Israel doubles down on genocide and media manipulation

 

• The UK Employment Appeal Tribunal has upheld a landmark ruling that anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism and constitutes a protected philosophical belief under the Equality Act 2010. The judgment rejects the University of Bristol’s attempt to overturn the central findings in favour of its former professor, David Miller. The ruling reinforces a distinction which pro-Palestine campaigners, Jewish anti-Zionists and civil liberties advocates have defended for years: opposition to Zionism as a political ideology is not inherently the same as hostility towards Jewish people. 

• RT: A deal between Iran and Oman on reopening commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz is close to being finalized, according to the Foreign Ministry in Tehran. Around one-fifth of the world’s seaborne oil has historically passed through the strategic waterway. The proposed agreement would establish a new corridor through the strait, with Iran expected to gain greater control over vessels entering the Persian Gulf while Oman would oversee outbound traffic, according to media reports. [If this deal works out, look for Trump to take credit for it.]

• Simplicius: It is always interesting to read Robert Kagan’s words, because they represent a glimpse into the heart of the neocon ideological crucible and how it has evolved and pivoted in the years following the disastrous global refutation of PNAC’s core ideological thesis. Responsible Statecraft has published a new in-depth interview with Kagan [Victoria Nuland's husband] wherein he gives us some provocative statements. Kagan’s role appears to be to cement the US as forever politically entwined with the region for the purpose of securing Israel’s indefinite hegemony over it. In reality, the obvious and fully justified plan of action would be to extricate the US from the Middle East entirely, and leave Israel to its own devices, as the US has nothing to gain and everything to lose in being Israel’s whipping boy and “protector” in a region hostile to the artificially implanted political entity. 

• A New York Times investigation has concluded that the US used a 2,000-pound bomb to strike a family home on Iran’s Qeshm Island during overnight attacks last week, killing a husband, wife and their two-year-old son. Drawing on satellite imagery, videos, photographs and munition fragments, the newspaper determined that the weapon used was a US-made Mark-84 bomb fitted with a Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) guidance kit.
• Sovereignista: Google has signed a six-month, $45 million contract with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office to run propaganda campaigns denying famine in Gaza and promoting Tel Aviv’s war narrative. The deal, revealed in government disclosures, places Google and its YouTube platform as “key entities” in Netanyahu’s messaging drive, managed through Israel’s state advertising bureau Lapam. Ads paid for under the contract insist “there is food in Gaza” despite the UN declaring famine and warning of mass starvation, with at least 367 Palestinians - 131 of them children - already dead from hunger and malnutrition. Alongside YouTube, Israel is spending millions more on platforms like X and Outbrain/Teads, funding videos that accuse the UN of “sabotage,” discredit the Hind Rajab Foundation, and push debunked claims against Hamas. The campaigns were launched in June not only to counter reports of famine but also to justify Israel’s bombing of Iran during Operation Rising Lion, which killed more than 400 civilians. 

• There is a move just starting in Africa, spurred from the success of Burkina Faso kicking the French out and taking back their gold manufacturing. Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of the Congo has passed legislation that the raw rare earth and critical mineral material mined stock cannot be exported, but it must be processed inside the countries and completed products must be exported.
• Washington Post: Trump and Hegseth clashed over munition shortages affecting Iran war strategy. The president demanded answers from the defense secretary on why he had apparently been misled on extreme munitions shortages that now threaten to limit military options with Iran, two people told newspaper. [Could it be that Trump is using Hegseth as the fall guy to blame?]

• The Pentagon’s policy chief is drafting a new US nuclear strategy that would place greater emphasis on the potential use of shorter-range tactical nuclear weapons in the event of a regional conflict with China or Russia. The classified strategy informs nuclear options for the commander in chief during crises.  At the same time European factories, NATO software, and defense companies are now built into Kiev’s war effort.

• Washington Post: A federal judge allowed the Trump administration to terminate temporary protected status for 350,000 Haitians, meaning they are likely to lose their jobs and be at risk of deportation.
• Tara Reade: The US is handing its war machine to Israel. A new Pentagon-IDF tie-up deepens military integration while ordinary US citizens get more war, more debt, and less to hope at home. 

• Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, a former public health official who built a surging progressive movement in Michigan, overcame a more than 8-to-1 spending disadvantage (largely due to $30 million of AIPAC funding his opponent) and opposition from the Democratic establishment to win Tuesday’s nationally watched Senate primary, the AP reported. A Rhodes scholar and podcaster with sharp critiques of modern politics, El-Sayed sold a populist message to swing-state voters and beat establishment candidate Rep. Haley Stevens (D). El-Sayed’s win both accelerates an ideological fight within his party and launches a hypercompetitive general election contest with national implications. He opposes funding Israel and supports Medicare for All among other progressive positions. If elected in November, El-Sayed will be the country’s first Muslim senator.
• MSN: Families of the sailors and Marines aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln are sounding the alarm that their loved ones are so exhausted they fear it could lead to deadly mistakes, as the carrier enters its ninth month at sea and its fifth consecutive month of combat operations against Iran. The crew of the Lincoln has had only two days off the aircraft carrier since it left its home port in San Diego in November. Currently most family members said they are able to message with their service member on a daily basis, but that wasn’t always the case. Many described their kids or spouses telling them about non-operational toilets, moldy showers, laundry facilities that were broken for weeks, and extended periods with no hot water for showering. The families have described food shortages and standing in line for the ship’s store for an hour or more, and that the store often lacks basic supplies like toothpaste, soap and deodorant. Families said there have been times during the deployment when the Lincoln was rationing meal portions.

• Trump's administration has detained dozens of parents and spouses of active-duty US troops as it rolls back immigration protections for military families to pursue its mass deportation agenda, an AP investigation found. More than 50 parents and spouses of active-duty service members have been detained since Trump took office for a second term, and at least six have been deported. At least eight immediate family members of US service members remain in federal immigration custody.
• In a post on X, Ebrahim Rezaei, a member of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, commented on the newly announced defense deal between Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan, warning that Saudi must realize that a paper agreement with Turkey and Pakistan will not bring it security, just as years of one-sided reliance on the US failed to do so. Rezaei further urged Riyadh to reform its policies rather than begging for security from external powers. 

• Five Republican-led states are now jockeying to host nuclear technology hubs - and possibly spent nuclear fuel - in a show of heightened political interest in breaking through chronic barriers to new US reactors. Oklahoma, Louisiana, Idaho, Tennessee and Utah are in the running to host Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campuses - Energy Department-backed facilities that would support the full nuclear fuel cycle, from enriching uranium and fabricating fuel to reprocessing and disposing of waste.

• Colombia President Petro: "Foreigners used foreign money to commit the electoral fraud imposing a president who did not win the election... and so we are a colony, starting Friday at 3:00 in the afternoon. A colony."