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ISRAEL’S WAR ON HOSPITALS

The Grayzone | November 20, 2023

With exclusive footage from inside the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip, Al-Shifa, The Grayzone examines the Israeli military’s policy of attacking and eliminating medicare care centers across the northern part of the besieged Palestinian territory as it seeks to expel its residents.

By Max Blumenthal, Mohamed El-Saife and Anya Parampil

November 21, 2023 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Subjugation - Torture, Timeless or most popular, Video, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Moderna’s ‘Disinformation Department’ Monitors 150 Million Websites for ‘Anti-Vaccine’ Narratives

By Brenda Baletti, Ph.D. | The Defender | November 21, 2023

Moderna’s “disinformation department” partnered with an industry-backed nonprofit, the Public Good Projects (PGP), to monitor and suppress dissenting voices on COVID-19 vaccine policy, according to a new report by investigative journalists Lee Fang and Jack Poulson published Monday in UnHerd.

Over the last year, the “Twitter Files,” two lawsuits against the Biden administration and other investigations have exposed instances of collusion among government, social media and universities to suppress dissenting speech about COVID-19 policies, election fraud allegations and other topics.

This new report sheds light on Moderna’s behind-the-scenes strategy within this new media landscape. It exposes key actors and how they worked to monitor 150 million websites for the purpose of censoring speech that undermines the company’s COVID-19 vaccine narrative and actively shaping public discourse to benefit Moderna’s bottom line.

Great Barrington Declaration co-author and Stanford University professor Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, who was blacklisted by Twitter, praised the new report in a tweet.

Moderna had never successfully advanced any product to market prior to the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine and was teetering on the edge of collapse when the pandemic was announced.

Its mRNA COVID-19 vaccine transformed the drugmaker into a $100 billion company almost overnight and turned its CEO, chairman and co-founders into billionaires.

Today, as public interest in taking yet another booster shot tanks and federal subsidies for the shot are disappearing, so are profits, leading the company to invest in new strategies — like a flashy marketing campaign — to stay afloat, Fang and Poulson reported.

Moderna also is doubling down on work started during the pandemic to attack dissent about vaccines and to direct vaccination policy, they found.

In fact, Moderna today employs former law enforcement agents, like Nikki Rutman, a 20-year FBI veteran who worked for the agency in Boston during Operation Warp Speed where her job was to conduct weekly cybersecurity meetings with Moderna.

Now she runs Moderna’s global intelligence division — part of the department spearheading Moderna’s work to stop “disinformation” — producing reports that flag “anti-vaccine narratives” online and recommending whether and how to address them, they wrote.

The department works with the PGP, largely funded through a $1.27 million donation from the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, a biotech lobbying group that represents Pfizer and Moderna.

Through PGP and Talkwalker, a “social listening” company, Moderna’s team monitors everything from mainstream news outlets to gaming sites, deploying artificial intelligence to monitor 150 million websites across the world for vaccine-related conversation.

The team issues reports to Moderna staff that color-code the “anti-vaccine narratives” by level of risk. Low-risk narratives “don’t currently warrant any action.” For the higher-risk narratives, the team “will notify the appropriate stakeholders with recommendations,” Lee and Poulson wrote.

Analyzing sample reports, the journalists discovered that examples of “high-risk” posts included a video posted by Elon Musk mocking myriad claims that the vaccines were “100% effective” along with a number of posts made by comedian and political commentator Russell Brand, whom they flagged in September for his “anti-vaccine” beliefs.

The Moderna team also raised concerns over the optics when tennis star Novak Djokovic, who refused the COVID-19 vaccine, won the Moderna-sponsored U.S. Open.

Lee and Paulson reported that Moderna was unconcerned with the truth of any of the claims made in the posts it flagged, only with their effects.

“None of the reports that we have seen makes any attempt to dispute the claims made,” they wrote. “Rather the claims are automatically deemed ‘misinformation’ if they encourage vaccine hesitancy.”

Moderna first began working with PGP in 2021-2022 on a program called “Stronger,” where the nonprofit “identified misinformation and shaped content decisions on social media.”

PGP could do this effectively because it had “backdoor access” to Twitter data, through a “firehose,” which provides real-time access to all tweets on the platform for large-scale data analysis and data mining.

PGP, which worked directly with Twitter to develop its policies around the pandemic, would send Twitter lists of accounts to amplify or censor.

Twitter’s general counsel also advised the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s task force on combating misinformation to work with PGP on COVID-19 speech-related issues.

Lee and Poulson also found that PGP distributed talking points and advice on how to respond to vaccine misinformation to a network of 45,000 healthcare professionals.

“[Moderna’s] intention, as we have gleaned from the emails exchanged, was not only to combat misinformation, but also to affect the content and tenor of public debate,” Fang and Paulson wrote.

This year, as the COVID-19 booster uptake numbers have collapsed, Moderna and PGP launched a new collaboration, this time working with the American Board of Internal Medicine, to develop a training program called the “Infodemic Training Program,” to train healthcare workers to identify “medical misinformation.”

Despite public outrage regarding social media censorship, a clear lack of interest in continuing to take booster shots and the official end of the pandemic announced in May by the Biden administration, Moderna continues to grow its surveillance operation.

Internal alerts analyzed by Fang and Poulson reveal the company is closely monitoring laws and politicians seeking to restrict vaccine mandates and that it continues to flag messages posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, by Musk, who Moderna notes, “increasingly uses that platform to elevate fringe vaccine opponents and conspiracy theorists.”

The authors wrote:

“The network of fact-checking nonprofits has grown at an industrial pace, providing opaque opportunities for private and public interests to take subtle control over the public discourse. Such sophistication in blending public-health messaging and corporate advertising should concern anyone with an interest in how government controls free speech.”

Brenda Baletti Ph.D. is a reporter for The Defender. She wrote and taught about capitalism and politics for 10 years in the writing program at Duke University. She holds a Ph.D. in human geography from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a master’s from the University of Texas at Austin.

This article was originally published by The Defender — Children’s Health Defense’s News & Views Website under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Please consider subscribing to The Defender or donating to Children’s Health Defense.

November 21, 2023 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance | , | Leave a comment

New York Governor Kathy Hochul Announces Plans to Implement Pre-Crime Surveillance, Target Online “Hate”

By Tom Parker | Reclaim The Net | November 21, 2023

In a press conference today, New York Governor Kathy Hochul outlined her administration’s aggressive new strategy for combating online “hate” and implementing pre-crime-esque online surveillance.

As part of this approach, New York’s Threat Assessment and Management Teams (TAM teams), which were established in August 2022 in response to the Buffalo mass shooting, will extend their efforts and start targeting speech surrounding the conflict in the Middle East, with a focus on preventing crimes before they occur. TAM teams will be given an additional $3 million investment for their implementation across New York State college campuses.

“We’re creating strategies, first time ever, to help identify hate at the source and prevent crimes before they occur,” Hochul said.

The TAM teams, primarily focused on tracking and stopping violent acts of hate, work in collaboration with mental health professionals. They establish reporting systems for red flags and provide training to identify early warning signs of radicalization. This initiative, while seemingly noble in its intent to protect New Yorkers, raises significant privacy and First Amendment concerns.

In addition to expanding the scope of the TAM teams, Hochul also demanded that social media companies take more aggressive steps to reduce hate on their sites, specifically by expanding their moderation teams and providing greater transparency.

Critics of Hochul’s approach argue that it toes a dangerous line between ensuring public safety and infringing on free speech. The First Amendment, a cornerstone of American democracy, guarantees the right to free expression, including the expression of unpopular or controversial views. While the governor insists that the TAM teams are not targeting innocuous content like Instagram sunset posts or tweets about favorite football teams, the scope of what constitutes hate remains ambiguous.

These concerns are particularly pertinent in relation to Hochul. She has previously claimed that “hate speech” is not protected speech, despite the US Supreme Court unanimously reaffirming that there is no hate speech exception to the First Amendment. Hochul also signed a controversial “hateful conduct” law last year, which is currently facing legal challenges and injunctions over free speech concerns.

The focus on surveillance and intervention, especially in the digital space, is also reflective of the ever-expanding specter of mass government surveillance of everything we say and do online.

Hochul has been a big proponent of this constant monitoring. Earlier this month, she revealed that New York had started conducting social media “surveillance efforts” to monitor hate. And the governor is also an advocate of digital IDs — a type of technology that has numerous privacy concerns.

Governor Hochul’s approach reflects a growing trend among policymakers to address the dark side of digital platforms. However, the effectiveness and legality of such measures in protecting citizens while respecting their constitutional rights remain to be seen.

November 21, 2023 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance | , | Leave a comment

BitChute Asks Jim Jordan to Investigate the Deplatforming of Parler

By Christina Maas | Reclaim The Net | November 20, 2023

BitChute, a platform for video hosting and social media, has reached out to Representative Jim Jordan, requesting an investigation into the removal of Parler, a social media platform once favored by free speech supporters, from online platforms. This request is part of a broader inquiry by Jordan’s House panel into possible misuse of government power to pressure online companies to suppress speech.

The Chief Policy Officer at BitChute, Amy Peikoff, who previously held the same position at Parler, addressed a letter to Jordan. In it, she suggested that the actions taken against Parler might be similar to the coordinated efforts outlined in a report by the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. This report focused on the Censorship-Industrial Complex.

Parler, which prided itself on minimal content moderation, was deplatformed by key service providers in early January 2021. This move came in the aftermath of January 6th.

Amazon Web Services (AWS), the platform’s hosting provider, suspended service on January 10th, citing a violation of its terms of service due to inadequate content moderation systems. This action followed closely on the heels of both Apple and Google removing Parler from their respective app stores, thereby significantly limiting the platform’s accessibility to new users. These moves by major tech companies effectively cut off Parler from a significant portion of its operational infrastructure and user base, sparking a widespread discourse on the role of large technology companies in moderating content and their impact on public discourse.

In her letter, Peikoff remarked, “Perhaps your focus on the 2020 election caused you to overlook the contemporaneous deplatforming of millions of ‘everyday Americans of all political affiliations’ in one fell swoop.”

She went on to question whether the neglect of Parler’s situation, which she considers crucial for maintaining competitive balance in a free market, might have been overlooked to maintain legislative harmony.

Peikoff concluded her correspondence by urging Jordan and his committee to examine the Twitter Files and to include the Parler deplatforming in their investigation.

November 20, 2023 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance | , | Leave a comment

We Must Demand Justice for the January 6th Protestors!

By Ron Paul | November 20, 2023

New US House Speaker Mike Johnson struck a blow for liberty and justice last week when he finally authorized the release of all the tapes from the January 6, 2021 “insurrection.” We were told by no less than President Biden himself that this was the “worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War.”

The FBI was unleashed by the Biden Administration to hunt down hundreds of participants in this “insurrection” and lock them up in the gulag where they awaited trial in torturous conditions – many in solitary confinement.

A Congressional Committee was set up under then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi to “get to the bottom” of the “Trump-led insurrection.” It did not include a single Representative nominated by the opposition Republican Party, but rather two “Republicans” – Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger – who could be relied on by Pelosi and the Democrats to toe the line.

In short, the whole thing was an old-fashioned Soviet show trial, where the evidence was kept secret and the pre-determined verdict – guilty – was to be used to tighten the grip of the ruling regime and intimidate any further dissenters into silence. The message was clear: “speak out against the ‘perfection’ of the 2020 election and you may find yourself in the gulag along with the insurrectionists.”

It was terrifying and profoundly anti-American.

And, as we finally can see for ourselves thanks to Speaker Johnson, it was a huge lie. The new video shows demonstrators shaking hands with police officers once they entered the Capitol Building. They were welcomed into the building by officers who even held the doors for them to enter! They had no way of knowing that they would soon be rounded up and locked away.

Does that mean no crimes were committed on January 6th? Not at all. The tapes already released were carefully chosen to single out examples of violence and other possible criminality. But the full release of the tapes demonstrates beyond a doubt that the endless propaganda that this was a coordinated attempt to overthrow the government was false.

And as for that violence and mayhem on January 6th? How much of it was instigated by undercover FBI agents? New footage clearly shows officers outside the building firing on protestors with no warning. That must be why, in hearing after hearing, Biden Administration officials like Attorney General Merrick Garland have refused to tell Congress the number of federal agents present and their roles in instigating violence.

The release of this evidence should immediately result in the release of all non-violent protestors awaiting trial or serving their sentences. Those in power responsible for promoting this lie should take their places in the jail cells.

This delayed justice will not help protesters like Matthew Perna, however. Though the new video release clearly shows him calmly walking inside the Capitol in the presence of unconcerned police officers, when Merrick Garland’s Department of “Justice” announced they would seek terrorism charges against him, Perna, in despair, decided to hang himself in his garage.

Yes, there was an insurrection of sorts. Those in power hated Donald Trump so much that they were willing to torture and even murder their fellow Americans to keep him from the presidency. Unless these people are brought to justice, we will have no Republic left to defend.

November 20, 2023 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance | , | Leave a comment

BREAKING NEWS: Appellate Court Paves the Way for Quarantine Camps!

BY ATTORNEY BOBBIE ANNE COX | NOVEMBER 19, 2023

I hope you are sitting down when you read this article.

There is absolutely no way I can possibly sugar coat this, so I’ll just be frank… The NYS Supreme Court Appellate Division’s Fourth Judicial Department has issued their ruling in our quarantine lawsuit against Governor Hochul and her Department of Health, and they have ruled against the will of the people!

If you feel like you just got sucker-punched in the gut, join the club, my friends.

The court has dismissed our lawsuit, not because we are wrong in our arguments… no, no, indeed we are dead-right. In fact, the court did not even touch the merits of the case. How could they? Instead, the court unbelievably ruled that my plaintiffs somehow do not have standing to sue! If your brain is racing a hundred miles an hour right now trying to figure this out, don’t worry, you are definitely not alone. Every single person I have told about this court ruling, from my plaintiffs, to fellow attorneys, to family members, and so on, has been downright flabbergasted. Rightfully so. One of my family members told me I needed to break it down for her, like she was a Kindergartener. I’ll do the same for you now, because this issue is so crucial for you to understand, and then for you to explain to others.

What the Appellate Division court is saying by reversing the lower court and then dismissing our case for lack of standing is that they believe that Senator George Borrello, Assemblyman Chris Tague, Congressman Mike Lawler, and the citizens’ group Uniting NYS did not have the right to bring this lawsuit last year against the Governor and her DOH for their heinous “Isolation and Quarantine Procedures” regulation. Why not? Because according to this court, my plaintiffs were not injured by the regulation. Why not? Because the court seems to insinuate that the only person with the right to sue is someone who has been forcibly locked in their home against their will, or ripped from their home, taken from their loved ones, and thrown into a quarantine detention center, facility, institution, camp, etc. (pick your noun, doesn’t matter). The court insinuates that apparently only that person would be injured. Not my plaintiffs. The reason their “logic” is flawed is because we sued pursuant to the separation of powers doctrine, arguing that the Governor and her DOH lacked the constitutional authority to make that horrendous regulation in the first place. In other words, in short, my legislator-plaintiffs were injured because Hochul and her DOH (Executive Branch) stole the legislators’ power to make law (Legislative Branch) when they created the quarantine reg which was a law (despite the fact that the DOH called it a regulation). The trial court correctly ruled in our favor last summer, and struck the reg down for that exact reason, amongst others.

If you are still scratching your head wondering how on earth is it possible that the Executive Branch stealing a power from the Legislative Branch does not constitute an injury to the members of the legislature, then join the club! Of note, it was so obvious to the trial court judge last year that my plaintiffs had standing, that he didn’t even discuss it in his decision. You can read that decision here if you’re interested.

Congressman Lawler, Assemblyman Tague, Bobbie Anne Cox, Esq, Senator Borrello

Q&A…

I’m sure you have a thousand questions, so I’ll try to predict and answer some here:

  • Which court issued this decision?
    • It is the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, in the Fourth Judicial Department. It is the middle court in the three levels of NYS courts, meaning, we began last year at the trial court level (NYS Supreme Court in Cattaraugas County). We won there. Then the Governor appealed to the next court which is the Appellate Division, and that is who reversed the trial court, and dismissed our lawsuit.
  • Who were the judges?
    • It was a panel of 5 judges that decided the appeal. They are all appointed by a governor. On my panel I had 2 Hochul appointees, 2 Cuomo appointees, and 1 Pataki appointee. You can watch the oral arguments from September here. The Attorney General’s office argued first and starts at 48:00 minute mark. Then I was next, and that starts at 1:02:35 mark.
  • Is there another court above this one that I can appeal to now?
    • Yes. The final and highest court in New York State is the Court of Appeals. It sits in Albany, and is presided over by a panel of 7 judges. They, too, are all appointed by a governor. They do not hear all cases that apply to the court (similar to the US Supreme Court), so I would have to draft a motion to try to convince the high Court to hear our case!
  • Now that this court overturned the lower court’s decision, will Rule 2.13 (the quarantine regulation) be re-instated?
    • Unfortunately, this court has opened the door and paved the way for Hochul and her DOH to re-issue this anti-freedom, anti-American regulation. Fire at will, is what the court has proverbially told them. There is nothing stopping the tyranny of the Executive Branch now.
  • Does Rule 2.13 allow Hochul and her DOH to set up actual quarantine camps?
    • The reason the public has dubbed this regulation the “quarantine camp regulation” is because the language in the reg makes it crystal clear that the DOH can pull you from your home (and your life) and, with the force of police, hold you anywhere they deem appropriate, including “other residential or temporary housing”… Remember, the reg says they don’t have to prove you are sick, they can hold you for however long they want, and there is no way for you to get out of lock up or lock down (unless you get a lawyer and sue them)!!! You can read articles I’ve written and interviews I have done about the reg and the lawsuit on my Substack here, or on my website: www.CoxLawyers.com
    • By the way, I fact-checked the Associated Press’ phony “fact check” article they ran shortly after my oral arguments in September, and I determined their article to be FALSE. It’s particularly surprising because that AP reporter contacted us (my plaintiffs and me) for clarification prior to publishing her false article. Clearly she ignored what we said! Anyway, this dystopian regulation absolutely allows Hochul and her DOH to institute quarantine locations, whether you call them facilities, institutions, halls, or camps, it matters not. It’s still unconstitutional!
  • What do my plaintiffs think?
    • Obviously, they are very upset by this decision. An official press release will go out shortly. Stay tuned, and of course I will share it with you via Substack and my Twitter… @Attorney_Cox

Photo by Emannphoto.com

Hope is not lost!

There is no denying that I have had to dig very deep these past 48 hours since I received the ruling. My family and close friends who I have shared the horrible news with have all asked me the same question, “What are you going to do now? Stay and fight? Or let it go?” This has been a true David v. Goliath battle for the ages, as described in a recent Brownstone Institute article on this epic legal battle, and my family and close friends know the immense sacrifices I’ve endured to bring and fight this case these past almost 2 years now. As you may imagine, I have had to do some significant soul searching the past couple of days. Here is what I have come to…

I can tell you this with certainty, I will never stop fighting for you, New York! I believe that we can take back this state, and as we do, we will liberate the rest of this country which has fallen into very dark times, as our Constitution, and thus our freedoms, are tossed aside by the ruling class elites without a second thought. And then, once our nation is back to being that shining beacon on a hill, then the rest of the world can follow. New York is the key. And I have hope and faith. I will share it with you now…

I am going to appeal this case to the Court of Appeals, our highest court in New York. The Court of Appeals is a court of constitutional integrity. The Court will understand the magnitude of this lawsuit and the Appellate Division’s erroneous decision. I believe the high Court will not fall prey to the tyranny and corruption that goes on in the halls of our capitol in Albany.

The Constitution is on our side. The case law is on our side. Truth is on our side. And most importantly, the will of the people is on our side. Remember Thunderstruck? Remember Reverberating? Remember the hundreds upon hundreds of you who showed up to oral arguments in Rochester back in September? Remember the thousands of you who have come to hear me speak in-person at events across the state, and in states outside our New York borders? Remember the tens of thousands of you who have shown me your support in emails, social media posts, letters, cards, phone messages etc.?

Indeed, I have faith.

However, I cannot do this alone! Without question, I need your help.

I need your help!

  • There are many ways you can help me…
    • Donate to the legal fund. First and foremost, I need contributions. I have been handling this case pro bono for the past almost 2 years now. Please consider making a donation. No donation is too small. You can donate here.
      • For larger donations, there is a non-profit organization that is helping us, and you can get more information by emailing Admin@CoxLawyers.com
    • Spread the word: Share this article everywhere! Post it all over your social media, email it to your contacts, talk about it over the Thanksgiving table this week, and every day thereafter.
    • Follow me on Twitter and re-post my posts: @Attorney_Cox
    • Media contacts: If you know someone who works in media, radio host, TV reporter, author, etc… ask them to cover this story. They can reach my office at Admin@coxlawyers.com
    • Stay Informed: Sign up for my weekly Substack, and then share it. Consider a paid subscription so you can help support my work:

November 20, 2023 Posted by | Civil Liberties | , | Leave a comment

Wadi Tiran: Facing Ethnic Cleansing, Longing For Home

Car smashed in Wadi Tiran
International Solidarity Movement | November 20, 2023

South Hebron Hills – Wadi Tiran is a good example, and sadly one of many, of Israel’s big plan to make Palestine the land without people. Over the last month, the community of Wadi Tiran has been repeatedly “visited” by either settlers or soldiers, or both (since distinguishing between them is more and more difficult nowadays), ordering everybody in the village to leave or they would kill them. One of these “visits” resulted in all windows on their tractor, pickup and their car being smashed.

The ISM team, together with Israeli activists, has been part of the protective presence in Wadi Tiran for over a week and has witnessed some of the threats this small herding homestead has endured, including settlers on motorbikes and a quad coming nearby, and only yesterday (November 18) a four wheel drive vehicle with settlers appeared inside the homestead. The settlers did not get out of the car but instead drove around provocatively and proceeded to another Tiran homestead located on the nearby hill.

The Israeli activists called the Israeli police only to be asked by them, “Why are you supporting the terrorists?” Having witnessed the terror being inflicted on the residents of Wadi Tiran first hand, we ask the same question of the Israeli government, the United States government, and other national and international bodies that enable, support, and fund the ethnic cleansing of communities like Wadi Tiran.

Wadi Tiran is a small homestead where two brothers and their families, altogether about 30 people, most of them children, live, herding around 300 sheep and goats. The father of the two farmers was expelled in 1948 from the Yattir area and moved to the arid slope of the Wadi Tiran hill where they made life ever since.

The two brothers talked with sadness and longing about their ancestral land where their father grew wheat, corn, chickpeas and lentils and where water was available in abundance. “Only in one part of Yattir there were more than 100 springs,” they recalled.

Now the water they have comes from the rain collected in one well, which they use for animals, but there is not enough of it. Additional water has to be purchased and brought from the outside at the expense they could ill afford nowadays. Both brothers used to work from time to time doing agricultural work in Israel until the start of the current escalation in hostilities, and together with all other Palestinian workers they have now lost their jobs.

Efforts by the occupiers to make their already hard lives impossible have peaked now, but it started long ago. On our way to Wadi Tiran via the dirt road, we could see that in many parts it has been destroyed. That was the work of the Israeli army bulldozers, which three months ago piled boulders and piles of earth and rocks on the road in several locations to make access to the homestead difficult. We had to drive around them and sometimes over them, causing an unpleasant rocky ride, fearing for the damage to our vehicle.

The main threat to the farmers’ livelihood was ‘the law’ introduced verbally by the settlers setting out a boundary of 200 meters from the homestead where grazing is now banned. Since then, the brothers have had to buy practically all the food for their animals, and drive the seven monthly tons of it down the road ravaged by the army.

Not that the Israel occupation was ever “light”, but since the war on Gaza all the rule books and established practices have been abandoned. Feeding on the rage the Israeli nation is in the grip of following the attacks by the fighters from Gaza, settlers are out of control and all pretences that occupation authorities are attempting to stop them from committing violence, has been dropped. The military knows about settler violence and either chooses to turn a blind eye or joins in on their violence.

What is also different currently is that nobody knows if those doing the harassing, attacking, and threatening are soldiers, settlers or settler security. The regular army has been sent to attack Gaza. The occupation of the West Bank and the “protection” of the illegal settlements was handed over to army reservists, many of whom are illegal settlers and settler security. They have formed “regional defence battalions” and these violent thuggish armies, often masked and fully or partially dressed in army uniforms, block the roads and village entrances and appear any time of day and night to attack the Palestinians, destroy their fields, their livestock and the contents of their homes.

They are either joined or are led by the “civilian” illegal settlers who have been handed large quantities of arms by Ben Gvir’s Security Ministry so that they can “defend” their settlements. While in the past the settlement security would mostly operate within the boundaries of the settlements, post October 7th, they are tasked with terrorizing and ethnically cleansing wide areas surrounding the settlements.

There is little doubt that without serious consequences from Israel’s powerful allies, and the United States in particular, the horrendous and criminal lawlessness and violence will leave the Wadi Tiran families without a future in this area.

Children in Wadi Tiran

Fathers of the two families told us that they fear for their future and the future of their children. “We have been farmers all our lives and that is what we do. Where shall we go?” the two farmers asked. That is the most asked question in the South Hebron Hills these days, leading to long sleepless nights, anxiety, fear, and a living nightmare, echoed in the lives of people from dozens of villages facing the same fate.

November 20, 2023 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Subjugation - Torture | , , , | Leave a comment

Joe Biden’s Washington Post op-ed shows the US never learns its lessons

By Tarik Cyril Amar | RT | November 20, 2023

The president of the United States, Joe Biden, has recently published an op-ed. Appropriately released through the Washington Post, it is, of course, really the equivalent of a regime policy declaration – a laying down of the party line, if you wish. As such, the text deserves attention, never mind that it is impossible that America’s leader, clearly challenged by worsening senescence, has written it himself. This is, to borrow a phrase from the Russia-watching crowd, America’s “collective Biden” speaking.

Translated from official jargon and scrubbed of empty rhetoric and euphemisms, the long proclamation makes only two substantial points about what the US and its “allies” (really clients and vassals) must do: Continue waging a proxy war against Russia in Ukraine and continue backing Israel in its genocidal war against the Palestinians (no, it is not a “war against Hamas,” that’s a side effect).

In that sense, there is nothing surprising, or hopeful, in collective Biden’s announcement: It took them more words this time, but this Democratic administration of neocons is simply repeating the equally tone-deaf slogan of a former Republican president representing a past gaggle of neocons: Stay the course, as George W. Bush put it succinctly during the Iraq disaster. Deja Vue all over again, in the words of America’s greatest philosopher.

But the details of the text still merit scrutiny. Let’s pick out a few highlights: 

Hamas is repeatedly denounced as carrying out “pure, unadulterated evil” and such. Every fair observer would reserve such terms by now for what the Israelis are doing in Gaza. But let’s set that aside for now and let’s also set aside that we now know that substantial numbers of Israelis were killed by Israeli forces. Let’s instead focus on Hamas. Is such language factual? The rational answer to that question is not a matter of opinion, and it has to be “no”: In reality, the empirical record shows that Hamas is a resistance organization engaged in a legally and ethically justified struggle against massive national oppression. It has attacked military targets, which is legitimate, as well as committed terrorist crimes. But if any political and armed organization that does both engage in legitimate violence and terrorist crimes is carrying out “pure evil,” then almost every halfway powerful state in this world has done just that or is doing it even now. Clearly, we are dealing with an absurd statement here.

Usually, the cause of such absurdities is strategic dishonesty. That holds here as well. For the Biden administration is transparently pursuing two aims with this Orwellian abuse of terminology: First, make Israel’s crimes against the Palestinians appear, if not justified, then at least so “understandable” or “inevitable” that we stop objecting to them (and, if we are Americans, vote for Democrats, even while they support these perfectly avoidable crimes).

Secondly, prepare the ground for the proposal, following further down in the proclamation, to entirely eliminate Hamas from any post-assault settlement and, instead, “ultimately” make a “revived Palestinian Authority” rule both the West Bank and Gaza, while work on some lasting settlement continues.

This proposal is wrapped in deceptive and revoltingly cynical rhetoric: If Joe Biden has a broken heart over the slaughtered children of Gaza, then Andrew Jackson must have cried while signing the Indian Removal Act. If Biden wants a two-state solution, then why is he allowing and helping one of the “two states” to wipe out the other? If he has “counselled” Israeli leaders to refrain from excessive violence, then why has he not backed up his kind words with using his massive leverage and stopping the flow of arms, money, information, and diplomatic cover to help their genocidal attack? If Biden is worried about antisemitism spreading, why does he allow far-right Zionists to claim that their policies, which lead to deaths of thousands upon thousands of Palestinian children, are somehow “Jewish”?

Hypocrisy like that may still fool some Americans, namely those who really believe that the adequate answer to the umpteenth mass shooting at home is “thoughts and prayers.” But a US president and those writing and thinking for him would be well-advised not to embarrass themselves further before everyone else, at home and abroad.

The real policy proposal, meanwhile, is nothing else but an attempt to return to the post-Oslo Accords system on even worse terms. That means, creating a situation in which urgent, vital Palestinian needs and crystal-clear Palestinian rights will, once again, be de facto suspended in an endless dishonest “process,” which really only serves as a screen and stalling device for Israel, while the latter settles occupied land, practices the internationally recognized crime of apartheid, and conducts the occasional massacre.

But the proclamation addresses more than the Middle East. Turning on Russia, the collective Biden personalizes the issue, in bad old neocon style. Instead of any attempt at a rational – albeit critical, even hostile – approach to Moscow’s actions and interests, we find the usual daft insults: Russian President Vladimir Putin is juxtaposed with Hamas, as if he were a one-man “terrorist organization.” (Never mind that Hamas is not, actually, a terrorist organization, although it also engages in terrorist acts; see above.)

The war in Ukraine is reduced to Putin’s personal “drive for conquest,” as if there has been no history of two decades of American provocations by reckless over-expansion, bad faith, and refusal to negotiate serious issues of international security in earnest and constructively. In that regard, Russia is receiving the same rhetorical treatment as the Palestinians: When it fights, we are forbidden to notice all the very real reasons it was given to do so.

And finally, both “Putin” – read: Russia – and Hamas stand accused of two things: Wanting to “wipe a neighboring democracy off the map” and taking us to a new, vile international order, where the strong abuse the weak and might makes right.

Newsflash: Actually, neither Israel nor Ukraine are democracies. In Israel’s case, the claim is vitiated by the simple fact that its government exerts de facto control over millions of Palestinians, all of whom face discrimination and the vast majority of whom do not have a vote, or, for that matter any ordinary civil and human rights. Ukraine, meanwhile, has Vladimir Zelensky, Washington’s darling in decline, who started dismantling the country’s brittle democratic structures – for what they were worth – in 2021, well before the war, and clings to power by cooperating with a violent far-right, eliminating the political opposition, streamlining the media, and delaying elections. Again, these are not matters of opinion but facts.

Secondly, Hamas is not trying to wipe out Israel, despite endless claims to the contrary. In the past, it has repeatedly signaled a willingness to compromise and accept a two-state solution. Claiming Hamas wants the total destruction of Israel is akin to using one idiotic quote from former US President Ronald Reagan to “prove” that he wanted to erase the whole Soviet Union. Hamas also simply does not have the capacity – not by a very far stretch – to do so.

Likewise, Russia is not trying to abolish Ukraine. As its compromise proposals of late 2021 clearly showed, its key aim is a neutral Ukraine that is not used as a proxy by the West. It is true that Russia, by now, claims some Ukrainian territory. Depending on how long the war continues, it may end up claiming and taking even more. You may very well object to that. Yet it is not the same as a will to exterminate a whole state or, for that matter, its population.

Finally, regarding the warning that Hamas, Russia, and who knows who else (China? India? Brazil? Simply everyone who won’t do as told by Washington?) are hellbent on dragging us all into new dark ages of ultra-cynical realpolitik and brute force, guess what: That is precisely where we are now. And have been for the last quarter of a century, under the benevolent aegis of the USA. Don’t believe it? Ask Gaza.

In sum, all we can really learn from this letter from on-high is that the Biden administration has understood nothing and is determined to learn even less. If, in the words of the declaration, the world is ever supposed to have even a slight chance of seeing “more hope, more freedom, less rage, less grievance, and less war,” then we first need to see much less of Joe Biden and everything and everyone he stands for.

Tarik Cyril Amar is a historian from Germany working at Koç University, Istanbul, on Russia, Ukraine, and Eastern Europe, the history of World War II, the cultural Cold War, and the politics of memory.

November 20, 2023 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Mainstream Media, Warmongering, Progressive Hypocrite, Russophobia | , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Jakarta slams Israel for striking Indonesian Hospital in Gaza

Press TV – November 20, 2023

Indonesia’s foreign minister has condemned in the strongest terms Israel’s attacks on Indonesian Hospital in the besieged Gaza Strip as a “clear violation of international humanitarian laws.”

“All countries, especially those that have close relations with Israel, must use all their influence and capabilities to urge Israel to stop its atrocities,” Retno Marsudi stated on Monday.

Israeli forces opened fire and launched artillery strikes on the hospital and the surrounding areas in the early hours of the day.

The Gaza Health Ministry’s General Manager Munner al-Bursh said the regime forces began artillery strikes “in the middle of the night and targeted the surgical department, wounding the doctors working there and killing 12 civilians who were taking refuge.”

Elsewhere in his remarks, Bursh said Israeli forces also targeted people leaving the facility and shot them outside the hospital. “Their bodies are still lying on the ground, and nobody has been able to bury them.”

“We are using a small power generator that runs on vegetable oil, manufactured by some creative individuals who sacrificed some of their food supply to run the generator,” Bursh said.

Ashraf al-Qudra, Gaza’s Health Ministry spokesman, said the situation is “catastrophic” in Indonesian Hospital. “The Indonesian Hospital staff are insisting they will stay to treat the wounded. There are about 700 people, including medical staff and injured people, inside the hospital.”

Reports said Israeli forces are going to repeat what happened at Shifa Hospital and will also occupy the Indonesian Hospital as tanks surrounded the facility.

Meanwhile, Palestinian Prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh has said the Israeli military operation in Gaza “is for the purpose of killing, in the spirit of revenge and with the aim of displacing our people.”

And UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said the number of civilians killed in Israel’s war on Gaza has been “unparalleled and unprecedented” since he took office in 2017.

Children make up virtually 47 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million population. UNICEF has labeled the Gaza Strip “a graveyard for thousands of children.” It has also described the situation in Gaza as “a growing stain on our collective conscience”, calling the rate of children casualties “simply staggering.”

Save the Children says more children have been killed in Gaza than in all other conflicts around the world since 2019 combined.
Israel has killed 13,000 Palestinians in Gaza since October 7.

November 20, 2023 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Canada: censoring pro-Palestine voices triggers backlash at university

MEMO | November 20, 2023

The University of Ottawa is under fire for suspending a medical student over pro-Palestine social media posts. A petition signed by nearly 50,000 people has accused the faculty of misusing its authority, and intimidating residents and students through censorship. The signatories have urged people to call on the university to investigate associate professor of family medicine Dr Yoni Freedhoff.

A resident physician in his 4th year of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Dr Yipeng Ge, is said to have been suspended after Freedhoff, who appears to be an ardent support of Israel according to his profile on X, accused Ge of anti-Semitism. In a blog, Freedhoff targeted Ge for his pro-Palestinian social media posts. He also called out Ge on X, claiming that he was spreading anti-Semitism. Ge was suspended shortly after the publication of Freedhoff’s blog.

A petition demanding Ge’s reinstatement has been signed by 48,365 people. The petition expresses solidarity with Ge and calls on the university to reverse his suspension and apologise for failing to follow due process. It demands a thorough investigation into the decision to suspend Ge and condemns the rise in anti-Palestinian discrimination and censorship at the university, arguing that the suspension violates university policies on free expression, student rights and occupational health and safety.

Ge should have the chance to challenge the suspension with impartial oversight, insist the signatories, who call on the university to protect him from harassment by a faculty member, Freedhoff, that puts him at physical and reputational risk without repercussions. Furthermore, it criticises the university administration for failing to provide a safe learning environment and enable Palestinian advocacy on campus through actions like Ge’s suspension.

This suspension is another example of the growing crackdown on pro-Palestine voices on campuses and social media platforms. Pro-Israel groups have doubled their efforts to silence criticism of the apartheid state. Members of the Palestine Society at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London were suspended by the university last month, following a solidarity rally for Gaza. Moreover, a chilling threat to student free speech has emerged across US campuses. Rights groups have warned that pro-Israel donors are seeking to crush pro-Palestine activism through intimidation and threats.

A glimpse into the scale of Israel’s crackdown on social media users was given earlier this year with the revelation that the occupation state is one of the world’s leading countries in demanding the removal of videos from social media giant TikTok. Last week, the site came under pressure from pro-Israel celebrities and “Jewish influencers” to crack down on pro-Palestine voices and content, according to a shocking new report by the New York Times.

November 20, 2023 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Full Spectrum Dominance | , , | Leave a comment

Cheney, Kinzinger, And “Sham” J6 Committee Under Fire After Friday Footage Dump; GOP Senator Calls For Investigation

By Tyler Durden | Zero Hedge | November 19, 2023

Ever since Friday’s release of more than 40,000 hours of Jan. 6 Capitol Police security video, dozens of clips debunking the Jan. 6 committee’s ‘violent insurrection’ narrative have been floating around X.

In response to the exculpatory footage that the Jan. 6 committee never showed the American public, Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) has raised significant questions about the handling of security footage.

Lee’s statements directly challenge the integrity of the now-disbanded committee, particularly addressing the roles of its former Republican members, Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger. He also accuses the committee – particularly those two, of selectively sharing information.

After Cheney attempted to hit back with her ‘best hits’ Jan. 6 footage, Lee replied: “Liz, we’ve seen footage like that a million times. You made sure we saw that—and nothing else.”

Lee also called for an investigation into the committee itself, labeling it a “sham” and questioning the use of taxpayer dollars in its operations. He insinuates that crucial information about the committee’s work could have been “deliberately lost or destroyed,” casting doubts on the committee’s transparency and objectivity.

The argument continued throughout the day, with Lee linking to a NY Post article with the headline “FBI lost count of how many paid informants were at Capitol on Jan. 6, and later performed audit to figure out exact number.”

Kinzinger swings and misses all day

In response to the backlash, Kinzinger made a stupid joke comparing Jan. 6 protesters to US army helicopters providing fire for South Vietnamese ground troops attacking the Vietcong in 1965.

Twice.

He also retweeted about a dozen similarly stupid jokes (check out his timeline).

The House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack was disbanded in January 2023, after releasing its final report in December 2022. The committee, comprising seven Democrats and two Republicans, faced criticism for its composition and the perceived partisanship in its approach.

Kinzinger did not seek reelection, and Cheney lost her primary, marking a significant shift in the Republican landscape. The release of the security tapes by Johnson is seen as a step towards transparency, allowing the public to form their own opinions about the events of January 6, away from the committee’s narrative.

November 19, 2023 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Deception | , , | Leave a comment

Palestinian killed, another injured in Israeli attack on MSF convoy

Palestine Information Center – November 19, 2023

One person was killed and one was injured in an attack on Saturday on a convoy of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) staff members and their families who had been attempting to evacuate from northern Gaza.

The person who was killed was a relative of an MSF staff member. “MSF condemns in the strongest terms this deliberate attack.”

“The convoy was made up of 137 people — Palestinian MSF staff members and their families, including 65 children. Since November 11, they have been trapped in MSF’s guesthouse, office and outpatient clinic near Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza because of ongoing fighting, and we have repeatedly called for their safe evacuation,” MSF said in a statement on Saturday.

MSF explained that on Saturday morning, its convoy of five vehicles departed at 9:00 a.m. local time, all clearly marked with MSF identification, including on the roofs.

MSF said it arranged for the movement of the convoy, but when the convoy reached the point where the Israeli army had constructed a newly erected checkpoint, the area was already overcrowded with Palestinian civilians seeking to flee.

However, after hours of waiting, the Israeli army did not allow the convoy to cross toward the south and shots were fired to push it back to Gaza City, MSF added.

When the convoy was on its way back, it was attacked. “Two of the MSF cars were deliberately hit, killing one MSF staff’s family member and injuring another.”

MSF has called again to urgently allow the evacuation of its staff and their families as well as of thousands of other people, who are trapped by fighting and living in extremely dire conditions in northern Gaza.

“We are calling for an immediate ceasefire, which is the only way for corridors to be implemented to safely evacuate trapped civilians.”

November 19, 2023 Posted by | War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

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