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Category: Politics

‘Israel will be ostracized all over the world,’ warns opposition leader Lapid after AP’s equipment is seized

‘Israel will be ostracized all over the world,’ warns opposition leader Lapid after AP’s equipment is seized

The Associated Press reports: Israeli officials seized a camera and broadcasting equipment belonging to The Associated Press in southern Israel on Tuesday, accusing the news organization of violating the country’s new ban on Al Jazeera. The Qatari satellite channel is among thousands of clients that receive live video feeds from the AP and other news organizations. The AP denounced the move. “The Associated Press decries in the strongest terms the actions of the Israeli government to shut down our longstanding…

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How changes in the Israeli military led to the failure of October 7

How changes in the Israeli military led to the failure of October 7

James Rosen-Birch writes: In public presentations, Saar Koursh, former CEO of the Israeli security firm Magal Security Systems — the company that built the Gaza border fence — often boasted that the blockaded territory was his “showroom.” “Anybody can give you a very nice PowerPoint, but few can show you such a complex project as Gaza that is constantly battle-tested,” Koursh said in a 2016 interview. Magal’s smart fence formed part of an integrated system of concrete barriers, high-tech sensor…

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Biden, Netanyahu, and Hamas, denounce ICC prosecutor, while Bernie Sanders defends international law

Biden, Netanyahu, and Hamas, denounce ICC prosecutor, while Bernie Sanders defends international law

#ICC Prosecutor @KarimKhanQC announces applications for arrest warrants in relation to Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant in the context of the situation in the State of #Palestine ⤵️https://t.co/WqDZecXFZq pic.twitter.com/bxqLWc5M6u — Int'l Criminal Court (@IntlCrimCourt) May 20, 2024 The ICC prosecutor is right to issue arrest warrants for political leaders who engage in war crimes. The global community must uphold international law. Without these standards of decency & morality, the planet may rapidly descend into anarchy, never-ending wars, and barbarism. pic.twitter.com/KF7aD0JsHw…

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War on terrorism based on a mistake: New 9/11 evidence points to deep Saudi complicity

War on terrorism based on a mistake: New 9/11 evidence points to deep Saudi complicity

Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon writes: For more than two decades, through two wars and domestic upheaval, the idea that al-Qaeda acted alone on 9/11 has been the basis of U.S. policy. A blue-ribbon commission concluded that Osama bin Laden had pioneered a new kind of terrorist group—combining superior technological know-how, extensive resources, and a worldwide network so well coordinated that it could carry out operations of unprecedented magnitude. This vanguard of jihad, it seemed, was the first nonstate actor…

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ICC prosecutor’s applications for arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant, Sinwar, Deif, and Haniyeh

ICC prosecutor’s applications for arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant, Sinwar, Deif, and Haniyeh

  The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court asked a panel of international legal experts (Lord Justice Fulford, Judge Theodor Meron CMG, Amal Clooney, Danny Friedman KC, Baroness Helena Kennedy LT KC, Elizabeth Wilmshurst CMG KC) to assist him with evaluating evidence of suspected war crimes and crimes against humanity in Israel and Gaza: For months, we have engaged in an extensive process of review and analysis. We have carefully examined each of the applications for arrest warrants, as well…

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The rise of Jewish terrorism and the failure of Israel

The rise of Jewish terrorism and the failure of Israel

The New York Times reports: Gush Emunim [or “Bloc of the Faithful,” a religious political movement determined to settle occupied territories] the and other right-wing groups saw the [Camp David] accords [signed by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin in 1978] as a shocking reversal. From this well of anger sprang a new campaign of intimidation [against Palestinians]. Rabbi Moshe Levinger, one of the leaders of Gush Emunim and the founder of the settlement in the…

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Mixed reactions in Tehran after death of President Ebrahim Raisi

Mixed reactions in Tehran after death of President Ebrahim Raisi

The Guardian reports: Activists in Iran have said there is little mood to mourn the death of the country’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash near the border with Azerbaijan on Sunday. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, announced a five-day public mourning period after the deaths of Raisi, the foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and other passengers on the helicopter. However, Iranians who spoke to the Guardian have refused to lament the death of a man who…

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A long history of crime without punishment threatens not only Palestinians but also Israel itself

A long history of crime without punishment threatens not only Palestinians but also Israel itself

The New York Times reports: By the end of October, it was clear that no one was going to help the villagers of Khirbet Zanuta. A tiny Palestinian community, some 150 people perched on a windswept hill in the West Bank near Hebron, it had long faced threats from the Jewish settlers who had steadily encircled it. But occasional harassment and vandalism, in the days after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, escalated into beatings and murder threats. The villagers made…

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Gantz to Netanyahu: If you don’t change course by June 8 we’ll withdraw from government

Gantz to Netanyahu: If you don’t change course by June 8 we’ll withdraw from government

The Jerusalem Post reports: In a move likely to aggravate political tension at the highest levels of government, Minister-without-portfolio Benny Gantz gave Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a deadline of June 8 to agree to a comprehensive strategic plan for the “day after” Hamas in Gaza and threatened to leave the government if this did not happen. “Lately, something has gone wrong,” Gantz said. “Essential decisions were not made. Essential leadership decisions to ensure victory were not done. A small minority…

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Armed thugs (aka NYPD) trained by Israelis, attack and punch pro-Palestine protesters in Brooklyn

Armed thugs (aka NYPD) trained by Israelis, attack and punch pro-Palestine protesters in Brooklyn

NOW: As pro-Palestine protesters reached an intersection, officers rushed in and grabbed people out of the crowd seemingly at random Officers tackled multiple protesters to the ground and then proceeded to punch them pic.twitter.com/fyPfA8emyM — katie smith (@probablyreadit) May 18, 2024 The NYPD is seen slamming this protestor to the ground punching his chest with his hand around their neck. They never once resisted. Their head was also bleeding as they were transported to the police van. All for walking…

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Biden claps as Morehouse valedictorian calls for Gaza cease-fire in commencement speech

Biden claps as Morehouse valedictorian calls for Gaza cease-fire in commencement speech

HuffPost reports: Morehouse College valedictorian DeAngelo Fletcher called for a cease-fire in Gaza during his commencement speech on Sunday, receiving applause from both fellow students and guest President Joe Biden as his administration continues to face pushback from college students across the U.S. over his support for Israel. Biden sat behind the valedictorian during the ceremony at the historically Black college in Atlanta, where Fletcher spoke about the conflict between Israel and Hamas and the devastation it’s wrought. Fletcher, who…

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Medical workers evacuated from Gaza, but three Americans refuse to leave

Medical workers evacuated from Gaza, but three Americans refuse to leave

The Intercept reports: Some 20 American and British medical workers who had been unable to leave Gaza were evacuated from the European Hospital in Khan Younis on Friday, though three American members of medical missions refused to evacuate until Israel allows additional humanitarian workers to replace them. They remain at work, along with doctors and staff from separate medical missions, serving a population trapped in Gaza with no escape. The missions, as is often the case, had been scheduled to…

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Zelensky: ‘Our partners fear that Russia will lose this war’

Zelensky: ‘Our partners fear that Russia will lose this war’

The Kyiv Independent reports: President Volodymyr Zelensky believes that Ukraine’s partners “are afraid of Russia losing the war” and would like Kyiv “to win in such a way that Russia does not lose,” Zelensky said in a meeting with journalists attended by the Kyiv Independent. Kyiv’s allies “fear” Russia’s loss in the war against Ukraine because it would involve “unpredictable geopolitics,” according to Zelensky. “I don’t think it works that way. For Ukraine to win, we need to be given…

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The roots of Israeli fascism

The roots of Israeli fascism

Rick Perlstein writes: In 1928, a prominent [Zionist] Revisionist named Abba Ahimeir published a series of articles entitled “From the Diary of a Fascist.” They refer to the founder of their movement, Ze’ev Jabotinsky (his adopted first name is Hebrew for “wolf”), as “il duce.” In 1935, his comrade Hen Merhavia wrote that Revisionists were doing what Mussolini did: “establish a nucleus of an exemplary life of morality and purity. Like us, the Italian fascists look back to their historical…

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Palestinian political prisoners targeted in Israel’s campaign of vengeance

Palestinian political prisoners targeted in Israel’s campaign of vengeance

The Observer reports: Marwan Barghouti spends his days huddled in a cramped, dark, solitary cell, with no way to tend to his wounds, and a shoulder injury from being dragged with his hands cuffed behind his back. Barghouti holds almost mythic status within Palestinian politics, seen as a figure whose potential to unify different factions has only grown during his 24 years in prison. The books, newspapers and tele­vision that he used to be able to access have been gone…

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Arrested. Injured. Suspended. Six NYC university students say they’ll keep protesting

Arrested. Injured. Suspended. Six NYC university students say they’ll keep protesting

NPR reports: At Columbia University, word was spreading among the student protesters who’d defied the university’s order to take down their pro-Palestinian encampment on a central lawn. Police were gathering outside the school’s locked gates. Arrests seemed imminent. It was the evening of April 30. Allie Wong, a doctoral student, was off campus when she heard what was happening. She rushed there and found a way to sneak in. Before the night was over, Wong would be one among nearly…

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