#tariq kenney shawa

[garadinervi]

Genocide in Gaza: Global Culpability and Ways Forward, by Yara Hawari, Tariq Kenney-Shawa, Fathi Nimer, Alaa Tartir, Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network, November 7, 2023

[readingsquotes]

"... despite Democrats’ repeated suggestion that Netanyahu is the impetus for Israel’s war, political analysts say that in reality the prime minister’s actions are in step with Israel’s political mainstream. “Schumer is operating in this fantasy that if you get rid of Netanyahu, you might be able to get somebody else who’s more moderate who could then save the relationship between the US and Israel under the pretense of support for progressive values and democracy,” said Omar Baddar, a Palestinian American political analyst. But this narrative ignores how Israeli politicians almost across the board agree with Israel’s conduct in Gaza, as do the majority of Israelis. Yair Lapid, the former prime minister and head of the Israeli opposition, supports the ongoing assault, as does war cabinet member Benny Gantz, Netanyahu’s main political rival and the man who, according to polling, would become prime minister if Israel held elections today. Matt Duss, executive vice president at the Center for International Policy and a former foreign policy adviser to Senator Bernie Sanders, noted that many Democrats might welcome Gantz replacing Netanyahu, but the change of guard would alter little about Israel’s conduct in Gaza. “There is a danger to the idea that replacing Netanyahu will fix everything. It will not,” Duss said. “It could create a grace period where bad things continue to happen, but the US feels better about it. We need to oppose that.”

Instead of constituting a substantive shift in US support for Israel, experts say, Democrats’ emboldened critique of Netanyahu should be understood as an attempt to respond to growing voter frustration without changing policy, as the Biden administration remains unwilling to use US aid and arms exports to Israel as leverage to demand a change in behavior. In this context, the choice to focus on Netanyahu “is a political decision to avoid outright criticism of Israel’s war conduct,” said Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace. For Schumer, in particular, blaming Netanyahu as an individual was a way “to avoid the implication that he is lessening his support for the Israeli state or the Israeli people,” she said. “Instead, Schumer is focusing on a man who is unpopular among Democrats to say, ‘See, we are standing up for our values, so voters should stop being mad at us.’”

...

But ultimately, the Democratic narrative about “Netanyahu’s war” doesn’t reflect reality—not only because the assault on Gaza enjoys broad support in Israel, but also because Israel could not continue its assault without a constant supply of US arms and military funding. Senior Democrats’ fixation on the Israeli prime minister thus serves to sideline debate about US policies that could actually bring the war to an end. “Refusing to condition aid or impose sanctions—or do anything that would actually have a chance of influencing Netanyahu—shows that the Biden administration and Democratic Party leadership are not interested in ending the Gaza assault. They’re just interested in managing it,” said Tariq Kenney-Shawa, US policy fellow at Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network. While anonymous US officials have repeatedly told news outlets that the Biden administration is considering conditioning aid to Israel or slowing down weapons shipments, no such move has occurred; indeed, on Monday, the State Department said that Israel had complied with the requirement that countries receiving US weapons follow international law, despite a wide range of flagrant violations documented by numerous human rights organizations."

[cetra]

[Image ID:

A tweet by Tariq Kenney-Shawa that reads: "Israel has controlled the Palestinian population registry since 1967. They know exactly who lives where in Gaza.

Israeli forces are deliberately targeting the homes of journalists because they know exactly where they live and they are determined to silence them."

He has quote tweeted another tweet by Nour Odeh that reads: "Palestine TV veteran reporter in Khan Younis was killed along with his wife, eldest son & brother and other members of his family in an Israeli airstrike on his home an hour after his last live cross at Nasser Hospital - same hospital that received them as casualties. May he RIP". Attached to the quoted tweet is a photo of a Palestinian reporter named Mohammad Abu Hattab holding a microphone and looking directly at the camera.

/End ID.]

[omgellendean]

Tariq Kenney-Shawa:

Why did the ICJ’s ruling fall short of calling for a ceasefire? Because they believe the Israeli military can somehow eradicate Hamas & free the hostages. But this is based on fundamentally flawed assumptions that will lead to thousands more Palestinians being massacred.

Almost 4 months into Israel’s unprecedented assault, ~30,000 Gazans have been killed and Hamas remains very much active. But more importantly, 75+ years of Israeli assaults have failed to quell Palestinian resistance. That can only be achieved by ending occupation/apartheid.

Secondly, as we’ve seen over the past couple months, the only way to achieve the safe release of hostages is through a ceasefire and a negotiated hostage exchange. The continuation of Israel’s assault only puts the hostages at further risk and reduces their chance of survival.

Ultimately, the ICJ thinks Israel’s operation can go on with less of the genocide part - the rhetoric, collective punishment, targeting of civilians en masse, etc. The ICJ is failing to see Israel’s assault as inherently genocidal & is distracted by Israel’s professed “war aims.”

The ICJ is acting on a fundamentally flawed reading of Israeli intent, as well as the realities on the ground/of ideologically driven resistance groups. Now, thousands more Palestinians will pay the price of the ICJ’s belief that there is a military solution to this.

[progressive-globe]

[April 1, 2024]

Common Dreams:

Palestinian Policy Network fellow Tariq Kenney-Shawa said: "What the Biden administration means by 'taking every measure to avoid regional escalation' is that they're making sure only Israel is allowed to escalate. Deploying aircraft carriers, airstrikes in Yemen/Syria/Iraq, all of that is to make sure Israel can provoke but no one can respond." While Parsi wondered if Israel attacked Iran's consulate—its sovereign territory—to elicit a response to justify a larger war, Antiwar.com editor Dave DeCamp went further, accusing Israel of "trying to provoke a war with Iran to get the U.S. directly involved." Iranian journalist Mona Hojat Ansari wrote for the Tehran Times that the far-right government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "believes that by plunging the region into a maelstrom of chaos and entangling the United States in another pointless war in West Asia that would drain American resources, it may find a chance to survive as an apartheid establishment."