US officials and lobbyists say the push to ban the Chinese-owned application Tik Tok gained momentum during the genocide in Gaza upon finding out that a majority of users were supporting a free Palestine.
“Really, it’s an across-the-board attempt to silence and take away the First Amendment right of people simply because they don’t agree with them. It’s a very dangerous precedent.” Abed Ayoub, executive director of American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
They will appear in a Superbowl ad denouncing “hatred.” The ad is paid for by the “Foundation to Combat Antisemitism,” staffed by Israel lobbyists that attempts to equate opposition to Israel’s destruction of Gaza with anti-Jewish racism. It was founded by billionaire Patriots owner and Israel advocate Robert Kraft.
As some support Trump’s plan to move Gazans elsewhere, and others oppose such an expulsion almost no one mentions the third option – the one obvious, option for most of them: return to the lands from which they were violently expelled by Israeli forces in its founding war…
The organization advocating for Israeli colonies in the Gaza Strip, led by Daniella Weiss, received a donation of ~$1.9 million. Shomrim has now uncovered that the funds came from a relatively obscure figure within a prominent Israeli family, Leah Dankner
14,000 missing Gazans are officially presumed dead; Israel blows up entire neighborhood in Jenin, kills 2 Palestinians in West Bank
Prisoner swap; Rafah crossing opened; Palestinian Authority ready to “clash” with Hamas for control of Gaza; Jake Sullivan’s thoughts on weapons to Israel; more.
Giraldi: Netenyahu is the first foreign leader to meet with the new president at the White House… Despite Trump’s numerous pro-Israel actions, might Trump, he of the enormous ego, take the opportunity to make it clear in the face-to-face that he is the one in charge?
Stephen Walt: Probably the most controversial claim in my work on the Israel lobby is our argument that it played a key role in the decision to invade Iraq in 2003…
Palestinian and Israeli prisoners released; UNRWA carries on in spite of ban; more death and destruction in West Bank; Trump efforts amount to ethnic cleansing and assault on First Amendment