Atlanta Reverend Raphael Warnock (left) is facing off against anti-Black Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler (right) in January’s Georgia Senate runoff.

Georgia Democratic Senate candidate Raphael Warnock is being slammed by his Republican opponent Senator Kelly Loeffler for condemning Israel’s slaughter of men, women and children in a sermon over 2 years ago.

Warnock, a Reverend at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, made the comments in May, 2018 after nearly 60 Palestinians, including an infant, were killed by Israeli Defense Forces in the open-air prison of Gaza. Here are the comments that Georgia Republicans have deemed unacceptable, controversial and “anti Semitic”:

“We saw the government of Israel shoot down unarmed Palestinian sisters and brothers like birds of prey. I don’t care who does it, it is wrong. It is wrong to shoot down God’s children like they don’t matter at all. And it’s no more antisemitic for me to say that than it is anti-white for me to say that Black lives matter. Palestinian lives matter.”

This wasn’t the first time Reverend Warnock stood up for the humanity of the Palestinians. Last year he signed onto a letter with other church leaders from the U.S. and South Africa who went to Palestine and witnessed Israel’s horrific treatment of Palestinians themselves. From Middle East Eye:

“[The letter] decried the blockade of Gaza, settlement expansion and the segregation of Israelis and Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, among other Israeli policies. We saw the patterns that seem to have been borrowed and perfected from other previous oppressive regimes,’ the statement reads, describing what the pastors witnessed during their visits.

The ever-present physical walls that wall in Palestinians is a political wall reminiscent of the Berlin Wall… The heavy militarization of the West Bank, reminiscent of the military occupation of Namibia by apartheid South Africa.’”

Unfortunately Reverend Raphael Warnock has allowed the attacks from Senator Loeffler, an anti-Black racist who supports President Donald Trump, to convince him to turn away from his advocacy for human rights. In an op-Ed for the Jewish Insider, Warnock opined that Israel is the “greatest proponent of democracy in the Middle East” and deserving of “unconditional military aid” from the United States.

He claims Israel is not practicing apartheid and that the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divest and Sanctions movement is “anti-Semitic”. In the United States, supporting apartheid and war crimes is a must if one wants to get into a position of power. ▲

33 year old Democrat Jon Ossoff (47.9%) vs. incumbent Republican David Perdue (49.7%) is the other Georgia contest. Ossoff accused Mr Perdue in late October of being a “crook” who was “looking after” his own assets during the coronavirus pandemic and voting to end health care protections for Americans with pre-existing conditions on four separate occasions.▲

Incumbent Republican David Perduevs 33 year old Democrat Jon Ossoff (47.9%).

The Muslim News

A weekly report on Israeli Human Rights violations in Occupied  Palestinian Territory (22-28 Oct)

At approximately 05:00 on Thursday, 22 October 2020, IOF moved into Jenin, and stationed in its eastern neighborhood. They raided and searched several houses and arrested Osama Mahmoud Suliman al-Sa’di (20), and opened fire at Nateq Hussam Hantouli (23), claiming that he resisted the arrest and attempted to flee. Hantouli was shot with a live bullet in his leg, and he was transferred to an unknown destination.

At approximately 01:40 on Friday, 23 October 2020, Israeli warplanes launched 2 missiles, one of them by a drone, at an agricultural land in al-Fukhari, southeast of Khan Younis; causing damages and no casualties were reported.

A few minutes later, the warplanes launched another two missiles at an agricultural land in al-Qarara, east of Khan Younis; no casualties were reported.

At approximately 12:30, IOF stationed at the “northern entrance” established on Kafr Qaddum lands, north of Qalqilya, suppressed a protest attended by dozens of Palestinian civilians. IOF chased the young men who gathered in the area, clashed with them, and fired live bullets, sound bombs and tear gas canisters at them.

As a result, 5 civilians were shot; a 44-year-old man sustained a rubber bullet in the head; an 18-years-old was hit with 3 rubber bullets to his back and a sound bomb to his chest; the three others sustained rubber bullets in their lower extremities.

On Sunday dawn, 25 October 2020, IOF assaulted and killed Amer Snobar (17) near Turmus Ayya, northern Ramallah. While IOF denied assaulting Snobar, an eyewitness who accompanied the murdered child confirmed that Israeli soldiers assaulted him; this was further confirmed by the medical report which determined the cause of death as a blunt strike to the neck.

According to PCHR’s information, at approximately 01:10, Sakher Mostafa al-Najjar (18), was with his friend, Amer Abdul Rahim Ahmed Snobar (17), from Yatma village, southeast of Nablus, trying to fix their car, near Hugo Chavez Hospital, by Turmus Ayya entrance, north of Ramallah.

Meanwhile, an Israeli military vehicle arrived, six Israeli soldiers stepped out of the vehicle and chased al-Najjar and Snobar who tried to flee the area. Al-Najjar managed to escape, and the soldiers caught Snobar, pinned him to the ground, and butt-stroked him.

The soldiers later transferred him to Hugo Chavez Hospital in Turmus Ayya village, where he was determined dead before arrival. ▲