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“Those who tell the stories rule society.”

-- Plato

News and Opinion

More Authoritarian Crackdowns On Speech That’s Critical Of Israel

British “counterterrorism” police raided the home of Electronic Intifada editor Asa Winstanley on Thursday morning, seizing multiple electronic devices on suspicion that the journalist violated the UK’s 2006 Terrorism Act with his social media activity.

The Electronic Intifada is an independent outlet which focuses on Palestinian rights and the abuses of apartheid Israel. It has spent the last year publishing critical journalism that has later been vindicated by more mainstream outlets questioning empire propaganda on issues like the “mass rape” hoax and Israel’s implementation of the Hannibal Directive on October 7. Winstanley has been a major contributor to this journalism.

The Electronic Intifada reports:

“British counterterrorism police on Thursday raided the home and seized several electronic devices belonging to The Electronic Intifada’s associate editor Asa Winstanley.

“Approximately 10 officers arrived at Winstanley’s North London home before 6 am and served the journalist with warrants and other papers authorizing them to search his house and vehicle for devices and documents.

“A letter addressed to Winstanley from the ‘Counter Terrorism Command’ of the Metropolitan Police Service indicates that the authorities are ‘aware of your profession’ as a journalist but that ‘notwithstanding, police are investigating possible offenses’ under sections 1 and 2 of the Terrorism Act (2006). These provisions set out the purported offense of ‘encouragement of terrorism.’

“An officer conducting Thursday’s raid informed Winstanley that the investigation was connected with the journalist’s social media posts. Attempts to reach the Metropolitan Police Service for comment for this story have been unsuccessful.

“Although his devices were seized, Winstanley was not arrested and has not been charged with any offense.”

“The amount of authoritarianism and erosion of rights in the West to protect Israel — by censoring criticism of that foreign country and punishing its critics — is almost impossible to overstate,” journalist Glenn Greenwald tweeted on the news of the police raid, adding, “Mass firings in the US and speech-restricting laws. The UK, as always, is worse.”

As soon as the British government gave itself the right to designate targets of British warmongering as “terrorists” and then made it a speech crime to support those “terrorists”, it became inevitable we’d start seeing British journalists persecuted for criticizing their government’s foreign policy.

Basically what we’re seeing with the police raid on Asa Winstanley is the west finally reconciling (A) its need to suppress speech that’s critical of western warmongering with (B) its stated support for free speech. All it has to do is outlaw speech that can be deemed supportive of “terrorism” while designating the targets of western warmongering like Hamas and Hezbollah as “terrorists”.

This maneuver allows the western empire to stomp out critical speech about western foreign policy in a way that can be framed as reasonable, because obviously we can’t have people encouraging terrorism! That would be tantamount to shouting “fire” in a crowded theater — which we seem to have arbitrarily decided is the line where free speech must end.

We’re seeing the UK spearhead this initiative over the past year, with “counterterrorism” police persecuting journalists like Winstanley and Richard Medhurst and activists like Mick Napier, Tony Greenstein, Richard Barnard and Sarah Wilkinson, but we’re seeing similar iterations sprout up throughout the western world. Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram have been increasingly censoring speech that they deem supportive of “dangerous individuals and organisations” like Hamas and Hezbollah, and here in Australia police are investigating protesters for waving Hezbollah flags at a demonstration in Melbourne under a new law banning the public display of symbols of designated “terrorist” groups.

Ever since 2016 we’ve seen western empire managers publicly wringing their hands and fretting about the disadvantage the western world has in the information age because of its laws supporting free expression which allow the enemies of western governments to spread “propaganda” and “disinformation” to westerners. In its increasing criminalization of any speech which can be interpreted as supportive of designated terrorist organizations, they’ve found a major loophole which allows them to rein in the highly democratized freedoms of expression that westerners have been enjoying with widespread internet access and begin regaining their ability to control how westerners think, speak, act, and vote.

Earlier this year we saw Palantir CEO Alex Karp come right out and say that if western anti-genocide protesters are allowed to win the public debate, the west will lose the ability to wage wars.

“We kind of just think these things that are happening, across college campuses especially, are like a sideshow — no, they are the show,” Karp said during a conference in May. “Because if we lose the intellectual debate, you will not be able to deploy any army in the west, ever.”

For those who don’t know, Palantir is a CIA-backed surveillance and data mining tech company with intimate ties to both the US intelligence cartel and to Israel, playing a crucial role in both the US empire’s sprawling surveillance network and Israeli atrocities against Palestinians. Karp is a billionaire who sits on the Steering Committee of the Bilderberg Group and regularly features at the World Economic Forum and other platforms of plutocratic empire management.

We saw this imperial hand-wringing illustrated again this past May in a conversation between Senator Mitt Romney and Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the McCain Institute, during which both acknowledged some facts that generally go unstated by such empire managers.

After bemoaning Israel’s lack of success at “PR” regarding its Gaza assault, Romney just came right out and said that this was “why there was such overwhelming support for us to shut down potentially TikTok or other entities of that nature” — with “us” meaning himself and his fellow lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

“How this narrative has evolved, yeah, it’s a great question,” Blinken responded, saying that at the beginning of his career in Washington everyone was getting their information from television and physical newspapers like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post.

“Now, of course, we are on an intravenous feed of information with new impulses, inputs every millisecond,” Blinken continued. “And of course, the way this has played out on social media has dominated the narrative. And you have a social media ecosystem environment in which context, history, facts get lost, and the emotion, the impact of images dominates. And we can’t — we can’t discount that, but I think it also has a very, very, very challenging effect on the narrative.”

Notice how he said the word “narrative” three times? That’s how empire managers talk to each other, because that’s how they think about everything.

This is because empire managers are always acutely aware of something that normal human beings are not: that real power comes from manipulating the stories — narratives — that people tell themselves about their reality.

They understand that humans are storytelling animals whose inner lives are typically dominated by mental narratives about what’s happening, so if you can control those narratives, you can control the humans.

They understand that power is controlling what happens, but true power is controlling what people think about what happens.

They understand that whoever controls the narrative controls the world.

That’s what’s going on with all the mass media propaganda, Silicon Valley algorithm manipulation, plutocrat-funded think tanks, and mainstream culture manufacturing in New York and Hollywood, and it’s what’s going on with the police crackdowns we are seeing on journalists and activists in the UK. A few clever manipulators understand that you can control a society by controlling its dominant narratives, and they are conducting themselves accordingly.

Our rulers don’t think about things like normal people think about them. They don’t think in terms of doing the right thing or acting in a way that benefits everyone. They don’t think in terms of truth and honesty or the lack thereof. They only think in terms of what stories people are telling each other, and how those stories can be changed in a way that advances the interests of the empire they manage.

Empire managers — and highly manipulative people in general — do not use language in the way that normal people use it. Normal human beings use language to connect and communicate, whereas manipulators use it only to extract things they want from people and exert control over them. They do this by working to control the narratives that people have about their material reality.

That’s why when guys like Romney and Blinken talk to each other about why people are so upset at Israel, it never even occurs to them to discuss how Israel’s public image is being hurt by its own actions, or to suggest that it could improve that image by simply ceasing to behave in a monstrous way. All they talk about is “the narrative” of what Israel is doing, and how people having the ability to share ideas and information with each other online makes that narrative harder to control.

Just over a week ago Asa Winstanley published this. Today his home was raided by counter terror police, electronics seized—WITHOUT CHARGE—as part of a police investigation into charges under the Terrorism Act. Every journalist should be shouting from the rooftops about this. https://t.co/TMiJdvXBCo pic.twitter.com/CnGDDxnCuw

— Eyup Lovely (@eyuplovely) October 17, 2024

So while normal people are looking at the bloodshed and horror in Gaza and Lebanon and screaming it needs to stop at the top of our lungs, our rulers are hearing us and thinking, “Oh no, we need to find a way to get them to stop believing that narrative and get them to believe another one.”

That’s what we’re seeing with all the attempts to stomp out free speech both at demonstrations and online. They understand that if they lose control of the narrative, they won’t be able to deploy their armies anymore.

So please don’t make the mistake of thinking your attempts to disrupt their narrative control aren’t working. Don’t let anyone tell you your protests don’t make a difference or your dissident speech poses no threat to the powerful. If what we’re doing wasn’t working, empire managers wouldn’t be going nuts trying to stop us.

Aaron Maté : Danger for Journalists in Israel

When U.S. forces dragged a disheveled Saddam Hussein out of an underground hole, he begged them not to kill him despite being armed. Those who regarded Saddam as their model of resistance eventually collapsed. However, when Muslims look up to Martyr Sinwar standing on the… pic.twitter.com/S1QUN47y83

— I.R.IRAN Mission to UN, NY (@Iran_UN) October 17, 2024

Gideon Levy: Death of Sinwar Won't End Israel's War While U.S. Gives Netanyahu Free Rein in Gaza

Israel kills its prime target – but Sinwar’s death seems down to chance, not precise planning

In the end, after a year-long, multi-agency manhunt involving the latest technology, Israel’s best special forces and American assistance, Yahya Sinwar appears to have been killed by regular soldiers who had stumbled into him and had no idea whom they had killed. According to the initial reports, they were not there on an assassination operation and had no prior intelligence that they could be in the vicinity of the elusive Hamas leader, architect of the 7 October attacks, the man Israel most wanted to kill. It was only after they took a closer look at his face and found identity documents on him that the troops realised they had got Sinwar. ...

A video recorded on Hamas security cameras at about the same time, on 10 October, and found by the Israeli military some months later, shows Sinwar following his wife and three children through a narrow tunnel and disappearing into the murk. The ferocious manhunt that ensued involved a mix of advanced technology and brute force, as his pursuers have shown themselves prepared to go to any lengths, including causing extremely high civilian casualties, to kill the Hamas leader and destroy the tight circle around him.

The hunters were a taskforce of intelligence officers, special operation units from the IDF, military engineers and surveillance experts under the umbrella of the Israeli Security Agency, more widely known by its Hebrew initials, or by the acronyms Shabak or Shin Bet. Personally and institutionally, this team was seeking redemption for the security failures that allowed the 7 October assault to happen. But despite their motivation, they faced more than a year of frustration. ...

Some in the Israeli defence establishment believed that Sinwar would be surrounded by hostages as human shields, though others maintained that would slow him down and make his entourage a bigger target. Certainly the risk of killing hostages did not stop the IDF dropping 2,000lb bombs on suspected Hamas leadership targets. In the end, the Israelis reported finding no sign of hostages in the vicinity of Sinwar when he was killed, who seems to have been in the company of just two other men.

Hamas Leader Killed in Israeli Strike + US Silent on Detained American Journalist w/ Max Blumenthal

Harris says death of Yahya Sinwar is chance to finally end Israel-Gaza war

Kamala Harris has hailed the death of Yahya Sinwar as an opportunity to finally end the war in Gaza and prepare for “the day after” when Hamas no longer dominates the territory. The US vice-president and Democratic nominee said “justice has been served” with the death of the Hamas leader, adding that the US, Israel and the wider world were “better off as a result”.

Locked in a titanic election contest with Donald Trump to win the battleground state of Michigan, home to a large Arab-American voting bloc sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, Harris also pressed for an end to the year-long hostilities that have killed more than 42,000 people in Gaza and left a trail of destruction in the territory.

“Hamas is decimated and its leadership is eliminated,” she said. “This moment gives us an opportunity to finally end the war in Gaza.” The end of the conflict had to be accompanied by security for Israel, the release of the remaining hostages and an end to suffering in Gaza, she said.

She also hinted at her support for Palestinian statehood by saying it should herald Palestinians’ rights to “dignity, security, freedom and self-determination”. Her comments chimed with those of Joe Biden, who has been criticised by progressives for unstinting support for Israel even while Benjamin Netanyahu had ignored his entreaties to avoid civilian casualties and ease humanitarian suffering in the tiny coastal territory. ...

Biden said he would talk to Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders about “ending this war once and for all”.... However, Netanyahu – who has been accused of stalling a ceasefire deal – hinted that the conflict was far from over. “The war is still ongoing,” he said in a televised speech late on Thursday.

COL. Lawrence Wilkerson : Can Israel Humble Iran?

Netanyahu crosses every red line and yet is rewarded with more weapons. Why?

For the past year, as the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, eviscerated one US-imposed “red line” after another in Israel’s brutal war on Gaza, Joe Biden and his feckless administration insisted that they did not want the conflict to spread to neighboring Lebanon and beyond. But over the past month, Netanyahu and his government launched an all-out war against Lebanon, with intensive airstrikes throughout the country and a ground invasion of southern Lebanon. More than 1 million people have been displaced, as Israel expands its assault on what it claims are Hezbollah “strongholds”.

And how has Biden responded to Netanyahu’s latest obstinacy and constant humiliation of the US administration? Biden keeps sending more US weapons and military support to Israel. On Sunday, the Pentagon announced that it was deploying one of its most advanced missile defense systems to Israel, along with about 100 American troops to operate it. This will be the first time that Washington has openly deployed US forces to Israel since Netanyahu’s government launched its war on Gaza after last October’s attack by Hamas militants. ...

It’s the latest example of Biden failing to impose any consequences on Netanyahu as he expands the Gaza war into a regional one – with an invasion of Lebanon and a new confrontation with Iran. ... Israel vowed to retaliate for the recent Iranian missile strike, risking a wider regional war that could draw the US into a direct conflict with Iran and its network of allied militias in Lebanon, Yemen, Syria and Iraq. The Biden administration has tried to impose new “red lines” on Netanyahu and his rightwing government, urging Israel not to attack Iran’s oil production or nuclear enrichment sites, which could trigger a harsh Iranian response and spiral into a larger confrontation. Israeli officials reportedly told the US that they would avoid targeting Iran’s oil, infrastructure and nuclear sites.

But over the past year, Netanyahu has broken multiple promises to Biden to restrain Israeli attacks on Gaza, and more recently in Lebanon. The Israeli premier repeatedly sabotaged negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas in Gaza, and backed out of an agreement last month with the US and France for a temporary ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon. The Pentagon’s decision to deploy its THAAD missile defense system, along with US troops, in Israel could embolden Netanyahu to yet again undermine the Biden administration with an extensive Israeli attack on Iran. Despite insisting he doesn’t want a wider war, Biden keeps rewarding Netanyahu for broadening the conflict and assuring him that the US will bail out Israel no matter what it does.

How Lebanon Is Resisting the US-Backed Israeli Invasion, w/ Elijah Magnier

Hezbollah declares new ‘escalatory’ phase in war with Israel

Lebanon’s Hezbollah says it is launching a new and escalating phase in its war against Israel, saying it has used precision-guided missiles against troops for the first time, AFP reports.

Hezbollah “announces a transition to a new and escalatory phase in the confrontation with the Israeli enemy, which will be reflected in the developments and events of the coming days,” the group said in a statement. ...

It said its rocket strikes continue “to escalate day by day,” with “precision-guided ones...being deployed for the first time”.

Famine Takes Hold in Gaza as Israel Cuts Off Food Imports

The Israeli government has reportedly cut off commercial food imports to the Gaza Strip, a move that was revealed Thursday as new data showed that the besieged enclave's entire population is facing emergency-level hunger as famine conditions take hold.

Reuters reported that the far-right Israeli government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has "stopped processing requests from traders to import food to Gaza, according to 12 people involved in the trade, choking off a track that for the past six months supplied more than half of the besieged Palestinian territory's provisions."

"Since October 11, Gaza-based traders who were importing food from Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank have lost access to a system introduced in spring by COGAT, the Israeli government body that oversees aid and commercial shipments, and have received no reply to attempts to contact the agency," Reuters continued. "The shift has driven the flow of goods arriving in Gaza to its lowest level since the start of the war."

Israel's obstruction of humanitarian assistance and repeated attacks on aid convoys have sparked catastrophe in the Palestinian enclave. According to an updated analysis published Thursday by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), "the whole territory is classified in IPC Phase 4 (Emergency)" and "given the recent surge in hostilities, there are growing concerns that this worst-case scenario may materialize."

"September saw the lowest volume of commercial and humanitarian supplies entering Gaza since March 2024," said the IPC. "This sharp decline will profoundly limit food availability and the ability of families to feed themselves and access services in the next few months. The upcoming winter season is expected to bring colder temperatures along with rain and potential flooding. Seasonal diseases and increasingly limited access to water and health services are likely to worsen acute malnutrition, especially in densely populated areas, where the risk of epidemics is already high."

IPC projected that the number of people in Gaza classified in IPC Phase 5—defined as "extreme critical levels of acute malnutrition and mortality"—is set to "nearly triple" in the coming months.

Tjada D'Oyen McKenna, CEO of the aid group Mercy Corps, said in a statement that the new IPC findings "come as no surprise given the unrelenting bombardment, continued decimation of what little infrastructure remains, and the insufficient humanitarian aid flowing into Gaza."

"Whether officially declared or not, famine is an imminent, devastating reality that should shame the world," said McKenna. "The disturbing worst-case scenario for an entire population is all but certain without an immediate cease-fire, healthcare support for those already extremely malnourished, and the dramatic scale-up of aid."

The IPC figures were released days after the Biden administration belatedly threatened to suspend U.S. military aid to Israel if it continues to block humanitarian aid deliveries.

Days after the administration issued its warning—which took the form of a letter to Israel's defense minister and minister of strategic affairs—Israel allowed dozens of humanitarian aid trucks to enter northern Gaza for the first time in weeks.

Joyce Msuya, the United Nations' acting under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, described the fresh aid delivery as a mere "trickle" that did not change the fact that "all essential supplies for survival are running out."

"Throughout Gaza, less than a third of the 286 humanitarian missions coordinated with Israeli authorities in the first two weeks of October were facilitated without major incidents or delays," Msuya told members of the U.N. Security Council earlier this week. "Every time a mission is impeded, the lives of people in need and humanitarians on the ground are put at even greater risk."

Dmitry Orlov: Israel's Downfall - Uncontrolled Chaos

Netanyahu's Likud Party Backs 'Preparing to Settle Gaza' Event as Genocide Continues

Bolstering fears that Israel plans to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to make way for Jewish colonization, the ruling Likud party of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week sent out invitations to an event near the border of the embattled coastal enclave titled "Preparing to Settle Gaza."

Haaretzreported that the event—which is set to take place next week—is part of an initiative launched by Nachala, a Jewish supremacist movement whose members build illegal settler outposts in the occupied West Bank and whose ultimate objective is Israeli annexation of all of Palestine. The larger initiative's sponsors include the far-right Religious Zionist and Jewish Power parties.

"The event is not just a theoretical conference, but a practical exercise and preparation for renewed settlement in Gaza," Nachala said. "The return to settlement in Gaza is no longer just an idea but a process that is already in advanced stages, with government and public support."

A poster advertising the event declared: "Gaza is ours. Forever."

The ruling Likud party, led by Netanyahu, is organizing an event to advocate for the resettlement of Gaza. This is what the war in Gaza is about. This is what the U.S. is tacitly backing. pic.twitter.com/bEE5PPWfZ5

— Etan Nechin (@Etanetan23) October 16, 2024

According to The Times of Israel, 10 of the 32 Likud members of the Knesset and one Cabinet member, Social Equality Minister May Golan—a self-described "proud racist"—said they would attend the event. Haaretz said far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu, and Periphery Development Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf are also expected to attend.

Other Knesset lawmakers who say they'll go to the conference include Deputy Knesset Speaker Nissim Vaturi—who once called for Gaza to be "wiped off the face of the Earth"—and Tally Gotliv, who said Israel should use nuclear weapons for "crushing and flattening Gaza without mercy."

Nachala said the event will include a tour of Kibbutz Nirim, which was attacked by Hamas-led fighters on October 7, 2023. However, the kibbutz published a statement saying no such tour will take place.

"We are still waiting for the government and coalition members to take responsibility for the catastrophic failures of October 7 and for the deep wound still in our hearts," the community said. "Instead of holding political events aimed at establishing settlements, the government should focus on bringing home the 101 hostages and supporting the reconstruction of Gaza border communities."

Ben-Gvir and Smotrich attended and spoke at a similar event sponsored by Nachala in January. Both ministers called for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza.

Netanyahu has repeatedly claimed that he has no intention of resettling Gaza, which Israel conquered in 1967 and from which Jewish settlers and Israeli forces withdrew in 2005, while maintaining a physical and economic stranglehold on the strip.

The prime minister's claim stands in stark contrast with plans by others in his party and government to recolonize Gaza, as well as Likud's founding charter, which states that "between the [Mediterranean] Sea and the Jordan [River] there will only be Israeli sovereignty."

Last year, Amir Weitmann, who chairs Likud's Libertarian faction, published a plan examining the economics of forcibly transferring Gazans to Egypt's Sinai Desert. A separate 2023 proposal by then-Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel, who is also a Likud member, would ethnically cleanse Palestinians from Gaza, forcing them into the Sinai.

Former MK Moshe Feiglin, who quit Likud to found the right-wing Zehut Party, earlier this year invoked Nazi leader Adolf Hitler as he called for Israel to resettle the Gaza Strip and create a "Hebrew Gaza."

"This is our country, all of it," Feiglin said, adding, "As Hitler said, 'I cannot live if one Jew is left.' We can't live here if one 'Islamo-Nazi' remains in Gaza."

Israeli forces earlier this month launched a major assault on northern Gaza that, in practice, resembles a plan pushed by a group of retired generals, which argued for forcibly displacing people in the north and starving those who remain.

Some Israeli opposition lawmakers condemned the upcoming settlement conference.

"A year later, and it's like we haven't learned a thing," MK Gadi Eisenkot of the National Unity party said Wednesday. "Today, we were informed of the intention to set up settlement projects in the Gaza Strip, a controversial issue in Israeli society."

"This is not what our sons and daughters sacrificed their lives for," added Eisenkot, whose son and nephew were killed in Gaza last year.

The resettlement conference comes amid Israel's ongoing assault on Gaza, for which the U.S.-backed country is on trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice. More than 150,000 Palestinians have been killed or wounded—including at least 10,000 people who are missing and feared buried beneath rubble—by Israel's 377-day onslaught, which has also forcibly displaced, starved, or sickened millions of Palestinians.

ICC Will Withdraw War Crimes Charges If Sinwar Confirmed Dead. Also: Netanyahu Still Alive

The office of International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan said Thursday that it is "aware of the reports" that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was assassinated by Israeli forces in Gaza, adding that it would withdraw its request for an arrest warrant for war crimes and crimes against humanity related to the October 7, 2023 attack and imprisonment of hostages if Sinwar's death is confirmed.

"In line with standard practice, the office will take relevant action if sufficient information is received confirming his death," Khan's division said of Sinwar, according toThe Associated Press.

Israeli authorities said DNA, fingerprints, and dental records confirm Sinwar's death.

The announcement left some international critics frustrated at the ICC's delay in issuing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, more than a year after Israel began its bombardment of Gaza.

In May, Khan announced that he had formally applied for warrants to arrest Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for their role "in the crimes of causing extermination, causing starvation as a method of war, including the denial of humanitarian relief supplies, [and] deliberately targeting civilians in conflict."

Khan also said he was seeking arrest warrants for three Hamas leaders: Sinwar, former political leader Ismail Haniyeh, and al-Qassam Brigades commander Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri for alleged war crimes including extermination, murder, hostage-taking, rape, torture, and other violations of international law.

Haniyeh was assassinated in late July by Israeli operatives in Tehran, Iran. Israel claims to have also killed Al-Masri, although this has not been confirmed.

In a Thursday evening address, Netanyahu asserted that "Hamas will no longer rule Gaza. This is the beginning of the day after Hamas."

"This is an opportunity for you, the residents of Gaza, to finally break free from its tyranny," he added in an appeal to Palestinians in the embattled strip—more than 150,000 of whom have been killed or wounded in a war for which Israel is on trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice.

Netanyahu's government allowed Hamas—which Israel propped up for years in a bid to counterbalance the power of the Palestinian National Authority—to receive billions of dollars in cash payments via Qatar. ...

With the ICC accused of moving too slowly in pursuit of arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders, Khan has urged the court to "urgently render its decisions" on his May applications.

Khan had some reason to tread carefully, as Israel waged a nearly decade long intimidation campaign against former ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda in response to her pursuit of justice for Israeli war criminals.

U.S. lawmakers have also threatened to sanction ICC officials who seek to hold Israeli leaders accountable for violations of international law, and in June dozens of House Democrats joined their Republican colleagues in passing H.R. 8282, the Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act, which would sanction ICC personnel involved in efforts to bring Israeli leaders to justice.

In an opinion piece published earlier this week by Al Jazeera, former United Nations official Moncef Khane wrote that "the ICC's credibility is hanging by a thread."

"It took Khan no less than seven months to recommend to the court's pre-trial chamber the issuance of warrants of arrest for Netanyahu and Gallant, notwithstanding a rather formidable amount of evidence of their personal responsibility in the war crimes perpetrated in Gaza," he noted.

"Now that he has done his duty, it is for the three sitting judges of the pre-trial chamber to decide whether to issue the warrants or not," Khane added. "The glaring and extraordinary amount of evidence of war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and crime of aggression is such that were they to abscond from their responsibility, they would ring the death knell of the ICC."

US grants temporary protected status to Lebanese nationals amid Israel war

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a new “temporary protected status” allowing Lebanese nationals in the US to remain in the country and apply for work permits, as the “ongoing armed conflict” in Lebanon continues with Israel expanding its invasion and its attacks on Hezbollah.

As of July 2024, around 11,500 Lebanese nationals were believed to be in the US on nonimmigrant visas for business, tourism, temporary work or other opportunities, with California and Michigan hosting the most. About 11,000 of them will probably now be eligible to apply for temporary protected status, as well as for deferred enforced departure – in other words, protection from deportation. An additional 1,740 students from Lebanon may also be eligible for special student relief.

The US state department recently urged Americans to depart Lebanon.

The latest announcement includes new details on a deferred enforced departure for Lebanese nationals that was announced back in July, and a planned new temporary protected status designation for the country. The designation will last 18 months “due to ongoing armed conflict and extraordinary and temporary conditions in Lebanon that prevent nationals of Lebanon from returning in safety”, the DHS stated.

The US has said it opposes the scope of Israeli air strikes in the Lebanon capital, Beirut, while continuing to provide military support to Israel.

Zelensky War Speech Shocks West; US: No Ukr NATO, Strikes Rus, F16 Delay; Ukr Troops Flee Selidovo

And now - from kooks with nukes to kooks seeking nukes...

Ukraine ‘will seek nuclear weapons’ if it cannot join Nato

Volodymyr Zelensky appeared to suggest Ukraine could seek nuclear weapons unless it is given Nato membership. The Ukrainian president told European Union leaders during a speech in Brussels that Kyiv needed a strong deterrent against Russia.

“Either Ukraine will have nuclear weapons, which will serve as protection, or it must be part of some kind of alliance. Apart from Nato, we do not know of such an effective alliance,” Mr Zelensky said. He added that Donald Trump agreed that it was a “fair argument” for Ukraine to seek atomic weaponry when the two leaders spoke in the United States. ...

Ukraine has four nuclear power stations and German magazine Bild quoted a Ukrainian official specialising in weapons procurement who said that Kyiv could build a nuclear missile.“We have the material, we have the knowledge. If the order is given, we will only need a few weeks to have the first bomb,” he said. “The West should think less about Russia’s red lines and more about our red lines.”

Lawsuits aim to prevent ‘illegal’ hiding of toxic chemicals by US regulators

Two lawsuits aim to stop US federal regulators and industry from “illegally” hiding basic information about toxic chemicals used in consumer products that are potentially polluting the environment and endangering public health. Companies often claim that toxic chemicals’ health and safety data, and even their names, are “confidential business information” (CBI) because making the data public could damage their bottom line.

The US Environmental Protection Agency frequently allows industry to use the tactic, which makes it virtually impossible for public health researchers to quickly learn about dangerous chemicals. It also bars most EPA staff and state regulators from accessing the information and criminal charges could be brought against those who do.

That leaves regulators attempting to protect the public without essential information for some chemicals and in effect creates a “shadow regulatory government” in the EPA, said Tim Whitehouse, a former EPA attorney who is now director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (Peer), a plaintiff in one of the suits. “It makes it impossible to have proper chemical oversight because much of the information that the EPA is evaluating is withheld from other regulators within the EPA, the states and the public,” he said.

He pointed to the EPA’s approval of hundreds of types of PFAS, or “forever chemicals”, which are a class of compounds known to generally be toxic, accumulate in humans and not fully break down in the environment. The chemical class is thought to be contaminating drinking water for tens of millions of people. A 2016 EPA new chemicals database for about 200 PFAS approved for commercial use by the agency shows more than 3,500 pieces of information on the chemicals concealed from the public. ...

The tactic continues to be widely used despite that Congress’s 2016 revision of the Toxic Substances Act included provisions designed to increase transparency around chemicals. But when the EPA implemented the legislation and developed rules, it weakened the law, said Samantha Liskow, an attorney with the Environmental Defense Fund nonprofit, which has sued over the EPA’s rules.

New York officials call for big oil to be prosecuted for fueling climate disasters

New York state prosecutors could press criminal charges against big oil for its role in fueling hurricanes and other climate disasters, lawyers wrote in a new prosecution memorandum that has been endorsed by elected officials across the state.

The 50-page document, published by the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen and the progressive prosecutors network Fair and Just Prosecution on Thursday, comes as the US south-east struggles to recover from the deadly hurricanes Helene and Milton, both of which scientists have found were exacerbated by the climate crisis. It details the havoc wrought on New York by 2021’s Hurricane Ida and 2012’s Hurricane Sandy, and other deadly climate events such as extreme heatwaves across the US this past summer.

These disasters are fueled by the climate crisis, which is primarily caused by the burning of fossil fuels. And a growing body of evidence shows that big oil knew about the climate dangers of its products but promoted them to the public anyway, the authors write. “This conduct was not just amoral,” the memo says. “It was criminal.”

Officials who endorsed the strategy include Brad Hoylman-Sigal, the New York senate judiciary committee chair; Antonio Reynoso, the Brooklyn borough president, the state senator Kristen Gonzalez; the assemblymembers Emily Gallagher and Jessica González-Rojas; and the city councilmembers Sandy Nurse and Carmen De La Rosa. “It is clear that the actions of big oil, major fossil fuel companies and their executives have endangered generations of Americans,” said González in a statement. “Big oil must be held accountable for their actions, and justice must be won for those who’ve suffered the devastating impacts of climate-related disasters.”

Overwhelming majority of young Americans worry about climate crisis

The overwhelming majority of young Americans worry about the climate crisis, and more than half say their concerns about the environment will affect where they decide to live and whether to have children, new research finds. ...

“One of the most striking findings of the survey was that this was across the political spectrum,” said the lead author, Eric Lewandowski, a clinical psychologist and associate professor at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. “There was no state sample where the endorsement of climate anxiety came in less than 75%.”

The study was published in the Lancet Planetary Health, and follows a 2021 study covering 10 countries. Both the previous and current study were paid for by Avaaz, an advocacy group. The new study was conducted by researchers from NYU School of Medicine, Stanford University, Utah State University, the University of Washington and George Washington University, among others.

In an online survey, researchers asked young people aged 16-25 from all 50 US states to rate their concerns, thoughts and emotions regarding the climate crisis; about their political affiliation and about who has responsibility for causing climate change. Researchers conducted the survey online from July to November 2023.

An overwhelming majority of young people said they were worried about the climate crisis – 85% said they were at least moderately worried, and more than half (57%) said they were “very or extremely” worried. Nearly two-thirds endorsed the statement: “Humanity is doomed,” and more than half of the sample (52%) endorsed: “I’m hesitant to have children.”

Also of Interest

Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.

Not Just Its Neighbors, Israel Makes War on the Entire World

Sha’ban al-Dalou burned alive before the world. May his death awaken us

Robert Fisk and the Great War for Civilization (w/ Lara Marlowe) | The Chris Hedges Report

Revealed: The Israeli Spies Writing America’s News

Between Russia & Iran All’s Well That Ends Well

Will the Conflicts in the Middle East Spill Over Into the Caucasus (Part 2): What Are the US and Türkiye Up To?

‘An intense experience’: magical realism in Fukushima – in pictures

Under the microscope: Nikon Small World photomicrography 2024 – in pictures

Tareq Baconi on Hamas Chief Sinwar's Death & Why Killing Palestinian Leaders Won't Pacify Resistance

THIS Is Why Gaddafi Thought He Was Safe From An Overthrow! w/ Moussa Ibrahim

Syria regime changers fail to sabotage London Palestine event

A Little Night Music

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Geno Delafose & French Rockin' Boogie - Je Va's Jamais La Voir Encore

Geno Delafose & French Rockin' Boogie - Chicken On The Run

Geno Delafose & French Rockin' Boogie - Promised Land

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Geno Delafose & French Rockin' Boogie - My Zydeco Shoes

Geno Delafose & French Rockin' Boogie - Millennium Stage (October 9, 2016)