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Tiktok ban: US senators say the quiet part out loud

The Grayzone   The Grayzone 's Max Blumenthal and Aaron Mate reveal the US government's real reasons for banning Tiktok through the almost unbelievably candid words of US senators from both parties. 

Leaked NYT Gaza Memo Tells Journalists to Avoid Words “Genocide,” “Ethnic Cleansing,” and “Occupied Territory”

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 4 - Touchy Debates The Times memo touches on some of the most highly charged — and disputed — language around the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The guidance spells out, for instance, usage of the word “terrorist,” which The Intercept previously reported was at the center of a spirited newsroom debate. “ It is accurate to use ‘terrorism’ and ‘terrorist’ in describing the attacks of Oct. 7, which included the deliberate targeting of civilians in killings and kidnappings, ” according to the leaked Times memo. “ We should not shy away from that description of the events or the attackers, particularly when we provide context and explanation. ” The guidance also instructs journalists to “ Avoid ‘fighters’ when referring to the Oct. 7 attack; the term suggests a conventional war rather than a deliberate attack on civilians. And be caut

INTERVIEW: Columbia Students on Encampment and Protest Suppression

Glenn Greenwald    

Atlanta Police Violently Arrest Emory Students & Faculty to Clear Gaza Solidarity Encampment

Democracy Now!   As a wave of student protests against Israel’s war on Gaza continues to spread from coast to coast, schools and law enforcement have responded with increasing brutality to campus encampments.    One of the most violent police crackdowns took place at Emory University in Atlanta on Thursday, when local and state police swept onto the campus just hours after students had set up tents on the quad in protest against Israel’s war on Gaza as well as the planned police training center known as Cop City.    Police used tear gas and stun guns to break up the encampment as they wrestled people to the ground, and are accused of using rubber bullets. Among those arrested were a few faculty members.    Democracy Now! spoke with two of the arrested professors: Noëlle McAfee, chair of the philosophy department, and Emil’ Keme, professor of English and Indigenous studies. Also with Palestinian American organizer and medical student Umaymah Mohammad, who describes how Emory has repeat

Arming genocide? New report documents use of US arms in Israeli war crimes

Al Jazeera English   As Israel’s war on Gaza continues for a seventh month, killing more than 34,000 Palestinians and 200 humanitarian workers, the United States just approved roughly $15bn in military aid to Israel. But is this transfer of weapons against both domestic and international law? A scathing report released this week argues that by providing weapons that may be used in war crimes, the Biden administration may have acted in violation of not just international law, but its own regulations.   Marc Lamont Hill talks to the authors of this report, lawyer and scholar Noura Erakat and former senior official at the US Department of State Josh Paul.

UK approved arms for Israel days after it killed British aid workers

New court documents reveal that ministers David Cameron and Kemi Badenoch authorised UK arms sales to Israel right after an airstrike killed three British charity workers in Gaza. by John McEvoy   Part 2 - ‘Killed with British weapons’   Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) and Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq challenged the UK government today in court over arms sales to Israel. Documents provided to the court show that the UK government has conducted five legal assessments of the situation in Gaza since 18 December. One of those assessments, which covered the period 18 December to 29 February, was delivered to UK foreign secretary David Cameron on 28 March. On 3 April, two days after the Israeli airstrike on the aid workers, Cameron used this assessment to recommend that the UK continue arms sales to Israel. Five days later, UK trade secretary Kemi Badenoch authorised the continuation of extant licences and new licences to Israel, according to GLAN’s press statement. The court doc

Most of 392 bodies found in mass graves unidentified: Gaza civil defence

Al Jazeera English   In Gaza's Rafah district, Palestinian civil defense officials discuss mass grave discoveries near Nasser and al-Shifa hospitals. Yemen Abu Solaiman, head of civil defence in Khan Younis, reveals three graves at Nasser Hospital, expressing concerns over signs of executions. Of 392 bodies found, only 65 are identified due to decomposition or mutilation. Abu Sulaiman urges global action to halt aggression and allow access for scrutiny.  

I Am a Jewish Student at Columbia. Don’t Believe What You’re Being Told About ‘Campus Antisemitism’

Smears from the press and pro-Israel influencers are a dangerous distraction from real threats to our safety.   by Jonathan Ben-Menachem *   “Reprehensible and dangerous.” “Terrorist sympathizers.” “It’s not 1938 Berlin. It’s 2024, Columbia University, NYC.” The White House, Congressional Republicans, and cable news talking heads would have you believe that the Columbia University campus has devolved into a hotbed of antisemitic violence – but the reality on the ground is very different. As a Jewish student at Columbia, it depresses me that I have to correct the record and explain what the real risk to our safety looks like. I still can't quite believe how the events on campus over the past few days have been so cynically and hysterically misrepresented by the media and by our elected representatives.     Last week, the Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) coalition, representing more than 100 student organizations, including Jewish groups, organized the Gaza Solidarity Enca

Hundreds Arrested: Students Across U.S. Protest for Palestine as Campus Crackdown Intensifies

Democracy Now!   Student protests calling for university divestment from Israel and the U.S. arms industry have rocked campuses from coast to coast. The nonviolent protests, which have been characterized as “antisemitic” for their criticism of Israel, have been met with an intensifying police crackdown as university administrators threaten academic discipline and arrests.    On Wednesday, local and state troopers violently arrested dozens at the University of Texas at Austin. Meanwhile, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson visited Columbia University in New York City, the site of a high-profile student encampment and one of the first to be met with police action, where he called on university president Minouche Shafik to resign.    Democracy Now! spoke with two Jewish students involved in protests at their schools. Joshua Sklar, a graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin and an organizer with Jewish Voice of Peace Austin, says concern over campus antisemitism is insincer

Ecuador's presidential runner-up exposes US meddling, election assassinations

The Grayzone   The gangland assassination of Fernando Villavicencio was a key factor in preventing socialist-oriented Citizens' Revolution candidate Luisa González from winning the elections. The Grayzone spoke with Luisa Gonzales about that disturbing intrigue and the malign activities of the US embassy inside her country.