Groups that have declined to join the government-sponsored “harmony accord” signed yesterday by some Muslim and Jewish groups, say that the proposed new council is “misaligned” with its aims.
The signed accord was presented at Government House in Auckland.
About 70 people attended, including representatives of the New Zealand Jewish Council, His Highness the Aga Khan Council for Australia and New Zealand and the Jewish Community Security Group, reports RNZ News.
The initiative originated with government recognition that the consequences of Israel’s actions in Gaza are impacting on Jewish and Muslim communities in Aotearoa, as well as the wider community.
While agreeing with that statement of purpose, other Muslim and Jewish groups have chosen to decline the invitation, said some of the disagreeing groups in a joint statement.
They believe that the council, as formulated, is misaligned with its aims.
“Gaza is not a religious issue, and this has never been a conflict between our faiths,” Dr Abdul Monem, a co-founder of ICONZ said.
‘Horrifying humanitarian consequences’
“In Gaza we see a massive violation of international law with horrifying humanitarian consequences.
“We place Israel’s annihilating campaign against Gaza, the complicity of states and economies at the centre of our understanding — not religion.
“The first action to address the suffering in Gaza and ameliorate its effects here in Aotearoa must be government action. Our government needs to comply with international courts and act on this humanitarian calamity.
“That does not require a new council.”
The impetus for this initiative clearly linked international events with their local impacts, but the document does not mention Gaza among the council’s priorities, said the statement.
“Signatories are not required to acknowledge universal human rights, nor the courts which have ruled so decisively and created obligations for the New Zealand government. Social distress is disconnected from its immediate cause.”
The council was open to parties which did not recognise the role of international humanitarian law in Palestine, nor the full human and political rights of their fellow New Zealanders.
‘Overlooks humanitarian law’
Marilyn Garson, co-founder of Alternative Jewish Voices said: “It has broad implications to overlook our rights and international humanitarian law.
“As currently formulated, the council includes no direct Palestinian representation. That’s not good enough.
“How can there be credible discussion of Aotearoa’s ethnic safety — let alone advocacy for international action — without Palestinians?
“Law, human rights and the dignity of every person’s life are not opinions. They are human entitlements and global agreements to which Aotearoa has bound itself.
“No person in Aotearoa should have to enter a room — especially a council created under government auspices — knowing that their fundamental rights will not be upheld. No one should have to begin by asking for that which is theirs.”
The groups outside this new council said they wished to live in a harmonious society, but for them it was unclear why a new council of Jews and Muslims should represent the path to harmony.
“Advocacy that comes from faith can be a powerful force. We already work with numerous interfaith community initiatives, some formed at government initiative and waiting to really find their purpose,” said Dr Muhammad Sajjad Naqvi, president of ICONZ.
Addressing local threats
“Those existing channels include more of the parties needed to address local threats, including Christian nationalism like that of Destiny Church.
“Perhaps government should resource those rather than starting something new.”
The groups who declined to join the council said they had “warm and enduring relationships” with FIANZ and Dayenu, which would take seats at this council table.
“All of the groups share common goals, but not this path,” the statement said.
ICONZ is a national umbrella organisation for New Zealand Shia Muslims for a unified voice. It was established by Muslims who have been born in New Zealand or born to migrants who chose New Zealand to be their home.
Alternative Jewish Voices is a collective of Aotearoa Jews working for Jewish pluralism and anti-racism. It supports the work of Palestinians who seek liberation grounded in law and our equal human rights.
In a joint statement, more than two dozen Western countries, including New Zealand, have called for an immediate end to the war on Gaza. But the statement is merely empty rhetoric that declines to take any concrete action against Israel, and which Israel will duly ignore.
AGAINST THE CURRENT:By Steven Cowan
The New Zealand government has joined 27 other countries calling for an “immediate end” to the war in Gaza. The joint statement says “the suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths”.
It goes on to say that the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food.
But many of the countries that have signed this statement stand condemned for actively enabling Israel to pursue its genocidal assault on Gaza. Countries like Britain, Canada and Australia, continue to supply Israel with arms, have continued to trade with Israel, and have turned a blind eye to the atrocities and war crimes Israel continues to commit in Gaza.
It’s more than ironic that while Western countries like Britain and New Zealand are calling for an end to the war in Gaza, they continue to be hostile toward the anti-war protest movements in their own countries.
The British government recently classified the protest group Palestine Action as a “terrorist” group.
In New Zealand, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Winston Peters, has denounced pro-Palestine protesters as “left wing fascists” and “communist, fascist and anti-democratic losers”. He has pushed back against the growing demands that the New Zealand government take direct action against Israel, including the cutting of all diplomatic ties.
The New Zealand government, which contains a number of Zionists within its cabinet, including Act leader David Seymour and co-leader Brooke van Velden, will be more than comfortable with a statement that proposes to do nothing.
‘Statement lacks leadership’
Its call for an end to the war is empty rhetoric, and which Israel will duly ignore — as it has ignored other calls for its genocidal war to end. As Amnesty International has said, ‘the statement lacks any resolve, leadership, or action to help end the genocide in Gaza.’
“This is cruelty – this is not a war,” says this young girl’s placard quoting the late Pope Francis in an Auckland march last Saturday . . . this featured in an earlier report. Image: Asia Pacific Report
New Zealand has declined to join The Hague Group alliance of countries that recently met in Colombia.
It announced six immediate steps it would be taking against Israel. But since The Hague Group has already been attacked by the United States, it’s never been likely that New Zealand would join it.
The National-led coalition government has surrendered New Zealand’s independent foreign policy in favour of supporting the interests of a declining American Empire.
New Zealand has joined 24 other countries in calling for an end to the war in Gaza, and criticising what they call the inhumane killing of Palestinians.
“We condemn the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food.”
They said it was “horrifying” that more than 800 civilians had been killed while seeking aid, the majority at food distribution sites run by a US- and Israeli-backed foundation.
“We call on the Israeli government to immediately lift restrictions on the flow of aid and to urgently enable the UN and humanitarian NGOs to do their life saving work safely and effectively,” it said.
Foreign Minister Winston Peters . . . “The tipping point was some time ago . . . it’s gotten to the stage where we’ve just lost our patience.” Image: RN/Mark Papalii
“Proposals to remove the Palestinian population into a ‘humanitarian city’ are completely unacceptable. Permanent forced displacement is a violation of international humanitarian law.”
The statement said the countries were “prepared to take further action” to support an immediate ceasefire.
Reuters reported Israel’s foreign ministry said the statement was “disconnected from reality” and it would send the wrong message to Hamas.
“The statement fails to focus the pressure on Hamas and fails to recognise Hamas’s role and responsibility for the situation,” the Israeli statement said.
Having NZ voice heard
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters told RNZ Morning Report, New Zealand had chosen to be part of the statement as a way to have its voice heard on the “dire” humanitarian situation in Gaza.
“The tipping point was some time ago . . . it’s gotten to the stage where we’ve just lost our patience . . . ”
Peters said he wanted to see what the response to the condemnation was.
“The conflict in the Middle East goes on and on . . . It’s gone from a situation where it was excusable, due to the October 7 conflict, to inexcusable as innocent people are being swept into it,” he said.
“I do think there has to be change. It must happen now.”
The war in Gaza was triggered when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s subsequent air and ground war in Gaza has killed more than 59,000 Palestinians — including at least 17,400 children, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry, while displacing almost the entire population of more than 2 million and spreading a hunger crisis.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Israel has rejected a statement by 25 countries calling for an end to the war on Gaza as a move “disconnected from reality and sends the wrong message to Hamas.”
Sky expected the deal to deliver revenue diversification and uplift of around $95 million a year.
Sky expected Discovery NZ’s operations to deliver sustainable underlying earnings growth of at least $10 million from the 2028 financial year.
Sky chief executive Sophie Moloney said it was a compelling opportunity for the company, with net integration costs of about $6.5 million.
“This is a compelling opportunity for Sky that directly supports our ambition to be Aotearoa New Zealand’s most engaging and essential media company,” she said.
Confidential advance notice
Sky said it gave the Commerce Commission confidential advance notice of the transaction, and the commission did not intend to consider the acquisition further.
Warner Bros Discovery Australia and NZ managing director Michael Brooks said it was a “fantastic outcome” for both companies.
“The continued challenges faced by the New Zealand media industry are well documented, and over the past 12 months, the Discovery NZ team has worked to deliver a new, more sustainable business model following a significant restructure in 2024,” Brooks said.
“While this business is not commercially viable as a standalone asset in WBD’s New Zealand portfolio, we see the value Three and ThreeNow can bring to Sky’s existing offering of complementary assets.”
Sky said on completion, Discovery NZ’s balance sheet would be clear of some long-term obligations, including property leases and content commitments, and would include assets such as the ThreeNow platform.
Sky said irrespective of the transaction, the company was confident of achieving its 30 cents a share dividend target for 2026.
‘Massive change’ for NZ media – ThreeNews to continue Founder of The Spinoff and media commentator Duncan Greive said the deal would give Sky more reach and was a “massive change” in New Zealand’s media landscape.
He noted Sky’s existing free-to-air presence via Sky Open (formerly Prime), but said acquiring Three gave it the second-most popular audience outlet on TV.
“Because of the inertia of how people use television, Three is just a much more accessible channel and one that’s been around longer,” Greive said.
“To have basically the second-most popular channel in the country as part of their stable just means they’ve got a lot more ad inventory, much bigger audiences.”
It also gave Sky another outlet for their content, and would allow it to compete further against TVNZ, both linear and online, Greive said.
He said there may be a question mark around the long-term future of Three’s news service, which was produced by Stuff.
No reference to ThreeNews
Sky made no reference to ThreeNews in its announcement. However, Stuff confirmed ThreeNews would continue for now.
“Stuff’s delivery of ThreeNews is part of the deal but there are also now lots of new opportunities ahead that we are excited to explore together,” Stuff owner Sinead Boucher said in a statement.
On the deal itself, Boucher said she was “delighted” to see Three back in New Zealand ownership under Sky.
For more than half a century, the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Research and Development, or ORD, has furnished the EPA with independent research on everything from ozone pollution to pesticides like glyphosate. Last week, after months of speculation and denial, the EPA officially confirmed that it is eliminating its research division and slashing thousands more employees from its payroll in the agency’s quest to cut 23 percent of its workforce. The latest moves add to the nearly 4,000 personnel who have already resigned, retired, or been laid off, according to the agency’s calculations.
The decision came directly on the heels of a Supreme Court order that greenlit the Trump administration’s efforts to downsize and restructure the federal government.
With approximately 1,115 employees — just 7 percent of the EPA’s headcount at the start of President Donald Trump’s second term — the research office has played an outsized role in helping the agency fulfill its legal mandate to use the “best available science” in its mission to protect human health and the environment. ORD science has underpinned many of the EPA’s restrictions on contaminants in air, water, and soil, and formed the basis for regulations on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, PFAS or “forever chemicals,” in drinking water, deadly fine particulate matter in air, carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere, and chemicals and metals like asbestos and lead.
“Without a research arm, it will be very difficult for EPA to issue new standards for air or water pollutants, toxic chemicals, pesticides, or other hazards,” said Michael Gerrard, faculty director of the Columbia University’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law.
ORD, which works with states, local governments, and tribes in addition to its federal work, has six national research programs, each one focused on a different aspect of health and the environment. Research being undertaken at those centers included studying how to safeguard water systems from terrorist attacks, understanding the impacts of extreme weather on human health, and modeling the economic benefits of reducing air pollution.
The EPA said it is moving some of ORD staff into other parts of the EPA, including into its air, water, and chemical offices and a new Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions within EPA administrator Lee Zeldin’s office. The agency said the moves will save taxpayers nearly $750 million, and produce an agency that closely resembles the shrunken version of the agency that existed under President Ronald Reagan in the early 1980s. The aim, the agency said, is to “prioritize research and science more than ever before.”
In an email to Grist, an agency spokesperson called media reports about the disbanding of ORD “biased” and denied that the changes will affect the quality of EPA science. “Friday’s announcement is not an elimination of science and research,” the agency said.
But former EPA employees and environmental advocates say disbanding ORD will both weaken the EPA’s research capabilities and put its scientific independence at risk of political interference.
“Part of the reason why ORD is a separate office is to preserve scientific integrity,” said Chris Frey, an associate dean at North Carolina State University who worked in the office on and off from 1992 to 2024, most recently as its Assistant Administrator under former President Joe Biden. “From a societal perspective, it’s a huge win for the public that those decisions be based on evidence and not just opinions of stakeholders to have a vested interest in an outcome.” The EPA hasn’t said how many ORD scientists will be allowed to continue working at the agency.
Already, the U.S. regulatory system gives chemical companies like 3M and DuPont a large degree of influence over how the chemicals they produce are controlled, a strategy that has been known to fail. Under the Toxic Substances Control Act, or TSCA, the EPA has 90 days to assess a chemical’s risks before it hits the market.
The EPA’s decision to dissolve ORD and integrate a portion of its scientists into the agency’s policymaking infrastructure stands to benefit chemical companies and industrial polluters by rubbing away the boundaries between science and politics, science advocates argue. Research conducted at ORD not only grounded new EPA regulations, it also provided the scientific basis for TSCA enforcement.
“There’s lots of ways that ORD speaking truth about impacts of pollutants was inconvenient for regulated industry,” said Gretchen Goldman, president of the nonprofit science advocacy organization the Union of Concerned Scientists. “They’re probably celebrating over this.”
Despite recent wins, industry trade and lobby groups are pushing for even more freedom. Last week, on the same day the EPA announced it was disbanding ORD and a day after the EPA separately exempted dozens of chemical factories and power plants from Biden-era air pollution and emissions rules, the American Chemistry Council’s President and CEO Chris Jahn floated the idea of making changes to the Toxic Substances Control Act in an interview with The Washington Examiner.
“EPA Administrator Zeldin, the White House, Congress are all looking at this right now,” he said, “to potentially make some updates to TSCA to make it work more effectively for the long run.”
Former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark warned activists and campaigners in a speech on the deck of the Greenpeace environmental flagship Rainbow WarriorIII last night to be wary of global “storm clouds” and the renewed existential threat of nuclear weapons.
Speaking on her reflections on four decades after the bombing of the original Rainbow Warrior on 10 July 1985, she said that New Zealand had a lot to be proud of but the world was now in a “precarious” state.
Clark praised Greenpeace over its long struggle, challenging the global campaigners to keep up the fight for a nuclear-free Pacific.
“For New Zealand, having been proudly nuclear-free since the mid-1980s, life has got a lot more complicated for us as well, and I have done a lot of campaigning against New Zealand signing up to any aspect of the AUKUS arrangement because it seems to me that being associated with any agreement that supplies nuclear ship technology to Australia is more or less encouraging the development of nuclear threats in the South Pacific,” she said.
“While I am not suggesting that Australians are about to put nuclear weapons on them, we know that others do. This is not the Pacific that we want.
“It is not the Pacific that we fought for going back all those years.
“So we need to be very concerned about these storm clouds gathering.”
Lessons for humanity
Clark was prime minister 1999-2008 and served as a minister in David Lange’s Labour government that passed New Zealand’s nuclear-free legislation in 1987 – two years after the Rainbow Warrior bombing by French secret agents.
She was also head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 2009-2017.
“When you think 40 years on, humanity might have learned some lessons. But it seems we have to repeat the lessons over and over again, or we will be dragged on the path of re-engagement with those who use nuclear weapons as their ultimate defence,” Clark told the Greenpeace activists, crew and guests.
“Forty years on, we look back with a lot of pride, actually, at how New Zealand responded to the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior. We stood up with the passage of the nuclear-free legislation in 1987, we stood up with a lot of things.
“All of this is under threat; the international scene now is quite precarious with respect to nuclear weapons. This is an existential threat.”
Nuclear-free Pacific reflections with Helen Clark Video: Greenpeace
In response to Tahitian researcher and advocate Ena Manuireva who spoke earlier about the legacy of a health crisis as a result of 30 years of French nuclear tests at Moruroa and Fangataufa, she recalled her own thoughts.
“It reminds us of why we were so motivated to fight for a nuclear-free Pacific because we remember the history of what happened in French Polynesia, in the Marshall Islands, in the South Australian desert, at Maralinga, to the New Zealand servicemen who were sent up in the navy ships, the Rotoiti and the Pukaki, in the late 1950s, to stand on deck while the British exploded their bombs [at Christmas Island in what is today Kiribati].
“These poor guys were still seeking compensation when I was PM with the illnesses you [Ena] described in French Polynesia.
Former NZ prime minister Helen Clark . . . “I remember one of the slogans in the 1970s and 1980s was ‘if it is so safe, test them in France’.” Image: Asia Pacific Report
Testing ground for ‘others’
“So the Pacific was a testing ground for ‘others’ far away and I remember one of the slogans in the 1970s and 1980s was ‘if it is so safe, test them in France’. Right? It wasn’t so safe.
“Mind you, they regarded French Polynesia as France.
“David Robie asked me to write the foreword to the new edition of his book, Eyes of Fire: The Last Voyage and Legacy of the Rainbow Warrior, and it brought back so many memories of those times because those of you who are my age will remember that the 1980s were the peak of the Cold War.
“We had the Reagan administration [in the US] that was actively preparing for war. It was a terrifying time. It was before the demise of the Soviet Union. And nuclear testing was just part of that big picture where people were preparing for war.
“I think that the wonderful development in New Zealand was that people knew enough to know that we didn’t want to be defended by nuclear weapons because that was not mutually assured survival — it was mutually assured destruction.”
New Zealand took a stand, Clark said, but taking that stand led to the attack on the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland harbour by French state-backed terrorism where tragically Greenpeace photographer Fernando Pereira lost his life.
“I remember I was on my way to Nairobi for a conference for women, and I was in Zimbabwe, when the news came through about the bombing of a boat in Auckland harbour.
‘Absolutely shocking’
“It was absolutely shocking, we had never experienced such a thing. I recall when I returned to New Zealand, [Prime Minister] David Lange one morning striding down to the party caucus room and telling us before it went public that it was without question that French spies had planted the bombs and the rest was history.
“It was a very tense time. Full marks to Greenpeace for keeping up the struggle for so long — long before it was a mainstream issue Greenpeace was out there in the Pacific taking on nuclear testing.
“Different times from today, but when I wrote the foreword for David’s book I noted that storm clouds were gathering again around nuclear weapons and issues. I suppose that there is so much else going on in a tragic 24 news cycle — catastrophe day in and day out in Gaza, severe technology and lethal weapons in Ukraine killing people, wherever you look there are so many conflicts.
“The international agreements that we have relied are falling into disrepair. For example, if I were in Europe I would be extremely worried about the demise of the intermediate range missile weapons pact which has now been abandoned by the Americans and the Russians.
“And that governs the deployment of medium range missiles in Europe.
“The New Start Treaty, which was a nuclear arms control treaty between what was the Soviet Union and the US expires next year. Will it be renegotiated in the current circumstances? Who knows?”
With the Non-proliferation Treaty, there are acknowledged nuclear powers who had not signed the treaty — “and those that do make very little effort to live up to the aspiration, which is to negotiate an end to nuclear weapons”.
Developments with Iran
“We have seen recently the latest developments with Iran, and for all of Iran’s many sins let us acknowledge that it is a party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty,” she said.
“It did subject itself, for the most part, to the inspections regime. Israel, which bombed it, is not a party to the treaty, and doesn’t accept inspections.
“There are so many double standards that people have long complained about the Non-Proliferation Treaty where the original five nuclear powers are deemed okay to have them, somehow, whereas there are others who don’t join at all.
“And then over the Ukraine conflict we have seen worrying threats of the use of nuclear weapons.”
Clark warned that we the use of artificial intelligence it would not be long before asking it: “How do I make a nuclear weapon?”
“It’s not so difficult to make a dirty bomb. So we should be extremely worried about all these developments.”
Then Clark spoke about the “complications” facing New Zealand.
Mangareva researcher and advocate Ena Manuireva . . . “My mum died of lung cancer and the doctors said that she was a ‘passive smoker’. My mum had not smoked for the last 65 years.” Image: Asia Pacific Report
Teariki’s message to De Gaulle
In his address, Ena Manuireva started off by quoting the late Tahitian parliamentarian John Teariki who had courageously appealed to General Charles De Gaulle in 1966 after France had already tested three nuclear devices:
“No government has ever had the honesty or the cynical frankness to admit that its nuclear tests might be dangerous. No government has ever hesitated to make other peoples — preferably small, defenceless ones — bear the burden.”
“May you, Mr President, take back your troops, your bombs, and your planes.
“Then, later, our leukemia and cancer patients would not be able to accuse you of being the cause of their illness.
“Then, our future generations would not be able to blame you for the birth of monsters and deformed children.
“Then, you would give the world an example worthy of France . . .
“Then, Polynesia, united, would be proud and happy to be French, and, as in the early days of Free France, we would all once again become your best and most loyal friends.”
‘Emotional moment’
Manuireva said that 10 days earlier, he had been on board Rainbow Warrior III for the ceremony to mark the bombing in 1985 that cost the life of Fernando Pereira – “and the lives of a lot of Mā’ohi people”.
“It was a very emotional moment for me. It reminded me of my mother and father as I am a descendant of those on Mangareva atoll who were contaminated by those nuclear tests.
“My mum died of lung cancer and the doctors said that she was a ‘passive smoker’. My mum had not smoked for the last 65 years.
“French nuclear testing started on 2 July 1966 with Aldebaran and lasted 30 years.”
He spoke about how the military “top brass fled the island” when winds start blowing towards Mangareva. “Food was ready but they didn’t stay”.
“By the time I was born in December 1967 in Mangareva, France had already exploded 9 atmospheric nuclear tests on Moruroa and Fangataufa atolls, about 400km from Mangareva.”
France’s most powerful explosion was Canopus with 2.6 megatonnes in August 1968. It was a thermonuclear hydrogen bomb — 150 times more powerful than Hiroshima.
Greenpeace Aotearoa executive director Russel Norman . . . a positive of the campaign future. Image: Asia Pacific Report
‘Poisoned gift’
Manuireva said that by France “gifting us the bomb”, Tahitians had been left “with all the ongoing consequences on the people’s health costs that the Ma’ohi Nui government is paying for”.
He described how the compensation programme was inadequate, lengthy and complicated.
Manuireva also spoke about the consequences for the environment. Both Moruroa and Fangataufa were condemned as “no go” zones and islanders had lost their lands forever.
He also noted that while France had gifted the former headquarters of the Atomic Energy Commission (CEP) as a “form of reconciliation” plans to turn it into a museum were thwarted because the building was “rife with asbestos”.
“It is a poisonous gift that will cost millions for the local government to fix.”
Greenpeace Aotearoa executive director Russel Norman spoke of the impact on the Greenpeace organisation of the French secret service bombing of their ship and also introduced the guest speakers and responded to their statements.
A Q and A session was also held to round off the stimulating evening.
A question during the open mike session on board the Rainbow Warrior. Image: Asia Pacific Report
The Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa has called on the New Zealand government to immediately condemn Israel’s weaponisation of starvation and demand an end to the siege of Gaza.
It has also called for a permanent ceasefire and unrestricted humanitarian access to the besieged enclave.
“All political parties and elected officials must break their silence and act with urgency to prevent further loss of life,” said PSNA co-chair Maher Nazzal in a statement.
“Hospitals and emergency clinics in Gaza are overwhelmed. Unprecedented numbers of Palestinians, children, women, and the elderly, are collapsing from hunger and exhaustion,” said Nazzal.
“Medical professionals warn that hundreds face imminent death, their bodies unable to survive the severe famine conditions created by Israel’s ongoing siege and deliberate starvation tactics.
“This is not a natural disaster. This is the result of a man-made blockade, a deliberate policy of collective punishment, and it constitutes a grave violation of international law.”
This was an urgent last-minute appeal, Nazzal said.
“The people of Aotearoa must stand up and speak out. Protest. Write. Donate. Mobilise.
“The media need to stop turning away, to report on the famine and the mass suffering of civilians in Gaza with the urgency and humanity it demands.”
“As New Zealanders, we have a proud tradition of standing against injustice and apartheid.
“Now is the time to uphold that legacy — not with words, but with action.
“Gaza is starving. We cannot delay. We must not look away.”
“This is cruelty – this is not a war,” says this young New Zealand girl’s placard in Auckland quoting the late Pope Francis. Image: APR
This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
“For the first time in a long time, we are able to bring all our people together for a long-awaited reunion, from discussions with the teams that have already arrived, there’s only handful of people that’s been left on each of our outer islands,” Kairua said.
“Basically, the outer islands have been emptied out.”
According to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Management, more than 900 people are making the trip to Rarotonga from the Pa Enua which are spread across an area similar to the size of Mexico.
Cook Islands Newsreports that the government has allocated $4.1 mllion for event transport.
Biggest calendar event
Kairua said Te Maeva Nui is the biggest event on the Cook Islands’ calendar.
“Te Maeva Nui has become an iconic event for the Cook Islands, for the nation, as well as the diaspora.”
A comparable event was in 2015 when 50 years was marked.
Kairua said for many people it will be the first time visiting Rarotonga since the start of the covid-19 pandemic.
“Sixty years looks like it’s going to be a lot bigger than 50 for a number of reasons, because we’ve had that big gap since covid hit. If we liken it to covid it’s like the borders being lifted, and everyone now has that freedom to come to Raro.”
Two ships, one from Tonga and the other from Tuvalu, are tasked with transporting people from the Northern Group islands to Rarotonga.
While, Air Rarotonga has the job of moving people from the Southern Group.
Tourist season peak
The airline’s general manager Sarah Moreland said Te Maeva Nui comes during the peak of the tourism season, making July a very busy month.
“We’ve got about 73 people from Mauke, 76 passengers from Mangaia, 88 from Aitutaki, 77 from Atiu and even 50 coming from the small island of Mitiaro, Nukuroa,” Moreland said.
She said transporting people for Te Maeva Nui is a highlight for staff.
“They love it, I think it’s so cool that we get to bring the Pa Enua from the islands, they just come to Rarotonga, they bring a whole different vibe. They’re so energetic, they’re ready for the competition, it just adds to the buzz of the whole Te Maeva Nui, it’s actually awesome.”
The executive officer of Atiu Taoro Brown said two months of preparation had gone into the performances which represents the growth of the nation over the past 60 years.
“It’s an exciting time, we come together, we’re meeting all our cousins and all our families from all the other islands, our sister islands, it’s a special moment.”
Brown said this year the island had given performance slots to people from Atiu living in Rarotonga, Australia and New Zealand.
“We wanted everybody from around the region to participate in celebrations.”
Friendly competition
Food is another big part of the event, an area Brown said there’s a bit of friendly competition in between islands.
Pigs, taro, and “organic chicken” had all been sent to Rarotonga from Atiu.
“Everyone likes to think they’ve got this the best dish but the food I feel, it’s all the same, you know, the island foods, it’s about the time that you put in.”
For Kairua and his team at the Ministry of Culture, he said they needed to mindful to not allow the event to pass in a blur.
“Otherwise we end up organising the whole thing and not enjoying it.
“This is not our first big rodeo, or mine. I was responsible for taking away probably the biggest contingency to Hawai’i for the FestPAC and because we got so busy with organising it and worrying about the minor details, many of us at the management desk forgot to enjoy it, but this time, we are aware.”
Turbulent relationship
In the backdrop of celebrations, the Cook Islands and New Zealand’s relationship is in turbulent period.
Last month, New Zealand paused $18.2 million in development assistance funding to the nation, citing a lack of consultation over several controversial deals with China.
Unlike for the 50th celebrations, New Zealand’s prime minister and foreign minister will not attend the celebrations, with the Governor-General representing New Zealand.
A statement from the Cook Islands Office of the Prime Minister last week said officials from the country have reconfirmed their commitment to restore mutual trust with New Zealand in a meeting on 10 July.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
“For the first time in a long time, we are able to bring all our people together for a long-awaited reunion, from discussions with the teams that have already arrived, there’s only handful of people that’s been left on each of our outer islands,” Kairua said.
“Basically, the outer islands have been emptied out.”
According to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Management, more than 900 people are making the trip to Rarotonga from the Pa Enua which are spread across an area similar to the size of Mexico.
Cook Islands Newsreports that the government has allocated $4.1 mllion for event transport.
Biggest calendar event
Kairua said Te Maeva Nui is the biggest event on the Cook Islands’ calendar.
“Te Maeva Nui has become an iconic event for the Cook Islands, for the nation, as well as the diaspora.”
A comparable event was in 2015 when 50 years was marked.
Kairua said for many people it will be the first time visiting Rarotonga since the start of the covid-19 pandemic.
“Sixty years looks like it’s going to be a lot bigger than 50 for a number of reasons, because we’ve had that big gap since covid hit. If we liken it to covid it’s like the borders being lifted, and everyone now has that freedom to come to Raro.”
Two ships, one from Tonga and the other from Tuvalu, are tasked with transporting people from the Northern Group islands to Rarotonga.
While, Air Rarotonga has the job of moving people from the Southern Group.
Tourist season peak
The airline’s general manager Sarah Moreland said Te Maeva Nui comes during the peak of the tourism season, making July a very busy month.
“We’ve got about 73 people from Mauke, 76 passengers from Mangaia, 88 from Aitutaki, 77 from Atiu and even 50 coming from the small island of Mitiaro, Nukuroa,” Moreland said.
She said transporting people for Te Maeva Nui is a highlight for staff.
“They love it, I think it’s so cool that we get to bring the Pa Enua from the islands, they just come to Rarotonga, they bring a whole different vibe. They’re so energetic, they’re ready for the competition, it just adds to the buzz of the whole Te Maeva Nui, it’s actually awesome.”
The executive officer of Atiu Taoro Brown said two months of preparation had gone into the performances which represents the growth of the nation over the past 60 years.
“It’s an exciting time, we come together, we’re meeting all our cousins and all our families from all the other islands, our sister islands, it’s a special moment.”
Brown said this year the island had given performance slots to people from Atiu living in Rarotonga, Australia and New Zealand.
“We wanted everybody from around the region to participate in celebrations.”
Friendly competition
Food is another big part of the event, an area Brown said there’s a bit of friendly competition in between islands.
Pigs, taro, and “organic chicken” had all been sent to Rarotonga from Atiu.
“Everyone likes to think they’ve got this the best dish but the food I feel, it’s all the same, you know, the island foods, it’s about the time that you put in.”
For Kairua and his team at the Ministry of Culture, he said they needed to mindful to not allow the event to pass in a blur.
“Otherwise we end up organising the whole thing and not enjoying it.
“This is not our first big rodeo, or mine. I was responsible for taking away probably the biggest contingency to Hawai’i for the FestPAC and because we got so busy with organising it and worrying about the minor details, many of us at the management desk forgot to enjoy it, but this time, we are aware.”
Turbulent relationship
In the backdrop of celebrations, the Cook Islands and New Zealand’s relationship is in turbulent period.
Last month, New Zealand paused $18.2 million in development assistance funding to the nation, citing a lack of consultation over several controversial deals with China.
Unlike for the 50th celebrations, New Zealand’s prime minister and foreign minister will not attend the celebrations, with the Governor-General representing New Zealand.
A statement from the Cook Islands Office of the Prime Minister last week said officials from the country have reconfirmed their commitment to restore mutual trust with New Zealand in a meeting on 10 July.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
International public opinion continues to turn against Israel for its war on Gaza, with more governments slowly beginning to reflect those voices and increase their own condemnation of the country.
In the last few weeks, Israeli government ministers have been sanctioned by several Western countries, with the United Kingdom, France and Canada issuing a joint statement condemning the “intolerable” level of “human suffering” in Gaza.
Last week, a number of countries from the Global South — “The Hague Group” — collectively agreed on a number of measures that they say will “restrain Israel’s assault on the Occupied Palestinian Territories”.
Across the world, and in increasing numbers, the public, politicians and, following an Israeli strike on a Catholic church in Gaza, religious leaders are speaking out against Israel’s killings in Gaza.
So, are world powers getting any closer to putting enough pressure on Israel for it to stop?
Here is what we know.
What is the Hague Group? According to its website, the Hague Group is a global bloc of states committed to “coordinated legal and diplomatic measures” in defence of international law and solidarity with the people of Palestine.
Made up of eight nations; South Africa, Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, Honduras, Malaysia, Namibia and Senegal, the group has set itself the mission of upholding international law, and safeguarding the principles set out in the Charter of the United Nations, principally “the responsibility of all nations to uphold the inalienable rights, including the right to self-determination, that it enshrines for all peoples”.
Last week, the Hague Group hosted a meeting of about 30 nations, including China, Spain and Qatar, in the Colombian capital of Bogota. Australia and New Zealand failed to attend in spite of invitations.
Also attending the meeting was UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, who characterised the meeting as “the most significant political development in the past 20 months”.
Albanese was recently sanctioned by the United States for her criticism of its ally, Israel.
At the end of the two-day meeting, 12 of the countries in attendance agreed to six measures to limit Israel’s actions in Gaza. Included in those measures were blocks on supplying arms to Israel, a ban on ships transporting weapons and a review of public contracts for any possible links to companies benefiting from Israel’s occupation of Palestine.
Have any other governments taken action? More and more.
Last Wednesday, Slovenia barred far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and ultranationalist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich from entering its territory after the wider European Union failed to agree on measures to address charges of widespread human rights abuses against Israel.
The two men have been among the most vocal Israeli ministers in rejecting any compromise in negotiations with Palestinians, and pushing for the Jewish settlement of Gaza, as well as the increased building of illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.
In May, the UK, France, and Canada issued a joint statement describing Israel’s escalation of its campaign against Gaza as “wholly disproportionate” and promising “concrete actions” against Israel if it did not halt its offensive.
Later that month, the UK followed through on its warning, announcing sanctions on a handful of settler organisations and announcing a “pause” in free trade negotiations with Israel.
Also in May, Turkiye announced that it would block all trade with Israel until the humanitarian situation in Gaza was resolved.
South Africa first launched a case for genocide against Israel at the International Court of Justice in late December 2023, and has since been supported by other countries, including Colombia, Chile, Spain, Ireland, and Turkiye.
In January of 2024, the ICJ issued its provisional ruling, finding what it termed a “plausible” case for genocide and instructing Israel to undertake emergency measures, including the provision of the aid that its government has effectively blocked since March of this year.
Following what was reported to be an “angry” phone call from US President Trump after the bombing, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office issued a statement expressing its “deep regret” over the attack. The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants against Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Has the tide turned internationally? Mass public protests against Israel’s war on Gaza have continued around the world for the past 21 months.
And there are clear signs of growing anger over the brutality of the war and the toll it is taking on Palestinians in Gaza.
In Western Europe, a survey carried out by the polling company YouGov in June found that net favourability towards Israel had reached its lowest ebb since tracking began.
A similar poll produced by CNN last week found similar results among the American public, with only 23 percent of respondents agreeing Israel’s actions in Gaza were fully justified, down from 50 percent in October 2023.
Public anger has also found voice at high-profile public events, including music festivals such as Germany’s Fusion Festival, Poland’s Open’er Festival and the UK’s Glastonbury festival, where both artists and their supporters used their platforms to denounce the war on Gaza.
Has anything changed in Israel? Protests against the war remain small but are growing, with organisations, such as Standing Together, bringing together Israeli and Palestinian activists to protest against the war.
There has also been a growing number of reservists refusing to show up for duty. In April, the Israeli magazine +972 reported that more than 100,000 reservists had refused to show up for duty, with open letters from within the military protesting against the war growing in number since.
Will it make any difference? Netanyahu’s hard-right coalition has been pursuing its war on Gaza despite its domestic and international unpopularity for some time.
The government’s most recent proposal, that all of Gaza’s population be confined into what it calls a “humanitarian city”, has been likened to a concentration camp and has been taken by many of its critics as evidence that it no longer cares about either international law or global opinion.
Internationally, despite its recent criticism of Israel for its bombing of Gaza’s one Catholic church, US support for Israel remains resolute. For many in Israel, the continued support of the US, and President Donald Trump in particular, remains the one diplomatic absolute they can rely upon to weather whatever diplomatic storms their actions in Gaza may provoke.
In addition to that support, which includes diplomatic guarantees through the use of the US veto in the UN Security Council and military support via its extensive arsenal, is the US use of sanctions against Israel’s critics, such as the International Criminal Court, whose members were sanctioned by the US in June over the arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant on war crimes charges.
That means, in the short term, Israel ultimately feels protected as long as it has US support. But as it becomes more of an international pariah, economic and diplomatic isolation may become more difficult to handle.
The Punjab Police has drawn flak on social media over a controversial post allegedly shared on its X account (@PunjabPoliceInd). The post (reportedly made on July 18, 2025) had an animated image of a light-skinned cop with the Indian tricolour over his face pinning down a dark-skinned man with the Pakistani flag. The police officer’s knee is seen on the neck of the man on the ground. The caption reads, “If you are caught with this flag, be prepared to suffer the consequences”. Social media users shared screenshots of the post, claiming the Punjab Police deleted it after it came under fire:
While sharing similar screenshots, many X users expressed anger that an Indian law enforcement authority was endorsing something so controversial and brutal to intimidate. The image bears an uncanny resemblance to George Floyd’s death in police custody in Minneapolis, United States.
On May 20, 2020, 46-year-old African-American George Floyd, unarmed and handcuffed, was pinned to the ground by three officers for using a counterfeit $20 bill to buy cigarettes at a convenience store. One of the officers, Derek Chauvin, a White man, pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for over nine minutes, resulting in his death. Floyd’s killing triggered large-scale protests against racial injustice and police brutality against Black people in the United States. These protests snowballed into the Black Lives Matter movement. After the incident, four former Minneapolis police officers were found guilty of charges including murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.
On July 18, X user Joy (@Joydas) posted the screenshot and wrote: “This is an actual tweet by Punjab Police India. They chose an image which depicts the worst racism and police brutality in the US to score a point…” (Archive)
This is an actual tweet by Punjab Police India. They chose an image which depicts the worst racism and police brutality in US to score a point. This image was viral worldwide to represent Police Atrocity but Punjab Police thought this is what they stand for pic.twitter.com/o8pBtliDPJ
Meanwhile, some users, whose X posts show a clear alignment with the Right-wing, made light of it and praised the Punjab police.
Another X user ,@BeingPolitical1, whose profile activity shows that they often promote pro-Right content, shared the same screenshot with a caption saying that the Punjab police has given “woke” people and Leftists something to rant about. (Archive)
We also came across a post from X account Gianna Floyd (@GFloyddd12), which is also the name of George Floyd’s daughter. This account had posted the viral screenshot with the caption, “Appalled to see this vile post from the official handle of the Indian police. It’s deeply disrespecting to my late father, his family, and the millions of Americans who stood in solidarity with him. The Floyd family is at loss for words”.
However, Alt News found little evidence to support that this account is actually related to George Floyd’s family. The account was created in December 2024 and there are only three posts—all made on July 18. Besides the above X post, the other was a tribute to George Floyd by a now 17-year-old Keedon Bryant and the most recent post thanked Pakistani handles for being supportive about “her father”. We also noticed that the user @GFloyddd12 follows no one but is followed by 183, many of these followers seemed to be Pakistan-based accounts.
Many other X users also shared the screenshot of the post, claiming that the Punjab police shared and later deleted the controversial post.
To confirm whether @PunjabPoliceInd actually made this post, we first checked all posts made by the account between July 16 and 18. According to the viral screenshot, the post was made at 1:36 am on July 18, 2025. There were 12 posts shared by the page within that timeframe, but none of them included the viral graphic.
This meant that either no such post was made or that it was made and later deleted.
Note that even if an X post is deleted, replies to it are visible unless users delete these responses themselves.
We noticed that within this window, several users had commented on one deleted post by the Punjab Police. Majority of the comments mentioned Pakistan, while some mentioned George Floyd. Many social media users had expressed displeasure with the content of the post. This allowed us to find the URL of the deleted X post, but since it was not archived before deleting, we could not immediately check whether this was the contentious post.
While looking at those who replied and shared screenshots, we came across X user Gul Khan (@ilaqaghair), who had also shared a screen recording accessing the post by the Punjab Police’s X account when it was live. In the video, the user can be seen clicking on the @PunjabPoliceInd handle directly from the post, which leads to their official handle.
Here is the screen recording for you. The first tweet isn’t made up, they posted it from the official Punjab Police India account, but later deleted it. https://t.co/XCUoefArPTpic.twitter.com/t2naTBIm79
Alt News reached out to @ilaqaghair to verify the authenticity of the screen recording. We also accessed the video’s metadata and were able to ascertain that the video was recorded on the user’s device.
We asked them to capture another video showing the metadata of the screen recording, which has been added below. At the 00:14-minute mark, the date and time are visible: July 18, 12:22 pm Gulf Standard Time (GST)—1:52 pm IST.
Alt News also contacted X user @Joydas, who had posted a screenshot of the Punjab Police post on July 18 at 2:03 am. He shared several screenshots of this post captured at different times from the Punjab Police’s timeline. One of the screenshots showed the Punjab Police responding with a red cross emoji to a user who had commented under the viral graphic using the Pakistani flag emoji. We also examined the metadata of these screenshots and were able to verify that the screenshots were genuine and that such a post was made.
Alt News reached out to the Punjab Police to verify whether such a post was made and deleted. A source close to the state police’s social media team denied making any such post on X. However, this person, who requested anonymity, was unable to give us information on the X post deleted on July 18.
We then reached out to Amit Prasad, the Additional Director General of Police (counter intelligence), who is the nodal officer for the Punjab Police’s social media. Prasad also said they made no such post. “Why would we do such a thing?” he said. On being told that there are several screenshots and that we have procured a verified screen recording that shows otherwise, he said that they are examining the issue. While he reiterated that the post was not made by the police, he made no mention of the X account being hacked or compromised.
Violent AI-Generated Imagery
While investigating the screenshot, we noticed a ‘Grok’ watermark in the bottom-right corner. So, the image was created using X’s AI tools.
To investigate further, we tagged Grok under one of the screenshots and asked if the graphic was generated by it. The X chatbot responded with: “The watermark indicates the image was generated using my AI image tools, accessible to users on X Premium. Anyone could have prompted it — I didn’t create or provide it to Punjab Police, and I don’t endorse its insensitive use.”
Grok’s terms prohibit generating content on illegal, harmful, or abusive activities, including—critically harming or promoting critical harm to human life, including pro-terrorist activities; violating copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property law; violating a person’s privacy or their right to publicity; the sexualization or exploitation of children; espionage, hacking, defrauding, defamation, scamming, spamming, or phishing.
So, while Grok’s response aligns with its content policies, its AI tool seems to be capable of generating violent and controversial imagery resembling real incidents if prompted, potentially contradicting its own guidelines.
Based on these findings, Alt News was able to confirm that the contentious post was shared by the Punjab Police’s X handle and later deleted. We also now know that the imagery was generated using Grok’s AI tools. However, the police’s denial and the odd timing of the post raise questions on whether the account was compromised or the post was made erroneously. No statement has been issued by the state police so far.
As negotiations over President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” came down to the wire in early July, renewable energy developers were holding their breath. Until the eleventh hour, it looked like Congress was ready to make good on Trump’s promise of “terminating” key subsidies for wind and solar virtually overnight.
In the end, the industry breathed a small sigh of relief after the Senate reached a compromise that would, at least in principle, give new projects a slim window to go ahead. Under the final law, wind and solar projects that begin construction by July 4 of next year are eligible for the full federal tax credits. Halfway through that window, a new requirement kicks in: Projects that begin construction after January 1, 2026, can only keep the tax credits if they follow restrictions on the use of Chinese materials.
That could still upend New York’s renewable energy transition.
Federal tax credits have typically covered almost a third of the cost of building a solar or wind farm. That’s made them “critical to financing and ultimately building renewable energy projects,” said Carl Weatherley-White, interim chief financial officer at the development firm Greenbacker, which is currently building New York’s largest solar farm and has several smaller projects in the works. “It’s been a core part of the business for 20 years.”
The bill will also impact New York’s public power authority, NYPA, which this year issued a plan to put up more than three gigawatts’ worth of solar and batteries, and has been counting on federal tax credits to deliver.
Developers now have less than a year to start digging if they want the subsidies. The impending deadline is lighting a fire under the industry — and, developers hope, under New York’s leaders, too.
“Now, the game is in the states,” said Marguerite Wells, executive director of the renewable energy lobbying group Alliance for Clean Energy New York. “I would say there’s many thousands of megawatts’ worth of wind and solar in upstate that would be eligible to fall into that start of construction if we played the cards right.”
For a start, there are 26 permitted but unbuilt wind and solar projects in the state, which in total could unlock about 3,000 megawatts’ worth of energy — enough to power some half a million homes. Only two of the large projects the state has approved in the last four years have even started construction; one of them was completed in late 2024, more than six years after filing its first paperwork. (The most recent permit was issued last week, but most of the permits date back to 2023 or earlier.)
The problem? The state doesn’t make it easy to move quickly. It normally takes years for wind and solar projects just to get permits to begin construction in New York, despite reforms intended to speed up the process. The rest of the approval process can take years, too. More environmental reviews are required even after the main permit is approved. And it’s just as complicated getting approval to connect to the grid.
All told, at least three different sets of regulators have to weigh in before a company can put shovels in the ground. That makes New York far more restrictive than other states in allowing developers to start building.
There are things the state could do to speed things up, like allowing developers to start construction even while they finalize certain details of their projects, but it’s largely in Governor Kathy Hochul’s hands.
Jolting the process forward would require a concerted push across her agencies. Besides permits, building a wind or solar farm in New York requires a contract with the state’s energy research and development arm, NYSERDA, guaranteeing that the developer will get paid for the energy the facility produces. Sometimes it requires the state Department of Environmental Conservation to weigh in on water quality plans, with additional input from the US Army Corps of Engineers. And it requires the state’s grid operator — which acts independently — to assess the impact and cost of connecting the facility to the grid.
Developers need answers from all of those entities before they can break ground, Wells said: “Every last whisper of detail of the project has to be finalized before they generally let you start construction.”
In her eyes, improving coordination between all of New York’s energy regulators is the single biggest thing the state could do to help move construction forward.
It’s not yet clear how committed Hochul is to the effort.
“The Governor has directed the state’s energy agencies to conduct a high-level review of the federal legislation and specific impacts to New Yorkers,” spokesperson Ken Lovett told New York Focus, when asked whether the Hochul administration shared developers’ goal of accelerating construction.
Greenbacker’s 20-megawatt “Albany 1” solar project, in Albany County, New York.
Courtesy of Greenbacker Renewable Energy Company
Before most developers even had a chance to fully digest the changes coming down from Congress, Trump threw in another gut punch. Last week, he issued an executive order directing the Treasury Department, which enforces tax credit rules, to revisit how it defines a project’s “start of construction.”
That throws even the megabill’s one-year deadline into doubt. Historically, developers have been allowed to qualify for tax credits by proving either that they’ve started physical construction or spent a certain amount of money. Now, Trump has given federal regulators 45 days to revise those definitions.
The specific definitions that the Treasury adopts could prove decisive in some cases. But whatever exact language the administration lands on, the bottom line is that Trump still has significant leeway to kill wind and solar projects if he’s committed to it, said Advait Arun, senior associate for energy finance at the think tank Center for Public Enterprise.
“Simply, I think Trump is trying to use control over the IRS to exercise his judgment about what projects should proceed and what shouldn’t,” he said.
Trump will have even more sway after the end of this calendar year, when additional requirements kick in. Starting in January 2026, developers hoping to claim tax credits will have to abide by restrictions on sourcing from “Foreign Entities of Concern,” including those connected to the Chinese government. The megabill tasks the Treasury with updating those rules, giving Trump another opportunity to crack down on what he’s called the “Green New Scam.”
It all adds up to shaky terrain for renewable developers, even those who stand a chance of getting shovels in the ground within a year.
“The big concern … is that no matter what we do, someone in the Treasury is going to just say no,” said Weatherley-White, of Greenbacker, speaking to New York Focus a few hours before Trump issued his executive order last week. (Reporting earlier this month had already suggested that the construction rules could be in the crosshairs.)
Neither Weatherley-White nor Wells, of ACE NY, responded to follow-up inquiries about the order.
Unless the Trump administration completely upends what counts as the “start of construction,” there’s still a lot New York could do to help more projects get in under the one-year bar.
For example, in many states, wind and solar developers can begin construction on projects that don’t have all of their final approvals, but have the main elements of their design — like the location of roads and buildings — agreed upon, Wells said. But in New York, that initial green light is hard to get. It would make a big difference if the state were to adopt the practice more readily, she said.
New York could also jumpstart the contracting process for wind and solar projects. Close to half of the state’s permitted but unbuilt projects had contracts that were canceled after post-pandemic inflation upended their finances. Over the last year, the state has announced new contracts for dozens of projects in this situation, but others remain in limbo.
NYSERDA had plans to kick off a fresh round of wind and solar contracting by the end of June, but it’s behind schedule. A spokesperson said the agency would begin the process by the end of September.
Those nitty-gritty steps are unlikely to change, though, unless Hochul makes it a priority. The governor could direct agencies to fast track permitting or contracts, as she did with offshore wind a couple of years ago. She has lately shown a keen interest in cutting red tape for other forms of energy — specifically, a nuclear plant that she has tasked NYPA to build by 2040. (There, though, the key approvals need to come from the Trump administration rather than her own.)
Her Department of Environmental Conservation also appears to be speeding along a revived pipeline project that would bring gas into New York City and Long Island. The agency said earlier this month that it had received a complete application from the pipeline company and opened a 30-day comment period with no public hearing. The notice came just five weeks after it was revealed that the state would reconsider the previously abandoned project — reportedly as part of a deal with the Trump administration to allow a major offshore wind project to move ahead, though Hochul’s office has denied a quid pro quo.
Renewable developers, by contrast, can spend years applying and reapplying for permits before they’re allowed to proceed to a mandatory, 60-day public comment period.
“If we’re cutting red tape for other forms of energy, we should cut red tape for renewable energy, too,” Wells said.
Whether any wind or solar projects remain viable in New York after the federal tax credits expire remains an open question. Although Trump has framed his efforts as rolling back Biden-era policies, solar and wind tax credits date as far back as the 1970s, and have remained largely steady since 2005.
Some, like Weatherley-White, remain optimistic that the renewable industry can learn to live without them.
“The renewable energy industry has adapted to lots of changes over time,” he said, suggesting that developers could find ways to cut costs to cushion the blow from losing the tax credits.
“Unfortunately, there will be losers and winners,” Weatherley-White continued. “I think we’re going to see some short-term pain. But in the long run or medium term, let’s say, I think people will adapt and succeed.”
The labor coalition Climate Jobs NY struck a similarly bullish tone in a statement earlier this month. “With or without the support from our federal lawmakers, union workers in New York will find ways to build the pro-worker clean energy economy we need,” the group wrote.
Others see the glass half empty. Arun said that a key part of how the industry hoped to bring down costs was by using tax credits to build momentum and standardize the development process.
“If you can’t build, there’s no standardization or lowering costs through economies of scale,” he said. “And that’s what I’m really worried about.”
Hochul’s office, too, is striking a sober note.
“The federal budget bill slashes the very tools states need to achieve energy independence and economic growth,” Lovett said, “and no state will be able to backfill the massive cuts they face across so many key areas.”
American volunteers for the Israeli army have partied with Ben Shapiro in Boca Raton, met with House Republicans Brian Mast and Mike Lawler in Washington, and joined New York City Mayor Eric Adams at Gracie Mansion. On a Manhattan rooftop late last year, they sipped cocktails and reconnected with people they’d met before — supporting Israel in its campaign of bombing, displacement, and starvation in Gaza.
These efforts were organized by Nevut, a New York-based charity supporting American “lone soldiers” who sign up for the Israeli military. Among its upcoming events is a wellness retreat to Panama for lone soldier veterans who served in the Israeli military during its ongoing genocide in Gaza, which has killed more than 58,000 people — nearly half of them children — according to Gaza’s health ministry. Other estimates put the death toll at 80,000 or higher.
Nevut, which operates across 22 states, is one of at least 20 U.S.-based charities directly funding lone soldier programs. Since 2020, according to The Intercept’s analysis of their tax forms, these organizations have spent over $26 million to recruit and support lone soldiers from initial drafting to reintegration. The groups provide subsidized apartments, therapy, wellness retreats, and equipment to Israeli military units.
The Intercept reviewed five years of tax documents that show 2023 was the most lucrative year on record for lone soldier programs. After Israel began calling up hundreds of thousands of reservists in the wake of Hamas’s October 7 attack, U.S. donors poured funding into the organizations. Each year from 2002 to 2020, between 3,000 and 4,000 lone soldiers served in the Israeli military, about a third of them from North America. Since October 7, 2023, it is estimated that 7,000 lone soldiers from the U.S. alone have either signed up or returned to Israel to serve.
The programs have helped to prop up an Israeli military now facing its biggest recruitment crisis in decades. As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu drags the assault on Gaza through its second year, civilians have protested his government and soldiers have refused to show up for reserve duty. With an estimated 100,000 Israeli soldiers refusing service, volunteers from the U.S. and other countries provide reinforcements. Last year, the Israeli military estimated that at least 23,000 American citizens were currently serving, a combination of lone soldiers and Americans who immigrated to Israel with their families.
On social media, Nevut and other organizations post pictures, videos, and testimonies from lone soldiers serving in Gaza.Earlier this month, Nevut promoted a video advertising a day at a shooting range as “a little dose of enjoyable fire.” A man wearing military tactical gear says: “All the guys here serve in the IDF; a majority serve in the war in Gaza.”
Another Instagram video encourages lone soldier veterans to reach out if they’re thinking of going back into combat. One Nevut post advises viewers on “What not to ask a lone soldier,” including: “Did you kill anyone?” “How many people died over there?” and “Were you in Gaza or Lebanon?”
“These can potentially feel like dismissive, political, or emotionally charged questions,” the post warns.
A screenshot from Nevut's Instagram. Screenshot: Nevut / Instagram
While the United States’ steady supply of weapons shipments to Israel has come under scrutiny from elected officials to the United Nations, thousands of U.S. civilians who travel to Israel to join the army have received markedly less attention. Back at home, American lone soldiers do speaking tours to cleanse the reputation of the Israeli military.
“I almost died for Palestinian children,” said lone soldier Eli Wininger at an event in an Alabama church put on by the Massachusetts-based lone soldier organization Growing Wings. A Los Angeles native, Wininger has touched many sides of the lone soldier ecosystem: He was recruited after taking part in the youth scouts program Garin Tzabar, served with the Israeli military in Gaza, returned to the United States, and recently started a volunteer position as a youth leader with the U.S. nonprofit Friends of the IDF. Speaking at the Growing Wings event earlier this year, he said he was instructed “not to kill Palestinian children. There is not a single soldier in there that is doing that.”
According to the U.N., over 50,000 children have been killed or injured in Gaza since October 7, 2023 — though this is likely an undercount.
Wininger did not respond to The Intercept’s request for comment.
In response to questions on lone soldiers and the army’s affiliation with U.S. nonprofit groups, the IDF told The Intercept it had “no comment.” Neither Nevut nor Growing Wings responded to The Intercept’s requests for comment.
Federal law prohibits recruiting for foreign armies within U.S. borders, but it allows donations and promotion of foreign volunteering. Where, if at all, efforts to help American teens join the Israeli military run afoul of U.S. policy on foreign fighting is hard to determine, experts say.
“The State Department basically says on the website that we don’t want Americans serving abroad,” said David Malet, an associate professor of justice, law, and criminology at American University who researches foreign fighters. “But realistically, we know it’s kind of hard to enforce that.”
A State Department spokesperson said U.S. citizens serving in the Israeli military are not required to register their service with the U.S. government. Dual citizens must comply with the laws of both countries of which they are a citizen, including any mandatory military service. The department said U.S. citizens are encouraged to consult current travel advisories for Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. (It recommends that people reconsider their travel to Israel and the West Bank, and not travel to Gaza.)
“Our embassies overseas maintain rough estimates of U.S. citizens in their countries for contingency planning purposes, but these estimates are imperfect, can vary, and are constantly changing, which is why we do not generally disclose them publicly,” a State Department spokesperson said in a statement. “U.S. citizens are not required to register their travel to a foreign country with us, so we cannot track with certainty how many U.S. citizens are in any particular country.”
The State Department referred questions about legal implications of serving in a foreign military to the Department of Justice. DOJ referred questions to the Department of Defense, which referred questions to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS referred questions back to the State Department.
Across the Jewish diaspora and in Israel, lone soldiers are receiving more recognition than ever.
“I’m definitely aware of increased numbers of volunteers which are welcomed in Israel right now,” Malet said. “You can see a lot more recognition and efforts to honor fallen lone soldiers than you would have seen before October 7.”
The Pipeline
Becca Strober was hailed as a hero when she returned to the U.S. while serving as a lone soldier in Israel. As she walked around her father’s synagogue in Philadelphia in 2009, the congregants stood up to shake her hand and thank her.
“I had just finished guarding a West Bank settlement,” said Strober, now an anti-occupation activist. “Even then, I was like, this is such a weird experience.”
Strober was first introduced to the possibility of joining the Israeli military when she was 17, during a high school semester she spent in Israel. She said alumni of the semester in Israel program wearing miliary uniforms spoke to her group. “There were a lot of informal ways of talking about enlisting in the army,” Strober told The Intercept.
She later joined after participating in the Garin Tzabar program, which runs two major drafting sessions each year. The program is funded by Tzofim, the biggest Zionist youth movement in Israel and the U.S. Also known as the Friends of Israel Scouts, the group has a U.S. nonprofit in New York.
Tzofim “begins educating kids at five years old,” said one former Zionist youth leader in Australia, who requested anonymity for fear of professional retaliation. He took part in groups affiliated with Tzofim as a teen. “There is a direct funnel from educating toddlers to, as soon as they turn 18 — they’re of military age and they’re indoctrinated and groomed and brainwashed, and they’re ready to fight the battle.”
Garin Tzabar continues to recruit lone soldiers from the U.S., who often end up serving in combat in Gaza and “protecting civilians” in the West Bank — where Israeli settlers and forces have killed 1,000 Palestinians since October 7, 2023.
Israeli soldiers talking to settlers in the West Bank in April 2025.Photo: Georgia Gee
The recruitment pipeline includes many U.S. day schools — from more conservative yeshivas to modern Jewish day schools — that advertise how many alumni go on to serve in the Israeli military.
The Frisch School in Paramus, New Jersey, had 51 alumni serving in the Israeli military as of 2023. Another school in New Jersey, the Rae Kushner Yeshiva, has congratulated an alum who became a social media manager in the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit.
“Her work was recognized as important for hasbara by the Israeli news,” the school boasted on Facebook, using a term for Israeli public diplomacy, including propaganda tailored to international audiences. Another alum of the school served as a lone soldier in the army and was a friend of the son of Netanyahu, who commemorated him after he died while traveling in 2018.
One charity reviewed by The Intercept, the Lone Soldier Foundation, specifically provides funds for the children of families that attend a synagogue in northern New Jersey who join the Israeli military. According to the group’s most recent tax filing, it also supports the units in which the children of members of its congregation serve. In 2023, the group spent over $80,000 on providing “non-combat and equipment to IDF units in which eligible American citizens served.”
North American lone soldiers are a “great example of the Zionist spirit or the Zionist dream,” Strober told The Intercept. “It keeps American Jewish communities very, very close to the Israel question. It doesn’t allow them to think critically because it’s so close, because you know people who have been killed, or people who have served.”
The Charities
Under heightened public scrutiny, U.S. nonprofits have distanced themselves from directly funding projects in the West Bank or other settlements, which are illegal under international law.
But U.S.-based nonprofits granted $8.8 million to specific lone soldier programs in 2023 alone, The Intercept found. It’s possible the real number is higher, as nonprofits only have to report foreign grants above a certain threshold.
“It doesn’t allow American Jewish communities to think critically, because you know people who have been killed.”
The biggest known funder is Friends of the IDF, which has spent nearly $20 million on its lone soldier program since 2020, supporting more than 6,500 lone soldiers each year, according to documents filed with the Internal Revenue Service. In a statement, Friends of the IDF, an official partner of the Israeli military, said it provides more than 7,000 lone soldiers “with practical, emotional and mental health support throughout their service to make sure they never feel alone.” The group said about half of the soldiers it backs are from Israel but are considered lone soldiers because they don’t have family support.
On its Instagram page, the group says it is the “only U.S. non-profit working directly with IDF leadership to provide critical support for Israel soldiers’ health, well-being & education.”
Other organizations help offset the costs of living for lone soldiers. Bayit Brigade, which operates in both the U.S. and Israel, helps lone soldiers find affordable housing in Tel Aviv and raises emergency funds to help transport soldiers to their bases and provide supplies in the field.
Bayit Brigade has posted videos of volunteers providing resources to the Israeli military’s Yahalom Unit, which conducts “tunnel warfare” and demolitions in Gaza, including destroying areas to allow the military to operate. The organization’s revenue jumped from approximately $160,000 in 2022 to $1.3 million in 2023, according to nonprofit documents. In a statement, the group told The Intercept that following October 7, it “temporarily expanded its community support efforts to address urgent needs on the ground,” but have “no formal relationship with any government entity or with the IDF.”
The lines between support, education and recruitment of lone soldiers — including what a formal relationship entails — are often blurred, said Strober, the former lone soldier. Garin Tzabar, for example, is operated in part by Israel’s Ministry of Aliyah and Integration. Other efforts to finance lone soldiers, like Bayit Brigade, distance themselves from any sort of affiliation with the Israeli government.
Other organizations also advertise their support for soldiers who fought in Gaza. Friends of Emek Lone Soldiers held concerts in the West Bank for women who served in Gaza. The website of the Michael Levin Lone Soldier Foundation includes testimonies of soldiers who received support while serving in Gaza.
When she was part of the Israeli military, Strober still considered herself a believer in human rights, she told The Intercept. She was working for a human rights organization that supported Gazans’ freedom of movement when, in 2014, Israel launched a series of attacks on Gaza that killed more than 2,000 Palestinians in under two months.
“I didn’t really know anything about Gaza,” Strober said. “It was kind of the first time that I had any concept of who Palestinians were on the other side and how much control Israel had.”
Strober said she watched her friends get called up from the reserves and realized she didn’t want to go serve in Gaza. “I just remember thinking, I’m not going to go zero in guns to kill Gazans when I’m talking to Gazans on the phone every day,” she said.
Palestinian supporters and protesters against the 21 months of Israeli genocide in Gaza marched after a rally in downtown Auckland today across the Viaduct to the Greenpeace environmental flagship Rainbow Warrior — and met a display of solidarity.
Several people on board the campaign ship, which has been holding open days over last weekend and this weekend, held up Palestinian flags and displayed a large banner declaring “Sanction Israel — Stop the genocide”.
About 300 people were in the vibrant rally and Greenpeace Aotearoa oceans campaigner Juan Parada came out on Halsey Wharf to speak to the protesters in solidarity over Gaza.
“Greenpeace stands for peace and justice, and environmental justice, not only for the environmental damage, but for the lives of the people,” said Parada, a former media practitioner.
Global environmental campaigners have stepped up their condemnation of the devastation in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories as well as the protests over the genocide, which has so far killed almost 59,000 people, most of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Department, although some researchers say the actual death toll is far higher.
Greenpeace campaigner Juan Parada (left) and one of the Palestine rally facilitators, Youssef Sammour, at today’s rally as it reached Halsey Wharf. Image: Asia Pacific Report
Gaza war emissions condemned
New research recently revealed that the carbon footprint of the first 15 months of Israel’s war on Gaza would be greater than the annual planet-warming emissions of 100 individual countries, worsening the global climate emergency on top of the huge civilian death toll.
The report cited by The Guardian indicated that Israel’s relentless bombardment, blockade and refusal to comply with international court rulings had “underscored the asymmetry of each side’s war machine, as well as almost unconditional military, energy and diplomatic support Israel enjoys from allies, including the US and UK”.
The Israeli war machine has been primarily blamed.
“This is cruelty – this is not a war”, says the young girl’s placard on the Viaduct today. Image: Asia Pacific Report
Greenpeace open letter
Greenpeace Aotearoa recently came out with strong statements about the genocidal war on Gaza with executive director Russel Norman earlier this month writing an open letter to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters, expressing his grave concerns about the “ongoing genocide in Gaza being carried out by Israeli forces” — and the ongoing failure of the New Zealand Government to impose meaningful sanctions on Israel.
He referred to the mounting death toll of starving Palestinians being deliberately shot at the notorious Israeli-US backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) food distribution sites.
Norman also cited an Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz report that Israeli soldiers had been ordered to deliberately shoot unarmed Palestinians seeking aid, quoting one Israeli soldier saying: “It’s a killing field.”
Today’s rally featured many Palestinians wearing thobe costumes in advance of Palestinian Traditional Dress Day on July 25.
This is a day to showcase and celebrate the rich Palestinian cultural heritage through traditional clothing that is intricately embroidered.
Traditional thobes are a symbol of Palestinian resilience.
“Israel-USA – blood on your hands” banner at today’s rally in Auckland. Image: Asia Pacific Report
United States immigration and deportation enforcement continues to ramp up, impacting on Marshallese and Micronesians in new and unprecedented ways.
The Trump administration’s directive to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to arrest and deport massive numbers of potentially illegal aliens, including those with convictions from decades past, is seeing Marshallese and Micronesians swept up by ICE.
The latest unprecedented development is Marshallese and Micronesians being removed from the United States to the offshore detention facility at the US Navy base in Guantánamo Bay — a facility set up to jail terrorists suspected of involvement in the 9/11 airplane attacks in the US in 2001.
Marshall Islands Ambassador to the US Charles Paul this week confirmed a media report that one Marshallese was currently incarcerated at Guantánamo, which is also known as “GTMO”.
The same report from nationnews.com said 72 detainees from 26 countries had been sent to GTMO last week, including from the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia.
A statement issued by the US Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE operations, concerning detention of foreigners with criminal records at GTMO said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was using “every tool available to get criminal illegal aliens off our streets and out of our country.”
But the action was criticised by a Marshallese advocate for citizens from the Compact countries in the US.
‘Legal, ethical concerns’
“As a Compact of Free Association (COFA) advocate and ordinary indigenous citizen of the Marshallese Islands, I strongly condemn the detention of COFA migrants — including citizens from the Republic of the Marshall Islands — at the US Naval Base in Guantánamo Bay,” Benson Gideon said in a social media post this week.
“This action raises urgent legal, constitutional, and ethical concerns that must be addressed without delay.”
Since seeing the news about detention of a Marshallese in this US facility used to hold suspected terrorists, Ambassador Paul said he had “been in touch with ICE to repatriate one Marshallese being detained.”
Paul said he was “awaiting all the documents pertaining to the criminal charges, but we were informed that the individual has several felony and misdemeanor convictions. We are working closely with ICE to expedite this process.”
Gideon said bluntly the detention of the Marshallese was a breach of Compact treaty obligations.
“The COFA agreement guarantees fair treatment. Military detention undermines this commitment,” he said.
Gideon listed the strong Marshallese links with the US — service in high numbers in the US military, hosting of the Kwajalein missile range, US military control of Marshall Islands ocean and air space — as examples of Marshallese contributions to the US.
‘Treated as criminals’
“Despite these sacrifices, our people are being treated as criminals and confined in a facility historically associated with terrorism suspects,” he said.
“I call on the US Embassy in Majuro to publicly address this injustice and work with federal agencies to ensure COFA Marshallese residents are treated with dignity and fairness.
“If we are good enough to host your missile ranges, fight in your military, and support your defence strategy, then we are good enough to be protected — not punished. Let justice, transparency, and respect prevail.”
There were 72 immigration detainees at Guantánamo Bay, 58 of them classified as high-risk and 14 in the low-risk category, reported nationnews.com.
The report added that the criminal records of the detainees include convictions for homicide; sexual offences, including against children; child pornography; assault with a weapon; kidnapping; drug smuggling; and robbery.
Civil rights advocates have called the detention of immigration detainees at Guantanamo Bay punitive and unlawful, arguing in an active lawsuit that federal law does not allow the government to hold those awaiting deportation outside of US territory.
In other US immigration and deportation developments:
The delivery last month by US military aircraft of 18 Marshallese deported from the US and escorted by armed ICE agents is another example of the ramped-up deportation focus of the Trump administration. Since the early 2000s more than 300 Marshall Islanders have been deported from the US. Prior to the Trump administration, past deportations were managed by US Marshals escorting deportees individually on commercial flights.
According to Marshall Islands authorities, there have not been any deportations since the June 10 military flight to Majuro, suggesting that group deportations may be the way the Trump administration handles further deportations.
Individual travellers flying into Honolulu whose passports note place of birth as Kiribati are reportedly now being refused entry. This reportedly happened to a Marshallese passport holder late last month who had previously travel
led in and out of the US without issue.
Most Marshallese passport holders enjoy visa-free travel to the US, though there are different levels of access to the US based on if citizenship was gained through naturalisation or a passport sales programme in the 1980s and 1990s.
US Ambassador to the Marshall Islands Laura Stone said, however, that “the visa-free travel rules have not changed.”
She said she could not speak to any individual traveller’s situation without adequate information to evaluate the situation.
She pointed out that citizenship “acquired through naturalisation, marriage, investment, adoption” have different rules. Stone urged all travellers to examine the rules carefully and determine their eligibility for visa-free travel.
“If they have a question, we would be happy to answer their enquiry at ConsMajuro@state.gov,” she added.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
“If words shape our consciousness, then the media holds the keys to minds.”
This sentence is not merely a metaphor, but a reality we live daily in the coverage of the Israeli aggression on Gaza, where the crimes of the occupation are turned into “acts of violence”, the siege targeting civilians into “security measures”, and the legitimate resistance into “terrorist acts”.
This linguistic distortion is not innocent; it is part of a “systematic mechanism” practised by major Western media outlets, through which they perpetuate a false image of a “conflict between two equal sides”, ignoring the fact that one is an occupier armed with the latest military technology, and the other is a people besieged in their land for decades.
Here, the ethical question becomes urgent: how does the media shift from conveying truth to becoming a tool for justifying oppression?
Western media institutions promote a colonial narrative that reproduces the discourse of Israeli superiority, using linguistic and legal mechanisms to justify genocide.
But the rise of global awareness through social media platforms and documentaries like We Are Not Numbers, produced by youth in Gaza, exposes this bias and brings the Palestinian narrative back to the forefront.
Selective coverage . . . when injustice becomes an opinion “Terrorism”, “self-defence”, “conflict” . . . are all terms that place the responsibility for violence on Palestinians while presenting Israel as the perpetual victim. This linguistic shift contradicts international law, which considers settlements a war crime (according to Article 8 of the Rome Statute), yet most reports avoid even describing the West Bank as “occupied territory”.
More dangerously, the issue is reduced to “violent events” without mentioning their contexts: how can the Palestinian people’s resistance be understood without addressing 75 years of displacement and the siege of Gaza since 2007? The media is like someone commenting on the flames without mentioning who ignited them.
The Western media coverage of the Israeli war on Gaza represents a blatant model of systematic bias that reproduces the Israeli narrative and justifies war crimes through precise linguistic and media mechanisms. Below is a breakdown of the most prominent practices:
Stripping historical context and portraying Palestinians as aggressor
Ignoring the occupation: Media outlets like the BBC and The New York Times ignored the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories since 1948 and focused on the 7 October 2023 attack as an isolated event, without linking it to the daily oppression such as home demolitions and arrests in Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Misleading terms: The war has often been described as a “conflict between Israel and Hamas”, while Gaza is considered the largest open-air prison in the world under Israeli siege since 2007. Example: The Economist described Hamas’s attacks as “bloody”, while Israeli attacks were called “military operations”.
Dehumanising Palestinians Language of abstraction: The BBC used terms like “died” for Palestinians versus “killed” for Israelis, according to a quantitative study by The Intercept, weakening sympathy for Palestinian victims.
Victim portrayal: While Israeli death reports included names and family ties (like “mother” or “grandmother”), Palestinians were shown as anonymous numbers, as seen in the coverage of Le Monde and Le Figaro.
Israeli political rhetoric: Media outlets reported statements by Israeli leaders such as dismissed defence minister Yoav Gallant, who described Palestinians as “human animals”, and Benjamin Netanyahu, who called them “children of darkness”, without critically analysing this rhetoric that strips them of their humanity.
Distorting resistance and linking it to terrorism Misleading comparisons: The October 7 attack was compared to “9/11” and described as a “terrorist attack” in The Washington Post and CNN, reinforcing the “war on terror” narrative and justifying Israel’s excessive response.
Fake news: Papers like The Sun and Daily Mail promoted the story of “beheaded Israeli babies” without evidence, a story even adopted by US president Joe Biden, only to be disproven later by videos showing Hamas’ humane treatment of captives.
Selective coverage and suppression of the Palestinian narrative Silencing journalists: Journalists such as Zahraa Al-Akhras (Global News) and Bassam Bounni (BBC) were dismissed for criticising Israel or supporting Palestine, while others were pressured to adopt the Israeli narrative.
Defaming Palestinian institutions:The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal claimed the Palestinian death toll figures were “exaggerated”, ignoring UN and human rights organisations’ reports that confirmed their accuracy.
Manipulating legal and ethical terms Denying war crimes:Deutsche Welle stated that Israeli attacks are “not considered war crimes”, despite the destruction of hospitals and the killing of tens of thousands of civilians.
Legal misinformation: The BBC referred to Israeli settlements in the West Bank as “disputed territories”, despite the UN declaring them illegal.
The Israeli military joins settlers in attacks because terrorizing Palestinians is state policy. But Western media doesn’t report it that way.
Double standards in conflict coverage Comparison with Ukraine: Western media linked support for Ukraine and Israel as “victims of aggression”, while ignoring that Israel is an occupying power under international law. Terminology shifted immediately: “invasion”, “war crimes”, “occupation” were used for Ukraine but omitted when speaking of Palestine.
According to a 2022 study by the Arab Media Monitoring Project, 90 percent of Western reports on Ukraine used language blaming Russia for the violence, compared to only 30 percent in the Palestinian case.
This contradiction exposes the underlying “racist bias”: how is killing in Europe called “genocide”, while in Gaza it is termed a “complicated conflict”? The answer lies in the statement of journalist Mika Brzezinski: “The only red line in Western media is criticising Israel.”
False neutrality: Sky News claimed it “could not verify” the Baptist Hospital massacre, despite video documentation, yet quickly adopted the Israeli narrative.
Consequences: legitimising genocide and marginalising Palestinian rights Western media practices have contributed to normalising Israeli violence by portraying it as “legitimate defence”, while resistance is labelled as “terrorism.”
Deepening Palestinian isolation: By stripping them of the right to narrate, as shown in an academic study by Mike Berry (Cardiff University), which found emotional terms used exclusively to describe Israeli victims.
Undermining international law: By ignoring reports from organisations like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, which confirm Israel’s commission of war crimes.
Violating journalistic ethics . . . when the journalist becomes the occupation’s lawyer Journalistic codes of ethics — such as the charter of the “International Federation of Journalists” — unanimously agree that the media’s primary task is “to expose the facts without fear”. But the reality proves the opposite:
In 2023, CNN deleted an interview with a Palestinian survivor of the Jenin massacre after pressure from the Israeli lobby (according to an investigation by Middle East Eye).
The Guardian was forced to edit the headline of an article that described settlements as “apartheid” after threats of legal action.
This self-censorship turns journalism into a “copier of official statements”, abandoning the principle of “not compromising with ruling powers” emphasised by the “International Journalists’ Network”.
Toward human-centred journalism Fixing this flaw requires dismantling biased language: replacing “conflict” with “military occupation”, and “settlements” with “illegal colonies”.
Relying on international law: such as mentioning Articles 49 and 53 of the Fourth Geneva Convention when discussing the displacement of Palestinians.
Giving space to victims’ voices: According to an Amnesty report, 80% of guests on Western TV channels discussing the conflict were either Israeli or Western.
Holding media institutions accountable: through pressure campaigns to enforce their ethical charters (such as obligating the BBC to mention “apartheid” after the HRW report).
Conclusion The war on Gaza has become a stark test of media ethics. While platforms like Al Jazeera and Middle East Eye have helped expose violations, major Western media outlets continue to reproduce a colonial discourse that enables Israel. The greatest challenge today is to break the silence surrounding the crimes of genocide and impose a human narrative that restores the stolen humanity of the victims.
“Occupation doesn’t just need tanks, it needs media to justify its existence.” These were the words of journalist Gideon Levy after witnessing how his camera turned war crimes into “normal news”.
If Western media is serious about its claim of neutrality, it must start with a simple step: call things by their names. Words are not lifeless letters, they are ticking bombs that shape the consciousness of generations.
Refaat Ibrahim is the editor and creator of The Resistant Palestinian Pens website, where you can find all his articles. He is a Palestinian writer living in Gaza, where he studied English language and literature at the Islamic University. He has been passionate about writing since childhood, and is interested in political, social, economic, and cultural matters concerning his homeland, Palestine. This article was first published at Pearls and Irritations social policy journal in Australia.
Zohran Mamdani participates in an endorsement event in New York City on July 10, 2025.Photo: Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images
Zohran Mamdani’s campaign struggled to win “the Black vote.”
That was part of the narrative that emerged after Mamdani’s surprising win in the New York City Democratic mayoral primary. Though Mamdani, a state assemblymember, decisively triumphed over his chief opponent, disgraced former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the young democratic socialist’s performance in majority-Black precincts proved to be a weak spot.
Mamdani’s weak showing wouldn’t be cause for much concern to his campaign if he were only running in the general against perennial Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa. In addition, however, Mamdani will be facing two erstwhile Democratic candidates: disgraced incumbent Mayor Eric Adams and, again, Cuomo. In past elections, they have both relied on Black voters as a crucial bloc of support.
Mamdani’s campaign could show us a different side of politics in New York.
Last month’s results in some 15 percent of voting precincts with majority-Black populations, though, don’t tell the whole story. Rather than being a race about a mythically monolithic “Black vote,” Mamdani’s campaign could show us a different side of politics in New York — one that speaks to Black voters based on their material needs.
Staying on message about affordability was Mamdani’s route to victory in the primary, and it could hold the key in the general, too. If he can win over some Black voters — rather than the “Black vote” — he may yet again shock political observers and land himself in the mayor’s office. His foes, however, are already seizing on his primary performance.
Younger Voters
It’s true that Mamdani struggled with Black voters. Cuomo won more than half of the votes in majority-Black precincts, while Mamdani got about 34 percent. In those areas with more than 70 percent Black residents, Mamdani did even worse.
In the general election, though, Mamdani stands a chance to perform relatively well among Black voters. With both Cuomo and Adams running, their historically strong numbers in Black precincts may be split: The most recent polling shows Cuomo with 32 percent support among Black voters, and Adams trailing with 14 percent. Mamdani currently leads with 35 percent.
Either Adams or Cuomo could consolidate their Black support if the other drops out, but Mamdani’s position speaks to something else that commentators almost never talk about.
There is no singular “Black vote.” Not even with the Democratic Party, and certainly not in New York City, where the Black population is a wildly diverse mix of native-born New Yorkers, transplants like me, immigrants from the entire diaspora, radicals, conservatives, queer people, church-goers, Muslims, and older and younger residents.
The so-called Black vote, in other words, doesn’t need to shake out the way it frequently has in the past; all indications are that it won’t.
Mamdani is the candidate that has shown he can seize on young voter enthusiasm — and with young Black voters, themselves no monolith, offering Mamdani an opening. True, some of these younger voters are moving toward the Republican Party, but it’s also true that young Black Democrats are more likely to hold more progressive views than their older counterparts.
Indeed, young Black voters appear to have gone decisively for Mamdani in the primary. According to one primary exit poll (with a small sample size), about 70 percent of Black voters under 50 voted for Mamdani citywide. There’s no reason to think he will lose that support in the general, and if he can continue to increase young Black voter turnout, he may not need the older ones.
The Latest Attack
This is something Mamdani’s adversaries don’t want to talk about — which is why they’re so insistent on boosting the narrative that he had a poor showing among Black voters.
Shortly after Mamdani’s primary victory, the first opposition research attack showed how his opponents plan to go after him: by seeking to diminish his support among Black New Yorkers.
The salvo came in a recent New York Times report on Mamdani’s 2009 application to Columbia University. The then-17-year-old had checked racial identification boxes for both “Asian” and “African American.”
Mamdani was born in Uganda, as was his father, an Indian Ugandan, and was raised there and in South Africa until coming to the United States when he was seven years old. He told the Times: “Most college applications don’t have a box for Indian-Ugandans, so I checked multiple boxes trying to capture the fullness of my background.”
It’s not much of a scandal: A college applicant with a background that does not neatly fit into U.S.-defined racial categories attempted to use those categories to accurately describe his identity.
The story was more remarkable for how it came to be: a hack of Columbia’s records, intended to show that the school was still pursuing race-based affirmative action admissions. The information was then fed to the Times reporters through Jordan Lasker, who has supported eugenics, to whom the Times granted anonymity and described merely as “an academic who opposes affirmative action and writes often about I.Q. and race.”
In the end, checking the boxes didn’t help Mamdani; he didn’t get into Columbia, despite his father’s professorship there.
The attack is of a piece with the Democratic Party establishment’s playbook for winning over Black voters. While some Democrats forgo actual policy talk and appeal to cultural signifiers — think of Bill Clinton playing the sax on The Arsenio Hall Show — others play up any real or imagined racial grievance.
The Adams campaign has already pursued this approach. In response to the Times story, it tried to paint Mamdani as a fraud — a fraud who attempted to personally benefit from the hard-won gains of Black political struggle.
What’s Actually Happening
Mamdani has acknowledged this lack of enthusiasm among some Black voters and has noted that he must do more in terms of direct outreach. He has already appeared several times alongside Reverend Al Sharpton and is hitting the Black church circuit.
Mamdani, in other words, is seeking to build his support among those who typically constitute what we refer to as the “Black vote” — frequently older, often church-going, and used to dealing with the Democratic establishment.
Democratic leaders have for years courted the “Black vote” with an old playbook. It includes a brand of retail politics where a select number of power brokers have served as intermediaries and representatives of the greater Black community — and often engage in a sort of transactional politics with the party.
What’s notable about Mamdani’s appeals to traditional Black stakeholders in New York politics is that he’s not sticking to this playbook.
And here, young Black voters have a chance to do some remaking of their own. What the last decade-plus of black-led movement politics has shown is a disdain among millennial and Gen Z Black people for this version of top-down political organizing — the media’s attempts to brand figures like DeRay McKesson and Shaun King as new age leaders be damned.
If young Black voters can play a deciding role in a Mamdani win come November, it may be a sign that the old playbook is no longer the only game in town. Politicians may have to do something they haven’t considered for decades: treat Black voters like they are people with real, material interests — informed by their experience of race and racism in the U.S., but material interests nonetheless.
Mamdani’s affordability program offers direct benefits to young black New Yorkers eking out a living.
This is where Mamdani has been consistent from day one, focusing on issues of affordability: more direct government intervention in housing, transportation, childcare, and groceries. These are the “kitchen table” issues Democrats say they would like to focus on, though we have seen little of it. Instead, the party focuses on cultural appeals and fearmongering about public safety.
Mamdani’s affordability program, however, offers direct benefits to young Black New Yorkers eking out a living in a city of rising rents and depressed wages. If implemented, this agenda could make it easier for young Black New Yorkers to stay in the neighborhoods Black people have historically called home.
Rewriting the rules is never easy. The attack on Mamdani over his Columbia application appears not to have legs, but it will not be the last attempt. A concerted effort on the part of young Black voters to resist the tired old politics, as well as Mamdani’s push to address their real concerns, may be enough to not only overcome the old guard, but spell its ultimate demise.
Our opening clip featured the poet June Jordan reciting her powerful piece A Menace to My Enemies. Jordan is a sheroe of this week’s guest, the unstoppable Mona Eltahawy: journalist, feminist firebrand, and global truth-teller whose voice cuts through the noise like no one else.
Mona is the author of Headscarves and Hymens, The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls, and her latest, Bloody Hell!: Adventures in Menopause From Around the World. Her work spans continents and revolutions, from the frontlines of Egypt’s Arab Spring to the ongoing fight against patriarchy, white supremacy, and fascism everywhere. She’s here to inspire rebellion, liberation, and the refusal to be silenced.
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Looking for a summer read that pairs well with revolution? Pick up the Gaslit Nation graphic novel, Dictatorship: It’s Easier Than You Think! Follow our shady narrator, Judge Lackey, as he bumbles through the dark comedy of authoritarianism, dodging accountability and panicking over activists and journalists. Find it at your local library or at Bookshop.org.
EVENTS AT GASLIT NATION:
August 25 4pm ET – Join the Gaslit Nation Book Club for a powerful discussion on The Lives of Others and I’m Still Here, two films that explore how art and love endure and resist in the face of dictatorship.
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We opened with the legendary James Baldwin, because this week, we’re passing the mic to someone walking boldly in Baldwin’s footsteps: Amber Wallin, Executive Director of the State Revenue Alliance and a fearless fighter for tax justice, equity, and economic power from the ground up.
Whether she’s calling out lawmakers, organizing communities, or reshaping policy, Amber is part of a new generation of leaders who refuse to back down. Here she shares the thinkers, art, and music that inspires her in the fight as she takes the Gaslit Nation Self-Care Q&A. Because self-care is an act of resistance.
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This content originally appeared on Gaslit Nation and was authored by Andrea Chalupa.
A video of Lok Sabha member Rajesh Ranjan, also known as Pappu Yadav, breaking into tears is being widely shared on social media. In the video, a crying Yadav, sitting in a car, says, “Humpe hamla kiya gaya hai” (I have been attacked). At this point, a reporter asks what happened, to which Yadav replies, “Sir ye ladne ke liye jaa rahe thhe. Jis tareeke se maara main bata nahi sakta…” (These people were going there to fight. The way they have beaten, I can’t describe it.).
The video went viral after many claimed that Congress leaders Pappu Yadav and Kanhaiya Kumar were snubbed at a rally in Bihar on July 9. The two were reportedly stopped by security personnel from joining Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav in his vehicle. Yadav later clarified that it was not an ‘insult’ but part of security protocols.
— Shehzad Jai Hind (Modi Ka Parivar) (@Shehzad_Ind) July 9, 2025
Several other users on X, such as @krazyxuser, @voice_of_hindu2 and @PNRai1, among others, also shared the video with similar comments. (Archives: 1, 2, 3)
To verify the authenticity of the narratives amplified on social media, we broke down the viral video into key frames and did a reverse image search on some of them. This led us to an article published by Zee News on September 6, 2018.
On September 6, 2018, Congress leader Pappu Yadav was attacked by Bharat Bandh supporters in the Sadar area of Khabra village, in Muzaffarpur, Bihar. He alleged that a group of demonstrators stopped his car, questioned him and the others in his vehicle, enquiring about their caste, and then went on to abuse and physically assault them. At the time, too, the video of Yadav in tears over the incident was viral.
Yadav had also posted about the incident on X in 2018. The translated text reads: “Duringthe#SaveWomenMarchinMadhubani,ourconvoywasattackedbygoonsinthenameof#BharatBandh,andworkerswerebrutallybeatenwhilebeingaskedabouttheircaste.IsthereanygovernanceinBihar,ornot!”
#महाजंगलराज का नंगा नाच#नारी_बचाओ_पदयात्रा में मधुबनी जाने के दौरान हमारे काफिले पर #BharatBandh के नाम पर गुंडों ने हमला किया,कार्यकर्ताओं को बुरी तरह जाति पूछ-पूछकर पीटा है। आखिर बिहार में कोई शासन-प्रशासन है, या, नहीं!CM @NitishKumar आप किस कुम्भकर्णी नींद में सोये हैं।
We also found a longer version from which the now-viral clip was extracted. It was uploaded on September 6, 2018.
In this video, Pappu Yadav says that he was abused by the attackers, who may have even killed him if the guards weren’t around. He also claims that his phone calls to the police and chief minister went unanswered. After that, he breaks down in front of the cameras. The portion that is now viral begins around the 0:31-minute mark.
Thus, the video showing Pappu Yadav in tears while speaking to reporters is not recent, but from 2018.
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