At least 973 Native American children died in boarding schools, probe finds – National & International News – TUE 30Jul2024

At least 973 Native American children died in boarding schools, probe finds.

Israeli protesters, lawmakers defend soldiers who raped Palestinian prisoner.

BREAKING: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran.

NATIONAL NEWS

At least 973 Native American children died in boarding schools, probe finds

An investigation commissioned by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland has found that at least 973 Native American children died at government-run or government-funded boarding schools. Investigators found marked and unmarked gravesites at the sites of 65 former boarding schools. Between 1819 and 1969, over 400 of these boarding schools operated in the US.

About half of these schools were run by religious organizations (at least 59 of them) who received government funding. The Catholic Church played an outsized role in running these schools, both in the US and in Canada. The investigation also found about 100 unofficial schools run by religious organizations without any evident government funding. 

The purpose of these schools was to forcibly assimilate Native American children into white Christian society. While at the schools, children were forbidden from identifying with their Native tribes, were given Christian names, and were punished harshly for speaking their Native languages. Haaland, herself a member of the Laguna Pueblo tribe of New Mexico, says the program was “a concerted attempt to eradicate the quote, ‘Indian problem’ — to either assimilate or destroy native peoples altogether”. Haaland’s own grandparents were forced to attend such schools.

In a series of listening sessions conducted by Haaland in several states, hundreds of former students of these schools came forward to tell their stories. These included stories of beatings, sexual abuse, denial of food and other humiliations. The children who died at these schools sometimes died as a result of the abuse, while many also succumbed to disease.

Over the 150 year program, the federal government spent about $23 billion when adjusted for inflation. The report recommends that the government spend a similar amount in Native communities to try to mitigate some of the program’s long-term harms, including by supporting education programs in Native languages.

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Israeli protesters, lawmakers defend soldiers who raped Palestinian prisoner

For months, there have been been reports of egregious systematic torture of Palestinian prisoners at the Sde Teiman military base in southern Israel, which has essentially operated as a prison camp since October 7. Since Israel’s military assault on Gaza began nearly 10 months ago, the Israeli military has thousands of Palestinians (mostly civilians and medical personnel) from Gaza and brought to Sde Teiman and other facilities throughout Israel.

Reports from the UN, Amnesty and even Israeli whistleblowers have detailed various types of torture taking place in these facilities, particularly Sde Teiman. These reports include doctors having to routinely amputate limbs after detainees were kept restrained with zip cuffs for long periods of time, cutting off circulation to their extremities. The UN, New York Times and other sources have reported accounts of male detainees being sodomized with electrified metal rods implanted in the ground. One detainee is known to have died as a result of this treatment. At least 13 detainees overall have died in Israeli detention, two of them doctors.

“Everything is legitimate”

Under pressure from the UK and US, the Israeli military has undertaken to investigate and punish one specific instance of this torture against a Palestinian detainee. Over the weekend, military police entered Sde Teiman to take 9 reservists (some outlets report 10) involved into custody. The exact nature of their offense isn’t clear, but some Israeli outlets say the soldiers are accused of “gang-rape” of a detainee, while others say the charges amount to sodomy. Outlets report that the victim was hospitalized with injuries to his anus that left him unable to walk.

Other soldiers at the facility attacked the military police as they arrested the suspects. Shortly thereafter, Sde Teiman and another military base (where the suspects are in custody) were overrun with right-wing protesters who were furious at the reservists’ arrest. Some of the protesters were masked soldiers wearing their uniforms.

In the Israeli Knesset, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party justified the rape and abuse of Palestinian detainees. When other lawmakers questioned (one hopes rhetorically) whether it was legitimate, “to insert a stick into a person’s rectum?”, Likud member Hanoch Milwidsky angrily answered “Yes! If he is a Nukhba [Hamas militant], everything is legitimate to do! Everything!”.

While Israel claims the victim was a Hamas militant, it’s important to note that the Israeli Defense Forces tend to classify virtually every male Palestinian of military age as a militant, whether there is any evidence to support this assumption or not.

War with Lebanon escalates

Over the weekend, a rocket attack on a sports facility in the Golan Heights (a part of Syria that Israel has illegally occupied since 1967) killed 12 children belonging to the Druze ethno-religious group. Dozens of others were also injured. Israel and the US has blamed Hezbollah, the chief militant group in Lebanon, for the attack, but Hezbollah has denied responsibility.

The timing of this attack was curious, following soon after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the US. During his visit, both President Biden and VP Kamala Harris, now the presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee, pressed Netanyahu to agree to a ceasefire with Hamas in Gaza. Netanyahu has repeatedly made clear he is not interested in a ceasefire. An end to the war will likely mean an end to Netanyahu’s long political career, and possibly a jail sentence for corruption and bribery charges.

Who carried out the attack is certainly academic at this point. Netanyahu promised a “harsh” response to the attack and that response came today when Israel bombed an apartment building Beirut suburb, killing at least three people including two children. Israel claims that they killed Hezbollah’s top military commander, Fuad Shukur. Hezbollah has not commented on this claim.

Breaking: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran 

Hamas’ political chief Ismail Haniyeh has been assassinate in Tehran. He was in Iran to attend the inauguration of Iran’s newly elected President Masoud Pezeshkian. There aren’t many details, but state media reports the building where Haniyeh was staying was “struck”, killing Haniyeh and a bodyguard. Hamas has blamed Israel for the attack, which targeted Haniyeh as he slept around 2am.

Haniyeh had been representing Hamas in peace talks with Israel from Qatar, where he has lived for most of the past decade. In April, as these talks were ongoing, Israel killed three of Haniyeh’s sons and several of his grandchildren in a strike on a refugee camp in Gaza. He continued participating in the ceasefire talks despite this loss.

Haniyeh was considered to be a relatively moderate figure compared to Hamas’ military leaders. Reporting over the last several months indicates that Haniyeh was not involved in the planning of Hamas’ October 7 raid into Israel and didn’t even know it was going to happen. By assassinating Haniyeh, Netanyahu can put off any prospect of peace even further. 

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