"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

‘He is still a mere mortal, he is not perfect, but he is proving to be a much-needed force for good.’ Photograph: Remo Casilli/Reuters

 

OpinionPope Leo XIV

Arwa Mahdawi

Wed 3 Jun 2026 05.00 EDT

Do you remember the early 2000s, when Silicon Valley buzzed with idealism and tech bros told us they were going to save the world? “Don’t be evil” was Google’s unofficial motto; it’s 2004 IPO prospectus declared that doing “good things for the world” was more important than “short term gains”. Mark Zuckerberg similarly wrote in Facebook’s 2012 IPO letter that the social network was “built to accomplish a social mission – to make the world more open and connected”.

As was obvious to anyone paying attention, this was all performative bullshit. Nevertheless, it’s hard not to feel nostalgic about that period of time – which came to a definitive end in 2018, with the Cambridge Analytica scandal. By and large, billionaires and CEOs still cared what the hoi polloi thought of them. They were self-aware enough to realize that, even with all their billions, there’s a lot more of us than there are of them.

Now, however, there has been a seismic vibe shift. Donald Trump has made cruelty cool, and normalized greed and corruption. Tech titans, meanwhile, have lined up to kiss the ring – and extract as much money from his administration as they can. Elon Musk has gone from quirky rocketman to rightwing agitator. Zuckerberg is in his macho era, urging companies to unleash their “masculine energy” and saying he regrets apologizing so much in the past.

As for the mantra “don’t be evil”? Ha. Now tech companies are unapologetically fueling unimaginable evil. Project Nimbus, for example, a $1.2bn contract awarded by Israel to Google and Amazon, has been accused of playing a role in the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Sergey Brin, Google’s co-founder, meanwhile, has said using the term genocide in connection to Gaza, which scores of leading human rights organizations and scholars do, is “offensive”.

Amid this vibe shift, something odd has happened: the Vatican City has... READ MORE https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/03/pope-leo-ai-technology

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

Dear America- American leadership has been opting to waste billions and now trillions of our tax money on war, all for what?

Palestinian Christians celebrating Holy Saturday in Gaza City Holy Family Catholic Church April 4, 2026 

4/5/2026 Easter day letter I just sent to my elected leaders 

Dear America,

Money can be used for good, or for evil.

American leadership has been opting to waste billions and now trillions of our tax money on war, all for what? 

No one wins modern war.  Stealing life or land or resources from others is WRONG, and always will be. 

War is a win for all the worst in this world: A win for cruelty & violence. A win for death & destruction. A win for thievery & lies. A win for toxic thought & dangerous propaganda. A win for greed & corruption. A win for racist hate & revenge.  A win for planting & perpetuating terrorism. A win for pollution & escalating poverty.

FYI WAR is evil.

Stealing American workers' Social Security in order to fund nefarious projects is also evil and wrong. For decades workers have been overworked & underpaid, all so that greedy CEOs can jet set to parties and bribe our elected officials.  Many workers count on Social Security and Medicare for when they are no longer able to work.  Our country's highest priority should be to make sure that the stolen social security funds are returned.

We should be investing in infrastructure and people needs here AND globally- not war, and certainly not Israel.  Israel, armed with American money and weaponry, has been attacking its neighbors for decades, demolishing homes, destroying commerce and jobs, and creating a massive refugee crisis- in addition to many murders.  Israeli torture, both physical and psychological, is widespread, and so are Israeli lies and propaganda.

Yes Virginia, Israel has a right to exist- Israel also has a right to change its name to Mecca or Magical Land of Pink Unicorns if that is what all its citizens (including refugees in forced exile) prefer... However, Israel has no right to steal land and resources from Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, Iran... etc... and America.

Sincerely,

Anne Selden Annab

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

A strategy ‘to make life intolerable’: Israeli settlers are driving Christians out of West Bank. The Taybeh community has survived crusaders and the Ottoman and British empires, but the latest attacks leave its future in question

"We may speak thousands of languages, but we all call this planet home. No matter where we come from, protecting our Earth is a shared responsibility. We need more ambitious #ClimateAction — for our planet and the generations to come."

Over 100 US legal experts condemn strikes on Iran as possible ‘war crimes’ : United States-based scholars sign open letter raising concerns about conduct, rhetoric during US-Israeli war on Iran.

Death, displacement and military duties: children plunged into crisis by Middle East war. The US-Israeli war will have a lifelong impact on millions of children across the Middle East

What Would Jesus Say to a Zionist Christian? ... (umkahlil wrote this in 2009, and it is just as applicable today.)

Palestinian Thoub - Rome Thoubs Exhibition 2026 The cross-point of Palestinian identities

This Week in Palestine- Digital Horizons: Entrepreneurship and Economic Resilience

1935, Tiberias, Palestine 🇵🇸 Fishermen fixing their nets.

"In order for me to write poetry that isn't political I must listen to the birds and in order to hear the birds the warplanes must be silent" Marwan Makhoul

This year marks 50 years of honoring Land Day — a commemoration of the Palestinian ongoing struggle against the Israeli government's theft of Palestinian land. "With immense grief and rage at the horrors the Israeli military is committing in Gaza and the occupied West Bank right now, we recognize Palestinians’ deep roots in their land as we support the struggle for Palestinian freedom. We honor the steadfastness and resilience of those who have resisted land theft by the Israeli government, military, and Israeli settlers." Jewish Voice for Peace

"This moment in Jerusalem feels heavy in a way that is hard to fully grasp. The Old City stands closed under the Israeli occupation, its narrow streets unusually silent, and for the first time in modern history, both Al Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre have been shut for such a prolonged period. Places that have always been alive with prayer, footsteps, and quiet devotion now feel distant, almost unreachable. For many, it is not just about restricted access, but about a deeper sense of separation from something sacred and rooted in identity. And still, people hold on, to faith, to memory, to the belief that these doors will open again, and that the life and spirit of Jerusalem will return to what it has always been." Palestinian Artist Sliman Mansour

Pope Leo XIV: Planes should bring peace, not war and destruction ...Pope Leo XIV thanks the Italian national airline ITA Airways for carrying the Pope on his Apostolic Journeys, and laments the use of aircraft as carriers of death and destruction in theaters of war.

"On the International Day for the Right to Truth about Human Rights Abuses, we honour victims and human rights defenders who break the silence and uncover the facts." Volker Türk, United Nations Human Rights

"The parallels between the Germany of the 1930s and the United States of America today are frightening." A Holocaust teacher’s warning: Will ‘good Americans’ speak up this time? | PennLive letters

Trump’s Iran ‘talks’: a war, a pause – and a distraction... The US president claims progress in talks with Iran, but uncertainty persists. Meanwhile, Israel advances West Bank annexation under cover of a crisis

Trump’s sanctions against a UN human rights expert show free speech is dying: Francesca Albanese recommended ICC arrests and investigations over Gaza. Who will be the administration’s next target?

"One Gulf diplomat, who has direct knowledge of the talks and is furious with Witkoff and Kushner’s behaviour, described the pair as “Israeli assets that had conspired to force the US president into entering a war from which he is now desperate to get himself out of”."

Israeli settlers carry out series of West Bank attacks as security forces stand by

Witnesses describe coordinated raids in which homes and vehicles were set on fire and several Palestinians injured

"An entire Economist article on famine in Gaza doesn’t say the word “Israel” once. Not even when describing damage to farmland and water facilities or severely restricted aid deliveries. Saying *who* is destroying the farmland and restricting aid seems like basic info to include." Assal Rad

"Church leaders argue that invoking Christian identity while directing military actions that have killed thousands amounted to a political use of the faith, reducing Christianity to a public‑relations tool rather than a moral framework. It is this stark contrast between rhetoric and lived reality that fueled widespread anger among Christian leaders in Jerusalem and beyond."

“It’s time for the force of the law to prevail over the law of the force. It’s time for diplomacy to prevail over war.” Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of The United Nations

A UN expert claimed Israel was systematically torturing Palestinians on a scale "that suggests collective vengeance and destructive intent", in a report released to media on Friday.

Israel has crushed Unrwa in Gaza – and the rest of the world has done nothing " I bow out of my role for the organisation at a perilous time for the international law. There are consequences not just for Palestinians, but the wider Middle East" -Philippe Lazzarini

On top of all that, official Washington is disregarding decency, a minimal need for a sustainable society, and playing footsy with the truth. An example of action devoid of decency is having fun promoting the war on social media. The White House, Pentagon and U.S. Central Command posted videos mixing actual war scenes with clips from violent video games such as “Call of Duty” and “Grand Theft Auto,” and blues artist John Lee Hooker’s song “Boom Boom” (opening lyric: “Boom, boom, boom, boom. I’m gonna shoot you right down.”)" - John Baer in The Patriot News

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

Israel’s settlement expansion drives mass displacement in West Bank [Palestine] – United Nations report 17 March 2026

Israel is using the ongoing war to intensify multi-layered violations against Palestinians during Ramadan and Easter. Al-Aqsa stands empty. The Holy Sepulchre is sealed for the first time in history. Demolitions, settler attacks, and movement restrictions are surging.

Joe Kent, Trump's counterterrorism chief, resigns, blaming members of the media, as well as high-ranking Israeli officials and lobbyists, for prompting Trump to abandon his America First agenda.

Trump’s Iran war has cost Americans at least $11bn already. And that’s just the start- That $11.3bn doesn’t include any estimate of repairing facilities or replacing losses.- Arwa Mahdawi

Dear America- Centuries before America's Declaration of Independence in 1776 (and our subsequent Bill of Rights)- in 1095 the First Crusade was proclaimed by Pope Urban II— with a call to arms for Christians to reconquer Jerusalem from the Muslims.

Please stop funding and fueling Israel's wars and the ongoing destruction of historic Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria... and Iran.

War and terrorism are for tyrants, not for freedom or justice. Bully tactics teach all the wrong lessons.

Billionaires want Ballrooms. The rest of us want clean water; safe neighborhoods; good schools, libraries, & museums; National Parks; playgrounds; PBS; good job opportunities for ourselves and our children; affordable heath-care; AND PEACE.

Funding and arming terrorism and violence is evil and wrong: America should not be funding, arming, defending, or trusting today's Israel in any way, shape or form.

A barbaric new era has already begun as Americans are duped into being wage slaves for billionaires who have no respect for basic human rights and the rule of fair and just laws.

Golden Rule Thinking IS GOOD

Our land and resources are being gobbled up for AI data centers for what purpose? Is it for the greater good of tax paying citizens- or is it to feed the greed of corporations and companies that already use our data to charge us as much as they can at every turn.

Real freedom, justice, and democracy are being embezzled by corporate greed and political corruption to empower Israel and war.

"ISRAEL SAYS" is not God talking.

Israel has a right to exist, but Israel has no right to starve and displace the men, women and children of historic Palestine.

The vast majority of Americans are not wealthy & the taxes that We The People pay are being diverted into funding religious bigotry and terror via Israel's cruel war on the native non-Jewish men, women, and children of historic Palestine. HAMAS cruelty and stupidity echoes Zionist cruelty and stupidity and on and on it goes. Neither approach will build peace or security.

The weapons industry and a global war machine- AND INJUSTICE- burgeon with American tax payer funds.

Violence is a problem- not the answer.

"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

"The genocide in Gaza is far from over- We live not in a post-Holocaust world of ‘Never Again’ but in the same world that led to the Holocaust, a world of ‘Again and Again’" Raz Segal in The Guardian

"The Gaza Nakba has not ended, because it did not begin in October 2023, but in the 1948 Nakba, when Israel emerged on the ruins of Palestine and Palestinians. This reality immediately clashed with the idea of Israel as a unique state, the state of survivors of the unique evil of the Nazis, which made it seem unimaginable that Israel could perpetrate any crime in international law, let alone genocide, the new crime that was formulated also in 1948."  Raz Segal is an associate professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Stockton University and the endowed professor in the study of modern genocide
 

‘Most people know that day is not night, and they refuse to say otherwise.’ Photograph: APAImages/Shutterstock

Fri 28 Nov 2025 06.00 EST

On 10 October, following two years of Israeli genocide that have turned Gaza into the new benchmark of total destruction, after Israel has killed and injured hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and inflicted on all the people in Gaza “severe bodily or mental harm,” to quote from the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the Trump administration imposed a ceasefire, giving rise to the idea that the Gaza war has ended.

The ceasefire, however, seems to be designed mostly to move forward with the business deals of the mega rich in the Middle East, and the fire has never ceased: the Israeli government has continued its assault, killing and injuring hundreds of Palestinians since 10 October, destroying thousands of homes and buildings, and blocking the entry of sufficient aid.

The genocidal rhetoric, furthermore, has not ended. Take, for instance... READ MORE  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/nov/28/the-genocide-in-gaza-is-far-from-over

AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES & 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] 

Mosab Abu Toha: I don’t understand this evil. Wherever there is occupation, there is destruction.... Instead of forcing Israel to comply with international law and end its occupation, the world is watching Israel continue its destruction of an entire people who they are occupying

Mosab Abu Toha

@MosabAbuToha

I don’t understand this evil. Wherever there is occupation, there is destruction.

 

Mosab Abu Toha

@MosabAbuToha

Instead of forcing Israel to comply with international law and end its occupation, the world is watching Israel continue its destruction of an entire people who they are occupying. Not enough, corporate media is covering for Israel’s crimes while most governments fund the killing campaign and while one specific government, itself an active partner of Israel, vetos any resolution that could put an end to this BS.

‘Princess Bride’ Actor Wallace Shawn Compares Israeli Treatment of Gaza to Nazi Germany “Some of them might in 10 years wake up and say, ‘Why did I justify that?’”

‘Princess Bride’ Actor Wallace Shawn Compares Israeli Treatment of Gaza to Nazi Germany  “Some of them might in 10 years wake up and say, ‘Why did I justify that?’”

 February 4, 2025

Princess Bride and Clueless actor Wallace Shawn this week compared the Israeli treatment of Gaza to Nazi Germany.

Shawn, who is Jewish, said on the Katie Halper Show that Israel is “doing evil that is just as great as what the Nazis did.” His comments have sparked outrage from the Jewish community, but not surprise as he has been vocal in sharing his divisive views before.

Regarding the Nazi comparison, Shawn contended: “In some ways it’s worse, because they kind of boast about it. Hitler had the decency to try to keep it secret. For some reason, Hitler didn’t want people to know he was doing these things to the Jews. The Israelis are almost proud of it, and it’s demonically evil. And anybody who doesn’t recognize that it’s evil, I can’t, probably, communicate with that person. That might be temporary insanity.”... READ MORE  https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/wallace-shawn-israeli-treatment-gaza-nazi-1236127279/

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel "indifference to evil is worse than evil itself..."

 

Born in Warsaw Poland in 1907,  graduated from University of Berlin died in 1972 in New York City. In late October 1938, when Heschel was living in a rented room in the home of a Jewish family in Frankfurt, he was arrested by the Gestapo and deported to Poland in the Polenaktion. 

Heschel's sister Esther was killed in a German bombing. His mother was murdered by the Nazis, and two other sisters, Gittel and Devorah, died in Nazi concentration camps. He never returned to Germany, Austria or Poland. He once wrote, "If I should go to Poland or Germany, every stone, every tree would remind me of contempt, hatred, murder, of children killed, of mothers burned alive, of human beings asphyxiated.

Heschel arrived in New York City in March 1940

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel believed that no religious community could claim a monopoly on religious truth. For these and other reasons, Martin Luther King Jr. called Heschel "a truly great prophet." Heschel actively participated in the Civil Rights movement, and was a participant in the third Selma to Montgomery march, accompanying Dr. King and John Lewis. ^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Joshua_Heschel}

Heschel, left, presenting the Judaism and World Peace Award to Martin Luther King Jr., December 7, 1965

"The opposite of good is not evil, the opposite of good is indifference."

Abraham Joshua Heschel

"Racism is man's gravest threat to man - the maximum of hatred for a minimum of reason."

Abraham Joshua Heschel 

"Remember that there is meaning beyond absurdity. Know that every deed counts, that every word is power...Above all, remember that you must build your life as if it were a work of art."

Abraham Joshua Heschel

"Prayer cannot bring water to parched fields, or mend a broken bridge, or rebuild a ruined city; but prayer can water an arid soul, mend a broken heart, and rebuild a weakened will."

Abraham Joshua Heschel 

 

"Just to be is a blessing. Just to live is holy."

Abraham Joshua Heschel

Dear President Biden, What dirty secrets does Israel have on you?

 October 20, 2023

Dear President Biden,

What dirty secrets does Israel have on you?  I am just trying to figure out how you can be so clueless and cruel when it comes to the Israel/Palestine situation.

HAMAS did not invent or unleash pure, unadulterated evil as you said in your most recent speech. HAMAS is a more recent evil response to Jews-preferred Israel's extensive mistreatment of the indigenous non-Jewish men, women, and children of historic Palestine.  

The unleashing of pure unadulterated evil in the Middle East is and has been modern man-made Israel, a fully sovereign nation state that has been aggressively persecuting, impoverishing, and displacing Palestinian families for the past 75 years.

Armed religious extremism and a growing tide of racist hate is an inevitable reaction to Israel being richly rewarded by America for arming religion with lethal weaponry. 

HAMAS is horrible and stupid, but Israel's state sponsored terrorism is a billion times more monstrous than HAMAS.

Here in America various deluded CEOs and bigoted billionaires are doing what they can to silence support for Palestine and the truth.  Our mainstream media has become a mouthpiece for a foreign country instead of being America's Fourth Estate. And I go to White House.gov and I might as well be looking at an Israeli government propaganda site.  

I know that early on in our history American racism was rampant and wrong. Slavery was everywhere and technically legal. But that did not make slavery right or good. Thankfully we had courageous heroes speak out to help lead us away from legalized racist injustice and segregation. Our country grew stronger and better thanks to our learned respect for diversity and the rule of fair and just laws.  

So why exactly are we arming Israel as it traps and bombs Palestinians in the concentration camp called Gaza?  

Why are we funding Israel's belligerent occupation and illegal settlements in the West Bank?  

Why isn't America standing up for real justice and peace! 

Sincerely,

Anne Selden Annab

American Homemaker & Poet

Live by the Golden Rule

Christians Killed by Israeli Bombing of One of the Oldest Churches in Historic Palestine- Saint Porphyrius Orthodox Church

 

America, Do we believe in full and equal rights for all people, regardless of their supposed race or religion? !!!

 

We’re anti-Zionist Jews and we see genocide unfolding in Gaza- Ellen Brotsky and Ariel Koren

"Israeli supporters thirst for these lies. They do not want to know the truth. The truth would force them to examine their racism, self-delusion and complicity in oppression, murder and genocide." Chris Hedges

Think of Others- a poem by Mahmoud Darwish [of Palestine]

BEWARE: Don't let Racist Hate win ... a poem

"It lifted my grieving heart to join crowds in London on the March for Palestine. We need more of them" - a timely Guardian op-ed by Nimer Sultany

MIFTAH's Chairperson Dr. Hanan Ashrawi sends a message to the world.

WHAT YOU BOMB a poem by VIJAY PRASHAD

In Israel's war against the Palestinians, Tel Aviv controls the narrative and silences dissenting voices

In one week, the number of children killed in Gaza has surpassed the number of children killed in Ukraine in one year. Both are occupied lands, but with vastly different approaches from the US.

His name is Wadie Al Fayoume. He was just killed- murdered at the age of 6 for being Palestinian and Muslim in America... Stabbed 26 times in his Chicago area home.

Pamela Olson's book (and blog) that aims to bring the realities in Palestine to the American mainstream

This Week in Palestine: When Art and Artists Belong Ismail Shammout, an Ambassador of Palestinian Identity By Bashar Shammout

Memory of Places by Sliman Mansour, 2009.

Heba Zagout, artist, killed by Israeli bombs in Gaza, Palestine, October 2023

HATE, it has caused a lot of problems in this world, but it has not solved one yet- Maya Angelou

When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?

We need facts and the preservation of press freedom.

STOP DOMESTIC VIOLENCE... & State Sponsored Terrorism