AN AMERICAN/PALESTINIAN LOOK AT BIDEN ....

 

Samia Khoury is one of the founders of the Palestinian Christian movement, Sabeel. 

From: Samia Khoury <samiaorama@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, July 14, 2023 9:44 AM
Subject: Charity starts at Home

 

Charity Starts at Home

An open letter to Mr. Biden: 

Bravo Mr. Biden:  You really made a wonderful speech at the University of Lithuania during the NATO summit and in the presence of the Ukraine president Zelensky.  He might have been a little disappointed as the decision for Ukraine to join NATO was deferred until after the end of the conflict with Russia.  But you were very clear about your unwavering support of Ukraine against Russia’s invasion.    You used words like “Never and Ever” should one forget the right of people to stand up against such an aggression, and you spoke about common values and the defense of Freedom. 

All the rhetoric that you used was excellent and in accordance with human rights values.  Yet the hypocrisy and the double standards were so glaring that it was pathetic especially that it was  only a few days earlier  that you had justified the Israeli  invasion  with   the most sophisticated armament, on the Palestinian  refugee camp  and the city of Jenin as well as other towns like Huwara and Turmus Aya, as being “the right of Israel to defend itself”.  Really Mr. Biden.  Is this a joke?  Or do you think the whole world is that  dumb to believe that justification?  Maybe they are ,  after all,  when one of the most powerful countries in the world can get away with such a statement.

  I wish you would address your own people Mr. Biden, assuring them that you would never ever allow an American citizen to be homeless and without medical care, while you continue to provide both Israel,  an occupying power, and Ukraine, an occupied country,  with the most sophisticated armament.  Mr. Biden, charity starts at home!!!!

Samia Khoury

A Palestinian grandmother 

   Again, I'm copying this factual short message, that depicts in few words the entire US. policy toward the harsh realities of the world and its     duality in treating and dealing with them..... 

After the meeting between the president and the Israeli ceremonial president, and the shameful vote in congress to repudiate the opinions of one of its members and confirm that Israel is not a brutal occupier nor an  apartheid entity, I find Mrs. Khoury's message quiet adequate and timely.  Thanks to all my good readers.

 

WHAT BECAME OF THE SUPREME COURT.....

After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, you might have thought things couldn’t possibly get worse.

Oh, how I wish that were true.

In the term that just ended, the Supreme Court’s right-wing super-majority invented a right to discriminate against LGBTQ people, gutted crucial Clean Water Act protections, banned affirmative action, and threw out President Biden’s student debt forgiveness plan.
And they did it all while accepting millions of dollars' worth of secret gifts from right-wing billionaires.

This Supreme Court is off the rails. Congress must act now to reform the Supreme Court by imposing a legal code of ethics, requiring financial disclosures, and enacting term limits to rein in the unchecked power of these lawless, ideologically driven extremists.
Perhaps even more radical than the Supreme Court’s decisions themselves are the arguments they used to reach them.

They’ve created whole new legal theories out of thin air, like the so-called “major questions doctrine,” which declares that virtually every federal agency that sets rules to protect public health and safety is unconstitutional. Under this bogus theory, it’s only a matter of time before this Supreme Court fully dismantles every regulatory agency, from the EPA (environmental protection agency) to the FDA (food and drug administration) to OSHA (occupational safety and health administration). 

The Supreme Court has also made a mockery of basic procedures, like legal standing, which says you can’t bring a lawsuit unless you’ve actually been harmed in some way. The business owner who sued for the right to discriminate against LGBTQ people had no such standing, but the Supreme Court took the case anyway.
And they’ve made a complete punch line out of the fundamental legal doctrine of stare decisis, which says that the Supreme Court should only very rarely overturn one of its own precedents.

In other words, this Supreme Court thinks it can do whatever it wants, whenever it wants, and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.

Well, they’re wrong. The public and all its available social media, has to launch a major public education effort using our proven-effective viral explainer videos and posts to educate the public and urge the other two branches of government to reform the Supreme Court by imposing a legal code of ethics, requiring financial disclosures, and enacting term limits for the justices.
But with this Supreme Court so far off the rails, we must expand this effort and demand action before it’s too late.

My, as always, gratitude to all my readers all over the world.......

My Response to Senator Tammy Duckworth's Response

 

Dear Senator Duckworth,

Thank you for the response in answer to my email, but I must say that I am most disappointed that it is saturated with classical Israeli tropes, claims, and allegiances.  Israel is NOT our "ally", but rather an ally of some American politicians who enable Israeli occupation of Palestine - for a price.  Israel is NOT our ally when it refuses to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine, or for having passed on to the former USSR some of our most advanced US technologies at the time, such as the "Super-computers, Missiles, Rocket programs, AWACS (to China), and the Pollard Affair, the biggest haul of raw intelligence secrets in American history.  And, yes, much of it was later on channeled behind the scenes to the USSR.

As a Christian Arab Palestinian-American born in Haifa, Palestine (before 1948), I have experienced as a child the usurpation of 78% of my Palestinian Homeland in 1948, in order to create "Israel".  Israel's creation was based on a world class crime of major proportion, only second to the Jewish Holocaust.  We were evicted for not being Jewish and for being indigenous Native Palestinians.  We were unlike the primarily East European ideological Zionists and their flocks who arrived with British assistance as "immigrants" and claimed our land, based on extremist religious fanaticism and racism.  If any other people made such distorted claims, based on their misrepresented faith, they would have been condemned and ostracized particularly in the USA.

  

Just think about it this way.  In 1917, the Palestinian population represented 90% and the Jews 10% of the population of the entire Holy Land - including what became "Israel" in 1948.  Within a mere three decades, the avalanche of Jewish immigrants facilitated by Britain, dramatically raised it from 10% to 35%. In spite of that, the Palestinian native population still represented a solid majority af 65% of the total population.  The primarily East-European Zionist-Jewish militias (Haganah, Stern, Zvi Leumi) ethnically cleansed 80% of the native Palestinian population, forcefully evicting us and terrorizing us to flee, and become refugees in neighboring countries.  And to make it even a bigger crime, Israel adamantly refuses to abide by UN Resolution #194, "Right of Return" of 1948 that gives Palestinians the right to return to their homeland and claim their homes, farms, lands and orchards, and to be compensated for their loss.

What the Israeli "Hasbara" (Yiddish for "propaganda") mislabels as, "Normalization" should be corrected to read, "Normalization of Occupation" program. It was invented by Netanyahu-Kushner, spoon-fed to Trump, and spread to their business partners.  It has nothing to do with peace or justice, or humanity, but for building Trump's resorts and golf courses and real estate deals in New York and around the world, including Putin's Russia.  How about "Normalizing" Russia's occupation of 20% of Ukraine?  I can assure you that the only feature that relates to "Abraham" in the fakery labeled as, "Abraham Accords", is the "disobedience" of God's will by actually going ahead with sacrificing - or even crucifying - Abraham's son, Ishamel/Isaac.

Sorry for my long comment, but back to the VWP (Visa Waver Program) subject, Israel should not be allowed to continue its abuse against Arab-Americans and particularly Palestinian-Americans visiting their original homeland, namely, Palestine.  Israel has to be held accountable to treat ALL Americans equally, regardless of their ethnicity, religion, skin color, or political views.

Thanks again and I do sincerely hope that you would take some opportunities to learn more about the "Other" narrative of Palestine-Israel, including visiting the West Bank (including Arab East Jerusalem and Bethlehem) and Gaza.  

And, Thank you for your service to our great country.

Best regards and Salaam ("Peace", in Arabic).

Awad 

On Thu, Jun 29, 2023 at 1:59 PM Senator Tammy Duckworth <correspondence@duckworth.senate.gov> wrote:

Dear Awad, Thank you for contacting me about Israel joining the U.S. Visa Waiver Program (VWP). I appreciate you taking the time to make me aware of your views on this important matter. As strong supporter of our close ally Israel, I support their candidacy to join the VWP. All countries must be able to meet certain requirements in order to qualify to join the program, including certain technical visa requirements, such as a visa refusal rate below three percent for nonimmigrants for the past two fiscal years and reciprocal privileges for U.S. citizens and nationals. I applaud Israel for taking steps to be able to meet the necessary requirements as established by law and stand ready and willing to work with the Biden administration to determine what further measures are necessary for Israel to implement in order to become eligible to join VWP. That is why I recently sent a letter with Senator Van Hollen to Secretary Blinken to express my support for Israel joining the VWP should they meet all program requirements. Since Israel has historically had challenges achieving the necessary refusal rates and ensuring reciprocal treatment of U.S. citizens and nationals—particularly those of Palestinian or Arab descent—our letter also requested additional information on plans to address these concerns. As your Senator, I am committed to advancing policies that reinforce our shared values and security interests. Should Israel satisfy all program requirements, their engagement with the VWP would reinforce our commitment to continued bilateral diplomacy. It is in our own national interest to ensure Israeli democracy remains strong, stable and secure for years to come, despite relentless threats posed by shared adversaries such as Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas and ISIS. To further this goal, it is important for the U.S. to support the normalization of relations between Israel and its neighbors with shared security interests through agreements like the Abraham Accords. That is why I was proud to cosponsor the Israel Relations Normalization Act, which made it U.S. policy to strengthen and expand the Abraham Accords. Please be assured that I will monitor Israel’s progress toward eligibility for VWP, and I will continue to support strong relations with Israel. Thank you again for contacting me on this important issue. If you would like more information on my work in the Senate, please visit my website at www.duckworth.senate.gov. You can access my voting record and see what I am doing to address today’s most important issues. I hope that you will continue to share your views and opinions with me and let me know whenever I may be of assistance to you. Sincerely, Tammy Duckworth United States Senator

Awad is a good friend, he shared with me his contacting Senator Duckworth about an important issue being discussed nowadays in Congress and the administration. I thank my good readers for following my blogs, stay safe and well.