Tag: israel

Journalists Find No Evidence of Israeli Claim That Hezbollah Money Stash Is Under Beirut Hospital

Journalists were given unrestricted access to the Sahel General Hospital in Beirut’s southern suburbs after the Israeli military claimed a Hezbollah money and gold stash was hidden in a bunker underneath the building.

A BBC journalist reporting from the hospital’s basement levels said the staff opened any doors and cabinets the reporters wanted to open. Journalists were also able to explore anywhere in the building on their own, and no evidence of a Hezbollah money stash was found.

Israel first made the claim in a video on Monday night, prompting the hospital to evacuate patients over fears they would be bombed. “We were here at the hospital working, treating patients, and then the video came out,” Dr. Omar Mneimne, who works at the hospital, told The National. “Obviously, we [have been] living in terror for the past 24 hours.”

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Meta’s Israel Policy Chief Tried to Suppress Pro-Palestinian Instagram Posts

A former senior Israeli government official now working as Meta’s Israel policy chief personally pushed for the censorship of Instagram accounts belonging to Students for Justice in Palestine — a group that has played a leading role in organizing campus protests against Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza.

Internal policy discussions reviewed by The Intercept show Jordana Cutler, Meta’s Israel & the Jewish Diaspora policy chief, used the company’s content escalation channels to flag for review at least four SJP posts, as well as other content expressing stances contrary to Israel’s foreign policy. When flagging SJP posts, Cutler repeatedly invoked Meta’s Dangerous Organizations and Individuals policy, which bars users from freely discussing a secret list of thousands of blacklisted entities. The Dangerous Organizations policy restricts “glorification” of those on the blacklist, but is supposed to allow for “social and political discourse” and “commentary.” 

It’s unclear if Cutler’s attempts to use Meta’s internal censorship system were successful; the company declined to say what ultimately happened to posts that Cutler flagged. It’s not Cutler’s decision whether flagged content is ultimately censored; another team is responsible for moderation decisions. But experts who spoke to The Intercept expressed alarm over a senior employee tasked with representing the interests of any government advocating for restricting user content that runs contrary to those interests.

“It screams bias,” said Marwa Fatafta a policy adviser with the digital rights organization Access Now, which consults with Meta on content moderation issues. “It doesn’t really require that much intelligence to conclude what this person is up to.”

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US authorizes CIA mercenaries to run biometric concentration camps in Gaza Strip

The Biden administration has approved the deployment of 1,000 CIA-trained private mercenaries as part of a joint U.S.-Israeli plan to turn Gaza’s apocalyptic rubblescape into a high-tech dystopia.

Starting with Al-Atatra, a village in the northwestern Gaza Strip, the plan calls to build what the Israeli daily Ynet calls “humanitarian bubbles” – turning the remains of villages and neighborhoods into tiny concentration camps cut off from their environs and surrounded and controlled by mercenaries.

This comes as Israel carries out daily massacres and ethnic cleansing in northern Gaza, enacting the proposal known as The Generals’ Plan, originally crafted by former national security chief Giora Eiland to turn Gaza into “a place where no human being can exist.”

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Freedom of Expression Under Attack Amid Israel’s Genocide in Gaza: UN Official

A newly released UN report raises the alarm about the risks of freedom of expression around the world as Israel carries out its effort to ethnically cleanse Gaza.

The report should come as no surprise to subscribers to The Trends Journal.

We have been reporting on the crackdown in the U.S. on college protesters and anyone who speaks out against the atrocities playing out in Gaza. There is only one position accepted in Washington and in the mainstream news, which could be summed up in the phrase: Israel has the right to defend itself.

But Israel’s rights have trumped individual freedoms across the world, Irene Khan, the UN’s special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, said in the report, which was, predictably, largely ignored in the media.

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DOJ Lawyers Press Merrick Garland to Investigate Israel’s Killing of American Citizens

Attorneys at the Department of Justice have sent a letter to Merrick Garland, pressing the US attorney general to‬‭ “investigate‬‭ potential‬‭ violations‬‭ of‬‭ U.S.‬‭ law‬‭ by‬‭ Israel’s‭ government,‬‭ military,‬‭ and‬‭ citizenry,‬‭ and‬‭ hold‬‭ the‬‭ perpetrators‬‭ to‬‭ account.”

The letter, exclusively obtained by Zeteo, represents increasing internal discontent over the DOJ’s silence as the Israeli government, supported by US citizens and organizations, allegedly violates US and international laws – in contrast to the department’s willingness to announce charges against Hamas leaders over the Oct. 7 attack. It also comes as the Israeli government responds to US requests to heed US and international laws by escalating its violation of them.

“We honor the Department’s commitment to investigating and prosecuting crimes regardless of the perpetrator’s race or nationality and regardless of political considerations. We know you do too, Attorney General Garland,” the letter’s authors write, citing a speech Garland delivered to the department last month.

“In your speech, you stressed the importance of the ‘fair and impartial application of our laws.’ You also quoted the Principles of Federal Prosecution and reminded us that, as attorneys for the government, we should not be influenced by, among other factors, a person’s background, our feelings concerning the victim, and the effect of a charging decision on our professional and personal circumstances. You told us that ‘we must treat like cases alike,’ … And finally, you insisted that, guided by these norms, ‘we will not allow this nation to become a country where law enforcement is treated as an apparatus of politics.’”

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How Were Crucial Intelligence Documents Leaked to Iran?

The leak of high-classified U.S. intelligence documents to the Iranian regime last week has triggered a much-needed counter-intelligence investigation to identify the source — either a mole who has betrayed their country, or a cyber-hack.

The documents, which bore Top Secret/NOFORN and compartmented intelligence headers, described U.S. satellite spying on Israeli airfields as the IDF conducted exercises believed to foreshadow a massive airstrike on Iran.

The NOFORN designation means that the document cannot be shared with foreign nationals other than members of the “Five Eyes” intelligence-sharing arrangement the United States has crafted with the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia.

While the possibility exists that the materials were hacked from the highly-protected SIPRNET, the government’s internal data base of highly-classified materials, there have been no public reports of any hacks of the SIPRNET by external actors.

Insiders, including former Army Private Bradley Manning and NSA contractor Edgar Snowden, have divulged reams of material from U.S. government classified holdings, but the government accused both of them of espionage, not hacking.

Last year, the Justice Department arrested a 21-year-old National Guard employee in Massachusetts in connection with the leak of more than fifty Pentagon documents, many of them classified, to a social media platform called Discord.

Those documents included U.S. assessments of the war in Ukraine, reports of Mossad disaffection with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and intelligence reports on Iran’s negotiating strategy with the International Atomic Energy Agency, all of them embarrassing to the United States.

In the fall of 2022, Department of Justice investigators uncovered at least ten classified documents in Joe Biden’s private office that included intelligence memos and briefing materials on Ukraine, Iran, and the United Kingdom. Biden was never prosecuted for the security breach, even though most of the documents dated from his tenure as a U.S. senator, when he had no authority to take classified documents out of secure facilities where lawmakers can consult them.

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Biden-Harris Regime’s Unthinkable Betrayal: U.S. Launches Investigation After Intel Leaks Israel’s Potential Attack Plans on Iran

The Biden-Harris regime finds itself embroiled in yet another scandal, as U.S. officials scramble to investigate the alarming leak of two highly classified documents that detail Israel’s potential strike plans on Iran.

The Gateway Pundit previously reported that the leaked documents, now being circulated through Telegram channels linked to Iran, contain details about Israel’s military positioning ahead of an expected strike on Iran in response to an October 1 missile barrage.

The leak includes intelligence marked as top secret and is sharable only within the “Five Eyes” intelligence alliance (the U.S., U.K., Canada, New Zealand, and Australia).

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) confirmed on Sunday that the U.S. government is now investigating the unauthorized release of these documents, which are believed to have originated from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency, according to PBS.

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Israel Starts Bombing Banks in Lebanon

Late Sunday, the Israeli military began launching a series of airstrikes in Beirut’s southern suburbs of Dahieh and in eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, targeting the branches of a bank.

The strikes began shortly after an Israeli military spokesman said the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) would start hitting buildings that belong to al-Qard al-Hassan Association, a bank that Israel accused of financing Hezbollah.

“The air force will launch extensive strikes on targets in the southern suburb of Beirut, targeting Hezbollah-linked economic assets,” IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said not long before the strikes were launched.

Al-Qard al-Hassan is under US sanctions over allegations related to Hezbollah, but the bank is also used by ordinary Lebanese citizens. According to Reuters, the bank has 30 branches across Lebanon, including 15 in densely populated parts of Beirut and its suburbs.

Lebanon’s National News Agency reported at least 11 Israeli airstrikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs, including one that landed near Beirut International Airport, and many targeted al-Qard al-Hassan buildings. Several strikes were also reported in the Bekaa Valley.

The bank issued a statement assuring its customers that it had taken “all of the necessary procedures since the beginning of the war to safeguard your deposits and valuables and can confirm that you should not worry they are safe.”

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Sky News Reporter ROASTS Kamala Harris For Falsely Trying To Take Credit For Death of Hamas Leader: “We? We will always bring you to justice?”

Yesterday, it was reported that Yahya Sinwar, the top leader of the Hamas terror regime and architect of the Oct. 7 massacre in Israel, was killed by an Israeli drone.

With Joe Biden pulling off the greatest disappearing act in presidential history, VP Kamala Harris has been forced to respond to questions by the media about her position on the devastating Israeli-Hamas/Palestinian conflict. So far, Kamala’s been straddling the fence on the escalating conflict, as she relies on financial support from the Jewish-American voting block for her campaign while at the same time, she attempts to appease voters from her radical, pro-Hamas/Palestinian base, many of whom could affect the outcome of the upcoming election in the must-win state of Michigan.

In a brilliant, must-watch 7 minutes and 28 seconds, Sky News host Erin Molan lit up Kamala Harris and other world leaders, like America’s substitute “President” Kamala Harris, for issuing stern warnings to Prime Minister Netanyahu about crossing an imaginary “red line” and then praising Israel for taking out the top Hamas terror leader.

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UK Police Raid Home, Seize Devices Of Another Journalist For Reporting On Gaza Genocide

British counterterrorism police on Thursday raided the home and seized several electronic devices belonging to The Electronic Intifada’s associate editor Asa Winstanley.

Approximately 10 officers arrived at Winstanley’s North London home before 6 am and served the journalist with warrants and other papers authorizing them to search his house and vehicle for devices and documents.

A letter addressed to Winstanley from the “Counter Terrorism Command” of the Metropolitan Police Service indicates that the authorities are “aware of your profession” as a journalist but that “notwithstanding, police are investigating possible offenses” under sections 1 and 2 of the Terrorism Act (2006). These provisions set out the purported offense of “encouragement of terrorism.”

An officer conducting Thursday’s raid informed Winstanley that the investigation was connected with the journalist’s social media posts. Attempts to reach the Metropolitan Police Service for comment for this story have been unsuccessful.

Although his devices were seized, Winstanley was not arrested and has not been charged with any offense.

Winstanley is active on several social media platforms, and has more than 100,000 followers on Twitter/X, where he frequently shares articles, other peoples’ opinions and his own comments on Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people, British government support for these crimes, and the Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation, apartheid and genocide.

The vaguely worded provisions relating to “encouragement of terrorism” would clearly violate the First Amendment of the United States Constitution guaranteeing freedom of speech, however the United Kingdom lacks similar constitutional protections for freedom of expression.

The draconian legislation “curtails a range of freedoms,” according to University of Edinburgh law professor Andrew Cornford, including “the freedoms to discuss controversial topics openly, and to share moral, political and religious opinions.”

Human Rights Watch has called on the British government to repeal the repressive provisions of the Terrorism Act (2006), noting that “the definition of the encouragement of terrorism offense is overly broad, raising serious concerns about undue infringement on free speech.”

In August, Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service issued a warning to the British public to “think before you post” and threatening that it would prosecute anyone it deemed guilty of what it calls “online violence.”

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