[pjw] REPORT BACK: US-backed IDF: Friday rally #223 since stay-at-home orders

[Peace and Justice Works]

Peaceful people

Despite yesterday being recorded as the year's hottest so far (92 
degrees), it was a relatively cool 86 in the shade of downtown. Happy 
solstice! Six of us rallied and marched at the Friday Rally for Peace and 
Justice.

Though horn-honking was sporadic, it certainly outweighed by volume any 
negativity. However, one person who engaged in conversation with us took 
it upon himself to yell stuff every time I would start the announcements. 
This was no coincidence-- I would pause, look back, see he was done 
talking, and turn around to speak again and lo and behold more blah blah 
blah trying to distract people's attention. I guess the world has many 
types in it, including polite and rude.

Oh, and there was a man who saw my IRAQ: US OUT sign who said "we're not 
there any more you know." I tried yelling as he scurried away that there 
are 2500 troops there but he seemed to want to live in his own reality.

I think I only handed out one flyer for the Noor Ghazi livestream, which 
is too bad because next week they will merely be announcing that the video 
is available to watch anytime. The advantage of watching it live is that 
you get to send in questions for the Q&A! Hope you will tune in at

https://youtube.com/peaceandjusticeworks

for the presentation this coming Tuesday the 15th at 5 PM!!

  https://pjw.info/n_ghazi_livestream062524.html

Here are most of the headlines we talked about this week.

--Israel announced that it has effectively destroyed Rafah crossing into 
Egypt, meaning both that there is no escape for Palestinians AND an 
important way for aid to arrive is now disabled.

  https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/israeli-army-destroys-entire-palestinian-side-of-rafah-border-crossing-renders-it-unusable/3253481

---To make things worse, the US-backed Israeli Defence Forces indicated 
they have approved a plan to make war on Lebanon...

  https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20240618-%F0%9F%94%B4-live-gaza-fighting-slows-during-pause-but-israel-operations-continue-as-planned

---...and to prove the moniker I use for the IDF, the US announced that 
they will support Israel if they do attack Lebanon.

  https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-signals-hezbollah-it-will-back-israeli-offensive-frustration-gaza-ceasefire-grows

---In related news, the Anti-Defamation League has been voted out of its 
ability to edit articles on Wikipedia because of its too-broad definition 
of anti-Semitism. Instead of taking time to reflect on the difference 
between the Israeli government and the Jewish religion, the ADL says this 
move proves antisemitism is on the rise.

  https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/wikipedia-votes-declare-adl-unreliable-israel-and-antisemitism-report

--Meanwhile, the US has now deployed more troops to Jordan than since the 
invasion of Iraq in 2003. This article by a former Intercept reporter 
says there are now 3813 US troops now in Jordan. I don't see a 
mention of how many might be National Guard troops.

  https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/biden-deploys-record-number-of-troops

--Once famous for its neutrality, Switzerland let Ukraine host a "peace 
conference" about the war, but in a strange interpretation of how to come 
to a peace agreement, Russia was not invited.

  https://news.antiwar.com/2024/06/16/ukraines-war-backers-hold-peace-conference/

--In Iraq, there have been at least 800 attacks in the northern Kurdish 
region by Turkey... just in the first six months of 2024. Iraqis were not 
so sectarian before the US invasion, and the central government throwing 
the semi-autonomous region to the wolves does not bode well.

  https://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/16062024

In local news, you may recall that last year, City Council voted for a new 
anti-camping ordinance which would give police more leeway to sweep 
houseless people from the streets. The Oregon Law Center won a case at the 
Oregon Supreme Court to put that law on hold. The City recently threw out 
the bad law and replaced it with... a slightly less bad law. Anyway, this 
Wednesday the OLC is set to receive $175,000 in legal fees for the 
previous case from the City.

  https://www.portland.gov/council/documents/ordinance/settlement-attorney-fees-amount-175000

Along the march route, free from the heckler I noted that the settlers 
upon whom US sanctions were placed are now heading up outposts there, 
amplifying how the perhaps well intended US action is making those people 
more powerful instead of less so. I also noted I had to read the article 
twice because of the English language's strange way to use "sanction" both 
to mean something you approve and something you're trying to stop. So, to 
be clear, the article is not saying the US agreed with putting these folks 
in charge.

  https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240618-israel-funds-illegal-west-bank-outposts-run-by-us-sanctioned-settlers/

Actually I was interrupted by someone who was concerned we were talking 
about wars overseas and not the war on Black Americans. I showed him my 
sign saying "Justice/ Police Accountability" and he was oddly 
uninterested.

In this week's segment of wasteful spending on weapons of war that should 
be going to improve the human condition, it was reported that global 
spending on nuclear weapons is up 13%, led by the US of A. Of the $91 
billion spend on nukes, the US spent $51 billion of it.

  https://www.exchangemonitor.com/global-nuclear-weapons-spending-up-13-led-by-u-s-defense-budget-antis-say-2/

Once again the Ann Huntwork Peace Memorial Sign went out at... or 
maybe even just before?... the "mystery spot" across from the Apple 
Store. I'm contemplating walking the route with either TriMet engineers or 
Apple employees or both.

OK, please be careful out there-- four people in or connected to Peace and 
Justice Works who do not know each other and have not been in the same 
space as me or as each other have come down with COVID in the last four 
weeks, at least one of them for the second time. The odds of that, I 
think, are astronomical unless it's aggressively surging out there. So if 
you come to join us some Friday at the rally, we still encourage masking 
and distancing though it's certainly not mandatory.

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