Obama Says He’s Close to a “First Amendment Absolutist,” Then Adds a “But,” Criticizes “Certain Kinds of Speech”
By Didi Rankovic | Reclaim The Net | November 12, 2023
President Barack Obama has reemerged in the media, as the election campaign in the US is picking up pace.
And he got his two cents in on a range of issues, including free speech in the context of the First Amendment, “misinformation,” social networks vs. democracy – as his politically like-minded comrades like to position the situation – and, of course, the role of “AI.”
Obama was a guest on a Verge podcast when he – a former US president, twice sworn to preserve, protect, and defend the country’s Constitution – seemed to water down the meaning of that oath.
At one point, he told the host that he is “close” to being a First Amendment “absolutist” – only to add, “but we have laws against certain kinds of speech that we deem to be really harmful to the public health and welfare.”
Obama’s understanding of the First Amendment, according to this statement, is not that this legislation is there to protect the right to free speech – but rather that it should secure a “marketplace” of various ideas.
In his own words: “(…) these ideas battle themselves out, and ultimately, we can all judge better ideas versus worse ideas. I deeply believe in that core principle (of the First Amendment).”
“Misinformation” is another issue troubling Obama, where he seems somewhat skeptical about the government’s ability to regulate the field (obviously – to his political slant).
But the former president has ideas about how it might be done: “We need to think about different platforms and different business models.”
Furthermore – “It may be that I’m perfectly happy to have AI mediate how I buy jeans online. That could be very efficient. I’m perfectly happy with it. So if it’s a shopping app or thread, fine.”
But – what if it’s about speech, or as he put it, “marketplace of ideas”?
There, Obama would like to see regulation that would “broaden” people’s perspectives. Let his audience be the judge of the direction this (political) “broadening” would be taking, and at the expense of what.
The interview came after sitting US president, Joe Biden, signed what is described as “a sweeping executive order about AI.”
Obama has not previously been known as an expert on these matters (apparently, his “expertise” stems from being a prominent victim of deepfakes), but now he has a lot to say about “AI”. Mostly, how those tech companies at the forefront should “regulate” matters pertaining to this technology.
On this front, one of the key messages Obama was trying to push during the podcast is to “recruit” actual tech and “AI” experts into a segment of the US Digital Service that was launched during his time in office. In this context, he urged professionals to “sign up” at ai.gov and work “for the common good.”
Israel war cabinet resolves to shut down Al-Mayadeen in Palestine
The Cradle | November 13, 2023
Israel’s war cabinet on 13 November approved the decision to ban and shut down media companies that “give the nation a poor image,” with Hebrew media reports saying Israeli Minister of Communications, Shlomo Qurei, signed an order to end the operation of Lebanon’s Al-Mayadeen in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the decision to shut down Al-Mayadeen was due to the channel’s “making wartime efforts to harm [Israel’s] security interests and to serve the enemy’s goals.”
Nonetheless, Nasser al-Laham, director of Al-Mayadeen’s bureau in occupied Palestine, stressed that the channel “will continue to broadcast what is happening, whatever the cabinet’s decision is.”
The Lebanese broadcaster has had its fair share of aggression by the Israelis since the start of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.
On 31 October, the office of Laham was raided, his wife assaulted by the Israeli forces, and his children detained.
Previously, the Israeli government was targeting Qatari news channel Al-Jazeera, which has been reporting on Israeli war crimes against Palestinians for decades.
The threats against the Qatari news network are seemingly on ice, however, as the Ministry of Communications said that, as of now, no actions are being taken to shut down Al-Jazeera.
The decision reportedly comes due to fears of the action causing a crisis between Israel and Qatar, as Doha is acting as the prime mediator of the release of Israeli captives held in the Gaza Strip.
Israel Foreign Minister Eli Cohen has fervently voiced his distaste with the Qatari broadcaster, citing its “unbalanced and anti-Israel coverage,” and has demanded to examine “the form of its coverage at the security level and ensure that it did not harm the military forces.”
As the ethnic cleansing of Gaza enters its 38th day, at least 49 journalists have been killed in the besieged coastal enclave.
UNRWA: Gaza fuel depot now empty, waste collection, water pumps will now stop
MEMO | November 13, 2023
The UN Palestinian refugee agency’s fuel depot in Gaza has run dry and within a few days UNRWA will no longer be able to resupply hospitals, remove sewage and provide drinking water, its chief said today according to Reuters.
UNRWA is sheltering nearly 800,000 people, or about half of the total population of Gazans who have fled their homes since the Israeli military bombardment of the Strip on 7 October.
The agency chief, Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini, told donors today that it had been slowly emptying a fuel depot on the Israeli border containing strategic reserves.
A request to the Israeli military to replenish it had gone unanswered, he said.
“That reservoir is now empty,” Lazzarini said.
“If we project out a couple of days, by the 14th of November this will severely impact ambulances and major hospital operations. Some of them (hospitals) have a bit of solar but it is marginal, so those hospitals cease functioning,” he said.
Already, many hospitals have had to close in Gaza due to war damage or lack of fuel, including Al-Quds, one of the major hospitals in the north of Gaza that has been the focus of Israel’s ground invasion.
Israel’s military has so far refused imports of fuel into Gaza. Collective punishment of a civilian population is illegal under international law and Israel’s claims that fuel supplies may be directed to support the Palestinian resistance have not been substantiated, with the UN saying there are checks on fuel so it is accounted for.
UNRWA’s fuel is also used to remove hundreds of tonnes of solid waste from increasingly overcrowded camps in southern Gaza, and Lazzarini said these services would soon halt.
Without fuel, desalination plants in the narrow, densely populated coastal strip used to provide drinking water to support at least 290,000 people will also stop on 15 November, he added.
“So the situation is very dire now and it’s about to get much worse,” Lazzarini told donors.
Hamas: Gaza will be ruled only by its people
Palestine Information Center – November 13, 2023
BEIRUT – Senior Hamas leader Osama Hamdan told a press conference in Beirut on Sunday evening that none other but the Palestinians would rule the Gaza Strip.
“We tell the US administration that Gaza will be only ruled by its people,” he asserted, adding that “whoever comes to rule Gaza on board your tanks will be considered a traitor.”
Shifting to the Israeli war on Gaza, Hamdan said that the world’s silence towards the Israeli massacre in the Baptist Hospital in Gaza had encouraged it to commit more massacres.
“The whole world has witnessed the Israeli bombing of hospitals, medical personnel and the targeting of ambulance vehicles other than the daily bombing of houses over the heads of their occupants,” He added.
“We hold the US administration and President (Joe) Biden in particular fully responsible for those crimes as they are committed with American weapons and unlimited American support,” Hamdan said.
“The Israeli entity is the real threat to humanity and to the security and peace of the region and the world at large,” the Hamas leader said.
He regretted, meanwhile, that the resolutions passed by the joint Arab-Islamic summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, did not live up to the expectations and did not include practical and immediate measures to stop the Israeli aggression and bloodbath.
However, he said, the summit resolution calling for breaking the siege on Gaza and sending urgent aid to its population was a resolution in the right direction, “and we will be waiting for its immediate implementation including the permanent opening of the Rafah crossing and safe corridors for humanitarian assistance.”
In conclusion, the Hamas leader hailed the Arab, Islamic and free people of the world’s massive rallies in support of Gaza and in rejection of the “Israeli, Nazi crimes.” He called for more such rallies in rejection of Israeli crimes and genocide against innocent children and civilians.
Hamas denies turning down fuel supply to hospital, calls it ‘part of Israel’s lies’
Press TV – November 13, 2023
Hamas has denied having turned down a meager fuel supply allegedly offered by Israel for use at the Gaza Strip’s biggest hospital, which is suffering from dire fuel shortage due to the regime’s ongoing war against the besieged territory.
The Gaza-based Palestinian resistance movement made the remarks in a late Sunday statement concerning the supply of 300 liters of fuel allegedly offered by the occupying regime for Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital.
“As part of the series of lies that the occupation spreads [on a] daily [basis], the spokesman for its Nazi army said they had offered the administration of al-Shifa Hospital to supply the hospital with a quantity of fuel, but the Hamas movement refused it,” the statement said.
Stressing that the hospital’s needs for fuel far outweighed such a scanty supply, Hamas said, “The offer belittled the pain and suffering of the patients who are trapped inside without water, food, or electricity. This quantity was not enough to operate hospital generators for more than thirty minutes.”
The movement noted that the occupying regime of Israel “sought through this offer to launch a cheap propaganda campaign to beautify its ugly face and hide its crimes against humanity, its bombing of hospitals, its killing of medical staff, and its endangering the lives of patients by cutting off fuel, water, and medicines” to Gaza.
Hamas also renewed its call on the United Nations and the international community to immediate intervene to bring fuel into the Gaza Strip to help hospitals work “and to stop flagrant violations of international laws by the fascist occupation entity.”
The movement emphasized that it plays no role in decisions made by the hospital’s management and was not part of its decision-making structures, adding, “The hospital is completely subject to the authority of the Palestinian Health Ministry.”
Israel began its war on Gaza on October 7 following an operation by the territory’s resistance groups. More than 11,000 Palestinians, including 4,506 children, have been killed, and 27,490 others sustained injuries so far.
The regime has also cut off the flow of basic supplies such as water, electricity, medicines, and fuel to the densely-populated territory that houses over two million Palestinians.
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, 21 out of 35 hospitals with inpatient facilities have stopped functioning either due to damage from Israeli shelling and airstrikes or lack of fuel.
Gaza’s deputy health minister, Youssef Abu Rish, said on Sunday that fuel shortage at al-Shifa Hospital has claimed the lives of five premature babies and seven critically ill patients, adding, “We fear the toll will rise further by morning.”
Throughout the war, the occupying regime has been staging scores of attacks against the healthcare system across Gaza, including hospitals and ambulances, alleging that they are used to either accommodate or transport Palestinian fighters. The World Health Organization has recorded at least 137 Israeli attacks on healthcare staff in Gaza, killing 521 people and injuring 686 others.
UN chief decries ‘collective punishment’ of Palestinians
Separately, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres decried “collective punishment” of Palestinians by Israel under the excuse of Hamas’ operation against the regime.
Speaking to CNN, Guterres also regretted that as many as 101 UN personnel have died since the regime unleashed its genocidal war on the Palestinian territory.
Genocide is Israel’s Strategy
By Paul Larudee | Syria Support Movement | November 12, 2023
Israel is losing the battle. They cannot afford to remain fully mobilized this long, even with unlimited US financial support. It is estimated that despite limited commercial flights, more than a quarter million Israelis have left the country. This is also the number that have evacuated settlements in both the south, in a large radius around Gaza, and in a wide ribbon along the northern border with Lebanon.
Israel is not used to this, and despite its sophisticated military equipment, it depends upon concluding its combat quickly and overwhelmingly. The problem is that it can’t. Hamas is too well dug in, and Hezbollah is too strong. Both have their own sophisticated equipment, despite an absence of navy and air force. Their strategy has been to make air and naval forces largely useless against them by means of a vast and well equipped underground network of reinforced, sealed and well defended tunnels. Their strategy is attrition: to draw out the conflict longer than Israelis are willing or able to endure.
It appears to be effective. Israelis are taking casualties at a rate to which they are not accustomed. This is making them slower and more cautious, except in the air, and it is disrupting civilian life to an unprecedented extent. The resistance forces of the Palestinians and their allies have planned for a confrontation of unlimited duration, while Israel plans only short, massive attacks designed for a quick, decisive victory, which in this case is illusive.
This is the main reason they have chosen genocide as a tactic. They reason that massive, horrible deaths of vulnerable civil Palestinians, mainly women and children, will force Hamas, Hezbollah and their allies to take risks and expose themselves. But genocide is not working. And when it doesn’t, Israel’s answer is to use more genocide.
Gaza is largely without food, medicine, electricity, fuel or potable water. Israel is trying to force a panicking population to leave or die. If they leave, it is to the Sinai, never to return to their own country. That suits Israel, but not Egypt, which has arrayed a solid row of tanks and other equipment along the border to prevent being forced to admit the Palestinian population.
This is why Israel is resorting to bombing hospitals, schools, mosques and even the few churches of the tiny Christian community that opened their doors to their Muslim brothers and sisters seeking refuge. The Israeli strategy seems to be that when pictures of gaunt living skeletons of children and mounds of corpses begin to be estimated in the hundreds of thousands, or more, the fighters will become desperate and/or the international community will compel Egypt to open its doors.
The strategy could backfire. The international community could become so horrified that no amount of hasbara [friendly media] will cover such epic crimes. Instead, their staunchest allies may be forced to abandon them, and other powers may enter the fray on the side of the Palestinians. At that point, the consequences become unpredictable. Demonstrations by the millions are already beginning to occur around the globe. At least one prominent voice in Israel has suggested the nuclear option.
The call for a ceasefire is becoming louder, but Israel sees that as a Palestinian win, and the Palestinian factions have little stomach for returning to the status quo ante, which means little more than confinement to destitute concentration camps or “reservations”. Caring people from around the globe are beginning to mobilize near the conflict zone, to try to, at minimum, allow the resumption of humanitarian aid, fuel, electricity and water to the besieged, starving, sick, parched and dying people of Gaza.
This is just the beginning. Things could change very quickly, for good or bad.
Paul Larudee is a board member and key supporter of Syria Support Movement. He is currently in Egypt with a group of activists attempting to deliver aid to the people of Gaza.
What does the WHO say about its power to enforce the Pandemic Treaty (and International Health Regulations)?
By MERYL NASS | NOVEMBER 12, 2023
Many people have insisted that the WHO could not make the US do anything. Let me remind those people that the US government under Biden is instrumental in pushing forward the WHO proposals, and so it will comply. Here is what the WHO says:
What is meant by a ‘convention, agreement or other international instrument’?
Conventions, framework agreements and treaties are all examples of international instruments, which are legal agreements made between countries that are binding.
Why did WHO’s Member States decide to create an accord for pandemic preparedness and response?
In light of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, WHO’s 194 Member States established a process to draft and negotiate a new convention, agreement, or other international instrument (referred to in the rest of this FAQ, generally, as an “accord”) on pandemic preparedness and response. This was driven by the need to ensure communities, governments, and all sectors of society – within countries and globally – are better prepared and protected, in order to prevent and respond to future pandemics. The great loss of human life, disruption to households and societies at large, and impact on development are among the factors cited by governments to support the need for lasting action to prevent a repeat of such crises.
[Ho ho ho—Nass]
At the heart of the proposed accord is the need to ensure equity in both access to the tools needed to prevent pandemics (including technologies like vaccines, personal protective equipment, information and expertise) and access to health care for all people.
[If this were true, why do the treaty and amendments only discuss health “coverage” which means health insurance, rather than health care? The WHO knows the difference, but only demands “coverage”—a sop to the insurance industry.
Furthermore, the WHO demands censorship of information not in agreement with the WHO’s narratives, not free sharing of information—so much for information equity—and its so-called expertise was used to overdose hospitalized patients with HCQ without informed consent, when these unfortunates were enrolled in the WHO’s “SOLIDARITY” trial. Its expertise led to demanding that nations stop the use of HCQ and ivermectin for COVID and administer more shots. Who needs this expertise? —Nass]
Who else is involved in the process for the accord?
Besides WHO Member States, the process for developing a possible new accord is providing extensive opportunities for engagement with relevant stakeholders, including other United Nations system bodies, and a wide range of other non-State actors in official relations with the WHO, to ensure robust and inclusive participation in the proceedings of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body. Furthermore, WHO is seeking complementary inputs through public hearings with stakeholders including: international organizations; civil society; the private sector; philanthropic organizations; scientific, medical, public policy and academic institutions and other entities with relevant knowledge, experience and/or expertise.
[In other words, Bill Gates, who was the largest funder of the WHO the year Trump defunded the organization, gets the lion’s share of input, while we peons get none. Trump then turned around and funded Gate’s’ charity GAVI with the money, and GAVI turned around and gave it back to the WHO. That was our money, by the way.—Nass]
—There is more of this nonsense on this webpage, but you can go look it up yourself if you have the stomach for it.—Meryl
WHO Director General Complains About Online “Conspiracy Theories” About WHO Pandemic Treaty
By Didi Rankovic | Reclaim The Net | November 12, 2023
Given the fervor of Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus’ crusade against “disinformation,” if one didn’t know any better, one could hardly guess that he is at the helm of UN’s health agency, the World Health Organization (WHO), rather than some “ministry of truth.”
Then again, given his own, and WHO’s role in the disastrously mishandled pandemic – when those who were to blame at national and international level discovered “misinformation” as a way to discredit any criticism – this is not so surprising.
Now Tedros writes, “We find ourselves in a time where fake news, lies, conspiracy theories, misinformation and disinformation are rampant.” The reason this time is the UN’s push to get countries around the world to agree to “the pandemic accord.”
The document is designed to put in place the tools to handle “the next pandemic,” but is far from limited to health issues.
Opponents have been warning that the accord also aims to introduce surveillance tools, effectively facilitate censorship, and undermine a country’s sovereignty in the decision-making processes during a health crisis by transferring a number of powers to the UN.
This last serious concern seems to rub Tedros particularly the wrong way.
There are many more aspects to losing national sovereignty than overt ones such as direct imposition of vaccination or lockdowns, but in his post Tedros chose to focus on that, to then blast critics as making claims that are “completely unfounded, untrue, nonsense and have no basis in reality.”
The WHO director-general doth protest too much, some might conclude.
Such language doesn’t just come out of nowhere; it is usually a signal that not everything is going smoothly behind the scenes, and here Tedros seems to be trying to not only persuade countries about “fake news, lies, conspiracy theories…” around this issue, but also to get them to launch propaganda campaigns in favor of the accord, ASAP.
Tedros calls this, “actively countering false narratives.”
“It is important for them to communicate with their own citizens, assuring them that this agreement explicitly protects their country’s sovereignty. There should be no room for doubt or confusion in this matter,” he wrote on X.
A post – or a whole study – explaining how exactly the proposed treaty “explicitly protects” national sovereignty would be even better as a way to leave “no room for doubt or confusion.”
That’s lacking, but efforts to promote WHO’s narratives are only increasing. Thus, Spark Street Advisors is lobbying by proposing “soft (reputational) incentives such as technical and material resources to help countries (with compliance).
Most international agreements leave it to nations to “self-report” on implementation, but here the recommendation is for the accord to set up “an independent monitoring committee, tasked with producing regular assessments of state parties’ compliance with the pandemic agreement and the timeliness, completeness and accuracy of self-reporting.”
Not sovereignty-undermining, this. Not at all.
CPSO Pronounces Judgment Over Dr Trozzi
But the shots are still toxic, Pfizer committed fraud, everyone has been assaulted, and we must act now to save lives.
Dr Mark Trozzi | November 6, 2023
Health Canada recognizes that Pfizer committed fraud. The shots turn out to be even worse than I thought. They contain large quantities of DNA, and multiple genetic sequences including a very dangerous SV40 promoter sequence which promotes permanent genetic modification, disease, and cancer. Sadly, innocent people are uninformed and lining up for injections that they would never agree to if they knew what was in them and what it can do to them.
Here is my ten minute video to update you, with a focus on current priorities and strategies. Crisis is a combination of danger and opportunity. The SV40 revelation marks severe danger, but it is also an opportunity to finally set things right. This video includes genuinely kind and honest advice for the CPSO administrators and staff; and a small request for you to please share your judgement of me as a doctor with the CPSO.
Please Share Your Judgment of Dr Trozzi with the CPSO here:
- CPSO Compliment a physician https://www.cpso.on.ca/en/Public/Public-Information/Compliment-a-physician
- or by email direct to feedback@cpso.on.ca
CPSO v. Trozzi – Case Update – November 1, 2023
COLLEGE DENIES DR. TROZZI’S RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
We are the Administrative State and You are Not
The Ontario Physicians and Surgeons Discipline Tribunal has ruled that Dr. Mark Trozzi is guilty of professional misconduct and dishonourable conduct and is incompetent in the practice of medicine for questioning the government’s Covid-19 narrative. He was also found guilty of professional misconduct and was deemed incompetent for writing medical exemptions for Covid-19 injections in support of a patient’s right to refuse coerced medical treatment under Ontario’s Health Care Consent Act and section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
In 2021, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario established three Covid-19 restrictions through website statements — doctors were forbidden from: (i) making any statements that discourage anyone from following Covid-19 public policies and recommendations; (ii) prescribing alternative Health Canada approved medications for the treatment of Covid-19; and (iii) writing medical exemptions for Covid-19 injections, unless a patient had suffered a severe allergic reaction or developed myocarditis after a first shot. Based on the restrictions relating to freedom of expression and medical exemptions, the College issued investigation orders against Dr. Trozzi in 2021.
This eventually led to a five-day hearing in July of 2023 during which the College Tribunal focused its prosecution on Dr. Trozzi’s daily newsletter at drtrozzi.org, where he had supposedly caused harm by spreading “misinformation” about Covid-19 science. The College was particularly concerned with Dr. Trozzi’s view that neither Big Pharma nor Health Canada had done the due diligence required to prove the Covid-19 injections were safe and effective. The Tribunal concluded that his views were inflammatory, unprofessional and worthy of censure. On November 10th, the Tribunal will hold a penalty hearing to determine whether to revoke the licence of the 25-year ER veteran and former university professor.
Trozzi’s lawyer, Michael Alexander, commented: “The Tribunal wrote up the prosecution’s position on almost every issue. The one saving grace was the College’s acknowledgement that the right to free expression includes the right to make statements that may be wrong or mistaken. However, that position is difficult to reconcile with the Tribunal’s view that Dr. Trozzi can be punished for spreading misinformation.“
He added: “The Tribunal did not address our argument that the College lacked the authority to investigate and prosecute Dr. Trozzi since its Covid-19 restrictions were merely recommendations rather than binding rules or regulations, even though we cited the Ontario Divisional Court and the Ontario Court of Appeal in support of our position.”
Further, he stated: “The Tribunal totally ignored our cross-examination of the College’s expert witnesses, which makes the entire decision a complete travesty. On cross, the College’s main expert witness on Covid science, Dr. Andrew Gardam, admitted that he had never responded to the 41-page expert report provided by Dr. Trozzi in which he rebutted Gardam’s own 8-page expert report with 29 scientific citations. As a result, in closing submissions, we argued that Dr. Trozzi was unrefuted on Covid science; yet, the Tribunal made no mention of this fact.”
Finally, he added: “The Tribunal also paid no attention to the fact that the Supreme Court recognized an expansive right to freedom of expression as an inherent feature of parliamentary government as early as 1939, which gives the right a higher status than it enjoys under the Charter. In matters of law, we will appeal the decision to the Divisional Court on the standard of correctness.”
For media inquiries, please contact Michael Alexander by cell at 416-318-4512 and by e-mail at malexanderjd@protonmail.com.
Please support the fight to restore ethical medicine and the rule of law in Ontario and Canada.
Please sign this petition to defend my license to practice medicine in Ontario and ultimately restore Canadians’ access to many honest doctors who have been persecuted for resisting the unethical and unscientific covid agenda.
Reports about Dr Trozzi and the CPSO from others:
- Life site News: Dr. Mark Trozzi may lose medical license for defying COVID narrative
- Epoch Times Tribunal Finds Ontario Doctor Critical of COVID Measures Committed Professional Misconduct
- Derek Sloan Funding the Fight: Dr. Trozzi Latest Update – May Lose Licence Next Week
- Denis Rancourt, “In Canada, Dr Mark Trozzi has opposed the toxic death-causing vaccine in every way he can, so the CPSO @cpso has decided that he is incompetent! ( And “disgraceful, dishonourable or unprofessional”)”
Here’s a history to be proud of, and “accused” of:
- To follow Dr Trozzi’s public covid truth mission beginning January 2021 and right up until the present start here
- Or to begin with the most recent and work your way back start here
DNA Contamination/ SV40 promoter sequence/ Pfizer’s Fraud/ Health Canada
- Dr Trozzi Alert | There’s DNA in the RNA Shots. Lots! April 2023
- World Council For Health Urgent Panel of Global Experts Confirm Dangerous Criminal Undeclared DNA In Pfizer And Moderna Covid-19 “Vaccines”
- Epoch Times regarding plasmid DNA contamination and Health Canada
Cancer:
Canadian doctor sounds alarm over ‘turbo cancers’ in young people due to COVID jabs. ‘I’ve never seen anything like this,’ said Dr. William Makis regarding ‘stage four’ cancers presenting in young people and uncharacteristically aggressive leukemias.
Australian whistleblower for Afghan war crimes stands trial
Press TV – November 12, 2023
The Australian government is set to put a former military lawyer on trial for leaking classified documents about the perpetration of crimes by Australian occupation troops during the invasion of Afghanistan.
David McBride is scheduled to appear in the Supreme Court in Canberra on Monday for breaching the Defence Act and unauthorised disclosure of information. He could be facing a “life sentence” if found guilty at the Australian top court.
McBride is accused of leaking classified defence information to three senior journalists at the ABC and the then Fairfax Media newspapers.
The material later formed the basis of “The Afghan Files,” a 2017 ABC expose revealing allegations of misconduct by Australian special forces in Afghanistan, including possible unlawful killings. The disclosures also led to a much-publicised federal police raid on the ABC’s Sydney offices in 2019.
McBride has pleaded not guilty to five charges, including the unauthorised disclosure of information, theft of commonwealth property and breaching the Defence Act.
He has not been the first or only person to reveal information about alleged Australian war crimes in Afghanistan.
Back in 2020, an Australian military investigation confirmed that Australian forces had murdered dozens of civilians and prisoners in Afghanistan between 2005 and 2016.
The report, released by Major General Justice Paul Brereton, determined that Australian special forces had murdered 39 civilians and prisoners, including children, in Afghanistan.
The Australian government had previously spent years trying to gag whistle-blowers or dismiss reports of wrongdoings by the country’s military personnel.
Australia, which is not a member of NATO, has had an active role in Afghanistan since the US, along with a number of its allies, invaded the country in 2001.
Israeli Finance Minister Demands Security Zones Around Illegal West Bank Settlements
By Connor Freeman | The Libertarian Institute | November 9, 2023
Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, the leader of the Religious Zionism party in the ruling right-wing coalition, demanded Tel Aviv impose security zones around illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank on Monday. The letter Smotrich has sent to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant includes an insistence that Palestinians be kept away during the ongoing olive harvest season.
This follows a pattern of occupying forces and settlers exploiting the war on Gaza as an opportunity to further cut Palestinian towns, cities, and villages off from each other via more military checkpoints, cement blocks, iron gates, and earth mounds.
“I demand that a written directive be issued immediately by the political echelon to the Israel Forces to create those wide security zones around the settlements and roads and to prevent Arabs from approaching them… including for the olive harvest,” Smotrich’s letter reads.
Murders of Palestinians by settlers and soldiers alike in the West Bank are concurrently soaring while apartheid Israel concurrently wages its unprecedented bombing campaign against the besieged Gaza Strip, killing thousands of civilians and children.
At least 175 Palestinians have been killed, and thousands injured, in the West Bank since the October 7th Hamas attack on southern Israel. According to UNICEF, dozens of children have been killed and injured in the West Bank during the past month.
On October 28th, Bilal Mohammad Saleh, the 40-year-old wild herbs vendor, was shot in the chest by a settler and murdered in front of his wife, children, and other relatives while the Israeli military stood by and watched.
Bilal and his family were harvesting olives on land he inherited from his father, just less than a dozen miles south of Nablus, in the village of al-Sawiya. The village is encircled by Jewish-only colonies, or illegal settlements, Palestinian residents are only able to build and work on five percent of the 12,000 dunums that they own.
The area has been terrorized for years by the settlers. Nihad Arar, the village council head, told Al Jazeera, “[They] cut down our trees, burn our farms, steal our olives, and are known to assault Palestinians inside their homes and on their own property.”
As the war on Gaza rages, settler attacks and murders on Palestinians, including those working their olive groves during the prime harvest month of October have significantly escalated.
Mohammed Wadi, whose father and brother were shot dead by settlers during a funeral procession for three Palestinian olive growers killed by settlers a day earlier, told Reuters that although the settlers used to aim low at Palestinians in the past, “[n]ow, they shoot to kill.”
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that, since the October 7th Hamas attack and the war on Gaza began, settler attacks on Palestinians have more than doubled.
For Palestinians, prior to this month, this year was already one of the deadliest on record. Before the end of September, more than 220 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli forces, including over three dozen children. That figure included 187 people who were murdered in the occupied territories and another 37 killed – mostly amidst a smaller bombing campaign – in the Gaza Strip.
In March, Smotrich proclaimed that there is “no such thing as a Palestinian people.” His party, along with National Security Minister Itmar Ben-Gvir’s Jewish Power party, support massive settlement expansion and ultimately the complete annexation of the West Bank. Additionally, Smotrich has endorsed illegal collective punishment policies and called for “wiping out” the entire Palestinian village of Huwwara earlier this year.
With Smotrich at the helm, approving new settlements and the demolition of Palestinian homes, the Netanyahu coalition has set records for illegal settlement construction this year.
As Mondoweiss explains, “Smotrich holds sway over two ministries — the first is the Finance Ministry, for which he is directly responsible given his role as Finance Minister, and the other is a new position in the Defense Ministry, essentially making him the governor of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and most crucially making him responsible for settlement in the West Bank.”
Ben-Gvir announced last month that Tel Aviv would purchase and distribute 10,000 assault rifles to Israeli citizens including within the West Bank’s illegal settlements. According to Axios, the US State Department is set to approve a $34 million sale of 24,000 M-16 semiautomatic and automatic rifles after reportedly receiving assurances from Tel Aviv that the weapons will not be provided to settlers.
It is not at all clear if Ben-Gvir will hold to that promise, as he has personally distributed hundreds of rifles to settlers in recent weeks.
New Israeli strikes kill dozens of Palestinians in Gaza as Netanyahu rejects ceasefire calls
Israeli bombardment on Gaza on November 12, 2023
Press TV – November 12, 2023
Relentless Israeli air and ground attacks have killed dozens of Palestinian civilians over the last few hours, as the Israeli regime’s prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu has rejected mounting international calls for a ceasefire.
Rescue and civil defense teams retrieved the bodies of four civilians from the Hamdan family home in the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City, which was targeted by an Israeli missile strike in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Israeli warplanes also targeted a house belonging to Abdullah al-Adini, a local Palestinian resident in the city of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, resulting in the murder of three civilians.
Separately, at least 10 civilians lost their lives and more than 20 others were injured in an Israeli airstrike targeting the Najjar family’s house east of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza.
Meanwhile, three infants and five critically ill patients in the Shifa Medical Complex died Sunday morning due to oxygen shortage, while others are on the verge of death due to the continuous Israeli siege.
At least five infants died in less than 48 hours due to the cessation of medical services at the Shifa Complex.
Israeli tanks are currently stationed outside the maternity ward of the Shifa Complex, and that Israeli artillery have targeted the intensive care unit, resulting in multiple injuries.
Dozens of dead bodies remained across the compound and in its surroundings, and rescue teams have been unable to reach them for evacuation due to the intensity of the Israeli bombardment and gunfire targeting anyone moving.
The headquarters of the United Nations Development Programme in Gaza was also hit by Israeli airstrikes, leading to the death of five displaced persons and the injury of 15 others.
Gaza’s embattled hospitals face total collapse as bombardments continue and Israeli tanks and troops surround medical facilities, with patients and staff trapped inside.
In Gaza City, operations have been suspended at Al-Shifa Hospital after it completely ran out of fuel.
The Israeli military has repeatedly targeted this hospital and other medical facilities over the past five weeks.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recently said that 20 hospitals in the Gaza Strip are now out of action, and the largest hospital in the Palestinian territory was that day coming under bombardment.
Netanyahu rejects growing international pressure over ceasefire
In a televised address on Saturday night, the Israeli prime minister rejected growing international calls for a ceasefire.
Netanyahu also rejected the idea that the Palestinian Authority (PA), which currently administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, would at some stage control Gaza.
He said that Israelis shouldn’t cave into any pressure from such statements or the protests taking place worldwide and said he would stand firm against the world if necessary.
So according to Netanyahu, the Israeli regime has its own agenda and will push it through regardless of what other countries say.
His primetime address came hours after Arab and Muslim leaders at a summit in Riyadh called for an immediate ceasefire as major hospitals in Gaza were on the front line of Israel’s ground offensive.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Palestinians are facing an unmatched genocidal war by the Israeli regime.
Abbas said Israeli actions in the besieged Gaza Strip and across the occupied territories amount to a clear violation of international and humanitarian law.
The president said Palestinians need international protection in the face of Israeli attacks including the desecration of Muslims’ holy sites. He also noted that Palestinians will not negotiate when it comes to their inalienable rights.
Erdogan calls for US to stop Israel’s attack
The United States must use its influence to halt Israel’s offensive in Gaza, Turkey’s leader says.
“The US should increase its pressure on Israel. The West should increase pressure on Israel… It’s vital for us to secure a ceasefire,” said Erdogan. “The most important country that needs to be involved is the United States, which has influence on Israel.”
Erdogan said the US must accept Gaza as Palestinian land. “We cannot agree with Biden if he approaches [the war] by seeing Gaza as the land of occupying settlers or Israel, rather than the land of the Palestinian people.”
Palestinians are enduring relentless bombing of civilian infrastructure including residential buildings, schools, medical facilities, everywhere in the besieged territory.
The total death toll from the war is now at over 11,000. The majority of victims are women and children. Hundreds of people are also missing under the rubble of bombed-out buildings.
According to reports, more than half of the housing units in Gaza were destroyed or damaged by the Israeli bombings.
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From the Archives
British weapons and personnel doing much of the killing in Yemen
Press TV – June 18, 2019
A detailed report published by the Guardian newspaper has shown how Britain is massively contributing to Saudi Arabia’s devastating war on Yemen as it suggests that London is not only supplying the bombs that fall on Yemenis, but it provides the personnel and expertise that keep the war going.
The comprehensive report by Arron Merat published on Tuesday showed that Britain was doing much of the killing in Yemen as the country continues to provide Saudi Arabia with everything it needs to turn its southern impoverished neighbor into a graveyard.
“Every day Yemen is hit by British bombs – dropped by British planes that are flown by British-trained pilots and maintained and prepared inside Saudi Arabia by thousands of British contractors,” said Merat in the report. … continue
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