Putin orders Israhell to stop || bought-and-paid-for zio-Joe says go go go

[yankeedoodle]

Russia calls on Israel to 'immediately' end settlement of Palestinian territories & maintain peace at Jerusalem's sacred sites
https://www.rt.com/russia/523684-moscow-gaza-armistice-calls/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=aplication_chrome&utm_campaign=chrome

Moscow has urged the Israeli government to urgently put an end to violent clashes with Palestinians, as security forces crack down on unrest in East Jerusalem and are reportedly considering a full-scale ground operation in Gaza.

On Wednesday, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov held a call with Mousa Abu Marzuk, a senior representative of Hamas, the de facto government in Gaza. During the talks, Marzuk warned of a worsening humanitarian situation in Eastern Jerusalem, as well as reported shelling of residential areas in Gaza.

The foreign ministry in Moscow later issued a statement which "emphasized the importance of putting an immediate end to the violence, as well as the inadmissibility of attacks on civilians, regardless of their nationality and religion." The diplomats added that this applied to both "strikes on civilian targets in Israeli and Palestinian territory." Furthermore, they insisted that Israel must maintain "the status quo of Jerusalem's sacred sites" and "immediately" stop all settlement activities in Palestinian areas.

Large-scale riots broke out in Palestinian areas of East Jerusalem, close to the Temple Mount, one of the most sacred sites for both Islamic and Jewish believers. Moves by Israeli officials to evict more than 70 Palestinians from homes in the nearby Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood have sparked outrage in the Middle East and become the focus of an international campaign. Right-wing Jewish organizations had launched legal action to take ownership of the land on which the residences are built, with an Israeli court ruling that it belonged to the religious associations since before 1948, when the state was founded. A number of evictions have been halted pending legal action.

Israel's forces have since fired tear gas and deployed stun grenades in an attempt to quell the unrest in East Jerusalem, in what London-based Amnesty International has described as "abusive and wanton force against largely peaceful Palestinian protesters" in the partitioned city. Hundreds of people have reportedly been wounded, including both protesters and dozens of police officers. The Israeli government insists that it is taking only proportionate measures.

In response, armed groups in Gaza have launched a barrage of rocket attacks into Israeli territory, with warning sirens sounding in nearby cities and towns. The Israeli government reports that at least 1,600 rockets have been fired, with the vast majority being intercepted by the country's 'Iron Dome' air defense system. However, six Israelis are said to have been killed, including a child, and more than 200 injured in blasts. Alarms have sounded in the country's second city, Tel Aviv, and families have been forced to seek safety in bomb shelters.

Israel has since launched strikes against around 600 targets in Gaza, which it says belong to Hamas and the Islamic Jihad militant group, which is registered as a terrorist organization is Russia. Officials say several fighters, including senior commanders, have been killed, while the Palestinian Ministry of Health reports that at least 67 people lost their lives in the attacks. The Muslim world is currently marking Eid al-Fitr, one of the holiest occasions on the Islamic calendar, as the bombardments continue.

The US has since reiterated that its support for "Israel's security, for its legitimate right to defend itself and its people, is fundamental and will never waver." However, a White House statement went on to add that Jerusalem "must be a place of co-existence." The EU's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrel, has also argued that "indiscriminate launching of rockets from Hamas and other groups towards Israeli civilians is unacceptable," but said the country's response must be "proportionate and with maximum restraint in the use of force." He added that proposed evictions in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood were a "matter of serious concern" and "such actions are illegal under international humanitarian law and only serve to fuel tensions on the ground."

China, Norway and Tunisia have since issued a call on the UN Security Council, of which Russia is a permanent member, to hold emergency talks to deal with the growing crisis.

People of Russian heritage are among one of the largest minority groups in Israel, with around 900,000 Russian Jews living in the country, following widespread emigration from both the USSR and, later, from former Soviet states after the collapse of communism. Russia, along with the US, is one of only a handful of nations that recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. However, Moscow maintains its embassy in Tel Aviv and has consistently opposed Israeli settlement in Eastern Jerusalem, which, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said, Russia regards as the capital of the State of Palestine.

A number of anti-Semitic incidents have been recorded in Europe in recent days, with analysts fearing a rise in hate crimes against non-Israeli Jews is being driven by the conflict in the Middle East. Israeli flags were burned in front of two separate synagogues in Germany, while the words 'Free Palestine' were spray-painted on another in Spain. Russia's Chief Rabbi, Berl Lazar,  announced on Wednesday that security was being stepped up to "ensure the safety" of the community.




'Israel has a right to defend itself,' Biden tells Netanyahu, as Blinken calls Palestinian leader Abbas to condemn rocket attacks
https://www.rt.com/usa/523668-biden-blinken-gaza-violence/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=aplication_chrome&utm_campaign=chrome

US President Joe Biden voiced staunch support for Tel Aviv in a call with the Israeli PM, while Secretary of State Tony Blinken scolded a Palestinian leader for Hamas rocket fire as IDF warplanes hammer Gaza.

Biden reiterated Washington's "unwavering" commitment to Israel's security and its "legitimate right to defend itself" during a Wednesday phone call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, amid a new bout of fighting in the blockaded Palestinian enclave.

The president "condemned the rocket attacks by Hamas and other terrorist groups, including against Jerusalem and Tel Aviv," also briefly mentioning the importance of "protecting civilians," according to a White House readout of the call.

[Biden] shared his conviction that Jerusalem, a city of such importance to people of faith from around the world, must be a place of peace.

Netanyahu also acknowledged the conversation in a tweet, cheering Biden's "backing of Israel's right to self-defense."

The call came after three consecutive days of violence in Gaza, which have seen a barrage of Hamas rocket fire into Israeli cities and hundreds of IDF strikes on Palestinian territory. Though at least 67 Palestinians have perished in bombing raids on crowded residential areas, including 16 children, Biden made little effort to urge restraint by Israeli forces during the call.

Israeli officials, meanwhile, say seven citizens have died in rocket blasts, among them one child.

Later on Wednesday, Secretary of State Blinken held a call with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, whose administration oversees the occupied West Bank. During the sit-down, the American diplomat condemned the rocket attacks and "emphasized the need to de-escalate tensions," also expressing condolences for those killed in the violence.

Like Biden, Blinken declined to make any mention of deadly Israeli airstrikes – which have targeted several high-rise structures across Gaza, including apartment blocs and offices housing media organizations – instead placing all focus on Palestinian rockets.

The renewed violence erupted after days of heated protests over the planned eviction of Palestinian residents in occupied East Jerusalem. The demonstrations were met with harsh police crackdowns – including near Al-Aqsa mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam – with hundreds injured in the resulting clashes. Anger over the evictions, as well as the police response to the protests, prompted rocket fire from Gaza on Monday night, kicking off a deadly cycle of escalation between the two sides.

Democrats in the US Congress have called on the Biden administration to address the looming evictions, with 25 lawmakers signing a letter this week expressing "deep concern about Israel's imminent plan to forcibly displace nearly 2,000 Palestinians" in two Jerusalem neighborhoods.

Israel's plans to demolish Palestinian homes in Al-Bustan and to evict Palestinians from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah are in clear violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

https://twitter.com/RepMarieNewman/status/1392558132954603524?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1392558132954603524%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rt.com%2Fusa%2F523668-biden-blinken-gaza-violence%2F

Addressed to Blinken, the letter goes on to note that some 5,000 homes in East Jerusalem were demolished by Israeli authorities between 1967 and 2017 – citing a report by the Land Research Center – while also calling attention to Tel Aviv's ongoing military occupation of the greater West Bank, of which East Jerusalem is a part.

Biden himself has also come under pressure from House Democrats over his pronouncements on the fighting in Gaza, with New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez blasting an earlier statement backing Israel's right to self-defense.

"Blanket statements like these w/ little context or acknowledgement of what precipitated this cycle of violence – namely, the expulsions of Palestinians and attacks on Al-Aqsa – dehumanize Palestinians & imply the US will look the other way at human rights violations. It's wrong," she said.

https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1392603320066400266?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1392603320066400266%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rt.com%2Fusa%2F523668-biden-blinken-gaza-violence%2F

[yankeedoodle]

Why Biden can't condemn Israeli violence
https://mondoweiss.net/2021/05/why-biden-cant-condemn-israeli-violence/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-email-mailpoet

Today it is exasperating to the left that the Biden administration repeats the same old mantra about violence in Israel and Palestine– Israel has a right to defend itself, we condemn Hamas rocket attacks — when it is plain as can be that the conflict is one-sided and the community that will suffer the most are 2 million Palestinians locked in an open-air prison subject to missile attacks leveling their apartment buildings. Forty-six are dead, many of them civilians; and Israel promises more violence soon.

The Squad and Bernie Sanders and Chris Van Hollen can talk about Israel's responsibility. So can the media– Vox and Politico and CNN and David Rothkopf. But Biden won't touch it; and so for the 100th time I want to explain the power of the Israel lobby: Biden is afraid that he will alienate Jewish donors who care about Israel who make up a large portion of Democratic Party funding.

The Pew poll on Jewish life in America that came out yesterday helps to explain this. Jews care a lot about Israel, Jews are Democrats, Jews make more money than other Americans on average.

Here's what Pew says about Israel.
Eight-in-ten U.S. Jews say caring about Israel is an essential or important part of what being Jewish means to them. Nearly six-in-ten say they personally feel an emotional attachment to Israel, and a similar share say they follow news about the Jewish state at least somewhat closely.

So when pro-Israel propagandists say that 95 percent of American Jews support Israel, they're not far off. Yes there is Jewish diversity, Pew says; 10 percent of American Jews support the BDS campaign that is equivalent to the boycotts launched against the Jim Crow south in the 1960s. But overwhelmingly Jews are opposed to BDS — 43 percent– while another 43 don't know much about it.

Jews are overwhelmingly Democrats: 71 percent to 26 percent, Pew says.

And comparatively wealthy. 54 percent of Jewish households make more than $100,000 a year, compared to 19 percent of U.S. households overall. Nearly a quarter of Jewish households (23 percent) make over $200,000 a year, compared to just 4 percent of the general population.

Put all those things together — Democratic Party alignment, love of Israel, and wealth — and Joe Biden is afraid to alienate pro-Israel Jewish donors by saying a word against Israel. Here are two insiders saying the role of pro-Israel Jewish donors is "gigantic" and "shocking" inside the Democratic Party. Here is The New York Times saying that the influence of Jewish "megadonors... is the elephant in the room for some."

Of the dozens of personal checks greater than $500,000 made out to the largest PAC for Democrats in 2018, the Senate Majority PAC, around three-fourths were written by Jewish donors. This provides fodder for anti-Semitic conspiracy theories... Though the number of Jewish donors known to prioritize pro-Israel policies above all other issues is small, there are few if any pushing in the opposite direction.

Let's just look at two of those donors who have been in the news lately to understand that influence.

Haim Saban is one of the biggest donors to the Democratic Party and he has lately teamed up with Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner to push the normalization deals between Israel and Arab countries. You'd think that any Democrat having anything to do with the Trump team would become persona non grata. No; Haim Saban has too much money to ever be marginal. He loves Kushner because Kushner loves Israel. And here the two of them are working hard at one goal, to destroy Palestinians as a political force — which is the only point of the "Abraham Accords."

Joe Biden will do nothing to alienate Haim Saban, just as Barack Obama would do everything to keep Saban on his side. Just as Hillary Clinton shaped her campaign stances in 2015 to please Saban.

Then there's Stacy Schusterman. Schusterman is a megadonor to the Democratic Party who also gave more than $1.2 million to Democratic Majority for Israel, the Israel lobby group that is trying to ensure that the left doesn't push the party toward a progressive stance on Israel. Schusterman backs a PAC called Americans for Tomorrow's Future that spent $3 million trying to knock Ilhan Omar out of Congress and also tried to stop Jamaal Bowman from beating Eliot Engel in New York. And now Shontel Brown, a candidate for an open Ohio congressional seat, is desperately signaling his pro-Israel support to try to get the same flow of cash, the Intercept reports. Brown is taking on Nina Turner in a Democratic primary; and Turner is a Sandersite who favors conditioning aid to Israel over its human rights violations.

Joe Biden is, of course, against conditioning aid to Israel.

Stacy Schusterman reveals the heart of the American Jewish community. Look at the Schusterman Family Foundation, which she chairs. It gives millions of dollars away to well-meaning causes. The NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Bending the Arc. The Vera Institute of Justice which works on incarceration issues.

And the same Schusterman foundation also gives millions to rightwing Israel causes. The AIPAC program that sends Congresspeople to Israel — $1.5 million. Birthright, which sends young Jews to Israel– $3 million. This is big money, of course; and there are plenty of neoconservative pro-Israel orgs Schusterman supports, like MEMRI and Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

This kind of giving is vital to the Democratic Party. It's surely why Nancy Pelosi has said that the Capitol would crumble and fall to the ground before the Congress stops giving aid to Israel. It's surely why Raphael Warnock walked back his criticism of Israel in comments to the Democratic Majority for Israel in the days before the Senate election in Georgia in January. It's surely why even AOC has tempered her own criticisms of Israel. The liberal Zionist organizations are giving Biden the ability to oppose settlements, but even they are not for reducing aid to Israel.

Yes young justice-Jews are changing the American Jewish community. But it's a very slow process. 67 percent of Jews over 65 are "emotionally attached" to Israel, Pew says. But so are 48 percent of Jews who are 18-29!

The American Jewish community is still attached to Israel; and pro-Israel donors are the power that be when it comes to Middle East policy in the Democratic Party.