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Items tagged with: Genocide


#Hamas isn't committing #genocide.

#Israel is.

#Hamas isn't bombing and killing innocent civilians in Qatar, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, and elsewhere.

Israel is.

Hamas isn't ethnically cleansing the Israeli people.

Israel is.

Hamas isn't starving the Israeli people and creating a famine.

Israel is.

Hamas isn't committing crimes against humanity.

Israel is.


Israel is a terrorist state.

A terrorist state that is committing genocide.

Anyone who does not understand this at this point does not want to understand it on purpose and is a genocide denier. (And thus complicit in genocide as genocide denial is the last and final stage of genocide.)

#israel #sumud #flotilla #genocide #terrorism #FreePalestine mastodon.social/@sheislaurence…


#Irish President, Michael D Higgins says outlould what other leaders are afraid to. The #UN has the power collectively to stop the #genocide by establishing a humanitarian corridor. We can't go to war against the #Israeli military regime but we can stop them from killing any more #Palestinian children if we want to. Demand your government do something now. Support the #HigginsUNInitiative.
#NeverStopTalkingAboutPalestine #Palestine #IsraelWarCrimes #IsraeliCrimes #Ireland #Paddystinian



Despite what appears to be a broad, albeit primarily rhetorical, shift in mainstream establishment opinion about Israel's ongoing genocide in Gaza across most of the Pig Empire, Very Serious People TM in the US remain inside a disturbingly bipartisan, pro-genocide unreality bubble. Inside that bubble it seems far more reasonable to discuss Trump's personal relationships with Israel's fascist PM Benjamin Netanyahu than it would be to talk about all the ways his regime has actively expanded on the Biden administration's open facilitation of that genocide, even as it continues to this very moment. Yet outside that bubble, across the broader planet and even in the US discourse that exists beyond corporate media and in pocket political actors, the reality that this is America's genocide too is inescapable.

Take for example the absurd "humanitarian aid" scheme the Trump regime and Netanyahu cooked up to pretend Israel wasn't trying engineer a famine as part of its broader, openly stated project to ethnically cleanse, occupy, and colonize Gaza, that was nevertheless treated as a plausible sign Trump was reigning Israel in by a credulous, pro-genocide US establishment and media complex. The moment the "Gaza Humanitarian Foundation" and the plan to distribute aid under the watchful eye of the IOF and U.S. mercenary contractors was revealed, everyone living in the real world, including UN aid officials and humanitarian relief experts immediately said this wasn't going to stop the intentional starvation and the whole thing smelled fishy. Folks who truly understood the nature of Israel's genocidal campaign against the Palestinians in Gaza however, spoke of a far darker possibility; that the reason to march Palestinians halfway across the Gaza strip and herd them like cattle into a heavily-surveilled area surrounded by soldiers, was to directly facilitated and further the genocide and mass displacement of Gazans itself.

Well, now that IOF forces have engaged in a massacre at one of these sham food distribution sites, actively engineered, supported, and protected by the Trump administration and our hired military contractors, I think we can chalk this one up as yet another L for team genocide and the US establishment unreality bubble. As Israel sprints towards pariah state status, and the international community is searching for an off ramp before public opinion drowns their formerly pro-genocide leaders, the Trump regime has responded by actively facilitating and even participating in a settler colonial massacre that's part of a larger ongoing genocide. Yet somehow, despite plenty of corporate media coverage of the incident, this reality largely escapes Very Serious People TM in the American discourse.

commondreams.org/news/witkoff-…

'The Witkoff Massacre': Hundreds Killed or Wounded as Israeli Forces Open Fire on Gaza Food Aid Site

"Health officials in Gaza and multiple witnesses at the site near the southern city of Rafah reported that "Israeli forces fired on crowds around a kilometer (1,000 yards) away from an aid site run by an Israeli-backed foundation," according to the Associated Press.

"The international community must act immediately and decisively to compel Israel to end its inhumane aid distribution mechanism in Gaza, following today’s massacre near a U.S.-backed aid centre south of Rafah, where Israeli forces killed or injured over 220 starving civilians," said the Switzerland-based Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor (Euro-Med), in a Sunday morning statement, which had personnel on the ground near the aid station."

Folks, we are literally luring starving Gazans out of hiding with the promise of food, concentrating them in pens, and then letting IOF soldiers shoot at them while calling that "humanitarian aid" and pretending we're doing something about an ongoing genocide. There are no words I'm comfortable uttering in this political climate that can adequately cover the outrage, revulsion, and loathing I feel towards a Trump regime, US corporate media, and a broader bipartisan American establishment that contains plenty of rich Democrats, that has brought this livestreamed genocide into being. Even now, even among those who at this late an hour have finally decided that TikTok videos of starving toddlers means this really is a genocide, are trying to couch this in terms of "Netanyahu's genocidal war" despite the fact that literally none of this would be possible with direct American material support, and a US corporate media complex devoted to manufacturing consent for murdering babies and bombing hospitals. Infuriating.

The truth however is that 19 months into an ongoing genocide, the propaganda bubble is starting to burst; you can't stop reality from being real, forever. We, the United States of America, own this genocide, and the whole world is watching while we pretend our government isn't an active participant.

#Trump #Fascism #Media #Gaza #Propaganda #Genocide #Israel #Massacre #Palestinians #Witkoff


I'm not about to turn this account into US political drama posting full time, but I'd like to take a moment to talk about the Linsdey Graham tweet about the Gaza flotilla and anti-genocide activist Greta Thunberg. If you haven't seen it, there's a screenshot in the Zeteo article below, but the short story is that Graham posted or quoted an image of Thunberg on the deck of a flotilla vessel, and wrote over top "hope Greta and her friends can swim."

Graham's behavior is of course disgusting and condemnable on its face. I want to talk about it today however because I think if you take the Senator from South Carolina's post in the proper context, it reveals quite a lot about where the US government, buttressed by a pro-genocide corporate media, stands in contrast to the rest of the world on the subject of Israel's genocide in Gaza.

Lindsey Graham's Disgusting Tweet About Greta Thunberg Is 'Brain Rot' in Its Truest, Most Vulgar Sense

zeteo.com/p/lindsey-grahams-di…

"The warped logic, wildly insulting to the intelligence or basic morals of the Americans he serves, is one thing. As with their comical hypocrisy, the refrain about the modern Republican Party that “the cruelty is the point” is baked into US politics. But the extent to which these threads undergirding American conservatism are put into total overdrive when it comes to Israel is jarring to any observer.

Because, to be clear: Graham, a US senator, paid by our taxes, is apparently calling for a government that’s killed at least 54,000 (and likely, far more) Palestinians to bomb a boat carrying food to a starving population (or, if I’m being incredibly generous, he is just hoping the ship sinks). It’d be one thing if Graham was operating in the already-broken framework of the draconianism we’re used to: egging on the detaining of protesters and cheering for the bombing of Gaza under the auspices of “eliminating Hamas.”

Think how far we’ve come: pointing out Israel’s bombing of humanitarians was a “blood libel.” Now, it’s a punchline.

Here, we reach the endpoint of it all: a Republican, sealed off in his grotesque, hermetically-sealed bubble, finding it not only appropriate, but actively helpful in his (and his Israeli friends’) PR crusade to buoyantly rejoice at the idea of 12 volunteers – including a young college-aged person – being bombed, and left to tread in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea."

There's honestly so much going on here that you could write a whole book about this tweet, and the political moment in America that produced it. There are literal layers of grotesque inhumanity behind a US Senator cheerfully wishing death on a world famous activist and her friends for the high crime of trying to feed people we're helping to starve out of existence. Graham's callous, if not gleeful disregard for human life speaks to a modern, cultishly-devoted to Trump Republican Party whose broader motto might as well be "we're for killing and starving people" at this point; a sentiment their voters seem to embrace so long as the leopards aren't eating *their* faces.

If you know that the previous flotilla food aid attempt involving Thunberg was unable to reach Gaza after being struck by weaponized drones widely-believed to be Israeli in origin, then Graham's tweet reads like an open threat by a US Senator on behalf of a foreign government conducting a genocide we're paying for; which at almost any other point in American history would be earth-shaking news, but passes more or less for business as usual in the American pro-genocide reality bubble. This would be appalling under any circumstances, but for Graham to post this at the very same time the US government under Trump is pretending it is forcing Israel to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, while openly concentrating starving Palestinians into corrals for the IOF to shoot at, is next-level Third Reich-type shit; and the whole world knows it.

Which then brings us back to the larger point about Israel's genocide in Gaza, and failing international support for the Netanyahu regime and an IOF committing open war crimes and mass murder. At the precise time that the entire international order except the United States is running away from their prior support for Israel's genocidal actions because starving children to death on livestream is extremely unpopular, the United States is accelerating the body count and a US Senator is openly threatening a European peace activist on behalf of our openly eliminationist ally, for the high crime of attempting to feed starving people our govt would clearly prefer dead. The Trump regime and the broader pro-genocide establishment in America are out of step with the rest of the Pig Empire, and out of touch with reality; Israel isn't the only country flirting with pariah state status as the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza continues to unfold.

#USPol #Gaza #Israel #UN #LindseyGraham #GazaFlotilla #GretaThunberg #Genocide #Starvation #WarCrimes #Palestinians #GOP #Trump


I'm just going to admit that no matter how low my opinion of the IOF and the genocidal Netanyahu government is, I did not have Israeli troops firing "warning shots" at an international delegation of foreign diplomats from 24 countries, including the UK, Canada, and France who have all recently criticized Israel's ongoing and accelerating US-backed genocide in Gaza, on my bingo card.

commondreams.org/news/israel-s…

Outrage After Israeli Occupation Forces Shoot Live Rounds at Foreign Diplomats in West Bank

"Palestinian officials were briefing a group of more than 20 diplomats about the crisis in the illegally occupied West Bank—where Israeli soldiers and settlers have killed and wounded thousands of Palestinians including hundreds of children since October 2023 while pushing ahead with massive land theft and colonization—when they came under fire.

According to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, the delegation "deviated" from the route approved by Israeli occupation authorities "and entered an area where they were not authorized to be," prompting Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers to fire "warning shots to distance them away."

"The IDF regrets the inconvenience caused," the ministry added.

Israeli media reported IDF troops fired shots in the air. However, video footage of the incident appears to show soldiers aiming their guns and firing straight ahead in the direction of the diplomats as they scrambled for cover. Israeli officials have often been caught lying about the actions of IDF troops in Palestine.

The delegation included diplomats from the European Union and countries including Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Egypt, France, India, Japan, Jordan, Lithuania, Mexico, Morocco, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Turkey, and the United Kingdom."

It's time to grab your asses folks because the ride is about to get bumpy. The pro-Israel, pro-genocide propaganda machine is already working overtime to minimize this incident, but let me assure you that shooting at diplomats is an act of war and that shit is on video. Furthermore, even if you accept the Israeli Foreign Ministry's lies about "warning shots," they're still openly threatening the representatives of sovereign, even allied nations, for getting too close to evidence of their crimes and talking to refugees displaced by violent Israeli oppression. This is obviously an act of retaliation designed to intimidate foreign governments that are increasing pressure on Israel to end its genocidal campaign in Gaza and more broadly human rights abuses against Palestinians living under Israeli occupation; particularly the three G7 governments that formally condemned Israel's engineered famine in Gaza on Monday.

Look, I don't blame folks for being skeptical of the idea that Pig Empire politicians that have actively enabled Israel's genocidal war of extermination in Gaza for 19 months, actually care about Palestinian lives. They don't; but public opinion across pretty much all of the Western world has now swung so hard against "starving babies to death" that the very same governments that enabled this nightmare are trying to distance themselves from the slaughter they've helped create. Time is running out for team genocide and I realize that the Netanyahu government is jam-packed to the gills with emboldened, bloodthirsty racists, but this is an unprecedented act of global aggression that is going to live in infamy right alongside the genocide Israel is conducting against Palestinians in Gaza, and the multiple US governments who've made all this carnage and murder possible. Zionists have lost their fucking minds if they think they can bully the whole world at once; the tide *is* turning against Israel and Netanyahu, which is why they're trying to wipe out all the Palestinians in Gaza as fast as possible, before anyone works up the courage to actually try and stop them.

All of which might cause you to ask where exactly the US stands on all of this? Well, as it turns out US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee was only a few miles away, speaking to the media from Tel Aviv in Israel proper. Was Huckabee on hand to pressure Israel to stop slaughtering innocent Palestinian civilians, or starving Palestinian babies to death in Gaza? Absolutely not. The former US Senator was there to express his outrage at Canada, Britain, and France for condemning Israel, even as the settler colonial nation is murdering hundreds of Palestinians via airstrike, and starving women and children to death in Gaza.

npr.org/2025/05/21/nx-s1-54049…

So, let me just sum up here: the entire planet has turned against Israel's genocide forcing even Pig Empire governments to say something, the IDF is firing "warning shots" at foreign diplomats, and our ambassador to the region thinks *Palestinians* are like the Nazis from WWII? We're ruled by monsters who clearly think we're all stupid.

#Gaza #Genocide #Israel #Palestinians #MikeHuckabee #WarCrimes #Imperialism #Colonialism


I don't want to keep harping on the point, but I think it's important to understand just how disconnected from reality a lot of foreign policy analysts in mainstream US media are right now; particularly when reporting on anything remotely related to the Trump regime's continued support for Israel's ongoing, and indeed accelerating, genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. In this instance, while a number of "centrist" (both left, and right leaning) pundits were theorizing that Trump's corrupt bribery tour of the MENA region (that notably did not feature a visit to Israel), signaled a shift in US Gaza policy, word was oozing out of a Trump regime with more leaks than a colander about a blatantly genocidal scheme to "move" over 1 million Palestinians to Libya. As this Truthout summary notes, that means the Trump regime is planning an ethnic cleansing operation; which as we've discussed before, is essentially a more polite way to say "genocide."

truthout.org/articles/trump-ad…

Trump Administration Reportedly Considering Plan to Move Palestinians to Libya

"A plan reportedly under consideration by the Trump administration to send up to one million Gazans to the divided country of Libya was met with criticism on Friday and Saturday, with several observers calling it part of a plan to carry out ethnic cleansing.

On Friday, NBC News reported that the Trump administration has broached the plan with Libya’s leadership, though no final agreement has been reached. NBC News’ reporting relied on several unnamed sources “with knowledge of the effort.”

“This is absolutely categorically an ethnic cleansing and sending people to Libya of all places is unconscionable,” wrote investigative journalist James Stout on Bluesky on Friday, in response to the reporting."

As the article notes, the Trump administration has denied that any such plans are in the works, but given the quantity of details NBC was able to report on, and the fact that it lines up with literally every single other thing Downmarket Mussolini and his minions have said about his plans or positions on Gaza, I see no particular reason to believe the fascist US government on this one. So, as he has at various times indicated he would do, Trump is working towards ethnically cleansing Gaza of Palestinians on behalf of his ally and ideological soulmate Benjamin Netanyahu, in what would absolutely be an act of genocide. This is pretty cut and dry; and by no means does it indicate a *positive* change in the Trump regime's Gaza policy.

So, how has pro-genocide, corporate American media reported on these alarming developments? Well, let's just say it hasn't been great. To demonstrate my point, let's look at the actual NBC reporting that the Truthout story was built around.

nbcnews.com/politics/national-…

Trump administration working on plan to move 1 million Palestinians to Libya

"The Trump administration is working on a plan to permanently relocate up to 1 million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Libya, five people with knowledge of the effort told NBC News.

The plan is under serious enough consideration that the administration has discussed it with Libya’s leadership, two people with direct knowledge of the plans and a former U.S. official said.

In exchange for the resettling of Palestinians, the administration would potentially release to Libya billions of dollars of funds that the U.S. froze more than a decade ago, those three people said.

No final agreement has been reached, and Israel has been kept informed of the administration’s discussions, the same three sources said."

Okay, so you can see why I think the regime's denials are bullshit right? NBC knows way too much for this to be a fabrication; and so do we as observers who've been following Trump's actions and statements on Gaza. All is not well however, because NBC insists on framing even this obvious story about Trump and Israel teaming up to do ethnic cleansing, in a blatantly pro-genocide context. For example, you won't find the term "ethnic cleansing" in this story, even though that's what it's literally about. NBC also works hard to lend credibility to Trump and Israel's narrative that the Palestinians would leave for Libya willingly; a preposterous proposition when you consider all the violations they've already suffered to keep their home in Gaza, as a Hamas spokesman indicated.

So, at the same time Israel is accelerating its genocidal project in Gaza, and Trump is working on a plan for ethnic cleansing, dipshit foreign policy writers want you to believe he's turning against Israel's genocide because he made one comment about starving children and accepted a plane from Qatar? I think it's obvious Trump traded Gaza to Israel to smooth over his MENA grift vacation and he's muddying the waters to deflect blame now.

These hacks should be working at Foot Locker, not writing opinion pieces that deny a genocide.

#Trump #Gaza #Israel #Genocide #Libya #Media #EthnicCleansing #MENA #Palestinians #EngineeredFamine


I don't know if most people realize the overall quality of foreign policy reporting in American media is generally pretty horrible. Part of this is because structurally under capitalism for profit media tends to align with US imperial objectives at the expense of the truth, part of it is that reading audiences aren't diplomacy wonks so the complex details of international relationships have to be shoehorned into some form of narrative, and part of it is that most state level negotiations are conducted in secret so you can print pretty much any bullshit you want and call it "reading the tea leaves" because nobody is going to hold you to account for being wrong later. Which isn't to say it's impossible to do good foreign policy reporting, just that it usually involves interrogating primary sources who aren't going to want to talk to you if you're critical of their decisions and (often false) arguments. In a modern, eviscerated media age that places profit and cultural relevance much higher than journalistic accuracy in their hierarchy of priorities, pretty much every corporate media news outlet employs at least one name-brand foreign policy analyst who writes opinion columns based on vibes.

I mention this because over the past week I've read at least a dozen "front page" opinion pieces, primarily from "centrist" analysts, arguing that Trump's recent MENA mutual hand-job tour indicates that Downmarket Mussolini has "abandoned" Israel, or at least "put Benjamin Netanyahu on notice." Typically, the evidence to support this conclusion will revolve around Trump's cozy relationship with Qatar, sealed by an open bribe in the form of a $400M dollar luxury jet, and the fact that Der Leader's top diplomat Steve Witkoff negotiated with Hamas to secure the release of U.S. citizen and Israeli soldier Edan Alexander, apparently without consulting Israel. The implication, which is sometimes even stated openly, is that this "deteriorating" relationship and one throwaway statement about starving Palestinians, means the Trump regime may be about to break with Israel's US-backed genocide in Gaza.

This is of course, absolute bullshit for one extremely obvious reason; namely that the Trump administration continues to openly greenlight Israel's genocide in Gaza. This is not supposition; between Trump's statements, the US government's actions, and the Netanyahu regime's responses it is abundantly clear that the project to ethnically cleanse Gaza and turn it into riverfront property is still on, and Der Leader is happy to trade tacit US approval for the genocide or removal of Palestinians in Gaza by Israel, to simply smooth over a MENA foreign policy initiative designed to increase Trump's global influence while enriching him and his family.

To demonstrate why I know this let's look at this detailed report by Jeremy Scahill who actually *did* contact a source for his foreign policy analysis; specifically a senior Hamas official.

dropsitenews.com/p/witkoff-ham…

Hamas Says Witkoff Personally Promised to Lift Gaza Blockade in Exchange for Edan Alexander

“It was a deal,” said Basem Naim, a member of Hamas’s political bureau who has previously engaged in direct talks with U.S. officials. He said the pledge was made by “Witkoff, himself.” In an interview with Drop Site, Naim said the agreement was: “If we release [Alexander], Trump will speak out thanking Hamas for its gesture, obliging Israel on the second day to open the borders and allow aid to come into Gaza, and [Trump would] call for an immediate ceasefire and to go for negotiations to end the war.”

“He did nothing of this,” Naim added. “They didn't violate the deal. They threw it in the trash.”

This is a detailed, granular piece of journalism that explores the genocidal behavior Israel is engaging in as it attempts to starve Palestinians to death while continually bombing hospitals and refugee camps, as well as why the things Trump claims he's actually doing to mitigate engineered starvation in Gaza are mostly bullshit. What's important for our purposes here is the knowledge that the Trump regime pretty much just straight up lied to Hamas in order to secure the release of Edan Alexander and some flattery for Der Leader, and the reality that both Israeli leadership and the President are *still* openly talking about ethnically cleansing Gaza!

Look, I have no problem believing that Netanyahu is irked at Trump for his embarrassing love affair with the Qataris, but the idea that the Klepto Kaiser is "abandoning" Israel even as his regime continues to ship Israel billions of dollars in weapons while mapping out a post-Palestinian future for Gaza, is either embarrassingly naïve, or an open admission that Palestinian lives have so little value to you that their extermination or exile doesn't rise to the level of discussion. In this media environment, it could be both.

#Trump #Fascism #Gaza #Israel #Genocide #Netanyahu #Qatar #ForeignPolicy #WarCrimes #EthnicCleansing #Media #Hamas


Well, I guess members of the Isareli government have repeated their intentions to permanently occupy and ethnically cleanse Gaza of Palestinians enough times that even American corporate media has to care; the Guardian however is doing a much better job of honestly acknowledging what Israel's latest plan for Gaza ultimately means.

On the heels of the Netanyahu government's plan to displace the population of Gaza and consolidate territorial control over the occupied region, Finance Minister Smotrich said the quiet part out loud - Gaza will be completely destroyed, and Palestinians will (be forced to, presumably) "leave in great numbers for other countries" - essentially as refugees from a genocide the colonizer world refuses to acknowledge; but we can't expect Smotrich to admit that part too.

Israel's finance minister Bezalel Smotrich

theguardian.com/world/2025/may…

Gaza will be entirely destroyed, Israeli minister says

"An Israeli government minister has vowed that “Gaza will be entirely destroyed” as a result of an Israeli military victory, and that its Palestinian population will “leave in great numbers to third countries”, raising fears of ethnic cleansing in the occupied territory.

The declaration on Tuesday by the finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, came a day after Israel’s security cabinet approved a plan for Operation Gideon’s Chariots, which an Israeli official said would entail “the conquest of the Gaza Strip and the holding of the territories”.

The Israeli threats to seize control of the territory permanently has stirred global outrage.

“We strongly oppose the expansion of Israel’s operations,” the UK’s Middle East minister, Hamish Falconer, said. “Any attempt to annex land in Gaza would be unacceptable.”

The disturbing part here is that Smotrich's horrifying, genocidal statement is really only "news" because Pig Empire media is objectively pro-genocide and has caught a case of intentional amnesia about Israel's now-nineteen month long campaign to wipe out the Palestinian people in Gaza. Israeli ministers have been talking about emptying Gaza of Palestinians for months, the goddamn President of the United States has openly mused about turning the entire area into beachfront condos built by American companies, and as we speak Israel is actively engineering a famine in Gaza by blockading food and medical supplies into the occupied region.

Ethnic cleansing is just a more polite term for genocide, and even if you're too ignorant to understand that, International Courts have already ruled that Israel is plausibly committing a genocide in Gaza, and warrants have been issued for the arrest of Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Taken as a whole, the actions and statements of the Israeli government, both before and after it broke the ceasefire, have always indicated that their plan was to permanently occupy and "ethnically cleanse" Gaza; it is only through willfully complicit ignorance that clearly pro-genocide mainstream media outlets have refused to properly contextualize news from Gaza through the lens of Israel's obvious and openly articulated intentions to complete the ongoing genocide of Palestinians.

Unfortunately for the cowards, collaborators, and profiteers in our mainstream establishment however, the combination of Israel's announced Operation Gideon’s Chariots offensive, and Smotrich's crude, gleeful bluntness, have made it more or less impossible to pretend we don't know what the Netanyahu government is doing; even if that same mainstream establishment is still struggling to admit there can't be any good reasons to conduct "ethnic cleansing" regardless of their political alliances and personal racisms.

#Facism #Trump #Gaza #Genocide #Israel #EthnicCleansing #Palestinians #Smotrich #ICC #ICJ #Imperialism #SettlerColonialism #Media #Collaboration #MassMurder #EngineeredFamine #WarCrimes #CrimesAgainstHumanity


Speaking before the International Court of Justice, the Palestinian ambassador to the Netherlands articulated what everyone who isn't openly lying to obscure a genocide already knows; Israel is using starvation as a weapon of war and its blockade of Gaza is an international crime.

commondreams.org/news/icj-hear…

Palestinian Envoy to ICJ: Israel Using Starvation as 'Weapon of War' in 'Genocidal Campaign'

"The siege has created conditions that are "incompatible with sustaining life or the continued existence of Palestinians in Gaza," Hijazi said.

The ambassador noted that the ICJ hearing was taking place to consider whether Israel is violating international law.

"It is not about the number of aid trucks Israel is or is not allowing into the Occupied Palestinian Territories, especially Gaza," said Hijazi. "It is about Israel destroying the fundamentals of life in Palestine while it blocks U.N. and other humanitarians from providing lifesaving aid to the population. It is about Israel unraveling fundamental principles of international law, including their obligations under the U.N. Charter."

"Starvation is here," Hijazi added. "Humanitarian aid is being used as a weapon of war."

My friends, I honestly don't know what more I can say here when the facts speak for themselves. Israel has totally blockaded Gaza, they're bombing the shit out of the people inside, and the military isn't allowing enough food, or seemingly any medical supplies or other lifesaving humanitarian aid through to the Palestinian people its bombing. As this clearly genocidal shit is going on, a US media is largely ignoring the crisis while apparently hoping all the Palestinians will be dead before their audience notices we're helping Israel exterminate or ethnically cleanse an entire people in Gaza.

And all the while a Pig Empire establishment continues to manufacture consent for the slaughter by pretending the Netanyahu government's motives are unknowable in the fog of war, despite the fact that cabinet ministers keep blurting out their intention to ethnically cleanse Gaza and we're watching what can only be an attempted genocide unfold on Tik Tok videos day, after horrifying day. History is going to be written about the cowardice, complicity, and depraved indifference to human life on display in the Pig Empire establishment here; the only question is will we as Americans survive our own fascist chickens coming home to roost long enough to help write it.

#Fascism #Trump #Gaza #Genocide #Israel #ICJ #Imperialism #Famine #SettlerColonialism #WarCrimes #CrimesAgainstHumanity #Starvation #AmmarHijazi #Blockade #Netanyahu #Palestine #Palestinians #WhiteSupremacy


After seven weeks of bombing and a genocidal blockade of all humanitarian and food aid going into Gaza, the UN's World Food Program is now announcing that it has run out of food inside the strip; which will further exacerbate a humanitarian crisis engineered by the government off Israel as part of the genocide it's conducting against Palestinians in the enclave.

commondreams.org/news/gaza-foo…

UN Program Out of Food in Gaza as Israel Maintains Blockade

"No humanitarian or commercial supplies have entered Gaza for more than seven weeks as all main border crossing points remain closed," WFP said Friday. "This is the longest closure the Gaza Strip has ever faced, exacerbating already fragile markets and food systems. Food prices have skyrocketed up to 1,400% compared to during the cease-fire, and essential food commodities are in short supply, raising serious nutrition concerns for vulnerable populations, including children under 5, pregnant and breastfeeding women, and the elderly."

Over 18 months into a U.S.-backed military assault for which Israel faces a genocide case at the Interenational Court of Justice, WFP said that "the situation inside the Gaza Strip has once again reached a breaking point: People are running out of ways to cope, and the fragile gains made during the short ceasefire have unravelled. Without urgent action to open borders for aid and trade to enter, WFP's critical assistance may be forced to end."

While conditions are dire, WFP is prepared to keep feeding people, if Israel will allow aid into the besieged Palestinian enclave. The program highlighted that "more than 116,000 metric tons of food assistance—enough to feed 1 million people for up to four months—is positioned at aid corridors and is ready to be brought into Gaza by WFP and food security partners as soon as borders reopen."

The program called on "all parties to prioritize the needs of civilians and allow aid to enter Gaza immediately and uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law."

I need to stress here that this isn't an activist organization, or political representatives from Gaza talking here; this is a UN program that feeds refugees, the exploited, and folks in crisis situations. There is absolutely no reason to believe they're exaggerating the situation, which in turn means we're watching Israel commit a crime against humanity in real time. If this were anyone other than a US client state in the MENA, the entire American establishment would be able to see that there is no reason to continuously bomb Gaza while enforcing a nearly two month long blockade on food, supplies, and humanitarian aid, unless you're actively trying to kill innocent people. Which of course Israel is; they're committing a genocide, the Trump administration is happily paying for it, and a bipartisan US establishment awash in PAC and donor money, is quietly ignoring that genocide for political, financial, and ideological reasons.

#Israel #Genocide #Gaza #Palestinians #Blockadge #UN #WorldFoodProgram #Starvation #CrimesAgainstHumanity #Fascism #Trump #Media #Blackout #Imperialism #SettlerColonialism


I think folks who argue with me when I point out that stories which don't align with the interests of the investor class of rich people who own media companies are suppressed in corporate media, somehow forget that I simply consume so much "news" that I can literally feel a shift in coverage. Which is why this short blog by media critic Adam Johnson, which mathematically confirms, more or less, everything I've been saying about how Gaza has been driven from the mainstream discourse even as Israel's genocide ramps back up and US public opinion shifts against our client state, did not surprise me at all.

columnblog.com/p/as-trump-and-…

As Trump and Israel Escalate Genocide in Gaza, Popular Media Continues to Ignore It

"Nowhere is the absence of urgency any more glaring than the total erasure of Gaza from the “agenda setting” Sunday morning news shows that both reflect and curate Washington political priorities for the week. In the 5 episodes each for the four Sunday News Shows—ABC’s This Week, CBS’s Face the Nation, NBC’s Meet the Press, and CNN’s State of the Union—for the weeks of March 23, March 30, April 6, April 13 and April 20, Israeli’s assault on Gaza, and the Trump administration’s full-throated support for it, has not been discussed or mentioned once. That’s 880 minutes of “agenda setting” debate, discussing, and reporting that did not see fit to mention the US support for what Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch both call an ongoing genocide."

So, just let that set in for a minute. In the time frame listed, Israel has committed a confirmed war crime by murdering 15 medics in cold blood, bombed the last functioning hospital in Gaza, instituted a total blockade on aid designed to starve Gazans to death, and its ministers have on multiple occasions bragged about Trump's support being instrumental for their plan to ethnically cleanse Gaza of Palestinians; and those are just the stories *I* covered but the vaunted "Sunday Shows" couldn't spare a minute for. An ongoing genocide in Gaza being aided an abetted by the US President who is also black bagging anti-genocide protestors in American cities and citing foreign policy concerns to justify it, simply did not come up.

If you're wondering why the "Sunday Shows" matter, it's because while very few people reading this watch them, pretty much everyone with power and influence in American politics does. With that having been noted however, it really doesn't matter because Gaza was barely covered in the mainstream nightly news either.

"Despite Israel killing almost 2,000 Palestinians since they broke the ceasefire on March 18, the subject of Gaza has barely registered a blip in the nightly news coverage as well. In the 78 episodes the three major network nightly news shows have aired, there’s only been two segments about Gaza: one 4 minute 17 second segment I noted in The Real News from March 26 on CBS Evening News, and another 1 minute and 44 second segment about the IDF killing 15 medics that aired on ABC’s World News This Week on April 3. In over 1,500 minutes of evening news from the three major networks since March 19 only 6 minutes, or less 0.4 percent, has been reporting on Gaza. NBC Nightly News has not covered the suffering in Gaza at all since March 20, but it did take time out on April 13 to do a 1 minute 46 second profile on an Israeli captive still being held in Gaza."

Surely, the newspapers were better, right? Well, if we're talking about America's paper of record, the New York Times - I wouldn't get your hopes up folks:

"Since March 20, The New York Times has run a total of three front page stories about Gaza out of roughly 220 total front page stories (two on April 6/April 8 about the IDF killing of medics in Gaza and one April 3 about Israel “Initiating Tactics to Hold Gaza Territory”) By way of comparison the Times has run 12 front page stories about Ukraine. “For Ukraine’s Sick Children, a War Within the War,” read one sympathetic front page headline from March 26. “Attack Devastates Ukrainian City,” read another on April 14. Front page coverage of Gaza, when it does exist, does not lead with Palestinian suffering or humanity but instead Israeli denials or sterile coverage of IDF “tactics.”

And finally, while this is just personal analysis, Johnson also thinks the shift has taken us back to pre-2024 media conditions when it comes to the genocide in Gaza; specifically citing the bipartisan support for the US-backed genocide in the American political establishment as the factor that allows the media to simply ignore the situation.

I'm not gonna bother saying I told you so; but I did.

#Fascism #Gaza #Genocide #Media #Imperialism #Trump #Netanyahu #SettlerColonialism #Censorship #Israel #Palestine


As an add on to the post above, if you don't think speaking out against Israel's genocide in Gaza and on behalf of the people being slaughtered there matters, then why is the Netanyahu government working so hard with multi-billion dollar social media companies like Meta to suppress pro-Palestinian speech online?

dropsitenews.com/p/leaked-data…

Leaked Data Reveals Massive Israeli Campaign to Remove Pro-Palestine Posts on Facebook and Instagram

"A sweeping crackdown on posts on Instagram and Facebook that are critical of Israel—or even vaguely supportive of Palestinians—was directly orchestrated by the government of Israel, according to internal Meta data obtained by Drop Site News. The data show that Meta has complied with 94% of takedown requests issued by Israel since October 7, 2023. Israel is the biggest originator of takedown requests globally by far, and Meta has followed suit—widening the net of posts it automatically removes, and creating what can be called the largest mass censorship operation in modern history.

Government requests for takedowns generally focus on posts made by citizens inside that government’s borders, Meta insiders said. What makes Israel’s campaign unique is its success in censoring speech in many countries outside of Israel. What’s more, Israel's censorship project will echo well into the future, insiders said, as the AI program Meta is currently training how to moderate content will base future decisions on the successful takedown of content critical of Israel’s genocide."

As I've noted elsewhere, it's very clear that the pro-genocide Pig Empire establishment used the sham ceasefire Trump supposedly brokered in Gaza as an excuse to reset the discourse and resume the genocide at pace. We've returned to a pre-2024 media environment of silence and minimization of crimes against humanity, particularly in America, and these folks are working overtime to keep you from talking about, and hopefully (for genocidal monsters) thinking about Gaza while Israel attempts to wipe out the Palestinians there before we wake up and realize what's going on.

The only way to fight this, is to keep talking about it, and resisting both the genocide and the US government's support for it. We've been here before and broke through the cone of silence; in fact that's the whole reason the ruling class establishment is trying to rewind the discourse around the genocide in Gaza to a pre-2024 state. We must not let them get away with it by contributing to that cone of silence.

#Fascism #Israel #Gaza #Genocide #Trump #Meta #Facebook #Instagram #Censorship #Imperialism #SettlerColonialism #CrimesAgainstHumanity #Propaganda #Mark Zuckerberg #OnlineCensorship #Zionism #Netanyahu


In writing about the Trump regime's fascist assault on foreign student anti-genocide protestors, a lot of what we talk about is the domestic social costs these authoritarian actions and a failure to oppose them produce. I don't mean to be callous, because injustice and repression against any part of the opposition to fascism, is injustice and repression that harms us all; to say nothing of the personal costs to the students targeted for having the audacity to think conducting an ongoing genocide in an open air concentration camp is morally wrong. If you want to know why the regime is pursuing these fascist, repressive policies however, and why the administration before them was happy to lay the groundwork that is today enabling Trump to target anti-genocide protests under the false banner of "fighting antisemitism," I must unfortunately conclude that the answer is "probably, because it's working."

How else can you explain political and military leaders in Israel all but admitting they intend to finish off the genocide they've been conducting against Palestinians in Gaza, without much notice in the American media environment, and amid a collapse in popular resistance to the genocide, even as polling indicates a strong shift in American sympathies away from Israel and its crimes against humanity in Gaza?

commondreams.org/news/israel-t…

'Only Hellfire': Israel Says Lifesaving Aid, Troop Withdrawal Off the Table for Gaza

"Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday that the U.S.-backed genocidal policy of blocking lifesaving humanitarian aid from entering the Gaza Strip will continue, and that Israel Defense Forces troops will remain in the embattled Palestinian enclave indefinitely.

"Israel's policy is clear: No humanitarian aid will enter Gaza, and blocking this aid is one of the main pressure levers preventing Hamas from using it as a tool with the population," Katz said. "No one is currently planning to allow any humanitarian aid into Gaza, and there are no preparations to enable such aid."

I want to be clear, I'm not saying there's no active resistance to the genocide going on in America, only that the regime's fascist repression is contributing to a climate of fear that's suppression discussion about and resistance to Israel's crimes against humanity in the broader culture. And let's be fair here, the still quite bipartisan nature of support of *this* particular application of fascist terrorism in the American ruling establishment makes opposing Israel's genocide in Gaza perhaps one of the most dangerous acts of anti-fascism a person can undertake in this political moment. When Trump kidnaps a Maryland father and traffics him to a torture prison in El Salvador, the oppositional political and media apparatus in this country are quick to condemn him and demand action. When Trump starts black bagging student protest leaders and shipping them to nightmare jails in politically favorable court districts, that same establishment equivocates, says nothing at all, or sometimes outright supports that repression. Take for example former Biden antisemitism Envoy Deborah Lipstadt:

forward.com/news/712297/studen…

Student protesters being deported are not ‘martyrs and heroes,’ says former antisemitism envoy

"I’m not opposed to the administration rescinding the student visas of some of the people that they’re rescinding the student visas of,” she said. “But I just think it should be done properly, according to the laws of the country.”

So uh, you got that? The fascism is fine, but god-damnit there are *rules* people! Please keep in mind that this woman is one of the foremost authorities in the world on The Holocaust, so we can presume she knows she's protecting fascists to support a genocide. I assume, but don't know, that she holds no special place in her heart for the Klepto Kaiser, so I can only surmise that she's just a hardcore Zionist and a big fan of bombing children and hospitals.

Look friends, I know that this is a really bad time to ask people to stick their necks out to oppose a genocide, but Israel just bombed literally the last hospital in Gaza and it barely made the evening news. The regime, and indeed much of the larger ruling class establishment that supports settler colonialism, and profits from the genocide by various means, wants to create an environment where speaking out against the genocide in Gaza and Israel's settler colonial massacres is just criminal and subversive enough to stop most of us from doing it. This will then allow them to easily pick off a much smaller number of people who are brave enough and otherwise able to resist the genocide directly. It is vital that we counteract that by keeping the genocide on our lips, and our outrage about crimes against humanity in the discourse; they can't arrest us all - and Gaza, is running out time.

#Fascism #Israel #Gaza #Genocide #Imperialism #SettlerColonialism #Media #Trump #Palestine #ICE #CrimesAgainstHumanity #DHS #Propaganda #Protest


At this point I'm starting to believe the primary purpose of the sham ceasefire in Gaza, broken by Israel to continue a US-backed genocide of Palestinian people, was to allow US corporate media to catch its breath and reset to a position of trying very hard to ignore blatant war crimes against clearly innocent Palestinians. A United Nations investigation has revealed that the IDF executed 15 Palestinian paramedics and rescue workers, including a UN employee, in March 23rd; then tried to bury the evidence, including crushed ambulances, to hide this crime against humanity. Details of the murders make it clear that this activity was deliberate, and yet the portions of the mainstream western media that remain firmly pro-genocide have hardly registered any sort of outcry or calls for action.

1) theguardian.com/world/2025/mar…

Israel killed 15 Palestinian paramedics and rescue workers one by one, says UN

“Seven days ago, civil defence and PRCS ambulances arrived at the scene,” the head of Ocha in Palestine, Jonathan Whittall, said in a video statement. “One by one, [the paramedics and civil defense workers] were hit, they were struck. Their bodies were gathered and buried in this mass grave.

“We’re digging them out in their uniforms, with their gloves on. They were here to save lives. Instead, they ended up in a mass grave,” Whittall said. “These ambulances have been buried in the sand. There’s a UN vehicle here, buried in the sand. A bulldozer – Israeli forces bulldozer – has buried them.”

Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, said that one of its employees was among the dead found in Rafah."

As an American, please let me once again remind you that none of these atrocities would be happening without US financial, material, and diplomatic support. We're subsidizing the Israeli government, we're shipping the IDF the bombs and weapons being used to exterminate Palestinians in Gaza, and it is by US diplomatic force that Western support for Israel even as it commits a genocide, remains strong, if somewhat less overt than it was at the start of this genocide. Trump (and Biden before him) could end this inhuman slaughter today if he wanted to; he just doesn't want to because killing brown people and taking their resources (beachfront property and natural gas, in this case) is a important business activity for the entire Pig Empire.

In an environment where the media is actively cultivating a numb complicity, and western states are either ignoring the massacres, or as in the Trump regime's case, openly celebrating them, it behooves all of us in the so-called West to reject these attempts to rewind time and protect the genocide. In the months leading up to the ceasefire, Western political leaders and media were on the backfoot as independent media, folks with Tik Tok accounts, protestors, and even everyday people refused to accept the complicity of silence and demanded action. This "reset" must not be allowed to continue while Palestinians in Gaza are murdered with impunity and the complicity of the larger Pig Empire; as noted by Ahmed Moor writing in the Guardian - which is sadly where I have to get my mainstream news about a US-enabled and supported genocide the Trump administration is happily paying for, because US media outlets are still trying to pretend none of this is real:

2) theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

Israel executes unarmed Red Crescent paramedics with the west’s blessing

"Nor will global leaders intervene to end the mass murder which has been punctuated by this latest obscenity. Some of them – such as Emmanuel Macron, who called for a ceasefire, might appear to want to end the slaughter. After all, dead babies in incubators and paramedics in a mass grave are unpleasant garlands to wear. But 18 months in, they are too deeply implicated. Who can forget Ursula von der Leyen’s embrace of Netanyahu? Or Keir Starmer’s affirmation of Israel’s “right” to starve Palestinians in Gaza?

Today, those who are tasked with upholding international law have been co-opted by the Israeli leadership, whether they like it or not. The logic of gangland drug dealers and criminals – new members commit crimes to join, and are locked in – prevails.

So far from being complicit, US and European leaders are the authors of this latest atrocity by their Israeli colleagues in Gaza."

#Gaza #Genocide #Israel #Trump #CrimesAgainstHumanity #USA #WarCrimes #Netanyahu #IDF #Media #EthnicCleansing #UN #Imperialism #Netanyahu #UNRWA #SettlerColonialism #RedCrescent


To the surprise of precisely no one who isn't a credulous rube high on imperialism, settler colonialism, and weapons contractor bribes, Israel has started bombing children and houses again in Gaza. Naturally of course a Trump regime that wants to pave over Gaza and build luxury hotels and casinos for an obscenely wealthy, globetrotting ruling class if it can just find a way to get rid of all those pesky Palestinians, stands fully in support of resuming the US armed, funded, and politically protected genocide.

commondreams.org/news/israel-v…

Backed by Trump, Israel Shreds Cease-Fire Deal and Kills Over 400 Across Gaza

"A barrage of Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip early Tuesday killed more than 400 people and left a fragile cease-fire agreement in tatters just over two months after it was reached, with Israel's prime minister pledging "increasing military strength" in an enclave already decimated by more than a year of bombing.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that the Netanyahu government consulted with the Trump administration ahead of the latest Gaza bombardment. Leavitt expressed the White House's total support for Israel's attacks.

While Israel had been carrying out more limited deadly attacks on Gaza despite the cease-fire deal—including strikes over the weekend that killed at least nine—Tuesday's bombings were described as the "heaviest assault on the territory since the cease-fire took effect in January."

Speaking frankly, there are more detailed articles featuring a lot more atrocity porn available online, but I chose to highlight this short piece because the headline writer understood the importance of centering the Trump regime's full support for this monstrous, objectively illegal bullshit. The US government is supplying the bombs, funding the Netanyahu government, and actively praising Israel for resuming crimes against humanity; that makes the atrocities in Gaza Trump's genocide, the same as it made them Biden's genocide before him. None of this is lost on most media observers outside of the United States, but an American corporate media complex that has always supported the mass murder of Palestinians remains reluctant to center that knowledge, even if it hurts the fascist assclown currently calling their work "illegal" and threatening to come after them with the full force of the U.S. government.

Of course everyone in the media, American or international, is claiming to be "shocked" that Israel has willfully imploded the ceasefire, and telling you that you should be shocked too. Naturally however, that position too is a grotesque farce that ignores available evidence and reality itself. This may be the first large-scale bombing since Netanyahu agreed to pretend he cared about a cease-fire for a while, but Israel already resumed the genocide when it tightened the blockade of, and cut electricity to Gaza; a region that is more or less constantly in a state of humanitarian crisis because Israel has been conducting a war of extermination there and purposely starving the population inside for seventeen months and counting. Furthermore, all of this is pretty consistent with statements made by various high ranking officials in the Netanyahu government, who have openly flouted their intentions to break the cease fire and ethnically cleanse (by whatever means are necessary) the Palestinian people in Gaza. The fact that American corporate media rarely reports on these stated intentions, and is foundationally committed to credulously taking Netanyahu's word for it when he claims to be seeking peace while bombing hospitals and murdering babies, does not mean the larger US establishment is unware of these facts - just that they're hoping you are.

The fact is, Trump, his administration, and American arms manufacturers should be on trial for crimes against humanity as we speak, and the reality that he is not alone in that because committing genocide in Gaza is a largely bipartisan position in the American establishment does absolutely nothing to alter the situation.

#Gaza #Genocide #Trump #Fascism #SettlerColonialism #Israel #Netanyahu #Imperialism #EthnicCleansing #Media #CrimesAgainstHumanity



Admin of todon.nl suggests, and rightly so, that the default/flagship Mastodon instance (isn’t decentralisation great?) be moved to a more neutral jurisdiction than Germany:

“Herewith the urgent request to move the Mastodon server presented to new users as the default (mastodon.social) to a more neutral jurisdiction (e.g. Switzerland). An alternative is to set up a new Mastodon server in a more neutral jurisdiction, which can then serve as a new flagship server.

The trigger for this is the regular negative moderation of people who speak out against the largest and bloodiest genocide of our time, the one in Palestine. In particular they use (or abuse, how you want to look at it) of a German law that seeks to counter so-called Holocaust reversal. With hiding behind this law, the moderators of mastodon.social (and especially its owner) are also unwittingly sitting in the chair of the (German) judge.

Apart from the fact that one local law should not affect the entire Mastodon project, the question is whether this law and the concept of Holocaust reversal are legally tenable in an international context.”

github.com/mastodon/mastodon/d…

Mastodon mod closes the ticket after stating “There is no current plan to make changes to the Mastodon instances operated by Mastodon gGmbH. People are free to choose any Mastodon server when signing up for the platform.”

And this (see screenshot) is what that “choice” looks like.

This decentralisation anti-pattern – along with the fact that they didn’t close registrations after hitting a certain size to create a social precedent and allow distribution to other servers (as I advised Eugen to do back in the day) – is why there is a flagship instance to begin with when it’s an absolute contradiction of terms in a system that purports to be decentralised.

#fediverse #mastoson #mastodonSocial #todonNL #Germany #israel #genocide #ethnicCleansing #apartheid #settlerColonialism #Palestine #Gaza


Big thanks to all the useful idiots to helped make this happen. Pat yourselves on the back. You couldn’t even forgo a few hours of your entertainment to boycott a whitewashing event for an ongoing genocide. Go you!

#israel #genocide #ethnicCleansing #apartheid #settlerColonialism #eurovision #EU #whitewashing #softPower syzito.xyz/@fkamiah17/11456278…


Only one thing on everyone’s mind? The genocide being carried out by Israel against the Palestinian people? No? Oh, a song contest sponsored by Israel that Israel is using to whitewash its genocide. Ah, my bad, sorry.

Enjoy your entertainment.

#eurovision #EU #europe #europeanValues #genocide #israel #ethnicCleansing #apartheid #settlerColonialism #esc2025 en.osm.town/@opencage/11452243…


For weeks I have been telling reporters that #Trump could have the power to switch off our tech in #Europe. It felt a bit alarmist until I just read that #Microsoft, on the behest of the #US gov, has suspended the email account of Karim Khan, the #ICC chief prosecutor.

One of the most important international courts and a legal bulwark against #genocide, crimes against humanity, and #warcrimes is threatened by #BigTech dependency.

apnews.com/article/icc-trump-s…

#DigitalSovereignty #FOSS #EthicalTech


Anyone who supports Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people is a monster. If that’s you, stop and take a moment to really let that sink in. You’re the worst of the worst. You’re the kind of fascist who would have cheered on the Holocaust.

theguardian.com/world/2025/apr…

#israel #Palestine #Gaza #WestBank #settlerColonialism #apartheid #ethnicCleansing #genocide


And that's what I think about "risk mitigation" and "harm reduction". #USpol #Palestine #Israel #genocide (vote for the softer gentler ethnic cleansing but you decide which one that is)


Ukraine Daily summary - Monday, January 27 2025


Monday, January 27

Russia’s war against Ukraine


an apartment building at night with smoke coming out of the window

A vehicle of the Ukrainian White Angels police evacuation team rolls down a street in Pokrovsk on Jan. 25 as Russian troops advance close to the city. (Genya Savilov / AFP via Getty Images)

Ukraine strikes drone storage facility in Russia's Oryol Oblast and destroys 200 Shaheds, General Staff reports. Ukrainian Air Force units and Defense Forces struck drone storage facilities in Russia's western Oryol Oblast on Jan. 26, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces reported on Facebook on Jan. 26.

Russia launched over 1,250 bombs, 750 drones at Ukraine during Trump's first week in office. Russia fired 1,250 aerial bombs, over 750 attack drones, and 20 missiles at Ukraine in the past week, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Jan 26.

Zelensky appoints Ground Forces Commander as head of Khortytsia Group. President Volodymyr Zelensky appointed Major General Mykhailo Drapatyi, Commander of the Ground Forces of Ukraine, as the head of the Khortytsia Operational Strategic Group on Jan. 26.

Your contribution helps keep the Kyiv Independent going. Become a member today.

Ukrainian troops avoid encirclement in Velyka Novosilka, military says. Ukrainian troops successfully withdrew from some areas to avoid being encircled but fighting is ongoing around the village, which lies around 15 kilometers east of the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.

Russia bombs itself with 'smart bomb,' Astra reports. The bomb, a UMPB-250, was found in a village in Belgorod Oblast, but there were no casualties or damage.

Explosions reported in Khmelnytskyi, Ivano-Frankivsk amid drone attack, apartment building damaged in Dnipro. Several explosions were heard overnight on Jan. 27 in the western Ukrainian cities of Ivano-Frankivsk and Khmelnytskyi as Russia launched a drone attack on Ukraine.

Curated Theft | An investigation into the largest museum heist in Europe since World War II



International response


Fiber-optic cable between Latvia and Sweden significantly damaged in Baltic Sea, investigation underway. An underwater fiber optic cable belonging to the Latvian State Radio and Television Broadcasting Center (LVRTC) was significantly damaged on Jan. 26, reportedly due to external impact, according to LVRTC representative Vineta Sprugaine.

Washington orders USAID to suspend projects and funding in Ukraine, Suspilne reports. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), one of the largest official aid agencies in the world, has been told to stop projects in Ukraine following a 90-day foreign aid freeze imposed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Ukrainian media Suspilne reported, citing sources in the agency.

Read our exclusives


Ukraine war latest: Ukraine strikes drone storage facility in Russia's Oryol Oblast, General Staff reports

Ukrainian Air Force units and Defense Forces struck drone storage facilities in Russia's western Oryol Oblast on Jan. 26, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces reported on Facebook on Jan. 26.

Photo: Andrew Roth/ The Washington Post via Getty Images

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Potential encirclement in Velyka Novosilka prompts questions about last-ditch withdrawal strategy

Located east of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, the vital road-junction village was once home to 5,000 people. It’s now facing a similar fate to other Donbas strongholds, where Ukraine's delayed withdrawals resulted in avoidable casualties.

Photo: Wolfgang Schwan/Anadolu via Getty Images

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Transfer of Air Force personnel to infantry continues despite scandal

The Ukrainian military command's plan to throw high-skilled Air Force personnel into the infantry was said to be halted when the practice gained nationwide attention, followed by a condemnation from the president.

Photo: Sameer Al-Doumy / AFP / Getty Images

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How the Invictus Games help wounded veterans adapt to life after war

Nearly 400,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been injured and are unable to return to the front line. After coming back from the battlefield or captivity, they are often left to deal with their physical and mental trauma alone.

Photo: Invictus Games: Team Ukraine

Learn more

Belarus elections


Lukashenko poised to secure 7th term in Belarus 'sham' election. Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko has reportedly secured 86.82% of the vote, according to preliminary results announced by the country’s Central Election Commission.

Belarus releases American citizen amid controversial election. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio identified the U.S. citizen as Anastassia Nuhfer, who was detained in early December 2024.

Hungary blocks EU statement condemning Belarus election as undemocratic, RFE/RL reports. Without unanimous support from all 27 EU countries, EU chief diplomat Kaja Kallas issued her own statement, declaring that the January 26 election in Belarus was "neither free nor fair."

This newsletter is open for sponsorship. Boost your brand's visibility by reaching thousands of engaged subscribers. Contact partnerships@kyivindependent.com for more details.

Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Oleksiy Sorokin, Dominic Culverwell, Sonya Bandouil, and Olena Goncharova.

If you’re enjoying this newsletter, consider joining our membership program_**. Start supporting independent journalism today.**_


Oh here we go after all the months of mysterious recusals, slow actions, workplace allegations: icc-cpi.int/news/situation-sta…

"Today, on 21 November 2024, Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (‘Court’), in its composition for the Situation in the State of Palestine, unanimously issued two decisions rejecting challenges by the State of Israel (‘Israel’) brought under articles 18 and 19 of the Rome Statute (the ‘Statute’). It also issued warrants of arrest for Mr Benjamin Netanyahu and Mr Yoav Gallant."

(None for Yahya Sinwar on account of him being dead.) eta: the Palestine one: icc-cpi.int/news/situation-sta…

#palestine #israel #genocide


Ukraine Daily Summary - Wednesday, November 6 2024


Wednesday, November 6

Russia’s war against Ukraine


an apartment building at night with smoke coming out of the window

Military and police members inspect the remains of a Russian drone in the Shevchenkivskyi district after the Nov. 5 attack in Kharkiv. As a result of the strike, two women were injured. (Oleksandr Manchenko/Gwara Media/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)

Umerov confirms first battles between Ukrainian and North Korean soldiers in Kursk Oblast. The clashes were small-scale, according to Ukraine's Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.

Russia launches record number of drones in October, General Staff reports. Russia launched at least 4,300 Shahed-type attack drones and similar UAVs imitating Shaheds against Ukraine between August and October 2024 — a sharp increase compared to earlier months — according to the Ukrainian Air Force.

Ukrainian Legion in Poland reportedly receives over 500 applications in a month. The recruitment center of the Ukrainian Legion in Poland has received over 500 applications in a month from Ukrainians living in 30 countries, Ukrinform reported on Nov. 5, citing the center's officials.

Your contribution helps keep the Kyiv Independent going. Become a member today.

Ukrainian GPS spoofing for repelling drone attacks could indirectly affect smartphone clocks, General Staff says. Users in Ukraine have begun to experience more frequent automatic time changes on their smartphones due to the activation of electronic warfare systems during air raid alarms.

Google responds to claims map images revealed locations of Ukrainian weapons. "These satellite images were taken more than a year ago and come from publicly available sources — we deliberately do not publish the latest images of war zones," Google said.

Putin appoints Ukraine war veteran as governor of Tambov region. Russian President Vladimir Putin has appointed a Ukraine war veteran to govern one of Russia’s regions, marking the highest position awarded to a participant in the full-scale invasion so far.

Image/photo

The Kyiv International Economic Forum (KIEF) — one of the largest international forums in Eastern Europe — will take place on Nov. 7, with the Kyiv Independent as a media partner.

KIEF brings together representatives of business, government, and society to promote Ukraine's integration into the global community.

Register here: **forumkyiv.org/en/**

Read our exclusives


Image/photo

Zelensky used talk with Trump about nuclear weapons as leverage before crucial US election, analysts say

With Ukraine's future hanging in the balance ahead of the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election, Ukraine’s president turned up the heat, invoking the specter of nuclear weapons to nudge whoever lands in the Oval Office toward offering more conventional weaponry to Kyiv.

Photo: Uliana Boichuk/Novyny LIVE/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images

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Image/photo

Ukraine war latest: Kyiv confirms first battles between Ukrainian and North Korean soldiers in Kursk Oblast

The first clashes between the Ukrainian Armed Forces and North Korean soldiers have already taken place in Russia's Kursk Oblast, Ukraine's Defense Minister Rustem Umerov confirmed on Nov. 5 in an interview with South Korean TV channel KBS.

Photo: Ed Jones / AFP via Getty Images

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Image/photo

Ukraine struggles to contain Russian advance in Donetsk Oblast as US elections loom

As U.S. voters head to the polls on Nov. 5 for presidential elections likely to shape the course of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine, the situation on the battlefield is beginning to unravel for Kyiv.

Photo: Gaelle Girbes/Getty Images

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Image/photo

‘Trump wants to do everything he can to help Putin,’ McCain Institute head says

Evelyn Farkas, head of the McCain Institute—a U.S.-based think tank named after the late Republican Senator John McCain—fears that Donald Trump's return as president would be the worst-case scenario for Ukraine.

Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

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Image/photo

Harris or Trump — Ukraine braces for best, worst-case scenarios as US elects new president

The two candidates' pre-election positions on continuing to support Ukraine with weaponry are in such stark contrast that some experts estimate whoever emerges victorious will impact whether Kyiv stays in the fight or is choked of supplies to the point of capitulation.

Photo: Rebecca Noble/Getty Images

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Human cost of war


Russian military shoots 6 Ukrainian POWs in Donetsk Oblast, Prosecutor General's Office says. Russian troops shoot six captured Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers in the Pokrovsk sector of the front line in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office reported on Nov. 5.

Russian attack on Zaporizhzhia kills 6, injures 23. Russian forces reportedly targeted an infrastructure facility, starting a fire. The full extent of damage is being determined.

Russia strikes near residential area in Kharkiv**, injuring at least 2.** Moscow struck the Shevchenskyi district with a Shahed-type drone at nearly 5 p.m. local time, according to the preliminary data.

McFaul on Ukraine's future with Trump vs. Harris


Image/photo

International response


Sweden unveils new aid package for Ukraine worth over $9 million. Sweden will provide Ukraine with a new aid package valued at nine million euros ($9.8 million), which includes two vessels designed to enhance maritime security. The country will also supply 40,000 protective masks and respirators to Ukraine's Emergency Service personnel.

Estonia wants to bar Russian, Belarusian citizens from voting in local elections. Estonia aims to narrow voting eligibility in local elections to exclude Russian and Belarusian citizens in order to counter Russian influence, Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal told state broadcaster ERR on Nov. 4.

North Korean military involvement in Russia's war to be met with 'coordinated response,' G7 foreign ministers say. Besides the G7 members, including the U.S., Japan, Italy, the U.K., Germany, France, Canada, and the High Representative of the European Union, the statement was also signed by South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand.

U.S. presidential election


Republicans take back US Senate. The Republican party has won control of the U.S. Senate, according to projected election results on Nov. 5.

Trump wins key US state of North Carolina. With 90% of votes tallied, Trump led Democratic challenger Vice President Kamala Harris 50.8% to 48%. The projection marks the first call of a major swing state in the U.S. presidential election.

Chinese accounts linked to Russian election disinformation. Analysts at the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab found that accounts originating in China helped amplify Russian disinformation videos targeting U.S. voters.

Russia stepping up election interference as US citizens head to polls, intelligence agencies warn. Russia is expected to intensify attempts to undermine the U.S. vote on election day with a focus on swing states, U.S. intelligence agencies said in a statement on the eve of the election on Nov. 4.

Bomb threats across multiple states traced to Russian email domains**, FBI says.** As Americans head to the polls on Nov. 5, the FBI has announced that bomb threats targeting polling sites in multiple states appear to have originated from Russian email domains. The agency clarified that none of these threats have been deemed credible.

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About 2.5 years ago, dozens profiles on some supposedly "free speech" #Mastodon fedi were blocked for a few posts like this one. I was one of them.
The fact that it's now a book is called vindication against some nazi friendly admins

Despite Chrystia #Freeland’s denials, her grandfather was complicit in the Nazi #genocide
A new book provides the most authoritative study of Mykhailo Chomiak and the history of #Ukrainian_Nazis in #Canada

breachmedia.ca/chrystia-freela…



Binance complies with Israeli request, seizes Palestinian funds

cryptopolitan.com/binance-seiz…

Crypto exchange Binance has seized all funds belonging to Palestinians, acting on a request from the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).

…the exchange refuses to return the funds. All appeals have been denied. Palestinians affected by this decision have found their accounts frozen with no way to access their crypto assets...

#Binance #Aiding #Apartheid #Genocide #Israel #IDF #Palestine #AssetSeizure


Ukraine Daily Summary - Wednesday, July 10 2024


Wednesday, July 10

Russia’s war against Ukraine


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NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg delivers remarks during the opening of the NATO 75th anniversary celebratory event at the Andrew Mellon Auditorium on July 9, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

US, NATO allies to deliver 'dozens' of air defense systems in coming months, including 4 Patriots. The U.S. and at least nine other NATO allies have agreed to send dozens of air defense systems in the coming months to Ukraine, including at least four Patriot batteries, according to a joint agreement issued on July 9.

US supplies Ukraine with Metal Shark high-speed boats. The boats are equipped with modern navigation and control systems, automatic fire extinguishing, as well as a video surveillance system, making them maneuverable, fast, and ergonomic, the State Border Guard Service said.

F-16s in Ukraine may 'create conditions for counterattack,' Polish general says. "Ukrainian aviation should receive long-range missiles to destroy Russia's infrastructure, including airfields. When this happens, the logistics of the Russian army will be cut off from the main forces. If this is done, Ukraine's army command should form a strike group and strike back," Kraszewski said.

NATO summit communique to describe Ukraine's path to alliance as 'irreversible,' CNN reports. The question of how strong guarantees to give Ukraine regarding its future membership in NATO has become a key source of debate inside the alliance, CNN reported. The final version of the document may contain changes, CNN wrote, but the presence of the "irreversible" Ukraine's accession to NATO would be "a significant signal to Kyiv and Moscow."

Ukraine struck airbase, oil depot, and energy facility in Russia overnight, source says. Ukrainian intelligence agencies carried out an attack against a Russian military airfield, an energy substation, and an oil depot in three different regions overnight on July 9, a military intelligence source told the Kyiv Independent.

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UN assessment suggests Kyiv children's hospital suffered direct hit by Russian missile. Evidence from the scene of the children's hospital in Kyiv indicates "a high likelihood" of a direct hit by a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile on July 8, the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMUN) said on July 9.

Republican Party committee approves 2024 platform, makes no mention of Ukraine, Russia. The 16-page document, which must be still approved at the upcoming Republican National Convention, focuses primarily on domestic issues.

Zelensky says Indian PM's embrace with Putin a 'huge disappointment' after Russian mass attack on Ukraine. "It is a huge disappointment and a devastating blow to peace efforts to see the leader of the world's largest democracy hug the world's most bloody criminal in Moscow on such a day," President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on X.

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Ukraine war latest: Rescue operations end at Kyiv children's hospital, at least 33 killed in capital overall

Search and rescue operations at the site of a Russian missile attack on Okhmatdyt hospital in Kyiv concluded on July 9, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said.

Photo: State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Anadolu via Getty Images

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F-16s, multi-billion pledge, more Patriots, 'irreversible' membership – what Ukraine will and won't get at the NATO Summit

While 75th birthdays are usually a cause for joy and celebration, NATO's marking of this milestone at a three-day summit in Washington from 9-11 July is likely to be a rather more muted affair.

Photo: Kay Nietfeld/picture alliance via Getty Images

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Russia probes for air defense gaps to wreak havoc on Kyiv

Rather than evidence of some technological edge on Russia's side, experts linked the destruction wrought by the attack to Moscow's consistent probing for weaknesses in Ukrainian air defenses.

Photo: Roman Pilipey/AFP via Getty Images

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Russian propagandists spin conflicting disinformation in bid to evade responsibility for missile strike on children’s hospital

As some Russian talking heads call for more Ukrainians to be killed, Zelensky’s top aide urges more Western help to stop a war of ‘genocide.’

Photo: Roman Pilipey/AFP via Getty Images

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Human cost of war


Rescue operations end at Kyiv children's hospital, at least 33 killed in capital overall. In total, at least 33 people, including four children, were killed in Kyiv as a result of the July 8 attack, officials said the following day. Another 10 children are among the 117 injured.

International response


Saudi Arabia issued vague threats to G7 against seizing frozen Russian assets, Bloomberg reports. Saudi officials reportedly made "veiled threats" to Group of Seven (G7) nations hinting that the kingdom would sell some European debt holdings if Western allies seized about $300 billion in frozen Russian assets, Bloomberg reported on July 9, citing its sources.

North Korean military trainers travel to Russia weeks after signing of partnership agreement. A delegation of North Korean military trainers led by the head of a prestigious military academy in Pyongyang has begun a trip to Russia, North Korean state media reported on July 9.

'When innocent children killed, the heart bleeds,' Modi comments on Russian July 8 attack after meeting with Putin. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Moscow on July 8 in what was his first trip to Russia since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Threat of Russian sabotage led to heightened security at US military bases in Europe, CNN reports. The heightened security alert was first reported earlier in July as being connected to a possible terrorist threat directed at several U.S. military installations across Europe, including the facility in Germany where the U.S. European Command is based.

US announces moves against Russia-linked bot farm aimed at spreading disinformation. According to the Justice Department, the bot farm was organized by a Russian national who worked as the deputy editor-in-chief of RT in 2022, and expanded with funding from the Kremlin and collaboration with an official from Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB).

Moscow court orders arrest in absentia of Yulia Navalnaya. A Moscow court said that it had "approved the request of the investigators and decided a preventive measure in the form of detention for two months." Yulia Navalnaya currently lives outside of Russia, but would face jail time if she returns.

Bulgaria sues Russian Gazprom, seeking compensation of more than $430 million. In 2023, the Russian gas giant suspended Bulgargaz's long-term contract, which covered 90% of the quantities of natural gas delivered by Bulgargaz to customers.

Switzerland announces new sanctions against Russia. Switzerland announced new sanctions against Russia on July 8, bringing the country further in line with the EU's 14th round of sanctions adopted in response to the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Moscow agrees to discharge all Indians recruited into Russian army, Indian outlet reports. Moscow agreed to release all Indians serving in the Russian army and facilitate their return after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met President Vladimir Putin, Indian news publication NDTV reported on July 9, citing unnamed sources.

US provides Poland with $2 billion for financing of F-35s, Patriots, Abrams. The U.S. will provide Poland with a second $2 billion Foreign Military Financing loan to purchase defense equipment from the U.S., the State Department announced on July 8.

In other news


Ukrainian state defense company opens office in US. Ukraine's state-owned defense company Ukrainian Defense Industry, also known as Ukroboronprom, has opened a representative office in Washington as Kyiv seeks to strengthen defense partnerships abroad amid Russia's war.

Nearly $37,000 stolen from bank accounts of fallen soldiers in Dnipro. The suspects, with the help of an employee of the Regional Bureau of Forensic Medicine, stole payment cards and mobile phones registered in the online banking system from dead soldiers in a morgue.

Ukraine to be represented at 2024 Olympics by smallest number of athletes in history. Only 140 Ukrainian athletes will compete at the Olympic Games in Paris this year, the smallest number in the history of the country's participation in the games, as Russia's war has damaged or destroyed sports' facilities and frequent air raid alerts interrupt training.

EU freezes $32 million in defense funds for Georgia, halts accession process amid ‘low point’ in relations. Brussels has frozen 30 million euros ($32 million) in defense sector funding for Georgia after halting its EU accession process in June, EU Ambassador to Georgia Pawel Herczynski said on July 9.

Bloomberg names 12 oligarchs who earn billions in payouts from Russia's war economy. Russia's wartime economy has earned a dozen oligarchs $11 billion in dividends as Russian natural resource and finance giants earn record profits during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Bloomberg reported on July 9.

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Sensitive content


CONCERT OP DE #STUDENTENBEZETTING - zaterdagavond, 19u30!

Waarom mag #Isreal meedoen met het #Eurovisie-songfestival, ondanks tientallen jaren van #oorlogsmisdaden, #kolonialisme en de #genocide in #gaza

Het excuus van de organisatie is dat Eurovisie een "apolitiek muziekgebeuren" is en "geen wedstrijd tussen overheden". Maar deze "niet-politieke"-natuur hinderde om Rusland te verbannen in 2022 bij de inval van Oekraine.

Op deze hypocrisie aan te vechten, sluiten we aan bij de oproep van @queers.for.palestine en organiseren we onze eigen #muziekwedstrijd!

Iedereen is welkom op zaterdag 11 mei om 19u30 in het UFO-gebouw (Sint-Pietersnieuwsstraat in Gent)

PRAKTISCHE INFORMATIE

Dit is een concert van verschillende #Palestijnse artiesten.

We begrijpen dat er een hoge drempel is om naar de #bezetting to komen, we proberen echter om zo verwelkomend mogelijk te zijn. Daarom wat richtlijnen en dingen die je moet weten als je komt:

Dit evenement (en de bezetting) verwelkomt iedereen die:
- Respectvol is naar anderen
- die een einde wil aan de bezetting van de Palestijnse gebieden en een einde wil aan het gebruik van #fossiele #brandstoffen.

Het maakt ons dus niet uit welke huidskleur je hebt, uit welk land je komt, wat je sexuele orientatie is of welke religie je volgt. Moslims, Joden, atheisten, ... Iedereen is welkom.

Verder is dit ook een #safeSpace . Er zijn stewards om te assisteren bij pratkische zaken en zorg-personen die je kunnen helpen indien je je onveilig voelt of werd lastiggevallen. Er is een stille zone voor zij die even willen ontprikkelen.

De locatie is volledig toegankelijk voor rolstoelgebruikers, inclusief toiletten.

Daarnaast is er eten en niet-alcoholisch drinken voor een vrij bijdrage. Je mag ook je eigen eten en niet-alcoholisch drinken meenemen.

Let wel op: naar het concert komen betekent dat je even deel uit maakt van onze actie. We verwachten dat je dan onze actieconsensus volgt: respectvol zijn naar iedereen, het gebouw niet beschadigen en geen alcohol of drugs meenemen/gebruiken in de bezetting.

De bezetting is een daad van #BurgerlijkeOngehoorzaamheid. Dit is illegaal en er kan dus (in theorie) een politieinterventie zijn. Op dit ogenblik hebben we echter geen enkele reden om te vermoeden dat dit snel gaat gebeuren - er is zelfs nog geen politie ter plaatse geweest. De kans op arrestatie of juridische gevolgen is dus praktisch nul.

#gent #UGent #UniversityGhent #UniversiteitGent #studentProtest #StopGenocide #ceaseFireNow


“I’m a Google Cloud software engineer, and I refuse to build technology that powers genocide [and] apartheid”

dailydot.com/debug/google-prot…

Watch the others in the room. The assholes who jeer and manhandle the protestors. These are your peers in the tech industry. These are the “acceptable folks” in tech. Fuck these people.

Look at their faces. They know exactly what they’re complict in. Look at their smug smiles. Dickheads each one.

#tech #google #ai #ProjectNimbus #israel #genocide #palestine


Dear mastodon.social, why are you hiding/limiting @LALegault’s account?

Is it policy on mastodon.social to hide/limit pro-Palestinian / anti-genocide accounts?

(Someone there wanna check my account also, just in case?)

CC @Gargron

#mastodon #mastodonSocial #israel #palestine #gaza #genocide #censorship liberal.city/@wjmaggos/1119988…


Ukraine Daily Summary - Thursday, January 25


Thursday, January 25

Russia’s war against Ukraine


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A woman stands near a crater left by a missile in the yard of an educational institution in Kharkiv on Jan. 24, 2024. Russian forces shelled Kharkiv three times in 24 hours on Jan. 23 as part of a mass missile strike against Ukraine. Mayor Ihor Terekhov declared Jan. 25 a day of mourning for the victims of the attack. (Ivan Samoilov for Gwara Media/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)

Zelensky on Il-76 crash: Ukraine to demand international investigation, fate of POWs unknown. President Volodymyr Zelensky in his nightly address on Jan. 24 said Ukraine will insist on an international investigation into the crash of the Russian Il-76 transport plane in Belgorod Oblast.

RFE/RL Schemes project identifies crew members’ names of crashed IL-76, confirms 3 deaths. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's investigation project Schemes identified the names of the crew members of the Russian Il-76 transport plane that crashed in Russia's Belgorod Oblast on Jan. 24 that was allegedly carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war.

White House cannot confirm claims that Ukrainian POWs were in Belgorod Oblast plane crash. U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said that the White House was aware of the reports and was "obviously doing the best we can to try to get more clarity and more information on it.”

Ukraine says it was not informed about need to ensure safety of airspace before plane crash in Belgorod Oblast. The Russian side did not notify Ukraine about the necessity to ensure the safety of the airspace around Belgorod, Ukraine's military intelligence said, which has been done "repeatedly" in the past.

Lavrov calls for emergency UN Security Council meeting over plane crash. Speaking at the UN, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called the plane crash a "terrorist attack" and held Ukraine responsible.

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Kharkiv mayor declares day of mourning, proposes renaming Pushkinska Street following Russian missile attacks. January 25 will be a day of mourning for the victims of Russia's mass missile attacks against Kharkiv, Mayor Ihor Terekhov announced via Telegram. He also proposed renaming the city's Pushkinska Street in the wake of the Russian attack.

Military intelligence: Cyberattack on Russian scientific research center deals 'devastating' damage. Ukraine's military intelligence agency confirmed the media reports on the attack, saying that the hackers allegedly destroyed 280 servers and two petabytes of data.

Fire breaks out at oil depot in Russia's Krasnodar Krai. A fire broke out at an oil depot in the town of Tuapse in Russia's southern Krasnodar Krai the night of Jan. 25. According to preliminary information, there are no casualties.

Deputy minister: Foreign investors want to buy two Ukrainian state-owned banks. Foreign investors expressed interest in purchasing two Ukrainian state-owned banks, Ukrgasbank and Sense Bank, Deputy Finance Minister Yurii Drahanchuk told Ukrainska Pravda.

Military intelligence names fallen officer behind August sabotage of Russian bombers. A Ukrainian reconnaissance unit, led by fallen Colonel Oleh Babii, was responsible for the destruction or disabling of three Russian Tu-22M3 bombers in August 2023, Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR) revealed.

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Ukraine war latest: Russia says Ukrainian POWs were in crashed II-76 aircraft, Kyiv calls for investigation

A Russian Il-76 transport aircraft allegedly carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war crashed in Russia's Belgorod Oblast on Jan. 24 at around 11 a.m. local time. Ukrainska Pravda initially claimed that Ukrainian forces downed the plane, but the information was later retracted.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that 65 Ukrainian POWs were aboard the fatally crashed plane on its way for a prisoner exchange, as well as six crew members and three accompanying people.

Photo: Sefa Karacan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

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Russia's use of North Korean ballistic missiles not a sign of Moscow's depleted domestic capacity

Russia’s missile campaign against Ukraine’s cities and infrastructure is no longer limited by the rate of domestic production as North Korea becomes its top weapons supplier. Pyongyang has allegedly sent Moscow more than 1 million artillery rounds and the mass strikes on Dec. 30 and Jan. 2 provided the first direct evidence that Russia used North Korean missiles to attack a Ukrainian city, specifically Kharkiv. Experts say this will allow Russia to intensify its attacks on civilian targets.

Photo: Vladimir Smirnov / POOL / AFP via Getty Images

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Human cost of war


Death toll of Russian Jan. 23 strike on Kharkiv rises to 10. The two Kharkiv residents found the ruins of a five-story building today were a 56-year-old woman and a 57-year-old man.

Police: 2 killed**, 9 wounded in Russian attack on Hirnyk, Donetsk Oblast.** Russian troops launched an attack against the town of Hirnyk in Donetsk Oblast, targeting a residential area, the Donetsk Oblast police said on Jan. 24.

Russian forces Kherson hospital, injure 3 medical workers. Russian forces launched an attack against Kherson on Jan. 24, hitting a hospital and injuring at least three medical workers, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin reported.

General Staff: Russia has lost 378,660 troops in Ukraine. Russia has lost 378,660 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on Jan. 24. This number includes 840 casualties Russian forces suffered just over the past day.

International response


Shmyhal meets Fico in Uzhhorod, says Slovakia will not block EU aid for Ukraine. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico arrived in Uzhhorod for a meeting to discuss bilateral relations between Ukraine and Slovakia, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced on Jan. 24.

Reuters: EU unlikely to confiscate Russian central bank assets. European officials believe it is unlikely that the EU will seize Russian central bank assets, partly due to the legal risks, Reuters reported on Jan. 23.

EU Commission wants to continue liberalization of food trade with Ukraine. "The European Commission will soon announce a proposal to extend liberalization measures for Ukraine. Member states hope to receive information about such an extension, as well as a vision of long-term trade relations," Belgian Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium David Clarinval said.

Pentagon: Lack of funding prevents US from meeting Ukraine's most urgent battlefield needs. The U.S. government has not provided any military aid to Ukraine for the first time since the Ramstein-format meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG) was established in April 2022, Pentagon spokesperson Patrick Ryder said during the briefing on Jan. 23.

US Treasury Secretary reassures Ukrainian PM on $11.8 billion of budget support. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen reiterated in a video call with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal on Jan. 23 that the Biden administration is committed to securing $11.8 billion in direct budget support to Ukraine as part of the national security supplemental request before Congress.

Polish farmers begin protest against Ukrainian agricultural imports. The protests have occurred in over 200 places throughout Poland, the Polish media outlet RMF24 reported.

Estonia joins UK-led training operation for Ukrainian soldiers. According to Estonia’s Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur, the Estonian instructors will train Ukrainian volunteers at the U.K.’s military bases and continue cooperating with Ukrainian soldiers under the EU’s EUMAM training mission in Estonia.

Bank of Cyprus leaves Russia. The Bank of Cyprus, the biggest Cypriot bank, closed its representative offices in Moscow and St. Petersburg on Jan. 22, the data posted by the Central Bank of Russia revealed.

In other news


Ukraine's Yastremska reaches Grand Slam semifinals, repeating national record. Dayana Yastremska ousted Linda Noskova in two sets, 6-3 and 6-4, to reach the Grand Slam semifinal for the first time.

Orban: Hungary supports Sweden's NATO accession. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that he "will continue to urge" Hungary's parliament to "to vote in favor of Sweden’s accession and conclude the ratification at the first possible opportunity."

General: UK must train 'civilian army,' prepare for land war. Britain's recent cuts to its army indicate it is not taking the threat from Russia and other countries seriously enough, said the U.K.'s Chief of the General Staff, General Patrick Sanders.

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Today in Labor History October 8, 1965: The Indonesian military, led by future dictator Suharto, began torturing and massacring thousands of "suspected" Communists, leading ultimately to the overthrow of leftist President Sukarno. Other targets of the murders were members of the Gerwani women’s movement, trade unionists, ethnic Javanese Abangan, ethnic Chinese, atheists, teachers, students, and alleged leftists in general. The U.S. embassy provided the death squads with the names of suspected “communists.” Intelligence agencies from the U.S., U.K., and Australia provided anti-communist propaganda, as well as military and logistical aid. Overall, the genocide (1965-1966) led to 500,000 to 1.2 million civilian deaths and 1.5 million imprisoned. A top-secret CIA report from 1968 called the massacres "one of the worst mass murders of the 20th century, along with the Soviet purges of the 1930s, the Nazi mass murders, and the Maoist bloodbath of the early 1950s." Nevertheless, Western media either downplayed the events, or celebrated them. Suharto remained in power until 1998, continuing to imprison, torture and slaughter workers and civilians. He also presided over the East Timor Genocide of up to 300,000 people in the 1970’s.

#WorkingClass #LaborHistory #genocide #indonesia #Suharto #ColdWar #communism #anticommunism #torture #EastTimor #DeathSquads #cia