News and Analysis 3/23/24

Human rights groups’ “investigations from previous wars between Israel and Hamas … failed to find a single documented case of any civilian deaths caused by Hamas using human shields”:

• US Has Redefined “Human Shields” to Enable Israel’s Slaughter of Gaza Civilians (Truthout)

“[M]ost of the world, which considers the settlements built on territory Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war to be illegal”:

• Israel Approves New Parcel of West Bank Land for Settlement (Reuters)

Israel tells Blinken it would invade Rafah alone if the superpower that “provides billions of dollars a year in military aid and regularly uses its diplomatic clout to protect Israeli interests” refuses to knuckle under …

• Top US Diplomat Warns Israel of Global Isolation if It Attacks Rafah (Reuters)

… as if …

• Budget Deal Slashes U.S. Funding for Palestinians’ U.N. Lifeline (Washington Post)
• Israel Lauds US Ban on UNRWA Financing until 2025 Under New Government Funding Bill (Times of Israel)

… but ignorance, not evil, underlies America’s support for Israeli war crimes:

• Have More Palestinians or Israelis Died in War? Half of Americans Don’t Know, Poll Says (Miami Herald)

“[A]cademic freedom and free speech are under all-out attack on university campuses in the United States, not just from university administrations and pro-Israeli groups, but now directly from the highest levels of the Israeli state”:

• Israel Has Formed a Task Force to Carry Out Covert Campaigns at US Universities (Truthout)

“The Friday ruling scraps a 2004 law governing madrasas in Uttar Pradesh, saying it violates India’s constitutional secularism and ordering that students be moved to conventional schools”:

• India Court Effectively Bans Madrasas in Big State Before Election (Reuters)

“[T]he expression ‘Israel-Hamas war’ … not only misdescribes what is happening in Gaza, it also helps to motivate Israel’s ruthless onslaught on civilians since the October 7^th Hamas attack”:

• Reflections on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (Humanity Journal)

“The U.S. government issued a public advisory to Americans in Russia on March 7 that described the risk of a ‘planned terrorist attack in Moscow — potentially targeting large gatherings, to include concerts’”:

• Death Toll from Moscow Concert Attack Rises to 133 as More Bodies Found (Washington Post)

“[S]ome 200,000 Palestinians who used to commute daily from the West Bank, as well as 18,500 from Gaza, [are] all now locked out of Israel since the start of the Gaza war over security concerns”:

• Loss of Palestinian Workers at Israeli Building Sites Leaves Hole on Both Sides (Reuters)

“The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said reports claiming it attacked dozens of Gazans at an aid convoy are incorrect and that a review of the incident is underway”:

• At Least 19 Palestinians Killed by Israeli Military While Waiting for Aid in Gaza – Gazan Authorities (CNN)

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