Robert J Donahue

I’m currently getting mass cancelled on Bluesky for simply being at the WHCD. You cannot make this up

I’m currently getting mass cancelled on Bluesky for simply being at the WHCD. You cannot make this up

💢 BREAKING | Israeli settlers shoot dead a 14-year-old student and a 32-year-old man at a West Bank school, with Israeli forces providing protection Israeli settlers opened fire on Al-Mughair Boys School in the village of Al-Mughayyir, east of Ramallah, on Tuesday afternoon, killing a 14-year-old student, Aws Hamdi Al-Naasan, and a 32-year-old man, Jihad Marzouq Abu Naim, and wounding three others with live bullets, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA and the Ministry of Health. A paramedic at the scene said at least three settlers deliberately fired at children attempting to escape from classrooms from a position approximately 50 meters away, with a level of accuracy he described as close to sniping. An eyewitness said shooting was directed at classroom windows and balconies still full of children as residents attempted to evacuate the school by crawling. Israeli forces arrived during the attack and, according to witnesses, provided protection to the settlers rather than stopping them. A 63-year-old man, Attallah Abu Aliya, said he was shot in the leg by an Israeli soldier without warning as he walked toward the school after hearing it was under attack. Their deaths bring the West Bank toll to four killed on Tuesday alone, after a 16-year-old boy was run over by a settler's vehicle in Hebron and a 49-year-old woman died from injuries sustained in an Israeli army shooting in Jenin.

Today marks the 111th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. As we honor the 1.5 million Armenians murdered by the Ottoman Empire across modern-day Turkey, Syria, and Armenia, we must refuse to let history repeat itself. In 2020, the military forces of Azerbaijan and Turkey attacked the Armenian population in Nagorno-Karabakh. In 2023, Azerbaijan expelled over 100,000 Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh, continuing the genocidal campaign that had begun over 100 years prior. On this day of remembrance, we reaffirm the right of the Armenian people — and all people — to freedom, safety, and self-determination.