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Swiss official who jailed journalist Ali Abunimah is fanatical pro-Israel activist

By Wyatt Reed · The Grayzone · January 28, 2025

The Swiss official who ordered the arrest of renowned Palestinian-American journalist Ali Abunimah justified doing so on the false and defamatory basis that Abunimah is “an Islamist Jew-hater.” Mario Fehr, the head of Zurich’s Department of Security, made the bogus accusation in a recent comment to the Swiss publication NZZ, which also falsely characterized Abunimah as an “Islamist” and an “extremist.”

Swiss authorities detained Abunimah on Jan. 25, after they initially allowed him entry into Switzerland following an hour-long interrogation. Abunimah was deported on Jan. 27 after two nights, during which Swiss officials refused to tell him whether he was being charged with a crime. According to the Swiss newspaper NZZ, officers in Zurich successfully petitioned federal police for an arrest warrant after realizing Abunimah had travelled to the country in order to deliver a speech at an event organized by the Zurich Palestine Committee. Fehr explained the arrest by stating, in reference to self-described “non-religious person” Ali Abunimah: “We do not want an Islamist Jew-hater who calls for violence in Switzerland.”

It’s unclear how Fehr came to adopt this patently false claim, but the article in NZZ gives a hint. In painting the secular Abunimah as a jihadist, the story’s authors relied on a leader of a little-known group called “Never Again Is Now,” (NAIN) which characterizes itself as “the only non-profit organization in Switzerland dedicated exclusively to combating antisemitism,” says it “demands the uncompromising enforcement of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism,” and claims: “we… defend Israel against anti-Zionist agendas.”

NZZ quoted one of the group’s board members, Thomas Patzko, as stating “Abunimah and his platform are a mouthpiece for Hamas.” The outlet cited NAIN while insisting that Abunimah “delegitimizes the victims of the terrorist attack on October 7, specifically women and children” – a reference to Abunimah’s factual statement that “there is no credible evidence of a single rape on October 7.”

It’s not yet apparent whether these false accusations by Swiss media or the Zionist group led directly to Abunimah’s deportation. But at some point prior to Abunimah’s scheduled address, “the Zurich [regional] police had become aware of Abunimah’s planned appearance,” NZZ reported. “They had submitted a request to Fedpol for an entry ban,” the outlet wrote, adding “this request was granted” by “the responsible government councilor and security director Mario Fehr.”

What is clear, however, is the Zurich security chief’s allegiance to the Zionist narrative. At a “Rally in solidarity with Israel” on Oct. 10, 2023, Fehr openly stated that “the fate of Israel and its inhabitants is close to my heart” before rattling off a comprehensive list of pro-Israel talking points, ranting about Iran and quoting notoriously racist Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, while demanding the Swiss government cease funding any development projects in Palestine.

“Hamas and its main sponsor Iran have always called for the destruction of Israel and the Jews. The fact that official Swiss foreign policy believed in the illusion that it could seriously negotiate with these terrorists is naive and shameful. – Anyone who rapes women, kills old people, kidnaps children, dehumanizes the dead, takes countless peaceful people hostage is not a negotiating partner – he is a rapist, a murderer, a terrorist. Golda Meir was right: ‘You cannot negotiate peace with somebody who has come to kill you.’ Peace will not be possible with Hamas and its accomplices!”

Minutes later, Fehr launched into a tirade about those who “somehow try to explain that Israel is actually to blame,” complaining: “These relativists should simply spend their next trip to the Middle East in Gaza.” Though he conceded that “many Palestinian civilians are also suffering and are affected,” Fehr insisted that “the responsibility for this lies solely with the Hamas terrorists,” stating flatly: “Israel is not to blame for this escalation.”

Ultimately, Fehr insisted the Swiss “Federal Council must suspend development cooperation with Palestine (like the EU) until it is clear who the money is really going to benefit” because “there is currently no negotiating partner on the Palestinian side.”

“Anyone who sees it differently is allowing money to flow to terrorists,” he claimed.

In an interview with NZZ one month after the Oct. 7, 2023 attack, Fehr claimed that “the rampant anti-Semitism” had become “unbearable” in Switzerland, a trend he said was borne out by pro-Palestinian protests, and which he attributed to the presence of Arabs:

“We see from Palestine demonstrations that anti-Semitism is more widespread in certain cultural circles. Particularly in parts of the Arab world, children learn to hate Jews and Israel from an early age. We have to be careful that we don’t give this hatred any room here.”

Fehr criticized authorities in Switzerland for allowing pro-Palestinian protests to take place and said he had demanded they ban such events in areas under his jurisdiction, asserting that “anti-Israel demonstrations that are increasingly being hijacked by extremists.”

“Their goal is the annihilation of Israel and all Jews. The danger that Islamists from Germany or other countries will now move to Switzerland and spread their hatred is real. A large Palestine demonstration took place in Bern last Saturday, and the next one has been planned and approved for this weekend in the city of Zurich. I think that is negligent.”

“I have emphatically insisted to the head of municipal security to not authorize any more Palestine demonstrations in the current dangerous situation,” he stated.

Asked whether regional police under his command would “continue to support the Zurich city authorities, even though the city allows such demonstrations,” Fehr replied simply: “We will protect Jewish institutions as before – with all the means at our disposal.”

January 30, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance | , , | Leave a comment

Ukraine ‘an invented state’ – Romanian election frontrunner

RT | January 30, 2025

Calin Georgescu, the politician whose first-round victory in the Romanian presidential election was overturned by the Constitutional Court, has argued that the borders claimed by Ukraine were artificially drawn and are subject to inevitable change.

The staunch critic of Western policies made the remarks on Wednesday in an interview with political analyst Ion Cristoiu on YouTube. He was discussing the adjustments of European borders after World War II, which resulted in a transfer of territories to Soviet Ukraine. Georgescu said he expects Ukraine to be fragmented as part of a peace deal with Russia, along historical lines.

”This will happen 100%. The path to an outcome like that is inevitable,” he asserted. “Ukraine is an invented state.”

Parts of the historic areas of Bukovina and Bessarabia, which were ceded from Romania to Ukraine during the post-war settlement, are “of interest” to Bucharest, Georgescu said, adding that Hungary and Poland could also claim their historic lands in a hypothetical breakup of Ukraine.

Georgescu made headlines in November when he unexpectedly garnered 23% of the vote in the first round of the presidential election in Romania, a NATO member. However, the Constitutional Court annulled the results shortly before the second round, citing intelligence documents alleging ‘irregularities’ in the campaign.

Subsequent media reports revealed that Georgescu’s candidacy was boosted by a firm closely linked with the pro-Western National Liberal Party (PNL), seemingly to undermine another candidate. The Romanian government has claimed that Russia was behind the interference scheme. Georgescu leads in opinion polls and is projected to get 38% of the vote in the upcoming election re-run in May.

Russian President Vladimir Putin previously warned about the threat of potential separatism in Western Ukraine, driven by ethnic minorities’ wish “to return to their historic homeland,” with potential support from foreign governments.

”In that sense, only Russia could serve as a guarantor of Ukrainian territorial integrity,” he claimed in late 2023. “If [Ukrainians] don’t want that, so be it. History will set things straight. We will not stand in the way, but neither will we relinquish what is rightfully ours.”

January 30, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

CIA, Israel and conspiracy theories: What to expect from the JFK files

RT | January 28, 2025

US President Donald Trump has ordered the declassification of all remaining withheld records pertaining to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Almost 5,000 documents are still veiled in secrecy.

Kennedy was killed in November 1963, while visiting Dallas, Texas. A congressional commission chaired by Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren concluded in 1964 that “lone gunman” Lee Harvey Oswald was to blame. The CIA coined the pejorative term “conspiracy theory” to describe alternate scenarios regarding JFK’s death, which has not stopped many Americans from doubting the Warren Commission’s conclusions.

Trump’s order also applies to the remaining classified records about the 1968 assassinations of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and civil rights campaigner Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.

How many documents are there?

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) says it has declassified 99% of some 320,000 documents related to the JFK assassination, as required by a law passed by Congress in 1992. The final deadline for declassification was October 2017, but the US intelligence community claimed it needed more time to review and redact the records.

According to multiple estimates, 2,140 documents remain fully or partially redacted, while another 2,500 records have been kept secret for other reasons, such as court orders or donor restrictions.

What is in the secret files?

One item of particular interest is a June 1961 memorandum written by White House adviser Arthur Schlesinger, outlining how JFK could accomplish his goal of “splintering the Agency [CIA] into a thousand pieces and scattering it to the winds.” One page is redacted in full, while two more have partial redactions. Kennedy was frustrated with the CIA after the botched invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs in April that year.

Another partially redacted record is the transcript of the testimony that CIA Counterintelligence Chief James Jesus Angleton gave to the Church Committee in January 1976. Some scholars believe Angleton, who ran the CIA’s Israel desk for years and was a friend of Soviet spy Kim Philby, had lied to Congress about Israel obtaining nuclear weapons in the 1960s – something the Jewish State has neither confirmed nor denied.

Other potentially revealing records relate to CIA surveillance activities in Mexico in the early 1960s, when Oswald visited the country, and the work of a CIA officer with Cuban exiles in Miami that intersected with Oswald.

What can be expected of the revelations?

Historians and researchers that have spoken to major US outlets seem to agree that there will be no “smoking gun” in the remaining documents.

“There will be some puzzle pieces that will be put back in that will tell a more robust and rich story,” Tom Samoluk, a board member of the JFK Library Foundation, has told CNN.

Journalist Gerald Posner has warned that “anybody waiting for a smoking gun that’s going to turn this case upside down will be sorely disappointed.”

Kennedy’s nephew Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has lauded the declassification as a step against the “60-year strategy of lies and secrecy, disinformation, censorship, and defamation” used by the intelligence agencies to suppress “troubling facts” about the JFK assassination. He claimed that this “provided the playbook for a series of subsequent crises – the MLK and RFK assassinations, Vietnam, 9/11, the Iraq war and COVID – that have each accelerated the subversion of our exemplary democracy by the Military/Medical Industrial Complex.”

RFK Jr. has said that he believes there is “overwhelming evidence” tying the CIA to the assassination of both his uncle and his father.

When can we expect the release?

Trump’s executive order gave the US Director of National Intelligence and the Attorney General 45 days to review the records and “present a plan” for their full and complete release. Both offices are currently held by acting officials, as the Senate still needs to confirm Pam Bondi as the attorney general and Tulsi Gabbard as the DNI.

“We’re hoping this is going to be a mechanical plan,” Larry Schnapf, a New York-based attorney who has sued the government to compel the release of JFK files, told ABC News. If the government opts for a “substantive” review, going document-by-document, “it’s going to be a while,” he added.

January 29, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Deception | , , , | Leave a comment

Klaus Schwab Labels “Misinformation” a “Critical Challenge,” Urges Elites to Develop Solutions

By Didi Rankovic | Reclaim The Net | January 27, 2025

WEF Founder and Chairman of the Board of Trustees Klaus Schwab has spoken at this year’s event in Davos to reiterate the globalist group’s recently revealed priority targets.

A report published ahead of the gathering elevated “misinformation and disinformation” among the world’s top critical challenges and risks (others being armed conflicts, and climate-related issues).

Now, Schwab made sure to repeat that point in front of an audience of powerful elite members from around the world.

At the same time, he urged them to be the ones that will come up with “practical steps” that would deal with what the WEF has decided are “critical real-world challenges.”

Schwab opened with a warning that tech innovations, including AI, are ushering in what the WEF dubs “the intelligent age,” then swiftly went from praising that for economic and other potentials to warnings about the developments representing “unprecedented risks for humanity.”

Schwab’s intent here seems to be to drum up support for the “keyword” of this year’s event – “collaboration.” Namely, for tackling those “critical challenges” in a way that will always promote a globalist approach.

To this point, the WEF founder remarked that he was addressing 3,000 people from the world of politics, media, business, civil society, etc., whom he referred to as decision-makers – and whom he reminded that “commitment and engagement of all stakeholders of global society” are needed to, essentially, keep the goings-on in the upcoming “intelligent age” under control.

The rhetoric Schwab chose at times comes across as extraordinarily outlandish – such as suggesting that those gathered in Davos are there to come together around their “common mission” that should result in no less than “improving the state of the world.”

And Schwab doesn’t want those in his audience to “simply” deal with the challenges he presented, which he blames for “erosion of hope and confidence” – but also act proactively, so as to be the ones in control of how the world develops, and do this “in strategic, innovative, and constructive ways.”

Schwab’s opening address, other than appearing to attempt to create a sense of urgency and encourage the elites that everyone’s future is still in their hands, did not go into the specifics of how to deal with “the foremost risks” – like “misinformation.”

But there’s little doubt this will resurface during WEF’s many panels.

January 28, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance | | Leave a comment

WEF 2025: Calls for Tighter Social Media Censorship to Combat Antisemitism

By Cindy Harper | Reclaim The Net | January 27, 2025

At the 2025 World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting, a session titled “Confronting Antisemitism Amid Polarization” featured prominent speakers who advocated for stronger measures to compel social media platforms to censor content they consider harmful. Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO and National Director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL); Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT); and Jennifer Schenker, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Innovator, expressed concerns about the influence of platforms like TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), and Facebook on public discourse and the spread of antisemitism.

Jennifer Schenker set the tone for the discussion by claiming, “The flames of antisemitism are being fanned every second by TikTok and social media,” and lamenting that “the Jewish community has not been able to effectively combat that online.”

Jonathan Greenblatt labeled social media platforms “a super spreader of antisemitism and hate” and criticized their impact on younger audiences, stating, “Young people… get their news from TikTok, which is fairly terrifying, or from X or from Instagram.” He also called Meta “a gigantic problem,” highlighting the challenges posed by the platforms’ size, business models, and governance structures.

Greenblatt further criticized Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA), describing it as “a loophole… which exempts [social media companies] from liability.” He called for regulatory and reputational pressure to compel these companies to act, suggesting that social pressure could deter top engineers from working for platforms perceived as unethical: “If their engineers feel like going to these companies and participating in something, you know, an evil enterprise, if you will, they don’t wanna do that.”

Randi Weingarten shared examples of how the AFT has used its influence to pressure social media platforms. “We have used the economic power sometimes against a place like Facebook or others to say, actually, you have to stand with what is moral and what is legal,” she said, acknowledging the union’s role in leveraging pension funds and other economic tools to advocate for what they consider the fight against hate.

Weingarten also expressed concerns over the influence of social media on young people’s perceptions of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Recounting interactions with high school students in Boston, she noted that “every question [they asked] because of what they see and what they’re on” focused on the actions of the IDF, implying that platforms like TikTok and X should be more active in censoring such content.

Greenblatt emphasized the need for a broader coalition to address antisemitism, stating, “The Jewish community needs to recognize we can’t do it alone. We need institutions like government… and individuals, non-Jews, to realize antisemitism isn’t just a Jewish problem, it’s everyone’s problem.”

Weingarten echoed this sentiment, advocating for grassroots efforts to build understanding and combat hate: “There has to be a way that good people of the world end up fighting against hate.”

January 27, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Full Spectrum Dominance | , , , | Leave a comment

Donald Trump Is Protecting Free Speech

By Norman Singleton | The Libertarian Institute | January 27, 2025

Donald Trump wasted no time implementing his agenda by issuing a series of executive orders just hours after being sworn in as the 47th president. The orders covered subjects ranging from immigration, to energy production, to a freeze on both new federal regulations and hiring federal employees. One order that has not gotten nearly as much attention as it deserves is the one Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship. This order states that it is federal policy to “ensure that no Federal Government officer, employee, or agent engages in or facilitates any conduct that would unconstitutionally abridge the free speech of any American citizen.” It also requires the government to “ensure that no taxpayer resources” are used to “violate the First Amendment rights of American citizens.”

In order to carry out these pro-free speech policies, the order states that “no federal department, agency, entity, officer, employee, or agent may act or use any Federal resources” to violate the First Amendment rights of any American citizen. It also directs the Attorney General to work with “the heads of other executive agencies and departments” to investigate “the activities of the Federal Government over the last 4 years that are inconsistent” with the First Amendment. The Attorney General must then prepare a report for President Trump and his Chief of Policy that contains recommendations for “remedial actions for any violations of the First Amendment taken by the prior Administration.”

The explicit prohibition on federal officials violating the First Amendment may seem redundant since federal employees already take an oath to uphold the Constitution; thus they swore not to violate American citizens’ constitutionally protected rights. However, Biden administration officials, including the big guy, routinely violated the free speech rights of American citizens. As federal Judge Terry A. Doughty wrote in a July 4, 2023 preliminary injunction forbidding government officials from having any contact with social media companies, “the present case arguably involves the most massive attack against free speech in United States history.”

Leaked emails between officials and employees of social media companies back up Judge Doughty’s statement. The communications went beyond mere suggestions, constitutng threats of retribution if the social media companies did not comply with the administration’s “requests” that they censor their customers. For example, then-Surgeon General Vivek Murthy suggested that the administration may have to take “appropriate legal and regulatory” measures to stop the spread of COVID “misinformation.” Facebook creator and CEO of Meta (parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and Whats App) Mark Zuckerberg, while appearing on the popular Joe Rogan Show described how Biden officials “would call up our team and, like, scream at them and curse.” Zuckerberg also told Joe Rogan that Biden administration officials brought up the possibility that the White House would support imposing new regulations on social media platforms, including modifying Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act.

This is the section of federal law that protects those who run online platforms like Facebook and Twitter/X from being held liable for the posts their users make. Section 230 has been instrumental in the growth of social media. Repealing or weakening Section 230 would hurt the big companies but the main victims would be small and start up companies who would find it more difficult to attract investors if there were the possibility the company could be held liable for posts by the site’s users. Government employees threatening private companies and treating them like subordinates should be unacceptable in a free society—and should be criminalized if done to coerce the companies to violate their customers’ constitutionally protected rights.

Fortunately, at least one cabinet member, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, has pledged to cooperate in an investigation into the Biden administration’s assault on free speech. When government officials pressure private social media companies to take down or suspend posts they violate the First Amendment just as much as if they had directly blocked the posts. Therefore, all who value free speech should be grateful to President Trump for his executive order stopping government officials from violating the First Amendment and trying to discover the full truth about the Biden administration’s efforts to silence those using social media to post “unapproved” news and opinions. Hopefully, Congress will ensure no future administration can reverse President Trump’s executive order by passing legislation forbidding federal employees from “suggesting” that social media companies censor American citizens.

January 27, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance | , , | Leave a comment

Germany: Berlin needs emergency loans after migrants blow €500 million hole in city’s budget

Refugees have cost Berlin billions and that is only one German city

Remix News | January 27, 2025

Despite claims that migrants are going to fund the entire West and save pensions with all the tax funds they generate, reality is once again encroaching. Now, the Berlin Senate is preparing emergency loans to cover refugee costs at a time when Berlin is cutting services, including for schools, due to increasingly dire budget shortfalls.

Notably, a Christian Democrat (CDU), Kai Wegner, is the mayor of Berlin, but under his leadership, not much has changed from the previous left-wing government. Berlin’s Finance Senator Stafan Evers, also of the CDU, is reportedly preparing efforts to provide an emergency loan to cover the cost of refugees.

One of the problems is that Berlin has a debt brake that keeps the city from taking on further debt, but the government says it has the legal ability to make an exception.

In 2025, Berlin indicates it will cost €500 million to accommodate migrants. Remix News has reported on the soaring costs of housing migrants in Berlin in recent years. In 2023, it cost Berlin nearly €500 million a year to house migrants, which equals €1.5 million a day. Recently, there has been a push to convert massive buildings into refugee housing, which would cost Berlin hundreds of millions over the next decade just for one building.

Notably, Berlin already froze school budgets in 2024, but these budget cuts are not enough. The figure of €500 million also does not factor in other costs, such as education, integration efforts, and policing.

The report from the CDU, prepared in conjunction with its coalition partners, the Social Democrats (SPD), has not been yet made public, according to Tagesspiegel.

Berlin took in 21,000 fewer refugees last year than in 2022, when 32,752 refugees arrived, mostly due to an extreme shortage of housing. Currently, 41,000 people live in accommodations run by the State Office for Refugee Affairs.

In all likelihood, the solution will be more debt and more spending, with Berlin ready to declare an emergency to make up for the shortfalls.

On the federal level, the situation may be even more dire, with nearly €50 billion spent on migrants in 2023. Across Germany and much of the Western world, immigration is not only fueling a debt crisis, but it is also a major factor in skyrocketing housing prices.

On top of the millions of poor newcomers who need housing is also the role of foreign investors, who are buying up property across the West. The issue has gotten so dire that even those on opposite sides of the political spectrum, such as Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez and former Czech PM Andrej Babiš are proposing massive taxes on foreign buyers of property in their countries.

January 27, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Economics | | Leave a comment

Christian church to change name in bid to fight off EU state’s crackdown

RT | January 26, 2025

The Estonian Orthodox Church (EOC) will change its name in response to the pressure from the authorities to sever its historical ties with Russia.

The announcement comes after the Estonian government approved draft legislation requiring religious organizations to cut ties with foreign leaders and entities whose actions could be deemed a threat to national security. “There should be no connection to entities that support military aggression,” Interior Minister Lauri Laanemets said on Thursday.

The EOC is a self-governing church that has maintained canonical ties to the Russian Orthodox Church. In a statement on Friday, EOC said that it will change its name to the Estonian Christian Orthodox Church.

“The government-approved bill violates the freedom of religion and is directed against our church,” Bishop Daniel of Tartu said, adding that, if made into law, the legislation could “significantly restrict the activities of our church.”

He argued that the new name would “further highlight the church’s local identity and demonstrate that we are acting in accordance with the law and, at the same time, we are respecting the church canons.”

Most Estonians are not religious. Around 16% of the population are Orthodox Christians, and 8% are Lutherans, according to the government statistics. Estonia was part of the Soviet Union from 1940 to 1991. Around 27% of the country’s population are Russian-speakers.

Earlier this week, Laanemets branded EOC “the most important instrument of influence for Russia and the Kremlin in Estonia.”

Last year, the minister threatened to shut down monasteries that refuse to cut ties with the Moscow Patriarchate and even threatened to classify the Russian Orthodox Church as a terrorist organization.

Moscow Patriarchate spokesman Vladimir Legoyda has slammed Laanemets’ comments as a “witch hunt,” suggesting that the Estonian government was using the crackdown on the church to distract the taxpayers from “real issues.”

In August 2024, the EOC revised its charter and removed the mention of the Moscow Patriarchate from its official name, although Laanemets has insisted that the measure was insufficient.

EU officials have criticized the Russian Orthodox Church for its support of the Russian troops in Ukraine. In 2022, the UK imposed sanctions on the church’s head, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow.

January 26, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance | , , | Leave a comment

South Korean Prosecutors Request Another Extension of President’s Detention

Sputnik – 25.01.2025

SEOUL – South Korea’s prosecutor’s office on Saturday requested another extension of President Yoon Suk-yeol’s detention after a Seoul court rejected their previous request, the Yonhap News Agency reported.

On Friday, the court dismissed the prosecutors’ request to extend Yoon’s detention until February 6. The court said that the prosecution, which received a request from South Korea’s Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials (CIO) to initiate a criminal case against the president, lacked sufficient grounds to continue the investigation. In response, the president’s lawyers said that the court should disregard the CIO’s findings and reopen the investigation.

A new request to extend Yoon’s detention was filed at the Seoul Central District Court four hours after the court’s rejection, Yonhap said.

“In light of past cases in which prosecutors conducted supplementary investigations, including raids, over CIO-transferred cases, and regulations of the Criminal Procedure Act, prosecutors’ right to a supplementary probe is naturally recognized … Thus, there is a need for an extension of the detention period,” the prosecution was quoted by Yonhap as saying.

Yoon’s current detention ends on January 28, which coincides with the Lunar New Year, a public holiday in South Korea. To avoid delays, the prosecution plans to expedite the transfer of the case to court, where a suspect can be held for up to six months. As a result, Yoon’s interrogation may take place at the detention center over the weekend, as moving him to the prosecution’s building poses security challenges.

Given the seriousness of the charges against Yoon, he will be required to answer questions in person, as submitting written responses is not an option. It remains uncertain if he will cooperate, as he has previously refused to answer questions.

On December 3, 2024, Yoon declared martial law, claiming that the opposition was sympathizing with North Korea and plotting a “rebellion.” The parliament quickly voted to lift his declaration just hours later, which Yoon complied with, subsequently apologizing to the nation. On December 14, the South Korean parliament impeached Yoon over his controversial martial law declaration.

January 25, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties | | Leave a comment

Harvard blocks Gaza patient session as university adopts controversial anti-Semitism definition

MEMO | January 24, 2025

Harvard Medical School has cancelled a planned lecture and panel discussion featuring patients from Gaza, following complaints that the session would present only one side of the conflict, amid growing concerns about academic freedom after the university’s adoption of a highly controversial definition of anti-Semitism which conflates criticism of Israel and the political ideology of Zionism with anti-Jewish racism.

According to the Harvard Crimson, the medical school’s Dean, George Q Daley, cancelled the 21 January events just hours before they were scheduled, citing objections that students would hear from Gazans receiving care in Boston without also hearing from Israeli perspectives. The session was to include a lecture on wartime healthcare by Tufts Professor Barry S. Levy, followed by discussions with Gaza patients and their families.

HMS and HSDM Student Council President Anna RP Mulhern said she was “deeply disheartened” by the cancellation. “Respect for all patients and their stories is a fundamental tenet of the medical profession. This principle was not upheld yesterday,” she stated.

The cancellation came shortly after Harvard agreed to adopt the highly controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism as part of settling a discrimination lawsuit brought by Jewish students who claimed harassment during pro-Palestine protests. IHRA is favoured by Israel and advocates of the apartheid state as it grants special privileges to the political ideology of Zionism and apartheid state. No other political ideology or state is granted protection from criticism in the same way.

HMS Professor David S Jones, who helped develop the course curriculum, reported receiving 50 emails from students questioning the cancellation. He noted that Arabic-speaking medical students who had served as interpreters for Gazan patients in Boston had requested the session.

Critics argue the decision reflects a broader assault on academic freedom and free speech rights. Journalist Glenn Greenwald, discussing Harvard’s adoption of the IHRA definition, warned it represents “an outright systemic assault on the Free Speech rights of American citizens on the academic freedom that is supposed to prevail in our institutions of higher learning.”

Greenwald highlighted how the IHRA definition prohibits various forms of criticism of Israel that would be perfectly acceptable if directed at other nations. He noted that under these new rules, Harvard students remain free to describe any country, including the US, as fundamentally racist – except Israel. “You can say that the United States and its existence is a racist endeavour, that you’re allowed to say… nobody tries to censor that,” Greenwald explained.

Pick any country in the entire world at Harvard and you are totally free to call the existence of that country a racist endeavour except one country where you fall into the crime of hate speech and that is the state of Israel.

The combination of event cancellations and adoption of the IHRA definition has raised concerns about the chilling effect on academic discourse. Critics argue that medical education, which relies on hearing directly from patients about their experiences, could be particularly impacted if geopolitical considerations begin to override educational ones.

“This is nothing more than an outright systemic assault on the Free Speech rights of American citizens on the academic freedom that is supposed to prevail in our institutions of Higher Learning,” Greenwald concluded, arguing that such restrictions serve “not to protect our own country, our own culture, our own government, the security of our own people but to protect this foreign country.”

January 24, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance | , , , , | Leave a comment

Australia Plans to Expand “Hate Speech” Laws Amid Debate Over Free Speech Protections

By Didi Rankovic | Reclaim The Net | January 22, 2025

Australian officials are doubling down on the policy of “strengthening” what they call hate speech laws both at the federal, and state levels – and some are even presenting the country’s weak free speech protections as an advantage.

New South Wales (NSW) Premier Chris Minns has promised that even more restrictive legislation to tackle whatever the state’s authorities decide is hate speech is coming soon. It seems that “strengthening” these laws will come down to criminalizing even more types of speech, by including vague categories like “vilification.”

Minns is justifying this policy by claiming that hate speech is behind later actual criminal activities, and he’s putting the emphasis on the goings-on in the “community” especially where it pertains to religious and racial strife, i.e, protecting “multiculturalism” and “cultural diversity” by means of repressing speech.

As for when New South Wales residents can look forward to the introduction of these legislative proposals, Minns revealed that it will “hopefully” happen when parliament returns (scheduled to happen in early February).

The broadening of these laws’ scope is particularly interesting in terms of the idea of adding (racial or religious) “vilification,” currently a civil offense.

And Minns chose an odd way to defend Australia’s lack of strong free speech protections – like those enjoyed by Americans. He said there was “a very good reason for that” – namely, that Australia is a country of immigrants coming from all over the world. So – just like the United States?

But Minns seems to suggest that “basic tenets of life” can only be protected if free speech is not.

Australian Housing Minister Clare O’Neil commented on these New South Wales plans to say that the federal government was “looking at anything” it could do to deal with antisemitism, which she described as a “growing problem.”

And while hate speech laws were already “strengthened” at the federal level last year, O’Neil said – by banning “hate symbols and antisemitic phrases and symbols” – the minister believes there is “more work to be done.

“We’ve got to do more. We’ve got the Australian Federal Police working with state police, we’ve got state governments really stepping up on this, and I think we’ve all got a really clear interest here,” O’Neil told journalists.

January 22, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance | , , | Leave a comment

The Gaza Genocide: A New Low in Democracy and Human History

Germany’s Undemocratic Assaults

By Ricardo Martins – New Eastern Outlook – January 22, 2025

The genocide unfolding in Gaza continues to expose the inadequacies of the international judiciary, organizations, and, more importantly, the complicity of part of the global community of nations in enabling such atrocities.

Germany Taken to the ICJ for Complicity in Genocide

In March 2024, Nicaragua brought a case against Germany at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing it of aiding and supporting genocide in Gaza by supplying arms to Israel, fully aware of the genocidal risks involved. Shockingly, the ICJ failed to condemn Germany.

Germany also maintains unwavering and unconditional political and diplomatic support for Israel. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock displayed a cheerleader-like demeanor during her initial visit to support Israel after October 7—a stance echoed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

According to the Middle East Eye, Germany’s support for Israel’s actions highlights a hypocritical approach to international law and human rights. The analysis goes further: “No one can reasonably believe in the fairytale of Germany’s moral responsibility anymore, as the country defends, finances, arms, and diplomatically supports the genocide of Palestinians, in addition to the bombing of Lebanon, Yemen, and Syria, while shielding those responsible from accountability.”

Protests Against Israel Are Considered “Antisemitic” in Germany

With the Bundestag’s adoption last November of the resolution “Never again is now: Protecting, preserving, and strengthening Jewish life in Germany”, the country has entered a proto-fascistic state—without any condemnation from the European Union. Policymakers crafting this resolution refused input from diverse human rights groups and instead relied solely on the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism.

Even before this resolution, but now bolstered by it, Germany has witnessed a gradual erosion of democracy under its ‘proud guilty’ ideology. This includes prior censorship of cultural events partially or fully funded by public money, the cancellation of events featuring critics of Israel’s government, and even conferences discussing the Palestinian question. Concurrently, there has been a sharp rise in the smearing of critics with allegations of antisemitism. Make no mistake—censorship is alive and well in Germany. Protests critical of Israel’s actions in Gaza are being unjustly and undemocratically labelled as antisemitic.

Further, children can be banned from schools for wearing “pro-Palestinian symbols such as the keffiyeh,” as is written in a letter sent to school principals by Berlin’s education senator, Katharina Günther-Wünsch.

Furthermore, this resolution introduced a mandatory declaration for asylum seekers, requiring them to affirm the existence of the state of Israel and pledge not to participate in or support boycott campaigns against it.

Over the past month, German politicians have called for changing laws, including those around the right to demonstrate and freedom of opinion. The idea of withdrawing citizenship, residency, welfare benefits or funding from anyone accused of making anti-Semitic statements has been floated as well as a plan to only allow “native Germans” to protest.

Prior to this resolution, we have already witnessed undemocratic and even fascistic actions in Germany. These include the arrest of citizens for trivial reasons, such as holding a placard stating “I am not complicit in genocide,” and the arrest of a child for holding a Palestinian flag. Former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis was prohibited from addressing a Jew-Palestinian conference and from permanently speaking to the German public online. A meeting organised by the progressive collective DiEM25, alongside Palestinian and Jewish Voice for Peace groups, on April 12th, 2024, was disrupted, dismantled, and labelled an “Islamist” event by the Interior Ministry.

Furthermore, the renowned British-Palestinian surgeon Dr Ghassan Abu-Sitta, who volunteered in Gaza hospitals during the genocide, was banned from entering Germany. Dr Abu-Sitta was due to provide a firsthand account of the atrocities taking place on the ground. Due to Germany’s Schengen-wide interdiction, he was also barred from entering France to speak at a French Senate meeting, despite being invited by the Senate itself.

These actions raise pressing and undeniable questions about a democratic deficit and institutional racism within German governmental structures.

A Threat to Germany’s Academic Freedom and Reputation?

Protests critical of Israel’s actions in Gaza have been wrongfully labelled antisemitic. The German Education Ministry sought to explore whether academic funding could be cut for those critical of clearing the pro-Palestinian camp at Freie Universität Berlin (Free University Berlin). This crackdown led to police detaining over 70 individuals temporarily and initiating 80 criminal investigations, alongside 79 misdemeanour proceedings.

Ironically, the Education Minister, Bettina Stark-Watzinger of the Free Democratic Party (FDP), previously declared that freedom is the foundation “for the way we live in our country, for our democracy, our constitutional state, and our prosperity.” She made this statement during the launch of Germany’s Science Year 2024.

In stark contrast, over 2,900 academics have accused Stark-Watzinger of threatening freedom of expression, calling for her resignation in an open letter. The letter, signed by thousands of German and international academics, accuses the education minister of intimidation, stating: “Repressive reviews of academics who publicly express critical views of governmental decisions are characteristic of authoritarian regimes that systematically suppress free discussion, including within universities.”

Why is Germany Having This Behaviour?

Driven by its ideology of ‘proud guilt,’ which elevates support for Israel to a raison d’état, Germany appears to have abandoned all sense of proportionality and reason—where even a child wearing a keffiyeh in a school is deemed a threat to Israel’s existence and, by extension, to German security.

In many respects, it now exhibits the characteristics of a quasi-fascist state. My few examples above, out of thousands, support this claim. To make things worse, the German government refuses to comply with the ICC prosecutor’s request to arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.

According to Körber Fondation’s latest survey, which polls German citizens on foreign policy, only 19% of Germans support their country’s military aid to Israel. This shows a blatant divide between Germany’s political/media elites and the people they are supposed to represent.

German citizens deserve to know why their freedoms are being restricted and whose interests are being served. Why do Israel’s interests take precedence over those of German citizens and Germany’s international reputation? Why must the Palestinian people continue to pay the price for Germany’s past mistakes? I will delve into this matter further in my next article.

To conclude, the most astonishing aspect of these atrocities against German freedoms and the Palestinian people is the deafening silence of the European Union and the European Human Rights Court. The double standards of the European institutions are blatant and hypocritical.

Ricardo Martins ‒ PhD in Sociology, specializing in policies, European and world politics and geopolitics

January 22, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Full Spectrum Dominance | , , , , , | Leave a comment

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