Aletho News

ΑΛΗΘΩΣ

Up to 400,000 people deserted Ukrainian armed forces

By Ahmed Adel | September 17, 2025

The bulletproof vests for pregnant women displayed at a Ukrainian military equipment exhibition once again demonstrate the major manpower shortage Ukraine faces, and come at a time when there is increasingly intense public preparation for the mobilization of women. Due to mass desertion and huge losses at the front, the Kiev regime is preparing the mobilization of women, which is causing strong resistance in society. An attempt to forcibly mobilize women is a very risky step that could lead to serious social upheavals and unrest.

According to People’s Deputy of Ukraine Anna Kostiantynivna Skorokhod, there are a total of 400,000 deserters. To understand the scale – that is approximately the size of the armies of France, Great Britain, and Germany. Ukrainian authorities aim to introduce criminal liability for desertion, which would be punishable by imprisonment for 5 to 10 years. However, protests followed, even within the army, and it did not meet with approval. Nonetheless, it is clear that Ukraine needs to expand the mobilization base.

Due to the manpower shortage, the Kiev regime wants to lower the age limit and begin mobilizing not just young people from the age of 18 but also women. Although there are divisions within the Kiev regime over many issues, there is support from all factions to expand mobilization, with former commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and current ambassador to the United Kingdom, Valery Zaluzhny, calling for women “to defend Europe from war.”

The mobilization of women is becoming a major issue in Ukraine, with the media even broadcasting promotional videos showing uniformed women undergoing weapons training and preparing for combat. It is recalled that Iryna Vereshchuk, the deputy chief of staff to the president, ran around the training ground with an automatic rifle, setting a supposed example that women can also serve in the army. In this way, the Kiev regime is slowly preparing the ground for the decision that women are also subject to mobilization.

Mobilization in Ukraine is currently being carried out in accordance with the law and applies to certain categories of citizens and age groups, including men aged 24 to 60 years old. As for women, so far, only those working in the healthcare sector—medical workers and pharmacists—can be conscripted. However, even this sector has been expanded to include women working in pharmacies, regardless of formal education.

Given that the judicial system is completely under the control of the regime, and Zelensky has effectively suspended the constitution, citizens in Ukraine no longer have the legal protection they need. The legal system has collapsed, and the institutions that are supposed to protect rights are not functioning. Instead of a legal state, an open dictatorship is ruling in Kiev, which means that, in reality, anyone can be mobilized regardless of the law.

A significant portion of society, particularly women, is strongly opposed to any form of forced mobilization. Resistance will be far more fierce and massive than what is happening today with the mobilization of men. Already, in numerous situations on the streets, random passers-by — women and even strangers — are standing up for men who are being forcibly taken to recruitment centers. If they start arresting women, it will cause much greater social unrest, and it can be expected that there will be mutiny from within the army, as the men will not want their wives, sisters, and mothers mobilized.

By wanting to mobilize women, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wants to kill mothers and therefore the future of Ukraine, which is already experiencing a major demographic crisis. Not even single mothers would be safe from forced mobilization when considering that men who are the sole guardians of children are still mobilized, regardless of legal prohibitions. International human rights organizations, as well as other institutions and organizations, remain silent and knowingly turn a blind eye to such violations of the law and basic human rights, highlighting the hypocrisy and double standards of the international community.

The deep crisis of statehood and the legal order in Ukraine, where there are no longer any institutions that would protect citizens, is only an apparatus of repression. People are forcibly arrested on the streets, beaten for no reason, and when they try to contact the police, they not only do not react, but often the police join the violence.

The solution exists only in democratic institutions—namely, an independent judiciary, fair elections, and a change of government. But since the courts are not operating within the law and the regime is prohibiting elections, Ukrainian citizens will have no choice but to defend themselves, even with weapons, from those who have turned them into hostages of the repressive system.

Ahmed Adel is a Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher.

September 17, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Militarism | , | Leave a comment

Pam Bondi Says Government Will “Go After” Hate Speech, Drawing First Amendment Criticism

By Cindy Harper | Reclaim The Net | September 16, 2025

US Attorney General Pam Bondi has stirred controversy with recent comments seeming to suggest that certain forms of speech could fall outside First Amendment protections, a stance that is fundamentally incompatible with the Constitution.

During an appearance on The Katie Miller Podcast, Bondi stated, “There’s free speech and then there’s hate speech, and there is no place, especially now, especially after what happened to Charlie, in our society…” She added, “We will absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech.”

Her remarks immediately drew sharp responses from across the political spectrum, with many warning that her approach opens the door to dangerous government overreach.

Bondi later attempted to narrow the scope of her original statements in a post on X, writing, “Hate speech that crosses the line into threats of violence is NOT protected by the First Amendment. It’s a crime.”

She continued, “For far too long, we’ve watched the radical left normalize threats, call for assassinations, and cheer on political violence. That era is over.”

The Foundation for Individual Rights (FIRE), a civil liberties group focused on free speech, fired back, stating, “There is no hate speech exception to the First Amendment.”

The Supreme Court has long protected even offensive or unpopular speech, with the Court’s view being that the “proudest boast” of America’s free speech legacy is “freedom for the thought that we hate.”

Conservatives who typically align with Bondi’s broader political positions also voiced concern.

Megyn Kelly, responding on X, wrote, “Hate speech is not prosecutable in America (which is good). Pam Bondi knows this.”

She suggested Bondi may have been referencing those plotting violence rather than those merely speaking in offensive terms. “Which would not be about the speech but the conspiracy,” Kelly added.

Britt Hume of Fox News was more direct. “Someone needs to explain to Ms. Bondi that so-called ‘hate speech,’ repulsive though it may be, is protected by the First Amendment. She should know this.”

Despite the wave of criticism, Bondi stuck to her position, reiterating her message in another post: “Free speech protects ideas, debate, even dissent but it does NOT and will NEVER protect violence. It is clear this violent rhetoric is designed to silence others from voicing conservative ideals.”

However, Bondi had stated that, “Hate speech that crosses the line into threats of violence is NOT protected by the First Amendment.”

What Bondi described, true threats of violence, is already illegal under federal and state law. Invoking the term “hate speech” in this context is misleading. The constitution does not recognize “hate speech.”

By framing criminal threats as “hate speech,” Bondi moves the public conversation away from clearly defined, prosecutable offenses and into territory where legal protections still apply.

The First Amendment does not carve out exceptions for offensive or disturbing language, and attempts to categorize speech as criminal based solely on its content or tone run into immediate constitutional limits.

The concern is that rebranding existing crimes with emotionally charged labels like “hate speech” creates confusion about what the law actually allows.

It suggests there is a separate, punishable category of expression based on viewpoint or perceived offensiveness, something the US legal system has thankfully repeatedly rejected.

For a state’s top law enforcement official to advance that view undermines public understanding of both free speech protections and the scope of legitimate criminal enforcement.

Charlie Kirk has been one of the most vocal opponents of these censorship regimes. In a 2024 post on X, he made his position plain: “Hate speech does not exist legally in America. There’s ugly speech. There’s gross speech. There’s evil speech. And ALL of it is protected by the First Amendment. Keep America free.”

September 16, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties | , | Leave a comment

Israel launches ground offensive in Gaza City

Press TV – September 16, 2025

Gaza City was engulfed in flames before dawn on Tuesday as Israel launched a new ground offensive, killing dozens of civilians and burying families under the rubble.

Palestinian residents reported heavy strikes across the city overnight, when the military unleashed a massive bombardment as its ground forces moved deeper into the territory’s largest urban hub.

The military said the number of soldiers would rise in the coming days to confront up to 3,000 Hamas fighters in the area. According to a military official, the offensive is “the main phase of the plan for Gaza City.”

Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital said it received the bodies of 20 people killed in a strike that hit multiple houses in a western neighborhood, with another 90 wounded arriving at the facility on Tuesday.

“A very tough night in Gaza,” Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiyah, director of Shifa Hospital, told The Associated Press.

“The bombing did not stop for a single moment,” he said. “There are still bodies under the rubble.”

Witnesses said the regime’s overnight bombing reduced a residential block in the north of Gaza City to mounds of rubble.

Palestinian resident Abu Abd Zaqout told AFP that about 50 people — including women and children — were inside a residential building when it was struck overnight.

“I don’t know why they bombed it,” he said. “Why kill children sleeping safely like that, turning them into body parts? We pulled the children out in pieces.”

Meanwhile, Israel’s minister of military affairs, Israel Katz, said in a post on X that the military “strikes with an iron fist” at what he described as “terrorist infrastructure” in Gaza City.

He said the offensive is aimed at creating “the conditions for the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas.”

“We will not relent and we will not go back — until the completion of the mission,” Katz threatened, saying, “Gaza is burning.”

Israel has long accused Hamas of building military infrastructure inside civilian areas, especially in Gaza City — allegations the resistance group repeatedly denies.

The overnight offensive came only hours after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio put the Trump administration’s full support behind Benjamin Netanyahu in a visit to al-Quds on Monday.

Rubio said Washington’s priorities were the liberation of Israeli hostages and the destruction of Hamas.

However, the UN rapporteur on human rights in the occupied territories, Francesca Albanese, said the aim of the Gaza City offensive is to make it uninhabitable.

“This is the last piece of Gaza that needs to be rendered unlivable,” Albanese said on Monday.

Residents still in the city were warned they must leave and head south.

September 16, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Iran clarifies stance after joint Doha statement, rejects ‘two-state’ solution to Palestinian issue

Press TV – September 16, 2025

Iran has clarified its stance on a joint statement from a Doha summit held in the wake of the Israeli regime’s assault on Qatar, rejecting the “two-state” solution concerning the Palestinian issue and and US’s self-proclaimed “peace” efforts.

The Foreign Ministry issued the remarks on Tuesday, distancing the Islamic Republic from references made in the statement to the so-called “two-state solution,” reiterating support for Palestinians’ right to resistance, and ruling out any prospect of recognition of the regime.

It also dismissed the existence of any genuine intention on the part of Washington to resolve the situation created by the regime’s barbarity throughout the West Asia region, including across the occupied Palestinian territories.

‘Two-state solution’ a non-starter

Reasserting the Islamic Republic’s continued unwavering support for the Palestinian cause of liberation from Israeli occupation and aggression, the ministry said the country would under no circumstances abandon its staunch belief that Palestinians were absolutely entitled to exercise their inherent right to self-determination.

Therefore, Tehran keeps holding fast to its principled position that the only “true and sustainable” solution to the Palestinian issue rests in the creation of a “unified democratic government” in the occupied territories.

Such a government should receive its mandate from the outcome of a referendum partaken by all Palestinians inside the territories as well as the Palestinian diaspora, and, hence, end up representing “all Palestinians,” the ministry said.

Therefore, it said, Tehran utterly dismisses the “two-state solution,” supported by the United States and its allies, and the concepts proposed as part of such “solution,” including those mentioned in the Doha statement.

It named one of those concepts as “establishment of the State of Palestine along the lines of June 4, 1967,” which ignores the vast Palestinian territories that the regime had already occupied in 1948 and continues to occupy.

Also, the Islamic Republic spurns the idea that Palestinians’ future capital should be confined to just the eastern part of the holy occupied city of al-Quds, the ministry added.

“The so-called ‘two-state’ solution would not resolve the Palestinian issue,” it specified.

‘Israeli barbarity necessitates resistance’

Iran, meanwhile, continues to uphold Palestinians’ entitlement to employ “whatever necessary vehicle” towards realizing their inalienable right to self-determination and ridding themselves of foreign colonialism, the ministry stated.

Those rights that are enjoyed by “any peaceable nation” include the right to resist, it noted, adding, “Given the barbarity exercised by the occupying regime’s forces, nothing should serve to restrict this right.”

“It is also our shared duty under international law to support this aspiration,” it said, and also repeated Tehran’s categorical rejection of any potential recognition of the regime.

‘US no ‘peace’ partner’

Finally, the ministry underlined that the policies and actions of the United States have contributed to the continuation and backing of the Israeli regime’s aggression against the Palestinian people, rather than subduing it.

“In light of this reality, the Islamic Republic holds that the United States cannot be recognized or regarded as a credible or impartial party in advancing a just and lasting peace in this conflict.”

“We request the summit’s secretariat to include the Iranian delegation’s reservations in its final report.”

The emergency Arab-Islamic summit was held in the Qatari capital on Monday to address the regime’s recent deadly attacks on the city, which targeted the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas’ leadership, among Tel Aviv’s other atrocities throughout the West Asia region.

September 16, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Solidarity and Activism | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

ACMA Pressures Tech Giants to Maintain State-Backed Fact-Checking in Australia

By Cindy Harper | Reclaim The Net | September 16, 2025

Australia’s communications regulator is once again pushing for tighter control over online speech, using the language of “misinformation” as justification for expanding censorship.

In its latest report on the voluntary Australian Code of Practice on Disinformation and Misinformation, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) criticizes major platforms for stepping away from state-aligned fact-checking programs and chastises others for refusing to sign up to the code at all.

The regulator insists that “support for independent fact-checking in Australia appears to be stalling” and warns of “the potential impact of pulling away from, or limiting support for, independent fact-checking by signatories in Australia.”

This complaint exposes the real agenda: keeping tech companies tethered to outside arbiters of truth rather than trusting users to decide for themselves.

ACMA singles out Google, noting: “In July 2025, it was reported that Google would not renew its partnership with the Australian Associated Press’s fact-checking team.”

Meta is also put on notice after adopting a more open model in the United States, moving away from contracted fact-checkers in favor of community-driven notes.

Even though no such shift has been formally announced in Australia, ACMA underlines that Meta admits “4 of its 2025 commitments are contingent on it engaging third-party fact-checking organizations to fact-check content on their services.”

The report further scolds companies that never joined the code, declaring:

“It is disappointing that several major platforms have not signed up to the code. By electing not to submit their systems and processes to the same scrutiny as signatories, these platforms are sending a strong message to Australians that they are not supporting a coordinated industry-led approach to combatting disinformation and misinformation.”

ACMA then issues a direct demand: “We call on major non-signatories to sign up to the code to provide greater transparency to Australians about what they are doing to address disinformation and misinformation.”

What the regulator portrays as “voluntary” is in reality a pressure campaign: comply with outside “fact-checking” oversight or be publicly shamed as irresponsible.

By holding up third-party fact-checkers as the only credible safeguard, ACMA is endorsing a censorship regime where a handful of organizations act as gatekeepers of truth.

Community-led models that allow citizens to challenge and contextualize claims are sidelined, while central authorities are favored.

To those paying attention, ACMA’s report reads like an attempt to lock platforms into a system that elevates government-aligned “fact-checkers” above open discussion.

Australians have a right to free expression without bureaucrats or their preferred partners deciding what information is fit to see.

The louder ACMA complains about companies moving away from fact-checking, the clearer it becomes that the real “harm” being prevented is not misinformation itself, but the risk of ordinary people making up their own minds.

September 16, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Corruption, Full Spectrum Dominance | , | Leave a comment

Euro-Med rights group accuses Israel of erasing Gaza’s historical and cultural heritage

MEMO | September 15, 2025

The Geneva-based Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor has accused Israel of pursuing a systematic policy aimed at erasing Gaza’s historical and cultural identity. The group warned that the ongoing Israeli military assault on Gaza City—marked by repeated bombings of historic neighbourhoods, places of worship, libraries, museums, archives, cemeteries, centuries-old homes, and traditional markets—threatens to wipe out the Strip’s remaining archaeological landmarks and its tangible and intangible heritage.

In a statement issued on Sunday, the organization described the destruction as a direct assault on cultural property protected under international humanitarian law and the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property. It called for urgent intervention by UNESCO and States Parties to the Convention to halt the devastation, document the damage, secure restoration efforts, and ensure accountability.

The group stressed that Israel’s actions extend beyond the mass killing of civilians and the destruction of homes. It accused Israeli forces of deliberately targeting historical, archaeological, religious, and cultural sites in Gaza—particularly in Gaza City—as part of a broader colonial-settler strategy aimed at erasing the physical and spiritual symbols of the Palestinian people. Such destruction, it said, represents an irreparable blow to a centuries-old collective memory that lies at the core of Palestinian identity.

September 15, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Israel executes Gaza children with single shots to head, chest: Foreign doctors

Press TV – September 14, 2025

Foreign doctors in Gaza describe a pattern of children killed by single gunshots to the head or chest, saying it shows Israel is deliberately targeting them.

De Volkskrant, a Dutch newspaper, published an investigation on Saturday, speaking with 15 doctors who were among the last international eyewitnesses in the region.

The doctors told the newspaper they treated 114 children aged 15 and under with such wounds, and most did not survive.

Witnesses said Israeli drones and snipers fired the bullets. Former Dutch army commander Mart de Kruif said accidental hits are almost impossible given the scale and consistency of the injuries.

American trauma surgeon Feroze Sidhwa, who arrived at the European Hospital in Gaza in March 2024, recalls four boys with head wounds admitted within 48 hours.

“I thought: what the hell? How is it possible?” he said, and over the next two weeks, he treated 9 more children with similar wounds.

Doctors described working in extreme heat in hospitals filled with the smell of sewage, explosives, and decay, with ventilators and medical equipment scarce or broken.

Emergency surgeon Mimi Syed intubated a four-year-old girl shot in a humanitarian zone using a laryngoscope she had smuggled in, keeping the child alive and later documenting the bullet lodged in her head.

Doctors reported treating wounds likely caused by fragmentation weapons, where small cube-shaped fragments pierce organs and vessels, causing fatal bleeding or major amputations.

Weapons experts say the wounds match Israeli-made tungsten fragments, though the Israeli military denies using such weapons.

Mass casualty events occur daily, with children making up over 40% of Gaza’s population, and many arriving with grave injuries.

Doctors described children with shrapnel in the brain, bullets in the chest, and limbs destroyed by blasts, with some classified as WCNSF (Wounded Child, No Surviving Family).

British surgeon Goher Rahbour noticed another disturbing pattern, as the targeted body part changed each day, with one day being the chest or head, and another, the limbs or abdomen, suggesting a coordinated and deliberate method.

Doctors speak out despite risks, as Israel often blocks reentry for those who testify, and “Being silent is not an option,” said Sidhwa.

Doctors from the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and the Netherlands said their duty is to save lives and bear witness to Israeli crimes in Gaza.

Their testimony depicts the deliberate targeting of children, the destruction of hospitals, and the human cost of the ongoing genocide.

Since the Israeli regime launched its genocidal war on Gaza, it has murdered 64,803 Palestinians and wounded 164,264, most of them children and women.

September 14, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Subjugation - Torture, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Brazilian Judge Orders Global Deletion of X Posts in Civil Defamation Cases, Rejects Geoblocking as Insufficient

By Cindy Harper | Reclaim The Net | September 10, 2025

A Brazilian judge’s order demanding that posts on X be erased not just within Brazil but across the entire globe has caused concerns over national courts asserting control over international online speech.

The ruling, handed down by Judge Jeferson Isidoro Mafra in Blumenau, Santa Catarina, orders the platform to delete specific content worldwide, regardless of whether it violates laws in other countries.

The platform’s Global Government Affairs team publicly criticized the decision, calling it a direct threat to global freedom of expression.

“This means that even if the content is not unlawful in other countries, the Brazilian judiciary believes it has the power to issue orders that extend beyond its own jurisdiction and reach the entire world,” the statement read.

X also pointed out that the ruling runs counter to international law, which restricts a nation’s legal reach to its own territory. “This contradicts a basic principle of international law that limits jurisdiction to national territory and puts global freedom of expression at risk,” the platform added.

The ruling stems from two lawsuits filed by Leonardo Wagenknecht Utech, a business administrator, who accused other users of insulting him on the platform.

One of the disputes began after Utech mocked a pro-amnesty demonstration related to the January 8 riots.

His sarcastic comment drew a harsh reply from another user, which Judge Mafra determined was offensive and unlawful.

The judge ordered the response removed and instructed X to provide the IP address of the user in question, an order the platform followed.

But the most controversial element wasn’t the content of the posts. It was the court’s insistence that the deletion must apply globally.

X argued that enforcing Brazilian laws beyond Brazil’s borders sets a dangerous precedent, but Judge Mafra dismissed the jurisdictional challenge, declaring that full removal was non-negotiable.

He also claimed that there was no issue of overreach, saying the court’s order “removes Brazilian interest and is based on Brazilian standards.”

In a second case brought by Utech, the pattern repeated. After he made a comment critical of Pope Leo XIV’s alleged political leanings, another user responded with an insult.

Once again, the judge ruled in Utech’s favor and again imposed a global takedown order.

Mafra maintained that such posts exceeded the bounds of lawful expression, asserting that “freedom of expression is not unlimited” and must conform to notions of “honor, good faith, good customs.”

The judge imposed financial penalties for noncompliance, including a daily fine of one thousand reais ($183) capped at twenty thousand.

Two separate injunctions have been granted so far, both ordering global deletion of user posts.

September 14, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance | , , | Leave a comment

Isabella Cêpa Wins Landmark Free Speech Case After Brazil Sought 25-Year Sentence for “Misgendering”

Courts forced to choose between identity politics and the constitution

By Cindy Harper | Reclaim The Net | September 10, 2025

Isabella Cêpa, a Brazilian feminist and outspoken women’s rights advocate, has defeated a legal campaign that once threatened her with up to 25 years in prison.

Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court issued a final, non-appealable ruling in her favor, concluding a high-profile case that began with a brief social media video and evolved into one of the most significant free speech battles in Brazil’s modern history.

After years of legal pressure and public silence from Brazilian institutions, Cêpa has not only escaped prosecution but has been granted full refugee protections in Europe.

The move marks the first time a Brazilian citizen has received asylum abroad for being persecuted over gender-critical beliefs. Her case has now become a legal precedent, one that free speech advocates say could help protect others facing similar repression.

The conflict began in 2020 when Erika Hilton, a politician who identifies as a woman, won a city council seat in São Paulo. The media widely described Hilton as “the most voted woman” in the city. This caught Cêpa’s attention and led to her making a video that she posted online.

“At the time I didn’t even know who this person was. I just saw a headline on an Instagram page celebrating that ‘the most voted woman in São Paulo is a transwoman,’” Cêpa said.

“Then, I shared a video with my followers saying I was disappointed to hear that the most voted-for woman in São Paulo, later found out that it was in the entire country, was a man.”

That single statement triggered a criminal complaint. Hilton reported her to police, which led to an investigation. In early 2022, authorities summoned Cêpa for questioning.

She was unaware of the extent of the charges until a major newspaper contacted her for comment.

It was only through that journalist that she learned prosecutors had charged her with five counts of “social racism,” a category invented by the Supreme Federal Court in 2019 to criminalize discrimination against the “LGBTQ community” under Brazil’s race-based hate crime laws.

Investigators reportedly combed through Cêpa’s social media history to gather posts that might be labeled “transphobic.” These were used to build a case portraying her as a repeat offender. The potential sentence added up to 25 years in prison.

While her legal fight in Brazil is now over, her victory has implications far beyond her personal safety. Cêpa’s successful asylum application may now serve as a blueprint for others whose gender-critical views place them at odds with increasingly aggressive speech laws.

September 13, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance | , | Leave a comment

Ireland’s Communications Minister Stands by “Disinformation” Plan, Citing Need to Tackle Online “Gossip”

Public consultation was billed as dialogue but ended up as window dressing

By Cindy Harper | Reclaim The Net | September 10, 2025

Despite overwhelming public resistance, Ireland’s government is pressing on with its national “disinformation” strategy.

Communications Minister Patrick O’Donovan has acknowledged that most responses to the public consultation opposed the plan, but said the State has a duty to tackle “gossip” circulating online.

The consultation, carried out ahead of the strategy’s launch, produced a clear result: approximately 83 percent of submissions were against the proposal, even objecting to the concept itself.

Still, the government moved ahead. When asked during a press conference what purpose the consultation served if the outcome was dismissed, O’Donovan avoided addressing the contradiction directly.

“Yeah, and we got responses from other people as well,” he said, adding: “What we have seen over the last number of years is that there has been, unfortunately, in some quarters, a move to believe gossip online as fact and run with gossip online as fact.”

The strategy, introduced earlier this year, outlines a range of state-backed efforts to counter what officials describe as disinformation, misinformation, and malinformation.

O’Donovan emphasized the importance of “trusted sources,” claiming the initiative will help the public separate truth from fiction.

“So look, it’s very important from a government’s point of view, from a democracy point of view, and from basically being able to disseminate what’s news and what’s fiction to have a national counter-disinformation and malinformation, and misinformation strategy,” he said.

According to O’Donovan, the government plans to increase its support for traditional media, including print, broadcast, and commercial radio. He also highlighted measures to aid new journalists entering the field. “It sets out a number of different actions, including supports for young journalists that are emerging out of university, how we make sure that they actually have a pathway for careers,” he said.

Yet the core issue raised by the public, freedom of expression, remains ignored.

When pressed by a reporter, O’Donovan offered no explanation for why the department failed to examine how the strategy might affect free speech.

His own department later confirmed in writing that it had conducted no analysis on that issue, even though it dominated the consultation feedback.

The Minister instead reiterated the need to protect news integrity. “I think what’s very justifiable in Ireland in 2025 is that what passes for news is actually news. What passes for fiction is actually fiction,” he said. “Because unfortunately, we have, notwithstanding the importance of free speech, an awful lot of what’s passing off as news at the moment is just mere gossip.”

Far from responding to concerns, the government appears intent on pushing ahead regardless. O’Donovan framed the consultation as just one piece of the broader strategy, which will continue to receive State investment and institutional support.

In his view, ensuring that citizens receive information from approved sources outweighs objections raised about censorship. “That’s what our department is doing. That’s what the strategy sets out,” he said. “And that’s what the misinformation, malinformation and disinformation strategy seeks to be able to support.”

But for those who took part in the consultation, the government’s course of action suggests their input carried no real weight.

No adjustments were made to reflect public concerns, no assessment was done on the potential risks to civil liberties, and no justification has been offered for ignoring a process that was billed as public engagement.

If Ireland’s disinformation strategy is meant to reinforce democratic values, its rollout has done the opposite. It has shut out dissent, refused transparency, and treated public opinion as a formality rather than a foundation.

September 13, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Corruption, Deception, Full Spectrum Dominance | , | Leave a comment

Von der Leyen Unveils New EU Censorship Push, Online Digital ID Plans, in 2025 State of the Union Speech

Von der Leyen casts online “misinformation” as a contagion, folding speech regulation into the language of safety.

By Dan Frieth | Reclaim The Net | September 11, 2025

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen used her 2025 State of the Union speech to unveil a raft of new regulatory measures that introduce new challenges for digital rights and freedom of expression across the continent and the world.

Framed as measures for public health, democracy, and child protection, the Commission is pushing the EU deeper into institutionalized censorship and online regulation.

Addressing the European Parliament, von der Leyen declared she is “appalled by the disinformation that threatens global progress on everything from measles to polio.”

Citing fears of a global health crisis, she introduced a “Global Health Resilience Initiative,” which she said the EU would lead.

This initiative is expected to tie online speech more tightly to global health narratives, laying the groundwork for broader suppression of dissenting views under the label of medical misinformation.

Another centerpiece of her address was the so-called “European Democracy Shield,” a program that we’ve covered in great detail, intended to streamline and centralize the Commission’s censorship machinery under the banner of fighting “foreign information manipulation and interference.”

Framing the internet as a battlefield, she said: “Our democracy is under attack. The rise in information manipulation and disinformation is dividing our societies.”

Expanding on that framework, she announced the creation of a new institution, the European Centre for Democratic Resilience.

According to von der Leyen, this center will allow the EU to scale up its ability “to monitor and detect information manipulation and disinformation.”

But the agenda didn’t stop there. She introduced the Media Resilience Program, which she claimed would support “independent journalism and media literacy.”

In practice, however, such efforts often result in government-approved messaging being amplified, while dissenting outlets don’t get funded.

Von der Leyen pointed to declining local journalism in rural communities and claimed: “This has created many news deserts where disinformation thrives…This is why we will launch a new Media Resilience Program – it will support independent journalism and media literacy.”

Despite the existing Digital Services Act already mandating age verification (and therefore digital ID) online, von der Leyen floated a new, even more restrictive direction for internet access among young people.

Drawing inspiration from Australia’s controversial 2024 Online Safety Amendment, which includes a social media ban for those under 16, she suggested the EU could move toward similar rules.

“Just as in my days, we as a society taught our children that they could not smoke, drink, and watch adult content until a certain age. I believe it is time we consider doing the same for social media,” she said.

The entire speech signals a continued consolidation of control over digital spaces by EU institutions, with a heavy focus on regulating speech and tightening access restrictions.

September 13, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance, Science and Pseudo-Science | , | Leave a comment

Zionist lawfare operation facing collapse?

By Kit Klarenberg | Al Mayadeen | September 13, 2025

On September 7th, notorious Zionist lobby group UK Lawyers For Israel published a joint letter, triggered by 86% of International Association of Genocide Scholars members backing a resolution declaring “Israel” is committing genocide in Gaza days earlier. The lengthy screed blamed Hamas for Tel Aviv’s mass slaughter of Palestinians since October 7th, and charged the Resistance group itself was in fact guilty of genocide, on the risible, purported basis that Operation Al-Aqsa Flood was intended “to destroy, in whole or in part, Jews and Israelis.”

UKLFI’s repulsive, inverted narrative of Tel Aviv’s 21st century Holocaust in Gaza was reportedly endorsed by close to 500 “legal, antisemitism, history, holocaust, and genocide scholars.” Yet, upon publication, multiple listed signatories angrily announced their names were included without consent, while denouncing the letter’s content in the strongest possible terms. Close inspection indicates several signatories are listed repeatedly, many are tied to Zionist lobby groups, and others – such as a professor of electrical engineering – are self-evidently not qualified to make any judgement on genocide whatsoever.

Such brazen fraud is par for the course for UKLFI. The group has a lengthy, deplorable history of targeting individuals and organisations via frivolous if not outright vexatious lawfare, falsely conflating criticism of the Zionist entity with antisemitism in order to neutralise Palestine solidarity in schools, universities, workplaces, hospitals, and elsewhere. UKLFI’s embarrassingly botched stunt is especially shameful this time round though, as the operation is presently embroiled in significant legal quandaries of its own. The situation is so dire that UKLFI could collapse.

As Al Mayadeen reported in August, a detailed complaint was filed against UKLFI by the Public Interest Law Centre and European Legal Support Center with Britain’s Solicitors Regulation Authority. The 114-page document accused the group of using the law for nakedly politicised intimidation purposes, and ostensibly operating as a legal body despite being unregulated and unaccountable. Adding to UKLFI’s woes, its charitable wing is concurrently under formal investigation by the Charity Commission For England and Wales, due to the pioneering research of advocacy group CAGE.

‘Validating Evidence’

Founded in 2010 – aptly following a “conference on lawfare” convened in an illegal Israeli settlement near Jerusalem [Al-Quds] – UKLFI quickly established itself at the forefront of a new, “more combative” strain of Tel Aviv’s lobbying in Britain. UKLFI’s website is entirely explicit about its rabid commitment to defending the Zionist entity by any means necessary. UKLFI avowedly provides “legal support including advocacy, research, advice and campaigning in combating attempts to undermine, attack and/or delegitimise Israel, Israeli organisations, Israelis and/or supporters of Israel.”

The organisation moreover aims “to contribute generally as lawyers to creating a supportive climate of opinion” in Britain towards the Zionist entity. CAGE forensically details how UKLFI’s stances are not only “fringe” within the legal profession, but reflect Zionism at its most extreme. For instance, the organisation’s representatives fervently argue the Occupied Palestinian Territories aren’t in fact in breach of international law. The UN has consistently found over many years these Israeli settlements are flagrantly illegal, and displaced Palestinians must be permitted to return home.

CAGE traces in forensic detail UKLFI’s intimate yet opaque ties with the Israeli government. In 2012, UKLFI jointly hosted a two-day seminar alongside the Zionist entity’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and London’s Israeli embassy on lawfare strategies. This included presentations on strategies to cripple the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, and how British laws – including the Public Order Act, legislation on Hate Speech, and civil suits for defamation – could be used to the detriment of Palestine solidarity.

In 2019, UKLFI chiefs consulted senior Israeli Ministry of Justice officials, seeking “assistance in finding or validating evidence to help” the organisation in “potential legal actions” brought against it by two pro-Palestine charities, after UKLFI libelously charged the pair were linked directly to proscribed terrorist groups. The Zionist lobby group has lodged bogus complaints against countless organisations, including leading Palestinian aid organisations, to the Charity Commission, and other authorities since birth. This includes Amnesty International, for accusing “Israel” of practicing apartheid. None have been upheld.

In 2016, UKLFI established a charitable wing – the pair are effectively indivisible, sharing patrons and personnel. The charity claims to offer pro bono education and training services, but CAGE notes this invariably amounts to “apologia for racial segregation and apartheid.” Its events routinely host Zionist Occupation Force representatives, and hardline Zionist figures and groups. Some speakers deny uncontroversially proven historic Israeli atrocities and massacres against Palestinians. Others offer advice to audiences on how to weaponise the law to further Tel Aviv’s interests locally and globally.

In 2019, UKLFI’s charitable wing hosted Regavim, an Israeli NGO that actively advocates for the destruction of Palestinian homes in the West Bank. The organisation itself employs lawfare, and via regulatory loopholes, facilitates the destruction and dismantling of Palestinian homes and infrastructure. In the process, per CAGE, “entire communities” are left “without proper roads, houses, or even water systems.” Regavim was founded by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and is Zionist entity-funded. Even liberal Israeli lobby groups harshly condemned the event.

A common UKLFI tactic is to bombard British regulatory bodies and private entities “to disrupt any public displays of solidarity for Palestine” in any context, problematising even the most basic expressions of support as somehow antisemitic. This has prompted numerous organisations to ban wearing Palestine badges or other paraphernalia by staff or students, and in extreme instances, led to employees losing their jobs. CAGE records:

“There are manifold cases in both the public and private sector of UKLFI writing to organisations and attempting to ensure staff of those organisations do not wear anything that might indicate support for Palestine… [UKLFI] doesn’t appear to have any cogent case for why expressing solidarity for Palestine necessitates Jewish people to feel unsafe – especially when considering the widespread support that the Palestinian cause has among Jewish groups in the UK.”

‘Encouraging Hamas’

UKLFI’s noxious activities have become turbocharged since the Gaza genocide’s eruption. Along the way, it has taken credit for the suspension of pro-Palestine NHS doctors, among other things. Meanwhile, in April 2024, UKLFI charity wing chief Natasha Hausdorff – formerly an Israeli Supreme Court clerk – testified to parliament’s Business and Trade Committee on British arms exports to the Zionist entity. She argued the flow of weapons should continue, dismissed confirmed Palestinian death tolls as fraudulent, and unbelievably praised Tel Aviv’s “consistent upholding of international humanitarian law.”

The next month, UKLFI deployed perverse arguments to deny the Zionist entity was deliberately starving Gazans. In a letter to the Co-operative Group opposing a motion to boycott Israeli products, UKLFI chief Jonathan Turner condemned a Lancet estimate of 186,000 Palestinians murdered by Tel Aviv during the genocide to date. He sickeningly suggested “Israel’s” unconscionable assault in fact delivered health benefits that could increase local life expectancy, such as a reduction in obesity, due to constricted access to unhealthy food and cigarettes.

In September that year, UKLFI dispatched a formal letter to the British government threatening legal action in the form of a judicial review unless a partial, token suspension of 30 arms export licences to “Israel” was reversed. Three months later, the lobby group submitted complaints to the Bar Standards Board and International Criminal Court against ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan for seeking arrest warrants against Israeli leaders. UKLFI alleged Khan had breached professional conduct rules, by making false statements and misleading the ICC.

The Court responded by warning UKLFI to be “alive to their own ethical responsibilities and their duty not to mislead.” Clearly undeterred, in April 2025, Hausdorff testified to Parliament’s Foreign Affairs committee. She used the opportunity to dodge charges that “Israel” was deliberately starving Palestinians, repeatedly dismiss Palestinian statehood as a “fantasy”, and accuse Western governments – including Britain’s own – of somehow “encouraging Hamas”. Her comments elicited audible objections of “delusional” from committee chair Emily Thornberry, not recorded in official transcripts.

The next month, Hausdorff led a counter-protest in London against a public commemoration of Palestine’s 1948 ethnic cleansing – known as the Nakba – declaring the event an antisemitic blood libel, and saying that “the lie of the Nakba” was part of a wider attack on Jews. This was despite the commemoration’s sizeable Jewish presence. Hausdorff published her address on social media – one of “innumerable” examples of public statements contrary to international law she has made collated by CAGE, which triggered the Charity Commission probe.

None of UKLFI’s work could plausibly be characterised as fulfilling legitimate charitable or legal objectives. It’s a bitter irony indeed that the organisation, which has for a decade-and-a-half sought to corrupt and distort British law in service of Tel Aviv’s repugnant settler colonial project, and ruined countless careers and lives in the process, now finds itself effectively in the dock. UKLFI’s latest faux pas, like “Israel’s” recent failed attempt at regime change in Iran, is unambiguously indicative of a flailing entity on the verge of extinction.

September 13, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance | , , , , | Leave a comment

« Previous Entries     Next Entries »