Blinken claims State Dept has no double standard favoring Israel – Day 199
From the United Nations: An independent panel released its much-awaited report on Monday about the UN relief agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), providing 50 recommendations and noting that Israeli authorities have yet to provide proof of their claims that UN staff are involved with terrorist organizations.(Read the summary here, a backgrounder here, and the full 54-page report here.)
Israel rejects UNRWA review
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein has said the review of UNRWA headed by former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna was insufficient and an “effort to avoid the problem and not address it head on”.
He added, “Israel calls on the donor countries to refrain from transferring their taxpayers’ money to UNRWA-Gaza.”
Marmorstein accused more than 2,135 UNRWA workers of being members of Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
But according to the Colonna report, Israel has still not provided any evidence for its allegations.
He did not comment on Israel’s failure to provide evidence to back up its allegations.
Israel’s claims against UNRWA employees were ‘political’ and ‘cruel’: Analyst
Al Jazeera reports: Jeffrey Sachs, an economist and professor at Columbia University, says Israel’s claims that UNRWA employees were involved in the October 7 Hamas attacks “were political” and “cruel”.
The allegations, he said, “elicited an immediate response from 16 donors … that immediately cut off funding” to the agency without waiting for evidence.
“This was politics at play, this was not substantive,” he said, adding that donors should “stop this financial boycott” of the agency.
“It’s reprehensible at a time when the people of Gaza are in such urgent need.”
Sachs noted that UNRWA has been “under politicized attacks” for a long time, and has taken “detailed” measures to demonstrate its neutrality.
Follow the Freedom Flotilla
As IAK recently reported: Last Friday, hundreds of civilians from dozens of countries met in Istanbul to prepare to sail very soon for Gaza, carrying thousands of tons of life-saving food and medicine. The Freedom Flotilla aims to break Israel’s unlawful siege of Gaza and demand an immediate ceasefire to save the lives of thousands of Palestinians.
There will be participants from over 30 countries on board, including 40 Americans.
Participants are going through three days of non-violence training.
The Flotilla will depart shortly, carrying over 5,000 tons of humanitarian aid on a cargo ship, accompanied by two passenger ships.
Huwaida Arraf, a human rights attorney and Freedom Flotilla organizer says: “Israel’s current siege on Gaza, as well as its 17-year-long blockade are forms of collective punishment, which is a war crime. As the siege and blockade are illegal, Israel has no right to attack or stop our ships. We call on our governments, which have thus far done nothing to protect the Palestinian people or compel Israel to abide by international law, to start living up to their obligations and demand our flotilla have safe passage to Gaza. We ask people around the world to join us in this call.”
Middle East Eye adds: This initiative evokes memories of the Mavi Marmara incident in 2010 when an attempt to break the Israeli siege on Gaza resulted in the deaths of ten people after the Israeli army raided the ship in international waters.
Another ship is expected to join from Italy. Approximately 1,000 people will participate in the voyage, accompanied by 100 journalists with internet and satellite connections.
Israeli officials have expressed hope that the attempt will be indefinitely postponed.
NOTE: We will bring regular updates about the 2024 Freedom Flotilla until it arrives in Gaza.
NOTE: Read about the individuals who launched the flotilla movement over 16 years ago here.
West Bank: Israeli forces kill Palestinian father of three in Jericho
WAFA reports: A Palestinian man has been shot dead by the Israeli occupation forces in the occupied West Bank city of Jericho, according to the director of Jericho Governmental Hospital.
He said that Shadi Issa Galaita, 44, a father of three children, was killed by Israeli gunfire during a military raid.
WAFA correspondent said that the slain Palestinian is the brother of prisoner Fadi Galaita, 46, who last Wednesday entered his 24th year behind Israeli bars, noting that he was sentenced to 25 years in prison, and that his father died while he was in occupation jails.
Harvard Suspends Palestine Solidarity Committee Amid Wave of Protests on College Campuses
Middle East Eye reports: Student encampments demanding divestment from companies involved in Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land and “genocide” in Gaza have popped up at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); Tufts and Emerson in Boston; New York University and The New School in New York City; Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tennessee; Yale University in Connecticut; University of California-Berkeley; The University of Michigan; Washington University in St Louis; and The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Harvard Crimson reports: Harvard College suspended the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC) and ordered the group to “cease all organizational activities for the remainder of the Spring 2024 term” or risk permanent expulsion, according to an email obtained by The Crimson.
The suspension comes amid a wave of pro-Palestine student demonstrations across the country, with students staging occupations at universities including Columbia and Yale Universities.
The PSC released a statement Monday afternoon: which stated that the organization’s suspension comes after “months of administrative repression, harassment and stalking by our own peers, and intimidation from right-wing politicians and donors.”
“After standing idly by as pro-Palestine students faced physical and cyber harassment, death threats and rape threats, and racist doxxing, Harvard has now decided to dismantle the only official student group dedicated to the task of representing the Palestinian cause,” the statement reads.
“We call on the Harvard community to fight against repression and join the movement for Palestinian liberation,” the post continued. “History is watching you.”
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