On Friday, July 19, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued an advisory opinion requested in 2022 by the UN General Assembly to address the legality of Israel’s continued occupation of Palestinian territories seized in 1967. 

Confirming everything that legal scholars, human rights activists, and people of conscience have been saying for decades, the court found that Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is illegal.  Israel is under obligation to end settlement expansion, evacuate all settlers, and remove parts of the apartheid wall that are situated on Palestinian territory.  Israel must provide full reparation for the damage caused by the wrongful acts, including the return of land and assets seized and must allow all Palestinians displaced during the occupation to return to their original location of residence. And important to U.S. policy, under the ruling, the international community and organizations have an obligation “not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by” the occupation.”

The right-wing Republicans . . . the Christian nationalists . . . have hoisted their flag: Project 2025, a.k.a., Project Hell on Earth, and it’s coming to a future near you. Or so they believe (and hope).

Deadly strikes across the Middle East have set an already volatile situation on edge, Friend.

One thing could stand between this distressing uptick in violence and a new war in the Middle East: The Biden administration.

There are no military solutions to this crisis, only diplomatic ones. The U.S. government will need to use every ounce of its influence to pull the parties away from the catastrophic path they’re on. Today, we need the president to know we support these efforts to de-escalate, but we need him to go further.

Right now, our job is nothing short of saving lives. Sign now to urge President Biden: De-escalate this crisis immediately with a ceasefire that stops the bombing of Gaza, brings the remaining hostages home to their families, and creates the political space necessary to build a pathway to peace for people in Israel, Palestine, and beyond.

The hoopla surrounding Kamela Harris needs a cold dose of grassroots/election protection reality.  Amidst a prevailing aura of certain victory, Hillary Clinton won the 2016 election by 3 million votes.  But we still wound up with Donald Trump in the White House.

If that history repeats itself, we will never, as Trump promises, “need to vote again.”

So whatever her policy shortcomings---and there are many---Kamala Harris cannot win a 2024 election that is not conducted primarily with hand-marked and digitally scanned paper ballots…many millions of which must be sent out and back by a United States Postal Service that desperately needs a new boss.    

A Trump defeat also can’t happen without a massive grassroots campaign whose progressive donations will fund tens of thousands of dedicated organizers working at the local level, with community democracy centers and door-to-door relational campaigning.  To win, this kind of campaigning must divert much of the money the Democrats would otherwise squander on media buys.