The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran has confused people across the political spectrum. The Trump administration’s apparent unpreparedness for the war, the severe (and predictable) economic consequences of Iran closing off the Strait of Hormuz, and the total lack of any attempt to build support for the war among the U.S. population have made the war appear irrational to many people. So irrational, in fact, that some feel there must be another explanation — that Israel has somehow tricked, persuaded, or forced the U.S. into launching a war on Iran on Israel’s behalf. But this gets things backwards. When you look at Israel’s role in the Middle East, it becomes clear that the U.S. calls the shots.

Iran has been in the U.S. gunsights for a very long time, for a few reasons. Iran has a tremendous amount of oil. Iran’s geographic location gives it the ability to impact world oil trade, as people in the U.S. are quickly learning as they watch gas prices climb. And Iran has also stood up for Palestinian liberation in a major way, launching attacks on Israel in response to Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people and supporting pro-Palestinian military organizations in Lebanon and Yemen. For all these reasons, the U.S. not only wants to overthrow Iran’s government, it wants to control it.

Since October 7, 2023, millions of people in the U.S. have rallied to the Palestinian cause for national liberation. They’ve seen Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. Many people are still stunned by the U.S.’s unyielding support for Israel, from both Biden and Trump, as the Palestinian death toll continues to rise. People have also seen the arrogance of Israeli officials as they’ve dictated how U.S. students protesting the war should be punished. It makes sense that many people see this latest war and think it must be at the behest of Israel, because most people in the U.S. aren’t taught the truth about U.S. imperialism in the Middle East.

But the U.S. doesn’t send Israel billions of dollars a year in financial and military support out of the kindness of its heart. Israel’s non-stop attempts at expansion, and its attacks on Palestine, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Jordan, Egypt and Iraq over the decades have had a continual destabilizing effect on the entire Middle East. Israel’s endless wars create constant refugee crises, destroy infrastructure, weaken or collapse governments, and create opportunities for the U.S. to pit countries in the Middle East against each other. This is all very good news for big U.S. businesses who want to control Middle Eastern oil, natural resources and labor.

Israel simply would not be able to carry out its crimes without U.S. funding. The U.S could stop Israel any time it wants to by just cutting the financial support. And the U.S. doesn’t stop Israel because it supports Israel’s actions — they’re a good thing for the capitalist rulers of the U.S.

Controlling Iran has been a stated goal of U.S. foreign policy since Iran’s parliament and Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh nationalized Iran’s oil in 1951, just three years after the Nakba — the forced expulsion of 700,000 Palestinians from their homeland — and the birth of the state of Israel. British intelligence and the CIA launched a coup, taking Mosaddegh out of power and turning power back over to the notorious monarch Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The shah had no qualms about U.S. companies taking 40% of Iran’s oil shares — shares that belonged to the Iranian people. The shah ruled with U.S. support despite mounting unpopularity among Iranians.

In 1978 Iranians led a revolution that got rid of the shah and established the Islamic Republic of Iran. This meant no more oil profits for U.S. companies and a new, major force resisting U.S. imperialism in the Middle East. Iran’s support for anti-imperialist movements, opposition to Israel, and steadfast support for Palestinian liberation in particular, have cemented Iran as a target of U.S. aggression. To whatever extent the war on Iran is about protecting Israel, it’s about protecting it as a tool of U.S. aggression in the Middle East.

When right-winger Joe Kent resigned as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center last month, he said in a resignation letter that Israel and the U.S. media “deployed a misinformation campaign that wholly undermined [Trump’s] America First platform and sowed pro-war sentiments to encourage a war with Iran.” Kent also criticized U.S. involvement in the Syrian Civil War, claiming it was fought for Israel too. Make no mistake, Kent is not anti-war — he served 11 combat tours himself. People have made a lot of hay out of Kent’s remarks, perhaps out of the hope that if even a far-right figure like Kent could see that the war on Iran is a bad thing, other politicians would too, and would intervene to stop the war.

But Kent is missing the big picture. Joe Biden put it pretty well all the way back in 1986 when he was on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, when he said, “Were there not an Israel, the United States of America would have to invent an Israel to protect her interests in the region.” But there’s a difference between the interests of Biden or Trump or all the other politicians who have supported endless violence against Iran, Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Palestine, and the interests of the vast majority of the people of the U.S. It’s ordinary working people that will have to deal with the economic consequences of war on Iran. Meanwhile, the big capitalists hope to make billions. And they’re using Israel as a tool to do it.

#Commentary #Opinion #Iran #Israel #AntiWarMovement

Milwaukee, WI – On November 21, the UWM Popular University for Palestine (PUP) Coalition took bold action to rename the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Golda Meir Library. As part of the National Students for Justice in Palestine’s International Strike for Palestine, students hand-delivered a petition signed by over 500 students, alumni, faculty and community members. The petition, denounced UWM’s dehumanizing language and policies toward Palestinians, and was brought to Chancellor Mark Mone’s office. The protest ended in a banner drop at the campus library, and a call for renaming the building to Electa Quinney Library.

Coalition member organizations including Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) Muslim Student Association, and Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) - led the campaign to put an end to UWM’s continued financial and academic ties to the genocidal state of Israel and to challenge the ongoing repression of Palestinian and pro-Palestine students on campus. 

Fed up with repeated dismissals of their demands by the administration, students taped the petition to the chancellor’s office’s doors at Chapman Hall before continuing their march to the library. The banner drop came after months of frustration with UWM administrators, who repeatedly dismissed student demands against the admin’s support of Israel as it carries out an ongoing genocide. Students also decried the library being named after a Zionist former prime minister of Israel, Golda Meir. 

The PUP coalition demands that UWM rename it to the Electa Quinney Library. Electa Quinney is Wisconsin’s first public schoolteacher and an indigenous woman from the Stockbridge-Munsee band of Mohicans. The demand represents the future that students want for UWM, “Just as countless institutions have removed the names of figures tied to oppression, UWM must take responsibility and rename the library,” said student organizer, Ameen Atta.

Over the last year, Muslim, Palestinian and pro-Palestine students have faced attacks for standing with Palestine, while the university administration does nothing but pay lip service. 

“Over the past year, UWM has undermined the safety of its Palestinian and Muslim students, and in many instances, put us directly in harm's way. Having a library named after someone who's basically denied the existence of Palestinian people only puts us in even more danger,” said Students for Justice in Palestine president, Waleed Nassar. “We’ve attempted literally all conventional means of communication with admin to address this issue of student safety, but all we are met with are empty promises and words of ‘sympathy.’” 

Despite the constant repression faced on campus, students and allies remain steadfast in their demands. The PUP coalition continues to fight for UWM to sever all ties - academic, financial, and social - with the state of Israel.

#MilwaukeeWI #UWM #SJP #SDS #UWMSDS #PUP #YDSA #InternationalStrikeForPalestine #GoldaMeir #FreePalestine #BDS #CulturalBoycott #AcademicBoycott #Israel #ElectaQuinney #NativePower #IndigenousPower #Mohican

San Francisco, CA – On October 8, upwards of 3000 people from across the Bay Area marched in San Francisco to show solidarity with Palestine. They rallied to support the Palestinian people’s struggle for freedom from Israeli occupation.

The Bay Area protest, like demonstrations around the United States, support the Palestinians’ united effort to take back occupied land seized by Israel since 1948. Israel has a decades-long record of oppression and brutal human rights atrocities. The recent campaign of resistance is named “Al-Aqsa Flood” after the historic Al-Aqsa mosque in Al Quds, which has been the target of Israeli attacks in recent years.

The protest began at the San Francisco Israeli consulate building, where thousands gathered with Palestinian flags. The crowd unapologetically cheered for the liberation of Palestine with repeated slogans such as “Free, free Palestine!” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!”

During the initial rally, police in riot gear were present in front of the Israeli consulate, separating protesters from the building. Meanwhile, the Palestine coalition’s security kept a small contingent of pro-Israeli reactionaries away from the crowd. Despite tensions, the leadership of the pro-Palestine rally and its security encouraged the crowd to not engage with the Zionists.

After the starting rally, the crowd marched from the Israel consulate to Embarcadero Plaza. Taking to the streets, the protesters flew the Palestinian flag. They also displayed depictions of Ghassan Kanafani, a Palestinian revolutionary with the PFLP, and Che Guevara, a revolutionary icon who has inspired many such as Kanafani. As the protesters marched, an unidentified man tried to infiltrate the crowd. Protest security confronted him and prevented the man from getting closer, while the march continued.

At Embarcadero Plaza, the coalition began its program with speakers. The theme throughout the different speeches was the condemnation of the U.S. government for aiding Israel in the oppression of Palestine. Another theme was the hypocrisy of the Western media for ignoring the brutal Israeli bombing campaigns and massacres against Palestinian people.

Protesters defended the Palestinian right to self-determination and demanded an end to the occupation. They refused to label Palestine’s united front of resistance arising from Gaza as “terrorists.” In San Francisco and around the world, the people are demanding, “Solidarity with Palestine!”

The protest was organized by a coalition of Palestinian and socialist organizations such as the Palestinian Youth Movement, U.S. Palestinian Community Network, Al-Awda Coalition, Palestinian Feminist Collective, Party for Socialism and Liberation and others.

#SanFranciscoCA #Palestine #NationalLiberation #Israel

Community members and grassroots organization leaders, many of whom were mobilized to attend by the Palestinian Youth Movement Dallas Chapter, spoke for over an hour about the history and present reality of life in Gaza under the U.S.-backed Israeli occupation, ethnic cleansing, and apartheid. One speaker compared the institutional silence on the killings of Palestinians to the silence of city officials on the killings of local community members by the police.

A member of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization gave an impassioned speech and concluded with “We cannot stand with Israel while they compound their criminal occupation with further war crimes. We must stand up to demand that our country stops funding this occupation to the tune of $3 billion a year.”

Meanwhile, a small number of resolution supporters spoke and shared widely debunked rumors accusing Palestinians of beheading children, leaning into harmful Islamophobic stereotypes. City Council Member Adam Bazaldua amplified these false statements and when community members tried to correct the record, the council began clearing the room.

The closing statements by Dallas City Council members and Mayor Eric Johnson further inflamed tensions in the room as a new version of the bill with even more inciting language than the previous draft was announced after public statements. As the remaining audience members began protesting the proceedings, City Council Member Jaynie Schultz stated, “This resolution is not about the Palestinian people, it is about their leaders and the willingness of those monsters to murder innocent Jews and put their own fellow Muslims at risk,” ignoring reality and every point that the participants brought up.

#DallasTX #Palestine #Israel #Gaza #

New Orleans, LA – The New Orleans Palestinian community and supporters rallied on October 9 in solidarity with Gaza and the Palestinian struggle for liberation. Around 200 people came to Duncan Plaza in the city’s central business district, waving dozens of Palestinian flags. The event was held in the wake of the “Al-Aqsa Flood” and the renewed declaration of war on Gaza by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.

“Blood is on the hands of the Israeli government and its supporters around the world: the U.S. government, which encourages and enables Israel’s daily depredations against the Palestinians, and every leader of every foreign government who is complacent in their capitulation to Israeli and U.S. intransigence,” said Josh Teitlelbaum of Jewish Voice for Peace.

Several speakers emphasized the right of Palestinians to defend themselves from aggression in the context of Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian land.

Leila Abu-Orf, a Palestinian human rights lawyer, said, “After 75 years of enduring apartheid, occupation and state-sanctioned annihilation, what exactly is that the U.S. and Israel expect to happen? Maybe they want us to go silently dying into the night, but that’s not an option. We have been given no choice but to fight back and reclaim our dignity.”

“Members of the Muslim Students Association wanted to be here tonight, but decided not to because they didn’t feel that it would be safe,” said Toni Jones of New Orleans for Community Oversight of the Police. “I’m here to continue the deep historical solidarity between the Black liberation and Palestinian liberation struggles.”

As the rally wound down, Palestinian community members expressed their desire to take the streets for their cause. Some of the rally’s organizers sprang into action to plan the route, help block intersections, and provide sound equipment. Participants yelled, cried and laughed through an emotional and empowering march.

Protesters chanted, “Israel, you can’t hide! We charge you with genocide!” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” as they marched. They held three lanes of rush-hour traffic on Canal Street, a major thoroughfare bordering the French Quarter and known for its heavy tourist foot traffic. The march ended at city hall with chants of “Free Palestine, free Gaza! Globalize the intifada!”

#NewOrleansLA #Palestine #NationalLiberation #AntiWar #Israel #Gaza

Kirkland, WA – On October 8, in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland, over 300 people rallied in support of the Palestinian liberation movement and against the ongoing Israeli occupation.

The Palestinian resistance has launched a major operation to reclaim their land by any means necessary, and protesters across Seattle gathered in Kirkland to stand with Palestine. The rally was called by Tamkeen Muslim Youth and Council on American-Islamic Relations WA, and many other organizations came out to support. Among those attending were families, children, and other youth from the Palestinian and Arab communities. They waved Palestinian flags and held signs reading “End the siege of Gaza” and “Self determination for Palestine.”

As the event began, around 100 Zionist provocateurs arrived. They held a banner from Congregation Ezra Bezaroth, carried Israeli and U.S. flags, and shouted and spat at the crowd.

Just before the event was scheduled to start, Zionist thugs charged into the crowd and launched an attack, kicking, grabbing and hitting demonstrators with speakers and flagpoles. Other protesters stepped in to de-escalate the situation, and police soon arrived and sprayed pepper gas into the crowd before stationing themselves between the two groups. Later, city buses were called in and parked on either side of the street where pro-Palestine demonstrators faced off against their Zionist attackers.

Despite these unprovoked attacks, demonstrators continued undeterred in their support of the Palestinian resistance. For over three hours, the protest continued and culminated in a march through downtown Kirkland. Spirited chants of “Free, free Palestine!”, “We don’t want two states, we want 1948!” and “In our millions, in our billions, we are all Palestinians!” rang out for the entirely of the protest.

“This is a really big step for Palestinian resistance because we are showing the world how the people of 1948 have been invaded,” said Rabal Haroun, an organizer with Support the Palestinian Voice. “This means even more than last year’s protests and the year before, because we are actually seeing walls being crossed.”

Dre Say, a Filipino union organizer who attended the rally, spoke to the crucial role of solidarity in the fight for liberation of all oppressed peoples. “Palestinian people who are fighting for their own liberation are always in solidarity with struggles across the world for liberation, especially for the struggle for national democracy in the Philippines. I want to respect their leadership, their solidarity and show my own solidarity here today.”

Organizers plan to continue showing their solidarity as events in Palestine rapidly unfold. Another rally, called by Students United for Palestinian Equality and Return, is scheduled for Thursday, October 12 at 12 p.m.

#KirklandWA #Palestine #SeattleWA #NationalLiberation #AntiWar #Israel #Zionism

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following October 3 statement from the U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN).

Normalization with the racist, settler-colonialist, zionist entity of Israel often begins with a U.S. directive aimed at Arab regimes, as evidenced by the first attempt with the Camp David Accords in 1978, which led to a “peace” agreement between Egypt and Israel. In essence, normalization coerces Arab regimes in the region to accept their subjugated status as compliant agents, which serves the zionist agenda and its U.S. imperialist patron. In light of the fast pace of change in today’s world order, the U.S. finds it necessary to push for normalization in order to maintain its global, imperialist dominance over Arab nations and thwart their progress toward independent, modern democracies.

Therefore, the current Saudi Arabian (and previous efforts like the Abraham Accords and others) push towards normalization with the zionist enemy fundamentally signifies a recognition of the settler-colonialist state’s legitimacy and an attempt to erase our people's historical and national rights in all of Palestine. Any discussion about the so-called “two-state solution” is nothing but an attempt to stall and buy time to create new realities on the ground that will be impossible to reverse. This is when submission, surrender, and betrayal become the inherent traits of Saudi Arabia or any other Arab regime that normalizes relations with Israel. The Saudis and the other normalizers have always supported the repression of the Palestine national liberation movement, and believe that peace deals with Israel will eventually quell Palestinian resistance and bring quiet and “stability” to the region.

Within the normalization context, the zionist entity aims to establish economic, security, and political dominance over neighboring Arab nations, while extending its influence to North African nations as well. All these countries are envisioned as expansive markets for global – predominantly U.S. – capital, perpetuating their dependency and disintegration under the auspices of sell-out regimes, especially that of the most reactionary and traitorous of them all, the criminal kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Although our Arab masses reject normalization, and have been resisting it in the Gulf and other Arab nations like Egypt and Jordan for decades, these deals – brokered by a U.S. government that pays lip service to “democracy,” but promotes all the dictators (who are also, unsurprisingly, the normalizers) in the region – also allow Israel to focus its military firepower on the Palestinian people, as the militaries of the submissive and surrendering Arab states are neutralized.

#Palestine #USPCN #SaudiArabia #Zionism #Israel

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from Palestine Solidarity of Grand Rapids, MI.

The Palestine Solidarity Committee of Grand Rapids condemns the designation of six Palestinian human rights groups as “terrorist organizations” by the Israeli state. Israel, a puppet regime of the United States, has claimed these groups as linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), forcing them into clandestine underground operations. We are calling on the United States to denounce the unsubstantiated claims of terrorism, which are used as a weapon against reporting the daily abuses committed by Israel.

The arbitrary and unjust “terrorist” label was applied to Bisan Center, Addameer, Al-Haq, Defense for Children International-Palestine, the Union for Agricultural Work Committees and the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committee. The groups are all recognized and given financial support by the European Union.

The Biden administration has shown no sign of ceasing its support for Israel. The United States remains Israel’s closest ally amid mounting concerns and an unprecedented wave of protests this year over the relationship between the two countries. Yet two months ago, $1 billion was approved by the US House of Representatives for Israel’s Iron Dome missile system with overwhelming bipartisan support.

The continued funding of Israel by the United States allows the country to carry on its egregious violations of human rights against Palestinians. If the United States claims to care about human rights across the world, as it so often does, it should sever ties with Israel. The Biden administration’s complicity must end now. We stand in solidarity with organizations across the country who have spoken out against these allegations.

#GrandRapidsMI #Palestine #MiddleEast #PeoplesStruggles #Israel #PalestineSolidarityCommitteeOfGrandRapids

According to a statement from Hezbollah “The drone is now in the hands of Islamic Resistance fighters.”

In September, 2019, Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah said that every Israeli drone which violates the Lebanese airspace will be a target for the resistance, after an attack by Israeli drones laden with explosive materials on the Beirut media office belonging to the Lebanese party.

Israel occupies Lebanese territory and frequently enters the country’s airspace.

#Lebanon #MiddleEast #PeoplesStruggles #Israel #Hezbollah

Chicago, IL – Israel already controls the entirety of Palestinian life in the occupied territories, even in the areas that are supposedly run by the Palestinian Authority, but this annexation plan codifies the expropriation of Palestinian land and may secure Israeli sovereignty over 30% of the West Bank, including the border with Jordan called the Jordan Valley.

Annexation is illegal under international law, but that has never stopped Israel before. The occupation of the West Bank and annexation of Jerusalem and the Syrian Golan Heights is illegal as well, and Israel has also violated the majority of so-called peace agreements with the Palestinians since the 1993 Oslo Accords because Israel does not want peace.

It wants to continue its racist, white settler-colonialist project in Palestine, ethnically cleansing the indigenous population and replacing them with European and U.S. Jews. Over 500,000 of these illegal settlers already live in the West Bank and Jerusalem, and annexation is the Zionist’s way of saying that the land stolen from Palestinians to build settlements and house colonizers now officially belongs to Israel.

Again, this plan and move by Israel would not be possible without the U.S. Both the Democrats and Republicans have allowed Israel to commit crimes against the Palestinians with impunity, but Trump's administration has definitely been the worst in history.

He and his son-in-law Jared Kushner clearly see the Palestinians as a non-entity, working only with their fellow racist, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on the Deal of the Century, their ridiculous ‘peace proposal’ for the region.

This ‘Sham’ of the Century has already been rejected by Palestinians, Arabs, and all people of conscience. Nobody even discusses it anymore.

And this annexation plan is also rejected by the Palestinian masses and their supporters. People in Palestine and across the world are calling for Days of Rage on or around July 1, and protests are scheduled on every continent, including a number in U.S. cities like Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Santa Ana, Los Angeles, San Diego and Miami.

Palestinians have been resisting Zionist Israel, Arab reactionary regimes, and U.S. imperialism, for over seven decades, and will continue their struggle against racism, annexation, occupation and colonization – never surrendering until they win their Right of Return and national liberation.

#ChicagoIL #InJusticeSystem #OppressedNationalities #Palestine #US #MiddleEast #PeoplesStruggles #Israel #HatemAbudayyeh #Antifascism #DonaldTrump

The 52nd anniversary of the founding of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) was observed with a December 7 march by tens of thousands of members and supporters in Gaza City. The PFLP is playing a leading role in the struggle to end the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Over the past week Israeli authorities have arrested 50 Palestinians in the West Bank and accused them of being members of the PFLP.

#Palestine #PopularFrontForTheLiberationOfPalestine #MiddleEast #PeoplesStruggles #Israel

Hezbollah reports that one of the Israelis drones exploded and the other did not – due to a technical failure. Of the drone that failed to blow up, Hezbollah stated “it was laden with a bomb which was professionally wrapped and isolated,” made up of C4 explosives.

In recent days, Israel has launched attacks on Syria, Iraq, Gaza, and eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.

Emboldened by Trump’s backing, and facing a growing tide of anger from the occupied Palestinians and the people of the Middle East, the Israeli authorities are lashing out at counties and popular political forces across the region.

#WashingtonDC #AntiwarMovement #OppressedNationalities #Palestine #US #MiddleEast #PeoplesStruggles #Lebanon #Israel #Beirut #DonaldTrump

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following August 15 statement from the Twin Cities based Anti-War Committee.

The Minnesota Anti-War Committee condemns the Israeli government’s August 15 decision not to allow US Representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib from entering occupied Palestine, to which the Israeli state controls all access. Reps. Omar and Tlaib join the thousands of peace activists, human rights officials and people of conscience around the world who are denied entry over their support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel and its Zionist policies of occupation, apartheid and settler-colonialism in Palestine. The two congresswomen also now share the experience of millions of diaspora Palestinians who live in forced exile, denied reentry to their homeland. Rep. Tlaib, a Palestinian-American, had planned to visit family in the occupied West Bank.

Representing Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District, Rep. Omar continues to face both racist incitement by President Trump and his supporters as well as dishonest allegations of anti-Semitism from her own Democratic Party. We commend Rep. Omar for her courage and steadfastness in the face of these attacks. Principled criticism of Israel is not anti-Semitism. We invite our supporters to join Rep. Omar in continued solidarity with the people of Palestine.

The Anti-War Committee continues our longstanding call for the total end to US aid to Israel. We maintain that Israel acts at the behest of US ruling class interests, as demonstrated by Israel’s announcement of the ban against Reps. Omar and Tlaib coming soon after a tweet by President Trump calling for it to do so. Far from being the so-called “only democracy in the Middle East,” Israel in fact is a profoundly undemocratic country, premised on the denial of Palestinian self-determination and functioning as a strategic outpost for US imperialism in the entire Middle East.

We encourage our supporters to join us at the MN State Board of Investment meeting on August 22 where we will pressure the State of Minnesota to divest from Elbit Systems, an Israeli company which profits from Israeli apartheid and from building the wall on the U.S./Mexico border. Minnesota should not invest in companies that profit from human rights abuses, nor in a country that bans our own member of Congress from entering to investigate human rights abuses.

We join with the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights, Jewish Voice for Peace and the Council on American-Islamic Relations – MN in saying #LetThemIn!

#TwinCitiesMN #International #AntiwarMovement #ImmigrantRights #Palestine #US #MiddleEast #PeoplesStruggles #Israel #Antiracism #Antifascism #AntiWarCommittee #DonaldTrump #IlhanOmar

The Syrian Arab News Agency is reporting that a child was killed, and many more civilians were wounded.

Israel has stepped up its attacks on Syria. With the backing of the Trump administration, Israel recently annexed a portion of Syria, the Golan Heights.

#WashingtonDC #Israel #Syria #Syra #MiddleEast

Dallas, TX – On February 19, about ten people with the Dallas Palestine Coalition gathered at the SMU Cox School of Business to protest an event titled “Texas’ Looming Water Crisis: How Israeli Tech Could Save the Day.” The tech event was meant to encourage sales of Israeli technology – products built on stolen and occupied Palestinian lands.

Some went in to ask questions at the event while others protested outside. Protesters displayed a “Palestinian lives matter” banner and chanted. Chants included “Israel steals Palestinian homes, land and water,” and “Israel continues to build illegal settlements on Palestinian land.”

“Most people know that Israel constantly violates Palestinian human rights and they have been killing indiscriminately protesters since last March, including women, children, medics and journalists,” stated Asad Shelami of the Dallas Palestine Coalition. “We are here to take a stand.”

#DallasTX #AntiwarMovement #OppressedNationalities #Palestine #MiddleEast #PeoplesStruggles #Israel #DallasPalestineCoalition

Chicago, IL – Longtime leader in the Black liberation movement and the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, Frank Chapman, condemned the January 4 decision of the Alabama-based Birmingham Civil Rights Institute to abruptly cancel their plan to present Angela Davis with the Fred Shuttlesworth Award. Fred Shuttlesworth was a prominent leader in the civil rights movement.

Chapman stated, “Angela Davis and Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth were dearest friends and co-leaders in the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression at the same time that I served as its executive director.”

“It is very shameful and cowardly that she is being denied an award that bears the name of Fred Shuttlesworth because she opposed the racist, Zionist regime in Israel for their continued persecution of Palestinian freedom fighter Rasmea Odeh. This particular U.S. cultural center dishonors Fred Shutlesworth, Angela Davis and our movement,” continued Chapman.

According to a statement from the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, because of “Ms. Davis’ statements and public record, we concluded that she unfortunately does not meet all of the criteria on which the award is based.”

Organizations supporting the Israeli occupation of Palestine have been waging a vendetta campaign against political figures who demanded justice for veteran Palestinian American activist Rasmea Odeh. A powerful movement that brought together Palestinians and progressive people across the U.S. prevented her imprisonment on trumped-up charges, but she was deported.

#ChicagoIL #International #AntiwarMovement #InJusticeSystem #Palestine #MiddleEast #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #Israel #AngelaDavis #Antiracism #PoliticalRepression #FrankChapman #NationalAllianceAgainstRacistAndPoliticalRepression

Washington, DC – The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) is reporting that Israel struck the region around Damascus, December 25.

According to the report, “Syrian air defenses confronted hostile missiles launched by the Israeli warplanes from over the Lebanese territories and downed most of them before reaching their targets, affirming that the damages of the aggression were limited to a munition warehouse and the injury of three soldiers.”

U.S. and Israeli-backed forces in Syria are in the final stages of defeat.

#WashingtonDC #DistrictOfColumbiaDC #MiddleEast #PeoplesStruggles #Israel #Syria #War #SyrianArabNewsAgency

The announcement comes after years of sustained advocacy from a coalition of groups known as the StolenHomes Coalition – which included organizations like SumOfUs, CODEPINK, American Muslims for Palestine, the US Palestinian Community Network, the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, Friends of Sabeel North America, Up Lift and Jewish Voice for Peace.

More than 150,000 people from around the world joined onto a petition urging Airbnb to stop listing vacation rentals in Israeli settlements built on stolen Palestinian land and deemed illegal under international law. Thousands of people also left reviews on a microsite parodying Airbnb rental listings and calling attention to the fact that the vacation rental company continues to list Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Coalition members held a protest at Airbnb’s European headquarters in Ireland, and in other cities around the world. Coalition members also called on Fidelity Investments, one of Airbnb’s largest owners, to push the company to stop the illegal rentals and released a video campaign called “We Can’t Live There. So Don’t Go There,” featuring Palestinians speaking directly to Airbnb’s new marketing campaign “Don’t Go There. Live There,” and urging potential travelers not to rent vacation homes in settlements, which are often not clearly identified as such in the website’s listings.

“There’s no delicate way to say this: for years, Airbnb has profited from rental suites built on top of the ruins of Palestinian lives and livelihoods,” explained Angus Wong , Campaign Manager from SumOfUs.org. “While it is good that Airbnb finally recognized the illegal nature of these listings and pulled them from their website – this decision took way too long. By listing these stolen homes for years, Airbnb directly helped Israeli settlers legitimize their occupation of stolen Palestinian land, contributing to the Israeli government's decades-long policies of occupation, discrimination and dispossession. We will be monitoring Airbnb to make sure that no more illegal rental properties built on Palestinian land are listed on the site – and urge Airbnb to take steps to make amends to the Palestinian people by donating profits from these illegal listings to Palestinian organizations working to provide services to people amidst the Israeli occupation.”

“The U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) celebrates the decision by Airbnb to finally act on its stated values of inclusiveness and anti-discrimination,” said Hatem Abudayyeh, National Coordinating Committee member of USPCN, “especially since Israeli settlement listings are the exact opposite of these principles. “They represent exclusive, militarized ethnic enclaves, illegal under international law, that Airbnb helped normalize as tourist destinations. For visitors to Palestine, we hope Airbnb rentals continue to be an important avenue for our people in Occupied Palestine to showcase their hospitality and history. We are happy now that they can do so without the shadow of colonialism as competition.”

#WashingtonDC #AntiwarMovement #Palestine #PeoplesStruggles #Israel #WestBank #Antiracism #Airbnb #MiddleEast

Chicago, IL – To me, Ora Schub is a Palestinian. Her parents, who practiced Judaism, were born in Palestine before the founding of the settler-colonial state of Israel, so in essence, they were Palestinian Jews. And Ora took her nationality from her parents, so in my book, that makes her a Palestinian. But even if she didn't identify as one, Ora made a decision long ago to be an anti-Zionist and an anti-racist, and to join the movement in support of Palestinian self-determination, in support of the Right of Return for all Palestinian refugees and their descendants, and in support of ending Israeli colonization and occupation of all Arab lands.

When she was younger, she went to Hebrew school and probably learned much about the myths of Israel's founding, that Palestine was “a land without a people for a people without a land” and that the European Jewish settlers “made the desert bloom.” But as soon as she was old enough to make her own determination about faith, she decided that she wouldn't identify with Judaism or any religion. The issue, to her, was a simple one that had nothing to do with faith. It was as simple as white settlers from Europe stealing land and pushing out the indigenous Palestinians. And that, she flatly rejected.

The only solution to her was to defeat Zionism and build a pluralistic society in a single, democratic state for all who live in historical Palestine (which is what we Palestinians call the land, collectively, of present day Israel, the West Bank, Jerusalem, and Gaza – “from the river to the sea”). And so we easily hit it off, because that's what I believe as well.

My friend Ora Schub died on Monday, June 11, 2018, after a long and courageous battle with cancer. She was surrounded by her family and closest friends. I visited her a number of times while she was in hospice, and although it was sometimes a struggle for her to speak, she continued to be as thoughtful and funny as ever while we whispered our final words to each other. And for those who know her best, she was still able to raise her eyebrows and roll her eyes in semi-disgust when I said something obnoxious or not quite as funny as I thought it was.

I'm not sure that I got to say everything I wanted to her, or she to me, but I was at least able to tell her two undeniable truths: that she was as important a colleague as I've ever had at the Arab American Action Network (AAAN). And that I loved her.

When I met Ora, it was 1999, and I had just been hired as the AAAN's youth program director. Amongst the co-founders of the organization were the legendary Arab community organizers Camilia Odeh and Maha Jarad, who know my family well and asked me to apply. Ora was recruited by them as a member of the AAAN's founding board of directors and remained one until her death.

Full disclosure: she tried to resign many times, saying that she didn't want to be like the Mayors Daley and stay in a leadership position for decades, but I'd respond by inviting her out to lunch in Hyde Park near her home and office, and invariably convince her to stay.

Whenever there was a crisis I was dealing with at the AAAN, Ora was my first call. She had a way of calmly, thoughtfully, and honestly assessing every situation, and giving me advice that always helped resolve the challenges we were facing. As a long-time community organizer and advocate, she also played a leading role in shaping our youth organizing work, by reviewing grants and work plans, participating in site visits with funders, and supporting our programs, projects, and actions with her presence and her brilliant analyses and critiques.

She was always there for me in times of personal crisis as well, and I'll always appreciate that just as much.

Although I never had the pleasure of participating in any of her restorative justice circle trainings, and although it took a few conversations for her to convince me of its efficacy, the methodology became a staple of our work at the AAAN. Rasmea Odeh, our former associate director and Arab Women's Committee coordinator, was trained by her, as well as a few of our youth organizers over the years. We still use circles in the organization to this day, at every level of our work. Ora and Cheryl Graves, her close friend and together, co-directors of the Community Justice for Youth Institute, are the forebears of Chicago's restorative justice movement.

I never really understood how important Ora was in that movement until her cancer metastasized and she went back to the hospital for more chemotherapy, radiation and surgeries. I visited Northwestern Hospital the day she had a tumor removed from her spine, and over a number of subsequent visits, I read all the cards and notes people had left for her, saw the dozens of beautiful pictures people had pinned to a bulletin board in her hospital and hospice rooms, and met a number of extraordinary organizers and activists who all described Ora as their teacher.

Hundreds of people visited her near the end, people from all walks of life and all nationalities, ethnicities and races. She was truly a woman of the people – adored, loved and respected for her passionate defense of the marginalized, and for her “courage, tenacity, loyalty and hunger for justice,” as Camilia Odeh texted to me today when she heard the news.

This hunger for justice reminds me of two of my favorite Ora Schub stories. She had been the Chicago chapter president of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) at one point, and had helped organize – with the National Conference of Black Lawyers (NCBL) – a number of human and legal rights delegations to other countries. One of the trips was either in 1990 or ‘91, when the Kuwaiti government was extra-judicially expelling Palestinian residents from its state in the wake of Iraq's war with the Gulf country. (Kuwait was claiming that the Palestinians there were “5th columnists.”) The NCBL and NLG tried to stop those deportations.

A number of years later, Stan Willis, venerable attorney and a leader of the NCBL, invited Ora to speak at its Chicago gathering. He knew that she represented the AAAN, so he wanted an Arab statement of solidarity with his organization. Ora didn't think that she'd be the best person to give the statement, so she asked me to join her and address the crowd. Together, we came up with the closing sentence of “Black liberation in the U.S. will lead to liberation for all,” a political line that we still believe in and practice to this day.

As a close friend and ally to both the Black and Arab communities of Chicagoland and the U.S., Ora was one of the first mentors of mine to explain the importance of #BlackPalestinianSolidarity in our organizing work.

The second story was probably Ora's favorite. After Israel was forced to end its 18-year-long occupation of southern Lebanon in 2000, the prominent Palestinian-American scholar and intellectual Edward Said hurled a rock towards Israel from the emancipated Lebanese side of the border, in what he called a “symbolic act.”

A few years later, sometime after Said's death in 2003, Ora was on another human and legal rights delegation, this time in Lebanon, and found herself at almost the same spot as Said in 2000. There she and the other delegates were photographed by Lebanese press hurling their own rocks at the border. She said she did it “in honor of Edward Said,” and that newspaper picture remains framed on her office desk today. I've asked Cheryl Graves for a copy, and it will now adorn the wall next to my desk in honor of Ora.

The board, staff, and members of the AAAN are in mourning today. “She was an amazing activist, solid and committed, a person of all people, and above all funny,” said Louise Cainkar, another original AAAN board member. “She made me laugh all the time. That's what I told her when I saw her last.”

The AAAN offers its deepest condolences to Ora's family: siblings Zeva, Mo, and Drora Schub; nephews Isaiah Freeman-Schub and AJ Schub (Taylor); Karla Schub; Sharron Pitts; Leroy, Jordan, and Brittany Jemison; Cheryl Graves; Lou-Ellen Saidel; David Gordon; and Leslie Burns.

To Zeva, Sharron, and Cheryl, especially, we salute you for being so steadfast and kind, handling all the visitors and well-wishers with respect and love.

The AAAN will never be the same without Ora Schub. And I will miss my friend.

#ChicagoIL #International #AntiwarMovement #Palestine #Remembrances #MiddleEast #PeoplesStruggles #Israel #OraSchub

PFLP urges the continuation of the popular movement in the occupied West Bank and throughout Palestine to confront occupation and the actions of the Palestinian Authority

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine saluted the masses of the Palestinian people in the West Bank who came out Sunday evening in Ramallah and Dheisheh in mass rallies in support of our people in the Gaza Strip. These rallies rejected the punitive measures and sanctions imposed on Gaza by the Palestinian Authority. The Front called for continued and escalating popular movement in the occupied West Bank and for growing pressure on the PA to put an end to the crime of sanctions on the Gaza Strip forever.

The Front considered that the broad popular participation in these rallies, embodied with slogans and angry chants against the continuing sanctions on the Gaza Strip, proved that the unity of our people is stronger than the attempts to destabilize it through practices aimed at striking our people in the Gaza Strip and their resistance. The Authority must re-calculate all of its bets on continuing the crimes of starving Gaza and attempting to divide our people and draw lessons from the words of the masses in the streets yesterday.

The Front condemned the actions of the PA security services that attempted to provoke the mass demonstration participants in an attempt to end the march and try to prevent it from moving forward. The voice of the people and their determination to make this demonstration a success was stronger than all of these repressive practices.

The Front emphasized that the people in the heart of Ramallah and Bethlehem sent a strong message to all those who traffic and conspire with the pain and suffering of our people that no one, no matter their title or position, can ignore the will of the Palestinian people and their loud, strong voice. Yesterday, this was clear in the streets of Ramallah and Dheisheh: Together with our people in the diaspora and on the front lines of the Return camps in the Gaza Strip!

The Front added that the Palestinian masses broke the “barrier of silence” yesterday, expressing clearly their national spirit of unity and rejection of all policies and practices that increase the suffering of the Gaza Strip, which is under siege and facing continued Zionist aggression. Gaza deserves all of our support and these sanctions must be ended immediately.

The Front further expressed its confidence in the youth of the West Bank and their awareness of the necessity to continue these marches of anger and transfer them to all of the cities of the West Bank, as seen last night in their success in mobilizing these marches for Gaza as well as the significant rise in confrontations of the Zionist soldiers and settlers in recent weeks.

The Front also emphasized the need for the March of Return to continue to mobilize and expand throughout Palestine. It also emphasized the efforts to achieve national reconciliation, restore unity and create a new political process that meets the level of the sacrifices of the Palestinian people. The Palestinian masses proved yesterday in Ramallah and Dheisheh and before that in Gaza, Haifa and Umm al-Fahm that they know the way forward and that the pulse of the masses pushes forward our struggle for return and liberation.

The Front also called upon the organizations and associations of the Palestinian people in the diaspora to engage in this growing national and popular movement to express the unity of our people and their position everywhere.

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

11 June 2018

#Palestine #AntiwarMovement #MiddleEast #PeoplesStruggles #Israel #PFLP