Going to the ICJ, also known as the World Court, is especially urgent given that the International Criminal Court has effectively become an instrument of U.S. policy and will not lift a finger to help the Palestinians. Secretary-General of the UN António Guterres took far too long to invoke Article 99 of the UN Charter. He should now call what Israel is doing ‘genocide.’ The UN General Assembly can suspend Israel from participation in its activities as it did for South Africa and Yugoslavia. It can admit Palestine as a full member. And it can establish a tribunal to prosecute…

“The president of the Council of Local Evangelical Churches in the Holy Land, Munir Kakish, said the decision came due to ‘the thousands killed — and in prayer for peace.’ He added that ‘we will only hold traditional services and devotionals on the meaning of Christmas.’”

“Israel ordered Refaat Alareer’s assassination after he derided Israeli claim of babies burned in an oven as a hoax. He was right, but died for it.” Silverstein cites an anonymous Israeli official who claimed: “Because of the joke, the war cabinet decided that Alaeer is an ‘Amalekite,’ and ordered Shabak & IDF to find and kill him.”

The Census Bureau announced potential changes that could result in the undercounting of the number of disabled Americans by 20 million people.

“‘Intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare by depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, including willfully impeding relief supplies as provided for under the Geneva Conventions.’ is a WAR CRIME. cc @KarimKhanQC.”

“Huge swathes of neighborhoods and five-generation families across Gaza have been obliterated. Over 15,000 people have been reportedly killed, including 6,000 children, and countless others buried beneath the rubble of demolished buildings. …”

“It is now less credible to think of Israel as a safe place for Jews as Jews, in an ironic twist. And the more extreme measures Israel wreaks on Gaza, supposedly for Israel’s safety, the more imperiled by association Jews outside Israel will be.”

Scientists and engineers with PhDs who have long-term disabilities earn, on average, $10,580 less per year than their non-disabled peers.

“In early 2023, an estimated 97 percent of water in the enclave was unfit to drink, and more than 12 percent of child mortality cases were caused by waterborne ailments. Diseases including typhoid fever, cholera, and hepatitis A are very rare in areas with functional and adequate water systems. …   “We can’t help but ask whether Israeli officials, intent on continuing the war for possibly as long as a year, see the potential for widespread disease as motivation for families to leave Gaza, accepting massive ethnic cleansing that would displace them beyond Gaza’s borders.”

RICHARD SILVERSTEIN,  [email protected], @richards1052       Silverstein writes at Tikun Olam. He recently wrote the pieces “Israeli MKs, Messianic Evangelicals Lobby Congress for Ethnic Cleansing,” “Netanyahu Plan to ‘Thin Out’ Gaza Population to ‘Bare Minimum’” and “Israeli Claims of Hamas Sexual Assaults Lay Its Credulity on the Line: Rape claims part of anti-Hamas propaganda campaign.” In his most recent piece, Silverstein writes: “In an escalation of the stakes against U.S. policy on Gaza, an anti-war protestor draped in a Palestinian flag, poured gasoline on himself and lit a match. He self-immolated outside the Israeli consulate in Atlanta. News reports offer little more than that. Except for the astonishing statement by…