Prof. John Mearsheimer: Trump, Netanyahu, and Iran.
Judge Napolitano – Judging Freedom | April 10, 2025
Israel’s hawkish minister, husband accused of sexual abuse by daughter

Shoshana’s mother, Orit Strook — the minister of settlements — is a staunch supporter of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Press TV – April 10, 2025
A hawkish Israeli minister known for her extreme right-wing politics and support for illegal settlements is facing serious allegations of sexual abuse by her daughter.
Shoshana Strook, the daughter of Israeli Minister Orit Strook, filed a police complaint in Italy alleging sexual assault by both of her parents and a brother.
She stated that resurfacing memories prompted her decision to report the abuse, which she hopes will help her heal from emotional trauma.
She made the allegations in a statement posted on social media, revealing that she had filed a formal complaint and was seeking justice and relief.
“I’m currently in Italy and recently filed a report with the police,” she said. “I hope to find a place where I can get some relief.”
“After a long period of doubt, extreme emotional states, and a lot of guilt, I wanted to share that I experienced sexual abuse by both of my parents and one of my brothers,” Shoshana wrote.
She also said that her parents physically harmed her three younger brothers, stating: “After years of beatings and guilt, I finally spoke out. The memories are overwhelming, but I need justice.”
Shoshana also said that the memories coming up to her lately are “becoming too overwhelming”, recalling one in which she hit three of her younger brothers.
She didn’t reveal which brother sexually assaulted her. However, one of her brothers, Zviki Strook, has been reportedly charged with kidnapping and torturing a Palestinian boy in 2007.
Shoshana’s mother, Orit Strook, is a staunch supporter of Israel’s settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Ironically, Orit relentlessly pushed prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s baseless narratives and unsubstantiated claims that Palestinian resistance group Hamas committed sexual assault on October 7, 2023.
She now faces grave allegations of having abused her own children.
The Strook family has been in the spotlight before. In 2007, Orit’s son, Zviki Strook, was reportedly charged with kidnapping and torturing a Palestinian minor.
The Palestinian boy was found severely beaten and bleeding after escaping an alleged torture session.
Orit was born into a Jewish family of Hungarian lawyers. She married Avraham Strook and the couple chose to live in illegal settlements on Palestinian land.
Their first home was in the settlement of Yamit in the Sinai Peninsula. However, following the 1982 evacuation of Yamit after the Sinai was returned to Egypt in 1979, the Strook family relocated to the occupied West Bank city of al-Khalil—again, settling illegally.
Since 2013, she has continued to live in the Avraham Avinu settlement in al-Khalil.
In 2024, Orit stated that Israel should maintain a “long-term military presence in Gaza and annex the occupied West Bank”. She also argued that there should be no exit strategy from Gaza.
Orit made headlines after posting a video to her X account from a Knesset session in which she argued that a Palestinian state would be an “existential threat” to Israel.”
In May 2024, she opposed a proposed ceasefire agreement in Israel’s war on Gaza. Orit also criticized the United States for its efforts to broker a ceasefire deal, stating that the US “doesn’t deserve to be called a friend of Israel.”
Hamas launches legal case in Britain to remove ‘terror’ label
Press TV – April 9, 2025
The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has filed a legal appeal in the United Kingdom in an unprecedented move, challenging the British government’s decision to designate the group as a “proscribed terrorist organization.”
The case, submitted on Wednesday, seeks to overturn the classification, with Hamas asserting that it is a legitimate movement advocating for Palestinian self-determination and liberation, not a “terrorist entity.”
Mousa Abu Marzouk, a prominent leader of the group and its head of international relations, is spearheading the appeal.
He has vehemently rejected the UK’s characterization of Hamas in those terms, reminding that the group’s goal is to liberate Palestine from Israeli occupation, not to target Western nations.
Marzouk has stressed that the resistance movement’s struggle was against Zionism, a colonial project targeting Palestine, while underlining that the group has never harbored any plans to harm Jewish people.
“We are not fighting against Jews, we are fighting against the Zionist regime, which is an illegitimate entity in Palestine,” he stated.
He also denounced the UK for rendering support for Zionism and the establishment of the Israeli regime in 1948, and regretted that the regime continues the legacy of colonialism in the region.
Drawing comparisons to global liberation struggles, Marzouk likened Hamas to South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC) and Ireland’s Sinn Féin, stressing that like these movements, Hamas represents a legitimate resistance force against foreign occupation.
Legal team: Hamas sole effective force resisting genocide
Hamas’ legal team, led by two British barristers from Riverway Law, a law firm based in South London, underscores that the proscription not only misrepresents the group, but also obstructs freedom of speech and stifles open dialogue.
The lawyers also contend that by labeling Hamas as a “terrorist group,” the British government violates international obligations related to the prevention of genocide and crimes against humanity — which the Israeli regime has been indulging in across the Gaza Strip, where the movement is headquartered.
They assert that Hamas is the sole effective force resisting the ongoing genocide being committed by the Israeli regime in Gaza.
The British government first proscribed Hamas’ military wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, as a “terrorist organization” in 2001.
In 2021, the political wing of Hamas was also added to the proscription list. The Home Office tried to defend its decision, claiming that Hamas operated as a “unified terrorist entity.”
However, Hamas’ lawyers strongly contest this characterization, clarifying that the group functions as a broad-based resistance movement with political and social dimensions.
In his witness statement, Marzouk has provided a personal perspective on the issue of the Israeli regime’s Western-backed occupation of Palestine and aggression towards Palestinians.
He rejected the so-called legitimacy of the regime and reaffirmed Hamas’ commitment to full liberation of Palestine, with the holy occupied city of al-Quds as its capital, and establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state along its borders before 1967, when the regime went on to grab more Palestinian land with more Western support.
The case’s potential
The UK Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, has 90 days to respond to the petition. If the case is rejected, it will proceed to a tribunal for further legal proceedings.
If successful, it could lead to a reevaluation of Hamas’ designation.
Addressing the issue, observers say the case could have a far-reaching impact on how resistance movements are viewed in the political and legal arenas amid growing international opposition against the Israeli regime’s genocidal, expansionist, and other criminal efforts.
London’s likely reversal of the designation, they further note, could potentially shift the international discourse surrounding Palestinian liberation efforts.
Marzouk, meanwhile, commented on Hamas’ members and their fellow Gaza-based resistance fighters’ historic Operation al-Aqsa Storm against the occupied Palestinian territories. The operation saw the fighters venture deep into the territories, encircle strategic Israeli bases, and ensnare 240 Zionists.
He called the development a military operation targeting the Israeli regime’s Southern Command rather than a deliberate assault on civilians as Tel Aviv and its backers have claimed.
Exposing the UN’s hypocrisy of humanitarian aid and ceasefires
By Ramona Wadi | MEMO | April 10, 2025
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council this week that, “As aid has dried up, the floodgates of horror have re-opened. Gaza is a killing field – and civilians are in an endless death loop.” With not a single mention of the word genocide in his entire speech, Guterres stated, towards the end, “The world may be running out of words to describe the situation in Gaza, but we will never run away from the truth.”
A correction is needed here. The world is not running out of words to describe the situation in Gaza — “genocide” will do for the moment — and the UN is indeed running away from the truth.
Guterres’s statement is evidence of this, as is over a year of prioritising Israel’s security narrative and purported concern about the hostages, while Israel itself bombs them along with Palestinian civilians in Gaza. “Certain truths are clear since the atrocious 7 October terror attacks by Hamas,” said Guterres.
But he uttered not a single word about Israel bombing the Gaza Strip.
As expected, because the international community follows its own trends rather than the facts on the ground, Guterres maintained the rhetoric of ceasefires and humanitarian aid shamelessly. Ceasefires work, said the UN Secretary General, allowing for the release of hostages and the delivery of humanitarian aid. “That all ended with the shattering of the ceasefire,” he added, without bringing Israel’s culpability into the equation. The ceasefire just “shattered”.
It is the UN’s tactic of portraying the delivery of humanitarian aid as a form of neutrality that has enabled this façade of helplessness for so long. Humanitarian aid is highly politicised, which is one reason why there is always less money for it than there is for arms and ammunition. It is the reason why corrupt power remains at the helm; starving people need nourishment and they are forced to wait for it in the name of human rights. Meanwhile, the politics of liberation, of decolonisation, of autonomy, are not only marginalised but eliminated altogether.
Why? Because international law is forced to revolve around the demands of the oppressor and its accomplices.
Guterres should say something about this. Some truths from the halls of power would clarify why Gaza has been abandoned in the name of humanitarian aid and ceasefires.
In the absence of truth, though, Guterres would have the world believe that all that Gaza needs is linked to the delivery of humanitarian aid, and that the hostages can be released if a ceasefire is maintained. However, humanitarian aid can no longer even gloss over colonial violence; the Gaza Genocide is too visible to ignore. Negotiations for ceasefires take months due to Israel’s insistence on completely wiping out Palestinians from Gaza — more talks give the occupation state more time to finish the job — which make the correlation between ceasefires and the hostages’ release very minimal.
To further his humanitarian paradigm, Guterres reminded Israel of its obligations under international law which, of course, Israel will ignore. Again, however, the travesty of reminding a colonial enterprise – “an occupying power” as Israel is usually described to avoid describing its occupation as colonialism – to be mindful of its humanitarian duties is the way the UN pretends to make international law work.
But how about a reminder from Guterres that the colonised people are entitled to decolonisation under international law, instead of ensuring – against international law – that colonial entities are apparently entitled to commit genocide?
Gulf-backed genocide: How Arab monarchies fuel Israel’s war machine
By Mawadda Iskandar | The Cradle | April 10, 2025
The Persian Gulf states’ silence – and in many cases, complicity – during Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza has not come as a shock. These governments, long detached from the Palestinian struggle, have for years cultivated warm, if discreet, ties with Tel Aviv.
While Bahrain and the UAE made normalization of ties with Tel Aviv official through the US-brokered 2020 Abraham Accords, other states like Saudi Arabia and Qatar have played quieter but equally pivotal roles. Riyadh, often described as the architect behind normalization, and Doha, hiding behind its “mediator” label, have each aided the occupation state in crucial ways.
Though much of this assistance remains behind the scenes, it has been repeatedly acknowledged by US and Israeli officials. During his first term, US President Donald Trump once warned that “Israel would be in big trouble without Saudi Arabia,” while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Arab leaders now view Israel “not as their enemy, but their greatest ally,” adding that they “want to see us defeat Hamas.”
Such statements offer a glimpse into the vast, opaque network of regional cooperation propping up the occupation state’s war machine.
Economic complicity
Despite overwhelming popular support throughout the Arab world for Palestine, and growing calls for grassroots boycotts, Persian Gulf–Israeli trade has only surged. The UAE now ranks as Israel’s top Arab trade partner, while Bahrain’s commerce with Tel Aviv spiked by a staggering 950 percent during the first 10 months of the Gaza war.
Even amid war and boycott efforts, “kosher-certified” goods from Arab countries continue to enter Israeli markets. UAE-based brands like Al Barakah Dates and Hunter Foods, along with Saudi Arabia’s Durra (a sugar supplier), have maintained trade channels.
Qatar has exported crude materials for plastics used in Israeli industries. Bahrain went so far as to officially recognize goods produced in illegal West Bank settlements as Israeli in origin.
More insidiously, Persian Gulf investments are directly fueling Israeli settlement expansion. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar have funneled money into Avenue Partners, a firm chaired by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who remains involved in advising the Trump administration from afar.
That money flows into Phoenix Holdings, which finances key banks involved in settlement construction – Leumi, Hapoalim, and Discount Bank – as well as telecom firms like Cellcom and Partner, and construction companies like Electra and Shapir, all of which operate inside occupied Palestinian territory.
When Yemen’s blockade disrupted shipping lanes for Israeli-linked cargo in the Red Sea, cutting off 70 percent of Tel Aviv’s food imports, it was the Persian Gulf states that rushed to patch the breach. The UAE created an overland logistics corridor from Dubai to Tel Aviv via Saudi Arabia and Jordan, and Bahrain repurposed its ports to serve as alternate shipping hubs for Israeli goods arriving from India and China.
Military ties beneath the surface
From the earliest days of Israel’s onslaught on Gaza, the UAE has doubled down on its strategic military relationship with the occupation state. In 2024, Balkan Insight revealed that a UAE-linked firm, Yugoimport-SDPR, exported $17.1 million worth of weapons to Israel via military aircraft directly involved in bombing Gaza.
But the arms trade is only part of this treacherous picture. The UAE’s state-owned defense giant EDGE holds shares in Israeli military contractors like Rafael and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), companies that retrofit Emirati planes into military freighters. Abu Dhabi has also welcomed offices from Israeli weapons manufacturers like Bayt Systems and Third Eye Systems, and proudly hosted 34 Israeli defense firms at IDEX 2025 – a major arms expo used to secure deals with the occupation army.
Though not formally normalized, Saudi Arabia is militarizing its ties with Israel through indirect channels. One method: purchasing Israeli systems like the TOW missile through US-based subsidiaries of Elbit Systems. Another: acquiring surveillance drones from South Africa, which are disassembled and reassembled in the kingdom to mask their Israeli origins.
A recent anti-drone system – suspected to be designed by Israeli firm RADA – was spotted at the Royal Saudi Air Defense base in Tabuk, near King Faisal Air Base.
Meanwhile, Qatar has quietly boosted its military coordination with Tel Aviv. Doha continues to source spare parts for tanks, armored vehicles, and aerial tankers from Israeli suppliers, and its military has participated in joint drills involving Israel and other Persian Gulf states – including exercises in Greece held just over a week ago.
Logistical lifelines to Tel Aviv
Beyond military and economic ties, Persian Gulf states have facilitated the flow of weapons to Israel through logistical support channels. As the US ramped up its “unprecedented airlift” of tens of thousands of missiles, munitions, and Iron Dome components, the Gulf’s airspace and bases became critical.
US arms shipments passed through Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Jordan, and especially Qatar, where the Al-Udeid Air Base – home to US Central Command – served as a hub for at least 18 documented transfers. Several were routed through Cyprus to avoid direct flight tracking.
In the UAE, Dubai International Airport became a waypoint for Israeli reservists flying in from Asia. Coordinated through the Israeli consulate in Dubai, these flights funneled soldiers into the war in Gaza. Emirati authorities also arranged leisure retreats for Israeli troops between deployments and allowed Jewish organizations in Dubai to send care packages to the occupation military.
Pipeline diplomacy and energy normalization
Earlier this month, as Trump prepared to visit Saudi Arabia seeking investment in US infrastructure, Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen unveiled plans for a regional oil pipeline stretching from Ashkelon to Saudi Arabia via Eilat.
The project falls under the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), a US-backed alternative to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), with links running through the UAE, Jordan, and occupied Palestinian lands.
In a related move, Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa – son of the Bahraini king and chair of Bapco Energy – announced the sale of a pipeline stake to BlackRock, the US investment giant notorious for its financial ties to Israeli settlements. This deal cannot be separated from the broader normalization agenda.
Spycraft and surveillance
In one of the clearest signs of deepening security cooperation, Axios revealed a secret 2024 meeting in Bahrain between Israeli army chief Herzi Halevi and senior military officials from Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan, and Egypt.
Overseen by US Central Command, the summit focused on countering Iranian retaliation and disrupting weapons flows to Gaza from resistance forces in Iraq and Yemen – operations that often transit through Persian Gulf-controlled airspace.
Bahrain’s role was particularly overt: Nasser bin Hamad openly declared his country’s commitment to disrupting Iranian response operations in coordination with the US Fifth Fleet stationed in Manama. Analysts now speculate that Tel Aviv could be granted permanent naval access to strategic Gulf waters.
This growing security convergence has also opened the door for Israeli tech to penetrate Persian Gulf infrastructure. Bahrain now relies on Israeli firms for anti-drone systems, satellite surveillance, and cybersecurity. One notable collaboration involves Bahraini company Crescent Technologies and Israeli cyber defense powerhouse CyberArk.
The UAE is pushing the envelope even further. Emirati firms have signed deals with XM Cyber – co-founded by a former Mossad chief – to secure national energy infrastructure. XM Cyber works in tandem with Rafael and other elite Israeli military firms as part of a consortium targeting sensitive Gulf markets, including oil, energy, and data. Meanwhile, Orpak Systems, another Israeli company, has quietly entered Arab oil sectors under nondescript branding to avoid detection.
Despite their public posturing and periodic statements of support for Palestine, the Persian Gulf states have quietly entrenched themselves in Tel Aviv’s war effort. Through investment flows, arms deals, intelligence cooperation, and energy infrastructure, they have become vital enablers of the genocide in Gaza.
This alliance – crafted in backrooms and sealed with economic interests – has allowed Israel to prosecute its war on Gaza with Gulf assistance at every logistical and financial juncture.
Far from being passive actors, these states are now active partners in a conflict that has devastated an entire people.
Hamas says statements and condemnations are no longer acceptable from Arab and Islamic countries
MEMO | April 10, 2025
The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement has said that it is “no longer acceptable” for Arab and Islamic countries simply to make “timid statements and condemnations”, at a time when Israel is intensifying its killing in Gaza before the eyes and ears of the world.
“It is also inconceivable that our Palestinian people are being left alone in this fateful confrontation, without real support that rises to the challenge and the magnitude of the crime,” added Hamas in a press statement on Wednesday. The movement pointed out that the Israeli occupation army committed another massacre — described as “one of the most heinous crimes of the genocide” — by bombing a residential area crowded with civilians and displaced persons in the Shujaya district east of Gaza City.
By giving the occupation state its full support, said Hamas, the US is regarded as being complicit as a partner in the aggression against the Palestinians. “This is a stain on the international community, which stands helpless and silent in the face of the most heinous acts of mass murder and genocide. These brutal crimes, committed in full view of the world against innocent, defenceless civilians, with the aim of genocide and sadistic revenge, will not go unpunished, nor will they be forgotten with the passage of time.”
History, said the resistance movement, will hold accountable all of those who remained silent and colluded with the Zionist war criminals. It called on the leaders of Arab and Islamic countries to perform their historical and humanitarian responsibilities and to put every possible pressure on the occupation state and its supporters in Washington to immediately halt the aggression, lift the siege and hold the “war criminals” accountable for their crimes.
Furthermore, Hamas called on countries that still maintain relations with the Zionist occupation state to sever ties and close the embassies of the “Nazi entity” in solidarity with the Palestinian people, who are being subjected to a “brutal Zionist war of annihilation”.
The movement also called on the masses in the Arab and Islamic nations and the free people of the world to continue their support for Gaza, and even escalate and intensify it until the Gaza Genocide ends.
US cares about human rights only to target adversaries: Former State Department analyst
Press TV – April 10, 2025
A former US State Department analyst, who resigned over American complicity in the Gaza genocide, says the US government ignores human rights issues when it comes to weapons sales to allies.
In an article for Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, Annelle Sheline outlined how the US uses human rights as a tool against adversaries while ignoring such issues for friendly governments.
“American leaders have consistently instrumentalized human rights concerns to target perceived adversaries while tossing aside such concerns when they apply to US partners” Sheline wrote.
Sheline also said the US government’s desire for global military primacy and weapon sales overrides concerns for human rights and even US law.
“[US] law stipulates that the United States will not provide security assistance to any country whose government engages in a “consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights.” Yet this law, Section 502B of the Foreign Assistance Act, which Congress passed in 1976, has never been applied.”
Sheline worked for the US State Department’s Bureau of Human Rights, Democracy, and Labor’s Office of Near Eastern Affairs (DRL/NEA) from March 2023 until March 2024, when she resigned in protest over US complicity in the Gaza genocide.
In the article, Sheline described how the Democratic and Republican parties both similarly disregard human rights for military and own foreign policy goals.
“To the extent that a partisan divide exists, it is primarily rhetorical. Democratic administrations usually talk more about human rights than Republican administrations… but neither party has upheld America’s legally binding commitment to not sell to governments that engage in gross violations of human rights.”
Sheline said President Donald Trump’s new foreign policy is not fundamentally different from that of previous administrations.
“President Trump nakedly pursues what he sees as US self-interest, while previous presidents largely preferred to cloak similar decisions in the language of morality and mutual benefit.”
The former State Department analyst also said that the United States has given full support to Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
“The decision by the US government to directly enable Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza has severely damaged American credibility. Although Israel’s destruction of Gaza represents the most egregious example, the American government has almost never applied laws intended to punish human rights abusers in Israel.”
Sheline believes the US support for Israel is influenced by the pro-Israel lobby, in addition to being driven by foreign policy and military exports concerns.
On the other hand, according to Sheline, the US frequently uses human rights as a tool to apply pressure against governments that it sees as adversaries.
“The US primarily highlights human rights abuses by adversarial governments. As a result, human rights concerns tend to factor only into policies designed to counter perceived US enemies. The US government does not sell weapons to hostile powers, so criticizing these governments does not endanger weapon sales.”
Sheline outlined how US foreign policy shaped its human rights rhetoric in West Asia.
She said Israel’s human rights abuses receive “special dispensation” on the part of the US, which, ironically and in the absence of the lack of an existing relationship with certain governments like Iran, frequently criticizes and imposes sanctions on them for alleged human rights abuses.
“This suggests that human rights concerns did not drive US foreign policy, but rather were used as a means of justifying the policy the administration already wished to pursue.”
US-Funded “Anti-Misinformation” Groups Are Still Quietly Active
By Didi Rankovic | Reclaim The Net | April 9, 2025
Despite the big and open push that came in with the new US administration to end the practice of the government funding third-party groups to effectively act as its censorship proxies – some of these arrangements continue to be operational.
Most appear to be working to strengthen previously established “preferred” narratives around health issues – as ever, with “combating misinformation” given as the declarative, overarching purpose behind the effort.
But critics say, that was/remains a smokescreen meant to manipulate public opinion.
The Federalist reports that the National Science Foundation (NSF) – one of the US government’s “independent agencies” designed to channel federal funds – had a number of programs under its “anti-misinformation” umbrella, the Convergence Accelerator.
Among the ones who continue to this day are Chime In, Analysis and Response Toolkit for Trust (ARTT), and Expert Voices Together (EVT).
Chime In’s original name was Course Correct. It was set up at the University of Wisconsin-Madison – with $5 million coming from NSF in 2022 – to provide “anti-misinformation” resources for journalists.
True to the era, its original “mission” was to persuade (Covid) vaccine skeptics to take the jab; and then it went into advocating (“misinformation detecting”) in favor of persuading people there was no reason to be skeptical about genetically modified (GMO) foods, Covid narratives, and vaccines in general, as well as issues like sunscreen product and raw milk safety.
ARTT, meanwhile, came up with its own “AI” chatbot, that focused on political discourse, but according to the Federalist, once again, heavily tied to vaccine hesitancy.
From 2021, ARTT received close to $750,000 from the NSF, and a further $5 million, “to develop practical interventions to build trust and address vaccine hesitancy.”
Another controversial tie-in concerning ARTT was the organization’s plans to partner with, among others, the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, which the article describes as being “infamous for performing transgender surgeries on, and administering opposite-sex hormones to minors.”
ARTT – now operating as Discourse Labs, a non-profit – was, while one of the groups incubated by NSF’s Convergence Accelerator, backed up by the World Economic Forum (WEF), Wikimedia Foundation, Google, Mozilla, and Meta.
EVT’s “new home” as of 2025 is “the leftist group Right To Be,” the report says.
Some of the issues covered by this group are named, “Bystander Intervention To Support The LGBTQIA+ Community,” “Conflict De-Escalation In Protest Spaces,” and “Bystander Intervention To Stop Police Sponsored Violence and Anti-Black Racism.”
But the Federalist reported earlier that, “a representative from Right To Be” previously told the site EVT “remains under the direction of George Washington University (and) direct inquiries there.”
Bitchute shuts down in UK because of Online Safety Act
To our valued users in the United Kingdom
After careful review and ongoing evaluation of the regulatory landscape in the United Kingdom, we regret to inform you that BitChute will be discontinuing its video sharing service for UK residents.
The introduction of the UK Online Safety Act of 2023 has brought about significant changes in the regulatory framework governing online content and community interactions. Notably, the Act contains sweeping provisions and onerous corrective measures with respect to content moderation and enforcement. In particular, the broad enforcement powers granted to the regulator of communication services, Ofcom, have raised concerns regarding the open-ended and unpredictable nature of regulatory compliance for our platform.
The BitChute platform has always operated on principles of freedom of speech, expression and association, and strived to foster an open and inclusive environment for content creators and audiences alike. However, the evolving regulatory pressures—including strict enforcement mechanisms and potential liabilities—have created an operational landscape in which continuing to serve the UK market exposes our company to unacceptable legal and compliance risks. Despite our best efforts to navigate these challenges, the uncertainty surrounding the OSA’s enforcement by Ofcom and its far-reaching implications leaves us no viable alternative but to cease normal operations in the UK.
Therefore, effective immediately, BitChute platform users in the UK will no longer be able to view content produced by any other BitChute user. Because the OSA’s primary concern is that members of the public will view content deemed unsafe, however, we will permit UK BitChute users to continue to post content. The significant change will be that this UK user-posted content will not be viewable by any other UK user, but will be visible to other users outside of the UK. Users outside the UK may comment on that content, which the creator will continue to be able to read, delete, block, reply and flag. Users outside the UK may share UK-user produced content to other users outside of the UK as normal. In other words, for users in the UK, including content creators, the BitChute platform is no longer a user-to-UK user video sharing service.
We deeply regret the inconvenience and disappointment this decision may cause to our UK users and partners. This decision was not taken lightly. It reflects our commitment to maintaining the highest standards of compliance, protecting our community, and ensuring that our platform remains a safe and sustainable space for creative expression globally. We recognize the value of our UK community and extend our sincerest apologies for the disruption caused by this necessary step. Our support team remains available to answer any queries or concerns regarding this transition.
We appreciate the support and engagement of our community around the world and remain dedicated to providing a platform that champions free expression and innovative content sharing in an environment of regulatory certainty.
Thank you for your understanding.
Marine Le Pen on trial while corrupt Ursula von der Leyen protected
By Ahmed Adel | April 10, 2025
Although European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen should be in prison for the Pfizergate scandal, not to mention inciting war crimes in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip, nothing will come of it as Brussels is evidently corrupt. However, following the verdict handed down to right-wing French National Rally party leader Marine Le Pen, the question arises as to why Ursula von der Leyen has not been indicted for the Pfizergate scandal, which is worth several billion euros.
Le Pen has been sentenced to four years in prison, fined 100,000 euros, and banned from running in the 2027 presidential election. She was convicted of corruption, having allegedly embezzled 2.9 million euros from European Parliament funds. Nonetheless, no one cares whether Marine Le Pen will actually be in prison or not. What matters is that she is banned from political activity and that a coup is carried out against the National Assembly at a time when the ruling paradigm is in crisis.
The case against the former French presidential candidate is not the first instance of a political process canceling unsuitable politicians in the EU, nor is it a precedent, as seen in the ban on Călin Georgescu’s candidacy, where it is clear that the European Commission undermined democracy in Romania.
It is also recalled that in 1999 and 2000, when the right-wing Austrian Freedom Party won 27 percent of the vote in the elections, its then-leader, Jörg Haider, was supposed to be the prime minister. However, Brussels completely isolated Austria, and it ended with Haider giving up, even resigning from the party leadership, and eight years later, he died in a suspicious car accident.
Therefore, the ban on political activity by politicians unsuitable for Brussels is not a surprise, as the EU has never been distinguished by its democratic character, which is why it has often been advertised as “the greatest peace project.” The EU has long had a European Commission composed of unelected bureaucrats, which is why Ursula von der Leyen, as an unelected politician from Germany, has often been perceived as acting like the de facto leader of Europe, or one of two, alongside French President Emmanuel Macron.
EU elites support all authoritarians on the continent that suit their interests, such as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Moldovan President Maia Sandu, and even on Europe’s periphery, such as Syria’s self-designated president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, regardless of the fact that he committed genocide against Alawites and Christians last month.
Corruption is also an integral part of EU structures. It would not be so significant if it were not accompanied by political action. This is exemplified by the fact that liberal Ursula von der Leyen escapes prosecution for Pfizergate, while right-wing Marine Le Pen is imprisoned.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, von der Leyen made a deal with Albert Bourla, the CEO of US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, to purchase 1.8 billion doses of untested COVID-19 vaccines, valued at approximately $37.6 billion. Von der Leyen negotiated this deal through a series of text messages that she eventually deleted — supposedly by mistake — along with those she exchanged with her husband, Heiko, a medical director at a biotech company with ties to Pfizer. As a result, von der Leyen was accused of corruption and “abuse of power.”
Even before becoming European Commission president, at the end of her term as Germany’s Defense Minister (2013-2019), von der Leyen became the target of an investigation by the Federal Audit Office for continually awarding lucrative contracts to external consulting firms. In its 2018 report, the Federal Audit Office questioned the awarding procedures of some of these contracts, worth millions of euros, which appeared to have been made without proper cost assessment or a proper tendering process.
Although this may seem like incompetence at first, the American consulting firm McKinsey, for example, attracted attention when its Berlin office hired the daughter of von der Leyen. The firm eventually won contracts worth millions of euros.
While von der Leyen is protected from prosecution by German and European Union authorities, Le Pen is being prosecuted because she does not conform to the liberal values of Brussels and is described as far-right.
US President Donald Trump even demanded on April 4 for Le Pen to be freed and allowed to run for office, calling her ban a “witch hunt.”
On Truth Social, he described the court case as “another example of European Leftists using Lawfare to silence Free Speech and censor their Political Opponent, this time going so far as to put that Opponent in prison.”
Trump added that it is “all so bad for France and the Great French People”, before ending his post with “FREE MARINE LE PEN!”
In this way, while von der Leyen is protected, Le Pen is being prosecuted on allegations stemming from her time in the European Parliament that are not yet fully substantiated, all because she threatens the rule of Macron, a loyal servant of Europe’s elites.
Ahmed Adel is a Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher.
