After its midnight deadline, the Senate voted early Saturday to reauthorize a key U.S. surveillance law after divisions over whether the FBI should be restricted from using the program to search for Americans’ data nearly forced the statute to lapse.
The legislation approved 60-34 with bipartisan support would extend for two years the program known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
Von sozialen Netzwerken und einer digitalen Öffentlichkeit erhoffe ich mir aktuelle Informationen aller Art, nicht nur als Journalist. Ich möchte wissen, was Politiker:innen schreiben, was Regierungen verlautbaren, was NGOs veröffentlichen und was spannende Menschen zu sagen haben. Ich möchte mir selbst ein weitverteiltes Informationsnetzwerk zusammenstellen, (…)
Wenn ich diesen Wunsch nach einem globalen Netzwerk im Mastodon-Umfeld äußere, sind die Reaktionen oft ablehnend bis aggressiv. Ich bekomme Dinge wie „Geh doch zu Twitter“ an den Kopf geworfen. Oder: „Ihr mit euren kurzfristigen, journalistischen Bedürfnissen!“, „Ihr wollt doch nur Aufmerksamkeit“, „Ihr mit Eurer Twitter-Kultur“, „Wir machen das hier aber anders und ihr müsst euch anpassen“.
Das macht mich wütend.
Brazil´s President Lula Da Silva has announced his country’s support for South Africa’s case against Israel in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) alleging genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza. The announcement came just hours before the ICJ opens the first session of the hearing in The Hague.
The Republic of Cuba has been a State Party to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide since 1953 and, in accordance with the commitments undertaken therein, has the obligation to prevent and punish genocide.
In this regard, expresses its support for the claim of the Republic of South Africa to initiate proceedings against Israel in the International Court of Justice, in connection with the violations by that country of its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
(08.01.2024)
Bolivia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday that it is joining the case filed by South Africa before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Israel for committing genocide crimes in the Gaza Strip.
(23 hours ago)
Organizational Signers:
– Black Alliance for Peace
– Popular Resistance, USA
– Palestinian Assembly for Liberation
– CODEPINK, USA
– Progressive International
– Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
– Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN)
– Women‘s International League for Peace and Freedom, US Section
– World Beyond War
– International Association of Democratic Lawyers
– National Lawyers Guild, USA
– US Boats to Gaza
– Gaza Freedom Flotilla
– Roots Action, USA
– Veterans for Peace, USA
– Project Enduring Peace, USA
– Women‘s International League for Peace and Freedom, Palestine Section
– PEN International-Palestine
– Peace, Justice, Sustainability, NOW!, USA
– Friends of Latin America, USA
– Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Center (CMMLK), Cuba
– Proceso de Comunidades Negras (PCN), Colombia
– Women‘s March Global – Region of the Americas
– Landless Workers Movement MST, Brazil
– Federation of Mexican Workers and Unions (Confederación de Trabajadores y Sindicatos de Mexico)
– Venezuelan Popular Feminist Movement (Plataforma de Feminismo Popular de Venezuela)
– Movement of People Affected by Dams (MAR), Western Hemisphere
– The Latin American and Caribbean Council on Popular Education (CEAAL)
– The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy – MIFTAH
– Kenyans for Palestine
– Tatuy Tv, Venezuela
– Asociación Ecuatoriana de Amistad con el Pueblo Saharaui (AEAPS)
– Centro de Documentación en Derechos Humanos Segundo Montes Mozo S.J., Ecuador
– Comité Internacional Paz, Justicia y Dignidad a los Pueblos, Cuba/USA
– Euskadi, Cuba
– Comité de Solidaridad con la Causa Árabe, Spain
– Palestina Toma la Calle, España
– Coordinadora por la Paz, la Soberanía la Integración y la No Injerencia CPAZ Movimiento Social de DDHH, Ecuador
– Centro de Estudios e Investigación sobre Mujeres, Spain
– Fórum de Política Feminista, Spain
– Partido Comunista de los Trabajadores de Argentina
– Plataforma de Solidaridad con la Causa Palestina (Venezuela)
– Foro Itinerante de Participación Popular, Venezuela
– Asociación Gremial de Abogados y Abogadas de Argentina
– Convocatoria SEGUNDA INDEPENDENCIA de Argentina
– Agrupación ESPERANZA Revolucionaria y Socialista, Argentina
– Red de Intelectuales y Artistas en Defensa de la Humanidad- Capitulo Paraguay
– Conseil National des Comités Populaires (CNCP Martinique)
– Instituto Simón Bolívar para la Paz y la Solidaridad entre los Pueblos, Venezuela
– Plateforme Haitienne de Plaidoyer pour un Developpement Alternatif (PAPDA), Haiti
– Women Democratic Front, Pakistan
– Teaching Palestine: Pedagogical Praxis and the Indivisibility of Justice, Palestine/International
– Feminist Conversations Kenya (FCK)
– Syrian Center For Media and Freedom Of Expression
– SOLI (Red de Lucha Por la Paz y Solidaridad Internacional) Puerto Rico
– ALBA Movimientos, Latin America
– Asociación de Mujeres Campesinas y Populares AMUCAP-C, Paraguay
– Alianza Latinoamericana Por Palestina contra el Apartheid
– Liga Mexicana por la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos, LIMEDDH
– Justice for All, USA
– Venezuelanalysis
– Diáspora Pa’lante Collective, Puerto Rico
– Coletivo Advogadas e Advogados pela Democracia (CAAD), Brazil
– Naco Nius México. M. N. N.
– ARCH Jerusalem (Geneva, Switzerland)
– PAL Commission on War Crimes, Justice, Reparations and Return
– Women Advancement for Economic and Leadership Empowerment in Africa (WAELE AFRICA)
– Geneva Council For International Affairs and Development
– Casa Tecmilco, México
– Surgentes, colectivo de DDHH (Venezuela)
– Izquierda Libertaria – Chile
– Amigos de la Tierra América Latina y el Caribe (ATALC)
– Scandinavian Institute for Human Rights/Haytham Manna Foundation
– French Observatory for Human Rights
– Union of Palestinian Organizations of Latin America (UPAL)
– Amman Center for Human Rights Studies (ACHRS), Jordan
– Syrian Medical Committee
– Horan Rencontre por la Citoyennete, France
– International Institute for Peace, Justice and Human Rights – IIPJHR, Switzerland
– Fórum Latino Palestino, Brazil
– Syndicat National des Journalistes Tunisien (SNJT), Tunis
– Muslim Journal, USA
– Egyptian Revolutionary Socialists
– Ordre National des Avocats de Tunisie
– Kuagro Ri Changaina, Colombia
– Alkarama (Movimiento de Mujeres Palestinas), Spain
– Raíces (Grupo cultural raíces de Guasá), Ecuador
– Comisión Étnica para la Paz y la Defensa de los Derechos Territoriales, Colombia
– International People‘s Assembly
– Arab American Civic Council
– Movimiento de Pequeños Agricultores, MPA Brazil
– Federación Nacional de Cooperativas Agropecuarias (FENACOA), Colombia
– Asociación Colombiana de Economistas Negras – Mano Cambiada
– Sindicato Aeroespacial SP, Brazil
– The Literacy Project, USA
– Sindicato na Televisão, Brazil
– JUST (International Movement for a Just World), Malaysia
– MLN – Movement for Liberation from Nakba, Malaysia
– JUST-IS Interfaith Solidarity for Justice and against Militarism, Pakistan
– Center for the Study of Islam and Decoloniality, Pakistan
– Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
– New York Peace Council
– Law for Palestine
– Palestinian Feminist Collective
– CAGE International
– Vocesenlucha – Comunicación Popular, Spain/Latin America
– Asociación Alnakba, Venezuela
– Mujeres por la Paz
– Sodepau Pais Valencia
– Jubileo Sur/Américas
– Acción Ecológica, Ecuador
– Instituto de Estudios Ecologistas del Tercer Mundo
– Nación Andaluza
– Tunisian National Bar Association
– Palestine Ceasefire Dayton, USA
– Red de Ambientalistas Comunitarios de El Salvador RACDES
– Haqooq-e-Khalq Party, Pakistan
– Congreso de los Pueblos, Colombia
– Marcha Mundial de las Mujeres Macronorte, Perú
– La Vía Campesina
– Jornada Continental por la Democracia y contra el Neoliberalismo
– Geneva Centre for Democracy & Human Rights
– One Justice – France
– International Jurists Union – Geneva
– Global Legal Alliance for Palestine
– Southern Anti-Racism Network
– Mütter gegen den Krieg Berlin-Brandenburg
– PeaceWorks Brunswick Maine, USA
– Trident Ploughshares
– Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (UK)
– Trade Justice Alliance, USA
– Movimiento por un mundo sin guerras y sin violencia (MSGySV)
– Veterans For Peace, Ireland Chapter
– Observatorio de Derechos Humanos de los Pueblos
– Observatorio por el Cierre de la Escuela de las Américas en Chile
– Jordanian Federation of Independent Trade Unions
– Asociación Americana de Juristas
– Engineers Association – Jerusalem Center (Palestine)
– Medical Association – Jerusalem Center (Palestine)
– Palestinian Dental Association (Palestine)
– Pharmacists Association – Jerusalem Center (Palestine)
– Palestinian Nursery and Midwifery Association (Palestine)
– Agricultural Engineers Association – Jerusalem Center (Palestine)
– Palestinian Bar Association (Palestine)
– Palestinian Contractors Union (Palestine)
– Veterinarians Syndicate – Jerusalem Center (Palestine)
– Palestinian Union of Psychologists and Social Workers (Palestine)
– Sínodo luterano salvadoreño
– Green Mountain Solidarity With Palestine
– Sahel fondation
– The International Commission for Supporting the Rights of the Palestinian People “Hashd”
– Rockland for Palestine
– University Network for Human Rights
– Charlottetown Mutual Aid
– Rede Jubileu Sul Brasil
– Movimiento Estudiantil Cristiano de Cuba
– Colectivo Voces Ecológicas COVEC, Panamá
– National Network on Cuba, USA
– Public Intellectuals for Social and Spare Change, USA
– National Lawyers Guild – St. Louis Chapter
– North Carolina Environmental Justice Network, USA
– The Peace Pentagon / Oracle Institute, USA
– Our Revolution – North Dakota, USA
– Peace Action Montgomery, USA
– United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC), USA
– All-African People‘s Revolutionary Party
– Friends of the Congo
– Socialist Action USA
– The Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal
– Oil and Gas Action Network, USA
– Maine Voices for Palestinian Rights
– Mom vision prodeca foundation (MVPF), Senegal
– Pan-Afrikan Liberation Program, USA
– Suffolk University Students for Justice in Palestine, USA
– Black Radical Christians, USA
– Frente Antiimperialista Internacionalista, Spain
– Environmentalists Against War, USA
– Democratic Socialists of America – International Committee
– Georgia Human Rights Clinic, USA
– Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance (MIRA), USA
– Cooperation Jackson, USA
– National Jericho Movement, USA
– Asociación Interpueblos Estado Español
– Black Workers for Justice (BWFJ), USA
– American Muslims for Palestine-Richmond VA Chapter, USA
– Peace Action of San Mateo County, USA
– Mid-Missouri Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR), USA
– Friendship Office of the Americas
– HUMANITAS: The Africana Ethical Society
– Sankara Farm, USA
– Workers World Party, USA
– International Action Center
– The Universal Ethician Church
– Middle East Justice and Peace Group of Central Pennsylvania, USA
– Healthcare Workers 4 Palestine
– Northwest Ohio Peace Coalition
– Doctors Against Genocide
– Seattle Anti-War Coalition
– Racine Coalition for Peace and Justice
– Ubuntu Freedom
– Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa, New Zealand
– Jewish Voice for Peace — Mid-Hudson Valley, USA
– Just Peace Advocates/Mouvement Pour Une Paix Juste
– Jisoor
– Spokane Veterans For Peace #035
– Rumbo a Gaza-Freedom Flotilla Coalition
– Students for Justice in Palestine at UChicago, USA
– International Institute for Human Rights, Environment and Development (INHURED International), Nepal
– Egyptian foundation for advancement of the childhood conditions
– Arab Women Organization of Jordan
– Women Helping Women Network, Jordan
– Palestine Institute for National Security Research, Palestine
– London Ontario Activism, Canada
– Palestinian Working Woman Society for Development PWWSD, Palestine
– Palestinian Labor Struggle Union
– Tunisian General Labor Union UGTT
– Jerusalem Legal Aid Center
– Bahrain Human Rights Society
– The Civil Commission for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Rule of Law „ISTIQLAL“, Palestine
– Comité de Vigilance pour la Démocratie en Tunisie, Tunisia
– Inminds Human Rights Group, UK
– Resistance Kitchen, UK
– The Palestinian Federation of Women‘s Action Committee, Palestine
– Lebanese Council of Women
– Roots Society for Citizen Right, Jordan
– Damascus Center for Theoretical and Civil Rights, Syria
– Women’s Studies Centre, Palestine
– The Canadian Peoples‘ Union
– Solidarité Laïque/Méditerranée. Tunisie
– Al Baraem Association for Charitable Work, Lebanon
– Jewish Voice for a Just Peace in the Middle East (Germany)
– Rencontres Marx, France
– Women‘s International League for Peace and Freedom – International
– The Palestinian Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession
– AlgeriaRevolt
– Algeria Solidarity Campaign
– Workers in the Informal Economy Network Uganda
– U.S. Peace Council
– Secure Scotland
– Peace People, Ireland
– Aufstehen, Germany
– Healthcare Workers 4 Palestine South Africa
– Movement for Freedom and Democracy in Palestine, Palestine
– Mother‘s School Society, Palestine
– Arab Commission for Human Rights
– Association of Women’s Action, Palestine
– HOPE (Health Over Profit for Everyone) in the Midwest, USA
– Bronx Anti War Coalition, USA
– Citizens International, Malaysia
– Jewish Network for Palestine (UK)
– SE London Friends Of Palestine, UK
– Voices for Justice in Palestine, USA
The letter was released days after South Africa filed its claim, asking the ICJ to declare that Israel has breached its obligations under the Genocide Convention, to which it is a party.
The death toll in Gaza has reached at least 22,313, with at least 57,296 people wounded and thousands feared dead under rubble.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was evicted from her private Capitol office by the new speaker pro-tempore.
Fox News Digital confirmed that House Speaker pro-tempore Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., gave the order to Pelosi to vacate her Capitol hideaway by Wednesday.
A survey carried out Tuesday in the wake of the government passing the first law in its divisive judicial overhaul package found that nearly one-third of Israelis are considering leaving the country.
The Channel 13 poll found that 28% of respondents were weighing a move abroad, 64% were not, and 8% were unsure.
(July 11, 2023)
Whenever people ask me what I do for a living, I tell them that I’m a translator from English to English.
Im konkreten Fall wehren sich nun die drei Journalisten Ronen Steinke (SZ), Henrik Rampe (frei) und Jörg Poppendieck (rbb) gegen die Abhörmaßnahme. Sie alle hatten sich laut der Pressemitteilung über das Telefon mit der Klimagruppe ausgetauscht. Ronen Steinke, rechtspolitischer Korrespondent der Süddeutschen Zeitung, sagt: „Journalistengespräche abhören, ununterbrochen, monatelang, und die Abgehörten auch hinterher darüber im Dunkeln lassen – ein solcher Übergriff des Staates höhlt die Pressefreiheit aus. Vertrauliche Gespräche sind für unabhängigen Journalismus essenziell.“
The announcement came as reservists from the Israel Air Force’s elite Shaldag unit said they would stop volunteering for duty, citing “the anti-democratic regime coup” being advanced by the coalition.
They joined reservists from other Israel Defense Forces units, including the 8200 Intelligence Unit, the Medical Corps, operational units and cyberwarfare units, who said a day earlier that they would stop volunteering.
The documents seem to contain top-secret intelligence about the war in Ukraine and other parts of the world that is made available daily to hundreds of U.S. officials in the U.S. and overseas via classified computer servers that can only be accessed with a top-secret clearance.
As the Biden administration races to investigate a leak of classified U.S. documents, Washington and Jerusalem are remaining silent about a particularly sensitive disclosure within the trove of files: an alleged revolt by Israel’s top spy service against the judicial overhaul proposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The leaked document labeled top secret says that in February, senior leaders of the Mossad spy service “advocated for Mossad officials and Israeli citizens to protest the new Israeli Government’s proposed judicial reforms, including several explicit calls to action that decried the Israeli Government, according to signals intelligence.”
Head of the Federation of Local Authorities, himself a member of the ruling Likud, Haim Bibas said the rift in Israeli society had nearly crossed the point of no return.
„We call on the prime minister to immediately halt his legislative push to overhaul the judiciary and reinstate ousted defense minister Gallant,“ he said. Netanyahu must recalibrate his path and enter immediate dialogue to bring about a broad agreement and preserve the unity of the country,“ he said.
“We are all worried about Israel’s fate,” Histadrut chief Arnon Bar-David said during a press conference alongside business leaders and public officials. “Together we say, enough!”
“We have lost our way — this is not about left or right,” he continued. “We can no longer polarize the nation.”
The announcement came ahead of an expected statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he is freezing the legislation.
(25.03.2023)
Dozens of active-duty Israeli soldiers announced on Saturday they were joining the protest against the judicial reform by not reporting to training.
Until now, only reserve officers resorted to such measures.
Almost a year ago, I completed my tour of duty as Israel’s Ambassador to Germany after four decades of service in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In recent months, I participated in the establishment of the Foreign Policy Forum, consisting of several former senior ambassadors, who have devoted decades to promoting the foreign relations of the State of Israel in the political, strategic, economic, security and cultural fields.
Just as we all fought on Israel’s diplomatic front in many countries, we are now fighting on the streets of Israel, shoulder to shoulder with hundreds of thousands of fellow citizens.
(today)
Speaking at the rally in Tel Aviv, former Shin Bet Chief Yuval Diskin said: „This is a government of terror that crippled our national resilience. Without resilience there‘s no unity. We might arrive at a civil war because of this awful government.“
“If passed, these changes risk weakening human rights protections for all, but especially the most vulnerable communities and groups less able to vindicate their rights through representation in the executive and legislative branches of Government,” he said.
The proposals in their current form would limit the Supreme Court’s ability to subject legislation to judicial review and would require either a super majority of judges, or even unanimity, for the top court to strike down legislation, he cautioned.
News reports said tens of thousands of people have, in the past weeks, attended demonstrations against the proposed changes, including in Tel Aviv and in Jerusalem.
Der Staatstrojaner-Untersuchungsausschuss im Europaparlament wollte am 24. Januar eine Anhörung zum Thema Geheimdienste und Staatstrojaner veranstalten. Allerdings sagten alle für die Sitzung geladenen EU-Staaten ab. Der Ausschuss-Vorsitzende sagte, er hat „langsam die Nase voll von diesem Vorgehen der Mitgliedstaaten“.
Why a former head of Mossad and former chief of the Shin Bet, both of whom were appointed by Netanyahu, now find themselves fighting to stop the prime minister from destroying Israel‘s legal system
And here, not a day goes by without more business owners moving their money and their activity, or at least some of it, abroad. As a self-defense mechanism to keep its value from being destroyed. Most them aren’t declaring this. It is their own personal money that they are moving. But in the atmosphere of McCarthyism that is spreading here like the plague, they are immediately denounced as traitors. As defaming the state. Foxes in its vineyards. Journalists who report on what is happening or bring evidence from other countries that have been through similar processes are chastised and lambasted.
(23 January 2023)
Hazan, a senior lecturer and an expert on macroeconomics and growth at Tel Aviv University, was a member of the bank’s six-person monetary committee which is tasked with setting the interest rate every six weeks. A replacement for him will be sought.
In Hazan’s letter of resignation, he cited his intent to “become involved in the sociopolitical sphere.”
(23 January 2023)
“This is liable to manifest itself as a brain drain, and in the fact that faculty members will hesitate to join our ranks; that students, research students, post-doctoral students, and international colleagues will not come to Israel; that our access to international research funds will be limited; that foreign industries will withdraw themselves from cooperating with Israeli academia; and we will be excluded from the international research and educational community,” the Committee of University Heads wrote.
If an incumbent majority in an elected legislature that forms the government has absolute power to make any changes to the law it wants, it becomes a parliamentary dictatorship.
The study published on Wednesday by the London-based nonprofit Index on Censorship (IOC) describes the UK as only “partially open” in every key area measured.
In this year‘s ranking, the UK fell below other advanced economies including Australia, Israel, and Japan. European neighbours such as Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, and Denmark also all rank higher than the UK.
Moshe Ya’alon, former defense minister and protest leader, addresses the estimated 100,000 Israelis gathered on Tel Aviv’s Kaplan Street to call Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government a “dictatorship of criminals.”
“A state in which the PM will appoint all of the judges, there’s a name for it: dictatorship,” he says.
As we speak, sparks of collective will, determination, and unity are being ignited. If we get pushed over the edge, fire will break out. And if attempts to dismantle the Israeli Declaration of Independence persist, its flames will grow and spread.
The day a million citizens take to the streets, this government will crumble.
I don‘t know how long it will take, or how much harm will be done on the way. What I do know is that at the end of the day – we will prevail.
(13.01.2023)
With only days left in his four-year term as leader of the Israel Defense Forces, Aviv Kochavi speaks out against plans for defense and security by Israel’s most extreme government ever
Hayut said the clause “will deprive the court of the option to override laws that disproportionately violate human rights, including the right to life, property, freedom of movement, as well as the basic right of human dignity and its derivatives – the right to equality, freedom of speech and more.”
The planned override clause authorizes the Knesset, with the support of the government, to make laws without obstruction that would hurt these rights. That’s why anyone who thinks that this override clause overrides the court is mistaken. It’s actually an override of human rights in every aspect of Israeli society.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power in November elections after a year and a half on the sidelines, propelled by a bloc of once-fringe, far-right partners. In the two weeks since its inauguration, his government has embarked on a blitz of legislative initiatives, characterizing them as a “revision” to right the “imbalance among the three branches of government.”
But critics say the measures amount to a “coup d’etat” that will destroy the nation’s system of checks and balances to save Netanyahu from prosecution in three separate corruption cases and embolden his extremist religious partners to advance legislation supporting the expansion of Jewish settlement in the West Bank and the application of conservative Jewish law to public institutions.
The far-eight government’s planned judicial reform will “crush” the Israeli judicial system, Supreme Court President Esther Hayut warned at the annual convention of The Israeli Association of Public Law on Thursday evening. “Israel will soon mark 75 years of independence, the 75th year will be remembered as the year in which Israel’s democracy suffered a fatal blow,” said Hayut. “This is an unbridled attack on the judicial system, as if it were an enemy that must be attacked and subdued.”
Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai met on Wednesday with former IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Ya‘alon, former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo, and attorney Eliad Shraga, chairman of The Movement for Quality Government, in light of the protest against planned judicial reforms in Israel and ahead of the Saturday demonstration in Tel Aviv.