For today, links to reports from the Associated Press, National Public Radio, Reuters, and Tass, and to commentary from Scheer Post and the New York Times, and to AP and NPR reports on related developments; other articles are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (UKRAINE entry for this date is HERE.) — MCM
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NEWER Liz Magill, U. Penn’s president, and board chair resign as antisemitism testimony draws backlash, by Marc Levy | AP HARRISBURG, Pa. — The University of Pennsylvania’s president has resigned amid pressure from donors and criticism over testimony at a congressional hearing where she was unable to say under repeated questioning that calls on campus for the genocide of Jews would violate the school’s conduct policy. The chairman of the Ivy League school’s board of trustees, Scott Bok, also resigned . . . READ MORE . . .
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NEWER Penn president resigns after testifying about antisemitism on campus. Reported by Ayesha Rascoe and Sequoia Carrillo | NPR Four days after disastrous testimony on Capitol Hill, University of Pennsylvania president Liz Magill resigns. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.
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NEWER Israeli tanks reach centre of Khan Younis in new storm of southern Gaza, by Bassam Masoud and Nidal al-Mughrabi | Reuters GAZA / CAIRO — Israeli tanks battled their way to the centre of Khan Younis today in a major new push into the heart of the main city in the southern Gaza Strip which is sheltering hundreds of thousands of civilians who fled other parts of the enclave. Residents said . . . READ MORE . . .
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NEWER Heavy fighting across Gaza as Israel presses ahead with renewed U.S. military and diplomatic support, by Najib Jobain, Wafaa Shurafa and Samy Magdy | AP DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Heavy fighting raged today across Gaza, including in the devastated north, as Israel pressed ahead with its offensive after the U.S. blocked the latest international push for a cease-fire and rushed more munitions to its close ally. Israel has faced rising international outrage and calls for a permanent . . . READ MORE . . .
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NEWER In Jerusalem’s Old City, not everyone is celebrating Hanukkah. Reported by Eleanor Beardsley | NPR Hanukkah celebrations in Jerusalem are especially tense this year. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.
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Bombing in areas packed with displaced Gazans. Reported by Eleanor Beardsley | NPR Heavy fighting continues in Gaza, with Israel’s warplanes attacking from the air, and troops battling on the ground. U.N. officials warn of a humanitarian catastrophe. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.
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NEWER The State Department approves the sale of tank ammunition to Israel in a deal that bypasses Congress, by Matthew Lee | AP WASHINGTON — Going around Congress, the Biden administration said Saturday it has approved the emergency sale to Israel of nearly 14,000 rounds of tank ammunition worth more than $106 million as Israel intensifies its military operations in the southern Gaza Strip. The move comes as President Joe Biden’s request for a nearly $106 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and other national security . . . READ MORE . . .
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The U.S. has vetoed a Gaza cease-fire resolution in the U.N. Security Council, by Michele Kelemen and Alex Leff | NPR The UN Security Council vote on the resolution calling for a cease-fire in in Israeli-Hamas war, backed by Arab states, had 13 in favor and one — the U.S. — against, while the United Kingdom abstained. After the vote, the U.S. deputy representative to the UN . . . READ MORE . . .
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NEWER Netanyahu, Putin discuss Gaza, situation in region, Iran, Russia’s position. From Tass. TEL AVIV — Hamas’s actions in the Gaza Strip and the situation in the region were the focus of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s telephone call today with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Israeli prime minister’s office said. “The prime minister expressed disappointment with the position of . . . READ MORE . . .
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FROM DEC. 8 Israeli troops round up Palestinian men in northern Gaza as UN warns aid operation is ‘in tatters,’ by Wafaa Shurafa, Julia Frankel and Lee Keath | AP DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israel said Friday that the military was rounding up Palestinian men in northern Gaza for interrogation, searching for Hamas militants, while desperate Palestinians in the south crowded into an ever-shrinking area, and the U.N. warned that its aid operation is “in tatters.” The detentions pointed to . . . READ MORE . . .
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FROM DEC 8 Israeli strike badly damages Gaza’s oldest mosque. Reported by Daniel Estrin | NPR An Israeli strike has badly damaged an iconic and historic mosque in Gaza. As conditions around Gaza worsen amid the offensive, Israel claims it was aiming at Hamas militants. Click HERE to listen and read.
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NEWER A British Palestinian surgeon gave testimony to a UK war crimes unit after returning from Gaza, by Abby Sewell | AP BEIRUT — A British Palestinian surgeon who spent weeks in the Gaza Strip during the current Israel-Hamas war as part of a Doctors Without Borders medical team said he has given testimony to a British war crimes investigation unit. Ghassan Abu Sitta, a plastic surgeon specializing in conflict medicine, has . . . READ MORE . . .
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Gaza divides the world, by Patrick Lawrence | ScheerPost / Consortium News The trans–Atlantic alliance, with the U.S. per usual in the lead, is full-tilt behind Israel’s outright genocide. Support for it is scarce in the non–West, while expressions of support for the Palestinians of Gaza are many if in some cases muted. Ireland is, of course, an exceptional and interesting . . . READ MORE . . .
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The question of anti-Zionism, anti-Semitism, by Charles Blow | The New York Times Weeks ago, I interviewed several pro-Palestinian activists and scholars in America. Almost all of them described themselves as anti-Zionist, but in our conversations, all of them also condemned antisemitism. Later, I turned to Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, who sees anti-Zionism, by definition, as . . . READ MORE . . .