Chef Jose Andres told Reuters today that his World Central Kitchen workers were targeted by Israel and killed, systematically, car by car.
“This was not just a bad luck situation where ‘oops’ we dropped the bomb in the wrong place,” Andres said.
“This was over a 1.5, 1.8 kilometers, with a very defined humanitarian convoy that had signs in the top, in the roof, a very colorful logo that we are obviously very proud of,” he said. It’s “very clear who we are and what we do.”
I believe him. From everything I’ve read the destuction of that food convoy had to be deliberate. See also José Andrés: Let People Eat at the New York Times (no paywall).
I’m reading that while President Biden is very angry, there are no immediate plans to change policy. A shame; this incident would have been the time to make a change.
I wrote a couple of days ago that Israel’s ultra-orthodox faction would be drafted into the military for the first time. Today Fred Kaplan in Slate expands on this a bit.
Netanyahu’s coalition, which put him back in power early last year, consists entirely of factions to the right of his own quite right-wing Likud party. If Netanyahu lets this draft exemption expire, he will alienate the ultra-Orthodox factions that support him; if he extends it, he will alienate the secular Jews that support him. Either way, he could be in trouble. His coalition’s majority in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, is narrow. If just five of his partners were to resign, as some are threatening to do over the exemption issue, he would lose his majority. New elections, which otherwise aren’t scheduled to take place until 2026, would be held. Polls indicate that he would lose.
It’s not clear to me whether this draftng has begun. There were reports that some Haredi have received draft notices, but other reports say the military is still preparing to send draft notices and that there are some number of days to work out a compromise. But the end of the Haredi draft exemption has been called “an earthquake” in Israel.
It’s obvious Netanyahu would prefer Trump to win the election, with the assumption that Trump will give him everything he wants without having to apologize for killing civilians.
In other news:
David Kurtz at Talking Points Memo wants you to know that Special Counsel Jack Smith Is Done With Judge Aileen Cannon And Lets It Show.
Jack Smith takes a new tone of incredulousness and disdain for her mishandling of the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case.
The issue at hand is her failure to have yet ruled on Donald Trump’s motion to dismiss based on his inane, unprecedented, and counterfactual reading of the Presidential Records Act. Instead of rejecting the argument out of hand, Cannon not only is entertaining it but ordered the two sides to propose jury instructions based on two different deeply flawed interpretations of the PRA.
That set up an nearly impossible challenge for Smith: How do you draft jury instructions that are so wrong on the law without looking like an idiot, undermining your own case, and pissing of the judge?
The answer: You can’t.
So Smith went all in, no longer trying to placate, educate, or hand-hold Cannon.
Smith ripped her interpretations of the PRA: “both of the Court’s scenarios are fundamentally flawed and any jury instructions that reflect those scenarios would be error.” He said her “legal premise is wrong” and her requested jury instructions “would distort the trial.”
Smith all but threatened to take Cannon up on appeal, urging her to rule promptly and not wait until a jury has been seated and thereby deprive the government of the opportunity to appeal. At this point, Smith would prefer an adverse ruling to no ruling at all: “Whatever the Court decides, it must resolve these crucial threshold legal questions promptly. The failure to do so would improperly jeopardize the Government’s right to a fair trial.”
Just read the whole thing.
"A shame; this incident would have been the time to make a change."
It's well past time, my only conclusion is that Biden is somehow in on the corruption? Or AIPAC has Biden, the house and senate and our entire media infrastructure by the short hairs. I can't think of any other country that would not only be allowed to continue these war crimes in full view to the world but also be supported by us the American taxpayers. The attack on the food convoy comes days after Biden signed off on more bombs, warplanes etc to Israel. I don't believe in coincidences, Bibi is working for Stump.
What's going on is bigger than Israel and Gaza. It's possible there is something going on that we don't know about, yet. And it's also possible that Biden sincerely believes that cutting off Israel will cost him the election, but I doubt that it would. Just the opposite, if anything.
Cutting off Israel might not cost Biden the election, but the Democratic Party would lose *hundreds of millions* of AIPAC money to the GOP, guaranteeing GOP control of the House and Senate. If the GOP controls the House after the next election, they are likely to reject Electoral College results as certified from Blue and Purple states, and then install Trump with that weird One-State-One-Vote rule…
This is what happens when someone tweaks the nose of a right-winger. The right wing thinks they just have to be the biggest badasses, so no one would dare attack. If someone does attack, they feel they have to prove that they were the biggest badasses, and cause a massive amount of damage to scare the next people. They are the most likely to be cruel to the point of stupid, and I think my point has been proven.
Earlier in the war, Bozo – I mean, Bibi – said that he was good with killing 20 or 30 innocents to get one Hamas member. Funny thing: Lot begged God not to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah if even 10 good people could be found within, and, I bet the ugly guy with the mustache felt that it was okay to kill a few innocents, to kill a couple Jewish people.
Doing this is just flat out insane, and if they were just doing it, I'd ponder if they really thought things though. But <strike>Bozo</strike> Bibi already said the quiet part loud (and hasn't said the loud part – that he wants to protect the innocent – at all).
Yes, this attack on a truly wonderful charity should have been the time for Biden to read Bibi the riot act.
But what'd Biden do?
Nothin'.
As for Smith, it's more than past time he asked for a new judge for the documents trial.
The current judge is either a simpering sycophant, a coward, or an idiot (or any combo, or all three – for that matter), and needs to go!
I don't have inside access but Biden does. What is Iran's game here? What weapons and tactics can they bring to bear against civilian targets in Israel if the US abandons Israel?
Are there agreements between Iran and Russia that might give Iran access to invade Israel using Syria. I don't know, but Biden does. Netanyahu is a paranoid, corrupt, danger to stability in the mid-east. His rabid persecution of Palestinians brought us to this cusp. How does the US divorce itself from Bibi's policies without exposing the men, women, and children of Israel to violence at the hands of lunatics in Tehran?
I'm speculating. The alliances and plans of enemies of the US and Israel aren't public. The ability of the US to intercept those plans is (IMO) pretty good. If the US knows stuff that would expose spies (maybe in the Kremlin) to discovery, Biden can't go public.
The massacre of civilians by Hamas was well-planned and equipped, possibly backed by Iran. The brutal reprisal by Bibi, was predictable. Somehow, Hamas expected this would work to their benefit – there's a missing piece or maybe a few pieces. It only makes sense that Hamas expected someone to step in and crush the IDF and that doesn't look easy unless the US has withdrawn support.
The strike on the Iranian Embassy is unexplained. Netanyahu has a full plate. Why stir that pot? There were some generals reportedly there. For what? Why were they important enough to violate international law when Bibi is running out of friends in the world? I can't draw a line between that strike and Hamas but Syria is politically a suburb of Moscow and a neighbor of Israel.
What Israel is doing in Gaza is evil incarnate. What others want to do to Jews in Muslim territory makes Bibi's slaughter look like a misdemeanor. So Biden may be walking a tightrope – I'd have to see all the cards Biden has seen to judge what he's doing.
Just ran across this. Guess who is in the Golan Heights with a military presence? (Hint: Begins with "R.)
A message to Israel? Russia deploys more forces in Syria's Golan Heights (msn.com)
Of course Biden is angry.
When one is complicit in what the International Court of Justice has termed "plausible genocide" in its preliminary findings, it can be a bit embarrassing to have a casual massacre in the genocide brought to people's attention.
With the pattern of obstruction of humanitarian efforts to treat fellow humans with the basics of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, the burden of responsibility to avoid being an accomplice to genocide is no longer an option for our government. I do understand that we have a candidate for president who insists on calling some humans animals, who also appears to target anyone who favors even basic humanitarian ideas. I also understand that he continues to have considerable support. Humanitarians are not targets and no lame excuse is adequate when a pattern of such behavior is so apparent.
You can hide behind a bible and even overcharge and profit from selling them, but you cannot ignore the directive about what you do to the least of us, when you do such things. We as citizens cannot allow continued arms support to allies who consider humanitarians as expendable animals and use high tech precision weapons to kill them. Those orders did not come from a confused pilot. The delivery device was a drone. Some lacky may have pressed the button but the order came from those who hunt humanitarians. They are called that because exhibit high level human characteristics. They are not targets.