POWER ... a 2026 Poem by Anne Selden Annab

                  POWER

Billionaires hoard wealth in part, 

by deploying a small fraction 

of their ginormous wealth to persuade-

persuading leaders to vote for data centers 

and shape public policies 

that build Billionaire wealth 

and increasing political influence:

The VORTEX spins...

Erasing democracy.

Erasing equality.

Erasing justice.

Erasing security for most people, 

excluding, of course, the Billionaires' own personal empires-

the influencers they train, the puppets they prop up, 

the politicians they own,

the armies they build to bully US.

Massive Data Centers

hide Billionaire corruption 

and cover up Billionaire greed

in a trillion different ways...

Human history online is rewritten

bit by bit, to empower

and reward Billionaires even further.

A bloodless coup d'état

to impoverish We The People 

individually and collectively.

A global game of get get get

more wage slaves

to cook the food and clean the toilets

on the mega-yachts and in the McMansions

More wage slaves

for whatever whims and itches

the Billionaires and their

calculating Data Centers might feel.

 

 poem copyright ©2026 Anne Selden Annab

Dear America, I know for a fact that there are good and decent Jewish people on planet earth, there are good and decent Jewish groups on earth... but Israel is bad.

STAGE ONE so far: Map of Greater Israel overlaying Google map.

Dear America,

So as the years roll by and Israel becomes more obviously cruel to the men, women, and children of historic Palestine, I cannot help but think that most Israelis are sadists who find pleasure in Palestinian suffering and pain.

I know for a fact that there are good and decent Jewish people on planet earth, there are good and decent Jewish groups on earth... but Israel is bad. 

Modern man-made Israel's influence and advice is very very bad:  Israel stands in long term and egregious violation of multiple international laws. But our politicians idolize a fantasy they have of Israel, and our mainstream media has spent decades reinforcing Zionist lies and misinformation by shaping most every story to diminish, denigrate, vilify, dismiss, and destroy Palestinians and those that care for them.

Israel used the United Nations to become a sovereign nation state in 1948, and now in 2026, having taken every inch of historic Palestine it can capture and occupy, Jews-preferred Israel seeks to destroy the United Nations starting with UNRWA (The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) one of many United Nations relief and human development agencies.

Building a land grabbing Apartheid wall PLUS multiple checkpoints to choke Palestinian roads intersected by Israeli-only express highways that serve Jews-only settlement projects is bad- but that is just the tip of the iceberg.  For decades now, Israel has been deploying bulldozers, bombs, lawfare, injustice, "settlers" and savage brutality to destroy Palestinian individuals, communities, commerce, and to steal vital Palestinian resources like water.  That is just a few of many monstrously heinous actions that Zionist Israel has taken so far, in Israel's gruesome quest to torture and destroy "others."

Right now, the "others" targeted and tortured by Israel are Palestinians and those that care for them. Arab Christians and Muslims, neighboring countries.... Israel creates a huge refugee crisis, and now freely bombs refugee camps.  

An Israeli sniper intentionally targets and kills a baby in his mother's arms.

I object. 

This situation is not healthy or wise.

Israel is a very bad investment.

Sincerely,

Anne Selden Annab

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

"It should not have taken mass slaughter and apocalyptic destruction. But the daily stream of horror from Gaza is what finally broke through the overwhelming propaganda machine and media ecosystem that perpetuates the narrative of Israel’s “right to self-defence,” while castigating any form of resistance by occupied and oppressed Palestinians. Americans were not only shocked by the disturbing images from Gaza—parents carrying the remains of their children in plastic bags, children amputated without anaesthetic, entire neighbourhoods flattened, and so much more—they were also seeing the blatant hypocrisy of Western governments and media playing out in real time. What they were being told directly contradicted what they were seeing with their own eyes." Assal Rad

Gaza’s archaeological heritage was destroyed in Israel’s genocide. These volunteers are trying to salvage it from the rubble: Israeli forces systematically and deliberately targeted many of Gaza’s archaeological sites, including ancient churches. Before the war, Gaza was home to archaeological sites and artifacts from periods spanning more than 5,000 years of continuous human civilization. Some looted artifacts have quietly resurfaced in a Paris exhibition

New Maps Show How Israel Has Thwarted Hopes for a Palestinian State

Israeli forces repeatedly stop aid and goods truck drivers at military checkpoints and inside the Kerem Shalom crossing, forcing them to strip, beating them, and humiliating them, even after they have received prior security approval to work and access these areas.

Palestinian woman and NBC News team attacked by masked Israeli settlers in West Bank. The woman and crew were treated for injuries..... Between Jan. 1 and July 24, Israeli forces [IDF] or settlers [Zionists] killed 76 Palestinians, according to the latest data available from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Three Israelis were killed over the same period, the data shows.

The rebranding of ‘Lake America’ is Trump’s desperate attempt to distract us. Ignore Iran, the Epstein files, and your wallet – not to mention Trump’s plummeting approval ratings

Life in Gaza next to Israel's 'Yellow Line' : This is life in Gaza near Israel's advancing ‘Yellow Line’, where two million people are now crammed into just 36 per cent of the Strip marked out by the Israeli military amid continued airstrikes, despite the ceasefire with Hamas.

"In Gaza, Palestinian journalists filming on their phones have provided an indispensable record of a war foreign reporters have largely been prevented from entering. There, picking up a camera is an act of extraordinary courage." Phoebe Greenwood

The Guardian: Smoke rises after an Israeli attack in Gaza. A witness said the strike targeted the Asqalan prayer hall, which is home to many Gaza residents displaced during the Israeli incursion. More than 100 French and British former diplomats have said Palestine is being erased in front of the world’s eyes and called for urgent action including trade and arms sales bans to press Israel to accept a Palestinian state.

UNESCO pays tribute to the memory of Palestinian artist Sliman Mansour, laureate, in recognition of his commitment to art education and his efforts to create platforms for younger generations of artists.

Why Israeli Authorities Are Encouraging Settler Violence Against Palestinians: The retired I.D.F. colonel Doron Meiner, who was arrested while trying to protect a Palestinian community from settlers in the West Bank, discusses Israel’s strategy

Israeli settlers targeting Palestinian factories to force workers off land: Rising Israeli settler violence targets Palestinian industrial facilities across the occupied West Bank, aiming to paralyse the local economy and force mass displacement.

Israeli court acquits Jewish settler who kicked Catholic nun in the head. The ruling comes amid growing attacks by extremist settlers against Christians in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank

Fake US thinktank set up and funded by Israel sought to game AI for propaganda: In effort to prime chatbots to make pro-Israel arguments the site published 124 reports, over 560,000 words in nine days, Guardian analysis shows

"Well, Core 5 is going ahead with the demolition of my Great Great Grandparents' farmhouse. While this lack of respect for our local history makes me sad, it pales in comparison to the losses experianced daily by Palestinians who are being systematically forced off their land by the illegal and immoral actions of the Likud government and its settler proxies." David Dietz of York, Pennsylvania, USA

United Nations rejects Israel’s threat to expel Gaza residents over kite-flying. United Nations rights office spokesperson slams Israeli threat of forced evacuations from Gaza communities over kite flying.

Suleiman Mansour 1947-2026... "Palestine has lost one of its most iconic painters, Sliman Mansour, who passed away today in Jerusalem. Mansour immortalised Palestine’s memory and steadfastness in his art, rendering eternal the struggle of a people living under the grip of the dystopian military occupation by Israel. Rest in peace."

"Because, after all, how do you explain to a 12-year-old that one of the world’s most powerful militaries is designating paper kites as “weapons of war” in a completely devastated area?" Maha Hussaini of Palestine

The Guardian cartoonist Ella Baron on AI (artificial intelligence) and the drought

AMERICAN DOCTOR: ‘Can we accept what we have done or not done?’: harrowing film follows doctors in Gaza. American Doctor follows three volunteer doctors as they try to save lives on the frontline and then return to the US to become advocates in congress

"... But the moral weight of American Doctor lies not just in its depiction of Gaza but its unflinching examination of the political and media machinery that enables it."

"Insane how little media coverage the occupied West Bank gets while Israel steals more land and terrorizes Palestinians every, single, day." Assal Rad

Assal Rad

@AssalRad

If you’re an Israeli occupier, you can terrorize Palestinians, steal their land, burn their trees, kill their animals, shoot, paralyze and kill them, and you’re called a “settler.” If you’re Palestinian and try to defend yourself against any of this, you’re called a “terrorist.” https://x.com/AssalRad/status/2091277430535451116

Calculated deception: How Israel uses diplomacy to buy time for Gaza’s destruction

Francesca Albanese says that what’s happening in West Bank is a continuation of Israel’s [1948] Nakba

How much is your support for Israel worth? Try $1 billion [that we know of]... Israel is spending wads of cash on public diplomacy in a desperate attempt to reverse waning American support for the country after it stands accused of genocide in Gaza and pushing the U.S. into the Iran war.

Dear America, American taxpayers are being forced to fund the cruel destruction of Palestine, international law AND our own country's future... This is crazy and wrong- oh so wrong!

DEAR AMERICA

WE THE PEOPLE are being forced to fund weapons, escalating war, hate, and hypocrisy everywhere.

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

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

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

The real refugee crisis is the failure to make peace. Refugees flee war, conflict and persecution. End the wars that force people to run for their lives.

Dear America, American taxpayers are being forced to fund the cruel destruction of Palestine, international law AND our own country's future... This is crazy and wrong- oh so wrong!

Gaza, Palestine A general view shows tents housing displaced Palestinians crowded along the Gaza City coastline and among buildings damaged during the war. Families sought refuge in temporary shelters after their homes were destroyed Photograph: Eldremle Rizek/Abaca/Shutterstock TWITTER/X

Dear America,

American taxpayers are being forced to fund the cruel destruction of Palestine, international law AND our own country's future...  This is crazy and wrong- oh so wrong!

Hate mongering, bigotry, injustice, and rage all fuel Israel's ongoing land grabs, settlement projects, and fundraising for more and more war.

Peace is an existential threat for Israel.  

STOP AND THINK- both America and the United Nations have been all about promoting real freedom and justice: Equality equals Peace & Security for all people, regardless of supposed race or religion.  Both America and international law are in serious danger right now- thanks to Israel.

Freedom of and from religion is the antithesis of the Zionist campaign for Israel.  Modern man-made weaponry and propaganda campaigns are exponentially more sophisticated and toxic than anything in the past.  These are very dangerous times, and there is no escape from the reach of our tech overlords as they push everything online "to save a tree" while bulldozing entire forests for more data centers and the weapons industry. 

Israel thrives on war and injustice... and misinformation.

Israeli occupation and outreach has been shaped to impoverish, divide, displace, denigrate, and silence Palestinians- and to push people on all sides and all throughout the region and beyond into religious extremism and violence.

Trump got trumped- The US-Israel war on Iran plays right into Israel's hands, empowering Israel while diminishing and undermining America in many ways.  

Apart from some obscenely wealthy CEOs and greedy businessmen whose wealth skews our GDP, most Americans are not thriving. We are struggling to make ends meet, to afford housing, healthcare and food. Unemployment figures based on how many Americans receive unemployment payments are an illusion that hides how many more able-bodied Americans are not able to get unemployment compensation or new jobs and how many young college graduates can't even find a decent paying job in the first place.

Trillions for war and more billions for billionaires adds up to tons and tons more pollution in a world already in crisis from toxic waste.

Sincerely,

Anne Selden Annab

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

Assal Rad

@AssalRad

If you’re an Israeli occupier, you can terrorize Palestinians, steal their land, burn their trees, kill their animals, shoot, paralyze and kill them, and you’re called a “settler.” If you’re Palestinian and try to defend yourself against any of this, you’re called a “terrorist.” https://x.com/AssalRad/status/2091277430535451116

"Meanwhile, with his unwinnable war in the Middle East, capricious tariff regime and penchant for self-enrichment on an epic scale, Trump is turning the US into an increasingly unpredictable player in the global economy. Instead of the guarantor of rules-based markets and open global trade routes, the US has become a source of uncertainty and chaos." Heather Stewart in The Guardian

A June 2026 UN report identified 249 cases of extrajudicial executions and severe physical violence in Gaza between August 2024 and early 2026, at least 60 of which involved Hamas-affiliated forces.

Israeli settler attacks shift focus to West Bank areas under direct Palestinian rule: Report says violence is moving from Israeli-controlled areas to those earmarked for a future Palestinian state

Israel launches an ‘investigation’ into killing of Hind Rajab

In January 2024, 335 bullets were fired into a car containing five-year-old Hind and six of her family members in Gaza. When paramedics came to help, they were killed too.

"And whatever shape the first major AI-related disaster takes, it won’t impact all countries, companies and people equally. It therefore seems unlikely that just one disaster will be enough to bring us humans to our senses, acting together to control the superhuman power we are creating. I really hate to say this, but … an AI Hiroshima? We should be so lucky." Timothy Garton Ash in The Guardian

Former British and French diplomats urge action over Israel’s ‘erasure’ of Palestine. In letter to Macron and Burnham, more than 100 senior figures accuse Israel of ethnic cleansing and call for measures including trade ban

“I ask—they hate it when I say this, but I can’t help myself—‘What if I know my rights, and the government knows my rights, but they just don’t care?’ ” Mahmoud Khalil in The New Yorker

"59 years of predatory occupation. 1,049 days of genocide. 7 governments. One statement. Zero sanctions. And it even misses the international law obligation: per the ICJ 2024 Advisory Opinion, it's the occupation itself -not just the E1 plans- that must end. So: Cut trade now. " Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt, Int'l Lawyer | Scholar | Former UN Official | Sen.Adviser"

"Today the UN flag is lowered globally in solidarity with over 1,000 aid workers killed in past three years. We lower our flags. We remember our friends and colleagues. We demand accountability for those who killed them." Tom Fletcher

"The sad truth is that the income gap keeps widening between ordinary American families and the billionaires who make the decisions that affect our lives." Francine Prose

4 principles guide the United Nation's humanitarian work: Humanity + Neutrality + Impartiality + Independence

UNESCO: Pastoralists are custodians of knowledge that sustains livelihoods, protects biodiversity and helps communities adapt to a changing climate

"What’s “extremist” about Ben Gvir is that he says out loud what Israel’s mainstream political establishment prefers to do quietly under the false pretense of “fighting terrorism.” At the height of the genocide, Israel was murdering a far greater daily number of children " Omar Baddar

AMERICAN DOCTOR: ‘Can we accept what we have done or not done?’: harrowing film follows doctors in Gaza. American Doctor follows three volunteer doctors as they try to save lives on the frontline and then return to the US to become advocates in congress

"... But the moral weight of American Doctor lies not just in its depiction of Gaza but its unflinching examination of the political and media machinery that enables it."

Iraq’s ghost villages: Islamic State drove people away – now a new enemy is preventing their return. Nearly a decade after fighting ended in northern Iraq, the climate crisis has brought extreme heat and a water shortage, making life almost impossible

The real refugee crisis is the failure to make peace. Refugees flee war, conflict and persecution. End the wars that force people to run for their lives.

The first anti-AI protester to be jailed has a message for OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta: ‘Regain your humanity’: “It’s absolutely frightening and appalling that these CEOs and AI experts know the dangers and they are pursuing it anyway,” Kaufmyn said before she was imprisoned. “That to me is unconscionable and reprehensible.”

Assal Rad - headline fixer extraordinaire in search of the actual truth courageously uncovers constant HASBARA/Zionist Propaganda in America's mainstream news headlines & stories that fuel Israel's war machine, escalting injustice, and monstrous bigotry

Even during the ceasefire, Palestinians in #Gaza continue to face daily threats from unexploded ordnance left behind by the fighting. Overall, about 82% of the structures in Gaza – about 200,000 buildings – are damaged.

In Taybeh - the only remaining Christian village in the West Bank - children live in fear Taybeh, the only remaining Christian village in the West Bank, includes Christian archaeology dating back to the Roman era and early Christianity. Located in the Ramallah area of the West Bank, the village’s population has dwindled to 1,200 people, all of them Christians. During the 1980s, the population was around 3,000 people.

Israeli troops force families from homes amid settler terror campaign in West Bank - Former PM of Israel calls events ‘concerted and meticulous attempt at ethnic cleansing’ against Palestinians

Occupied West Bank: Settler siege of Palestinians marks a new low ..."“These criminal actions by the settlers, supported or acquiesced to by Israel, the Occupying Power, are making life unbearable for these Palestinian families and are clearly aimed at forcing them to leave their homes and their land,” the UN office said. “Time is running out for these three families before they are forcibly displaced”."

Calculated deception: How Israel uses diplomacy to buy time for Gaza’s destruction

“Platformicide is not simply about removing content. It is about denying a population access to the infrastructures through which they can claim their existence online.”

A global initiative for humanitarian law: The Global IHL Initiative exists to restore respect for the rules of war and ensure that the Geneva Conventions remain a living lifeline for the vulnerable. In an age of rising conflict and fading restraint, we stand for the sanctity of life, for accountability and for a future where the laws of war are not forgotten relics but the foundation of our shared humanity.

[ISRAELI] Settlers and soldiers cut off water and electricity to [PALESTINIAN] homes, and block medical care in campaign of terror: “Every night, the [ISRAELI] settlers throw stones, use obscene language and shout during the night. We are living in a state of terror,” [PALESTINIAN] Hassan said. His mother, brother and sister, and three neighbours have also been blockaded inside, and their power and water have been cut off.

Israel deliberately starting wildfires in southern Lebanon, firefighters say: First responders, residents and environmental groups say [Israeli] military dropping flares to destroy forests and crops

Self Portrait "FATIMA" by Palestinian Artist Fatima Abu Rumi ... Fatima's work explores identity, gender, and society through a critical and deeply personal lens. Her works deals with the complexity of life as a Palestinian woman living in Israel. She expresses these themes in her work through an integration of self-portraits.

Francesca Albanese says that what’s happening in West Bank is a continuation of Israel’s [1948] Nakba

“Despite a ceasefire nominally in force since October 2025, Israeli forces have killed about 160 Palestinians in Gaza in July alone, bringing the death toll in the ravaged enclave since the so-called ceasefire to more than 1,200. This includes women, children, older persons and others who had taken shelter in tents and areas to which they had been directed for their own safety,”

"Insane how little media coverage the occupied West Bank gets while Israel steals more land and terrorizes Palestinians every, single, day." Assal Rad

Amid the systematic killing of Palestinian and Lebanese journalists, one organisation has been quietly bringing British media workers to Israel.

Lobby group taking journalists on propaganda tours of Israel

AI-Enabled Weapons Systems- As Artificial Intelligence moves onto the battlefield, UN Secretary-General António Guterres has shared his deep concern about the potentially disastrous consequences. Describing the taking of human life by AI weapons as “morally repugnant,” the Secretary-General has stressed: “Some decisions must remain forever human — none more than taking a human life.”

"Far from envisaging any withdrawal, the Israeli military has expanded its presence and now controls about 65% of the territory. Hemmed in towards the coast in the rest of the strip, much of the [PALESTINIAN] population faces an unrelenting daily struggle. Formal schooling has not restarted, the healthcare system has been largely destroyed and the entry of medical and other humanitarian aid remains severely restricted. Reconstruction work has been blocked, while the first building contract issued by the Board of Peace has been for an outpost to host foreign troops. Meanwhile, the world’s attention has shifted to Mr Trump’s illegal and reckless war on Iran – a grievous miscalculation in which Israel’s prime minister also played his part...."

When will Israel fulfill its ceasefire obligations? "Netanyahu keeps getting away with constantly changing the goal posts" Daoud Kuttab in The Arab News

Israeli general says Gaza should remain ‘destroyed for generations’: Giora Eiland says Palestinian despair serves Israel and demands permanent control beyond the Yellow Line

A.I. Is Now a Major Election Issue: As Abdul El-Sayed, Michigan’s newly elected Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate, put it, “People really effing hate data centers.”

Israel’s ‘Green Rafah’ plan aims to fragment Gaza, experts say Analysts warn Israel’s new administrative zones seek to erase the Palestinian cause and force mass displacement.

'They want to make us leave': Israel destroys West Bank wells serving Palestinian herders. Residents of Ras al-Ahmar say the destruction of their main water source follows months of settler attacks

UNICEF: At least 300 children reportedly killed in Gaza in past 300 days "A ceasefire that leaves an average of one child dead each and every day is failing children" ... "With hundreds more children injured, many severely, children in Gaza are still waiting for the end to the violence they were promised."

NPR: For decades Israeli Jewish settlers have been creating [ILLEGAL] settlements there, taking more and more of the West Bank away from Palestinians. This has the support of Israel’s far right government...

On the 81st anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima: "Let's move closer ro a world where the tragedy of Hiroshima is never repeated" Antonio Guterres

An Israeli professor lost a prestigious US job offer after speaking out on Gaza. Now the university is paying him $250,000... The University of Minnesota withdrew an offer for Raz Segal to lead its Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies after an organized campaign against his hiring

Deliberate attacks on civilians, which both journalists were, is a war crime. Israel has killed at least 15 journalists in Lebanon and 210 in Gaza since 2023, according to the UN human rights office. The reports also indicated that Israel delayed Lebanese ambulances from reaching Khalil and Faraj for hours – at one pointing dropping stun grenades on Lebanese Red Cross workers and firing on their ambulances.

Shameful media blackout over another massacre of civilians in Gaza. Stop Israeli crimes and international complicity- from the River to the Sea [!!!!!!!!!]

Jewish Voice for Peace: Over the weekend, a premature fetus was recovered from the rubble after an Israeli airstrike killed its pregnant mother. In another strike, 4 people were killed in their car. These are just some of the scenes emerging from Gaza this weekend—losses no one should have to witness, especially when the victims are their own loved ones.

How Biden Enabled Israel’s Aggression Toward Gaza—and Iran: Top officials from the previous Administration now express regret over their failure to rein in Netanyahu.

Washington’s imposition of sanctions and travel restrictions on the ICC Prosecutor, judges, and deputy prosecutors due to their work on cases involving US and Israeli officials is a blatant interference in the independence of international justice

AI is a bubble. Everybody knows it’s a bubble. The market is running on magical thinking... The House of Ellison is on the Brink: Everything the world’s briefly richest man built is failing at once.

"UNRWA acts decisively whenever staff misconduct is identified, while all employees are regularly screened, trained and required to comply with UN standards... Israel receives the names of all UNRWA staff twice a year for security screening"... "Nobody has the infrastructure, the experience, the skillset or the staff to be able to do what we do now on behalf of Palestine refugees," Christian Saunders said. "That doesn't mean UNRWA needs to exist forever. As soon as there is a recognised Palestinian administration able to assume these responsibilities, UNRWA should hand over those services. Until then, we have a mandate and an obligation to ensure that Palestine refugees have access to these critical services."

Gaza remains unsafe for civilians as Israeli attacks continue, including on schools and canvas classrooms

Jordan is convening an emergency meeting of foreign ministers from the Arab and Islamic world over what it says is an “imminent” threat of an Israeli takeover of the most important Muslim site in Jerusalem, with the potential to “trigger a religious conflict”. The meeting on Wednesday – and the Jordanian warning – follow an escalating pattern of government-backed incursions by Jewish religious extremists on the compound around al-Aqsa mosque and Dome of the Rock, in violation of a status quo treaty overseen by Jordan’s Hashemite monarchy, by which only Muslims can pray at the site. On 23 July, more than 2,000 Israelis from the religious right – mostly settlers led by the national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir – stormed the area...

After visits by US ambassador Mike Huckabee to the nearby Israeli settlement of Shilo, Palestinian Americans in Turmus Ayya have witnessed a terrifying rise in attacks... Abandoned by the US: Palestinian Americans trapped in a surge of Israeli settler violence

"An incompetent and gullible Trump is plainly responsible for yielding to Israeli pressure and dragging the US into the latest war." The pro-Israel lobby has swayed US presidents since Truman. It must end with Trump

How much is your support for Israel worth? Try $1 billion [that we know of]... Israel is spending wads of cash on public diplomacy in a desperate attempt to reverse waning American support for the country after it stands accused of genocide in Gaza and pushing the U.S. into the Iran war.

For 2,000 years, Christians have called the Holy Land home. CNN’s Clarissa Ward travels from Jerusalem to the occupied West Bank to examine how Israeli ultranationalist extremism is reshaping that reality.

DEAR AMERICA

WE THE PEOPLE are being forced to fund weapons, escalating war, hate, and hypocrisy everywhere.

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

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

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- 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.

Amazing photo of a multigenerational Palestinian family’s olive picking in the occupied West Bank village of Duma. - Photo credit- Omar Dawabsheh

Dear America,

Many people worldwide know that Israeli "settlements" usurp Palestinian land, rights and peace, so new language is rising up to make Israeli Settler-terrorists look less evil and cruel: "Farm" is Cottage-core camouflage for Israeli law breakers empowered by "The Jewish State" to aggressively terrorize, displace and destroy Palestinian families.

Palestinian shepherds have been grazing their flocks of sheep and goats for centuries throughout The Holy Land. Palestinians were free to move from place to place until Israel inserted laws, walls, and outposts to intentionally bully, oppress, and shove Palestinian men, women, and children into forced exile.

Culture vulture invading Israelis have taken homes, lanes, lands, trees, gardens and food- large and small Zionist looting includes (for instance) expropriating ancient and indigenous Palestinian recipes like hummus.  Israeli chefs and food companies make money globally on Palestinian recipes, while Palestinians are pushed into abject poverty and accused of being antisemitic terrorists because they dare object.  Now we get to see photos of Israeli Settler-terrorists surrounded by flocks of goats as if they are a picturesque pastoral element of the landscape that belongs there...THEY DON'T!

America should not be supporting or excusing Israeli violence and bigotry in any way shape or form- but our elected officials force us to fund and arm Israel no matter what.  Even when it means undermining peace worldwide, as well as our own economy and infrastructure.

Rampant corporate and political greed and corruption are destroying the lives of countless men, women, and children here, there, and everywhere:  Artificial Intelligence "AI" delusions plus paid propagandist pollute the internet which was once an Information Highway but is now a scam happy scramble to take as much money as possible from We-The-People.  

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 and electricity for hyperscale Data Centers.

America is being impoverished and undermined from inside as money that should be spent on the people's needs (including preserving natural resources and shoring up Social Security and health care) is instead being spent on a massive war machine designed to create enemies by destroying faraway people and communities:  'Epic Fury' bombing Gaza, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and now Iran teaches the world that neither Israel nor America can be trusted.  WAR IS EPIC POLLUTION- and injustice.

VIOLENCE IS WRONG, rage inducing click bait is wrong, and so is misinformation. Worldwide there are many good and decent people who are Jewish and there are many good and decent people who are Muslims, Christians...etc... and there are also many good and decent people who want nothing at all to do with religion.

Religion should be private and personal, not a state funded project.

Sincerely,

Anne Selden Annab

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

"A [Palestinian] landscape that has endured for centuries, of steep terraced hills, olive groves, vineyards, lemon trees planted around springs, and fields of herbs and vegetables in the valleys, is consequently being ripped apart at breakneck speed." Palestinians brace as Israeli settler figures in coalition seek to cement West Bank gains before election

Slavery was Legal. Colonialism was Legal. Jim Crow was Legal. Apartheid was Legal. Legality is a matter of Power, NOT Justice

In a political wasteland dominated by billionaires, war criminals and mega-corporations, the head of the Catholic church is a rare figure of moral leadership

“AI capabilities are outpacing both scientific understanding and governments’ ability to adapt,” Mr. Bengio said. “With growing evidence of deceptive AI behaviour, science currently cannot guarantee that as capabilities continue to increase, AI will not cause catastrophic harm, either on its own or due to malicious users...”

A generational shift is transforming the US-Israel relationship. The Iran war has accelerated the fraying of ties. An end to unconditional US support would force a reckoning with reality - Kenneth Roth in the Guardian

“In the midst of all of our scientific and technological advances, we still suffer the plague of racial conflict. We have not learned the simple art of loving our neighbors, and respecting the dignity and worth of all human personality.” Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., from “The Role of the Church in Facing the Nation’s Chief Moral Dilemma,” April 25, 1957

What is Ecocide? ...."unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts."

Super-rich’s assets cause outsized amount of climate harm, study says. Greenpeace calculates that wealthiest contribute nearly $1tn of damage a year with ownership-based emissions... "By contrast, the bottom half of the world by wealth accounts for just 3% of ownership-based emissions."

"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.

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

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

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

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.

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..