UN Resolution Calling for Gaza Cease-fire Passes - Netanyahu Cancels Washington Delegation After U.S. Abstains

Security Council passes resolution demanding 'an immediate ceasefire' during Ramadan!

UN Security Council resolution calling for Gaza cease-fire passes for the first time since the war broke out after the U.S. abstains from using its veto power, despite Netanyahu threatening to cancel Washington delegation on Rafah

The resolution in question "demands an immediate cease-fire for the month of Ramadan respected by all parties leading to a sustainable lasting ceasefire, and also demands the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages," having the two matters run in parallel but not conditional upon the other.

The resolution also called for "ensuring humanitarian access to address their medical and other humanitarian needs, and further demands that the parties comply with their obligations under international law in relation to all persons they detain."

A thoughtful nuanced brave interview with Tony Kushner, brilliant playwright, author, screenwriter and Jew.

I didn't think I could love him more - but I spent 45 minutes listening to him and just so much respect. At a time right now when his play Angels in America is being performed in Tel Aviv - this was a fascinating discussion and his voice is a voice or reason and compassion - to me.

If you have 45 minutes - do listen. It is so worth it.

Haaretz free link: [link:https://archive.is/AMn8B|].

Spotify Link: [link:https://open.spotify.com/episode/5x0IBrZz9P0FsmtD18L4dm?autoplay=true|]

Don't just read the Haaretz article and think you will get the nuances and thoughfulness of the answers. Listen if you can.


*And on top of his Pulitzer prize winning Angels; so much admiration for his screenplays for Munich; Lincoln; Fences; West Side Story and the Fabelmans.

But - this might be the best - his six word memoir from It All Changed in an Instant:

Netanyahu: I told Binken that we intend to conduct a ground operation in Rafah, even without U.S. support

[link:https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-03-22/ty-article-live/israeli-army-say-arrested-very-senior-hamas-officials-in-gazas-al-shifa-hospital/0000018e-63f2-d507-a1cf-63f6b0050000?liveBlogItemId=450604359#450604359|]

"I told him that we won't be able to beat Hamas without entering Rafah and killing the rest of their battalions that are there. I told him that I hope we do this with U.S. support, but if we need to - we will do it alone," said Netanyahu.

The prime minister added that he told Blinken that "we recognize the need to evacuate the civilian population from the war zones, and of course to care for the humanitarian needs, and we are acting to achieve this."

If Gaza's Children Starve, Israel Will Lose Its Moral Legitimacy Forever

By David Rothkopf, a former senior U.S. government official and the author of ten books on foreign policy and politics.

The fighting in Gaza must stop. Not tomorrow. Today.
All available resources must immediately be directed to stopping the unprecedented famine that is underway in that embattled sliver of land that has already seen unspeakable suffering. As bad as the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 was, the people and government of Israel must now recognize that today not just the country's security but its legitimacy are at stake as never before.

Former USAID Administrator Gayle Smith told me, "We are already seeing death by starvation and are looking at an accelerating trajectory towards famine from now through May and likely catastrophic famine by July."

Jeremy Konyndyk, president of Refugees International, said, "When children begin dying of evident starvation, as we're now seeing, that is indicative of extreme, sustained deprivation. Given the overwhelming levels of food deprivation and rapidly accelerating malnutrition in the latest reporting (doubled since January), this famine is building momentum very rapidly.
"There will a lot of kids right now who are at the level of advanced malnutrition that the dying kids were approximately four weeks ago. The numbers will keep rising until something major changes the trajectory."

If the race to avert catastrophic famine is lost," she states, it will not be the fault of aid groups: Responsibility should be laid firmly at the feet of the politicians whose responsibility it is to create such conditions.

That means, first and foremost, the Israeli government. But it also means all the nations of the world who are in a position to help, right now. The blame-shifting and inflamed rhetoric and political posturing and disastrous decision-making that have brought us to this awful point must stop. Fundamental decency requires it.
But so too does the recognition that the failure to effectively intervene now to end the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza will be a moral stain on the reputation of Israel from which the country may never recover.

Just beautiful. Common Ground and Shared Humanity. Thank you Ahmed and Judith.

[link:https://twitter.com/afalkhatib/status/1770542400487977215?s=61&t=_R0eaN5XDTx3hnl2jyXBTA|

Sen. Van Hollen was great this morning on Democracy Now

[link:https://www.democracynow.org/2024/3/20/chris_van_hollen|]

SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN Since my visit to Rafah in January, things have gotten even worse. The situation — the humanitarian situation in Gaza is even more catastrophic. And now, as you said, Prime Minister Netanyahu has said he’s going to ignore President Biden’s requests and launch a full-scale invasion of Rafah.

You know, President Biden was right, in my view, to say that that would be a red line, that you can’t cross it. And so, now it’s going to be very important that the president and the Biden administration back that up and make it clear that they will hold the prime minister accountable.

As you know, the Netanyahu government is going to be sending some officials to Washington this week to discuss how they might go about this Rafah invasion. And I’m very worried, Amy, that the Biden administration will simply get dragged into the planning of this, something that is bound to go terribly wrong, based on what’s happened already in the months of war in Gaza, and then somehow become complicit in Netanyahu’s actions in Rafah. So, I would warn the administration not to get sucked into this, because we’ve seen time and again that at the end of the day, Prime Minister Netanyahu simply ignores the president of the United States. And so we need to do more to make Netanyahu accountable for our requests.

SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN: Kids in Gaza are now dying from the deliberate withholding of food. In addition to the horror of that news, one other thing is true: That is a war crime. It is a textbook war crime. … And that makes those who orchestrate it war criminals.

Chef Jose Andres speaks for me

[link:https://twitter.com/chefjoseandres/status/1769521519779029185?s=61&t=_R0eaN5XDTx3hnl2jyXBTA|]

Analysis One Fiasco After Another: Meron Disaster Findings Also Convict Netanyahu for October 7

Gaza's Night of Death and Hunger

Opinion by Gideon Levy in Haaretz.

Prime Ministers Canada, Australia and NZ Call For Ceasefire

Read the full statement below:

[link:https://twitter.com/shaykhsulaiman/status/1758116011276976189?s=61&t=_R0eaN5XDTx3hnl2jyXBTA|]