“Time to stop singularizing Trump as uniquely evil”

As practically everyone on planet Earth must now know, Donald Trump has become the first former US president to be convicted of felonies after leaving office. The response to the outcome of the trial from Democrats and Republicans has been predictably binary. Democrats have been reveling in the outcome and seem to think that the trial’s conclusion has delivered a final blow to Trump’s credibility and, in turn, his chances of winning the upcoming election. Trump’s supporters, on the other hand, are largely condemning the trial as politically motivated “lawfare” waged by the “radical left” in order to derail Trump’s chances of winning the upcoming election, which might end up galvanizing his base.

Trump’s Conviction Papers Over Much Bigger Crimes that He (and Every Other Recent US President) Has Committed in While Office

I can’t stand Trump, but this is why I don’t post about the criminal charges against him. I’d rather see him, and the rest of them, charged for war crimes! Furthermore, I can understand why his supporters, and even foreigners, see it as lawfare.

Who is Mohammad Mustafa, the new prime minister of the Palestinian Authority?

Who is Mohammad Mustafa, the new prime minister of the Palestinian Authority?

Mohammad Mustafa is taking over the role in a move seen as an attempt to appease U.S. demands for reform so that the Palestinian Authority could govern Gaza in a postwar era.

Mustafa also has ties to the United States. He received a master’s degree and a Ph.D. at Washington, D.C.’s George Washington University. He previously worked for the World Bank as well.

The White House’s National Security Council said it welcomed the appointment of Mustafa as prime minister, according to spokesperson Adrienne Watson.

A majority of Palestinians are still not supportive of this governmental body. A recent study from the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research found that nearly 60% of Palestinians want the Palestinian Authority dissolved and that 88% want Abbas to resign.

…In his announcement of the appointment, Abbas asked Mustafa to create plans to reunite the administration of the West Bank and Gaza, reform the government and address corruption.

Related:

Who is Mohammad Mustafa, the Palestinian Prime Minister-designate?

Throughout his tenure in Palestine, Dr. Mustafa has been a driving force behind the establishment and launch of numerous leading companies and investment funds, including the Palestinian Telecommunications Company Paltel, the Palestinian National Mobile Company in 2008, the Ammar Real Estate and Tourism Investment Company in 2009, Ammar Al-Quds in 2018, the Rasmala Palestinian Equity Fund in 2011, the Palestinian Leasing Company for Islamic Finance in 2013, Aswaaq Asset Management Company in 2014, focusing on Palestinian stock markets, Masdar Company for Natural Resource Development and Infrastructure Projects in 2015, and Palestine Power Generation.

In his public roles, Dr. Mustafa has participated in key organizations such as the World Economic Forum and served as Governor of Palestine at the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development in Kuwait. He led the Ministerial Committee at the Donors’ Conference for the Reconstruction of Gaza in Cairo in 2014. Additionally, he is a member of the boards of trustees of the Institute for Palestine Studies and the Yasser Arafat Foundation.

GAZA in real time: Geopolitics versus Genocide

Prefatory Note: A modified version of this interview conducted by Daniel Falcone, with a long introduction was published online in Truthout on October 29, 2023, The situation in Gaza and its increasingly regional implications grow more humanly distressing and politically menacing with each passing day. Israel has succeeded in influencing the Global West and its corporate main media platforms to accept two interpretations of events following the Oct 7 Hamas attack that are at best highly contentious and controversial and, in my understanding, deeply misleading and distorting: (1) that Hamas is nothing other than a group of terrorists engaged in barbaric crimes, and should be addressed in the same manner as ISIS and Al-Qaeda; (2) that it is legitimate in such a conflict to override normal rules of international law, even to the extent of engaging in genocidal means of ethnic cleansing.

GAZA in real time: Geopolitics versus Genocide

An Open Letter to RFK Jr. on Israel/Palestine

This article was originally written as a private letter addressed to Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his campaign manager, former Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH). Unanswered since it was sent in early June 2023, it is now published as an open letter.

An Open Letter to RFK Jr. on Israel/Palestine

Related:

Israel’s One-State Reality

When a U.S. president demanded inspections of a nuclear facility in the Middle East (and failed)

The Battle of the Letters, 1963: John F. Kennedy, David Ben-Gurion, Levi Eshkol, and the U.S. Inspections of Dimona

At Least Five Palestinians Killed in Ain Al-Hilweh Clashes

Armed clashes were reported between gunmen in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh in southern Lebanon.

At Least Five Palestinians Killed in Ain Al-Hilweh Clashes

Video via Ramzy Baroud

Related:

Prominent Fatah Leader assassinated in Lebanon; Fatah vows justice for the martyrs

A prominent leader of the Palestinian Fatah movement, General Abu Ashraf Al-Armoushi, along with several of his comrades, was assassinated in a targeted act of terrorism in Lebanon’s Ein El-Hilweh camp on Sunday, July 30, 2023, Fatah announced in a statement.

“While carrying out their national duty to ensure the safety of their people within the camp, General Al-Armoushi and his colleagues, identified as Mouhanad Kassem, Tarek Khalaf, Mousa Fandi, and Bilal Obeid, fell victim to this horrific act.”