Concerned Families of Westchester Newsletter October 20, 2024

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Hello All – There is no end in sight.  Following the killing of the leader of Hamas, Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu announced that the war against Gaza will continue.  Instead of using the moment to draw the war to a close, free the hostages, and bring peace, Israel will double-down on its war.  The world trembles. The Israeli (and Americna) hostages will surely die. Like a Black Hole, Israel’s wars will suck everything in its neighborhood into its fiery vortex.

Unnoticed by the US mainstream media, Israel has renewed its ferocious offensive in northern Gaza, ordering the 300,000 Palestinians remaining in the area to leave, while promising to kill or starve those who stay.  For weeks, Israel allowed no food or medical aid to reach northern Gaza.  All of its hospitals have been shuttered. Thousands, especially children and the elderly, face starvation.  All this is unreported in the US.  Genocide hides its face in shame.

The Biden administration’s response to what are surely war crimes has been to order Israel to end its blockade of northern Gaza within 30 days.  The cynicism of this is apparent to all: even if the US inflicts some punishment on Israel for its war crimes in Gaza, nothing will happen before the US election. A chance to end suffering fails.

The real US response to Israel’s doubling-down on war is to send the world’s most advanced anti-missile system to Israel, along with 100 soldiers to operate it.  This US aid is to help Israel in its looming war with Iran.  Indeed, enmeshing the US in a war with Iran has been Israel’s strategic goal for decades.  Now, the possibility that the US would become involved in such a war is very high.  We must continue our efforts to end the war before it is too late.  A ceasefire in Gaza is the key to ending this mess.  By using its leverage of money, weapons, and its veto at the UN Security Council, the US may have the power to force Israel to a ceasefire.

To illuminate these thoughts, check out - (Video) “Gideon Levy: Death of Sinwar Won’t End Israel’s War While U.S. Gives Netanyahu Free Rein in Gaza,” from Democracy Now! [October 18, 2024] [Link]; (Video) “Israel Is Routinely Shooting Children in the Head in Gaza: U.S. Surgeon & Palestinian Nurse,” from Democracy Now! October 16, 2024] [Link]; Israel’s War on the World,” by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies, Code Pink [October 17, 2024] [Link]; “The Most Prominent Historian of Palestine on What the Last Year Has Meant,” with Prof. Rashid Khalidi, Mother Jojnes [October 10, 2024] [Link]; and “War on Gaza: Israel has lost its humanity as it celebrates its power to kill,} by Gideon Levy, Middle East Eye [October 10, 2024] [Link].

CFOW Calendar of Events

Monday, October 21 (and every Monday) – A “Black Lives Matter” vigil is held near the Greystone (NW Yonkers) from 5:30 to 6 pm at the intersection of Warburton Ave. and Odell.

Saturday, October 26^th – Hastings high school student and CFOW friend Oona Spaeth has organized the Westchester Youth Climate Summit 2024.  The event will take place in Hastings in the Farragut Middle School auditorium from 12:00-3:00pm. The event is for high school students only.  To register for the event, go here, and for more information, go here. 

Sunday, October 27^th – UN Day. A program, “Why the World Needs the UN and the UN Needs US” will be held at Manhattanville University (Reid Castle) in Purchase from 2 to 4 pm.  To attend in person, register here (free).  To attend by Zoom, register here.  Details of the event:

Principal Speaker: Kanni Wignaraja, Assistant Secretary General & Regional Director Asia-Pacific, UN Development Programme

Principal Speaker: Laurel Rapp, Deputy Director, Policy Planning Staff, Liaison with the United Nations, US Department of State

SDG Honorees: The Afya Foundation, GEMS Program, Feeding Westchester, Yonkers Partners in Education

Saturday, November 2^nd – RAPP (Release Aging People in Prison) will screen the award-winning film “The Interview” at the Ossining Public Library, 53 Croton Ave. in Ossining, starting at 1 pm.  The film-screening will be followed by a panel discussion. The program organizers write: “The goal of the event is to create space for people directly impacted by incarceration to be seen and heard as well as educate the community on the realities of the harm of the parole system on our communities and families.”  RSVP required: Go to this link to RSVP.

CFOW Nuts & Bolts
Please consider getting involved with Concerned Families of Westchester.  Weather permitting we meet for a protest/rally each Saturday in Hastings, at 12 noon at the VFW Plaza (Warburton and Spring St.)  A "Black Lives Matter/Say Their Names" vigil is held in Yonkers on Mondays from 5:30 to 6:00 pm at the intersection of Warburton Ave. and Odell. Our newsletter is archived at https://cfow.blogspot.com/; and news of interest and coming events is posted on our CFOW Facebook page.  Another Facebook page focuses on the climate crisis. If you would like to join one of our Zoom meetings, each Tuesday and Thursday at noon, please send a return email for the link. If you would like to support our work by making a CONTRIBUTION, please make out your check to “Frank Brodhead,” write “CFOW” on the memo line, and send your check to CFOW, PO Box 364, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY 10706. Thanks!

Best wishes,
Frank Brodhead
For CFOW

FEATURED ESSAYS

‘No Propaganda on Earth Can Hide the Wound That Is Palestine’: Arundhati Roy’s PEN Pinter Prize Acceptance Speech
By Arundhati Roy, ZNet [October 14, 2024]
---- Greetings to all of you gathered here, as well to as those who are invisible perhaps to this wonderful audience but as visible to me as anybody else in this room. I am speaking of my friends and comrades in prison in India – lawyers, academics, students, journalists. … When Ruth Borthwick, Chair of English PEN and of the Pinter panel first wrote to me about this honour, she said the Pinter Prize is awarded to a writer who has sought to define ‘the real truth of our lives and our societies’ through ‘unflinching, unswerving, fierce intellectual determination’. That is a quote from Harold Pinter’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech. The word ‘unflinching’ made me pause for a moment, because I think of myself as someone who is almost permanently flinching. [Read More]

‘Text Me You Haven’t Died’ – My Sister was the 166th Doctor to Be Murdered in Gaza
By Ramzy Baroud, ZNet [October 17, 2024]
---- “Your lives will continue. With new events and new faces. They are the faces of your children who will fill your homes with noise and laughter.” These were the last words written by my sister in a text message to one of her daughters. Dr. Soma Baroud was murdered on Oct. 9, when Israeli warplanes bombed a taxi that carried her and other tired Gazans near the Bani Suhaila roundabout close to Khan Yunis. Whether she was on her way to or from the hospital where she worked does not matter now. The news of her assassination arrived through a screenshot copied from a Facebook page: “Update: these are the names of the martyrs of the latest Israeli bombing of two taxis in the Khan Yunis area.” Soma’s name was the fifth on the list. I refused to believe it, even as more posts appeared. I kept calling her over and over, hoping that the line would crackle and I would hear her kind, motherly voice say: “Marhaba Abu Sammy. How are you, brother?” But she never picked up. [Read More]

THE WAR ON GAZA

(Video) On Death of Hamas Chief Sinwar & Why Killing Palestinian Leaders Won’t Pacify Resistance
From Democracy Now! [October 18, 2024]
---- Hamas has confirmed Israel killed the organization’s leader, Yahya Sinwar, marking what could be a turning point in its yearlong war. Sinwar was apparently not killed as part of a targeted strike, but in the course of Israel’s indiscriminate assault on the Gaza Strip. “It’s not a war that’s happening against Hamas … This is an Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people,” says Palestinian analyst Tareq Baconi, author of Hamas Contained: The Rise and Pacification of Palestinian Resistance. “The removal of someone like Yahya Sinwar will not stop the Netanyahu government from carrying out its genocide in the Gaza Strip.” [See the Program]

Starving since the day he was born: How famine stalks Gaza’s children.
By Mark Scialla, Aljazeera [October 29, 2024]
---- When famines happen, it means many people are likely too severely starved to save, especially children. Even if aid were to flood into Gaza, children are likely to feel the effects of starvation for the rest of their lives. Severe malnutrition can impair a child’s physical and mental development. “When you bombard and starve pregnant women and children and people, that it's going to have massive impacts on their health,” Smith, the specialist in maternal and child health, explains. “It’s going to kill people in the short term and in the long term through epigenetic changes.” Starvation can lead to lasting changes in how the body processes food and stores energy like slower growth and slower weight gain and a higher risk for mental and physical disorders. These have been shown to be passed on to future generations, particularly to children who were malnourished in the womb. [Read More]

Also of interest – “Nothing Will Ever Be the Same Again,” by Noura Erakat, The Nation [October 7, 2024] [Link]; and “Israeli attack on northern Gaza hints at retired general's 'surrender or starve' plan for war,” by Jeremy Bowen, BBC News [October 12, 2024] [Link[.

THE WAR IN LEBANON

(Video) “The Gaza Playbook”: Israel Brings Displacement, Death and Destruction to Lebanon
From Democracy Now! [October 17, 2024]
---- We get an update on Israel’s war on Lebanon from journalist Rania Abouzeid in Beirut. “We are seeing a definite escalation that started a month ago and doesn’t show any sign of letting up,” she observes, describing unrestrained attacks by Israel throughout the country, on all sectors of society, as Israel carries out its “Dahiya doctrine” in an attempt to foment division among the Lebanese population. “This is the Gaza playbook. … The sentiment here is that this is now a war on Lebanon,” Abouzeid says. [See the Program].

A Primer on Lebanon—History, Palestine and Resistance to Israeli Violence
By Lara Deeb, et al., MERIP [Middle East Research and Information Project] [October 4, 2024]
---- On September 30, the Israeli military announced it had begun a ground invasion of Lebanon. To date, Israeli attacks have killed thousands, wounded thousands more and displaced over one million people in Lebanon. These attacks are part of an expanded Israeli war machine that continues to commit a genocide in Gaza, in the process targeting Syria, Yemen and Iran, and threatening a wider regional war. They are also the latest in a long history of Israeli violence in, and on, Lebanon, justified by the Israeli state as being “targeted” toward groups it considers terrorists. In the past it was the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the leftist Lebanese National Movement. Today it is Hizballah. For Lebanon, the current assault marks the country’s deadliest days since the civil war’s end in 1990. It also takes place in the context of a sequence of crises that began with the popular uprising in 2019 and its subsequent repression, and continued through the Covid pandemic, port explosion, a power vacuum and an economic collapse from which Lebanon had only just begun to recover. [Read More].   

Also of interest, and also from MERIP – “Times of Struggle and Cultural Liberation—A Conversation with Elias Khoury [September 18, 2024].  FB - Khoury, who died in September, was one of Lebanon’s foremost writers of novels and poetry. [Link].

WAR WITH IRAN?

(Video) Will the US follow Israel into a full-blown war in the Middle East?
From Aljazeera (“UpFront”) October 18, 2024]
---- Israel’s war on Gaza has been raging for more than a year, killing 42,500 people, reducing much of the enclave to rubble and heightening concerns of escalation in the region. Fears have increased further since the Israeli army intensified deadly strikes on Lebanon in recent weeks, killing hundreds of civilians. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Lebanon could face destruction “like Gaza” if Hezbollah continues its actions. Moreover, after Iran’s launch of more than 200 ballistic missiles at Israel on October 1 — most of which were intercepted, causing only “minor damage” — Israel is expected to strike against Iran. With the United States now deploying troops to help bolster Israel’s air defences, could the country’s relentless bombing campaign ignite a broader regional or even a global war? This week on UpFront, Marc Lamont Hill discusses the current tensions and potential for a full-scale war in the Middle East with historian Assal Rad and As’ad Abukhalil, a professor of political science at California State University Stanislaus.[See the Progrm]

Also of interest – “(Video) “Itching for a War”: Biden Deploys U.S. Troops to Israel as Netanyahu Threatens Escalation with Iran,” from Democracy Now! [October 17, l2024] [Link].

WAR WITH CHINA?

The New Cold War in the Pacific Is Dangerously Close to Heating Up
By Alfred McCoy, The Nation [October 18, 2024]
---- While the world looks on with trepidation at regional wars in Israel and Ukraine, a far more dangerous global crisis is quietly building at the other end of Eurasia, along an island chain that has served as the front line for America’s national defense for endless decades. Just as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has revitalized the NATO alliance, so China’s increasingly aggressive behavior and a sustained US military build-up in the region have strengthened Washington’s position on the Pacific littoral, bringing several wavering allies back into the Western fold. Yet such seeming strength contains both a heightened risk of great power conflict and possible political pressures that could fracture America’s Asia-Pacific alliance relatively soon. [Read More]

US ELECTION 2024

Black Men Will Vote for Harris—White Men Are the Problem
By Elie Mystal, The Nation [October 16, 2024]
---- Harris will receive between 85 and 90 percent of the Black male vote. I acknowledge that the difference between 85 percent and 90 percent could be the difference in Harris winning or losing a critical state or two, but I simply refuse to engage in a conversation that paints Black male support as the “problem” for Harris in this election. … The “problem” in this country is how the majority of white people vote. The force holding this country back is the majority of white people. The people who have turned against democracy are the majority of white people. The global force destroying the environment of this earth is the majority of white people. If you are in the white liberal minority and you want to freak out about something, freak out about your cousins and grandmothers and colleagues who are about to cast a ballot for an unhinged authoritarian. Go deal with the white people in your life instead of placing the burden on Black folks to save this country from the majority of white folks yet again. [Read More]

The Economy of War: Why the Military-Industrial Complex Wins Every Election
By John Tarleton, The Iindypendent [October 10, 2024]
----- In a topsy-turvy presidential campaign — where there are stark differences between the two candidates on many domestic issues, and there is the likelihood that Donald Trump will try to overturn the results if the vote doesn’t go his way — one thing is certain: America’s warfare state will roll on. Altogether, War Resisters League estimates that 45% of Americans’ income taxes go to pay for current and past military spending. The U.S. military straddles the Earth with around 750 foreign military bases in at least 80 countries. Spy satellites circle the globe 24 hours a day. More than 1,700 nuclear warheads can be launched within minutes by land, air and sea. Eleven aircraft carrier strike groups patrol the high seas and can project the threat of conventional U.S. firepower in any corner of the world. All this lethal force comes at a very high price, especially for the taxpayers who have to foot the bill. The annual military budget hit $820 billion in 2023 — not counting supplemental spending on wars in Ukraine and Gaza – and will likely top $1 trillion in the next administration. [Read More]

Also of interest – “Seriously? Stein? Sawant? Suicide?” by Michael Albert, ZNet [October 15, 2024].  [Link]; and “Last Clear Chances for November,” by Ralph Nader [October 11, 2024] [Link].

THE CLIMATE CRISIS

Hurricanes Milton and Helene Were Intensified by Climate Change
By Michael Riojas, Ecowatch [October 16, 2024]
---- Hurricanes — the most powerful storms on Earth — are becoming more widespread and destructive as a warming planet increases their intensity. Hurricanes Helene and Milton are following the trend of these storms becoming supercharged and more likely to form, according to a pair of studies from the World Weather Attribution (WWA). The researchers found that Hurricane Helene’s wind speed on the coast of Florida was about 11% stronger due to climate change, and its total rainfall increased by 10%. The high water temperatures that fueled Helene were found to be between 200 and 500 times more likely, and hurricanes the size of Helene are now 2.5 times more likely each year due to climate change, according to the report. As for Hurricane Milton, the researchers found storms of its intensity are now 40% more common, hurricanes with heavy one-day events similar to Milton are 20-30% more intense and twice as likely, and the maximum wind speeds of similar storms are about 10% stronger due to climate change. [Read More]

Also of interest – “Preventing Climate Change Isn’t Expensive. Doing Nothing Is,” by Branko Marcetic, Jacobin Magazine [October 18, l2024] [Link].

OUR HISTORY

What the Movement for Palestine Can Learn From the Fight Against Apartheid
By Waleed Shahid, The Nation [October 18, 2024]
---- The US anti-apartheid movement of the 1970s and ’80s offers a useful blueprint for today’s movements to follow—especially those working to end American support for Israel’s military rule over Palestinians. There are valuable lessons for activists to learn from the way the anti-apartheid movement transformed grassroots energy into political power. US foreign policy toward South Africa did not change overnight; it was the product of sustained organizing, strategic alliances, and deep moral clarity, culminating in the passage of the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986. But its success showed that you need all of those elements, not just some, to win. [Read More]