Huwaida Arraf, a Palestinian American activist, filed a lawsuit against the Michigan Democratic Party on Thursday, alleging she may have been cheated in her quest for the Democratic nomination for a seat on the University of Michigan Board of Regents.
Arraf claims the party’s process of selecting two nominees for the board on Aug. 24 was marred by voting irregularities, discrepancies, and a lack of transparency.
“We cannot be confident in the results that have been announced,” Arraf said at a news conference Thursday. “It’s an affront to the electoral integrity, which we should take seriously.”
According to the official results, Arraf was defeated by incumbent Democrat Denise Ilitch and former regent Dr. Shauna Ryder Diggs, who left the board in 2020. Diggs garnered more than 2,800 votes, while Ilitch received over 2,400 votes, according to the official tally. Arraf, founder of the International Solidarity Movement and an international civil rights lawyer who represented students in civil rights cases demanding the university’s divestment from Israel, received more than 2,300 votes.
At the convention, there were 1,248 voters present, Arraf said, but more than 1,420 voters were identified in the final tally. She also believes Democrats were allowed to vote after the 4:39 p.m. deadline to cast a ballot.
According to the party’s rules, the votes were proportionally weighted by county using a formula based on Democratic turnout in the most recent even-year election. This weighting system is intended to ensure that the final results accurately reflect the preferences of Democratic voters across the state’s counties. The system leads to drastic differences in the value of each person’s votes.
In the popular vote, before the ballots were weighted, Arraf said she defeated Diggs by about 120 votes and Illitch by about 210 votes.
Arraf said her problem isn’t with the weighted system, but with how the votes were counted.
According to her account, Arraf said there was missing data, and to address the issue, the party counted raw data in a tabulation area, where she and her staff were forbidden to enter. Meanwhile, other candidates, their families, and current regents were allowed in the tabulation area.
When the votes were announced, Arraf had lost. She said she repeatedly asked party leaders for the raw data, but they declined to turn it over.
The data she did receive showed discrepancies, she said.
“That is greatly distburning because you have a situation where the leadership of the Michigan Democratic Party was put on notice that there were problems with the validity of the data they have given us, not even the raw data, and they should want to clarify this so we can be confident of the results, and I received no response to that,” Arraf said.
Arraf’s lawsuit was filed in the Ingham County Circuit Court.
Arraf said the process was demoralizing and comes at a time when Michigan Democrats should be inclusive and welcoming. She noted that she was accompanied by hundreds of new participants who supported her.
“If you don’t feel like your voice and participation will count, then there is no incentive to get involved,” Arraf said. “And that is not what we want, especially in the time that we are now, leading up to the November election, knowing how much of a threat a potential [Donald] Trump presidency can be, and that is why we are further dismayed at how the Michigan Democratic Party has seemingly not cared about the fact that they have disenfranchised and disillusioned the hundreds of new members that came to participate in the convention,” Arraf said.
The Michigan Democratic Party did not respond to requests for comment.
The United Nations health agency and partners are launching a campaign starting Sunday to vaccinate 640,000 Palestinian children in Gaza against polio, an ambitious effort amid a devastating war that has destroyed the territory’s health care system.Related video above: 6 Israeli hostages’ bodies recovered amid Blinken’s ceasefire effortsThe campaign comes after the first polio case was reported in Gaza in 25 years — a 10-month-old boy, now paralyzed in the leg. The World Health Organization says the presence of a paralysis case indicates there could be hundreds more who have been infected but aren’t showing symptoms.Most people who have polio do not experience symptoms and those who do usually recover in a week or so. But there is no cure, and when polio causes paralysis, it is usually permanent. If the paralysis affects breathing muscles, the disease can be fatal.The vaccination effort will not be easy: Gaza’s roads are largely destroyed, its hospitals badly damaged, and its population spread into isolated pockets.WHO said Thursday that it has reached an agreement with Israel for limited pauses in the fighting to allow for the vaccination campaign to take place. Even so, such a large-scale campaign will pose major difficulties in a territory blanketed in rubble, where 90% of Palestinians are displaced.How long will it take?The three-day vaccination campaign in central Gaza will begin Sunday, during a “humanitarian pause” lasting from 6 a.m. until 3 p.m., and another day can be added if needed, said Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, WHO’s representative in the Palestinian territories.In coordination with Israeli authorities, the effort will then move to southern Gaza and northern Gaza during similar pauses, he said during a news conference by video from Deir al-Balah in central Gaza.Who will receive the vaccine?The vaccination campaign targets 640,000 children under 10, according to WHO. Each child will receive two drops of oral polio vaccine in two rounds, the second to be administered four weeks after the first.Where are the vaccination sites?The vaccination sites span Gaza, both inside and outside Israeli evacuation zones, from Rafah in the south to the northern reaches of the territory.The Ramallah-based Health Ministry said Friday that there would be over 400 “fixed” vaccination sites — the most in Khan Younis, where the population density is the highest and there are 239,300 children under 10. Fixed sites include health care centers, hospitals, clinics and field hospitals.Elsewhere in the territory, there will also be around 230 “outreach” sites — community gathering points that are not traditional medical centers — where vaccines will be distributed.Where are the vaccines now?Around 1.3 million doses of the vaccine traveled through the Kerem Shalom checkpoint and are currently being held in “cold-chain storage” in a warehouse in Deir al-Balah. That means the warehouse is able to maintain the correct temperature so the vaccines do not lose their potency.Another shipment of 400,000 doses is set to be delivered to Gaza soon.The vaccines will be trucked to distribution sites by a team of over 2,000 medical volunteers, said Ammar Ammar, a spokesperson for UNICEF.What challenges lie ahead?Mounting any sort of campaign that requires traversing the Gaza Strip and interacting with its medical system is bound to pose difficulties.The U.N. estimates that approximately 65% of the total road network in Gaza has been damaged. Nineteen of the strip’s 36 hospitals are out of service.The north of the territory is cut off from the south, and travel between the two areas has been challenging throughout the war because of Israeli military operations. Aid groups have had to suspend trips due to security concerns, after convoys were targeted by the Israeli military.Peeperkorn said Friday that WHO cannot do house-to-house vaccinations in Gaza, as they have in other polio campaigns. When asked about the viability of the effort, Peeperkorn said WHO thinks “it is feasible if all the pieces of the puzzle are in place. “How many doses do children need and what happens if they miss a dose?The World Health Organization says children typically need about three to four doses of oral polio vaccine — two drops per dose — to be protected against polio. If they don’t receive all of the doses, they are vulnerable to infection.Doctors have previously found that children who are malnourished or who have other illnesses might need more than 10 doses of the oral polio vaccine to be fully protected.Are there side effects?Yes, but they are very rare.Billions of doses of the oral vaccine have been given to children worldwide, and it is safe and effective. But in about 1 in 2.7 million doses, the live virus in the vaccine can paralyze the child who receives the drops.How did this outbreak in Gaza start?The polio virus that triggered this latest outbreak is a mutated virus from an oral polio vaccine. The oral polio vaccine contains weakened live virus, and in very rare cases, that virus is shed by those who are vaccinated and can evolve into a new form capable of starting new epidemics.___Associated Press reporters Samy Magdy in Cairo and Maria Cheng in London contributed.
JERUSALEM (AP) —
The United Nations health agency and partners are launching a campaign starting Sunday to vaccinate 640,000 Palestinian children in Gaza against polio, an ambitious effort amid a devastating war that has destroyed the territory’s health care system.
Related video above: 6 Israeli hostages’ bodies recovered amid Blinken’s ceasefire efforts
The campaign comes after the first polio case was reported in Gaza in 25 years — a 10-month-old boy, now paralyzed in the leg. The World Health Organization says the presence of a paralysis case indicates there could be hundreds more who have been infected but aren’t showing symptoms.
Most people who have polio do not experience symptoms and those who do usually recover in a week or so. But there is no cure, and when polio causes paralysis, it is usually permanent. If the paralysis affects breathing muscles, the disease can be fatal.
The vaccination effort will not be easy: Gaza’s roads are largely destroyed, its hospitals badly damaged, and its population spread into isolated pockets.
WHO said Thursday that it has reached an agreement with Israel for limited pauses in the fighting to allow for the vaccination campaign to take place. Even so, such a large-scale campaign will pose major difficulties in a territory blanketed in rubble, where 90% of Palestinians are displaced.
How long will it take?
The three-day vaccination campaign in central Gaza will begin Sunday, during a “humanitarian pause” lasting from 6 a.m. until 3 p.m., and another day can be added if needed, said Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, WHO’s representative in the Palestinian territories.
In coordination with Israeli authorities, the effort will then move to southern Gaza and northern Gaza during similar pauses, he said during a news conference by video from Deir al-Balah in central Gaza.
Who will receive the vaccine?
The vaccination campaign targets 640,000 children under 10, according to WHO. Each child will receive two drops of oral polio vaccine in two rounds, the second to be administered four weeks after the first.
Where are the vaccination sites?
The vaccination sites span Gaza, both inside and outside Israeli evacuation zones, from Rafah in the south to the northern reaches of the territory.
The Ramallah-based Health Ministry said Friday that there would be over 400 “fixed” vaccination sites — the most in Khan Younis, where the population density is the highest and there are 239,300 children under 10. Fixed sites include health care centers, hospitals, clinics and field hospitals.
Elsewhere in the territory, there will also be around 230 “outreach” sites — community gathering points that are not traditional medical centers — where vaccines will be distributed.
Where are the vaccines now?
Around 1.3 million doses of the vaccine traveled through the Kerem Shalom checkpoint and are currently being held in “cold-chain storage” in a warehouse in Deir al-Balah. That means the warehouse is able to maintain the correct temperature so the vaccines do not lose their potency.
Another shipment of 400,000 doses is set to be delivered to Gaza soon.
The vaccines will be trucked to distribution sites by a team of over 2,000 medical volunteers, said Ammar Ammar, a spokesperson for UNICEF.
What challenges lie ahead?
Mounting any sort of campaign that requires traversing the Gaza Strip and interacting with its medical system is bound to pose difficulties.
The U.N. estimates that approximately 65% of the total road network in Gaza has been damaged. Nineteen of the strip’s 36 hospitals are out of service.
The north of the territory is cut off from the south, and travel between the two areas has been challenging throughout the war because of Israeli military operations. Aid groups have had to suspend trips due to security concerns, after convoys were targeted by the Israeli military.
Peeperkorn said Friday that WHO cannot do house-to-house vaccinations in Gaza, as they have in other polio campaigns. When asked about the viability of the effort, Peeperkorn said WHO thinks “it is feasible if all the pieces of the puzzle are in place. “
How many doses do children need and what happens if they miss a dose?
The World Health Organization says children typically need about three to four doses of oral polio vaccine — two drops per dose — to be protected against polio. If they don’t receive all of the doses, they are vulnerable to infection.
Doctors have previously found that children who are malnourished or who have other illnesses might need more than 10 doses of the oral polio vaccine to be fully protected.
Are there side effects?
Yes, but they are very rare.
Billions of doses of the oral vaccine have been given to children worldwide, and it is safe and effective. But in about 1 in 2.7 million doses, the live virus in the vaccine can paralyze the child who receives the drops.
How did this outbreak in Gaza start?
The polio virus that triggered this latest outbreak is a mutated virus from an oral polio vaccine. The oral polio vaccine contains weakened live virus, and in very rare cases, that virus is shed by those who are vaccinated and can evolve into a new form capable of starting new epidemics.
___
Associated Press reporters Samy Magdy in Cairo and Maria Cheng in London contributed.
Tel Aviv — A surge of hope for a breakthrough in Israel-Hamas cease-fire talks drew CIA Director William Burns back to the Middle East this week, but the hopes have been tempered by a blistering Israeli airstrike on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in southern Gaza. The attack killed at least 29 people at the Al Awda school in Khan Younis, according to an official at the nearby al-Nasser Hospital.
In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces said it used a “precise munition” in the strike on the school to kill a militant who took part in Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attacks, which killed almost 1,200 people.
The IDF said it was reviewing the incident, but it has always blamed Hamas for all of the deaths in the war, accusing the group of using Palestinian civilians as human shields and basing weapons and fighters in schools, hospitals and homes.
A youth wounded during Israeli bombardment is carried to the emergency ward at Al-Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, July 9, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
BASHAR TALEB/AFP/Getty
The IDF has also launched a new assault further north, in Gaza City, calling for yet another evacuation of Palestinian civilians. Images posted online Wednesday showed people holding fliers dropped by the military in the area, urging people to leave.
Hundreds of thousands of people trapped in Gaza, a narrow strip of land sandwiched between Israel and the Mediterranean Sea, have fled from the fighting four or five times already.
The United Nations called the forced exodus “dangerously chaotic” — with doctors and nurses at two hospitals rushing to move their patients.
The IDF said medical facilities did not need to evacuate, but its previous raids at other hospitals in Gaza have left medical staff fearful.
Hamas said the new assault could “reset the negotiation process to square one,” despite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreeing to send a delegation to restart the talks.
Netanyahu agreed to send the Israeli delegation back to the talks after Hamas replied to the latest draft cease-fire proposal with some requested changes, but both sides have remained at odds on key points of a staged truce process. One of the biggest obstacles has been Netanyahu’s insistence that any cease-fire agreement leaves his military the option to resume operations against Hamas.
Alon Pinkas, a former advisor to four Israeli foreign ministers and an outspoken critic of Netanyahu, told CBS News on Wednesday that he believes — as do many Israelis — that the country’s leader doesn’t really want a cease-fire.
Asked if Netanyahu, by agreeing to continue with the truce talks, was just throwing a bone to his backers in Washington to keep the pressure off, Pinkas said the Israeli leader’s actions were even more disingenuous than that.
“He’s just taking them for a ride,” he said. “He’s [Netanyahu] been doing so for the better part of the last nine months, and he’s been doing so with impunity and immunity.”
The Israeli leader has accused Hamas of blocking progress in the talks, suggesting the group isn’t serious about the negotiations as it has also continued its military operations against Israel during multiple rounds of discussions.
The White House has consistently backed Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas and, with few exceptions, has and never halted the supply of U.S. weapons to the country. But Mr. Biden and his subordinates have also heaped pressure on Netanyahu to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza and limit the number of civilian casualties in a war that medical officials in the Hamas-run enclave say has killed more than 38,200 Palestinians.
President Biden announced a project in March to boost the flow of aid into the territory — a floating pier built by the U.S. military on Gaza’s coast at a cost of more than $230 million.
The pier project, always touted by U.S. officials as an additive measure and not a solution to the dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza, has been plagued by logistical challenges, mostly weather related, and it has never managed to facilitate a significant flow of aid materials.
After being knocked out of service again by rough seas, operations on the pier were to be reestablished this week — but then the structure could be permanently dismantled. The removal could come as soon as next week, but no final decision has been made according to U.S. military officials.
Holly Williams is a CBS News senior foreign correspondent based in the network’s CBS London bureau. Williams joined CBS News in July 2012, and has more than 25 years of experience covering major news events and international conflicts across Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israel on Saturday carried out its largest hostage rescue operation since the latest war with Hamas began, taking four to safety out of central Gaza amid the military’s heavy air and ground assault. At least 94 dead Palestinians, including children, were brought to local hospitals, a health official said.
Israelis were jubilant as the army said it freed Noa Argamani, 26; Almog Meir Jan, 22; Andrey Kozlov, 27; and Shlomi Ziv, 41, in a daytime operation in the heart of Nuseirat, raiding two locations at once while under fire. All were well, the military said. They were taken by helicopter for medical checks and tearful reunions with loved ones after 246 days held.
Argamani had been one of the most widely recognized hostages after being taken, like the three others, from a music festival. The video of her abduction showed her seated between two men on a motorcycle as she screamed, “Don’t kill me!”
Her mother, Liora, has brain cancer and had released a video pleading to see her daughter before she dies. Israel’s Channel 13 said Argamani was moved to the hospital where her mother is being treated. Her father, Yaakov, on Saturday had his birthday. “I never believed I would receive a present like this,” he said.
In a video message released by the government, an elated Argamani told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by phone she was “very excited,” saying she hasn’t heard Hebrew in so long.
Netanyahu in a statement vowed to continue the fighting until all hostages are freed. The operation was “daring in nature, planned brilliantly, and executed in an extraordinary fashion,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said.
Israeli aircraft hummed overhead as the bodies of nearly 100 Palestinians killed were taken to Al-Aqsa Hospital, where spokesperson Khalil Degran told The Associated Press more than 100 wounded also arrived. AP reporters saw dozens of bodies brought from the Nuseirat and Deir al-Balah areas, as smoke rose in the distance and armored vehicles rolled by.
A baby was among the dead. Small children wailed, covered in blood. Bodies were placed on the ground outside, their feet bare, as more wounded were rushed in.
“My two cousins were killed, and two other cousins were seriously injured. They did not commit any sin. They were sitting at home,” one relative said in the chaos. As Palestinians explored the newly destroyed buildings, a small child sat on a collapsed metal door, overwhelmed.
Neighboring Egypt condemned “with the strongest terms” Israel’s attacks on the Nuseirat refugee camp, with its foreign ministry calling it a “flagrant violation of all rules of international law.” Neighboring Jordan also condemned it.
Israel’s military said it had attacked “threats to our forces in the area,” adding that one commando died from his wounds.
A U.S. hostage cell provided advice and support throughout the process of locating and rescuing the hostages, according to a Biden administration official, who was not authorized to comment and requested anonymity. The hostage cells are multi-agency teams.
“We won’t stop working until all the hostages come home and a cease-fire is reached,” U.S. President Joe Biden said.
Hamas took some 250 hostages during the Oct. 7 attack that killed about 1,200 people. About half were released in a weeklong cease-fire in November. About 120 hostages remain, with 43 pronounced dead. Survivors include about 15 women, two children under 5 and two men in their 80s.
Saturday’s operation brought the total number of rescued hostages to seven. Two were freed in February and one was freed in the aftermath of the October attack. Israeli troops have recovered the bodies of at least 16 others, according to the government.
The latest rescue was expected to lift spirits in Israel as divisions deepen over the best way to bring hostages home. Many Israelis urge Netanyahu to embrace a cease-fire deal Biden announced last month, but far-right allies threaten to collapse his government if he does. Netanyahu, whose support has fallen, rushed to the hospital to greet the freed hostages.
It was unclear what effect it might have on apparently stalled cease-fire efforts. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will return to the Middle East next week, seeking a breakthrough.
“The hostage release and cease-fire deal that is now on the table would secure the release of all the remaining hostages together with security assurances for Israel and relief for the innocent civilians in Gaza,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement.
International pressure is mounting on Israel to limit civilian bloodshed in its war in Gaza, which reached its eighth month on Friday with more than 36,700 Palestinians killed, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians.
Palestinians also face widespread hunger because fighting and Israeli restrictions have largely cut off the flow of aid.
Israel is intensifying operations across central Gaza, where the hostages were rescued. On Thursday, an Israeli airstrike hit a U.N.-run school compound in Nuseirat, killing over 33 people inside the school, including three women and nine children.
Israel said some 30 militants were inside and on Friday released the names of 17 it said were killed. However, only nine of those matched records from the hospital morgue. One of the alleged militants was an 8-year-old boy, according to hospital records.
Israel’s military on Saturday asserted that “Hamas is a terror organization that often uses fake documents disguising terrorists as women or children.”
Meanwhile, Benny Gantz, a popular centrist member of Israel’s three-member War Cabinet who had threatened to resign from the government if it didn’t adopt a new plan by Saturday for the war in Gaza, postponed an expected announcement.
Mednick and Jeffrey reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed to this report.
JERUSALEM — Israel said Saturday it rescued four hostages who were kidnapped in the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, the largest such recovery operation since the war began in Gaza. At least 55 Palestinians including children were killed as heavy fighting continued around the sites in central Gaza, the Health Ministry said.
Israel’s army said it rescued Noa Argamani, 25; Almog Meir Jan, 21; Andrey Kozlov, 27; and Shlomi Ziv, 40, in two locations in a complex daytime operation in the heart of Nuseirat on Saturday morning, raiding the two places at once and under fire.
Argamani had been one of the most widely recognized hostages after being abducted from a music festival in southern Israel. The video of her abduction was among the first to surface, with Argamani detained between two men on a motorcycle as she screamed, “Don’t kill me!”
Her mother, Liora, has stage four brain cancer and in April released a video pleading to see her daughter before she dies.
An elated Argamani spoke by phone with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In an audio message released by the government, Netanyahu is heard asking how she’s feeling. She tells him she is “very excited,” saying she hasn’t heard Hebrew in so long.
The bodies of the dozens of Palestinians killed were taken to Al-Aqsa Hospital, where they were counted by Associated Press reporters. They later saw more dead arrive at the hospital from the Nuseirat and Deir al-Balah areas as smoke rose in the distance.
Israel’s military said it attacked “threats to our forces in the area.” The military said one fighter was seriously wounded.
Hamas took some 250 hostages during the Oct. 7 attack that killed about 1,200 people. About half were released in a weeklong cease-fire in November. Israel says more than 130 hostages remain, with about a quarter of those believed dead. Divisions are deepening over the best way to bring them home.
International pressure mounts on Israel to limit civilian bloodshed in its war in Gaza, which reached its eighth month on Friday with more than 36,700 Palestinians killed, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians. Palestinians face widespread hunger because fighting and Israeli restrictions have largely cut off the flow of aid.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will return to the Middle East next week, seeking a breakthrough in the apparently stalled cease-fire negotiations.
Saturday’s hostage recovery operation brings the total of rescued captives to seven. Two men were rescued in February when troops stormed a heavily guarded apartment, and a woman was rescued in the aftermath of the October attack. Israeli troops have recovered at least 16 bodies of hostages from Gaza, according to the government.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called Saturday’s rescue “a heroic operation” and said the army will fight until all hostages are returned.
Netanyahu faces growing pressure to end the fighting in Gaza. Many Israelis urge him to embrace a deal announced last month by U.S. President Joe Biden, but far-right allies threaten to collapse his government if he does.
Israel is intensifying operations across central Gaza, where the hostages were rescued. On Thursday, an Israeli airstrike hit a U.N.-run school compound in Nuseirat, killing over 33 people inside the school, including three women and nine children.
Israel said some 30 militants were inside at the time and on Friday released the names of 17 militants it said were killed. However, only nine of those names matched with records of the dead from the hospital morgue.
One of the alleged militants was an 8-year-old boy, according to hospital records.
Last week, President Biden sat with Time magazine for a wide-ranging interview about foreign policy, immigration and the 2024 election. Time’s Washington bureau chief Massimo Calabresi, who spoke with Biden, joins “America Decides” to unpack their conversation.
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The Israeli military reported that four more hostages are dead and that their bodies are still being held by Hamas. It comes amid increasing pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a cease-fire deal. Imtiaz Tyab reports from Tel Aviv.
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John Dickerson reports on day one of jury deliberations in former President Trump’s “hush money” trial, how severe weather is impacting air travel across the U.S., and the early process of preparing the Oval Office for a possible new administration.
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Hamtramck City Council is the nation’s first all-Muslim council.
The Hamtramck City Council on Tuesday became the first city outside of California to approve a resolution endorsing a movement that advocates for boycotts and divestment to end support for Israel over its brutal attacks on Palestinians in Gaza.
The only all-Muslim city council in the country unanimously approved the measure in support of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
The cities of Hayward and Richmond in California passed similar resolutions in January and May, respectively. But those cities targeted specific companies to boycott, while Hamtramck’s resolution went further in support of the entire BDS movement.
Among those in support of the BDS resolution was Matthew J. Clark, a Jewish attorney and longtime member of the Jewish Voice for Peace, the largest progressive Jewish, anti-Zionist organization in the world.
“Supporting the Palestinian people right now is of course not antisemitic,” Clark told the council. “I am a Jewish person, and I stand with the Palestinian people against the genocide going on. I oppose genocide because I’m Jewish — because my people have suffered from the Holocaust, a horrific genocide. For that reason, I say ‘never again’ to anybody, especially the Palestinian people.”
Mayor Amer Ghalib said the time has come for the government to listen to its people.
“Most American people are against the war, but our government of course does not listen to the concerns of the people,” Ghalib said. “It seems like we are ruled by a minority in this country, and that’s a problem. The voice of the people is not being heard.”
Launched in 2005, the BDS movement targets businesses and institutions accused of contributing to violations of Palestinian rights as a protest to Israel’s actions in the Palestinian territories.
In 2016, then-Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder passed an anti-BDS measure that bars the state from hiring businesses that boycott individuals or public entities of a foreign nation. The legislation, however, does not prevent cities from passing their own BDS resolutions.
In Hamtramck, more than half of the population is believed to be Muslim. In January 2022, Hamtramck became the first city in the U.S. to have an all-Muslim city council.
Hamtramck also became one of the first city councils in the nation to call for a ceasefire in October. In December, the council renamed a stretch of Holbrook Street to “Palestine Avenue” as a demonstration of solidarity with residents of Gaza.
Norway, Ireland and Spain said Wednesday they are recognizing a Palestinian state in a historic move that drew condemnation from Israel and jubilation from the Palestinians. Israel immediately ordered back its ambassadors from Norway and Ireland and appeared ready to do the same with its ambassador to Spain.
The official recognition by the three nations of an independent Palestinian state will take effect on May 28, Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide told a news conference Wednesday, the Reuters news agency reports.
It was a lightning cascade of announcements. First was Norway, whose Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said “there cannot be peace in the Middle East if there is no recognition,” adding that, “By recognizing a Palestinian state, Norway supports the Arab peace plan.”
Several European Union countries have in the past weeks indicated that they plan to make the same move, arguing that a two-state solution is essential for lasting peace in the region. The decision may generate momentum for the recognition of a Palestinian state by other EU countries and could spur further steps at the United Nations, deepening Israel’s isolation.
Norway was first with its announcement
Norway, which isn’t a member of the European Union but mirror its moves, has been an ardent supporter of a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians.
Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, right, next to Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide, announces during a May 22, 2024 press conference in Oslo that Norway is recognizing Palestine as an independent state effective May 28.
ERIK FLAARIS JOHANSEN/NTB / AFP via Getty Images
“The terror has been committed by Hamas and militant groups who are not supporters of a two-state solution and the state of Israel,” the Norwegian government leader said. “Palestine has a fundamental right to an independent state.”
The move comes as Israeli forces have led assaults on the northern and southern edges of the Gaza Strip in May, causing a new exodus of hundreds of thousands of people, and sharply restricted the flow of aid, raising the risk of famine.
The Scandinavian country “will therefore regard Palestine as an independent state with all the rights and obligations that entails,” Gahr Støre said.
The development comes more than 30 years after the first Oslo accord was signed in 1993. Since then, “the Palestinians have taken important steps towards a two-state solution,” the Norwegian government said.
It said that the World Bank determined that a Palestinian state had met key criteria to function as a state in 2011, that national institutions have been built up to provide the population with important services.
“The war in Gaza and the constant expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank still mean that the situation in Palestine is more difficult than it has been in decades,” the Norwegian government said.
Ireland followed suit
Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris also made his announcement Wednesday, saying it was a move coordinated with Spain and Norway, “an historic and important day for Ireland and for Palestine.” He said the move was intended to help move the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to resolution through a two-state solution.
Ireland’s Prime Minister Simon Harris, center, flanked by Ireland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Michel Martin, right, and Ireland’s Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan, delivers a speech during a May 22, 2024 press conference in Dublin that their nation is recognizing a Palestinian state effective May 28, 2024.
PAUL FAITH / AFP via Getty Images
Harris said he thinks other countries will join Norway, Spain and Ireland in recognizing a Palestinian state “in the weeks ahead.”
Spain joined in
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, his country’s Socialist leader since 2018, made the expected announcement to his nation’s Parliament on Wednesday.
He’s spent months touring European and Middle Eastern countries to garner support for the recognition of a Palestinian state, as well as a possible ceasefire in Gaza. He has said several times that he was committed to the move.
“We know that this initiative won’t bring back the past and the lives lost in Palestine, but we believe that it will give the Palestinians two things that are very important for their present and their future: dignity and hope,” Sánchez said.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announcing in Madrid on May 22, 2024 that his country’s council of ministers would recognize an independent Palestinian state effective May 28, 2024.
Violeta Santos Moura / REUTERS
“This recognition is not against anyone, it is not against the Israeli people,” Sánchez added, while acknowledging that it will most likely cause diplomatic tensions with Tel Aviv. “It is an act in favor of peace, justice and moral consistency.”
Sánchez argued that the move is needed to support the viability of a two-state solution that he said “is in serious danger” with the war in Gaza.
“I have spent weeks and months speaking with leaders inside and outside of the region and if one thing is clear is that Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu does not have a project of peace for Palestine, even if the fight against the terrorist group Hamas is legitimate,” the Spanish leader said.
Earlier this month, Spain’s Foreign Minister José Albares said he had informed U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken of his government’s intention to recognize a Palestinian state.
In response to the fast-moving developments, Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz ordered his country’s ambassadors from Ireland and Norway to immediately return to Israel, and earlier threatened to do the same with its ambassador to Spain if it took the same stand.
“Ireland and Norway intend to send a message today to the Palestinians and the whole world: terrorism pays,” Katz said.
He said that the recognition could impede efforts to return Israel’s hostages being held in Gaza and makes a cease-fire less likely by “rewarding the jihadists of Hamas and Iran.”
Reactions starting
A senior official of Hamas, which is embroiled in the war with Israel in Gaza, said Wednesday the “brave resistance” of the Palestinian people spurred Norway, Ireland and Spain to recognize a Palestinian state, Agence France-Press reports.
“These successive recognitions are the direct result of this brave resistance and the legendary steadfastness of the Palestinian people. … We believe this will be a turning point in the international position on the Palestinian issue,” Bassem Naim, a senior Hamas political bureau member, told AFP.
The Palestine Liberation Organization, seen worldwide as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, called the moves by Norway, Ireland and Spain “historical moments in which the free world triumphs for truth and justice,” according to AFP, citing a post on X from Hussein al-Sheikh, secretary general of the PLO executive committee.
Meanwhile, Israel’s far right national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, visited Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa Mosque compound, declaring the contested holy site belongs “only to the state of Israel.”
Ben-Gvir said the visit was a response to the move by Norway, Ireland and Spain. “We will not even allow a statement about a Palestinian state,” he said.
The hilltop compound is revered by Jews and Muslims, and the conflicting claims have led to numerous rounds of violence in the past.
Israel allows Jews to visit the compound, but not to pray there. But the visit is likely to be seen around the world as a provocation.
Benny Gantz, a centrist member of Israel’s three-member War Cabinet, threatened on Saturday to resign from the government if it doesn’t adopt a new plan in three weeks’ time for the war in Gaza, a move that would leave Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu more reliant on his far-right allies.His announcement escalates a divide within Israel’s leadership more than seven months into a war in which it has yet to accomplish its stated goals of dismantling Hamas and returning scores of hostages abducted in the Oct. 7 attack.Gantz spelled out a six-point plan that includes the return of scores of hostages, ending Hamas’ rule, demilitarizing the Gaza strip and establishing an international administration of civilian affairs. It also supports efforts to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia.He says if it is not adopted by June 8 he will quit the government. “If you choose the path of fanatics and lead the entire nation to the abyss — we will be forced to quit the government,” he said.Gantz, a popular politician and longtime political rival of Netanyahu, joined his coalition and the War Cabinet in the early days of the war.The departure of the former military chief of staff and defense minister would leave Netanyahu even more beholden to far-right allies who have taken a hard line on negotiations over a cease-fire and hostage release, and who believe Israel should occupy Gaza and rebuild Jewish settlements there.Gantz spoke days after Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, the third member of the War Cabinet, openly said he has repeatedly pleaded with the Cabinet to decide on a postwar vision for Gaza that would see the creation of a new Palestinian civilian leadership.Netanyahu is under growing pressure on multiple fronts. Hard-liners in his government want the military offensive on Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah to press ahead with the goal of crushing Hamas. Top ally the U.S. and others have warned against the offensive on a city where more than half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million had sheltered — hundreds of thousands have now fled — and they have threatened to scale back support over Gaza’s humanitarian crisis.The U.S. national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, will be in Saudi Arabia and Israel this weekend to discuss the war and is scheduled on Sunday to meet with Netanyahu, who has declared that Israel would “stand alone” if needed.Many Israelis, anguished over the hostages and accusing Netanyahu of putting political interests ahead of all else, want a deal to stop the fighting and get them freed. There was fresh frustration Friday when the military said its troops in Gaza found the bodies of three hostages killed by Hamas in the Oct. 7 attack. The discovery of the body of a fourth hostage was announced Saturday.The latest talks in pursuit of a cease-fire, mediated by Qatar, the United States and Egypt, have brought little. A vision beyond the war is also uncertain.The war began after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people and took 250 others hostage. Israel says around 100 hostages are still captive in Gaza, along with the bodies of around 30 more.The Israeli offensive has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians in Gaza, local health officials say, while hundreds more have been killed in the occupied West Bank.___Jeffery reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writer Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv contributed to this report.
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip —
Benny Gantz, a centrist member of Israel’s three-member War Cabinet, threatened on Saturday to resign from the government if it doesn’t adopt a new plan in three weeks’ time for the war in Gaza, a move that would leave Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu more reliant on his far-right allies.
His announcement escalates a divide within Israel’s leadership more than seven months into a war in which it has yet to accomplish its stated goals of dismantling Hamas and returning scores of hostages abducted in the Oct. 7 attack.
Gantz spelled out a six-point plan that includes the return of scores of hostages, ending Hamas’ rule, demilitarizing the Gaza strip and establishing an international administration of civilian affairs. It also supports efforts to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia.
He says if it is not adopted by June 8 he will quit the government. “If you choose the path of fanatics and lead the entire nation to the abyss — we will be forced to quit the government,” he said.
Gantz, a popular politician and longtime political rival of Netanyahu, joined his coalition and the War Cabinet in the early days of the war.
The departure of the former military chief of staff and defense minister would leave Netanyahu even more beholden to far-right allies who have taken a hard line on negotiations over a cease-fire and hostage release, and who believe Israel should occupy Gaza and rebuild Jewish settlements there.
Gantz spoke days after Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, the third member of the War Cabinet, openly said he has repeatedly pleaded with the Cabinet to decide on a postwar vision for Gaza that would see the creation of a new Palestinian civilian leadership.
Netanyahu is under growing pressure on multiple fronts. Hard-liners in his government want the military offensive on Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah to press ahead with the goal of crushing Hamas. Top ally the U.S. and others have warned against the offensive on a city where more than half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million had sheltered — hundreds of thousands have now fled — and they have threatened to scale back support over Gaza’s humanitarian crisis.
The U.S. national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, will be in Saudi Arabia and Israel this weekend to discuss the war and is scheduled on Sunday to meet with Netanyahu, who has declared that Israel would “stand alone” if needed.
Many Israelis, anguished over the hostages and accusing Netanyahu of putting political interests ahead of all else, want a deal to stop the fighting and get them freed. There was fresh frustration Friday when the military said its troops in Gaza found the bodies of three hostages killed by Hamas in the Oct. 7 attack. The discovery of the body of a fourth hostage was announced Saturday.
The latest talks in pursuit of a cease-fire, mediated by Qatar, the United States and Egypt, have brought little. A vision beyond the war is also uncertain.
The war began after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people and took 250 others hostage. Israel says around 100 hostages are still captive in Gaza, along with the bodies of around 30 more.
The Israeli offensive has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians in Gaza, local health officials say, while hundreds more have been killed in the occupied West Bank.
___
Jeffery reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writer Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv contributed to this report.
John Dickerson reports on the status of a temporary pier designed to provide critical aid to Gaza, the sharp cross-examination of former President Donald Trump’s ex-fixer Michael Cohen, and how used police firearms can wind up in the hands of criminals.
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Israeli forces forged deeper into Rafah on Tuesday, raising fears of more civilian casualties in the Israel-Hamas war. Apprehensions of a more intense military push come amid word that a team of international doctors, including several Americans, are trapped in a hospital near the city. Illinois Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth joins “America Decides” to discuss.
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Tel Aviv — Nearly 360,000 people had fled the Gaza Strip’s southernmost city of Rafah by Monday, according to the United Nations, in an exodus that tripled in size over just a few days. The Israel Defense Forces sparked the upheaval late last week, issuing evacuation orders by text messages and fliers dropped from the sky to people in the city’s eastern half.
Since then, IDF forces have pushed across the southern part of the Palestinian territory in what the military says are limited and precise attacks targeting Hamas militants and infrastructure.
The U.S. has repeatedly warned Israel against launching a major military ground operation in Rafah, fearing mass casualties. The White House, in tandem with other countries, has also increased pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to form a plan to address the humanitarian crisis caused by the war, and for the so-called “day after,” to figure out who or what will replace Hamas as Gaza’s governing body.
Pressure mounts on Netanyahu
The Biden administration cautioned again over the weekend that Israel needs an exit plan for the war, and that even if Hamas can be defeated, without a viable alternative to govern Gaza, the group long designated by both Israel and the U.S. as a terrorist organization could stage a comeback.
“You’re going to have a vacuum, and a vacuum that’s likely to be filled by chaos, by anarchy and, ultimately, by Hamas again,” Blinken told CBS’ “Face the Nation” moderator Margaret Brennan on Sunday. He stressed that the U.S. “will not support” an Israeli military operation in Rafah without a “credible plan to protect civilians.”
Very public cracks are now appearing between Israel’s government and its military, meanwhile. Senior military officials have started openly demanding that Netanyahu decide what will replace Hamas to run Gaza — saying if that isn’t determined, Israeli forces could wind up stuck there.
Many Israeli troops’ families have similar concerns. Over the weekend, a letter signed by 600 family members of current IDF soldiers called on Netanyahu’s government to forego a Rafah ground assault, warning that it “could be no less than a death trap.”
“Any reasonable person understands that when they have been announcing and warning for months about entering Rafah, there are those who are working to prepare the ground and harm the forces there,” the families warned in the letter.
The Biden administration has made it clear it will not supply weapons for what it considers an ill-advised full-scale military operation in Rafah, but Netanyahu has refused to back down from his vow to carry out that assault, saying there are several Hamas battalions holed up in the city.
In an overnight phone call, Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant gave U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken an update on the war, including on “the precise operation in the Rafah area against remaining Hamas battalions,” according to a statement from Gallant’s office.
Gazans forced to flee again and again
In the southeast corner of Rafah, shattered neighborhoods were eerily quiet on Monday morning — abandoned after Israel’s warnings of an imminent advance.
Hundreds of thousands of people who’d fled to the city on previous Israeli orders have fled once again, this time to the west of Gaza, to the coastal area of al-Mawasi, which Israel has made into a sprawling camp for the displaced.
Palestinians carry their belongings as they prepare to flee Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 13, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.
AFP via Getty
It may be out of the line of fire for now, but it is far from a safe refuge as thousands of families are exposed to the elements in tents pitched across a barren stretch of coastline.
Displaced mom who lost 6 of her 7 children “still in shock”
Just to the north, in a makeshift camp in Deir al Balah, Jamila Abu Jebara told CBS News she lost virtually her entire family to an overnight Israeli airstrike exactly seven months ago. Her husband and six of her seven children were killed. Neighbors were only able to pull her and her 10-year-old daughter Dema from the wreckage of their home.
“My 8-year-old son’s body is still under the rubble,” she said. “I’m waiting for a cease-fire to pull him out.”
Beyond that, the now-single mother said she had no plans for the future, “because I am still in shock.”
“As a mother, I need to stay strong for my daughter Dema, so I can take care of her and build her future. She is with me constantly, and I don’t like her to go anywhere without me. She even sleeps with me.”
Dema Abu Jebara, 10, sits next to her mother Jamila (center) as they speak with CBS News in a makeshift camp for displaced Palestinians in Deir al Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, May 12, 2024.
CBS News
“I wish this war would end,” her daughter Dema told CBS News.
Many Israelis have the same wish. On Sunday, as Israel marked its Memorial Day, the country mourned its dead soldiers and the roughly 1,200 victims of Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attack, which sparked the current war.
But as dozens of families push Netanyahu to agree to a deal to bring home the roughly 100 Israelis still believed to be held hostage by Hamas or other groups in Gaza, the prime minister’s remarks at a memorial service were unequivocal.
“We will keep going until victory,” he said, vowing to complete his stated mission to “destroy Hamas.”
At the camp in Deir al Balah, Abu Jebara told CBS News she wished she could have protected her six children from Israel’s attacks.
“I wish I’d died and they had lived,” she said, adding an appeal as Americans marked Mother’s Day:
“My message to any mother: See our lives and see our sorrows. I’m one of countless mothers who have lost.”
CBS News’ Tucker Reals contributed to this report.
Ramy Inocencio is a CBS News foreign correspondent based in London, covering Europe and the Middle East. He joined the Network in 2019 as CBS News’ Asia correspondent, based in Beijing and reporting across the Asia-Pacific, bringing two decades of experience working and traveling between Asia and the United States.
MINNEAPOLIS — A pro-Palestinian encampment cleared on Thursday morning after organizers reached an agreement with the administration, but Jewish students say they still have many concerns.
Joined by community leaders, Jewish students spoke at a press conference about the past week, and their meeting with university administrators on Thursday morning.
“I appreciate that the disruption is gone. I do not appreciate that they are getting rewards for it,” said Alex Stewart, Hillel student president. “We were hopeful that they would use that free speech to put out a statement condemning the language that’s being used on campus.”
In addition to condemning antisemitic language used by some protestors, Jewish leaders say they are upset people who violated campus rules, aren’t being charged with crimes. They are also upset that protestors are being allowed to address the Board of Regents later this month.
“That was also one of the requests of the Jewish students here who did not break the rules. They were not given any such guarantee. Why? That’s a great question to ask the administration,” said Ethan Roberts with the Jewish Community Relations Council.
Jewish leaders say they’re troubled by the language used in the email sent from interim president Ettinger to protestors that essentially marked the end of the encampment. In particular the use of the Arabic word “thawabit”, a term used to characterize the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people.WCCO researched the word through sources locally and with our partners at CBS News and found no evidence linking it to violence or radicalism.
Jewish students say they want to know what’s next for them, and how will they be made to feel safe on campus moving forward. They’re pushing for more education so all students feel welcome.
“Something that was thoroughly discussed was an education program and educating other students about the thin line between the freedom of speech and hate speech,” said sophomore Halle Wasserman.
Jewish students did say they feel hopeful that positive changes will happen on campus, and they are hoping administrators will support the Hillel campus climate initiative, which focuses on training and addressing issues regarding hate.
John Lauritsen is an Emmy award-winning reporter from Montevideo, Minn. He joined WCCO-TV in late-July of 2007. Two days after he started, the Interstate 35W bridge collapsed.
John Dickerson reports on the status of pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses, a strict abortion ban becoming law in Florida, and the impact of another round of student debt relief from the Biden administration.
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