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Meta’s Oversight Board Adopts International “Norms” Instead of US Free Speech Principles

By Didi Rankovic | Reclaim The Net | May 14, 2024

In a world where international law (a set of ratified documents) is being rapidly replaced with narratives about a “rules-based system,” it is no wonder that US tech giants like Meta choose to set their free speech “baseline” not on their country’s Constitution, but on “international human rights norms.”

The less clarity there is, the more space for abuse and biased interpretation, critics might say. But Meta Oversight Board member Kenji Yoshino is satisfied that this is the right approach, and even spelled it out.

“Our baseline here is not the US Constitution and free speech, but rather international human rights norms,” Yoshino recently told the National Constitution Center, a private nonprofit.

Such bold statements require bold justification, and so this Oversight Board member noted that in terms of free speech “values” the US is “an outlier,” while Meta’s global reach means it must adjust its policies accordingly. … continue

RFK Jr. Files Lawsuit Against Meta, Alleging Censorship of Presidential Campaign Video

By Didi Rankovic | Reclaim The Net | May 14, 2024

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is running as an independent candidate in the upcoming US presidential election, has announced that he filed a lawsuit against Meta (Facebook and Instagram) in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. … continue

Woman Injured by AstraZeneca COVID Vaccine During Clinical Trial Sues for Breach of Contract

By Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D. | The Defender | May 14, 2024

A woman injured by the AstraZeneca vaccine she received in 2020 during a U.S. clinical trial is suing the vaccine maker in the first case of its kind challenging the legal liability shield for COVID-19 vaccine makers.

Brianne Dressen, who since 2021 has advocated on behalf of vaccine injury victims, filed suit Monday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah seeking compensation for injuries and disability she alleges resulted from the vaccine.

Under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP Act), AstraZeneca and other COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers cannot be held liable for injuries related to the vaccines.

However, Dressen’s lawsuit — which also names the Salt Lake City-based clinical trial site consolidator Velocity Clinical Research — contends AstraZeneca can be sued for breach of contract.

According to the lawsuit, the company agreed to cover the medical costs for any vaccine-related injuries under a contract between AstraZeneca and clinical trial participants.

Dressen alleges that in her case, the cost of her injuries and disability amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. Dressen, who was 39 when she was vaccinated, was previously a preschool teacher but is now unable to work.

Within hours of getting her first dose, Dressen experienced tingling in her right arm — a neurological condition known as paresthesia — and blurred vision and vomiting.

In the weeks that followed, her condition worsened, with the paresthesia spreading to her legs, resulting in disability and a diagnosis in 2021 by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) of post-vaccine neuropathy. … continue

FDA Officials Knew of COVID Vaccine Injuries in Early 2021 But Took No Action

By Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D. | The Defender | May 13, 2024

U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials Dr. Janet Woodcock, principal deputy commissioner of food and drugs and Peter Marks, M.D., Ph.D., director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, knew about COVID-19 vaccine injuries in early 2021, according to documents obtained by Children’s Health Defense (CHD).

The same documents revealed that Dr. Anthony Fauci knew COVID-19 vaccines were causing serious injuries within days of their rollout in December 2020.

The latest documents show vaccine-injured individuals emailed Woodcock and Marks several times throughout 2021 and 2022 with pleas for help regarding their injuries — when they claimed the vaccines were “safe and effective.”

The 300-page batch of documents released on April 21 contains correspondence between the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and people who contacted the agency about injuries they sustained after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.

CHD requested the documents via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in November 2022. On April 12, 2023, CHD sued the NIH to obtain the records after the NIH failed to respond to the FOIA request.

In an October 2023 settlement, the NIH agreed to produce up to 7,500 pages of documents at a rate of 300 pages per month.

Documents contradict FDA officials’ public statements

Between January 2021 and February 2022, Woodcock was the FDA’s acting commissioner. Previously, she led COVID-19 therapeutic development as director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. Marks has headed the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research since 2016.

The documents contradict testimony and public statements Woodcock and Marks made in 2021 — and more recently — about the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines.

Dr. Joel Wallskog, a Wisconsin orthopedic surgeon who stopped practicing medicine after being injured by Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, told The Defender that public health officials “clearly privately were aware of these adverse events but continued to publicly communicate the ‘safe and effective’ narrative.”

Dr. Danice Hertz, a retired gastroenterologist from California who was injured by the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, frequently communicated by email with officials, including Marks. She told The Defender the documents reflect her own experience.

Hertz said she has amassed 160 pages of emails with Marks and other officials. She sent the first email in December 2020, when she first attempted to alert FDA officials about her injuries. She told The Defender:

“All this time, I have known that they were very aware of our pain and suffering yet chose to ignore us. It is clear from reading these documents that very serious and similar neurological injuries were occurring, yet these individuals continued to promote these vaccines without providing informed consent to the public about their dangers.”

Hertz said that by ignoring the multitude of complaints, FDA officials made it difficult for the vaccine-injured to be acknowledged and to get care for their injuries. … continue

UN says it informed Israel of convoy that came under attack in Rafah

Press TV – May 14, 2024

The United Nations says it had informed Israel’s authorities of the movements of a clearly marked UN convoy that came under attack by the regime’s military forces in Rafah on Monday.

An international staff member, identified as Col Waibhav Kale, was killed and another one injured, when Israeli forces attacked the convoy that was on its way from Rafah to the European Gaza Hospital in Khan Younis.

In a statement on Tuesday, UN spokesperson Rolando Gomez said, “The UN informs Israeli authorities of the movement of all of our convoys.”

“This is a standard operating procedure,” he said.

“This was the case yesterday [Monday] morning, so we have informed them. And it was a clearly marked UN vehicle.” … Full article

Nearly half a million forced out of Rafah by Israel: UNRWA

The Cradle | May 14, 2024

The UN Palestine refugee agency (UNRWA) said on 14 May that nearly 450,000 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced from Rafah over the past week.

“Empty streets in Rafah as families continue to flee in search of safety,” UNRWA said via a social media post. “People face constant exhaustion, hunger, and fear. Nowhere is safe. An immediate ceasefire is the only hope.”

The UN agency added that Palestinians leaving Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah have gone back to Khan Yunis and other destroyed areas “that are in no way fit for them to live in.”

“The infrastructure [in Khan Younis] is completely destroyed. There are no water, electricity, nor sewage services,” one displaced Palestinian told UNRWA.

Louise Wateridge, a UNRWA spokesperson in Rafah, said in a social media post that “families have moved as far west as possible, now reaching the shore and along the beach.”

“Inland in Rafah is now a ghost town. It’s hard to believe there were over 1 million people sheltering here just a week ago,” she added

This comes as the Israeli military is making a deeper push into the southern Gaza Strip as the eight-month mark of the war on the besieged enclave has passed.

The Israeli army has increased its air raids into Rafah; this includes the targeting of a UN Department of Safety and Security (DSS) vehicle, which led to the death of one staff member and the injury of another.

“With the conflict in Gaza continuing to take a heavy toll – not only on civilians but also on humanitarian workers – the [UN] Secretary-General reiterates his urgent appeal for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and for the release of all hostages,” Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for the UN Secretary-General said in a statement on Monday.

Another Israeli air strike on the displaced Palestinians in Rafah on Sunday led to the death of 18 civilians, many of whom were children. … Full article

Artists withdraw from music festival in Britain in support of Gaza

Press TV – May 14, 2024

More than 100 music artists have pulled out of an annual 4-day festival held in Britain to show solidarity with the Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Media reports said as of Tuesday 106 music artists have cancelled their scheduled appearances at The Great Escape 2024 to voice opposition to their sponsors “bankrolling genocide.”

The annual Great Escape Festival in England, held in May, is sponsored by the British Barclays Bank, which has investments in companies that supply arms and munitions to the Israeli regime. […]

In March, and in a move similar to the Great Escape pullout, many music artists refused to play at SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas, because of the event’s connections to the US Army and weapons companies providing weapons and ammunition to Israel. – Full article

Oxford University faculty and staff endorse Gaza solidarity encampment

MEMO | May 14, 2024

As of this morning, just over a week since the establishment of Oxford’s “Liberated Zone” for Gaza, over 500 members of faculty and staff at the University of Oxford have now pledged their support in writing for the solidarity encampment and its demands. More signatures are being added in support daily.

The overwhelming support from faculty and staff highlights the widespread feeling across the University that the Administration should engage with the encampment and meet its demands. These demands call on Oxford University to cut its existing financial and institutional ties to Israeli genocide, occupation and apartheid.

Among those pledging their support are professors from almost every department in the University, from Biology, History, Politics, Economics and Computer Science, to Law, Music, Anthropology, Geography, Philosophy, Physics and Chemistry. They are joined by librarians and archivists, by staff in computing, development, access and administration, and by keepers of the University’s collections.

In a joint statement, the signatories made clear their firm support for the encampment and its demands: “As members of faculty and staff of the University of Oxford, we stand firmly in support of the members of the university community who have begun an encampment outside the Pitt Rivers Museum to demand that the university divest from Israel’s genocide in Gaza, as well as from Israel’s ongoing apartheid regime against Palestinians and its settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.” … continue

Strategic setbacks for US, Israel as the Resistance Axis gains ground in Syria

Recent resistance operations in eastern Syria have established new rules of engagement that constrain both Washington and Tel Aviv

By Khalil Nasrallah | The Cradle | May 14, 2024

For several years, the presence of the region’s Axis of Resistance forces in Syria has remained vulnerable to US and Israeli attacks across the country, from east to west. The US has persistently attempted to disrupt the communication routes along the Tehran–Beirut axis, through which Damascus plays an important link.

Starting in 2017, after eliminating ISIS from this key border crossing, Axis forces have safeguarded passage of vehicles through the vital Al-Qaim–Al-Bukamal road and effectively established rules of engagement in eastern Syria, gradually limiting Washington’s tactical flexibility and dominance. This was a strategically important development – maintaining a foothold west of the Euphrates River to the far southeast of Syria continues to be essential for both state and non-state actors in the resistance. … continue

Vulcan Program’s Delay Shows US Can’t Even Copy, Much Less Replace, Russia’s Rocket Engine Know-How

By Ilya Tsukanov – Sputnik – 14.05.2024

A senior US Air Force official has sent defense contractors a strongly worded letter over delays to the Vulcan Centaur heavy-lift launch vehicle program – initiated to replace the workhorse Atlas V, which uses Russian-made RD-180 engines. The delay signals the US’s inability even to copy Russian-made equipment, a leading space researcher says.

US Air Force Assistant Secretary Frank Calvelli has sent the heads of Boeing and Lockheed Martin’s United Launch Alliance space divisions an “unusually blunt” appeal highlighting Pentagon concerns over the years-long delays to the Vulcan rocket project.

“I am growing concerned with ULA’s ability to scale manufacturing of its Vulcan rocket and scale its launch cadence to meet our needs. Currently there is military satellite capability sitting on the ground due to Vulcan delays,” Calvelli complained.

“As the owners of ULA, and given the manufacturing prowess of Boeing and Lockheed Martin corporations, I recommend that you work together over the next 90 days to complete an independent review of ULA’s ability to scale its launch cadence to meet” contract requirements, the official urged. … continue

The U.S. Defeat in Vietnam Changed Nothing

By Jacob G. Hornberger | FFF | May 14, 2024

April 30 was the anniversary date when North Vietnamese forces forced U.S. officials to exit Vietnam, much to their chagrin. That was after some 58,000 American men had died for nothing, not to mention the tens of thousands of injured American soldiers and the millions of Vietnamese who were killed or injured as a result of U.S. intervention in Vietnam’s civil war.

To this day, there are those who claim that those 58,000 men died for their country and in defense of our freedoms here at home. Almost 50 years after the end of that sordid intervention, such people continue to operate under severe self-delusion. … continue

Ukraine demands part of NATO states’ GDP

RT | May 14, 2024

Ukraine wants unrestricted access to Western weapons, even more aid, and all frozen Russian funds, President Vladimir Zelensky’s chief of staff Andrey Yermak revealed on Tuesday.

At the Copenhagen Democracy Summit, organized by the pro-Ukrainian NGO Alliance of Democracies, Yermak announced a report authored by the group he co-chairs with the NGO head and former NATO secretary-general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

The ‘International Working Group on Security Issues and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine’ includes former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, former Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, retired US Army General Wesley Clark, and former US special envoy for Ukraine Kurt Volker, among others.

“It is important that allies spend 0.25% of their GDP on military aid to Ukraine and unlock $300 billion in frozen Russian assets to support our country,” Yermak said in a Telegram post summarizing the report. … Full article

West considering large-scale conflict – Russian spy chief

RT | May 14, 2024

A number of Western leaders believe they would be able to maintain their hegemony if they plunge the world deeper into turmoil, information possessed by Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) suggests, according to the agency’s head, Sergey Naryshkin.

The SVR chief’s statements come as French President Emmanuel Macron and several officials from the Baltic states have repeatedly hinted in recent months at the possibility of deploying Western troops to Ukraine. Russia has warned that such a move would escalate the conflict.

Speaking during a plenary meeting of the Federation Council on Tuesday, Naryshkin stated that his agency had obtained information that “some Euro-Atlantic politicians consider it possible to unleash a large-scale military conflict in order to maintain their hegemony.”

He noted that there are “strong reasons” to believe that such an escalation could actually occur if the West decides that it would be “reasonably safe” and beneficial to its interests. … Full article

Russia’s Belousov, Shoigu to Take Part in Informal Putin-Xi Meeting – Kremlin Aide

Sputnik – 14.05.2024

MOSCOW – Andrei Belousov, the candidate for the post of Russian defense minister, and newly-appointed Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu will participate in the informal meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov told reporters on Tuesday.

The informal Putin-Xi meeting will take place on May 16 during the Russian leader’s visit to China. Other members of Russian government, including acting Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and acting Finance Minister Anton Siluanov will participate in the meeting.

“We invited, naturally, the new defense minister, Belousov, to participate in this program, who, together with Lavrov and me, will participate in this meeting on the evening of May 16 that will be held in the very narrow format. Also, in continuation of our contacts with Chinese colleagues, we included Security Council Secretary Shoigu in the delegation — he should be a part of 1+4 [meeting],” Ushakov said. … continue

Firing Blanks: The Pentagon as a Fiscal Disaster Factory

By Bill Buppert | The Libertarian Institute | May 14, 2024

I have mentioned previously that the introduction of all the latest and greatest western weapons in the inventory given to the Ukraine would have some very deleterious effects in the future. One was permitting possible future antagonists to observe and and take detailed notes on the tactics, techniques and procedures (TTP) and experiment with prospective or actual countermeasures to neutralize or destroy these weapons systems and platforms. The other concerns would be allowing the first near-peer/peer martial contest to use this to shape and refine future strategic objectives. The Russians are certainly doing their homework and actively modifying and improving their means of waging war.

Performance is predictably abysmal for so many of these Western systems. The corporate/access media seems to finally be catching on that the weapons programs are not very effective.

The Biden administration has committed more than $50 billion in military aid to Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022, according to a Pentagon fact sheet. U.S. assistance has proven vital in helping Ukraine fend off Russia’s advances and mount counteroffensives, but some of the weapons have failed to have the desired impact as Russia’s military has adapted, according to media reports and experts.

Here are some highlights from the article … continue

Ukrainian military stole money intended for fortifications – media

RT | May 14, 2024

Military and civilian authorities in Ukraine’s Kharkov Region paid millions of dollars to fake companies for the supply of non-existent building materials to construct defensive fortifications, the newspaper Ukrainska Pravda reported on Monday. With no fortifications built, Russian forces have advanced rapidly through the region.

Russia has seized dozens of towns and villages in the northern part of Kharkov Region after launching an offensive last Friday. According to the latest update from the Russian Defense Ministry, Russian troops had captured the village of Bugrovatka on Monday and are inflicting losses on Ukrainian manpower and hardware near Veseloye, Volchansk, and Liptsi, the latter of which is located just 20km from the outskirts of Kharkov city.

Writing in Ukrainska Pravda on Monday, Ukrainian anti-corruption activist Martina Boguslavets explained that Kharkov’s Department of Housing and Communal Services (ZhKG) and Regional Military Administration (OVA) had been given 7 billion hryvnias ($176.5 million to build fortifications to hold back this advance.

Much of this money was embezzled, Boguslavets claimed. For the supply of wood, the ZhKG and OVA signed contracts worth 270 million hryvnias ($6.8 million) with five companies that were set up immediately after the contracts were announced. No bidding process took place, and at least two of these companies were owned by the same person, Boguslavets wrote.

“Moreover, the owners of these firms do not resemble successful businessmen and businesswomen,” she wrote. “They have dozens of court cases, from whiskey theft to domestic violence against a husband and mother; some of them are deprived of parental rights and have had enforcement proceedings for bank loans.” … continue

West mired in Ukraine crisis due to unwillingness or inability to confront reality

By Eusebio Filopatro | Global Times | April 21, 2024

As the Russia-Ukraine war drags on, a peace conference is to be held in Switzerland this summer. But Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said that Russia hadn’t been invited to participate in June’s talks. “It would have been funny if it weren’t so sad,” he commented.

Practically all Russian commentators, and even some prominent Western ones, trace the roots of the conflict in Ukraine to NATO’s attempts at incorporating Russia’s neighbor – as officially stated since at least as far back as 2008. A disregard for Russia’s status as an equal and sovereign partner was evident in the contempt for the Minsk agreements, which both former German chancellor Angela Merkel and former French president Fran?ois Hollande described as gimmicks to buy time for the only option that was seriously pursued, military confrontation. Later on, Vladimir Putin’s vocal request for security guarantees was dismissed yet again.

Fast forward a few years, and this historical tragedy has snowballed to its extreme conclusions. Politico recently reported Ukrainian officials’ concerns about a collapse of the frontlines. As Elon Musk calls for a negotiated settlement to come soon, he warns that the longer the war drags on, the larger the territory Russia will seek to annex. Even CNN is now explaining how Russia’s guided bombs are wreaking havoc on Ukrainian defenses. Meanwhile, the IMF has raised Russia’s growth outlook. In short, and irrespective of whether this will take weeks, months or years, Russia is well placed politically, economically and militarily to inflict the final blow.

The conditions of Ukraine’s sponsors are remarkably less favorable. … continue

Is the U.S. blackmailing India over assassination allegations to be more hostile toward China and Russia?

By Finian Cunningham | Strategic Culture Foundation | May 13, 2024

The United States and its Western allies have stepped up a media campaign to accuse India of running an assassination policy targeting expatriate dissidents.

The government of Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, has furiously denied the allegations, saying there is no such policy.

Nevertheless, the American Biden administration as well as Canada, Britain and Australia continue to demand accountability over claims that  New Delhi is engaging in “transnational repression” of spying, harassing and killing Indian opponents living in Western states. … continue

NATO boss attacks China over Russia ties

RT | May 13, 2024

Beijing is “enabling” Moscow in the Ukraine conflict, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has claimed, arguing that the US-led bloc has to be involved in Asia and not just in the North Atlantic.

Stoltenberg’s comments came during a question-and-answer panel at the NATO Youth Summit, in response to an inquiry from a Yale University student in the US.

“The war in Ukraine demonstrates that security is not regional, security is global,” Stoltenberg said. “The main country that is enabling Russia to conduct its war of aggression against Ukraine in Europe, is China.”

Stoltenberg went on to argue that China is “by far the biggest trading partner” of Russia, supplying Moscow with “critical components” for missiles, drones and other weapons. He also accused Iran of “providing drones” to Russia and North Korea of “providing ammunition and weapons.”

“Iran, North Korea and China, they are key for Russia’s capability to fight against [the] European friend [and] neighbor of NATO,” Stoltenberg said, referring to Ukraine. “So, this idea that we can divide Asia from Europe doesn’t work anymore.”

The US had pushed for NATO to expand its mission into Asia long before the Ukraine conflict boiled over in February 2022, however. Washington also appears to have been the source of claims that Beijing, Tehran and Pyongyang provided weapons and ammunition to Moscow, without offering much in the way of evidence to back that up. … continue

Global Temperatures and Reduced Cloud Cover

By Paul Homewood | Not A Lot Of People Know That | April 29, 2024

A very telling pair of graphs from Ole Humlum’s Climate4You. … continue

The Forgotten Science of Vaccine Disease Provocation

Why do vaccines cause people to get the diseases they are supposed to protect you against?

A Midwestern Doctor | The Forgotten Side of Medicine | May 10, 2024

Story at a Glance:

• Many people notice they appear to become ill with the disease they are being vaccinated against (e.g., the flu or COVID) after receiving a vaccine.

• While this association is frequently ridiculed by the medical profession, over a century of evidence exists that demonstrates it occurred for a variety of diseases (e.g., there is extensive literature on it for typhoid fever, tuberculosis, and polio), to the point it was previously termed “disease provocation.”

• Unfortunately, since the knowledge of disease provocation would decrease vaccine sales, it tends to “vanish” from the medical profession’s memory, leading to almost identical debacles happening a few decades later that doctors at the time were “baffled by” (e.g., we discuss how this happened with polio).

• Disease provocation appears to be due to the immune system being diverted to targeting the vaccine’s antigen rather than doing it’s natural job. Since we frequently depend upon the immune system to control latent infections or recent ones currently in the incubation stage, that immunological diversion can lead to an existing infection spiraling out of control.

• In this article we review many examples of how this happened with infections in the past and highlight how this same process can cause vaccination to increase one’s risk of a severe flu infection, a severe COVID infection, a Lyme disease reactivation or a HPV infection progressing to cervical cancer.

Continue

Israel Stopping All Aid To Gaza, Journalist Tells Sputnik

By Ian DeMartino – Sputnik – 13.05.2024

Last week, Israel seized the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing, the only entry point into Gaza not controlled by Israel and where the largest amount of aid was entering the Gaza Strip. Israel has halted all shipments entering through the Rafah border crossings and the nearby Kerem Shalom crossing, citing nearby fighting.

Israel has completely stopped all aid shipments going into Gaza, Lebanon-based journalist and geopolitical analyst Leila Hatoum told Sputnik’s Fault Lines on Monday.

“They control the whole area and… they have shut down all border crossings. Nothing has entered Rafah or Gaza for the past eight days. Israelis have shut down all borders,” Hatoum explained, citing her sources on the ground in Gaza.

“Nothing has entered Gaza, not even water, flour, medicine, children’s needs, baby formula, hygienic products. Nothing. Nothing whatsoever,” she emphasized.

On Monday, videos emerged on social media showing Israeli citizens destroying aid intended for Gaza on trucks waiting to cross the Tarqumiya checkpoint. There doesn’t appear to be any police presence attempting to stop the looters in the videos. According to media reports, four individuals were arrested at the scene. … continue

Shameless

By Craig Murray | May 13, 2024

Incredibly the Israeli genocide in Gaza is now reaching new heights of violence. Casualty figures are not coming in, as the attacks are so bad that bodies cannot be recovered, medics cannot travel and there are almost no medical facilities operational now anyway.

We now see that the Western injunctions not to attack Rafah were a smokescreen of lies to mask complicity. The final pocket of Gaza is being ruthlessly ethnically cleansed and its infrastructure will be destroyed like all the rest.

It is striking that this is accompanied by an absolutely shameless doubling down of support for Israel by the Western political and media classes. Any thought that their isolation from the vast breadth of public opinion would give them pause, must be abandoned. Their Zionist lobby paymasters have jerked the chain, and rather than rowing back, we are seeing a redoubling of their efforts to suppress dissent and obscure the truth.

Some of this shameless distortion is so dissonant with the alleged norms of Western society it is almost impossible to believe it is happening. Here are a few examples. … continue

UN condemns killing of international staff member in Gaza

Press TV – May 13, 2024

A UN-run school is deserted in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 12, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
A UN staff member has been killed and another wounded when their vehicle was struck in the southern city of Rafah in the besieged Gaza Strip.

In a statement released on Monday, Farhan Haq, spokesperson for Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, confirmed there were two individuals in Rafah in a UN-marked vehicle on their way to the European Hospital as part of their duties.

“The Secretary-General was deeply saddened to learn of the death of a United Nations Department of Safety and Security (DSS) staff member and injury to another DSS staffer when their UN vehicle was struck as they traveled to the European Hospital in Rafah this morning,” Haq said.

“The secretary-general condemns all attacks on UN personnel and calls for a full investigation.”

“With the conflict in Gaza continuing to take a heavy toll – not only on civilians, but also on humanitarian workers – the Secretary-General reiterates his urgent appeal for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire,” the statement said.

Media reports, quoting local sources, earlier said a UN vehicle was hit by Israeli shelling in Rafah. … Full article

Only one power could stop Israel’s Rafah invasion – but it dropped the ball

By Robert Inlakesh | RT | May 13, 2024

Israel has been threatening a full-scale invasion of the Gazan city of Rafah for months, with the US government belatedly warning against the move and calling for a ceasefire. However, the Biden administration has consistently flip-flopped on the issue and refused to take serious measures to pressure Israel into reaching a deal.

On May 6, Hamas publicly announced that it had accepted a ceasefire proposal, triggering celebrations throughout Gaza. The rejoicing was short-lived though, as the Israeli government reiterated its refusal to accept a deal and pledged instead to launch a ground operation in Gaza’s southernmost city, despite US government objections.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu even stated that “the day after is the day after Hamas. All of Hamas,” meaning there is no ceasefire deal he will accept.

Despite the Israeli military capturing the Rafah Crossing between Gaza and Egypt, in addition to killing dozens of civilians after bombing 100 targets throughout Rafah, Israel announced that a delegation had been sent to Cairo to “exhaust” all possibilities of reaching a ceasefire. As it would later turn out, the ceasefire proposal that Hamas accepted was almost identical to one drafted by the CIA and Israeli intelligence, and lauded by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken as a “strong proposal”.

Meanwhile, in cities like Haifa and Tel Aviv, Israeli protesters – led by the families of captives held in Gaza – had taken to the streets to demand their government accept the ceasefire terms, which included the release of all Israeli prisoners. Clashing with the police and labeling the Netanyahu government liars, the demonstrators threatened to burn the country if their prisoners were not freed.

The US response the very next day was to gaslight reporters by telling them that the whole world was wrong and that Hamas had not accepted any ceasefire proposal. … continue

Israelis use Palestinian kids as human shields: Rights group

Press TV – May 12, 2024

A Geneva-based rights group has condemned the Israeli regime forces for using children as human shields in their assaults on Palestinians.

The Defense for Children International (DCI) said it heard testimonies of three children who described how they were used as human shields by occupying Israeli forces during a recent search and assault operation in the West Bank’s Tulkarm refugee camp, the Middle East Eye on Sunday reported.

The DCI said the Palestinian children said on May 5 and May 6 Israeli soldiers had forced them to walk ahead of them as they searched through the refugee camp, describing two instances in which the Israeli regime forces had placed their rifles on their shoulders.

One teen named Kareem recounted how Israeli forces stormed his family’s apartment on May 6 and then forced him to lead them through the apartment block as they carried out a search operation in the building. The teen said the soldiers had placed a loaded rifle on his shoulders and fired two shots toward one of the apartment’s entrances. … continue

American Pravda: Gaza Protests and the Legend of the Tiananmen Square Massacre

BY RON UNZ • UNZ REVIEW • MAY 13, 2024

The Israel/Gaza conflict is now well into its eighth month as the slaughter and starvation of Palestinians continues unabated, with many tens of thousands of helpless civilians already dead.

Despite occasional bleats of feeble disapproval by members of the Biden Administration, America’s government has continued to fully support that massacre, providing all the necessary money and munitions that enable it. … continue

Hillary Clinton ridicules university students

By Steven Sahiounie | Strategic Culture Foundation | May 12, 2024

… Despite the fact that Hillary Clinton is a professor of international and public affairs at Colombia University, the former Secretary of State, Vice President, and presidential candidate, denounced her own students, as well as students across the U.S.

In a recent interview on MSNBC, she suggested that young Americans are largely ignorant. In a display of arrogant distain, she painted all the campus protesters as idiots.

“They don’t know very much at all about the history of the Middle East, or, frankly about history in many areas of the world, including in our own country,” Hillary Clinton said the MSNBC interview.

Clinton supports the genocide in Gaza, because she is a Zionist and denies the freedom of Palestine, even though freedom is a core American value. But, perhaps she has never studied what are the American core values? … Full article

Unremarkable peer recruited by Zionist lobby to stop Palestine Action

By Yvonne Ridley | MEMO | May 13, 2024

I have written many times about the heroic activities of Palestine Action, the protest group which burst onto the scene around four years ago using a blend of unrivalled direct action, anarchy and good, old-fashioned peaceful resistance to disrupt and wreck Israel’s war machine factories in the UK.

Despite numerous arrests, very few PA members have been prosecuted successfully, largely because the arms dealers they target do not want to be subject to probing questions under oath in a British court. What are they trying to hide?

Let us suppose that these giants of the arms industry fear going to court. If so, it is impossible for them to give evidence in the same courts as the Palestine Action protestors arrested by the police for causing criminal damage which has run into millions of pounds. Who knew that red paint could be so costly? … continue

Cambridge’s most affluent college to divest from arms companies: Report

Press TV – May 13, 2024

Trinity College Cambridge, the most affluent constituent college of the University of Cambridge, has decided to divest from all arms companies.

According to the UK-based news website Middle East Eye, the college council, which holds responsibility for important financial and other decisions, opted to eliminate Trinity’s investments in arms companies in early March. […]

The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP), a Britain-based rights group had issued a legal notice to Trinity College on February 28, warning that its investments could make it potentially complicit in the Israeli war crimes.

The ICJP indicated in its legal notice that “officers, directors and shareholders at the college may be individually criminally liable if they maintain their investments in arms companies that are potentially complicit in Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity.” … Full article

US senator calls on Israel to nuke Gaza, says US made the right call against Japan

Press TV – May 13, 2024

US Senator Lindsey Graham says Israel should drop nuclear bombs on Gaza to end the war and do “whatever” it deems necessary in the aggression, drawing a comparison to when the US dropped atomic bombs on Japan during World War II.

Graham, a South Carolina Republican, suggested that Israel would be right to flatten the besieged Gaza Strip simply because the US did it to the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 and killed more than 200,000 people.

“Why is it OK for America to drop two nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end their existential threat war? Why was it OK for us to do that? I thought it was OK,” he told NBC News on Sunday, “So, Israel, do whatever you have to do to survive … Whatever you have to do.”

Graham also urged US President Joe Biden to provide the occupying regime with more bombs.

“When we were faced with destruction as a nation after Pearl Harbor, fighting the Germans and the Japanese, we decided to end the war by bombing Hiroshima, Nagasaki with nuclear weapons,” he said, calling the atomic attacks “the right decision” by the US.

“Give Israel the bombs they need to end the war. They can’t afford to lose,” the US senator added. … Full article

360,000 flee Rafah due to Israel strikes: UNRWA

MEMO | May 13, 2024

The number of Palestinians who were forced to leave Rafah due to attacks by Israeli forces rose to 360,000, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said today.

“Nearly 360,000 people have fled #Rafah since the first evacuation order a week ago,” UNRWA stated on X.

“Meanwhile, in north #Gaza bombardments & other evacuation orders have created more displacement & fear for thousands of families,” it added. … continue

Iran, India move forward with port deal in face of US sanctions

The Cradle | May 13, 2024

India expects to secure a “long-term arrangement” with Iran to manage the Iranian port of Chabahar, Reuters reported on 13 May, as India seeks to expand exports to central Asia and Europe.

India has been developing part of the port in Chabahar on Iran’s southeastern coast to export goods to Iran, Afghanistan, and central Asian countries while bypassing Pakistani ports in Karachi and Gwadar. India and Pakistan have been enemies since the partition of British-occupied India created the Muslim state of Pakistan in 1947.

Thus far, India has managed the Chabahar port under short-term contracts, which must be renewed regularly. The uncertainty about future operations this has caused, and the complications of engaging in trade with Iran due to US sanctions, has discouraged significant investment in the port.

“As and when a long-term arrangement is concluded, it will clear the pathway for bigger investments to be made in the port,” Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar told reporters in Mumbai.

A source speaking with Reuters said Indian Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal is traveling to Iran to witness the signing of a “crucial contract” that would ensure a long-term lease of the port to India. … continue

Germany upset by China’s embrace of Russia – envoy

RT | May 13, 2024

China’s stance on the Ukraine conflict and close ties with Russia call into question its relationship with Germany and Europe, Berlin’s ambassador to Beijing has said.

China has ramped up trade with Russia since the start of the conflict, while refusing to condemn Moscow’s actions, Patricia Flor said in an interview with the South China Morning Post on Monday.

”For Germans and Europeans, Russia’s aggression is an existential threat. This is a nuclear power next to us that just invaded its neighbour. It has really shaken up people,” Flor told the news outlet. “The situation casts doubt on China’s relations with Germany and Europe.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz paid a visit to China in April, and met with President Xi Jinping, who outlined four principles to prevent the conflict in Ukraine from escalating. Among them was for the West to stop “adding fuel to the fire,” which he said would lay the groundwork for peace.

Germany, a NATO member, has emerged as a top supplier of military equipment and weapons to Kiev, and has trained Ukrainian soldiers. In 2022 and 2023, Berlin spent around €6.6 billion ($7.13 billion) on military assistance to the country, according to government data.

Beijing has insisted it remains neutral in the Ukraine conflict, and repeatedly called for the crisis to be settled through negotiations. … continue

Poland cancels talks with Ukraine over corruption fears

RT | May 13, 2024

Poland has called off negotiations with Ukraine on food imports after several of Kiev’s representatives were accused of corruption, the Dziennik Gazeta Prawna daily reported on Monday, citing the deputy minister of agriculture.

The talks were set to take place on May 14, to address trade disputes amid large-scale farmers’ protests in Poland over the import of cheap produce from Ukraine.

Explaining the cancellation, Michal Kolodziejczak told the newspaper that Warsaw “will not negotiate with individuals against whom charges of corruption have been brought.” … continue

Russia’s oil and gas revenue soars

RT | May 13, 2024

Russia’s energy revenue saw a massive increase in the first four months of the year, mainly due to rising oil prices, the Finance Ministry has revealed.

Proceeds from oil and gas exports jumped by 82.2% in January-April, compared to the same period of 2023, reaching over 4.2 trillion rubles ($45.3 billion), the ministry said in a press release.

In January, one barrel of Russia’s flagship Urals blend of crude cost an average of $60 per barrel, but prices then gained steadily, reaching $84 in April. In May, Russian crude traded at around $74 per barrel. […]

In 2023 Russia became the largest supplier of oil to China, accounting for 19% of Beijing’s oil imports (2.1 million barrels per day). Moscow has also become India’s top oil exporter. – Full article

The more wind turbines we have the more useless they are

Wind turbines could steal as much as 38% of the power off turbines downwind and even from ones 50 kilometers away

By Jo Nova | May 9, 2024

There goes those plans to cover the continental shelf with talismen to the Wind Gods.

New research shows wind turbines off the East Coast of the US could end up stealing as much as a third of the energy from other wind turbines downstream. And in some conditions, the turbulent wake they leave might stretch out 55 kilometers behind them. This effect is worst on turbines in the same “farm” but could even affect other wind farms a long way off.

The wake effect will be strongest in summer. We’ll just have to ask everyone to turn off their air conditioners then?

Scientific civilizations do this sort of research before they commit $10 trillion dollars, set up a trading scheme, and blow up the coal plants. Imagine if building a coal plant near another plant made it 30% less efficient on hot days… continue

The World’s Largest Floating Solar Farm Wrecked by a Storm Just Before Launch

“Who could have predicted acres of fragile floating structures would be vulnerable to bad weather?”

By Eric Worrall | Watts Up With That? | May 9, 2024

… Anyone who has ever owned a boat, particular a large boat which gets left in the water, knows what a harsh environment the sea can be. Some kind of failure was inevitable. If it hadn’t been a storm, there are plenty of other things which could have gone wrong.

Greens keep telling us we can expect more frequent and extreme superstorms – so what is the point of building vulnerable floating structures?

Plastics tend to disintegrate under tropical sunlight, especially when in contact with water or water spray. Ultraviolet from the sun drives exotic chemical reactions, which leads to chemical breakdown.

Metal sitting in water is difficult to manage, even stainless steel is not immune to corrosion. All metal structures in contact with water need to be protected with sacrificial anodes or comparable protective measures. Electricity and metal are an especially bad combination, any electrical fault which causes a current to run through metal in contact with water can cause corrosion to occur thousands of times faster than normal.

Let us hope developers and politicians take the hint, and stop throwing our money at inherently flawed ideas like floating solar arrays. – Full article

Green Blob Tells Government to Spend £30 Billion on Machine to Remove CO2 From the Air

BY BEN PILE | THE DAILY SCEPTIC | MAY 5, 2024

A story in the Telegraph last week featured a report by Energy Systems Catapult (ESC) which recommended the Government commit to a £30 billion project to pull COfrom the air. According to the report, Direct Air Carbon Capture and Storage (DACCS) machines sited across the east coast could separate the greenhouse gas from air and pump it to underground storage facilities, thereby helping the U.K. to meet its ambitious 2050 Net Zero target. Not only is this extraordinarily expensive idea pointless in itself, it exposes the equally pointless and expensive constellation of publicly-funded lobbying organisations.

According to ESC, “carbon capture in its various forms is a critical component of a low-cost energy transition”, and “without it, at scale, we risk non-compliance with our Net Zero requirement”. And here is the thing that would, were such things subject to public debate, cause millions of people to scratch their heads. So what if the U.K. does not comply with its Government’s self-imposed target? What is the ‘risk’? And why should the public fork out billions of pounds merely for a daft machine that serves no function other than help a Government achieve its ambition that nobody else really cares about?

Madder still, the ESC admits that DACCS “remains unproven at scale”. This raises two important problems. … continue

Biden’s New Carbon Capture Mandates Will Cause Blackouts, Increases Prices

The Inflation Reduction Act Keeps Biting in Predictable Ways

MISH TALK • May 5, 2024

… Biden plans to reduce inflation by raising costs, producing less electricity when more is needed, force people into EVs without a capable grid, pipeline captured carbon when the pipelines don’t exist and allegedly increase reliabilty.

It’s so stupid even some Democrats are concerned.

Well not to worry, this can all be done at a “reasonable cost” with costs “largely offset” thanks to the IRA.

Expect blackouts and a much higher price for electricity as a key component of “reasonable cost”. … Read full article

‘A Dangerous Grand Experiment’: The Push for ‘Plant-Grown’ Alternative Meat

By Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D. | The Defender | May 10, 2024

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) last month approved a new “plant-grown” meat protein, made by genetically modifying soybeans to produce porcine myoglobin, a pig protein.

It’s the latest in a string of “alternative proteins” — including lab-grown and gene-edited meats and insect proteins — attracting the interest of government regulators and wealthy private investors.

These “alternative proteins” and their production processes are often touted as more environmentally sustainable, more climate-friendly and as a solution to global hunger.

But critics question those claims — and also raise concerns about the unknown risks of such “meat” products.

Mark Kastel, executive director of food industry watchdog OrganicEye, joined “The Defender In-Depth” to discuss the unknown risks — to human health and the environment — of “alternative meats.”

Kastel pointed out how government regulatory agencies, which he says are captured by corporate interests and lobbyists, hurt small farmers.

He said financial control — epitomized by the patenting of the “food tech” — is behind the push toward “alternative meats.” … continue

“… I could make it infectious in months”

Former CDC Director Redfield says real biosecurity threat of H5N1 is lab manipulation

By John Leake | Courageous Discourse™ | May 13, 2024

Former CDC Director Robert Redfield recently gave an interview in which he made a series of conspicuous statements.

1). “I’m obviously most worried about bird flu.”

2). “Right now it takes a five amino acid change to make it effectively infecting humans.”

3). “That’s a pretty heavy species barrier…”

4). “But in the laboratory, I could make it highly infectious for humans in months.”

5). “So I don’t think that research should be done. That’s the real threat. That’s the real biosecurity threat, that these university labs are doing these bio-experiments that are intentionally modifying viruses—and I think bird flu I think is going to be the cause of a great pandemic—where they are teaching these viruses how to be more infectious for humans.”

Continue

Dr. Peter McCullough Reveals How Much Doctors Were BRIBED to Push COVID Shots

This raises some serious questions

THE VIGILANT FOX | MAY 12, 2024

World-famous cardiologist Dr. Peter McCullough recently revealed startling figures about the immense earnings doctors received for pushing the COVID-19 injections.

On the Tommy T Podcast, Dr. McCullough claimed that a typical doctor could make an extra $250,000 if they injected a substantial portion of their patients.

More specifically, if a doctor injected 75% of his or her patients at $250 per newly-injected person, that would end up being around $250,000.

This revelation was discovered through a leaked Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield document. … continue

15 nations have made their position on the WHO sovereignty grab public before the WHA meeting commences

How many other countries are entirely fed up with the World Stealth Organization’s misleading spin about “equity”?

BY MERYL NASS | MAY 12, 2024

The negotiations have been controlled by globalists, not nations, from day one.

Eleven nations informed the UN General Assembly they were not going along with the UN’s support for the WHO Pandemic Preparedness Agenda last September. In alphabetical order:

  1. Belarus
  2. Bolivia
  3. Cuba
  4. Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
  5. Eritrea
  6. Islamic Republic of Iran
  7. Nicaragua
  8. Russian Federation
  9. Syrian Arab Republic
  10. Venezuela
  11. Zimbabwe

The Netherlands’ government has been instructed to delay the WHO votes or vote No by the lower house of Parliament.

Slovakia said it will not sign current drafts of both documents.

Croatia’s new majority party is against the WHO’s pandemic preparedness plan

Italy’s Senator Borghi said Italy will vote No on the treaty and furthermore that there are 10 more months in which to reject the IHR Amendments. … continue

Western Media Ignites War on China in Sports

By Rick Sterling | Dissident Voice | May 12, 2024

Western accusations of doping by Chinese swimmers threaten to exacerbate China-US tensions, undermine the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) and seriously harm the upcoming Paris Olympics.

The controversy was ignited by investigation reports at the New York Times and  German TV broadcaster ARD.  These media outlets suggest there has been a cover-up of a mass doping incident among Chinese top swimmers with connivance of  the Chinese Anti Doping Agency (CHINADA) and complicity from the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA). This story served as red meat to the hyper aggressive leader of the US Anti Doping Agency (USADA), Travis Tygart. It has prompted western swimming competitors to loudly complain. For example, the NY Times reports that US team swimmer Paige Madden thinks medals from the Tokyo Olympics should be reallocated. “I feel that Team USA was cheated.”  British swimmer James Guy says, “Ban them all and never compete again.” What might be considered whining and poor sportsmanship is effectively being encouraged by western media.

The NY Times and ARD are the same two media that precipitated the accusations of “state sponsored doping” in Russia. It did enormous damage to thousands of Russian athletes and resulted in different levels of banning starting with the Rio Olympics in 2016. Although widely accepted as “truth” in the West, the claims of widespread Russian doping were weak when evidence was required. Most Russian athletes who challenged their banning were exonerated. The major accusers, the Stepanovs and Grigory Rodchenkov, were themselves guilty of doping and profiting from doping. Despite this, the banning has continued and escalated after the Russian intervention in Ukraine.  The accusations and banning were useful in propelling the “new cold war” and “new McCarthyism”.

NYT and ARD, and their anonymous informants, may be seeking to do something similar to China. USADA has issued a response in which they say China may be engaging in “systematic doping” under a  “coordinated doping regime”. On May 6 USADA’s Tygart escalated his attacks. He implies the Paris Olympics will be a “train wreck” because of WADA complicity in China’s “cheating”. He hopes the US government will “step in and help lead and fix this.” Surely a recipe for success. … continue

Pentagon orders withdrawal of all US combat troops from Niger

Press TV – May 11, 2024

The US military has ordered its troops to pull out from Niger following the cancellation of a military agreement by the African country’s new leaders.

Niger’s new leaders demanded the withdrawal of American and French troops after they ousted Western-backed president Mohamed Bazoum on July 26, 2023.

They announced on March 17 that Niger had canceled a 2012 military cooperation agreement with the US, calling for an end to the US military’s “illegal” presence in the country.

The Pentagon this week formally ordered all 1,000 US combat troops to withdraw from Niger, Politico reported on Friday.

The order comes as newly-arrived Russian forces have been living at the same airbase as American troops in the capital of Niamey, Base 101, for weeks. … continue

Hamas slams Biden for linking Gaza cease-fire to hostage release

MEMO | May 12, 2024

Hamas on Sunday criticized US President Joe Biden for linking a Gaza cease-fire to the release of Israelis held captive by the Palestinian group, Anadolu Agency reports.

Biden said Saturday that a cease-fire in Gaza would be possible as soon as “tomorrow” if Hamas released Israelis in its captivity.

This position “is a regression from the results of the last round of negotiations, which led to our approval of a proposal drawn by mediators in Egypt and Qatar, with the US knowledge,” Hamas said in a statement.

Last week, Hamas, which is believed to be holding nearly 130 Israelis following its Oct. 7 cross-border attack, accepted a proposal drawn by Egypt and Qatar for a cease-fire in Gaza.

But Israel said the truce offer did not meet its key demands and decided to push ahead with an operation in Rafah, home to more than 1.5 million displaced people, to apply “military pressure on Hamas with the goal of making progress on freeing the hostages and the other war aims.”

Hamas said it has shown flexibility during all rounds of negotiations to reach a cease-fire deal in Gaza. … continue

How hawks in US are trying to demonize students protesting Israeli genocide

By Mohsen Badakhsh | Press TV | May 12, 2024

The US government has resorted to brutal measures not only to suppress the growing student movement in colleges across the country against the US-backed Israeli genocide in Gaza but also to demonize it by labeling protesters as “criminals” and “terrorists.”

Such oppressive measures – by a country that routinely uses its propaganda machinery to project itself as the “leader of the free world” – evoke familiarity as Washington has always falsely accused countries, organizations and individuals critical of its hegemonic policies of such measures.

In the past week, many American lawmakers across the political spectrum have labeled these protesting students and professors at America’s most prominent universities as Iran-backed “terrorists”, “pro-Hamas fanatics” and “criminals,” while referring to the traditional Palestinian keffiyehs as “terrorist headdress” and the protest encampments on college campuses as “little Gazas.” … continue

How students in the US bravely stood up and Zionists cowardly cooked up fake attacks

By David Miller | Press TV | May 12, 2024

… The Zionist strategy of dealing with the ever-growing student movement against genocide betrays a sickness at the heart of its illegitimate identity — a self-victimising stance that pushes it to simply fake attacks by anti-genocide protestors.

For example, a student alleged that she was stabbed in the eye at Yale University. She wasn’t attacked as video of the incident showed. The hoax was then deconstructed by the TV channel Breaking Points.

It’s worth listening closely to the young woman who claimed to have been stabbed for an insight into the mind of the narcissistic personality disorder that is the ideology of Zionism.

No. There was no stabbing in the eye at all, as can be seen by the fact that she sustained no injury whatsoever. To be fair, she did claim she felt “pressure” on her eye and got a headache.

However, if you listen closely to her words in a video for Racket News by Matt Orfalea, she claimed several other aspects of the supposed assault were “antisemitic”.

These included that the protestors who were filing past her “started taunting me and giving me the middle finger”. About the chanting, she said, “They all, one after the other, taunted me”.

What was this “antisemitic” taunting? “Disclose! Divest! We will not stop. We will not rest.” In addition, she claimed that “they’d throw up peace signs.”

Further on in her interview, she talked about a different incident in which students were: “singing and holding hands, singing anti-Jewish, like, I guess, chants.”

Which chants exactly? “I ain’t gonna study war no more”.

She also explained an “anti-Jewish” symbol that some of the students were wearing or carrying: “It’s supposed to be a symbol, basically, against the Jewish people… In favour of violent, terrorist acts against Jews”.

What was this? She was describing a watermelon.

She topped this litany of fake and fraudulent accusations with the statement that “It’s really painful to realize that your peers have joined the Nazi Party.”

Other similar incidents included a Zionist in Philadelphia who claimed on film that he was “hit” by a flagpole after he manifestly deliberately head-butted the pole and its Palestinian flag.

A Chicago public school teacher walked onto campus at Northwestern University and called the police saying she was surrounded by anti-genocide protestors.  She wasn’t.

In Boston, an Israeli naval officer “who participated in the atrocities in Gaza” later “went on Fox News and said he was ‘truly afraid’ to walk on campus due to the protesting students.”

After that, he proceeded to walk “into the middle of the MIT encampment and start[ed] screaming for the police to save him because he fe[lt] unsafe, while the students ignore[d] him.”

In Sydney Australia, a Zionist attempted to steal protestors’ banners and claimed they were not being peaceful when they tried to stop her: “This is not peaceful, you are grabbing something out of my hand”, she said, to which the very patient students replied, “we’re not going to let you steal from us.”

Perhaps, the worst was the story of a Jewish student being beaten unconscious which was then used as a pretext to justify actual violent attacks by Zionist thugs on peaceful anti-genocide protestors on campus at UCLA.

In fact, she had launched herself into the anti-genocide protestors, was pulled back by fellow Zionists (her mother as it turned out), and fell back and hit her head. She wasn’t unconscious.

In an interview with the student Eleanor Sonbolian, recorded after the supposed assault, the news presenter framed her as “a student who was kicked in the head and knocked unconscious”.

But the interview itself makes clear that any injury she received as a result of her falling backward as her mother pulled her out of the crowd as a result of which she hit her head.

Zionists present as entitled children, who have never been told ‘no’. But this should not surprise us since the whole ideology is premised on them being entitled to steal Palestinian land.  Zionism is a kind of collective narcissistic personality disorder. … Full article

Gideon Falter, Campaign Against Antisemitism instruments of the Zionist entity

By David Miller | Al Mayadeen | May 12, 2024

Gideon Falter had his face plastered all over the British mainstream media after he tried to provoke a confrontation with thousands of anti-genocide protestors in central London on April 13.

specially edited video produced by his organisation the Campaign for Antisemitism, was released to the media 5 days after the march.

It caused a deluge of headlines on the “shocking moment” police threatened to arrest Falter “simply” for being “quite openly Jewish”. This narrative dominated all major news outlets for some five days, until Sky News published a much longer video, lasting 13 minutes, which showed the encounter in context. This started to change the story.  The BBC Breakfast programme interviewed a former Metropolitan Police Chief, Superintendent Dal Babu, who stated, “I have watched the thirteen-minute clip that’s on @SkyNews and it’s a totally different encounter to the one Gideon Falter has reported… The narrative that has been pushed is not accurate”. He also said, “Personally, if I was policing that march, I would have been inclined to have arrested [Falter] for assault on a police officer and breach of the peace.”

In the Sky News footage, the activist insisted he was only trying to cross the road down which the demonstration was passing, but this is disputed by a police officer in the new footage, who said Mr. Falter had deliberately walked head-on into the crowd and accused him of being “disingenuous” and seeking to “antagonise” the marchers.

Then it emerged that one of the people accompanying Falter, who looked like his security detail, had been co-ordinating security for the visit of the Israeli President Isaac Herzog to December last year. It turned out that he worked for SQR Group. His name was Vicentiu Chiculita. Other security personnel, presumably from the firm, around five of them, can be seen in various video clips from that day. They make clear that Falter was simply lying in his interactions with the police.

The firm also happens to be run by two ex-Mossad officers, Avi Navama and Shai Slagter. They even advertise themselves (in the Zionist JC) as former Mossad. Navama may well have been the Mossad station chief in the London Embassy, given the description given of him in the JC as a “security attache” who “specialised in counter-terrorism operations.”

The picture of an ordinary Jewish man wandering the streets of London after attending Synagogue, only to run into an anti-genocide march, had by this stage, been totally discredited. Instead what was seen was a Zionist provocateur with a Mossad-connected security team deliberately trying to provoke trouble so that the victimology of false antisemitism allegations could be employed. … continue

Calling out UK for its brazen protection of pro-occupation forces

By Hannan Hussain | Al Mayadeen | May 12, 2024

The protests are spreading.

From Oxford University to Edinburgh, students in considerable numbers are pushing academic institutions in the United Kingdom to end ties to the Israeli occupation. As the genocide reaches devastating highs in Gaza, many faculty and staff members are on-board to push for divestment demands and are calling out the Israeli systemic campaign of mass slaughter and starvation.

But that same sense of aversion to Israeli genocide and war crimes appears absent among UK policymakers, who quietly cheerlead Israeli belligerence. According to damning new revelations, the Conservative Party of the UK has consistently catered to the pro-genocide occupation by protecting Israeli politicians, spy agents, and other officials from glaring war crimes. These developments reveal the extent of London’s complicity in the Israeli-led genocide, and illustrate the use of “special” immunity to protect war criminals that have Palestinian blood on their hands. … continue

Palestinian killed, another injured by Israeli gunfire in Nablus

Palestinian Information Center – May 12, 2024

NABLUS – A Palestinian young man was killed and a child was injured on Sunday morning after the Israeli occupation forces raided Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus in the West Bank.

Medical sources identified the martyr as 27-year-old Samer Rummanah, saying he died of a critical bullet injury in his head.

A Red Crescent ambulance crew also evacuated to hospital a 16-year-old child after he suffered a bullet injury in his back during the Israeli raid in Balata camp.

The Lions’ Den resistance group mourned martyr Rummanah, saying he was one of its fighters in Balata camp and died during clashes with Israeli forces.

Local sources said that Israeli troops stormed the eastern area of al-Quds street in Nablus City and Balata camp and intensively opened fire at local youths during clashes with them.

Meanwhile, Israeli snipers were deployed on rooftops of some buildings in Nablus and Balata camp, while military bulldozers embarked on destroying roads and infrastructure.

Resistance fighters reportedly exchanged fire with Israeli soldiers and detonated an explosive device at a bulldozer during the events.

Israel launches ground offensive into Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp

Press TV – May 12, 2024

Israeli military tanks have started to go deeper into the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza as part of a ground offensive months after claiming Hamas had been “dismantled” in the area.

Israeli forces are “carpet-bombing” the eastern areas of Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, killing and wounding several Palestinians, Al-Jazeara reported citing local sources on Sunday.

Israeli military tanks have advanced further into the Jabalia refugee camp, crossing Salah al-Din Street amidst ongoing battles with Hamas fighters, reports added.

Media quoted eyewitnesses as saying that the tanks are surrounding evacuation centers and residential buildings in the densely populated area, leading to mass evacuations and displacement towards the western part of Gaza City.

Also, Israeli drones targeted ambulances near the clinic run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Jabalia, according to Mahmoud Basal, the spokesperson for the civil defense directorate in Gaza. […]

The Jabalia refugee camp, established in 1948 to accommodate Palestinians who were displaced after the Nakba, or catastrophe, which refers to the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948, has become the most densely populated refugee camp in the Gaza Strip.

With over 750,000 Palestinians forcefully displaced, this camp stands as a testament to the birth of Israel in 1948. … Full article

Israel carpet bombs Gaza with no goal in sight

The Cradle | May 12, 2024

Dozens of Palestinian civilians have been killed and injured over the past 24 hours by intense Israeli bombardment across the Gaza Strip.

Israeli airstrikes have continued to relentlessly bomb northern, central, and southern Gaza.

“18 martyrs and six wounded were admitted to the Kuwait Hospital” in the southern city of Rafah, medical sources told WAFA news agency on 12 May. Children were among those killed by Israeli strikes on Rafah.

“Israeli tanks opened fire on civilian homes in the eastern areas of Deir al-Balah and Maghazi,” WAFA added.

Israeli artillery shelling pounded Gaza City’s Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, in the north. Over a dozen civilians remain trapped under the rubble there, according to WAFA. Several civilians were also killed in bombing of northern Gaza’s Jabalia.

An Israeli quadcopter opened fire at UNRWA clinic in the Jabalia refugee camp.

“Our emergency crews are receiving many calls for help,” said civil defense spokesman, Mahmoud Basal, adding that it is “gravely difficult and dangerous for the civil defense crews to aid civilians because they themselves have no immunity and are targeted by Israeli occupation forces.” … continue

Kiev conducts ‘terrorist attack’ against Belgorod – MoD

RT | May 12, 2024

Kiev conducted a cross-border “terrorist attack” on residential buildings in the Russian city of Belgorod using Tochka-U ballistic missiles, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

The capital of Belgorod Region was targeted with Tochka-U ballistic missiles and rockets from Olkha and Vampire multiple rocket launchers, the ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

Six Soviet-era Tochka-U missiles, four Vampire rockets and two Olkha projectiles have been intercepted by Russian air defenses, it stressed.

“Fragments of one of the downed Tochka-U missiles damaged a residential building in Belgorod,” the ministry said. … continue