It’s not hypothetical: the dangers of AI are already here- Israel and the US have used AI to kill in Gaza and Iran, while law enforcement uses it in surveillance and arrests. The future is here

‘The strike that caused what is almost certainly the worst incident of civilian casualties in the war was, most likely, the result of a “targeting mistake” that relied on faulty data.’ Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

Granate Kim and Mohamed Hussein in The Guardian

Fri 25 Sep 2026 

In recent weeks, concerns about AI have forged unlikely alliances in the tech and policy worlds. Tech moguls such as Sam Altman, Elon Musk and Demis Hassabis joined Dario Amodei, Satya Nadella and Bill Gates in sounding the alarm about the dangers of AI and called for a slowdown of the technology’s development despite years of racing for dominance. The senator Bernie Sanders teamed up with Steve Bannon to urge Congress to regulate AI, which has become one of the very few issues to unite Americans across the political spectrum.

The latest moves were sparked in part by the AI researcher Jacob Coxon’s warnings on Twitter/X that AI companies are “gambling with our lives” and believe that the technology “could kill us all by the end of the decade”.

The reality is, we don’t have to wait to see how AI will bring about unprecedented death and destruction, because we’ve already witnessed its unleashing.

Bill Gates’s nearly 6,000-word essay in late August warning about AI and its potential harms to humanity doesn’t come as a surprise. One of us has been a Microsoft employee for nearly a decade, witnessing all the dangers unfold in real time. Together, we’ve spent the past two years organizing with other Microsoft employees and activists to uncover the company’s role in the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. We have collectively called on Microsoft to cut ties with the Israeli military.

But it’s not just Microsoft that is involved in AI-driven destruction.

Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza was a testing ground for the use of AI in warfare and the results were deeply disturbing. Israel’s military used AI to identify people to kill, with 12,000 targets generated and bombed in the first month alone. This was done with little to no meaningful human oversight, as documented in an investigation by Oscar-winning Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham, whose latest film NAZA includes chilling testimonials by the soldiers involved.

Earlier this year in Iran, the US military launched an AI-involved airstrike that hit Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School in Minab, Iran, killing 156 children, teachers and other civilians. The strike that caused what is almost certainly the worst incident of civilian casualties in the war was, most likely, the result of a “targeting mistake” that relied on faulty data.

The horrors wrought by AI aren’t limited to people overseas – they’re already being felt by vulnerable communities in the US The Department of Homeland Security is using AI tools – including Microsoft’s Azure – to monitor, arrest and deport immigrants at a massive scale. Law enforcement agencies nationwide are deploying facial recognition technology despite evidence of algorithmic bias that has led to the wrongful arrest and incarceration of Latino and Black Americans..READ MORE  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/sep/25/ai-israel-gaza-iran-police-surveillance

[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies here, there- and everywhere]

AI (artificial intelligence)  

Dear America- letter I just sent to my elected leaders: ICE and Israel should both be de-funded and de-fanged.

Gazelle near Gaza on the lower left hand corner of an 1850 Ottoman Palestine map- Palestine illustrated atlas and modern history of the world 1851

Dear America,

Before Trump opted to join Israel in bombing Iran, Israel was already shamelessly violating multiple international laws and expectations with its aggressively cruel mistreatment of indigenous non-Jewish men, women, and children in all the "Holy" land that was once called historic Palestine.

Modern man-made Israel (with a name borrowed from our bibles and prayers and hymns) wants our money and weaponry.   Heck if you want to hand over all your personal money and your children's inheritances to modern man-made Israel, please feel free to do so- BUT NOT OUR TAX $$$$ !!!

We have worked hard for our money, and many of us live on a very tight budget in order to afford both food and housing. 

Public funds should be for public good- not for endless wars, catastrophic pollution, and data centers.

Violence, rage, revenge, and rampant destruction are entertaining fun in TV shows, movies and video games- but violence is totally counterproductive and monstrously cruel in real life.  

We live in a post-1948 world where respect for UNIVERSAL human rights is the basis for international laws and criminal courts.  We should be empowering that. 

The 'preemptive' US-Israeli war on Iran is wrong, and a huge waste of American money and life. 

Pervasive pro-Israel harassment campaigns aim to silence voices for peace and justice worldwide. 

Our elected leaders are bullied and bribed to support Israeli injustice and war. Corruption and greed have become ubiquitous.  Thanks to multiple PR firms and paid propagandists working for Israel our mainstream media ignores or downplays Zionist violence and crimes.

Fact is Israel has been waging manipulative misinformation wars on America for decades, doing all it can to block international sympathy and support for  the men, women, and children  of Palestine. 

Fact is a very foreign modern nation state has been aggressively bulldozing homes and bombing refugee camps with American made weaponry and technology:  Israeli pogroms against Palestinians should be galvanizing worldwide outrage and sanctions.   

State sponsored terrorism is the worst type of terrorism.

ICE and Israel should both be de-funded and de-fanged. 

Sincerely,

Anne Selden Annab

NOTES https://anniesnewletters.blogspot.com/search/label/Notes

Rights groups call for help stopping Israeli 'pogrom' against Palestinians in West Bank: B’Tselem and Rabbis for Human Rights among others urge action after four Palestinians are killed by settlers near Nablus

Amputees take part in a match inspired by the World Cup final between Spain and Argentina amid the rubble in Gaza City. Palestinians widely supported Spain in the final because the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has strongly criticised Israel’s military campaign

The number of registered orphans in the territory [GAZA, Palestine] has risen to 65,279, including 54,468 children who it said lost one or both parents during the war.

"The headline is incredibly misleading. It completely reverses the point I was making. Rather than highlighting my explicit distinction between Zionist organizations and Jewish partners in justice, it collapses that distinction and leaves readers with the false impression that I accused British Jews collectively of complicity in Israel’s crimes. This is precisely the kind of framing that has made speaking about Palestine so difficult for so many years. It is not only manipulative; it fuels the false narrative that criticism of Israel is criticism of Jews." Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac - Jul 23, 2026

'A triumphant failure': How Israel's use of social media influencers to win back support backfired- Israel quadrupled its PR budget to $730m in 2026 and is reportedly paying influencers up to $7,ooo to post pro-Israel content

"Bombing the infrastructure people rely on will not make Iranians [or Palestinians] embrace those carrying out the attacks." .... ‘It’s truly hell here’: airstrikes, repression and water shortages become ‘new normal’ for Iranians

"At the very moment that the Israeli regime, with the support of the United States, is pursuing the dismantlement of UNRWA in violation of international law, there can be no accommodation of political projects designed to facilitate its replacement. UNRWA was established by General Assembly Resolution 302 because the international community failed to implement Palestinian refugees' rights under United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194. Its mandate therefore remains exclusively under the authority of the General Assembly until those rights—including return, restitution, compensation, and reparation—are fulfilled. It cannot be transferred, conditioned, or terminated through political arrangements." Statement by BADIL and GPRN “Dismantling UNRWA: “The Board of Peace” Agenda”

DEAR AMERICA

Dear America - Jobs created by the weapons industry bring temporary economic relief to some- while inflicting immense pain and suffering on many many many more.

Pushing all commerce online to "Save A Tree" ends up decimating numerous forests and fields for energy and water hungry Data Centers. CEOs and our elected leaders take huge profits while taxpayers are left with escalating losses, including the surging loss of land and water for hyperscale Data Centers.

Anti-immigrant legislation and excessive funding for ICE are more about protecting wealthy people and corporations, who can hire illegals knowing that the workers and their families will be too afraid to complain about dangerous working conditions, low pay, long hours, and slum landlord housing.

You can't win a modern war. You can destroy homes & families, you can usurp land & resources from the rightful owners, and you can undermine & destroy a free press and the fourth estate- but people worldwide have memories, as well as a sense of right and wrong that cannot be bombed into oblivion.

STOP THE BOMBS and the bigotry, and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE stop accepting bribes & propaganda & bad advice from a very foreign country that seeks to destroy support for UNIVERSAL human rights and the rule of fair and just laws.

Along the way we learned that slavery is wrong. We learned that domestic violence is wrong. We learned that racist hate is wrong. SO WHY are we funding Israel and why are we bombing Iran for Israel!!!

Violence is a problem- not the answer

"Attacks on critical infrastructure are not only about what is destroyed, but also about the people left without what they need to live. Even wars have limits and they must be respected." ICRC Red Cross

The power of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is the power of ideas to change the world. It inspires us to continue working to ensure all people can gain freedom, equality and dignity...

In 1945, 50 nations came together in San Francisco to create a new organization for peace, prosperity & human rights- the United Nations

"The United Nations is the only place on Earth where all the world's nations come together to discuss common problems and find shared solutions that benefit all of humanity. This intergovernmental organization born out of the ashes of the Second World War remains indispensable to the pursuit of world peace, justice, equality and sustainable development" https://www.un.org/en/

The right of refugees to return to homes and lands they were expelled from is an individual right and cannot be unilaterally abrogated by third parties.  https://imeu.org/resources/resources/fact-sheet-palestinian-refugees-the-right-of-return-under-international-law/441

"Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world..."   https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights

Dear America- Anti-immigrant legislation and excessive funding for ICE are more about protecting wealthy people and corporations, who can hire illegals knowing that the workers and their families will be too afraid to complain about dangerous working conditions, low pay, long hours, and slum landlord housing.

Human Rights  

Dear America,

Rampant political and corporate greed & corruption are surging here in America. 

This is not good for the future of America.  It is not good for our economy- it is not good for our communities, our local businesses, our schools, our neighborhoods, our families, and our commerce. 

It is only good for the billionaires and politicians.  Rules are being laid down and data centers are being built to empower wealthy individuals and corporations, while workers are struggling to make ends met. 

Anti-immigrant legislation and excessive funding for ICE are more about protecting wealthy people and corporations, who can hire illegals knowing that the workers and their families will be too afraid to complain about dangerous working conditions, low pay, long hours, and slum landlord housing.

"On June 25 the Supreme Court allowed Trump and his administration to end the legal status of more than 350,000 people who are in the United States under temporary protected status, or TPS, after fleeing wars and violence in Syria and Haiti. The six right-wing justices cited procedural reasons for their decision, but Trump loyalists read it as an endorsement of their white nationalism."  Heather Cox Richardson- Letters from an American June 26, 2026

White Nationalism?!  This is truly horrifying.  There is nothing wrong with being White AND there is nothing wrong with being Black or Brown or any color or religion- we are all equals! 

We are not equal in what we own or how much money we can earn, but we are all equal in essential human dignity. 

We desperately need true diplomacy to shape a better way forward for ALL people, not just a few lucky wealthy ones, and not just Christians, or Jewish people.

FYI AI computer tricks and/or bully tactics will not bring prosperity to America. 

Escalating racism, hate mongering, and endless wars are fueling our military industrial complex- polluting the earth and harming countless men, women, and children.

Social Security should be fully funded- instead our elected leaders opt to hand Israel billions and to spend billions more on waging war on Iran... all for what?!  More and more war and cruel injustice and suffering for the people... and more and more profits for the greedy.

Sincerely,

Anne Selden Annab

NOTES https://anniesnewletters.blogspot.com/search/label/Notes

The power of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is the power of ideas to change the world. It inspires us to continue working to ensure all people can gain freedom, equality and dignity...

"It more than a little ironic that these experts at tax avoidance are at the helm of a technological revolution that could drive inequality to new, unprecedented heights." Eduardo Porter in The Guardian

"Tech billionaires are plowing hundreds of millions into political campaigns, to fend off attempts at regulation and evade accountability lest their endeavors go awry. They want to make sure nobody butts in as they work to reshape society. And they are largely succeeding – for now, no one with the power to stop them is butting in."

The space for freedom of expression is shrinking dramatically as governments use new technologies to suppress dissent and digital giants manipulate information online to enrich themselves, UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, Irene Khan, warned today. In her final report to the Human Rights Council, Khan highlighted the conflation of State and corporate interests to exploit vulnerabilities of the right to freedom of expression.

Space for freedom of expression shrinking as govts use tech to suppress dissent & digital giants manipulate info for enrichment, warns @Irenekhan   @UN_HRC. 

 

“Freedom of expression has been privatised, monetised, manipulated & unlawfully restricted.

"I learned about the Holocaust even in rural Oklahoma. I read the Diary of Anne Frank when I was 10 years old. My mom watched Holocaust documentaries with me. We talked about it in high school -- to always, always, always look around and make sure we weren't BEING Nazis in some way...." Pamela Olson, author of Fast Times in Palestine

Crimson Thread: The new Israeli separation wall that cuts through the 'breadbasket of Palestine'... Israel's latest wall in the northern Jordan Valley is cutting Palestinian farmers off from their land, destroying crops and accelerating displacement

'The annexation process is taking place on the ground in full view of the entire world. It has been halted in the media, but it hasn't stopped on the ground'

- Mu'taz Bisharat, settlement expert

Israel continues to commit genocide by targeting children in Gaza, UN inquiry finds. Independent report says by aiming at children Israel is undermining capacity of Palestinian people to exist

"It was a great joy to meet with Layan Nasir in Birzeit yesterday after her release from Israeli prison. Layan is a Palestinian Christian who worships at St Peter’s Anglican Church in Birzeit. I’m grateful to Layan’s family for their hospitality in their home. I will pray for them, and for God’s blessing and healing for Layan after the terrible ordeal of her incarceration. I pray for the release of all people who have been unjustly imprisoned, here in Palestine and Israel and around the world." Archbishop of Canterbury

United Nations photo- Palestine Refugees, Middle East, 1951: "The Palestinian conflict forced into exile nearly a million Arabs. Great efforts were made by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency [UNRWA] to provide work and pay for the refugees. But available funds were [are] only sufficient to provide employment for a small minority, without producing lasting economic effects. Refugees make materials and clothes for their own use."

"Attacks on critical infrastructure are not only about what is destroyed, but also about the people left without what they need to live. Even wars have limits and they must be respected." ICRC Red Cross

Israeli authorities and security forces deliberately targeted Palestinian children, resulting ​in genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza, and war crimes in the occupied West Bank, an independent U.N. inquiry said ‌on Tuesday.

"The demolition of homes and uprooting of olive trees are visible. But damage behind the scenes goes deeper... " Rocketing violence and an economic chokehold have been overshadowed by conflict elsewhere, but the UK and others must stop looking away

"Suffice to say that, if the tables were turned and Hezbollah had been the one psychotically eradicating 5,000 years of cultural heritage and "collective humanity", western audiences would be hearing a lot more about the depravity of it all." Belen Fernandez

The U.S. provides Israel more than $63 million in military aid per day... The United States spends more on military aid to Israel than to any other country. Israel receives this extraordinary amount of money even though it is the 22nd wealthiest country in the world.

"Over the last 3 months, two thirds of the defensive weapons that have protected your [Israeli] homeland have been built by American hands and paid for by American tax dollars." JD Vance, June 18 2026

Israeli attack kills famed turtle sanctuary ecologist in Lebanon: Mona Khalil led decades-long effort to protect nesting site for turtles near her home in south of the country

Displaced from Na’lia in 1948 as children, Ahmad and Aisha have relied on UNRWA services for decades. Today, at 90 and 87 years old, they continue receiving support in Gaza. Now living in an UNRWA shelter, Aisha remembers how the Agency helped families like hers face difficult conditions, by providing assistance and services, including emergency food, healthcare and education. “We still feel the importance of this support” she says. #UNRWAworks #WorldRefugeeDay

The Evolving Infrastructure of Palestinian Refugee Camps: Perpetuating the Temporary

NPR: June 16, 2026 Israeli ambassador to U.S. says Israel is 'not going to withdraw from South Lebanon' .... June 15, 2026 U.S. and Iran announce an initial deal to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz

East Jerusalem: Israel Escalating Home Demolitions, Evictions Discriminatory Laws Drive Forced Displacement in Silwan

"The illegality of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank [PALESTINE] is one of the most well-established positions in international law, resting on four distinct pillars: GENEVA CONVENTIONS, UN SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTIONS, ICJ RULINGS, & UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY... No serious legal scholar disputes this consensus. The settlements are illegal. The only remaining question is whether the international community will act on it." William Dalrymple of Empire: World History

United Nations HumanRights: I condemn disinformation campaigns & attempts to undermine the credibility of the UN human rights system, including United Nations Special Procedure Experts mandate holders. Criticism & debate are legitimate & necessary; efforts to intimidate, discredit, or even sanction, are not. They are unacceptable. - UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk

Stanford students walk out of Sundar Pichai’s commencement speech... "According to Al Jazeera, the $1.2 billion Project Nimbus was signed between Google, Amazon and Israel in 2021. It aims to provide cloud computing infrastructure, A.I. and other technological services to the Israeli government and military.​"

Tallying the global cost of the US-Israel war against Iran From thousands of lives lost to an economic shock likely to plunge millions into poverty, the world is paying dearly

"Israel’s much greater firepower today, provided by modern munitions supplied by the United States, has allowed Israel to realise what before it could only dream of doing: wiping Gaza off the map." Gaza is not an aberration - Israel planned this genocide decades ago. In October 2023, Israel found an excuse to breathe new life into an old story of slaughter and expulsion. The chief differences this time have been of scale and duration

Ali Louis Bourzgui dedicates Tony award to immigrants and Palestine ...Accepting the award, the 26-year-old dedicated it to "the people of Palestine who deserve to live a fruitful life, a free life, a full life without occupation", drawing applause from the audience...

"We live in an age saturated with Holocaust books, films, documentaries, and lessons that teach us how dangerous dehumanization can be. We are reminded time and again that before people can be mistreated, displaced, or killed on a mass scale, they are first stripped of their humanity through words and imagery. And yet, when similar language is used today to describe Palestinians, much of the world remains silent—or worse, offers its support. If history has taught us anything, it is that when human beings are reduced to weeds, thorns, insects, or any other nuisance, the groundwork is being laid for people to accept what would otherwise be unacceptable. That is why the language matters. And that is why the silence is so troubling." ~ Mike Odetalla

Those who championed free speech in the UK and US now wage war on it. And here’s why: Palestine ...."How can any of this be justified in a democracy? No foreign government should be granted immunity from criticism. Not China. Not Saudi Arabia. Not Israel. And yet the self-proclaimed Jewish state occupies a uniquely and weirdly protected place in our political discourse. Criticism that would be considered routine in any other context – don’t bomb hospitals! Don’t kill kids! – is cynically rebranded as anti-Jewish bigotry."

It was once an article of faith that even those who speak words we disagree with deserve protection. As regards Palestine, that’s now not true

"I visited almost 200 locations. It was never intended to be a project — it was a journey to educate myself and to witness the Palestinian loss of 1948." A Palestinian photographer’s ‘search for what remained’ from 1948 When Nablus-based journalist Ahmad Al-Bazz received an Israeli travel permit, he rushed to visit nearly 200 villages depopulated in the Nakba. Five years later, his new book offers a powerful visual archive of erasure.

"Homes can be demolished. Walls can be reduced to rubble. Entire families can be scattered across the world. But roots run deep... And sometimes, from beneath the wreckage, life emerges to remind us that memory, belonging, and hope refuse to die." Mike Hanini Odetalla

A tenured art therapy professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) was suspended from teaching and placed under investigation following a student’s complaint about an assigned case study that mentioned violence against Palestinians.

"... Propaganda has proliferated: Israel has quintupled its PR budget to $730m to take control of the narrative. Criticizing Israel can now stop you from getting a green card in the US and, it would seem from the Piker decision, a visa to the UK. Despite all this, however, more people are coming to understand that what is happening to Palestinians is not complex; it is fundamentally wrong."

UN experts warn about escalating Israeli settler terror and existential risk posed to Palestinian communities. “Attacks serve as instrument of coercion in the hands of the occupying power, facilitating ethnic cleansing.”

The Palestine Industry: The Rats of Gaza and the Opportunists among Us: The struggle for Palestinian freedom must remain anchored in the soil of Gaza. The global solidarity movement must not be permitted to mutate into a careerist industry.- By Ramzy Baroud

The real function of the so-called Board of Peace was not to stop the genocide, but to manage perceptions while it continues

"Between the Dome and the Sky" by Palestinian (Ramallah) Artist Wadeei Khaled (Born in Al-Arroub Refugee Camp in 1986)

Brockovich AI Data Center Reporting- Community Awareness Initiative | Your voice matters. Report. Engage. Protect. ... Key Concerns with AI Data Centers USA "When residents and councils want time to study the impact before approving more data centers, they're enacting temporary pauses. These moratoriums vary in duration and scope, but they share a goal: don't let the buildout get ahead of the planning."

The Guardian view on Trump and Lebanon: civilians need lasting peace, not short-term patches. The US president seeks to curb Israel’s intensified offensive as he looks for an exit from war with Iran, but turmoil in the Middle East will not easily be ended

"Thank God for Pope Leo. He’s the leader our world desperately needs. Even for nonbelievers like me, the pope has become a reassuring – and all too rare – voice of moral clarity " - Arwa Mahdawi in the Guardian

Mosab Abu Toha- My translation of a new poem by my friend Hamed Ashour, who is in Gaza and writing from there: And just like this, whenever you smile, I see sorrowful peoples migrating from one cheek to another, mistaking—while thirst is killing them— every dimple they encounter for a well of water.

"They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks” (Is 2:4)... Vatican announces theme for 2026 World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation - traditionally SEPTEMBER 1

B'Tselem: "Israel is carrying out ethnic cleansing in East Jerusalem through discriminatory legislation, planning procedures, funding allocations and service provision, all designed to advance the Judaization of the area. "

Imagine what we could have done to educate, inspire, and care for our children here instead of spending billions to bomb our children there... Whatever there you are thinking about right now, theey are our children, too. - MLK Jr Center

From Gaza to Iran, the pattern is the same: precision weapons, chosen blindness, and dead children. The cost of failing to regulate AI warfare is already too high:

These aren’t AI firms, they’re defense contractors. We can’t let them hide behind their models

Dear America- You can't win a modern war. You can destroy homes & families, you can usurp land & resources from the rightful owners, and you can undermine & destroy a free press and the fourth estate- but people worldwide have memories, as well as a sense of right and wrong that cannot be bombed into oblivion.

 DEAR AMERICA

STOP THE BOMBS and the bigotry, and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE stop accepting bribes & propaganda & bad advice from a very foreign country that seeks to destroy support for UNIVERSAL human rights and the rule of fair and just laws.

Along the way we learned that slavery is wrong. We learned that domestic violence is wrong. We learned that racist hate is wrong. SO WHY are we funding Israel and why are we bombing Iran for Israel!!!

Violence is a problem- not the answer

In 1945, 50 nations came together in San Francisco to create a new organization for peace, prosperity & human rights- the United Nations

"The United Nations is the only place on Earth where all the world's nations come together to discuss common problems and find shared solutions that benefit all of humanity. This intergovernmental organization born out of the ashes of the Second World War remains indispensable to the pursuit of world peace, justice, equality and sustainable development" https://www.un.org/en/

The right of refugees to return to homes and lands they were expelled from is an individual right and cannot be unilaterally abrogated by third parties.  https://imeu.org/resources/resources/fact-sheet-palestinian-refugees-the-right-of-return-under-international-law/441

"Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world..."   https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights

In perspective... the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms..

ICE is now the highest -funded law enforcement agency in the US... ‘Don’t go to the US – not with Trump in charge’: the UK tourist with a valid visa detained by ICE for six weeks

Karen Newton: ‘I am not a dangerous criminal. I don’t even have parking tickets.’ Photograph: Lydia Goldblatt/The Guardian

 Karen Newton was in America on the trip of a lifetime when she was shackled, transported and held for weeks on end. With tourism to the US under increasing strain, she says, ‘If it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone’

Jenny Kleeman

Sat 21 Feb 2026 01.00 EST

When Karen Newton left home in late July 2025, she knew that international travellers were being locked up in immigration detention centres in the US. “I was aware,” she nods. “But I never thought it would have any impact on my holiday.” Karen, 65, had a British passport and a tourist visa. She hadn’t been abroad for eight years, and was keen for some guaranteed sun. “I really just wanted to get away from the house.”

She and her husband, Bill, 66, had an ambitious itinerary that would take them through California, Nevada, Wyoming, Montana and then on to Canada over two months. Las Vegas wasn’t to Karen’s taste: “Way too commercialised.” She much preferred Yellowstone, where they saw Old Faithful, the famous geyser, as it shot boiling water into the air, and got up close with some extraordinary wildlife. “There was a bison right next to the car. Another time, a wolf walked past.” Her eyes sparkle at the memory. “It was just amazing.”

The dream holiday ended abruptly on Friday 26 September, as Karen and Bill were trying to leave the US.... READ MORE  https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/21/karen-newton-valid-visa-detained-ice 

  [AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies]  

US politics: After years spent documenting state terror, I know it when I see it. And I see it now in the US and Israel. It’s chilling to watch as Trump and Netanyahu adopt the methods of regimes their countries once condemned

 Janine di Giovanni is a war correspondent and the executive director of The Reckoning Project, a war crimes unit in Ukraine, Sudan and Gaza

"The true irony is, state terror does not make a state safer. When democratic states adopt the methods of tyrannies, they become weaker. Their global credibility frays. They sacrifice the legitimacy they once held that distinguishes them from the regimes they claim to oppose." 

'WE CAN'T TRUST YOU' witness protest sign as Officers arrest an anti-ICE protester in Minneapolis Minnesota, 30 January 2026. Photograph: Craig Lassig/UPI/Shutterstock

In Syria, where I worked during the years of Bashar al-Assad’s terror, people were often taken away to torture cells before dawn by masked men. The timing was deliberate. It disoriented them at their most vulnerable, ensuring the torture to come would be even more agonising. The testimonies I recorded from survivors almost always contained the same phrase: “The morning they came for me.” One young woman, shattered by rape and violence, later told me that her life had split in two – before and after the masked men came for her.

In Iraq, those who spoke against Saddam Hussein – even abroad, even casually – were punished in cruel ways by a vengeful leader determined to crush any hint of dissent.

In Egypt in 2016, Giulio Regeni, a 28-year-old Italian academic researching labour unions, was abducted, beaten and tortured to death, it is thought, by president Abdel Fatah al-Sisi’s security services. His own mother had difficulty recognising his mutilated body.

During the second Chechen war, I met the journalist Anna Politkovskaya in Chechnya. She repeatedly attacked Vladimir Putin’s policies, documenting human rights abuses during Russia’s military campaigns. To punish her, a bullet was put in her brain on Putin’s birthday – a warning to other truth-seekers. Stay silent or die.

In the West Bank and Gaza, Israeli soldiers, masked and unmasked, kill, torture and imprison Palestinian doctors, journalists, teachers, activists and scholars not for what they have done – but because of who they are.

After decades of documenting state terror, I know how it starts. Governments begin to use words like security, order, deterrence. Every excuse for Benjamin Netanyahu’s conduct in Gaza is framed as “security”. ICE agents are trained in a language of order in which violence becomes procedure.

What happens when democratic states adopt the methods of the regimes they once condemned? Terror is not only masked men and arbitrary detention. It also operates through fear. Policies are designed to make people more compliant, more submissive. As the historian Timothy Snyder warned in his 2017 book, On Tyranny, this is how societies slide into danger: people obey in advance.

In Donald Trump’s US, I have watched CEOs, academics, journalists and government officials allow fear to override decency and moral authority. I have seen this pattern before. It begins with... READ MORE  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/08/state-terror-us-israel-donald-trump-benjamin-netanyahu

 AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies]   

AMERICA: ""Their gear represents “the manifestation of decades of war, now in broad daylight in American cities.” One of the most heavily funded militaries in the world is now focused inward." Detroit resident" ... Rashida Tlaib

 Rashida Tlaib

@RashidaTlaib

 

"Their gear represents “the manifestation of decades of war, now in broad daylight in American cities.” One of the most heavily funded militaries in the world is now focused inward." Detroit resident.

 

Many Congress members still don't understand this and are trying to "reform."

 

https://x.com/RashidaTlaib/status/2016932933253107815 

 

 +

 

"ICE, which typically receives about $10 billion a year, was provided $30 billion for operations and $45 billion for detention facilities." 

 

PBS: Trump's ICE force is sweeping America. Billions in his tax and spending cuts bill are paying for it

Nation Jan 20, 2026 2:04 PM EST  

 

A ballooning Immigration and Customs Enforcement budget. Hiring bonuses of $50,000. Swelling ranks of ICE officers, to 22,000, in an expanding national force bigger than most police departments in America...

 

Armed and masked law enforcement officers are being witnessed smashing car windows, yanking people from vehicles and chasing and wrestling others to the ground and hauling them away — images playing out in endless loops on TVs and other screens... READ MORE     https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/trumps-ice-force-is-sweeping-america-billions-in-his-tax-and-spending-cuts-bill-are-paying-for-it 

 

 

 AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies]    

 

More than 300 anti-ICE protests planned across US this weekend

‘ICE Out of Everywhere’ demonstrations, including vigils and marches, follow Friday’s national strike 

More than 300 demonstrations are expected to take place across all 50 states and Washington DC, today, in what organizers are calling “ICE Out of Everywhere”.

Organizers, led by the national grassroots organization 50501, say today’s protests are a response to a series of recent deaths involving federal immigration agents, including the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis earlier this month, the homicide of Geraldo Campos in an immigration detention facility in Texas and the shooting of Keith Porter Jr by an off-duty Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer in Los Angeles.

Activists said the killings reflect what they see as a broader pattern of excessive force, detention abuses and the militarization of immigration enforcement.

“The national day of action is about fighting back against the escalations that the Trump administration has taken against the American people over the past year,” said Hunter Dunn, a national press coordinator for 50501 and organizer in southern California. “Reports about the killings of Porter and Campos, the ones not captured on camera, and so many others have pierced the veil for many people who until now were unaware of how bad things had gotten.”

Among the demonstrations are vigils for people killed and detained by ICE... READ MORE 

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/31/anti-ice-protests-weekend 

Demonstrators at an ‘ICE Out’ protest in Minneapolis.

Photograph: Tim Evans/Reuters