Aid groups call on Israel to end ‘weaponization' of aid in Gaza
A letter signed by organizations including Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders and CARE accused Israel of 'weaponizing aid' as people starve in war-torn Gaza and using it as a tool to entrench control.
The groups were responding to registration rules announced by Israel in March that require organizations to hand over full lists of their donors and Palestinian staff for vetting.
The groups contend that doing so could endanger their staff and give Israel broad grounds to block aid if groups are deemed to be 'delegitimizing' the country or supporting boycotts or divestment.
The registration measures were 'designed to control independent organizations, silence advocacy, and censor humanitarian reporting,' they said.
The letter added that the rules violate European data privacy regulations, noting that in some cases aid groups have been given only seven days to comply.
COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of humanitarian aid to Gaza, denied the letter's claims. It alleged the groups were being used as cover by Hamas to 'exploit the aid to strengthen its military capabilities and consolidate its control' in Gaza.
'The refusal of some international organizations to provide the information and cooperate with the registration process raises serious concerns about their true intention,' it said in a statement on Thursday. 'The alleged delay in aid entry … occurs only when organizations choose not to meet the basic security requirements intended to prevent Hamas's involvement.'
Israel has long claimed that aid groups and United Nations agencies issue biased assessments.
The aid groups stressed on Thursday that most of them haven't been able to deliver 'a single truck' of life-saving assistance since Israel implemented a blockade in March.
A vast majority of aid isn't reaching civilians in Gaza, where tens of thousands have been killed, most of the population has been displaced and famine looms. U.N. agencies and a small number of aid groups have resumed delivering assistance, but say the number of trucks allowed in remains far from sufficient.
Meanwhile, tensions have flared over Israel and the United States backing the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to serve as the main distributor of aid in the besieged territory. The American contractor, meant to replace the traditional U.N.-led aid distribution system in Gaza, has faced international condemnation after hundreds of Palestinians were killed while trying to get food near its distribution sites.
Israel has pressed U.N. agencies to accept military escorts to deliver goods into Gaza, a demand the agencies have largely rejected, citing their commitment to neutrality. The standoff has been the source of competing claims: Israel maintains it allows aid into Gaza that adheres to its rules, while aid groups that have long operated in Gaza decry the amount of life-saving supplies stuck at border crossings.
'Oxfam has over $2.5 million worth of goods that have been rejected from entering Gaza by Israel, especially WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) items as well as food,' said Bushra Khalidi, an aid official with Oxfam in Gaza.
Aid groups' 'ability to operate may come at the cost of their independence and ability to speak out,' she added.
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USA Today
13 minutes ago
- USA Today
I'm Israeli. The world must stop our government's genocide in Gaza while we still can.
Knowing my own society is committing these crimes has shattered everything I thought I knew about myself, about my country, about humanity. The international community has failed us all. A few years ago, at a meeting of Israeli and Palestinian peace activists, we sat on the grass trying to brainstorm new initiatives. Some Palestinians I had just met proposed, sarcastically, to form a Palestinian 'reservation' that would preserve their culture, along the lines of Indigenous reservations in North America. As a Jewish Israeli who hadn't fully grasped the depth of injustice baked into Zionism's premise of Jewish supremacy, I was horrified. I couldn't believe their imagination had taken them so far. Now, looking back, I see it was no joke. It was a warning. What I once found unthinkable is quickly becoming our reality. The combination of genocide in the Gaza Strip, accelerated ethnic cleansing in the West Bank and demolition of entire Bedouin villages within Israel makes it clear: There is a coherent logic behind the actions of the Israeli regime since its establishment. Maintaining Jewish supremacy over the entire territory reflects an apartheid logic that restricts or erases Palestinian rights. The genocide in Gaza is its most extreme manifestation, showing how far the regime is willing to go to achieve its objective. As a Jewish Israeli, I ask Americans not to look away Immediately after Hamas' criminal atrocity on Oct. 7, 2023, Israeli politicians, military commanders and members of Knesset openly declared their goals. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tied the war to the biblical commandment to "blot out the memory of Amalek" – a message every Israeli understands as a call for total annihilation. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced a complete siege on Gaza City ‒ no electricity, no food, no fuel. President Isaac Herzog claimed that it was false to speak of innocent civilians in Gaza, and that 'an entire nation ... is responsible' for Hamas' crimes. Words quickly turned into actions. As early as November 2023, Brig. Gen. Yogev Bar-Sheshet reported from inside the Gaza Strip: 'There's nothing left. Anyone who comes back here, if they come back at all, will find scorched earth. No homes, no agriculture, nothing. They have no future.' The attack on the population of Gaza goes far beyond the staggering number of deaths. It is a methodical policy with a clear objective: full occupation of the Gaza Strip and ethnic cleansing of its residents. The siege, starvation tactics, leveling of entire cities, relentless air strikes and manipulative use of humanitarian aid to force population transfer through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation's 'aid centers' – all this is designed to eliminate Palestinian life in the Gaza Strip. More than 90% of the population has been displaced, and about 92% of all housing units have been destroyed or damaged. Most hospitals and schools have been attacked, and many have been put out of service by Israel. The options Israel leaves to 2 million people of Gaza range from expulsion to death by starvation, disease, shooting or air strikes. We must call the suffering in Gaza what it is: genocide This is not about random acts of cruelty. This is genocide, in the full sense of the word: a coordinated attack on all aspects of the lives of a group of people, aimed at erasing the foundations of their existence. The vision of a land 'cleansed' of Palestinians, free for Jewish Israelis to take over, is not limited to the Gaza Strip. While the attack in Gaza is underway, Israel has also ramped up efforts to drive Palestinians in the West Bank into ever-shrinking enclaves and degrade their living conditions. The military has taken over and destroyed entire neighborhoods, displacing about 40,000 people. Also, in recent months, consistent attacks by settlers have driven 40 communities out of their homes, while many others face imminent expulsion. Meanwhile, the network of checkpoints installed by Israel severely restricts Palestinians' freedom of movement, blocks farmers from accessing their land and damages the economy. In Gaza and in all the areas under Israel's control, we are witnessing the complete stripping away of Palestinians' rights, both as individuals and as a collective, in the face of unrestrained, deliberate and systematic Israeli violence. When I talk with Palestinian friends and partners, I can hardly look them in the eye anymore. Knowing my own society is committing these crimes has shattered everything I thought I knew about myself, about my country, about humanity. To begin rebuilding from the ashes, the genocide must stop. Yet this will not happen from within. There is no institution or mechanism in Israel today capable or willing to stop the government's campaign of annihilation. The international community has also failed. Some leaders have issued hollow statements, while others – especially the United States, both under the Trump administration and the Biden administration – are directly assisting Israel in the horrors. Only sustained public pressure on world leaders, and an uncompromising demand that they use every measure available under international law, can bring this genocide to an end. That is the only hope of saving whoever and whatever little remain from this catastrophe. Yair Dvir is the spokesperson for the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem.
USA Today
13 minutes ago
- USA Today
Oklahoma will require teachers from NY, California to prove they back 'America First'
Oklahoma's new "America First" teacher certification test will require educators from California and New York to agree with conservative curriculum. Teachers from California and New York who want to work in Oklahoma public schools will be required to pass a certification test to prove they share the state's conservative political values. Regardless of the subject or grade they teach, they'll have to show they know "the biological differences between females and males" and that they agree with the state's American history standards, which includes teachings of a disproved conspiracy theory that the Democratic Party stole the 2020 presidential election from President Donald Trump. The state department of education will implement the new certification test for teachers from the two largest Democrat-led states "who are teaching things that are antithetical to our standards" to ensure newcomers "are not coming into our classrooms and indoctrinating kids," Oklahoma schools Superintendent Ryan Walters, said in an interview with USA TODAY. Walters has dubbed the new requirement an "America First" certification, in reference to one of Trump's political slogans. Oklahoma's Republican Governor Kevin Stitt appointed Walters, a Republican, to the helm of the state's education department in Sept. 2020 and voters then elected him for a second term in November 2022. Oklahoma is offering teaching bonuses that go up to $50,000 to attract teachers from across the nation and has seen "a dramatic increase in teachers wanting to come to Oklahoma," Walters said. The new test is meant to ensure they weed out teachers with opposing views from the state's standards. The state, like many others, has a persisting teacher shortage. He said the test will only apply to teachers from California and New York, for now, because those states specifically teach lessons that are antithetical to those taught in Oklahoma. "A lot of the credit goes to Gavin Newsom," Walters said. He alleged California under the governor has implemented lessons on "gender theory," and that won't be allowed in Oklahoma schools. (The California Healthy Youth Act, passed in 2016, requires that public school lessons across the state "must be inclusive of LGBTQ students" and same-sex relationships and teach students about "gender, gender expression, gender identity, and explore the harm of negative gender stereotypes" and "about all sexual orientations and what being LGBTQ means.") Oklahoma's 'America First' Test Nonprofit conservative media company Prager U is helping Oklahoma's state department of education develop the test. The company previously helped develop the state's new high school history curriculum standards, which includes lessons on how to dissect the results of the 2020 election, including learning about alleged mail-in voter fraud, "an unforeseen record number of voters" and "security risks of mail-in balloting." The new curriculum also teaches the contested theory that COVID-19 emerged from a lab leak and removed a prior proposal for lessons about George Floyd's murder and Black Lives Matter. "These reforms will reset our classrooms back to educating our children without liberal indoctrination," Walters wrote in a post on X on April 29. "We're proud to defend these standards, and we will continue to stand up for honest, pro-America education in every classroom." The state superintendent said some of the history questions will about American government, how the nation came to be and its founding documents. Walters' office shared five sample questions with USA TODAY: Walters said the test will be finished by Aug. 15 and it will be available to prospective teachers the week of Aug. 18. "We're very close," he said. Oklahoma schools have become more has conservative under Walters' took the helm of the state's education department in Sept. 2020, and voters elected him for a second term in November 2022. Along with the changes to the state's history curriculum standards, Walters has ordered public schools to teach the Bible in June 2024. Bible lessons will not be on the new teacher certification exam, he said. Teachers' union leaders: Test will be 'a huge turn off' to teachers amid 'serious teacher shortage crisis' Teachers' union leaders decried the new certification test in interviews with USA TODAY. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said Walters' new test is going to be a "huge turn off" to teachers and that it's not "going to solve a problem." "Teachers in this country are patriotic, and suggesting they're not is insulting," she said. Weingarten went on to criticize Walters for several of his conservative pushes for education in Oklahoma, including bible lessons, and support for a religious charter school, which was blocked by a split Supreme Court vote this May. She called those moves and the implementation of the new test "a major distraction." "Ryan Walters appears to be trying out for MAGA in chief, not educator in chief, because everything that he's doing is about the culture wars, not about the reading, writing and arithmetic," she said. "If he wants to be MAGA in chief then go be MAGA in chief. But let someone else be educator in chief and focus on other things people deserve, which is reading, literacy and wraparound services – and actual teachers who want to be in Oklahoma." Oklahoma and California teachers union leaders agreed. 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"This almost seems like satire and so far removed from my research around what Oklahoma educators need and deserve," he said. "I can't see how this isn't some kind of hyper-political grandstanding that doesn't serve any of those needs." Goldberg rejects that what teachers need in California – "respect" and a livable wage – is different than what Oklahoma teachers need to thrive. Teachers have a responsibility to take care of kids in both places despite their different education systems, he said. Contact Kayla Jimenez at kjimenez@ Follow her on X at @kaylajjimenez.
NBC News
14 minutes ago
- NBC News
Ukraine left scrambling as Trump shifts toward Putin after Alaska summit
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