THOMAS FAZI—The US’s role in the overthrow of Allende, and its support for Pinochet’s regime, is well known. Israel’s role, on the other hand, is lesser known — but just as important. Israel did not just train Chilean personnel to aid the repression of its own people. After a US arms embargo against Chile passed the US Congress in 1976, a cable from the US Embassy in Chile on April 24, 1980, acknowledged that Israel was a major arms supplier to Pinochet [including missiles, tanks, and aircraft]. Another US cable, on April 10, 1984, quoted the American undersecretary of state as saying that Israel was still one of the main weapons suppliers to the regime. This steady stream of defense equipment undercut any potential benefits of the US arms embargo because Israel was not part of the deal.
ISRAEL
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MIKO PELED—As the world is trying to come to terms with the catastrophic results of the creation of Israel, the actual executioners, those charged with committing the crimes, are hard at work to show themselves as heroic, caring, friendly and humane. The Israeli military public relations campaign on the different social media platforms is sickening. Young men just back from committing heinous crimes are asked by a young military reporter, “What is the first thing you will do when you get home?”
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Palestine is in Africa, and Arabic Peoples are Africans
15 minutes readLAITH MAROUF—Thousands of years of cultural exchange and intermarriage exists between East African peoples, and Arabic peoples and their ancestors. For one, there is not one Somali family that is not intermarried to a Yemeni family; thousands of years of sailing back and forth between what is now Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, Yemen and Hijaz. The cultural exchange, trade and intermarriage along the Nile basin from Egypt to Ethiopia was as significant as the movement across the Red Sea. Finally, we can not forget the failed invasion of Mecca by the King of Abyssinia on the day of the birth of Prophet Mohammad, and the complete opposite 40 years later, the granting of asylum by the Christian King of Abyssinia to the first Muslims who were escaping assassins.
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DR AMIRA ABO EL-FETOUH—According to UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths, “Life is draining out of Gaza at terrifying speed.” Oxfam International, meanwhile, took to X to say that it is “appalled by reports of killing people in #Gaza waiting for food aid. Israel deliberately targeting civilians after starving them is a gross violation of international humanitarian laws and our humanity. The risk of #Genocide is real.”
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BILLY BOB—International law expert Christopher Black and geopolitical analyst Ian Kummer join the Blowback roundtable to discuss the astonishing hypocrisy of the ICJ. The roundtable analyses the West’s disproportionate influence over international institutions and their subsequent subservience to imperialist interests. The roundtable ponders the prospects for improved international organization and the likelihood of effective and just management of the current situation, in lieu of any changes to the status quo.