A coalition of over 100 U.S. groups is demanding that Israeli officials release 16-year-old Palestinian American Mohammed Zaher Ibrahim from imprisonment, warning that authorities are starving him and denying him medical care as they’ve barred the child from seeing his family for over six months. The groups called on Secretary of State Marco Rubio to act to end Mohammed’s “unjust”…
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The U.S. ambassador to Turkey sparked fury on Tuesday for chiding a group of Lebanese journalists to “act civilized” and not be “animalistic,” saying such behavior is responsible for the strife in the Middle East. During a press conference in Beirut on Tuesday, as reporters asked questions and clamored for his attention — a typical practice in news conferences around the world — Tom Barrack…
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The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is facing criticism after its resolutions committee rejected a measure to call for an arms embargo on Israel on Tuesday, despite a famine being officially declared in Gaza just days before. There were two measures before the panel on Gaza on Tuesday morning: One, introduced by Florida DNC member Allison Minnerly, urges the party’s members to back a…
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Israel missed its own deadline to respond to a temporary ceasefire and captive release deal that Hamas accepted over a week ago, with Israeli authorities appearing “unwilling” to accept the framework despite Hamas saying that the agreement contains significant concessions in Israel’s favor. Qatari officials said on Tuesday that they have not heard from Israel about the framework…
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This story was originally published on Truthout on Aug. 25, 2025. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license.
President Donald Trump signed two executive orders on Monday aimed at ending cashless bail and criminalizing flag burning protests — as reports say that the administration is arming national guard troops patrolling Washington, D.C., in a major escalation.
The order regarding cashless bail declares that states and local governments that do not suspend their cashless bail policies will lose federal funding. It instructs Attorney General Pam Bondi to report on states and jurisdictions that have eliminated cash bail within the next 30 days.
Trump has specifically instructed his administration to focus on D.C., which has had a cashless bail system for decades. He and his administration have spent months spreading disinformation claiming that cashless bail — implemented predominantly in liberal-leaning areas — contributes to crime rates.
But there is no evidence to back this claim. Numerous analyses have found that there is no correlation between cashless bail policies and crime rates in places where it’s been implemented. D.C.’s own Criminal Justice Coordinating Council recently found that only seven people, or 3 percent, of defendants were rearrested on pre-trial release between August 2024 and January 2025. None of them were rearrested for violent crimes.
Nonetheless, Trump has repeated this narrative numerous times. “Crime in American Cities started to significantly rise when they went to CASHLESS BAIL,” Trump said in a Truth Social post in July. “It is a complete disaster, and must be ended, IMMEDIATELY!”
Cashless bail allows people facing charges to be released while they await trial, as long as a judge does not view them as dangerous or a flight risk.
Cash bail systems, which are widely used across the country, are frequently criticized for deepening inequality and supercharging the two-tiered criminal legal system, especially among Black communities. The average bail for felony charges is $10,000, and many people are roped into predatory bail bond schemes. The U.S. is one of only two countries in the world allowing for a commercial bail industry that profits from people’s inability to post bonds on their own.
Trump also sought to widen the scope of what constitutes a crime on Monday. He signed a separate order ordering Bondi to “prioritize the enforcement to the fullest extent possible” of criminal and civil laws regarding “desecration” of the American flag, “consistent with the First Amendment.” Notably, the Supreme Court ruled in 1989 that the burning of the U.S. flag is protected under the First Amendment.
The order says that immigrants must be subject to punishment like revocation of visas or other immigrant statuses if they have engaged in “American Flag-desecration activity.”
The orders come after the National Guard announced on Sunday that troops in D.C. are now carrying weapons and will start carrying out detentions, in a major escalation of Trump’s militarization of the capital city. Trump has said that he may target Chicago with troop deployments next.
“I have a slob, like [Illinois Gov. J.B.] Pritzker, criticizing me. They say he’s a dictator, he’s a dictator. A lot of people are saying maybe we’d like a dictator,” Trump opined as he signed the orders Monday morning, before adding, “I’m not a dictator.”
This post was originally published on The Real News Network.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) is headed to Maine for a Labor Day rally with “progressive” candidates for statewide races — including a candidate running to unseat Republican stalwart Sen. Susan Collins (Maine) whose campaign has garnered attention for its populist promises in recent days. Sanders announced that his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour will stop in Portland, Maine, where he will rally…
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President Donald Trump signed two executive orders on Monday aimed at ending cashless bail and criminalizing flag burning protests — as reports say that the administration is arming national guard troops patrolling Washington, D.C., in a major escalation. The order regarding cashless bail declares that states and local governments that do not suspend their cashless bail policies will lose…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Israeli forces killed five journalists and those who came to rescue them in an apparent “double tap” strike on a major hospital in southern Gaza on Monday, in a massacre that health officials say left at least 20 Palestinians dead. Gaza officials confirmed the journalists’ deaths. Hussam al-Masri, Mariam Abu Dagga, Mohammad Salama, and Moaz Abu Taha were killed immediately…
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The former top State Department spokesperson has admitted that the U.S. knew the Israeli government was systematically sabotaging ceasefire negotiations for months — even as he stood on the podium and spread the lie to the press and the public that it was Hamas standing in the way of a deal. In a report by Israeli outlet Channel 13 published Thursday, former Biden administration official…
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The world’s leading food insecurity authority has officially declared famine in Gaza, after officials finally determined that Israel’s almost two year long, near-total blockade on the 2 million Palestinians in the Strip has created conditions so horrific they surpass those needed for a famine declaration. The UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) confirmed that famine…
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue Israel’s conquest of and genocide in Gaza even if Hamas agreed to a ceasefire deal that would see the release of the rest of the Israeli captives being held in the Strip — just days after Hamas officials accepted the latest proposal by Qatari and Egyptian officials. In an interview with Sky News Australia, Netanyahu said “there…
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A court ruled with SpaceX and two other companies on Tuesday in their case arguing that the structure of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is unconstitutional, in a decision that could have seismic implications for workers’ rights for years to come. In its ruling, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit said that safeguards for NLRB board members and administrative law judges for…
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The State Department announced this weekend that it is suspending visitor visas for Palestinians from Gaza to enter the U.S. after right wingers raged about children entering the country to receive medical care — often for injuries caused by Israel with the U.S.’s backing. “All visitor visas for individuals from Gaza are being stopped while we conduct a full and thorough review of the process…
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Israeli forces abducted a Palestinian child near an aid site in Gaza in June and took him to a notorious prison camp where they subjected him to severe torture for nearly a month, a children’s rights group has found, adding abduction and imprisonment to a growing list of atrocities reported at Israel’s aid sites. On June 29, after Israel had already killed nearly 600 Palestinians near aid…
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President Donald Trump’s nominee to replace the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) head he fired this month was present in the militant right-wing mob outside of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, NBC has found. Archived footage of the attack shows the nominee, E.J. Antoni, in the crowd on the west side of the Capitol about an hour after the mob dismantled the police barricades at 1 p.m.
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UN experts said on Wednesday that Israel’s slaughter of doctors and nurses and systematic destruction of the health care system in Gaza amounts to “medicide,” as Israel continues to block key medicines and medical supplies from entry into the besieged enclave. “As human beings and UN experts, we cannot remain silent about the war crimes committed before our eyes in Gaza…
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Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich is advancing a longstanding illegal settlement plan in the occupied West Bank which would split the region and “permanently bury the idea of a Palestinian state,” the minister said. Under the plan, Israel will build more than 3,000 homes on stolen Palestinian land in the E1 settlement area. The settlements would cut off East Jerusalem from the rest of…
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that he feels “very” attached to the extremist vision of “Greater Israel,” a plan for the conquest of not just historic Palestine but also parts of Egypt, Jordan, and potentially other countries. In an interview with Israeli outlet i24 on Tuesday, Netanyahu said in Hebrew that he is on a “historic and spiritual” mission…
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Israeli authorities are reportedly in discussions to resettle Palestinians to war-torn and hunger-stricken South Sudan, as Israel seeks to advance its plans for the forcible expulsion of all Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. The Associated Press reported on the talks on Tuesday, citing six sources familiar. This includes former Bush administration official Joe Szlavik, the head of a U.S.
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Israeli authorities are reportedly in discussions to resettle Palestinians to war-torn and hunger-stricken South Sudan, as Israel seeks to advance its plans for the forcible expulsion of all Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. The Associated Press reported on the talks on Tuesday, citing six sources familiar. This includes former Bush administration official Joe Szlavik, the head of a U.S.
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President Donald Trump is nominating top Heritage Foundation economist and Project 2025 contributor E.J. Antoni for the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), marking the extreme and dangerous politicization of an agency that acts as a linchpin for economic decision making by the president. Trump wrote on Truth Social on Monday evening that he is tapping Antoni as head of the crucial…
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Israeli forces’ killing of four Al Jazeera journalists and two freelance journalists on Sunday is part of Israel’s “deliberate” campaign to eliminate and silence any potential witnesses to its “live-streamed genocide” in Gaza, especially ahead of its upcoming siege and ethnic cleansing of Gaza City, UN experts have warned. In a statement released Tuesday, UN Special Rapporteur for the freedom…
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Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the largest in the world, has divested from some Israeli companies after a newspaper uncovered the fund’s stake in an Israeli jet engine firm that provides parts for Israel’s military. The $2 trillion fund, owned by Norway’s government, announced on Monday that it has sold out its investments in 11 of 61 Israeli companies as of the first half of 2025.
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Israeli soldiers are using teenage boys near U.S.- and Israeli-backed “aid” sites in Gaza as “target practice,” according to a British doctor who recently provided care in the Palestinian territory. Nick Maynard, a consultant surgeon at Oxford University hospital, has said in recent interviews with Zeteo and other media that he and other doctors in Gaza have noted a pattern of injuries in…
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The Israeli military killed five journalists in a targeted strike in Gaza on Sunday, including celebrated reporter Anas al-Sharif, who was hailed as the “voice” of Palestinians in Gaza. Israel struck the journalists’ tent outside of al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City Sunday evening. The journalists worked for Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera identified those killed as correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh…
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President Donald Trump has reportedly directed the Pentagon to use military force against drug cartels in Latin America, marking an extreme escalation that could further isolate the U.S. and cause more global instability. The New York Times first reported the directive on Friday, citing sources familiar. The details of the order are scant, but the military has reportedly begun exploring…
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This story originally appeared in Truthout on Aug. 07, 2025. It is shared here with permission.
A top U.S. consulting firm provided modelling for a plan to forcibly relocate hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from Gaza to Somalia and Somaliland, new reporting reveals, as President Donald Trump was promoting his plan to build the “Riviera of the Middle East” on the ruins of Israel’s genocide.
Financial Times reports that Boston Consulting Group (BCG), one of the most prestigious consulting firms in the U.S., had mapped out multiple scenarios for relocation, with the supposed aim of providing estimates on the economic implications of the plan. The modeling was done for Israeli business people who were involved in the creation of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) and were developing post-genocide plans for Gaza.
BCG’s involvement in the Israeli- and U.S.-backed GHF scheme in Gaza has been previously reported, but Financial Times unveiled the firm’s deeper involvement in the genocide in an investigation last month. The modelling project reportedly involved over a dozen employees, lasted over half a year, and covered over $4 million in contracted work, the investigation found.
The firm has since disavowed the modelling work and claimed that top BCG figures were misled about the project. BCG also said that it’s fired the partners leading the GHF and modelling projects.
The modelling project reportedly first began in October of 2024, and went on through May of this year, during which time Trump unveiled his plan to empty Gaza of Palestinians altogether and take it over to build a hub for economic activity and tourism.
One scenario modelled under the project envisioned a quarter of Palestinians being removed through “relocation packages,” or roughly 500,000 people, with the majority of them leaving Gaza permanently.
The packages are worth $9,000 per person, FT reported, in the form of subsidies and cash payments. The firm estimated that it would be $23,000 cheaper per person than allowing them to stay in Gaza while the enclave was being rebuilt.
Someone familiar with the work told the publication: “There is no coercive element here and the plan is not incentivising people to leave. The 25 per cent is a ‘plug number’. The people of Gaza will decide. It is not a plan to empty Gaza.”
However, the modelling work supported plans by figures with an active interest in forcible displacement, giving them financial scenarios to work from. It projected $4.7 billion in economic benefits for countries where Palestinians were relocated to.
“By accepting the Gazans who relocate temporarily and voluntarily, a country will get an injection of population that will have an economic benefit that clearly could be significant,” one person familiar told Financial Times. “The idea was to understand the economic issues related to options that President Trump had put on the table.”
U.S. and Israeli officials have previously floated the idea of relocating Palestinians to Somalia and Somaliland, which have rejected the idea. The U.S. State Department already has a top-level travel advisory against visiting Somalia due to violence in the country. Somaliland is a self-declared nation within the territory of Somalia, currently unrecognized by any UN member state. There are already millions of internally displaced people in Somalia and Somaliland, while millions are facing malnutrition and food insecurity due to ongoing fighting there.
The report is further evidence of the U.S. private sector’s involvement in Israel’s genocide in Gaza, as well as its postwar plans, which have been repeatedly condemned by UN officials. Haaretz reported this week that U.S.-based Arkel International LLC, a logistics and construction firm, is one of three subcontractors working with GHF, alongside UG Solutions and Safe Reach Solutions.
Arkel oversees the logistics of GHF’s operations, which have been described by humanitarian groups as a honeytrap for Israel to attract starving Palestinians only to massacre them. Arkel employs people who transport trucks loaded with supplies to distribution points in Gaza, escorted by Israeli forces.
This post was originally published on The Real News Network.
Israel’s security cabinet has approved Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to take over and occupy Gaza City, forcibly displacing an estimated 1 million Palestinians sheltering there and establishing “camps” to confine Palestinians in an escalation of Israel’s genocide. Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on the plan that the Israeli military is preparing to take control of…
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A pro-Palestine student activist group at University of Maryland (UMD) has won a $100,000 settlement from the university in a lawsuit stemming from administrators’ blocking of students’ vigil for Gaza last year. Maryland’s Board of Public Works approved the settlement on Wednesday, marking a win for student pro-Palestine advocates after a judge issued a preliminary injunction in their favor…
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