News Releases

  • Analysis of Trump’s Claim That Christianity Is “Under Attack”

    At the National Religious Broadcasters convention in Nashville last month, Donald Trump told the audience that Christianity is “under attack.”


  • Harris’ Non-“Ceasefire”

    Kimberley added: “Is Harris calling for a ceasefire or is the president? She says this proposal is now on the table. So it isn’t new. … The word ceasefire has been co-opted. We must say end funding and weapons to Israel and no to displacing Palestinians in Gaza.” Journalist Laila Al-Arian writes: “She’s not calling for a ceasefire. She’s calling for a six week pause to release the hostages. The people of Gaza have called for a permanent ceasefire. Giving them a break only to resume killing them is not a ceasefire.” Abed A. Ayoub of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee…


  • Israel: Atrocities, Fabrications and Complicities

    “Civil society organisations around the world are demanding political leaders listen to the voice of the public. They want action to end the genocide now. To turn a blind eye is to be complicit. Signatories to the Genocide Convention are doing worse: in abrogation of their responsibilities under international law, many are continuing to enable the supply of arms or arms parts to Israel. This is criminal state behaviour. …”


  • Vets on Aaron Bushnell’s Self-Immolation

    See images of a vigil from Monday night for Aaron Bushnell who immolated himself in front of the Israeli embassy, shouting “Free Palestine!” over and over again. MIKE FERNER, [email protected], @VFPNational Ferner is national director of Veterans For Peace, which just put out a statement: “Aaron’s motivation is strikingly similar to that of Norman Morrison, a 35-year-old, Quaker activist who set himself ablaze in the Pentagon parking lot below Secretary of War McNamara’s office, November 2, 1965. … “We could call our policymakers ‘madmen arsonists’ because they go around the globe setting fires much faster than we can extinguish them.”…


  • Political Journalism in 2024

    “If you have one political party in a two-party system that has built lying, cheating, and stealing into its DNA, and the media treats [both parties] as equal actors, then the media is biased toward the party willing to lie, cheat, and steal. The Republicans get a booster seat from mainstream journalism.”


  • * Self-Immolation * NYT Credibility

    “While Self-immolation became well-known in the West after Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc’s self-immolation in what was formerly known as Saigon (currently Ho Chi Minh City) on June, 11 1963, this practice has been described in ancient Hindu and Buddhist literature. In one of the earliest tales of the Jataka-Mala, they recount a story of a Bodhisattva (an enlightened being), who jumps into a wood fire to provide food for a hungry Brahmin. In the ancient literature, they always describe an enlightened man who makes a calculated self-sacrifice on behalf of a larger group or community.”


  • Anti-Zionist Jews Take on AIPAC

    Jewish Voice for Peace states: “Over 5,000 Jews and allies, including rabbis and descendants of Holocaust survivors, shut down the AIPAC headquarters in New York City on Thursday, protesting the organization’s involvement in U.S. politics that threatens to undermine democracy by funneling millions of dollars into swaying members of Congress to oppose a ceasefire in Gaza, which is favored by the vast majority of Americans. “Down the block from AIPAC’s Midtown Manhattan headquarters, police arrested 18 protesters inside the offices of AIPAC-supported Senators Schumer and Gillibrand, who oppose a ceasefire and voted last week to send $14.1 billion in military funding to Israel.”…


  • Doctors Without Borders: Israel Is Attacking Our Convoys

    Israeli forces have attacked our convoys, detained our staff, and bulldozed our vehicles, and hospitals have been bombed and raided. Now, for a second time, one of our staff shelters has been hit. Our colleagues in Gaza are fearful that, as I speak to you today, they will be punished tomorrow. Madame President, every day we witness unimaginable horror. … There is no health system to speak of left in Gaza. Israel’s military has dismantled hospital after hospital. What remains is so little in the face of such carnage. It is preposterous. The excuse given is that medical facilities have been…


  • Myths About Israel and International Law

    Regarding the ongoing International Court of Justice hearings on the legality of Israel’s 56-year occupation of Palestinian land, he noted: “This is the largest case in history — more than 50 countries are taking part in this, and the U.S. is virtually alone (but for Fiji) in defending the legality of Israel’s occupation. Most states are affirming its illegality and cataloging Israeli war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other gross violations of international law. This includes central tenets of international law (‘jus cogens norms’) from which there is no escape: the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by force, the violation of…


  • Israel’s Ethnic Cleansing Plans and the Ignored Barghouti Factor

    Silverstein continued: “Given the close security relationship between Israel and Egypt, the latter would certainly permit Israeli troops to enter the camps at will. Isn’t that convenient? Prest-0 change-o, Israel solves its Gaza problem. It gets to destroy Hamas (and Gaza along with it), unloads 80 percent of Gaza’s population on others, and Bibi Netanyahu gets to run a victory lap in Jerusalem. … There is one course events could take that would solve everyone’s problem, including the Palestinians. In the prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas, it could free Marwan Barghouti, the most charismatic leader in Palestine. All factions respect…


  • Global Warming: A Crucial Moment

    In recent days, the Bush administration has moved away from restricting emissions of carbon dioxide. Today, it is being reported that the Bush administration plans to pull out of the Kyoto protocol on global warming altogether. The following analysts are available for interviews: ROSS GELBSPAN Author of The Heat Is On: The Climate Crisis, the…

  • Erin Brockovich and Bill Moyers Put Toxic Chemicals in National Spotlight

    The night after Julia Roberts won an Oscar for her fact-based portrayal of environmental activist Erin Brockovich, the chemical industry is set to take another blow on national television Monday evening as PBS airs “Trade Secrets” — an expose of “secrets buried in thousands of confidential documents from America’s chemical companies.” The following researchers and…

  • Eighteen Years After “Star Wars” — What’s Behind NMD?

    Today is the 18th anniversary of President Reagan’s announcement of his intention to begin a massive missile defense research program for the Strategic Defense Initiative. Reports are circulating today about a major reassessment of weapons systems by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who is a major proponent of National Missile Defense. The following analysts are available…

  • Campaign Finance Reform

    STEPHANIE WILSON Executive director of the Fannie Lou Hamer Project, Wilson said today: “During the civil rights movement of the last century, voices rose in resistance to racism, inequality, brutal oppression and disenfranchisement, and they could not be silenced. Their cries resulted in both the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts — legislation that Congress…

  • Sharon’s Visit

    SUSAN AKRAM An associate professor at Boston University School of Law who specializes in refugee issues, Akram said today: “The deteriorating situation is a reflection of a complete lack of focus on the international law principles that should guide a just solution for the millions of Palestinian refugees and for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict generally. Israeli…

  • Coke and Commercialization of Schools

    The Coca-Cola company announced on Wednesday that it intends to change the way it does business with school districts. The list of changes includes encouraging local representatives to negotiate non-exclusive contracts, supplying of vending machines that have school messages on the outside rather than Coke ads, and offering a wider variety of “nutritious” beverages. The…

  • A Year After Warning of Stock Collapse, Economist Cites Political Leaders’ “Negligence”

    An economist who predicted a collapse of stock prices a year ago, when the Nasdaq composite index was near its peak, said today that “the nation’s political leaders chose to ignore the stock market bubble” — and “as a result, millions of families have seen their dreams of a secure retirement or their children’s college…

  • Taxes and Triggers

    MAX SAWICKY Senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, Sawicky said today: “Because some members of Congress view President Bush’s proposed tax cut as a budget buster, they would like to make these large tax cuts subject to cancellation or postponement if economic and budget prospects begin to dim. The buzz word for such devices…

  • Repeal of Workers’ Safety?

    Last night, the Senate voted to roll back a new federal rule protecting workers from repetitive stress injuries. House action is expected later this week. The following analysts are available for interviews: PAMELA VOSSENAS Vossenas is co-chair of the health and safety committee of the National Writers Union, which is affiliated with the United Auto…

  • South Africa AIDS Trial

    With a historic trial underway in South Africa, as 39 pharmaceutical companies try to stop the South African government from importing cheaper versions of AIDS drugs, the following analysts in the United States and South Africa are available for interviews: ROBERT WEISSMAN Co-director of Essential Action and author of the recent paper “AIDS and Developing…

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