#Iranian humanitarian activist

[martynrandles]

Free Pakhshan Azizi: we demand a pardon for the Iranian humanitarian activist.

The story of Pakhshan Azizi, an Iranian activist and humanitarian worker, touches us deeply.

Azizi, sentenced to death by an Iranian court after being accused of ‘rebellion’, is currently detained in Evin prison in Tehran.

Her arrest took place in August 2023, in what Amnesty International denounced as a ‘grossly unfair’ trial. Azizi, like many other courageous women activists, is in total isolation, subjected to a harsh prison regime.

The prison in Evin is the same one where journalist Cecilia Sala was detained, thanks to whom we now all know that there are hundreds of women, like Azizi, imprisoned simply because they dared to peacefully voice their dissent against the regime. Sala's words encourage us: ‘Let us not leave them alone, let us help them! We can!’

It is time to join forces and demand that Pakhshan Azizi be pardoned and released from prison, affirming the universal right to freedom of expression.

We cannot allow the repression and violation of human rights to continue unnoticed.

For this reason, international attention can make a difference and every signature can help save Azizi's life.

We demand that Iranian humanitarian activist Pakhshan Azizi be pardoned and released from prison. Please sign this petition!

[my-vanishing-rad]

Iran’s Brutal War on Women’s Rights Activists

Iranian women’s rights activist Pakhshan Azizi is facing execution by hanging, a development that has sparked international outrage and condemnation. The Iranian Supreme Court recently upheld her death sentence, intensifying concerns among human rights organizations. Azizi, a Kurdish political prisoner, was convicted on charges of "armed insurrection" and "membership of opposition groups," despite evidence indicating that her activities were limited to peaceful humanitarian efforts. Her case exemplifies Iran’s systemic persecution of women, particularly those who advocate for social justice, gender equality, and human rights.

Azizi’s lawyer, Amir Raeisian, criticized the Iranian judiciary for disregarding crucial evidence that highlighted her humanitarian work in refugee camps in northern Syria. According to Raeisian, Azizi was engaged solely in relief efforts and had no political affiliations or militant involvement. Nevertheless, the Iranian regime has increasingly weaponized vague and arbitrary charges to suppress political dissent, particularly targeting Kurdish activists, and women advocating for reforms.

The confirmation of Azizi’s death sentence has led to widespread protests. Kurdish women activists recently staged a demonstration in front of the governor's office in Kurdistan Province, demanding justice and calling for the release of all political and religious prisoners. This reaction highlights the growing frustration among Iranian women who have faced relentless state repression, particularly since the 2022 protests following the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody.

Azizi’s case is not an isolated incident but part of a broader pattern of gender-based oppression in Iran. In 2024, the Iranian regime executed 31 women - the highest recorded number in 17 years - signaling an intensified crackdown on women amid widespread political unrest. Many of these women were convicted of murder under circumstances that often involved self-defense against abusive spouses. This alarming statistic underscores Iran’s deep-seated legal and institutional bias against women, where victims of domestic violence are punished rather than protected.

The Iranian government’s use of the death penalty has escalated in recent years. In 2024 alone, Iran carried out over 900 executions, including dozens of women, marking the highest number since 2015. This surge in executions is widely interpreted as an attempt by the Iranian leadership to instill fear, suppress opposition, and consolidate power. Women’s rights activists and political dissidents have increasingly become targets of judicial persecution, with unfair trials, forced confessions, and brutal punishments being common tactics employed by the regime.

The international community has voiced deep concern over Iran’s escalating use of the death penalty, particularly against women and activists. United Nations human rights experts have urged Iran to halt executions that violate international legal standards and to investigate allegations of torture and unfair trials. Additionally, there is growing recognition of the Iranian government’s systematic targeting of Kurdish women activists, exemplified by Azizi’s prosecution. These activists often face disproportionately severe sentences, as the Iranian state seeks to silence ethnic minorities who challenge the status quo.

Azizi’s case is a stark reminder of the dangers faced by women’s rights activists in Iran. The regime’s willingness to execute women - whether for activism or self-defense - reflects its deep-rooted misogyny and intolerance for dissent. As calls for justice grow, it remains uncertain whether international pressure will influence Azizi’s fate or Iran’s broader human rights policies. What is clear, however, is that these executions are a blatant violation of human rights and a deliberate attempt by Iran’s leadership to suppress the fight for gender equality and freedom.

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militia, a US-designated terrorist organization that has disrupted global shipping to display its support for Palestinians in the Gaza conflict, is now offering a place for students suspended from US universities after staging pro-Hamas, anti-Israeli protests.

For more than two weeks, university students have been amassing in the hundreds at a growing number of schools, taking over sections of campuses by setting up “Gaza Solidarity Encampments” and refusing to leave unless administrators condemn and boycott Israel. Footage of the protests has shown demonstrators chanting in support of Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist organization that Israel is fighting in Gaza; calling for the destruction of Israel; and even threatening to harm members of the Jewish community on campus. In many cases, activists have also lambasted the US and Western civilization more broadly.

The protests initially erupted across the US but have since spread to university campuses around the world, primarily in the West.

Many of the schools, including Ivy League Columbia University in New York City, have called in police to quell the protests.

“We are serious about welcoming students that have been suspended from US universities for supporting Palestinians,” an official at Sanaa University, which is run by the Houthis, told Reuters. “We are fighting this battle with Palestine in every way we can.”

Sanaa University had issued a statement applauding the “humanitarian” position of the students in the United States and said they could continue their studies in Yemen.

“The board of the university condemns what academics and students of US and European universities are being subjected to, suppression of freedom of expression,” the board of the university said in a statement, which included an email address for any students wanting to take up their offer.

The US and Britain returned the Houthi militia to a list of terrorist groups this year as their attacks on vessels in and around the Red Sea hurt global economies. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said in a televised speech on Friday that the terrorist group will target ships heading to Israeli ports in any area that is within their range.

“We will target any ships heading to Israeli ports in the Mediterranean Sea in any area we are able to reach,” he said.

The rebel movement — whose slogan is “death to America, death to Israel, curse the Jews, and victory to Islam” — has also claimed responsibility for attempted drone and missile strikes targeting Israel.

The Houthi’s offer of an education for US students sparked a wave of sarcasm by ordinary Yemenis on social media. One social media user posted a photograph of two Westerners chewing Yemen’s widely-used narcotic leaf Qat. He described the scene as American students during their fifth year at Sanaa University.

In a similar move to the Houthis earlier this week, the head of a major Iranian university reportedly offered scholarships to students expelled from US and European universities over the anti-Israel protests, which have involved students and faculty holding unauthorized demonstrations, occupying school buildings, and in some cases blocking Jews from entering parts of campus.

Mohammad Moazzeni, who runs Shiraz University in the Fars province, made the announcement to show “solidarity” with the anti-Israel agitators.

[girlactionfigure]

▪️TERROR ATTACK RA’ANANA

Police spokesperson:

Terror incident in Ra'anana, a suspected ramming hit-and-run attack, in which a suspect in a stolen vehicle ran over several civilians and according to medical officials, 13 injured people were evacuated to the hospitals.

It is suspected to be a rolling event in which the suspect changed vehicles 3 times during the event.

The suspect is a resident of Hebron.

Central district police officers are scanning the scene and its surroundings to remove additional suspicion.

1 person has died of their injuries.

MDA director general Eli Bin says 17 people are wounded in the car-ramming incident in Ra'anana, including three in serious condition, 9 in moderate condition, and five lightly hurt.  The victims include a woman in her 70s in critical condition, a man aged 34 and a 16-year-old in serious condition.

The incident is reported to have begun after the assailant stabbed a driver and stole their car, and then ran over three pedestrians. The attacker got stuck, got out and stole another car, and rammed into others at a different location in Ra'anana.

▪️HOSTAGE VIDEO.. Hamas has published a new propaganda video showing three hostages held in the Gaza Strip.

In edited-together clips, the video shows Noa Argamani, Yossi Sharabi, and Itay Svirsky identifying themselves and asking the Israeli government to return them home.

▪️IRAN SPYING VIA FACEBOOK.. According to the Shin Bet, Iranian operatives, using fake online profiles, tasked Israelis with photographing the residences of Israeli defense officials and other officials who appear frequently in the media and speak out against Iran publicly. The Iranian profiles posed as far-right activists, hostage supporters, and in one case Kaan news.

⬇️ Southern Front 🗞The IDF says it has begun to operate on the ground in central Gaza's Nuseirat, as the offensive against Hamas further expands. Troops located a mortar production facility, a rocket manufacturing factory, as well as weapons hidden in a building belonging to a humanitarian organization.

➡️ Eastern Front (Judea-Samaria) 🗞 In an overnight raid in the West Bank city of Shechem, the IDF says troops detained nine Hamas members at the an-Najah University.

[mariacallous]

The Houthis have been around since the 1990s, but only over the past six months has the Yemeni rebel group become a household name in the West. After Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and the start of the Israel-Hamas war, the Houthis—who are aligned with Hamas—began attacking Western-linked merchant ships in the Red Sea, disrupting global shipping and trade.

While Western governments back Israel, to varying degrees, the Houthis’ attacks have boosted their profile among anti-war activists in the Middle East and also around the world. In Yemen, the group calls million-man protests against Israel’s war on Gaza every Friday; in places as far away as London and New York, protesters chant in support of the rebels’ maritime attacks.

As the Israel-Hamas war enters its sixth month, the Houthis’ media machine has moved quickly to capitalize on the group’s newfound prominence. More than 32,000 Palestinians have died so far in the conflict, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, and the Houthis have clamored to portray themselves as being at the vanguard of the Palestinian cause—pledging to continue their attacks until Israel ends the war. “The group’s savvy media experts” are “depicting their attacks as a source of pride to the Arab populations,” said Fahmi Albaheth, an independent digital rights defender and tech expert.

Backed by Iran, the Houthis took the Yemeni capital of Sana’a in 2014, at the start of Yemen’s civil war. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates supported the internationally recognized Yemeni government that the Houthis had ousted. The two Gulf powers’ military campaign against the Houthis has precipitated one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

All the while, the Houthis expanded their domestic influence, in large part through social media and technology. But, until recently, their message hardly resonated beyond Yemen’s borders.

“Imitating Iranian discourse, the Houthis launched the slogan ‘Death to the U.S. Death to Israel. A curse upon the Jews’ when they first came to power in 2014,” said Abdul Aziz Al-Majidi, a political analyst and the founder of the independent Yemeni news website Alharf 28. “This slogan was disparaged and trivialized by Yemenis,” he said. At a time when the Houthis were a new force that most Yemenis regarded as criminal, Majidi said the public found the slogan “both peculiar and comic.”

All that changed last year. On Nov. 19, 2023, Houthi rebels captured the Israel-linked vessel Galaxy Leader. They announced the seizure with a gripping, high-quality video posted on a Houthi-owned TV channel that showed fighters making a dramatic landing on the container ship from a helicopter, brandishing their weapons and taking all 25 crew members hostage. After the broadcast, the video was picked up by social media users. “Be it graphics, videos, or audio messages,” the Houthis’ online messaging is “all produced and executed at a very high quality,” Albaheth said.

He pointed out that the rebels are producing more content in English to engage Western audiences, particularly on Gaza. Houthi officials have taken to posting official statements in English rather than Arabic to increase their reach. The Houthis’ efforts in this area reflect “how important social media channels are” to gaining global prominence, Albaheth said. After last fall’s attack, the group received messages of online support from users across Yemen, other Arab states, and Western countries.

But the Houthis aren’t stopping at their own official channels. Once they took the Galaxy Leader ashore to the Port of Salif, the rebels allowed friendly social media influencers to board the ship and post content they created there online. The vessel has now become a tourist attraction in Yemen. The crew remains in captivity, and the Houthis claim they are being treated in accordance with Islamic values.

Mustafa Al-Momri, a Yemeni influencer with more than 2.6 million YouTube subscribers, was among those allowed on the Galaxy Leader. One video he shared appeared to mock Jewish Orthodox men by showing Momri and other Yemenis on board dancing gawkily on the ship deck. The antisemitic trope garnered thousands of online reactions.

But the influencer who made the biggest news globally was Rashid Al-Haddad, an attractive 19-year-old Yemeni teenager who denies being a Houthi fighter. Haddad became an internet sensation after he boarded the ship and posted videos that yielded millions of views on his now-defunct TikTok account. (Haddad’s social media accounts have since been banned for spreading hate speech on Instagram and Facebook and for violating community guidelines on TikTok.) When the young man was praised by followers for his good looks and described as a “hot pirate”—even dubbed “Tim Houthi Chalamet” for his resemblance to the actor Timothée Chalamet—he urged his Western followers to focus on supporting Gaza rather than on his appearance.

This, Albaheth argued, reflects the Houthis’ core media strategy. They have gathered “regional support for defending Palestine, fully aware of the potential and significance of online propaganda at the time of conflict,” he said.

Media experts argue the group is capitalizing on many Arabs’ frustrations with their own leaders for failing to forcefully push for a cease-fire or an end to the war. “The insidious online propaganda of the Houthis capitalizes less on what they do, and more on what their opponents do not,” Majidi said. “Albeit diplomatically engaged in the conflict, the Arab states’ lax initiatives in the Gaza war boded well for the Houthis.”

Half a year of warfare between Israel and Hamas has yielded only small, symbolic peacemaking efforts from Arab states. Though Arab leaders risk domestic wrath by remaining impartial on the conflict, some states’ hands are tied by normalization deals with Israel that largely ignore Palestinians.

Egypt and Jordan, which maintain the most long-standing ties to Israel, have released strong statements warning against the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza. The United Arab Emirates, which normalized relations with Israel in 2020, set up a field hospital in Gaza and sent humanitarian aid to the enclave. Saudi Arabia, which is reportedly pursuing a normalization deal, hosted a February summit to discuss reconstruction efforts in postwar Gaza.

Houthi leaders, by contrast, have been forthright in their support for Palestine. In a January speech, the former head of the Houthi supreme revolutionary committee said, “Yemenis’ stance toward Gaza is a heroic and humane one, which all Arabs and Muslim nations should adopt.”

In one recent tweet, senior Houthi official and spokesperson Mohammed Al-Bukhaiti—who has more than half a million followers on X—wrote, in English: “Stop the genocide in Gaza and we will stop our military operations against America, Britain and Israel. Isn’t this a just, moral and humane demand?” Online followers from across the world have praised the Houthis for siding with the Palestinians when the rest of the Arab world did not.

The “Houthis banked on the silence of Arab leaders during the war to present themselves as saviors,” Majidi said. They “have created an endless loop where every incident in the war in Gaza becomes an occasion to assemble, advertise, propagate, and appeal to people’s religious leanings to garner support.”

The Houthis keep a tight leash on all media outlets in Yemen. And they own three out of four mobile network providers in the country, allowing the group to mobilize millions each week to protest against Israel’s aggression via text message.

Anis Mansour, a writer at the independent news site Arabi21, fled Sana’a when the rebels took over the city in 2014. Now, from exile in Istanbul, he is expressing awe at the group’s targeting of Red Sea vessels. In March, he shared a meme on X of a swordfish saying, “Where are the ships, Houthis?”

For the Houthis, “linking [Red Sea] attacks to the support of Gaza is a reliable way to amass support,” said Maysaa Shuja Al-Deen, a senior researcher at the Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies think tank. That can be seen tangibly: The group’s ship seizures and social media campaigns have boosted its recruitment numbers, she said.

Shuja Al-Deen’s colleague Maged Al-Madhaji, the chairperson of the Sana’a think tank, argued that the new recruitment efforts have less to do with support for the Houthis and more with sympathy for Palestine. “[V]ast numbers of Yemenis are still not supportive of the group,” Madhaji said. “The Houthis are exploiting the current events to recruit more people and spread propaganda.”

[floatinginzerog]

URGENT:

Iranian activist, Pakhshan Azizi, is threatened with execution after five months of torture in Iranian prisons She was a peaceful protester and humanitarian worker. Do not let the world forget Iran's oppression!

Link to petition: Avaaz - Stop her execution - Free Pakhshan!

Email and/or call your representatives/senators to put pressure on the UN! Here's a brief sample I wrote up; Dear [Representatives name] I urge you to turn your eyes to the plight of the people trapped under Iran's oppression. America is a country that stands for freedom and democracy for all, and it is a grave injustice that not every country has this right. Iran uses forms of brutal torture, with solitary confinement, eye gouging, and rape only being some of them. Tragically, these horrible methods are used against anyone ranging from political prisoners to peaceful protesters who only wish the best for those around them. We must not forget the repression in Iran. Just because they've silenced their people, it doesn't mean we have to stop listening. One peaceful protester, Pakhshan Azizi, is about to be executed. I am pleading with you to do everything you can to prevent this and future tragedies in Iran.

Thank you for your time - [Your name]

[beardedmrbean]

At least nine Yemeni employees of United Nations agencies have been detained by Yemen’s Houthi rebels under unclear circumstances, authorities said Friday, as the rebels face increasing financial pressure and airstrikes from a US-led coalition.

Others working for aid groups also likely have been taken.

The detentions come as the Houthis, who seized Yemen’s capital nearly a decade ago and have been fighting a Saudi-led coalition since shortly after, have been targeting shipping throughout the Red Sea corridor over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

But while gaining more attention internationally, the secretive group has cracked down at dissent at home, including recently sentencing 44 people to death.

Regional officials, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to brief journalists, confirmed the UN detentions.

Those held include staff from the United Nations human rights agency, its development program, the World Food Program and one working for the office of its special envoy, the officials said.

The wife of one of those held is also detained.

The UN declined to immediately comment.

The Mayyun Organization for Human Rights, which similarly identified the UN staffers held, named other aid groups whose employees were detained by the Houthis across four provinces the Houthis hold — Amran, Hodeida, Saada and Saana.

Those groups did not immediately acknowledge the detentions.

“We condemn in the strongest terms this dangerous escalation, which constitutes a violation of the privileges and immunities of United Nations employees granted to them under international law, and we consider it to be oppressive, totalitarian, blackmailing practices to obtain political and economic gains,” the organization said in a statement.

Activists, lawyers and others also began an open online letter, calling on the Houthis to immediately release those detained, because if they don’t, it “helps isolate the country from the world.”

Yemen’s Houthi rebels and their affiliated media organizations did not immediately acknowledge the detentions.

However, the Iranian-backed rebels planned for weekly mass demonstrations after noon prayers Friday, when Houthi officials typically speak on their actions.

It’s unclear what exactly sparked the detentions.

However, it comes as the Houthis have faced issues with having enough currency to support the economy in areas they hold — something signaled by their move to introduce a new coin into the Yemeni currency, the royal.

Yemen’s exiled government in Aden and other nations criticized the move as the Houthis turning to counterfeiting. Aden authorities also have demanded all banks move their headquarters there.

“Internal tensions and conflicts could spiral out of control and lead Yemen into complete economic collapse,” warned Yemeni journalist Mohammed Ali Thamer in an analysis published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Bloomberg separately reported Thursday that the US planned to further increase economic pressure on the Houthis by blocking their revenue sources, including a planned $1.5 billion Saudi payment to cover salaries for government employees in rebel-held territory.

The war in Yemen has killed more than 150,000 people, including fighters and civilians, and created one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters, killing tens of thousands more.

The Houthis’ attacks on shipping have helped deflect attention from their problems at home and the stalemated war.

But they’ve faced increasing casualties and damage from US-led airstrikes targeting the group for months now.

Thousands have been imprisoned by the Houthis during the war. 

An AP investigation found some detainees were scorched with acid, forced to hang from their wrists for weeks at a time or were beaten with batons.

[unhonestlymirror]

Interview with Rami Aman - a Palestinian peace activist from Gaza. In 2015, he founded a series of regular chats, Skype With Your Enemy, in which hundreds of Israelis and Palestinians from the Gaza Strip communicated with each other. In 2020, Hamas arrested Rami Aman for organizing these chats. The activist was tortured. After an international campaign involving 70 public organizations, as well as UN representatives, Aman was convicted and immediately released from prison. Two years ago, he managed to leave Gaza for Egypt:

- After two months of war, Israel and Hamas reached an agreement on a truce and an exchange of hostages - 50 Israeli women and children for 150 Palestinian prisoners (convicted for terrorism). The truce even lasted several days. Can this be considered the result of an Israeli military operation?

- Hamas has been offering just such a deal since the early days of its attack. Now look what it asks in exchange for hostages. No withdrawal of Israeli tanks from Gaza, no return of the million Palestinians displaced from southern Gaza, no peace. No! They are only interested in the exchange of hostages for prisoners and humanitarian aid. They are interested in keeping people in UN schools in the south, not bringing them home. Hamas doesn't care about the Palestinians in Gaza, it uses them for its propaganda.

Hostages are Hamas's last cards. Therefore, now it will play for time, stretch out the truce, release the hostages gradually, “find” them here and there. Pretend that they are negotiating with Islamic Jihad, which allegedly holds some of the hostages. Although, in fact, this is a lie - Hamas controls them all. It's a game.

Hamas does everything to influence public opinion. During the October 7 attack, it claimed in its press releases that it had made a giant breakthrough, with the militants almost on their way to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Naturally, ordinary people living on the border of the sector rushed after the militants to Israel. For those whose relatives were killed or injured during clashes along the fence on the border of the sector, a burnt Israeli tank or tractor is already a victory. What emotions do these people evoke now when they are seen on video in Israel and around the world?

Then Hamas took advantage of the Palestinians when Israel began bombing the sector. They started shouting about the victims of the bombing. In fact, Hamas leaders don't care how many Palestinians die. Palestinian lives are worthless to it. Just like the Israeli ones. Hamas is not interested in the Palestinian population of Gaza. Qatar is not interested in it either. How many millions of dollars in aid has Hamas received from Qatar? Not a single factory was built in Gaza with this money. They simply gave out money as alms.

- Is there any hope that after the end of the war, power in Gaza can be transferred to the Palestinian Authority administration?

No. But that's not even the problem. The Palestinian Authority, Fatah, Hamas, and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) do not represent the Palestinians. They all care only about themselves because they make a lot of money by continuing the conflict. We haven't had elections since 2006. We need to elect new leaders who represent our communities and who care about their real needs. We need to start all over again.

Nobody cares about the Palestinians. Hamas doesn't care about them. They don't care about Qatar. Israel wants them to go somewhere on their own. Israeli peace activists care more about the fate of the Palestinians than Hamas.

- But will Hamas return to power in this case? Many people say that the population of Gaza is indoctrinated by Hamas...

- Those who say this have forgotten how Hamas came to power in Gaza. It simply started with repressions. First, they killed several thousand people and mutilated several thousand more - you know, when they shoot you in the knees as punishment. And they continued to rule through repressions. Every year, they killed several hundred people for political reasons. Hamas security came to see me every year, and every year, they demanded that I confess that I was an Israeli spy.

For example, in 2006, there were five thousand Christian Arabs living in Gaza, and now there are about a thousand left. It was only in the 2010s that Hamas stopped pressuring Christians to show that they were not ISIS. But thousands of Christians left.

In 2019, there were mass protests in Gaza against Hamas rule. They were suppressed by force, and a thousand people were arrested. There were protests before the attack. Hamas felt it could lose control of Gaza. And those who say that all Gazans are indoctrinated by Hamas should note that thousands of Gazan businessmen interacted peacefully with the Israelis every day. Thousands of people went to Israel to work.

Hamas controls the media, and with their help makes everyone believe that Gaza is Hamas. But that's a lie. People in Gaza hate Hamas now. But they have nowhere to go.

.

Let me remind you that the main sponsor of HAMAS is... the terrorist state, the russian federation itself. Iranian regime and all this shit gets money from russia. HAMAS has a headquarters in moscow. HAMAS uses the same exact tactics as russian occupiers.

All the problems will disappear if we PARTITION RUSSIA, if we cut russia on pieces so it's unable to sponsor grief all around the world.

[afebrahimi]

Pakhshan is at imminent risk of execution in Iran. She was arrested in August, 2023, in Tehran, while seeking medical treatment. During her detention, Pakhshan endured severe torture, including Mock Executions & was held in solitary confinement for months in Evin Prison.

Pakhshan is accused of "armed rebellion against the Islamic government", a charge solely based on reports from her interrogators—the very individuals responsible for torturing her. Her lawyer petitioned Iran’s Supreme Court to verify whether Pakhshan had ever been involved in armed conflicts or militant groups in the border regions with Iraq & Turkey. The court ignored this request.

Pakhshan’s only known activity during her time outside Iran was humanitarian aid work in Rojava refugee camps, where she assisted displaced people affected by ISIS conflicts from 2017 to 2021.

Multiple humanitarian organizations, including Medico International (Switzerland), the Syrian Red Crescent, & the Shams Organization For Rehabilitation & Development, have confirmed that her sole work in Rojava involved social services & support for war victims.

Shockingly, within 48 hours of her death sentence being upheld by the Supreme Court, it was sent to the execution office, signaling the urgency with which Iranian authorities are moving to carry out her sentence. This expedited process is unprecedented, even in Iran’s judicial system.

#PakhshanAzizi is a social worker & women's rights activist. She graduated from the Allameh Tabataba'i University in Social Work. She is a humanitarian, not a criminal. Now, her life is in grave danger, and her case is another tragic example of state repression against women's activists.

We call on the international community, human rights organizations, & governments worldwide to urgently intervene and demand a halt to her execution.

Time is running out...

#PakhshanAzizi

#StopExecutionsInIran

#پخشان_عزیزی

#پەخشان_عەزیزی

[summarychannel]

Cairo International Airport was hacked in support of Hamas and an American warning about Egypt’s reaction

Updates on the Al-Aqsa Flood operation presented in this episode of Samri Channel. The beginning was with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, who responded to statements attributed to Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich regarding the displacement of Palestinians outside Gaza, and said that they were “irresponsible, violate international law, and are completely rejected.” Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ambassador Ahmed Abu Zeid, said in a statement, published on the ministry’s official Facebook page, that the Egyptian Foreign Minister’s comments came during statements by diplomatic editors, in response to the Israeli Minister of Finance’s statement about “considering the voluntary displacement of the population of Gaza as the most appropriate humanitarian solution.” .

The spokesman added, "Sameh Shukri said that it has been observed over the past period, a fluctuation of irresponsible statements attributed to Israeli government officials, which in their entirety violate the rules and provisions of international law and international humanitarian law." The Egyptian Foreign Minister stressed that “the statement of the Israeli Minister of Finance is an expression of the Israeli government’s policy that violates international laws, and that any attempt to justify and encourage the displacement of Palestinians outside the Gaza Strip is completely rejected by Egypt and internationally,” according to the statement.

 The ministry spokesman added that the Foreign Minister "deplored talking about the displacement process as if it were occurring voluntarily." Shukri believed that “the displacement of citizens in Gaza is the result of deliberate military targeting of civilians in the Strip, and intentional siege and starvation operations, aimed at creating conditions that lead citizens to leave their homes and areas of residence, in a full-fledged war crime, in accordance with the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949,” according to a statement. Ministry. Shukry affirmed “Egypt’s position categorically rejecting policies of forced displacement of Palestinians, or deliberately withholding humanitarian aid and necessary services, which creates unbearable conditions for civilians, or allowing the liquidation of the Palestinian cause.”

Shukri said, "Anyone who claims to care about the humanitarian situation in Gaza must work to stop the military operations that led to the killing of civilians, including children and women."

On the other hand, the Commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Air Forces, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, said that there is a possibility of the war expanding in the region, and that Tehran is prepared “for all possibilities.” On the other hand, former Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said that the entry of Iran and Hezbollah into the Middle East conflict is “the ultimate hope of Israel.”

 Hajizadeh said in reference to the continuation of conflicts in the region: “Today the war has extended and Lebanon is involved in it. It is possible that the conflicts will expand further.” The statements of the Commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Air Forces come at a time when clashes are intensifying between the Israeli army and Hezbollah near the Lebanese border. Six people were injured following the missile attack launched by Hezbollah on northern Israel yesterday, Sunday. It was reported that an anti-tank missile was fired from Lebanese territory, hitting several civilian cars in the "Metula" area, near the Lebanese border.

 In contrast, the Israeli army responded to Hezbollah's movements with artillery fire and air strikes. Many Lebanese activists use the slogan “Lebanon first, not the Islamic Republic” on social media to stress the need for Beirut not to enter into regional conflicts. Activists believe that Hezbollah militias seek to meet the interests of Tehran, not the Lebanese people. Hajizadeh added that the Americans do not "threaten" Iran, but in their correspondence with Tehran they speak "in the language of wishes and requests."

Finally, Dr. Engineer Abdel Khaleq Mohamed, Head of the Information and Communications Technology Sector at Cairo Air Port Company, commented on the Cairo Airport website being hacked during the last hours, stressing that since the beginning of the day, the site has been subjected to a cyber attack, the purpose of which is to disrupt the Cairo Airport website. about job.

Abdel Khaleq Muhammad added that this attack is from outside Egypt, and its clues are being traced, noting that it has been reassured that all data is on the site and that none of the data contained on the site has been leaked. Engineer Abdel-Khaleq Mohamed confirmed that the site displays some services inside the airport, and not data on flights, their timing and appointments, stressing that Cairo International Airport has the highest degree of security for data on flights and products. The head of the Information and Communications Technology Sector at Cairo Air Port Company indicated that by the end of the day; All services will return, and the Cairo Airport website will be available for everyone to deal with.

#Egypt #Palestine #Gaza

[drmaqazi]

JEWISH TERRORISM IN OCCUPIED HOLY LAND

January 20, 2015, In yet another brazen attack on national sovereignty and human rights, Israel has once again launched a bombing mission onto Syrian soil in defense of death squads and terrorists that it has been supporting

Israel Bombs Syria, Kills Top Iranian General and Top Hezbollah Commander by Brandon Turbeville, Activist Post

http://www.activistpost.com/2015/01/israel-bombs-syria-kills-top-iranian.html January 29, 2015, Israelis destroy pipeline and deny water to Palestinians Israeli Forces Destroy 1,000 Meter Water Pipe Donated to Yezra

http://www.imemc.org/article/70412 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/articles/middle-east/16902-water-running-dry-for-palestinians-as-israel-turns-off-the-taps February 2, 2015, Israel values cattle more than its foreign workers Alastair Sloan https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/articles/middle-east/16728-israel-values-cattle-more-than-its-foreign-workers March 2, 2015, Video: Israeli soldiers using a dog against a Palestinian boy

https://youtu.be/JDc796WU3SA March 13, 2015, Israeli government is aiding al Qaeda terrorists Terrorists of the Syrian branch of Al Queda, the Nusra Front are regularly taken across the frontier to be treated in Israeli hospitals.

http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Report-Israel-treating-al-Qaida-fighters-wounded-in-Syria-civil-war-393862 March 27, 2015, Israeli jets attack Yemen

http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940107000322 April 13, 2015, Palestinian Child Labor in Israeli Agricultural Settlements in the West Bank

http://www.hrw.org/node/133920 https://youtu.be/dMcj6XLH1Y4 April 28, 2015, Special UN Report: 2014 Israeli Assault on Gaza Hit 7 UNRWA Schools

http://www.imemc.org/article/71386 May 5, 2015, Israeli Army veterans admit to the deliberate targeting of civilians

Breaking the Silence: Army Deliberately Targeted Civilians

http://thefifthcolumnnews.com/2015/05/breaking-the-silence-army-deliberately-targeted-civilians/ June 1, 2015, Jews block Christians from entering the site of the Last Supper http://revisionistreview.blogspot.com/2015/06/israelis-obstruct-christian-worship-in.html If they really believe it is the tomb of King David, why are they urinating on the site almost every day? See: December 16, 2009 More anti-Christian death threats and almost daily urinations at the Cenacle, sacred site of the Last Supper

http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=17130 June 13, 2015, Video: Israeli soldiers brutally beat Palestinian dad

 https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/video-israeli-soldiers-brutally-beat-palestinian-dad 6 “brave” IDF soldiers beat 1 Palestinian dad

Try watching this video on www.youtube.com, June 15, 2015, Video: Israelis film themselves shooting unarmed Palestinian

Try watching this video on www.youtube.com,Junehttp://mauricepinay.blogspot.com/2015/06/worthwhile-judeo-christian-dialogue.html http://www.timesofisrael.com/arson-suspected-in-fire-at-church-on-sea-of-galilee/

June 19, 2015, The US State Department releases report noting that UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) recorded 1,483 non-combatant civilian Palestinian deaths in 2014 – more than two-thirds of those killed were 521 children and 283 women. Meanwhile, Zionists consider it a “slap” to have mentioned the innocents killed.

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/06/19/state-department-terror-report-contains-subtle-shift-on-israel July 23, 2015, Israeli Military Admits to Supporting Al Qaeda and ISIS in Syria

http://www.globalresearch.ca/israeli-military-admits-to-supporting-al-qaeda-and-isis-in-syria/5464484 July 29, 2015, New Report Finds ‘STRONG EVIDENCE’ of Israeli War Crimes in Gaza

How Do They Do It? : Forensic Architecture, Amnesty International

https://youtu.be/vJXurE1EQ9g July 31, 2015, Jewish “settlers” firebomb a family’s bedroom and burn a Palestinian toddler to death, severely burning his 4 year old brother and parents.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20150801/ml--israel-palestinians-d19776e5f0.html August 6, 2015, Another rabbi, Rabbi Bentzi Gopstein, advocates burning Christian churches for “idolatry”

http://www.jta.org/2015/08/06/news-opinion/israel-middle-east/head-of-israeli-anti-coexistence-group-backs-burning-of-churches-mosques http://mauricepinay.blogspot.com/2015/08/israeli-rabbi-supports-burning-churches.html October 31, 2015, Video: Israeli military tells Palestinian refugee camp, ‘We will gas you until you die’ “People of Aida Refugee camp we are the occupation army. You throw stones and we will hit you with gas until you all die. The children, the youth, the old people, you will all die, we won’t leave any of you alive. And we have arrested one of you, he is with us now. We took him from his home and we will slaughter and kill him while you are watch if you keep throwing stones. Go home or we will gas you until you die. Your families, your children, everyone we will kill you. Listen to me, all of you go home, it’s better for you.”

http://mondoweiss.net/2015/10/military-palestinian-refugee#sthash.B90vBnsh.dpuf https://youtu.be/QC5_W_zUzHc October 31, 2015, Baby Dies in West Bank tear gas incident as Benjamin Netanyahu withdraws Holocaust statement

http://www.smh.com.au/world/baby-dies-in-west-bank-tear-gas-incident-20151030-gknin6.html November 2, 2015, 72 Palestinians were murdered in cold blood, around 8,300 injured. Israeli State Terror Rages by Stephen Lendman

http://sjlendman.blogspot.ca/2015/11/israeli-state-terror-rages.html

Palestine is a war zone, pitting an Israeli aggressor against millions of defenseless Palestinians. State-sponsored terror continues unabated. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) reported at least 2,617 Palestinians shot with live fire or potentially lethal rubber or plastic coated steel bullets in October, used indiscriminately ... Through Sunday, 72 Palestinians were murdered in cold blood, around 8,300 injured. Video evidence in some cases showed premeditated assassinations, knives then planted beside victims to claim attempted stabbing incidents - Big Lies blaming them for Israeli cold blooded murder ... Eight Israeli deaths are known, the last one on October 18 - only two from stabbing incidents. Daily claims of knife wielding Palestinians are Big Lies, blaming victims for Israeli high crimes. October was the deadliest month in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since the Second Intifada - from September 2000 to February 2005. Its horrific toll included: 4,166 Palestinians killed, including 886 children and 271 women; 554 extra-judicial assassinations, including 253 bystanders; 3,530 Palestinians disabled, maimed, or otherwise horrifically injured; 8,600 imprisoned, including 288 children and 115 women; 576 students killed, including 199 university-level ones and 32 academics; another 4,713 students injured and 1,389 detained; 2,329,659 dunums [2,329,659,000 m2]*of land confiscated; another 73,613 dunums [73,613,000 m2]razed plus 1,355,290 uprooted trees; and 7,761 demolished homes plus 93,842 others damaged.... * 1 dunum = 1 decare = 1,000 m2 November 11, 2015, Israelis bomb Damascus airport. Report: Israel Strikes Target in Syria ... Again

The Atlantic Monthly, 11/15/2015 http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/11/report-israel-strikes-target-in-syria/415446/ December 6, 2015, “Israeli airstrikes in Syria have been widely reported over the last almost five years of the [Syrian] crisis in support of the Takfiri terrorists.” “Israel is now Bombing Syria: Claims Airstrikes at Syrian Army Convoy on Damascus” by Alalam, Global Research, December 06, 2015

http://www.globalresearch.ca/israel-is-now-bombing-syria-claims-airstrikes-at-syrian-army-convoy-on-damascus/5493938 Christmastide 2015, Catholic cemeteries desecrated. dozens of crosses destroyed. Latin Patriarchate urges Israel police to act on Christian cemetery vandalism by i24news, 01/09/2016 http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/diplomacy-defense/98532-160109-latin-patriarchate-urges-israel-police-to-act-on-christian-cemetery-vandalism Christmas Day, December 25, 2015, Blessed Nativity from the Church of the Multiplication burned by Orthodox ‘Jews’ and prevented from rebuilding by the Israeli government

http://mauricepinay.blogspot.com/2015/12/blessed-nativity-from-church-of.html

[deborahdeshoftim5779]

We're looking at one of the biggest money laundering, embezzlement, and terrorist financing scandals of the modern age, and the response from the media, politicians, academics, and so-called activists is...

...nothing.

If the information here is proven (and the evidence is very convincing), then it's not sufficient to fire employees of UNRWA. It's not enough to drive UNRWA out of the Gaza Strip.

This organisation needs to be prosecuted and forced to repay all the money it has expropriated from taxpayers over at least the nine years when Hamas was planning its apocalyptic massacre of Jews right under their noses.

People have gone to prison for far, far less than embezzling money for a terrorist organisation and permitting terrorists to use ostensible humanitarian aid to feed terror tunnels.

Again: any organisation implicated in even a tenth of what UNRWA is implicated in would have been shut down yesterday. That this organisation still survives and its leaders are able to bleat about their total ignorance about everything despite a deluge of damning evidence is proof that the UN is a self-protecting cartel that considers itself above the very laws it keeps insisting Israel should follow.

Israel and the pro-Israel community worldwide need to stand up and demand the following:

1)- Permanent end to funding of UNRWA

2)- Removal of UNRWA from the Gaza Strip

3)- Prosecution of UNRWA, either from the Israeli side or via an international court

And, lest anyone forget: all of this isn't even the worst aspect of UNRWA's criminality.

For years, this organisation has, with taxpayers' money, distributed books that call for the genocide of Jews. Books with graphic images that encourage children to take up knives and stab Jews. Books that describe Jews using the most vicious, racist language in order to justify extreme forms of murder. Books that treat murdering Jews as an honour worthy of religious paradise.

If any other international organisation had done this-- for YEARS, no less!-- it would have been shut down LIKE THAT and its leaders would have been prosecuted.

Despite Israel raising the alarm over this outrageous violation of international law, the only responses were usually silence, or lukewarm condemnations. The European Union, to its credit, did condemn UNRWA for this. But there was no threat of permanently losing funding.

It had to take UNRWA's affiliates actually murdering Jews in the most sadistic and gruesome ways for foreign countries to act.

I put it to you that nobody would have taken this long to punish UNRWA had any other group of people been so viciously threatened and targeted.

The only reason that such deliberate blindness survived was because UNRWA is a UN agency, and the UN has proven itself time and time again to be a feckless, self-serving organisation which has turned pandering to evil into an art form.

When Iran launched a campaign of domestic terrorism against its female population starting in September 2022, including the use of mass poisoning of schoolgirls as a terror tactic, the UN's response was to place Iran as the head of a women's rights division within the organisation, and to invite Ebrahim Raisi to give a speech there.

When Ambassador Erdan raised a picture of Mahsa Amini, the Iranian woman beaten to death for not wearing her hijab 'correctly', he was aggressively removed from the hall. Raisi, a man implicated in ordering the beatings, imprisonment, rapes, and possible poisonings of Iranian women and girls, was allowed to continue speaking. The rest of the audience was silent.

So it's not surprising then that the UN's response to ongoing, devastating evidence against its glorified 'refugee' agency is either silence, or the usual 'unable to verify/haven't seen any evidence'. As I have said before, this organisation has potentially allowed billions to flow straight into the pockets of terrorists.

They cannot even accept the possibility that they're in the wrong. It would bury their credibility, their reputation, and their finances.

Accepting UNRWA's complicity is the only way to explain how Hamas was able to spend nine years planning the October 7 attack right under everyone's nose; how it was able to use communications with other terrorist organisations, such as practicing paragliding in Lebanon in the months preceding the attack; how it was able to fund the building of over 400 miles of terrorist tunnels; how it was able to connect a server room at a UNRWA base to its own terror tunnel; how it has been able to fund its continued supply of rockets used to attack Israel, rockets that are perniciously stored in numerous civilian buildings.

Most importantly, it would explain how Hamas has been able to incite the Gazan population to dehumanise Jews and glorify murder, so much so that after Hamas had breached the border and invaded Israel, a wave of Palestinian civilians followed the terrorists and gleefully took part in looting Israeli homes and raping Israeli civilians; Palestinian civilians also helped Hamas seize, humiliate and abuse hostages. Israeli survivors (including those who previously had believed they could live peacefully alongside Gaza) speak of being held in civilian homes.

There's video evidence of Palestinian civilians spitting on the body of Shani Louk, who was paraded near-naked on a truck; video evidence of Palestinian civilians cheering as an Israeli woman is dragged out of a truck, bleeding terribly from a violent rape; video evidence of Palestinian civilians pushing and jeering an Israeli boy who was kidnapped, and harassing the Bibas family as they were led by terrorists into Gaza.

Can anyone think of any other group of people who could behave in this way and still be portrayed as victims of the people that they attacked and abused? Still be deserving of billions in taxpayers' money, without any transparency as to how that money is being spent in a region that is infested with terrorists?

Surely, under financial crime laws that ordinary nations must follow, such a lack of due diligence by the UN over a period of years and years is inexcusable and therefore punishable by law?

It's time to hold the United Nations accountable for what is at best breath-taking gullibility and stupidity with other people's money (in which case, all those involved should resign), at worst, complicity in evil (in which case, all those concerned belong in prison).

If you care about the rule of law, please share with the following message:

SHUT DOWN UNRWA!

This is the most damming case against the United Nations agency all of its employees in the region who are all complicit in collaborating with a designated terrorist organization.

The United Nations agency cannot be trusted and all information coming from the region must be seen as part of Hamas’ propaganda.

This must be exposed everywhere and the United Nations must be held accountable.

You cannot call yourself a humanitarian organization and be involved in active massacre, r*pe and human rights violations.

There’s nothing humanitarian about killing Jews.

Source: Israeli Kan 11

Hen Mazzig

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Adam Kredo

Kamala Harris's newly appointed head of Arab-American outreach once accused Zionists of "controlling" American politics, echoing an anti-Semitic trope that suggests Jews nefariously manipulate global affairs.

"The Zionists have a strong voice in American politics," Brenda Abdelall, an Egyptian-American lawyer and former Department of Homeland Security official, said in a 2002 interview with the New York Sun while attending the American Muslim Council's annual convention. "I would say they're controlling a lot of it."

Abdelall, whom Harris tapped earlier this week to help galvanize Arab voters, made the remarks after a speaker at the event, anti-Israel professor Jamil Fayez, said that "Zionists are destroying America." Responding to his remarks, Abdelall said that while "'destroying' is a harsh word," supporters of the Jewish state do control American politics.

The American Muslim Council's 2002 confab also provided attendees with a chance to meet anti-Semitic former congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (D., Ga.), who famously blamed Jews for the 9/11 terror attack and attended a 2009 Holocaust-denial gathering in London. Her father similarly blamed Jews when she lost her congressional seat shortly after the 2002 conference. "Jews have bought everybody. Jews. J-E-W-S," he said.

Abdelall's appointment comes as Harris works to appease members of her party's liberal flank who want her to more aggressively confront the Jewish state and undermine its war on Hamas, including by cutting off arms sales. Harris has praised pro-Hamas campus protesters as "showing exactly what the human emotion should be, as a response to Gaza." In March, she accused Israel of stoking "humanitarian catastrophe."

Abdelall joins several other Harris campaign advisers who have a history of pressuring Israel and advocating increased relations with Iran. They include Harris's national security adviser, Phil Gordon, who is the subject of a congressional probe into his ties to a member of an Iranian government influence network. Ilan Goldenberg, Harris's liaison to the Jewish community, has faced scrutiny for his ties to the anti-Israel group J Street, as well as championing closer ties to Tehran.

Harris also appointed a veteran Israel critic, the Rev. Jen Butler, to conduct outreach to the faith community. Butler has come under fire for working alongside anti-Semitic activist Linda Sarsour.

Abdelall also is a veteran of the anti-Israel advocacy world.

During the 2002 American Muslim Council event, she suggested that the election defeat of former congressman Earl Hilliard Sr. (D., Ala.) "shows the Jewish influence in politics," according to the Sun. At the time, Hilliard had faced criticism from pro-Israel groups for voting against a congressional resolution condemning Palestinian suicide bombers.

Abdelall's mother founded the American Muslim Council's Ann Arbor branch, helping the anti-Israel advocacy group expand its presence across the country, according to the Sun.

The Harris campaign defended Adelall, saying that as a DHS official, she "worked closely on the implementation of the country's first National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism" and "led efforts for the first United We Stand summit, a White House event to counter hate-fueled violence."

"We are proud to add her to the campaign."

The American Muslim Council has long courted controversy for spreading anti-Israel propaganda.

In 2003, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D., N.Y.) blasted the group's former executive director, Eric Erfan Vickers, for claiming "that the recent tragic loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia and its entire crew was an act of divine retribution against Israel, and attributable to the presence of the first Israeli astronaut on the mission."

Vickers at the time said he saw "a sign in the calamitous destruction of the one hundred and thirteenth space shuttle mission taking place over a city named Palestine, while on board was the first Israeli astronaut." Nadler described the remarks as "unthinkable."

[syrian-story]

Daraa city is under siege.

June 2021

Syrian activists are warning of a humanitarian catastrophe in #Daraa, southern Syria, after the regime & Russian forces put the city under a tight siege since June 24. No food or basic necessities are allowed & people are reporting an internet & electricity blackout. Russia threats to use airforces and Iranian military to force people to give up their light weapon which opposes the settlement agreement between the opposition and the regime, sponsored by Russia on 2018.

The main reason why Assad is laying a siege on Daraa?

Many reasons; the most prominent one is the city's refusal to participate in the presidential elections recently. Moreover, people have been protesting against it which indicates that the regime has no real control over the city. This is frightening to Assad especially since Daraa is the cradle of the revolution that lit the freedom movement in Syria.

#AssadIsZionist #assadwarcrimes

[mariacallous]

Do Arab leaders have Israel’s back? If one has scrolled through the social media commentary on the combined effort by Israeli, American, British, French, Jordanian, and possibly other Arab governments to thwart Iran’s missile and drone barrage on Israel, one might think so. A bevy of analysts, Israelis, and pro-Israel activists clearly want to believe it.

Alas, that claim is mostly hyperbole. Last weekend was many things, but the dawn of a “new Middle East,” marked by intensified Arab-Israeli cooperation at a renewed time of war, was not one of them. Fortunately, the truth is still reassuring enough.

Israel’s devastating military campaign in the Gaza Strip over the last six months has put significant pressure on its ties with Arab countries, especially Egypt and Jordan. Of the Arab states that have diplomatic relations with Israel, the Moroccan, Egyptian, and Emirati ambassadors remain in the country, though Abu Dhabi suspended its coordination of humanitarian aid with Israel after seven aid workers of the nonprofit World Central Kitchen were killed in an Israeli drone strike. Still, after all of the violence and diplomatic tension, it has become routine for journalists and analysts to ask whether the Abraham Accords, the diplomatic deal that normalized relations between Israel and several Gulf Arab states during the Trump administration, are now dead.

That’s one reason why the display last weekend of regional security coordination under the auspices of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) was so important. The other has to do with the United States itself. After more than a decade in which the American foreign-policy community sought to deemphasize, pivot away, and retrench from the Middle East, the Biden administration proved that Washington can be—separate from its confused approach to the war in Gaza—a source of security in the region.

But the conclusions should not be overstated. At the same time that Israel’s friends were high-fiving and the Israelis were publicly thanking the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Jordan, and regional powers for their help, Arab officials and analysts were working hard to temper all the talk about the new Middle East. Jordan’s King Abdullah II made clear that shooting down Iranian drones was a defense of their country’s airspace and that they would do the same if drones were launched in the other direction.

In a private conversation, one keen observer of the region and former Arab official relayed, “It comes down to how states perceive the legitimacy of military action. In the Red Sea, no one wanted to appear to be part of a maritime coalition that was seen to be defending Israel. Last night, countries shot down incoming projectiles because it can be portrayed as defending sovereign airspace and not wanting a regional war.”

Those are important arguments. Given the horrors of Gaza and the concomitant outrage of many Middle Easterners over the deaths of tens of thousands of innocents at the hands of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), there is not a single Arab leader willing to publicly align with Israel—much less secure it. Still, defending airspace and preventing an intensification of the ongoing regional conflict yields the same result: helping Israel.

Setting aside the cheerleading of recent days, the coordinated military operations that protected Israel from mass casualties and destruction highlight the durability of the Jordan-Israel and Egypt-Israel peace treaties as well as the 2020 normalization agreements. No doubt, relations between the Israeli and Jordanian governments have been under strain in recent years as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu focused attention on developing ties with the Gulf states and engaged in provocative policies in Jerusalem as well as the West Bank. This created political difficulties for Abdullah, threatening the delicate balance between the demands of Jordan’s majority Palestinian population, its active Islamist movement, and East Bank tribal leaders, alongside the strategic necessity of maintaining a profoundly unpopular relationship with Israel.

The king’s apparent determination to maintain ties to Israel—given their importance to Jordan-U.S. relations—included a security dialogue that remained important to Jordan’s leaders even as other aspects of the relationship with Israel weakened. This security cooperation intensified once Israel came under CENTCOM’s area of responsibility in September 2021. The Egyptians, for their part, do not seem to have played a discernible role in last weekend’s events, but they, too, have ensured that their security dialogue with Israel remains robust and mutually beneficial despite the many crises that have buffeted the bilateral relationship since 1979.

Critics will undoubtedly argue that these securitized relationships are nothing to cheer. The ties between Arab governments—whose legitimacy is compromised, in part because of their ties to the Israelis—and an Israeli state that has dispossessed and repressed Palestinians would not exist but for authoritarian leaders and the support they enjoy in Washington. But this does not negate the fact that the security dialogues that have been underway between these countries for years paid off on April 13.

The same basic argument holds for the Abraham Accords, under which security cooperation developed rapidly after years of informal and secret cooperation. There is no leader in the Gulf who trusts Netanyahu, and they recoil at what the IDF has wrought in Gaza, but the Emiratis, Bahrainis, and the Saudis (who are silent partners in the Abraham Accords) certainly dislike and fear Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps more. This underlines what everyone already knows about the accords and why supporters of the Palestinians are so angry about it: The Arab leaders who have normalized ties with Israel place more value on fending off the Iranian challenge than Palestinian statehood. Despite the absence of some Arab ambassadors in Israel throughout these months of shocking violence, none of the Arab states that have come to terms with Israel have completely broken ties. The Saudi government, for instance, publicly maintains that it remains committed to normalization, though officials in Riyadh say they will require serious progress toward a Palestinian state. Yet even after all the violence and bloodshed of innocents in Gaza, the very fact that the Saudis still want to move forward with the Israelis says a lot about where the Palestinian issue stands among Arab leaders’ priorities.

Finally, after more than two decades during which the American investment in the transformation of the Middle East returned little or nothing, last weekend’s coordinated effort to prevent a wider and more destructive regional war (and, yes, defend Israel) was the result of Washington’s leadership. The episode demonstrates that when American policymakers focus on preventing threats to regional stability and security—as opposed to leveraging the power at their disposal to remake societies—Washington can be successful. Sure, critics will argue that the United States has been destructive in enabling the IDF’s destruction of Gaza. That is a potent critique. Would these observers prefer an all-out war in the region? Some may, given their views on Israel, but U.S. policy dictates otherwise.

Last weekend, there was a lot of commentary on social media and elsewhere expressing amazement at a new Middle East in which countries of the region coordinated an effort to thwart Iran’s attack on Israel. There is something to be said for that. But what’s more amazing when one takes a step back is that war has not actually changed the region that much. Regional governments still hate and fear Iran, harbor no particular commitment to Palestinian justice, want good relations with Israel, and desire American leadership.

[newstfionline]

Saturday, February 27, 2012

New York woman loses job, leads pantry feeding thousands (AP) While dozens of New Yorkers lined up outside in the rain, shopping carts at the ready as they waited for free food, Sofia Moncayo led her team in prayer. “We’re super grateful for these people here. In Jesus’ name we pray,” she said, and the group of women around her clapped, cheered and replied: “Amen.” “Now,” she said, “let’s get to work.” By then, they had worked almost nonstop for hours. They picked up heavy boxes, separated thousands of items and removed snow from the curb. They were cold, wet and tired. No one would pay them and they didn’t care. They were just happy to be there for someone else that day. During the coronavirus pandemic, Moncayo has led the food distribution program through Mosaic West Queens Church in the Sunnyside neighborhood. Since then, Moncayo has had her own struggles. She was furloughed from her job at a construction company and remains unemployed. And she also owes five months of rent for the martial arts studio that she owns with her husband in the neighborhood. But she has continued to lead fundraisers and coordinate dozens of volunteers who distribute more than 1,000 boxes of food to families twice a week. “I think helping others has to do something to your brain chemically because if we had not being doing everything that we’re doing, I think this would have been a much scarier time,” she said. “Being able to dig in and help others, it really gives you perspective and helps you believe that you’re going to be OK too.”

Residents of a Texas Border City Long Felt Overlooked. The Storm Made It Worse. (NYT) Surrounded by ranch land, towering mesquite trees and acres of thorny brush, the border city of Del Rio can feel like the definition of rural Texas. Residents said they have long felt alienated from the state’s power centers and bewildered by the shifting approaches to immigration by their elected leaders in Washington. And that is just in typical times. Last week’s epic winter storm, which blanketed the area with more than 11 inches of snow and collapsed the state’s power grid, plunging most of the county’s residents into dark and unheated homes, left many feeling even more isolated, overlooked and forgotten. More than a week later, many shelves remain empty at local grocery and hardware stores, and a notice to boil water was finally lifted in Val Verde County, which includes Del Rio, on Thursday. “I definitely feel that we are a bit unseen and unheard,” said Michael Cirilo, a 39-year-old juvenile detention officer. Like most of his neighbors in Del Rio, a predominantly Hispanic city of about 36,000 residents, he lost power for several days last week. “Sometimes we feel that we’re kind of alone out here.” “When they’re running for office is when we see them,” one man said of politicians.

Not Cages, “Temporary Holding Facilities” (Vox) Generally, migrant children arriving in the US through the southern border are sent to permanent holding facilities run by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which are separate from the “cages” used by US Customs and Border Protection. Due to an increase in the number of children coming into the country, the Biden administration has begun reopening temporary facilities, sparking fears for the welfare of children inside. Biden’s camp has said that they have no choice but to reopen such facilities due to COVID-19-related capacity restrictions combined with the increase in border crossings. The children in these facilities are held until they are either matched with foster parents or united with family members in the US. There have been plenty of reports of abuse in both temporary and permanent HHS shelters: these reports include sexual abuse, neglect, dangerous living conditions, and even the administering of psychotropic drugs. To make matters worse, some of these facilities are located in inaccessible areas, making external oversight of their conditions difficult to conduct.

‘I can’t buy food’: As Cuba’s economy worsens, desperate rafters risk their lives at sea (Miami Herald) Marisol Monteagudo’s son gave her a kiss goodbye as he headed out the door to spend a night out with friends in Cuba’s Isla de la Juventud. What he didn’t tell her: That instead of grabbing a drink or watching a movie, they were planning to board a flimsy raft en route to Mexico. That was three months ago. She hasn’t heard from him since. In recent months, U.S. Coast Guard officials have detected a new uptick in Cuban rafters, with the number intercepted at sea in the fiscal year that started in October already surpassing the total for the previous 12 months. Though still vastly lower than previous surges, the recent increase has sparked concern that as economic and humanitarian conditions in Cuba worsen, more will risk their lives at sea. U.S. President Joe Biden’s proposal to transform the immigration system is also believed to be a driving factor. “It’s a combination of the rising desperation of a good part of the Cuban population over deteriorating life conditions, as well as the illusion of getting to the United States under a president who is more tolerant of undocumented immigrants,” said Jorge Duany, director of the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University.

Bhutan’s success under the radar (Foreign Policy) There have been plenty of coronavirus pandemic success stories from Asia—Taiwan, Vietnam, New Zealand—but one small country has gone largely unheralded: Bhutan. Despite its poverty, ratio of 1 physician to every 2,255 people, and its shared border with hard-hit China and India, Bhutan has recorded only one COVID-19 fatality. In the Atlantic, the science journalist Madeline Drexler chalks up Bhutan’s success to quick actions by top officials, clear and consistent messaging from health authorities, and strong public trust in government. But she also identifies an additional factor unique to Bhutan: the spirit of compassion and altruism reflecting its “Gross National Happiness” index. The index considers noneconomic aspects of well-being, including health, as essential to sustainable development.

US carries out airstrike against Iranian-backed militia in Syria (ABC News) The United States conducted a military airstrike in eastern Syria along the border with Iraq targeting Iranian-backed militias in retaliation for a recent rocket strike in Erbil in northern Iraq that left several Americans injured, according to a U.S. official. The airstrike targeted structures in the eastern Syrian town of Al Bukamal that belong to Kataib Hezbollah and other Iranian-backed militias that have launched rocket attacks in the past against American facilities in Iraq, said the U.S. official. The airstrike was ordered by President Joe Biden in retaliation for a Feb. 15 rocket attack against a U.S. base in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil that killed a coalition contractor and left several American contractors and a U.S. military service member wounded.

In Iraq’s Biblical lands, scattered Christians ask ‘should I stay or go?’ (Reuters) A jihadist message, “Islamic State endures”, is still graffitied on the front gate of Thanoun Yahya, an Iraqi Christian from the northern city of Mosul, scrawled by Islamist militants who occupied his home for three years when they ruled the city. He refuses to remove it, partly in defiance of the militants who were eventually beaten by Iraqi forces, but also as a reminder that Iraq’s scattered and dwindling Christian community still lives a precarious existence. “They’re gone, they can’t hurt us,” said the 59-year-old, sitting in his home which he reclaimed when Islamic State was driven out in 2017. “But there aren’t many of us left. The younger generation want to leave.” Iraq’s Christians have endured unrest over centuries, but a mass exodus began after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and accelerated during the reign of Islamic State, which brutalised minorities and Muslims alike. Hundreds of thousands left for nearby areas and Western countries. Physical and economic ruin remain. Iraqi authorities have struggled to rebuild areas decimated by war, and armed groups that the government has not been able to control vie for territory and resources, including Christian heartlands. Christians say they are left with a dilemma—whether to return to damaged homes, resettle inside Iraq or migrate from a country that experience has shown cannot protect them.

US implicates Saudi crown prince in Khashoggi's killing (AP) Saudi Arabia’s crown prince likely approved the killing of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, according to a newly declassified U.S. intelligence report released Friday that instantly ratcheted up pressure on the Biden administration to hold the kingdom accountable for a murder that drew worldwide outrage. The intelligence findings were long known to many U.S. officials and, even as they remained classified, had been reported with varying degrees of precision. But the public rebuke of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is still a touchstone in U.S-Saudi relations. It leaves no doubt that as the prince continues in his powerful role and likely ascends to the throne, Americans will forever associate him with the brutal killing of a journalist who promoted democracy and human rights. Yet even as the Biden administration released the findings, it appeared determined to preserve the Saudi relationship by avoiding direct punishment of the prince himself despite demands from some congressional Democrats and Khashoggi allies for significant and targeted sanctions. Rep. Adam Schiff, chair of the House Intelligence Committee, urged the Biden administration to consider punishing the prince, who he says has the blood of an American journalist on his hands. Rights activists said the lack of any punitive measures would signal impunity for the prince and other autocrats.

Unfriending Myanmar’s Military (NYT) Facebook has announced that they have banned Myanmar’s military from all its social media platforms, a few weeks after the country’s government was overthrown in a military coup. Facebook’s decision comes after years of criticism over how Myanmar’s military has used the site to further their political agenda and spread misinformation. For years, members of the military were behind a systematic campaign on Facebook that demeaned the Rohingya as foreigners illegally living in Myanmar, even though many had been there for generations. Since the coup early this month, the military has repeatedly shut off the internet and cut access to major social media sites while continuing to use the platform to spread misinformation and make statements about the state of the country. In response, Facebook wrote: “Events since the February 1 coup, including deadly violence, have precipitated a need for this ban,” adding that the risks of letting the Myanmar military remain on Facebook and Instagram were “too great” and that the military would be barred indefinitely.

North Korea: Russian diplomats leave by hand-pushed trolley (BBC) A group of Russian diplomats leaving North Korea were forced to leave the country by hand-pushed rail trolley as strict coronavirus measures bring travel in and out of the country to a standstill. After travelling 32 hours by train and another 2 hours by bus from Pyongyang to reach the Russian border, the diplomats and their families loaded up their luggage on the rail trolley and pushed themselves the final kilometer to a Russian train station. The Russian foreign ministry singled out the Pyongyang embassy’s third secretary Vladislav Sorokin for providing the bulk of the effort. Photos shared by the ministry showed the diplomats on the trolley with their suitcases amid a wintry landscape. They were also seen cheering in a video as they crossed into Russia.

Massacre by Eritrean troops in Ethiopia’s Tigray region may constitute crime against humanity, Amnesty says (Washington Post) Ethiopian and Eritrean forces committed war crimes during an offensive to take control of the town of Axum in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region late last year, with one massacre by Eritrean troops a potential crime against humanity, according to a report released by Amnesty International on Thursday. The human rights group said that hundreds were likely killed during a roughly 24-hour period from Nov. 28-29, when Eritrean soldiers carried out house-to-house searches and shot civilians on the street. Eritrean troops “went on a rampage and systematically killed hundreds of civilians in cold blood, which appears to constitute crimes against humanity,” said Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International’s director for east and southern Africa. The United Nations defines crimes against humanity as “widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population.” In its report, Amnesty calls for a U.N.-led investigation into the violence in Axum as part of a broader international inquiry of the conflict between the Ethiopian government and forces aligned with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) that began on Nov. 4 last year.

Nigeria faces third mass kidnapping of schoolchildren in 3 months (Washington Post) Gunmen raided a boarding school in northwest Nigeria early Friday and kidnapped around 300 girls, marking the third mass abduction of children since December in Africa’s most populous nation. The assailants struck the Government Girls Secondary School in Zamfara state in a predawn ambush, residents said, waking up neighbors as shots rang out. By daylight Friday, community members were still working together to tally the missing—it remained unclear how many girls were forced into the nearby woods—while police officers scoured the area, which has been plagued by kidnappings in recent months. No one has asserted responsibility for the attack, but criminal gangs known as “bandits” are known to capture groups for ransom—a scourge that has prompted some Nigerians to call for a national state of emergency. The latest high-profile targets across the country’s north: Schoolchildren.

The placebo effect: ‘As a man thinks, so is he?’ (NYT) Give people a sugar pill, they have shown, and those patients—especially if they have one of the chronic, stress-related conditions that register the strongest placebo effects and if the treatment is delivered by someone in whom they have confidence—will improve. Tell someone a normal milkshake is a diet beverage, and his gut will respond as if the drink were low fat. Take athletes to the top of the Alps, put them on exercise machines and hook them to an oxygen tank, and they will perform better than when they are breathing room air—even if room air is all that’s in the tank. Wake a patient from surgery and tell him you’ve done an arthroscopic repair, and his knee gets better even if all you did was knock him out and put a couple of incisions in his skin. Give a drug a fancy name, and it works better than if you don’t. You don’t even have to deceive the patients. You can hand a patient with irritable bowel syndrome a sugar pill, identify it as such and tell her that sugar pills are known to be effective when used as placebos, and she will get better, especially if you take the time to deliver that message with warmth and close attention. Depression, back pain, chemotherapy-related malaise, migraine, post-traumatic stress disorder: The list of conditions that respond to placebos—as well as they do to drugs, with some patients—is long and growing.