France using the ‘terrorism’ charge to silence criticism of crimes in Gaza: French lawyer

French political scientist Francois Burgat
MEMO | April 29, 2025
French lawyer Rafik Chekkat said today that the charge of “terrorist propaganda” is being used in France to silence those who speak out about crimes committed by Israel in Gaza.
French political scientist Francois Burgat, known for his work on the Arab world, was detained on 9 July 2024, in Aix-en-Provence on charges of “terrorist propaganda.” His arrest followed a complaint by the European Jewish Organisation (OJE) over social media posts he shared in January 2024 about Israel’s attacks on Gaza.
“The two most commonly used charges to silence those who respond to the crimes committed in Gaza are ‘terrorist propaganda’ and ‘incitement to hatred and discrimination,’” said Chekkat, one of Burgat’s lawyers and a member of the Marseille Bar Association.
“Sometimes you are prosecuted under one charge, sometimes the other, and sometimes even both simultaneously,” he added.
Burgat was released the same day he was arrested and appeared before a judge at the Aix-en-Provence Criminal Court last week.
The prosecution has requested an eight-month suspended prison sentence, a €4,000 (about $4,550) fine, and a six-month ban on posting on X.
“Despite being an expert on terrorism-related issues, he is now being prosecuted for ‘terrorist propaganda’,” Chekkat said.
The court is expected to announce the verdict in Burgat’s case on 28 May.
Chekkat argued that Burgat’s case is part of a broader pattern of cracking down on criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza.
The law regarding “terrorist propaganda”, he explained, was originally designed to combat terrorist organisations’ recruitment efforts in online environments but is now “being used to suppress dissenting voices on the issue of Palestine.”
“This is just the visible tip of the oppressive iceberg. That is to say, not only are publicly known figures involved here, but also many lesser-known individuals,” he said.
“Sometimes activists, and sometimes people not affiliated with any group — even ordinary individuals — have been questioned, prosecuted, and some have even been convicted of terrorist propaganda,” he added.
UNRWA details harrowing abuse of Gaza aid workers in Israeli detention
Al Mayadeen | April 29, 2025
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, has accused the Israeli military of abusing over 50 of its staff members detained during the war on Gaza.
According to UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini, the detained individuals, including teachers, doctors, and social workers, were subjected to harsh treatment while in Israeli custody. Lazzarini stated on X that the staff reported being beaten, humiliated, and even used as human shields.
“Since the start of the war in October 2023, over 50 UNRWA staff among them teachers, doctors, social workers, have been detained and abused,” Lazzarini wrote. “They have been treated in the most shocking and inhumane way.”
Testimonies reveal torture, forced confessions
Sharing testimony from one of the released workers, Lazzarini highlighted the severity of the mistreatment.
“I wished for death to end this nightmare I was living through,” the staff member reportedly said. According to the accounts collected by UNRWA, detainees faced sleep deprivation, humiliation, threats against themselves and their families, dog attacks, and forced confessions under duress.
Lazzarini described the testimonies as “harrowing and outrageous,” adding to concerns about the treatment of Palestinian detainees during the ongoing Israeli war.
The reported abuse of humanitarian workers further complicates the already dire situation in Gaza, where aid agencies have been struggling to deliver assistance amid ongoing Israeli bombardments and blockades.
International reactions and ICJ proceedings
The broader humanitarian crisis in Gaza is under increased international scrutiny. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is currently hearing arguments from dozens of nations and organizations regarding “Israel’s” humanitarian obligations to Palestinians.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) began a week-long series of hearings on Monday to examine “Israel’s” humanitarian obligations toward Palestinians, as the Gaza Strip endures over 50 days under a total blockade that has halted the entry of vital aid.
The ICJ hearings on Gaza started with a submission from Palestinian representatives, followed by arguments from 38 countries, including the United States, China, France, Russia, and Saudi Arabia.
The League of Arab States, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and the African Union are also expected to present their positions before the 15-judge panel.
These proceedings stem from a December resolution by the UN General Assembly, led by Norway and passed with broad support, calling on the court to urgently issue an advisory opinion on “Israel’s” legal responsibilities under international law.
The United Nations has asked the court to clarify “Israel’s” obligations to facilitate the unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza, in coordination with UN agencies, international organizations, and third-party states. This comes as the Gaza humanitarian crisis continues to worsen, with growing concerns over famine risk due to the blockade.
It is worth noting that “Israel” maintains strict control over all international aid entering the Gaza Strip, home to 2.4 million Palestinians. Aid deliveries were fully halted on March 2, just before the ceasefire collapsed, ending a temporary reduction in hostilities after 15 months of conflict.
The ongoing Israeli aid blockade has pushed Gaza to the brink of catastrophe, with supplies rapidly depleting and Palestinian civilians facing severe restrictions on access to essential resources.
“The masters of the universe are Jews,” former US Senator declares in Israel
By Wyatt Reed – The Grayzone – April 28, 2025
Ex-GOP Senator and Republican Jewish Coalition chair Norm Coleman proclaimed with a straight face that Jews control the world during a Jerusalem conference featuring a speech by Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu.
Former US Senator Norm Coleman has raised eyebrows by declaring that “the masters of the universe are Jews” at a major Zionist lobby event in Jerusalem. In an address to a summit hosted by the Adelson-funded Jewish News Syndicate on April 27, Coleman pointed to various major technology firms founded by Jews, suggesting the shared religion of the companies’ creators should translate into a greater zeal for censoring criticism of Israel.
“And when you think about it, the Masters of the Universe are Jews! We’ve got Altman at OpenAI, we’ve got [Facebook founder Mark] Zuckerberg, we’ve got [Google founder] Sergey Brin, we’ve got a group across the board. Jan Koum, y’know, founded WhatsApp. It’s us.”
The remarks came as Coleman lamented that pro-Israel propagandists are “losing the digital war” in battle for the hearts and minds of younger generations, and called for more stringent censorship of pro-Palestinian speech.
“A majority or Gen Z have an unfavorable impression of Israel. And, my friends, I think the reason for that is that we’re losing the digital war. They’re getting their information from TikTok, and… and we’re losing that war.”

As numerous polls show young Americans are increasingly skeptical of Israel – with a recent survey showing 71% of Democrats and 50% of Republicans under age 49 now hold an unfavorable view of Israel – establishment politicians have consistently blamed TikTok’s algorithm for the decline in enthusiasm for genocide. In February, the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee, Mark Warner, revealed that the bill forcing China’s ByteDance to sell TikTok was motivated by the visibility of pro-Palestine content on the app.
For Coleman, though, it appears this wasn’t enough. “We have to figure out a way to win the digital battle,” he told summit attendees. “We’ve got to get our digital sneakers on, so that the truth can prevail over the lies. And when we do that, the future of Israel will be stronger because a majority of all Americans will support Israel. We’ll make that happen, we have to make it happen. Thank you, Baruch hashem.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the stage directly after Coleman’s speech, highlighting Tel Aviv’s interest in the event, which was billed as the “Inaugural JNS Policy Summit to address Israel’s pressing strategic issues.”
An archetypal neoconservative, Coleman started off as an anti-war activist who once worked as a roadie for Jethro Tull, and was suspended from Hofstra University for leading a sit-in. “I went to Woodstock, and I inhaled!” he boasted at the JNS summit. After first taking office as a member of the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party, Coleman wound up narrowly losing his Senate seat to Al Franken in 2008 as a Republican.
In addition to serving as the national chairman of the Republican Jewish Coalition and founder of the Congressional Leadership Fund super PAC, Coleman now works as a top lobbyist for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Google DeepMind workers push for unionization over company’s Israeli ties
Press TV – April 27, 2025
Employees at Google DeepMind’s London office have initiated efforts to unionize in response to the tech giant’s decision to provide its artificial intelligence (AI) technology to defense entities and maintain connections with the Israeli regime.
Reports on Saturday indicated that around 300 workers at DeepMind, the AI division of Google in London, have sought membership with the Communication Workers Union in recent weeks.
DeepMind employees’ decision began when Google updated its approach to AI technology and dropped its militarization clause from its ethical pledge (AI Principles).
In its previous version of AI Principles, Google had included a commitment clause to not pursue AI technologies that “cause or are likely to cause overall harm”, especially in weapons and surveillance that violate “internationally accepted norms.”
The revised version of AI Principles, states that the company pursues AI “responsibly” and in line with “widely accepted principles of international law and human rights”, but does not include the previous language about weapons and surveillance.
The tension between DeepMind and its parent company further increased when a whistle-blower revealed that Israel had been using their technology to generate targets for assassinations and attacks in Gaza, where close to 51,500 Palestinians have been killed so far.
After the revelation about the Israeli regime’s use of DeepMind AI in the Gaza war, several employees quit the company.
“We’re putting two and two together and think the technology we’re developing is being used in the [Gaza war],” said one engineer involved in the unionization effort.
“This is basically cutting-edge AI that we’re providing to an ongoing [war]. People don’t want their work used like this,” he added.
The effort to unionize needs to be recognized by the company through a vote among DeepMind employees in the UK. The company has around 2,000 staff in London.
If the unionization effort succeeds, the employees will demand that Google nullify its military contracts.
If Google still decides to sell its technologies for military purposes, then the employees have the right to go on strike.
“What I hope and what people who are active are hoping is that we stay away from any military contracts,” said one of the organizers of the unionization effort.
The Israeli regime already has a $1.2bn cloud computing agreement with Google and Amazon, called Project Nimbus.
‘Israel’ continues war on Palestinian journalism: 343 attacks in 2025

Al Mayadeen | April 27, 2025
The Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate disclosed on Sunday alarming findings on the condition of press freedom in Palestine, documenting widespread violations committed by the Israeli occupation during the first three months of 2025.
The report highlights a brutal and systematic campaign against Palestinian journalists, marked by lethal attacks, arrests, and the destruction of property.
According to data from the syndicate’s Freedom Committee, 15 journalists were martyred in the Gaza Strip as a result of direct targeting by the Israeli occupation forces: Seven in January and Eight in March 2025. Alongside the targeting of media workers, 17 family members and relatives of journalists were also killed. Additionally, 12 journalists’ homes were destroyed in missile and artillery strikes, while 11 journalists sustained severe injuries.
The targeting of journalists did not stop at physical attacks. The report documented 49 incidents in which press crews came under live fire, with death narrowly avoided. These attacks were often carried out under the pretext of issuing warnings or clearing journalists from specific areas, underscoring the deliberate nature of the occupation’s strategy to silence media voices.
The wave of detentions also persisted during the first quarter of 2025, with 15 journalists detained either during home raids or while reporting in the field. While some remain imprisoned, others were released after hours or days in custody. These arrests form part of a broader campaign to stifle media coverage of ongoing events in occupied Palestine.
Repression of journalistic freedoms
The report outlines further forms of repression faced by Palestinian journalists, including systematic obstruction and targeted persecution. Approximately 117 journalists endured various measures designed to prevent them from performing their duties, particularly in al-Quds and Jenin. These included arbitrary detention, intimidation, and physical assaults.
In al-Quds and Jenin, 14 journalists were subjected to violent attacks involving gunstock blows and kicking. The destruction and seizure of equipment were also widespread, with 16 cases recorded. Moreover, 31 journalists suffered from respiratory trauma after exposure to poisonous tear gas, forcing some to seek emergency medical care.
Legal harassment and administrative restrictions also increased. Around 13 journalists in al-Quds were summoned for interrogation and subsequently banned from reporting in the vicinity of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Old City. These measures are part of a broader effort by the occupation to control narratives and suppress the Palestinian media, according to the Syndicate.
In total, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate documented approximately 343 violations, which included verbal abuse, threats, incitement, deletion of footage, legal prosecutions, and financial penalties. Given the scale and intensity of these violations, the syndicate has urged field teams to exercise extreme vigilance and adhere to strict safety protocols.
The syndicate concluded by reaffirming its commitment to documenting these crimes and presenting them to international institutions. It emphasized the importance of exposing the Israeli occupation’s actions and pursuing accountability to put an end to the aggression against Palestinian journalists and media freedom.
Gaza’s Missing
TRT World | March 1, 2025
In Gaza, where loss is immeasurable and grief beyond expression, families search for their missing children—some lost in the rubble, others in the silence of war. TRT World’s new documentary Gaza’s Missing uncovers their stories, revealing a generation slipping away and the fight to keep their memory alive.
Subscribe:
http://trt.world/subscribe
Livestream: http://trt.world/ytlive
Facebook: http://trt.world/facebook
Twitter: http://trt.world/twitter
Instagram: http://trt.world/instagram
Visit our website: http://trt.world
Former Biden “Disinfo” Board Chief Urges EU to Resist Criticism on Censorship Laws

In Strasbourg, Jankowicz rewrites the script, casting Washington as the villain in Europe’s censorship push.
By Didi Rankovic | Reclaim The Net | April 24, 2025
Former head of former President Biden’s Disinformation Governance Board, Nina Jankowicz, has found a new audience for her political and ideological narratives – and it’s EU institutions.
Jankowicz – known by her critics as “Biden’s disinformation czar” (or at least, would have been one, had the Disinformation Governance Board not been so short lived) – this week spoke at a meeting of a European Parliament committee dedicated to EU Commission’s latest censorship initiative, “the European Democracy Shield.”
The meeting was called to discuss risks to democracy, in this case, what the bloc considers to be Russian disinformation campaigns, but Jankowicz focused on the US administration, referring to her country as “another autocracy” that she wants the EU to “stand firm against.”
Jankowicz took the opportunity to warn that the US administration is “undoubtedly preparing a pressure campaign” to make the EU abandon (censorship) rules like the Digital Services Act (DSA). In the same breath, she also claimed that Washington will pressure Brussels to “end support for Ukraine, to stop holding Russia to account.”
Jankowicz had trouble keeping to the theme of the meeting, namely, “Russian hybrid threats,” and kept returning to her anti-Trump agenda, stating that just as Russia, China, Iran, and others are busy with their “interference campaigns” – in the US, “homegrown anti-democratic forces have launched a coordinated campaign to undermine researchers, journalists, advocates and civil servants who work to expose their lies.”
She was also critical of US tech giants accusing them of being complicit in creating “global instability” and again went back to Trump, his administration’s supposed “capture” of major social networks, only to conclude that neither are interested “in preserving democracy.”
Jankowicz singled out US Secretary of State Marco Rubio for his decision to shut down the Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (R/FIMI) Hub, which was a rebrand of the also disbanded Global Engagement Center (GEC), a State Department entity involved in flagging social media posts for censorship.
But to Jankowicz, the steps the current administration has been taking to dismantle the intricate and documented system of online censorship is done merely “under the guise of protecting free speech.”
Jankowicz also told the EP commission that she supported 51 former intelligence officials who penned a letter suggesting the Hunter Biden laptop story was “disinformation” – a claim that has since been debunked, but at the time, just before the 2020 election, led to widespread censorship of the New York Post article on the subject.
“A valid expression of free speech,” is how Jankowicz views the letter.
Are You Tired of Hearing About Antisemitism?
Simply stop killing Gazans and the anger directed at Jews might end
By Philip Giraldi • Unz Review • April 26, 2025
One might well ask how a group composed of little more than 3% of the US population has managed to gain control of the nation’s foreign policy, its legislature and executive branches, its media, its entertainment industry, its financial institutions, and its elite universities while also making the United States subservient to the wishes of a monstrous small state located seven thousand miles away and composed of its coreligionists? Well, it helps to have a great deal of money liberally applied to corrupt the existing political and economic systems, but that is not necessarily a good place to start as one might reflexively be accused of wielding a trope much favored by antisemites when discussing Zionist Jews, the group of which we are speaking. Alternatively perhaps, one might take an oblique approach by observing how the highly privileged and protected Zionists in question get rich living in America while having true loyalty to apartheid Israel, something that normally might be considered untenable if not borderline treasonous.
Recent reports suggest that there are upwards of 23,000 Americans serving in the Israeli Army (IDF), most of whom are presumably dual nationals with Israeli citizenship. Under existing law, they should all lose their US citizenship but that will not happen as Congress and the White House have both been bought. Indeed, they are being given a golden handshake by the US Congress with a new bill currently in Congress which would extend some US military benefits to the notional American citizens who are currently carrying out the Gaza genocide as members of the IDF. One such clown Congressman Brian Mast, who served in the IDF, even parades around Congress in his Israeli military uniform and no one says squat.
Beyond the Americans in the IDF, there have been several odd appointments at high levels in the US civilian bureaucracy, including the latest naming of a former Israeli Defense Department and UN Israeli Embassy employee whose husband still works at the embassy to a top position on the National Security Council. Merav Ceren will be the Director for the development of the relationship between Israel, Iran and the US. It is a highly sensitive position and one can only speculate on how she got a clearance, though it is presumed that she is a dual national, which in and of itself should have been a warning sign. Her appointment gives Israel an unusual advantage in internal policy discussions just as the Israeli government has launched a new campaign to pressure the American government to start a war with Iran rather than continue with negotiations toward a nuclear deal. Ceren previously worked at Senator Ted Cruz’s office in Washington, which may have been her stepping stone to the job as Cruz’s loyalty to Israel and all that pertains to it should be unquestioned and he is the recipient of millions of dollars in pro-Israel political “donations.” She also worked for the neocon Iran-hating Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. How she was named to the position she now holds should be considered in itself a huge security breach, one of many already experienced in Trump’s first hundred days, where loyalty to Israel trumps all other factors, as the expression might go.
The trajectory of Meyav Ceren reminds one of another Israeli woman dual national who truly stood out when it came to serving Israeli interests from inside the United States government. Sigal Pearl Mandelker might be worthy of the nickname “Queen of Sanctions” because she was the Department of the Treasury’s Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (OTFI) under the first Trump administration. She handed out the punishment and cranked up the economic pain up for countries like Iran, Venezuela, Cuba and Russia during her time in office from June 2017 until October 2019 when she finally resigned after being under pressure from people like me.
OFTI’s website proclaims that it is responsible for “safeguarding the financial system against illicit use and combating rogue nations, terrorist facilitators, weapons of mass destruction (WMD) proliferators, money launderers, drug kingpins, and other national security threats,” but it has from its founding been really all about safeguarding Israel’s perceived interests. Grant Smith notes how “the secretive office has a special blind spot for major terrorism generators, such as tax-exempt money laundering from the United States into illegal Israeli settlements and proliferation financing and weapons technology smuggling into Israel’s clandestine nuclear weapons complex.”
To be sure most of the Jews with whom I am in touch are appalled by that activism of the Mandelkers and the Cerens and even more so by what is happening in Gaza, Syria and Lebanon at the hands of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his extremist enablers, but what we are talking about here is institutional and tribal Jewry which together have the distinction of being referred to as the Israel Lobby, which an increasing number of observers have to come to believe to be something like all powerful and the unofficial government of the United States in many relevant areas.
Ron Unz’s recent article recent article Trump vs. Harvard in a Political Wrestling Match examines the issue of Jewish supremacism and, among other factors, identifies the various mechanisms used by Jews to enhance their enrollment at top universities. He mentions in passing how Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner got into Harvard without having the level of academic achievement that normally would have been a prerequisite. It was possibly accomplished through an institutionalized “Harvard Price,” an under the table donation of several million dollars from the wealthy Kushner family. I personally recall attending an elite university in the 1960s and hearing Jewish classmates boast of how “they” comprised 40% of the first-year students. A friend of mine at Yale told me of similar boasting among the “Sons of Eli.” Forty per cent participation for 3 per cent of the population is certainly an astonishing rate of success.
Unz uses available educational data bases to demonstrate that the disparity was not due to greater intelligence or academic performance among the Jewish applicants. He concludes that “Based on these figures, Jewish students were roughly 1,000% more likely to be enrolled at Harvard and the rest of the Ivy League than white Gentiles of similar ability. This was an absolutely astonishing result given that under-representation in the range of 20% or 30% is often treated by courts as powerful prima facie evidence of racial discrimination.”
Based on my own contact with Jews in the academic world and in government, I would prefer to describe the Jewish success with universities as a product of gaming the system, i.e. producing incentives outside academia itself to make the candidates more attractive. Whether such maneuvering might be described as corruption of the process depends pretty much on where someone stands outside the system, but the fact is that it is far easier for a Jewish high school graduate to get into an elite university than it is for a comparably educated and intelligent white Christian. And if you throw into the hopper all the “minority” other applicant groups that get preferential treatment, white males who are not Jews are definitely at the bottom of list when acceptance time comes around.
Beyond cash incentives, one might also conclude that Jews are exceptionally good at self-promoting and on translating their largely fictional collective victimhood into a sympathy vote that gives them a considerable edge as they move through education and high-profile careers. The problem is that that aggressive self-promotion does not stop at the level of personal aggrandizement and opens the door to large scale group interference in both foreign and domestic government policies that run strongly contrary to the interests of most Americans. I am of course referring to groups like the American Israel Political Action Committee (AIPAC) and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) which serve as lobbies and support structures for the apartheid Jewish state Israel, which is currently carrying out a genocide in Gaza, without any accountability or consequences as required by current US law under the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (FARA). President John F. Kennedy was trying to get such groups to register when he was assassinated in 1963.
Other Jewish national organizations are also on board in supporting Israel as are the numerous Christian Zionists, which means that killing tens of thousands of people in the Middle East is a matter of no consequence, except that once more the Israeli Jews must be and are widely portrayed as the victims. The US is complicit in the arming of Israel and the killing and actually condones it even though a majority of American voters do not support the Jewish state. Likewise, the Jewish dominated press and other media looks the other way as the slaughter goes on, as it no doubt will, and one expects that upwards of 2 million Palestinians will eventually be deported to whatever shithole is willing to accept them under pressure from the US. Otherwise, the “Justice” recommended by Israel’s Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who is now in the United States on a “visit,” will likely be pursued, i.e. a bullet to the back of the head of every Palestinian.
And then there is the issue of the “crime” of antisemitism, which is the only thing that the Justice Department seems to think is worth addressing, to the point where people who have done nothing beyond expressing their concern over what is going on in the Middle East are being arrested without any charges being filed and detained while being processed for deportation. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has publicly announced that he has authorized the arrest and deportation of 300 students for their criticism of Israel. The US House of Representatives has obligingly passed a measure equating criticism of the racist, Jewish supremacist ideology of Zionism with what they describe as a hate crime “antisemitism.” Meanwhile the Israel Lobby and its politician choral society are constantly using the Jew-controlled media to sing about how Hebrew students fear going to school due to the presence of all the “antisemites.”
This is, of course, largely a convenient fiction largely created by the media, and it is rather Jews who have been beating up peaceful demonstrators. And it is extremist Jewish-funded groups that have been stirring the pot, going after anyone who is perceived as anti-Israeli. One of the groups, Canary Mission, has run a massive disinformation operation for years, publishing the names and photos of thousands of alleged pro-Palestine activists, while another group, Betar, openly encourages targeting of student activists and brags that it has “provided names of hundreds of terror supporters” to the Trump administration. Ross Glick, the head of Betar’s US branch, believes that “Foreign students on visas in the US shouldn’t have the right to free speech.” Jews, however, should be allowed to behave with complete freedom to include carrying out murder, war crimes, and human rights violations targeting those it sees as opponents.
To be sure, protesting against any of the horrors that Israel is engaged in is regarded to be one symptom of “antisemitism” which is ipso facto considered to be something like a capital offense, even though it is pretty much generated in America by the impunity and savagery with which Israel behaves towards the rest of the world. And the parameters of what might constitute a legitimate search for “antisemites” is expanding. The US State Department will now demand from foreigners wishing to travel to the United States information on their social networking sites. Those sites will be screened for anti-Israel content and the visas will be refused. This is an extension of the anti-Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) policies now in place in 38 states in the US where a job or services will be denied to citizens if they will not sign a pledge or promise not to support the movement to boycott or punish Israel. The situation is even worse for those foreigners who are currently going through screening to become US permanent residents as it is the issue of one’s views of Israel alone that could easily determine who is allowed to become a future citizen and who is rejected.
Indeed, protecting Jews is a full-time job of the Trump Administration, even more so that under Genocide Joe Biden. Antisemitism comes up in speech after speech and fully ninety per cent of the discretionary Homeland Security Agency grants already go to Jewish groups or buildings, to the tune of more than $400 million. Interestingly, the government also appears to be constructing a data base of Jews to protect them further. The personal cellphones of dozens of current and former Barnard College employees rang last Monday evening with a text message that said it was from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, part of a review of the employment practices of Barnard. A link led to a survey that asked respondents if they were Jewish or Israeli, and if they had been subjected to harassment.
Another attack on free speech in America that is Israel related, apart from what is going on at the universities which are being destroyed from within by the government demands to protect Jews, is the role of how research institutes have traditionally been able to engage in fraternal discussions to seek action and share information with any country or government entity in the world. But researchers and university employees who engage in certain nonviolent protests or political expression over human rights conditions in Israel and Gaza may now risk loss of employment and other civil and criminal penalties, according to a new policy unveiled by the National Institutes of Health on April 21st. The agency, the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world, touches virtually every corner of the scientific community but it will now be silent over what is happening in Gaza, where every hospital has now been destroyed by Israeli-American bombs.
So there you have it. Let’s stop making excuses for Israeli behavior that depicts Jews as the perpetual victims while seeking to falsely label Israel’s enemies as the war criminals and racists. We will leave those attributes to Israel itself. Better still, arch-Zionist Donald Trump should pick up the phone in the Oval Office and call Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to tell him that America has become tired and the game is over. America will no longer be sacrificing its own interests to support a genocide and no longer will be footing the bill and providing the weapons to carry out the slaughter. “Goodbye Bibi! And don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out!”
Philip M. Giraldi, Ph.D., is Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest, a 501(c)3 tax deductible educational foundation (Federal ID Number #52-1739023) that seeks a more interests-based U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Website is councilforthenationalinterest.org, address is P.O. Box 2157, Purcellville VA 20134 and its email is inform@cnionline.org.
Israeli Occupation Forces Assassinate Journalist, His Wife and Daughter in Deir al-Balah
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights – April 24, 2025
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns in the strongest terms the assassination crime committed by the Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) that killed a Palestinian journalist, his wife and daughter while they were walking near their house in Deir al-Balah.
PCHR believes that the ongoing targeting and surging killing of journalists undoubtedly reveal that the killing is deliberate and intentional aimed to intimidate and terrorize journalists preventing them from unveiling the truth to the world.
Such targeted attacks are part of the crime of genocide Israel is committing in the Gaza Strip. PCHR emphasizes that IOF’s unabated impunity encourages them to commit more violations and crimes against journalists and their families without any deterrence for their actions.
According to PCHR’s documentation, on Wednesday, 23 April 2025, an Israeli warplane fired a missile at journalist Sa’id Amin Abu Hasanein (42), targeting and killing him, his wife, Asmaa’ Jihad Abu Hasanein and their 15-year-old daughter, Sarah, while they were walking on al-Bee’ah Street, central Deir al-Balah. Hasanein worked in sound engineering and audio mixing at Al-Aqsa Voice Radio in Gaza.
With this crime, the number of journalists killed by IOF since 07 October 2023 has risen to 212, according to Gaza’s Government Media Office. This war has taken a record toll since the recording of journalist fatalities started in 1992.
Among those killed were 13 female journalists. Meanwhile, the majority of journalists were killed in Israeli warplane and drone airstrikes, and the remaining were shot dead by Israeli snipers. Most journalists were killed alongside their families in targeted attacks on their homes, while others were killed in indiscriminate bombings throughout the ongoing genocide.
Some journalists were directly targeted and killed while others were killed on duty. Additionally, 194 journalists have been injured under various circumstances during the aggression.
Moreover, a large number of social media activists have been targeted by the IOF, who systematically incite against them and threaten to kill them if they do not remain silent.
PCHR asserts that the targeting of journalists intends to isolate the victim and prevent the documentation of Israel’s genocidal acts against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip.
Thus, PCHR calls on the international community to openly condemn the targeting of journalists, to exert pressure on Israel, the occupying power, to immediately stop these attacks, and to urgently provide international protection for civilians, including journalists, in the Gaza Strip.
PCHR emphasizes that the deliberate killing of journalists is a war crime under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC), according to Article 8 of the ICC’s Rome Statute. It also constitutes arbitrary deprivation of life under Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the perpetrators must be held accountable.
Moreover, targeting journalists constitutes a violation of the right to freedom of the press and freedom of expression, which are guaranteed under international human rights law, especially Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
PCHR calls on the international community to pressure the occupying power to immediately stop targeting journalists and to take immediate action to provide international protection for civilians, including journalists, in the Gaza Strip.
PCHR also urges the international community to exert pressure on Israel to stop its crimes, comply with the rules of international law, and provide protection for civilians.
PCHR also calls upon the international journalists’ organizations, including the International Federation of Journalists, to act urgently to push towards holding Israel accountable for the killing and targeting of journalists in Palestine, particularly in the Gaza Strip.
PCHR also calls on the ICC Prosecutor to expedite the issuance of tangible measures to accomplish the investigation into the situation of the State of Palestine, including killings of journalists who pay their lives as a cost for exposing the truth especially that the victims in Palestine have long awaited justice and accountability.
PCHR also urges the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression to scale up efforts to protect the right to freedom of opinion and expression and investigate crimes committed by IOF against journalists and media outlets in the occupied Palestinian territory.
Al Mayadeen receives Hamas’ vision for Gaza ceasefire
Al Mayadeen | April 26, 2025
Hamas is presenting a comprehensive approach aimed at achieving a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and securing a prisoner exchange deal, a senior Palestinian Resistance official told Al Mayadeen on Saturday.
The official explained that the proposal calls for an all-in-one agreement between the two parties, ensuring a full prisoner exchange.
The Resistance is open to a long-term ceasefire lasting up to five years, under regional and international guarantees, according to the official, who maintained that once the framework is agreed upon, the situation on the ground would revert to the status prior to March 2.
Immediately following the agreement, military operations would cease, Israeli occupation forces would withdraw from the Gaza Strip, and humanitarian aid would be allowed to enter the Palestinian enclave in accordance with an established humanitarian protocol, the official emphasized.
As part of the proposal, Hamas suggests the formation of a local committee composed of independent technocrats to administer Gaza, granting it full jurisdiction and responsibilities, the official noted.
The governance committee would be established based on the Egyptian proposal for the community support committee.
The senior official also said that Hamas’ proposal aims to pave the way for achieving a broader national consensus within the framework of previous agreements reached between Palestinian factions, the latest of which is the Beijing Agreement.
British MPs challenge ‘outrageous’ claims as legal adviser defends Israel and rejects Palestinian statehood
MEMO | April 25, 2025
Members of the UK Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee were left visibly exasperated during a tense hearing this week, after UK Lawyers for Israel advocate, Natasha Hausdorff, claimed that Palestinians have no right to statehood under international law and that Israel has “flooded” Gaza with humanitarian aid. The remarks, delivered as part of an official inquiry into prospects for a two-state solution, drew widespread incredulity and sharp rebuttals from MPs.
The most pointed exchange came when Hausdorff claimed there were no UK or US concerns about Israel’s conduct in Gaza. Labour MP, Emily Thornberry, interrupted to warn her bluntly: “Be careful what you’re saying.” Thornberry called the assertion “an extraordinary allegation … be careful what you’re saying” and challenged Hausdorff’s implication that Israeli operations have not breached international humanitarian law (IHL).
Thornberry repeatedly pressed Hausdorff to describe what a peaceful future would look like for Palestinians living in Gaza or the West Bank. “If I’m a Palestinian mother, what is the best thing that could happen to me?” Thornberry asked, her tone increasingly incredulous as Hausdorff blamed Western governments for allegedly “encouraging extremism” among Palestinians and insisted the main goal should be “defeating Hamas”.
When Hausdorff eventually claimed Palestinians do not have a legal entitlement to statehood, Thornberry asked for a clear answer. Hausdorff replied that, while Palestinians may enjoy a form of self-determination, this does not amount to a “right to a state” under international law. The claim flatly contradicts decades of UN resolutions affirming Palestinians’ right to statehood and the 2004 International Court of Justice advisory opinion that upheld this view.
In another remarkable moment, Labour MP, Alex Ballinger, who served in the British Army, directly challenged Hausdorff’s statement that the Israeli army operates with the highest standards of international humanitarian law in history. The MP called the assertion “outrageous”, referencing his own military experience and accusing Hausdorff of presenting a distorted version of reality.
Further exchanges focused on the devastation in Gaza. One MP cited UN statistics showing that 91 per cent of the population is facing severe food insecurity, one-third of hospitals are completely out of action, and over 92 per cent of housing units have been destroyed or damaged. When asked how Israel could justify blocking aid under such conditions, Hausdorff maintained that Israel had previously “flooded” Gaza with aid, claiming that shortages were the fault of Hamas diverting supplies.
MPs were visibly frustrated by this response, with one reminding Hausdorff that the UN and major humanitarian organisations have warned of an imminent man-made famine. Hausdorff dismissed these warnings saying “UN reports … have been consistently found to be wrong.” Her claim is disputed by overwhelming evidence from international agencies, including the World Food Programme, UNICEF and OCHA.
Hausdorff described her work with UK Lawyers for Israel as a fight against what she termed “the international legal war against Israel”, and accused human rights groups of weaponising international law. Her combative rhetoric, however, did little to win over the committee, whose members repeatedly challenged her assumptions and highlighted the discrepancy between her claims and the evidence provided by aid agencies and international courts.
She also took aim at United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), calling for its defunding and claiming the Agency fuels extremism, a charge rejected by both the UN and the British Foreign Office, which has praised UNRWA’s humanitarian work, while conducting its own investigations.
While the hearing was convened to assess steps toward peace in Israel and Palestine, Hausdorff’s testimony, focused largely on justifying military actions and denying Palestinians a path to statehood, exposed the divisions between the Israeli position and the UK. MPs from multiple parties questioned how her positions could ever support a two-state solution, or even a framework for lasting peace.
The session concluded with visible frustration among MPs, several of whom appeared astonished by Hausdorff’s remarks.
