Salem Political Snark

Realtors and homebuilders love Julie Hoy for Mayor, not Chris Hoy

There's an almost foolproof way to tell which candidate for Mayor or City Council here in Salem is the most conservative.

Check out ORESTAR, Oregon's campaign finance reporting system that's part of the Secretary of State office, and see who is getting contributions from realtor and homebuilder organizations. Whoever they're supporting, that's the conservative candidate.

On Facebook this image is being shared by people who favor incumbent Mayor Chris Hoy, a progressive, over his opponent in the May election, Julie Hoy (no relation).

Now, being a progressive myself, my sympathies are with the Chris Hoy backers. There's nothing wrong with pointing out the large amount of money Julie Hoy is getting from these sources, which are dominated by realtors and homebuilders. 

At the moment ORESTAR is showing that Chris Hoy has gotten $40,154 in campaign contributions in 2024, while Julie Hoy has gotten $217,513 -- a big difference. Mayor Hoy is batting .000 when it comes to contributions from the sources in the image above.

However, I think it's unfair to claim that Julie Hoy has been bought off by realtors, homebuilders, and other conservative groups that are supporting her campaign. These days every person running for a significant office needs a substantial amount of money. 

Labor unions typically support progressive candidates. Are those candidates being bought off by the unions? Conservatives claim this, just as progressives claim conservative candidates are being bought off by business organizations. 

In truth, it's difficult to determine cause and effect here. For it makes sense that both individuals and organizations prefer to give money to candidates who share their political persuasion. Basically, conservative or progressive. 

(I'm still fond of the term "liberal," but I realize that progressive has become the favored term for those on the left portion of the political spectrum.)

So it doesn't require a moral failing by a politician, such as having their vote on an issue determined by whoever gives them the most money, to explain why conservative elected officials usually are more business-friendly than progressive elected officials are. 

That's simply a reflection of their political philosophy -- which is shared by donors and the elected official. The same applies to labor unions and progressive politicians.

Nonetheless, I'm still bothered by how much money is being showered on Julie Hoy and, to a lesser extent, Chris Hoy. Money may not directly corrupt elected officials, but it is still a burden both for themselves and the electorate. 

Raising money takes up a large share of every politician's time. I'd prefer that they used that time to work on solving problems faced by the people they represent. But this is the system we have, not the system most of us would want if we could wave a magic wand and make our elections as we'd like them to be.

Criticizing Israel isn't anti-semitic. Supporting Palestinians isn't pro-Hamas.

I can't stand how so many politicians and political observers are calling the demonstrations in support of Palestinians on college campuses "pro-Hamas." That's utterly wrong. It's equally wrong to call criticism of how Israel has been conducting its war in Gaza "anti-semitic." 

Back in my college days, I took part in protests against the Vietnam War. The response from conservatives back then was Love it or leave it. Meaning, either love the United States Vietnam War policy, or leave this country.

It turned out that we protesters have been vindicated by history. The Vietnam War was pursued under false pretenses and caused huge numbers of needless deaths among both combatants and civilians.

The same vindication is true of the war in Gaza. While Israel was justified in responding to the October 7, 2023 terrorist attack by Hamas militants, the Israel Defense Force has killed tens of thousands of innocent people -- women and children -- in over-the-top retaliation for what Hamas did.

Thus the demonstrations in support of Palestinians are absolutely justified. If I was in college now, I'd be taking part in them. Yet there's a disturbing amount of talk among people who should know better, such as some Jewish Democratic politicians, about criticism of Israel being anti-semitic.

That's ridiculous. 

Sure, Israel was founded as a Jewish country. But there's a lot of diversity among Israeli citizens, many of whom are Palestinians. Considering that criticism of Israel amounts to anti-semitism is as wrong as considering that criticism of the United States is anti-Christian, just because most Americans are Christian. 

Israel doesn't get a free pass on criticism because of the Holocaust and past discrimination against Jews.  Currently Israel is run by a right-wing government led by a prime minister accused of several crimes who has tried to pass laws that would protect him from prosecution. 

Israel refuses to consider a two-state solution to the Palestinian problem. Israeli settlers are routinely murdering Palestinians in the West Bank. The Israeli military has been accused of war crimes because of the needless deaths of so many residents of Gaza from attacks on civilians. 

If Israel wasn't a Jewish nation, it would be extremely difficult for anyone, conservative or liberal, religious or atheist, to defend the horrendous way Israel has pursued its war against Hamas.

But since evangelical Christians in this country view Israel as protecting the Holy Land for the second coming of Jesus, whereas Palestinians are mostly heathen Muslims, there's a reflexive tendency to defend indefensible actions by Israel.

Hamas acted badly on October 7.
Israel has been acting badly in its response to that attack.
Palestinians have been treated badly by Israel. 

Each of these things is true. I'm confident that the vast majority of demonstrators on college campuses agree with those three statements. They are entirely justified in calling for urgent actions to alleviate the plight of innocent Palestinians. 

If a few people go overboard and make anti-semitic insults, that's unfortunate. But that's the way free speech works. The blathering of a few extremists shouldn't distract from the justness of the cause being sought for: Palestinian rights.

Here's some posts on X that caught my eye today. 

Chris Hoy deserves to be re-elected as Salem Mayor

Ballots for the May 21, 2024 primary election will be mailed on May 1. So it's time to start thinking about who to vote for.

Keep in mind that when it comes to local races -- such as Salem mayor and city councilors -- usually the "primary" ends up being the actual election, since a candidate who gets 50% plus at least one additional vote in the primary won't face an opponent in the November general election.

There are only two candidates for mayor: Incumbent Chris Hoy, shown above, and Julie Hoy, a city councilor who is unrelated to Chris. So whoever wins in May will be elected mayor.

Chris Hoy is a progressive. Julie Hoy is a conservative. That's one reason why I'm urging people to vote for Chris, since I agree with him on most issues. One exception was Chris' support in 2023 for an employee payroll tax to raise revenue needed to preserve important city services. 

He wanted the city council to approve the tax without a vote of the people. That's what ended up happening. The uproar over both the tax, and how it was implemented, led to an initiative petition that put the tax on the November 2023 ballot, where it failed big time. 

Julie Hoy is making a big deal of this in her campaign, since she opposed the unpopular tax. That's fair. Incumbent candidates for public office should expect to have their votes on controversial issues become part of their opponent's election strategy. 

But here's something to keep in mind. No elected official is going to please everybody all the time. Chris Hoy supported a tax that was soundly rejected by Salem voters. Okay, that's a strike against him. In general, though, he's done a fine job as mayor. 

Which pays absolutely nothing, by the way.

Being mayor of Salem is a volunteer position, even though it requires long hours and a lot of pressure. Yet Julie Hoy has raised about $200,000 for her campaign, mostly from large donors such as real estate developers. Chris Hoy has raised about $21,000, so he's being outspent 10 to 1.

Those supporting Julie Hoy will expect a return on their investment. To my mind, that's another reason to vote for Chris Hoy. He wants to serve the interests of everybody in Salem, not just the rich and powerful. 

Head to his web site to learn more about Chris. He's a likable guy who cares deeply about making Salem a better place. 

Citizen activism prevents additional Salem Library cuts. For now.

It's great when elected officials do the right thing, even when they're forced into it by citizen activism.

But most of the credit for the city's budget committee voting yesterday to prevent additional cuts to the Salem Public Library by using money from the hotel tax goes to Jim Scheppke and Lois Stark, fervent advocates for the library who did a great job organizing citizens to press for No More Cuts.

Without Scheppke and Stark doing what they did, almost surely the West Salem branch would have been closed, with staff and hours at the main library severely curtailed from the already diminished level.

But public pressure spurred Mayor Chris Hoy, who is in a tough race for reelection against Councilor Julie Hoy (no relation), to dig around in the City of Salem spare change container and find $1.2 million that could be used for the library as a temporary stopgap measure, not a permanent funding source.

Not without controversy, though, as these excerpts from a Salem Reporter story, "Budget committee votes to fund Salem's library following outpouring of community support," point out.

Salem will keep its remaining librarians this year after the city’s budget committee unanimously voted Wednesday to use money from the city’s hotel tax to fend off proposed cuts.

The vote came after over an hour of public testimony from library employees and a diverse group of supporters that included a state senator, educators, parents and one elementary school student. More than 75 people submitted written testimony opposing cuts.

...The money the city will now use to pay library operating costs was savings sitting in a city account intended to support tourism and cultural facilities. The money comes from a tax levied on hotel stays within city limits.

That fund had $4.2 million at the start of the budget year, which Chief Financial Officer Josh Eggleston said was intended to support ongoing programs in the future.

...City Attorney Dan Atchison said during the meeting that he evaluated Hoy’s original proposal to fund the library and believes it is consistent with state law and the city charter. The tax is required to be used for specific purposes, including improvements to, or operation of, major tourist attractions or cultural facilities and activities that promote tourism.

“It is my determination that the Salem library meets both definitions of a cultural facility, as well as a tourism facility under state law,” he said.

He said he anticipates there will be further discussions with the Oregon Restaurant & Lodging Association, which has objected to the use of the funds to the library. In a statement, they said that any money raised through increases in the tax rate since 2003 must be allocated 70% to tourism promotion or facilities. Thirty percent can be used however the local government sees fit.

Association President Jason Brandt, in a Thursday phone interview with Salem Reporter, said that the associate is still assessing the situation and use of funds.

“Unless a library has a substantial purpose of supporting tourism, then it doesn’t count as a tourism-related facility,” he said. The unrestricted portion of the tax funds can be used on city functions like libraries, police, fire and streets.

Brandt said the association plans to take action, as it has against other Oregon cities, if it determines the funds haven’t followed those rules. 

It does seem to be a stretch to claim that the Salem Public Library is a tourist attraction. Or a cultural facility visitors to Salem would seek out. However, 30% of $4.2 million, the amount in the hotel tax fund, is $1.26 million.

Since $1.2 million would be used for the library, if the 30% unrestricted use is applied to the $4.2 million, the City of Salem could be on solid legal ground.

Trump falling asleep in court is amusing, yet also disturbing

Donald Trump likes to call President Biden "sleepy Joe." That's one reason I find the reports of Trump falling asleep in court yesterday on the first day of his hush money/campaign finance violation trial so amusing.

Forbes has a summary of the reports of Trump's dozing that should put to rest any suspicion that this is fake news. Here's excerpts from "Trump Fell Asleep In Court -- Twice -- Reporters Say."

The New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman was the first to report on Trump’s seemingly exhausted manner, writing in the Times’ live blog of the trial around 12 p.m. that Trump’s “head keeps dropping down and his mouth goes slack.”

A short time later, Haberman wrote that “Trump has apparently jolted back awake” after “noticing the notes his lawyer passed him several minutes ago.”

“There have been other moments in other trials . . . where he appeared very still and seemed as if he might be sleeping, but then he would move,” Haberman told CNN. “This time he didn’t pay attention to a note his lawyer Todd Blanche passed him, his jaw kept falling on his chest and his mouth kept going slack.”

Multiple other reporters made similar observations, including Reuters’ Jack Queen, who wrote in an email chain between reporters watching the trial, that Trump “was leaning back in his chair with his arms folded and his eyes very much appeared to be closed for several minutes at a time” just before 3 p.m.

Queen said Trump appeared to be “dozing,” rather than “napping.”

Courthouse News reporter Erik Uebelacker also tweeted just after 12 p.m. “I swear Trump is nodding off . . . his chin just hit his chest, then his head shot back up,” while Law360 reporter Stewart Bishop wrote “it very much looks like Trump is dozing off right now.”

Trump’s adversaries quickly pounced on the observations, coining the nickname “Sleepy Don” on social media, borrowed from Trump’s “Sleepy Joe” nickname for Biden.

“There have been other moments in other trials . . . where he appeared very still and seemed as if he might be sleeping, but then he would move,” Haberman told CNN. “This time he didn’t pay attention to a note his lawyer Todd Blanche passed him, his jaw kept falling on his chest and his mouth kept going slack.”

Look, I'm a few years younger than Trump, and fairly often I start to fall asleep at unexpected times. That's normal for us old folks. But I'm not trying to be elected president of the United States, which requires a lot of energy and concentration.

(To those who say, "Biden is even older than Trump," that's true. I'd prefer that neither man be running for president in 2024. However, given that they are, I hugely prefer Biden over Trump.)

We mustn't lose sight of these astounding facts.

The Republican nominee for president will be spending the next several weeks in a courtroom at his criminal trial for falsifying business records in order to prevent the public from learning before the 2016 election that Trump paid hush money to cover up his having sex with a porn star, Stormy Daniels, less than four months after his wife, Melania, gave birth to their son Barron.

That money clearly was a campaign expense, yet it was billed as attorney fees. Plus, Trump also had an affair with Playboy model Karen McDougal while Melania was pregnant with Barron.

In days gone by, such behavior would doom a candidate's presidential aspirations. Yet Trump gets a pass from most Republicans for reasons I fail to understand. That's the bottom line for me: falling asleep at your criminal trial is funny.

Behaving like the lying, cheating, immoral asshole that Trump is -- that's scary, given that Trump has a good chance to beat Biden in November.

Help save the Salem Public Library from ruinous budget cuts

"Help. They're threatening me with grievous harm. I need my friends to defend me, because I can't do it myself."

That's what the Salem Public Library would be saying, if it could speak. Since it can't, we library lovers have to do the speaking for the library. 

The threat is real. City officials are planning to markedly slash the library budget again, after already making deep cuts in staffing, hours, and services. 

NO MORE CUTS. That's the message from Jim Scheppke, retired State Librarian, and Lois Stark, a member of the Library Advisory Board, as you can read below. I've copied in an email they sent me and other supporters of the Salem Public Library.

Please take a few minutes and do one or more of their action items. If enough people stand up for the library, there's a good chance city officials and the City Council will rethink the very bad idea of inflicting additional ruinous budget cuts on the Salem Public Library.

***************************************

Dear Friends:

I am writing to you on behalf of myself and Lois Stark to ask for your help to prevent devastating cuts to our public library. As you may know I was privileged to serve as the State Librarian of Oregon for two decades. Lois Stark was a member of our Library Advisory Board serving several years as Chair.

 

Here’s the situation. Next Wednesday, April 17th, our City Manager will present his recommendation for the FY 2025 City budget. We have learned that his recommendation for the library will be something that has come to be known as “Option 1.” Here is what Option 1 would do beginning July 1st:

• Completely close the West Salem Branch Library after 67 years of operation.
• Layoff eight library employees in addition to the 7.35 positions eliminated last February. Several bilingual staff who were “last hired” would lose their jobs.
• Reduce the operating hours of the main library from 38 to 25-30 per week (3 or 4 days).
• Reduce library programs, including reading programs for children.
• Other unspecified cutbacks to library collections and services.

If Option 1 is approved by the Citizen Budget Committee, Salem will have by far the worst public library services in the state and the worst public library services of any capital city in the country. There are 16 public libraries in Oregon with operating hours between 25 and 30, but their average service area population  is 3,009! Our library serves about 180,000 Salem residents as well as another 39,000 Keizer residents and  many more out-of-city residents with borrowing privileges. 

 

Imagine the working conditions for the skeleton crew of library staff when tens of thousands of library users are attempting to use the library on the few days the library is open? It’s unimaginable. There has probably never been another public library in the US that has attempted to serve a population of over 200,000 with a library open 3-4 days a week.

 

But we can stop this from happening.

 

What it will take is an outpouring of support for our library from everyone who cares. Our message: NO MORE CUTS. Our library services have suffered enough. Even today our two libraries are only open half the hours they were open two decades ago (48 compared to 96). Enough is enough. NO MORE CUTS.

 

Here is what you can do:

• Send written testimony to the Citizen Budget Committee for their meeting on April 17th. Address your email to <[email protected]>.
• Send an email to your City Councilor. All the Councilors are on the Citizen Budget Committee.
• Attend the Budget Committee meeting on Wednesday, April 17th. We will be rallying outside the Council Chambers beginning at 5:30. The meeting starts at 6.
• Sign-up for public comment at the Budget Committee meeting. Make your voice heard!

As some of you know, Salem Public Library used to be one of the best public libraries in Oregon. Now it is among the worst. And Option 1 would make it MUCH WORSE. We can’t let it happen without putting up a fight — a fight for our library workers and for our library services.

 

Please, please help Lois and me prevent this devastation of our library services. So much is at stake. Forward this to others who might help.

 

Thanks for listening!
Jim Scheppke and Lois Stark

Salem Library advocates irked at city proposal to cut hours and staffing further

Library lovers may have a reputation for mildness, but actually they're fierce defenders of what they view as a top priority for City of Salem funding: keeping our libraries (main and West Salem) open a decent number of hours, staffed by a decent number of employees.

Jim Scheppke, the retired State Librarian, is a tireless advocate for the Salem Public Library. Here's some recent Facebook posts from Jim.

And here's a post from Scheppke about decreasing crime in Salem that is relevant to the library funding question, because "public safety" often is cited as deserving to be the top budget priority given that crime rates supposedly have been rising.

That isn't true. Not nationally, not locally. What Scheppke shares below are raw crime numbers for Salem, not crime rates. Since Salem has many more people now than in 2009, the year from which these trend lines start, a graph of crime rates likely would show a declining trend.

The Salem Public Library has suffered much deeper proportional funding cuts than the Salem Police Department. Given that crime has been steady or declining, it makes no sense to demand that the library endure more cuts to staffing and hours in order to preserve police services. 

Buy stock in DJT, Trump's media company (if you like to lose money)

In the 1980s my father gifted me some stock in a company he co-founded, thereby assuaging his guilt for ignoring me after he and my mother divorced, causing me to only spend one hour in my life face-t0-face with him aside from my very early years.

The company, Systems and Computer Technology Corporation, traded on the NASDAQ as SCTC. That's where Donald Trump's company trades also. Its name is Trump Media & Technology Group Corporation; stock ticker is DJT.

Aside from sharing a home on the NASDAQ, there aren't many resemblances between SCTC and DJT. When SCTC went public, the value of the stock rose for quite a while. Partly this was because computer related companies were a hot commodity in the 1980s. Also, SCTC had actual earnings.

Eventually, though, the SCTC bubble burst. Thankfully, after I'd sold most of my shares. There was some sort of scandal involving faulty financial reporting by company executives. I've forgotten the details. Mostly what I remember is a lasting lesson: initially I thought SCTC would keep on rising in value. Since the stock had sentimental value for me, I held onto it for longer than I should have.

Likely many of those who have been buying shares in Trump's company are first time stock-buyers who love Trump and believe that because he's such a great businessman, DJT will be a great long-term investment.

Here's news for them: Trump isn't great at business, or anything else, and buying DJT is an excellent move... if you want to lose money. After an initial price surge by eager Trump lovers, last Monday DJT lost more than 25% of its value after a dismal company report of a money-losing 2023, 

I happily marked the occasion with a screenshot. "Happily," because I detest Trump, and I feel that anyone foolish enough to buy shares of DJT deserves the losses that almost certainly await them.

Today DJT ended up at 46.15. So the stock not only hasn't recovered from the 25+% slide, it has declined a bit in value. 

An April 4 story in Los Angeles Magazine, "Trump Media Rapidly Losing Value," explains why DJT is such a lousy investment.

Donald Trump’s latest business endeavor, Trump Media, might have been fool’s gold. 

The media company, largely made up of Trump’s social media app, Truth Social, merged with shell company, Digital World Acquisition Corporation, and began trading on March 26.

The stock initially soared to $79.38 per share but has since plummeted to $46.15, marking a loss of more than a third of its value in a week.

Trump has continually touted his social media app as “amazing” and “very solid.” He also said that “it is the primary way I get the word out.” 

“For better or worse, people want to hear what I have to say, perhaps, according to experts, more than anyone else in the world,” Trump said.

The former president used to be an avid user of Twitter before he got permanently suspended on the platform on January 8th, 2021 for “risk of further incitement of violence.” That was two days after he led a rally on the National Mall in Washington D.C. that resulted in protestors storming the Capitol. 

Trump was reinstated after Elon Musk bought Twitter but has only used the account to tweet once since then.

Unfortunately for Trump, Truth Social has failed to garner the anticipated traction, even among his political allies.

Meidas Touch, an independent news network, reported that ​​the only Republican senators actively using the app were Marsha Blackburn, Katie Britt, Chuck Grassley, James Lankford and Tommy Tuberville — five out of 49 Republican Senators.

The network, which is partly owned by one of the same owners as Los Angeles Magazine, stated that “even those five are simply transferring the same posts they make on twitter onto Truth. So not a single Republican Senator is making unique Truth Social-only posts. Not one is using it exclusive of other platforms or posting anything original or unique on there.”

Trump currently has ownership of 78.8 million shares of the company, equating to a 57.3% stake. Nonetheless, he is constrained by a mandatory six-month lockup period before he can divest any shares, meaning the company’s value could be drastically different by the time he is able to cash in.

Barry Diller, Chairman and Senior Executive of IAC and Expedia Group and founder of the Fox Broadcasting Company and USA Broadcasting, had some harsh words of his own to say on CNBC when asked about Truth Social. 

“I mean it’s ridiculous. The company has no revenue,” he said, even going on to call its investors “dopes” and say “it’s stupid [to buy shares]."

“It's a scam. Just like everything he's ever been involved in is some sort of con,” Diller said.

A Politico story says:

For many investors, Trump Media has become a proxy for wagering on Trump and his chances in November, market experts say. But Wall Street veterans have questioned the stock’s multibillion-dollar valuation, given the money-bleeding business that is at the heart of Trump Media. The company just reported a net loss of $58 million for 2023 on revenue of just over $4 million.

Many Wall Street traders, meanwhile, have bet against the stock.

“It’s not a company, it’s a movement,” said Gene Munster, a managing partner at Minneapolis-based Deepwater Asset Management. “If it was valued like a normal company, it would be a fraction of its current valuation. Investors tend to look at the growth prospects and, separately, the profitability — not in the near term, but the long term. And on both of those metrics, it just doesn’t stack up.”

Israel kills seven World Central Kitchen staff in Gaza. Not an "accident."

Israel is doing its best to squander the goodwill extended to it after the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas killed 1,200 people in Israel. 

Since, the Israel Defense Forces, under the incompetent leadership of their despicable Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has killed about 32,000 Palestinians in Gaza, two-thirds women and children. 

It seems clear that Israel has committed war crimes in response to the war crimes committed by Hamas. So now there's basically a moral equivalency between the horrible things Hamas did to people in Israel on October 7, and the horrible things (on a much larger scale) Israel has been doing to people in Gaza since.

I'm outraged at how Israel has been acting for numerous reasons.

One big reason is that polls show that most Israelis, who like to claim that they're morally superior because of the suffering of Jews in the Holocaust, are behaving in a similar genocidal fashion by wanting to deny humanitarian aid from entering Gaza.

Indeed, Israel is using famine as an act of war. That's a war crime, for sure. Hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza are at extreme risk of starvation due to Israel failing to allow sufficient food into Gaza.

Which gets me to the latest Israeli outrage. The World Central Kitchen headed up by chef José Andrés has been distributing food in Gaza. They've notified Israel of when and where their aid convoys have been going. Their vehicles are clearly marked with World Central Kitchen on the roofs.

Yet late Monday night Israeli drones killed seven World Central Kitchen staff. Netanyahu is lying when he claims it was an "accident."

This wasn't a case of bullets or a shell going astray. This was a pinpoint attack on three World Central Kitchen vehicles, not an accident. The drone operator directed a missile to hit the roof of this vehicle, hitting it right next to the World Central Kitchen logo and name. 

A New York Times story, "Israeli Strikes Kill 7 Aid Workers in Gaza," says:

Israeli strikes on an aid convoy run by the charity group World Central Kitchen killed seven of its workers in the Gaza Strip, setting off international outrage and underscoring the risks to humanitarian workers trying to alleviate a looming famine.

The aid workers — a Palestinian, an Australian, a Pole, three Britons and a dual U.S.-Canadian citizen — were traveling in two armored vehicles clearly marked with the World Central Kitchen logo and a third vehicle when they came under fire late Monday night, according to the charity.

The convoy was hit despite having coordinated its movements with the Israeli military, the group said. The workers were leaving a warehouse in Deir al Balah, in central Gaza, where the team had unloaded more than 100 tons of humanitarian food aid that had arrived by boat on Monday, World Central Kitchen said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who rarely comments on deadly strikes in Gaza, released a videotaped statement on Tuesday in which he appeared to acknowledge that the Israeli military was responsible. Israel launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the strikes.

...World Central Kitchen, which was founded by the renowned chef José Andrés, said on Tuesday that it was suspending operations in the territory.

“This is not only an attack against WCK, this is an attack on humanitarian organizations showing up in the most dire of situations where food is being used as a weapon of war,” Erin Gore, the group’s chief executive, said in a statement. “This is unforgivable.”

Several nations, including the home countries of the people killed, voiced indignation and demanded explanations.

President Biden said in a statement: “I am outraged and heartbroken by the deaths of seven humanitarian workers from World Central Kitchen.” He added: “Israel has not done enough to protect aid workers trying to deliver desperately needed help to civilians. Incidents like yesterday’s simply should not happen. Israel has also not done enough to protect civilians.”

David Cameron, the British foreign secretary, called the workers’ deaths “completely unacceptable” in a social media post, adding, “Israel must urgently explain how this happened and make major changes to ensure the safety of aid workers.”

Videos and photos verified by The New York Times suggest the convoy was hit multiple times. The imagery shows three destroyed white vehicles, with the northernmost and southernmost vehicles nearly a mile and a half apart.

The Times of Israel says:

IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi issued an apology after midnight on Wednesday for a deadly Israeli strike on an aid convoy in Gaza, adding that it was a result of a “misidentification,” which was being investigated and learned from.

The stoic video statement from the military leader came as new details emerged from the Monday night incident, which reportedly saw three cars from a World Central Kitchen convoy targeted one after another by drone-fired missiles, leaving seven humanitarian workers dead.

I have extremely little confidence in whatever B.S. report the Israel Defense Forces come up with in an attempt to excuse their war crime. Israel, under Netanyahu, has lied repeatedly about the war in Gaza. The country seems to have an archaic Old Testament view of the war: God favors the Jews, so Israel can do no wrong in smiting their enemy. Even when it does.