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Anti-genocide activists exposed by pro-Israel groups using facial recognition tech

The Cradle | March 30, 2025

Foreign activists who took part in widespread campus protests against US support for the Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza are being exposed by pro-Israel groups using facial recognition technology and tip lines, according to an investigation by AP.

Zionist organization Betar US has reportedly submitted a list of identified protesters to US federal officials. The list was compiled with the help of Eliyahu Hawila, a New York-based software engineer who built a facial recognition tool called NesherAI designed to identify masked protesters.

“It’s a very concerning practice,” said Abed Ayoub, National Executive Director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. “Essentially, the administration is outsourcing surveillance.”

Since the return of US President Donald Trump to power, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have detained or deported at least nine foreign university students for their activism in support of Palestine and against the US-Israeli genocide.

“Now they’re using tools of the state to actually go after people,” a Columbia graduate student from South Asia who has been active in protests told AP. “We suddenly feel like we’re being forced to think about our survival.”

“It might be more than 300 at this point. We do it every day. Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visa,” State Secretary Marco Rubio said earlier this week when asked about the ongoing crackdown on pro-Palestinian students and academics.

“Please tell everyone you know who is at a university to file complaints about foreign students and faculty who support Hamas,” Elizabeth Rand, president of a group called Mothers Against Campus Antisemitism, said in a 21 January post to more than 60,000 followers on Facebook. It included a link to an ICE tip line.

In early February, messages from a chat group frequented by Israelis living in New York were published online. “Do you know students at Columbia or any other university who are here on a study visa and participated in demonstrations against Israel?” one message said in Hebrew. “If so, now is our time!” the message adds, accompanied by a link to the ICE hotline.

Earlier this week, Axios reported that the White House is threatening to block certain colleges from having any foreign students if it decides too many are involved in protests against Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

March 30, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Full Spectrum Dominance, Solidarity and Activism | , , , , | Leave a comment

ECHR Finds Ukraine Responsible for Odessa Massacre

By Kit Klarenberg | March 30, 2025

On March 13th, a bombshell judgment by the European Court of Human Rights found the Ukrainian government guilty of grave human rights breaches over the May 2nd 2014 Odessa massacre, in which dozens of Russian-speaking anti-Maidan activists were forced into the city’s Trade Unions House and burned alive by violent ultranationalist thugs. The explosive findings unambiguously uncover a concerted conspiracy by Ukrainian authorities to facilitate and exacerbate the grotesque killing, then insulate its perpetrators, and officials and state agencies which helped it happen, from justice.

In all, 42 people were killed and hundreds injured as a result of the blaze, a bloody bookend to the so-called “Maidan revolution” that saw Ukraine’s democratically-elected president  Viktor Yanukovych deposed in a Western-orchestrated coup months earlier. Ever since Ukrainian officials and legacy media outlets have consistently framed the deaths as a tragic accident, with some figures even blaming anti-Maidan protesters themselves for starting the blaze. That notion is comprehensively incinerated by the verdict, which was delivered by a team of seven European judges, including a Ukrainian.

The May 2nd 2014 Odessa massacre

“Relevant authorities’ failure to do everything that could reasonably be expected of them to prevent the violence in Odessa… to stop that violence after its outbreak, to ensure timely rescue measures for people trapped in the fire, and to institute and conduct an effective investigation into the events” means Kiev was found guilty of egregious European Convention on Human Rights breaches. Moreover, numerous incendiary passages make clear industrial scale “negligence” by officials on the day, and ever after, “went beyond an error of judgment or carelessness.”

For example, the ECHR found deployment of fire engines to the site was “deliberately delayed for 40 minutes” – the local fire station being just one kilometer away – and police stood by passively as the building and its occupants burned, refusing to “help evacuate people… promptly and safely.” Moreover, Ukrainian authorities made “no efforts whatsoever” or “any meaningful attempt” to prevent or disrupt the skirmishes between pro- and anti-Maidan activists that prefaced the deadly inferno, despite knowing in advance such clashes were impending on the day.

While stopping short of charging that Ukrainian authorities actively wished for the anti-Maidan activists trapped in the burning building to die, this conclusion is ineluctable based on the ECHR’s findings. So too the apparent immunity from prosecution for implicated officials and ultranationalist perpetrators, and Kiev’s failure to act on “extensive photographic and video evidence” indicating precisely who was responsible for “firing shots during the clashes,” setting the building ablaze, and “assaulting the fire victims” who managed to escape.

The case was brought by 25 people who lost family members in the Neo-Nazi arson attack and clashes that preceded it, and three who survived the fire “with various injuries”. The ECHR has demanded Ukraine pay them just 15,000 euros each in damages. In an even greater affront to justice, the damning ruling stops short of exposing the full reality of the Odessa slaughter, indicting the Western-supported Neo-Nazi elements responsible, and their intimate ties to the February 2014 Maidan Square false flag sniper massacre.

‘Explicit Order’

Once the Maidan protests commenced in Ukraine in November 2013, tensions began steadily brewing between Odessa’s sizable Russian-speaking population and Ukrainian nationalists within and without the city. As the ECHR ruling notes, “while violent incidents had overall remained rare… the situation was volatile and implied a constant risk of escalation.” In March 2014, anti-Maidan activists set up a tent camp in Kulykove Pole Square, and began calling for a referendum on the establishment of an “Odessa Autonomous Republic”.

The next month, supporters of Odesa Chornomorets and Kharkiv Metalist football clubs announced a rally “For a United Ukraine” on May 2, before a scheduled match. Shortly thereafter, the ECHR records “anti-Maidan posts began to appear on social media describing the event as a Nazi march and calling for people to prevent it.” While branded Russian “disinformation” in the ruling, hooligans associated with both clubs had overt Neo-Nazi sympathies and associations, and well-established reputations for violence. They later formed the notorious Azov Battalion.

Fearing their tent encampment would be attacked, anti-Maidan activists resolved to disrupt the “pro-unity march” before it reached them. The ECHR reveals Ukraine’s security services and cybercrime unit had substantive intelligence indicating “violence, clashes and disorder” were certain on the day. Yet, authorities “ignored the available intelligence and the relevant warning signs”, and undertook no actions or “proper measures” to “stamp out any provocation”, such as implementing “enhanced security in the relevant areas.”

So it was on the afternoon of May 2nd 2014, “as soon as the march began,” anti-Maidan activists confronted the demonstrators, and violent clashes erupted. At roughly 17:45, in the precise manner of the Maidan Square sniper false flag massacre three months earlier, multiple anti-Maidan activists were fatally shot “by someone standing on a nearby balcony”, using “a hunting gun.” Subsequently, “pro-unity protesters… gained the upper hand in the clashes,” and charged towards Kulykove Pole square.

Anti-Maidan activists duly “took refuge” in Trade Unions House, a five-storey building overlooking the square, while their ultranationalist adversaries “started setting fire to the tents.” Gunfire and Molotov cocktails were “reportedly” exchanged by both sides, and before long, the building was ablaze. “Numerous calls” were made to the local fire brigade, including by police, “to no avail.” Mysteriously, its chief had “instructed his staff not to send any fire engines to Kulykove Pole without his explicit order,” so none were dispatched.

Wives and girlfriends of Neo-Nazis prepare Molotov cocktails for the attack

Several people trapped in the building tried to escape by jumping from its upper windows – some survived, but others died. “Video footage shows pro-unity protesters attacking people who had jumped or had fallen,” the ECHR notes. It was not until 20:30 that firefighters finally entered the building and extinguished the blaze. Police then arrested 63 surviving activists “still inside the building or on the roof.” They were released two days later, after a several hundred-strong group of anti-Maidan protesters “stormed the local police station where they were being held.”

‘Serious Defects’

The litany of security failures and industrial scale negligence by authorities on the day was greatly aggravated by “local prosecutors, law enforcement, and military officers” not being “contactable for a large part or all of time [sic],” as they were coincidentally attending a meeting with Ukraine’s Deputy Prosecutor General. The ECHR “found the attitude and passivity of those officials inexplicable,” apparently unwilling to consider the obvious possibility they purposefully made themselves incommunicado to ensure maximum mayhem and bloodshed, while insulating themselves from legal repercussions.

Still, the ECHR ruled “relevant” Ukrainian authorities “had not done everything they reasonably could to prevent the violence” or “what could reasonably be expected of them to save people’s lives,” therefore finding Kiev committed “violations of the substantive aspect of Article 2” of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Court also concluded authorities “failed to institute and conduct an effective investigation into the events in Odessa” – “a violation of the procedural aspect of Article 2”.

Trapped anti-Maidan activists hoping to be rescued

The ECHR’s appraisal of criminal investigations into perpetrators of the Odessa massacre, and all the officials who failed in their most basic duties on May 2nd 2014, was absolutely scathing, the details pointing to a very clear, deliberate state-level coverup. For example, no effort was made to seal off “affected areas of the city centre” in the event’s aftermath. Instead, “the first thing” authorities did “was to send cleaning and maintenance services to those areas,” meaning invaluable evidence was almost inevitably eradicated.

Accordingly, when on-site inspections were finally carried out two weeks later, the probes “produced no meaningful results.” Trade Unions House likewise “remained freely accessible to the public for 17 days after the events,” giving malicious actors plentiful time to manipulate, remove, or plant incriminating evidence at the site. Meanwhile, “many of the suspects absconded.” Several criminal investigations into perpetrators were opened, only to go nowhere, left to expire under Ukraine’s statute of limitations. Other cases that reached trial “remained pending for years”, before being dropped.

This was despite “extensive photographic and video evidence regarding both the clashes in the city centre and the fire,” from which culprits’ identities could be easily discerned. The ECHR had no confidence Ukrainian authorities “made genuine efforts to identify all the perpetrators,” and several forensic reports weren’t released for many years. Elsewhere, the Court noted a criminal investigation of an individual suspected of having shot at anti-Maidan activists was inexplicably discontinued on four separate occasions, on identical grounds.

The ECHR also noted “serious defects” in investigations of officials, “and their role in the events.” Primarily, this took the form of “prohibitive delays” and “significant periods of unexplained inactivity and stagnation” in opening cases. For instance, “although it had never been disputed that the fire service regional head had been responsible for the delayed deployment of fire engines to Kulykove Pole,” no probe into his flagrantly criminal dereliction of duty was launched until almost two years after the massacre.

Similarly, Odessa’s regional police chief not only failed to implement any “contingency plan in the event of mass disorder” according to protocol, but internal documents attesting that security measures had in fact been undertaken were found to have been forged. However, he only became subject to criminal investigation “almost a year later.” Following pre-trial investigation, his case remained pending “for about eight years,” after which he was released from criminal liability, “on the grounds that the charges against him had become time-barred.”

‘Burn Everything’

Wholly unconsidered by the ECHR was the prospect that, far from a freak twist of fate produced by two effectively warring factions clashing in Odessa, the lethal incineration of anti-Maidan activists in May 2014 was an intentional and premeditated act of mass murder, conceived and directed by Kiev’s US-installed far-right government. This interpretation is amply reinforced by testimonies from a Ukrainian parliamentary commission, instituted in the massacre’s immediate aftermath.

The commission found Ukrainian national and regional officials explicitly planned to use far-right activists drawn from the fascist Maidan Self-Defence to violently suppress Odessa’s would-be separatists, and disperse all those camped by Trade Unions House. Moreover, Maidan Self-Defence chief Andriy Parubiy and 500 of his armed and dangerous members were dispatched to the city from Kiev on the eve of the massacre. From 1998 – 2004, Parubiy served as founder and leader of Neo-Nazi paramilitary faction Patriot of Ukraine.

A Patriot of Ukraine leaflet, featuring Andriy Parubiy

He also headed Kiev’s National Security and Defence Council at the time of the Odessa massacre. Ukraine’s State Bureau of Investigations immediately began scrutinising Parubiy’s role in the May 2014 events after he was replaced as lead parliamentary speaker, following the country’s 2019 general election. This probe has seemingly come to nothing since. Nonetheless, a year prior a Georgian militant told Israeli documentarians that he engaged in “provocations” in the Odessa massacre under Parubiy’s command, who told him to attack anti-Maidan activists and “burn everything.”

He is one of several Georgian fighters who has openly alleged they were personally responsible for the February 2014 Maidan Square false flag sniper massacre, under the command of Parubiy, other ultranationalist Ukrainian figures, and Mikhael Saakashvili, founder of infamous mercenary brigade Georgian Legion. That slaughter brought about the end of Viktor Yanukovych’s government, and sent Ukraine hurtling towards war with Russia. The Odessa massacre was another key chapter in that morbid saga – and the West’s foremost human rights court has now firmly laid responsibility for the horror at Kiev’s feet.

March 30, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance | , | Leave a comment

New German government wants to ban ‘lies’

Remix News | March 28, 2025

The new German government coalition, which is likely to be the Christian Democrats (CDU) and the Social Democrats (SPD) is looking to ban “lies,” according to a working paper that emerged from the group “culture and media” between the two parties.

Bild newspaper received a copy of the working paper, which outlines the goal of combating “fake” news on social media, including restrictions on it.

The paper from the CDU and SPD indicates that “disinformation and fake news” threaten democracy.

In fact, the paper argues that freedom of expression does not apply in such circumstances.

Bild contacted a number of constitutional lawyers, and they are highly skeptical of the law.

“Lies are only prohibited if they are punishable, for example in the case of sedition. Otherwise, you can lie,” said Volker Boehme-Neßler, a professor at the University of Oldenburg.

Even determining a lie is a legal complexity.

“It is not an easy question of what a factual claim and what an expression of opinion is. Most courts interpret freedom of expression very broadly,” he added.

He also took aim at a specific part of the working paper, which addresses “hate and agitation.”

He said, “‘hate and agitation’ — these are ‘no legal terms.” He added, “Basically, the spread of hatred in Germany is protected by freedom of expression. An assertion like ‘I hate all politicians,’ does not yet constitute a criminal offense.”

Another law professor from the University of Augsburg, Josef Franz Lindner, said that the “deliberate spreading of false facts is not punishable, not illegal.”

He said that if the new government moves forward with a law against “fake news,” it would represent a grave threat to freedom of speech.

He said he can only warn against a “fake news” offense being created, saying “Ultimately, it would expose any controversial statement to the risk of criminal prosecution.”

It is also worth noting that Friedrich Merz himself, who is likely to be Germany’s next chancellor, openly lied when he said that his party would [not] support an end to the debt brake. Almost immediately after the election, he said the debt brake would be lifted, and that Germany would take on historic amounts of debt.

Lawyer Joachim Steinhöfel, who has a broad range of clients related to internet censorship, says the CDU and SPD’s goal with the new paper is to “intimidate the unpopular social media” content producers. He said that such censorship already lacks a “constitutional basis.”

March 29, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance | , | Leave a comment

Some New Tales from the Darkside

Beatings and arrests continue both in the US and the Middle East

By Philip Giraldi • Unz Review • March 27, 2025

The news cycle over the past week has been dominated by reports and analysis of the Signal group chat involving top national security officials discussing aspects of the recent air strikes which have been directed against the Houthis in Yemen. There are four basic issues that are being examined by both the media and by elected and appointed government officials. First is the apparent ignorance of ordering the strike at all since the panel appeared not to know very much about the target or why the US was escalating the conflict. Second, was the possibly accidental inclusion in the list of participants of a journalist who is closely connected to Zionist Israel, having voluntarily served in the Israeli Army as a prison guard, where he may have tortured Palestinians, and who plausibly is a dual national US-Israeli citizen. Third is the security of the Signal technology itself, which was reportedly initially created to permit such sharing of confidential views online for criminal purposes, but which might be vulnerable to penetration by any professional foreign intelligence service including those of Russia, China, the United Kingdom and, of course, Israel, which would have had a serious interest in what Washington was intending to do in Yemen. Fourth, is the question whether Donald Trump knew about the meeting and approved what was being discussed.

My own experience of secure communications enabling meetings goes back nearly fifty years when nearly every national security-linked facility, including Embassies and military bases, had a so called “bubble” which was enclosed and electronically sealed to prevent outside penetration to learn what was being discussed and by whom. Since that time, there have been huge advances in protecting communications but friends who are still in the intelligence community insist that what is being protected can be made vulnerable by the cyber agencies that exist in various competitive countries that spend billions of dollars to do just that.

The participants in the Signal meeting are now scrambling to make their case that they did nothing wrong, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in particular is arguing that the discussion was not classified even though the issue related to sensitive intelligence regarding the United States plans for escalating a war against a country with which it was not technically at war. The deniers are certainly wrong in making that case, either that or they were incapable of understanding what was on the table. The presence of Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic magazine is more difficult to comprehend as he is no friend of the Trump Administration, but it is now being argued that it was either done absentmindedly by Michael Waltz, the national security director who chaired the meeting, or it was caused by a fit of confusion due to the fact that the “Goldberg” who was supposed to be invited was someone else. In any event, Jeffrey Goldberg first surfaced the story of the Signal meeting and then followed up with a full transcript. Was it all some kind of clever ploy to push Trump into making the decision to go full throttle and attack Iran? It would not be above Netanyahu to arrange something that convoluted and flat out evil and we shall see about Iran soon enough, but certainly Goldberg could only have been there due to manipulation of a situation in which he was pursuing a pro-Israel agenda. Waltz is taking credit for the snafu at the moment but that position might change as he comes under more pressure to resign.

In any event, the Signal story will no doubt be discussed and both embellished and dismissed during the next few days, but one thing it does demonstrate is the relative lack of knowledge that comes across as incompetency on the part of the Trump national security team. And the role of Trump himself will also be hotly debated as he has personally been playing a key role in foreign policy decision making, though so far he is only speaking up to support the work of his subordinates.

Actually there are couple of other stories that surfaced last week that I much prefer. First is the ongoing battle to silence, imprison and actually deport anyone who is critical of Israel or of Jewish group behavior. This has been job number one for the Israel Lobby, which has been eminently successful under both the Joe Biden and Donald Trump administrations, so much so that the sentiment that Israel controls America has been growing among the US public to such an extent that it surfaces regularly.

The Justice Department has reportedly acted on President Trump’s Executive Order on Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism, through the formation of a multi-agency Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism. The Task Force’s first priority will be to root out anti-Semitic harassment in schools and on college campuses. It is currently on the prowl, visiting four cities (Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and Boston) where it will investigate ten elite universities. It has been suggested that Israeli investigators might well be part of the teams that will actually go into the classrooms, dormitories and administrative buildings on campus, all done without search warrants or probable cause. And the universities have basically surrendered over the issue of freedom of speech, guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and regarded by many as the “right” that is most vital if the people are to enjoy fundamental liberties.

A recent arrest of a foreign student took place in Somerville Massachusetts on Tuesday March 25th when Turkish graduate student Rumeysa Ozturk was on her way to meet friends at an Iftar dinner to break their Ramadan fast, but she never made it. Instead, the 30-year-old was arrested and physically restrained by six armed plainclothes immigration officers near her apartment, close to Tufts University’s campus where she was a PhD student. Surveillance cameras show how one officer wearing a hat and hoodie grabbed her arms, causing her to shriek in fear while another confiscated her cell phone. The officers reportedly only showed their badges after Ozturk was restrained with her hands cuffed behind her back. According to the University, she was enrolled in a doctorate program at Tufts University on a valid F-1 visa, which allows international students to pursue full time academic studies, in which she was in good standing. A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesman issued a statement on Wednesday claiming that Ozturk “engaged in activities in support of Hamas, that relishes the killing of Americans” but didn’t specify what those alleged activities were. In fact, friends report that Ozturk has not even been active in pro-Palestinian demonstrations. The DHS spokesman never the less pressed on and explained “A visa is a privilege not a right. Glorifying and supporting terrorists who kill Americans is grounds for visa issuance to be terminated. This is commonsense security.” Nevertheless, no actual charges have been filed against Ozturk but the State Department has indicated that her visa has been terminated and she has been transferred to the Central Louisiana Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Processing Center in Basile, where other students are also being held.

It is believed that Ozturk’s actual “crime” consisted of having cowritten a March 2024 op-ed in the school’s newspaper where she criticized Tufts’ response to the pro-Palestinian movement, calling for the school to “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide” and also urging divestment of any holdings in Israeli companies and government. Ozturk was to a certain extent a victim of vigilante justice. Her photo and details appear on a website called Canary Mission, run by a Jewish extremist group that says it is dedicated to documenting individuals and organizations “that promote hatred of the USA, Israel and Jews on North American college campuses and beyond.” Tufts University officials said the school had no prior knowledge of the arrest and did not cooperate with it. Several professors, speaking off the record, were shocked and described how many on campus are fearing what comes next.

One final tale comes from a place formerly known as Palestine, where armed Israeli settlers descended upon the Palestinian village of Susiya in the Masafer Yatta region of the occupied West Bank and assaulted Hamdan Ballal. Ballal is the co-director of the film “No Other Land” which recently has been in the news since it won an Oscar in Hollywood for best documentary. As is always the case when Jews assault Arabs, Israeli soldiers were present at the scene and stood by as Ballal was attacked and beaten along with other local residents, only to then detain him and two other Palestinians overnight in a military base, where they endured further abuse from the “Most Moral Army in the World” before being released.

Of course, President Trump did not register a complaint at the treatment of Ballal. What happened to the Palestinian was not just a random encounter. As co-director of a film that documents the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and the violent expansion of Israeli settlements in his region, he has used his platform to speak directly and unapologetically about Israeli apartheid and theft. Friends of Israel clearly see that as a threat and they have succeeded in blocking the showing of the documentary in the US, where it has been unable to obtain a distributor. Targeting Ballal is part of a broader strategy by the Israeli government and groups like the settlers of silencing Palestinian cultural figures and truth-tellers, especially those who succeed in establishing prominent narratives worldwide. The underlying message is that if even an award-winning filmmaker isn’t immune to state violence, then Palestinians should rightly walk in fear or get out. The sad part is that international media, which should have recognized something was wrong when Palestinians without global awards and credentials — students, farmers, mothers, teachers — have been arrested and beaten and tortured by Israeli forces every day, ignored their plight. Their stories do not make headlines. Their names are rarely known. In death, all they become is a number, like the tens of thousands who are buried under rubble in Gaza and who will never be commemorated.

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.

March 27, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Full Spectrum Dominance | , , , , | Leave a comment

The First Amendment Protects Mahmoud Khalil

By Gary Chartier | The Libertarian Institute | March 26, 2025

One of Donald Trump’s first official actions as president was to sign an executive order designed to protect freedom of expression against government pressure. Soon after, Vice President J.D. Vance issued a vigorous challenge at the Munich Security Conference to speech restrictions in Europe. After years of government assaults on freedom of expression, people who cared about First Amendment values were cautiously optimistic.

Then came the administration’s attempted deportation of Mahmoud Khalil.

Khalil, a permanent legal resident of the United States who is married to an American citizen and who is soon to be a father, was detained by the government after he participated in protests focused on the plight of people in Gaza.

In a court filing supporting the decision to deport him, the administration maintained that his “presence or activities in the United States would have serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.”

Obviously, this can’t mean that he was physically impeding the formulation or implementation of foreign policy. He threatened, if he did, to bring about “serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States” because what he did had the potential to change people’s minds. He was targeted because of the anticipated impact of his actual (and potential) expressive activity.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered a similar rationale for Khalil’s deportation. “And if you tell us, when you apply for a visa, ‘I’m coming to the U.S. to participate in pro-Hamas events,’ that runs counter to the foreign policy interest of the United States of America,” according to the Secretary. “If you had told us that you were going to do that, we never would have given you the visa.” (He makes a separate point about Khalil’s involvement in disruptive activities on the Columbia University campus, which I’ll bracket here.)

Rubio’s claim about “the foreign policy interest of the United States” makes sense only if, again, the worry is that the kind of protest in which Khalil was involved risked contributing to changes in policy, or at least signaled Khalil’s personal opposition to the that policy. (Rubio conveniently equates current U.S. foreign policy with “the foreign policy interest of the United States.” But let that slide.)

Khalil has been targeted because of core First Amendment activity: speech and assembly.

Rubio and other defenders of the administration’s position might argue for the legitimacy of Khalil’s deportation by arguing that, as a non-citizen, he’s not protected by the First Amendment. But the Constitution’s language makes no reference to citizens. And there are good reasons for treating it as applicable to Khalil.

The Bill of Rights appears to be intended to apply across the board to those affected by the actions of the U.S. government. Does anyone seriously think that the government could deny non-citizens the protection of the Seventh Amendment right to trial by jury in civil cases, or claim that the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition of excessive bail is inapplicable to non-citizens? Unless the Constitution explicitly limits a given safeguard to citizens, we should read it as protecting everyone the government can impact.

And permanent residents, like Khalil, seem especially worthy of constitutional protection. After all, they are not tourists or brief visitors. They have established substantial ties to the United States and have demonstrated that they are good neighbors. They are often on the road to citizenship.

Whatever we judge to be the primary focus of the First Amendment, singling our people for sanctions because of what they say is deeply problematic. When the government targets the nonviolent expression of particular ideas, on anyone’s part, it sends the message that those ideas are disfavored and that others expressing them can expect to be penalized. Deporting Khalil because of the potential impact of his expressive acts exerts a chilling effect on the expression of officially disapproved ideas about the Middle East—by citizens as well as non-citizens.

The content-focused rationale the government has offered for Khalil’s deportation is a rationale it could invoke to attack citizens for what they say, too. A U.S. citizen who writes an op-ed criticizing some aspect of current foreign policy and whose action the government believes could influence others to avoid supporting its position could be penalized in multiple ways. Citizens (probably) can’t be deported for political dissent. However, if the rationale the government has offered here is upheld, they could be denied other discretionary benefits.

The First Amendment should also be read as protecting Khalil from deportation for the content of his speech because it doesn’t primarily or exclusively serve the interests of speakers. At least as important is the protection it offers to listeners.

Restricting listeners’ access to information undermines democracy and the free formation of public opinion. The more people have the chance to encounter varied voices, the more they have the chance to weigh arguments, evaluate insights, and assess factual claims for themselves. A government that can filter what people hear can artificially insulate its policies against critical push-back and keep them from being altered in light of relevant facts and norms. (Consider, for instance, how frequently governments that rush to war try to censor not only stories about specific military actions or espionage techniques but also arguments for peace.)

There’s no Middle East exception to the First Amendment. The administration can underscore its commitment to freedom of expression by not acting as if there were. The Constitution weighs strongly against deporting Khalil on the basis of what he’s said. Freeing him will benefit not only him and his family but also all Americans.

March 27, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance | , , , , | Leave a comment

Oxford city council passes boycott divestment, sanctions motion

Press TV – March 26, 2025

The Oxford City Council has passed a motion supporting the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, in accordance with International Court of Justice (ICJ) rulings.

On Monday, the members of Oxford City Council unanimously voted for an “ethical investment and procurement” process against Israel.

The motion calls on the Oxford City Council to avoid cooperation and trade with entities complicit in human rights violations and international law.

In January 2024, the ICJ delivered an interim ruling that said it was plausible that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza. The court called on Israel to refrain from impeding the delivery of aid into Gaza

Amongst other orders, ICJ also ordered Israel to avoid acts of genocide in the besieged enclave and punish incitement to genocide.

The Israeli regime not only has continued to ignore the ICJ’s rulings but also has committed numerous acts of genocide against the people of Palestine, including the restriction of the delivery of international aid into the besieged enclave.

Given Israel’s disregard for the Court’s orders, Oxford councilor Hosnieh Djafari-Marbini said councilors had “unanimously passed a boycott and divestment motion citing the ICJ rulings on Palestine.”

One of the motion’s proponents, councilor Barbara Coyne, said in a press release, “I hope this motion will be thoroughly implemented, and that its passage may pave the way for other councils to take decisive action.”

In addition, the Council has called on the Oxfordshire Investment Fund to divest more than 157 million pounds from companies complicit in the Israeli regime’s apartheid, genocide, occupation, and settler colonialism.

The people of Palestine have long called for boycott, divestment, and sanctions, including an arms and energy embargo, against the occupying regime.

The BDS movement demands that Israel, under international law, withdraw from the occupied territories, remove the separation barrier in the West Bank, and respect the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties.

March 26, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Solidarity and Activism, War Crimes | , , , , , | Leave a comment

War, doublethink and the struggle for survival: the geopolitics of the Gaza Genocide

By Ramzy Baroud | MEMO | March 26, 2025

In a genocidal war that has spiralled into a struggle for political survival, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition and the global powers supporting him continue to sacrifice Palestinian lives for political gain. The sordid career of Israel’s extreme far-right National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, epitomises this tragic reality.

Ben-Gvir joined Netanyahu’s government coalition following the December 2022 election. He remained in the coalition after 7 October, 2023, and the start of Israel’s war and the Gaza Genocide, with the understanding that any ceasefire in Gaza would force his withdrawal from the government. As long as the killing of Palestinians and the destruction of their cities continued, then Ben-Gvir stayed on board. Neither he nor Netanyahu had any real “next-day” plan, though, other than to carry out some of the most heinous massacres against a civilian population in recent history.

On 19 January, Ben-Gvir left the government immediately when a ceasefire agreement came into effect, which many argued would not last. Netanyahu’s untrustworthiness, along with the collapse of his government if the war ended completely, made the ceasefire unfeasible.

Ben-Gvir duly returned to the coalition when the genocide resumed on 18 March. “We are back, with all our might and power!” he tweeted.

Israel lacks a clear plan because it cannot defeat the Palestinians.

While the Israeli army has inflicted suffering on the Palestinian people like no other force has against a civilian population in modern times, the Gaza Genocide endures because the Palestinians refuse to surrender.

And yet, Israel’s military planners know that a military victory is no longer possible. Former Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon added his voice to the growing chorus recently, saying during an interview on 15 March that, “Revenge is not a war plan.”

The Americans, who supported Netanyahu’s violation of the ceasefire — and gave the green light for the resumption of the killings — also understand that the war is almost entirely a political struggle, designed to keep extreme far-right figures like Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich in Netanyahu’s coalition.

Although “war is the continuation of politics by other means,” as Prussian General Carl von Clausewitz once surmised, in Israel’s case, the “politics” behind the war is not about Israel as a state, but about Netanyahu’s own political survival. He is sacrificing Palestinian children to stay in power, while his extremist ministers do the same to expand their support among right-wing, religious and ultra-nationalist constituencies.

This logic — that Israel’s war on Gaza reflects internal politics, ideological warfare and class infighting — extends to other political players as well. The Trump administration supports Israel as payback for the financial backing it received from Netanyahu’s supporters in the US during the past few presidential election campaigns. Britain, meanwhile, remains steadfast in its commitment to Tel Aviv, despite the political shifts in Westminster, thus continuing to align with US-Israeli interests while disregarding the wishes of its own population. Meanwhile, Germany, it’s said, is driven by the guilt of its past crimes, while other Western governments pay lip service to human rights, all the while acting in ways that contradict their stated foreign policies.

This mirrors the dystopian world of George Orwell’s book 1984, wherein perpetual war is waged based on cynical and false assumptions; where “war is peace… freedom is slavery… and ignorance is strength.”

These elements are indeed reflected in today’s equally dystopian reality.

However, Israel substitutes “peace” with “security” (its own; nobody else’s), the US is motivated by dominance and “stability”, and Europe continues to speak of “democracy”.

Another key difference is that Palestinians do not belong to any of these “super states”. They are treated as mere pawns, their deaths and enduring injustice used to create the illusion of “conflict” and to justify the ongoing prolongation of the war.

The number of Palestinians killed — now more than 50,000 — is reported widely by mainstream media outlets, yet rarely do they mention that this is not a war in the traditional sense, but a genocide, carried out, financed and defended by Israel and Western powers for domestic political reasons. Palestinians continue to resist because it is their only legitimate option in the face of utter destruction and extermination.

Netanyahu’s war, however, is not sustainable in the Orwellian sense either. For it to be sustainable, it would need infinite economic resources, which Israel, despite US generosity, cannot afford. It would also need an endless supply of soldiers, but reports indicate that at least half of Israel’s reserves are not rejoining the army.

Furthermore, Netanyahu does not merely seek to sustain the Gaza Genocide; he aims to expand it. This could shift regional and international dynamics in ways that neither Israeli leaders nor their allies fully understand.

Aware of this, Arab leaders met in Cairo on 4 March to propose an alternative to the Netanyahu-Trump plan to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from Gaza. However, they have yet to take meaningful action to hold Israel accountable if it continues to defy international and humanitarian laws, as it has since the Arab summit.

The Arab world must escalate its response beyond mere statements.

If they don’t, then the Middle East may endure further wars, all to prolong Netanyahu’s coalition of extremists a little longer.

As for the West, the crisis lies in its moral contradictions. The situation in Gaza embodies Orwell’s concept of “doublethink”, holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously and accepting both. Western powers claim to support human rights while simultaneously backing genocide. Until this dilemma is resolved, the Middle East will continue to endure suffering for years to come.

March 26, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Israeli forces strip and arbitrarily detain two Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank

Defense for Children Palestine | March 20, 2025

Israeli forces forcibly stripped, detained, humiliated, and terrorized two Palestinian children, after a military raid in the northern occupied West Bank last week.

Israeli forces raided the home of the grandparents of seven-year-old Ibrahim Abu Ghali and 13-year-old Omar Mohammed Dirar Zaben, located west of Jenin, where they had traveled for a short stay in the early morning of March 10, according to documentation collected by Defense for Children International – Palestine. Around 4:20 a.m., as Ibrahim’s grandmother stepped outside to listen for the call to prayer, Israeli soldiers opened fire, leaving the rest of the family trapped inside.

Soldiers proceeded to detain Ibrahim, Omar, and their grandfather, forcing them to strip down to their underwear at gunpoint. Israeli soldiers bound their hands with plastic ties and held them outdoors, exposed, in cold temperatures, for about an hour. They were then crammed onto the back floor of a military vehicle, still without clothes, before being taken to Jalameh interrogation center, located in northern Israel.

“Forcing young children to strip, detaining them in degrading conditions, and subjecting them to psychological terror is a clear violation of international law and amounts to cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP. “The Israeli military’s systematic mistreatment of Palestinian children is not an isolated incident but part of its entrenched system of control and oppression over Palestinians.”

“The soldiers aimed their weapons at us, heightening our fear and confusion,” recalled Omar. “[We] were shaking with terror and anxiety. We complied, stripping down to our underwear, raising our hands to our heads, and slowly moving toward the soldiers and their vehicles. Throughout this ordeal, my cousin and I continued to tremble with fear. I found it difficult to move forward, but I had to stay behind my grandfather to avoid drawing suspicion from the soldiers regarding my compliance. The grip of fear was overwhelming for both of us.”

Israeli soldiers loaded the boys into a cramped cell without a bathroom, where they witnessed other Palestinian detainees being severely beaten, berated and insulted, further traumatizing Omar and Ibrahim.

After nearly 12 hours of arbitrary detention, Omar and Ibrahim were roughly shoved onto the back floor of a military vehicle, where they were taken home, still in their underwear, with only a piece of foil for cover. Upon returning home, they learned that their grandmother had been killed by Israeli gunfire during the raid.

The age of criminal responsibility under Israeli military law is 12, meaning that children younger than 12, such as seven-year-old Ibrahim, cannot be prosecuted in Israeli military courts and, as such, their presence in such detention centers constitutes a violation of both the child’s right and Israeli military law. However, Israeli forces continue to detain and harass young Palestinian children, according to documentation collected by DCIP.

Israeli forces routinely arbitrarily detain and mistreat Palestinian children during military raids in the occupied West Bank, often using excessive force, degrading treatment, and unlawful detention. Under international law, children are entitled to special protections, and their detention must be an absolute last resort. However, Israeli forces continue to target Palestinian children with violence and intimidation, violating their fundamental rights with impunity.

Israeli forces have dramatically escalated military operations across the occupied West Bank, with a surge in mass arrests, home invasions, and extrajudicial killings. The targeting of Palestinian children through raids, forced displacement, and indiscriminate violence underscores the ongoing war crimes committed with impunity.

March 25, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Subjugation - Torture | , , , , | Leave a comment

Palestinian teen martyred in notorious Israeli Megiddo Prison

Al Mayadeen | March 24, 2025

The Palestinian Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs Commission and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS) have confirmed the martyrdom of 17-year-old Walid Khaled Abdullah Ahmad in “Israel’s” Megiddo Prison.

Since the start of “Israel’s” genocidal war, the number of martyred detainees known by name in Israeli prisons has risen to 300, including at least 63 from Gaza. Rights organizations describe this as the deadliest period for Palestinian detainees since 1967.

Ahmad, a resident of Silwad near Ramallah, was detained on September 30, 2024, and remained in Israeli custody without trial at the time of his death. No details have been provided regarding the circumstances of his passing.

The two institutions emphasized that his martyrdom adds to the record of systematic crimes committed within Israeli occupation prisons, which have intensified during the ongoing aggression, adding that these actions represent another facet of the genocide against Palestinians.

The Israeli Prison Service, however, issued only a terse statement confirming that “a 17-year-old security detainee from the West Bank died in Megiddo Prison” while withholding his name and any information about his health, citing “privacy concerns”.

Ahmad’s martyrdom comes as “Israel” continues to impose strict secrecy over the conditions of Palestinian detainees, particularly those from Gaza. Meanwhile, the bodies of 72 martyred detainees remain withheld, including 61 who have died since the start of the aggression on the Palestinian enclave.

Earlier this month, the Commission for Detainees announced the martyrdom of 62-year-old detainee Ali Ashour al-Batsh from Jabalia in al-Naqab Prison. As of early March, “Israel” was holding more than 9,500 Palestinian detainees, including 350 children, 21 women, and 3,405 administrative detainees imprisoned without charge or trial.

Ahmad’s martyrdom adds to growing concerns over the fate of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons, as rights groups warn of worsening conditions, medical neglect, and increasing reports of abuse behind bars.

‘Israel’ continues to withhold Palestinians’ bodies, kill detainees

Earlier this month, the National Campaign for the Retrieval of Palestinian War Victims’ Bodies reported that the Israeli occupation is withholding the bodies of hundreds of Palestinians it killed in cemeteries and refrigerators.

The campaign reported that “Israel” is still withholding the bodies of three Palestinians it killed in Jenin, bringing the number of Palestinian bodies held in “cemeteries of numbers” and refrigerators to 676, including the remains of 71 detainees, 60 children, and nine women.

The so-called “Cemeteries of Numbers” consist of unmarked graves outlined with stones, each marked by a metal plate displaying a number rather than the deceased’s name, with these numbers linked to individual files maintained by Israeli security authorities.

The National Campaign unveiled that some of the bodies held by the Israeli regime date back to the 60s and 70s, and while its data do not include bodies stolen from Gaza due to lack of accurate information, it documented the return of 325 bodies from Gaza.

In September 2019, the Israeli Supreme Court determined that military commanders had the authority to temporarily withhold the bodies of Palestinians killed by Israeli occupation forces, allowing for their potential use as “bargaining chips” in future negotiations.

Israeli cruelty evident on Palestinian detainees

The United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Alice Jill Edwards, called for a swift and thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the deaths of Palestinian detainees held in Israeli prisons.

The special rapporteur emphasized that the mistreatment of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons, especially following October 7, 2023, remained a serious concern that required urgent attention and condemnation, describing the condition of the detainees and emphasizing the need for independent, impartial investigations.

The Commission of Palestinian Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs shed light on the alarming conditions detainees face in Israeli prisons in November 2024, noting that most detainees are brought to visits in handcuffs.

The statement highlighted that these crimes form part of a long-standing policy of the occupation targeting Palestinian detainees, encompassing acts of torture, deliberate medical neglect, and the systematic abandonment of prisoners to endure suffering and succumb to illness, emphasizing the growing number of violations committed against detainees, particularly in the context of the ongoing genocidal war on Gaza.

Many ill prisoners and detainees face deteriorating health conditions while the occupation continues to deny them necessary medical treatment, further contributing to the rising death toll within the prisons.

Moreover, the commission revealed in September 2024 that 1,200 Palestinians were facing systematic abuse, torture, and assault in Israeli prisons, with testimonies from Palestinian detainees exposing severe violence, rape, electrocution, extreme hunger, humiliation, and other forms of maltreatment.

Megiddo Prison holds a notorious reputation for severe torture and abuse, described by the Palestinian Prisoners Society as one of the central prisons where the Israeli occupation detains Palestinians.

Dozens of testimonies emerged from detainees describing the brutal acts carried out by the Israeli suppression units, involving torture and severe abuse, with systematic mistreatment mentioned in their accounts, including violent raid operations and extremely harsh detention conditions.

March 25, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Subjugation - Torture | , , , | Leave a comment

Hungarian FM says that Budapest will continue to veto Ukraine’s accession to the EU

Remix News | March 24, 2025

Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs Péter Szijjártó reiterated on his Facebook wall on Saturday that his government will continue to use its veto to prevent talks aimed at Ukraine’s accession to the European Union from moving forward.

Under EU law, the issue of accepting new states into the bloc must be decided unanimously by all current members.

Hungary’s opposition is based on Ukraine’s treatment of the Hungarian population of Transcarpathia, in the country’s southwest. Transcarpathia was originally part of the Hungarian Kingdom, but after being detached from its mother country by the victorious Allies following World War I, it was eventually attached to Ukraine by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Approximately 150,000 ethnic Hungarians still live in the region.

Since the Maidan revolution that overthrew the Ukrainian government in February 2014, the country’s successive governments have passed legislation targeting ethnic minorities, including the Hungarians, as previously reported by Remix News. Laws have been passed making it mandatory for the Ukrainian language to be used in all matters of state as well as education. Other forms of harassment have occurred as well, such as the removal of Hungarian symbols from public buildings.

Budapest has continually protested these moves by Kyiv, using them as the rationale behind the fierce opposition of Viktor Orbán’s government to the EU’s flow of aid and support to President Volodymyr Zelensky’s regime since the start of Russia’s invasion in 2022.

“Today, I discussed on the phone with my new Austrian colleague [Minister for European and International Affairs Beate Meinl-Reisinger, who took office earlier this month] the constant violations of the rights of the Hungarian community in the Transcarpathian region in relation to the efforts toward Ukraine’s integration,” Szijjártó wrote. “The situation remains that the Ukrainian government, despite constant promises and nice words, has not returned the minority rights that have been taken away from the Hungarian community since 2015,” he continued.

After stressing that Ukraine’s actions are “unacceptable” and run “totally contrary to common European rules and values,” the foreign minister added that “as long as this sad situation persists, there can be no progress with regard to the negotiations aimed at Ukraine’s accession to the EU.”

Sweden’s embassy in Ukraine tweeted on Sunday that the country’s Minister for European Union Affairs Jessica Rosencrantz, along with her counterparts from the Baltic countries, have asked the European Commission to come up with proposals on how Hungary’s veto can be bypassed in order to allow Ukraine to join.

“Hungary should not slow down Ukraine’s EU membership negotiations,” the tweet said.

March 24, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Progressive Hypocrite | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Gaza rescue teams besieged by Israeli forces as ‘catastrophe’ unfolds

Dozens of Palestinian civilians have reportedly been executed by Israeli forces in the southernmost city of Rafah

The Cradle | March 23, 2025

Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) workers are being besieged by Israeli forces after responding to rescue calls from the Gaza Strip’s southernmost city of Rafah on 23 March.

“We are still awaiting clearance to reach the trapped team in Rafah. Occupation forces continue to besiege four PRCS ambulances, and contact with the team remains lost,” the PRCS said in a statement on Sunday morning.

According to reports, dozens of people were executed after being surrounded by the Israeli army in Rafah.

“We warn of an imminent danger threatening the lives of more than 50,000 citizens in the Baraksat area west of Rafah Governorate after they were besieged by the Israeli occupation forces,” Gaza’s Civil Defense said.

“We warn against harming the Civil Defense crews who were besieged in the same area after intervening to rescue Red Crescent crews, and contact with them is still lost,” it added.

Israeli forces opened fire at civilians fleeing their homes in Rafah following evacuation orders issued by the army.

Rafah Municipality announced that thousands of families have been forced to flee the Tal al-Sultan neighborhood under intense Israeli bombardment. It added that its crews, along with residents, remained trapped inside the area as they carried out their duties serving residents.

An Israeli airstrike also targeted a group of displaced residents in the city, killing at least three and injuring others, according to WAFA news agency.

Over 40 people have been killed by Israeli attacks on Gaza during the past 24 hours, the Health Ministry in the strip announced on Sunday.

“A number of victims are still under the rubble and on the streets, and ambulance and civil defense crews cannot reach them,” the ministry said in a statement.

A member of Hamas’ Political Bureau, Salah al-Bardawil, was killed alongside his wife in an Israeli airstrike that targeted his tent late on Saturday. He was killed while praying, according to a statement released by the resistance movement on 23 March.

Israel renewed the war on Gaza early on 18 March after following through with several weeks of threats and obstruction of ceasefire talks. Over 700 Palestinians have been killed in less than a week as a result of the new campaign.

All border crossings remain shut, and Gaza is witnessing a humanitarian disaster due to a lack of aid and continuous bombardment. The strip is facing a severe water crisis due to the destruction of wells and lack of electricity.

“We are facing a compounded humanitarian catastrophe, whose severity continues to escalate under this suffocating blockade, while the disgraceful silence of the international and Arab communities emboldens the occupation to persist in its criminal policies without accountability,” the Gaza Government Media Office said on Sunday, holding the US “fully responsible” for Israel’s atrocities.

March 23, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Ukrainian MP claims Zelensky tried to kill him

Artyom Dmitruk © Social Media
RT | March 23, 2025

Artyom Dmitruk, a fugitive member of the Verkhovna Rada, has claimed that Vladimir Zelensky directed the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) to kidnap and kill him. He said that SBU agents detained and severely beat him during an incident in the Black Sea port city of Odessa in 2022.

Dmitruk was elected to parliament as part of Zelensky’s Servant of the People party in 2019. He was expelled from the party two years later and continued serving as an independent MP.

He fled the country in August 2024, claiming that the authorities had plotted to “liquidate” him.

The Prosecutor General’s Office has since placed Dmitruk on a wanted list on suspicion that he assaulted a police officer and attempted to steal his gun.

In a video posted to X on Friday, Dmitruk detailed his accusations against Zelensky and his chief of staff, Andrey Yermak, as well as sharing photos of his injuries.

“I was brutally beaten, tortured in basements, and nearly killed on Zelensky’s orders for my opposition activities,” the self-exiled politician wrote in an accompanying post. He insisted that the government targeted him because of his “political activities.”

Dmitruk claimed that in 2022, Viktor Dorovsky, the head of the SBU office in Odessa, threatened him over the phone. “We’re going to kill you. We’ll cut your head off,” Dorovsky said, according to Dmitruk.

The politician said that a group of SBU agents abducted him on March 4, 2022 as he was delivering aid to a military checkpoint. According to Dmitruk, the agents put a bag over his head and handcuffed him. “They beat me severely with rifle butts, feet, and hands. I lost consciousness.”

Dmitruk claimed that he was taken to a basement where he was “tortured” and had his nose broken. He said the agents wanted to force him into making incriminating statements. They drove him to several locations, including a regional SBU office, where the threats and beatings continued, he added.

He went on to say that the agents threatened him with a gun and made him promise on camera that he would stop criticizing Zelensky, Yermak, and the government. According to Dmitruk, the agents eventually dropped him off at a parking lot.

“The order to commit these crimes against me was given personally by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Andriy Yermak, and the head of the Odessa SBU Viktor Dorovsky,” Dmitruk wrote on X, using the Ukrainian spelling of the names.

“There are thousands of stories like mine. There are people who have been sitting in the basements of the SBU for more than two years,” he said.

March 23, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance, Subjugation - Torture | , | Leave a comment

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