[pjw] REPORT BACK: stop bombing everywhere: Friday rally #240 since stay-at-home orders

[Peace and Justice Works]

Hello again peaceful people

Sadly I once again picked up one of our "Stop Bombing Yemen" signs last 
night because... well, you'll see in the news report. Seven of us gathered 
last night at the Friday Rally for Peace and Justice last night, and six 
went on the march. (And no, we never heard back from the new people who 
marched with us last week and last month. *sigh*). We had a lot of 
positive feedback including one person who asked permission to take a 
picture of the rally, at least one driver who said "I support you guys!" 
and lots of honks and other words of encouragement. I think two people 
took issue with-- in particular-- the Palestinian rights signs, but 
nothing too negative or downbeat.

Our expert literature-distributor gave out all the remaining copies of the 
Sept. 27 fact sheet. Weirdly a pile of 1/4 sheet flyers about the rally 
was lodged under the picket signs in the little wagon of peace so didn't 
get distributed... but there's always next week.

So, here is some of what we talked about at the event:

--The US used a B-2 stealth bomber to strike underground bunker in Yemen. 
There's no report of casualties, but this certainly seems like an 
escalation by the Americans.

  https://apnews.com/article/us-airstrikes-yemen-houthi-rebels-israel-hamas-war-99721f7f952d66d6da27e24dc3c189c3

--President Biden celebrated the US-backed Israeli Defense Forces killing 
of yet another Hamas leader. Though there is some renewed encouragement to 
bring the massacres to an end with this assassination, the Israelis want 
to "finish the job."

  https://news.antiwar.com/2024/10/17/israeli-officials-claim-hamas-leader-yahya-sinwar-has-been-killed/#gsc.tab=0

---What does that look like? More slaughter, I guess. Israel killed ate 
least 65 more Gazans this week, bringing to total to 42,409 dead in just 
over a year.

  https://news.antiwar.com/2024/10/16/israeli-forces-kill-65-more-palestinians-in-the-gaza-strip/#gsc.tab=0

---Not sure what effect this will have, but Russia warned Israel not to 
bomb Iran's nuclear sites.

  https://tass.com/politics/1857439

---From Lebanon, Hezbollah launched attacks on Israeli soldiers on 
Thursday, injuring 11, and killing 4 on Sunday in a drone strike on an IDF 
base. No celebration of killing no matter who does it, but two 
observations here: 1) the so-called "terrorist" group was targeting the 
military, while Israel has bombed population centers and killed many 
civilians, and 2) this is what the US has wrought on the world by 
introducing drone warfare about 20 years ago. Everyone's got them now.

  https://thecradle.co/articles/dozens-of-israeli-soldiers-injured-by-hezbollah-drone-on-lebanon-border

---Flip side, Israeli tanks fired on a UN peacekeeper watchtower in 
Lebanon. Serious violation of international law, not that it appears to 
matter.

  https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-824953

---In what seems like a step forward, the US threatened to cut off arms 
shipments to Israel if they don't stop preventing humanitarian aid from 
getting through to Gaza. EXCEPT, they gave a 30 day deadline meaning that 
action will come after the US election.

  https://www.axios.com/2024/10/15/us-israel-gaza-humanitarian-conditions-military-aid-letter

---Oh, maybe I should have led with this since so much news about Israel 
is secondary because of the US funding the ongoing war. 100 of "our"
troops, along with an anti missile system, were sent to Israel this past 
week. Making this more of a truly American war.

  https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/13/politics/israel-iran-antimissile-system-us-troops/index.html

--Meanwhile, the US bombed what they claimed were Islamic State camps in 
Syria, and claimed there were no civilian casualties. But since there's 
not an Islamic State to speak of, any casualty was a civilian.

  https://taskandpurpose.com/news/us-airstrikes-isis-syria/

--For its part, Iraq has said it does not want its airspace used in any 
attack on Iran. It's not as if the Israelis haven't been busy in the two 
weeks they've threatened retaliation. But maybe this might also be a thing 
to consider about igniting the whole region in flames.

  https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2024/10/13/iraq-says-against-expansion-of-war-towards-iran-use-of-airspace-

This week's local news came the day before the rally, when 13 days after 
the Portland Police shot and killed a previously unidentified man, they 
release his name, the names of the officers, and highly inflammatory (but 
calmly narrated) Body Worn Camera footage. The man was Nicholas Thorn, 
28, who appeared to be in some kind of crisis and was armed with a BB 
rifle. The officer was Andrew Young, who sped ahead of a police car chase 
late last year and caused the fleeing driver to die in a crash. The 
Oregonian pointed out that the camera footage shows an officer was in the 
middle of negotiating with Thorn when another cop shot him.


  https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2024/10/video-from-shooting-by-portland-police-shows-officer-kill-man-mid-negotiation.html

When we reached the part of the march to talk more about Israel/Palestine, 
I relayed the sad story that a woman in the West Bank, who according to 
this story had asked permission to go harvest olives, got shot in the back 
by the IDF and killed.

  https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/west-bank-woman-fatally-shot-back-israeli-soldiers-while-harvesting-olives

Nearing the end of the march, I talked about an article which says the 
national debt is at its highest since 2021 at $1.8 trillion. They said a 
big factor was the $50 billion increase in military spending. If we're 
going to go over budget, why not house and educate people and fix up the 
environment instead of building more weapons that kill?

  https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/us-posts-1-8-trillion-annual-deficit-highest-outside-of-covid/ar-AA1swBnW

I was running late this week so skipped my display of  the Ann Huntwork 
Peace Memorial Sign on the way in. When the march went by the Apple 
Store, the sign went out _before_ the _old_ mystery spot, so it went 
from moving 10 feet westward from that scientific anomaly to 10 feet 
east of it. I don't call it the mystery spot for nothing!

I continue to get word of people getting COVID, and recently heard an 
interview with an activist couple who had to cut back their efforts due to 
BOTH developing long COVID. So do mask up and distance if you can as 
you're out and about and if you come join us some Friday at 5 PM.

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