Category: Palestine

Spain to Block Maersk Ships Bound to Israel After Pressure From Activists

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The Spanish government has announced it will block two ships—Denver and Seletar—operated by shipping giant Maersk and carrying military cargo bound for Israel, from docking at the port of Algeciras. This decision comes just days after the Mask off Maersk campaign released a report exposing the company’s regular use of the Spanish port for transferring cargo that enables the ongoing genocide against Palestinians, despite Spain’s stated arms embargo.

Spain to Block Maersk Ships Bound to Israel After Pressure From Activists

Pro-Israel leaders encouraged by Brian Hook’s role on State Department transition team

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

As questions emerge about how President-elect Donald Trump will handle the ongoing turmoil in the Middle East during a second term, some pro-Israel foreign policy voices say they have been reassured by recent news reports that Brian Hook, a special envoy for Iran in the first Trump administration, is expected to lead the transition team at the State Department.

Hook, who previously worked in the State Department under former President George W. Bush and is now the vice chairman of Cerberus Global Investments, helped to oversee Trump’s so-called “maximum pressure” campaign toward Iran, including punishing sanctions after the U.S. withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal. He was also a key player on the team that negotiated the Abraham Accords, Trump’s signature foreign policy achievement, which the president-elect has pledged to expand when he returns to office.

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Among the candidates rumored to be under consideration for secretary of state are Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN), a former ambassador to Japan; Robert O’Brien, Trump’s former national security advisor; and Ric Grenell, who served as the former president’s ambassador to Germany as well as his acting director of national intelligence.

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But conservative foreign policy experts surveyed by JI said they did not envision ideological tensions between Hook and Grenell emerging should they serve together. “Grenell mirrors Trump in being a champion-level supporter of Israel and Iran hawk,” said a former official on Trump’s National Security Council, who was granted anonymity to discuss the transition. “There would be no reason for friction.”

Pro-Israel leaders encouraged by Brian Hook’s role on State Department transition team

Previously:

Making Excuses for Trump: Where Does the Buck Stop?

But Trump’s seemingly aimless foreign and national security policies are only part of the problem. More to the point, the president keeps appointing people to senior level positions where they have a hand in shaping the policies ranging from hardline on civil liberties issues to complete interventionism vis-à-vis America’s role worldwide. The list is long and includes John Bolton, Rick Grenell, Mike Pompeo, Brian Hook, James Jeffrey, Robert O’Brien, John Ratcliffe and Gina Haspel. And one might suggest that the latest move might very well be the worst of all, naming Eliot Abrams as Special Envoy on Iran.

Netanyahu cries ‘anti-Semitism’ as Israeli Maccabi hooligans instigate riots in Amsterdam

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

As anti-Palestinian provocations by notoriously racist Israeli football hooligans triggered riots in central Amsterdam on Thursday night, Israel and the far-right government of the Netherland along with other Western leaders are rushing to portray the violence as ‘anti-Semitic pogroms’ even as the Dutch police said investigations are ongoing and refused to comment on the ethnicity of the Dutch citizens arrested overnight.

Netanyahu cries ‘anti-Semitism’ as Israeli Maccabi hooligans instigate riots in Amsterdam

Fox News calls it for Orange Man

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Donald Trump elected as the next President of the United States

This election didn’t really matter that much to me. Neither the Democrats nor Republicans have done anything for me. Anyway, it didn’t matter who won, as nothing will change. Same circus, different clowns. The Palestinians have lost, while Silicon Valley and the Military Industrial Complex (or as it has been rebranded, the Defense Industrial Base) have won.

US Army Soldier Dies from Injuries in Biden-Harris Gaza Pier Debacle

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

US Army Soldier Dies from Injuries in Biden-Harris Gaza Pier Debacle

This marks the third death related to the Gaza Pier mission. Just days before Sgt. Quandarius Davon Stanley’s passing, Norfolk’s Marine Hydraulics International (MHI) reported that two shipworkers died aboard the USNS 2nd Lt. John P. Bobo, a Military Sealift Command ship undergoing repairs in connection with the Gaza aid mission, was the site of a tragic accident during maintenance. The workers’ identities have not been released. The vessel had previously been dispatched to support the pier mission but was diverted to the shipyard after its engine room caught fire en route to Gaza in April.