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Musk wants Ukrainian NGO designated as terrorist group

RT | June 13, 2024

A Ukrainian NGO has compiled a database of influential American citizens, who it claims hold positions that ‘mirror’ those of Moscow. One of the blacklisted individuals is billionaire Elon Musk, who has called for the organization to be designated as a terrorist group.

The NGO, Texty.org.ua, produced a lengthy report last week, which detailed a supposed “ecosystem” of citizens and organizations in the US, whose narratives “echo key messages of Russian propaganda” regarding the Ukraine conflict.

On Wednesday, Republican members of the House Appropriations Committee added a provision to the markup of the State Department’s 2025 budget that bans Texty from receiving US funding.

“It’s a good first step. They should be added to the list of sanctioned terrorist organizations,” Musk said on X (formerly Twitter) in reaction to the news.

The prohibition was championed by Representative Jim Banks, who was also targeted by the Ukrainian NGO. He told fellow Republicans that “federal bureaucrats should not support or partner with foreign groups that attempt to intimidate and silence US citizens and lawmakers.”

His message alluded to a link between the department and Anatoly Bondarenko, a co-founder of Texty. He is also an instructor for the ‘TechCamp’ program, which provides training to foreign journalists, NGOs, and activists, according to the Conservative Thinker.

The group has said its report was a piece of “data journalism,” and described itself as the victim of “an attack on freedom of speech and a display of chauvinism against the citizens of Ukraine.”

“Our critics believe that we do not have the right to investigate the streams of false information they produce about our country and us, simply because they are US citizens and we are not,” it claimed.

The original report described people on its list as “forces in the US impeding aid to Ukraine,” ranging “from Trumpists to Communists.” Highlighted in the report was the renowned anti-war group CODEPINK, organizations funded by billionaire Charles Koch, popular conservative speaker Jordan Peterson, and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

Texty targeted Musk for supposedly allowing “Russian propaganda” on X, which he owns, and sharing with his followers a “highly skeptical view of the United States’ financial support for Ukraine.” Meanwhile, businessman Peter Thiel was accused of investing in Rumble, a free speech video sharing website. Unlike major platforms operated by US tech giants, it allows RT content.

The report acknowledged that both entrepreneurs had contributed to Kiev’s war effort against Russia via Musk’s Starlink satellite internet system and Thiel’s Palantir big-data analysis platform, but placed them on its blacklist nevertheless.

June 13, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance | , , | Leave a comment

Massie: Politicians have an “AIPAC guy” (who tells them what to do)

If Americans Knew | June 12, 2024

More info at https://israelpalestinenews.org/massi…

June 12, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Timeless or most popular, Video | , , , | Leave a comment

Fauci’s institute hid mpox gain-of-function plans from Congress and the media

By Emily Kopp | U.S. Right To Know | June 11, 2024 

For nearly nine years Anthony Fauci’s institute concealed plans to engineer a pandemic capable mpox virus with a case fatality rate of up to 15 percent, congressional investigators revealed in a new report Tuesday.

In June 2015, a scientist at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases received formal approval from the National Institutes of Health’s Institutional Review Board for experiments expected to engineer an mpox virus with high transmissibility and moderate mortality.

NIAID — the institute Fauci oversaw for nearly four decades and which underwrites most federally funded gain-of-function research — concealed the project’s approval from investigators with the House Committee on Energy and Commerce over the course of a 17 month-long investigation.

A new interim report describes the obstruction and secrecy around the mpox proposal as a case study in how the institute “oversees and accounts for the monitoring of potentially dangerous gain-of-function research of concern.”

The revelations land amid global concerns about whether coronavirus gain-of-function research — research that might generate pathogens with increased pathogenicity or transmissibility — may have contributed to the worst pandemic in a century.

The committee, in conjunction with the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, is also investigating coronavirus gain-of-function research underwritten by NIAID at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and faces similar stonewalling in that investigation, a committee aide said.

NIAID’s lack of transparency surrounding the proposed mpox experiment for nearly a decade undermines Fauci’s assurances at a congressional hearing last week that any biosecurity breach at the Wuhan lab could not have any connection to his former institute. Investigators continue to pursue documentation from EcoHealth Alliance, an NIAID contractor whose funding was recently suspended for failing to properly oversee coronavirus experiments exported to Wuhan.

Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, caused a public health emergency in the U.S. from August 2022 to February 2023. It is endemic in Africa. The more deadly clade circulates in Central Africa (clade I) while the more transmissible clade circulates in West Africa (clade II). Mpox has infected more than 20,000 people and caused more than 1,000 deaths in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where clade I predominates, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — though some experts believe that is an undercount of true cases. A strain of the clade II virus drove the American outbreak.

The mpox experiment first came to light in a September 2022 article in Science.

The gain-of-function project proposed by NIAID virologist Bernard Moss would splice genes conferring high pathogenicity from the clade I virus into the more transmissible clade II virus. The new “chimeric” (combined) virus could have retained up to a 15 percent fatality rate and a 2.4 reproductive number, a measure of transmissibility indicating every sick person could infect up to 2.4 people on average, giving it pandemic potential.

The committee’s attempts to learn more about the experiment were met with stonewalling.

NIAID maintains the experiment was never conducted, but has never provided any contemporaneous documents to support that claim such as emails or lab notebooks, according to the committee’s report.

The lack of engagement from NIAID, the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Health and Human Services does not comport with the idea the experiment was never conducted and that there is nothing to hide, according to the committee.

HHS and NIH misled congressional investigators for nearly a year and a half, falsely denying that Moss had obtained formal approval for this gain-of-function experiment.

The committee launched its investigation in October 2022 but was only permitted to view key documents in camera in March 2024, which confirmed NIH’s formal approval of the experiment.

The committee lays blame with officials at NIAID, who fund most federally underwritten gain-of-function research, have the subject matter expertise, and may have misled their bosses at HHS and NIH.

For months NIAID and Moss had reported to the committee that the mpox experiment had not moved forward and that Moss had simply been spitballing with the Science reporter in 2022 without serious intention.

However amid the committee’s investigation in May 2023 an approval from the Federal Select Agent Program for a chimera involving both clade I and clade II of the mpox virus was revoked.

NIAID also misled Science and STAT News in saying the gain-of-function mpox experiment was never approved, according to the committee.

Committee aides say they will continue to press for full accountability and transparency, and hope for a culture change at NIAID away from secrecy under new leadership.

Fauci retired after 38 years as the head of NIAID in December 2022; Jeanne M. Marrazzo now serves as director of the institute. Former NIH Director Francis Collins retired in December 2021; Monica Bertagnolli now serves as director of the NIH.

The revelations also come amid a debate about the future of gain-of-function research regulation.

New policy unveiled last month by the White House Office and Science and Technology Policy maintains a largely self-regulatory framework, vesting the responsibility for initiating increased regulation with the researchers and funding agencies such as NIAID.

The vast majority of gain-of-function research that could generate epidemic and pandemic capable viruses is likely to be exempted from more rigorous scrutiny under the new protocols, according to the committee.

Many of the world’s most public virologists have dismissed the theory that the COVID-19 pandemic may have resulted from a lab accident as a conspiracy theory and have chafed at the idea that the work should be regulated by an outside agency, subject to public input or not pursued at all.

That culture extends to NIAID, too, according to the committee’s investigators, who have also uncovered that top administrators may have illegally evaded federal record retention and transparency law.

Concerns were raised by a committee aide that NIAID exerted undue influence at OSTP to preserve the laissez-faire status quo.

“The new OSTP policy continues to give funding agencies, like NIAID, primary responsibility for oversight of GOFROC and DURC experiments involving potentially dangerous pathogens,” the committee’s report reads. “In almost any other scientific field or industry, this arrangement would be immediately recognized as a conflict of interest, necessitating independent review and oversight.”

Policy improvements suggested by the committee’s report include codifying public input through a community oversight board, which already exist for high-containment biosafety level four laboratories, as well as moving final approval for gain-of-function research out of NIAID.

According to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, the number of labs capable of growing orthopoxviruses like mpox and smallpox from scratch currently stands at less than 100, but could increase significantly as DNA synthesis and engineering techniques improve and become cheaper.

June 12, 2024 Posted by | Deception, Militarism | , | Leave a comment

How Did a Small Group Do This?

By Jeffrey A. Tucker | Brownstone Institute | June 12, 2024

Avery interesting study appeared last week by two researchers looking into the pandemic policy response around the world. They are Drs. Eran Bendavid and Chirag Patel of Stanford and Harvard, respectively. Their ambition was straightforward. They wanted to examine the effects of government policy on the virus.

In this ambition, after all, researchers have access to an unprecedented amount of information. We have global data on strategies and stringencies. We have global data on infections and mortality. We can look at it all according to the timeline. We have precise dating of stay-at-home orders, business closures, meeting bans, masking, and every other physical intervention you can imagine.

The researchers merely wanted to track what worked and what did not, as a way of informing future responses to viral outbreaks so that public health can learn lessons and do better next time. They presumed from the outset they would discover that at least some mitigation tactics achieved the aim.

It is hardly the first such study. I’ve seen dozens of such efforts, and there are probably hundreds or thousands of these. The data is like catnip to anyone in this field who is empirically minded. So far, not even one empirical examination has shown any effect of anything but that seems like a hard conclusion to swallow. So these two decided to take a look for themselves.

They even went to the next step. They assembled and reassembled all existing data in every conceivable way, running fully 100,000 possible combinations of tests that all future researchers could run. They found some correlations in some policies but the problem is that every time they found one, they found another instance in which the reverse seemed to be true.

You cannot infer causation if the effects are not stable.

After vast data manipulation and looking at every conceivable policy and outcome, the researchers reluctantly come to an incredible conclusion. They conclude that nothing that governments did had any effect. There was only cost, no benefit. Everywhere in the world.

Please just let that sink in.

The policy response destroyed countless millions of small businesses, ruined a generation in learning losses, spread ill health with substance abuse, wrecked churches that could not hold holiday services, decimated arts and cultural institutions, broke trade, unleashed inflation that is nowhere near done with us yet, provoked new forms of online censorship, built government power in a way without precedent, led to new levels of surveillance, spread vaccine injury and death, and otherwise shattered liberties and laws the world over, not to mention leading to frightening levels of political stability.

And for what?

Apparently, it was all for nought.

Nor has there been any sort of serious reckoning. The European Commission elections are perhaps a start, and heavily influenced by public opposition to Covid controls, in addition to other policies that are robbing nations of their histories and identities. The major media can call the victors “far right” all they want but this is really about common people simply wanting their lives back.

It’s interesting to speculate about precisely how many people were involved in setting the world on fire. We know the paradigm was tried first in Wuhan, then blessed by the World Health Organization. As regards the rest of the world, we know some names, and there were many cohorts in public health and gain-of-function research.

Let’s say there are 300 of them, plus many national security and intelligence officials plus their sister agencies around the world. Let’s just add a zero plus multiply that by the large countries, presuming that so many others were copycats.

What are we talking about here? Maybe 3,000 to 5,000 people total in a decision-making capacity? That might be far too high. Regardless, compared with the sheer number of people around the world affected, we are talking about a tiny number, a mico-percent of the world’s population or less making new rules for the whole of humanity.

The experiment was without precedent on this scale. Even Deborah Birx admitted it. “You know, it’s kind of our own science experiment that we’re doing in real time.” The experiment was on whole societies.

How in the world did this come to be? There are explanations that rely on mass psychology, the influence of pharma, the role of the intelligence services, and other theories of cabals and conspiracies. Even with every explanation, the whole thing seems wildly implausible. Surely it would have been impossible without global communications and media, which amplified the entire agenda in every respect.

Because of this, kids could not go to school. People in public parks had to stay within circles. Businesses could not open at full capacity. We developed insane rituals like masking when walking and unmasking when sitting. Oceans of sanitizer would be dumped on all people and things. People were made to be afraid of leaving their homes and clicked buttons to make groceries arrive on their doorsteps.

It was a global science experiment without any foundation in evidence. And the experience utterly transformed our legal systems and lives, introducing uncertainties and anxieties as never before and unleashing a level of crime in major cities that provoked residential, business, and capital flight.

This is a scandal for the ages. And yet hardly anyone in major media seems to be interested in getting to the bottom of it. That’s because, for bizarre reasons, looking too carefully at the culprits and policies here is regarded as being for Trump. And the hate and fear of Trump is so beyond reason at this point that whole institutions have decided to sit back and watch the world burn rather than be curious about what provoked this in the first place.

Instead of an honest accounting of the global upheaval, we are getting the truth in dribs and drabs. Anthony Fauci continues to testify for Congressional hearings and this extremely clever man threw his longtime collaborator under the bus, acting like David Morens was a rogue employee. That action seemed to provoke ex-CDC director Robert Redfield to go public, saying that it was a lab leak from a US-funded lab doing “dual purpose” research into vaccines and viruses, and strongly suggesting that Fauci himself was involved in the cover-up.

Among this group, we are quickly approaching the point of “Every man for himself.” It is fascinating to watch, for those of us who are deeply interested in this question. But for the mainstream media, none of this gets any coverage at all. They act like we should just accept what happened and not think anything about it.

This great game of pretend is not sustainable. To be sure, maybe the world is more broken than we know but something about cosmic justice suggests that when a global policy this egregious, this damaging, this preposterously wrongheaded, does all harm and no good, there are going to be consequences.

Not immediately but eventually.

When will the whole truth emerge? It could be decades from now but we already know this much for sure. Nothing we were promised about the great mitigation efforts by governments turned out to achieve anything remotely what they promised. And yet even now, the World Health Organization continues to uphold such interventions as the only way forward.

Meanwhile, the paradigm of bad science backed by force pervades nearly everything these days, from climate change to medical services to information controls.

When will evidence matter again?

June 12, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Science and Pseudo-Science, Timeless or most popular | , , , | Leave a comment

Has Israel considered a loss to Hezbollah?

By Ali Rizk | The Cradle | June 11, 2024

As the war in Gaza lags on, cross-border exchanges on the Lebanese–Israeli front have intensified. Fighting between Hezbollah and the Israeli military has taken a heavy toll on both sides. The Lebanese resistance movement has lost over 300 fighters, with Israeli shelling resulting in the displacement of tens of thousands of Lebanese residents of the country’s southern villages.

Israel has not fared much better, with at least sixty thousand northern settlers forced to flee their homes. While the occupation army has confirmed the death of around a dozen of its soldiers in the exchanges with Hezbollah, the real number is estimated to be much higher.

In March, The Cradle gained intel that over 230 Israeli troops had been killed in combat since 8 October 2023.

The rising threat of a large-scale war

While the northern conflict currently remains within the boundaries of ‘controlled escalation,’ the prospects of a full-blown war between Hezbollah and Israel may be steadily increasing. Far-right members of the Israeli government, who are key to keeping Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition intact, have become noticeably more vocal in supporting escalation on the Lebanese front.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has called for launching an attack on Beirut, describing it as “the capital of terrorism.” Given these stances, it cannot be entirely dismissed that Netanyahu may opt to escalate against Lebanon.

Indeed, recent statements by the Israeli prime minister suggest that some form of wider escalation on the northern front may be in the making.

Speaking during a visit to the headquarters of the Israeli military’s Northern Command, Netanyahu referred to “surprising plans” being devised to deal with Hezbollah, aiming to “restore security to the north and to restore residents safely to their homes” without going into further detail.

Amid these developments, the Israeli military recently completed a drill that simulated a ground incursion into Lebanon.

A large-scale Israeli offensive on Lebanon in the near future would also be consistent with earlier assessments made by US officials, who, in late February, predicted a possible ground incursion into Lebanon by the late spring or early summer.

Hezbollah’s increasing capabilities

Hezbollah’s challenge to Israel appears to be on the rise, reflecting a failure of Tel Aviv’s current strategy of relying on precision surgical strikes. According to the Israeli institute Alma, which monitors developments on the Lebanese–Israeli front, 325 cross-border attacks were carried out by Hezbollah in May, the highest number of monthly attacks on this front since 7 October.

The resistance movement’s operations have also become more sophisticated, revealing capabilities it has introduced for the first time. Hezbollah managed to destroy an advanced surveillance balloon used to detect incoming attacks in an operation conducted via a kamikaze drone.

It has also upgraded its drone capabilities, recently launching a twin-kamikaze drone attack on the northern town of Hurfeish and conducting its first-ever air raid through an armed UAV equipped with S5 rockets. The operation targeted Israeli soldiers in the settlement of Metula and was the first time in which an Arab force had launched an airstrike on Israel.

Most recently, Hezbollah released footage on 6 June showing a guided missile attack on an Iron Dome platform in Israel’s Ramot Naftali barracks in the Galilee.

What to expect in a full-scale war

The increased sophistication of Hezbollah’s operations can also be seen as fueling Tel Aviv’s urgency to take decisive action against the resistance group. This was expressed by former Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz, who described the Lebanese front as the most significant and pressing operative front in the current conflict, warning that the “moment of truth” was now close.

However, what the Lebanese movement has demonstrated since 7 October also serves as a warning of what awaits the occupation state if an all-out war were to erupt.

The Israeli military is expected to employ methods similar to 2006 in that it would carry out destructive air raids on ‘Hezbollah strongholds’ in southern Lebanon, Beirut, and the Bekaa region.

Speaking to The Cradle, retired Lebanese Brigadier General Elias Farhat explains:

There is no such thing as a limited full-scale war. A full-scale war will have to include all of Hezbollah’s strongholds.

However, any Israeli onslaught on par or exceeding what happened in 2006 is almost certainly going to be met, this time, with a much harsher response from Hezbollah.

The Lebanese movement has amassed a far larger rocket and missile arsenal, with estimates pointing to over 150,000 of these weapons now in its possession. Given this military build-up, Hezbollah is widely recognized today as the world’s heaviest armed non-state actor.

Perhaps even more importantly, its arsenal includes precision missiles such as the Fateh 110, enabling it to aim at strategic Israeli installations that could cause immense damage. Against this backdrop, Israeli experts have warned of a MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) scenario in the event of a full-scale war with Hezbollah.

It is also possible the Lebanese movement possesses military capabilities that could undermine Israel’s air power advantage. The group has already demonstrated its air defense capability against Israeli drones, having succeeded in shooting down several ‘Hermes’ UAVs in the current round of hostilities.

The bigger danger to Israel, however, would be Hezbollah’s possession of air defenses capable of shooting down not only drones but Israeli warplanes. Given the strengthening of military ties between Russia and Iran, the possibility of Hezbollah accessing Moscow’s enhanced anti-aircraft technology is increased.

The resistance movement has already announced that it launched surface-to-air missiles at Israeli warplanes that had broken the sound barrier and had hence forced the aircraft to retreat.

This marks the first development of its kind in the history of warfare between Hezbollah and Israel and could merely be a warning shot for what could transpire in the event of an all-out war.

That Hezbollah would unveil such weapons in a full-scale conflict is consistent with its strategy of saving its best for such confrontations. In 2006, it surprised the Israeli military by striking a warship in a missile attack.

Israel would also likely face superior offensive ground operations in a full-scale war with Hezbollah. The Lebanese movement gained valuable experience in such operations while fighting extremist groups in Syria.

As Hussein Ibish of the Arab Gulf States Institute recounts to The Cradle:

“The combination of Hezbollah ground fighters and Russian air and signals intelligence dominance was the ‘A-Team’ on behalf of the Assad [government] in the Syrian war.”

Given this experience and its ability to launch airstrikes via UAVs, Hezbollah likely retains the capacity to launch offensive infantry operations – importantly, with air cover.

Manpower and tactical advantages

Hezbollah will also likely enjoy an advantage in terms of reliable, tested, and highly motivated manpower. Due to its close ties with allied resistance factions in Iraq and Yemen, fighters from these countries are likely to come to Hezbollah’s aid in a full-scale conflict with Israel.

The Lebanese movement’s Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah alluded to this factor in a 2017 speech. Israel, by contrast, appears to be suffering from a shortage of manpower in its military ranks, not to mention tanking troop and commander morale, highlighted on Sunday by yet another high-level military resignation, this time Gaza Division Commander Brigadier-General Avi Rosenfeld.

Israeli defenses are also unlikely to succeed when facing large barrages of Hezbollah missiles and drones. Unlike Iran’s retaliatory attack on 13 April, where the US and allies shot down a large fraction of the incoming drones and missiles, similar-style attacks launched by Hezbollah would be far more difficult to deal with.

The closer geographical distance means much less time to intercept and shoot down such attacks. Hezbollah, which relies heavily on the element of surprise in its military tactics, will also certainly not telegraph its attacks beforehand as Iran did. As a result, Israel would likely remain exposed to immense attacks through surface-to-surface missiles, kamikaze drones, and airstrikes via UAVs.

Moreover, the Lebanese resistance has spent many months tirelessly disabling Israel’s “eyes and ears” in the north, reportedly destroying over 1,650 pieces of intelligence, surveillance, and target acquisition (ISR) equipment since the conflict’s onset.

Israel is increasingly operating blindly in that vital northern theater, allowing Hezbollah to repeatedly and successfully strike at qualitative targets, penetrate more deeply into the occupation state, and employ more advanced weaponry.

The US response

While it is likely that the US will rush to defend its Israeli ally, the bigger question is how far it is willing to go. As indicated above, defensive measures are unlikely to significantly undermine the severity of Hezbollah’s cross-border missile and drone operations.

Judging from its approach following the Iranian attack on Israel, Washington is unlikely to go beyond defensive support. Following Operation True Promise, the White House reportedly informed Tel Aviv that it would have no part in any offensive action against Tehran, effectively leaving its Israeli ally with little choice but to settle for a far less proportionate response to Iran’s significant military operation.

Given how that situation unfolded, it would be a risky gamble for Israel to pin its hopes on its US security guarantor assuming an offensive role in a major war with Hezbollah. Tensions are also rising between the US and rival superpowers, reinforcing this dynamic.

Speaking to The Cradle, Steven Simon, Senior Director for the Middle East and North Africa in the US National Security Council during the Obama administration, emphasizes that “a direct combat role beyond air defenses (in a full-scale war between Hezbollah and Israel) is highly unlikely.” This is especially the case, he adds, “given tensions with Russia and China.”

Nawaf al-Musawi, Hezbollah’s Resource and Border Affairs official and one of the movement’s strategic thinkers, offers this prediction:

The Israeli occupation needs weapons from Washington for any war it wishes to wage against Lebanon. After any war with Lebanon, the region will not be the same as it was before. The next war with Israel will be the final war.

June 12, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Apple under fire for matching employee donations to IDF and illegal settlements

MEMO | June 12, 2024

Apple is facing criticism from a group of self-described workers, former employees and shareholders who are calling on the tech giant to halt donations to non-profit organisations linked to Israel’s military onslaught on the Palestinians in Gaza and its ongoing illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. Details of the row between Apple and staff were revealed by The Intercept. In an open letter, the group, known as Apples4Ceasefire, has demanded that the company should “promptly investigate and cease matching donations to all organisations that further illegal settlements in occupied territories and support the IDF [Israel Defence Forces].”

The controversy stems from Apple’s employee donation-matching programme, which allows workers to make contributions to various non-profit organisations and receive matching funds from the company through a platform called Benevity. Among the charities Apple’s controversial platform allows funds to be sent to are Friends of the IDF, which collects donations on behalf of Israeli occupation soldiers, and several groups that contribute to the settlement enterprise in the West Bank, such as HaYovel, One Israel Fund, the Jewish National Fund and IsraelGives.

The open letter, with 133 signatories, follows broader activism at tech companies by workers objecting to complicity between their employers and the ongoing Israeli military assault on Gaza in which more than 38,000 Palestinians have been killed, most of them children and women. The provision of donations to NGOs facilitating the illegal occupation of the West Bank has come under increasing scrutiny as the situation in the region has deteriorated since 7 October last year. The Israeli offensive has resulted in war crimes and a charge of genocide.

Apple’s corporate commitment to respecting internationally recognised human rights frameworks, including the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, has been called into question in light of these revelations. The UN Human Rights Office has repeatedly decried atrocities committed by the IDF since the war began. Israel is also under investigation for genocide by the International Court of Justice while the International Criminal Court is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli leaders.

Israel’s campaign in Gaza has sparked global protests, with major firms like McDonald’s and Starbucks facing boycotts over their alleged support for the apartheid state. Apple now risks being added to the list of companies targeted by the boycott movement if it fails to address the concerns raised by its employees and shareholders regarding its donation matching policy.

As pressure mounts on corporations to ensure their contributions do not fund illegal activities or human rights abuses, Apple will be expected to take swift action to investigate and potentially cease matching donations to organisations linked to the Israeli military and illegal settlement activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

June 12, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , | Leave a comment

Biden and other Western leaders could face war crimes prosecution over Gaza and Ukraine

By Finian Cunningham | Strategic Culture Foundation | June 12, 2024

US President Joe Biden and European leaders are liable for war crimes in Gaza and Ukraine and could face prosecution.

That’s the assessment of internationally renowned legal expert Alfred de Zayas* and a collective of jurists at the Geneva International Research Peace Institute.

In what could be a breakthrough test case, Professor de Zayas and his colleagues have submitted a formal request to the International Criminal Court to investigate European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for complicity in war crimes in Gaza and Palestinian Territories committed by the state of Israel.

In this interview, de Zayas outlines the case for prosecution against von der Leyen, who as president of the European Commission is Europe’s most senior political representative. Von der Leyen is accused of being in breach of the 1948 Convention on Genocide by aiding and abetting the Israeli state in its military onslaught against Palestinians.

It is not just von der Leyen who is liable for war crimes prosecution. Other senior members of the European Union – Charles Michel and Josep Borrell – and European national leaders such as France’s Emmanuel Macron, Germany’s Olaf Scholz and Britain’s Rishi Sunak are also indictable.

As Prof de Zayas points out, US President Joe Biden is a prime figure for prosecution given that the United States is the biggest political and military supporter of Israel.

All Western leaders have a case to answer for the appalling genocide in Gaza which has resulted in more than 40,000 Palestinian deaths, mainly among women and children. If a case can be made against von der Leyen then others will follow against Western leaders.

What de Zayas says is crucially important is to break the false aura of impunity that “arrogant” Western leaders think they have. These politicians have the misplaced belief that they are “untouchable” and “unaccountable” under international law.

He says the legal process initiated by his collective of jurists at the Geneva International Peace Research Institute of prosecuting Western leaders is gathering worldwide momentum. More international legal experts and concerned citizens are adding their names to the legal petition.

A final note on the conflict in Ukraine. The funneling of weapons into that country by the US and other NATO powers is grounds for prosecution under the war crimes of incitement against peace and instigation of aggression. The NATO powers are guilty of Nuremberg crimes that Nazi leaders were convicted of in 1946.

Professor de Zayas and his colleagues are serving notice on Western leaders that they are not above the law and they will eventually end up the dock to face justice. The groundswell of world public opinion is outraged by the war crimes in Gaza and NATO’s relentless warmongering in Ukraine. The movement of protests across the world against the genocide in Gaza is proof of the huge groundswell. The political challenge to establishment politicians and figures cannot be overstated.

A movement to call out the war criminals in high office and put them in the dock is long overdue but it is underway.

* Alfred de Zayas is a formidable legal authority who writes a regular column for Counterpunch magazine. He is a Professor of International Law at the Geneva School of Diplomacy. Formerly, he served as the United Nations senior expert on international law. He has written 11 books, including Building a Just Global Order (2021, Clarity Press) and Countering Mainstream Narratives (2022, Clarity Press).

June 12, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Glenn Greenwald interviews Briahna Joy Gray about her firing by the Hill

System Update | June 11, 2024

From System Update with Glenn Greenwald, June 7, 2024. Greenwald is a journalist, constitutional lawyer, and author of four New York Times bestselling books on politics and law. He has won numerous journalism awards. (https://theintercept.com/staff/glenn-…)

More information on Gray’s firing is at https://israelpalestinenews.org/most-…

Shorter clips are at https://youtu.be/KjbEsA7rVqk?si=Yb91r… and https://youtu.be/Ly9F_45OZi0?si=Ph95S…

Full show at : https://rumble.com/v5091bc-system-upd… –

June 11, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Full Spectrum Dominance, Mainstream Media, Warmongering, Video | , , , | Leave a comment

Ex-Press TV reporter at center of WaPo’s smear campaign against Grayzone

By Maryam Qarehgozlou | Press TV | June 11, 2024

The Washington Post reports that Grayzone journalist Wyatt Reed took funds from Iran, and the report is based on testimonies of anti-Iran elements or those linked to US arms manufacturers.

In another desperate bid to muzzle alternative media that has been revealing Western complicity in Gaza and Ukraine, The Washington Post recently published a hit piece targeting The Grayzone news outlet.

The article alleged that The Grayzone is financially backed by Iran and Russia to “spread falsehoods.”

Authored by Joseph Menn, the article claimed to have “exposed” The Grayzone’s journalist Wyatt Reed’s ties with Iran’s state media, relying on what it said were hacked emails and quotes from sources either anti-Iran elements or linked to the US government or arms manufacturers.

The oldest newspaper in Washington, owned by pro-Israel business tycoon Jeff Bezos, insinuated that since Reed, now a managing director at The Grayzone, appeared on Press TV many years ago, he is on the Islamic Republic’s payroll.

The piece went as far as to suggest that he should be jailed for reporting for the Iranian news channel.

The Washington Post report repeated the same claims about Reed’s reporting for Russia’s state-run news agency Sputnik.

Reed, for his part, has never hidden his work for Press TV. At the start of his journalistic career in 2020, Reed appeared on Press TV several dozen times and openly tweeted his reports. The “correspondent @PressTV” was also featured in his Twitter bio at the time.

“For weeks, we’ve been waiting to see how they would target us. Now we know. Congrats to the @washingtonpost’s ‘Digital threats reporter’ on this earth-shattering reporting on my appearances on Press TV years before I edited Grayzone,” Reed wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter, last week.

“How could they possibly have figured it out?” he added.

Dan Cohen, an American journalist and filmmaker, also took to X to assert that The Washington Post’s “sloppy attempt” to discredit independent journalism only highlights the media group’s own corruption.

“The Washington Post is targeting Grayzone journalist @wyattreed13 for having previously worked for Iran state media outlet Press TV and Russian state outlet Sputnik, as if that’s somehow a breach of journalist ethics,” Cohen wrote in a post.

He said The Washington Post reporter Greg Jaffe has a fellowship at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), a permanent war think tank funded by the US State Department and Pentagon.

The editor-in-chief of The Grayzone, Max Blumenthal, responded that supporters of the Israeli war on Gaza and the Western proxy war in Ukraine are angry with The Grayzone and Reed because of their truthful reporting.

“The motive behind this malicious attack is abundantly clear: Wyatt now works for The Grayzone, and The Grayzone’s factual reporting has infuriated boosters of the Ukraine proxy war and members of Israel’s international propaganda network,” he said.

‘Embarrassing’ correction

Stung by the backlash, The Washington Post was forced to retract some of its allegations. While the story initially claimed that editors of The Grayzone had received payments from Iranian media, it soon corrected the story, saying only Reed received such payments.

“Less than 24 hours after @JosephMenn’s hatchet job on @TheGrayzoneNews landed, WaPo has been forced into a massive and deeply embarrassing correction,” Kit Klarenberg, a British investigative journalist and contributor to the Press TV website, wrote in a post on X.

“Other egregious distortions and falsehoods remain extant. But it’s a start. And certainly the foundation of future legal action,” he added.

Reed also said in an X post that more corrections are expected in the coming days.

“The ‘journalists’ attempting to get me jailed for journalism just had to issue a major correction to their hit piece. Expect more in the coming days as we expose the US government cutouts, pro-Israel zealots, and federal informants they relied on to target us.”

Bogus claims

Despite the correction, the piece is still filled with false, twisted, and distorted accounts. For example, the author of the article, Menn, claims Blumenthal did not answer emails seeking comment. However, Blumenthal said in a post on X that he received no emails.

“Unless Menn can prove that he emailed me and I somehow missed it, this is malicious conduct that demonstrates reckless disregard for journalistic ethics,” he said.

Blumenthal added that if he had received any emails from Menn, he would have stated clearly that Reed reported for Press TV three years before he joined The Grayzone and that Wyatt’s position at The Grayzone was created through “a public, grassroots crowd-funding campaign” in which readers pooled together small donations.

“I would have also stated that The Grayzone does not accept funding from any government, unlike nearly every intel front Menn quoted against us,” he added.

According to Blumenthal, these facts would have undermined the entire premise of Menn’s “malicious” smear piece, which may be why he did not email him.

WaPo quotes NATO-backed groups

Blumenthal also revealed that Menn’s key sources for the article included Neil Rauhauser, a “shady online troll” who is also believed to be an FBI informant, and some NATO-backed outfits.

The article cited the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, or ASPI, a Canberra-based think tank funded by Australia’s Department of Defence, NATO, and the US Department of State.

The Atlantic Council, the semi-official DC think tank of NATO, is another source cited by The Washington Post, which has taken in substantial funding from the US Department of State, EU states, and arms manufacturers.

It also quoted Ali Herischi, personal lawyer of Masih Alinejad, a US-based, exiled Iranian rabble-rouser who is on Washington’s payroll for instigating anti-Iran sentiments inside and outside the country.

Alinejad has advocated for Israeli military attacks on Iran and received $305,000 from the US government for her work at Voice of America, the US state broadcaster, between 2015 and 2019.

“At no point did Menn inform his readers that his sources were state-funded pro-war entities,” Blumenthal said.

Misinforming readers

The Washington Post story also alleged that The Grayzone is spreading misinformation by reporting “widespread Israeli attacks against its [settlers] on October 7” when Hamas carried out Operation Al-Aqsa Storm into the occupied territories.

However, the newspaper conveniently failed to inform its readers that Israeli media have corroborated The Grayzone’s assessment that the Israeli military explicitly ordered attacks on Israeli settlers who had been taken captive on October 7, killing many.

Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported last month that Israeli Gen. Barak Hiram ordered an Israeli tank to shell a home in Kibbutz Beeri filled with over a dozen Israeli captives on October 7, killing all but two.

Desperate attempts

According to Hermela Aregawi, a US-based independent journalist, the targeting of American journalists who challenge mainstream narratives is likely to ramp up ahead of the US presidential elections.

“If you read beyond the headline, the ‘editor’s ties’ are that… ‘The files appear to show that the Iranian broadcaster paid [journalist Wyatt] Reed for occasional contributions to its programming’… The reality is US outlets, UK outlets, Qatar (Al Jazeera) etc. pay some of their contributors for their analysis,” she wrote on X.

Journalist Mark Ames also said that the piece was a desperate attempt to trigger a federal investigation against independent journalists.

“This is the second WaPo hit piece against Grayzone this year. Based on the sourcing/media here, you get the sense Langley & DC press corps are so frustrated that their ‘disinformation’ hex cast upon [The Grayzone ] has had no effect, so they’re trying to summon the Feds to shut [The Grayzone ] down.”

The Australia-based anti-war commentator Caitlin Johnstone also said on X that The Grayzone staff worked for foreign media outlets like Press TV because there are no major Western media outlets that platform dissident voices like theirs, who “criticize the Western empire and its actions.”

“The Washington Post is one of the worst propaganda rags ever to exist in any country. If I’d published such an article for such a depraved empire propaganda outlet, I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night.”

June 11, 2024 Posted by | Mainstream Media, Warmongering, Russophobia | | Leave a comment

Gaza: child survivors of Nuseirat massacre say Israeli soldiers targeted them deliberately

MEMO | June 11, 2024

Mohammad Matar has told Anadolu news agency of the horrors of the massacre committed by the Israeli occupation army against the Palestinians in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. Miraculously, the 15-year-old child survived the brutal attack.

Matar is being treated for his wounds in the Nasser Medical Hospital in Khan Yunis. An Israeli soldier shot him twice at point blank range, hitting him in the shoulder and stomach. The bullets exited his body through his back.

The Israeli occupation army attack on Saturday killed 274 Palestinians and wounded at least 700 others in a massacre committed after a major artillery and air bombardment of the refugee camp. Matar was walking in the street when the explosions began. He did not expect the area where he lived to be turned into a battlefield.

Within seconds, the boy told Anadolu, a number of Israeli helicopters flew overhead and fired randomly into the street where he was walking. He headed quickly to his home and gathered with his family members in the basement to take cover. Minutes later, the family heard the sounds of Israeli tanks in the area, so they ran up to the first floor, where they thought they would be safer.

Soon after, Israeli soldiers burst into his family home. “There were about 10 people in the house, and suddenly the soldiers took my brother, father and grandfather, blindfolded them and put black bags over their heads.” That’s when one soldier approached him without warning and shot him twice. He couldn’t stand up, so the soldier pulled him up forcibly, and then threw him to the floor. “My body was paralysed at that point,” he told Anadolu. “They also shot my younger brother and killed him, and my aunt was also shot.”

Matar pointed out that those who were injured were left to bleed for more than half an hour before they were transferred to hospital. He also said that US Rangers were among the Israeli troops. “The badge was on their shoulders.”

Nine-year-old Mohammad Al-Samouni also survived the Nuseirat massacre. He was wounded in his right hand during the Israeli military operation. “We were sitting in the tent that we were displaced to in the camp, and suddenly we saw tanks and Israeli soldiers in front of us,” he explained. A soldier threw an “explosive ball” at him, which caused the severe wound in his hand. His father and brother were killed instantly, but the youngster was unable to provide further details.

June 11, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Hamas supports UN resolution for Gaza ceasefire

RT | June 10, 2024

Hamas has agreed with the UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, the Palestinian militant group said on Monday evening.

The Security Council has approved the US-backed resolution, with 14 votes in favor and Russia abstaining. Washington had finalized the text of the draft on Sunday.

“Hamas welcomes what is included in the Security Council resolution that affirmed the permanent ceasefire in Gaza, the complete withdrawal, the prisoners’ exchange, the reconstruction, the return of the displaced to their areas of residence, the rejection of any demographic change or reduction in the area of the Gaza Strip, and the delivery of needed aid to our people in the Strip,” the group said in a statement quoted by Reuters.

Hamas also said it would be willing to take part in indirect negotiations with Israel over implementing  the principles “that are consistent with the demands of our people and resistance.”

According to the White House, Israel has already accepted the ceasefire proposal. US President Joe Biden has claimed that the three-phase plan was an Israeli idea to begin with.

The UN resolution calls on both sides “to fully implement its terms without delay and without condition.”

Phase one of the proposal entails a six-week “pause” in the fighting, during which Israel and Hamas would open negotiations. If the talks continue past the six-week mark, the ceasefire will hold as long as the talks are ongoing, the resolution said.

Israel would also withdraw from the populated areas of Gaza and free some Palestinian prisoners in exchange for some hostages in Hamas captivity.

Phase two would see the return of all the remaining living hostages, while phase three would involve turning over the bodies of dead captives and a US-led “major reconstruction plan” for the Palestinian enclave.

June 10, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , , | Leave a comment

Yemen’s Houthi forces warn all US bases in region now within missile range

MEMO | June 10, 2024

Major General Bakil Saleh Al-Wahbi, commander of the Al-Wahbi Brigades affiliated with the Houthis, confirmed that the Yemeni armed forces have delivered unexpected and painful blows to the US military, particularly the recent targeting of the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. He stated: “All American bases in the region and their naval fleets have now, by the grace of God, become within the range of our missiles.”

In a statement to the Yemeni Press Agency, Major General Al-Wahbi explained that Yemen is witnessing rapid advancements in lethal military manufacturing. He pointed out that the recently unveiled locally-made missile “Palestine” is a small part of the missile arsenal and drones produced, which have reached the port of Haifa in the Mediterranean Sea, covering more than 3,000 kilometres.

Al-Wahbi said the Yemeni forces’ goal of producing intercontinental missiles capable of reaching deep into US territory. He asserted that the Pentagon, more than 13,000 kilometres away from Sana’a, should be aware of Yemen’s ambitions.

The comments come as the Houthis claimed to have targeted a British destroyer in the Red Sea and two ships in the Arabian Sea. Military spokesman Brigadier-General Yahya Saree stated that fighters attacked the British destroyer Diamond in the Red Sea with ballistic missiles “in response to the Israeli attack on the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.”

In support of Gaza and amid the “fourth escalation phase,” the Yemeni armed forces targeted the aircraft carrier Eisenhower twice within 24 hours in the Red Sea, using multiple drones. This action was Sanaa’s direct response to Israeli war crimes in Gaza and US-British aggression on Yemen.

The Yemeni armed forces affirmed their commitment to ongoing military operations in support of the oppressed Palestinian people and in response to US-British aggression. They stressed these operations will persist until the aggression ceases and the siege on Gaza is lifted.

Leader of the Houthi movement Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi was quoted as saying it is “a great honour and blessing to be confronting America directly.”

June 10, 2024 Posted by | Wars for Israel | , | Leave a comment

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