

Gypsy Guillén Kaiser
22.5K posts

@GypsyStrategy
Chief Global Affairs Officer @PressFreedom | Seeking structural change, enduring justice. Views are personal.



#Iraq: CPJ is deeply concerned by reports that American freelance journalist #Shelley_Kittleson was abducted by unidentified individuals in Baghdad on Tuesday. According to Iraq’s Interior Ministry, security forces launched an immediate operation based on precise intelligence and have intercepted a vehicle believed to be linked to the perpetrators. However, Kittleson was not found in the vehicle. Local reports indicate she was taken near the Baghdad Hotel on Saadoun Street. CPJ calls on Iraqi authorities to do everything in their power to locate Shelley Kittleson, ensure her immediate and safe release, and hold those responsible to account.









ANNOUNCEMENT:

Four-byline alert: 🚨 “.. A broker for Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, attempted to make a big investment in major defence companies in the weeks leading up to the US-Israeli attack on Iran, according to three people familiar ..” @FT ft.com/content/744ea8…

During past wars in the Middle East, especially at the early stages, US military officials stuck to a regular briefing schedule and often provided daily updates. The Trump administration evidently feels no obligation to do so.




JUST IN: Israeli Police prevented Cardinal Pizzaballa from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre today, as he went to say Mass. @LPJerusalem calls it a “grave precedent” which “constitutes a manifestly unreasonable and grossly disproportionate measure.” Full statement from @LPJerusalem below —— Joint Press Release The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Custody of the Holy Land Holy City of Jerusalem Palm Sunday, 29 March 2026 This morning, the Israeli Police prevented the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, His Beatitude Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Head of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land, together with the Custos of the Holy Land, the Most Reverend Fr. Francesco Ielpo, OFM, the official Guardian of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, as they made their way to celebrate the Palm Sunday Mass. The two were stopped en route, while proceeding privately and without any characteristics of a procession or ceremonial act, and were compelled to turn back. As a result, and for the first time in centuries, the Heads of the Church were prevented from celebrating the Palm Sunday Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This incident is a grave precedent,and disregard the sensibilities of billions of people around the world who, during this week, look to Jerusalem. The Heads of the Churches have acted with full responsibility and, since the outset of the war, have complied with all imposed restrictions: public gatherings were cancelled, attendance was prohibited, and arrangements were made to broadcast the celebrations to hundreds of millions of faithful worldwide, who, during these days of Easter, turn their eyes to Jerusalem and to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Preventing the entry of the Cardinal and the Custos, who bear the highest ecclesiastical responsibility for the Catholic Church and the Holy Places, constitutes a manifestly unreasonable and grossly disproportionate measure. This hasty and fundamentally flawed decision, tainted by improper considerations, represents an extreme departure from basic principles of reasonableness, freedom of worship, and respect for the Status Quo. The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Custody of the Holy Land express their profound sorrow to the Christian faithful in the Holy Land and throughout the world that prayer on one of the most sacred days of the Christian calendar has thus been prevented.

The No Kings protests have dispersed at this time and all traffic closures have been lifted. We had tens of thousands of people across all five boroughs peacefully exercising their first amendment rights, and the NYPD made zero protest-related arrests.

Nearly 1,500 Iranian civilians have been killed in U.S. and Israeli strikes that have hit schools, hospitals and other nonmilitary infrastructure since the Iran war began last month, human rights groups alleged in a new report. wapo.st/4sBxhma

Mark Levin's program tonight, touted by President Trump on social media, aired as we published a @washingtonpost story stating that the Pentagon is preparing for weeks of U.S. ground operations in Iran. Levin makes the case here for ground ops. x.com/i/status/20380…


In the occupied West Bank, Israeli settler violence is surging again as the Iran war takes much of the world's focus. After one attack, Israeli soldiers who echo settler ideology assaulted a CNN photojournalist and detained the rest of the CNN team. Jeremy Diamond reports.

For context on this outrageous assault of @CNN journalists by settlers in the West Bank, see @CPJMENA's previous reporting. It is HIGH TIME that the perpetrators be held accountable for assaulting journalists, who are civilians doing their job. 👉 cpj.org/2025/11/surgin…


While covering the latest Israeli settler attack in the West Bank, Israeli soldiers assaulted my photojournalist @cyrilthps and detained my team. But our 2-hour detention revealed a lot about the motives of these Israeli soldiers: acting in service of the settler movement. W/ @AbeerSalmanCNN