#Palestinian Legislative Council

[vyorei]

Khalida Jarrar has been sentenced without charge and may be held indefinitely

[sadbicth]

israel posted a video of them giving water bottles to palestinians on a beach, then destroyed their luggage and shot at them after they stopped recording.

israel posted a photo of one of their soldiers "assisting" with an elderly man, then they shot him twice in the back and killed him.

in 2015, the idf posted pr photos of an israeli soldier giving water to an elderly palestinian woman, only for them to execute her after the photo was taken.

in 2005, an idf soldier emptied his rifle into a 13-year-old palestinian schoolgirl. he said he would have done the same thing if she was 3-years-old. he was acquitted of all charged.

israel claimed that hamas beheaded 40 israeli babies and then a month later cut off power to a palestinian hospital where premature babies were on incubators.

israel bombed a group of children collecting rainwater.

israel shot and killed two palestinian children playing with their scooter.

israel shot a hard of hearing girl in the face with a stun grenade and broke her jaw.

israel is using bombs with blades that are designed to cause maximum damage to the person in range.

israel forced medical workers at al-Nasr medical center to leave babies in incubators in order to evacuate the hospital they were bombing.

israel turned off power to hospitals in palestine, forcing nurses and doctors to use their phone flashlights when treating patients.

israel raised their flag over Al Shifa hospital.

israel has blown up the chambers of the palestinian legislative council.

israel targeted a "suspicious vehicle containing several terrorists”, meanwhile the only people in the car were three girls, ages 10, 12, and 14, their grandmother, and their mother. the only survivor was the three girls' mother.

israel planted a copy of mein kampf in a children's bedroom in a gazan house they claim hamas was hiding in.

israel poured fake blood onto the floor of an israeli child's bedroom and claimed hamas killed them.

israeli soldiers posted a video of them dancing on gazan graves.

israel posted a video showing a calendar in a palestinian children's hospital was a hamas guard list because it was written in arabic.

israel was using white phosphorus on hospitals.

israel bombed a refugee camp.

israel has burned olive trees in palestine.

israel has put cement into the water supply of palestine.

israel claimed that they found tunnels under Al Shifa hospital, only for it to be exposed that those tunnels are actually in sweden.

israel built a bunker and command room under Al Shifa hospital in 1983, only for them to now say that they are hamas tunnels.

israeli police arrested an israeli high school teacher, who posted on facebook expressing sympathy with palestinian civilians who have been killed.

israeli soldiers filmed themselves throwing a stun grenade into a palestinian mosque.

we are witnessing a genocide in real time framed under the guise of stopping hamas. israel has been terrorizing palestine for as long as israel has existed, but their access to technology and social media has made it much easier to fool people into supporting them.

meanwhile, noah schnapp is posting that zionism is sexy and celebrities are standing with israel. just absolutely twisted shit.

edit: for those who would like sources, my twitter is alliiesmith. i have retweeted everything i’ve mentioned. i apologize for not providing this sooner

edit 2: i’ve had some people in the replies and reposts pointing out that linking my twitter seems like promotion. i just wanted to clear up that that was not my intention. i’ve been retweeting resources and news much faster than i’m able to add to this post, and i thought that my twitter profile could be something of a hub for information. i don’t care if you follow me, but i think scrolling through and seeing what i’ve retweeted could be helpful.

[bassia-bassensis]

"Following her abduction by the IOF from her home two weeks ago in #Ramallah, the zionist courts issued PFLP leader Khalida Jarrar an administrative detention order, without charge or trial.

Khalida, 60 years old, has been imprisoned at least four times on baseless charges, most recently in 2016 and 2021. She was freed in September of 2021 after two years of administrative detention without charge or trial. Just two months before her release, the zionist entity denied her a temporary release to attend the funeral of her 31-year-old daughter, activist Suha Jarrar. Additionally, Khalida lost her father while she was imprisoned in 2021.

Khalida, a lifelong activist, intellectual, and leader, has stood defiantly in support of the prisoners' struggle. She has held many civil society positions, elected as a deputy in the Legislative Council in 2006, where she was responsible for the prisoners' file. Before her abudction, she was working as a researcher on Palestinian female prisoners at Birzeit University."

Taken from RNN

[27moremoons]

Today, December 23, the Zionist regime announced the extension of Khalida Jarrar's solitary confinement until January 22, 2025.

Khalida Jarrar, Palestinian human rights activist, feminist, leftist and former member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, was abducted by the occupation forces on December 26, 2023 and ordered to administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial. Since August 12, she has been isolated in inhumane conditions, separated from her fellow Palestinian women prisoners and completely cut off from the world.

For 133 days, Khalida Jarrar has been held in solitary confinement in a very small cell, measuring just 2 by 1.5 meters, where the only available space is occupied by a mattress. The cell also contains a tiny toilet. It is completely enclosed, with no windows for ventilation or fresh air.

In a letter passed on to her lawyer she testified:

“I die every day. The cell is like a small closed box where no air enters. There is only a toilet in the cell with a small window above it, which was later sealed just on day after my transfer. They left me no space to breathe, and even what is called the “ashnav” (peephole) on the cell door was sealed. There is only a small opening where i sit most of the time to breathe. I am suffocating in my cell, waiting for the hours to pass, hoping to find some oxygen particles to breathe and stay alive.”

Khalida Jarrar was imprisoned as punishment for her academic and research work. Shortly before her arrest, she had published a research paper on the conditions of detention in Zionist prisons after October 7, and was due to attend an international colloquium. Her imprisonment is an attack on Palestinian academia and the universal right to education.

This solitary confinement is a deliberate attack on Khalida Jarrar's life and an attack on all Palestinian prisoners. Khalida Jarrar is being targeted because of the model of resistance and fighting spirit she represents for her fellow prisoners. The Zionist regime believes that by distancing resistance leaders from their people, it will succeed in annihilating the resistance.

But the entire people embody the heroic and tireless resistance of the Palestinian people, as shown by Gaza, the steadfast, despite more than a year of genocide.

- Samdioun Network

[opencommunion]

"For years, we were told by diplomats that we need to reach out to the 'Israeli peace camp,' the same voices who are now calling for Gaza to be leveled. We were asked to be the perfect victim in order to deserve mere sympathy. We’ve had to convince them that we deserve to live.

Palestinians resorted to every form of non-violent resistance to attain their most basic rights to no avail. When we went to international courts, it was called 'legal terrorism,' and the very states that claim to respect international law have blocked the investigation by the International Criminal Court. Our activity at the United Nations was condemned as 'diplomatic terrorism' and blocked by Western powers at the Security Council. Legislations were introduced to counter the boycott of Israel, calling it 'economic terrorism.' The international community proved to the Palestinian people that nothing but violence works, and they are now appalled by the inevitable result. 

For 75 years, Israel was never held accountable by the international community. Instead of putting an end to Palestinian suffering and Israeli impunity, the international community has constantly rewarded Israel with more political, economic, and technological cooperation. It is also now giving Israel the green light to commit more massacres under the guise of self-defense."

[technofeudalism]

every reddit community is being flooded right now with posts about how amazing Joe Biden is and how he is the greatest President in American history and how "he's still got it."

normally, i'd find this kind of odd. because the tone has been drastically different everywhere else since the election loss. but then i found out why there's a sudden explosion of pro-Biden content.

During the 2020 presidential primary, Jill Biden campaigned so extensively across Iowa that she held events in more counties than her husband—a fact her press secretary at the time, Michael LaRosa, touted to a local reporter. His superior in the Biden campaign quickly chided him. As the three rode in a minivan through the state’s cornfields, Anthony Bernal, then a deputy campaign manager and chief of staff to Jill Biden, pressed LaRosa to contact the reporter again and play down any comparison in campaign appearances between Joe Biden, then 77, and his wife, who is eight years his junior. Her energetic schedule only highlighted her husband’s more plodding pace, LaRosa recalls being told. The message from Biden’s team was clear. “The more you talk her up, the more you make him look bad,” LaRosa said. The small correction foreshadowed how Biden’s closest aides and advisers would manage the limitations of the oldest president in U.S. history during his four years in office. To adapt the White House around the needs of a diminished leader, they told visitors to keep meetings focused. Interactions with senior Democratic lawmakers and some cabinet members—including powerful secretaries such as Defense’s Lloyd Austin and Treasury’s Janet Yellen—were infrequent or grew less frequent. Some legislative leaders had a hard time getting the president’s ear at key moments, including ahead of the U.S.’s disastrous pullout from Afghanistan. Senior advisers were often put into roles that some administration officials and lawmakers thought Biden should occupy, with people such as National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, senior counselor Steve Ricchetti and National Economic Council head Lael Brainard and her predecessor frequently in the position of being go-betweens for the president.  Press aides who compiled packages of news clips for Biden were told by senior staff to exclude negative stories about the president. The president wasn’t talking to his own pollsters as surveys showed him trailing in the 2024 race. 

so it turns out that, after the last year and a half of leftists saying "hey, isn't this guy really fucking old and kind of dying?" and being completely shit on, told to shut the fuck up, sit down and know our place... the guy was indeed dying behind the scenes.

and now, because this story is gaining attention in the mainstream media (CNN ran a segment earlier), reddit has full tilt re-engaged the Biden propaganda machine in order to "preserve his legacy."

throughout the entirety of the Biden presidency, and even before the 2020 election, Biden's cabinet, advisors, spokespersons, campaign staff, etc., abdicated their duty. their lust to remain in power, retain influence and secure gainful future employment in Washington along with their contempt for the average human being (including Palestinians) has effectively doomed us to 4+ years of Republican rule. now, they will go onto lobbying in the private sector and cash in on years of clout accumulated through being a dutiful stooge.

target your anger appropriately. stop blaming the voters. the Democratic party has never and will never care about you or anyone in this country other than their corporate owners.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

The conflict explained:

Hamas: We want a ceasefire. Israel: I thought you wanted to kill us all and take over all the land. Hamas: We do want to kill you and take all your land. Israel: But I thought you wanted a ceasefire? Hamas: Correct. We want to kill all of you and take all your land but we also want you to stop fighting back.

==

"... the Islamic Resistance Movement aspires to the realisation of Allah's promise, no matter how long that should take. The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said: 'The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.'" -- Hamas Covenant, 1988

"You should attack every Jew possible in all the world and kill them." -- Fathi Hamad, political leader of Hamas, member of the Palestinian Legislative Council

"Israel is only the first target. The entire planet will be under our law." -- Mahmoud al-Zahar, Hamas Commander

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Phyllis Chesler

In its “Monthly Action Points (MAP) for the Security Council” on Jan. 6, the NGO spent 609 words discussing the situation in Haiti and 889 words on Israel/Palestine. They refer to the “Occupied Palestinian Territory,” Israel’s “unlawful occupation of the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem” and insist that “international experts” (have credibly) described Israel’s actions as “genocide.” They mindlessly repeat Hamas’s completely misleading figures about the number of Gazans killed, wounded and displaced. They accuse Israel of having committed “constant violations of international humanitarian law.” These women of peace offer nothing but anti-Israel propaganda. They do not include a single mention or word on the Oct. 7 pogrom or the 99 hostages Hamas continues to hold in Gaza, including several young women. There is nothing in the Working Group on Women, Peace and Security’s monthly report about the perennial attacks on Israeli civilians by Iran’s terrorist proxies, not a word about the displacement of Israelis from their homes or the number of Israelis killed or wounded in a war of self-defense. Not one word is included about the impact the attacks by Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and the Houthis have had on women in Israel may they be Muslim, Christian, Druze, Bahai or Jewish, and, of course, there’s no mention of the need for services for traumatized Israelis, especially women and children. Based upon their big lies, they call upon the U.N. Security Council, of which Algeria has the presidency, to “demand an immediate, full, and complete ceasefire … ensure immediate, safe, and unhindered humanitarian access into Gaza.” They want the Security Council to “prevent the implementation of legislation restricting the operations” of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

So who is behind this lovely group concerned about the fate of women in Haiti and Gaza that views itself as a “peacebuilder?” It is perhaps no surprise that the Working Group on Women, Peace and Security includes Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Global Network of Women Peacebuilders, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Center for Reproductive Rights and the Consortium on Gender Security and Human Rights, among others. Funders of these groups include the left-leaning Tides Foundation, Compton Foundation and ministries within the governments of Norway, Sweden and Lichtenstein. They have all wasted their money. The United Nations has never prevented or prosecuted a single real genocide. They did nothing for the women in Rwanda, Bosnia, Sudan, Congo, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Syria, Pakistan, etc. The only thing that the United Nations has ever done successfully was to legitimize Jew-hatred. This little group both reflects and extends that particular agenda.

[probablyasocialecologist]

Back in 2005, shortly after Arafat’s death, the situation appeared more open. The PA agreed, in coordination with the governments of Israel and the United States, to hold new elections for its presidency and its parliament (both of which have tightly limited powers under Oslo). This time around, Hamas’s leaders agreed to take part in the parliamentary election. It was the first time Hamas showed a willingness to work within the Oslo framework, the clear goal of which was always understood by the PLO and all other Palestinian and Arab leaders to be the establishment of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. When those elections were held in January 2006, Hamas won them handily, taking 74 of the council’s 132 seats. The victory stunned the traditional Fatah leaders of the PA and their backers in Washington and Tel Aviv. In a reporting trip to the region soon thereafter, I found that Hamas’s success reflected a combination of skills: a history of having provided helpful community services to different grassroots constituencies; a reputation for generally “clean hands” (unlike Fatah); effective organizing through women’s networks, with several Hamas women leaders getting elected to the parliament; and good electoral discipline, not running more candidates than there were seats in multi-seat constituencies, as Fatah and its allies did in several places. The elections gave the PLO and its U.S. and Israeli allies a great opportunity to work to find a way to draw Hamas into the political process. Hamas was willing, too, initially making inroads to form a “government of national unity” with Fatah. But the reaction from Israel and Washington was harsh. They threatened to kill any of the newly elected legislators who would agree to join such a government—which I know because I was the conduit for conveying one such threat. Later, Washington and Israel persuaded Fatah to start plotting to overthrow the newly elected leaders of the PA’s parliament and premiership. In 2007 Fatah tried to launch a violent coup against Hamas, but Hamas leaders in Gaza rebuffed the attempt. Afterwards, Hamas set about institutionalizing their position in Gaza while Fatah retreated, with their generous U.S. funding, to Ramallah in the West Bank. All the while, Hamas and its allies retained significant support in the West Bank and throughout the widespread Palestinian diaspora—and remained the democratically elected government in Gaza, although new elections have not been held since. Though by 2005 Israel had withdrawn all its civilian settlers from Gaza, it has always maintained very tight control over all the crossings through which people or goods could pass in or out of the Strip—until October 7, that is. The United Nations continues to deem Israel as the “occupying power” there, with all the responsibilities that status entails under international law. And since 2007, several Israeli governments have undertaken punishment raids into Gaza—actions that some Israeli commentators have cynically dubbed “mowing the lawn.” The raids of late 2008 and summer 2014 were particularly destructive, with thousands of Palestinians killed in total. Successive U.S. presidents have generally seemed happy to allow these incursions. And the United States’ position in the global political order has meant that its word is law.

[eretzyisrael]

by Phyllis Chesler

How could so much rabid and vulgar Jew-hatred suddenly erupt everywhere? Did someone flick a switch that unleashed millions of haters programmed to disrupt public meetings, graduation ceremonies, legislative sessions, and singing and athletic contests? To block streets, schools and bridges? To smash windows, deface synagogues and kosher or Israeli restaurants, and publish false narratives about Israel and the Palestinians all over the world?

I’ve been asking myself this question ever since Oct. 7. Today, I may have something of an answer.

This worldwide non-stop attack on the world’s Jews did not happen when the U.N. passed its infamous resolution equating Zionism with racism in the 1970s. It did not occur after Palestinian terrorists bombed synagogues, hijacked planes and murdered Israeli athletes at the Olympics. Nor when Arab countries launched attack after attack on Israel, subjecting it to countless wars.

It did not even happen when Palestinian terrorists blew up Israeli civilians on buses and stabbed, car-rammed and shot Israeli civilians to death on Israeli streets. Nor did it happen after Iranian proxies launched rockets at the Jewish state, sent flotillas of armed assassins in the name of “peace” and declared their intention to exterminate the Jews once and for all.

Despite incredible losses, Israel rose triumphantly each time.

Here’s what’s different now:

First, back then, the well-funded and well-organized media and university assault on Israel had not yet indoctrinated three or four generations of Westerners.

Second, on Oct. 7, perhaps for the first time, Israel looked genuinely vulnerable. This rendered both Israelis and Jews everywhere fair game.

It’s as simple as that.

Once the terrible sight of Israeli blood, of charred and/or raped Israeli corpses, was broadcast the world over, the haters knew it was possible to chase the Jews down, to try to destroy us yet again. Who would protect us? The IDF was under the most profound siege on Israel’s northern and southern borders and in its historical heartland in Judea and Samaria.

Diaspora Jewry was seen as safe because Israel was militarily, economically, culturally, scientifically and technologically strong. Israel led the world in counterterrorism and was the only country in the Middle East that protects all religions, not just Judaism.

Israel’s strength meant that left-wing Diaspora Jews who loudly criticized Israel’s every imperfection and failure, and right-wing Diaspora Jews who kept supporting Israel no matter what, were safe because Israel existed. Israelis who excel at dissenting politics and are geniuses at criticizing their government were also kept relatively safe because Israel was and was seen as strong. Without this, we would all be subject to the historically endless pogroms and persecutions that have characterized Jewish existence in both the Muslim and the Christian world.

Things have changed. Israel looks vulnerable and the Jew-haters have been emboldened as a result.

So, if Diaspora Jews and our Christian, Hindu, Sikh and Muslim friends the world over want to help both the Jews and the West to defeat barbarism, they must strengthen the IDF in every way. These precious young men and women are on the front line fighting for civilization. However imperfect Israeli and American leaders and political systems may be, they are far better than those of Iran, China, Russia, Turkey, Afghanistan and North Korea.

Now is the time to act. I am urging you, imploring you, to do so.

Send money to the IDF and Israel’s ambulance and medical services. Volunteer as physicians and physical therapists, nurses, harvesters, fruit pickers and compassionate caregivers. Stand with pro-Israel demonstrators. Attend your local city council meetings, write articles for and letters to newspapers. Sue schools for harassing and chasing Jewish students away. Work to end the poisoned curriculum that has turned students into Jew-hating zombies.

This work may take decades to complete. Begin it today. And whatever you choose to do, never stop.

The fate of the world is in your hands

[workersolidarity]

🇵🇸 🚨

PALESTINIAN DOCTOR AND LEGISLATOR SLAMS ISRAEL'S ONGOING GENOCIDE, SHUTS DOWN PIERCE MORGAN

📹 Footage from the appearance of Palestinian physician and member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Mustafa Barghouti on Pierce Morgan Uncensored, a show aired on the British broadcaster TalkTV.

Dr. Barghouti shuts down Pierce Morgan's attempts to interrupt and disturb his responses, telling the British "journalist" to "Shut up please!"

"These are children for God's sake. I am against the killing of 30 Israeli children, which happened on the 7th of October because they are children and civilians," Dr. Barghouti says in the interview, adding "But nothing in the world could justify because of the killing of 30 children, the killing of 12'000 other Palestinian children. That is unacceptable."

"30'000 Palestinian civilians have been killed, and 72'000 people have been injured by the Israeli murderous army. This is 4.5% of the population," Barghouti says before being interrupted once again, telling Pierce Morgan, "I didn't interrupt you, so shut up and let me finish!"

"4.5% of the population of Gaza have been killed or injured. If that happened in the United States of America, you would be talking about 12 million people killed or injured in four months of time. Is that acceptable?" Dr. Barghouti asks.

"70% are civilians, more than that. Israel is killing Palestinians not only with this terrible genocide, with their bombardment, they are killing civilians with starvation, this terrible siege," adding that "50'000 pregnant women, Palestinian women, don't find a place to give birth in, 64'000 breastfeeding women cannot help their babies. And more than that, 700'000 people are now starving because Israeli is preventing milk, flour, food to the population of Gaza City and the north of Gaza, and more than that, they shoot the Palestinian hungry people when they are trying to get some food."

"They shoot them and they kill them like they did two days ago. They killed 100 people and 860 others were injured."

"So my response to you, yes, this is a genocide. These are three war crimes happening at the same time: genocide, collective punishment and ethnic cleansing at the same time. 70% of all homes were destroyed. All universities were destroyed. 30 hospitals out of 36 hospitals were destroyed. 347 of my colleagues, medical doctors and nurses were killed."

#source

@WorkerSolidarityNews

[marta-bee]

So. Much. Newsing.

Immigration

Birthright citizenship: Next steps in the legal fight over birth-right citizenship. Trump explains why he thinks SCOTUS will side with him (12ft.io). US Senators introduce legislation to codify Trump's executive order into law. Federal judge issues nationwide injunction against the EO.

Deportations: Trump releases some immigrants arrested in ICE crackdown, due to lack of beds. (12ft.io) US military personnel are preparing a massive immigrant detention center at Guantanamo. (RP) And, private US citizens impersonated ICE agents and terrorized Hispanic people. (12ft.io) This was just vile.

Specifically with El Salvador: El Salvador agreed to accept violent criminal deportees from the US, including from other countries and even American citizen criminals. (12ft.io) Most experts consider the American citizen piece illegal. Trump himself likes the idea of letting them jail US citizens. Details about conditions at El Salvador's mega-prison.

Race, Gender and DEI

DEI: The NY Times looks at the racist undercurrent of Trump's pushback against DEI. (RP) NPR discusses how corporate America rushed into DEI after the George Floyd murders, the mistakes they made, and how their retreat from DEI is similarly rushed and flawed. For a blind worker, diversity programs and a focus on merit aren't at odds. (RP) Federal employees caught up in Trump's push to fire people working on DEI discuss its impact.

Anti-trans shenanigans: TIME discusses how the anti-trans EO's are affecting trans people trying to get government ID cards. (12ft.io) US hospitals suspend health care for trans minors after Trump EO. New York AG warns that denying care based on the order would violate state law. Federal judge blocks Trump's attempt to move trans women inmates to male prisons. (RP) They're also being forced to hand over female-identifying clothes and HBA products.

Anti-Muslim & Anti-Arab shenanigans: Trump admin opens investigation into anti-semitism on college campuses. Foreign students who join pro-Palestinian protesters can have their student visas cancelled and be deported. (RP)

Science and Energy

Sec. Health Hearings: Senators considering RFK Jr. for Sec. Health are concerned about his getting paid for his role in anti-vax lawsuits (RP) Republicans questioned his abortion positions. (RP) Kennedy discussed possible deep cuts to Medicaid funding. (12ft.io) He's now been approved by the committees and is expected to be confirmed by the full Senate.

Sec. Energy Confirmed: Doug Burnum was confirmed as Sec. Energy. He immediately announced orders to decrease regulation and increase drilling/mining of fossil fuels. Burnum was formerly governor of North Dakota. Not news, but John Oliver did an episode on North Dakota's energy industry years back that's still an important warning (VIDEO) Trump admin is also considering redrawing national park boundaries to allow for more drill baby drill.

Science communications blackouts: Federal websites touching on HIV, transgender issues, climate change etc. were removed. (RP) CDC guidelines on vaccinations, STD prevention were also removed. (12ft.io) CDC researchers were also ordered to retract papers containing "forbidden terms" from journals. (12ft.io)

Foreign Affairs

Tariffs (what a beautiful word!) : Trump enacts then pauses tariffs against Mexico, tariffs against China and Canada still in place. (12ft.io) Canada and Mexico tariffs were both paused for thirty days by end of day on Monday. Economist Lawrence Summers explains why tariffs are bad for the US. (RP) Wall Street falls in response to tariff news, though improves somewhat after Mexico tariff pause. China pushes back. Trump gains very little in Mexico, Canada deals over tariffs. (12ft.io) The BBC talks about Canada's reaction (interesting stuff!).

Gaza: Trump withdraws from UN Human Rights Council and forbids future humanitarian aid for Gaza. He's also studying withdrawing from the UN full stop. (RP) He wants the US to take ownership of Gaza and the Palestinians to be "permanently resettled" in Jordan and Egypt. Because such a brazen plan would almost certainly upset the ceasefire, here are the Americans still held hostage by Hamas.

Ukraine: Trump discusses extending Ukraine funding in exchange for mineral resources. (12ft.io)

Iran: Trump reimposes "maximum pressure" on Iran, aims to cut off all oil exports. (RP) He also wants to hold talks on a nuclear deal with the country. He also tells his advisers to "obliterate" Iran if they assassinate him. This casts new light on his recent cancelling the security details of Pompeo, Bolton,  and other past security advisers from his first term (RP), who were considered insufficiently loyal to Trump but still faced active assassination threats from Iran.

Oligarchy & Autocracy

USAID: Funding is still not being distributed. Programs affected include girls' schooling in Afghanistan and treatment and prevention programs for tuberculosis, HIV and malaria. (RP) Trump has alleged fraud and put Sec. State Rubio in charge of the agency. Nearly 400 USAID employees and contractors have been laid off. The building is literally shuttered. Foreign USAID employees are being pulled back from the field and will return to the US by this weekend. For context: USAID is an independent program created by Congress. Doing all this by executive order and just Elon being Elon is almost certainly illegal.

Domestic funding freeze: Some nonprofits say they still can't access their funding (12ft.io), despite a judge ordering Trump admin to release the funds temporarily. A new judge extended the block against holding back funds approved by Congress permanently. Dem. Senate leader Hakeem Jeffries plans to use upcoming funding bill to prevent Trump from doing something similar in the future. (RP) Head Start programs serving 20,000+ children still cannot access payments. (RP) Elon Musk has gained access to the federal government's payment-processing system, personnel files and other sensitive systems. (RP) NY Times discusses why he is so focused on controlling the payment system. (RP)

DOJ & FBI Firings: Trump personally ordered the firings of DOJ attorneys who worked on Jack Smith's investigations of him. FBI turned over list of over 5,000 agents who worked on January 6th investigations. (RP)

Other Stories

Russell Vought: Mr. Project 2025 clears committee and moves on to the full Senate confirmation vote. Wall Street Journal has a good overview of him. (RP) Several Democrats boycotted his committee vote in protest (RP), and are planning a marathon of speeches in opposition tonight. (RP)

[straight-from-gaza]

Member of the Legislative Council, Mustafa Barghouti: Hamas embarrassed Netanyahu by accepting the proposal of the mediators to stop the war on Gaza and allow release of prisoners.

The Israeli government negative response proved that Netanyahu and his extreme government are the real obstacle to peace and are determined to continue the horrible genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.

(Source: QUDS news)

reported on may 6th 14:56 mst

[cairamelcoffee]

The Israeli army blew up the Palestinian Legislative Council (parliament) Building in Gaza City.

via

via

[opencommunion]

On October 11th the occupation cut off electricity and water from many of the prisons where it incarcerates Palestinians, including children, often without trial or charge, while denying them legal representation. Long before October 7th the occupation tortured Palestinians in these prisons — again, including children — on top of the inhumane conditions that are torturous in themselves. The conditions are getting worse every day, and every day the occupation is abducting dozens or hundreds of Palestinians from the West Bank and occupied interior. The number of abductions since October 7th has reached 1000. The number of abductions since January 1st has exceeded 6000. 25% are minors, disabled, sick, or elderly, and sick prisoners are being denied medical care. Additionally, after forcibly transferring 18,000 Gazan workers to the West Bank, the occupation is now rounding up these same workers and detaining them in existing prisons or new camps, giving the excuse that "it is not possible for them to return to Gaza." The Palestinian Prisoners' and Ex-Prisoners' Affairs Commision estimates, based on occupation reports, that 4000 people are trapped in these camps. In their nightly raids, the occupation targets Palestinian journalists, activists, and representatives of the Palestinian Legislative Council. They also abduct the family members of targets to pressure those targets to surrender themselves. During these raids Palestinians are beaten, teargassed, and shot with rubber and live bullets. Then they are dragged to prisons where conditions are worse than ever. Today, October 20th, Qadura Fares, head of the Prisoners' and Ex-Prisoners' Affairs Commission, wrote:

"Developments in the scene inside the occupation prisons compel us to expose the injustices committed against the prisoners. Many prisoners have had their limbs, legs, and hands broken, and after the beatings, their comrades could no longer recognize them. The Naqab prison has become like Abu Ghraib prison, a center of brutality and savage treatment towards the heroic prisoners. 'Israel' is making the Palestinian prisoners pay the price for its failures, acting solely with a spirit of revenge. We call upon all the countries of the world to raise your voices in support of the principles you claim to uphold, or have you returned to your history as colonial powers?"

In short, in the past two weeks the occupation has: - Made the already brutal conditions in their prisons deadly - Created new camps where they trap displaced Gazans - Doubled the total number of detained Palestinians - Kidnapped numerous Palestinian journalists, activists, and elected officials

Given the occupation's practice of "administrative detention," occupation prisons have arguably met the definition of concentration camps for decades, and now detained Palestinians are being deprived of basic survival necessities. I do not know how to describe these facilities except as death camps. A regime does not need to build death camps in order to qualify as genocidal, and the Zionist occupation has been committing genocide by various means for 75 years. That being said, these are death camps or are on the verge of becoming death camps, and I don't think we have time to waste being squeamish about applying that terminology.

Please follow RNN Prisoners to stay informed about what Palestinian detainees are facing.

[beardedmrbean]

Iwas born in Gaza Strip in the late 1990s, one of six children. At the time, the Palestinian Authority was the ruling party. My father, like most people in Gaza, was sick of the PA's corruption and was waiting for any alternative. Hamas promised "change and reform" and they won the Palestinian Legislative Council elections in 2006. One year later, I awoke to the sound of gunfire. Hamas gunmen were fighting Fatah, and they ended up killing of more than 600 Palestinians. It became clear very quickly that Hamas was not the "change and reform" that we hoped for.

To silence dissent, Hamas terrorized the citizens of Gaza. On the way to the Dar-Alarqam school I attended in the al-Shujaiya neighborhood near the Israeli border, a group of masked men carrying Kalashnikovs would check each car. At the end of the year, masked men opened offices in our school to promote Hamas's military camps and register students.

I graduated and began my studies at the Islamic University of Gaza, along with future Hamas leaders and current members. All art classes were replaced with radical Islamic teachings, and the elections of the student councils and clubs were only open to Hamas members, who hoarded all the privileges and distributed all the grants between themselves.

Voicing dissent was not an option. Hamas has a no tolerance policy for criticism or objections to any of its policies. Even discussion is forbidden Any journalist who objects or criticizes a policy is suspended and investigated. Demonstrations are strictly prohibited. Freedom of speech in Gaza is a fantasy. The dirtiest tool Hamas uses to silence citizens is character assassination through online campaigns accusing dissenters of working for hostile bodies or committing immoral acts. Hamas also routinely breaks into the homes of people deemed disloyal and humiliates them in front of their family and neighbors.

I observed all this with growing horror as a student. And as Hamas's oppression of the Palestinian citizens of Gaza increased, the quality of life deteriorated. Hamas's aggression toward Israel resulted in fewer and fewer job permits and limits on the electricity in Gaza, which we only got for eight hours a day. The economy cratered. Social and economic conditions collapsed.

A huge social gap opened between the wealthy elite who belong to Hamas and the rest of the population who were increasingly living in driving poverty. Public sector jobs were limited to Hamas members, and taxes were increasing on necessities day by day, even as the cost of living skyrocketed.

Many of us could no longer bear it. I was one of them.

Though we knew dissenters were subject to imprisonment, torture, and even murder, in 2019, a few of us decided to join forces and form a protest to voice our opposition to Hamas. We called it the "We Want to Live" demonstration. Our demonstration elicited an extreme reaction by Hamas. They violently cracked down on the protests and we were all arrested.

I will never forget my first day in jail—walking up the steps listening to screams of my colleagues, most of them fellow students, who had been arrested before me. I was held under arrest for 21 days and subjected to various types of torture. I was beaten with batons and sprayed with cold water in the late winter night hours. My friends didn't fare much better. A Christian friend was in the next cell and I could hear them screaming at him, "You are a Christian and you don't like the situation? Then go to another country!"

After we were released, most of those who participated in the demonstrations emigrated away from Gaza. There was no hope for any change in the current situation. We suffered ongoing harassment by Hamas members. Some died trying to leave, like Tamer Al-Sultan, a pharmacist whose crime was asking for a reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah.

People's living conditions got worse. The wealth gap expanded even further. We protested again in 2023 and were crushed in the same manner as in 2019. I was arrested again by Hamas last year and held for 14 days, this time in a small cell with no bed, no window, and barely enough space to sit down. I was released on bail on the condition that I not take part in any further demonstrations.

I still expressed my opinion occasionally on social media, but the arrest warrants after each post and the continuous threats from Hamas members and accusations of treason made me lose hope that I could make any kind of change. I left Gaza in August to seek a better future for myself and my family.

All this time, Hamas was planning to expand its extremism and intimidation. They knew what would happen as a result of their massacre on October 7, when they attacked Israeli civilians, and Israel responded with a massive war aimed at destroying Hamas, which has obliterated large parts of the Gaza Strip.

Now all the inhabitants of the city are being punished for Hamas' actions.

I think it's hard for Israelis to understand that there are many innocent people in Gaza who have suffered as much from Hamas's evil as they have. I understand those Israelis. During my life as a Gazan, the only thing I believed about Israelis was that they all hate us and want to eliminate us as a Palestinians.

Now I know better. After criticizing Hamas for its horrific actions on Oct. 7, I made friends with Israelis for the first time in my life. It turns out that many of them, like me, just want this conflict to end so they can live in peace. These friendships opened my eyes to their suffering. I now have a better understanding what they are thinking, and have decided never to make judgments before listening to the other side.

I hope my new friends feel the same way about the many Gazans living under the boot of Hamas's oppression.

We Palestinians have a saying: "Hope is born from the womb of suffering." I hope that after the war, that after Hamas been defeated, we can create a real, lasting peace for both the Palestinians and the Israelis. Many Gazans are praying for this, too.

Hamza Howidy is a Palestinian from Gaza City. He is an accountant and a peace advocate.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.