2021-02-06: News Headlines

Suadad al-Salhy (2021-02-06). Iraq: Mass funeral of Yazidi victims of Islamic State brings back grim memories. middleeasteye.net Iraq: Mass funeral of Yazidi victims of Islamic State brings back grim memories | Locals in the Yazidi village of Kojo hope the burial of 104 genocide victims can help start a healing process for beleaguered minority | Sat, 02/06/2021 – 13: 44 | The funeral procession in Kojo before the burial of victims killed by the Islamic State group, after the bodies were exhumed from mass graves (Reuter…

Shatha Hammad (2021-02-06). Israeli village demolition leaves Palestinian families desperate and homeless. middleeasteye.net Israeli village demolition leaves Palestinian families desperate and homeless | Residents of Humsa al-Fawqa have repeatedly had their homes in the Jordan Valley destroyed by Israeli forces | Sat, 02/06/2021 – 10: 03 | Aisha Abu Awwad sitting in a tent in the demolished surroundings of Humsa al-Fawqa (MEE/Shatha Hammad) | Aisha Abu Awwad, 57, sat in front of a demolished tent that once constituted h…

Juan Cole (2021-02-06). In Game Changer, Int'l Criminal Court will take up Israeli War Crimes and Apartheid in Palestine. juancole.com Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) — On Friday, the International Criminal Court found that it had jurisdiction to consider war crimes and crimes against humanity and the crime of Apartheid in the Palestinian territories. Israeli politician Abba Eban once quipped that Palestinians never lost the opportunity to lose an opportunity. But Palestinians have carefully, methodically created …

Caitlin Johnstone (2021-02-06). The Empire Must Die: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix. thealtworld.com Q: What is a liberal? | A: A liberal is a violent white supremacist extremist who supports and participates in the mass slaughter of brown-skinned human beings overseas while tweeting that white supremacist extremists are bad. | ‚ùñ | Q: What is capitalism? | A: Capitalism is a wonderful economic and political system which has given us powerful technology, a wide assortment of breakfast cereals, and near term human extinction. | ‚ùñ | Q: What is China? | A: China is a large Asiatic nation which westerners use as an emotional punching bag for their capitalism-induced rage, p…

Ramzy Baroud (2021-02-06). Our Mutual Fight: The Case against Pakistani Normalization with Israel. zcomm.org The Pakistani government should never, under any circumstances and no matter the pressure, normalize with Israel…

_____ (2021-02-06). ICC Clears Way For War Crimes Probe Of Israeli Actions. popularresistance.org Jerusalem – The International Criminal Court said Friday that its jurisdiction extends to territories occupied by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war, potentially clearing the way for its chief prosecutor to open a war crimes probe into Israeli military actions. | The decision was welcomed by the Palestinians and decried by Israel's prime minister, who vowed to fight "this perversion of justice." The U.S., Israel's closest ally, said it opposed the decision. | The ICC's chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, said in 2019 that there was a "reasonable basis" to open a war crimes probe into Israeli military actions in the Gaz…

RT (2021-02-06). Canceling their own? NYT's lead Covid-19 reporter resigns after reprimand for use of 'N-word' fails to appease co-workers. rt.com Donald McNeil Jr., the New York Times' top reporter on the Covid-19 pandemic, has resigned after management's decision not to fire him for innocuously using the "N-word" left many staffers at the newspaper "outraged and in pain." | The episode began when a student on a Times-sponsored trip to Peru in 2019 asked McNeil whether he thought her classmate should be suspended for using a racial slur on a video made years earlier. The reporter, who was on the trip as an expert to inform the students, repeated the slur when asking the girl about the context in which it had been used. | Allegations regarding McNeil's c…

RT (2021-02-06). Splintered SCOTUS gives California churches partial win, rules state can't ban indoor services, but can limit capacity over Covid. rt.com In a 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court denied California's ban on indoor church services, but did say the state has the right to limit capacity to 25 percent amid the Covid-19 pandemic. | Religious organizations have been battling with California for months now, as the state's lockdown restrictions have meant that indoor services have been banned across most of the state — a move that has drawn criticism, in particular, because Hollywood productions have been allowed to move forward. | The Supreme Court ruled late Friday night in two cases where churches were suing the state over indoor-services bans, but it…

RT (2021-02-06). NYPD launches probe into 'domestic terrorist' cop wearing 'political patch' amid calls for purges & cleansing of 'Trump's Army'. rt.com A New York City police officer was caught on video wearing pro-Trump patches, leading to an investigation after liberals claim the entire force is "Trump's Army" and label the cop a "domestic terrorist." | At a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Brooklyn on Friday evening, video was captured of the officer in uniform with two Trump badges attached to her vest. One is of a skull styled after the comic book character The Punisher — which some have called for to be retired — with Trump's hair, while the other has a similar image along with Trump's name and the phrase "make enforcement great again." | "

Staff (2021-02-06). Republicans Have Already Introduced Over 100 Voter Suppression Bills This Year. truthout.org Since former President Donald Trump failed to reverse the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, Republicans in more than two dozen states have introduced over 100 bills to restrict voting access, an alarming development that voting rights advocates have pointed to as yet another reason for Democrats to

_____ (2021-02-06). NY Times' Pseudo-Expert Accusing China of Genocide Worked for Far-Right Cult Falun Gong's Publicity Arm. strategic-culture.org The New York Times recycled flimsy claims by a right-wing apocalyptic extremist to accuse China of "genocide," in an op-ed by an American with 1/8th Uighur heritage who worked for Epoch Times, a far-right, pro-Trump outlet backed by cult Falun Gong. | By Ben NORTON | The New York Times published a factually challenged op-ed accusing China of committing "genocide" against its Uighur minority. The article sourced its spurious accusations to a right-wing operative who insists his research is part of a divine "mission" against Beijing that is "led by God." | The author of the New York Times op-ed, Amelia Pang, happen…

yenisafak (2021-02-06). Over 45 Palestinians arrested by Israel in January: NGOs. yenisafak.com Israeli forces rounded up 456 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank in January, according to Palestinian organizations that monitor the conditions of Palestinian prisoners.Ninety-three minors and eight women were among those detained last month, the Palestinian Authority's Prisoners' Affairs Commission, the Palestinian Prisoner Society, the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, and the Wadi Hilweh Information Center said in a joint statement.According to the statement, 105 administrative detention orders were carried out by occupation authorities, including 30 new orders along with the extensio…

yenisafak (2021-02-06). At least 456 Palestinians arrested by Israel in January: NGOs. yenisafak.com Israeli forces rounded up 456 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank in January, according to Palestinian organizations that monitor the conditions of Palestinian prisoners.Ninety-three minors and eight women were among those detained last month, the Palestinian Authority's Prisoners' Affairs Commission, the Palestinian Prisoner Society, the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, and the Wadi Hilweh Information Center said in a joint statement.According to the statement, 105 administrative detention orders were carried out by occupation authorities, including 30 new orders along with the extensio…

Mehr News Agency (2021-02-06). US can't fool Yemenis by claiming end of support to Saudis. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Feb. 06 (MNA) — Yemen's Supreme Political Council said that Yemenis will not be fooled by US claim on the decision to stop supporting the Saudi invasion.

_____ (2021-02-06). India's Farmers' Protests: 'This Is History In The Making'. popularresistance.org On January 26, 2021, India observed its 71st Republic Day under historically unprecedented circumstances. On an occasion meant to commemorate the adoption of the Indian Constitution, two fiercely antagonistic visions of the country locked horns with each other in the capital of Delhi. | On the Rajpath ceremonial boulevard in the heart of Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s homegrown Hindu nationalist proto-fascism was on full display. It was no coincidence, for example, that the winner of the Republic Day Parade's tableaux competition was the state of Uttar Pradesh, w…

Jason Stanley (2021-02-06). Movie at the Ellipse: A Study in Fascist Propaganda. zcomm.org Scholars on the Nazis and anti-Semitism have seen this before…

Dr. Zuhair Sabbagh (2021-02-06). Israel Elections: Competition Among Right-Wing Zionist Parties for Arab Votes. globalresearch.ca All Global Research articles can be read in 27 languages by activating the "Translate Website" drop down menu on the top banner of our home page (Desktop version). | *** | Introduction | It is noteworthy to mention that at the beginning of …

ICLMG (2021-02-06). Anti-Terrorism Laws is the Wrong Approach. iclmg.ca The ICLMG recognizes the pressing need to address the threat of white supremacist and hate-based violence in Canada.

Peoples Dispatch (2021-02-06). Illegal demolition of Palestinian Bedouin village condemned. peoplesdispatch.org Israeli forces demolished the village of Khirbet Humsa for the second time in four months. The rights organization B'Tselem accused Israel of trying to displace the entire Palestinian Bedouin community of the village…

MEE staff (2021-02-05). ICC rules it has jurisdiction to probe alleged war crimes by Israel and Hamas. middleeasteye.net ICC rules it has jurisdiction to probe alleged war crimes by Israel and Hamas | Finding clears path for court's chief prosecutor to move forward with probe into alleged war crimes committed since Israel's 2014 bombardment of Gaza | Fri, 02/05/2021 – 19: 29 | Israeli soldiers deploy as Palestinians and left-wing Israelis protest against settlements and land confiscation, south of Hebron city on 15 January (AFP/…

MEE staff (2021-02-05). ICC rules it has jurisdiction to probe alleged war crimes by Israel and Hamas. middleeasteye.net ICC rules it has jurisdiction to probe alleged war crimes by Israel and Hamas | Finding, strongly rejected by Israeli prime minister, clears path for probe into alleged war crimes committed since Israel's 2014 bombardment of Gaza | Fri, 02/05/2021 – 19: 29 | Israeli soldiers deploy as Palestinians and left-wing Israelis protest against settlements and land confiscation, south of Hebron city on 15 January (AFP/…

Eds. (2021-02-05). California must lead the way in abolishing school and university campus police. mronline.org The 2020 uprisings articulated transformative visions of a world without anti-Black violence, a world without hyper-funded police forces and thus a world with deep community safety and care.

Ramzy Baroud (2021-02-05). Our Mutual Fight: The Case against Pakistani Normalization with Israel. dissidentvoice.org The Pakistani government should never, under any circumstances and no matter the pressure, normalize with Israel. Doing so is not only dangerous — as it will embolden an already vile, racist, violent apartheid Israel — but it would also be considered a betrayal of a historic legacy of mutual solidarity, collective affinity and brotherhood that …

Rob Urie (2021-02-05). Fascism is Capitalism That Really Means It. counterpunch.org Broad characterizations of political acts are themselves political in the sense that they emerge from views of the world that give them meaning. They can be descriptive, in which case why not let political actors speak for themselves? The contemporary fear of giving a 'platform' to disagreeable views begs the question, how do you know they are disagreeable unless you've heard people out?

Qassam Muaddi (2021-02-05). Israeli settlers kill unarmed Palestinian near Ramallah. middleeasteye.net Israeli settlers kill unarmed Palestinian near Ramallah | Residents of Palestinian town of Ras Karkar say killing of Khaled Nofal was unjustifiable | Fri, 02/05/2021 – 15: 46 | Khaled Nofal (R), an accountant from the West Bank, was shot by an Israeli settler on Friday (Twitter)
| An Israeli settler shot dead a Palestinian man near the town of Ras Karkar in the central occupied West Bank on Fri…

IMEMC News (2021-02-05). Palestinian Killed By Israeli Paramilitary Settler Near Ramallah. imemc.org A paramilitary illegal Israeli colonialist settler shot and killed, in the early morning hours Friday, a Palestinian man near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, after he reportedly attempted to break into a house. According to the Israeli military, the man, who was unarmed, attempted to break into a home in the illegal Sadeh …

OCHA (2021-02-05). OCHA: "UN reiterates its call for demolitions to end and for international law to be respected" imemc.org Statement by Sarah Muscroft, Head of OCHA in the occupied Palestinian territory, James Heenan, Head of the UN Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian territory, and Lucia Elmi, UNICEF Special Representative in the State of Palestine United Nations representatives met yesterday with the Palestinian Bedouin community of Humsa al Bqai'a, in the northern Jordan …

Beau Peters (2021-02-05). Racism in Food Systems and the Vegan Community. dissidentvoice.org Racism is one of the major social justice issues of the modern era. It can be seen in all corners of the globe, and in virtually every industry, negatively impacting minority communities and overall public health. The global food system is no exception. As a niche dietary movement, veganism is particularly problematic, with various news …

Juan Cole (2021-02-05). Republicans in Congress engage in hateful Islamophobia to defend their Islamophobe, Greene. juancole.com Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) — In attempting to defend Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Republican Far Right (a.k.a. the Republican Party) has actually just taken her own as a role. They are performing Greene. Rep. Brian Babin (R-TX) introduced a bill to strip Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) of her seat on the Foreign Affairs committee. Omar, …

Ralph Nader (2021-02-05). The Struggle Inside Senator Mitch McConnell's Brain. counterpunch.org Since 2015, Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell has ruled the Senate with an iron hand, describing himself as "the Guardian of Gridlock." He was Senator "NO," except for confirming over 200 mostly corporatist federal judges. Now comes a new challenge for Mitch McConnell as he leads 49 other Republican Senators, twenty of whom are up

Liza Featherstone (2021-02-05). The Danger Posed by Far Right to AOC and the Squad Is Very Real. zcomm.org The far right is dangerously obsessed with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her fellow left-wing members of Congress. They deserve the Left's solidarity…

_____ (2021-02-05). Palestine Action Co-Founder Arrested For Blackmail. popularresistance.org Palestine Action co-founder Richard Goddard was arrested for blackmail on 3 February, just days after the group launched a joint action with Extinction Rebellion that shut down the premises of Israeli arms firm Elbit Systems. | The arrest, which was filmed, took place at around 3pm and Goddard was taken to Fresh Wharf Custody Base, London. Both he and co-founder Huda Ammori reportedly had their passports seized during the raid. Palestine Action has accused the police of 'harassment.

Ramzy Baroud (2021-02-05). Our Mutual Fight: The Case Against Pakistani Normalization with Israel. counterpunch.org The Pakistani government should never, under any circumstances and no matter the pressure, normalize with Israel. Doing so is not only dangerous — as it will embolden an already vile, racist, violent apartheid Israel — but it would also be considered a betrayal of a historic legacy of mutual solidarity, collective affinity and brotherhood that

Abdel Bari Atwan (2021-02-05). Why Netanyahu isn't welcome in the Gulf. thealtworld.com Trump's demise has dealt a major blow to the Israeli premier and his newfound Arab allies | Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in a panic. He is desperate to stage a visit to an Arab capital before the forthcoming Israeli parliamentary elections. Nobody has been more contemptuous of the Arabs and their causes than he has, whether on the world stage or on the ground: with his massacres in Gaza and annexation, colonisation and apartheid policies in the West Bank. Yet he is trying to use the Arabs as a means of helping him remain in power. | Netanyahu is currently focused on four Arab capitals to which he…

RT (2021-02-05). 'Ignoring real war crimes': Netanyahu blasts International Criminal Court for claiming jurisdiction over Palestinian territories. rt.com The International Criminal Court has claimed jurisdiction over the Palestinian territories of Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, meaning it could probe war crimes there. Israel has objected to the move. | "Today, the International Criminal Court has proven once more that it is a political body and not a judicial institution," Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said after Friday's ruling. | Netanyahu accused the court of "ignoring the real war crimes and instead is pursuing Israel, a country with a strong democratic regime, that sanctifies the rule of law." He also said the decision "impairs the right…

Staff (2021-02-05). Education Will Be Critical in the Fight for Democracy and Anti-Racism. truthout.org What is the role of education in creating a critically-minded public that is unafraid to resist lies and deceptions perpetuated by anti-democratic forces? How do we best address the assumption that economically oppressed children can't learn? In what way does internalized racism impact students of color and how must this be addressed? In what ways should we rethink the aims of education beyond careerism? | To address these and other important questions, Truthout spoke with Pedro A. Noguera, who is t…

Staff (2021-02-05). Cori Bush Demands Expulsion for Every Republican Who Incited the Capitol Siege. truthout.org Congresswoman Cori Bush of Missouri delivered an emotional speech on the House floor Thursday night detailing her experience of the January 6 mob invasion of the U.S. Capitol Building — which she called a "blatant, heinous, vile white supremacist attack" — and demanding that lawmakers take the basic step of holding to account those who abetted and incited the deadly violence. | The Missouri Democrat's remarks were part of a series of speeches organized by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-…

RT (2021-02-05). Russia slams 'immoral' claims from oligarchs over collapsed Yukos oil empire as final showdown around $50bn legal case begins. rt.com A long-running battle over the world's largest legal bill could soon be settled as a court in the Netherlands begins hearing arguments in the case of defunct energy giant Yukos, once among Russia's largest resource companies. | Hearings as part of the $50 billion case began at the Supreme Court in The Hague on Friday, with lawyers for the Russian government seeking to overturn a Dutch tribunal's previous decision to hand damages to the business' ex-shareholders. Yukos' former owners say the company's assets were confiscated in what amounted to state "appropriation." Moscow insists that they are not 'bona fide'

Staff (2021-02-05). Will Biden Admin Reverse Trump's "Dangerous" Recognition of Morocco's Occupation of Western Sahara? democracynow.org President Donald Trump broke with decades of U.S. foreign policy in the waning days of his administration and recognized Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, a territory the country has occupied since 1975 in defiance of the United Nations and the international community. U.S. recognition came as Morocco agreed to establish diplomatic relations with Israel, becoming the fourth Arab nation to do so in recent months as part of a regional push by the Trump administration to strengthen Israel without addressing the Palestinian conflict. Now the Biden administration must weigh whether to reverse Trump's decision…

Jordan Woll (2021-02-05). Yemen genocide: Biden pledges to end U.S. support for "offensive" Saudi operations. liberationnews.org As part of his first major speech on foreign policy since becoming president, Joe Biden announced yesterday a halt to U.S. support for "offensive operations" in Yemen, including "relevant arm[s] sales" to Saudi Arabia. Since 2015 during the Obama-Biden administration, the United States has been supporting, enabling and directly participating in the Saudi war of …

Eugene Dennis (2021-02-05). 'We Accuse': The Communist Party USA's answer to 1948 conspiracy charges. peoplesworld.org On Feb. 3, 2021, CNN published an article by Eliott C. McLaughlin that placed the Communist Party USA alongside Trump's Jan. 6 Capitol mob and a neo-Nazi organization as the only groups to have "attempted to stage a coup against the United States of America." CNN and McLaughlin have their history wrong, very wrong. In …

Jake Johnson, staff writer (2021-02-05). In Fiery Floor Speech, Cori Bush Demands Accountability for Every Republican Who Incited 'Vile White Supremacist Attack' of January 6. commondreams.org "We can't build a better society if members are too scared to stand up and act to reject the white supremacist attack that happened right before our eyes." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

_____ (2021-02-05). Scheer Intelligence: The Egregious Price America Exacts For Integrity. popularresistance.org "George and Mary Oppen were branded enemies of the state," writes Joel Whitney in a recent essay for The Poetry Foundation titled "The Violent Years." "Their FBI files document just how deep their activism went, and the price they paid for it." The author of "Finks: How the C.I.A. Tricked the World's Best Writers" has long been interested in the links between the world of literature and the U.S. surveillance apparatus that grows more unwieldy by the day. As he finished his most recent book tour for "Finks" just as Donald Trump and neo-fascism were on the rise, he tells Robert Scheer on this week's installment of…

Kenny Stancil, staff writer (2021-02-05). 'Downright Scary': In 2021 Alone, GOP Introduces 100+ Voter Suppression Bills in 28 States. commondreams.org "Democrats have a clear choice. They can get rid of the filibuster to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the For the People Act to stop GOP voter suppression, or they can allow the GOP to undermine democracy for the next decade." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

Eleanor J. Bader (2021-02-05). The Capitol Insurrectionists Were Also Part of a Misogynist Anti-Abortion Movement. commondreams.org The events of January 6 were firmly planted on an intersectional foundation that included white supremacy, sexism, and misogyny. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

yenisafak (2021-02-05). Israeli army gunfire kills Palestinian man in West Bank. yenisafak.com A Palestinian man was fatally shot Friday by Israeli forces in the central West Bank, according to a Palestinian official.Radhi Abu Fakhida, head of the village council of Ras Karkar, west of Ramallah, told Anadolu Agency that the Palestinian Civil Liaison Authority, a Palestinian body for communication with Israeli authorities, informed the family of a young man named Khaled Nofal that he had been martyred.He said the body of the martyr was in the Israeli occupation authorities' custody.Since morning, the Israeli army has barred entry into Ras Karkar, also preventing those inside from leaving.Eyewitnesses told A…

news.un (2021-02-05). Senior officials call on Israel to halt West Bank demolitions and respect international law. news.un.org Three high-level UN officials on Friday issued a statement calling for Israel to end demolitions in the occupied West Bank, after meeting with members of a Bedouin community ousted from their homes earlier this week in the northern Jordan Valley, while their belongings were "seized or destroyed".

_____ (2021-02-05). Joe Biden Is A White Supremacist War Hawk, Too. popularresistance.org The white hooligans who invaded Capitol Hill on January 6th set the stage for the U.S. ruling class to reinvigorate its most prized political narrative: American exceptionalism. Trump committed the most egregious crime of all in the eyes of the empire by encouraging his most loyal supporters to desecrate what one police officer on the scene called "the most sacredest place." His closing act paved an even smoother road for the incoming Biden administration to quickly militarize Washington D.C. and normalize a period of sustained crisis vis-à -vis cosmetic changes to the leadership of the empire. But as neoliberal…

Jonah Raskin (2021-02-05). Isolatoes: From Natty Bumppo to the Proud Boys. counterpunch.org They were nearly all Isolatoes, not acknowledging the common continent of men, but each Isolato living on a separate continent of his own. Yet now, federated along one keel, what a set these Isolatoes were! — Melville, on the crew of the Pequod in Moby-Dick At various times in my life, I have lived alone and

WSWS (2021-02-05). Location of fascist shooter Kyle Rittenhouse concealed from the courts with support of Kenosha Police Department. wsws.org According to documents filed by lawyers for Rittenhouse, a Kenosha Police captain advised attorneys that the shooter's real address "absolutely should not" be provided upon his release, a violation of his bail terms.