News Releases

The Guardian reports: “‘Not a normal war’: doctors say children have been targeted by Israeli snipers in Gaza.”

DAVE DeCAMP, davedecamp@protonmail.com, @DecampDave
DeCamp is news editor of Antiwar.com and host of “Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp” — a daily summary of developments.

Listen to his latest “Israel Bombed Foreign Aid Workers 3 Times, NATO Chief Floats $100 Billion Fund for Ukraine, and More” (also on YouTube and X.)

His piece “Israel Bombed Foreign Aid Workers Three Times Until They Were All Killed” reports: “Israel launched three separate drone strikes on an aid convoy in its attack that killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers, Haaretz reported on Tuesday.

“One Israeli drone fired three missiles at three cars that were clearly marked with the WCK’s logos and were traveling on roads preapproved by the Israeli military. After the first car was hit, wounded survivors were picked up by a second car. After that car was hit, they went into the third car. Then, the Israeli drone finished the job. …”

DeCamp, the father of a seven-month-old and a two-year-old also just wrote the piece “Israeli Siege Causes Sharp Rise in Newborn Baby Deaths in Gaza.”

[See recent pieces by Sam Husseini: “By Way of Deception: State Dept. Pretending It Recognizes the Geneva Conventions” and “Creation of ‘Kill Zones’ and What ‘Occupied Territory’ Means.”]

In “Khamenei Vows Israel Will Be ‘Punished’ for Bombing Iran’s Syria Consulate,” DeCamp writes: “Israel’s bombing of a diplomatic facility marks a huge escalation in its attacks on Iranians in the region. Since October 7, Israel has significantly ramped up its airstrikes in Syria and has killed several members of the IRGC, Zahedi being the most senior. …

“Israel appears to be trying to provoke a major regional war in hopes that the U.S. would get directly involved. US officials have acknowledged to the media that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu might view a full-blown war in Lebanon as key to his political survival. A regional war would also take attention and scrutiny away from Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza.”

DeCamp’s other recent pieces include “Mitch McConnell Says He’ll Stay in the Senate To Fight the ‘Isolationist Movement’” and “Zelensky Signs Law Lowering Conscription Age to 25.”

The Cradle reports in “Israel presents plan to shutter UNRWA in defiance of ICJ order” that: “Israel has put forth a proposal to the UN for the dismantlement of its relief agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, in exchange for permitting more humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip.”

Doctors Without Borders released a statement: “Israeli forces leave Al-Shifa Hospital in ruins.” See from Democracy Now: “‘Genocidal Machine’: Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah on Israel’s Destruction of Gaza’s Hospitals.”

Al Jazeera reports: “U.S.-based aid group World Central Kitchen confirms seven staff members were killed in a ‘targeted attack‘ by the Israeli military and called on it to stop ‘this indiscriminate killing’ in Gaza. Those killed were from Palestine, Australia, Poland, the UK, and a U.S.-Canada citizen.” Al Jazeera also reports: “Japan to resume funding to UNRWA, following Sweden, Finland and Canada.” Meanwhile, see from Common Dreams: “‘Rogue, Authoritarian State’: Netanyahu Vows to Ban Al Jazeera Under New Law.”

Biden recently signed a spending bill which halts funding for UNRWA, the main relief organization in Gaza, through 2025. The Intercept reports the legislation “also contains a long-standing provision that would limit aid to the Palestinian Authority, which governs the occupied West Bank, if ‘the Palestinians initiate an International Criminal Court (ICC) judicially authorized investigation, or actively supports such an investigation, that subjects Israeli nationals to an investigation for alleged crimes against Palestinians.'”

The Washington Post reports: “The Biden administration in recent days quietly authorized the transfer of billions of dollars in bombs and fighter jets to Israel.”

CHRISTOPHER GUNNESS, cgunness@outlook.com, @MyanmarAProject
Gunness is a former spokesperson for UNRWA and was featured on the past IPA releases: “Report: Israel Tortured False Confessions Out of UNRWA Staff” and “UK Channel 4 Finds Israeli Documents ‘Provide No Evidence’ in Charges Against UNRWA.“

The Wisconsin primary is Tuesday. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports: “What the ‘uninstructed’ movement means for Wisconsin voters, Biden’s chances.”

[Common Dreams reports Monday: “Israeli Assault Turned Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital Into ‘Mass Graveyard’” and on reporting by the Israeli media on the Israeli military creating “Kill Zones” in Gaza.”]

HALAH AHMAD, press@listentowisconsin.com, @listentowi
Ahmad is a spokesperson with Listen to Wisconsin, the group driving the state’s “Uninstructed” campaign. She notes that a majority in the U.S. are opposed to Israel’s attack on Gaza. Gallup recently found: “Americans now oppose the campaign by a solid margin.”

In These Times magazine reports in: “‘This Is a Movement of Hope’: Wisconsin’s Uninstructed Campaign Has Momentum” that organizers with the campaign say the primary will send President Joe Biden an “unequivocal message from the Midwest” that “if he wants to beat Trump, he must act immediately to end the genocide in Gaza. … Wisconsin may be the most pivotal swing state in the country, and Biden only beat Trump by the narrowest of margins there in 2020 – a little more than 20,000 votes, or just over 0.6 percent. And according to some recent polls, the incumbent is currently trailing (by anywhere from 2 percent to 6 percent) as he is losing support from voters – including younger voters – who care about the mass killings.”

State Representative Francesa Hong drafted a letter signed by numerous lawmakers in Wisconsin, stating, “We have an undeniable responsibility to stand with the Palestinian people in loving solidarity and demand an end to military aid to Israel and ensure the taxpayers are no longer complicit in a genocide that is funded by our government.”

A new report examines the presence of and connections between far-right hate and extremist groups in Brazil. 

WENDY VIA; wendy@globalextremism.org 
     Via is a president and cofounder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE). 

Via told the Institute for Public Accuracy: GPAHE’s country reports “connect the dots between far-right extremists in the U.S. and in other countries. They span the spectrum––from neo-Nazis to powerful, anti-LGBTQ think tanks. We can almost always find a transnational connection. Sometimes these connections run from violent, racist groups to the coat-and-tie policy people. That is true in Brazil as well.”

Far-right groups in Brazil are especially connected to the U.S. and to Portugal. “There is quite a bit of connection to Portugal,” Via said, “because Portuguese is not spoken worldwide. Portugal [is seen as] a ‘home country’ for Brazilians who identify as Europeans. It’s a white supremacy thing… Sometimes people have confusion about why there is white supremacy in Latin American countries. But Brazil was colonized by Portugal, [so some Brazilians] consider themselves of European descent. It’s about identification. Some [people] don’t consider themselves to be the descendents of native populations in South America. They consider themselves white Europeans. And they are accepted by white supremacists in the U.S. 

“When it comes to the far-right extremist hate groups, like the Hammerskins or the Proud Boys and others, they all come from the U.S. Some of them have been around for a long time and they get inspiration from one another. The internet has made it easy for these ideologies to spread. For folks in different countries looking for some solution or a place to put their angst and anger, they can do it by organizing online and in real life… You can see [the connections] if you know who to look for and where to look. This is just what is available publicly. These groups all have private chat rooms and forums. It’s harder to get in there, but that’s where plans are made or shared… We have seen a number of violent incidents in Brazil. The number is remarkable, particularly looking at the number of young people who [have] committed these acts of violence. 

“The rise of anti-LGBTQ think tanks and resource groups [can be seen] in every country. They’re all connected and they’re all connected to groups in the U.S. [Some are] focused on restricting and rolling back rights for LGTBQ folks, women, and people of color. 

“Neo-Nazi symbols are banned [in Brazil] but they’re everywhere. [Brazil] seems to emulate the U.S. a little bit more [than other countries]. They have Proud Boy clubhouses that replicate some of the U.S. activity… It’s shocking to see the use of the swastika so openly. That might seem simplistic, but it is shocking. [The swastika is] outlawed in so many countries and is such an anathema to so many countries. We are seeing it more and more.

“Lula has been very strong on far-right extremism and defines it the way we see it––as a spectrum. They have done some work to get legislation to address [extremism] on the internet, and there are some initiatives in place. But it may be too soon to say that it has made a difference yet. Those folks who rejected Lula the first time around, or who sprung up during Bolsonaro[‘s presidency], have yet to be diminished at this point. If Lula passes good economic policies and makes society run well, we will see [some of this extremism] drift away.” 

Via noted the presence of one Brazilian movement known as the Integralist movement. “It’s not a group, but more of a way of thinking.” This movement grew out of mid-20th century Brazilians who wanted to replicate Mussolini’s approach in Italy at the time. “There was a ton of racism in Mussolini’s regime; Brazilians didn’t want to be blatantly racist, so they eschewed that part of it but took on the materialistic, corporate, typical fascist approach. They went out of favor over the years but there’s been a bit of a resurgence. The [movement supports] a strong government that will manage the economy and do things based on religious ideology. Their open bigotry is against LGBTQ folks, particularly trans people, and some antisemitism.”

Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now stated that the U.S.’s acceptance of Israel’s assurances that U.S. weapons are not being used in rights violations “is absurd. It invites global mockery and disdain to hear such a statement issued in front of the world by the Biden administration.”

Commondreams reports on the latest from the World Court: “ICJ Issues New Order in Genocide Case as Another Gaza Child Starves to Death.”

FRANCIS BOYLE, fboyle@illinois.edu
Boyle is professor of international law at the University of Illinois College of Law. He represented Bosnia and Herzegovina at the ICJ noted a number of shortcomings in the latest International Court of Justice Orders. South Africa’s suit against Israel quotes from Boyle’s suit against Yugoslavia. Boyle said: “If Israel invades Rafah as it is currently planning to do and inflicts tremendous civilian casualties on the Palestinians there that will undoubtedly happen, the ICJ will have more genocidal egg on its face just like when it refused to give me what I asked for in my Second Request for Provisional Measures of Protection followed by the Genocidal Massacre at Srebrenica. RSA [Republic of South Africa] warned them of this outcome if they did not give RSA what it was asking. The Court did not give RSA what it was asking for. I shudder to think of the consequences.” Boyle also refuted the Biden administration’s claim that the UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire was “non-binding.”

What’s needed, Boyle — as well as others, like former UN official Craig Mokhiber — argued is “for the UN General Assembly to address the issue through a Uniting for Peace resolution to:

“Suspend Israel from participation in its activities as the General Assembly did to the former criminal apartheid regime in South Africa and to the genocidal Yugoslavia;

“Set up an International Criminal Tribunal for Israel in order to prosecute its highest level civilian and military officials for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide;

“Recommend economic sanctions against Israel;

“Recommend UN members sever diplomatic relations with Israel;

“Admit Palestine as a full fledged UN member state.”

Boyle, a dual U.S.-Irish national, also welcomed news that Ireland would join the South Africa ICJ Genocide Case against Israel and urged activists to continue to petition other countries to join the suit. Only Nicaragua has done so.

The ICJ has given the dates of April 8 and 9 to hear Nicaragua’s own suit against Germany under the Genocide Convention. See Boyle’s comments on that case. Ramadan ends around April 9 and many speculate that that could be when Israel invades Rafah.

Nicaragua charges: “Germany has provided political, financial and military support to Israel fully aware at the time of authorization that the military equipment would be used in the commission of great breaches of international law by this State and in disregard of its own obligations.”

On Wednesday, State Department spokesperson Matt Miller rebuffed the possibility of Uniting for Peace proceeding at the UN.

Also on Wednesday, Miller, in response to a question from Sam Husseini about whether the State Department recognized that the Geneva Conventions applied to the occupied Palestinian territories, proclaimed: “We of course accept the Geneva Conventions”; but after the Thursday briefing when asked why he didn’t specify occupied Palestinian territory, he said: “I said exactly what I meant” and refused to address if the State Department recognized the Geneva Conventions for the Palestinians. Boyle had warned in November that such a posture would turn “Gaza into a free-fire zone.”

In December, Akbar Shahid Ahmed reported in Huffington Post in “Amid U.N. Security Council Intrigue, U.S. Privately Moves To Block Another Option For International Accountability For Gaza” that: “The Biden administration is finalizing plans to urge Switzerland to reject a request from Palestine and its supporters to hold a conference on violations of the Geneva Conventions.”

Middle East Monitor reports: “U.S. threatens to cut funding to Palestinian Authority if it obtains UN recognition, supports ICC case against Israel.”

Variety reported that “more than 1,000 Jewish creatives, executives and Hollywood professionals have signed an open letter denouncing Jonathan Glazer’s ‘The Zone of Interest’ Oscar speech.” The letter accused Glazer (who is Jewish) of “drawing a moral equivalence between a Nazi regime that sought to exterminate a race of people, and an Israeli nation that seeks to avert its own extermination.”

The accusation was in sharp contrast to Glazer’s emphasis in his speech accepting an Academy Award for his film “The Zone of Interest.” In the present, he said, what’s crucial is “not to say, ‘Look what they did then,’ rather, ‘Look what we do now.’”

The open letter “refused to look at what Israel is doing now as it bombs, kills, maims and starves Palestinian civilians in Gaza, where there are now 32,000 known dead and 74,000 injured,” Norman Solomon wrote in an article published this week, “Death Culture: When 1,000 in Hollywood Proclaim Support for Gaza Slaughter.”

He added: “The letter even denied that an occupation actually exists — objecting to ‘the use of words like ‘occupation’ to describe an indigenous Jewish people defending a homeland that dates back thousands of years.’ Somehow the Old Testament was presumed to be sufficient justification for the ongoing slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza, most of whose ancestors lived in what’s now Israel. The vast majority of 2.2 million people have been driven from their bombed-out homes in Gaza, with many now facing starvation due to blockage of food.”

But in the letter signed by more than 1,000 in the entertainment industry, Solomon continued, “all the ire is directed at Glazer for pointing out that moral choices on matters of life and death are not merely consigned to the past. The crimes against humanity committed by Nazi Germany against Jews are in no way exculpatory for the crimes against humanity now being committed by Israel.”

Solomon observed that much of the focus of Glazer’s Oscar-winning movie “is on the lives of a man and a woman preoccupied with career, status and material well-being. Such preoccupations are hardly unfamiliar in the movie industry, where silence or support for the Gaza war are common among professionals — in contrast to Jonathan Glazer and others, Jewish or not, who have spoken out in his defense or for a ceasefire.”

Available for interviews:

NORMAN SOLOMON, solomonprogressive@gmail.com
Solomon is the author of War Made Invisible. He is the executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy.

As the country faces an increasing number of measles cases, researchers say anti-vaccine narratives reach from Covid to measles to HIV.

TARA C. SMITH; tsmit176@kent.edu 
    Smith leads the Smith Emerging Infections Laboratory at Kent State University. 

Smith told the Institute for Public Accuracy: “HIV denial narratives [which were in the media in the early 2000s] have become resurgent in the last few years. We’ve seen them come back” especially since the 2021 publication of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s book The Real Anthony Fauci, which covers the years that Dr. Fauci worked in HIV research. “That’s where the HIV denial started from. It’s being pushed on different platforms. 

“There are different ideas being promoted by different groups that don’t agree with one another. On the extreme end, there is the Perth Group in Australia. They believe that HIV doesn’t exist and is ‘cellular debris.’ If the virus doesn’t exist, it can’t cause you harm. That’s the extreme end. Most of the denial––like what RFK Jr. pushes––is what was championed by [molecular biologists who worked on retroviruses in the 1980s, like] Peter Duesberg. When HIV was discovered, Duesberg didn’t buy into it. He argued that HIV could be detected and was associated with sexual activity, but was a harmless ‘passenger virus.’ It didn’t do anything. That hypothesis was adopted well beyond AIDS––into Covid and measles. 

“For the anti-vaccine groups I follow, everything has coalesced into a denial of germ theory. [These groups are saying] why are we getting vaccines, or kids should get measles because it prevents cancer. There’s a meta-narrative around infectious disease no longer being considered dangerous.

“We have also seen a lot of the Covid denial and pushback on Covid vaccines and pandemic precautions. People on the right were angry about how Covid was dealt with. It’s easy to believe that if you’re healthy and eat well and exercise, you’ll be okay. They’re taking any piece of science, no matter how dubious, to support those ideas. We’re seeing vaccine mandates start to fall––in Mississippi, in West Virginia. [Recently], it’s starting to move into childhood vaccines” like the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines. 

Smith notes that although infectious disease outbreaks have been covered relatively well by the media, the public is missing stories about people who have been “harmed by these diseases. Twenty percent of kids with measles are hospitalized. That’s getting glossed over in exchange for the controversy about vaccination.” 

ARUN GUPTA, arun.indypendent@gmail.com, @arunindy
Gupta’s latest reporting on allegations of sexual and gender-based violence during the Oct. 7 attacks is in YES Magazine: “Claims of Mass Rape by Hamas Unravel Upon Investigation” and The Intercept “American Media Keep Citing Zaka — Though Its October 7 Atrocity Stories Are Discredited in Israel” about the scandal-ridden Israeli organization.

He said today: “For months U.S. media have published hundreds of articles lending credibility to Israeli claims that Hamas carried out a campaign of rape during the Oct. 7 attacks. Those claims were dubious from the start, lacked solid evidence and survivor testimony, and many have been discredited. Most recently the New York Times was forced to retract one of the most widely cited rape claims, that of an Israeli special forces paramedic with Unit 669, after evidence surfaced showing he fabricated the story. But that story was never credible. Myself and other journalists have been warning for months his story was false based on a close examination of available evidence, as were many of the other high-profile claims credulously accepted by Western media.

“At the same time, evidence was growing that Israeli military forces in the West Bank and Gaza were committing sexual violence against Palestinian women, girls, and men. Unlike Israeli claims, Palestinian survivors have been openly testifying about sexual violence committed against them. Additionally, three different International human rights organizations have corroborated claims and interviewed Palestinian survivors of sexual violence.

“In February, two U.N. Special Rapporteurs and four U.N. experts said they were ‘distressed’ at reports ‘that Palestinian women and girls in detention have also been subjected to multiple forms of sexual assault, such as being stripped naked and searched by male Israeli army officers. At least two female Palestinian detainees were reportedly raped while others were reportedly threatened with rape and sexual violence.’”

“Later in February, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor released a report that included the testimony of four Palestinian women in Gaza who ‘report being subjected to sexual violence, torture, inhuman treatment, strip searches, sexual harassment, and rape threats while being arrested and held by Israeli army forces.’”

“Most recently, Al Jazeera received access to unpublished report from UNRWA on Israeli sexual violence against Palestinian detainees: ‘Practices recorded by UNRWA include the use of a nail gun on prisoners’ knees, sexual abuse against both men and women and the insertion of what appears to be an electrified metal stick into prisoners’ rectums.’ Also see the Al Jazeera investigation on Oct. 7 that debunks many atrocity stories and unmasks Yossi Landau, an official with the scandal-plagued Zaka organization tasked with collecting human remains after Hamas’ massacre, for fabricating atrocities.

“Many claims of sexual violence have been made by both Palestinians and Israelis. Some are clearly fake stories. In an atmosphere where atrocity propaganda is being used to further military aims, the media have a critical role in corroborating allegations of sexual violence as much as possible by scouring for details, hard evidence, documentation, and supporting witnesses.

“But so far only Palestinian survivors have spoken out, and the only clear photo evidence of sexual violence is that committed against Palestinians, including more than a dozen men, fully naked, blindfolded, and trussed up, with some bearing wounds that may indicate torture. Additionally, at least half-a-dozen Palestinian women and men have spoken on camera or to the media describing in detail sexual violence and torture that they or female relatives endured at the hands of Israeli military forces in Gaza. It is imperative that the media finally give the same amount of prominence and space to presenting credible Palestinian allegations of sexual violence as it gave to dodgy and false Israeli claims.”

On Friday, China and Russia vetoed a U.S. resolution at the UN Security Council which did not call for a ceasefire, contrary to reports in major media. See IPA news release: “Beyond U.S. Isolation at UN: What’s Not Being Done.”

[Oxfam recently released a statement: “Israel Government Continues to Block Aid Response Despite ICJ Genocide Court Ruling.” The International Court of Justice has scheduled a hearing for April 8 and 9 on the case of Nicaragua against Germany regarding its “participation in the ongoing plausible genocide and serious breaches of international humanitarian law and other peremptory norms of general international law occurring in the Gaza Strip.” See latest in reporting regarding South Africa’s genocide case against Israel. The Electronic Intifada reports: “British Lawyer Heading ICC’s Palestine Probe Can’t Be Seen as Neutral.” See from Al Jazeera via Euro-Med Monitor: “An Israeli army drone pursued four civilian youths who attempted to reach their destroyed homes and killed them with missiles.”]

The group Geneva International Peace Research Institute recently released an “Open letter to the EU Leadership Demanding an Immediate Ceasefire in Gaza,” which states: “By opening a maritime corridor via Cyprus, the EU is effectively surrendering any remaining moral authority it may have had to the Israelis, by presenting the scenario as though no other possible alternative exists, when in fact many alternatives do exist.

“Through adopting this approach, the EU continues to support the Israeli blockade by steadfastly refusing to call for a ceasefire, and by not calling for Israel to open the land borders to allow the hundreds of aid trucks already positioned to enter Gaza. This is the only effective means through which aid can be distributed to the population by the United Nations agencies, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and other international partners and organizations. These agencies have been calling for months for rapid and unhindered access to deliver aid, calls that continue to fall on deaf ears. …

“We demand that the EU calls for an immediate and unconditional end to the Israeli bombing of Gaza right now, and we demand that the EU also calls for an opening of the borders, allowing rapid and unhindered delivery of food, shelter and medical supplies to the population.

“Anything less than this is unacceptable and in breach of international law, which you all claim to uphold, but which it is evident that you are in breach of.

“Short of this, we will be amplifying calls at the public level for your immediate resignations, as you no longer represent the population of the EU, with your continued support for a racist, murderous, apartheid regime.”

Contact for interviews from the Geneva International Peace Research Institute:
Prof. Gilles-Emmanuel Jacquet, ge.jacquet@gipri.ch

The New Republic recently reported that the conservative political organization Moms for Liberty, which rose to prominence during the Covid pandemic, is “slowly imploding.”

MAURICE CUNNINGHAM; maurice.cunningham153@gmail.com 
    Cunningham is the author of Dark Money and the Politics of School Privatization. 

Cunningham, who has followed the ups and downs of Moms for Liberty, told the Institute for Public Accuracy: The group’s problems “have been mounting. It’s accelerated since the [school board] elections went badly for them. It’s been one thing after another: They severed ties with some chapter heads over their associations with the Proud Boys; they had a chapter head resign for shoplifting. Then their 60 Minutes interview was a disaster. They were exposed [by interviewer Scott Pelley] in a way they hadn’t been exposed before. Pelley was not having ‘gender ideology.’ He wasn’t having ‘grooming.’ And they weren’t prepared to answer.

“Mainstream press and national papers have done an acquiescent job in covering them. This is a new moment in mainstream press, and I hope it will foster a more critical eye toward [the group]. This is the kind of tough questioning they deserve. I hope the media continues to press them. They’re not what they purport to be, and they have a lot of explaining to do. 

“The biggest misconception about [Moms for Liberty] is that they’re just moms. The creation story is always ‘two or three moms gathered around the kitchen table over coffee, discussed issues their kids are having in schools, and formed a group.’ Then boom, they’re sitting on a million dollars and are going on Rush Limbaugh. They’re [actually] part of a right-wing infrastructure that includes the Leadership Institute and the Heritage Foundation, which exert great control over them. These organizations are part of a secret right-wing directorate. These are obedient franchises––they’re not just moms. They’re part of an existing infrastructure and they answer to those superior organizations. The Leadership Institute and the Heritage Foundation have existed for over 40 years. That expertise has been gained over a number of years. Moms for Liberty was founded [in January 2021].

“Moms for Liberty touched this latent conservative anger around schools. It’s out there to touch when you’re a political actor. They took advantage of Covid, and that helped their rise, because there was anxiety and anger about kids not being in school. They have moved from Covid, masks, vaccines, and school closings to ‘DEI’ and ‘CRT.’ There is a constant need to churn the emotions of their followers.” 

The group is “playing defense lately more than anything else,” Cunningham says. “They attacked [the Southern Poverty Law Center] for designating them as an extremist group. That [designation] was extremely damaging. They’re trying to distract us. They try to change the subject, but it’s hard to do. After their poor performance in the 2023 school board races, they’re in retreat.”