Category: Human Rights

A Long Legacy of Hypocrisy on Occupations

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The Progressive March 6, 2025 (Please share widely)
While concurring that the outrage over Trump’s support for Putin is quite appropriate, Zunes notes how administrations of both parties have supported invasions and occupations when the aggressor has been an ally, thereby weakening our ability to stand up to Russian aggression. His earlier articles on Ukraine include:

Trump’s Plan for Gaza Expulsion Rooted in Decades of U.S. Policy

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The Progressive Feb. 11, 2025: Zunes’s latest article looks at Trump’s proposal to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and have the United States seize the territory for tourist development, noting that while this is one of the more extreme and reprehensible proposals from an American president, neither party has appeared willing to support Palestinian rights or international law [source].

UN Faces Backlash from a Hostile White House

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Inter Press Service UN Bureau Report, Jan 30 2025
Dr. Zunes is quoted extensively in this report:
“No leader of a major power since the UN’s founding in 1945 has expressed such disdain for fundamental principles of international law.” It should be remembered, though, that the United States was already undermining such principles under previous administrations, he pointed out. For example, even under (former US President Joe) Biden, the United States recognized Israel’s illegal annexation of the Golan Heights and Morocco’s illegal annexation of Western Sahara, both seized by military force in contravention to unanimous UN Security Council resolutions. Hostility towards UN agencies isn’t new either, said Dr Zunes… [source]

ICAHD UK Webinar ‘The Palestinian Struggle in the Age of Trump’

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Israeli Committee Against House Demolition UK Webinar
‘The Palestinian Struggle in the Age of Trump,’ 23 Jan 2025
[Zunes’s segment starts at 28 minutes; video source]

Professors Stephen Zunes and Leila Farsakh were distinguished guests, moderated by Jeff Halper. Leila Farsakh works with several international organisations and is a senior research fellow at the Center for Development Studies at Birzeit University and chair of the One Democratic State Campaign. They provided historical background about Palestinian resistance, the centrality of the Palestinian refugees, the different approaches taken by the Palestine Authority and Hamas, and how Trump is worse than Biden. It is expected that Israel’s apartheid policies will intensify and as Palestinians continue to resist living under oppression as they seek freedom and justice, their struggle will be bloody. However, with Trump in office and the flagrant Republican agenda, it will likely mobilize unprecedented opposition among leftists, liberals, and a growing segment of the US Democratic Party.

Interview: Jimmy Carter’s Legacy with Stephen Zunes

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WORT-FM January 9, 2025 (50 mins.): Stephen Zunes joins host Allen Ruff to critically assess the legacy of a former president as most media tend to overlook the low points of Carter’s time in office. Carter inherited the presidency at the height of US imperialism with limited foreign-policy experience, propping up dictatorships, including his role in East Timor, Morocco, and Turkey. Ruff and Zunes also appraise his role for nuclear non-proliferation, the Carter Doctrine, the Camp David Accords of 1978, Carter’s opposition to Palestinian statehood, and after he left office, his positive contributions to what Zunes calls a “moral foreign policy” by speaking out against human rights violations. Read Stephen Zunes’s most recent article about Carter’s relationship to Israel in the Progressive.

As President, Jimmy Carter Was Not a “Peacemaker”

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In These Times, January 10, 2025

The recent passing of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter has led to some well-deserved praise of his legacy, particularly in regard to his exemplary service as a peacemaker and humanitarian since leaving the White House in 1981. During his post-presidency, he was also subjected to heavy criticism for his willingness to speak out against military intervention and the support for repressive governments offered by successive administrations of both parties. In particular, his willingness to challenge the ongoing Israeli occupation and colonization of occupied Palestinian territories was met with vehement condemnation, even from fellow Democrats. What many people forget, however, is that Carter’s administration failed to consistently uphold the principles for which Carter so admirably defended as an ex-president: peace, international law and human rights.