Why Israel’s Blitzkrieg Tactics Failed to Break Iran
By Ekaterina Blinova – Sputnik – 24.06.2025
Following Israel’s latest strikes on Iran, which targeted not just military figures but entire families, Professor Seyed Mohammad Marandi sharply criticizes Tel Aviv’s actions and explained why they failed to achieve regime change.
Brutal Tactics
Marandi calls the assault a clear act of terror with echoes of Nazi-style tactics:
“Not only did they murder senior military officials in their Blitzkrieg attack, similar to the Nazi Germany attack, but they murdered families, neighbors, and in cases they murdered everyone in buildings,” Marandi tells Sputnik.
Dangerous Leadership
According to Marandi, Israel’s leadership is operating with no moral boundaries:
“The [Benjamin] Netanyahu regime is one of the most dangerous regimes in contemporary human history.”
And the issue runs deeper than one man: “They are ethno-supremacists and they consider others as inferior human beings.”
Iran Didn’t Break
Despite psychological warfare and direct threats, Iranian military leadership held firm:
“They reportedly called 20 Iranian generals, demanding surrender videos — or their families would be killed. NOT ONE complied.”
This, he says, revealed the strength of Iran’s armed forces: “It shows how dedicated they are.”
Failed Mission
Marandi concludes that Israel’s goals were not only brutal, but also unsuccessful. “They wanted to bring about regime change, but they failed utterly. This attack only exposed them to the world.”
“It was Netanyahu begging for a ceasefire.”
UK seeks to ban Palestine Action over RAF base protest
Al Mayadeen | June 21, 2025
British news outlets on Saturday revealed that the UK government is preparing to ban Palestine Action, a pro-Palestinian direct action group, by classifying it as a terrorist organization. This move, spearheaded by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, is expected to be announced in a ministerial statement on Monday and will require parliamentary approval. If enacted, the ban would criminalize membership and support for the group under the Terrorism Act 2000.
The proposed proscription follows a high-profile protest at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, where Palestine Action activists gained access to the military airbase and sprayed red paint on two aircraft. The group described the action as part of a campaign to disrupt the UK’s complicity in “Israel’s” assault on Gaza. “Activists have interrupted Britain’s direct participation in the commission of genocide and war crimes across the Middle East,” the group said.
Video footage released by the group showed two individuals entering the base at night on electric scooters, with one spraying red paint into the engine of a Voyager aircraft, used to transport British leaders and refuel allied jets. A spokesperson for the group declared: “Despite publicly condemning the Israeli government, Britain continues to send military cargo, fly spy planes over Gaza and refuel US and Israeli fighter jets.”
Though the RAF claimed the damage is being assessed and does not expect major operational disruptions, the incident has sparked a wider security review across UK military bases. The government’s response has drawn criticism for targeting activism rather than addressing its own military entanglements.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the protest as “disgraceful” and labeled it “an act of vandalism,” while counter-terrorism police and the Ministry of Defence continue their investigations.
Disruptive Solidarity
Founded in 2020 by Huda Ammori, a British-Palestinian activist, and Richard Barnard, Palestine Action is known for its non-violent yet disruptive tactics aimed at corporations that profit from the Israeli military-industrial complex.
The group has previously shut down two Elbit Systems-linked arms factories in Oldham and Tamworth and forced companies like Dean Group International to cut contracts with Israeli weapons manufacturers. Their disruptive tactics—ranging from factory occupations and sabotage to sustained divestment pressure, have challenged British institutions to reckon with their role in supplying the machinery of occupation.
Friday’s action at Brize Norton marks one of the group’s most significant actions yet, directly confronting a military base central to the UK’s support operations.
Critics say the proscription is a politically motivated attempt to silence dissent against Britain’s role in arming and supporting “Israel”. “We represent every person who stands for Palestinian liberation. If they want to ban us, they ban us all,” Palestine Action posted on X. The Palestine Solidarity Campaign called the move “outrageous,” defending the group as a non-violent direct action network.
The planned ban raises serious concerns about the criminalization of solidarity with Palestine and the suppression of dissent.
Pakistan breaks ranks, backs Iran in war with Israel
By F.M. Shakil | The Cradle | June 19, 2025
Despite Islamabad’s official denials of providing military or material support to Iran in its confrontation with Israel, recent developments suggest a dramatic shift in regional alignments. Today, Pakistan and China appear to be coordinating closely with Tehran, offering tangible strategic advantages as Tel Aviv escalates its hostilities.
As war clouds gathered, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held urgent discussions with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on 14 June. That same day, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian spoke with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who expressed Islamabad’s “resolute solidarity” with Iran. He also added that the country “stands firmly with the Iranian people in this critical hour.”
China and Pakistan’s role
In the immediate aftermath, reports emerged of Pakistani military delegations arriving in Tehran amid the hostilities. Although swiftly denied by Islamabad, the timing and context fuel speculation of deeper collaboration. Similarly, Beijing reportedly greenlit the transfer of its BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) technology to Iran, formalized in a new bilateral MoU – an upgrade that dramatically enhanced the precision of Iranian missile strikes.
Though Pakistan continues to reject claims of missile transfers to Iran, its stance in recent days paints a different picture. On 16 June, members of the Iranian parliament chanted “Thank you, thank you Pakistan” following remarks by Pezeshkian, who praised Pakistan for standing by Iran. These developments fly in the face of Pakistan’s non-alignment rhetoric and indicate an ideological and strategic realignment by Islamabad.
It was only early last year that Iran launched missile and drone strikes into Pakistan’s Balochistan region on 16 January, targeting extremist militant group Jaish al-Adl positions. Pakistan retaliated two days later on 18 January, conducting air and missile strikes into Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province in an operation dubbed Marg Bar Sarmachar. The tit-for-tat was remarkably friendly in the final analysis, and appears to have settled some critical border cooperation issues between the two states.
The fact that these former adversaries – who had just engaged in direct military exchanges – have now adopted “resolute solidarity” is nothing short of breathtaking.
Beijing’s embrace of Iran is grounded in energy security and strategic depth instead. Its ambitious, multi-trillion dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) aimed at linking the Eurasian landmass hinges on the stability of Tehran and Islamabad, with the Gwadar and Chahbahar ports forming key arteries in China’s westward expansion.
China also supplies J-10 fighter jets and HQ‑9 air‑defense systems to Pakistan, which played key roles in the extraordinary May 2025 skirmish between India and Pakistan – marking major testing ground for Chinese weapons. A parallel circumstance is present in Iran. China must acknowledge Iran because it is a crucial supporter of China’s energy needs and trade operations.
“The enemy of my friend is my enemy” may well define the new tripartite logic binding Iran, Pakistan, and China in resistance to Israeli and western designs.
Colonial ambitions and nuclear red lines
Tel Aviv’s recent strikes on Iranian military and nuclear infrastructure mark a new phase in a decades-long western strategy aimed at dismantling Muslim powers resistant to colonial domination. Iraq, Syria, Libya – all were destabilized under similar pretexts. The 2001 plot, conceived by the US, its European allies, and Israel, has entered its second phase, targeting Iran initially and Pakistan subsequently.
In a 2011 interview with Channel 2, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu laid bare the logic: Iran and Pakistan are the primary targets of this containment strategy, he stated blankly. “These radical regimes … pose a significant threat,” he said, stressing the need to prevent them from acquiring nuclear capability.
But recent Israeli provocations have instead triggered multipolar resistance to those plans. Speaking to The Cradle, Abdullah Khan of the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS) reveals that Israeli drone operators had recently attempted to sabotage Pakistan’s nuclear facilities during the India–Pakistan crisis:
“Israeli drone operators were stationed in Indian operation rooms during the recent Pakistan–India conflict, trying to target Pakistan’s nuclear facilities. However, prompt action from Pakistan thwarted their efforts, preventing them from causing any damage to the nuclear assets of Pakistan.”
Defensive posturing or new axis?
A source in Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry reveals to The Cradle that Islamabad has quietly warned Washington of a potential nuclear escalation should Israel attack Iran with such weapons.
“If such a situation arises, it will spill beyond Iran. The region will enter a new, unpredictable security phase,” the source states.
The warning was soon echoed in Tehran. On 16 June, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) General Mohsen Rezaei declared on state television:
“Pakistan has told us that if Israel uses nuclear missiles, we will also attack it with nuclear weapons.”
Meanwhile, Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif caused a stir with an incendiary post targeting exiled Iranian royal Reza Pahlavi, the son of the ousted shah of Iran. In response to Pahlavi’s BBC interview, Asif wrote on X:
“If Iranian people are energized and motivated, according to you, show some balls and go back and lead them and remove the regime. Put your money where your arse is, bloody parasitical imperial whore.”
Bilal Khan, a Toronto-based defense/security analyst and the co-founder of independent think tank Quwa Defence News & Analysis Group, tells The Cradle that Islamabad perceives itself as under coordinated pressure from the US, India, and Israel.
“The Pakistani security elite perceive that the US and its counter-proliferation regime are imposing penalties on Pakistan, although it was India that brought the nuclear issue to South Asia. “There exists a structural perception in Rawalpindi that the US, along with its allies India and Israel, is targeting Pakistan’s nuclear program. Nonetheless, it remains uncertain how Pakistan will handle the situation. Certainly, increased investment in air defense systems, enhanced domestic intelligence capabilities, and strengthening the air force with next-generation J-35 stealth fighters are all essential to take on any possible Israeli actions.”
From denial to celebration
While Islamabad has offered no formal commitment of military aid to Tehran, Iranian media and parliament are now rallying around Pakistan with chants of “Pakistan Zindabad.”
Diplomatically, Islamabad has backed Tehran’s call for a UN Security Council session on Israeli aggression and explicitly defended Iran’s right to self-defense. Alongside Algeria, China, and Russia, Pakistan played a key role in amplifying Iran’s initiative, marking a coordinated diplomatic front that signals a deeper convergence within the Eurasian bloc. This is no small gesture from a country once considered a possible target of Israel’s preemptive doctrine.
In a move that exposes Washington’s alarm, Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, was quietly summoned to the US Central Command headquarters in Florida. His absence from a key national parade in Islamabad has raised questions at home. While the Pakistani embassy remains tight-lipped, Dawn cited sources anticipating “uncomfortable conversations” in Washington.
Whether Munir’s US visit results in a recalibration or further consolidation of Islamabad’s alignment with Tehran and Beijing remains uncertain. But one thing is clear: Pakistan is no longer sitting on the fence.
Pakistan calls for Muslim states to unite against Israel
RT | June 16, 2025
Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif has called on Muslim nations to unite against Israel following its strikes on Iranian military and nuclear sites. He warned that failing to act collectively would only encourage further attacks across the Middle East.
Speaking in the National Assembly on Saturday, Asif argued that Israel “did not act alone” and had received “intelligence, cover, and support.” He said the Muslim world remained “militarily vulnerable” and urged a joint response.
“Just as Israel is currently targeting Yemen, Iran, and Palestine, if the Muslim world does not unite today and continues to prioritize its own interests and agendas, then everyone’s turn will come,” he told lawmakers.
Asif called for the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to convene and devise a strategy to confront Israel. “Wherever there are diplomatic ties with Israel in the Muslim world, they should be severed,” he said.
“We stand behind Iran and will support them at every international forum to protect their interests,” the defense minister added.
On Friday morning, Israeli jets bombed military and nuclear sites across Iran and carried out assassinations of several senior Iranian military commanders and veteran nuclear scientists. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the strikes were aimed at preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. In response, Iran launched multiple ballistic missiles at Israeli cities, including Tel Aviv.
While the US denied involvement, President Donald Trump endorsed Israel’s operation. Iran has since suspended nuclear talks with Washington.
Soumoud Convoy blocked in Libya en route to break Gaza blockade
Al Mayadeen | June 15, 2025
Pro-Palestinian activists, who were participating in a march aimed at breaking the Israeli blockade on Gaza, were forced to retreat to the Misrata region of western Libya after being blocked by the authorities in the country’s east, according to statements made by organizers on Sunday.
The “Soumoud” convoy, which had been stopped by the eastern authorities, decided to fall back to near Misrata, about 200 kilometres (124 miles) east of Tripoli. Misrata, which is under the control of the UN-recognized Government of National Unity based in Tripoli, stands in contrast to the eastern region of Libya, where military commander Khalifa Haftar holds authority.
The convoy, consisting of more than 1,000 people from Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, and Tunisia, had faced a “military blockade” since Friday at the entrance to Sirte, a region under the control of Haftar.
Organizers reported that the convoy had been placed under what they described as a “systematic siege,” leaving them without access to food, water, or medicine while also facing severely disrupted communications.
The organizers also condemned the arrest of multiple convoy participants, among them at least three bloggers who had been recording the mission’s progress since it set out from Tunisia on June 9.
The Joint Action Coordination Committee for Palestine, the organizing body behind the convoy, called for the urgent release of 13 detained participants still in the custody of eastern Libyan authorities, according to a statement reported by Tunisia’s La Presse newspaper.
The group, in an accompanying video, reiterated its commitment to pushing forward with the mission toward Gaza’s Rafah border crossing with Egypt, emphasizing its goal of breaking the blockade and stopping what it described as the genocide of Palestinians resisting in Gaza.
Israeli Security Minister Israel Katz called on Egyptian authorities on June 11 to prevent the al-Soumoud convoy from reaching the Rafah border crossing, accusing the international pro-Palestine activists of being “jihadists” and warning that their presence could potentially endanger Israeli occupation forces as well as what he referred to as “regional stability.”
Katz argued that the convoy posed a threat to Israeli troops stationed near the border while also warning it could trigger unrest within Egypt and among what he described as “moderate” Arab governments in the region. He further warned that if Egyptian authorities failed to act, the Israeli occupation forces would take what they deemed “necessary measures” to stop the convoy’s advance toward Gaza.
The global march to Gaza: Indonesia and Egypt
By Dr. Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat | MEMO | June 15, 2025
This week, ten Indonesian citizens — among them celebrities like Wanda Hamidah, Zaskia Adya Mecca, and Ratna Galih — landed in Cairo, not for a political summit, but to join the Global March to Gaza. They came bearing no weapons, no agendas, only the unyielding conviction that humanity must speak where power has fallen silent. They came to walk.
Instead, they were watched. Monitored. Effectively detained. According to a statement posted by Abdul Somad — a widely respected Islamic preacher in Indonesia — these citizens have been placed under tight surveillance by Egyptian authorities and are unable to proceed to Rafah. Somad wrote on Instagram that their phones are monitored, their movements shadowed by police escorts, and their social media use could put them at risk of arrest.
These actions raise a chilling question — one that must be answered by both the Indonesian and Egyptian governments: why are peaceful humanitarian efforts being treated like criminal conspiracies?
The Global March to Gaza is not a political stunt. It is the latest chapter in a rising global outcry against the suffering in Palestine — a moral wave first stirred by the Madleen, a humanitarian ship that was blocked from reaching Gaza. When the ship was turned away by military force, its impact rippled across continents. From sea to desert, from ship to sandal, the world’s conscience now marches forward.
In the blazing heat of the Sinai, thousands are now walking toward Rafah — the last passage into besieged Gaza. They are not diplomats. They do not carry government mandates. They are nurses, retirees, students, and activists. They come not to protest a nation, but to protect a people.
Yet their steps are met not with open arms, but locked gates. Egypt has responded to the march with detentions, deportations, and in some cases, violence. Viral videos show activists — including Americans and Europeans — being harassed near Ismailia. An American woman was reportedly beaten and had her hijab ripped off. Irish parliamentarian Paul Murphy was detained and deported.
And Indonesia’s citizens — who have come to walk, not to wage war — are now stuck in limbo.
What makes this turn of events particularly disheartening is that just two months ago, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo to elevate the relationship between their nations to a strategic partnership. Palestine was central to their discussion. Both leaders publicly affirmed their shared commitment to support the Palestinian people and denounced Israeli aggression.
President Prabowo — leading a country whose constitution explicitly binds it to the fight against colonialism — made it clear that Indonesia sees the suffering of Palestinians as a global injustice. Al-Sisi, whose nation borders Gaza and has long served as mediator, underscored the need to halt the destruction and begin humanitarian recovery.
But if these two nations are so aligned in their support for Palestine, then why now are peaceful Indonesian citizens being surveilled, delayed, and blocked from expressing that very solidarity?
This is the question the Indonesian and Egyptian governments must answer — not just to the activists, but to their own people. Has diplomacy become so hollow that public support for Gaza is allowed only when convenient? Has humanitarianism been reduced to political theater?
Indonesia, in particular, must act. Its citizens are being obstructed for embodying values the nation claims to hold dear. It must demand their release and full freedom of movement. It must summon the Egyptian ambassador in Jakarta to account for these unjust actions. And it must raise this issue in international forums, including the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), to call out all forms of obstruction — from Israel’s bombs to Egypt’s bureaucracy.
Rafah is more than a crossing — it is the fault line between moral paralysis and global awakening. The more it is locked, the louder the heartbeat of conscience becomes. The Global March is not simply a protest. It is a declaration that humanity will not look away.
From the Madleen at sea to the marchers on land, the message is the same: no power can suppress a movement carried by conviction. And no silence can erase the pain of Gaza.
Indonesia’s citizens are walking not just toward Gaza — but toward the soul of the nation’s foreign policy.
It is time their government walks with them.
Malaysia announces the “Fleet of a Thousand Ships” initiative to break the siege on Gaza
Palestinian Information Center – June 15, 2025
KUALA LUMPUR – Civil society organizations in Malaysia have unveiled a major international initiative—described as the largest of its kind—aimed at breaking the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip through a global maritime movement involving a thousand ships departing from multiple continents. The initiative is being hailed as an “uprising of human conscience” in support of Palestinians and a call to hold Israel accountable for its ongoing crimes.
This announcement was made during a press conference held in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, where Azmi Abdul Hamid, President of the Malaysian Consultative Council of Islamic Organizations (MAPIM), said that the initiative is a response to the escalating Israeli aggression and the genocidal crimes being committed against Gaza’s population. He emphasized that the project is gaining growing support from organizations across Europe, Asia, and Latin America.
Abdul Hamid noted that the recent seizure of the Madleen vessel by Israeli forces has helped refocus global attention on the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and has reignited solidarity movements around the world.
He added that the “Fleet of a Thousand Ships” would be broader and more coordinated than the 2010 “Freedom Flotilla,” which was led by the Mavi Marmara.
According to a joint statement signed by dozens of Malaysian institutions, the objectives of this maritime mission include: the immediate lifting of the siege, the delivery of humanitarian aid, the provision of international protection for Gaza’s residents, and the prosecution of Israeli leaders for war crimes.
The initiative also aims to pressure governments to take responsibility by ensuring protection for their citizens who join the mission—thereby increasing international pressure on Israel.
In a related development, Malaysian activists held a protest in front of the Malaysian Investment Development Authority, demanding an end to relations with companies supporting the Israeli occupation—most notably the American company Caterpillar, which is accused of supplying equipment used in demolitions and settlement construction. Protesters described ongoing cooperation with such companies as “complicity in genocide.”
MAPIM also announced concrete steps to expand the campaign, including the establishment of an international secretariat and a financial fund to support the logistical and technical preparations for launching the fleet. Open calls have been made to companies and individuals to contribute to the success of the initiative.
Observers anticipate that the “Fleet of a Thousand Ships” initiative will become a focal point of global attention—especially amid growing popular solidarity with Gaza and the failure of international institutions to stop Israeli aggression—underscoring the need for independent action by global civil society.
Egypt detains over 200 activists ahead of pro-Gaza aid convoy
MEMO | June 13, 2025
The Egyptian authorities have arrested more than 200 activists who had arrived in Cairo to join a planned march to Egypt’s Rafah border crossing and demand breaking the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip.
The organizers said in a statement on Thursday that approximately 4,000 people from more than 40 countries had booked flights to Cairo to participate in the event, and a large number of them had already arrived before the scheduled departure time from Egypt.
The organizers hoped “to work side by side with the Egyptian government” as a key and effective partner, adding that their goal is to demand an end to the Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people.
Activists organizing the convoy revealed that Egyptian security personnel in civilian clothes arrested activists from the hotels where they were staying, interrogated them, and in some cases confiscated their phones. “Some were released, while others remain in detention” they added.
The organizers confirmed in a statement that their legal team is monitoring these cases, noting that they “complied with all legal requirements imposed by the Egyptian authorities”.
The convoy of humanitarian aid dubbed Global March to Gaza set out from the Tunisian capital on Monday with the participation of thousands of volunteers from Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia. According to the organizers; the aim is to raise international awareness of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and provide humanitarian aid.
The participants were scheduled to travel by bus to the city of Arish in the Sinai Peninsula on Friday and continue on foot to the border with the Gaza Strip, where they intend to camp for three days in an attempt to pressure authorities to open the crossing.
Israel Detains Activists Bringing Aid to Gaza
By Kyle Anzalone and Will Porter | The Libertarian Institute | June 9, 2025
Hours after the Israeli defense minister threatened military action against a tiny aid ship carrying activists attempting to break the blockade on Gaza, the IDF intercepted the boat and detained all on board. The dangerous vessel was armed with rice and baby formula.
Late on Sunday night, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) said the ship, named the ‘Madleen,’ was “under assault in international waters,” with quadcopter drones surrounding the vessel and “spraying it with a white irritant substance.”
The group later published a statement, saying the Madleen was “attacked/forcibly intercepted by the Israeli military at 3:02am [Central European Time] in international waters at 31.95236° N, 32.38880° E. The ship was unlawfully boarded, its unarmed civilian crew abducted, and its life-saving cargo – including baby formula, food and medical supplies – confiscated.”
Israel’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that the ship had been intercepted, but added that the activists were “safe and unharmed.” In a follow-up post, it said the vessel was on its way to Israel and that the passengers were “expected to return to their home countries.”
At the time of writing, the Madleen was sailing through international waters off the coast of Egypt, north of Sinai, according to tracking data provided by the FFC.
Earlier on Sunday, Tel Aviv’s Defense Minister Israel Katz issued a warning to the ship, suggesting the IDF would use force to prevent it from bringing aid to Gazans:
“I have instructed the IDF to act to prevent the ‘Madleen’ hate flotilla from reaching the shores of Gaza – and to take whatever measures are necessary to that end.
To the anti-Semitic Greta [Thunberg] and her fellow Hamas propaganda spokespeople, I say clearly: You should turn back – because you will not reach Gaza.
Israel will act against any attempt to break the blockade or assist terrorist organizations – at sea, in the air, and on land.”
Katz’s statement contained one important admission: Israel does, in fact, maintain a blockade on aid entering Gaza.
For over a year, the propaganda emanating from Tel Aviv has claimed that Hamas was simply stealing international aid and preventing it from reaching starving Palestinians. And yet, Israel’s Minister of Genocide just acknowleged a full-blown blockade on humanitarian assistance.
As the Madleen approached Gaza over the weekend, the activists faced increasing harassment from Israel, including GPS jamming, as well as close calls with military speed boats and drones.
Israel has used violence to prevent activist aid ships from reaching Gaza on more than one occasion in the past – most recently last month, when a small FFC vessel headed for the enclave was struck by a drone in international waters.
In 2010, Israeli troops killed 10 activists after raiding another boat attempting to bring supplies to Gaza, with the UN concluding some were shot “in a manner consistent with an extra-legal, arbitrary and summary execution.”
The presence of Greta Thunberg, a climate activist widely known across the West, is likely the only thing that prevented a similarly bloody fate for the Madleen.
Fortunately, US Senator Lindsey Graham did not have his way. The lawmaker joked in a post last week: “Hope Greta and her friends can swim!” – riffing on the hilarious and relatable premise of murdering unarmed civilians to stop them from feeding people desperately in need of aid.
This article originally appeared in the June 9 edition of the Libertarian Institute Debrief, our daily email newsletter.
Delegates from 32 nations march to Gaza, call for end to blockade and genocide
MEMO | June 9, 2025
An international solidarity march set off towards the Gaza Strip yesterday, aiming to break the ongoing blockade and demand an end to what participants describe as the genocide being committed by Israel since 7 October 2023.
Thousands of supporters from 32 countries are taking part in the march, with plans to reach Gaza’s border through the Rafah crossing with Egypt. Their goals include delivering humanitarian aid and expressing support for the Palestinian people.
Organisers said the participating convoys are expected to gather in Cairo on Thursday, before heading to the city of Arish in north-eastern Egypt. From there, participants will continue on foot towards the Rafah border crossing, where protest tents are planned to be set up.
The main organisers, the “Global March to Gaza”, said it has representatives in most European, North and South American countries, as well as in several Arab and Asian nations. This, it said, reflects growing international momentum in support of the Palestinian cause.
Leading the march is Algeria’s “Caravan of Steadfastness,” which departed from the capital Algiers yesterday towards Tunisia. From there, it will join the Tunisian convoy and continue through Libya to Egypt, with the aim of eventually reaching Gaza.
“The Caravan of Steadfastness set off on Sunday towards Tunisia. It will join the Tunisian convoy, travel through Libya to Egypt, and from there to Gaza via Rafah,” said Sheikh Yahya Sari, head of the Algerian Initiative to Support Palestine and Aid Gaza, in a statement.
NYU withholds diploma of student who condemned Israel’s Gaza genocide
MEMO | May 16, 2025
In the latest example of escalating repression against Palestine solidarity activism on US campuses, New York University (NYU) has withheld the diploma of student speaker Logan Rozos after he used his commencement address to denounce Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza and the US’s complicity.
Rozos, graduating from NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualised Study, told his fellow students on Wednesday: “The only thing that is appropriate to say in this time and to a group this large is a recognition of the atrocities currently happening in Palestine.”
In his speech, Rozos condemned the genocide “supported politically and militarily by the United States, paid for by our tax dollars and livestreamed to our phones for the past 18 months.” He further stated: “I do not wish to speak only to my own politics today, but to speak for all people of conscience, and all people who feel the moral injury of this atrocity.”
Razos’s remarks were met with widespread applause from students. NYU swiftly responded by issuing a statement denouncing Rozos, accusing him of violating university rules and announcing it would withhold his diploma pending disciplinary action.
The university also removed Rozos’s student profile from its website, adding to concerns about institutional retaliation.
This incident comes amid a wider crackdown on free speech and pro-Palestinian activism at US universities. NYU, like many elite institutions, has adopted the highly controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism, which conflates political opposition to Zionism and Israel’s colonial violence with anti-Jewish hatred. Critics, including human rights scholars and Jewish groups, warn that such measures are being weaponised to suppress Palestinian advocacy and silence dissenting voices.
Rozos’s speech, and NYU’s reaction, follows a pattern of repression at the university. Over the past year, NYU administrators have called police to disperse peaceful encampments and arrested dozens of students and faculty protesting Israel’s war on Gaza. The university has also updated its conduct guidelines to classify phrases such as “Zionist” as discriminatory, explicitly erasing the distinction between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism.
In December 2024, NYU declared two tenured professors, Andrew Ross and Sonya Posmentier, “persona non grata” after they joined a sit-in demanding the university divest from companies profiting from Israel’s war crimes in Gaza. Months later, NYU cancelled a talk by Doctors Without Borders’ former president Dr Joanne Liu, deeming her slides on Gaza civilian casualties potentially “anti-Semitic.”
Human rights advocates and academic freedom organisations have condemned these actions, warning that universities like NYU are sacrificing core principles of free speech and academic independence under pressure from pro-Israel donors, political figures, and lobby groups.
Rozos’s speech, which framed Israel’s war on Gaza as a genocide livestreamed in real time, resonates with warnings from genocide scholars, legal experts and international bodies that Israel’s actions meet the legal definition of genocide. Despite this, Rozos now faces institutional reprisals for expressing what many human rights defenders see as an urgent moral truth.
Michigan AG Pins Blame for Failed Prosecutions of Student Protesters on Rep. Debbie Dingell
The Michigan attorney general provided no evidence for her claim, which Dingell rejected
By Ryan Grim and Tom Perkins | Drop Site | May 11, 2025
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel continues to do damage control in the wake of her failed prosecution of student protesters at the University of Michigan. Nessel was forced to drop charges against students who had been arrested at a pro-Palestinian encampment last year after the judge overseeing the case indicated he was sympathetic to the defense’s argument that Nessel had been improperly biased against the defendants.
This week, in public remarks on the prosecution, she claimed without evidence that Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell of Michigan had been the one who urged her to charge students involved in protests over Gaza. Pinning the pressure for the prosecutions on Dingell was Nessel’s way of arguing that the bias claims made against her were inaccurate—that she was not in fact pushed to take the cases by donors to her campaign who serve as senior officials at the university, but rather by the local congresswoman, Dingell.
“I heard it was from the Jewish Regents,”—that is, the Jewish members of the University of Michigan Board of Regents—“they forced me to take these cases,” Nessel said at an event this week called a “Town Hall on Hate Crimes & Extremism” in West Bloomfield Township. “I heard it was from the [Michigan Legislative] Jewish Caucus because of the money I get from them. I heard it was from Jewish donors. You know how those cases came to my office? Debbie Dingell. Debbie Dingell, I don’t know if you know this: Not Jewish. But it had to be some sort of Jewish influence.”
In a statement to Drop Site, Dingell spokesperson Michaela Johnson suggested the congresswoman was not behind the investigations, pointing to a May 2024 letter from Nessel’s office to the university in which Nessel offered to take over any investigations. The letter, which has not previously been reported, makes no reference to Dingell, but instead suggests that protests outside the homes of Board of Regents members triggered Nessel to launch an effort targeting student protesters.
“Nessel did not write the letter at our request, and Rep. Dingell had not seen that letter until today,” Johnson said. Dingell represents Ann Arbor, but previously represented Dearborn until redistricting in 2014, and she still has strong ties to the Arab-American community there. But she has remained largely silent with regard to the protests.
Amir Makled, an attorney for some of the students, said he called Dingell’s office on Friday to ask about Nessel’s allegations. He said a Dingell staffer denied the congresswoman had pushed for the investigation.
Makled said he didn’t think it was done at Dingell’s behest, but he said Dingell has been involved with the discussions because the incident occurred in her district, and she “has been giving lip service to all sides.”
But, he added, “Nessel is trying to do anything to deflect blame for her office’s misdeeds – that much seems clear to me.”
Nessel’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment over the weekend.
The university, its regents and Nessel have denied that the school recruited the attorney general.
This was not the first time Nessel had pointed the finger at Dingell. She told a local reporter several weeks ago that “the congresswoman from the 6th Congressional District” – Dingell – had put her up to it. “I stand behind the evidence and I stand behind the charges, and I appreciate the fact that this matter was referred by the congresswoman from the 6th Congressional District, who asked the state to intervene because they were concerned about what was happening on campus,” she said. “I believe what we did was the right thing, and that will be borne out in court.”
Following that report, supporters of the students who’d been charged approached Dingell at an event on March 3 to ask if Nessel’s allegation was true. According to an audio recording provided to Drop Site, it was not. “She’s told a lot of people a lot of stuff,” Dingell told the students. She was then asked directly by Jared Eno, a grad student at Michigan, if that was true: “No!” Dingell said. “She called the university and offered.” The letter supports that claim.
Nessel, in her remarks at the town hall, again claimed Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan had accused her of bias linked to her Jewish background, but Tlaib’s public statements have never referenced this. “I think people at the University of Michigan put pressure on her to do this, and she fell for it,” Tlaib had said. “I think President Ono and Board of Regent members were very much heavy-handed in this.” UMich President Santa Ono, the only person Tlaib named as having applied pressure to Nessel, is not Jewish.
The AG letter was sent to Timothy G. Lynch, vice president and general counsel at the University of Michigan, and signed by Danielle Hagaman-Clark, a prosecutor in Nessel’s office. “I write today to offer the DAG’s assistance with investigating and prosecuting any cases that arise from the recent demonstrations on UM’s campus,” she wrote. “It has been widely reported that the demonstrators have not limited their protests to the campus but have also appeared at the homes of the Board of Regents. My understanding is that the Regents are not required to live in Washtenaw County, the location of UM, but that they reside in several different counties. Because the DAG has state-wide criminal authority to bring charges, we are ideally situated to review any potential cases.”
The reference to the protests outside the homes of Regents matches reporting that suggested those demonstrations, even more than the encampments, enraged the board members, who urged Nessel to prosecute.
Nessel’s prosecutor added her office was well suited to determine whether any of the speech from the protesters was illegal. “I would also note that our Department has specialized expertise in the intersection of First Amendment free speech rights in the context of a criminal prosecution. We are fluent in the law around what speech is protected and what speech is not protected,” said Hagaman-Clark, making the pitch to Michigan. The letter was sent shortly after local prosecutor Eli Savit (who is also Jewish) declined to prosecute 36 of 40 protesters arrested in connection with the occupation of an administration building, and recommended four others for diversion. “General Nessel has discussed the potential jurisdictional issues that might arise with Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit. Prosecutor Savit recognizes that his authority is confined to Washtenaw County. He is comfortable with the DAG overseeing these cases based on his jurisdiction being limited to only Washtenaw County.”
In her effort at damage control this week, Nessel claimed Dingell’s supposed request was common. “Now it’s not unusual for a congressional representative to call up the department of the attorney general and to call the attorney general herself and say ‘I’m really worried about what I see to be criminal activity occurring and either the local prosecutor is not doing anything about it,’ or ‘they’re not equipped to do anything about it. But I am scared about what I am seeing. And I think the AG’s office has to take action.’”
Nessel also told the town hall audience that she dropped the charges because the judge had ordered an evidentiary hearing into the defense’s charge that Nessel was biased against the defendants. Defense attorneys, in their recent motion to disqualify Nessel’s office over bias, pointed to a previous analysis that found she had prosecuted protesters at a much higher rate than other prosecutors in the state.
They also pointed to Nessel recusing herself from an investigation into alleged election fraud by Muslim-American city council members in nearby Hamtramck. Nessel said she wanted to avoid the appearance of bias because she was Jewish and the suspects were of Arab descent. She also noted that she had previously been critical of the Hamtramck City Council. In their motion to disqualify Nessel’s office, defense attorneys questioned how she could consider herself biased in Hamtramck but unbiased in Ann Arbor under similar circumstances.
A letter sent by the Jewish Federation of Ann Arbor to the judge urging him to allow her to remain on the case, she said, put improper pressure on the judge and should not have been sent. And the cases against the students were becoming a distraction to staff, she added, who couldn’t even attend a job fair without being “shut down by protesters.”
“We elected that rather than me being put on trial for being a Jewish prosecutor, and rather than having the federation be put on trial for an email they should not have sent—but the kind that gets sent all the time—that we would dismiss the charges against those particular defendants,” she said. An evidentiary hearing would have opened her office to discovery and made public communications about how the cases came together. Defense attorneys say she wanted to avoid that.
Liz Jacob, an attorney from the Sugar Law Center, said the claim from Nessel was another effort to deflect responsibility. “It’s alarming to see the ways that Nessel is trying to avoid accountability for her repression of free speech and brutal targeting of protesters at all costs,” Jacob said. “Both in that video and over the last several months AG Nessel has tried to blame anyone—from Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib to Debbie Dingell to the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor—to deflect criticism regarding her own deplorable treatment of pro-Palestine protesters.”
Nessel’s decision was a serious one, and Nessel should treat it seriously, Jacob said. “As the Attorney General who is directing the FBI to raid protesters homes and bringing baseless and retaliatory criminal charges against protesters, it is Nessel who must bear responsibility for targeting young people who bravely speak out against war and genocide. Nessel’s actions speak for themselves — she has aligned herself with the Trump administration’s criminalization and repression of pro-Palestine speech,” she said.
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Free Book
Blood Passover, English Version
The Bloody Satanic Sacrifice Rituals of the Jewish Race
Ariel Toaff | 2016
The following translation was performed free of charge to protest an injustice: the destruction by the ADL of Ariel Toaff’s Blood Passover on Jewish ritual murder. The author is the son of the Chief Rabbi of Rome, and a professor of Jewish Renaissance and Medieval History at Bar-Ilan University in Israel, just outside Tel Aviv.
Dr. Toaff is uniquely qualified to write this book, being thoroughly familiar with the derivative literature in English, French, German and Italian, as well as the original documentary sources in Latin, Medieval Italian, Hebrew and Yiddish. This is not something he worked on in secret. On the contrary, he worked on it openly with his university students and colleagues in Israel for several years; one of his students was even going to publish a paper on the subject. The author is extremely careful about what he says, and his conclusions must be taken seriously. It reads like a detective story.
If it had been published in Israel, in Hebrew, no one would have cared. There are large bodies of literature in Hebrew that Jews do not wish Gentiles to know about. But Dr. Toaff’s announcement of its publication in Italy, in Italian, raised a worldwide firestorm of fury.
Under unbearable pressure, the book was withdrawn from publication. Come in out of the darkness, and strike a blow for the light.
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