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US state department stops issuing visas for Gaza’s children to get medical care
- NomDePlum 1y agoFull title: US state department stops issuing visas for Gaza’s children to get medical care after far-right campaign
- laurent_du 1y agoI didn't expect the article to conclude with a pg quote from twitter. Why did they think pg was a notable authority on the matter of human rights? I am not asking in snark, just curious.
- like_any_other 1y agoThe quote is there to distract from the fact that Laura Loomer herself is Jewish, and that is probably what motivates her in this case - not adherence to some abstract political ideals, but simple in-group/out-group distinction.
- BallsInIt 1y agoTo prevent the story from getting flagged on HN.
- nojs 1y agoWriting a summary of twitter hot takes is easier than doing actual research.
- seadan83 1y agoIt's an example of notable criticism. The campaign was on twitter, so the PG quote is context and as an example of what detractors are saying.
- like_any_other 1y ago[flagged]
- PeakKS 1y agoThose two attributes are not contradictory.
- like_any_other 1y ago[flagged]
- laurent_du 1y agoI guess the Guardian journalists believe that ethnically cleansing is an inherently right-wing endeavor, even though left-wing regimes have practiced this a lot and often with the blessings of communist intellectuals.
- AlecSchueler 1y agoSurely Jews can have differing beliefs?
- seadan83 1y agoEvery fact about Laura loomer could be wrong, doesn't change the cruelty of the policy change. The VERY FIRST SENTENCE of your wikipedia link says: "Laura Elizabeth Loomer (born May 21, 1993) is an American FAR-RIGHT political activist, conspiracy theorist,[b] and internet personality." (caps added for emphasis)
- virgildotcodes 1y agoOf course, someone can be jewish and be far right. Someone can be black and own black slaves. Someone can be a woman and be against women's suffrage. Someone can be rich or poor and a class traitor, etc etc. Someone's identity can and often does influence their politics, but they are not always in alignment, and their identity certainly doesn't negate their positions that are harmful towards others who share parts of their identity (all of this is often done in exchange for personal gain with these famous people who make a living off all this).
- 1y ago
- artninja1988 1y agoThey have a point in that Israel should be forced to take care of those children, also to stop the genocide. Taking in displaced only serves Israels interests
- nemomarx 1y agoSince Israel is not going to do either, and the US is not going to try and make them, I think we should at least save the lives we can. Imagine asking Germany in the 40s to take better care of Jewish children to turn away refugees, right?
- nobodyandproud 1y ago[flagged]
- Levitz 1y ago[flagged]
- nobodyandproud 1y agoSteelman—you know, as the forum rules insist—and ask yourself if there are other reasons. My rationale: First we bring the children; then we appeal to humanitarian grounds and allow then to stay; then we lobby to allow in their parents or relatives. Hamas+Israel are 100% at fault here; and Palestians are not innocent of this. The last time (twenty years ago) when they last had elections, they allowed and enabled this. I’m sorry it’s a shitty situation, but that’s a slippery slope few countries have allowed or want.
- Levitz 1y ago>Palestians are not innocent of this. The last time (twenty years ago) when they last had elections, they allowed and enabled this. Three fourths of the current population couldn't have voted at all. The elections had a participation about about three fourths and Hamas got less than half of the popular vote. Napkin math says for each 100 people in Palestine today, only 25 could have voted at all, of which 19 did, of which 9 voted for Hamas. This whole line of thinking is completely ridiculous.
- skybrian 1y ago> An Ohio-based humanitarian group, HEAL Palestine, is the main American organization helping evacuate people — primarily injured children and family members — and bringing them to several cities in the U.S. for medical treatment. According to the organization's website, it has evacuated 148 people from Gaza, including 63 children. https://www.npr.org/2025/08/16/nx-s1-5504634/state-department-halts-gaza-visas https://www.npr.org/2025/08/16/nx-s1-5504634/state-departmen... Are there similar organizations operating in other countries?
- williamscales 1y agoThe WHO is organizing some evacuations internationally > the World Health Organization supported the transfer of 32 children and six adults to Italy, Belgium and Turkey, but more than 14,800 patients are still waiting. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/16/malnourished-palestinian-woman-dies-in-italy-after-gaza-evacuation https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/16/malnourished-p...
- Slava_Propanei 1y ago[dead]
- AbuAssar 1y agoThis is confusing to say the least, the US are providing Israel with heavy hardware and ammunition to kill the Palestinian civilians, and then they want to take the children victims for medical care?! Why the US plays on both sides?
- jalapenod 1y agoremember jews want all Palestinians deported from the area, it makes perfect sense for zionists to support humanitarian efforts OUTSIDE of israel
- s5300 1y ago>> This is confusing to say the least, the US are providing Israel with heavy hardware and ammunition to kill the Palestinian civilians, and then they want to take the children victims for medical care?! Why the US plays on both sides? The US taxpayer has always paid for Israel’s citizens healthcare, while US citizens go without healthcare and ration their necessary medicine. Makes you wonder how such leverage can exist.
- apical_dendrite 1y ago> The US taxpayer has always paid for Israel’s citizens healthcare What is your source for this claim? Most US military aid to Israel goes to US defense contractors. The US hasn't provided any significant economic aid to Israel in decades.
- siliconc0w 1y agoDollars are fungible
- dlubarov 1y agoBy this logic, the US is funding X at 173 countries, where X is anything governments spend money on (healthcare, soup kitchens, cocktail parties?)
- cwmoore 1y agoDoes Egypt have a border with Gaza?
- Cyph0n 1y agoYes. That is how these patients were being evacuated in the first place before traveling to the US for treatment.
- next_xibalba 1y agoWhy not treat them in Egypt?
- UncleMeat 1y agoBecause there is a charitable organization offering to treat them for free in the US. Is there something wrong with doing good?
- simonsarris 1y agoThere's something wrong with that if you wanted to do the most good per unit of pretty much any kind of resource, yes.
- UncleMeat 1y agoI give at lot of money annually to a local food bank. This is less efficient in terms of fighting hunger than giving to an international organization by virtue of the higher cost of food here. Should the government stop me? Am I a bad person for doing this? Frankly, it is absolutely fucking insane to me that people somehow think that this decision is somehow based in the Trump administration's desire for maximally efficient charitable giving.
- RandomBacon 1y agoIsn't medical care less expensive in other countrues than the U.S.? Wouldn't they be able to treat more children if they didn't have to spend money on transportation, and paid cheaper healthcare costs in Egypt?
- pvaldes 1y agoJust for context, because sometimes we need to remind basic facts. The Geneva Conventions are international laws that establish international legal standards for humanitarian treatment in war since 1864. They extensively define the basic rights of wartime prisoners, civilians and military personnel. A war crime is a violation of the laws of war. War crimes include shooting on disarmed civilians, denying medical treatment, food or water to captive wounded soldiers from the enemy, or deliberately starving people to death. Israel MUST provide reasonable medical care to civilians wounded by its army, because this is required by the international laws and treaties signed previously by Israel.
- CLPadvocate 1y agoFYI, taking hostages is prohibited by Geneva Conventions. Firing of thousands of rockets basically only at the civilian targets too. And actually, Geneva Conventions don't really apply to a military action against a Gazan terrorist organisation that is committed to genocide.
- pvaldes 1y agoTwo wrongs don't make a right The second claim is interesting because avoiding to declare formally a war has been a common trick for decades to bypass the Geneva Conventions. The legal category of Crimes against humanity still apply in those cases.
- CLPadvocate 1y agoMost probably not - but there is also absolutely no need for chivalry if your opponent doesn't stick to any rules. The point was not the war declaration or the lack of it - the point is - if someone announces he's going to kill you and then does basically everything to prove that it's not a bluff and no one else is stopping him, then you're allowed to do whatever it takes to save your life.
- pvaldes 1y ago> You're allowed to do whatever it takes to save your life. Not. Individuals and countries work in a different way. Humanitarian International laws are not optative if you want to be accepted by the international community. The "convenience" of assassinating journalists, physicians or nurses routinely is not debatable. The new generations breastfeed with videogames and blockbusters forget sometimes that war has rules and laws. Created for the benefit of ALL parts involved. To follow this laws is good for you. Ignore them at your own risk. Israel in my stupid opinion should erase this silly smirks on TV, show some humility and stop pretending that they live in an alternate reality. Their bad choices and reckless behaviour had destroyed lots of sympathy all around the planet, and this is not wise. Not if you still want tourism. Not specially when you depend on a protector that is driving directly towards an economical recession; and could find more and more difficult to justify the need to allocate precious resources to support you, while their own citizens struggle to survive. They should work hard to rebuild the broken relationships. Smiling because you bought the big politicians only works while they remain in power. European politicians are slowly waking up to the fact that supporting a genocide is expensive and a fast path to the unemployment queue. The people is really furious about this.
- tzs 1y agoThe most important thing is why they stopped: > The US state department announced on Saturday that it would stop issuing visas to children from Gaza in desperate need of medical care after an online pressure campaign from Laura Loomer, a far-right influencer close to Donald Trump who has described herself as “a proud Islamophobe”. > In a pair of posts on the social network on Friday, Loomer had shared video of badly injured Palestinian children and their family members arriving in Houston and San Francisco this month, along with false claims that their shouts of joy were “jihadi chants” and that they were “doing the HAMAS terror whistle”. ... > After misrepresenting the children, including amputees arriving to get prosthetic legs, as “Islamic invaders from an Islamic terror hot zone”, Loomer demanded to know “who at the US State Department under @marcorubio signed off on the visas for Palestinians from a HAMAS hot zone”. > “Is Rubio even aware of this?” Loomer wrote, in reference to the secretary of state who was at the time in Alaska meeting Vladimir Putin. > “Why would anyone at the State Department give visas to individuals who live in Gaza, which is run by HAMAS?” Loomer wrote, before falsely stating that “95% of GAZANS voted for HAMAS.” (The articles notes that in fact Hamas got 44% of the votes, not 95%, and only won 2 of the 5 districts, and that the last election in Gaza was in 2006).