the unbalanced evolution of homo sapiens

Janta Ka Reporter   South African lawyer Adilah Hassim on Thursday had voice choked with emotion at the International Court of Justice as she described Israeli atrocities against children in Gaza. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is holding  public hearings in the case South Africa v. Israel with the oral argument of South Africa taking place on Thursday. 

We Love Africa   The Hague on Thursday, May 16, as the International Court of Justice (ICJ) holds two days of hearings in South Africa's case against Israel, regarding additional emergency measures and the modification of previous ones.    

Dangerous Ideas with Lee Camp   Lee Camp delves into the harsh reality that over 200,000 Palestinians have been murdered by Israel, a shocking number that leaps beyond the reported figure of 35,000.  

Secular Talk    

Jacobin   The ways of war are changing. Artificial intelligence is used to bomb families in Gaza. Flying drones are deployed to track down refugees on the US-Mexico border. But the biggest change is the one we talk about the least: the privatization of war. From Yemen to Sudan, Syria to Nigeria, tens of thousands of guns for hire now fight on behalf of foreign powers. For Episode 7 of “The International,” a world-spanning video series brought to you by Jacobin and the @ProgIntl, Rania Khalek tells the story of how we got here. It is the tale of an infamous US firm known as Blackwater and the rise of the secret mercenary armies that have pushed warfare into the shadows.    Related:   Globalized wars: Anyone can fight against anyone  

Al Jazeera English   This episode will look into how the war on Gaza has been reshaping global perceptions, particularly among youth in the West and what potential long-term reforms that might bring about.    Through a conversation with young online activists, The Stream delves into some of the new shifts in young people’s perspectives of their governments, mainstream media, international law, Western democracy and more.

Katie Halper   Rene Lichtman, a Holocaust survivor and hidden child accuses Israel of genocide and draws parallels between the Israeli army and the Nazis: “ I see it as genocide. it's difficult for me to say that, but it's equivalent to what happened in the Holocaust. ” The son of two Polish Jews who fled to France during the 1930s, Rene was hidden at the age of two with a Catholic family outside of Paris after his father was killed during the 1940 Nazi invasion and his mother was forced into hiding. After the war, Rene moved with his mother to Brooklyn, New York. He was politically radicalized in the 1960s and became an active opponent of the Vietnam War. Rene was a founding member of the World Federation of Jewish Child Survivors of the Holocaust. On December 22, 2023, Rene took part in a demonstration outside of the Zekelman Holocaust Center in Farmington Hills, Michigan, against the US-backed Israeli massacres in Gaza.  

Novara Media    

Geopolitical Economy Report   US Senator Lindsey Graham insisted in a TV interview that Israel should drop nuclear bombs on Gaza, where more than 2 million Palestinian civilians, including 1 million children, are trapped under what the Israeli defense minister called a “complete siege”. Ben Norton discusses Washington's bipartisan complicity in crimes against humanity. Atomic bombing of Japan was NOT necessary to end WWII. US gov't documents admit it.  

Breaking Points   Krystal and Saagar discuss Antony Blinken admitting Israel has violated international law but that it will not effect weapons shipments.   </di

Al Jazeera English   Egypt says it will formally support South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Israel’s former foreign minister tells Al Jazeera it represents an ‘unbelievable diplomatic blow to Israel’.  

failed evolution   On 11 April 2019, the Ecuadorian government of traitor Lenin Moreno, invited the Metropolitan Police into the Ecuadorian embassy in London, and they arrested Julian Assange . Since then, Assange is kept in Belmarsh high security prison in London, without actual charges.   The real reason world's number one political prisoner is still kept in this high security prison, is because he exposed horrendous war crimes carried out by the US imperialists and their allies.   The ruthless Western imperialist regime wants to punish the No1 real journalist in the world and make him an example for any Whistleblower or real journalist who will attempt to expose its big crimes in the future.   And the Anglo-American axis has now become officially a fascist coalition , framed by the rest of its Western pets. UK's Home Secretary Priti Patel, one of the most ruthless ever, decided to extradite Julian Assange to US. No surprise of course. The only question we had in mind is

We Love Africa   The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) is set to reconvene on Friday, May 10, in New York City to continue discussions regarding the recognition of the 'State of Palestine'.    During this session of the ongoing debate, the UNGA is expected to vote on a resolution supporting Palestine's eligibility for full membership and calling upon the Security Council to review its appeal to join as the 149th member of the United Nations. 

We Love Africa   Minister of International Relations and Cooperation,  Dr Naledi Pandor , delivering the second annual Shireen Abu Akleh Memorial Lecture at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa.  

BreakThrough News   Despite global condemnation and the Palestinian resistance's acceptance of a ceasefire proposal, Israel began a ground invasion of Rafah where 1.4 million displaced Palestinians are taking refuge.    Throughout its bombardment of Gaza, Israel has forcibly evacuated Palestinians further south, originally designating Rafah a ‘safe zone.’ Israeli tanks entered Rafah Tuesday, sealing off the crossing with Egypt, cutting off all aid, and trapping Palestinians as it carpet bombs the besieged city.    Hosts Rania Khalek and Eugene Puryear discuss why Israel is as isolated as ever and losing the wider war.  

Richard Medhurst    

The Jimmy Dore Show   In our public discourse, the likes of Joe Biden, Bill Gates and Justin Trudeau are routinely labeled “Marxists.” Even though they are all committed capitalists who are perfectly happy to keep the means of production firmly in the hands of the very few at the top. As economics professor Richard Wolff discusses with Jimmy Dore and Americans’ Comedian Kurt Metzger, there is a very big difference between Marxism and authoritarianism — in fact, capitalism is much more authoritarian than Marxism.  

Democracy Now!   As students around the country set up Gaza solidarity encampments on their campuses, many universities have called in police who have arrested students and dismantled the sites.    But students at a number of colleges have managed to negotiate agreements where administrators have acceded to some of their demands, including considering divestment from Israel.    Democracy Now! spoke with four students who have been involved in pro-Palestine protests on campuses at Middlebury College in Vermont, Evergreen College in Washington state, Brown University in Rhode Island and Rutgers in New Jersey. 

Syriana Analysis   Chris Hedges explains Israel's master plan for Gaza and it is horrifying. 

Owen Jones   Biden's latest move tells us one thing: they're panicking. 

Owen Jones   Gaza is already in a state of catastrophe. What will Israel's invasion of Rafah mean? UNICEF's James Elder tells us the hideous truth: we have a responsibility to listen, and to act.  

Geopolitical Economy Report   US Senators sent a letter to the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor, threatening to impose sanctions and even invade the Hague if it issues arrest warrants for Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Biden administration is also pressuring the ICC not to charge Israeli officials over their war crimes in Gaza. Ben Norton discusses Washington's deep hypocrisy.  

BreakThrough News Rania Khalek was joined by Jon Elmer, a contributing editor at The Electronic Intifada, to discuss the battles, tactics and weapons of the Palestinian resistance groups.  

The violent crackdown carried out on Columbia University students protesting Israel’s genocidal assault on the Gaza Strip was led by a member of the school’s own faculty, New York City Mayor Eric Adams has declared. During a May 1 press conference, just hours after the New York Police Department arrested nearly 300 people on university grounds, Adams praised adjunct Columbia professor Rebecca Weiner, who moonlights as the head of the NYPD counter-terrorism bureau, for giving police the green light to clear out anti-genocide students by force. “ She was the one that was monitoring the situation, ” Adams explained, adding that the crackdown was carried out after “ she was able to — her team was able to conduct an investigation. ”   [...]   The NYPD’s Counterterrorism Bureau currently maintains an office in Tel Aviv, Israel, where it coordinates with Israel’s security apparatus and maintains a department liaison. Weiner appears to serve as a bridge between the Bureau’s offices in Israel a

Al Jazeera English   United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has appealed for an end to the bloodshed in Gaza. He says the Middle East is at risk of explosion if the fighting continues. In his speech, Guterres urged Israel’s allies to press its leadership to stop the war on Gaza.  “ I appeal to all those with influence over Israel to do everything in their power to help avert even more tragedy. The international community has a shared responsibility to promote a humanitarian ceasefire, the unconditional release of all hostages, and a massive surge in life-saving aid, ” he said. “ It is time for the parties to seize the opportunity and secure a deal for the sake of their own people. ”

George Galloway MP   It’s clear nothing is going to impede the Israeli assault on Gaza. They’ve sold out their own hostages: Chris Hedges 

Democracy Now!   Police have now arrested more than 2,500 students at pro-Palestine protests across the U.S., yet students continue to call for an end to the war on Gaza and universities' investment in companies that support Israel's occupation of Palestine.    Democracy Now! spoke with three student organizers from around the country: Salma Hamamy of the University of Michigan, president of the school's chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, about the commencement ceremony protest she helped organize, and Cady de la Cruz of the University of Virginia and Rae Ferrara of the State University of New York at New Paltz about police crackdowns on their schools' encampments.    De la Cruz was arrested in the UVA raid and banned from campus without an opportunity to collect any of her belongings. She says repression has strengthened the resolve of many protesters, who are willing to risk their academic futures to push for divestment. " All of us there felt like we

Al Jazeera English   Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh has sent word of the group’s acceptance of a ceasefire proposal to Qatari and Egyptian mediators. Displaced Palestinians are ecstatic after hearing that Hamas has agreed to a deal for a ceasefire, especially after fearing an imminent invasion of Rafah.  

Al Jazeera English   Students in the United States face detention, suspension and other punishments as they protest against Israel’s war on the Palestinians in Gaza and elsewhere and demand that their universities divest from Israel. US President Joe Biden has condemned the “antisemitic” protests, and student leaders at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill tell host Steve Clemons that the White House attempt to discredit their movement is backfiring. MIT professor Michel DeGraff explains how the students are putting into practice everything they’ve learned about morality, justice and liberation. “ They are creating a better future… a future of love and peace, ” says DeGraff.

Israeli officials have told the Biden administration and humanitarian organizations how they plan to start forcibly expelling Gazans from Rafah ahead of a likely ground invasion—a move critics have likened to the ethnic cleansing of Palestine's Arabs during the establishment of the modern state of Israel.  [...] According to an unnamed U.S. official and two other people familiar with the plan, Israel would " move people out of Rafah, the main humanitarian hub in the enclave, to al-Mawasi, a small strip of land on the southern Gaza coast. "  [...] " Such an invasion could lead to horrific massacres and raise scenarios of a second Nakba, " the Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human Rights said recently. " After 200 days of horrific genocidal acts in Gaza, the real objectives of the attack are the continuation of the 76-year-long ongoing Nakba and the erasure and genocidal destruction of the Palestinian people in Gaza. Israel is laying the groundwork to fulfi

Geopolitical Economy Report   China is reducing its holdings of US Treasury securities. Instead, the People's Bank of China is buying gold, and Beijing prioritizes imports of important commodities like oil and metals. Ben Norton discusses the geopolitical impact of de-dollarization in the world's largest economy.  

The Grayzone   The Grayzone 's Max Blumenthal and Aaron Mate on the latest humiliation for the NY Times in its debunked propaganda about October 7. 

Katie Halper   Katie Halper talks to Aidan Khamis and Bryce Greene, who was arrested at Indiana University where snipers have been brought in. Bryce Greene is a student, writer, organizer and media critic based in Indianapolis. He is a contributor to Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting. He was arrested and banned from Indiana University's campus for participating in the Gaza solidarity encampment at Indiana University. Aidan Khamis is an organizer for Palestine Solidarity Committee IU and IU divestment coalition.  

Status Coup News   Independent journalist Tina-Desiree Berg covered the Gaza student protest encampment at UCLA on May 1st, 2024, in which LAPD violently assaulted peaceful protesters and also assaulted Desiree Berg. 

Al Jazeera English   More than 50 universities across the United States have now established Palestine solidarity encampments, demanding action to stop Israel’s war on Gaza. What started as a student encampment at Columbia University in New York City two weeks ago has turned into a global student movement, expanding to Europe, Australia and Canada. Student protesters have been met with brutal counterprotests, arrests and suspensions, raising debates around freedom of expression and the future of activism on college campuses. But beyond the mainstream media’s attempt to reduce this movement to free speech and safety, why are students risking it all for Gaza?

Democracy Now!   We get an update from the University of California, Los Angeles, where police in riot gear began dismantling a pro-Palestinian encampment early Thursday, using flashbang grenades, rubber bullets and tear gas, and arresting dozens of students.    The raid came just over a day after pro-Israel counterprotesters armed with sticks, metal rods and fireworks attacked students at the encampment. The Real News Network reporter Mel Buer was on the scene during the attack. She describes seeing counterprotesters provoke students, yelling slurs and bludgeoning them with parts of the encampment’s barricade, and says the attack lasted several hours without police or security intervention.    ” UCLA is complicit in violence inflicted upon protesters, ” wrote the editorial board of UCLA’s campus newspaper, the Daily Bruin , the next day. Four of the paper’s student journalists were targeted and assaulted by counterprotesters while covering the protests.    Democracy Now! spoke with

Al Jazeera English   Videos of the attack on the anti-Gaza war protest camp at UCLA have shown the extent of the violence used by a pro-Israel mob. A day after the protesters were assaulted, police in Los Angeles declared the camp unlawful and moved in to clear it.  

The Real News Network   Seven months into Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, a student-led grassroots movement is spreading across the US and beyond, hearkening back to the student protests of the ‘60s that played a pivotal role in ending the US war in Vietnam.    In what is being called the “student intifada,” with over 100 encampments going up at different college and university campuses, students, faculty, grad students, and other campus community members are exercising civil disobedience, occupying space on campuses, defying brutal repression from administrators and police, combatting skewed and wildly lopsided narratives in corporate media, and pressuring their universities to “disclose and divest” their investments in companies and financial institutions connected to Israel.    TRNN speaks with encampment organizers/participants from the University of Michigan, the Indiana University, and Stanford University, and gets updates from encampments from New York to California. 

The Grayzone   The Grayzone 's Max Blumenthal and Aaron Mate discuss the spontaneous growth of the campus uprising against the US-backed genocide in Gaza, with a focus on the sizable new encampment at Washington DC's George Washington University. 

The Jimmy Dore Show   The Biden administration is reportedly highly concerned that the International Criminal Court in The Hague will soon issue warrants for the arrest of Benjamin Netanyahu and other high level members of the Israeli government.    Although the likelihood that Netanyahu et al could ever be placed in the dock at The Hague is vanishingly small, the mere warrants would represent a huge blow to Israeli leadership and the Jewish state’s international standing.  

Al Jazeera English   Prosecutors from the International Criminal Court are reportedly interviewing staff from two hospitals in the Gaza Strip. That's after the discovery of mass graves on the grounds of the two facilities. Hundreds of bodies were recovered from three mass graves on the premises of the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis this month. The remains of dozens more people were exhumed at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City after an Israeli siege of the  facility. Both hospitals were left badly damaged and out of service after Israeli troops withdrew.  

Al Jazeera English   The UN has voiced concerns regarding the treatment of pro-Palestine protesters at US universities. The spokesperson for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Marta Hurtado, said “ We are concerned that some of law enforcement actions across a series of universities appear disproportionate in their inputs. ” Protests have swept through US higher education institutions, with many erecting tent encampments on campus grounds after about 100 protesters were first arrested at Columbia University in New York on April 18. At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, police moved in on Tuesday morning to clear one encampment, detaining some protesters. At the University of Texas at Austin, police also clashed with protesters on Monday, including using pepper spray, and made arrests while dismantling an encampment, adding to hundreds detained nationwide over the weekend.

Amid the internal battle over the New York Times’s coverage of Israel’s war, top editors handed down a set of directives. by Jeremy Scahill, Ryan Grim     Part 5 - Bucking International Norms In the cases of describing “occupied territory” and the status of refugees in Gaza, the Times style guidelines run counter to norms established by the United Nations and international humanitarian law. On the term “Palestine” — a widely used name for both the territory and the U.N.-recognized state — the Times memo contains blunt instructions: “ Do not use in datelines, routine text or headlines, except in very rare cases such as when the United Nations General Assembly elevated Palestine to a nonmember observer state, or references to historic Palestine. ” The Times guidance resembles that of the Associated Press Stylebook. The memo directs journalists not to use the phrase “refugee camps” to describe long-standing refugee settlements in Gaza. “ While termed refugee camps, the refugee centers