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Norway, Spain, Ireland to formally recognize Palestinian statehood

The Cradle | May 22, 2024

Norway, Ireland, and Spain announced on 22 May that they will formally recognize Palestine as a state next week, drawing the ire of Israel as the country immediately recalled its ambassadors to Dublin and Oslo.

“There cannot be peace in [West Asia] if there is no recognition … In the midst of a war, with tens of thousands killed and injured [in Gaza], we must keep alive the only alternative that offers a political solution for Israelis and Palestinians alike: Two states living side by side, in peace and security,” Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said on Wednesday.

Shortly after Oslo’s announcement, Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris said his country would also recognize a Palestinian state.

“Today, Ireland, Norway, and Spain are announcing that we recognize the state of Palestine,” Harris said at a news conference. “I’m confident that further countries will join us in taking this important step in the coming weeks,” he added.

Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said via social media that the recognition will become official on 28 May.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez followed suit, announcing Wednesday that the country’s council of ministers would also recognize an independent Palestinian state on 28 May. He also accused his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu of putting the two-state solution in “danger” with his policy of “pain and destruction” in Gaza.

In response to the news, Tel Aviv immediately recalled its ambassadors to Ireland and Norway and pledged to recall its envoy to Spain. The foreign ministry also summoned the ambassadors from the three European nations to “reprimand” them.

Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz called the show of support for Palestinians a “folly,” adding that recognizing Palestinian statehood “[sends] a message to the Palestinians and the world: Terrorism pays.”

Palestinian officials welcomed the announcement by three European nations, with Hamas calling it an “important step.”

“We welcome the announcement by Norway, Ireland, and Spain of recognition of the State of Palestine, and we consider it an important step on the path to consolidating our right to our land and establishing our independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital,” the statement by the Palestinian resistance says.

“Historical moments in which the free world triumphs for truth and justice after long decades of Palestinian national struggle, suffering, pain, occupation, racism, murder, oppression, abuse and destruction to which the people of Palestine were subjected,” the Secretary-General of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) said via social media.

Nine European countries — Bulgaria, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, Sweden, Malta, and the Greek Cypriot administration — have already recognized Palestine as a state.

May 22, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Report: Israel systematically abuses jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti

MEMO | May 20, 2024

Jailed Palestinian leader, Marwan Barghouti, has been subjected to violations and torture, and spends days in a narrow, dark cell in solitary confinement, without any means to treat wounds he sustained as a result of being dragged with his hands tied behind his back, the Guardian revealed on Saturday.

The newspaper pointed out that books, newspapers and a tele­vision that he used to be able to access have been confiscated since October.

“The lights that flicker in his cell each evening are intended to make sleep near impossible,” it said.

His lawyer Igal Dotan, who visited Barghouti in Israel’s Megiddo Prison two months ago, told the paper that “mentally he’s a very strong person, but physically his condition is deteriorating, you can see it. He’s struggling to see out of his right eye, as a result of one of the assaults.”

“He has lost weight – he doesn’t look good. You wouldn’t recognise him if you compare his current appearance with the famous photos of him,” he said.

Barghouti told his lawyers that in March he was dragged to an area of the prison without security cameras and assaulted. He recalled bleeding from the nose as he was dragged across the floor by his handcuffs, before he was beaten unconscious.

Dotan counted bruises in at least three places on Barghouti’s body when he visited weeks later, adding that he probably has a dislocated shoulder from the assault and is in constant pain, but prison officials have refused a full medical examination of his injuries.

Since October, he has been transferred to three different detention facilities, and held in solitary confinement in each.

In Ayalon Prison “he was beaten on several occasions,” said Dotan, including an incident where guards swore at him while Barghouti was “dragged on the floor naked in front of other prisoners.”

May 21, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Subjugation - Torture | , , , | Leave a comment

Samidoun statement on the International Criminal Court, the Resistance, and justice for Palestine

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network | May 20, 2024

For years, the Palestinian people, at all levels of organization and struggle, have been demanding that the leaders of the Zionist regime are held accountable in international courts, including and especially the International Criminal Court, for their ongoing genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in occupied Palestine. Today, on 20 May 2024, ICC prosecutor Karim Khan announced his intention to seek arrest warrants against not only the Zionist war criminals Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, but also against the Palestinian resistance leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh.

Let us be clear: There is no equation to be made between the legitimate resistance of the Palestinian people and its leadership, including Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh, and the illegitimate Zionist colonizer. The attempt to equate victim and perpetrator is a fundamental injustice, not the pursuit of long-denied justice.

It is certainly true that the Palestinian resistance recognized this risk, especially given the powerful political interests involved and the track record of the ICC in prosecuting Africans and now, enemies of the imperialist West. In 2014, when the Palestinian Authority acceded to the Rome Statute, and again in 2024, the Palestinian resistance leadership, particularly Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement, has stated its openness to international investigations and its willingness to face the ICC if there is an attempt to meaningfully pursue justice against the occupiers and genocidaires of Palestine and their imperialist backers and accomplices.

However, the fact that the resistance is, as always, willing to sacrifice for Palestine, to be subjected to injustice so that their people may see freedom, does not make Khan’s actions any more just, acceptable or fair, nor does it make them legally valid.

Khan’s repeated references to the “rights” of Zionist colonizers, while failing to address Palestinian rights, as well as his legally invalid reference to the so-called “right of ‘Israel’ to defend itself,” when an occupier and colonizer has no right to defend itself against the people it is occupying and colonizing, highlight the ongoing bias of the ICC Prosecutor and his embrace of an imperialist framework for the operations of the Court. He made no mention of the right of the Palestinian people to resist and to liberate themselves through armed struggle, despite its broad support in international law.

It is, in fact, only because of the Resistance, because of the willingness of the resistance fighters, surrounded and nurtured by its popular cradle, that these arrest warrants for the Zionist war criminals are even being proposed and considered. It is the bravery, creativity and revolutionary steadfastness of the Palestinian people and their Resistance, including and particularly through the armed struggle, that has reset the balance of power to the extent that the crimes of the occupier can no longer be greeted with pure impunity.

Every legal achievement has been brought about not by the objective power or application of law, but by the shifting of reality brought about by the Palestinian armed struggle, accompanied by the regional and global forces of Resistance, especially the Lebanese resistance, the Yemeni armed forces, people, government and AnsarAllah movement, stretching through Iraq, Syria and Iran. It also speaks to the growing international popular cradle of the resistance, from student encampments to mass demonstrations to direct actions at arms manufacturers, that are making it clear that business as usual inside the imperial core is impossible so long as the genocide continues.

It is clear that 7 October changed the world. While Khan seeks to pretend that history began on 7 October and ignore the lengthy history of colonialism, ongoing Nakba and ongoing genocide since 1948, the Palestinian resistance made clear on 7 October that the horizon of true decolonization was opened in Palestine, that it was possible not only to imagine but to achieve a Palestine liberated from Zionism and a region liberated from imperialism.

The choice to seek warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant, while not against Benny Gantz, Gadi Eisenkot, Itamar Ben-Gvir, Isaac Herzog, Herzi Halevi and other war criminals, also indicates its bias toward appeasing the political leadership of imperialist powers. Of course, Netanyahu and Gallant are genocidal war criminals whose direction of the current genocide in Palestine cannot be overstated. They have the blood of over 40,000 Palestinians on their hands in just the past seven months alone.

However, the omissions seem to seek to clear the road for a Gantz (or other similarly affiliated) prime ministership of the Zionist regime. The fact that various imperialist powers, and even a significant sector of the Zionist security establishment, think that Netanyahu is not good for the future of the Zionist and imperialist project is not a secret; they believe that other figures are far more trustworthy to secure their prime colonial project in the region. They believe that Netanyahu is securing his own political future and protection from prosecution at the expense of the future of the Zionist project in the region, and this has been one of the major causes of the growing unrest and internal disarray within the “Israeli” regime.

The application for arrest warrants indicates that imperialist powers, including the United States and the European Union, are very worried about the future of the Zionist colony in the region and recognize that it is on the road to its defeat, removal and dissolution.

It must be noted that these imperialist powers, especially the United States, which has threatened a war if its leaders are indicted, refuse to be held accountable before the ICC, a fate they have traditionally deemed acceptable only for the targets of imperialism, especially Africans. The Zionist colonial project in Palestine has always been genocidal. Its existence is a war crime and a crime against humanity. The ICC prosecutor’s application for arrest warrants do not even begin to touch the magnitude of its crimes in Palestine.

These omissions are particularly egregious given that the ICC’s limited mandate in Palestine extends back to 2014, yet no crimes before 7 October 2023 are considered in Khan’s decision to seek these arrest warrants. This comes alongside the decision to charge three Palestinian leaders (of the legitimate resistance) as opposed to two Zionist officials (of the illegitimate settler colony and imperialist outpost), and to proffer eight charges against Palestinians, vs. seven against Zionists; and to fail to seek any charges under Article 6 of the Rome Statute, which covers genocide, against the Zionist war criminals.

It is particularly outrageous that while Khan seeks to charge Palestinian resistance leaders with “torture,” he has failed to seek any such charges against the Zionist regime, which is currently imprisoning and torturing over 9,400 Palestinian prisoners. Sixteen Palestinian prisoners’ martyrdom has been documented since 7 October 2023, while at least 27 Palestinians have been martyred in the concentration and torture camps for Palestinian civilians kidnapped from Gaza at Sde Teiman. Palestinian and international sources – and even Zionist whistleblowers – have repeatedly documented and exposed the horrific conditions, medical abuse, brutal torture, forced amputations and starvation being used against Palestinian detainees in both these concentration camps and the Zionist prison system. The photos of Palestinian detainees released after months in prison – such as those of Omar Assaf and Imad Barghouti – underline the level of mistreatment and torture that has become standard in the Zionist jails.

As a counter to the failure to seek to indict Gantz, his fellow members of the “war cabinet” and IOF chief Halevi – let alone all of the Zionist officials responsible for the crimes against humanity and genocide in Palestine since 2014, let alone 1948 — we see the indictment of Ismail Haniyeh, as a political leader of the Palestinian resistance. The pursuit of an indictment against Haniyeh appears to be an attempt to undermine Palestinian presence in current ceasefire negotiations and to add another level of pressure to the Palestinian resistance to accept permanent Zionist and imperialist occupation in Gaza.

It also makes clear that the indictments of Zionist war criminals are selective, while Palestinian resistance leadership is to be targeted in total. We have all confidence in the resistance’s willingness to sacrifice, ability to defend itself brilliantly in court and to win decisively in any fair trial.

The choice of charges against the resistance leaders (exceeding by one those against the Zionists in all cases), invoking numerous debunked and propagandistic Zionist claims, including “rape” and “extermination,” while failing to pursue charges of genocide and apartheid against the Zionist war criminals, further underlines this bias.

We all look forward to seeing Netanyahu and Gallant in the dock and appreciate this clear crack in the armor of impunity for the Zionist regime. We know that it is they who constantly travel around the world to receive billions of dollars in support from their imperial sponsors. At the same time, it is also clear that the ICC Prosecutor is not acting as a truly neutral party and is instead carrying out the directives of imperialist powers who would not accept any charges against the Zionist leadership without a “both sides” clause targeting the already criminalized and repressed Palestinian resistance. The equation of the indigenous resistance with the illegitimate colonizer is part of the minimization of genocide rather than its prosecution.

It is further clear that the ICC is not an institution into which we can place trust, as evidenced by its own history and failures to hold accountable any of those responsible for the horrific attacks on Iraq and Afghanistan, Libya and Syria; the starving of Venezuela through sanctions and blockades, the extraction of wealth in Africa, the attempted mass starvation and genocide in Yemen, the ongoing destabilization and destruction of Haiti.

The ICC has served for too long as a weapon of colonialism rather than a tribunal of justice. We trust the revolutionary justice of the victorious Palestinian people. There can be no equation of colonizer and colonized, of the executioner and the victim.

Glory and victory to the Palestinian resistance, to the Lebanese and Yemeni resistance, to all of the forces of resistance in the region and the world.

Imperialism and Zionism will be defeated, and from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.

May 20, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Progressive Hypocrite, Timeless or most popular, War Crimes | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

What do pro-Palestine student protesters at Brazilian universities want?

By Eman Abusidu | MEMO |May 20, 2024

As pro-Palestine protests continue at US and European universities, thousands of students at Latin America’s most prestigious university, the University of São Paulo (USP), have joined the movement against Israel’s genocide in the Gaza Strip. The Brazilian students from various faculties have set up tents in the History and Geography Building of the Faculty of Philosophy and Human Sciences, flying a giant Palestinian flag and chanting “Free Palestine” as they call for an “immediate ceasefire”.

The protests by USP students are being organised by the Student Committee in Solidarity with the Palestinian People of USP (ESPP-USP), as well as Brazilian student union and other popular organisations which express their support within and beyond the university campus.

The students are demanding that the university should divest from Israeli companies and those which benefit from the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

They also want an academic boycott of Israeli institutions with the renunciation of current academic agreements or any other ties and an end all academic relationships with Israeli institutions.

In particular, they are putting pressure on the USP’s Faculty of Philosophy and Human Sciences to suspend agreements with the University of Haifa in occupied Palestine. A petition has also been drafted demanding that Brazilian institutions, universities and the government should sever relations with Israel. As far as the students taking part in the protests are concerned, the university’s agreements with Israeli universities and organisations, such as “Israel Corner”, help to develop the technology used in the Israeli offensive against the Palestinians in Gaza.

The Israeli Federation of São Paulo has expressed its dissatisfaction with these demonstrations and sees them as hate speech against Jews. Such allegations by Israel and its supporters are entirely predictable.

One of those taking part in the protest, João Conceição, explained the students’ demands to MEMO :

“We demand the immediate cancellation of the seven academic agreements that USP has signed with Israeli universities and the Israeli Consulate in São Paulo,” said Conceição. “President Lula and the Brazilian government need to break all relations with Israel, whether diplomatic, military or commercial. The solidarity with the Palestinian people must be within and beyond the university walls, in light of the ongoing genocide.”

He pointed out that the demonstrations at USP draw attention to the fact that the humanitarian tragedy in Gaza is the result of the ongoing genocide and massacre of the Nakba for over 76 years. “We believe that breaking relations with Israel is the practical answer that can leave Israel in international isolation as a global outcast.”

According to Conceição, the governments of Latin America have done very little in real terms, because, “The majority of them have direct or indirect associations with Zionist entities, and they are committed to the Israeli and international bourgeoisie to defend what is happening today in Gaza.” He was critical of Lula’s stance. “He speaks harshly and compares what happens in Palestine to the Holocaust, but the actions on the ground are different.”

Brazilian activist and member of the country’s Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, Fabio Bosco, said that the student demonstrations are very important to gain public support for Palestine and send a message to the Palestinian people that they are not alone in their struggle for liberation.

“The protests at American universities, for example, are very positive and are cornering the US President, Zionist Joe Biden. Furthermore, they serve as a symbol of solidarity and humanity for the entire world,” noted Bosco. “Lula da Silva acknowledged that there is an ongoing genocide in Gaza and supported South Africa’s action against Israel at the International Court of Justice, and yet he maintained diplomatic relations with the occupation state and has bought Israeli military goods.”

He suggested that the main thing that the Latin American countries can offer to Gaza is to break economic and diplomatic relations and thus isolate the “criminal” Zionist entity. “We hope that the example set by the students in São Paulo inspires students across the country and expands solidarity activities with the Palestinian people within trade unions and social movements.”

The protests at the University of São Paulo are expected to be the first of many on the USP campus and other Brazilian universities to challenge any promotion related to the Israeli apartheid regime. Palestine solidarity movements are growing in strength within Brazilian universities despite the Zionist presence in Brazil. Palestinian and Brazilian activists have in the past succeeded in forcing the cancellation of the Israeli Universities Festival. It is hoped by activists that other successes will follow.

May 20, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Solidarity and Activism | , , , , | Leave a comment

Greece to deport nine European nationals over pro-Palestinian protest

MEMO | May 20, 2024

Nine protesters from Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Spain are set to be deported from Greece after being arrested during a pro-Palestinian demonstration at the University of Athens School of Law last week, their lawyers said on Monday.

Police last week detained a total of 28 Greek and foreign protesters occupying the building, Reuters has reported. The charges include disrupting the operation of a public entity and assistance in damaging foreign property, according to court documents. The protesters have denied any wrongdoing.

Evidence included leaflets, Palestinian flags, two smoke flares, gas masks, helmets, paint cans and banner poles, along with a statement uploaded on a website in Greek and English urging others to join the protest.

The Greek protesters were released pending trial on 28 May, but the nine foreign nationals — one man and eight women, aged 22 to 33 — were held in custody pending an administrative decision on their deportation.

The foreigners’ lawyers said that deportation orders had been issued, which would prevent the defendants attending their own trial. Lawyers Ioanna Sioupouli and Anny Paparoussou said that their clients, who live and work in Greece, planned to appeal. Lawyer Vassilis Papadopoulos, representing a 33-year-old Spaniard, called the decision “arbitrary and illegal”.

Pro-Palestinian supporters have staged several protests in Greece since Israel launched its military offensive in Gaza, ostensibly against Hamas, last October.

Greece scrapped legislation in 2019 that prohibited police from entering universities, as the conservative government said it was used as a cover for lawlessness. The Academic Sanctuary Law, a legacy of the crackdown on a 1973 student revolt by the military junta of the time, was designed to protect protesting students and freedom of ideas. Critics decried its abolition as a clampdown on democracy.

May 20, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Full Spectrum Dominance | , , | Leave a comment

One civilian killed as Ukrainian drone strikes minibus – governor

RT | May 19, 2024

One person has been killed and “many” others wounded in a Ukrainian drone strike on a minibus carrying civilians in Russia’s Kherson Region, Governor Vladimir Saldo said on Sunday.

The attack took place in the village of Radensk on Sunday morning, Saldo wrote on Telegram. The UAV targeted a vehicle with workers on their way to harvest strawberries, he added.

“The explosion killed one person. There are many wounded, who are receiving necessary medical assistance,” the governor said.

Russian regions have seen several attacks on buses by Ukrainian drones since the start of this month.

On May 6, seven people were killed and dozens wounded after UAVs targeted two minibuses carrying farmers near the village of Beryozovka in Belgorod Region.

Two days earlier, two people were injured when a drone struck a bus in the village of Voznesenka, also in Belgorod Region.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Sunday that “a number of attempts by the Kiev regime to carry out terrorist attacks” on Russian territory with the use of US-supplied ATACMS missiles and drones were prevented overnight.

Nine ATACMS were shot down by air defenses over Crimea, while a total of 57 drones were intercepted in the Krasnodar Region, the ministry said. Three UAVs were destroyed in Belgorod Region, it added.

May 19, 2024 Posted by | War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

Another Palestinian journalist killed in Gaza, death toll climbs to 145 since Oct. 7

Press TV – May 19, 2024

The government media office in the Gaza Strip says one more Palestinian journalist has been killed in an Israeli airstrike on the blockaded coastal territory, taking the death toll to 145 since last October when resistance fighters launched a large-scale operation against the occupying regime.

Journalist Abdullah al-Najjar lost his life on Saturday when Israeli fighter jets carried out an airstrike against a neighborhood in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip.

Earlier in the day, Palestinian medical sources said at least 28 people, including women and children, were killed in Israeli continuous raids on the camp.

Palestinian security sources added that Israeli warplanes targeted several residential houses and a shelter center for displaced people in the area with missiles.

The raids caused large explosions in the Jabalia refugee camp, which had been witnessing a ground invasion for several days.

Israeli forces in Gaza killed Palestinian journalist Mahmoud Juhjouh along with his wife and children on Thursday.

Local Palestinian media reported that Juhjouh was killed in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City, when a bomb struck his family home.

The journalist worked for the Palestine Post Network.

According to reports, Jahjouh had been forcibly displaced several times due to Israeli bombardment, and had finally returned to his home after Israeli forces withdrew from areas in northern Gaza.

The United Nations has raised concern over the “extraordinarily high numbers of journalists and media workers who have been killed, attacked, injured and detained” in recent months.

“We pay special tribute to the courage and resilience of journalists and media workers in Gaza who continue to put their own lives on the line every day in the course of duty, while also enduring enormous hardship and tragic loss of colleagues, friends and families in one of the bloodiest, most ruthless conflicts of our time,” UN experts said in a statement.

Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after Palestinian resistance groups carried out a surprise retaliatory operation into the occupied territories.

Concomitantly with the war, the regime has been enforcing a near-total siege on the coastal territory, which has reduced the flow of foodstuffs, medicine, electricity, and water into the Palestinian territory into a trickle.

So far during the military onslaught, the regime has killed at least 35,386 Gazans, most of them women, children, and adolescents. Another 79,366 Palestinians have sustained injuries as well.

May 19, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Full Spectrum Dominance, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Brussels should remember that Europeans are sovereign, not the EU treaties or the Eurocrats

BY GRZEGORZ ADAMCZYK | REMIX NEWS | MAY 17, 2024

In an interview with Tygodnik Solidarność weekly, Prof. Ryszard Piotrowski, a constitutional lawyer from the University of Warsaw, expressed his concerns over the legal challenges posed by the implementation of the European Green Deal. He believes that these challenges threaten the legal identity and autonomy of both the European Union and Poland.

The professor emphasized the foundational role of dialogue in Polish law, noting that European laws are becoming increasingly incomprehensible and detached from the real needs of European citizens.

He argued that the perception of Europeans as subordinates to the European Parliament and the European Council, rather than as sovereigns over the treaties, poses a significant threat. “The sooner we understand that we, as Europeans, are not servants to the treaties and the European Parliament, the better it will be for Europe,” he stated.

He also questioned whether the Green Deal’s objectives align with the Polish constitution, which mandates environmental protection guided by the principle of sustainable development. According to him, the current shape of EU climate policy contravenes this principle by jeopardizing overall economic growth and thereby the security of citizens.

Piotrowski additionally highlighted that the Green Deal threatens essential social rights guaranteed by the Polish constitution, such as housing, energy, and communication security.

“We have a right to energy security, and its violation threatens democracy itself because democracy without a socio-economic dimension is devoid of meaning,” said the professor. Furthermore, he noted that the Green Deal also threatens the principle of subsidiarity, which aims to empower citizens and their communities.

Adding to the urgency of his concerns, Professor Piotrowski pointed out that the implementation of the Green Deal might weaken Poland’s defensive capabilities at a time when a military conflict looms near its eastern border. He criticized Europe’s stance on the conflict in Ukraine, arguing that despite European treaties pledging to promote peace, the current approach could lead to tragic consequences for Europe.

“Contrary to what European treaties stipulate and what they commit Europe to, it has chosen to speak of war instead of striving for peace. Such actions have always ended tragically for Europe,” the professor warned.

May 18, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Malthusian Ideology, Phony Scarcity, Militarism | , , | Leave a comment

US university president placed on leave for accepting demands of Palestine supporters

MEMO | May 17, 2024

Sonoma State University’s President, Mike Lee, has been placed on administrative leave for announcing an agreement with pro-Palestinian activists to pursue an academic boycott of Israeli institutions and divestment strategies.

California State University Chancellor Mildred Garcia said yesterday that Mike Lee was put on leave for accepting the demands of protesting students without obtaining “proper approvals.”

She added in a statement published on the website of the University of California, to which Sonoma University is affiliated: “For now, because of this insubordination and consequences it has brought upon the system, President Lee has been placed on administrative leave.”

This decision is considered the harshest disciplinary action imposed on the president of any of the US universities that have witnessed anti-war protests.

Since April, US, Canadian, British, French and Indian universities have witnessed protests rejecting the Israeli war on Gaza and demanding university administrations stop their academic cooperation with Israeli academic institutions.

Protesters also demand that their universities withdraw their investments from companies that support the occupation of Palestinian territories and arm the Israeli army.

In New York riot police were sent into campuses to disperse protesters and remove encampments set up in support of Palestinians in Gaza.

May 17, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Solidarity and Activism, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Belgium’s Ghent university severs ties with 3 Israel institutions

MEMO | May 17, 2024

Belgium’s University of Ghent (UGent) is severing ties with three Israeli educational or research institutions which it says no longer align with UGent’s human rights policy, Reuters reports its rector saying.

Pro-Palestinian protesters in Ghent have been demonstrating against Israel’s military offensive in Gaza and have been occupying parts of the university since early this month.

The university’s rector, Rik Van de Walle, said in a statement that ties were being cut with Holon Institute of Technology, MIGAL Galilee Research Institute and the Volcani Centre, which carries out agricultural research.

“We currently assess these three partners as (very) problematic according to the Ghent University human rights test, in contrast to the positive evaluation we gave these partners at the start of our collaboration,” Van de Walle said.

Partnerships with MIGAL Galilee Research Institute and the Volcani Centre “were no longer desirable” due to their affiliation with Israeli ministries, an investigation by the University of Ghent found, and collaboration with the Holon Institute “was problematic” because it provided material support to the army for actions in Gaza.

A spokesperson for the university said the move would affect four projects.

The three Israeli institutions did not immediately comment.

The protesters told Belgian broadcaster VRT they welcomed the decision but regarded it as only a first step. They said they would continue their occupation of parts of the university “until UGent breaks its ties with all Israeli institutions”.

The actions mirror those of students in the United States and elsewhere in Europe, calling for an immediate permanent ceasefire and for schools to cut financial ties with companies they say are profiting from what they regard as the oppression of Palestinians.

May 17, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Solidarity and Activism, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

Pro-Israeli billionaires fuel NYC Mayor crackdown on Columbia students

Al Mayadeen | May 17, 2024

A coalition of billionaires and influential business figures, aiming to influence American public opinion regarding the Israeli war on Gaza, urged New York City’s Mayor in private last month to deploy police to quell pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Columbia University, The Washington Post reported, citing communications obtained and individuals familiar with the group.

Business leaders, including Daniel Lubetzky, founder of Kind Snack company, hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb, billionaire Len Blavatnik, and real estate investor Joseph Sitt, convened for a Zoom video conference with Mayor Eric Adams on April 26. This meeting took place about a week following the Mayor’s initial dispatch of New York police to Columbia’s campus, as indicated in a log of chat messages.

During the call, some participants discussed the possibility of making political contributions to Adams, as well as strategies for exerting pressure on Columbia’s President and trustees to authorize the Mayor’s deployment of police to address protesters on campus, according to summaries of the chat messages as reported by The Post.

A member of the WhatsApp chat group said, as quoted by The Post, that he “contributed” $2,100, the maximum allowable amount, to Adams during that month.

Additionally, some members expressed willingness to fund private investigators to aid the New York police in managing the protests, as indicated in the chat log. A member reported in the chat that Adams accepted this offer. However, a spokesperson for City Hall claimed that the New York Police Department has not utilized private investigators for managing protests.

Business leaders, Mayor Adams navigate crackdown on US students

The messages detailing the conversation with Adams were part of a vast collection of WhatsApp exchanges involving several prominent business leaders and financiers across the US. This group includes individuals such as former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, Dell founder and CEO Michael Dell, hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, and Joshua Kushner, founder of Thrive Capital and brother of Jared Kushner, who is the son-in-law of former President Donald Trump.

Individuals with direct access to the chat log provided its contents to The Post under the condition of anonymity, as the chat was intended to remain private. Members of the group confirmed the existence of the chat and their contributions.

The chat was initiated by an associate of billionaire and real estate magnate Barry Sternlicht, who opted not to directly participate but communicated through the associate, as indicated in the chat messages and confirmed by a person familiar with Sternlicht, as per the report.

In an October 12 message, one of the initial messages in the group, the associate, posting on behalf of Sternlicht, informed others that the group’s objective was to “change the narrative” in support of “Israel”.

Stretching beyond New York

Formed shortly after October 7, the chat group’s influence has extended far beyond New York, reaching the highest echelons of the Israeli government, the American business sphere, and prestigious universities, The Washington Post reported.

May 17, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Full Spectrum Dominance, Wars for Israel | , , , , | Leave a comment

EU Big Brother is Watching News of Fico Assassination Attempt

By John Leake | Courageous Discourse™ | May 17, 2024

According to a report this morning in BNN Bloomberg :

The European Commission said it’s “actively monitoring” the spread of fake news about Wednesday’s shooting Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and warned it can slap Big Tech platforms with fines for failing to tackle disinformation.

The regulator “is equipped with wide-ranging investigatory and supervisory powers, including the power to impose sanctions and remedies,” it said in an emailed statement.

Violations could be punished under the European Union’s tough new Digital Services Act, which forces online platforms to put into place measures to tackle illegal content and disinformation, uphold user rights, and protect user’s health and wellbeing.

In other words, the European Commission has already decided the orthodox narrative of this crime—even before a full and transparent investigation has been performed—and will censor any theory or narrative of the crime that diverges from the orthodoxy.

May 17, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance | , | Leave a comment

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