Upcoming events are listed at: durhamspark.blogspot.com/2025/08/days-of-rage-2025-666-days-of-war-and.html , durhamspark.blogspot.com/2025/08/gpus-remembering-hiroshima-and-nagasaki.html , and durhamspark.blogspot.com/2025/07/deep-river-riverkeeper-founded-upcoming.html (mostly local, environmental, anti-pipeline, and astronomical news and events [more was added]. There will be a William Blake death anniversary gathering and livestream August 16th at 12pm (he passed away August 12, 1827 and is buried in a dissenters' cemetery, now Bunhill Fields Burial Ground (about 123,000 have been interred there), in Islington, North London, UK: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Blake , en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunhill_Fields , and www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/city-gardens/find-a-garden/bunhill-fields-burial-ground ). For some upcoming anniversaries see: durhamspark.blogspot.com/2024/08/summer-came-in-with-buzz-and-whirr-goes.html I have many links to post, but didn't get to it earlier in the year or I'm posting them more than once; some are posted here, good, bad, and neutral.
Blake's "And Did Those Feet" ("Jerusalem") – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_did_those_feet_in_ancient_time and www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/01/and-did-those-feet-william-blake-in-bradford/
An ICSS talk by Gerry Condon on nuclear war August 17th: icssmarx.org/80-years-after-the-us-bombing-of-hiroshima-and-nagasaki-are-we-on-the-verge-of-another-nuclear-war-gerry-condon-august-17-2025-1030-am-pacific-time/
On Sadako Peace Day 2025: www.wagingpeace.org/31st-annual-sadako-peace-day/
[Monday, August 25th 5:30-7pm – at UNC's Stone Center – the Morris, Ida and Alan Heilig Lecture in Jewish Studies – "Will the Environment Survive [–] a Renewed Middle East Peace Process" with Dr Alon Tal. Organized by the Carolina Center for Jewish Studies and cosponsored by the Department of Earth, Marine & Environmental Science; the Environment, Ecology, Energy Program; the Department of American Studies; and the UNC Institute for the Environment.
jewishstudies.unc.edu/event/tal/ –
"This lecture reviews past environmental cooperation initiatives in the region and considers how a renewed peace process can produce sustainability gains and how it might be leveraged to ensure future ecological dividends for the region."
"Alon Tal is a professor and past chair at Tel Aviv University’s department of public policy. Between 2021 and 2022, Tal was a member of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament and served as chair of the subcommittee for Environmental and Climate Impacts on Health. He has held faculty appointments at Ben Gurion, Hebrew, Michigan State, Otago and Harvard Universities. But most importantly, Alon Tal is a UNC alumnus, class of 1980."
There was an NC Hillel event with Dr Tal on August 24th.]
An event on 9/11 (in mid-September?): www.eventbrite.com/e/turning-the-tide-911-justice-in-2025-tickets-1560031398909
"Masar Badil: August 21 and 22… Two Days of Rage Against Genocide, in Support of Jerusalem and the Prisoners" – masarbadil.org/en/2025/08/6566/ = masarbadil.org/2025/08/6563/
Thursday, August 21, 1969: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Aqsa_mosque_fire
On the Australian arsonist: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis_Michael_Rohan
On the Al-Aqsa Mosque: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Aqsa_Mosque
To donate: www.answercoalition.org/donate
Attacks on Mohammad Khatib
August 6th – Belgium wants to revoke the refugee status of Mohammad Khatib, Samidoun's Europe coordinator: samidoun.net/2025/08/solidarity-with-mohammed-khatib/
August 12th "Solidarity with Comrade Mohammed Khatib confronting Belgian imperialists" – masarbadil.org/en/2025/08/6548/
tariqeltahrir.org/2025/08/15/defend-mohammad-khatib-and-all-palestinian-refugees/
On the assassination of Al Jazeera's reporters in Gaza and others (7 in all, including Al-Sharif's nephew) in a tent for journalists outside Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City; Israel quickly claimed credit for the attack, but only attempted to justify its murder of Anas al-Sharif, leaving the killing of the other journalists and bystanders unexplained. [AP and Reuters reporters, first responders, and others were killed in a double bombing by Israel at another hospital in Gaza on or before August 25, 2025.]
"Anas al-Sharif: This is my will and my final message" – masarbadil.org/en/2025/08/6538/
By Binoy Kampmark: www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/13/slaying-and-censoring-the-journalists-the-murder-of-anas-al-sharif/
mpr21.info/asesinados-5-periodistas-de-al-jazira-en-un-ataque-selectivo-de-israel/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Anas_Al-Sharif
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anas_Al-Sharif
Also:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_2003_journalist_killings_by_the_United_States
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Jazeera_bombing_memo
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Jazeera_Media_Network
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Jazeera_controversies
husseini.substack.com/p/israel-targets-journalists-in-gaza
husseini.substack.com/p/is-gaza-a-nuclear-holocaust
husseini.substack.com/p/hiroshima-to-gaza-video-is-israel
On Hiroshima and Gaza: www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/11/hiroshima-lives-on-in-gaza/
www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/04/hiroshima-nagasaki-and-genocide/
On the Warsaw Ghetto and Gaza: www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/01/similarities-between-hitlers-handling-of-the-warsaw-ghetto-and-how-netanyahu-is-handling-gaza-are-disturbing/
www.normalisland.co.uk/p/israel-says-it-cannot-withdraw-from Gaza until it has successfully eliminated all journalists
In Lebanon and the West Bank, etc.:
On the attempt to make Hezbollah disarm (meaniing surrender to the US, EU, and Israel): mpr21.info/la-resistencia-libanesa-no-admite-la-rendicion/
"Between the Victory of 2006 and Today: Is Hezbollah 'Weak and Deterred'? — Khaled Barakat" – masarbadil.org/en/2025/08/6560/
jonathancook.substack.com/p/our-complicity-in-gaza-has-set-the
NPR and Gaza: www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/06/as-gaza-starved-nprs-coverage-expanded-but-didnt-get-any-better/
At CNN: mpr21.info/el-manual-de-la-cnn-para-manipular-las-noticias-sobre-gaza/
In Australia: www.kitklarenberg.com/p/how-zionists-control-australias-media
www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/06/out-damned-spot-the-actively-complicit-try-to-launder-a-genocide/
www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/06/on-creating-a-cover-for-genocide/
www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/06/on-starvation-hasbara/
thefloutist.substack.com/p/the-ethnic-cleansing-of-deir-alla
mronline.org/2025/08/15/a-graveyard-of-liberal-illusions/
fair.org/home/americas-opinion-pages-overwhelmingly-supported-trumps-attack-on-iran/
A prominent Jewish anti-Zionist in Rabat, Morocco was attacked: mpr21.info/el-mosad-intenta-asesinar-a-un-judio-antisionista-en-rabat/
On the banning of the protest organization Palestine Action as a "terrorist" entity in the UK: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v47/n14/david-renton/short-cuts
www.mintpressnews.com/palestine-action-uk-terror-ban-interviews/290287/
the307.substack.com/p/britains-zionist-police-state-is
www.normalisland.co.uk/p/police-identify-blind-man-in-wheelchair
www.theamericanconservative.com/washington-really-is-israeli-occupied-territory/
theworker.news/2025/06/02/zionist-march-attacked-with-fire-in-boulder-colorado/
rachelblevins.substack.com/p/netanyahu-stunned-hamas-ambush-laith-marouf
mpr21.info/israel-quiere-asesinar-a-los-palestinos-en-el-mas-absoluto-silencio/
thegrayzone.substack.com/p/israels-govt-may-seek-to-eliminate
the307.substack.com/p/idf-soldiers-testimony-suggests-israel
diario-octubre.com/2025/07/29/asesinos-natos-564-258/
fair.org/home/for-media-trying-to-help-gazans-survive-turns-heroes-into-zeroes/
sonar21.com/complicity-in-the-genocide-in-palestine-the-day-of-reckoning-will-come/
www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/05/gazas-starvation-israeli-lies-and-the-tail-that-wags-the-dog/
The situation at Columbia University: www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress/?p=15085
www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress/?p=15113
Larry Summers on Columbia on X/Twitter: x.com/LHSummers/status/1948336830937501817
portside.org/2025-07-31/zionist-mccarthyism-comes-cuny
mronline.org/2025/08/15/columbia-tries-to-undermine-its-unions-hire-scab-instructors/
diario-octubre.com/2025/06/17/el-control-informacional-de-la-union-europea/
mronline.org/2025/06/17/the-urgency-of-abolishing-britains-colonial-bases-in-cyprus/
the307.substack.com/p/in-the-west-anti-genocide-activists
jonathancook.substack.com/p/on-gaza-the-goal-is-to-confuse-us
August 15, 1945; "People's Summit for Korea Inaugurated in New York City;" "All Out to Oppose Ulchi Freedom Shield 2025 War Exercises on Korean Peninsula!" (August 18-28th): cpcml.ca/Tmlm2025/TS5526.HTM#2
The ROK's military lacks recruits: diario-octubre.com/2025/08/11/aliado-de-ee-uu-pierde-el-20-de-su-ejercito-sin-haber-entrado-en-guerra/
The work of Gordon G Chang and other warmongering US "China hawks:" www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/01/the-u-s-advances-its-dystopian-plan-to-destroy-china/
diario-octubre.com/2025/08/11/que-se-sabe-de-los-submarinos-mas-modernos-de-rusia/
Trump's Soviet Lada: www.rt.com/news/622414-republicans-trump-lada-photo
On the popularity of RT in the US: mpr21.info/la-audiencia-de-la-cadena-rt-supera-a-la-cnn-even-en-estados-unidos/
On the of Laotian popular revolutionary party: diario-octubre.com/2025/08/10/informacion-sobre-el-pprl-partido-popular-revolucionario-de-laos/
August 15, 1939 – the 86th birth anniversary of Hardial Bains: cpcml.ca/Tmlm2025/TS5525.HTM
On Albania:
woodsmokeblog.wordpress.com/2025/07/31/al-fatah-military-training-in-albania-1971
woodsmokeblog.wordpress.com/2025/07/29/socialist-albania-in-retrospect/ = mlrg.online/history/albania-in-retrospect/
? – futurism.com/albania-replace-government-ai
In Eastern Europe, etc.:
Heard on the BBC early on August 16th: A Ukrainian soldier can say that their long-term goal is the non-existence of Russia, but I doubt that they would let someone go on and say that they hope to see the abolition of Israel (the USA? the UK and divided Ireland? Canada? the FR of Germany? Spain? the UAE? Japanese control of Okinawa?) before 2048. Moving words, the woman guest in the London studio says. The murderous hatred for easterners 10 years ago on the part of some in western Ukraine/Ukrainian fascists probably helped bring about the current war.
I was surprised to hear the BBC implying that the US should apologize for the atomic bombings, after a report on Japan's allegedly ambiguous apologies for WWII crimes, a day or two ago.
mlrg.online/politics/on-how-lenin-became-embalmed-and-on-stalinism/
mlrg.online/dialectics/mao-on-dialectics-versus-stalin-on-dialectics/
uspeacecouncil.org/us-peace-council-statement-on-the-israeli-bombing-of-iran/
mlrg.online/world/qassem-suleimani-leader-of-the-iranian-quds-militia-assassinated-2020/
diario-octubre.com/2025/08/10/aranceles-guerra-y-anticomunismo/
www.aaronmate.net/p/as-trump-and-putin-meet-new-evidence
goingagainstthetide.org/2025/04/07/capitalism-in-triumph-and-trepidation-1975-present/
goingagainstthetide.org/2025/06/12/ice-can-melt-if-summer-gets-hot/
An interview with Tanya Vyhovsky, a Vermont state senator with the Democratic Socialists of America: www.posle.media/article/the-american-leftists-and-solidarity-with-ukraine
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanya_Vyhovsky
www.posle.media/article/wartime-protest-across-russias-internal-borders
www.posle.media/article/poland-and-volhynia-tribute-to-victims-or-self-victimization
www.posle.media/article/weaponizing-the-female-body-in-warfare
www.posle.media/article/on-the-revolution
On the "Syrian revolution" – www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v47/n14/loubna-mrie/we-were-tricked
mlrg.online/politics/theses-on-the-2024-re-emergence-of-the-syrian-anti-assad-revolution/
mlrg.online/history/remembering-why-hiroshima-and-nagasaki-were-nuclear-bombed-to-obliteration/
www.erythrospress.com/bookstore/product/selected-works-of-w-b-bland-volume-1-the-china-report/
mlrg.online/politics/zohran-mamdani-a-preliminary-marxist-leninist-assessment/
(Also discussed in recent issues of TMLU.)
mronline.org/2025/07/11/new-york-times-joins-a-white-supremacist-in-attacking-zohran-mamdani/
mondoweiss.net/2025/07/the-shift-pro-israel-leaders-angry-over-nadlers-mamdani-endorsement/
From the Stansbury Forum: portside.org/2025-07-19/what-california-history-has-say-about-new-york-mayors-race
mlrg.online/subject-index-rev/
www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/13/debunking-the-myths-about-mamdanis-candidacy
www.dropsitenews.com/p/israel-strikes-damascus-syria-sweida-druze-bedouin
www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/12/a-quartet-of-nicaragua-critics-sings-from-washingtons-songbook/
www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/08/trumpism-nicaragua-cuba-and-venezuela/ (the correct address?)
diario-octubre.com/2025/08/10/la-derecha-y-el-imperio-al-ataque-en-bolivia/
mronline.org/2025/08/15/washingtons-escalating-war-on-venezuela-narco-myths-and-imperial-designs/
diario-octubre.com/2025/07/31/venezuela-y-estados-unidos-han-mejorado-las-relaciones/
newleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/bulgarian-dreams
newleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/hard-currencies
newleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/gilded-city
newleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/intersections
therealistreview.substack.com/p/conman-the-story-of-william-browder
therealistreview.substack.com/p/out-of-bounds
On the EU's Kaja Kallas: www.thomasfazi.com/p/kaja-kallas-the-most-dangerous-woman
www.thomasfazi.com/p/moldova-pro-eu-government-turns-increasingly
post-liberalism.org/p/romanias-rigged-election-is-just
karlof1.substack.com/p/maria-zakharova-moldova-being-groomed
the307.substack.com/p/in-another-act-of-aggression-israel
responsiblestatecraft.org/israel-turkey/
meaninginhistory.substack.com/p/this-and-that-
meaninginhistory.substack.com/p/bannon-who-rules-us
www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/06/u-s-atomic-bombings-didnt-save-lives-or-end-the-war/
worldbeyondwar.org/no-nuking-cities-did-not-save-lives/
worldbeyondwar.org/hiroshima-and-nagasaki-anniversaries/
A contrarian on the nuclear bombings: socraticgadfly.substack.com/p/the-80th-anniversary-of-hiroshima
socraticgadfly.blogspot.com/2025/08/did-nagasaki-lead-to-korean-division.html
www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/04/eighty-years-of-nuclear-terror/
www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/04/the-strategic-nightmare-that-is-national-missile-defense/
www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/04/president-reagans-advice-to-mr-trump-on-nuclear-threats-to-russia/
spoilsofwar.substack.com/p/no-the-chinese-will-not-invade-taiwan
spoilsofwar.substack.com/p/ukraine-defeat-looms-then-what
diario-octubre.com/2025/07/31/politologo-de-ee-uu-los-rusos-ganaran-y-trump-sera-culpado-por-ello/
mpr21.info/los-huthies-estrechan-el-blocko-naval-en-el-mar-rojo/
www.nefariousrussians.com/p/the-cleansing-of-gaza-and-the-empires
On Karl Marx, etc.:
portside.org/2025-08-15/marx-america-fourth-boom
portside.org/2025-03-12/republicanism-and-formation-karl-marxs-social-and-political-thought
portside.org/2025-02-08/what-happened-here
mronline.org/2025/08/15/the-two-faces-of-israel-from-a-marxist-perspective/
tempestmag.org/2025/08/mutual-ruin-or-working-class-revolution/
Domestic, Epstein, Russiagate, new books, etc.:
fair.org/home/ai-job-loss-hype-could-serve-as-smokescreen-for-trump-recession/
www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/07/america-the-fubar/
consortiumnews.com/2025/07/27/consortium-news-busted-russiagate-9-years-ago/
consortiumnews.com/2025/08/01/ray-mcgovern-the-deep-states-burst-appendix/
www.racket.news/p/barack-obama-now-squarely-in-russiagate
www.racket.news/p/note-on-new-trump-russia-disclosures
www.rt.com/news/621667-russiagate-probe-trump-obama/
www.rt.com/news/622340-russiagate-hoax-soros-link/
meaninginhistory.blogspot.com/2019/05/a-searing-indictment-of-fbi
neuburger.substack.com/p/our-lawless-elites
neuburger.substack.com/p/a-clear-epstein-backgrounder-and
husseini.substack.com/p/epstein-blackmail-israel-trump-annihilates
chrishedges.substack.com/p/jeffrey-epstein-donald-trump-and
meaninginhistory.substack.com/p/the-epstein-nexus
Rightists on Epstein: www.thefp.com/p/the-epstein-conspiracy-theorists
www.thefp.com/p/this-is-peak-trump-politics-policy-matthew-continetti
www.thefp.com/p/the-epstein-files-are-just-a-sideshow
www.thefp.com/p/the-rights-1939-project
www.thefp.com/p/what-the-epstein-fight-is-really-about-trump-maga
www.thefp.com/p/tucker-carlson-fixated-on-epstein
www.thefp.com/p/tina-brown-maga-is-right-about-jeffrey-epstein
www.thefp.com/p/heres-what-i-know-about-jeffrey-epstein
Democrats on Epstein: www.truthdig.com/articles/epstein-and-the-horrible-mundanity-of-child-abuse/
www.truthdig.com/articles/trump-and-the-pedo-files/
www.mtracey.net/p/the-epstein-humiliation
www.mtracey.net/p/what-is-steve-bannon-hiding-about
www.kenklippenstein.com/p/epstein-wont-die
www.nefariousrussians.com/p/epstein-and-the-original-satanic
www.normalisland.co.uk/p/prison-cameras-went-down-while-ghislaine
www.normalisland.co.uk/p/epstein-islanders-vote-to-block-release
www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/08/drug-wars-and-the-cia-now-and-then/
At Ft. Bragg in NC: spoilsofwar.substack.com/p/murder-drugs-and-the-fort-bragg-cartel
? – portside.org/video/2025-08-01/epsteins-killer-caught-camera-forensic-expert-analysis
www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/05/the-war-economy-at-the-border/
www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/13/requiem-for-the-rule-of-law/
consortiumnews.com/2025/08/01/the-chris-hedges-report-this-is-not-a-drill/
www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/01/no-peace-at-the-u-s-institute-of-peace/
www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/11/questioning-the-corporation/
A book: www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/05/anti-capitalist-road-trip/
On Ancient Shores: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v47/n14/josephine-quinn/born-on-the-beach
On the dinosaurs: worldbeyondwar.org/how-the-military-industrial-complex-chose-what-killed-the-dinosaurs
The Tower of Babel (Prometheus or Hermes?): indi.ca/ai-and-the-modern-tower-of-babel/
The CPBML on the UK's housing crisis: www.cpbml.org.uk/news/building-more-houses-not-answer
www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/12/the-wildfire-the-forest-service-ignited/
In northern Florida: www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/11/theres-a-cheap-effective-way-to-reduce-pedestrian-fatalities-floridas-government-prefers-the-fatalities/
In the night sky: www.imcce.fr/lettre-information/archives/225
Nuclear reactors to be operated on the Moon? – mpr21.info/trump-quiere-construir-un-reactor-nuclear-en-la-luna-para-imitar-a-rusia-y-china/
bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/nuclear-reactor-moon-nasa/
portside.org/2025-08-10/we-dont-need-nuclear-reactors-moon
Japanese vaccination data: diario-octubre.com/2025/08/10/una-base-de-datos-japonesa-muestra-los-efectos-adversos-mortales-de-las-vacunas/
www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/12/chinas-industrial-system/
www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/11/will-the-us-invade-mexico/
www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/13/marc-estrins-fictions-of-alienation/
www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/13/on-panic/
www.counterpunch.org/2025/07/11/death-by-fungi-cashing-in-on-erin-patterson/
On Bookchin: www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/06/an-important-new-book-on-the-praxis-of-social-ecology
mpr21.info/archivo-de-la-censura-y-la-represion/
mpr21.info/el-reparto-del-ammundo-por-las-grandes-potencias-la-conferencia-de-berlin/ (the correct address?)
mpr21.info/algo-huele-a-podrido-en-la-union-europea-chat-control/
mpr21.info/el-fanstasma-de-la-ultraderecha-lo-ha/
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v45/n22/andrew-cockburn/big-six-v.-little-boy
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v45/n09/andrew-cockburn/diary
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/n06/andrew-cockburn/the-a-10-saved-my-ass
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/n13/andrew-cockburn/why-didn-t-you-tell-me
www.nefariousrussians.com/p/we-are-all-sick-in-the-head-nowhere
wisdomofcrowds.live/p/a-particular-form-of-american-despair
www.truthdig.com/articles/demonic-possession-in-a-chinese-family/
In Argentina: diario-octubre.com/2025/07/31/represion-desmedida-contra-jubilados-argentinos/
"Ninja swords" banned in the UK, too: www.rt.com/news/622402-ninja-swords-uk-ban/
walkingtheworld.substack.com/p/the-unbearable-lightness-of-korean
walkingtheworld.substack.com/p/destitution-fair-a-week-of-riding
www.un-diplomatic.com/p/aoc-misunderstands-the-offense-defense
the307.substack.com/p/aoc-is-an-establishment-fraud
caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2025/07/20/aoc-is-a-genocidal-con-artist/
portside.org/2025-08-15/dear-leftist-stop-attacking-aoc = www.commondreams.org/opinion/intra-left-fighting-aoc-bernie-sanders
www.thenation.com/article/politics/abundance-agenda-democrats/
Rightist: thebanter.substack.com/p/is-antisemitism-as-bad-as-racism-042
Free Press rightists: www.thefp.com/p/tyler-cowen-why-wont-socialism-die
www.thefp.com/p/ayaan-hirsi-ali-glastonbury-and-the (the correct address?)
www.thefp.com/p/philadelphia-radical-curriculum-racism-israel
www.thefp.com/p/stanford-hamas-lab-investigation
www.thefp.com/p/npr-editor-how-npr-lost-americas-trust
www.thefp.com/p/happy-independence-day-npr
(They published Uri Berliner's complaints against NPR)
www.thefp.com/p/he-was-falsely-accused-of-blackface
www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/seinfeld-writer-exposes-the-israeli
Defending Rights & Dissent's Gaza First Amendment Alert this week:
"Were you forwarded this Alert? Sign up here to receive future Gaza First Amendment Alerts. A web version is available here. eight
Gaza Humanitarian Foundation subcontractor speaks out
An employee with UG Solutions, which partnered with Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a U.S- and Israeli-backed NGO established ostensibly to provide humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza, has been speaking out about the organization whose aid sites he says were “designed as death traps.”
Anthony Aguilar, a retired U.S. special forces officer, has been speaking to the media about the rampant abuses he witnessed in Gaza. In late July, he told the BBC that he’d never before seen this level of “brutality and use of indiscriminate and unnecessary force against a civilian population, an unarmed, starving population.”
Defending Rights & Dissent hosted a conversation with Aguilar earlier this week. The former Green Beret spoke with our Policy Director Chip Gibbons about what he’s witnessed as a subcontractor in Gaza. Asked for his opinion about Israel’s conduct in Gaza, he said unequivocally, “I’d call it genocide.”
Watch the full event recording here.
UMD settles with pro-Palestine groups for $100k
In October 2024, civil rights groups Palestine Legal and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) sued the University of Maryland (UMD), on behalf of UMD’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter, against the University for its unconstitutional ban of the students' vigil for Gaza.
Just under a year later, UMD has agreed to settle with the groups for $100,000 for their clients. According to Palestine Legal, “this settlement likely marks the highest financial penalty ever imposed on a U.S. university for violating pro-Palestinian students' free speech rights.”
"This legal victory reaffirms our protected rights to protest and speak out against the US-Israeli genocide of Palestinians — and we will keep exercising those rights," said Daniela Colombi, of UMD SJP. "UMD SJP will spend every dollar of UMD's $100,000 penalty for banning our vigil for Gaza toward organizing for a free Palestine and for collective liberation."
Free speech group sues Rubio over student crackdown
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) announced a new lawsuit against Secretary of State Marco Rubio in an effort to challenge the provisions of federal immigration law that Rubio invoked to arrest and attempt to deport student protesters speaking out for Palestine.
FIRE is representing The Stanford Daily, the independent, student-run newspaper at Stanford University, where reporters on student visas are declining assignments dealing with Israel/Palestine for fear of retribution, as well as two anonymous legal noncitizens who fear reprisal over their pro-Palestine speech.
The lawsuit targets two provisions under the Immigration and Nationality Act, the first of which grants the Secretary of State authority to move to deport any noncitizen if the secretary “personally determines” their presence in the United States could adversely affect U.S. foreign policy, and the second of which gives the secretary carte blanche to revoke a visa for any reason, at any time.
Badar Khan Suri settles with Trump admin
Georgetown scholar Badar Khan Suri, who was arrested by masked ICE agents outside his home in March, has reached a settlement with the Trump administration that allows him to continue his work as a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service.
Notably, the settlement does not put a stop to ICE’s ongoing efforts to deport Suri, whose lawyers upon his arrest noted that he and his wife have “long been doxxed and smeared” on private McCarthyite websites due to their support for Palestinian rights.
Multiple courts have rebuked the Trump administration’s efforts to deport Suri and other students, such as Mahmoud Khalil and Rumeysa Ozturk. After two months in detention, a federal judge ordered Suri’s release in May when the government failed to provide any evidence that Suri posed a threat to his community. In July, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Trump administration’s request to return Suri to detention during his deportation proceedings.
Eden Heilman, a lawyer for Suri with the ACLU, said, “We are encouraged that the government agreed to restore Dr. Suri and his children’s status and records. We know Dr. Suri is eager to rejoin the academic community at Georgetown and this will give him the opportunity to do that this fall.”
Israel commandeers aid flotilla, assaults U.S. labor leader
Amazon Labor Leader Chris Smalls, who gained prominence for successfully unionizing fellow Amazon workers in Staten Island, was one of seven U.S. citizens aboard the Freedom Flotilla’s ‘Handala,’ the latest effort to bring life-saving aid to starving Palestinians in Gaza by boat.
As the flotilla got within 70 nautical miles of Gaza, Israeli forces intercepted the Handala, which also carried two members of the French and European parliaments, forcibly boarding the ship and demanding surrender.
The Freedom Flotilla contingent reported that seven members of the Israeli armed forces physically assaulted Smalls, the only black activist on board: “They choked him and kicked him in the legs, leaving visible signs of violence on his neck and back … This level of force was not used against other abducted activists.”
After several days in Israeli detention, Smalls finally returned home to the U.S. on August 1.
This edition of the Gaza First Amendment Alert was prepared by Nathan Fuller. Gaza First Amendment Alert editor Chip Gibbons is completing his book, The Imperial Bureau Bureau: The FBI, Domestic Political Surveillance, and the Rise of the National Security State, forthcoming Verso. Gibbons will return to the Gaza First Amendment Alert in September."
 |
| From Voices for Justice in Palestine August 11th; Raleigh Week of Action for Gaza. |
Originally posted at: adc.org/adc-statement-on-the-assassination-of-al-jazeera-journalists/ Slightly edited.
ADC Statement on the Assassination of Al Jazeera Journalists: Journalism is Not Terrorism!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 11, 2025
media[at adc org]
Washington, D.C. | The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) condemns the targeted assassination of Al Jazeera journalist Anas al‑Sharif, known as “The Voice of Gaza,” and his colleagues Mohammed Qreiqea, Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal, and Moamen Aliwa after an Israeli strike hit the reporters’ tent outside Gaza City’s al‑Shifa Hospital. As Israel prepares for their most brutal offensive to take over Gaza City, the killing of journalists is an intolerable attack on truth itself.
At least 235 journalists and media workers have been murdered by Israel in Gaza since October 2023, making this the deadliest war for the press on record. Journalists are civilians. Targeting them is a crime against humanity.
“ADC mourns Anas al‑Sharif and the Al Jazeera journalists, and condemns this appalling, targeted killing—another example of Israel’s rogue actions that violate every measure of law and morality,” said ADC National Executive Director, Abed Ayoub. “Israel continues to manufacture lies to justify attacks on those who expose its crimes. The goal is clear: erase Gaza’s witnesses so there is no record of an unabated genocide on a besieged civilian population.”
Israel’s post‑strike lies follow a familiar script—smear first, justify later, and provide no credible evidence of its allegations. The military falsely claimed al‑Sharif “headed a Hamas cell.” That allegation has been repeatedly disputed by Al Jazeera and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression, Irene Khan, who warned weeks ago that such accusations were unsubstantiated and endangered his life.
For months, Gaza has been sealed off from independent international press; local journalists have become the world’s eyes and ears, and they are being executed one by one. The pattern is undeniable, and the responsibility is clear.
Anas never ceased his reporting duties even as the bombardment closed in. In his final message to be published in the event of his death, he wrote: “If my words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice.” He added, “God knows I have given everything I had, every ounce of strength, to be a voice and support for my people…” He prayed that his blood would be “a light that guides to freedom for my people and my family.”
ADC stands with Anas’ family, his colleagues, and every journalist who has been assassinated by Israel. We demand an independent international investigation; accountability for those who ordered and carried out this strike; immediate protection and access for the press; and an end to U.S. complicity that enables these rogue actions. The world does not need more statements—it needs action that stops the genocide and protects those who document it.
May Anas al‑Sharif and all who were killed rest in peace.
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