Week in Review
10/18/25
Inside WA ICE detention center, where you could be held for days or years
Just south of Seattle….
Thousands Return to Northern Gaza, Hopeful, but Faced With Devastation
Urgent health update: Consequences of war on Gaza and the West Bank/East Jerusalem - October 11,2025
We are facing a fluid and unpredictable situation. The ceasefire offers a “window of hope” and the lack of bombing and increase in humanitarian aid is a welcome relief to those who have survived the genocide. Going forward, there is much that is unresolved, reminiscent of the post-Oslo reality of delaying all major decisions to forever and not addressing the historic needs of Palestinians. Trump’s proposal is a dangerous set-up for ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. This deal grants Israel continued, ongoing military control over millions of Palestinians across all of historic Palestine. It allows Israel to carry out a genocide without being held to account for its atrocities, while continuing to deny Palestinians self-determination, freedom, or justice.
literally tearing my hair out...
AMENDED PETITION (P-1096-25) ALLEGING THE AIDING AND ABETTING OF WAR CRIMES, CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY, AND GENOCIDE IN GAZA
On October 7, Center for Constitutional Rights endorsed an amended and expanded legal complaint filed by Taxpayers Against Genocide, the National Lawyers Guild International Committee, and Palestinian-American petitioners with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), a principal human rights body of the Organization of American States.
“The nearly 200-page complaint asserts that the United States—through the actions of both the Biden and Trump administrations, as well as Congress—has been complicit in Israel’s ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and has violated its binding obligations under the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man.”
Gaza’s Broken Politics
Essay by a We Are Not Numbers writer on the broken politics of Gaza.
Hell on earth: Two years of genocide.
I welcome the ceasefire and the increase in humanitarian aid to Gaza and release of the Israeli hostages. But let’s be honest about Trump. His plan puts self-determination for Palestinians out of reach. Under Trump’s plan, Gaza won’t be run by Palestinians for the benefit of the Palestinian people. Instead, it would be placed under international control, led by a board of directors, including Trump himself and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, in pursuit of Trump’s criminal plans to exploit Gaza to enrich himself and his billionaire real estate cronies.
Professor Amy Hagopian, longtime APHA member and pro-Palestine activist, has been banned from this year’s APHA conference in Washington DC, falsely charged with anti-semitism, had her membership canceled, and was removed as the elected chair of the International Health Section. APHA staff have censored news of her secret trial and blocked communications to APHA members. For background and to sign a letter of support, click HERE. Invite friends in the APHA and others to sign as well.
Demand Big Tech, including Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, cancel all contracts with Israel’s government now.
From AI to Project Nimbus cloud services to propaganda videos, Big Tech is fueling Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Google Photos is reportedly being used for its facial recognition technology to target Palestinians in Gaza. Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform was used to collect and store millions of cellphone communications going in and out of Gaza and the West Bank. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has a $45 million deal to spread propaganda on YouTube denying that the Israeli government’s blockades on humanitarian aid and food have caused a famine in Gaza.
EXCLUSIVE: Noura Erakat Speaks to Zeteo After Confronting the UN Security Council. The renowned Palestinian-American scholar talked to Prem about the plight of women and girls in Gaza, Trump’s ‘peace deal,’ her UN address, and much more.
Famine’s Long Shadow
‘Another Nakba’: UN expert says Gaza recovery will take generations
Even if food is surged into Gaza today, the history of weaponized mass starvation shows that the social aftershocks will reverberate for generations.
Ravaged by War: Trying to Survive Gaza’s Present, Hoping for a Future
Two years of intense warfare in Gaza has left its people with a dismembered and disordered society. The destruction is vast and many Gazans have mental and physical wounds that could scar a generation.
Israel’s problem is not bad PR but bad policies....Israel has allocated over $145 million in its 2025 budget to weaponize social media and AI, including ChatGPT, in its largest US propaganda effort since the start of its Gaza campaign, according to new FARA filings. The initiative, run through US firm Clock Tower led by Trump’s former campaign manager Brad Parscale, targets 50 million monthly impressions, focusing 80% on Gen Z via TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. A parallel program, Project Esther, pays US influencers up to $900,000 to post frequently, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling social media Israel’s “eighth front” and its “most important weapon today.” (Dropsite 10/7)
Will Israelis One Day Say of Their Country’s Atrocities in Gaza, ‘I Was Always Against It’?
People aren’t born cruel; they become so. Palestinian cruelty toward Israelis is widely covered, while our cruelty, that of Israeli society, is getting ever more sophisticated to protect our spoils
‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat
What happens when racism, sexism, and violence become less taboo, all cheered on by the president.
The U.S. Denounces Her. Multinationals Threaten Her. She Likes Her Odds.
great essay on my heroine UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese and international law in 2025.