Weekend Quotables

JVP hunger strikers on Hitting Left...IDF turns food centers into 'killing fields'

IDF officers and soldiers told Haaretz they were ordered to fire at unarmed crowds near food distribution sites in Gaza, even when no threat was present. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed, prompting the military prosecution to call for a review into possible war crimes. So far, 549 people have been killed near aid centers and in areas where residents were waiting for UN food trucks since May 27. Over 4,000 have been wounded.

"It's a killing field," one soldier said. "Where I was stationed, between one and five people were killed every day. They're treated like a hostile force – no crowd-control measures, no tear gas – just live fire with everything imaginable: heavy machine guns, grenade launchers, mortars. Then, once the center opens, the shooting stops, and they know they can approach. Our form of communication is gunfire."

JVP Hunger Strikers

Hitting Left

Our guests on Friday’s 253rd episode of Hitting Left were two activists from Jewish Voices for Peace (JVP), Jimmy Rothschild and Ben Teller. Ben is one of the six JVP members now on the 15th day of a hunger strike protesting the U.S. government's support for Israel and drawing attention to the current Gaza starvation crisis. Calling Israel’s assault on Gaza and the West Bank a genocide, JVP Chicago launched this indefinite hunger strike on June 16, 2025, demanding an end to U.S. military aid to Israel and the blockade of humanitarian assistance to Gaza.

They’ve been holding teach-ins, vigils, and rallies across Chicago, including a powerful event at Federal Plaza honoring the children of Gaza. Their message is clear: if the U.S. continues to fund and arm this devastation, then silence is complicity.

You can listen to the entire interview with Jimmy and Ben here.

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Weekend Quotables

Chris Hedges

The report in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, that Israeli soldiers are ordered to shoot into crowds of Palestinians at aid hubs, with 580 killed and 4,216 wounded, is not a surprise. It is the predictable denouement of the genocide, the inevitable conclusion to a campaign of mass extermination. — Gaza Hunger Games (Substack)

Gilad Erdan, former Israeli Ambassador to the UN

"We are the most moral country in the world, and we are the guardians of civilization.” — August 2024 UN farewell speech

Sen. Bernie Sanders

President Trump’s so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill,” now on the floor of the Senate, is the most dangerous piece of legislation in the modern history of our country. — Vermont Biz

Zohran Mamdani, Democratic candidate for New York City mayor

“I don’t think we should have billionaires—because, frankly, it is so much money in a moment of such inequality… New York is "the wealthiest city in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, and yet one in four New Yorkers are living in poverty"… “Call it democracy or call it democratic socialism—there must be a better distribution of wealth for all of God’s children in this country.” — Meet the Press interview,

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson

Her dissent painted a chilling picture: a judiciary stripped of its power to halt unconstitutional executive actions unless each individual sues. She called the Supreme Court’s decision an “existential threat to the rule of law.” — NY Times

Elon Musk

The latest Senate draft bill will destroy millions of jobs in America and cause immense strategic harm to our country! — X

Donald Trump (Not Yogi Berra)

“We do a lot of business with Canada, but relatively little.” — July 27th press conference.

*Actually, Canada is the United States’ second-largest trading partner, just behind Mexico. In 2024, total trade between the U.S. and Canada reached $762.1 billion, with Canada buying more U.S. exports than any other country.

Music from Friday’s Hitting Left episode.

You'll be a hero son, you'll make the headline news
When they declare we've won, they'll line the avenues

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