December Palestine Update
Palestinian girl in a flooded encampment in Gaza
Local
Cincinnati Police Department (CPD) signed a new contract with Axon through 2033 which includes $4.8 million to procure and operate Skydio drones. Police and city leaders are spinning this to make us believe the police drones will help protect citizens, but there is a dark truth behind what Axon claims are 'battle tested' drones. These AI-powered surveillance drones and their corresponding software are used by Israeli occupation forces to carry out genocide in Gaza, and they are now being deployed across Cincinnati to monitor protesters and civilians.
The Skydio drones, engineered for surveillance and battlefield monitoring, can autonomously navigate locations where GPS doesn’t work. They track individuals using thermal imaging and facial recognition, and then upload imagery to a cloud-based database called Axon Evidence—a digital evidence system created by Axon and used by law enforcement. Axon is a major investor in Skydio, an Israeli company, and also supplies equipment to Israeli police and prison services. Body cameras and tasers are among the other devices being supplied to CPD as part of this contract. The total value of the contract is $41 million, making Axion CPD's biggest supplier.
This blatant connection between CPD and the corporate entities facilitating genocide in Palestine cannot be ignored. The phrase "We are all Palestinian" rings true in the most literal sense. The equipment and tactics used on the Palestinian people are being put into use on US citizens. We must continue to support the Palestinian cause in the most steadfast manner and use this issue to show people how the western military industrial complex, which receives massive amounts of funding from billionaires and corporate conglomerates, is an enemy to all workers of the world.
If you are skeptical of the truth, watch this video of Israeli-American billionaire Elan Carr saying the quiet part loud: "Doing to Israel's enemy here what Israel did to its enemies in the Middle East."
National
On Nov.18, pro-Palestinian protesters in Dearborn, Michigan were confronted by a right-wing anti-Islam counter 'protest' led by Jake Lang, a convicted January 6th rioter. Pro-Muslim protesters, some with BAMN (By Any Means Necessary), chanted, "Dearborn has made it clear: Fascists are not welcome here." Lang antagonized protestors by dousing a Quran in lighter fluid and shouting racist slogans. Ultimately, the police erected barriers around Lang to protect him from the larger crowd, which comes as no surprise to anyone as it's a pattern for cops to protect right-wing agitators over those protesting fascism and genocide.
Dearborn recently re-elected Mayor Abdullah Hammoud, who won a sweeping victory with more than 71% of the vote. Lang and Michigan gubernatorial candidate Anthony Hudson claim there is a "Muslim takeover" in Dearborn, and that the city is being governed by Sharia law. This stems from a right-wing conspiracy belief that any Arab-American elected leader will unilaterally impose traditional Islamic governance using the power of their elected position. The conspiracy insults Sharia law by ignoring its history and nuance and cultivates hate against Arab-Americans.
Hudson backtracked on his hard stance after touring mosques, talking with Muslim residents, exploring the city days before the protest. Hudson determined Sharia law is not in place in Dearborn because of the conversations he had with Muslim residents and because there are "Gentlemen's clubs" and "liquor stores" in the downtown area.
International
Despite the ceasefire, Israeli attacks have killed at least 356 Palestinians and injured 909 since its implementation. Israel also continues to violate its ceasefire with Lebanon. These constant violations prove these "ceasefires" are no more than a PR stunt for the US and Israel.
Amid the violations, on Nov. 17, the UN Security Council approved a resolution mandating a transitional administration and an International Stabilization Force in Gaza. Russia and China abstained from the vote, citing the resolution does not provide a clear path for Palestinian statehood. A counter proposal drafted by Russia was not considered by the council.
The resolution is part of the 20-Point Gaza Peace Plan touted by Donald Trump. The stabilization force is to be comprised of soldiers from neighboring Arab countries that agree to the resolution. It also calls for the stabilization force to ensure “the process of demilitarizing the Gaza Strip” and “the permanent decommissioning of weapons from non-state armed groups”. The resolution authorizes the force to “use all necessary measures to carry out its mandate”. It also includes a so-called "Board of Peace" as the entity that will oversee the implementation of the plan for a period of two years. Board members will include former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and Trump's son in-law Jared Kushner. Many board member have ties to the real-estate industry.
Ralph Wilde, a leading international law academic and practitioner, said that the resolution attempts to codify "trusteeship" over Gaza. A 'trust' is a colonial and capitalist arrangement that breaches the Palestinians' right to self-determination. The Washington post was able to obtain a PDF copy of the trust plan.
Companies like Ikea, Amazon, and Tesla are part of the plan with their logos proudly displayed in the document. The plan essentially says that a new city run by western capital is to be established in the Gaza strip with factories and luxury hotels. Any Palestinians that choose to remain must be disarmed and must comply with Western culture. Ultimately, the corporate backers want use the Palestinians that stay for cheap labor and keep them as an underclass. This plan is blatant neo-colonialism happening openly for the world to see.
In response, Hamas released the following statement:
"This resolution does not meet the level of our Palestinian people’s political and humanitarian demands and rights, particularly in the Gaza Strip, which for two years endured a brutal genocidal war and unprecedented crimes committed by the terrorist occupation in front of the entire world—the effects and repercussions of which remain ongoing despite the declaration of the war’s end according to President Trump’s plan.
The resolution imposes an international guardianship mechanism on the Gaza Strip, which our people and their factions reject. It also imposes a mechanism to achieve the occupation’s objectives, which it failed to accomplish through its brutal genocide. Furthermore, this resolution detaches the Gaza Strip from the rest of the Palestinian geography and attempts to impose new realities away from our people’s principles and legitimate national rights, thereby depriving our people of their right to self-determination and the establishment of their Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.
Resisting the occupation by all means is a legitimate right guaranteed by international laws and conventions. The weapons of the resistance are linked to the existence of the occupation, and any discussion of the weapons file must remain an internal national matter connected to a political path that ensures the end of the occupation, the establishment of the state [of Palestine], and self-determination.
Assigning the international force with tasks and roles inside the Gaza Strip, including disarming the resistance, strips it of its neutrality, and turns it into a party to the conflict in favor of the occupation. Any international force, if established, must be deployed only at the borders to separate forces, monitor the ceasefire, and must be fully under UN supervision. It must operate exclusively in coordination with official Palestinian institutions, without the occupation having any role in it, and work to ensure the flow of aid, without being turned into a security authority that pursues our people and their resistance.
Humanitarian aid, relief for the affected, and the opening of crossings are fundamental rights for our people in the Gaza Strip. Aid and relief operations cannot remain subject to politicization, blackmail, and subjugation to complex mechanisms amid the unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe created by the occupation, which requires expediting the opening of crossings and mobilizing all resources to address it through the UN and its agencies, foremost among them UNRWA.
We call on the international community and the Security Council to uphold the international law and humanitarian values, and to adopt resolutions that achieve justice for Gaza and the Palestinian cause, through the actual cessation of the brutal genocidal war on Gaza, reconstruction, ending the occupation, and enabling our people to self-determination and establish their independent state with Jerusalem as its capital."