Weekend Quotables
War crimes mount in Rafah. TikTok banned. Al Jazeera banned. Students are right to rebel against genocide in Gaza and the fascist threat here at home.
"Destroying property is not a peaceful protest. It’s against the law." - Pres. Joe Biden, as US bombs continue to rain down on Rafah
Israel’s military called for residents of eastern Rafah to “evacuate immediately,” signaling a potential invasion of the city as the latest round of ceasefire talks between leaders failed to produce a deal. [CNN]
With anti-genocide protests erupting across U.S. college campuses, Biden faces increasing pressure politically to convince Israel to hold off on an invasion of Rafah. Biden addressed the mounting protests over the war in Gaza last week but said that they had not forced him to reconsider his all-out support for Israel. — Reuters
World Food Programme Executive Director Cindy McCain said in an NBC News interview broadcast Sunday, that based on the "horror" on the ground: "There is famine, full-blown famine, in the north, and it's moving its way south."
Columbia College Student Council Statement
We now ask you to give us, the students, our voices back. Not to turn attention towards ourselves, but towards where it rightfully belongs: the Middle East. — This statement was passed in the Columbia College Student Council by a margin of 22-4-2
Robert Reich
While protest movements are often ignited by many different things and attract an assortment of people with a range of motives, this one is centered on one thing: moral outrage at the slaughter of tens of thousands of innocent people – most of them women and children – in Gaza. To interpret these protests as anything else – as antisemitic or anti-Zionist or anti-American or pro-Palestinian – is to miss the essence of what’s going on and why. — Guardian
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders
It’s not complicated. The director of the World Food Program, Cindy McCain, says that parts of Gaza are experiencing a “full-blown famine” that is rapidly spreading. That is why students are protesting. That is why I voted against giving Netanyahu’s war machine any more U.S. aid. — X
Sec. of State Antony Blinken
TikTok was banned directly because "the emotion, the impact of images has a very challenging effect on the narrative." The narrative is "Israel's PR". — McCain Institute
Ray Hanania, veteran Chicago journalist
What played out in 1968 is playing out again today and, coincidentally, is also having a significant impact on a presidential election. A replay of the 1968 clashes is possible at the 2024 Democratic National Convention, which will again be held in August in Chicago…So violent was the confrontation between police and student protesters at the Democratic National Convention in 1968 that a national commission later created to examine what happened concluded it was “a police riot.” — Arab News
Cameron Driggers, Youth Action Fund founder