“The nuclear nonproliferation and arms control regime painstakingly constructed during the 20th century has been systematically and purposefully undermined, increasing the danger that nuclear weapons will be used again. George W. Bush’s decision to exit the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002 undermined the United States and Russia’s working diplomatic relationship and opened the door wider to return to arms racing. This mistake was compounded by the first Trump administration’s abandonment of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty and the Open Skies Treaty. Russia’s invasions of Ukraine, withdrawal from the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty in 2023, and ongoing threats…

“On the one hand, we have Netanyahu with his ‘Greater Israel,’ which is an old Zionist romantic idea of expanding Israel ‘from the Nile to the Euphrates,’ which has a false biblical claim to it and will draw support from Christian Zionist politicians like Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and Mike Huckabee, the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, and many in the Trump orbit. Moreover, the extremist Israeli settler movement and Netanyahu’s cabinet members [Bezalel] Smotrich and [Itamar] Ben-Gvir love this vision which rallies the far right around Netanyahu.”

“Now that Palestine has formally requested protection forces, the UN General Assembly should move urgently to mandate such a force under a Uniting for Peace resolution. Israel has made clear for the past two years that no amount of pleading, pressure or negotiation will end its atrocities and deliberate starvation in Gaza; only international peacekeeping forces can achieve that.”

Just minutes before he was killed, al-Sharif said in a post on X that Israel was escalating its bombing of Gaza City. “Relentless bombardment,” he wrote. “For two hours, the Israeli aggression has intensified on Gaza City.” After the killing, a message was posted on his account: “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.” Abed has been highly critical of reporting on the killing.

At a satirical press conference in Washington, D.C. this week, activists unveiled a new name and logo for the Environmental Protection Agency, which they called “the Environmental Pollution Agency.” On the new logo, buildings are swallowed up by rising sea levels. The event included a spokesperson from the Environmental Pollution Agency, “Joe Gasfracker” from the “American Petroleum Institute,” and a spokesperson from the “Energy Villains for Increased Leakage.” Participants in the action leaned into the satire and held signs with slogans such as “we support the freedom to pollute.”

The Guardian reports in “‘No one should act surprised,’ says UN expert who warned of starvation in Gaza last year.” The piece quotes Michael Fakhri, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food: “Israel has built the most efficient starvation machine you can imagine. So while it’s always shocking to see people being starved, no one should act surprised. All the information has been out in the open since early 2024.” The Guardian also reports: “Fakhri argues that in light of the US persistent vetoing of ceasefire resolutions at the UN Security Council, it is incumbent on the UN General Assembly…

The group has just announced a “historic victory. … The university has now agreed to a $100K settlement, the largest ever for pro-Palestine student speech known in the U.S. But this isn’t just about the money. It’s about forcing institutions to recognize that Palestinian voices cannot and will not be silenced.”

“More than 60 Palestinian women have launched a hunger strike to demand Israel return the body of a peace activist killed by an Israeli settler last week in the occupied West Bank. The body of Awda Hathaleen, who was shot and killed on Monday as Israeli settlers moved in to bulldoze his village, is still being held by Israeli authorities. “Meanwhile, his killer — Yinon Levi, a notorious settler who has been sanctioned by several governments, at one point including the United States before President Donald Trump lifted the sanctions — has been set free after a brief period of…

“In 2016, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), a group of 35 mostly European countries, drafted what it called a working definition of antisemitism. The Alliance had been founded in 1998 to promote Holocaust education and, in its own words, to ‘strengthen governmental cooperation to work towards a world without genocide.’ All too sadly, right now, its definition is being used to do the opposite: it’s helping to criminalize opposition to genocide.”

“While we have succeeded in preventing the direct use of nuclear bombs since World War II, Daniel Ellsberg and others have highlighted that the U.S. government has used nuclear weapons repeatedly since 1945, like a thief uses a gun. It doesn’t have to detonate the weapon over a city, simply threatening to do so achieves a strategic purpose.”