[pjw] REPORT BACK: airstrikes and picket lines: Friday rally #190 since stay-at-home orders

[Peace and Justice Works]

IAG supporters

There were 10 people at the ***twenty-second anniversary*** Friday Rally 
for Peace and Justice last night, with nine of us marching. It was quite 
wet (but not monsoon-like as it was this morning) but we still had a lot 
of positive feedback from cars and pedestrians. One young person seemed 
interested but couldn't stay for the event, another asked how often we 
marched but declined to take the 1/4 page leaflet because they said their 
"mom gets all that info."

That flyer by the way is fairly new and is available here:

  https://www.pjw.info/friday_rally4_up1023generic.pdf

Yep, that's right the first Friday rally was on the first Friday of 
November, 2021 about a month after the invasion of Afghanistan. Wild.

Now four weeks running, Israel and Palestine topped the headlines again.

--Over 9000 Palestinians have been killed so far as Israeli ground troops 
have moved into Gaza.

  https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/2/israels-army-meets-fierce-resistance-at-the-gates-of-gaza-city

--Israel hit a medical convoy with airstrikes killing "several."

  https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/3/several-killled-in-israeli-attack-on-ambulance-convoy-gaza-health-ministry

--But Netanyahu is ok with mass civilian casualties, since they were fine 
when the allies bombed Dresden and the US bombed Hiroshima. THAT'S NOT A 
JUSTIFICATION. (Also, this just underscores that Hamas does not have an 
air force, a navy, nuclear weapons or the ability to build guided 
missiles.)

  https://news.antiwar.com/2023/10/31/israel-told-us-mass-civilian-casualties-were-acceptable-price-of-gaza-campaign/

--Here in the USA the Republicans and 13 Democrats voted 226-196 for $14 
billion in military aid to Israel, but the bill insists on cutting funds 
for the IRS so is not going anywhere. (For the record, only the two 
Republicans in Oregon voted for this bill.)

  https://archive.ph/7VSKC
  https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/02/us/politics/house-aid-bill-israel.html

--A poll shows that most Americans want a ceasefire: 66% yes 25% who 
don't. When the people lead, the leaders will pretend they didn't hear 
them *la la la la I can't hear you*.

  https://www.dataforprogress.org/blog/2023/10/19/voters-agree-the-us-should-call-for-a-ceasefire-and-de-escalation-of-violence-in-gaza

--It turns out that, at least this week, Yemen DID send missiles and 
drones toward Israel. A few weeks ago I doubted the US claim. But the 
Houthis were open about their effort to join the war, even though none of 
them hit.

  https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/31/israel-says-it-shot-down-aerial-target-near-red-sea-city-of-eilat

--OK, so again for people wondering whether this is a US war, there are 
now American special forces on the ground in Gaza allegedly "helping 
locate hostages"...

  https://archive.ph/CRYFO
  https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/31/us/politics/us-israel-hostages.html

---...And US drones are flying over Gaza also supposedly looking for the 
hostages. Who thinks that maybe just maybe they're also giving the IDF 
information of places they think that bombs should be dropped?

  https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/03/politics/us-drones-gaza-israel-hostages/index.html

--Elsewhere, but likely connected to the war by Israel, US troops were 
attacked 23 times in Iraq and Syria over the last two weeks; 14 times in 
Iraq and 9 in Syria. I tried to lead the crowd in a chant of "Why is the 
US in Iraq and Syria?" but it's not really a catchy call-response.

  https://news.antiwar.com/2023/10/30/pentagon-us-forces-in-iraq-and-syria-attacked-23-times-since-october-17/

--And for the thirty-first time in a row, the UN voted to condemn the US 
blockade on Cuba. The vote was 187 in favor and only two --guess who?-- 
The US and Israel said no. The surprise for me was that there was one 
abstention, can you guess? It was Ukraine (too scared to thumb its nose at 
its chief benefactor I guess).

  https://apnews.com/article/cuba-us-economic-embargo-resolution-condemn-20bceb7216fe3eea18bec8d81372c15b

In local news, two big developments related to the US Department of 
Justice Settlement Agreement.

1-- the City and the DOJ are planning to replace the Compliance 
Officer/Community Liaison with an Independent Court Monitor. They gave the 
community all of five and half days to review the 34-page proposal, listed 
as an "emergency ordinance." Portland Copwatch is asking folks to ask the 
City to remove the emergency clause so that public comment can continue 
past Nov. 8's Council hearing for a second reading on Nov. 15.

   https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2023/11/independent-monitor-would-oversee-portland-police-reforms-while-feds-would-drop-40-requirements-under-negotiated-deal.html

2-- the Council will consider its version of the proposed code and changes 
to the Settlement Agreement around the creation of a new police oversight 
system at the meeting on Wednesday Nov 15. This is the work that the 
Police Accountability Commission did and it remains to be seen whether 
they are going to try gutting the proposal.

  https://www.portland.gov/council-clerk/confirmed

Remember to review the fact sheet from Portland Copwatch on this issue:

  https://tinyurl.com/pdxoversight2023

Along the march route, it was time to add one more story about 
Israel/Palestine. (I thought this would get more of our marchers riled up 
than it did.) The Israeli military is planning to train settlers in the 
West Bank to make them into army members with a __three week training__. 
In an occupied territory. Where the settlers don't belong. Grr.

  https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-11-02/ty-article/.premium/israels-army-to-recruit-settlers-with-no-army-experience-to-guard-west-bank-settlements/0000018b-8f63-d7a8-afcf-afe3a9b00000
  https://archive.ph/RfSHW

As we got back to the Square, two items about money for human needs:

--kind of contradicting an earlier story, NBC says that the defense 
spending on the war in Ukraine isn't boosting American jobs. So who's 
getting all that money?

  https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/billions-in-ukraine-defense-spending-has-been-slow-to-translate-into-us-jobs/ar-AA1iZPhR

--and as we have seen the teachers in Portland go on strike for the first 
time in history, the School District is turning out their pockets and 
asking "where are we supposed to get that money?" I have a suggestion: 
DON'T SEND $14 BILLION TO ISRAEL TO KILL MORE CIVILIANS and spend it on 
education instead.

This week the Ann Huntwork Peace Memorial Sign conked out right as we got 
to the corner where the Gucci store is, about 1.5 blocks earlier than 
recent weeks. Was it the rain? An evil spirit? You be the judge.

OK, remember (as noted on the flyer I posted above) we're out every week 
at 5 PM at SW Yamhill and Broadway spreading the word that peace is the 
best way to save this planet. But of course, also be careful to mask up 
since there are ongoing viruses out there.

peace
--dan handelman
peace and justice works iraq affinity group