An aerial photograph taken by a drone shows Palestinians walking through the destruction caused by the Israeli air and ground offensive in Jabaliya, Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Mohammad Abu Samra)

“Every human being has value. And the value of every human being is what God has put within them when He made them after His own image and likeness. So, as they were minimizing Palestinian life, in the night He was showing me:

‘With every life that they take, that they have diminished, they have diminished the value of their lives in My Sight.’ … But the God that I represent? He wants you to know that He is come to set all the rulers down. He has come to take over the rule of America, of the world, as only God should do.”

—The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, “What Does Allah, The Great Mahdi And The Great Messiah Have To Say About The War In The Middle East?” Saviours’ Day 2024, Detroit, Mich.

It’s a new year, a new president and America’s support for Israel’s genocidal war on Palestinians is moving along an old and unwise path.

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President Trump has continued in the mode of his predecessors: He backs the illegal settler state through arms, funding and executive orders that crush dissent and condemnation of his ally’s mass destruction and murder on the world stage.

While he was largely credited with forging the so-called ceasefire underway in Gaza, the move may have stopped bombings but doesn’t ensure Palestinian safety.

Eight hostages held by Hamas, three Israelis and five Thai nationals, were released Jan. 30. Israel freed 110 Palestinians as part of the ceasefire agreement. These developments are welcomed. But they don’t change harrowing conditions that threaten the survival of Palestinians.

As more than 500,000 people have moved from southern Gaza to northern Gaza, their lives are still hard and dangerous. The area has been reduced to rubble so returning Gazans are pitching tents and making bombed-out buildings their homes.

There is still a need for food, water, medicine, winter clothes, sanitation, fuel, bakeries and relief from stress, loss, intense anxiety—and unexploded bombs dropped by Israel.

“I think that joy is being replaced somewhat by a sense of heaviness as they discover the reality of what has happened here in Gaza City,” Tess Ingram, a UNICEF communications manager, told UN News. “They were hoping to return to a home that is not there, or to a loved one who has been killed, and I think that that heaviness is really sinking in for people.”

The journey from the south into Gaza City could take 13 hours to 36 hours and was described as treacherous. “We’ve heard reports of people being killed by unexploded remnants of war on the way, because these very dangerous unexploded ordnance are buried underneath the rubble,” she explained.

UNICEF said the agency is also responding to reports of hundreds of children separated from families during the trek north.

What was supposed to be a peace effort in Gaza was accompanied by bombings and blatant Israeli Defense Force attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank.

UN News reported Jan. 29 that “10 people reportedly were killed … when an Israeli air strike hit a group of Palestinians in Tammun. This brings the death toll from the ongoing Israeli operation in the northern West Bank to 30, including two children.”

“On her X page, Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories said ‘Israel’s death machinery escalated its firing in the West Bank. … If it is not forced to stop, Israel’s genocide of Palestinians will not be confined to Gaza.

Mark my words,” Final Call staffer Brian E. Muhammad reported. “A statement from the Jerusalem-based human rights organization, B’Tselem pointed out that although agreeing to the ceasefire, Israel’s actions demonstrate it has no intention of doing so. Instead, it is merely shifting its focus from Gaza to the West Bank.”

When Mr. Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign development assistance so his administration can review spending and make sure it aligns with his policy, Israel was one of apparently two countries given a waiver. Egypt was the other country.

Mr. Trump cleared the delivery of 2,000-pound bombs held up by the Biden administration, saying Israel had paid for the weapons. He has also spoken of clearing Gaza out, sending Palestinians to Jordan and Egypt, and redeveloping Gaza and its beachfront.

He was looking forward to welcoming accused war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, to the White House at Final Call press time. Mr. Netanyahu would be the first foreign leader to visit the recently inaugurated president.

Mr. Trump has signed executive orders that reflect an “Israel First” policy instead of his “America First” rhetoric. On his first day in office, Mr. Trump signed an executive order, “Protecting The United States From Foreign Terrorists And Other National Security And Public Safety Threats.”

It has become widely known as “Muslim Ban 2.0,” referring to Trump travel restrictions targeting nationals from some Islamic, Arab and African nations in his first term.

The new order intensifies scrutiny of those already in the U.S. and introduces provisions to possibly deport individuals lawfully issued visas in the past four years.

“The new order goes a step further than its 2017 predecessor by adding language that opens the door to ideological exclusion by allowing the government to deny visas or entry based on perceived political opinions, religious beliefs, or cultural backgrounds,” said the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.

“People who came to what is supposed to be the land of freedom and opportunity completely legally are now being told to keep their heads down and their mouths shut, or the government may deport them because of where they were born,” said the National Iranian American Council, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, which opposes the measure. 

President Trump’s new order did not name any countries. The 2017 ban targeted seven Muslim-majority nations: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen and in 2020, was expanded to include Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Nigeria, and Tanzania.

“Although President Trump did not immediately restore his original Muslim Ban, he signed executive orders that could set the stage for a new ban, upend birthright citizenship, embolden Israeli settlers to commit more horrific violence in the West Bank.

And spark an unprecedented crackdown on both free speech and legal immigration to silence critics of the Israeli government,” warned Robert S. McCaw, director of government affairs for the Council on American Islamic Relations.

Another Trump executive order, signed Jan. 29, allows for protestors of Gaza genocide who are non-citizen students to be deported in the name of fighting anti-semitism.

He justified the “Additional Measures to Combat Antisemitism” order by falsely declaring leftist radicals and “pro-Hamas aliens” unleashed “a campaign of intimidation, vandalism, and violence on the campuses and streets of America.”

“This is a vile attempt to sow fear and crush political dissent to the U.S.-backed Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, as well as to further the far-Right’s broader anti-immigrant agenda.

Should there be any attempt to enforce this authoritarian, unconstitutional, and violent executive order, we call on elected officials, university administrators, and all people of conscience to boldly reject these orders,” declared Jewish Voice for Peace.

“These tactics are built to disrupt the historic movement for Palestinian liberation across the U.S.—including on college campuses—before then using those same tactics to attack a wide range of progressive social justice movements, the group added.