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Scotland’s parliament votes for boycott of Israel amid Gaza genocide

Press TV – September 5, 2025

Scotland’s Parliament has voted to impose an immediate and comprehensive boycott on Israel and companies connected to its genocide in Gaza.

The decision, which highlights Scotland’s solidarity with the Palestinian people, came on Thursday in response to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the besieged territory.

The motion to sanction Israel and affiliated entities was spearheaded by the Scottish Greens, who allege that the Israeli military actions in Gaza constitute genocide. Reports indicate that at least 64,231 Palestinians have died due to the genocide, and almost the entire population of Gaza has been displaced.

The amendment passed with 62 votes in favor and 31 against, calling on the Scottish and UK governments to implement a series of boycotts, divestment strategies, and sanctions aimed directly at Israel and companies deemed complicit in its genocide.

Support for the motion came from the Scottish Greens and the Scottish National Party (SNP), alongside a proposal introduced by External Affairs Secretary Angus Robertson that acknowledged the recognition of a Palestinian state. However, the Scottish Conservatives opposed the motion, while most Scottish Labour and Liberal Democrat MSPs chose to abstain. The Liberal Democrats notably shifted their voting stance to oppose the amendment’s language.

Scottish Green MSP Patrick Harvie, who introduced the motion, expressed hope that this vote could signal a change in the conversation surrounding Israel and encourage other European governments to adopt a stronger response to the humanitarian crisis. “Palestinians are being starved and massacred every day as part of a campaign of collective punishment and ethnic cleansing. It is our duty to act,” he stated in an interview with The National.

Harvie emphasized the importance of holding companies accountable for their involvement in the genocide, asserting, “If a company profits from apartheid and genocide, it should not be allowed to profit here in Scotland. This vote sets a precedent for action that I hope will inspire governments across Europe and beyond.”

First Minister John Swinney highlighted the Scottish government’s commitment to humanitarian support, announcing plans to block public funding for firms supplying weapons to Israel. He also pledged £400,000 toward the Children’s Operating Room to aid the Gaza Hope Field Readiness Centre in Scotland and assist in establishing a rapid-deployment field hospital within Gaza.

Additionally, Scotland plans to provide medical support for 20 children injured in Gaza, expected to arrive with their families in September, and to donate £600,000 to the UN’s humanitarian coordination office in Palestine.

Swinney underscored the urgent need for action, stating, “We are witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe of historic proportions. The world cannot wait for a final court ruling to take action. A genocide is unfolding, and recognizing this reality carries with it a responsibility to act. The people of Scotland expect nothing less.”

September 5, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Solidarity and Activism, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

Washington sanctions Palestinian rights groups for aiding ICC in Gaza war crimes probe

The White House is covering for Israeli war crimes amid its operation to ethnically cleanse and demolish Gaza City

The Cradle | September 5, 2025

The US has imposed sanctions on three Palestinian human rights organizations that previously petitioned the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate Israel for war crimes in Gaza.

“Today, the Trump Administration is sanctioning three NGOs – Al Haq, Al Mezan, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights – for assisting in the ICC’s illegitimate actions against Israel. The United States will continue to protect our own sovereignty and the sovereignty of our allies from the ICC’s overreach,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on Thursday evening on X.

The announcement first appeared as a notice on the US Treasury Department’s website on Thursday.

In November 2023, the organizations requested that the ICC investigate Israel for war crimes in response to its actions in Gaza, including carrying out airstrikes on heavily populated civilian areas, imposing a complete siege to cut off food, water, and electricity to the civilian population, and causing the mass displacement of residents.

On 31 October 2023, Israel bombed the Jabalia refugee camp, killing some 120 people, mostly women and children, in one airstrike with a 2,000-pound (907 kilograms) bomb.

In May of 2024, ICC prosecutor Karim Khan requested that the court’s judges issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-defense minister Yoav Gallant on charges of using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza.

The ICC issued the arrest warrants in November 2024.

The US responded by imposing sanctions on ICC judges and Khan, calling the Hague-based court a “national security threat.”

A smear campaign was also launched, accusing Khan of sexual misconduct in the workplace.

The ICC was established in 2002 to try cases of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. The jurisdiction of the court is recognized by its 125 member countries. However, the US, China, Russia, and Israel do not recognize the court’s authority.

The US Treasury announcement comes as Israel continues its destruction of Gaza City, which Tel Aviv is seeking to ethnically cleanse of its hundreds of thousands of Palestinian residents.

While Israeli leaders say they wish to defeat Hamas, the Israeli military is systematically demolishing Palestinian cities to make way for a mega real estate project backed by Israeli businessmen and the White House.

US President Donald Trump has stated that Palestinians will be forced to leave Gaza, which will be turned into a high-tech smart city and resort hub he has dubbed the “Riviera of the Middle East.”

Israel has issued evacuation orders for Gaza City as the demolition moves forward.

“The Israeli forces, when they mark any area by red color and they request the people to leave, they really will destroy it,” said Gaza City resident Mohammed Alkurdi while speaking with AP.

“It’s not something partial like before. It’s 100 percent,” he said. “The house, I’m telling my friends, it keeps dancing all the day. It keeps dancing, going right and left like an earthquake.”

Another Gaza City resident, Amjad Shawa, the director of a Palestinian NGO network, told AP that “Gaza [City] will be leveled and destroyed,” like other cities in the enclave.

After months of Israeli bombing, “there is no Rafah. Almost no Khan Yunis,” Shawa said.

Some residents of Gaza City are choosing to leave ahead of the Israeli warplanes and bulldozers.

For others, leaving is not possible at all due to age, sickness, and lack of anywhere else to go.

“The elders, they’re saying we will die here,” Shawa said. “This has pushed the other members of the family to stay, not to leave.”

September 5, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes, Wars for Israel | , , , , | Leave a comment

Ukraine “sanctioning” Hungary and Slovakia with terror and military provocations

Zelensky believes his country has the right to punish countries that cooperate with Russia

By Lucas Leiroz | September 5, 2025

Ukraine’s deliberate and unjustified provocations against sovereign European countries that refuse to support it in the current war are becoming one of the biggest sources of tension in recent times. Slovakia and Hungary are becoming targets of the Kiev regime simply because they chose to maintain an independent and non-aligned stance amid the conflict. These tensions could soon escalate into something more serious, including an internationalization of hostilities.

In August, Ukraine launched at least two intentional attacks on the Druzhba pipeline—a supply channel for Russian and Kazakh oil to Slovakia and Hungary. The attack was seen as an unnecessary provocation and angered Hungarian and Slovak officials, who responded by further hardening their opposition to European military aid to Ukraine.

These provocations are nothing new. Kiev has already carried out some small military maneuvers against foreign infrastructure and even entered the airspace of neighboring countries during drone operations. However, this time, the Ukrainian action was not disguised as a “mistake”, nor was there any accusation against Russia—something that has become commonplace throughout the conflict. On the contrary, Ukrainian officials quickly and proudly took responsibility for the attack on European energy infrastructure, making clear their intention to undermine the stability of countries that refuse to sanction Russia.

Not only that, but illegitimate Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky described the attacks as “sanctions” against Hungary and Slovakia. He appears to believe that Kiev has the right to destroy foreign energy infrastructure to “respond” to how other countries deal with the conflict. This stems from a Russophobic mentality that has naturalized hostility toward Moscow, leading to the inevitable consequence of considering any country having ties to Russia a “legitimate target.”

Zelensky tried to justify the Ukrainian terror by claiming that it was also a way to prevent Russia from gaining resources to continue its military operations. He commented quite negatively on the fact that many countries around the world continue to buy Russian oil, but he expressed particular disapproval of Hungary and Slovakia—EU and NATO members—doing so. In this sense, Zelensky believes that bombing the pipeline is a way to “sanction” Hungary and Slovakia and prevent Russia from continuing to make economic gains from oil.

“Among others, there are two countries [cooperating with Russia], we know that these are Hungary and Slovakia (…) [Ukrainian attacks] reduce the possibilities of [Hungary and Slovakia] obtaining the corresponding oil (…) Therefore, you see, Ukraine has found these types of sanctions.” he said.

A curious detail is that Zelensky’s words were said during a joint conference with French President Emmanuel Macron. Both leaders met on the eve of the summit in which 26 countries (mostly NATO) committed to sending “peacekeeping” troops to Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire—something Russia has repeatedly condemned and described as intolerable. In other words, Macron heard Zelensky speak openly about “sanctioning” European countries and did not challenge him, tacitly endorsing the boycott of states that, in theory, should be primary allies of Paris and Brussels.

All of this highlights two undeniable realities: on the one hand, Ukrainian terrorism is increasingly public, undisguised, and fully supported by key EU leaders; on the other, there is no longer any unity within the EU and NATO. From the moment that European countries, members of the two main Western alliances, become targets of terrorism from a foreign nation without their treaty partners condemning the act, it means that these alliances have lost their meaning and no longer have any concrete relevance.

Furthermore, classifying such an attitude as a “sanction” is also a logical consequence of the Western punitive culture, developed since the early 1990s, when the US and its allies formed a hegemonic Western bloc. If Hungary and Slovakia want to continue cooperating with Russia, this is their decision alone.

Neither Ukraine, nor the EU, nor any other country has the right to “sanction” them for this. “Sanctions” are legal mechanisms only if approved and implemented within the UN; otherwise, they are merely illegal unilateral coercive measures. Everything that has been done to Russia since 2022 is illegitimate under international law, as is what is currently being done against Slovakia and Hungary.

Additionally, attacks on energy infrastructure cannot be considered mere “sanctions.” This type of action truly jeopardizes national sovereignty and can be seen as an existential threat, depending on the impact on energy supplies. Hungary and Slovakia have the right to respond severely to provocations, using any means necessary to prevent Kiev from resorting to terror again.

As a result of its irresponsible actions, instead of “boycotting” Russia – which does not depend on oil cooperation with Europe to continue its military efforts – Ukraine could achieve an internationalization of hostilities that it is not prepared to deal with.

Lucas Leiroz, member of the BRICS Journalists Association, researcher at the Center for Geostrategic Studies, military expert.

You can follow Lucas on X (formerly Twitter) and Telegram.

September 5, 2025 Posted by | Economics, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

The Ukrainian neo-Nazi who knew too much?

By Kit Klarenberg | Al Mayadeen | September 5, 2025

The daylight assassination of Ukrainian ultranationalist Andriy Parubiy raises deeper questions: was it mere revenge, or a silencing of a man who carried explosive secrets about Maidan, Odessa, and Kiev’s descent into fascism?

On August 30th, Andriy Parubiy was shot dead in broad daylight in Lviv, Ukraine. A key figure in the foreign-fomented Maidan putsch and a prominent and influential politician locally for many years, he was mourned by a welter of British, European, and US officials. Within three days, Parubiy’s murderer was arrested and pleaded guilty. Wholly unremorseful, the assassin claimed his actions were “revenge on the state” for his son having disappeared – presumed dead – while fighting in Bakhmut in 2023.

Yet, there is almost certainly more to this story than meets the eye. In the immediate aftermath of Parubiy’s slaying, claims emerged he had months earlier requested formal protection from the SBU, only to be rebuffed. This prompted some outcry, forcing Kiev’s security services to issue a statement explaining why Parubiy’s demand was refused. Curiously though, a press conference has since been convened at which the SBU and local law enforcement contradictorily denied he had ever asked any state authority to be safeguarded.

Whatever the truth of the matter, Parubiy took an enormous number of sensitive secrets to his grave, which a great many individuals and organisations have a significant interest in remaining concealed forever. A longstanding, outspoken ultranationalist, in 1991 he cofounded the openly Neo-Nazi Social-Nationalist Party – later rebranded Svoboda – and from 1998 – 2004 ran its paramilitary wing, Patriot of Ukraine. The unit, like its parent political party, aggressively advocated insurrectionary violence, and espoused virulent, genocidal hatred of Russia and Russians.

Parubiy was a key figure in Kiev’s US-orchestrated 2004 Orange Revolution. His role in the Maidan coup and all that followed, which sent Ukraine hurtling towards war with Moscow, was considerably more outsized. After the protests erupted in November 2013, Parubiy founded the “Maidan Self-Defense Force”. While ostensibly responsible for protecting purportedly peaceful demonstrators from riot police, the Force acted in close coordination with fascist paramilitary group Right Sector. The latter routinely engaged in incendiary, savage acts to provoke adverse responses from law enforcement.

The protests ended with elected President Viktor Yanukovych fleeing Ukraine on February 22, 2014. This followed the sniper massacre of demonstrators in Kiev’s Freedom – now Maidan – Square. Government forces – perhaps with Russian assistance – were blamed for the bloodshed, triggering an avalanche of international condemnation, and threats from Paribuy’s Maidan Self-Defense to storm the President’s residence and take power by force if he didn’t resign. Yanukovych’s government was replaced by a fascist-riddled unelected administration, hand-picked by the US State Department’s Ukraine point-person Victoria Nuland.

Parubiy was appointed National Security and Defense Council chief, overseeing the launch and execution of Ukraine’s “Anti-Terrorist Operation”, a savage crackdown on the country’s Russian-speaking population. He also instituted moves to integrate the country into NATO’s defence and security structures, in advance of formal membership. While Parubiy initially retained his position under elected, far-right President Petro Poroshenko, he resigned in August 2014 after the Minsk Agreements intended to achieve peace in Donbass were signed, believing the dispute could only be resolved via “force”.

Parubiy’s bellicosity only intensified when the proxy war erupted in February 2022. In the conflict’s early days, he forcefully argued against any negotiation with Moscow, and instead urged Kiev to “destroy the Russian Empire.” In the meantime, the Maidan massacre officially remained unsolved. This deficiency was so marked, suspicion abounded even among Ukrainian investigators as official probes into the killings were being deliberately sabotaged. There were certainly many figures within the country who wanted the truth obscured and buried – Andriy Parubiy perhaps foremost among them.

‘Sacred Victims’

In October 2023, a Kiev court finally made a ruling on the Maidan massacre, in a trial that began in 2016. Of five police officers on trial accused of the atrocity, one was acquitted outright, another sentenced to time served for alleged “abuse of power,” while three were convicted in absentia on 31 counts of murder and 44 counts of attempted murder. The verdict means no Ukrainian official from the time has been in any way legally punished over the incident today.

Nonetheless, the verdict conclusively ruled out the involvement of Russian elements in the mass shooting – a conspiracy theory promoted heavily by pro-Maidan elements for many years, including Parubiy. Even more significantly, in at least 28 of the 128 shootings of protesters evaluated during the trial, the court found the “involvement of law enforcement officers has not been proven,” and therefore the involvement of “other unknown persons” in the killings “cannot be ruled out.” Which is an extraordinary understatement.

The verdict noted “quite sufficient” evidence indicated “categorically” many shots were fired at protesters from Freedom Square’s Hotel Ukraina, which was “territory…not controlled by law enforcement agencies.” Unmentioned in the judgment, Hotel Ukraina was used as a base of operations by Svoboda throughout the Maidan unrest, its leaders – including Parubiy – coordinating chaos on the streets below. Many Svoboda operatives were based on the hotel’s 11th floor. Snipers in this area were observed by a BBC reporter.

However, copious witness evidence heard throughout the long running trial indicated Hotel Ukraina was not the only building or area from which protesters were being fatally shot, proven to have been occupied by opposition elements – not government forces – at the time. Of particular note was the testimony of Nazar Mukhachov, a Maidan Self-Defense commander and adviser to Parubiy. He gained access to government-collected evidence related to the massacre, and conducted his own investigation.

The results of Mukhachov’s probe into the mass killing amply indicated “third forces” linked to the Maidan leadership were responsible for shooting both protesters and police, from sites – including Hotel Ukraina – occupied by opposition elements. He declared Parubiy et al required “sacred victims” in order to seize power. Mukhachov’s account is especially forceful and persuasive, given his Maidan Self-Defense position, the fact he continues to support the Maidan coup, and remains a committed ultranationalist.

Meanwhile, Stanyslav Shuliak, a riot police commander during the Maidan protests, recorded how numerous officers observed snipers shooting from Maidan-controlled locations. Resultantly, security services negotiated with Maidan Self-Defense representatives to investigate these areas, but Parubiy denied their requests. Even more damningly, numerous witnesses testified to having caught armed individuals known or suspected of shooting at protesters during the massacre. After capture, these individuals were handed over to Parubiy’s Maidan Self-Defense – only for them to be released without consequence or explanation, and typically never seen again.

‘A Corpse’

In the immediate aftermath of Parubiy’s death, popular Ukrainian news outlet Strana interviewed a number of his associates. Intriguingly, while most blamed the “hand of the Kremlin” for his liquidation, others “[did] not exclude the internal political background of the murder” – namely, Parubiy may have been liquidated due to “expectations of some future political upheaval in the country.” After all, as an anonymous source told Strana, “Andrei knew well how to arrange a Maidan.”

The threat of impending “political upheaval” in Ukraine is very real. Every day, Moscow’s forces relentlessly advance in Donbass. Vast casualties, desertion, and failed recruitment drives mean Kiev’s manpower shortage is so dire: women – some of them pregnant – now fill frontline combat roles. Europe has been reduced to buying weapons from Washington to equip their proxy, while Donald Trump has firmly ruled out NATO membership, or the return of lost territory. The proxy war has unambiguously been lost for some time.

Despite this, President Volodymyr Zelensky remains publicly committed to maximalist – and wholly unattainable – battlefield goals, including recapturing Crimea. He has strong grounds for maintaining this farcical facade publicly. In July, Zelensky’s attempt to take US-run “anti-corruption” bodies under his government’s control sparked mass protests, demands for his resignation from even his strongest Western supporters, and vitriolic condemnation from powerful elements within the country. Among the loudest voices was Andriy Biletsky, founder of the notorious Neo-Nazi Azov Battalion.

In an August interview with The Times, Biletsky repeatedly criticised Zelensky and ruled out any negotiations with Russia, outlining a personal “vision for the future” for perpetual war with Moscow, in which Ukraine became a “permanently militarised society” and Europe’s “army and arsenal.” His comments were echoed mere days later in a comparable puff piece in the same outlet, in which popular YouTuber and former head of Right Sector’s Odessa branch Serhii Sternenko openly threatened the Ukrainian President’s life:

“If… Zelensky were to give any unconquered land away, he would be a corpse – politically, and then for real. It would be a bomb under our sovereignty. People would never accept it… At the end, there will only be one victor, Russia or Ukraine… If the Russian empire continues to exist in this present form then it will always want to expand. Compromise is impossible. The struggle will be eternal until the moment Russia leaves Ukrainian land.”

Sternenko was centrally involved in the May 2014 Odessa massacre, which killed dozens of anti-Maidan activists and injured hundreds more. Another key Right Sector figure implicated in the hideous incident was Demyan Hanul, assassinated in March. The fascist paramilitary group described the slaughter as a “bright page of our national history.” In advance, Andriy Parubiy and 500 members of his Maidan Self-Defense were deployed to the city, strongly suggesting the industrial scale incineration of Russian-speakers was a premeditated, intentional act of mass murder.

In the Odessa massacre’s wake, prominent Svoboda representative Iryna Farion – whose room in Hotel Ukraina served as a sniper’s nest during the Maidan false flag massacre – cheered the killings, declaring “let the devils burn in hell… Bravo!” She herself was murdered in July 2024, despite being under intensive SBU surveillance. It’s certainly quite some coincidence that, at a time the walls are evidently closing in on Zelensky, three individuals who could testify to the events that brought the Maidan regime into being are now dead.

September 5, 2025 Posted by | Deception, War Crimes | | Leave a comment

Making Palestinians Go Away

The Trump Administration Seeks to Ignore the Genocide

By Philip Giraldi • Unz Review • September 4, 2025

Donald Trump, recently sporting his red ballcap modestly featuring the words “Trump Was Right About Everything,” is apparently in regular contact with Israel’s genocidal Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Per Netanyahu, the most recent telephonic exchange had Trump expressing full support for the establishment of control over all of Gaza and the West Bank by the Israeli Army. Trump observed that Israel has been losing the “PR” (Public Relations) war over the carnage and must push ahead “with full force” to “finish the job” as quickly as possible.

There are also reports of a scheme perhaps launched during a White House meeting including Trump, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner which would give Palestinians willing to be ethnically cleansed a “relocation package” of $5000 and some other benefits to get the hell out. Where exactly they would go to is not very clear but it would eliminate the bad publicity if the Israeli army’s has to kill all of them. Gaza would then be freed up to develop the long-sought Trump Gaza Riviera under US trusteeship over the ruins and the tens of thousands of unburied bodies.

As the slaughter of mostly women and children in Gaza continues, the American public as well as voters in many European nations have turned sharply against Israel, presumably a manifestation of Trump’s “PR problem” for the Jewish state. But Israel is striking back with its own weapons, namely the tools that it has used to corrupt the government and media in the United States and all across Europe. There are numerous Jewish organizations as well as Christian Zionist churches backed by the ample funds contributed by Jewish billionaires that make sure that politicians and journalists know which side their bread is buttered on. But it is generally conceded that the most powerful component of the Israel Lobby is the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). AIPAC openly declares that its principal purpose is to strengthen the relationship between Israel and the United States. That actually in practice means subordinating US interests to those of the Jewish state but no politician or journalist on the make is going to defy AIPAC and cut off both the largesse and the political support. AIPAC says it has five million members, 17 regional offices, and “a vast pool of donors.” In 2022, it had 376 employees, an endowment of more than $10 million plus more than $79 million in revenue. AIPAC’s claims to be bipartisan – at its yearly policy conference in 2016 it featured both major parties’ nominees: Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump.

One of AIPAC’s most prized initiatives is the arranging fully paid for trips by Congressmen and other prominent influencers to Israel, where they are wined and dined and fed the full panoply of lies that the Israelis use to justify their horrific agenda. The trips are in full violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (FARA) rules that organizations that operate on behalf of foreign governments must register and provide full information providing transparency both on their funding and their meeting with foreign government officials. As the last president to actually seek to have an Israel Lobby entity register was John F Kennedy, his fate might explain why none of the presidents since that time have attempted to do the same.

AIPAC’s latest trick was to send 22 House of Representative Republicans to Israel over the Congressional recess in August where they were hosted by Benjamin Netanyahu himself during what was dubbed a “week long educational seminar”. Netanyahu’s office said in a statement. “The Prime Minister briefed the members of Congress on the war in the Gaza Strip and commented on the issue of the humanitarian assistance and the mendacious campaign being waged by Hamas against the State of Israel.” Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, a Christian Zionist know nothing, was leading a separate delegation of five leading Republicans. He was treated to a private dinner with Prime Minister Netanyahu.

Meanwhile, waiting in the wings was a group of 23 Democratic Party congressmen who descended on Israel after the Republicans departed, also funded by AIPAC. The Democrat delegation was led by House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar of California and Representative Steny Hoyer of Maryland. Steny Hoyer has led 20 Congressional trips to Israel.

Journalist Glenn Greenwald has observed how members of the US Congress travel to Israel more than any other country by a large margin. In fact, they make “more trips to Israel than to the entire Western Hemisphere and the continent of Africa combined.” That fact added to the other blandishments offered by the Israel Lobby to “opinion makers” means that Congress and the Media are dramatically pro-Israel and anti-Palestinian to an extent which the American public does not share. In Israel there is no such problem, with a recent poll indicating that a majority of the Jewish Israeli public believing that Palestinians are little more than animals and “should be killed.”

The non-existence status of Palestinians has in fact been a hallmark of the Trump Administration’s foreign policy. The latest move to place the Palestinians in a separate category when it comes to their being allowed to exist at all has come from the US State Department, which has blocked the issuance of visas for the Palestinian delegation which was expected to attend the opening of the United Nations General Assembly session later this month in New York. The State Department said it was doing this to hold the Palestinian Authority and the PLO “accountable for not complying with their commitments, and for undermining the prospects for peace” and there were also evidence-free claims that some of the delegation might have terrorist connections with Hamas. This was followed a few days later by a decision by the State Department to block the issuance of visas to any holder of a Palestinian Authority passport, even including Palestinians who have family in the United States. The new measures will affect visas for medical treatment, university studies, visits to friends or relatives and business travel.

The visa moves come on top of the ghastly tale regarding the fate of a number of Gazan children who were badly injured or wounded by the Israelis and who had the good fortune to fall into the hands of a US-based charity called HEAL PALESTINE that was able to get them out of the Strip for medical treatment in the United States and elsewhere. The children were in need of major surgery and other complicated treatment and were accompanied by at least one of their parents in most cases as they were unable to function independently. The blocking of the children came soon after a right-wing American Zionist extremist, Laura Loomer, described Palestinians from Gaza being brought to the United States for treatment as “jihadis” and “a national security threat.” Inevitably, after America’s Zionist cheering section learned of the arrival of the sixty or so children in the US and went to work, the US State Department, blocked the issuance of any more visas and is now engaged in a “full and thorough investigation” into how the travel was approved and arranged in the first place.

The moves against Palestinian travelers apparently came after a Netanyahu request to Secretary of State Marco Rubio to lower the profile of Palestinians who are likely to be in a position to protest publicly against behavior of Israel in Gaza and on the West Bank. The visa and travel curbs also follow declarations by a number of US allies, including France, the United Kingdom and Canada, that they plan to recognize a Palestinian state at the UN in the coming weeks. Some Trump officials, including the president himself, have strongly opposed this drive for international recognition, which Israel has condemned.

Palestinian officials have inevitably denounced the US action as a deliberate attempt to silence them at a time when Gaza faces mass displacement, starvation, and what UN and International courts have described as a genocide. The US move has drawn sharp criticism from legal experts and international diplomats, who say it violates the 1947 UN Headquarters Agreement, which obligates the United States in its role as the host country to facilitate access for all accredited delegations.

This has led to pushback by the United Nations itself, which reportedly has decided to stage the opening session of the General Assembly in Geneva instead of New York. In fact, in 1988, the UN similarly relocated to Geneva because the US denied a visa to Yasser Arafat, then head of the PLO. The current relocation is similarly intended to insure full Palestinian participation, particularly in a scheduled September 22nd segment which will be dedicated to Palestinian rights. President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to address the Assembly in Geneva, where he will call for international protection, recognition of Palestinian sovereignty, and accountability for Israeli war crimes.

The Geneva session is also expected to increase calls for action under the “Uniting for Peace” resolution, which empowers the General Assembly to recommend steps to take when the Security Council is unable to act due to political obstruction through exercise of vetos or lack of consensus. Advocacy groups are urging the UN to consider deploying an international protection force to Gaza and to suspend Israel’s privileges within the UN system until full humanitarian access is restored. It might also be useful to suspend the United States’ privileges, most particularly including its permanent veto rights on the Security Council, but, alas, that is perhaps asking for way too much!

Philip M. Giraldi, Ph.D., is Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest, a 501(c)3 tax deductible educational foundation (Federal ID Number #52-1739023) that seeks a more interests-based U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Website is councilforthenationalinterest.org, address is P.O. Box 2157, Purcellville VA 20134 and its email is inform@cnionline.org.

September 4, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Venezuelan Interior Minister Accuses U.S. of International Law Violations

teleSUR – September 4, 2025

On Wednesday, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello denounced a disinformation campaign and attacks from the United States against Venezuela, which he said include flagrant violations of international law under the pretext of a supposed fight against drug trafficking.

More specifically, he referred to the dissemination of false information by the United States about an attack on a vessel in the Caribbean. The Bolivarian official said the boat shown in videos did not match Venezuelan fishing boats.

Cabello alleged that the administration of President Donald Trump had committed legal violations by allegedly sinking a vessel in international waters, an act he said left 11 people dead.

The Interior minister emphasized that U.S. actions contravened fundamental principles of international law and the right to life, as the ships did not seek to capture and prosecute the people on board.

Cabello listed some of the multilateral treaties that were violated, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982), the 1988 Vienna Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and Article 51 of the U.N. Charter.

He also said U.S. military actions contradicted U.S. legislation itself, such as the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act and the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution, which enshrines due process.

“We have never seen Washington seek to dismantle a drug cartel inside the United States,” Cabello said, questioning the Trump administration’s alleged anti-drug campaign.

The Bolivarian minister recalled that the United States is the country with the highest drug consumption in the world and suggested that Congress should investigate who is behind these military operations in the Caribbean, which he said appeared aimed at a “regime change.”

“By contrast, Venezuela does fight drug trafficking, wherever it comes from and wherever it goes,” Cabello emphasized, adding that his country does not execute people at sea.

Cabello cited an example of effective cooperation between Venezuela and France on May 30, when 780 kilograms of cocaine were seized in a joint operation, after which the detainees were brought to justice and “not shot or massacred as the United States does.”

The interior minister also noted that U.N. reports describe Venezuela as a country free of drug crops and laboratories, where drug trafficking routes are nonexistent.

“The United States lives off lies and fake news, seeking to destroy the image of any person or country,” Cabello said, recalling that Commander Hugo Chavez was also the victim of disinformation campaigns.

“The imperialism’s historic practice has been to sow falsehoods to strike at the people’s truth,” he said, urging Venezuelans to remain with “firm footing, nerves of steel and maximum popular mobilization.”

Diosdado Cabello, who is also secretary of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), said that transnational far-right forces and their local spokesperson Maria Corina Machado are trying to create “false flags” to justify a possible military attack on the Bolivarian nation.

“They live hiding behind lies!,”he said, recalling that Washington’s narratives create fictitious enemies such as the alleged Cartel of the Suns, which symbolically replaces the non-existent Aragua Train.

September 4, 2025 Posted by | War Crimes | , , | Leave a comment

Utrecht University becomes first in West to boycott Israel over Gaza genocide

Press TV – September 3, 2025

The Netherlands’ Utrecht University has become the first Western academic institution to enact a full academic boycott of Israel in response to the regime’s genocide in Gaza, marking a historic step that shatters a long-standing taboo in Western academia.

The decision, confirmed in a statement from Rector Wilco Hazeleger, comes after sustained pressure from “demonstrating students and staff.”

The university has “effectively stopped or suspended all institutional collaborations with Israeli parties and will not start any new collaborations,” establishing a boycott that will remain “until further notice,” the statement said.

In his statement, Hazeleger described the move as a moral necessity. “The situation in the world, and in Gaza in particular, requires us to act with a moral compass. There is great human suffering,” he said.

While emphasizing the academy’s duty to foster open dialogue and research for peace, Hazeleger stated a clear red line had been crossed. “It is also clear when there is genocidal violence and a line has been crossed.”

The move aligns with the goals of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), which considers it the result of strategic, principled work by students and university staff.

The boycott comes amid increasing international condemnation of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza and its decades-long occupation of Palestinian lands.

Across the world, academic communities and students have intensified their demands for institutions to divest and boycott all entities complicit in apartheid and war crimes.

Academic institutions have come under significant pressure from professors and students to sever ties with Israeli entities that play direct or indirect roles in normalizing apartheid, research for military purposes, or sustaining the occupation.

Israel launched a genocidal war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, after Palestinian resistance fighters carried out the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against the regime in response to its decades-long campaign of death and destruction against Palestinians.

According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, at least 63,633 Palestinians have been killed and more than 160,914 injured since the beginning of the war.

September 3, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Solidarity and Activism, War Crimes | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Euro-Med: Israel escalates killing of civilians in Gaza’s so-called humanitarian zone

Palestinian Information Center – September 3, 2025

GAZA – The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) have escalated attacks on civilians in Gaza’s so-called “humanitarian zones,” turning areas meant for shelter into deadly traps, according to the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor. The Monitor warned in a statement on Wednesday that this is part of a systematic genocidal policy aimed at eradicating Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

The IOF is reportedly firing directly at displaced persons inside their tents in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Yunis, using sniper rifles, drones, artillery, and airstrikes. These attacks have resulted in dozens of deaths and injuries, including children, women, and journalists, despite Israel labeling the area as “humanitarian.” Eyewitnesses reported instances where soldiers appeared to shoot at civilians for sport.

Among the victims documented recently are 26-year-old mother of two, Ahlam Raed Fayyad al-Shaer, shot while preparing tea for her children, and journalist Iman Ahmad al-Zamli, killed while fetching drinking water. The attacks have destroyed homes and personal belongings, leaving displaced families vulnerable.

Adding to the humanitarian disaster, UNRWA spokesperson Adnan Abu Hasna revealed that deaths from starvation and untreated disease are far higher than reported by Gaza’s Ministry of Health.

Many victims are buried near or inside their tents, with their deaths unrecorded. Over 43,000 children under five, along with tens of thousands of pregnant or breastfeeding women, suffer from severe malnutrition, while the collapse of Gaza’s health and sanitation systems accelerates the spread of deadly diseases such as meningitis and hepatitis.

The Euro-Mediterranean Monitor described the IOF’s deliberate targeting of civilians in displacement zones as a form of genocide, leaving Palestinians with two fatal options: immediate death from bombardment or slow death due to starvation and disease.

Thousands of families are living without adequate food, water, or medical care, while overcrowding and exposure to harsh conditions exacerbate the crisis.

The Monitor called on the UN General Assembly to invoke its emergency powers under Resolution 377 A(V) to deploy a peacekeeping force in Gaza, ensure unimpeded humanitarian access, protect healthcare facilities, lift the siege, and begin reconstruction. It urged the international community to act decisively to stop the ongoing genocide and uphold international law.

September 3, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Belgium announces sanctions against Israel

RT | September 2, 2025

Belgium will recognize Palestinian statehood and impose sanctions on Israel over its war in Gaza, the country’s Foreign Ministry has announced.

The Western European country, which hosts the headquarters of both the EU and NATO, unveiled the measures on Tuesday as pressure grows on Israel to reach a ceasefire with Hamas and allow more humanitarian aid into the besieged Palestinian enclave.

In light of the “humanitarian tragedy in Gaza,” Belgium has decided to “increase pressure on the Israeli government and Hamas terrorists,” Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot wrote on X. “This is not about punishing the Israeli people, but about ensuring that their government respects international and humanitarian law and takes action to change the situation on the ground,” he added.

The sanctions include a ban on imports of products from Jewish settlements in the West Bank and restrictions on consular assistance for Belgian nationals living in settlements considered illegal under international law.

Brussels will also review procurement involving Israeli companies and blacklist “two extremist Israeli ministers, several violent settlers, and Hamas leaders,” Prevot said. He added that Belgium would push for the suspension of the EU’s trade agreement with Israel.

Several countries, including France, plan to recognize Palestine at the UN General Assembly later this month, drawing strong criticism from Israel.

Last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused France and Australia of failing to tackle anti-Semitism, arguing that recognition of Palestine would only embolden Hamas.

Israel has rejected UN warnings of famine in Gaza, where more than 63,500 people have been killed since October 2023, according to local health authorities. West Jerusalem has pledged to allow the delivery of aid, but not through distribution points it claims are controlled by Hamas.

September 2, 2025 Posted by | Economics, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Gaza: Over one million people face relocation to overcrowded zone

Palestinian Information Center – September 2, 2025

GAZA – Gaza’s civil defense service has warned of Israeli efforts to evacuate tens of thousands of citizens from Gaza City and northern areas and force them to go to the central and southern parts of the territory.

Spokesman for the civil defense Mahmoud Basal told a news conference on Tuesday that the Israeli plan to forcibly relocate about one million people from their homes in Gaza City and northern Gaza would lead to a major catastrophe.

Basal said that the Israeli occupation army had already destroyed over 85 percent of the homes and infrastructure in Gaza City’s ash-Shuja’iya and al-Tuffah neighborhoods, and about 70 percent of the az-Zeitoun, al-Sabra, Jabalia an-Nazla and Jabalia al-Balad areas.

Basal pointed out that several reports issued by international and UN organization confirm that the so-called humanitarian zone, where the Israeli army plans to relocate the population, comprises no more than 12 percent of the total area of the Gaza Strip.

“This would mean forcing over two million Palestinians to live in a densely packed area lacking the minimum living means,” he said.

September 2, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

Cracks in ranks: No victory, no exit in ‘Israel’s Gaza predicament

Al Mayadeen | September 2, 2025

“Israel’s” military is mobilizing 60,000 additional reservists, adding to the 70,000 already under call-up orders, in preparation for a renewed ground incursion into Gaza City as part of the ongoing “Iron Swords” campaign.

The last major operation to occupy Gaza City came at a high cost. Now, according to Israeli military correspondent Avi Ashkenazi in a report published by Maariv, commanders are warning that the next stage could prove even more dangerous.

The dense urban terrain, vast tunnel networks, and high-rise buildings of Gaza City remain formidable battlegrounds. The report states that Hamas has had months to bolster its defenses, planting improvised explosive devices (IEDs), booby-trapping buildings and tunnels, and deploying snipers and anti-tank units across likely combat zones.

Two-stage strategy, high-stakes caution

According to Maariv, the Israeli military plans to execute the campaign in two phases:

  1. Encircle Gaza City to restrict movement and initiate the evacuation of remaining civilians
  2. Deploy ground divisions to enter and attempt to control key urban sectors

This operation is expected to last months, not weeks.

Mounting friction between the military and the government

The report by Avi Ashkenazi highlights growing tensions between military leaders and the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Senior Israeli officers reportedly urge continued negotiations, warning against launching another high-risk incursion without exhausting all diplomatic options.

Meanwhile, on the ground, reservists and active-duty soldiers have begun questioning the broader strategy. “What comes after Gaza City?” one soldier reportedly asked, reflecting the skepticism felt across the ranks.

Veterans of recent operations point to Rafah, Khan Younis, Jabalia, Beit Hanoun, and al-Zaytoun, all of which were invaded multiple times but failed to produce a lasting outcome.

An elusive ‘image of victory’

Even if the military succeeds in re-entering Gaza City, doubts persist over whether such an operation will alter the broader course of the war. As Ashkenazi notes, the symbolism of “battlefield achievements” has become increasingly hollow.

In December 2023, a Hanukkah menorah was lit in Gaza’s Palestine Square, a moment widely circulated in the occupation’s media as a symbol of control. Just days later, the Israeli occupation forces showcased their bombing of al-Shifa Hospital, parading it as another so-called milestone.

Yet, as noted by military correspondent Avi Ashkenazi in Maariv, such displays failed to produce the long-promised image of victory. The Israeli occupation continues, the Palestinian resistance endures, and international criticism mounts.

Now, with tens of thousands of reservists once again deployed and Gaza facing another wave of devastation, Ashkenazi and others raise the critical question: Where will “Israel” find its image of victory, and how many lives will it cost this time?

September 2, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

What drives Americans to fight on the frontlines of Gaza’s war crimes

By Jamal Kanj | MEMO | September 1, 2025

Serving in the military is the ultimate test of loyalty. When young Americans raise their right hand, they pledge to defend their nation, their Constitution, their people. Yet for many young Americans, that oath is NOT made to the United States military. Instead, they pack their bags, fly across the Atlantic, and enlist in a foreign army—the Israeli War Machine, aka, Israeli Defence Forces (IDF).

The numbers speak loudly. According to the Washington Post,  23,000 Jewish American citizens are currently serving in the Israeli military. By contrast, US Department of Defence data shows that in 2006 fewer than 4,000 American service members identified as Jewish. A later DoD report in January 2019 placed the figure at roughly 0.4 per cent of active-duty personnel. Put simply, more Jewish Americans, both in numbers and percentage, serve under the misappropriated Star of David than under the Stars and Stripes.

Naturally, many new Americans maintain personal cultural and ancestral ties to their homelands—a land they actually come from, with real last names, not Hebraized East European family names. No ethnic group, however, has a lobby dedicated to serving the policy of a foreign country, like AIPAC. Mexican Americans celebrate Mexico’s victory on Cinco de Mayo, but do not promote enlisting in Mexico’s military. Irish Americans rejoice Saint Patrick’s Day, but had not lined up to join the Irish Republican Army. No ethnic American group raises nonprofit tax deductible funds for a foreign army, other than the Jewish billionaires, who bankroll “Friends of the IDF.”

Controlled by this foreign lobby, Congress not only tolerates the Israeli exception, rather it tries to reward it. Two Jewish Republican lawmakers; Guy Reschenthaler and Max Miller, have proposed legislation, H.R. 8445, to amend the American Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to include (Jewish) Americans serving in the Israeli army. If passed, the amendment would grant these “foreign” soldiers the same benefits reserved for Americans in uniform.

Let that sink in: Israeli (American) soldiers would have the same protections as American army soldiers. An Israeli who is starving babies and committing war crimes in Gaza, would be legally indistinguishable from an American marine guarding Camp Pendleton in California.

When it comes to Israel, AIPAC, through the disproportionate Jewish representation in both Houses—three to five times higher than their share of the U.S. adult population—exerts outsized clout. Combine this with the campaign finance power over elected officials, AIPAC can flex its muscles to institutionalize the Israeli exception. One could pose the question, if this is good for Israeli (American) soldiers, why not provide all Americans serving in foreign armies the same benefits? Maybe for a Muslim American soldier, if any, serving in Pakistan or Egypt. Such an idea would most likely cause a revolt in Washington. Accusations of dual loyalty, even treason, would dominate the headlines. If so, why not in the Israeli case?

One of those soldiers is David Meyers from California who spent six years in the Israeli navy. He explained his decision to enlist in the Israeli military, citing “… an incredibly deep and long connection that I have to Israel.” Answering a question for reasons he chose a foreign army over his own, his answer was more telling: “The United States with its strength and size, perhaps, isn’t quite needing your abilities and your efforts.”

Since when did America’s strength become an excuse to abandon it for a foreign army? Regardless, Meyers’s statement suggests he does not have a deep or long connection to the country of his birth—or at least not one as deep as to a foreign country. America is strong only because its citizens choose to serve it, not ditch it in favor of a foreign uniform. To dismiss the U.S. military as too mighty to need Jewish Americans isn’t about necessity, it’s about misplaced loyalty.

Many of the Americans serving in the Israeli army are called lone soldiers. They are the young Americans with New York or Texas accents; I’ve encountered at occupation checkpoints throughout Palestine. Their job is to humiliate Palestinians in the West Bank, and starve children in Gaza.

Some may frame their service as defending “the Jewish people.” When in fact, they are fueling Jewish hate in the West for being the face of the “Jewish-only” colonies built on stolen Palestinian land, or for imposing an apartheid occupation on behalf of a foreign political entity, whose leaders stand indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

With this in mind, these Americans are participating in what the UN, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch have described as war crimes—from the engineered starvation of babies in Gaza, to the subjugation of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. As the ICC continues to investigate Israeli crimes, one day, these “Americans” could face reality, not as heroes, but for their roles in the crimes against humanity. Ironically, Congress wants to make these potential war criminals equal to American servicemembers.

The numbers do not lie. Over-represented in elected offices, and underrepresented in the U.S. military, Jewish Americans enlist in the Israeli army at more than five times the rate they serve in their own country’s forces. This begs the question: why are so many Jewish Americans more willing to die for a foreign country than for nations that gave them everything they have? That is not an anti-Jewish statement; it is a fact that would, and should uniformly apply to any ethnic group.

If some Jewish Americans choose to devote their lives and loyalty to a foreign state, that is their business. However, it is an insult to every American in uniform when Congress considers equating American soldiers with those serving in a foreign army. Worse, by ignoring the moral and legal ramifications, U.S. policymakers risk entangling America in war crimes committed by these “paper” American citizens, crimes that may one day be judged in The Hague, and for which today’s members of Congress should be held to account by their own constituents.

Tribal loyalty, often disguised as religious or nationalistic virtue, distorts judgment and blinds individuals to injustice, elevating kinship above truth, morality, and humanity. It is this tribal blindness that drives some Jewish Americans to join a foreign army, and stain their souls with the blood of Gaza’s war crimes.

September 1, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes, Wars for Israel | , , , | Leave a comment

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