[pjw] MIDWEEK NEWS UPDATE: Too much going on-- Gaza, Guantanamo, more

[Peace and Justice Works]

Hi
Partly because it feels like the apocalypse is coming quickly and partly 
because this Friday's rally is meant to mostly focus on Iraq, I thought it 
would be important to get a few pieces of news to you now in case they 
don't make it to the report back on Saturday as more news bubbles up.

First you probably already heard that Israel has unilaterally ended the 
ceasefire agreement with Hamas and killed at least 400 people in bombings 
last night. This CNN article does an ok job looking at how this allowed 
Netanyahu to bring the far right back into his fold, and how Trump 
signaled it would be ok to keep fighting.

  https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/18/middleeast/israel-gaza-hamas-ceasefire-explainer-intl/index.html

Second, the Venezuelans being deported under the Alien Enemy Act were NOT 
sent to Guantanamo (more on that in a second), but rather to El Salvador 
where they've been put in a similar "black hole" prison. A judge ordered 
the planes to turn around but Trump argued the order was done wrong and 
once the planes were in the air it was too late. For his part the 
Salvadoran President snarkily wrote to the judge "Oopsie... too late."

  https://abcnews.go.com/US/judge-hear-arguments-trump-administrations-decision-turn-deportation/story?id=119877727

It turns out that Guantanamo is not a viable option right now for Dictator 
Trump, as it's really not set up to house migrants. Everyone who was sent 
there has been sent away and no new flights have gone since March 1.

  https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/14/politics/guantanamo-migrants-trump/index.html

I also will certainly mention at Friday's rally that a dear colleague, 
Malcolm Chaddock of the local Veterans For Peace chapter, died this past 
weekend in his sleep after suffering a fall from a bus on Tuesday. Word is 
that he was out and about at a protest on Friday (not the PJW one). 
Malcolm had just started attending the Friday rallies for Peace and 
Justice again a few weeks ago and was actively engaged in the Joint 
Terrorism Task Force campaign due to being spied on by Fresno police. (The 
Fresno peace group found out they had welcomed in an undercover cop when 
that cop died in a motorcycle crash.) We shall miss Malcolm!

Finally, I don't like putting out info on events that don't list who's 
organizing them OR on the same day they're happening, but Americans United 
for Palestinian Human Rights sent an email this afternoon that at 5 PM 
today (Tuesday) there's an emergency rally at Portland City Hall, 1221 SW 
4th Ave about Gaza. So with the caveat that we don't know who's organizing 
it or what their plans are, now you have this info and just under 2 hours 
to decide if you want to go.

I'm sure there are many other things to cover but wanted to share these 
developments...


dan handelman
peace and justice works iraq affinity group