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Major US academic group approves boycott of Israel in a historic U-turn

MEMO | August 13, 2024

In a major U-turn, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) has reversed its long-standing opposition to academic boycotts in the wake of last month’s International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling that accused Israel of practicing apartheid. The ICJ’s decision, coupled with its ongoing investigation into allegations of genocide by Israel in Gaza and the potential for Israeli leaders to face arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court (ICC), appears to have prompted the AAUP to reconsider its long-standing position on academic boycotts.

The AAUP, a union dedicated to safeguarding academic freedom with 500 chapters on campuses across the US, approved a new statement marking a departure from the organisation’s previous stance articulated in its 2006 report “On Academic Boycotts”. Since its founding in 1915, the AAUP has helped to shape American higher education by developing the standards and procedures that maintain quality in education and academic freedom in this country’s colleges and universities.

AAUP’s new policy acknowledges that academic boycotts can be legitimate responses to certain circumstances. The statement reads, “Academic boycotts are not in themselves violations of academic freedom; rather, they can be considered legitimate tactical responses to conditions that are fundamentally incompatible with the mission of higher education.”

Crucially, the AAUP now holds that “individual faculty members and students should be free to weigh, assess, and debate the specific circumstances giving rise to calls for systematic academic boycotts and to make their own choices regarding their participation in them.” The organisation argues that to do otherwise would contravene academic freedom.

The statement is careful to delineate the boundaries of acceptable boycott practices. It explicitly states that academic boycotts should not involve political or religious litmus tests, nor should they target individual scholars engaged in ordinary academic practices. Instead, boycotts should “target only institutions of higher education that themselves violate academic freedom or the fundamental rights upon which academic freedom depends.”

While the AAUP’s statement does not specifically mention Israel, the timing of this policy change, coming after the ICJ’s ruling and amidst multiple investigations into Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, which has killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians, mainly women and children, strongly suggests that the situation in the besieged enclave has played a major role in prompting this reconsideration.

This policy shift by the AAUP aligns more closely with actions taken by other academic associations in recent years. For instance, the American Studies Association approved measures to boycott Israeli universities a decade ago, and the American Anthropological Association followed suit last year.

August 13, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Solidarity and Activism, War Crimes | , , | Leave a comment

CAIR files lawsuit against FBI, US govt agencies over blacklisting of Palestinian-Americans

MEMO | August 13, 2024

An American Muslim advocacy group has filed a lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and the leaders of other United States government agencies after two Palestinian-American men were blacklisted due to their pro-Palestine activism.

On Monday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) filed the lawsuit in response to what it called a discriminatory and racist placement of two Palestinian Americans – Osama Abu Irshaid and Mustafa Zeidan – on a watch list by US federal authorities.

According to the lawsuit, Irshaid, the Executive Director of an organisation named American Muslims for Palestine, travelled to Qatar from the US in late May and returned in early June. Upon his return, federal agents forced him to undergo extra screening and questioning – reportedly focusing on his activism and organising against Israel’s offensive on Gaza – while seizing his phone, which has not yet been returned.

The California-based Zeidan, meanwhile, who often visits his ailing mother in Jordan, was not allowed to board a flight on his way to the country earlier this year, with authorities later informing him that he was placed on the no-fly list.

Filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, the lawsuit stated that “CAIR is challenging the mistreatment of these Palestinian-American activists on constitutional grounds”, asserting that their blacklisting is based on discrimination and racism rather than actual criminal or national security concerns. “Neither Dr. Abu Irshaid nor Mr. Zeidan have ever been charged or convicted of a violent crime,” it said.

Aside from the FBI, other defendants named in the lawsuit are the leaders of government agencies, including the State Department and the Homeland Security Department.

August 13, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Full Spectrum Dominance | , , , , | Leave a comment

Explainer: What are the scenarios and potential targets of retaliatory strike on Tel Aviv?

By Ivan Kesic | Press TV | August 13, 2024

The stage is set for the retaliatory military operation against the Israeli regime in response to the cowardly assassinations of top-ranking Axis of Resistance commanders in Tehran and Beirut.

Although the nature of the retaliation and its precise timing remains shrouded in mystery, the embattled regime in Tel Aviv, already grappling with an internal political and social crisis, has been paralyzed with fear.

Illegal settlers have also been fleeing the occupied Palestinian territories in panic, anticipating a response that pales in comparison with Iran’s ‘Operation True Promise’ that followed an attack on Iran’s consulate building in the Syrian capital of Damascus in April.

There are scores of military sites in Tel Aviv that could be targeted to punish the Israeli regime for terrorist attacks that claimed the lives of Hamas political bureau leader Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr.

Our analysis shows the most likely targets in Tel Aviv could be the centers affiliated with the Israeli spy agency Mossad, which had a key role in the assassinations of Haniyeh and Shukr.

This analysis is supported by the fact that the Ramon and Nevatim air bases of the Israeli regime were successfully targeted in the retaliatory military action in April since the warplanes that attacked the Iranian consulate in Damascus had taken off from them.

Taking that into consideration and the fact that simultaneous attacks in Tehran, Beirut and Iraq were carried out with the order and cooperation of the highest Israeli political, military and intelligence structures, their headquarters are primary targets.

The likelihood of these targets is further supported by a report by the Al-Hadath news channel, which revealed that employees of four intelligence and military agencies of the Israeli regime were evacuated on Thursday from their sites in Tel Aviv.

These headquarters are located in the densely populated metropolitan Tel Aviv, known as the Gush Dan, where half of the settler population of the Zionist entity lives, in contrast to the two aforementioned air bases in uninhabited desert areas.

Among them, an area of exceptional importance is Kirya, a district in central Tel Aviv, which is home to many administrative buildings and the military intelligence Camp Rabin that serves command, administrative, communications, and support functions for the Israeli military apparatus.

This camp has served as the headquarters of the armed forces of the Zionist entity since its establishment in 1948 and is encircled on all sides by densely populated civilian areas.

The main building in the camp is the Matcal Tower, which houses the offices of the top brass of the Israeli military, surrounded by other high-rise military facilities, such as the communications office Marganit Tower.

The Kirya district, known as the “Israeli Pentagon,” is much larger in scope than it looks on the map or is officially recognized, due to underground facilities and classified offices in nearby areas.

Beneath the military complex is the Bor (literally pit), the heavily fortified underground national military command center that is located a few blocks away from the former prime minister’s office, which has been moved now to occupied Jerusalem al-Quds.

The Bor is accessed through a large steel door that is sealed shut in the event of a non-conventional attack, and at the entrance, there is a big sign reminding visitors to remove the batteries from their cellphones before entering.

Long stairs lead deep into the operations rooms where regime officers prepare, organize and discuss future wars with their neighbors, Syria, Lebanon and Palestine, including the ongoing genocidal war against Gaza.

Even deeper, there is the chief of general staff’s conference room with a U-shaped table and a wall lined with plasma TV screens, where top officers meet almost weekly for highly classified discussions and a review of operational plans.

This facility is relatively well protected from attacks by short-range missiles, cruise missiles and kamikaze drones, but not from larger ballistic missiles with deep penetration power and a one-ton high-explosive warhead, so it is a high-value target.

Headquarters of intelligence services are classified, without official addresses, and most often masqueraded as civil function buildings.

In recent decades, the Israeli regime authorities have started selling land in Kirya, on which many “multipurpose” high-rises have been built, due to its attractive location in the center of the city.

This “multi-purpose” most often implies the regime and some other function, with the former containing multi-levels of the regime, military and intelligence offices.

The wider metropolitan area of Tel Aviv is also home to numerous factories, military bases and other regime buildings that can be the target of retaliatory strikes.

At least three large military facilities on the edges of the Tel Aviv metropolitan area are also possible targets, especially in case of new Israeli attacks and further escalation.

First among them is the operational headquarters of military intelligence unit 8200, located in the north near the city of ‘Herzliya’, where the collected information is processed and further forwarded to military strategists and other Israeli intelligence agencies.

Another site is Palmachim Airbase, located a few kilometers south of the metropolitan area, the main base for the Israeli regime’s drone, missile and space programs.

Finally, there is also a vast military zone around the Tel Nof and Sdot Micha air-missile bases, between Tel Aviv and occupied Jerusalem al-Quds, where numerous squadrons, special forces, missile silos and bunkers, arms warehouses, including nuclear warheads, are stationed.

August 13, 2024 Posted by | Aletho News | , , , , | 2 Comments

Iran: E3 demands are public support for Israeli crimes

Al Mayadeen | August 13, 2024

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani responded to the E3’s (UK, France, Germany) statement on Tuesday, underscoring that Iran is “steadfast and resolute in exercising its right  to protect its national security and territorial integrity” and “does not seek permission from any external party.”

In a press statement, Kanaani added that the European Troika’s demand for Iran not to respond to the “Israel’s” and punish it, “a crude demand that lacks any political logic and contradicts international laws and resolutions.”

He emphasized that the European trio’s statement reflects a public endorsement of the Zionist entity’s crimes and regional terrorism. He added that “if the European Trio genuinely seeks to promote peace in the region, it must, at the very least, condemn the Zionist entity’s actions and its genocidal activities in Gaza.”

Kanaani also pointed out that “the indifference of Western countries towards the crimes of the Israeli entity and its ongoing genocide of the defenseless Palestinian people, and the failure to hold it accountable, has encouraged it to escalate its atrocities.”

He explained that “Germany, France, and Britain have not taken any measures to halt the Zionist entity’s ongoing brutal crimes, and international organizations have similarly failed to deter these actions,” stressing that “both the West and the Security Council must take decisive responsibility to stop the severe Israeli atrocities in Gaza.”

On Monday, the leaders of France, Germany, and the United Kingdom issued a joint statement in which  they called on Iran and its allies, likely the Ansar Allah movement in Yemen and the Hezbollah Resistance movement in Lebanon, to refrain from taking any actions that would “further escalate regional tensions and jeopardize the opportunity to agree on a ceasefire and the release of hostages.”

The statement held them responsible “for actions that jeopardize this opportunity for peace and stability” while disregarding the actions committed by “Israel”

August 13, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Progressive Hypocrite | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Hate influencer VOA ‘aims to sow discord between China, India amid improving ties’

By Liu Xuanzun | Global Times | August 13, 2024

Chinese experts on Tuesday slammed a recent report by the Chinese language version of the Voice of America (VOA) on India’s newly debuted light tank, saying that the US media is seeking to sow discord between China and India amid a recent recovery in relations by hyping the threat of military confrontation which has been subsiding for years.

VOA reported on Monday that India’s Zorawar light tank, designed for high altitude operations, will be deployed along the China-India borders “amid continued tensions.”

Calling it a game changer, the report hyped India’s new tank and its capabilities, and how it can rival its Chinese counterpart, the Type 15.

The first reports on the debut of the Zorawar light tank were published by Indian media in early July, which, although mentioning China as well, noted that the new Indian tank will not be ready before 2027, a key detail that was ignored by VOA.

Recently, relations between China and India have been recovering, with the two sides having held the 30th Meeting of Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on China-India Border Affairs in late July.

It has been more than four years since the Galwan Valley clash of 2020, and since then the two countries have held multiple rounds of border talks on different levels in both military and diplomatic channels, having seen de-escalation and disengagement in multiple points of contact, a Beijing-based military expert who requested not to be named told the Global Times on Tuesday.

The US media’s hype on military confrontation along the China-India border is unprofessional, and it exposes the US’ mentality of wanting to sow discord amid improving China-India ties, the expert added.

From a military point of view, China has commissioned and actually deployed the Type 15 light tank since 2019, while India’s new tank will have to wait until at least 2027, the expert said, noting that India’s defense industry has a history of issues such as delays, cost rises and technical problems.

August 13, 2024 Posted by | Mainstream Media, Warmongering, Militarism | , , | Leave a comment

Specialist UK Police Teams Target “Hate” on Social Media

By Cindy Harper | Reclaim The Net | August 13, 2024

The UK authorities and the media either willing to or feeling pressure to take their cues from the government, continue to assert that the root cause of the serious rioting that hit the country this month is to be found on – social media.

This, in turn, makes for a convenient excuse to ramp up police surveillance of online content. Special police teams are now going through social sites in order to identify those said to have “incited” the riots, and there’s a special name for them – “hate influencers.”

The said teams consist of what reports refer to as “specialized” officers, those investigating serious crimes (i.e., murder and the like) and terrorism, as well as local units whose job is normally to investigate organized crime.

“Other” national-level teams are also mentioned as taking part in scouring the internet, and what they might be doing is suggested by the goal of this exercise being gaining “a clear intelligence picture,” as one article put it, citing the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC).

A statement on the NPCC site said that the search for “online offenders” is being led by regional organized crime units (ROCUs) and that the offense is spreading hate and inciting violence on the internet.

NPCC Chief Constable Chris Haward is quoted as saying that the large number of people taking part in protests and riots “did not mobilize spontaneously.”

“It was the result of dozens of so-called influencers, exploiting the outpouring of grief from the tragic loss of three young girls in Southport,” Haward said, referring to the knife attack that resulted in the three murders.

Still talking about “hate influencers,” Haward added: “They knowingly spread misinformation, stoked the flames of hatred and division, and incited violence from the comfort of their own homes – causing chaos on other people’s doorsteps. (…) Online crimes have real-world consequences and you will be dealt with in the same way as those physically present and inflicting the violence.”

Thus far, the NPCC has said that it is investigating hundreds of leads. The content targeted by law enforcement and intelligence units is reportedly spread across a range of unnamed social sites and platforms, according to the press release.

It is also revealed that “hate influencers” as the British legacy press calls them will not be held responsible simply for using the internet to allegedly incite real-world violence – but also for something separate which the NPCC calls “violence online.”

“A senior investigator” will have the last word on whether any of this can be treated as a crime – and if so, people behind the accounts and/or content will be identified and arrested.

August 13, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance | , | Leave a comment

Tyranny in the UK – Can it Happen Here?

By Ron Paul | August 12, 2024

As the UK descends into tyranny, where just re-Tweeting something the government doesn’t like can land a person a multi-year jail sentence, Americans are wondering, “can it happen here?” After all, we have the guarantees of the First Amendment.

But while we shake our heads at UK authorities jailing people for their social media posts this past week, we should not kid ourselves. The answer is that silencing dissent can happen here and it is happening here.

Here are just three recent examples of how the “deep state” or the permanent government is conspiring to restrict political dialogue in the United States.

First is the revelation that former US Representative and former US presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard has been placed under the bizarrely named “Quiet Skies” program. As reported by journalist Matt Taibbi based on revelations by TSA whistleblowers, this July Gabbard was flagged as a terror threat, and every time she travels her boarding pass is marked so that she is pulled aside for extensive screening. According to the whistleblowers, “Gabbard is unaware she has two Explosive Detection Canine Teams, one Transportation Security Specialist (explosives), one plainclothes TSA Supervisor, and three Federal Air Marshals on every flight she boards.”

As Gabbard herself revealed recently on the Laura Ingraham show, “A few weeks ago, I had the audacity to tell the truth: that Kamala Harris would essentially be a mouthpiece and puppet of the Military Industrial Complex and National Security State. The next day, July 23, they retaliated. Sadly this is what we can expect from the ‘Harris Administration.’”

Next we have the attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump. It seems every day brings a new revelation that calls into question whether the massive failure to protect the Republican presidential candidate was just an “honest mistake.” We know from 1963 what can happen to presidents who cross the “deep state” and we know from Trump’s four years in office how “former” deep state officials can conspire to undermine the presidency with lies like “Russiagate.”

Finally we have the case of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Up until the Trump assassination attempt, the Biden/Harris Administration refused to provide the independent presidential candidate with Secret Service protection. RFK, Jr. has consistently and effectively criticized not only the current administration but the “deep state” itself while out on the campaign trail. Even though there were credible threats against him on the campaign trail the Biden/Harris administration refused to budge for months. Why? Did they want to silence him?

The US government learned an important – and dangerous – lesson from Covid: all you have to do to crush political dissent is to use the weight of the government to force the “private” sector to do the censoring for you. It is only a half-step away from forbidding us from expressing our thoughts on a virus to sending us to prison for expressing other thoughts the government does not like. And maybe worse.

There will be a reaction in the UK to the brutality of the Starmer regime. We can only hope for their – and our – sake that the reaction will be a newfound determination by the people that no government should have the authority to shut them up or jail them for their political views. To paraphrase Benjamin Franklin, “free speech, if you can keep it.”

August 13, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance | , , | Leave a comment