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Reporters Without Borders requests ICC investigation for Israeli war crimes against Palestinian journalists in Gaza


RSF.org
Tue, 15 May 2018 00:00 UTC
IDF snipers kill journalist Gaza
© MAHMUD HAMS / AFP
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) today formally asked the International Criminal Court to investigate what it regards as war crimes by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) against Palestinian journalists covering protests in Gaza since 30 March.

Submitted to ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda a few hours before today's UN Security Council meeting and based on article 15 of the Rome Statute (which established the ICC), the request concerns the direct shots that IDF snipers have fired at some 20 Palestinian journalists during the "March of Return" protests in Gaza.

In RSF's view, these are crimes that clearly fall under the ICC's competence.

"The Israeli authorities could not have been unaware of the presence of journalists among the civilian demonstrators, and therefore failed in the elementary duty of precaution and differentiation when targeting these protected persons with live rounds," RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire said.

"These deliberate and repeated violations of international humanitarian law constitute war crimes. While referring them to the International Criminal Court, RSF calls on the Israeli authorities to strictly respect international law."

Comment: To silence the press: Six journalists shot by Israel during Gaza protests

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Star of David

Fist-size gunshot wounds & pulverized bones: HRW details Israel's grotesque use of force against Palestinians


RT
Wed, 16 May 2018 13:54 UTC
Israel-Gaza border May 15, 2018
© Ibraheem Abu Mustafa / Reuters
Israel-Gaza border in the southern Gaza Strip May 15, 2018.
After the protests in Gaza, we've seen injuries that you see in conflict situations, not what you would expect in policing and law enforcement situations, Omar Shakir, Israel & Palestine Director at Human Rights Watch, told RT.

The UN Security Council gathered Tuesday for an emergency meeting following the killing and injuring of Palestinians in Gaza by Israeli soldiers during protests on Monday. At least 60 people lost their lives in what's become the deadliest day in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since 2014. More than 2,700 people were injured, many with live ammunition.

The violence came as the US controversially opened its new embassy in nearby Jerusalem. However, Washington's envoy to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said that there is no link between US Embassy move and deaths of Palestinians.

RT: Have you been surprised by the extreme force used by the Israeli military against the largely peaceful protests in Gaza?

Omar Shakir: Unfortunately, no. Israeli officials said quite clear that their live fire regulations permit them to open fire on demonstrators irrespective of whether or not they pose an imminent threat, which is a threshold required under international law. The scale of the killings reflects the fact that more protesters took to the streets. But the reality is for weeks now Israeli officials have green-lighted opening fire on largely unarmed demonstrators.

Comment: This barbarity from the 'only democracy' in the Middle East with the 'most moral army' in the world! A better example of a pathocracy's twisting of reality could hardly be found.

Making Israeli Soldiers Kill Palestinians

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Heart - Black

Police respond to stray dog call by running the animals over and shooting them

Jack Burns
The Free Thought Project
Tue, 15 May 2018 14:58 UTC
police and dogs
Police officers are being criticized for their response to a call about two stray dogs, and the concerned citizen who called animal control to ask for help is saying that the officers' actions were actually what she hoped she could save the dogs from.

Leigh Spencer told Fox 29 that she was horrified when she witnessed the officers intentionally trying to run over over the dogs with their patrol cars. "I was the one that called Animal Control, and this was the outcome," she said.

Spencer said that about a dozen police officers initially showed up and began clapping their hands and whistling, which made the dogs even more scared than they were before. She should know as she claimed one of the dogs actually came to her and put its snout in her hands. She was about to get control of one dog but she said police "brushed her away."

After none of the officers were successful in getting control of the two strays, police then made the decision to run them over with their patrol cars. Both dogs were injured when the SUV hit them. One dog was then shot and killed by an officer, while the other dog successfully got away.
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Star of David

South Carolina passes law defining any criticism of Israel as 'anti-semitic' while Israel murders 60 unarmed civilians

Rachel Blevins
The Free Thought Project
Wed, 16 May 2018 14:48 UTC
US censorship israel
© The Free Thought Project
As many Americans criticize the number of civilian deaths on the Gaza Strip, a state has passed a measure labeling criticism of Israel as "anti-Semitism."

The news that Israel killed more than 60 Palestinians on Monday alone, has sparked criticism from Americans who are frustrated with the United States' failure to hold one of its closest allies accountable for the human rights violations it is committing-and individuals in one state will soon be labeled as "anti-Semitic" for openly voicing their opinion.

South Carolina will become the first state to legally define criticism of Israel as "anti-Semitism" when a new measure goes into effect on July 1, targeting public schools and universities. While politicians have tried to pass the measure as a stand-alone law for two years, they finally succeeded temporarily by passing it as a "proviso" that was slipped into the 2018-2019 budget.
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Arrow Down

Planned Parenthood's outgoing president dismembers the 'only 3% abortions' lie

Guy Benson
Townhall
Mon, 14 May 2018 14:39 UTC
Cecile Richards
As Cecile Richards prepares to step down as the head of abortion giant Planned Parenthood this year, she's giving interviews to sympathetic news organizations as part of her ghoulish "farewell tour," including a chat with liberal New York Times columnist Gail Collins. In that conversation, Richards recalled a meeting she took with Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner early in the Trump presidency, during which the couple proposed that Planned Parenthood stop providing abortions in exchange for more funding for issues like family planning. Richards rebuffed the offer, naturally, but Collins' description of why the overture was rejected is totally unsurprising yet usefully revealing:


Comment: Here are more of Planned Parenthood's stellar taxpayer-funded contributions to the well-being of society:

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USA

Teen gets 13 years in prison for defending home from intruders - because intruders were cops

Rachel Blevins
The Free Thought Project
Wed, 16 May 2018 10:56 UTC
Tyler Harrell
When a SWAT team initiated a no-knock raid in search of cannabis, they were met with gunfire, and while the resident surrendered as soon as he realized his home was being raided by police, the fact that he opened fire on the intruders and shot one of them in the leg has resulted in a 13-year prison sentence.

When a SWAT team broke down the door and charged into the Harrell family's house in the early morning hours of April 14, 2016, they claimed that the intrusive operation was justified, because they believed 18-year-old Tyler Harrell was running a drug ring out of his parents' home.

When Tyler Harrell was woken up by what he believed were burglars breaking into his home, he did what many gun owners would do, and he grabbed his firearm and confronted the intruders. He used his legally-owned AK-47, and while he did not kill any of the officers, he did wound one officer by shooting him in the knee.
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Star of David

'Poor us': IDF tries to garner sympathy after shooting Palestinians - gets public backlash instead


The Canary
Wed, 16 May 2018 10:56 UTC
IDF palestine
Israel's army reportedly shot hundreds Palestinians, leaving at least 52 dead, on 14 May. The massacre happened as the US opened its newly relocated embassy in Jerusalem, against the will of most of the international community.

In the midst of the criminal bloodbath, however, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) sent out a tweet. It contained a video portraying the Palestinians as the aggressors in the current violence.

But the IDF's message didn't resonate with people in the way it probably hoped.
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Red Flag

Santa Monica College tells students to report 'hate speech' to police

Toni Airaksinen
Campus Reform
Mon, 14 May 2018 10:04 UTC
police car lights
The president of Santa Monica College is urging students who witness "hate speech" to file a report with campus police.

"Reaffirming SMC's Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion" was emailed to all students and staff on May 3 after an unknown "outside visitor brought hate speech onto one of Santa Monica College's campuses."

"This will not be tolerated," writes President Kathryn E. Jeffries. "If you are the target of hate speech or witness it, you should immediately contact the Santa Monica College Police Department at (310) 434-4300 or submit an anonymous report to campus police."

Comment: "Hate speech" is a meaningless buzzword. However, it's semi-criminalization gives the truly ideologically and intellectually intolerant a cudgel to beat those with different and unacceptable, to them, opinions, and that is the real danger behind "hate speech".

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Light Sabers

Anti-Russian frenzy comes full circle: Elites who pushed Cold War 2.0 are getting caught up in it

Nebojsa Malic
RT
Wed, 16 May 2018 10:21 UTC
moscow
© Anton Golubev / Reuters
Claims of nefarious Russian influence have now come full circle, and are now being used against the very people who launched their careers - and the new Cold War - pushing them on the political establishment in the West.

Earlier this month, MP Bob Seely used British parliamentary privilege to claim that Legatum Institute founder Christopher Chandler was investigated by the French security services "on suspicion of working for the Russian intelligence services."

Chandler denied the allegation, calling it "unsubstantiated... laughable" and "suggestive of a deeper agenda".

Yet the atmosphere in which such accusations can be made with impunity has been brought about in no small part by Legatum Institute itself. As James Carden recently wrote in The Nation, Chandler's outfit "has been at the forefront of fostering a political climate in which accusations of unpatriotic disloyalty can be leveled without the slightest bit of evidence or compunction."
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Magnify

Head of Czech lab that made novichok-related nerve agent mysteriously fired


RT
Wed, 16 May 2018 09:56 UTC
lab test
© David Oxberry / Global Look Press
The Czech Defense Minister has fired the head of the military laboratory who said his lab had made a 'Novichok'-related chemical for testing. His statement was earlier called 'unfortunate' by the country's Prime Minister.

"I thank Bohuslav Safar for a long time at the head of the Military Research Institute," the ministry website quotes Defense Minister Carla Slechtova. Safar remains an employee of the Institute, but has been replaced by his deputy as director, until a new head is named. No reason has been named for the firing.

Safar himself was not given any explanation, either, he told Czech news outlet Aktualne. But he says the connection to his statements on 'Novichok' research is obvious.

"Apparently, it's because of what happened around the 'Novichok' case," Safar said.
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