Rightwing activists demonstrate outside Unrwa office for third week over claims of links between staff members and Hamas

Dozens of Israeli settlers and rightwing activists have protested by again blocking the entrances of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) office in Jerusalem and calling for the body’s closure.

Last week, Israel announced it would no longer approve Unrwa food convoys to the north of Gaza, where the threat of famine is highest. The decision came after the agency was accused by the government of collaborating with Hamas in Gaza, with its staff facing a systematic campaign of obstruction and harassment by the Israeli military and authorities, as revealed in internal UN documents seen by the Guardian.

On Wednesday, a group of settlers, activists, and members of the rightwing extra-parliamentary political group Im Tirtzu staged a protest for the third week in a row, fixing posters to the building and demanding that the agency be abolished.

“Unrwa needs to be disbanded,” said Aynat Libman, a 52-year-old Israeli settler from Efrat. “Israel doesn’t need to provide space to Unrwa in our capital. They support terror, teach children from a very young age to be terrorists, provide support to Hamas, and supply Hamas. They are terrorists.”

  • givesomefucks@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1712·
    8 months ago

    Dozens of Israeli settlers and rightwing activists have protested by again blocking the entrances of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) office in Jerusalem and calling for the body’s closure.

    The same agency Biden banned aid to via executive order until it could be included in the budget…

    If Dems somehow win the House, AIPAC’s largest recipient of donations will be House majority leader too.

    Whether republicans or democrats win in the next election, it’s impossible for Israel to lose. They buy off the only two options in our political system

    “Blue no matter who” is not a viable long term strategy, because a D next to someone’s name doesn’t make them magically perfect we need standards

    • AdeptusPrimaris@lemmy.mlEnglish
      124·
      8 months ago

      I must be honest, whenever i hear people from the US say/chant ‘vote blue no matter who’, they genuinely sounds like cultists to me.

      • givesomefucks@lemmy.worldEnglish
        94·
        8 months ago

        It used to be the smart play.

        But the danger was always holding your party to a lower standard, means lower quality candidates.

        Especially in American politics where money and corruption are both readily available and often flat out legal, it’s hard for honest candidates to win primaries.

        Primaries are orders of magnitude cheaper, so lots of people realized their money not only goes further there, but you could play both sides.

        Especially in the House where a tiny rural district can be bought for like $20k. And people who openly oppose you are easily targets on reelections.

        The state of the democratic party in 2024 was always going to be the result of no standards, I just thought we had longer.

      • givesomefucks@lemmy.worldEnglish
        51·
        8 months ago

        Eh

        You really should use the lobbying tab.

        https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/lobbying?cycle=All&ind=Q05

        AIPAC especially gives a lot of trips and gifts. Then “bundling” donations so they come from individuals and not directly.

        Plus your link is just direct donations to a candidate. It doesn’t include donations to a PAC associated directly to a candidate.

        Open secrets has been around for a while, the people who abuse our political system the most works around it by now.

        So not even the lobbying tab is super relevant anymore, but it’s better than direct contributions for a measure of influence