UK government crackdown on pro-Palestine support may turn to lawfare against political dissidents
By Muhammad Hussein | MEMO | November 6, 2024
Throughout the past year of Israel’s war against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the purported objective of wiping out Hamas, many governments across Europe have served as a kind of buffer for Tel Aviv, stopping at nothing to crush pro-Palestine protests. Demonstrators have been arrested and protests have been banned. The shameless labelling of all and any advocates for Palestinian rights as “Hamas sympathisers” and “anti-Semites” has exposed the obvious bias of European policymakers and police forces towards Israel and the Zionist narrative.
After around a year of such incidents and power games, the UK — the quiet repressor of dissent and rare expresser of policy positions — stepped up its own crackdown, arresting journalists or raiding their homes because of their support for Palestine and its people, as well as their criticism of Israel and its genocide in Gaza.
Last month, for example, British counter-terrorism police raided the home of journalist Asa Winstanley as part of “Operation Incessantness”, reportedly linked to his pro-Palestine social media posts. Although the specific posts were not detailed by reports, the authorities claimed that they were possible offences under sections 1 and 2 of the 2006 Terrorism Act, which pertain to the “encouragement of terrorism”.
Others to fall foul of this official crackdown in the UK include Palestine solidarity activists Mick Napier and Tony Greenstein, who were arrested last year over their expressions of support for legitimate Palestinian armed resistance and resistance movement Hamas itself. More recently, activist Sarah Wilkinson had her home raided by counter-terrorism police, and journalist Richard Medhurst was detained under the Terrorism Act upon arrival at Heathrow Airport.
Such raids, arrests and detentions by the British authorities are part of the wider repression of civil, political and press freedoms across the West as a whole.
First glimpsed during the “war on terror” years, we have seen the implementation of legislation granting governments greater freedom to monitor their citizens. The crackdown on hard-won freedoms was felt more heavily during the Covid pandemic. Many people who had not felt the weight of counter-terrorism policies realised suddenly that they too might not be exempt from being subject to pressure from the state, overreach and enforcement.
Today, with Western governments crushing expressions of support for the Palestinian cause or opposition to the Israeli occupation and genocide in Gaza, we are witnessing the next level of repression, symbolised by the way that the Establishment is protecting a rogue state which treats international laws and conventions with contempt — Israel — and the war crimes and crimes against humanity which are the inevitable result of such protection.
The repression is expected to get worse, with the UK in particular on a very worrying downward trajectory.
Following the election in July of the new Labour government under Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, there was a brief moment when it looked as if the UK was ready and to offer more diplomatic and humanitarian support to the Palestinian people. There was even hope that the British government would not intervene to stop the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) arrest warrants sought for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and (now former) Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.
Now, though, we see the Labour government putting the brake on soon-to-be applicable legislation in order to cancel pro-Palestine activism on university campuses. The Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 was passed by the previous Conservative government in order to protect freedom of speech in universities and student unions by obliging them to take “reasonable steps” to promote free speech at the risk of facing legal action.
According to Labour’s Secretary of State for Education, Bridget Phillipson, the government is applying the brake just days before the legislation is due to come into force, “In order to consider options, including its repeal.” She claimed that it “could expose students to harm and appalling hate speech on campuses.”
Despite the UK government insisting that it remains “absolutely committed” to freedom of speech, it is suspected by many of seeking to avoid at all costs the possibility of higher education institutions, figures and even officials being held to account over censorship of pro-Palestinian views and criticism of Israel.
Tragically, the state crackdown in the UK and other parts of the Western world could have serious implications for campaigners who refuse to stop advocating for Palestinian rights. The days of assassination, indefinite detention without trial or state-sponsored kidnapping of dissidents’ family members have generally long passed in the Western world — for now, at least — but so-called “extraordinary renditions” of dissidents to more brutal Western allies around the world are not unknown.
Western states and intelligence agencies have another trick up their sleeves, however, and one that is perhaps more powerful due to its facade of legitimacy: lawfare. False allegations, heavy-handed investigations and legal action under draconian laws look like being the bludgeon of choice for governments to attack political and other dissidents, including journalists and activists. Anything is possible in the clamour to protect the Zionist state of Israel.
Character assassinations are likely, and even so-called “sexpionage”.
The Western media is already largely complicit in such acts, being very pro-Israel in any case, so they would come as no surprise to anyone engaged in pro-Palestine, pro-justice activism.
Individuals and organisations in Britain have already faced such attempts to discredit them. No evidence is ever produced; it is enough for Israel to say “terrorist” and Western governments and media join the fray. Once the “terrorist” genie is out of the bottle, it is very difficult to get it back in. Mud sticks, whether thrown legitimately or not. The intention, of course, is to intimidate people into submission, so that Israel can continue to act with total impunity, free from criticism.
Even ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan has faced allegations of sexual misconduct recently. Is it coincidental that these allegations have surfaced when he is seeking the aforementioned arrest warrants against Israeli leaders over war crimes, and shortly after a pro-Israel group threatened him with legal action if he failed to reconsider his efforts?
Another key example of political lawfare in contemporary times is none other than Donald Trump, who has faced countless allegations, lawsuits and character assassinations that have never truly stuck. He may not be the finest moral example, nor is he any great advocate for the Palestinians, but it is naive not to acknowledge that many of the attempts to discredit him have been politically-motivated.
According to US Senator Chuck Schumer in 2017, Trump was “being really dumb” for taking on the US intelligence community regarding its analyses of Russia’s reported cyber activities. “Let me tell you, you take on the intelligence community, they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you,” said Schumer in as clear an admission you can hear that if the government and its agencies truly decide to discredit anyone, they can and will do so.
That is true for most Western states, including the UK. If allegations of Anti-Semitism and support for Hamas don’t stop pro-Palestine activists, then lawfare surely will. That’s the Starmer government’s hope, anyway. And given that very few individuals have the same wealth, tenacity and popular support as someone like Trump to help them fight against the allegations, self-confessed Zionist Starmer is probably right to be optimistic. We are heading into dark times, and all in order to protect an alien state engaged in genocide. It’s a shocking and disgraceful situation.
Outrage in France as MP proposes bill to ban criticism of Israel
Press TV – November 5, 2024
A proposal by a Zionist member of French parliament to criminalize all criticism of Israel has sparked outrage among activists and politicians.
Caroline Yadan, the member of the French National Assembly, will submit a bill that, among other things, would ban “the denial of the State of Israel.”
The bill would also prohibit expressions like “from the river to the sea,” during protests against Israel.
Yadan, who belongs to President Emmanuel Macron’s party, “seeks to suppress the freedom of thought, criticism, and writing,” Jean-Philippe Cazier, French poet and author wrote on X.
The lawmaker, Cazier said, is seeking “to prevent condemnation of the genocide committed by Israel in Gaza.”
European lawmaker Rima Hassan wrote in a message on X that Israel “deserves criticism,” since it has “violated all United Nations resolutions for decades and commits the most heinous international crimes.”
In a related development, Pro-Palestine protesters staged a demonstration at the headquarters of the French Football Federation in Paris, demanding the cancellation of the upcoming UEFA Nations League match between the French and Israeli teams.
Video footage of protests posted on social media shows protesters gathered in the lobby, where they waved Palestinian flags and held banners condemning Israel.
The French Football Federation has agreed to meet with the protesters to discuss their demands, according to the French daily Le Figaro.
Ukraine to jail people for storing firewood – media
RT | November 4, 2024
The Ukrainian parliament has passed a law introducing criminal liability for storing firewood without proper paperwork about its origin, local media have reported. The country faces an energy crisis in the coming winter, amid the ongoing conflict with Russia.
The Verkhovna Rada, the nation’s legislature, adopted the new rule last month, and it now awaits Vladimir Zelensky’s signature, the outlet Strana said on Sunday.
Ukrainian lawyer Aleksey Kinebas told the public broadcaster Suspilne that once the law comes into force, people could face “either administrative or criminal punishment simply for the storage, transportation or sale of firewood.” Ukraine has criminalized logging without a permit.
“For example, two people, a married couple, store firewood worth over 30,000 hryvnia (around $730) and have no documents showing where they bought it. In this case, they could face from five to seven years in prison,” he said.
The punishment has the potential to be even harsher if the destruction of trees is qualified as leading to severe consequences during wartime, the lawyer said.
According to Kinebas, those storing a smaller amount of firewood without proper paperwork – even if it is just “one trunk, one tree, one stump” – will face hefty fines of up to 34,000 hryvnia (around $825).
The measure will mostly affect the low-income residents of Ukrainian villages, he warned, saying “100% of the population living in rural areas could be indicted” under the new legislation.
Last week, Zelensky said that he is “preparing the country for a winter that will be decisive, which is a big challenge… because this will be the third winter with power outages, with all the difficulties.”
During his speech at the UN General Assembly in September, the Ukrainian leader claimed that 80% percent of the country’s power generation capacity has been destroyed during the conflict with Russia, including all thermal power plants and the largest hydroelectric power plants.
In July, a member of the Ukrainian parliament’s energy and housing utilities committee, Sergey Nagornyak, also predicted a harsh winter and called upon the people to look for homes that they could heat on their own.
Israel: Justice minister seeks to criminalise calls for sanctions against state
MEMO | November 3, 2024
Regarding the WHO ‘Pandemic Agreement’
Negotiating with bullies, liars and thieves is unlikely to be a winning strategy
By Tess Lawrie, MBBCh, PhD | November 1, 2024
There is a lot on the go at the moment, so you may have missed that the World Health Organization’s ‘Pandemic Agreement’ is in the process of being finalised. Scheduled to be finalised by November 11, 2024, the aim is to ‘adopt’ it at a special session of the World Health Assembly in December.
Given that the WHO continues to violate its key objective, which is the highest attainable standard of health for every human being, the WHO can no longer be considered an authority on health, except in the matter of ensuring that it and key individuals within it are held liable for the deteriorating health of the world’s people due to its failed Covid policies.
With regard to the WHO Pandemic Agreement to be finalised by November 11, 2024, I encourage you to consider whether this boy’s club agreement pertains to us at all.
Imagine there is a gang in a school. The gang with their own gang rules set themselves up at the school gate and say, We are in charge of this school. You cannot say this or that anymore, you must follow our gang rules, and you have to buy your lunch from us. Be quiet and don’t ask questions. If you don’t do our bidding, the teachers, whom we control, will force you to and/or detain you.
Would you negotiate with this gang of bullies?
Among our choices when confronted by this WHO gang are the following:
- we can comply and hope they will show mercy;
- we can ask nicely or beg them to reconsider some of their rules;
- we can jump over the school fence to avoid them, and live in daily fear of their vindictiveness;
or…
- we can say to them “This school is a prison, if you like it so much you can keep it!”
Negotiating with bullies, liars and thieves is unlikely to be a winning strategy.
It is time for us to let the WHO and its controllers know that they can make as many agreements as they like, but they are all fake and irrelevant, and have no bearing on us, the people of this beautiful earth.
You can read the document that the WHO aims to ‘adopt’ illegitimately this December here, and read James Roguski’s insights here.
Euro-Med: International community showed disgraceful failure to stop genocide in Gaza
Palestinian Information Center – November 2, 2024
GENEVA – The Euro-Med Monitor said the foot-dragging by the international community regarding taking decisive decisions towards the massacres committed by the Israeli occupation army in the Gaza Strip, especially in northern Gaza, indicates its complicity in those heinous crimes, gives the Israeli army a green light to escalating its genocidal war, and shows its shocking disregard of Palestinians’ lives and dignity.
The Euro-Med indicated in a statement on Saturday that the international community, including the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice, the European Union, and the various UN organizations, showed a 13-month disgraceful failure to protect civilians and stop the crime of genocide committed by the Israeli occupation army against Palestinians in Gaza.
The Euro-Med emphasized that the international community did not deal seriously with the Israeli occupation crimes and ignored its atrocities, which encouraged the Israeli army to expand such crimes with the support and armament from the US and a number of European countries.
The Euro-Med voiced concerns that Israel, despite officially denying it, is implementing a displacement plan in northern Gaza, known as the “General’s Plan” by evacuating shelters in Jabalia and Beit Hanoun by committing massacres, killing, displacing, and starving civilians through blocking the entry of aid or goods into northern Gaza for a whole month.
It called on the International Criminal Court to shoulder its responsibilities to issue arrest warrants and hold accountable the perpetrators of the Israeli crimes.
The human rights group also urged the United Nations and the international community to intervene immediately to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of residents in northern Gaza, stop the crime of genocide, impose a comprehensive arms embargo on Israel, and to take all decisive measures to protect Palestinian civilians.
Brazilian journalist fined, ordered to delete posts over criticizing Israeli war in Gaza
Press TV – November 2, 2024
A Brazilian court has ordered renowned journalist Breno Altman, who has frequently denounced Israel’s genocidal war against Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip, to pay a fine and delete a number of his posts on social media platforms.
Judge Paulo Bernardi Baccarat of the Court of Justice of São Paulo said on Thursday that the founder of the independent news portal Opera Mundi should pay a fine of 20,000 Brazilian reals ($3,407) in compensation for collective moral damages, and remove five posts deemed anti-Semitic.
This is yet another lawsuit against Altman, who is facing several cases in São Paulo courts due to his critical stance regarding the Tel Aviv regime’s devastating and bloody onslaught against Gaza.
In this case, the judge considered a request for censorship and compensation filed by the Brazilian Israelite Confederation (CONIB), which is the central organization of the Brazilian Jewish community.
CONIB asked for 80 thousand reals in compensation, the demonetization of Altman’s profile on social media and the payment of a minimum wage to each Israeli in Brazil.
The pro-Israeli lobby group said Altman should be banned from publishing posts about the Gaza conflict, alleging that his conduct exceeded the limits of freedom of expression, and claimed the journalist could incite hatred towards Jews and Israel with his posts.
Baccarat, however, concluded that there was no reason to pay compensation or remove most of the posts, considering that they were not anti-Semitic but rather political comments.
In other posts, however, he purportedly found racist content, such as the use of the term “rats” in reference to the Israeli military offensives against Palestinian Hamas resistance fighters.
The judge considered the reference to be racist, given that the term “rat” has a historical anti-Semitic association. The request for individual compensation for each Israeli in Brazil, however, was dismissed by the judge.
The journalist’s defense, represented by attorneys Pedro Serrano and Anderson Medeiros, said they will appeal the decision.
The objective, according to them, is to “demonstrate the absolute legality of all posts, supported by constitutional rights that ensure freedom of expression and freedom of thought.”
Back in August, Altman was sentenced to three months in prison for insulting Brazilian economist and former Director of International Affairs of the Central Bank of Brazil, Alexandre Schwartsman, and President of the pro-Israel organization StandWithUs Brazil, André Lajst.
The case also involved social media posts about Israel’s atrocious military campaign in Gaza. The sentence was commuted to a fine.
A massacre within a massacre: How journalists reporting on Gaza deaths are being targeted
By Eva Bartlett | RT | November 2, 2024
In spite of experiencing two Israeli wars on Gaza, I never imagined the horrific scenes coming out of northern Gaza now: Israel is exterminating the population in broad daylight, broadcast for all the world to see.
And no one is doing a damn thing to stop it.
Israel has besieged northern Gaza for weeks days, preventing most humanitarian aid from entering, putting the population of 400,000 already starving Palestinian civilians in the north at severe risk of full starvation. The Israeli parliament has voted to ban UNRWA, the United Nations agency for humanitarian aid, which has been the sole lifeline for many Palestinians.
Israeli forces have also bombarded water stations and wells, as well as cutting off communications with the outside world, depriving people of access to water, and leaving them trapped and isolated.
According to Euro-Med Monitor, in the last two weeks, 500 Palestinians have been confirmed dead in northern Gaza, “and thousands more have sustained injuries. Many remain unaccounted for, either in the streets or buried under the debris.”
As they have done elsewhere throughout the Gaza Strip during more than one year of genocide, Israeli forces are targeting hospitals in Gaza’s north. Euro-Med reported that, “Israeli army forces surrounded the Indonesian Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahia. They fired two artillery shells at the hospital, cut off its electricity, and targeted anyone moving in the area.”
The army is firing on medics and other rescuers, as they’ve done throughout 2023-2024, and as they did in 2009, when medics I was with came under Israeli sniper fire, and another medic I knew was killed by a flechette (dart) bomb. By killing the rescuers and destroying the hospitals, Israel ensures maimed Palestinians will go without medical care and probably die.
This is, of course, illegal under international law. But as Israel’s genocidal actions have shown the world, the Israeli government, army and settlers believe laws don’t apply to them. Take the horrific video of an Israeli drone precision-targeting a Palestinian child, killing it, and then bombing the civilians who ran to try to rescue the child. Par for the course for the Israeli army. Were the perpetrator one of the United States’ enemies, there would be calls for no-fly zones, sanctions and corporate media howling 24/7.
Not content to merely murder Palestinian civilians by bombing, sniping and starvation, the Israeli army has reportedly been deploying robots with explosives and leaving booby trapped barrels to remotely detonate.
The scenes which journalists have been able to publish are surreal, like science fiction, with quadcopters policing the streets. A week ago, a friend told me in a message that he had to choose between starving or risking being shot dead by Israel soldiers or quadcopters if he tried to get bread.
Some days ago, he messaged me at 4 in the morning: Israeli tanks were outside his home, the audio he sent was terrifying. He chose to stay in his home rather than endure another Nakba.
I don’t know if he is alive now.
War on journalists
Earlier this month, Palestinian cameraman Fadi al-Wahidi was shot in the neck by an Israeli quadcopter, leaving him paralyzed. Aside from Al Jazeera, for which Fadi worked, most Western media and journalist projection organizations are unsurprisingly silent.
Reporters Without Borders, which I previously wrote about for its downplaying the number of Palestinian journalists killed by Israel, has no entry on Fadi. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CJP), at least, does. Its entry notes:
“Al Wahidi was critically injured in the neck by a bullet fired from an Israeli reconnaissance aircraft while Al Wahidi and correspondent Anas Al-Sharif were covering an Israeli siege on northern Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp. Both men were wearing “Press” vests and clearly identifiable as journalists.”
Anas al-Sharif – who continues to courageously report from northern Gaza – told CJP they’d been in an area “completely far from the areas of operations of the Israeli occupation forces,” and full of residents when, “an Israeli reconnaissance drone fired at us. After the shooting, we tried to move to another safer place and hide from any danger, but a bullet from the plane hit our colleague Fadi Al-Wahidi in the neck, which led to his complete paralysis.”
Wahidi has since fallen into a coma. His colleagues and friends are pleading for some sort of international intervention to allow him to be taken abroad for medical care, to save his life.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported, citing the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS), that between 7 October 2023 and 10 October 2024 168 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed in the Gaza Strip, including 17 women, 360 were injured, and 60 were detained.
The extermination campaign continues
It’s absolutely devastating to watch every day pass with alarming new updates from or on northern Gaza. Like Anas al-Sharif, Palestinian journalist Hossam Shabat courageously reports apocalyptic scenes of Israeli bombarding in northern Gaza.
In a live update on X recently, he said:
“We are witnessing genocide and ethnic cleansing in northern Gaza, specifically in Jabalia, which is under siege from all directions. Israeli occupation forces are bombing displaced civilians, detaining them, and attempting to ethnically cleanse them. They are targeting shelters for displaced civilians, and bodies are scattered everywhere in the north, along the roads. Thousands of civilians are being forcefully displaced (ethnically cleansed) from the north.”
Meanwhile, in a bout of meaningless theatrics, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin have “demanded Tel Aviv improves the humanitarian situation in Gaza within 30 days or risk losing US military aid and face possible legal action.”
But clearly Israel’s biggest backer is spouting nonsense: there will be no cut to military aid, there will be no legal action, the US will never take a position to force Israel to cease the massacre in Gaza. In fact, giving Israel one month before any supposed repercussion is, in my opinion, giving Israel a green light to ethnically cleanse northern Gaza as quickly as possible.
Israel seems hell-bent on implementing former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s ‘Five Fingers’ project, which envisioned carving Gaza into segments, all under Israeli security control. If this is Israel’s intent, we will see the same bloody scenes from northern Gaza repeated block by block Israel all over the rest of the already brutalized Strip.
Eva Bartlett is a Canadian independent journalist. She has spent years on the ground covering conflict zones in the Middle East, especially in Syria and Palestine (where she lived for nearly four years).
The Threat to the Existence of Palestinian Refugee Camps
By Diana Khwaelid | International Solidarity Movement | November 1, 2024
Nur Shams – Tulkarm
Has Israel Succeeded in Implementing the Voluntary Displacement Policy in West Bank Camps?
Israeli forces launched another incursion into the Nur Shams camp in the city of Tulkarm. A military operation by the Israeli occupying forces in the camp led to the destruction of infrastructure that had already been damaged during previous incursions.
The presence of Occupation forces mechanisms
Almost a month after the last assault on the camp, the occupation returned to launch another military operation, further destroying infrastructure and the camp’s main entrance. Dozens of shops were damaged again after recent rebuilding efforts following the last assault.
Bulldozer used to destroy store fronts and infrastructures
The camp’s main electricity distribution transformer was targeted, sewage pipes were destroyed, and internet lines were cut during the military operation. The Israeli incursion into the camp and city lasted 13 continuous hours.
The headquarters of the UNRWA office and camp services were also targeted and destroyed just three days after the decision to ban UNRWA offices in Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank was issued.
One of the martyrs was 30-year-old Hossam al-Mallah, a resident of Tulkarm camp. An Israeli special force infiltrated Tulkarm, specifically targeting his workplace in the camp and fatally shooting him on the evening of Wednesday, October 31. On the same night, Israeli forces re-entered Tulkarm around 3:00 AM, with helicopters stationed in Nur Shams camp.
More destruction in the camp
Three Martyrs in Nur Shams Camp The Nur Shams refugee camp has continued to lose young lives, with the occupation repeatedly targeting Palestinian youth in camps across the northern West Bank. The martyrs include Mutassim Aisha, aged 32; Abdulaziz Abu Samin, aged 22; and Ahmad Fahmawi, aged 18. The Israeli forces killed them without warning.
Farewell to martyr Ahmad Fehmawi, 18 years old
Medical and ambulance crews were also prevented from entering the camp to transport wounded Palestinians, some of whom died due to the occupation’s obstruction of medical aid. Displacement of Camp Residents Abu Ahmed, a 61-year-old resident of Nur Shams camp, reported that the entrance to his house was destroyed for the sixth time, and his shops were destroyed for the third time during the recent incursion. He said the occupation aims to displace residents of Palestinian camps in the West Bank, especially in Nur Shams camp. However, he added, “The policy of destruction in the camp will not succeed in displacing us. Where are we supposed to go? There’s nowhere else.”
Israeli forces destroy Nur Shams – Tulkarm
A state of sadness has gripped the city of Tulkarm, especially in the camps, during the funeral of four martyrs who were killed by the occupation in less than 24 hours. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, the West Bank has witnessed 766 martyrs since the beginning of the year, with 177 from the city of Tulkarm.
Funeral of the martyrs
Israel has issued 9,500 administrative detention orders since 7 October 2023
MEMO | October 31, 2024
Two Palestinian institutions concerned with prisoners’ affairs said on Wednesday that Israel has increased its issue of administrative detention orders, with nearly 9,500 issued since 7 October last year.
“The huge increase in the number of administrative detainees is mainly linked to the arrest campaigns in the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem, with more than 11,500 arrests in all groups,” said the Palestinian Authority’s Commission of Detainees Affairs and the Prisoners’ Club civil society group in a joint statement seen by Anadolu.
“The occupation intelligence agency has recently escalated the number of transfers to administrative detention of detainees whose sentences have ended, as well as the number of administrative detention orders issued against prisoners who were released on bail and specific conditions, or without conditions.”
Administrative detention sees prisoners being held with neither charge nor trial for up to six months, renewable indefinitely.
Monitoring of administrative detainees’ has proven that the occupation regime’s military courts have formed and continue to form an essential structure for solidifying its crimes, including the crime of administrative detention, said the Palestinian institutions.
According to the latest data that they supplied, there are currently 3,398 administrative detainees among the 10,100 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons, including 30 women and more than 90 children, one of whom is just 14 years old. “The number of administrative detainees in the occupation prisons is 33 per cent of the total number of prisoners and detainees.”
It is worth noting that the prisoner data is related only to those from the occupied West Bank. The Israeli regime does not disclose information related to prisoners in Gaza.
Texas judge: Enforcing the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism limits speech
Interim decision allows policies to remain in place for now
‘Freedom for Palestine’ protest march that drew thousands of participants on November 4, 2023 in Berlin, Germany. [Sean Gallup/Getty Images]
MEMO | October 31, 2024
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Russia and China quietly take over natural gas markets in Asia, with Qatar gone
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Book Review
Palantir CEO Calls for Draft to Fight the Empire’s Wars
Involuntary servitude is good for business
By Kurt Nimmo | Another Day in the Empire | April 20, 2026
In 2025, Alex Karp, the CEO of government and military tech contractor Palantir, published The New York Times best-seller, The Technological Republic: Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West. The Wall Street Journal praised the book as a cri de coeur, a passionate appeal “that takes aim at the tech industry for abandoning its history of helping America and its allies,” while Wired praised the book as a “readable polemic that skewers Silicon Valley for insufficient patriotism.”
On April 18, 2026, Palantir posted twenty-two points to social media summarizing the book. In addition to taking Silicon Valley to task for insufficient patriotism, advocating a role for AI in forever war, and denouncing the “psychologization of modern politics,” the Palantir post on X declares: “National service should be a universal duty. We should, as a society, seriously consider moving away from an all-volunteer force and only fight the next war if everyone shares in the risk and the cost.”
National conscription, a form of involuntary servitude, and the wars it portends, is good for business, especially for corporations within the orbit of the Pentagon, the CIA, and the national security state. Palantir fits comfortably within this amalgamation. … continue
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