US delays deliveries to Israel, student camps arrive in Portugal: war, day 214

The United States warned Israeli officials that the US government may delay further arms deliveriesrecently approved by Congress, if Israel continues to advance on the city of Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip.

This Thursday, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed at a Senate hearing that a delivery of thousands of large bombs to the Israeli armed forces had been delayed. This is after Israel, which guaranteed that it would carry out a “limited” offensive in Rafah, returned to incessantly bombing southern Gaza, leaving the approximately two million Palestinians sheltering in the city in an even more precarious and dangerous situation.

“We were clear from the beginning that Israel should not launch a major attack on Rafah without taking into account the protection of civilians on the battlefield. Therefore, we assessed the situation and paused a high-volume ammunition delivery. We have not yet made a final decision on what to do with this shipment,” explained Austin.

The Biden administration’s decision is yet another reflection of how the United States’ attitude has slowly changed towards its most important ally in the Middle East. The US has warned Israel several times about its actions in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank, but has rarely taken any action that would discourage Israeli authorities from continuing to attack Gaza.

Tel Aviv’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, assured that US deliveries will not stop, but considered, quoted by the The Guardianthat the pause decided by the Washington DC government is “very disappointing”.

Student camp at the University of Lisbon did not affect classes

Academic activities took place normally this Tuesday despite the student protest for the end of the war in Gaza and the use of fossil fuels, which is occupying the atrium of the Faculty of Psychology of the University of Lisbon.

Eight camping tents were installed this Tuesday morning in the building’s courtyard, where students put up banners and posters with the messages “End Genocide”, “End Fossil by 2030”, “From Lisbon to Rafah, Palestine Will Win” , “Student Resistance Bloc – End to police repression”, “Our future above fossil profits” or “100% Renewable Electricity”.

In a response sent to Lusa this Tuesday night, Luís Miguel Carvalho, director of the Institute of Education, and Telmo Mourinho Baptista, director of the Faculty of Psychology, said that the institutions were surprised by the student protest, which occupied the building shared by both the schools of the University of Lisbon.

“No authorization was requested to hold the protest”, they stressed, adding that “so far the normal functioning of the activities has not been called into question”.

“The management spoke to the students and clarified that, as communicated today [terça-feira] to our academic communities, favor the coexistence of the protest manifestation with the development of planned academic activities”, they also highlighted.

With this occupation, called by several collectives, the protesters join the international student movement, which began in North American universities and has had repercussions throughout the world, including several European countries, Latin America and Australia.

Protests continued this Tuesday in several European cities, such as Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam or Geneva, in some cases repressed by police forces and with the arrests of dozens of activists.

Other news

> The police began emptying a pro-Palestinian camp at George Washington University, in the United States, hours after dozens of protesters began to leave the area following an ultimatum issued by the authorities. Since April 18, just over 2,600 people have been detained in 50 university spaces in the United States;

> The Israeli armed forces said they had reopened the Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Gaza, a humanitarian aid entry point that closed three days ago. A brigade of Israeli tanks positioned itself at the Rafah crossing, between Gaza and Egypt, on Tuesday, preventing any movement. Israel currently controls all border posts in Palestinian territory;

> In Stockholm, where the Eurovision song contest is taking place, Swedish singer Eric Sad, of Palestinian descent, wore a keffiyeh – a traditional Palestinian scarf – on his wrist, provoking the wrath of the organization. This year’s Eurovision is being heavily criticized by many fans for not excluding Israel from the competition, despite appeals from issuers in competing countrieschoosing instead to prohibit any demonstrations of support for the Palestinian people on and off stage;

> The recent offensive on Rafah and the cuts in the entry of humanitarian aid have led the UN to warn of “total hunger” in the north of the Palestinian enclave and the risk for the entire population. Catherine Russell, executive director of Unicef, reiterated in a https://twitter.com/unicefchief/status/1788262631989555358 (formerly Twitter) that organizations on the ground urgently need fuel;

> The non-governmental organization (NGO) Human Rights Watch accused Israeli forces of illegally using lethal force in shootings against Palestiniansbased on documents about several cases in the West Bank, and called for the suspension of military support.