Music: Stacey Kent — ‘To Say Goodbye’
Nathan Thrall on Israel’s ‘system of domination’ and Biden pausing bomb shipment
Jerusalem-based journalist and author Nathan Thrall has been awarded the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction for his book, A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy. It tells the story of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank through one Palestinian father’s quest to seek answers and accountability after his 5-year-old son is involved in a deadly accident. We speak to Thrall about President Biden saying for the first time that he would not…
Crackdown on campus protests reveal that America is sliding towards becoming a police state
Zeynep Tufekci writes: Two police cars idled across the street from the protest rally I was attending in front of the State Capitol in Austin, Texas, their red and blue lights flashing but their sirens silent. The police seemed more bored than annoyed. It was the early 2000s, and I had recently moved from Turkey to study at the University of Texas. My fellow protesters were outraged. “This is what a police state looks like!” they started chanting. I turned…
South Africa asks World Court to order Israel’s withdrawal from Rafah
Reuters reports: South Africa has asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to order Israel to withdraw from Rafah as part of additional emergency measures over the war in Gaza, the U.N.’s top court said on Friday. In the ongoing case brought by South Africa, which accuses Israel of acts of genocide against Palestinians, the World Court in January ordered Israel to refrain from any acts that could fall under the Genocide Convention and to ensure its troops commit no…
Haim Saban, a ‘virulently anti-Muslim’ mega-donor, slams Biden’s decision to halt weapons shipment to Israel
The Los Angeles Times reports: Democratic mega-donor and Hollywood media mogul Haim Saban slammed President Biden’s decision to put a shipment of weapons to Israel on hold because they could be used in an offensive against a densely populated city in southern Gaza. “Let’s not forget there are more Jewish voters who care about Israel than Muslim voters who care about Hamas,” Saban wrote in an email to senior Biden aides Steve Ricchetti and Anita Dunn, Axios reported Thursday. The…
Georgia protest against ‘Russian law’ draws tens of thousands on Tbilisi streets
🇬🇪 World, are you still watching? Tonight might have just been the biggest gathering of Georgians marching in Tbilisi against the russian violations and law infiltrating the Georgian government! Please watch, share, stand with the brave people of Georgia!🇬🇪 #NoToRussianlaw https://t.co/D7P98pOqfM pic.twitter.com/BD9Q3XMWyd — Їne Back Їversen (@IneBackIversen) May 11, 2024 France 24 reports: Around 50,000 protesters marched through central Tbilisi on Saturday at a rally against a controversial foreign influence bill, dubbed “the Russian law”, and backed by the Georgian…
IRS audit of Trump could cost former president more than $100 million
By Paul Kiel, ProPublica, and Russ Buettner, The New York Times This story was originally published by ProPublica. Former President Donald Trump used a dubious accounting maneuver to claim improper tax breaks from his troubled Chicago tower, according to an IRS inquiry uncovered by ProPublica and The New York Times. Losing a yearslong audit battle over the claim could mean a tax bill of more than $100 million. The 92-story, glass-sheathed skyscraper along the Chicago River is the tallest and,…
Why did our ancestors make startling art in dark firelit caves?
Izzy Wisher writes: Charcoal drawings of stags, elegantly rendered in fluid lines, emerge under my torchlight as we squeeze through a tiny hidden entrance to a small chamber deep within Las Chimeneas cave in northern Spain. The chamber has space for just a couple of people, and certainly not standing, so we crouch on the cave floor and stare in awe at the depictions. Despite their remarkable freshness, they were drawn nearly 18,000 years ago. We sit in silence for…
Music: Stacey Kent — ‘Double Rainbow’
For Biden, like Obama, every ‘red line’ turns to a shade of gray
Politico reports: After watching Israel flatten much of Gaza, President Joe Biden decided to draw the line at the city of Rafah. Now, he has to decide what to do if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu crosses it. The president quietly directed his team last week to halt shipments of massive bombs to Israel to “deliver a message” to Netanyahu that no operation should move forward without a civilian protection plan in place, a U.S. official said. Then, after Netanyahu moved…
Israel due to get billions of dollars more in U.S. weapons despite Biden pause
Reuters reports: Billions of dollars worth of U.S. weaponry remains in the pipeline for Israel, despite the delay of one shipment of bombs and a review of others by President Joe Biden’s administration, concerned their use in an assault could wreak more devastation on Palestinian civilians. A senior U.S. official said this week that the administration had reviewed the delivery of weapons that Israel might use for a major invasion of Rafah, a southern Gaza city where over 1 million…
Biden administration can see Israel has violated international law but doesn’t have the guts to take action
CNN reports: The Biden administration said Friday that it is “reasonable to assess” that US weapons have been used by Israeli forces in Gaza in ways that are “inconsistent” with international humanitarian law but stopped short of officially saying Israel violated the law. The report which was drafted by the State Department said that investigations into potential violations are ongoing but noted that the US does “not have complete information to verify” whether the US weapons “were specifically used” in…
Cornel West on Israel Hamas war, greedy ruling class and Biden vs Trump
US Presidential candidate Dr Cornel West is a philosopher and prominent advocate for social and racial justice. He’s taught at some of the top universities in the US including Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, but has one major plan if he becomes President: to “dismantle the American empire”. The 71-year-old activist, who campaigned for Biden in 2020, has recently been vocal against both the Democratic and Republican’s party’s stance on Gaza, which he calls “morally bankrupt”. Though he faces very…
Criticizing Israel? Nonprofit media could lose tax-exempt status without due process
The Intercept reports: It doesn’t take much to be accused of supporting terrorism these days. And that doesn’t just go for student activists. In recent months, dozens of lawmakers and public officials have, without evidence, insinuated that U.S. news outlets provide material support for Hamas. Some even issued thinly veiled threats to prosecute news organizations over those bogus allegations. Their letters were political stunts. Prosecutors would never have been able to carry their burden of proof under anti-terrorism laws, and…
A majority of Democratic voters believe Israel is committing genocide
Medhi Hasan writes: Despite President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s impassioned denials, and the self-censorship of the New York Times, almost four in 10 likely voters and more than half of all Democrats believe Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza, according to a new poll of 1,265 U.S. likely voters from Zeteo and Data For Progress, conducted from April 26 to 29. Seven months after the Oct. 7 attacks, and as the Israeli military…
How Republicans echo antisemitic tropes despite declaring support for Israel
The New York Times reports: For all of their rhetoric of the moment, increasingly through the Trump era many Republicans have helped inject into the mainstream thinly veiled anti-Jewish messages with deep historical roots. The conspiracy theory taking on fresh currency is one that dates back hundreds of years and has perennially bubbled into view: that a shady cabal of wealthy Jews secretly controls events and institutions contrary to the national interest of whatever country it is operating in. The…