URGENT: A family standing against Israeli army and settler violence, and imminent displacement in the Jordan Valley
International Solidarity Movement – Palestine | September 21, 2025
In the hills of the northern Jordan Valley, one Palestinian family is facing the threat of being displaced from their land. On September 20, the Israeli army issued them a final eviction order — threatening to destroy their tents, farming shelters, animals, and everything they depend on for survival.
This family is the last to remain in their community. Others have already been forced to leave in recent years by Israeli colonisers, who confiscated or destroyed their homes and belongings. Their struggle shows how army actions and settler violence combine to push Palestinians from their land.
Palestinian families’ daily life under threat
The family makes a living from shepherding. With more than 200 sheep and goats, their livelihood depends on access to open grazing. Today, this way of life is nearly impossible. Settlers attack shepherds, block grazing land, and steal animals. To keep their herds alive, the family must now buy fodder, which is costly and reduces the quality of the products they sell.
Two weeks ago, settlers poisoned the family’s water supply. Like all Palestinians in the Jordan Valley, they are not connected to the water network and depend on cisterns. Without safe water, their health and their animals’ survival are in danger. They also live without electricity, relying only on solar panels for minimal power.
In recent weeks, the army has raided the land and their home several times. Soldiers ordered demolitions of shelters, claiming the area is a “military zone.” Family members have been injured multiple times during these raids.
Meanwhile, settlers are expanding, with new outposts being built nearby and existing settlements growing closer. This increases the pressure on the family to leave.
Background on Jordan Valley
The northern Jordan Valley lies in Area C, which makes up over 60% of the occupied West Bank and remains under full Israeli military control. Israel imposes severe restrictions on Palestinians living there on building, farming, and access to basic services. The army often declares Palestinian areas as “firing zones” or “closed military zones,” using these designations to demolish homes, stop grazing, and force families to move. In practice, this clears space for settlements while displacing Palestinians.
For decades, Israel has uprooted entire communities across the Jordan Valley under these policies. Where once there were villages with families, schools, and farmland, only scattered households remain.
What can you do?
Contact your governments and demand they put pressure on Israel to stop its ethnic cleansing campaign in the Jordan Valley and elsewhere. They must:
1 Cancel the eviction order against the families immediately.
2 Stop settler violence such as poisoning, theft, intimidation, and ensure protection of Palestinian civilians as required under international law.
3 End the use of “military zones” as a pretext for displacement
4 Provide access to basic rights: water, electricity, education, and security.
International communities, media, and civil society — it’s time to raise awareness and take action.
This is not only about one family. It is part of a larger effort to remove Palestinians from the Jordan Valley and Area C of the West Bank. This family now stands almost alone, holding on to their land and way of life. If they are displaced, another piece of Palestinian presence in the Jordan Valley will be erased.
Their story must be told and shared. The world needs to see what is happening and act before yet another community disappears.
Israeli trade relations collapse amid war on Gaza, global boycotts
Al Mayadeen | September 21, 2025
“Israel’s” trade relations are suffering a serious deterioration in recent weeks, with deals and meetings being canceled even with historically “friendly” nations, amid an atmosphere of secrecy and embarrassment.
Israeli exporters have revealed that companies in Europe and the United States have refused to renew export contracts, while marketing networks have announced a halt to the import of Israeli products “until further notice.”
In this context, Ynet reported that a delegation of experts from the Moody’s rating agency visited Tel Aviv and left with very worrying impressions of the possibility of a rating reduction soon. One official said, “It will be a miracle if a reduction is not made within two weeks.”
A senior economic official who met with Moody’s representatives pointed to extreme concern over the massive rise in defense spending during the war on Gaza, confirming it represents a critical turning point.
The official warned that the Israeli government could lose all control over budget management, threatening a huge rise in the deficit and an accumulation of debt.
Israeli trademarks take heavy blows
The president of the Israeli Manufacturers Association, Ron Tomer, confirmed that the Israeli brand has been severely damaged, warning that the economy could be set back by years. Tomer also pointed to a shocking request from a supposedly “friendly country” to erase any images of meetings with Israeli companies to avoid political embarrassment.
An exporter explained that the situation has deteriorated significantly since the announcement of the intent to occupy Gaza and with the increasing spread of videos documenting the bombing of buildings and mosques and the deaths of civilians.
The exporter added that the footage from Gaza can no longer be overlooked and that they are now destined to complete isolation and feel shunned all over the world.
71% of scrapped deals connected to war on Gaza
According to a survey prepared by the Israeli Manufacturers Association, which included 132 industrialists, nearly half of all exporters have lost deals or not had their contracts renewed, while 71% of them indicated the cancellations were for political reasons related to the war on Gaza.
The European Union was the most proactive in cancellations, as 84 percent of industrialists reported losing contracts there, while 31 percent were surprised by similar decisions from clients in the United States, according to the survey.
The survey also indicated that 76 percent of exporters have seen their exports directly harmed, with the impact exceeding 40 percent of total exports for some of them.
The survey further revealed that more than half of all new clients now refuse to deal with Israeli companies, while 49 percent of exporters are facing unprecedented logistical difficulties with shipping, customs, and ports.
Economic analyses link this crisis to the repercussions of the war on the Gaza Strip and statements by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about turning “Israel” into a closed system, which has alarmed investors over rising security expenditures and a worsening deficit.
Imagine There Was A Violent Cult Committing Atrocities with Impunity
By Caitlin Johnstone | September 20, 2025
Imagine there was a violent cult that used scriptures from an ancient religion to convince its followers to do evil things.
Imagine the cult was given its own state.
Imagine the cult was given machine guns, tanks and war planes.
Imagine the cult obtained nuclear weapons.
Imagine the cult started committing genocide against the indigenous people who’d been living in the area where the cult’s state was established.
Imagine the cult had huge branches in the most powerful nation on earth, and the powerful nation defended the cult no matter what it did.
Imagine the cult flipped out and started relentlessly attacking and invading the surrounding nations.
Imagine the cult had so much influence and support in western society that western governments and institutions would censor, silence, fire, marginalize and deport anyone who criticized the cult’s actions.
Imagine the western media sympathized highly with the cult and spent the entire time framing its atrocities as entirely reasonable defensive actions, and framing critics of the cult as malicious bigots.
Imagine the cult kept getting crazier and crazier and more and more violent, but nobody could find a way to stop it because its actions were backed by this giant western power structure.
That’d suck, huh?
I think that’d be just about the most bat shit insane situation anyone could possibly imagine.
A nuclear-armed death cult just murdering and massacring mountains of human beings with total impunity, backed by the most powerful people on earth? That would be an unfathomable madness.
If someone made a movie about such a thing I’d stop watching halfway through, because I would find it too unbelievable.
I’d be like, come on man. Come up with a more realistic plot line. And come up with a more believable antagonist; nobody is that evil.
I’d be like come on Hollywood, you seriously expect me to maintain my suspension of disbelief when you’re putting out a movie about these cartoonishly evil bad guys who blow up hospitals and assassinate journalists and murder humanitarian workers and deliberately massacre starving civilians seeking food?
I’d be like, you really expect me to believe a violent cult could get all this power and do all these evil things and get away with it, just by lying about it all the time? Eventually people would stop believing their lies!
I’d be like, somebody would stop them. Not only does this movie have unbelievable antagonists, it also lacks any believable protagonists. Basic human decency would compel the world to stop all these atrocities being committed right out in the open. Where are the heroes in this story?
And then I’d storm out of the movie theater, glad to be outside that horrible fictional world where such freakish absurdities were taking place.
And then I’d stand in the parking lot and look up at the sky, and thank God I’m back in reality again.
NEWSOM’S AB144 POWER GRAB
The HighWire with Del Bigtree | September 18, 2025
California lawmakers quietly gutted budget bill AB144 on the last day of session and slipped in sweeping changes to vaccine and parental rights. Amy Bohn of PERK explains how the law signed by Governor Gavin Newsom bypassed the legislative process, hands vaccine decision-making power to the California Department of Public Health, revives HPV recommendations, expands liability protections, and sidelines future ACIP and CDC recommendations.
Israel forced displacement of over quarter-million Palestinians from Gaza City, says government media office
Palestinians flee to the south following intensified Israeli airstrikes and the start of ground operations in Gaza City on September 19, 2025. [Mohammed Nassar – Anadolu Agency]
MEMO |September 20, 2025
Israel has forcibly displaced 270,000 Palestinians from Gaza City toward the south under threat of bombardment and genocide, the Gaza Government Media Office said Saturday, Anadolu reports.
In a statement, the office said more than 900,000 Palestinians remain in Gaza City and northern areas, refusing to leave despite the ongoing destruction and “crimes of permanent forced displacement.”
“While thousands have fled south due to heavy Israeli airstrikes, at least 22,000 have since returned to Gaza City after moving belongings to the south,” it said, citing the absence of basic necessities there.
The office highlighted that the Al-Mawasi area in Khan Younis and Rafah, promoted by Israel as a “safe humanitarian zone,” has instead been bombed more than 110 times, leaving over 2,000 people dead.
It said the area lacks hospitals, infrastructure, clean water, food, housing, electricity, and education, making life “almost impossible.”
According to the office, Israel has allocated just 12% of Gaza’s total area as “shelter zones” while attempting to force over 1.7 million people into them, comparing these to “concentration camps” aimed at depopulating Gaza City and the north.
The office condemned Israel’s actions as “a full-fledged war crime and crime against humanity,” blaming “Israel, its ally the US, and other states supporting the war” for the consequences.
It called on the international community, the UN, and international courts to take “serious and effective measures” to halt the crimes, hold Israeli leaders accountable, and guarantee Palestinians’ right to remain in their land with safety and dignity.
Israel has been waging a devastating genocidal war on the Gaza Strip since October 2023, killing more than 65,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Estonia about to ban Russian Orthodox Church
By Lucas Leiroz | September 20, 2025
The Baltic countries continue to advance their Ukrainization process, adopting increasingly anti-Russian measures. Now, the country’s authorities are targeting the Russian Orthodox Church, passing laws that will restrict the religious rights of more than 250,000 Orthodox believers in Estonia. The goal is to achieve complete de-Russification, eliminating any common cultural ties with Russia—including the religious affiliation of a substantial portion of the Estonian population.
The Estonian parliament recently passed a law prohibiting religious groups from maintaining ties with foreign entities considered “threats to national security.” In practice, this description serves only one purpose: to ban Russian Orthodoxy because of its ecclesiastical affiliation with the Moscow Patriarchate.
Moreover, the law was approved by parliamentarians despite intense criticism from the country’s president, Alar Karis. The president argues that the measure is unconstitutional and violates the principles of religious freedom, in addition to directly affecting the Orthodox Church, which is the largest Christian denomination in Estonia. Since April, the president has twice refused to sign the law, but parliament continues to insist on passing the bill repeatedly, openly defying him.
The bill passed with a landslide: 63 votes in favor to just 15 against. This explains the high and worrying levels of Russophobia in Estonian society—as well as in all the Baltic countries, which have deliberately decided to erase the Soviet past and break the historical relations with Russia in exchange for integration with the Collective West, following a path extremely similar to that which led Ukraine to the current war.
Karis currently has two options. He can obey parliament and ratify the law, which in practice will mean officially implementing a regime of religious persecution against Orthodox Christians; or he could refer the law to the country’s supreme court for judges to assess its compliance with constitutional norms. If the judges rule that the law is constitutional (which is likely, considering that many of these judges also have pro-Western and anti-Russian ideological preferences), pressure from parliament for approval will continue and grow increasingly. Karis may even begin to suffer reprisals, such as the loss of support from several parliamentary groups, until he finally agrees to enact the law.
The local jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church is trying to negotiate an amicable solution to the problem with politicians. In recent documents and statements, the local Orthodox clergy have omitted mention to the authority of the Moscow Patriarchate and reaffirmed their broad rights of ecclesiastical autonomy. But even this is not considered sufficient by Estonian parliamentarians, who demand a complete break with the Moscow Patriarchate—which is obviously rejected by religious leaders, as it would be an act of schism.
Attacking the Orthodox Church is a way of attacking the Russian people themselves. By doing so, the Estonian authorities are attempting to destroy Russian identity, which has religion as one of its strongest cultural traits. The history of the Russian people is almost entirely marked by the religious factor. From the Christian conversion of ancient Slavic tribes to the present day, Orthodox Christianity is inseparable from Russian ethnocultural identity. There is no relevant political factor or “security issue” in the affiliation of Estonian Orthodox Christians to the Moscow Patriarchate. The real objective behind the law is simply to endorse Russophobia and undermine the identity of ethnic Russians living in Estonia.
In recent years, Ukraine has passed several similar laws, thus legitimizing the persecution of Orthodox Christians within its territory. Over 80% of Ukraine’s population is Orthodox, but even this doesn’t prevent the government from attacking churches, arresting clergy, and persecuting the faithful. In practice, some signs of persecution have existed since 2014, with churches being destroyed and religious people murdered in Russian-majority regions. It’s important to note, however, that although Ukraine has maintained an openly anti-Russian stance, it only recently enacted an official ban on Orthodoxy—already during the war with Russia. On the other hand, Estonia is banning the Orthodox Church even though it isn’t engaged in any military conflict with Russia, demonstrating that the level of authoritarianism and Russophobia in the Baltic states is truly worrying.
Obviously, this situation raises legitimate concerns for Moscow. Russia has an obligation to ensure the safety of its people in the post-Soviet space. 27% of Estonia’s citizens are native Russian speakers, while 16% of the country’s population is Orthodox. If the current persecution escalates to more advanced levels, such as attempts to physically eliminate ethnic Russians—as occurred in Ukraine—Russia will have no choice but to use any means necessary to save its people.
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.
Bernie Sanders Is A Ghoulish Zionist
By Caitlin Johnstone | September 18, 2025
Bernie Sanders finally issued a statement acknowledging the indisputable fact that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza after two years of adamantly refusing to do so. The statement begins as follows:
“Hamas, a terrorist organization, began this war with its brutal attack on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 innocent people and took 250 hostages. Israel, as any other country, had a right to defend itself from Hamas.
But,”
Dude goes two years refusing to call a genocide a genocide, then issues a statement which begins by placing blame for the genocide on the victims of said genocide. He also lumps the hundreds of IDF troops slain in the attack in with “innocent people”, ignores the large percentage of the death toll that would have been killed by Israeli troops under the Hannibal Directive, and babbles about Israel’s “right to defend itself” against an occupied population.
The rest of the statement is standard liberal Zionist fare, acknowledging the horror of the situation in Gaza while blaming it all on Benjamin Netanyahu and not the murderous apartheid state which would be doing what it’s doing with or without Netanyahu. It’s just progressive-sounding Israel apologia accompanied by a denunciation driven by the inability to escape finally calling this thing what it is.
This is the face of what passes for the “left” in modern US politics. Absolutely ghoulish.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich described Gaza as a “real estate bonanza” on Wednesday, saying Israel is in talks with the United States negotiating how the two countries will divide up the enclave.
“We are checking how this becomes a real estate bonanza — I’m not joking — and pays for itself,” Smotrich said, adding, “I’ve begun negotiations with the Americans, and I’m saying this seriously, because we paid a lot of money for this war. We need to work out how we share percentages on the land. The demolition phase, the first stage of urban renewal, we’ve already done. Now we need to build.”
It’s absolutely incredible how often Smotrich and his buddy Itamar Ben-Gvir will just come out and admit that Israel is doing the thing everyone says it’s doing. If this information had come out as a WikiLeaks drop or something it would have been a bombshell revelation, and this guy is right here just bloody saying it.
There’s another report from Haaretz about the horrific things Israeli soldiers say they’ve been doing to civilians in Gaza, including descriptions of the murders of children.
Whenever I read these accounts I can’t help thinking about how there are westerners joining the IDF to participate in this genocide. People travel to Israel to massacre civilians and then fly back home to their real countries and resume their lives as though nothing happened, like they went backpacking in Europe or something. And now they walk among us in our communities, and we’re supposed to be fine with it.
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Netanyahu says he has been invited to visit with President Trump for the fourth time this year. At this point they should just save on jet fuel and move him into a room in the White House.
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Trump is repeatedly bombing civilian vessels under the ridiculous justification that drug traffickers are “terrorists”, without even providing evidence that they are drug traffickers. Trump has now admitted to the US bombing three Venezuelan boats on these completely evidence-free grounds.
When Yemen was attacking ships to enforce a blockade against a genocide, Trump declared them all terrorists and massacred hundreds of civilians. Now Trump is attacking civilian boats and calling them the terrorists.
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Ask a scientist when the universe began and they’ll tell you 13.8 billion years ago.
Ask a Young Earth creationist when the universe began and they’ll tell you six thousand years ago.
Ask a Zionist when the universe began and they’ll tell you October 7, 2023.
US vetoes UN Security Council resolution demanding Gaza ceasefire
Press TV – September 18, 2025
The United States has exercised its veto power to block a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an immediate, unconditional, and permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, marking the sixth such veto since the onset of the genocide nearly two years ago.
The resolution was drafted by the Council’s ten non-permanent members—Algeria, Denmark, Greece, Guyana, Pakistan, Panama, Republic of Korea, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, and Somalia—and was backed by 14 of 15 council members. The US vetoed it on Thursday.
The resolution demanded the unrestricted entry and distribution of humanitarian aid into Gaza and emphasized the restoration of essential services amid a confirmed famine and escalating military operations.
The resolution urged all parties to comply with the ceasefire and called for the safe, unhindered delivery of aid by the UN and its partners, in accordance with international humanitarian law and principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence.
It further stressed the need to lift all Israeli restrictions on aid and restore vital services across the territory.
Speaking on behalf of the sponsoring nations before the vote, Denmark’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Christina Markus Lassen, highlighted the dire humanitarian crisis driving the initiative. “We represent the will and expectations of the General Assembly members who elected us,” she said. “The catastrophic situation in Gaza is what drives us to act today.”
After the veto, Lassen added, “Even though this resolution was not adopted today… 14 members of this Council have sent a clear message. We want to see an immediate and lasting ceasefire, the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, and the urgent lifting of all restrictions on humanitarian aid.”
The Republic of Korea’s ambassador, Sangjin Kim, who holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council, noted the historic significance of the session.
“This meeting marked the 10,000th session in the Council’s history,” he said, also pointing to its coincidence with the 80th anniversary of the United Nations’ founding and the eve of the General Assembly’s high-level week.
He urged members to honor these milestones by fulfilling the Council’s mandate to maintain international peace and security.
US representative Morgan Ortagus described the resolution as “unacceptable,” arguing it failed to condemn Hamas or acknowledge Israel’s right to self-defense.
“Hamas is responsible for starting and continuing this war,” Ortagus stated. “Israel has accepted the proposed terms that would end the war, but Hamas continues to reject them. This war could end today if Hamas freed the hostages and laid down its arms.”
The veto has drawn sharp criticism internationally, with many accusing the US of enabling the ongoing genocide.
Palestinian advocates and human rights observers on social media platforms labeled the action as “complicit in devastation” and a “green light for continuation of crimes,” calling for alternative measures through the UN General Assembly.
Others highlighted the US’s history of shielding Israel, noting this as the 43rd veto on measures against Israel.
Since the Israeli regime launched its genocidal campaign in Gaza on October 7, 2023, it has killed 65,062 people and wounded 165,697, most of them women and children.
Bipartisan Push in Congress to Weaken Section 230, Expand Online Surveillance, and Increase Platform Liability
Calls for platform accountability came with few answers about who decides what speech is acceptable
Dan Frieth | Reclaim The Net | September 18, 2025
During this week’s testimony before both chambers of Congress, FBI Director Kash Patel and several lawmakers made a concerted push to weaken protections for online platforms, advance surveillance partnerships, and promote government intervention in digital speech spaces.
The hearings revealed a rare bipartisan consensus around dismantling Section 230 and tightening control over how people interact and communicate online.
In the Senate, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham opened his questioning by linking online platforms to the assassination of Charlie Kirk, then repeatedly pressed Patel on whether the internet was a breeding ground for radicalization and crime.
Throughout their exchange, Graham blurred the lines between criminal behavior, such as grooming or inciting violence, and broad categories like bullying.
“Is there any law that can shut down one of these sites? For bullying children or allowing sexual predators on the site,” Graham asked.
He repeatedly implied that websites hosting objectionable content should be held legally responsible, asking, “Would you advocate a sunsetting of Section 230 to bring more liability to the companies who send this stuff out?”
Patel replied, “I’ve advocated for that for years.”
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act is a legal provision that protects online platforms from being held liable for content posted by their users.
It allows websites, forums, and social media services to host a wide range of speech without being treated as the publisher of that content. If Section 230 were repealed or weakened, platforms would face significant legal risk for everything users say or share.
This could push companies to aggressively censor user content to avoid lawsuits, leading to broader suppression of speech, fewer places for open dialogue, and less room for dissenting or controversial viewpoints online.
When Graham demanded action against platforms that allow bullying or grooming, Patel suggested that platforms cannot be sued under current law, adding that the explosion of AI-generated abusive material had worsened the problem.
Note that Section 230 does not give platforms immunity from federal criminal law. If a website is knowingly hosting or involved in illegal content, such as child exploitation, terrorism, or sex trafficking, it can already be held criminally liable under existing statutes.
Patel called the situation a “public health hazard” and stated, “I think not only are some of these sites designed to be addictive, unfortunately, the reality is some of these sites are designed to generate income, and many people are generating income based on this illegal trade.”
The hearing offered no engagement with the consequences of gutting Section 230. Instead, there was a clear push to strip away those protections in the name of safety.
Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat, echoed that sentiment. “For years I have supported repealing Section 230,” she said, arguing that the law is outdated and was crafted for a different era.
While she prefaced her comments by claiming to oppose censorship, her solution was the same as Graham’s: eliminate legal protections for platforms to create a “better environment online.”
Klobuchar veered into broader political territory, citing a wave of threats and violence targeting lawmakers.
She asked Patel to commit to conveying her concerns to the White House and emphasized a need to “move forward” on both speech laws and gun control measures.
Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn seized the opportunity to promote the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA).
KOSA is a proposed law that presents itself as a measure to protect children but would fundamentally alter the structure of the internet by encouraging surveillance, forced identity verification, and government-influenced content moderation.
While the bill mandates that platforms shield minors from content deemed harmful, such as material linked to mental health concerns, it also gives the Federal Trade Commission the authority to penalize companies over subjective definitions of what constitutes harm.
KOSA directs federal agencies to develop age verification systems at the device or operating system level, setting the stage for a national digital ID regime that would eliminate online anonymity and expose users to deeper tracking and data collection.
Despite revisions and corporate endorsements, the bill continues to raise alarms among civil liberties advocates who warn it would pressure platforms to over-censor, chilling free speech under the pretense of child safety.
Blackburn described platforms like Discord as enablers of predation, referencing the Kirk assassination, and asked Patel what Congress could do to give the FBI more power.
Patel responded with a call for financial crackdowns and more legal obligations for tech companies, stating, “Nobody’s being held accountable. They’re making money and our youth is dying.”
During his exchange with Rep. Brandon Gill, Patel made one of the most interesting comments of the hearing.
Patel called for expanding surveillance partnerships between the government and private tech companies, including gaming and social media platforms.
“There is no way to triage the amount of information generated on these sites by the FBI alone,” Patel said.
He advocated renewing a law that allows companies to report users to the FBI without fear of liability, framing this corporate-government alliance as essential to national security.
This approach would effectively deputize tech companies as enforcers. No concern was raised about how such partnerships could be abused to monitor lawful political activity or dissent.
Despite the repeated invocation of safety and child protection, the hearings presented little evidence that any of the proposed changes would meaningfully prevent crime.
Instead, lawmakers from both parties appeared eager to empower both the FBI and online platforms to act as gatekeepers of acceptable discourse, with Patel affirming at every turn that the Bureau would welcome such powers.
The push to overhaul Section 230, pass KOSA, and institutionalize surveillance under the banner of public-private “partnership” may signal a dangerous change in how speech is treated online.
Rather than protect fundamental rights, lawmakers are pushing to dissolve long-standing legal safeguards in pursuit of control over what people are allowed to say, and where they’re allowed to say it.
California governor set to sign bill restricting teaching of Palestinian history in schools
By Brooke Anderson | The New Arab | September 16, 2025
Rights advocates are raising concerns over what they say could be a troubling precedent if a bill is signed restricting the teaching of Palestinian history in classrooms in California.
The bill, AB 715, was voted through in the state’s Democratic-majority senate and assembly late Friday night and is now set to be signed by Governor Gavin Newsom.
Those opposing the measure have argued that it could stifle classroom discussions on Palestinians, Islamophobia and other sensitive topics; equate criticism of Israel with antisemitism; and make instructors vulnerable to complaints by imposing vague rules.
Over the last several months, it has faced strong opposition from more than 100 grassroots organisations, including the California Teachers Association, the California Faculty Association, California Federation of Teachers, Association of California School Administrators, California School Boards Association, California Nurses Association, and the American Civil Liberties Union. They have staged regular demonstrations at the state capitol in Sacramento.
Those supporting the bill include the Jewish Federation, the Jewish Community Relations Council, Mosaic United and the Anti-Defamation League. Though they were far fewer, they were able to exert more influence.
“They’re passing anti-education bills. The organising around it has been strong. The entire education community is against it, but it was still passed,” Mirvette Judeh, chair of the Arab American Caucus of the California Democratic Party, told The New Arab.
“They’re not listening to voters. This is a bill that’s unconstitutional. Today it’s education about Palestinian history. Tomorrow it could be something else. To punish teachers to teach about genocide is absolutely insane,” she said.
“History is history. It has to be taught. If people were taught about this in school, the mass dehumanisation of Palestinians would not be happening. They’re taking our rights here at home. This is your America. Take it back,” said Judeh, herself a Palestinian American.
So far, the governor has not indicated whether he will sign the bill, and civil rights advocates that oppose it are hoping there’s still a chance he will not sign it.
“Lawmakers heard overwhelming opposition—8 to 1 from public commenters—and warnings from their own colleagues about the bill’s chilling effect on education. Yet they advanced it anyway,” Hussam Ayloush, CEO of the California chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said in a public statement.
“This is now Governor Newsom’s test. He can either side with educators, civil rights advocates, and students whose voices are at risk of being silenced—or he can greenlight censorship that will make classrooms less free and less inclusive,” Ayloush added.
If signed, which could happen as early as this week, the bill’s supporters hope that it could be a blueprint for other states to pass similar legislation. This bill comes four years after the introduction in grade schools of ethnic studies, which have included material on Palestine, leading to controversy and the introduction of AB 715.
In other news related to free speech, a new bill introduced in Congress by Representative Brian Mast of Florida would allow Secretary of State Marco Rubio to strip immigrants of US citizenship if what they say is deemed to be terrorism. The move, which has been condemned by free speech advocates such as the ACLU, appears to be aimed at student activists.
Chat Control will bring totalitarian communication regulation to so-called free Europe
By Ahmed Adel | September 18, 2025
European Union member countries will soon vote on the “Chat Control” law, which aims to end privacy when texting. Instead of a message going directly from sender to recipient, it will first be sent to a large database, where it will be thoroughly checked for eligibility. Essentially, this bill would require private providers of proprietary software to scan for anything they deem offensive or illegal. Many security experts argue that this would compromise the encryption algorithms currently protecting private messages from being read or viewed by anyone other than the intended recipient.
Since there is very little information available about what is technically envisioned for the implementation of this regulation, it appears to be more of an attempt to legalize post-hoc wiretapping schemes that already exist. For example, there was last year’s scandal involving the arrest of Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, a messaging app renowned for its data protection and encryption. The arrest of Durov was intended to pressure him into providing French intelligence services with a so-called “back door,” or special access to those communications.
Corporations, fearing lawsuits and their own liability, insist that the current arrangement, which has existed informally since the beginning of social media, be legalized in some way. The problem is that this is now difficult to impose because, although the idea has no open technical issues, it entails several fundamental problems, particularly the normalization of mass wiretapping and the erosion of what little trust people have in corporations. Take, for example, Google, which introduced Gmail and boasted about the security of its email service, which humans never read. However, although humans do not read them, they are monitored by Artificial Intelligence.
There is little difference whether humans or AI is monitoring communication, as the effects are still devastating for privacy. No police or intelligence service has enough people to monitor such a volume of messages. Algorithms now do that, and when human control is replaced with algorithmic control, public speech becomes severely limited, destroying not only the possibility of freedom of speech but also that of normal communication. As human communication on social media has become increasingly difficult due to bots and AI, people are now turning to chat apps, such as Viber, Telegram, and WhatsApp.
Corporations recognize that they are losing money due to the decline in interest in public debate, which is precisely a result of totalitarian control. For this reason, the EU now wants to establish the same type of control over the private part of our communication. Many people have adopted a mechanical, robotic logic of thinking because they have been coerced into self-censorship. However, many people who are aware of this situation still consider it unacceptable that the EU wants control over our communication.
The EU is notorious for precisely this unanimity and the ease with which the vast majority of citizens accept any position that is current at that moment, such as accepting increasing electricity prices, vaccinations, illegal immigrants, and sanctions against Russia.
A large portion of humanity uses social media. Therefore, even under ideal circumstances, AI will inevitably make many terrible mistakes. It is impossible for hundreds of millions of people communicating in different languages, making jokes or being ironic, to be constantly flagged and then monitored.
At the same time, people will stop using platforms that deny them freedom of speech and thought. Just as people boycott newspapers and television stations that participated in fake news and disinformation, they will boycott platforms where their privacy is eroded.
These are all processes that are already underway, and the debate over Chat Control is more about legalizing and normalizing surveillance of the public than proposing something important or new to people.
Chat Control was first proposed in 2022 but was voted down in 2023. This latest version, put forward by Denmark, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU Council, would require chat services to allow AI-based message screening before encryption in an effort to detect the sharing of child abuse material.
To pass, the Chat Control bill needs at least 65% support of the EU population. Although France, Spain, and Italy support Chat Control, Germany became the key opposition because its population ensures the impossibility of reaching the needed 65%, even if Estonia, Greece, Romania, and Slovenia – the four undecided countries – choose to support the law, as it would only add up to roughly 59% of the total EU population. Although it is evident that EU technocrats and the leading countries of the bloc, with the exception of Germany, are desperate for Chat Control, it appears that this draconian bill will not pass at this stage.
Ahmed Adel is a Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher.
Israel to flood Gaza City with ‘unprecedented’ number of booby-trapped vehicles: Report
The Cradle | September 17, 2025
The Israeli military is set to deploy an “unprecedented” number of remote-controlled armored personnel carriers (APCs) loaded with explosives into Gaza City as part of operation “Gideon’s Chariots 2,” Hebrew news outlet Walla reported on 17 September.
This is part of the first stage of a three-stage plan drafted by Major General Yaniv Asor to “conquer” the largest city in the strip, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians remain trapped or refuse to be displaced.
“The ‘fire phase’ focuses on the massive destruction of terrorist infrastructure — mainly at night — using various methods, including above and below ground robots,” Walla reports, citing military sources that said “Gaza has never been hit like this before. This is only the second night.”
Referred to as “booby-trapped robots” in Gaza, the decommissioned APCs are rigged with explosives and remotely driven deep into urban areas before being detonated, causing massive explosions and widespread destruction.
“The Israeli army sends the robots near our homes, which stay parked there to terrorize us. The army doesn’t detonate them right away, waiting for fear to push us to flee. When people don’t leave, the army detonates the robots, regardless of whether there are civilians in the area,” Abdulwahhab Ismail, a resident of the Saftawi area in northwestern Gaza, told Mondoweiss last month.
The Israeli military calls this practice “suicide APCs.” According to Walla, Tel Aviv has stationed a large number of these vehicles outside the Gaza separation line.
“Acting on orders from IDF Southern Command chief Maj.-Gen. Yaniv Asor, the deployment of these vehicles has surged, with officers in the field reporting that their usage has tripled. Forces on the ground have testified to the movement of hundreds of these explosive-laden APCs toward the Gaza border,” the Jerusalem Post reported earlier this month.
In August, reports in Hebrew media revealed that Israeli arms companies were planning to expand production of tanks and APCs with a budget exceeding $1.3 billion.
At least 100 booby-trapped robots were used in densely populated areas inside Gaza between 13 August and 3 September alone, according to Gaza’s Government Media Office.
“Before now, the army used to blow up one or two buildings with the robots. Now they destroy dozens of buildings at once. Robots and warplanes are working together to destroy every place in Gaza City,” Ismail described.
Thursday’s report from Walla added that the “second stage” of the southern command’s plan calls for the occupation of Gaza City by the invading troops, while the third stage “is currently classified as high security and combines military capabilities that we have not yet seen in the Israeli war repertoire.”
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The Dirty Little Secret behind the “Global Terrorism Index”
The Omission of Israeli Terrorism in the Occupied Palestinian Territories
By Karin Brothers | Global Research | December 6, 2014
… The Israeli settlements — all of which are illegal – have been identified as a major impediment to peace. The refusal of a major “global” terrorism report to name the Israeli settlers as one of the groups most responsible for terrorism not only misrepresents a major source of regional violence but exposes the Global Terrorism Index as a propaganda tool that supports a U.S. agenda.
In recent years, governments have been attempting to thwart terrorism by blocking supportive fund-raising. When it comes to Israeli settlements, however, the US and Canada actually encourage fund-raising by giving organizations (such as Christian Friends of Israeli Communities (CFOIC) and the Jewish National Fund) financial support in the form of donor tax-deductions.
Charities which provide funds for the Israeli settlements should be regarded as terror-financing organizations. They should not only lose their tax-deductible status, but they should be banned because they support the violation of international humanitarian law. The terror-financing laws that are being strictly enforced for Muslim charities should be applied to Christian and Jewish charities as well. … Read full article
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