J Halper on Netanyahu in US Congress, Theme for Oct Conferences

Photo:People displaced from the Gaza Strip - UNRWA

Netanyahu Addresses US Congress

Photo:Screenshots from CNN 24 July 2024

On Wednesday, 24^th July, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the US Congress in Washington DC. Nancy Pelosi, former Speaker of the House, called Netanyahu’s speech “by far the worst presentation of any foreign dignitary” invited to give a joint address. Here follows the reaction from Jeff Halper, Director, ICAHD.

I am watching the most shameful event I have ever seen, certainly one of the most shameful in modern history: Netanyahu's address to a joint session of the American Congress (for the fourth time!). A casebook study of demagoguery: mendacious ("civilization vs barbarism"; "people who love life vs people who love death"); manipulative (parading of Israeli soldiers of color, hostage families, Holocaust survivors, throwing vicious racist epithets at Palestinians, fanning right-wing American jingoism); distorting (Palestine has always been a Jewish homeland, denying Zionist settler colonialism); outright lying (almost no Palestinian civilians killed in Gaza, Israel facilitates humanitarian aid to Gaza, denying genocide) -- and so much more. Demagoguery is Netanyahu's specialty.

No less shameful was the response of Congress, which gave repeated applause and cheers to a series of hollow slogans shouted at them by Netanyahu, who actually talked to them in simple phases like you would to small children. Democrats less -- some 80 representatives and nine Senators boycotted the address, and they stood up in adulation less than Republicans -- but still shameful. The stunning lack of intellectual sophistication of Congress was on full display, of course. They responded to being manipulated like an audience in a film or believers in an evangelical church.

What I'm watching is not just shameful; it's sobering. Just look at the level of the people running our world, morally or intellectually. ICAHD UK Webinar Recording Apartheid & Terrorism Intensify in West Bank

Photo: Demolitions in Umm al-Khair - 26 June 2024 - courtesy of Jonah Karsh

Life for Palestinians in Area C of the West Bank is worsening and becoming more challenging than ever before. Extreme Israeli Jewish settlers invade Palestinian rural communities and terrorize the residents; the Israeli army and police force close roads making access to communities, schools and hospitals difficult, if not impossible. Since 7^th October through 10^th June, within the West Bank, the Israeli regime has demolished, confiscated or forced owners to demolish 990 structures which has displaced 2,155 people, including 1,036 children.

The Israeli government has implemented severe water restrictions throughout the entire West Bank at a time when temperatures are soaring to 40 degrees C. Within the Bethlehem and Hebron districts Palestinian water allowance has been cut by an additional 35%, which was already a fifth of what Israelis receive. This is another example of Israel’s apartheid policies because there is no limit on the amount of water available to the Jewish settlers who live in Area C.

This ICAHD UK webinar held on 17^th July, offered an opportunity to receive updates directly from people on the ground who are on the cutting edge in working for justice. Speakers spoke about their challenge to survive the constant threats and violence from settlers and the Israeli army. They called for internationals to be with them to provide protective presence as an important way to stand in solidarity with them.

The speakers were:

Rasheed Khudairy, coordinator of the Jordan Valley Solidarity Campaign.

Awdeh Al-Hathaleen, journalist and English teacher from Umm al-Khair in the South Hebron Hills.

Guy Hirschfield, field coordinator for Torat Tzedek – Torah of Justice, and activist with Looking the Occupation in the Eyes,

While speaking before the US Congress on 24^th July, Netanyahu’s speech lacked any details about when and how Israel’s war in Gaza would end. His intention is that the war continues with US backing and finance. Here in the UK, despite our change of government, it is still supporting Israel’s war crimes. Therefore, it is up to civil society to continue to do all we can to put pressure our on government.

On Saturday 3rd August we will again be marching through the heart of London from Park Lane to Whitehall to tell Starmer and the Labour government to stop arming Israel and end the genocide. ICAHD UK will assemble with the Jewish bloc at 11.45. Details of its meeting point will be posted to the website nearer the time. News and Recording from Jeff Halper's North American Speaking Tour

Photo:Jeff on a panel with the heads of the Palestinian Youth Movement - Canada and a representaive of Independant Jewish Voices in Canada

Jeff Halper, ICAHD’s Co-founder and Director, spent three weeks on a speaking tour of southern Ontario (Toronto to London & Barrie) and Minnesota. Trying as always to connect immediate events with the Big Political Picture, Jeff entitled his talks “From Genocide in Gaza to Decolonizing Palestine: Towards One Democratic State (ODS).” While each presentation differs according to the audience’s familiarity with the issue, you can view his briefing at the Mennonite Central Committee’s office in Waterloo, Canada here .

In addition to the public meetings, Jeff budgets two-three days for cities he visits or, in the case of southern Ontario, a week and a half in the area, in order to meet local activists, students, local community and religious leaders and the media. He held a number of strategy meetings with activists, including leaders of the Palestine Youth Movement – Canada. At the University of Waterloo encampment the students invited him to hold a teach-in.

In his meetings with the Palestinian community, Jeff addresses the need to bridge what he calls a “disconnect” between efforts of Palestinians in Palestine to formulate a national political program and to organize around it and the movement in the Diaspora to support Palestinian rights and protest what is happening in Gaza, since each is acting in isolation from the other. If all the scattered segments of the Palestinian population can find the space to meet together and mobilize around a political program – undoubtedly some version of a one democratic state – that will give activists abroad a political focus to their actions currently lacking. And if the Palestinians in Palestine can mobilize the millions that have come out to support their struggle for national rights, they can at last become major political players. Helping to create those spaces, completely lacking in the repressive environment that Israel enforces, could be a key contribution of the Diaspora to the liberation struggle. (Jeff spoke about this at length in his July update , which can be viewed on the ICAHD website).

However, Palestinians and Palestine remain under threat. Even as we are focused on Gaza, we cannot lose sight of the bigger political picture: collusion among Israel, the US and Saudi Arabia to “normalize” Israel’s apartheid regime over all of historic Palestine in their larger geopolitical interests of ensuring Western hegemony over the Middle East in face of Iranian threats and Chinese inroads.

The ICAHD UK conferences will evaluate the tragic and dramatic developments in Palestine/Israel over the past year. With the focus on the Big Picture, we ask what is our push-back? How are the Palestinians and their allies ratcheting up their struggle for Palestinian rights and, most important, what political programs for the future are Palestinians formulating?

Session 1 – Focusing on the Big Picture: Where Are We Headed in Palestine/Israel?

Session 2 - Focusing on the Big Picture: Can the Media and International Law Be Mobilized Against Israeli Apartheid and for Palestinian Rights

Session 3 - Focusing On The Big Picture: How Can Popular Mobilization Be Made Into An Effective Instrument for Changing Government Policy?

Session 4 - Focusing on the Big Picture: ICAHD Study Tours, “Being There” for the Palestinians

Session 5 – Focusing on the Big Picture: Final Reflections

Saturday, 19^th October, at Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church, 235 Shaftsbury Avenue, London WC2H 8EP – 10am – 4pm

Saturday, 26^th October, at the Quaker Meeting House, 1^st floor, 7 Victoria Terrace, Victoria Street Edinburgh EH1 2JL – 10.30am – 3.30pm

Registrations will open in August when more information and speakers will be announced. Despite proving ownership, Palestinian homes can still be demolished. Dates for Your Diary Saturday 3rd August - National March for Palestine, noon, Park Lane, London. Check website for ICAHD UK meeting point.

Saturday, 19th October – ICAHD UK Annual Conference - from 10.00am to 4.00pm. Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church, 235 Shaftesbury Avenue, London WC2H 8EP.

Saturday, 26 October – ICAHD UK Conference – Edinburgh – from 10.30am to 3.30pm. Quaker Meeting House, 1^st Floor, 7 Victoria Terrace, Victoria Street, Edinburgh EH1 2JL

From all at ICAHD UK. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Israeli-Committee-Against-House-Demolitions-UK/366423593418140 Facebook https://www.twitter.com/ICAHDUK/ Twitter http://icahduk.org Website mailto:info@icahduk.org Email