Israel bombs targets near Syria’s presidential palace – IDF

(Druze my ass. Zionists don't care about Jews much less the Druze. They are claiming everything south of Damascus now belongs to Greater Israel.)

from RT

Israel said on Friday that it conducted airstrikes near the presidential compound in Syria, in response to violence against the Druze minority.

“A short while ago, warplanes attacked the area near Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa’s palace in Damascus,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a brief statement.

Al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammad al-Julani, led a coalition of Islamist forces that toppled President Bashar Assad in December 2024. The rapid seizure of the capital and other cities in western Syria was accompanied by massacres of Druze, Christians, and Assad loyalists.

According to Al Jazeera, clashes erupted on Monday in the towns of Jaramana and Sahnaya south of Damascus after an audio clip circulated on social media in which a man criticized the Prophet Mohammed. The recording was attributed to a Druze scholar, who has denied responsibility.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz issued a joint statement on Friday, describing the IDF strikes as “a clear message to the Syrian regime.” They added: “We will not allow forces to be sent south of Damascus or any threat to the Druze community.”...

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Israel attacks Gaza-bound aid flotilla in international waters

from PressTV

Israel has carried out a drone attack on a Gaza-bound ship carrying humanitarian aid and activists off the coast of Malta in international waters, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) says.

"At 00:23 Maltese time, the Conscience, a Freedom Flotilla Coalition ship came under direct attack in international waters," the international NGO said in a statement on Friday.

"Armed drones attacked the front of an unarmed civilian vessel twice, causing a fire and a substantial breach in the hull," it added, blaming Israel.

The coalition called for the summoning of Israeli ambassadors, saying they must "answer to violations of international law, including the ongoing blockade and the bombing of our civilian vessel in international waters."...

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Rabbi Yaakov Shapiro: Zionism is Not Judaism it's Antisemitic and Fascist

Zionism is to Judaism as Wahhabism is to Islam and Christo-Fascism is to Christianity.

At a Dubai Conference, Trump’s Conflicts Take Center Stage

(Jesus Christ the corruption and nepotism in the Trump tin-pot regime is ENDLESS. Zach Witkoff is Steve Witkoff's SON. I just did a video this morning talking about how Trump and our oligarchs want to turn America and Gaza into the UAE full of corruption and royal families and... slaves. And this was posted a little while ago. Holy shit.)

from the New York Times

Sitting in front of a packed auditorium in Dubai, a founder of the Trump family cryptocurrency business made a brief but monumental announcement on Thursday. A fund backed by Abu Dhabi, he said, would be making a $2 billion business deal using the Trump firm’s digital coins.

That transaction would be a major contribution by a foreign government to President Trump’s private venture — one that stands to generate hundreds of millions of dollars for the Trump family. And it is a public and vivid illustration of the ethical conflicts swirling around Mr. Trump’s crypto firm, which has blurred the boundary between business and government.

Zach Witkoff, a founder of the Trump family crypto firm, World Liberty Financial, revealed that a so-called stablecoin developed by the firm would be used to complete the transaction between the state-backed Emirati investment firm MGX and Binance, the largest crypto exchange in the world.

Virtually every detail of Mr. Witkoff’s announcement, made during a conference panel with Mr. Trump’s second-eldest son, contained a conflict of interest....

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Federal Judge Strikes Down Trump’s Use of Alien Enemies Act to Deport Venezuelans

(You can't suddenly declare we are are war with a stupid street gang and then pretend everyone you want to ship out to a Salvadorian labor camp is suddenly 'the enemy' It's fucking ridiculous. You would have to wok really hard to force your brain to accept that crap.)

from the New York Times

A federal judge on Thursday permanently barred the Trump administration from invoking the Alien Enemies Act, an 18th-century wartime law, to deport Venezuelans it has deemed to be criminals from the Southern District of Texas, saying that the White House’s use of the statute was illegal.

The decision by the judge, Fernando Rodriguez Jr., was the most expansive ruling yet by any of the numerous jurists who are currently hearing challenges to the White House’s efforts to employ the powerful but rarely invoked law as part of its wide-ranging deportation plans.

The 36-page ruling by Judge Rodriguez, a President Trump appointee, amounted to a philosophical rejection of the White House’s attempts to transpose the Alien Enemies Act, which was passed in 1798 as the nascent United States was threatened by war with France, into the context of modern-day immigration policy.

The Supreme Court has already said that any Venezuelans the White House wants to expel under Mr. Trump’s proclamation invoking the act must be given a chance to challenge their removal. But Judge Rodriguez’s ruling went further, saying that the White House had improperly stretched the meaning of the law, which is supposed to be used only against members of a hostile foreign nation in times of declared war or during a military invasion...

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Trumpsters: Make America Kafala Already

America's oligarchs want their UAE-type slaves and it looks like Trump and DOGE are going to oblige them.

‘This Is What We Were Always Scared of’: DOGE Is Building a Surveillance State

(Crippling our economy, destroying the social safety net, doing away with checks and balances and building a surveillance system worthy of Dick Cheney's wet dream of having total informational awareness over all of us all of a sudden. Why? I'll tell you why... because they plan to preserve their profit margins as they lose to BRICS by turning America into the UAE complete with that whole kafala system of slavery.)

from the New York Times

Elon Musk may be stepping back from running the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, but his legacy there is already secured. DOGE is assembling a sprawling domestic surveillance system for the Trump administration — the likes of which we have never seen in the United States.

President Trump could soon have the tools to satisfy his many grievances by swiftly locating compromising information about his political opponents or anyone who simply annoys him. The administration has already declared that it plans to comb through tax records to find the addresses of immigrants it is investigating — a plan so morally and legally challenged, it prompted several top I.R.S. officials to quit in protest. Some federal workers have been told that DOGE is using artificial intelligence to sift through their communications to identify people who harbor anti-Musk or -Trump sentiment (and presumably punish or fire them).

What this amounts to is a stunningly fast reversal of our long history of siloing government data to prevent its misuse. In their first 100 days, Mr. Musk and Mr. Trump have knocked down the barriers that were intended to prevent them from creating dossiers on every U.S. resident. Now they seem to be building a defining feature of many authoritarian regimes: comprehensive files on everyone so they can punish those who protest.

“This is what we were always scared of,” said Kevin Bankston, a longtime civil liberties lawyer and a senior adviser on A.I. governance at the Center for Democracy & Technology, a policy and civil rights organization. “The infrastructure for turnkey totalitarianism is there for an administration willing to break the law.”...

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Gaza 2035: A Beacon of Peace and Prosperity in the Flourishing Middle East

 

from Times of Israel Feb 2025

Imagine it is the year 2035, and the Gaza Strip, in the mold of Neom, stands as one of the greatest success stories of the 21st century. Once a land scarred by conflict and hardship, Gaza has now become a model of resilience, innovation, and coexistence—a thriving hub of commerce, culture, and sustainable development.

A Thriving Economic Powerhouse

By 2035, Gaza’s economy has become one of the fastest-growing in the region, powered by technology, trade, and tourism. A state-of-the-art seaport and international airport have positioned Gaza as a global logistics hub, connecting the Middle East to Africa, Europe, and beyond.

The city’s tech sector has flourished, with Gaza Silicon Valley hosting startups focused on artificial intelligence, renewable energy, and biotechnology. Young Palestinian entrepreneurs, once hindered by lack of opportunity, now lead globally recognized companies, attracting investment from around the world,,,

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Modern-Day Slavery in the United Arab Emirates

(This is what Gaza 2035 is all about. What Trump sees as the future for Gaza and the U.S. The kafala system in place in UAE. Our oligarhs are making ready for the system after US hegemony and IMF imposed free markets across the globe. They will get their profits even if they have to return us to a slave state. They can't stop BRICS drive to a multipolar world so they intend to reclaim profit margins by turning us into something just plain awful.)

from Human Rights Research

The United Arab Emirates (UAE), renowned for its opulent skyscrapers and extravagant lifestyle, hides a dark reality beneath its glossy facade, where there exists a foundation of human tragedy that paints a stark contrast to its outward image. In the pursuit of a better life, millions of South Asian migrants, predominantly from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, have been enticed by the tantalizing promise of high wages and stability that the UAE seemingly offers.

Despite diligent endeavors to address and mitigate these urgent concerns, the UAE's deeply ingrained kafala system and other exploitative labor practices consistently loom over the lives of these migrants. However, this cycle of abuse, marked by systemic injustice and exploitation, has not gone unnoticed. Its reverberations reach far beyond the UAE's borders, resonating globally as a reminder of the fragile state of human rights in the pursuit of economic gain. This truth also stands as a poignant and resolute indication that the quest for progress and prosperity should never compromise human dignity and well-being. It is a call to action for nations and societies around the world to uphold the inherent rights of every individual, regardless of their background or origin. As the world bears witness to the grim consequences of unchecked exploitation, it becomes evident that true progress can only be achieved when it is built upon a foundation of fairness, justice, and unwavering respect for the rights and dignity of all...

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Iran says Palestine has ‘non-negotiable’ right to self-determination, independent state

from PressTV

Iran says Palestine has a “non-negotiable” right to self-determination and formation of an independent state with the occupied holy city of al-Quds as its capital.

Iran's ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations Amir Saied Iravani made the remark in an address before the UN Security Council on the situation in the West Asia region, including the Palestinian issue, on Wednesday.

“Establishing an independent, sovereign Palestinian state with al-Quds as its capital remains the legitimate aspiration of the Palestinian people,” he said.

He urged all Palestinian groups to remain united, warning that any sort of division only serves Israel's interests.

He added that Israel’s military actions and the impunity granted to the regime by the United States and some Western countries are the causes of the “severe humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza.

The Tel Aviv regime is committing further atrocities in grave violation of international law amid the US and its Western allies’ continued provision of weapons, political backing, and financial support in grave violation of international law, he emphasized.

“The total blockade of food, water, fuel, and medicine imposed on Gaza constitutes collective punishment. It flagrantly violates the Fourth Geneva Convention and amounts to a war crime,” Iravani said.

The Iranian diplomat stressed the need for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in Gaza, adding, “Priorities must include humanitarian access, aid delivery, and prisoner exchanges.”...

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