Press Release
Jan. 29, 2024
With First U.S. Deaths & Looming Escalation, Stein Denounces Biden's War Crimes, Demands Ceasefire, Gaza Aid & UNRWA Funding
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, January 29th, 2024
Today Green Party presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein released the following statement in response to recent developments in the ongoing genocide in Gaza:
“Biden’s withdrawal of UNRWA funding worsens the ongoing genocide in Gaza, and the tragic deaths of US service members in Jordan intensify the international violence emanating from Israel’s war on Gaza. With Biden’s track record of supporting endless war, there is a real danger he will escalate hostilities between Iran and the US that could snowball into disastrous conflict.
“These extremely dangerous developments underscore the imperative for Biden to support immediate multinational humanitarian relief and an end to Israel's assault.
“Following the directives of the International Court of Justice, the U.S. and other nations must immediately mount a multi-national humanitarian rescue mission for the millions at death’s doorstep in Gaza, and demand the ceasefire implicit in the ICJ decision. We must bring aid to these dying people by land, sea and air. To do less is unconscionable, and would shamefully enable the ongoing massacre.
“Instead of mobilizing to bring relief, the U.S. and its NATO allies have abruptly withdrawn funding for the United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA). The excuse is the Israeli allegations that 12 members of the agency were involved in the Oct. 7 atrocities. Those allegations, obtained during interrogations of Palestinians and not independently verified, should not be used to justify what is effectively a death sentence for thousands more Palestinians.
“Governments routinely lie when committing atrocities and Israel has a history not just of distorting but fabricating evidence out of whole cloth.
“Joe Biden is not just on the wrong side of history. He could also be on the wrong side of a jail cell if he continues current U.S. policy in the Mideast. According to Francis Boyle, the U.S. attorney who won the first genocide cases at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the U.S. is now entering a stage of potential criminal complicity under article 3(e)of the Genocide Convention if it continues the current course.
“President Biden should not just look at potential personal criminal liability but also at the countless lives that hang in the balance– not just in Palestine and Israel. It does not take a Barbara Tuchman, author of The Guns of August, to see the similarities between January 2024 and August 1914 where the world slid into WWI due in part to a complete breakdown in diplomacy. Today, the United States is particularly responsible for that breakdown in diplomacy and provocative acts, including Biden’s complete dismissal of the South African case for genocide as “meritless”.
“While our leaders piously claim they are worried about escalating hostilities, our weapons keep flowing, our aircraft carriers keep hovering and our missiles keep slamming into Gaza, Yemen, Iraq and Syria. And the tragic deaths of three US soldiers in Jordan and the two lost Navy Seals are likely just the beginning. The lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan have not been learned, and now American troops are losing their lives, all in an effort to ensure Israel can continue to commit genocide on a helpless and starving people in Gaza.
“President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken have warned repeatedly that missiles may soon be headed toward Iran in a far bigger war. They blame Iran for the Yemeni Ansar Allah’s support for Gaza, for Hezbollah’s support from Lebanon and even for Gaza’s fight against its own extermination. Ignored, of course, is the historical criminal conduct of the U.S. in Iran, including the CIA-orchestrated overthrow of Iran’s democratically elected president, Mohammad Mosaddegh, after he suggested Iran’s oil was a national asset, followed by the installation of the brutal regime of the Shah of Iran.
“Currently, violence is begetting ever greater violence as the tit for tat escalates. And the great powers will not sit on the sidelines with so much oil at stake. In that vein, the mutual support treaty between Russia and Iran announced last week signals the terrifying potential for nuclear powers to confront one another in the growing conflict, with potentially unthinkable consequences.
“The disdain of the U.S. and Israel for the nearly unanimous ICJ ruling is stunning. Instead of responding with shame, they are doubling down to support the ongoing massacre. The path forward must be a diplomatic one. Our call for immediate multi-national humanitarian relief following the directives of the ICJ is a win-win. In one fell swoop, we can put an end to the ongoing genocide and quell the escalating international violence that threatens to make the guns of August,1914 look like child’s play, compared to the looming guns of January, 2024.
“Every manner of peaceful pressure should be brought to bear on members of Congress serving AIPAC and the war profiteers, from phone calls and lobbying to public naming and shaming, to demonstrations and civil disobedience.
“Up to 68% of voters want an immediate ceasefire and diplomatic solution. So we have critical mass to demand a ceasefire and delivery of aid. We urge all voters to commit now to refuse to vote for any candidate supporting genocide and occupation, and likewise to actively support only candidates that advocate for an end to genocide, occupation and apartheid.
“By signing the Pledge to Stop Genocide, voters can stand up and be counted now, without waiting till the November election, to serve warning to all pro-genocide politicians that their days are numbered. We are many. We are mobilizing. And we demand an end to genocide, occupation and apartheid.”
Jill Stein
Presidential Candidate 2024, Green Party
Contact: [email protected]