcare workers in Gaza found that,
"71% of respondents indicated a need for training in early detection and diagnosis of polio symptoms, 66% requested training on infection prevention and control measures, 52% needed training on managing complications in pediatric polio patients... "
Read that whole short report on the fractured state of Gaza's healthcare system, and weep. Meantime, the Manchester, UK-based org Action for Humanity welcomed the "vaccination pause" in their statement yesterday. But they noted, rightly, that:
"In reality a temporary humanitarian pause, is no humanitarian pause at all. Only a permanent pause will serve the spiralling needs of the people of Gaza. And it has been shown it can be done - If this war can be stopped to stop children dying from polio, why can the war not be stopped to stop children dying from war."
...And the West Bank. PM Netanyahu and his far-right cronies in Israel's government have seen that the United States and its allies have done nothing significant to rein in the cruelty and extremism of their actions in Gaza. So now, they're extending the same approach to the occupied West Bank. In the northern West Bank, Israeli forces have laid siege to entire neighborhoods, cutting off supplies of water, food, and electricity and tearing up roads; and they've launched air-raids against some built-up areas-- all while claiming (as in Gaza) that they are merely targeting "militants."
The governments of France and the UK (among others) have condemned Israel's latest lethal actions in the West Bank.
But Washington?? Nothing.
We now seem to be in a terrifying situation in which there is no hand on the rudder of state here in Washington DC. We saw, during the late-June presidential debate, that Pres. Joe Biden seemed to be in a worrying state of cognitive decline. That was two months ago. Since then, he and VP Harris have repeatedly assured us that the U.S. government has been "working round the clock" to nail down the permanent ceasefire that is so desperately, desperately needed in Gaza. Two weeks ago, Secretary Blinken went and made yet another of his "diplomatic tours" around the region, and-- Nothing.
The people of Gaza, the West Bank, and the whole of West Asia have nearly four more months of this rudderless/ brain-dead Washington and out-of-control extremist Israeli government to live (or die) through.This is the situation that I find terrifying... unless and until the other powers in the world can step in urgently to reassert the values and requirements of international law.
Launching our book on Hamas
So now, with Just World Ed's super-timely book Understanding Hamas And Why That Matters about to start shipping from the printer, we are also starting to plan launch events for it around the United States-- and perhaps in the UK and elsewhere, as well. (Have you ordered your copy of the book yet?)
Our first launch event will be in New York City, at the event space that the book's publisher, OR Books, runs in Manhattan's Lower East Side. It will be on Wed., October 2, starting at 5:30 pm, at the Francis Kite Club, 40 Avenue C.
If you live in the NYC/Tri-state area, I hope you'll be able to join us? I think you need to RSVP, to events@orbooks.com.
This should be a fascinating evening. My JWE board colleague (and book co-author) Rami G. Khouri and I will both be there in person. We'll be sharing our main takeaways from the five conversations with experts on Hamas that form the heart of the book-- in a new conversation conducted by the veteran, Methodist church-based leader in the struggle against Apartheid, David Wildman. There will also be copies of the book available to buy!
This should be an extremely rich (and timely) event. We're making plans for livestreaming. Stay tuned!
But despite what some New Yorkers may think, there's a wide expanse of American life that exists beyond the city's borders... Just World Ed's fine board members are now working with me to arrange a series of live book events in the SF Bay Area in the second week of October, and one or more events in the DC area sometime around then , too.
If you'd like to be part of our planning for either of these regions-- or if your organization would actually like to bring Rami, or me (or both of us!) to another part of the country at some point in the months ahead-- then please let me know asap.
And by the way, if you haven't yet learned about the five world-class experts whose insights form the heart of our book, or the endorsements the has book already received from a broad range of other experts and activists, you can find all that information and more at this page on the OR website.
We've also created this graphic to help publicize this timely volume. Feel free to download it and circulate it to your friends and networks:
Latest episode of PalCast: Anas Abu Samhan
The latest episode of our PalCast podcast, recorded on August 27, was titled, "Gaza-- Paralyzed by fear." Our guest was Gaza-Palestinian writer and translator Anas Abu Samhan, with us from Doha, Qatar.
PalCast host Dr. Yousef Aljamal, co-host Tony Groves of Tortoise Shack Media, and I mainly listened as Anas shared with us several poignant glimpses into the impact of the displacement and deep loss that his family has suffered during the ongoing genocide back home. He also delved into the complex process of decolonizing both mind and language, emphasizing the critical importance of pursuing a decolonial epistemology.
We also discussed regional developments, including the continuing tensions between Hezbollah, Iran, and Israel. Such a lot to cover...
You can catch this episode at Apple, Spotify, or wherever you find your audio. And be sure to tell your friends about our whole PalCast project!
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That's it for this week's newsletter. I feel truly privileged to be able to work with amazing activist/leaders like Yousef Aljamal, Rami Khouri, and our other colleagues as we try to unscramble all the lies, untruths, confusion, and lack of knowledge that plague the Western discourse on all matters Palestinian, and bring clarity and objectivity in their stead.
Please let me know as soon as possible if you want to help us with outreach for our Understanding Hamas project over the months ahead. And especially if organizations you work with want to invite me or Rami to do an event with your people, either live or virtually.
I know that many of my newsletters contain a bit of a mish-mash of news items and analyses at different levels, from the "humanitarian" right through to geopolitics. But these things are all connected!!! There is no way to "resolve" the humanitarian crises in Palestine or anywhere else purely by increasing aid shipments. Focused, goal-oriented, evidence-based diplomatic work is also absolutely necessary. That's why we think our Understanding Hamas And Why That Matters project is so very necessary.
We are a tiny, tiny non -profit. Please, if you are able, help to keep our work going! You can click on the link below to do so. And our huge thanks go to all of you who have sent us donations throughout these latest, very busy months!
(If you want to learn a bit more about Just World Books's many fine titles, scroll on down and click on the image below the "Give" link.)
You stay well and stay sane--
~ Helena
Do Catholics believe in fate, or in freedom?
Do Catholics believe in fate, or in freedom?
Does God have a specific plan for my life, or am I free to choose my own path? Am I predestined by God to make certain decisions, such as who I am going to marry, or what career I will pursue?
God made us free, but he didn't leave us without guidance or assistance. Catholics do not believe in a fatalistic concept of destiny, because we believe that God created us as free and intelligent beings who are responsible for our actions. The Church teaches that God, by his providence, "guides all his creatures with wisdom and love to their ultimate end." Therefore, Christians should not believe in destiny or an inevitable fate, which is a concept that comes from pagan mythology.
Fate: a pagan concept
The idea of destiny predates Christianity. It expresses the idea that behind the events of life, there may be something inevitable and predetermined that goes beyond human freedom. It is as if certain events and facts were written in advance, such that no one can ever change anything.
In ancient Greek mythology, the Fates (or Moirae) were the personification of destiny. The Fates assigned the gods their fields of action, honors, and privileges. Since the gods could not go beyond their assigned limits, the Fates could thus act upon human beings as well. In this sense, their decrees were inflexible.
God gives us free will
Catholic theology denies that the world and events are the product of an obscure force — sometimes beneficial, sometimes malevolent — that is imposed on human beings. For Christians, God created the world according to his wisdom and goodness and wanted to make his creatures share in his being, wisdom, and love.
God created us intelligent and free, and therefore responsible for our actions. Therefore, we cannot attribute the consequences of our own actions to fate.
God did not just create the world. He did not just give his creatures life and existence, but also granted them the power to participate in his work. In other words, he enabled them to cooperate in making the world more perfect and harmonious. In a special way, he gave his creatures who are endowed with intelligence and will (angels and human beings) the dignity of acting on their own, freely.
Freedom implies responsibility
Christian thought sets such a high value on human freedom that it goes so far as to affirm that this freedom is an "outstanding manifestation of the divine image" (CCC, No. 1705). Therefore, if we are free to act according to our free will guided by our intellect, how could we be locked into predetermined decrees governing our life? Thus, we are always responsible for our voluntary behaviors; that is, we must answer for our free acts, both to the human community and to God.
Instead of believing in fate, Christians believe in divine providence. We are created in a state of journeying toward an ultimate perfection yet to be achieved, with God. Divine providence refers to the provisions by which God guides his creation toward this ultimate perfection, while respecting our free will.
At times during the history of the Church, due to certain passages of Sacred Scripture as well as to theological and philosophical reflections, there has been great debate about whether or not God has predestined us to be either saved or damned. Indeed, this is a complicated issue, and was an important point of contention during the Protestant Reformation. While some Protestants adopted the idea that God predestined everyone to heaven or to hell, the Catholic Church held firm to a stance that defends human freedom and denies that God has predestined anyone to hell.
God calls us to the fullness of love
The final perfection to which human beings are called in eternal life consists in sharing in the fullness of love, which is God (CCC, No. 221). This mystery of communion with God surpasses all understanding and description. Scripture speaks of it in images: paradise, the heavenly Jerusalem, the Father's house, happiness, light, life, peace (CCC, No. 1027
But here in our earthly life, human beings were created in a state of journeying toward this ultimate perfection. In this journey, God does not abandon us creation to our own devices. He maintains us, providing his help as we live our lives.
This relation expresses our dependence on our Creator. Recognize this dependence does not imply challenging human freedom or referring to destiny as if it were a predetermined fate. Rather, it is an act of humility, which is a source of wisdom, freedom, joy, and confidence (CCC, No. 301).
Friday, August 30, 2024
[Salon] Some things we can never rebuild - Guest Post by Shojaa al-Safadi
Some things we can never rebuild
Shojaa al-Safadi
28 August 2024
Shojaa al-Safadi’s brother sent him photos of his destroyed library in March 2024. An Israeli attack laid waste to hundreds of volumes and years of collecting.
Courtesy of the family
On the night of 6 October 2023, I was sitting in my home in the Gaza City neighborhood of Tel al-Hawa, engrossed in a book on Greek mythology.
I was reading about the myth of Achilles, a legendary hero whose body was immune to harm from arrows. His only weak point was his heel, which was the reason for his death in battle. Hence the term Achilles’ heel.
I was sitting in my chair in my beloved library, surrounded by the comforting presence of my collection of books. It was a collection started by my father, Omar al-Safadi, an avid collector of rare volumes, encyclopedias and dictionaries.
Following in his footsteps, I devoted myself to gathering hundreds of books across genres, often prioritizing literary treasures over souvenirs during my travels.
The sheer quantity of books I’ve purchased during trips even led customs officers to mistake me for a merchant.
Over the years, I expanded my collection with new acquisitions and eventually was able to dedicate an entire room in my home to my books. Organizing and arranging these books was akin to building my dream home; the library became my personal sanctuary.
The hours I spent immersed in my library were some of the most fulfilling moments of my life, a time when the chaos outside seemed to fade away.
Little did I know that this would be the last peaceful night I would spend in my library.
This time felt different
The following morning, 7 October, Gaza awoke abruptly to the horrors of war.
While conflict is tragically familiar to Palestinians in Gaza, this time felt different. It felt like the end of the world. An evacuation order from the Israeli army forced my family and me to leave our home and neighborhood, with only the bare essentials.
Believing we would return home in a few days, I left my library behind, unaware that I was saying goodbye to an entire life.
My love for books was a legacy from my father. He did not have the opportunity to complete his education. He studied until the sixth grade and then had to leave to work. He was an orphan and education at the time was a luxury.
My father would work in a factory for much of his life, first at the Shomer candy factory in Gaza and then the Polgat factory in Israel. Years later, he worked as a police officer after the Oslo agreement.
But he was passionate about reading and culture. He was determined to acquire and read books from all subjects. He passed away on 20 June 2015 at the age of 74, leaving me his treasured collection.
My books have been my constant companions. Life in Gaza is unstable and precarious, but my books were always present throughout various changes and moves in life, carefully transported and lovingly maintained.
I took meticulous care of each volume, dusting and preserving them with the tenderness one might show a child. Each book in my library held a memory. The worn pages of my father’s favorite poetry collection, the crisp spine of a newly acquired history book – these were more than just objects; they were pieces of my soul.
In my most recent home in Tel al-Hawa, I had finally crafted the library exactly as I had always envisioned it. It wasn’t just a room filled with books; it was an extension of myself.
In this screenshot from the Palestine Satellite Channel, Shojaa al-Safadi sits in his library.
Courtesy of the family
A sanctuary reduced to rubble
Months passed. My family and I endured repeated displacements, moving from one temporary shelter to another under deplorable and inhumane conditions. The uncertainty and fear were overwhelming, and information about our home was scarce.
In March 2024, after six agonizing months, my brother, who had remained in northern Gaza, managed to visit our neighborhood. He found a landscape of utter devastation; our home had suffered severe damage from the Israeli attacks.
The photos he sent of my once-pristine library were heartbreaking. My sanctuary had been reduced to rubble, with books scattered, torn and destroyed beyond recognition. The sight brought me to tears, as if I had lost a dear friend or a cherished part of myself.
The library I had inherited from my father and spent a lifetime building was gone.
I felt a profound sense of loss and emptiness. The joy and excitement that my library once brought into my life seemed irretrievable. Israel had not only destroyed physical structures but had also extinguished the passions and dreams housed within them.
Mine was not the only library or repository of knowledge that the Israeli army had attacked in Gaza.
The Israeli army has destroyed many libraries in Gaza, like the Diana Tamari Sabbagh Library, which was targeted in November 2023. This Gaza City library, located at the Rashad al-Shawa Cultural Center, held a special place in my heart, with all the cultural events and poetry symposiums I attended there. Now only memories remain.
Not a single copy survives
Israel’s attacks on various cultural centers seem to be aimed at spreading ignorance in society, striking at the very heart of our cultural identity.
As an author, I’ve lost access to the seven books I wrote. Not a single copy remains. Years of hard work and dedication, destroyed.
My first published book of poems, I Lean on a Stone, is the closest to my heart. It was published by the Palestinian Ministry of Culture, and it was an important step in my literary career.
I wrote these 19 poems with an eye toward ancient myths, interweaving Pharaonic and Greek traditions. I wanted to say that we still live those myths, with their strangeness. They spoke to my sense of alienation, to a desire to escape from the reality in which I live.
Another of my collections that was lost in the destruction of my library is A Homing Pigeon Without a Cooing. This was a collection of short poetic passages. Writing them was an interesting experience, an attempt to use a different poetic method: short telegrams in a poetic language, each with a message from the poet’s spirit.
Also destroyed is my book Wheat Fleeing Toward the Mill. It was a personal text, a storehouse of secrets and experiences documenting years of my life.
Writing is a kind of therapy for me, and each of those books was a slice of my psyche.
The war has killed everything inside us
My wife, our three sons and I are now staying in a small basement in Deir al-Balah. Every day we endure dire circumstances – lack of hygiene, contaminated water and overpriced food. And every other day, when Israel issues its next evacuation orders, I wonder, where do we go next?
Now, after losing everything – our house, the books, my sense of security and even my laptop with years of work and files – we find ourselves moving from one shelter to another, in areas that are continuously bombed.
We cannot settle anywhere. Despite this, I try to read on my phone and write whenever possible; it’s a necessary act to feel alive in the face of overwhelming destruction.
I do not know if my family and I will survive this war, and even if we do, the return of my library – the beautiful wealth of life I had accumulated – seems impossible.
The war has killed everything inside us, leaving us unsure if we will ever rise again.
I grapple with the uncertainty of our survival and the possibility of rebuilding what was lost.
I question whether we can ever truly recover and reclaim the fragments of our former lives.
The war has inflicted unhealable wounds, killing the physical embodiments of our dreams and the spirit within us that dared to hope for peace and normalcy.
Shojaa al-Safadi is a Palestinian writer and poet, a member of the Palestinian Writers Union, and a founder and director of the Friendship Cultural Forum from 2004 to 2014.
https://electronicintifada.net/content/some-things-we-can-never-rebuild/48506?utm_source=EI+readers&utm_campaign=8f88e61dfc-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e802a7602d-8f88e61dfc-299204745
Additional articles
Even with all we have lost, Shurouq was special
In every war, there are stories that are told and there are others that are forgotten. Some stories may not even seem so important to an outsider who has yet to experience the complete loss of normalcy and the total absence of any kind of security that war – especially genocidal war – brings. But it is precisely the collapse of all usual standards when you are faced with a daily existential struggle for survival, not just your own, but of everything you hold dear, that also brings out extraordinary courage and love that transcends all boundaries.
Our home was the center of our family life. The family factory – where we make sheets, pillows and blankets from imported fabric – was right next to the house by our orchard, filled with olive, lemon and orange trees. And next to these, my father, Abdul Karim – a lifelong lover of animals – kept a purebred he called Shurouq. In March, an Israeli shell struck the house behind my grandfather’s house. I had never seen my father cry before. Not even during this genocide, with all we had lost: the house, the factory, our shops. Not once. But this time he was crying. He had lost the last thing of his that remained and that reminded him of better times, or normal times. Shurouq was killed in the shelling of the neighbor’s house, which mercifully did not kill anyone else. And I truly understood for the first time what she had meant to him.
Shame: Afghanistan withdrawal politics miss the point of everything | Responsible Statecraft
Shame: Afghanistan withdrawal politics miss the point of everything | Responsible Statecraft
Adam Weinstein, who is also a combat veteran who served in Afghanistan, has a moving and compelling take on the very myopic and politically driven focus on the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan that began on Aug 30, 2021. The most tragic lines in the piece are at the end:
"Perhaps the harshest indictment of the 20-year war in Afghanistan is how little it will be discussed in the future. Each year, it will be briefly remembered on this day as a failure and then largely forgotten until the next anniversary."
Thursday, August 29, 2024
[Salon] How Assad is embracing change to maintain the status quo - ArabDigest.org. guest post
How Assad is embracing change to maintain the status quo
Summary: under pressure from the Saudis Bashar al-Assad has embraced “transition” in order to encourage further investment from the Gulf states and to strengthen the underpinnings of his dictatorship.
We thank Malik al-Abdeh for today’s newsletter which was originally published in the August 2024 issue of Syria in Transition. Malik is a Middle East analyst and consultant and a Syria specialist.
The word “transition” has never been welcomed in Damascus as it is synonymous with “regime change”. The Russians suppressed its use in the drafting process of UNSCR 2254, and the UN Special Envoy has studiously kept it in his banished words list. Recently, however, the word has regained some popularity in the Syrian capital, with none other than Bashar Assad leading the way in its renewed use. After the 15 July parliamentary elections Assad declared:
The conflict [in Syria] had been a military conflict and a constitutional conflict. It was about preserving the constitution that represents the essence of the state. Now this issue is behind us. Today, we are in a transitional phase that is linked to visions regarding the role of the state and its institutions, policies, and orientation.
Concurrent with this statement has come change in the security and military institutions, the Baath Party, and in state-owned companies. Cumulatively, these changes point to what Assad is ready to offer the Arabs by way of ‘reforms.’ It’s not a transition in the proper sense but neither is it fully cosmetic.
Mukhabarat re-brand
In January 2024 Syrian state media announced changes in the senior leadership of the security agencies. Major-General Ali Mamlouk was removed from his position as head of the National Security Office, with Major-General Kifah Malhem appointed as his successor. Malhem possesses all the credentials required for the role, being one of the most senior intelligence officers and a longtime friend of Basel, Bashar’s older brother who died in 1994. He is also an Alawite and belongs to the same Kalbiya clan as the Assads.
Later, in March, several reports emerged indicating that Malhem had ordered a merger of Military Intelligence and Air Force Intelligence into an entity named "Army and Armed Forces Intelligence." Sources in Damascus, however, have confirmed that the merger has not yet officially occurred but was still under consideration. In itself, restructuring the security agencies does not amount to reform. It is doubtful that the human rights situation will improve, or that these agencies will ever be held accountable before the law.
The changes in the personnel and structure of the security agencies is believed to have been in response to a request by Riyadh, which wants to see sufficient reforms to warrant better relations and financial support.
With the same objective, the regime also announced the dissolution of military field courts and an end to civilians being tried before military courts. The future of the Fourth Division, led by Assad’s brother Maher, is said to be under discussion with the Saudis. It remains the most powerful Syrian security actor of all, and its fate will be a useful barometer of the extent of change that the Assads are willing to countenance.
A Russian Su-34 "Fullback" strike/interdiction fighter at sunset in Latakia, Syria [photo credit: 123ru.net]
Army goes professional
Parallel to these security agency developments, the regime has made several significant changes to the army. These include some personnel changes but also an overhaul of the recruitment process and of reserve service, and various legislative decrees on conscription and the professionalisation of the army.
In March Assad issued an extensive list of new appointments to the General Staff and to division and brigade leadership. The sectarian composition of the army remains, however, a significant obstacle to genuine reform. Of the 24 senior officers promoted, 92 per cent were Alawites – reflecting a continuation of a policy initiated by Bashar's father Hafiz Assad of relying on sect and loyalty rather than competence as the fundamental criterion for promotion in the military.
In June, meanwhile, the regime announced a plan to gradually end reserve service. Soldiers will be discharged after completing six years, then five, then four, gradually decreasing the period until it reaches two years by the end of 2025. The conscription period, however, remains unchanged at 18 months. A leaked government document said that 152,000 soldiers would be discharged from reserve service by the end of 2025 – a figure contrasting sharply with previous estimates that suggested a severe military manpower shortage.
The regime has also launched a plan to transition to an all-volunteer professional army. Significant benefits were offered to the new volunteers such as higher salaries and bonuses – such that these contracts now rival those offered by IRGC-backed militias. This might be interpreted in Arab capitals as the regime weakening Iran’s influence by absorbing militia personnel into the formal army. The flip side is that veteran IRGC militiamen are likely to form a significant bloc in the new professional army.
New Baath
At its general conference in early May the Baath Party re-elected Assad as Secretary-General. It also elected a new Central Committee and expanded its number of seats from 80 to 125, 45 of which are reserved for Assad appointees. Significant figures like Ali Mamlouk, Bouthaina Shaaban, and Luna al-Shibl (before her death) were dropped. The Central Leadership (the politburo) underwent a more extensive clear-out, with an entirely new line up of party apparatchiks being promoted, the majority from relative obscurity. The conference was said to be a starting point for the "reformation" and “repositioning” of the party that Assad has often spoken about.
Soon after the purge, the People’s Assembly elections were held, on 15 July. These were conducted under "international supervision," with the regime claiming they were "the first of [their] kind in Syrian history." With a turnout that did not exceed 45 per cent, the Baath Party and its allies won about 70 per cent of the seats. The elections were soon followed by a bevy of legislative changes. In a 23 July meeting Assad made clear that the new People’s Assembly would address many vital issues, adding that "the elections reflected the will of the Syrian people and their desire to participate in the new phase, a phase of work and rebuilding."
Historically, in terms of wielding effective power, the Baath Party has been the junior partner to the army and security agencies. Nevertheless, it has proved itself as a useful instrument to co-opt and organise elites. Going forward, the new leadership of the party will be expected to embrace free market reforms and demonstrate enthusiasm for anti-corruption drives. Should Assad face the prospect of having to conduct real legislative elections – to ratify a new constitution perhaps – a fresher and more effective Baath Party will be needed.
State sell-off
The regime has also been busy renovating the administrative state. Since early 2024, it has issued 46 legislative texts (20 decrees and 26 laws) – more than double the number in the same period of 2023.
Entirely new bodies created since the start of 2024 have included a General Authority for Managing State Property, a National Authority for Information Technology Services, an Earthquake Victims Support Fund, and a Student Loan Fund.
Further, since early 2024 several public companies have been merged. The new entities include the General Company for Cement and Building Materials Production and Marketing (Omran), the General Company for Textile Industries and the General Company for Food Industries.
Laws and regulations on the governance and management of joint-stock and public companies have been overhauled, possibly as the prelude to future large-scale privatisation, given the current financial difficulties facing state-owned enterprises and the need to repay $50 billion of debts to Iran. Any such sell-off of state assets would give Gulf Arabs investment opportunities in the post-conflict economy. Sanctions notwithstanding, a sell-off of the energy, construction, and light manufacturing sectors might attract the kind of Gulf investor that Assad desperately needs. With privatisation would come a new Riyadh- and Abu Dhabi-facing Syrian business elite that would lend the dictator a degree of Sunni Arab legitimacy.
Déjà vu
Under pressure from Saudi Arabia to deliver on change, the regime has initiated an overhaul of the tools it uses to control the state. Beyond making the regime more efficient, the changes (announced or actual) are meant to appeal to an “Arab solution” to the Syria crisis: one that is likely to prioritise economic opportunities and leave core regime interests intact.
Assad’s concept of “transition” is all about shifting from “counter-terrorism” (i.e. survival) to building Regime 2.0. The key means to that objective will be to re-position the state strategically so that it can take maximum advantage of anticipated Gulf investment and UN early recovery funding. The changes do not signal any systemic change in the regime’s behaviour. They do not address core opposition demands and they do not provide a political solution aligned with the vision of UNSCR 2254.
The most consequential effects of Assad’s transition will be the end of old networks and figures that once symbolised the regime. In the coming years, those associated with the conflict will disappear entirely, and a new post-conflict elite will emerge that will share the spoils of the reconstruction bonanza. This is likely to include a cohort of Gulf-associated businessmen who will dominate the privatised economy while Assad retains tight control over all political and security matters. It’s a sort of transition and some may well market it as progress. Absent genuine multi-party politics and real security sector reform, however, it will be a transition to something depressingly familiar.
Members can leave comments about this newsletter on the Arab Digest website
Biden's 'new' nuclear strategy and the super-fuse that sets it off | Responsible Statecraft
Biden's 'new' nuclear strategy and the super-fuse that sets it off | Responsible Statecraft
NEW! Ted notes that the "news" that Biden has approved a new nuclear strategy to combat Russian and China nuclear "expansion" is not new:
Biden’s approval of this strategy is no more than a tacit acknowledgment of a two-decade-long U.S. technical program that has been more than just a “slight modernization” of weapons components, but a dramatic step towards the capability to fight and win nuclear wars with both China and Russia. In other words, there is nothing really “new” here at all, save the very public nature of the strategy’s acknowledgement....
The technical source of this vast improvement in U.S. nuclear firepower is a relatively new super fuse or “super fuze” that is already being fitted onto all U.S. strategic ballistic missiles. This fuse more than doubles the ability of the Trident II Submarine Launched Ballistic Missiles (SLBMs) carrying W-76 100kt warheads to destroy Chinese and Russian nuclear-tipped Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) in hardened silos.
Wednesday, August 28, 2024
Rosemary Kelanic joins DEFP to lead new Middle East Engagement Program -
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
August 28, 2024
Contact: press@defensepriorities.org
ROSEMARY KELANIC JOINS DEFENSE PRIORITIES AS DIRECTOR OF ITS NEW MIDDLE EAST PROGRAM
WASHINGTON, DC—Defense Priorities is pleased to announce its new Middle East Program—which seeks to operationalize and promote a strategy of restraint for the United States in the Middle East—as well as the program’s new director, Rosemary Kelanic, formerly an assistant professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame.
Program overview
The Middle East is a region where U.S. interests are limited and the use of U.S. military force has repeatedly proven unnecessary and counterproductive. After the 9/11 attacks and the declaration of the “Global War on Terror,” the United States initiated a series of interventions, first in Afghanistan, then in various countries in the Middle East—Iraq, Libya, and Syria—all of which proved disastrous. Of all the regions where the U.S. military has been heavily engaged in recent decades, the Middle East holds the least strategic importance.
The two core U.S. interests in the Middle East are: (1) to prevent critical, long-term disruptions of Persian Gulf oil and (2) to counter anti-U.S. terrorist threats. Neither of these interests requires an open-ended military commitment to the region or permanent ground forces.
Washington’s military interventions over the past few decades largely produced conditions of destabilization and discontent and incubated new terrorist threats, like ISIS. Continuing deployments in places like Iraq and Syria have made U.S. servicemembers targets for hostile actors who otherwise couldn’t reach them.
Moving forward, U.S. policy in the Middle East should aim to:
Avoid direct U.S. involvement in new wars in the region, particularly with Iran and its regional proxies.
End the permanent U.S. military presence in the region within five to 10 years, and urgently remove U.S. forces from Syria and Iraq.
Avoid security guarantees to states in the region, including Saudi Arabia and the Gulf monarchies, which promote destabilizing action by these states and could entangle the U.S. beyond its national interests.
End U.S. support for the Saudi war in Yemen.
Normalize relations with states across the region, eschewing both entangling partnerships and enduring rivalries.
Cooperate with local powers to counter anti-U.S. terrorism through intelligence sharing.
Refrain from needless great power competition with China and Russia in the region.
Recognize that U.S. influence in the Middle East has limits and may be unnecessary or counterproductive to U.S. national interests.
Rosemary Kelanic
@rkelanic
Rosemary Kelanic is director of the Middle East Program at Defense Priorities.
Kelanic publishes widely on energy security, great power politics, and U.S. grand strategy in the Middle East. Her work has appeared in outlets ranging from Foreign Affairs and Security Studies to The Washington Post and The National Interest. Kelanic’s book, Black Gold and Blackmail: Oil and Great Power Politics (Cornell University Press, 2020), explains the differences in energy security strategies that great powers adopt, while her edited volume (with Charles L. Glaser), Crude Strategy: Rethinking the U.S. Military Commitment to Defend Persian Gulf Oil (Georgetown University Press, 2016), urges a reappraisal of U.S. engagement in the region.
Kelanic spent 10 years teaching political science at the University of Notre Dame and Williams College prior to entering the policy world. She earned her PhD in political science from the University of Chicago and her BA, summa cum laude, from Bryn Mawr College.
“The Middle East receives outsized attention from Washington and takes up too many U.S. resources given its limited strategic importance,” said Defense Priorities President Edward King. “I’m delighted Rose Kelanic will lead our new Middle East Program and lend her expertise to promote a better, more balanced U.S. strategy that advances our security and prosperity interests in the region with more diplomacy and less exposure to the region’s conflicts and violence.”
“I am thrilled to join Defense Priorities and advance its mission to promote realism and restraint in U.S. foreign policy. Sadly, both have been absent for far too long, especially in the Middle East, which has distracted the U.S. from other priorities,” said Rose Kelanic, director of the new Middle East Program. “Decades of bad policy have mired the United States in unnecessary and intractable military conflicts, when in fact, neither of the two core U.S. security interests in the region—energy security and countering anti-U.S. terrorism—require much force. The U.S. should rebalance its commitments and strategies to reflect these realities.”
[Salon] Macron signals a shift on Western Sahara - Arab Digest.org guest post
Macron signals a shift on Western Sahara
Summary: a decision by France over Western Sahara represents a shift and one that has infuriated Algeria.
We thank Francis Ghilès for today’s article. A regular contributor to Arab Digest, Francis is a specialist on security, energy, and political trends in North Africa and the Western Mediterranean. He is a senior associate research fellow at the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs (CIDOB) and a visiting fellow at King’s College, London. From 1981 to 1995 Francis was the North Africa correspondent for the Financial Times and has written for numerous publications including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Le Monde and El Pais. You can find his most recent Arab Digest podcast “The Maghreb at a moment of opportunity” here.
In a letter to king Mohamed VI of Morocco 30 July President Emmanuel Macron shifted France’s position on the Western Sahara dispute by saying his country favoured the Moroccan plan which gives the territory limited autonomy but keeps it under Moroccan control. France thus follows Spain’s change of tack which occurred two and a half years ago when the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, in a private letter to King Mohammed VI, described Morocco’s 2007 proposal for Sahrawi autonomy as “the most serious, realistic and credible” basis for resolving the conflict in a territory it relinquished in 1975. The Spanish move followed the German government which had described Morocco’s plan as “an important contribution” to solving what is now a half century old dispute. The shift in the position of European countries followed the recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed territory by Washington announced on the eve of Christmas 2020, in the dying days of the Trump administration.
Algeria’s reaction to Macron's move was hardly surprising. The Algerians have backed the Sahwari independence struggle since Spain's withdrawal which saw Morocco seize 70% of the territory and the Sahwaris hanging on to the rest. As happened with Spain in March 2022, Algiers withdrew its ambassador, this time from Paris. No doubt French companies will be less favoured than hitherto in the attribution of major contracts, as Spanish ones were.
These shifts in the position of the US and leading EU countries suggest Morocco is tightening its grip on Western Sahara. The French move will be welcome news to King Mohamed VI at a time when the huge bloodletting in Gaza has made Morocco’s decision, back in 2020, to normalise with Israel, as a quid pro quo for the recognition of its sovereignty over Western Sahara, increasingly untenable vis a vis Moroccan public opinion. Over 80% of Moroccans disapprove of their country’s normalising its relations with Israel. Such disapproval has in no way, however, hindered Morocco’s deepening security ties with Israel which go back to the reign of the king’s father, Hassan II.
That said the real question is whether France’s diplomatic shift represents a sea change in the evolution of the conflict. After all, the United Nations process remains based on the principle of self-determination. As Aboubakr Jamai pointed out in a recent RFI article “it would have been a meaningful evolution if France championed a UN Security Council resolution rejecting the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination” but that is not the case. He rightly points out that France’s change of position on the issue is the result of a cost-benefit analysis mostly related to major economic projects (the extension of the TGV railway line to Marrakesh etc) and security (it is better to have good relations with Rabat when terrorists of Moroccan origin are a threat to you.) Relations between France and Morocco have been strained in recent years but Morocco remains an attractive destination for private Western investments, notably French and Spanish.
On 30 July President Emmanuel Macron shifted France’s position on the Western Sahara in favour of Morocco's plan
The kingdom has also played a smart game over decades to increase its soft power in the Western media not least by hosting major music festivals and international conferences in Marrakesh. Algeria on the other hand has cut its people off from the West by making the country virtually inaccessible to Western media and not very welcome to foreign investment outside the hydrocarbons sector. Its leaders increasingly favour contracts with China, Gulf countries and Turkey, the terms of which are seldom made public. The Western Sahara issue plays out in legal terms but in the court of public opinion and diplomacy it has for half a century been very low down the list of Western priorities. That remains even more true at a time when the world is focussed on the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
The mistrust between Algeria and Morocco goes back nearly six decades. Competition to be the leading regional power is at the heart of a bitter rivalry which has prevented broader economic cooperation between North African countries from Mauritania to Tunisia. That mistrust lead to the closing, on November 1 2021 of the Pedro Duran Farrell pipeline, otherwise known as the Maghreb Europe (GME) gas pipeline which had been up and running since 1996 and carried Algerian gas to Spain and Portugal via Morocco. Its closure has not stopped Algeria respecting its gas delivery contracts to both Iberian countries, nor has its badly affected the Moroccan economy which benefitted from the 7% transit fee the kingdom enjoyed on the throughput of gas. Morocco has meanwhile made a big effort to diversify its economic partners in Africa, Brazil and Asia. But its hopes, upon re-joining the African Union a few years ago that the latter would expel the Sahrawi Republic have been dashed. Algeria for its part retains many allies on this issue across the continent, not least among heavyweights such as South Africa.
France’s shift of position does not represent a major sea change in a conflict which remains, in diplomatic terms, frozen. When he relinquished his job as head of the UN mission on Western Sahara in 2005, the former US Secretary of State James Baker III bluntly acknowledged that “the UN can only be as effective as its member states…the member states don’t want to solve it, so it is not going to be solved.” In 2020 he blasted President Trump’s decision to recognise Morocco’s claim calling it “a serious blow to diplomacy and international law”. Nothing much has changed since James Baker’s conclusions of 2004. The international status of the former Spanish colony remains in limbo but Morocco is unlikely to relinquish its claim especially now that international support is trending its way.
Tuesday, August 27, 2024
Congress Demands Sullivan Testify on Afghanistan Withdrawal - Guest Post by Robbie Gramer
Congress Demands Sullivan Testify on Afghanistan Withdrawal
The Republican-led investigation is pushing for a public hearing with the top Biden aide.
By Robbie Gramer
Jake Sullivan, a man in his 40s wearing a black suit, stands and speaks at a podium while giving a press briefing at the White House. He has one hand raised to point at a crowd of seated journalists, whose raised hands are seen in the foreground, out of focus.
White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan speaks on the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan at the White House in Washington on Aug. 17, 2021. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
August 27, 2024
The top lawmaker on the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee has called for National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan to testify publicly on Afghanistan, sending a letter to the White House warning that he would “compel” Sullivan to testify if he did not cooperate.
The letter represents the latest salvo in a sweeping investigation by Rep. Michael McCaul, the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC), into the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan that ended in a U.S. defeat after two decades of war and led to the Taliban takeover of the country.
In his letter, McCaul asserted that the Biden administration’s National Security Council (NSC) played an outsized role in carrying out the decision to leave Afghanistan and executing the withdrawal, which was marked by a rapid collapse of the U.S.-backed Afghan government and the chaotic—and at times deadly—attempt to evacuate U.S. forces and personnel as well as tens of thousands of Afghan allies. Thousands of other Afghan allies who were promised sanctuary by the United States were left behind, and some are still trying to escape.
“Crucial questions remain, including the role of the NSC in usurping congressionally designated responsibilities of the State Department and Defense Department,” McCaul wrote in a letter to Sullivan, a copy of which was obtained by Foreign Policy and verified by congressional aides and administration officials familiar with the matter. “Evidence gathered by the Committee in this investigation points to Mr. Sullivan as the principal architect of Afghanistan policy,” the letter reads, and it gives a deadline of Aug. 30 for the NSC to arrange a date for Sullivan’s public testimony before the Foreign Affairs Committee. “If Mr. Sullivan chooses not to appear voluntarily, I am prepared to compel his testimony.”
A White House spokesperson declined to say whether Sullivan would appear before the committee. “Ending our longest war was the right thing to do and our nation is stronger today as a result,” and the decision “has put us in a stronger position to address the challenges of the future and the threats we face today,” said Sharon Yang, the White House spokesperson, in a statement to Foreign Policy.
“When it comes to the Chairman’s inquiry into the withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Administration has taken extraordinary measures to be cooperative, including making senior officials available for hearings, providing briefings for Members and staff, making 18 current and former officials available for transcribed interviews, and producing tens of thousands of pages of documents, and we will respond directly to the Chairman regarding his latest request,” Yang added.
Democrats have criticized McCaul’s investigation as a partisan cudgel to criticize the Biden administration’s decision to withdraw and contend that the foundation for the U.S. defeat in Afghanistan was laid during former President Donald Trump’s administration, when Trump opened withdrawal negotiations with the Taliban that excluded the Afghan government.
That decision was met with backlash and confusion inside Trump’s administration and among veteran U.S. national security experts at the time. One controversial part of the former president’s strategy for negotiations involved agreeing to have the Afghan government release up to 5,000 Taliban fighters from prison as part of an exchange to start intra-Afghan negotiations, part of what became known as the Doha agreement.
“That Republicans are attempting to relitigate press briefings from three years ago, which have long been a matter of public record, shows their desperation to grab headlines in the absence of having uncovered any new facts,” said Rep. Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the HFAC Committee, in a recent statement after committee investigators interviewed former White House press secretary Jen Psaki in July over her role in communicating the White House’s strategy and response to the Afghanistan withdrawal.
The full 235-page transcript of Psaki’s interview with committee investigators is publicly available, though some other transcripts of current and former officials interviewed as part of the investigation have not been made publicly available.
McCaul and a majority of other Republican lawmakers pin the blame directly on Biden for the botched withdrawal and U.S. defeat. “By choosing an arbitrary withdrawal date and making no effort to ensure the Taliban upheld the Doha Agreement’s conditions—such as protecting women’s rights—the Biden administration emboldened the Taliban and allowed the country to become a terrorist safe haven,” McCaul said in a statement published on Aug. 15, the three-year anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal.
Monday marked the third anniversary of the so-called Abbey Gate bombing, a terrorist attack at Afghanistan’s Kabul airport on Aug. 26, 2021—at the height of the withdrawal—that killed 13 U.S. service members and some 170 Afghan civilians trying to flee the country. Trump visited Arlington National Cemetery on Monday for a wreath-laying ceremony for the U.S. service members killed.
McCaul has been conducting an investigation into the U.S. withdrawal for nearly three years, but he only gained subpoena power in the probe in January 2023, when Republicans gained control of the House and McCaul became the HFAC chairman. An interim investigation report released in August 2022 determined, among other findings, that some elite U.S.-trained Afghan special forces were forced to flee for their lives to Iran after the Taliban takeover. The report identified this as a security risk, as they could divulge sensitive U.S. military training, tactics, and intelligence to the Iranian government.
McCaul issued or threatened to issue subpoenas multiple times against the Biden administration throughout the course of the investigation in order to obtain documents on the withdrawal.
Jerry Dunleavy, a former top investigator for McCaul, said earlier this month that he resigned in protest over the direction of the investigation and alleged that McCaul did not do enough to hold military leaders to account in the course of the investigation.
Emily Cassil, a communications advisor for McCaul, said in response that the committee has conducted “thousands of hours of work” and examined “thousands of pages of documents” as well as testimony from numerous current and former senior administration officials “that reveal the Biden administration’s utter failure to properly plan for the withdrawal.”
“When our report is released, it will serve as a crucial step towards finally getting accountability for those responsible,” Cassil said.
Correction, Aug. 27, 2024: A previous version of this article misstated the date of the deadline that McCaul gave Sullivan to appear before the committee.
Monday, August 26, 2024
[Salon] Western media can be held legally accountable for its role in the Gaza genocide - Guest Post
Western media can be held legally accountable for its role in the Gaza genocide
Western media companies have made themselves a part of the mechanism of genocide in Palestine, and there are historical precedents for holding them accountable.
By Craig Mokhiber
August 24, 2024
Screenshot from November 18, 2023, CNN report by Jake Tapper.
Screenshot from November 18, 2023, CNN report by Jake Tapper that disseminated now debunked sources and testimonies of sexual violence on October 7. These false testimonies were used to justify the Israeli genocide in Gaza.
The ruthlessness of the Israeli genocide machine in Palestine, and the direct complicity of the U.S., UK, and other Western governments are two key pillars in the horrors being perpetrated against the Palestinian people (and in the attacks on human rights defenders around the globe).
But there is an essential third pillar: the role of complicit Western media corporations knowingly disseminating Israeli disinformation and propaganda, justifying war crimes and crimes against humanity, dehumanizing Palestinians, and blacking out information on the genocide in the West. From the perspective of international human rights law, such actions could and should be subject to sanctions. And there are historical precedents.
Seventy-six years ago, when delegates gathered at the newly established United Nations to draft a Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the importance of protecting freedom of expression was front and center. They would declare that “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”
But, in the wake of a half-century of horrific atrocities, driven in significant part by the dehumanization of millions on the basis of their race, ethnicity, religion, or other status, they were all too well aware that speech could also be used as a powerful weapon to destroy the rights of others, including the right to life itself. Thus, in the same document, the UN made clear that freedom of expression does not grant media corporations or anyone else a right “to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the other rights and freedoms.”
At the same time, in another UN conference room, delegates were gathered to create a new Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. There too, the drafters were aware of the danger of speech that dehumanizes and incites. The final convention would criminalize not just genocide, but also incitement to genocide and complicity in genocide- prohibitions that apply not only to states but to private actors as well.
The drafters of both instruments were aware of the conviction in the Nuremburg Tribunal just two years earlier of publisher Julius Streicher for incitement and “persecution on political and racial grounds.” The court found that Streicher’s media publication Der Sturmer continued to publish articles that included “incitement to murder and extermination” even while he was aware of the horrors that were being perpetrated against European Jews by Nazi Germany.
Fifty years later, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) would convict three media personalities for their role in inciting the Rwanda genocide. Two worked for the Mille Collines television and radio company and one for the Kangura newspaper. All three were found guilty of incitement to genocide (among other crimes). During sentencing, ICTR Judge Navi Pillay (now a commissioner on the UN’s international commission of enquiry investigating Israel’s crimes) admonished the perpetrators: “You were fully aware of the power of words, and you used the…medium of communication with the widest public reach to disseminate hatred and violence…Without a firearm, machete or any physical weapon, you caused the death of thousands of innocent civilians.”
Der Sturmer knew what they were doing. Mille Collines knew what they were doing. And, today, CNN, Fox, BBC, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal know what they are doing. This is not to say that these Western outlets are in every sense the modern equivalents Der Sturmer and Milles Collines (they are not). But, like these historic examples, they have recklessly crossed the boundaries of ethical journalism and, in some cases, may find themselves legally exposed as well.
In the face of the first live-streamed genocide in history unfolding on the screens of people from Boston to Botswana, it is simply not credible to suggest that Western media companies are not aware of the realities on the ground and of what they are doing to obscure them. They have indisputably made conscious choices to hide the genocide from their audiences, to systematically dehumanize the Palestinian victims, and to insulate the Israeli perpetrators from accountability.
In the wake of the findings of the World Court that charges of genocide are plausible, its ordering of provisional measures, the request of the ICC Prosecutor for arrest warrants, and the issuance of successive damning reports on Israel’s conduct by independent international human rights mechanisms, rather than reporting fully on these developments, Western media companies have suppressed information on them and doubled down on running cover for Israel.
Equally importantly, the target audience of these media companies is not limited to uninvolved bystanders. It includes as well Western government officials and policymakers directly complicit in the genocide, through the provision of military, economic, intelligence, and diplomatic support to Israel, as well as the voting public that enables this support. And it includes a significant number of dual Israeli nationals who shuttle back and forth to participate in the killing. The nexus between media incitement and harmful actions is more direct than these media companies might like to admit.
Indeed, if your only source of information is mainstream Western media, you may have no idea that Israel is on trial for genocide in the World Court or that Israel’s leaders are the subject of arrest warrant requests for crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court. It is likely that you have never heard the numerous statements of genocidal intent by the Israeli President, Prime Minister, cabinet ministers, and military commanders.
You will likely still believe the stories of beheaded Israeli babies (long proven to be fabricated) and be unaware of the many Palestinian babies who actually have been beheaded. You will almost certainly not know of the systematic killing of Palestinian civilians, children, infants, women, older persons, persons with disabilities, and others. You will be unaware of the torture camps, the systematic rape of detainees, and the Israeli snipers targeting small children in Gaza. And you may not even know that Israel now holds the world records for the murder of journalists, of aid workers, of UN officials, and of healthcare workers.
Instead, transparently false Israeli disinformation and propaganda are regularly and uncritically published in Western media to justify war crimes, dehumanize Palestinians, and distract the public from the daily atrocities committed in Israel’s campaign of extermination. Stories covering the genocide are censored. The voices of Palestinians and human rights defenders are suppressed.
Reporters are instructed not to mention “occupied territory”, “Palestinians”, or “refugee camps.” Those Palestinian civilian victims who are not erased entirely are reduced to “collateral damage” or “human shields” at best, or “terrorists” at worst. In massacre after massacre, Palestinians in headlines are not killed by Israel, they simply “die.”
In the rule book of Western corporate media, there is no genocide, only a war of self-defense. And history started on October 7. Absent is any coverage of the context of 76 years of ethnic cleansing, persecution, mass imprisonment, gross violations of human rights and apartheid.
In sum, western media companies have made themselves a part of the mechanism of genocide in Palestine. Absent real accountability, these influential actors will continue to abuse their power, thereby trampling on the human rights of any people who fall on the wrong side of the line between those supported by these companies, and those who they choose to denigrate and dehumanize.
Of course, defenders of Palestinian human rights in the West who oppose Israeli genocide and apartheid know better than anyone how important it is to preserve the right to free speech. No group in modern history has faced more official and corporate silencing or had its speech more criminalized by Western governments. Speech restrictions are never imposed on those with the most power, but always target those most despised by power. This is the time to buttress free speech protections, not to erode them.
But free speech guarantees do not protect incitement to war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. Those acts can and must be subject to criminal accountability. Both defamation and incitement can also bring accountability in civil courts. Action in international tribunals for Israel’s crimes against humanity and genocide in Palestine has already begun, and more is certain to follow. It is not inconceivable that, just as in the cases of the Nuremburg and Rwanda tribunals, some media companies or individuals might face real legal accountability in the months and years to come.
Regardless of what happens in the halls of justice, it is certain that these media outlets will eventually be held accountable in the court of public opinion. For defenders of human rights and people everywhere who care about holding power to account, this process is urgent. And, in fact, it has already begun. The cresting wave of public criticism of the blatant bias demonstrated by Western media during this genocide has forced some companies to begin to adjust their reporting, however slightly. This proves that change can happen if agents of change are mobilized. There is strength in speaking out, in supporting independent media, and in the boycott. As a first step, all those who care should unsubscribe from these outlets, both print and broadcast, switch to independent media sources, and encourage other to do the same.
To again quote Judge Pillay in the Rwanda decision: “The power of the media to create and destroy fundamental human values comes with great responsibility. Those who control such media are accountable for its consequences”. The task of ensuring that accountability falls, ultimately, on all of us.
Craig Mokhiber is an international human rights lawyer and former senior United Nations Official. He left the UN in October of 2023, penning a widely read letter that warned of genocide in Gaza, criticized the international response and called for a new approach to Palestine and Israel based on equality, human rights and international law.
https://mondoweiss.net/2024/08/western-media-can-be-held-legally-accountable-for-its-role-in-the-gaza-genocide/
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