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Haaretz Exposé | Killing of Gaza Aid Workers: IDF Troops Fired Indiscriminately for Over Three Minutes, Some at Point-blank Range

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Written by Yaniv Kubovich | Haaretz Yaniv Kubovich | Haaretz
Published: 24 April 2025 24 April 2025

IDF materials show that soldiers reloaded their magazines multiple times while shooting at 12 aid workers who tried to identify themselves ■ Before the shooting, the force was alerted to increased ambulance traffic in the area ■ The aid vehicles were on a permitted route that didn't require coordination ■ The commander decided on his own to deviate from his assigned mission

The Israeli army unit that killed aid workers in Gaza's Rafah last month had received a report about increased ambulance traffic on the route shortly before the incident. The soldiers fired at the vehicles continuously for three and a half minutes – even from point-blank range – reloading their ammunition multiple times, despite attempts by the aid workers to identify themselves.

Read more on Haaretz (the article is paywalled).

Wyden: No Palestinian, No Problem

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Written by Peter Miller Peter Miller
Published: 21 April 2025 21 April 2025

"The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil." — Hannah Arendt.

Oregon Senator Ron Wyden had a chance to demonstrate that he had limits to what Israel could do to Palestinians. Senator Bernie Sanders introduced Joint Resolutions of Disapproval to try and stop the constant flow of weapons that Israel uses to destroy Gaza. Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley voted along with 15 Senators to stop arming Israel. Unfortunately, Senator Wyden voted to continue the mass killing and starvation of the Palestinians of Gaza.

I read today that Israel killed another eight Palestinian children, burned to death in their tents in a so-called Gaza "Safe Zone." The survivors smelled the stench of burning human flesh, the flesh of children. This criminality is what Wyden is paying for. 

The life of a Palestinian child is worth nothing to Wyden. Or rather, he is willing to spend and continue to spend billions of dollars to kill her, kill her family, and destroy every aspect of her existence.

The other week, Israeli soldiers executed fifteen medical rescue workers; the rescuer's vehicles were marked with flashing emergency lights. Israeli soldiers systematically killed them, and then Israeli bulldozers came in and buried them, still wearing their medical gloves, some with their hands tied behind their backs. Israel buried them and their vehicles under the sand. 

The life of a Palestinian medical worker means nothing to Wyden. Or rather, he is willing to spend billions of dollars to kill them.

The brutal Soviet leader Joseph Stalin was quoted for saying, "Death solves all problems. No man, no problem."

I fear that Senator Wyden has embraced the same for Palestinians, "No Palestinian, no problem."

Kill children in droves. No child, no problem.

Kill medical workers by the score. No doctor, no problem.

Murder journalists daily. No news, no problem.

Destroy schools and mosques and churches and hospitals. No hospital, no problem.

Deny food and medical aid to hundreds of thousands. No food, no problem.

There is no red line, no stopping Wyden's support for genocide—a brutal rejection of human rights, the sanctity of life, international law, and our values. Wyden and most in Congress, Democrat or Republican, uplift their own version of Stalin's infamous phrase: No Palestinian, no problem.

Peter Miller - April 2025

 

Benefit Concert for the People of Gaza

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Written by Peter Miller Peter Miller
Published: 19 April 2025 19 April 2025

 

Friday, May 30, 2025 · 7:30 PM (Doors open at 6:30 PM)

First Unitarian Church · 1211 SW Main St, Portland, OR

For more information and tickets, go to https://www.jpao.org/events

Microsoft faces growing unrest over role in Israel’s war on Gaza: ‘Close to a tipping point’

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Written by Timothy Pratt | The Guardian Timothy Pratt | The Guardian
Published: 19 April 2025 19 April 2025

Turmoil spreads at company over Israel’s extensive use of its AI and cloud computing services in Gaza war

or the second time in the last month, Microsoft employees disrupted high-level executives speaking at an event celebrating the company’s 50th anniversary on 4 April, in protest against the company’s role in Israel’s ongoing siege on Gaza.

The AI executive Mustafa Suleyman was interrupted by the employees Ibtihal Aboussad and Vaniya Agrawal. The two were fired within days. The Microsoft president, Brad Smith, and the former CEO Steve Ballmer were shouted down at Seattle’s Great Hall on 20 March by a current and former employee.

The March event was preceded by a rally outside that also included current and former employees of the tech giant. Protesters projected a sign on to the hall’s wall saying: “Microsoft powers genocide” – a reference to Israel’s extensive use of the company’s AI and cloud computing services since 7 October 2023, as “the IDF’s insatiable demand for bombs was matched by its need for greater access to cloud computing services,” the Guardian reported.

Read more at The Guardian

Project Esther: Suppressing Palestinian Solidarity in the US

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Written by Tariq Kenney-Shawa | Al-Shabaka Tariq Kenney-Shawa | Al-Shabaka
Published: 15 April 2025 15 April 2025

Executive Summary

Project Esther, launched by the Heritage Foundation in October 2024, represents the most brazen effort yet to suppress Palestinian advocacy in the US under the guise of combating antisemitism.

It is part of a broader authoritarian shift in US politics—intensified under Donald Trump’s second term—using censorship, lawfare, and intimidation to target the Palestine solidarity movement.

Project Esther falsely reframes pro-Palestine organizations as part of a “Hamas Support Network,” weaponizing legal and financial tools to criminalize advocacy.

Project Esther constitutes a direct assault on democratic principles, serving as both a test case and a blueprint for broader crackdowns on dissent, civil liberties, and progressive movements.

In response to this assault, pro-Palestine groups should do the following:

  • Build movement resilience and intersectional solidarity to counter fragmentation and isolation.
  • Reframe anti-Zionist advocacy as a human rights and public interest issue grounded in justice and accountability.
  • Strengthen legal defenses by leveraging anti-SLAPP laws and preparing for criminalization under terrorism and foreign agent statutes.
  • Diversify and secure funding streams to resist defunding campaigns and sustain organizing efforts.
  • Document and expose repression to mobilize public support and affirm Palestine advocacy as essential to democratic struggle.

Read more at Al-Shabaka

More Articles ...

  1. Gaza is a ‘killing field’ where people are being starved. How long will the world tolerate this?
  2. The US government is effectively kidnapping people for opposing genocide
  3. ‘It was revenge for our movie’: Oscar winner says soldiers helped settlers attack him in West Bank
  4. We call on Columbia to stand up to authoritarianism | Open Letter
  5. Mexico Recognizes Palestine: A Historic Gesture of Solidarity

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