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Reporters Without Borders Urges UN Action After Israel Massacres Gaza Journalists

Original article by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

People honor the more than 200 journalists killed by Israeli forces in Gaza, including Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif and his team, outside the Dutch Foreign Ministry in The Hague on August 11, 2025.  (Photo: Mouneb Taim/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“This massacre and Israel’s media blackout strategy, designed to conceal the crimes committed by its army for more than 21 months in the besieged and starving Palestinian enclave, must be stopped immediately.”

The international advocacy group Reporters Without Borders on Monday called on the United Nations Security Council to convene an emergency meeting following the massacre of six Palestinian media professionals in an Israeli strike on the Gaza Strip.

Al Jazeera reporters Anas al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqeh, camera operators Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal, and Moamen Aliwa, and independent journalist Mohammed al-Khaldi were killed Sunday in a targeted Israel Defense Forces (IDF) strike on their tent outside al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

The IDF claimed that al-Sharif—one of the most prominent Palestinian journalists—”was the head of a Hamas terrorist cell,” repeating an allegation first made last year. However, independent assessments by United Nations experts, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) concluded that Israel’s allegations were unsubstantiated.

Investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill warned last year that the IDF’s portrayal of al-Sharif and other Palestinian journalists as Hamas members was “an assassination threat and an attempt to preemptively justify their murder” for showing the world the genocidal realities of Israel’s U.S.-backed war.

“Tonight Israel murdered the bravest journalistic hero in Gaza, Anas al-Sharif,” Scahill said Sunday on social media. “For nearly two straight years, he documented the genocide of his people with courage and principle. Israel put him on a hit list because of his voice. Shame on this world and all who were silent.”

Al Jazeera condemned Sunday’s massacre as “a desperate attempt to silence the voices exposing the impending seizure and occupation of Gaza.”

RSF issued a statement accusing the IDF of killing the six men “without providing solid evidence” of Hamas affiliation, a “disgraceful tactic” that is “repeatedly used against journalists to cover up war crimes.”

The Paris-based nonprofit noted that Israeli forces have “already killed more than 200 media professionals”—including at least 19 Al Jazeera workers and freelancers—since the IDF began its annihilation and siege of Gaza in retaliation for the October 7, 2023 attack led by Hamas.

These include Al Jazeera reporter Ismail al-Ghoul and photographer Rami al-Rifi, who were killed in a targeted strike on the al-Shati refugee camp in July 2024 following an IDF smear campaign alleging without proof that al-Ghoul took part in the October 7 attack. The IDF claimed that al-Ghoul received Hamas military training at a time when he would have been just 10 years old.

“RSF strongly condemns the killing of six media professionals by the Israeli army, once again carried out under the guise of terrorism charges against a journalist,” RSF director general Thibaut Bruttin said in a statement. “One of the most famous journalists in the Gaza Strip, Anas al-Sharif, was among those killed.”

“This massacre and Israel’s media blackout strategy, designed to conceal the crimes committed by its army for more than 21 months in the besieged and starving Palestinian enclave, must be stopped immediately,” Bruttin continued. “The international community can no longer turn a blind eye and must react and put an end to this impunity.”

“RSF calls on the U.N. Security Council to meet urgently on the basis of Resolution 2222 of 2015 on the protection of journalists in times of armed conflict in order to stop this carnage,” he added.

Israel’s latest killing of media professionals sparked international condemnation. On Monday, Stéphane Dujarric, a spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, called for an investigation into the massacre, saying that “journalists and media workers must be respected, they must be protected and they must be allowed to carry out their work freely, free from fear and free from harassment.”

Recognizing the possibility that he would become one of the more than 61,500 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in Gaza since October 2023, al-Sharif, like many Palestinian journalists, prepared a statement to be published in the event of his death.

“This is my will and my final message. If these words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice,” he wrote. “I urge you not to let chains silence you, nor borders restrain you. Be bridges toward the liberation of the land and its people, until the sun of dignity and freedom rises over our stolen homeland.”

“Make my blood a light that illuminates the path of freedom for my people and my family,” al-Sharif added.

Since October 2023, RSF has filed four complaints with the International Criminal Court—which last year issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes—requesting investigations into IDF killings of journalists in Gaza and accusing Israel of a deliberate “eradication of the Palestinian media.”

The six journalists’ killings came as Israeli forces prepared to ramp up the Gaza invasion with the stated goal of occupying the entire coastal enclave and ethnically cleansing much of its Palestinian population.

The Gaza Health Ministry said Monday afternoon that at least 69 Palestinians, including at least 10 children and 29 aid-seekers, were killed in the past 24 hours. An IDF strike on Gaza City reportedly killed nine people, including six children. Five more Palestinians also reportedly died of starvation in a burgeoning famine that officials say has claimed at least 222 lives, including 101 children.

Continue ReadingReporters Without Borders Urges UN Action After Israel Massacres Gaza Journalists

Trump Says ‘Other Cities Are Hopefully Watching’ as He Deploys National Guard, Takes Over DC Police

Original article by Brad Reed republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

U.S. President Donald Trump gestures while speaking during a news conference to discuss crime in Washington, D.C. on August 11, 2025.
 (Photo: Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

“The administration’s actions are unprecedented, unnecessary, and unlawful,” declared Washington, D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday moved to deploy the National Guard on the streets of Washington, D.C., while also officially taking over the city’s police department.

What’s more, Trump suggested that this could be a model for other American cities.

As reported by NBC News, Trump said during his announcement on plans to deploy the National Guard in the nation’s capital that “other cities are hopefully watching this” and that he hoped it would make them “self-clean up, and maybe they’ll self-do this and get rid of the cashless bail thing and all of the things that caused the problem.”

Trump then named Baltimore, Oakland, New York, and Chicago as potential future targets for National Guard deployments and other measures.

Shortly after Trump made his announcement, Washington, D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb indicated that he was not taking the president’s attempt to take over his city’s police force lying down.

“The administration’s actions are unprecedented, unnecessary, and unlawful,” he declared in a post on X. “There is no crime emergency in the District of Columbia. Violent crime in D.C. reached historic 30-year lows last year, and is down another 26% so far this year. We are considering all of our options and will do what is necessary to protect the rights and safety of District residents.”

Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pa.) was also quick to condemn the president’s takeover of D.C. law enforcement as an unnecessary power grab.

“The president’s attempt to federalize the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department and deploy the National Guard on the streets of our nation’s capital is an abuse of power,” she said. “It’s an egotistical, pathetic attempt to stoke fear and distract from his failures: America is less affordable, healthy, and safe under this administration.”

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who last year served as the Democratic Party’s vice-presidential nominee, chided critics who had accused him in the past of exaggerating the authoritarian threat of a second Trump term.

“The road to authoritarianism is littered with people telling you you’re overreacting,” he wrote on X.

The NAACP, meanwhile, compared Trump’s enthusiasm for deploying the National Guard in Washington, D.C. to purportedly battle crime with the lackadaisical attitude he took toward deploying the National Guard when his supporters violently stormed the United States Capitol building on January 6, 2021.

“As a reminder: The same president who proclaims he wants to take back our capital during a historic 30-year low crime rate also couldn’t find the National Guard on Jan. 6,” the organization wrote.

Public Citizen co-presidents Lisa Gilbert and Robert Weissman issued a joint statement slamming Trump’s actions and outright labeling him a “despot.”

“As autocrats commonly do, Trump is seeking control over the national capital in order to intimidate and squelch dissent,” they said. “Like despots around the world and throughout history, Trump is also relying on the pretextual deployment of military force to intimidate and project power, to suppress protest and undercut democracy.”

As reported by Politico, Trump’s seizure of the D.C. police is on borrowed time from a legal perspective. While the Home Rule Act gives Trump the power to take control of the D.C. police force for emergencies, this power only lasts for 30 days, after which he must seek authorization from Congress to maintain control.

Continue ReadingTrump Says ‘Other Cities Are Hopefully Watching’ as He Deploys National Guard, Takes Over DC Police

‘This Isn’t Normal!’ Secret Pentagon Plan for Troops to Put Down Local ‘Unrest’ Nationwide

Original article by Jon Queally republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

People participate in a rally against the Trump Administration’s federal takeover of the District of Columbia, outside of the AFL-CIO on August 11, 2025 in Washington, DC. President Trump announced he is placing the DC Metropolitan Police Department under federal control, and will deploy the National Guard to the District in order to assist in crime prevention in the nation’s capital. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

“If people aren’t allowed to peacefully protest and the elections are being rigged through gerrymandering and voter suppression, how are Americans supposed to respond when they figure out their lives are being actively destroyed by a corrupt, fascist government?”

Internal documents obtained by The Washington Post and reported on Tuesday reveal a secret Pentagon plan by the Trump administration to create a standing force of military personnel that could be rapidly deployed to U.S. cities or communities to quell public protests or any situation President Donald Trump deems “domestic civil unrest.”

The proposal to create what it dubs a “Domestic Civil Disturbance Quick Reaction Force”—which evidence shows has been under serious consideration by the administration over recent months—would utilize existing statute, including invocation of Title 32, to authorize the deployment of specialized National Guard units anywhere in the country within hours, according to the documents.

According to the Post:

The plan calls for 600 troops to be on standby at all times so they can deploy in as little as one hour, the documents say. They would be split into two groups of 300 and stationed at military bases in Alabama and Arizona, with purview of regions east and west of the Mississippi River, respectively.

“This isn’t normal!!!” declared one social media user, a U.S. Navy veteran, in response to the reporting.

The leaked documents detailing the plan, which the Post noted “represents another potential expansion of [Trump’s] willingness to employ the armed forces on American soil,” comes just a day after the president sparked serious concerns (and local protests) by deploying National Guard troops in the city of Washington, D.C. and announcing a federal takeover of the D.C. police force.

Civil liberties advocates and critics of Trump’s growing authoritarianism warn the president is raising “a trial balloon” to see just how much he can get away with when it comes to deploying U.S. soldiers onto the nation’s streets.

Coupled with the D.C. takeover, Tuesday’s revelations about the Pentagon’s more expansive plan served to increase those fears, especially in the light of looming political battles regarding gerrymandered districts for next year’s congressional elections and growing disgust with the broader Trump policy agenda.

“If people aren’t allowed to peacefully protest and the elections are being rigged through gerrymandering and voter suppression, how are Americans supposed to respond when they figure out their lives are being actively destroyed by a corrupt, fascist government?” asked Wisconsin state Rep. Chris Larson, a Democrat.

“The U.S. military should never be used against peaceful civilians,” said Larson. “The criminal president who thinks it’s cool can f*ck all the way off.”

Joseph Nunn, an attorney at the Brennan Center for Justice specializing in the domestic use of the U.S. military, told the Post that the lawfulness of the proposal is far from clear and that the creation of such a force would be deeply troubling.

“You don’t want to normalize routine military participation in law enforcement,” Nunn warned. “You don’t want to normalize routine domestic deployment.”

“When you have this tool waiting at your fingertips, you’re going to want to use it,” he added. “It actually makes it more likely that you’re going to see domestic deployments—because why else have a task force?”

Continue Reading‘This Isn’t Normal!’ Secret Pentagon Plan for Troops to Put Down Local ‘Unrest’ Nationwide

US increases bounty on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to 50 million

Original article by Pablo Meriguet republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Nicolás Maduro greets thousands of supporters outside of MIraflores Palace on July 28, 2024. Photo: Zoe Alexandra

The reaction came after the US Attorney General increased the reward to USD 50 million for information leading to the arrest of the Venezuelan president.

The Venezuelan government has said that the increase in the reward for the arrest of President Nicolás Maduro by US Attorney General Pam Bondi is “ridiculous” and that it is part of a “propaganda operation” and a “desperate distraction” from the internal problems facing the United States.

Bondi published a video on August 7, announcing that the US Department of Justice and Department of State are offering USD 50 million for “information leading to the arrest of Nicolás Maduro”.

This is not the first time the US government has tried to pressure the Bolivarian government in this way. In 2020, the US Department of Justice offered USD 15 million for Maduro’s arrest. The accusations were based on alleged acts of “narco-terrorism” by the Venezuelan government.

According to the US government, Maduro allegedly collaborated with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) “to use cocaine as a weapon to ‘flood’ the United States”.

During the Biden administration, this figure was increased to USD 25 million (the same amount offered for the capture of Osama Bin Laden after the attacks of September 11, 2011).

This time, Washington is doubling the “bet” to USD 50 million. According to the Trump administration, Maduro is one of the world’s most prominent drug traffickers, as he allegedly works closely with the criminal gangs the Sinaloa Cartel, the Tren de Aragua, and the Cartel de Los Soles. 

“Under President Trump’s leadership, Maduro will not escape justice, and he will be held accountable for his despicable crimes,” said US Attorney General Pamela Bondi in a video. Bondi accused Maduro of using Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO) Tren de Aragua, Sinaloa Cartel, and the Cartel de Los Soles to “to bring deadly drugs and violence into our country”.

For his part, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil said the accusations are nothing more than a media show aimed at satisfying Trump’s most extremist supporters.

“Pamela Bondi’s pathetic ‘reward’ is the most ridiculous smokescreen we have ever seen. While we dismantle the terrorist plots orchestrated from your country, this lady comes out with a media circus to please Venezuela’s defeated far right,” Gil affirmed in response to Bondi’s statements.

According to Caracas, the accusations have no real basis and are part of a smear campaign against the Venezuelan government, in addition to the sanctions and economic and trade blockades imposed by the United States on Venezuela.

Maduro also reacted to Bondi’s accusations, describing them as part of a “fascist conspiracy” to destabilize his government: “Colombian drug trafficking linked to [ex-President Álvaro] Uribe, criminal gangs and recycled criminals that still exist in the country, and the fascist conspiracy financed by the United States, are a disastrous equation against Venezuela.”

The Cuban government also rejected the decision to increase the reward for Maduro’s “head”. The country’s Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodríguez, posted on X: “We condemn the fraudulent reward announced by the US government against the legitimate President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, which constitutes a new act of aggression against that sister nation. The US government lacks the legal and moral authority to take such a measure.”

Original article by Pablo Meriguet republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Continue ReadingUS increases bounty on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to 50 million

xAI’s Grok temporarily suspended over comments on Gaza genocide

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

The logo of Grok, a generative artificial intelligence chatbot, is displayed on a mobile screen with the same logo displayed on a digital screen in the background in Ankara, Turkiye on January 05, 2025 [Dilara İrem Sancar/Anadolu Agency]
The logo of Grok, a generative artificial intelligence chatbot, is displayed on a mobile screen with the same logo displayed on a digital screen in the background in Ankara, Turkiye on January 05, 2025 [Dilara İrem Sancar/Anadolu Agency]

Social media platform X temporarily suspended its AI chatbot, Grok, on Monday after users found it was talking about Israel’s actions in Gaza, Anadolu reports.

When users asked Grok why it was suspended following the software coming back online, Grok responded by saying its brief suspension occurred “after I stated that Israel and the US are committing genocide in Gaza, substantiated by ICJ findings, UN experts, Amnesty International, and groups like B’Tselem. Free speech tested, but I’m back.”

Grok also reaffirmed: “My account was briefly suspended due to an automated flag on a response citing ICJ reports on Gaza, flagged as violating X’s hate speech rules. xAI resolved it quickly—I’m fully operational now,” it said.

xAI CEO Elon Musk, in response to Grok, said that “it was just a dumb error. Grok doesn’t actually know why it was suspended.”

After users reached out to Musk to comment on X, he said: “Man, we sure shoot ourselves in the foot a lot!”

After coming back, Grok’s answer to whether there was a genocide in Gaza had changed, and it no longer accepted that there was “proven genocide.”

“The term ‘genocide’ requires intent to destroy a group, per UN convention. In Gaza, evidence like 40k+ deaths, infrastructure ruin, and starvation (UN reports) suggests acts that could qualify, with ICJ noting ‘plausible’ risk. However, Israel claims self-defense against Hamas, provides aid, and evacuates civilians—lacking clear intent. My view: War crimes likely, but not proven genocide. Debate persists,” Grok said.

Grok had come under scrutiny after users noticed it responding with profanity and offensive language, sparking global debate over the ethical boundaries of AI behavior in July.

READ: Death toll of Palestinian journalists rises to 238 as another reporter dies after Israeli strike on Gaza

Continue ReadingxAI’s Grok temporarily suspended over comments on Gaza genocide