Common Dreams:
"As the Palestinian death toll from Israel's 10-week annihilation of the Gaza Strip passed 20,000, warfare experts said this weekend that the retaliatory campaign ranks among the deadliest and most destructive in modern history.
 
Gaza health officials said Friday that 390 Palestinians were killed and 734 others wounded in the besieged strip over the previous 48 hours, driving the death toll from 77 days of near-relentless Israeli attacks to 20,057, with another 53,320 people injured. More than 6,000 women and over 8,000 children have been killed—approximately 70% of all fatalities. ...

'The scale of Palestinian civilian deaths in such a short period of time appears to be the highest such civilian casualty rate in the 21st century,' Michael Lynk, who served as the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories from 2016 to 2022, told The Washington Post on Saturday."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/bombing-gaza

-->This careful analysis of the horrendous bombing damage didn't make it into the NYT. Most of the US media followed, choosing to ignore just how horrible these war crimes are. How long can our corporatized media hide all this bloodshed from the American people? And when will we demand, at long last, that the US led holocaust end?

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Jacobin:
"Across the country, pro-Israel groups and billionaires are trying to stop the antiwar movement pushing for a cease-fire in Gaza by bringing down its elected leaders, including Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar. These are fights the Left can win with popular support.

Socialists in elected office are standing up for Palestinian rights and demanding a cease-fire in Gaza. A handful of billionaires, rejecting this progressive and popular agenda, are trying hard to take down these antiwar lawmakers. As well, many conservative and centrist Democratic candidates are launching primary challenges against them, hoping to be the recipients of big campaign cash from the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and similar pro-Israel groups. AIPAC and its allies — like-minded organizations and big donors — told the New York Times that they are going to spend big, probably far more than in previous election cycles, to defeat anyone standing up for Palestine. Many of their targets are members of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) or close allies of the organization. ...

The call for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza is broadly popular, as are the economic justice issues these officeholders champion, so these should be winnable fights if the Left can stay organized. A 61 percent majority of likely US voters believes the United States should support a cease-fire, while only 28 percent oppose such a move — even though only sixty-two members of Congress have publicly called for one so far.
https://jacobin.com/2023/12/pro-israel-billionaires-socialists-dsa-aipac-gaza-cease-fire-israel-war?mc_cid=917d570ade&mc_eid=487355f8cb

-->Zionists are trying to destroy any hope for positive change in our government. Israel stands right with the White Supremacists on this one. Israel is the mirror of the neofascist and racist movements in our own country. But no US media is going to help
the US public see these links. Our media is as bought off as most of our elected representatives.

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Open Letter to Colleges and Universities:
"We write as a group of educators to denounce the increasingly repressive climate on our campuses across the US. As educators invested in developing and upholding constructive learning environments, critical engagements with knowledge building, and transformative pedagogical discussions, we refuse to adhere to the censorship, policing, and the circumventing of our academic work and mission as educators.

On December 14, upper-level administrators at Syracuse University surveilled, harassed, and intimidated SU undergrads peacefully gathering for a study-in in support of Palestine. Charging students with bullying and harassment, the administrators threatened students with academic sanctions for carrying signs that included the Arabic word intifada, calling in armed campus police to curtail the assembled students. They claimed that the word intifada, which in Arabic means uprising, 'has been deemed by SU to be threatening' and that it can be 'reasonably interpreted' as a 'call to the genocide of Jewish people.'

We assert that the 'interpretation' of the word intifada as 'a call for the genocide of Jewish people' is baseless and dangerous. Intentionally criminalizing the Arabic language implies that the language itself, and therefore Arabic speakers generally, are inherently violent and genocidal. Furthermore, such 'interpretations' are based on reactionary, political, and often anti-intellectual administrative assumptions about these words and their meanings. We will not cede our expertise to administrators who broadly and selectively interpret terms, ideas, and concepts as they please, in the service of their political and economic gains and military investments. While administrators claim to be acting in the interest of students who feel threatened and endangered by such words, their actions prioritize the interests of a specific political ideology over their commitment to education, learning, and safety."  
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeGdLpRTC7ZiixBx7B1-3vgyHCpqJdSomph0Rafy7a83L6mnw/viewform

-->Over 900 academics from all over the country have signed this letter. If you are in this category, please sign. The lack of coverage of this most important issue of censorship in higher education, is just another reflection of how corporatized our academic institutions have become. Sign this letter and join the resistance!

The New York Times:
"Who’s a ‘Colonizer’? How an Old Word Became a New Weapon ...

Within three months, in November 1947, the United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 181 calling for the establishment of two states. On this basis, in May 1948, the State of Israel came into being. Five Arab states immediately invaded in an attempt to eradicate the newborn intruder, as they saw it; that attempt continues to this day in the form of Hamas."
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/10/world/europe/colonialist-word-gaza-ukraine.html

-->The article is well worth reading, until it gets to the Nakba. That is just left out. 750,000 people ethnically cleansed from their land just didn't make it into the final version of this article. Attacks on Israel by its Arab neighbors did, although it was distorted. But not the Nakba.  Zionism is based on leaving important parts of history out. Hamas' recent attack on Israel seemed to come from nowhere. That's because the last 75 years of colonial oppression and savagery are always just left out, at least in our corporate media.

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Common Dreams:
"The NYT Is Fanning the Flames of a Fake Outrage. When covering right-wing claims of antisemitism on campus, reporters for an ostensibly liberal paper should be looking at what is actually being said and what is actually happening.

University presidents are under fire from politicians and the media over what is being framed as their waffling over allowing antisemitic speech on their campuses. But it is a concocted outrage that has nothing to do with safeguarding Jewish students, and The New York Times is going along for the ride. ...

The Times (12/6/23) reported the story under the headline, 'College Presidents Under Fire After Dodging Questions About Antisemitism,' with the subhead: 'The leaders of Harvard, MIT, and Penn appeared to evade questions about whether students should be disciplined if they call for the genocide of Jews.' ...

But there are two big problems with the Times‘ framing: The calls for genocide were imaginary, and the presidents’ answers were not evasive, they were accurate reflections of the constitutional protections of free speech and the scope of university policies on harassment and bullying."
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/nyt-fake-outrage-campus-antisemitism

-->Antisemitism is being used on the nation's campuses to deprive students and faculty their free speech rights. No college student has called for the genocide of Jews. The story is being used to draw attention away from the real genocide going on in Gaza.

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Common Dreams:
"Progressive U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Thursday sent a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg demanding answers to questions about the Facebook and Instagram parent company's alleged suppression of pro-Palestinian content during the ongoing Israeli obliteration of Gaza.

'Over 90 human rights and civil society organizations have raised alarm about Meta's reported suppression, filtering, and mistranslation of Palestine-related content over the past two months, calling on the company to provide additional transparency as to content moderation and to address discriminatory algorithmic design,' Warren wrote.

The senator is seeking clarification regarding documented occurrences on Facebook and Instagram of censorship of pro-Palestinian content, labeling the Palestinian flag as 'potentially offensive,' and translating the words 'Palestinian' and 'Alhamdulilah'—Arabic for 'praise be to God'—as 'Palestinian terrorist.' 

'Even more concerning, Meta reportedly manipulated its content filters to apply stricter standards to content generated in Palestine compared to the standards in place in the rest of the region and the world,' Warren noted.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/facebook-censorship

-->The nation's media plays down the censorship of Palestinian voices on Facebook and Instagram. With colleges shutting down free speech, and the internet omitting Palestinian voices, maybe the US led genocide in Gaza will disappear.

Common Dreams:
" 'Moral Insanity: Biden Admin Bypasses Congress to Rush Tank Shells to Israel
'Rushing deadly weapons to the far-right and openly genocidal Israeli government without congressional review robs American voters of their voice in Congress,' said one critic.

Hours after United States Ambassador Robert Wood on Friday acted alone to veto a United Nations Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, the Biden administration again illustrated its growing isolation in continuing to back Israel's onslaught as it bypassed Congress to send more weapons to the country's extreme right-wing government. ...

Also on Saturday, the global charity Save the Children warned that at least 7,685 children under age five in Gaza are now so malnourished—a result of Israel's total blockade of the enclave that began in October and the delivery of just a small fraction of the aid that is needed that they require 'urgent medical treatment to avoid death.' "
https://www.commondreams.org/news/gaza-2666509472

-->Biden now owns this genocide in Gaza. Instead of voting for a cease fire, and rushing food to thousands of children, he is sending Israel more tank shells. How is this possible in a civilized society? Does the empire think about anything besides military superiority? At at all costs? The NYT avoided parts of this story, like the starvation of children.

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Common Dreams:
"UK Union Workers Blockade Plants Arming Israel. 'We stand here ashamed that the weapons used in the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestine are partly made on our own doorstep,' one participating doctor said.

More than 1,000 union members with Workers for a Free Palestine blockaded four weapons factories in the United Kingdom Thursday that make components for planes being used by Israel to bomb Gaza. The workers, who include teachers and healthcare and hospitality professionals, said they had shut down plants in Bournemouth, Lancashire, Brighton, and Glasgow. ...

All of the plants targeted by the workers make components for the F-35 fighter jet. Israel has killed 21,731 people in Gaza since October 7, including 8,697 children, according to Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor. The Geneva-based group said the death toll has risen by 40% since a temporary cease-fire ended last week."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/uk-workers-block-factories-gaza

-->The NYT, the most important paper of the empire, was not eager to print stories of workers shutting down weapons makers. Our "newspaper of record," ignored the story.

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Common Dreams:
" 'Don't Let Fabricated Outrage 'Distract From Genocidal Violence in Gaza,' Says Naomi Klein. 'Keep sharing reports from Gaza,' said the author and activist. 'Israel is freaking out at the implications, which is why the distraction machine is in overdrive.'

Author and rights advocate Naomi Klein warned late Wednesday that supporters of a permanent cease-fire in Gaza must stay focused on one thing—Israel's mass killing of civilians in the blockaded enclave, a violation of international law—and resist efforts to distract the public from the issue at hand.

'The distraction machine is in overdrive,' said Klein on social media after more than a day of commentary and outrage directed at the presidents of three top universities after they testified before the U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee at a hearing titled 'Holding Campus Leaders Accountable and Confronting Antisemitism.' "
https://www.commondreams.org/news/free-speech-hearings

-->Our major media is into this story big time. It is such a good distraction from the issue of the day, the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. The NYT didn't print Naomi Klein's warnings.

Telesur English:
"On Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan predicted that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be tried as a war criminal in a manner similar to that in which former Serbian President Slobodan Milosvic was tried.

'Netanyahu, who is now the ‘Butcher of Gaza’, beyond being a war criminal, will definitely be tried AS the Butcher of Gaza just as Milosevic was judged,' Erdogan said while opening the meeting of the Economic and Trade Cooperation Committee of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Istanbul.

Milosevic was arrested in 2001 and accused by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia of being responsible for war crimes and genocide that occurred during the Balkan war in the early 1990s. ... Erdogan also criticized Western countries for giving 'unconditional support to Israel to kill more children' and blamed the United Nations for being an institution incapable of bringing peace or hope to humanity."
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Netanyahu-Will-Be-Tried-as-the-Gaza-Butcher-Erdogan-Predicts-20231204-0008.html

-->How refreshing it is to read the truth about Western countries that are complicit in the slaughter of thousands of Palestinian children. Why can't at least one or two of our supposed leaders say the obvious thing about the war crimes being committed in all our name?

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Common Dreams:
"Luis Moreno Ocampo, the International Criminal Court's first chief prosecutor, said Friday that both Hamas and Israel perpetrated genocide—the Palestinian resistance group by murdering around 1,200 Israelis on October 7, and the Israeli government by besieging Gaza.

Appearing on Al Jazeera 's 'UpFront,' Moreno Ocampo said that 'you have Hamas committing war crimes... crimes against humanity, the crime committed in Israel on October 7... and probably genocide, because Hamas has [the] intention to destroy Israelis as a group.'
 
'Then, Israel's reaction also includes many crimes,' he continued. 'It's complicated to define the war crimes, because each bombing has to be evaluated. But there is something very clear: The siege of Gaza itself... is a form of genocide.'
 
'Article 2C of the Genocide Convention defines that you don't need to kill people to commit genocide,' the Argentinian jurist added. 'The rules say inflicting conditions to destroy the group, that itself is a genocide. So creating the siege itself is a genocide, and that is very clear.' "  
https://www.commondreams.org/news/israeli-genocide

-->Why can't our Western leaders say anything close to what the former chief prosecutor admitted? It's almost like the nation's media is in a pro-Israel trance, and doesn't really know what to do with all those body bags. Could all our Congressional representatives be paid off by the Israel Lobby? Of course they are!

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Common Dreams:
"The last thing Americans need is a Bezos-backed investment company further consolidating single-family homes and putting homeownership out of reach for more and more people. Housing should be a right, not a speculative commodity.

Among the three richest people on the planet, mega-billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos received some praise last week for announcing approximately $120 million in donations to a number of groups fighting the scourge of homelessness in the United States.

But hold your applause. Just days after word of the charitable gifts—a minuscule drop in the bucket compared to the estimated $170 billion fortune he possesses—a Bezos-controlled company called Arrived dropped $500 million of new investment in single-family homes with a venture fund that critics warn will make the nation's housing crisis even worse. ... The fund itself—called the Single Family Residential Fund—allows investors to purchase portions of various homes and later trade, hold, or redeem their 'chips' on a rolling basis like players at a casino."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/jeff-bezos-homeless

-->The US media hasn't withheld their applause at all. In glowing words, Forbes praises this investment scheme, without the least bit of skepticism. The mainstream media just can't look beyond the thrill of reporting on billionaires. Of course, they are doing what's best for society!