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America’s Palace Coup

By Brad Pearce | The Libertarian Institute | July 24, 2024

On Sunday, July 21 at around 1:30pm Eastern time someone with access to President Joe Biden’s social media accounts posted that he was dropping out of the presidential election. The announcement was not on any form of official stationary and the signature was obviously different than usual when compared by the untrained eye. Just the night before, Joe Biden’s social media accounts had insisted he was staying in the game, though he was “in isolation” due to allegedly testing positive for COVID (something which people still inexplicably do). It didn’t take any great insight to see that America’s stuffed corpse had finally been given the shepherd’s crook. Around a half hour later, the Biden accounts posted that he would be endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris—the only person in American public life less coherent than Joe Biden—for president. While we have been joking about necromancers and Weekend at Bernie’s and the “They” Biden refers to as being in charge for years, in some ways it feels like it became true all at once. For all of this, at least thus far, we are meant to believe that Biden will be continuing through the end of his term as president; but there is no mistaking it, there has been a palace coup at the White House.

It has been a long road to this point, and I should not make any predictions given my track record on Joe Biden. In 2020 I was sure no one would vote for him in the primaries, and it certainly seemed that way until he won the fourth contest in South Carolina, and most of the rest of the field besides Bernie Sanders dropped out so the party could “come together.” Of course, it was at about this time that Donald Trump allowed the COVID madness to be unleashed and destroy the end of his presidency. When Trump couldn’t close the Pandora’s Box he had opened, Biden had an excuse to campaign from his basement. They managed to keep Biden out of the public eye as much as possible while Donald Trump ran a mostly normal campaign. I was sure he wouldn’t win the general election, and we could argue all day about last minute rule changes and if the election was fair, but one way or another, Biden was carried across the finish line and became the president of the United States.

It has been an ignominious term in office. 2020 was an indecisive election, and any normal political party would have sought to govern moderately and spend time selling America on their agenda for the midterms. Instead, Democrats set to re-shape America on the smallest of margins, taking Franklin Roosevelt, who once had over 75% of the House, as their model. More than anything they did this by refusing to enforce immigration laws, leading to an unprecedented number of humans being let into our country. However, they did hammer through the inappropriately named “Inflation Reduction Act,” which was a substantial spending package to get through on such a small legislative majority. Still, the term was primarily defined by a wide range of disgraces, not just Biden’s constant confusion but also the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, the mandate for vaccines that didn’t work, the notorious trans freak show at the White House, and of course the confirmation that the Hunter Biden laptop was real and the president’s son is a depraved crackhead. Still, for all of this we were told Joe Biden was in charge and that it was some sort of conspiracy theory to think this obviously failing man was not running the show (to whatever limited extent Presidents are normally in charge).

This all changed after the debate at the end of June. At all prior public performances Joe Biden had seemingly been injected with just the right amount of drugs and performed decently. He had scary black eyes but could talk. However, while there was some confusion and malapropisms from Biden during the debate, I didn’t think it was as bad as people made it out to be. More than anything, the debate rules clearly made to favor Biden which stopped interruptions and the lack of a crowd let Biden ramble on incoherently. Further, one notices that he is a liar and he was constantly insulting Trump despite his much vaunted “decorum.” People say they want a politician with “fire in his belly” but in the case of Joe Biden, this just looks like Alzheimer’s rage. Still, to those of us who had been expecting this each performance, it was kind of incredible it finally happened, but also not as bad as it could have been. However, to people who believe the news media and their carefully curated worldview, it had been the case that it was just “malinformation” and “cheapfakes” giving people the false impression that the president was unwell. It was very much a matter of the party’s final command being to not believe your own eyes, to paraphrase George Orwell.

Then, it came time to write Biden out of the plot. Our public life has become surreal. We are meant to believe it is normal that the president is missing. He made a Twitter post and then ghosted us. His schedule was cleared. Everyone with power in the Democratic Party, with the notable exception of former President Barack Obama, immediately lined up behind Kamala Harris. At her first appearance as she went to take over her supposed boss’ campaign, she played what she almost called a “recording” but then corrected herself and referred to as a “call” with the president. Kamala said, “You’re not going anywhere Joe” and laughed maniacally in front of a crowd of dupes. Perhaps he is fine, perhaps he isn’t. Of course we will never know the truth about how they got Biden out after insisting he would continue to campaign no matter what. We are left to wonder if his man can be trusted with the nuclear codes…well, how that is allowed, we know he cannot be. There is talk that they threatened to invoke the Twenty-Fifth Amendment against him if he didn’t drop out. One way or another, the revolution was: in around thirty-six hours it was reported that the majority of Democrat National Convention delegates were pledged to Kamala. Our nation’s most unfit president has been forced out of his own campaign, in a seamless transition, to an even more pliable puppet.

For all of this, perhaps the most incredible thing is that our usually panic-addicted media wants to act like this is normal. Biden’s legacy will be as a self-less patriot who, of his own free will, stepped down for the good of the country. He would be our own Cincinnatus, if the people in media knew that reference. There is nothing to see. Move on. The president is fine. Do not look behind the curtain. Kamala Harris has always been the Democratic nominee. She is the will of the voters. This is the glorious new age of Democracy™. It is morning in America.

July 24, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties | , , | Leave a comment

Plot to Kill Georgia’s Ruling Party’s Founder Linked to Ukraine – State Security Service

Sputnik – 24.07.2024

TBILISI – Georgia’s State Security Service said on Wednesday it was investigating a plot by former Georgian officials living in Ukraine to assassinate Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party.

“The State Security Service is investigating criminal actions, which were funded and organized by former high-ranking Georgian officials and former law enforcement agents living in Ukraine, including the plot to assassinate the honorary chairman of the Georgian Dream party, Bidzina Ivanishvili,” the statement read.

The agency accused the suspects of planning to stage riots and overthrow the elected Georgian government.

Georgian media reported that the security service had summoned a dozen people for questioning. Most of them are said to have experience of fighting Russian troops in Ukraine.

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze compared the foiled attempt on Ivanishvili to assassination attempts on Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and US presidential candidate Donald Trump.

“Two terrorist attacks have happened recently — one in Slovakia and the other in the United States. They bear the telltale marks of global political forces,” Kobakhidze told a news briefing.

Fico was left fighting for his life after a man shot him in the abdomen at close range as he greeted supporters following an off-site cabinet meeting in the town of Handlova on May 15. Trump sustained a gun wound to his right ear in a shooting at his campaign rally in Pennsylvania on July 13 and was briefly hospitalized.

July 24, 2024 Posted by | War Crimes | , | Leave a comment

Russia responds to Zelensky proposal for talks

RT | July 24, 2024

Vladimir Zelensky’s signal that Ukraine is ready to resume peace talks with Moscow is not credible, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said.

In recent weeks, Zelensky has said that Kiev wants to end the conflict “as soon as possible,” preferably “by the end of this year.” He has also insisted on holding a second ‘peace summit’ to achieve that goal.

The previous such event, hosted by Switzerland last month, focused on several points of Kiev’s ‘peace formula’ – which demands that Russia withdraw its troops from all territory claimed by Ukraine. Moscow has dismissed the plan as detached from reality.

Commenting on the possibility of peace with Ukraine, Zakharova told reporters on Wednesday that “nobody trusts [Zelensky].”

“Everyone knows perfectly well that this is a man who can twist anything, who can lie, who can refuse everything,” she said.

She recalled that Ukraine and its Western backers have done nothing to rescind Zelensky’s presidential decree barring Kiev from any talks with the current leadership in Moscow. The Ukrainian leader approved the document in the fall of 2022 after four former Ukrainian regions voted overwhelmingly to join Russia.

Last week, however, Zelensky suggested that he saw “no difference” in whether he had to engage with Russian President Vladimir Putin, or someone else, to end the conflict.

“We hear a lot of words, but we don’t see actions at all,” Zakharova noted, suggesting that Zelensky’s statements are no more than another attempt to promote Kiev’s ‘peace formula’ and dupe countries around the world into supporting the initiative.

The spokeswoman also opined that Zelensky’s unexpected “flexibility” on peace talks could be linked to recent major shifts in the US political landscape. She was referring to a recent assassination attempt on Republican presential nominee Donald Trump and incumbent Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of the race.

The GOP candidate has repeatedly vowed to end the conflict within 24 hours if elected and has criticized US support for Kiev.

Zakharova’s comments come after Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba told his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi that Kiev “is willing to engage in dialogue and negotiations with Russia,” which he said must be “rational” and aimed at achieving a just and lasting peace.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described Kuleba’s words as being “in unison” with Russia’s stance. “The Russian side has never refused negotiations, [but] the details that we do not know yet are important here,” he added.

July 24, 2024 Posted by | Militarism | , | Leave a comment

Slovakia Warns Ukraine of Retaliation Over Halt of Russian Oil Transit

Sputnik – 24.07.2024

BRATISLAVA – Slovakia may take retaliatory measures if Ukraine does not resolve the issue of oil transit from Russia, said Slovak President Peter Pellegrini said on Wednesday.

“I consider what Ukraine did in relation to Slovakia to be a very serious matter and a very unpleasant interference in our good relations. I firmly believe that Ukraine will be able to put this in order as soon as possible, because Slovakia, as a sovereign state, will eventually have to take some kind of countermeasures. This would not benefit either Ukraine or its citizens,” Pellegrini said at a press conference on Wednesday.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto earlier said that Lukoil’s oil supplies through Ukraine via the Druzhba oil pipeline had been stopped. Slovakia’s economy ministry confirmed that the republic had stopped receiving oil from Lukoil due to Ukraine stopping its transit through its territory. It noted that Lukoil had been sanctioned by Ukraine.
Slovakia’s Slovnaft refinery is supplied with Russian oil from another supplier, but the country is discussing the current situation with the Ukrainian side.

July 24, 2024 Posted by | Economics | , | Leave a comment

Poland demands Ukraine resolves WWII massacre before joining EU

RT | July 24, 2024

Ukraine should not be allowed to join the EU until Kiev and Warsaw resolve their differences over a World War II massacre in which Ukrainian Nazi collaborators slaughtered tens of thousands of Poles, Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz has said.

The issue of the Volyn massacre has long been a flashpoint in Ukrainian-Polish relations, despite Warsaw’s support for Kiev in its conflict with Russia. Between 40,000 and 100,000 Poles are estimated to have been murdered by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), which collaborated with the Third Reich, in the Volyn and Galicia Regions in 1943 and 1944.

In 2016, the Polish parliament declared the Volyn massacre a “genocide.” While Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky and Polish President Andrzej Duda jointly attended an event to honor the memory of Volyn victims in 2023, Kiev has so far been reluctant to call the massacre a genocide, arguing that such a crime can only be perpetrated by a state, while the atrocities were carried out by partisan units.

In an interview with the Polish broadcaster Polsat on Tuesday, Kosiniak-Kamysz said that while Poland intends to support Ukraine as much as possible, “not everything is perfect in our relations due to unresolved historical issues,” particularly when it comes to the atrocities committed by Ukrainian nationalists against Poles. “There will be no Ukrainian accession to the European Union if the Volyn issue is not resolved,” he stressed.

He reiterated that the fulfillment of Ukraine’s EU aspirations depends on whether it exhumes the bodies of the victims of the Volyn massacre. His remarks echoed a statement made by Polish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary of State Pawel Jablonski, who said in the autumn of 2023 that “without a solution to this issue… Ukraine cannot dream of joining the European Union,” while describing it as a condition for “long-term reconciliation with Ukraine.”

Zelensky promised to lift a moratorium on the exhumation effort in 2019, with searches resuming that same year in Ukraine’s western Lviv region after Poland agreed to restore a memorial to UPA guerrillas on its soil that had previously been destroyed by vandals.

Ukraine applied for EU membership in February 2022 after the escalation of the conflict with Russia and was granted EU candidate status in June of the same year. In June 2024, the EU opened official accession talks with Kiev, although its membership remains a distant possibility, with officials in Brussels demanding that Ukraine do more to combat rampant corruption and carry out a slew of other reforms.

July 24, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , | Leave a comment

Common Surgeries Surprisingly Fail to Outperform Placebo

Esteemed orthopedic surgeon Ian Harris joins the Radically Genuine Podcast!

DR. ROGER MCFILLIN | JULY 23, 2024

Welcome to a landmark episode of the Radically Genuine Podcast! I’m thrilled to present our first full video episode, exclusively available to our valued paid subscribers. Your support has made this exciting new format possible, allowing us to bring you an enhanced, immersive experience of our thought-provoking conversations.

In this shocking episode, I interview Professor Ian Harris, an esteemed orthopedic surgeon and author of the book “Surgery, The Ultimate Placebo”. This conversation unravels the complexities of surgical outcomes, challenging conventional wisdom and highlighting the critical need for evidence-based practice in modern medicine.

Key points explored:

1. The placebo effect in surgery: We dissect how patient expectations and non-specific effects can significantly influence surgical outcomes, emphasizing the importance of distinguishing these from the procedure’s direct physiological impacts.

2. Challenges in surgical research: We discuss the difficulties in conducting placebo-controlled surgical trials, shedding light on the methodological hurdles that complicate efforts to establish definitive evidence of surgical efficacy.

3. Surgeon bias and decision-making: The conversation explores the cognitive biases that can affect surgeons’ judgments, potentially leading to unnecessary procedures or overestimation of benefits.

4. Overuse of surgical interventions: Harris presents compelling arguments about the prevalence of surgeries that may lack solid scientific backing, advocating for a more cautious approach to surgical recommendations.

5. Non-operative alternatives: The discussion highlights the often-overlooked potential of conservative treatments, particularly emphasizing the benefits of weight loss and exercise for conditions like knee arthritis.

6. Financial incentives in healthcare: We touch on the complex interplay between economic motivations and medical decision-making, exploring how these factors can influence treatment recommendations.

7. Placebo and nocebo effects: The conversation examines how both positive (placebo) and negative (nocebo) expectations can impact patient outcomes, underscoring the power of patient beliefs in the healing process.

8. Informed consent and patient education: We stress the importance of providing patients with accurate, evidence-based information to facilitate truly informed decision-making about their care.

This episode serves as a compelling call to action for increased scientific rigor in surgical practice and a more critical evaluation of established medical interventions. It challenges listeners to reconsider their assumptions about surgical efficacy and encourages a more nuanced understanding of the factors contributing to medical outcomes.

July 24, 2024 Posted by | Science and Pseudo-Science, Timeless or most popular, Video | , , | Leave a comment

Human Rights Watch Report on October 7 accused of bias, Here’s why

By Robert Inlakesh | Al Mayadeen | July 23, 2024

On July 17th, Human Rights Watch (HRW) published a 236-page report that accused Hamas and other Palestinian Resistance groups of committing war crimes on October 7th. However, the report has significant shortcomings, including a heavy reliance on Israeli sources and forensic evidence based on analogies of information provided by the infamous ZAKA rescue service, known for fabricating crime scenes and disseminating various propaganda hoaxes.

Despite its length and the new details it brings to light on the events of October 7 during the Hamas-led Al-Aqsa Flood offensive, the new HRW report is perhaps the most biased international investigation so far, and does not make mention of the ‘Hannibal Directive’ and “Israel’s” role in killing its own non-combatants on that day.

Given the report’s extensive nature, with over 800 footnotes, it’s impossible to cover every aspect in a single article. However, it’s important to examine some areas where it falls short.

Dealing with claims that HRW was biased

To begin with, Sari Bashi, the Israeli Program Director for the report and co-founder of the “Gisha- Legal Center for Freedom of Movement,” which is funded by Zionist sources such as the “New Israel Fund“, stated the following on X:

“This is the most comprehensive account of October 7 by an independent international organization and concludes that Hamas-led attacks against civilians in Israel rise to the level of crimes against humanity. We need accountability and civilian protection. Now.”

The methodology of the report is perhaps the most telling part, from which we can decipher how HRW reached its conclusions. Many of these conclusions do not hold up to scrutiny or, at the very least, demand further answers.

In their methodology section, HRW notes that it interviewed “94 survivors and witnesses from the October 7 assault”, which suggests a comprehensive picture of what occurred across “19 kibbutzim and five moshavim (cooperative communities), the cities of Sderot and Ofakim, two music festivals, and a beach party” that they noted in their overview. However, they admit that they were only able to actually interview survivors from the Moshav Pri Gan, Moshav Yachini, and the Psyduck music festival sites – just three out of 24 locations mentioned in their summary of events.

The report goes on to state that for its actual forensic information, HRW “spoke to two medical experts hired by the Israeli government to examine the remains collected by ZAKA (see below) and provide forensic advice.” They further note that “following October 7, some ZAKA members provided information to the media that proved unfounded”, which is a major understatement. The head of the “Search and Rescue” service has repeatedly peddled debunked lies, as ZAKA produced false claim after false claim, ranging from grotesque stories of rape, sexualized torture, babies strewn on clothing lines, to the infamous “40 beheaded babies” lie.

Despite this, HRW interviewed 10 ZAKA members who were all first responders on October 7 and claimed that it only used independently verifiable information. However, it admits that the two experts they spoke to that were tasked with examining the forensic evidence provided by ZAKA, were both hired by the Israeli regime directly.

Without going through every detail in their methodology, it consists of interviews with Israeli journalists, ZAKA members, an Israeli soldier, a range of experts without specifying who they were exactly, in addition to some interviews with Palestinian citizens of “Israel” and Palestinians in Gaza. “Most of those interviewed were Jewish Israelis, but we also interviewed Palestinians from Gaza, Palestinian citizens of “Israel”, and foreign workers from Nepal, Thailand, and the Philippines. Interviews were primarily conducted in Hebrew with the assistance of interpreters, and in Arabic, English, Spanish, and Thai”, the report states.

Then there is the fact that the HRW was prevented by the Israeli authorities from entering any other site than Kibbutz Be’eri, where they were not given unrestricted access, meaning that their ability to actually inspect would have been restricted. In the segment of the HRW report on Kibbutz Be’eri, they cite survivor testimonies and build a narrative about what occurred there, without bothering to mention the fact that the Hannibal Directive was triggered there.

In one case, at Yossi Cohen’s home in Kibbutz Be’eri, where the Israeli military opened fire with light arms and then tank fire, killing 13 Israelis, the account is completely one-sided and omits key information that is readily available online. It mentions a key witness, Yasmin Porat, who survived the battle between Hamas fighters and the Israeli military. While the report says that Porat “briefly spoke to Human Rights Watch and confirmed these events, albeit in less detail“, this comes off as an attempt at providing a linguistic loophole in order to provide cover to the fact that Porat did not actually confirm the precise characterisation of events presented by HRW.

In reality, Yasmin Porat was lambasted after a number of appearances she made on Israeli television, where she said that during hours of being kept under Hamas captivity “they did not abuse us. They treated us very humanely,” adding that “they give us something to drink here and there. When they see we are nervous they calm us down. It was very frightening but no one treated us violently. Luckily nothing happened to me like what I heard in the media.” Porat also said that a Palestinian fighter spoke to her in Hebrew in order to calm her down and said “‘Look at me well, we’re not going to kill you. We want to take you to Gaza. We are not going to kill you. So be calm, you’re not going to die.’ That’s what he told me, in those words.” Porat lost her husband on October 7 and undoubtedly endured significant trauma, which is why her testimony was so powerful at the time.

Porat did not attempt to justify the actions of Hamas, but she presented a completely different picture to the one depicted in the HRW report, which is not at all acknowledged. If anything, the way the report deals with this specific incident is evidently omitting important details.

Then we have the allegations of a premeditated mass rape campaign, which the Israeli regime claims was carried out on the orders of Hamas that day. The report, in its section titled “Crimes Involving Acts of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence”, admitted the following:

“Human Rights Watch was not able to gather verifiable information through interviews with survivors of or witnesses to rape during the assault on October 7. Human Rights Watch requested access to information on sexual and gender-based violence in the possession of the Israeli government, but this request was not granted.”

Although this is a massive blow to the Israeli narrative about a mass rape campaign, they did claim that “forced nudity, and the posting without consent of sexualized images on social media”, but provided no in-depth information and simply stated that it came to these conclusions after “interviewing first responders, and experts on sexual violence who provided information about the context, and reviewing images captured during the assault”. It did not name who these experts and first responders were, however, we can reasonably assume from the information presented on methodology that ZAKA and Israelis were the bulk of those sources. The photographic evidence aspect is also not clearly explained or detailed, which does not enable us to further inspect such claims.

This segment seems, however, to rely heavily on a report by the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten, which concluded that there is “reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence occurred during the 7 October attacks in multiple locations across Gaza periphery” despite admitting no conclusive evidence. This report was made at the request of the Israeli regime and did not claim to be investigative in nature, however, it did reveal the below-mentioned issues:

“At least two of the allegations of sexual violence previously reported were determined by the mission team to be unfounded, due to either new superseding information or inconsistency in the information gathered, including first responder testimonies, photographic evidence, and other information. These included the allegation of a pregnant woman whose womb had reportedly been ripped open before she was killed, with her fetus stabbed while still inside her. Another such account was the interpretation initially made of the body of a girl found separated from the rest of her family, naked from the waist down. It was determined by the mission team that the crime scene had been altered by a bomb squad and the bodies moved, explaining the separation of the body of the girl from the rest of her family. Allegations of objects found inserted in female genital organs also could not be verified by the mission team due in large part to the limited availability and low quality of imagery.”

In addition to this, the HRW report notes that they viewed and analyzed hundreds of videos and photos from that day, most of which were from Telegram channels and have long been available to the public. These only provide snapshots of what went on and are no way conclusive.

On top of this, there was no analysis, investigation, or even mention of “Israel’s” triggering of the Hannibal Directive at numerous sites that day, which has now been confirmed as per sources cited by the Israeli daily Haaretz. Right here, this is the biggest red flag that indicates bias and debunks the idea that this report was in any way comprehensive, as it completely left out the role of Israeli forces in killing non-combatants that day. The most recent UN report which focused heavily on October 7, released on June 12 under a Human Rights Council resolution, mentions the Hannibal Directive and reports of Israeli forces killing their own people, making it a lot more balanced than the HRW report.

Overall, if we look at the examples noted above, the claim that this report is unbiased and presents a comprehensive view of the situation is false.

July 23, 2024 Posted by | Deception | , , | Leave a comment

What’s behind Israel’s war against UNRWA?

By Ramzy Baroud | MEMO | July 23, 2024

Targeting a school during a war could be justified as, or at least argued, to have been a mistake. But striking over 120 schools, and killing and wounding thousands of civilians sheltering inside, can only be intentional, with each attack a horrific war crime in its own right.

Between 7 October last year and 18 July, Israel has done precisely that, targeting with total impunity UN infrastructure in the besieged Gaza Strip, including schools and medical centres. According to the estimates of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), at least 561 internally displaced Palestinians sheltering in UNRWA buildings have been killed and 1,768 have been wounded since the start of Israel’s war. Within just ten days between 8 and 18 July, at least six UNRWA schools serving as makeshift shelters for displaced Palestinians were targeted by the Israeli army, resulting in the killing and wounding of hundreds.

Historically, UN-linked organisations have been more or less immune from the impact of wars. The privilege of being neutral outsiders to any conflict allowed those affiliated with such organisations to carry out their duties largely unhindered. The Israeli war on the Palestinians in Gaza, however, is the primary exception among all modern conflicts. According to UN sources, 274 aid workers and over 500 healthcare workers linked to the international organisation have been killed by the Israeli occupation forces.

These figures are consistent with all other statistics produced by the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza. Indeed, not a single category of people has been spared: neither doctors nor civil defence workers, mayors or even traffic police, let alone the children, women and elderly.

It was obvious from the very start of the war that Israel wanted to criminalise all Palestinians.

Not only those affiliated with Hamas or other groups, but also the civilian population and any international organisation that came to their aid. Blaming and dehumanising all of Gaza was and remains part of Israel’s strategy that lets its army operate without any restraints, and without even the most minimal moral threshold or respect for international law.

However, the Israeli attacks on all UN institutions, in particular UNRWA, the agency responsible for the welfare of Gaza’s Palestinian refugees, serve a different purpose than that of mere “collective punishment”. Israel does not attempt to mask or justify its attacks on the agency as it did during previous Gaza wars. This time around, the Israeli war was accompanied, from the very beginning, with the outlandish accusation that UNRWA staff had participated in the 7 October cross-border incursion by Hamas and other Palestinian groups.

Without providing any evidence, Tel Aviv launched an international vilification campaign against the UN agency which has, for decades, provided essential educational, medical and humanitarian services to millions of Palestinian refugees, not only in occupied Palestine, but also in refugee camps in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. Sadly, and tellingly, some Western, and even non-Western governments, answered the Israeli call to punish UNRWA by withholding badly-needed funds, the urgency of which did not only stem from the direct impact of the Israeli war, but also the acute famine resulting from the war. UNRWA depends almost entirely on such voluntary donations from UN member states.

True, a number of governments eventually resumed their funding of the agency, but such action was only taken when much damage had already been done. Moreover, most, if not all, Western governments have taken no action against Israel for its continued targeting of UNRWA facilities, and thus the killing of hundreds of innocent Palestinians in the process.

This non-committal attitude has emboldened Israel to the extent that, just this week, the Israeli Knesset (parliament) passed the first reading of a bill to designate UNRWA as a “terrorist organisation”. On 18 July, Israeli spokesman David Mencer accused the Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, of being a “terrorist sympathiser”.

Israel’s hate for UNRWA, however, stretches back long before the current war.

For years, successive Israeli governments, not least with the aid of the Donald Trump administration in the US, have sought to shut down the agency altogether.

Jared Kushner, Trump’s former advisor on the Middle East, said in January 2018 that it was “important to have an honest and sincere effort to disrupt UNRWA.” For him, the dismantlement of the agency meant the eradication of the legitimate Right of Return for Palestinian refugees.

Indeed, the issue is not just about UNRWA, but rather the historic role the agency has played as a reminder of the plight of millions of Palestinian refugees in occupied Palestine, the Middle East and across the world.

UNRWA was established through General Assembly Resolution 302 (IV) of 8 December 1949. The founding of UNRWA came one year after the passing of UN Resolution 194, which granted Palestinian refugees the right to “return to their homes”. Although UNRWA’s mission has turned into a de facto permanent mandate (albeit one that has to be renewed periodically), since Palestinian refugees were not granted their right of return, the role of the agency has remained as critical as it was decades ago.

Since Kushner and others have failed to have UNRWA shut down, the Israeli government has taken advantage of its war on Gaza to try to do so. According to Israeli “logic”, without a UN agency specifically for Palestinian refugees, there must be no more Palestinian refugees, so the issue of their return would lose its main legal platform and would ultimately disappear. This would give Israel the space and leverage to “resolve” the problem of the refugees in any way it sees fit, especially if it has Washington’s full support.

Israel must not be allowed to dismantle UNRWA or to dismiss the generational struggle of Palestinian refugees, which is the core of the Palestinian fight for justice and freedom. The international community must challenge Israel’s vilification of UNRWA and insist on the centrality of the Right of Return for Palestinian refugees. Without it, no real peace is possible.

July 23, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , , | Leave a comment

Palestinian Factions Sign Unity Deal in Beijing

Al-Manar – July 23, 2024

Palestinian factions have signed a “national unity” agreement aimed at maintaining Palestinian control over Gaza once Israel’s war on the enclave concludes.

The deal, finalized on Tuesday in China after three days of intensive talks, lays the groundwork for an “interim national reconciliation government” to rule post-war Gaza, said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

The agreement was signed by long-term rivals Hamas and Fatah, as well as 12 other Palestinian groups.

“Today we sign an agreement for national unity and we say that the path to completing this journey is national unity,” said senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk at a news conference in Beijing.

Mustafa Barghouti, secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative, one of the 14 factions to sign the accord, told Al Jazeera the agreement goes “much further” than any other reached in recent years.

He said its four main elements are the establishment of an interim national unity government, the formation of unified Palestinian leadership ahead of future elections, the free election of a new Palestinian National Council, and a general declaration of unity in the face of ongoing Israeli attacks.

The move towards a unity government is especially important, he said, because it “blocks Israeli efforts to create some sort of collaborative structure against Palestinian interests”.

Reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah would be a key turning point in internal Palestinian relations.

“We’re at a historic junction,” Abu Marzouk said, according to CNN. “Our people are rising up in their efforts to struggle.”

Barghouti said the Israeli war on Gaza was the “main factor” motivating the Palestinian sides to set aside their differences.

“There is no other way now but for Palestinians to be unified and struggle together against this terrible injustice,” he said.

“The most important thing now is to not only sign the agreement, but to implement it.”

July 23, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , | Leave a comment

Hamas: The Beijing Declaration is an important step towards national unity

Palestinian Information Center – July 23, 2024

BEIJING – The head of the Hamas National Relations Office and a member of its political bureau, Husam Badran, said the Beijing Declaration is an important positive step to achieve Palestinian national unity.

In a press statement on Tuesday, Badran expressed his appreciation for China’s efforts to reach this declaration, stressing the Palestinians’ need for confronting the US solo policy in the Palestinian issue file and its complete bias to and partnership with Israel.

Badran explained that during the Beijing meetings, it has been agreed on the Palestinian demands related to ending the Israeli genocide war and aggression on Gaza, a permanent ceasefire, a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and starting Gaza reconstruction.

He said that the most important point of the agreement is the formation of a national consensus government with specific tasks to confront regional and international interventions that seek to impose facts against the interests of the Palestinian people, and to supervise Gaza reconstruction and prepare for holding elections.

Badran reported that the Beijing meeting stressed the need for confronting the Israeli occupation’s conspiracies and its ongoing violations at Al-Aqsa Mosque and its attempts to Judaize Jerusalem as well as the necessary need for the support of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

July 23, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , | Leave a comment

AIPAC, the leading Israeli lobby group, and its role in subversion of US democracy

By David Miller | Press TV | July 23, 2024

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is the most famous and equally notorious Israeli lobby group in the world. But how important is it really?

Some argue that its influence has been exaggerated and it can at best influence American policies at the margins, while others say it wields considerable clout in US power corridors.

Many of these arguments come from the political left like the one published in Mother Jones, the US leftist magazine, or the one from the former stalwart of the Palestinian cause, Christopher Hitchens, or even the one by Novara Media, a British “leftist” website.

In it, David Wearing presents his argument in these words:

AIPAC may best be seen as performing a disciplinary function within US politics. One can certainly argue that US support for Israel is made somewhat firmer given AIPAC’s role, and these marginal factors matter. But they are still marginal.

Certainly, the Zionist movement is keen to downplay its influence. A report in the Tablet: “How Influential Is AIPAC? Less Than Beer Sellers, Public Accountants, and Toyota” states:

The way AIPAC is talked about, you’d think they’d be a lobbying juggernaut, surely one of the largest in the nation’s capital. Wrong…:

Between 1998 and 2018, AIPAC didn’t make a dent in the Center for Responsive Politics list of the top-spending lobbying groups. In 2018, total pro-Israel lobbying spending was around $5 million, of which AIPAC accounted for $3.5 million.

In contrast, Native American casinos spent around $22 million that year. By Tablet’s count, AIPAC was the 147th highest-ranked entity in terms of lobbying spending in 2018.

This is an attempt to pretend that the influence of the Zionist movement is much less than suggested by observers.

However, based on our findings, we can present these facts:

  • Taking the figure disclosed to the lobbying regulator as if that was all AIPAC spends on lobbying is profoundly mistaken. Though it disclosed only $2.7 million lobby expenditure in 2022, its actual total expenditure was £79.1 million.
  • In addition, AIPAC controls another nonprofit, the American Israel Education Foundation. It discloses nothing to the regulator, yet had a 2022 expenditure of a further $44.6 million.
  • When we add campaign contributions the figures rise significantly. Donations by AIPAC’s Political Action Committee (PAC for short) and its new Super PAC, the United Democracy Project, in the most recent period (2024) total $17.4 million and  $31.5 million respectively.  It’s worth noting that none of this was donated by AIPAC itself. This adds to donations it has raised from others. The United Democracy Project is the third largest Superpac in the US in terms of 2024 expenditure, according to Open Secrets, the US lobby watchdog. This easily outstrips all corporate-related Superpacs.
  • Looking more widely at the Israel lobby in general declared lobbying expenditure by the lobby in 2018 was $7 million not “around $5 million” as stated by the Tablet. The figure for 2022 was $5.4 million, with the following groups making significant declarations: Anti-Defamation League ($340,000), Christians United for Israel ($240,000), Foundation for Defense of Democracies ($180,000), J Street ($640,000), Jewish Federations of North America ($893,000), Republican Jewish Coalition ($320,000), Zionist Organisation of America ($160,000).  But of course, their actual budget/expenditure is much higher than the narrow specific lobbying disclosure data.

However, taking figures the lobby narrowly conceives are woefully inadequate as it does not include money spent by Israeli firms or by foreign agents registered with the US Federal government’s Foreign Agents Registration Act office.

  • $6.3 million was spent in 2022 by Israeli firms including arms firms Elbit ($770,000), Rafael ($680,000), Israel Aerospace Industries ($446,000), and phone hacking firm Cellebrite ($440,000).
  • $16 million in the same year was spent by registered foreign agents of Israel including the regime itself, the World Zionist Organisation ($4.2 million), the Jewish Agency ($9.5 million), and the phone hacking firm NSO Group ($1.5 million).

But even that pales in comparison to data compiled by the Israellobby.org website.

It collates data on Zionist groups providing subsidies to the Zionist entity (including illegal settlements and the occupation forces) and lobbying and education.

It shows a total annual budget of £3.6 billion as long ago as 2012, rising to an estimated £6.3 billion in 2020. These figures do not include the data above on Israeli firms or foreign agents.

However extensive this data is (the best available source on the extent of the economic basis of the Zionist movement), it does not include the following:

There is hardly any research on the depth and extent of the Zionist penetration of US society which is cognizant of this data.

It’s time to dig deeper and reveal the actual spending power and reach of the lobby.

Turning back to AIPAC, it has a deserved reputation as the most powerful Israeli lobby group in the US.  However, a key Zionist talking point is the claim that it is not so powerful.

AIPAC was created by Isiah Kenen a contractor for the Zionist regime in 1963.  It was initially called the American Zionist Council. Two months after the American Zionist Council was ordered to register as a foreign agent, Kenen incorporated AIPAC which did not register as a foreign agent, though it is.

One element of AIPAC activities not well understood is its role in spending millions every year ferrying Israeli settlers for eight-day junkets.

The trips are organized through a cutout called the American Israel Education Fund, a charitable organization founded by AIPAC, from which it borrows its offices, board members, and even part of its logo. Like other tax-exempt nonprofits, AIEF must file a Form 990 every year with the Internal Revenue Service, but donors are redacted from the public version.

Recently, an unredacted tax filing for 2019 was obtained by The Intercept. It revealed that the financiers are a clutch of large foundations and nonprofits, some of which are family-run, which also offer funds to other genocidal Zionist groups.

They include foundations associated with the following families, Koret, Swartz, Schusterman and Singer.

The role of AIPAC in campaign contributions is also poorly understood. In November 2023, it was reported that AIPAC was “airing attack ads and beginning to back primary opponents to challenge Congress members who are not voting for or supporting Israel’s war on Gaza.”

According to the report in the Guardian :

Although AIPAC’s roots trace back to the 1950s, the group spent decades focusing most of its attention on lobbying members of Congress – only getting directly involved in races in the past few years. In late 2021, AIPAC announced the formation of a political action committee, known as AIPAC Pac, and a Super Pac, the United Democracy Project, to get more directly involved in congressional campaigns.

The groups hit the ground running in the 2022 midterms, spending nearly $50m across the election cycle. Aipac Pac boasts that it supported 365 pro-Israel candidates from both parties in 2022, while critics condemned the group’s endorsement of dozens of Republicans who voted against certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election.

The Guardian reported that A group of Super Pacs and dark-money non-profits – most notably groups such as the United Democracy Project ($31,679,020) and the Democratic Majority for Israel ($35,000) – as well as other PACs (AIPAC PAC ($1,491,025) tied to Israeli interests contributed about significantly to US campaigns during the last cycle, according to Open Secrets, a campaign finance watchdog.

Open Secrets data show that this amounts to some $58.4 million in the past year.

In the spring of this year, it was revealed that AIPAC had a $100 million war chest for the upcoming election cycle.

AIPAC’s Super Pac is amusingly named the United Democracy Project. It spends targeted funds on lawmakers who challenge any pro-Israel policy including the mildly critical Squad of Democrat representatives and also Libertarian Republicans such as Thomas Massie who has voted against military aid to Israel.

It was Massie who revealed in an interview with Tucker Carlson that AIPAC appoints handlers for each Congress person.

Here is his description: ”It’s like your babysitter. Your AIPAC babysitter who is always talking to you for AIPAC. They’re probably a constituent in your district, but they are, you know, firmly embedded in AIPAC.

In November 2022, AIPAC claimed that “more than 95% of AIPAC-backed candidates won their election last night! Being pro-Israel is good policy and good politics!”

In July 2024, AIPAC claimed “So far this cycle, all 90 AIPAC-endorsed Democrats have won their primary election”

When all of this data and activity is considered we can see that AIPAC is much more of a player than is admitted in those views from the right and left who minimize its importance.

AIPAC is part of a complex network of lobby groups which collectively can be described as the “Israel lobby”.  Further, the lobby is itself only a smallish part of the much larger Zionist movement.  It is this which needs to be assessed in all its complexity.

When we do that a more rounded and complex account emerges.  The role of AIPAC cannot be considered outside its role in the wonder movement because its activities including raising funds and deploying them through other groups and organizations are a core element of its strategy.

Reducing AIPAC to its lobbying disclosure expenditure or its total budget cannot capture its significance in the movement, let alone the significance of the Zionist movement in total.

Hence, AIPAC, and the rest of the Zionist movement, must be stopped.

David Miller is the producer and co-host of Press TV’s weekly Palestine Declassified show. He was sacked from Bristol University in October 2021 over his Palestine advocacy. 

July 23, 2024 Posted by | Corruption, Deception | , , , , | Leave a comment

“Tear Up Texas”: FBI Encouraged a 2015 Shooting & Did Nothing to Stop It

Remembering the Curtis Culwell Center attack in which an undercover FBI agent encouraged shooters, followed them to the attack site, and didn’t stop them.

By John Leake | Courageous Discourse™ | July 23, 2024

The most plausible hypothesis for the July 13, 2024 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania is that Thomas Matthew Crooks was already on the radar of the Secret Service, Department of Homeland Security, or the FBI in the days before he went to the event with his rifle.

Most likely, he indulged in some online chatter with others whose true identity he himself did not know. In the course of this chatter, he identified himself as being passionately interested in shooting rifles and frequently practiced firing his rifle at a range—a representation that could be easily verified. A good investigator would also examine the hypothesis that he somehow—probably in veiled language—indicated he was interested in shooting Donald Trump.

Instead of discouraging this fantasy, someone on the other side of the chat encouraged it, and encouraged him to attend the scheduled rally in Butler to take a shot at Trump. Again, the language was probably veiled—something along the lines of, “I hear there’ll be a nice shooting range at the Butler Show Grounds this Saturday between the American Glass Research building and the stage.”

Contemplating this hypothesis reminded me of the Curtis Culwell Center attack in Garland, Texas on May 3, 2015. The perpetrators had been monitored by the FBI for years, as they were suspected of consorting with Islamic terrorists and probably planning a terrorist attack on American soil.

The would-be shooters, who lived in Phoenix, Arizona, thought they were exchanging text messages with a fellow Islamic terrorists. In fact they were texting with an undercover FBI agent who encouraged them to attack an event scheduled at the Curtis Culwell Center. As the agent memorably put it in a text message, “Tear Up Texas.”

The two perpetrators then loaded their car in Phoenix and hit the road to Arlington. Again, unbeknownst to them, they were being tracked the entire time. On the day of the convention, they parked by the Curtis Culwell Center, got out of their car with their loaded weapons, and walked towards the entrance—with the FBI undercover agent following right behind them.

While the undercover agent did nothing to intervene, a local security guard saw the armed men approaching, and he took decisive action, using his own sidearm to neutralize the men before they could enter the convention center with their semi-automatic rifles and innumerable loaded magazines. Had the security guard not intervened, God knows how many people in the building would have been shot.

Not long after the incident, it was discovered that the undercover FBI agent had encouraged the shooters, followed them to the event, and done nothing to intervene. The security guard—who was shot and wounded but survived his injury—sued the FBI and Department of Justice, which dodged liability when their declaration of sovereign immunity was upheld in court.

Readers who are interested in learning more about the Curtis Culwell Center attack may check out this 2018 news report on the lawsuit.

A proper investigation of the Butler, Pennsylvania assassination attempt on Donald Trump would start with the hypothetical proposition at least one federal law enforcement agent knew about Thomas Matthew Crooks before he attended the rally. Crooks drove to the rally without encountering any intervention and then climbed onto the roof of the American Glass Research building with his rifle—again with no law enforcement intervening to stop him.

July 23, 2024 Posted by | Deception | , | Leave a comment

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