BLUF: ". . . in January 2023 following posts on Oraby's private Twitter account in which, among other comments, he called Ben-Gvir "the official spokesman for the fascist, neo-Nazi right wing in Israel."
I guess “truth is not a defense,” to the Israeli Bar Association!
The problem with "news reporting,” is it uses broad generalities, often informed by bias, to describe political acts of government, with no deeper analysis which is necessary to be better informed by “context” of who are in actuality, the “bad actors,” by individual name.
WASHINGTON — Speaker Johnson released the following statement after the House passed H.R. 8282, the Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act, imposing sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC).
“The House's decision to impose sanctions on the ICC is a necessary response to its outrageous and unfounded claims of authority. Today’s vote draws a line in the sand for lawless action by ICC officials. The U.S. firmly stands with Israel and refuses to allow international bureaucrats to baselessly issue arrest warrants to Israeli leadership for false crimes.
“It’s alarming that the Biden Administration continues to undermine Israel and now, 155 House Democrats have voted to give the ICC a free pass to target our allies and undermine U.S. national security interests.”
"US House Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday denounced the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor’s arrest warrant requests for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
"America should punish the ICC and put (chief prosecutor) Karim Khan back in his place. If the ICC is allowed to threaten Israel's leaders, we know that America will be next," Johnson said at a news conference.
"Since the ICC is a "direct affront" to the US sovereignty, Johnson said America has never endorsed the Court.
"He added that Congress is reviewing all options.”
Even tactical nukes, maybe?
Lest you think only the ICC is targeted by Johnson, in his “Cognitive War Campaign” on behalf of Israeli fascists, even Jewish American Senator Sanders comes in for attack by Johnson:
BLUF: "Yesterday, in an interview with Fox News, Speaker Mike Johnson said that I “was parroting the talking points of Hamas” and that I and others “stand with Hamas and the Ayatollah.”
Sen. Sanders responded as follows, in part:
"Mr. President, two days after the war began, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said, “I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed. We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly.”
“We are fighting human animals” – that’s his definition of the Palestinian people – “and we are acting accordingly.”
Mr. President, that is what the Israeli Defense Minister said, and – tragically – that is exactly what the right-wing, extremist Netanyahu government has done.”
And, what Trump, J.D. Vance, Ramaswamy, TAC’s Curt Mills, et al., the “New Right” as identified by the Quincy Institute in promoting their views as a “Middle Class Foreign Policy," are saying when they call on their Israeli Fascist colleagues to “Finish the Job!”
A view widely shared here, given the support the New Right has here. Making me a “skunk at a garden party” amongst so many Trumpanyahuites here.
Can I hear a couple denunciations, and a “ditto” here, in lieu of “Amens.”
The Israel Bar Association has decided to pursue disciplinary proceedings against an Israeli Arab lawyer, Amal Oraby, who has been critical of Israel and has expressed support for the rights of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. He also called far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir a terrorist, before later revising the comment, changing it to "a supporter of terror."
The bar association's decision to hold a disciplinary hearing in the case follows a complaint to the association's ethics committee filed in March by right-wing activist Shai Glick.
Oraby is an activist and journalist who has written columns that have appeared in Haaretz. Glick claims that Oraby should be disciplined for conduct unbecoming of a lawyer for statements that are inciting and contemptuous.
In support of the complaint, Glick cited eight statements and shared social media posts. The first was a post by Physicians for Human Rights that deals with the number of Palestinian prisoners in Israel – to which Oraby added the following comment: "They're also hostages and also have families waiting for them."
Glick also cited a post from Britain's Sky News that Oraby shared on social media to which the lawyer added the following in English: "Don't stop talking about Palestine" and another from Israel's public broadcaster, Kan, with a video clip of a speech by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who said that Hamas' October 7 attacks weren't committed in a vacuum and that the Palestinians are living under a "suffocating occupation." Oraby added the comment: "Outstanding speech. Says the obvious."
Shai Glick.Credit: Ohad Zwigenberg
Glick cited criticism that Oraby tweeted in April about Arab policemen and soldiers who were working to enforce an order at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque and whom he claimed attacked worshippers. In reference to Ben-Gvir Oraby wrote: "How this terrorist gets screen time every time that he throws shit in our face" and another in which he wrote: "The Israeli export sector is the most profitable[.] It exports evil to the world."
Alon Sapir, from the law office of Michael Sfard, responded to the complaint, writing to the ethics committee that he was astounded by the complaint, which he called baseless. "Much more serious than that – Glick is taking advantage of the bar association's ethics procedures in bad faith to hound political rivals and to violate their freedom of _expression_."
Other comments quoted in Glick's complaint were one in which Oraby wrote that he wasn't interested in wishing the country anything for Independence Day and that Israelis who were moved by the sight of Ukrainian women making firebombs for the war against Russia are now complaining that young Palestinians have collected a pile of stones.
In his response, Sapir wrote that "the existence of the complaint and the need to respond to it raise serious concern over [its] chilling effect." In all of the examples cited, "there isn't even a smidgen of a hint of an ethical violation; there's no call to harm citizens of Israel or the security forces; no support for such harm or justification for it; nothing labeling a person or entity as a 'traitor'; no racist _expression_ of any kind."
"All there is: Routine and widespread expressions in political discourse on social media whose content Glick doesn't agree with," Sapir said.
With regard to calling Oraby's calling Ben-Gvir a terrorist, Sapir wrote: "One should only mention that for many years, Ben-Gvir was a member and main activist in the Kach movement, which was outlawed and declared a terrorist organization. But more importantly, the tweet quoted was almost immediately deleted and corrected and in any event, Attorney Oraby regrets using the _expression_ 'terrorist' and promises in the future to use a more accurate _expression_ – 'supporter of terror.'"
Amal Oraby (right) and Guy Zohar.Credit: Screenshot from Kan 11
Sapir called "absurd" and "ridiculous" the claim that agreeing with the UN secretary general's speech was an ethics violation, and pointed out that Guterres roundly condemned Hamas in the speech and called for the immediate release of the hostages held in Gaza. "The secretary general's sin and that of Attorney Oraby, who agreed with him, according to Glick, is that the former also noted the fact that the Palestinians are under occupation in his speech."
Despite the detailed response filed with the committee on Oraby's behalf, the committee decided not to dismiss it out of hand but to refer it to the bar association's Jerusalem district disciplinary tribunal. The hearing in the case is set for September 1.
Oraby worked as a freelancer for Kan public broadcasting. He was a commentator on Guy Zohar's Channel 11 program "Mehatzad Hasheni," ("From the other side"). The broadcaster severed its relationship with him in January 2023 following posts on Oraby's private Twitter account in which, among other comments, he called Ben-Gvir "the official spokesman for the fascist, neo-Nazi right wing in Israel."
The decision to discontinue Oraby's commentaries was taken by Kan's ethics committee, which ruled that he had violated the broadcaster's code of ethics.
