bee simone

NASA Artemis passing close to the Moon

This man is a psychopath

It was David McBride who blew the whistle, triggering the Brereton report & laying the groundwork for Ben Roberts‑Smith’s charges. The thanks he got was jail, while war criminals roamed free. It’s about time Roberts-Smith is put away for good, but McBride must be released.

After the right to torture Palestinians, Apartheid Israel claims the right to HANG Palestinians. The shame of the century continues. Ben Gvir belongs in The Hague.

- 👏👏👏👏👏👏 @AlexCrawfordSky This is how you report Israeli attempts to demonise the journalists they murder. The contrast with @BBCNews extraordinary. @SkyNews rightly leading with the story.

Labor has just rejected a 25% gas export tax despite strong public support. If you’ve got popular support for this, and you’ve a massive parliamentary majority, then – apart from free scotch at the parliamentary bar – what is the point of Labor being in government? #AUSPOL

BREAKING: Rabbi Yehuda Gilad, head of Yeshivat Ma’ale Gilboa, visited Khirbet Humsa in the West Bank following a settler pogrom in which a 29-year-old Palestinian farmer was sexually assaulted, his family was beaten, and hundreds of his sheep were stolen. Below is his full statement, translated from Hebrew: Letter from the Head of the Yeshiva, Rabbi Yehuda Gilad With God’s help, Rosh Chodesh Nisan — “a time of atonement for all their generations” Yesterday I went through a very difficult and deeply disturbing experience. I visited Khirbet Humsa (about a 30-minute drive from our yeshiva), where a pogrom carried out by hilltop youth took place about a week ago. I heard the details of what happened there from several sources, including Ruti — a woman I have known for years and trust completely. It turns out that in the early hours of the night, a group of rioters (around 30–40 people) arrived, equipped with sticks and many zip ties. They bound the men (and apparently also two foreign volunteers, though I am not certain of this), and then beat them all over their bodies with fists and clubs. We saw many remnants of the zip ties on the ground. The men required treatment at the hospital in Afula for injuries of varying severity. At the same time, the attackers stole the entire herd — about 300 head — belonging to the few families living there, under unimaginable conditions of poverty. At first, I heard that there had also been sexual violence, and I did not believe it… Yesterday we arrived at the site with Ruti, a friend of mine who is well known to them. When they saw us — Rabbi Avidan Friedman and myself — they visibly recoiled in terror and anxiously pointed to the kippot on our heads. Ruti tried to calm them, explaining that we were not among the attackers. Even so, at the beginning of the meeting, they were hesitant and afraid. I heard directly from a young man — a firsthand witness — what had happened there. From his face, the blue bruise in his eye, and his sorrowful expression, it was clear he was telling the truth. In that same conversation (with the help of a translator), he described in detail the prolonged abuse they endured while bound. Then, with deep shame, he told us something I had previously found impossible to believe. I find it difficult — my hands tremble as I write this about Jews — and yet I will write it, because I am convinced it indeed happened. Yes, these wicked individuals bound his genitals in an extremely painful way — not to mention the humiliation involved. These events recall the pogroms our ancestors endured in various diasporas. Have we become like the worst of the nations? I want to turn to the question: what should be done? But I feel that I am still at the stage of crying out. Alas — what has become of us!

Incredible. A King Kong drone show is one of the coolest things I’ve seen this year.

❗️BREAKING❗️Israel will continue to ethnically cleanse Palestine by whatever means - bombs, hunger, terror - whatever the cost and whatever the crimes, until it is forced to stop. #EndGenocide #EndOccupation #EndApartheid

@TheEconomist has utterly destroyed its reputation with its deeply racist and profoundly bigoted coverage of the mass-murder of the people of Gaza. For six months we have seen issue after issue of scandalously one sided-coverage which has has made it complicit in the continued enslavement of the Palestinian people, the on-going seizure of their land, the systematic abuse of their human rights and the industrial slaughter of their innocent civilians in both Gaza and the West Bank. Shame on its senior editorial staff responsible for the travesty of inhumanity and bias. @zannymb

Yesterday I visited civic heroes: Adi has been in hospital for weeks after a vicious beating by violent settlers while peacefully protecting Palestinians in the West Bank. I admire her quiet strength and compassion and wish her a full recovery. Her attackers are still at large.

Israeli soldiers brutally and violently gang raped a Palestinian detainee ON CAMERA. Sick society. Absolutely depraved, deranged and disgusting. The AP sanitizing this with “accused of sexual abuse” when it was GANG RAPE ON CAMERA just shows you how much our media provides cover for Israel’s long list of human rights abuses.

Three hours ago we were attacked by Israeli settlers in the Jordan Valley. A 70 year old Palestinian man was hospitalised in stable condition; two activists, including me were also injured. The settlers repeatedly kicked me in the face and head, and stole my phone.

Afghanistan’s education minister has announced that women are permanently banned from schools. UN Women has not said a word.

In the spring of 1980, Farrokhroo Parsa — Iran’s Minister of Education before the Islamic Revolution — was executed. She had devoted her life to fighting for women’s rights and did not betray her principles even after the victory of the Islamic Revolution. In the verdict issued by the new authorities, she was found guilty of “spreading corruption on earth and denying Allah.” “I would rather face death with open arms than live in disgrace, forcibly covered with a veil. I will not kneel before those who expect me to repent for half a century of my struggle for equality between men and women. I am not prepared to wear the chador and take a step backward in history,” Parsa wrote in her farewell letter to her children.

I am a diplomatic aide in the Sultanate of Oman's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. My job is logistics. When two countries that cannot speak to each other need to speak to each other, I book the rooms. I prepare the briefing materials. I make sure the water glasses are the right distance apart. You would be surprised how much of diplomacy is water glasses. Too close and it feels informal. Too far and it feels like a tribunal. I have a chart. We had a very good month. Since January, Oman has been mediating indirect talks between the United States and Iran on Iran's nuclear program. The talks were held in Muscat and in Geneva. The Americans would sit in one room. The Iranians would sit in another room. I would walk between them. My Fitbit says I averaged fourteen thousand steps on negotiation days. The hallway between the two rooms at the Royal Opera House conference center is forty-seven meters. I walked it two hundred and twelve times in February. This is good for my cardiovascular health. It was less good for my knees. Both are in the service of peace. By mid-February, we had something. Iran agreed to zero stockpiling of enriched uranium. Not reduced stockpiling. Zero. They agreed to down-blend existing stockpiles to the lowest possible level. They agreed to convert them into irreversible fuel. They agreed to full IAEA verification with potential US inspector access. They agreed, in the Foreign Minister's phrase, to "never, ever" possess nuclear material for a bomb. I have worked in diplomacy for seven years. I have never seen a country agree to this many things this quickly. I made a spreadsheet of the concessions. It had fourteen rows. I color-coded it. Green for confirmed. Yellow for pending. By February 21 the spreadsheet was entirely green. I printed it. It is on my desk in Muscat. It is still green. That phrase took eleven days. "Never, ever." The Iranians initially offered "not seek to." The Americans wanted "will not under any circumstances." We landed on "never, ever" at 2:14 AM on a Tuesday in Muscat. I typed the final version myself. I used Times New Roman because Geneva prefers it. The document was fourteen pages. I was proud of every comma. Here is what they said, in the order they said it. February 24: "We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity." — The Foreign Minister, private briefing to Gulf Cooperation Council ambassadors. I prepared the slide deck. Slide 14 was the implementation timeline. Slide 15 was the signing ceremony logistics. I had reserved the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Room XX. It seats four hundred. We discussed pen brands for the signing. The Iranians preferred Montblanc. The Americans had no preference. I ordered twelve Montblanc Meisterstucks at six hundred and thirty dollars each. They arrive on Tuesday. February 27, 8:30 AM EST: "The deal is within our reach." — The Foreign Minister, CBS Face the Nation. He sat across from Margaret Brennan. He said broad political terms could be agreed "tomorrow" with ninety days for technical implementation in Vienna. He said, and I wrote this line for the briefing card he carried in his breast pocket: "If we just allow diplomacy the space it needs." He praised the American envoys by name. Steve Witkoff. Jared Kushner. He said both had been constructive. I watched from the Four Seasons Georgetown. The minibar had cashews. I ate the cashews. They were nineteen dollars. The most expensive cashew I have ever eaten. But it was a good morning and we were within our reach. February 27, 2:00 PM EST: Meeting with Vice President Vance, Washington. The Foreign Minister presented our progress. Zero stockpiling. Full verification. Irreversible conversion. "Never, ever." The Vice President used the word "encouraging." His aide took notes on an iPad. The aide did not make eye contact for the last nine minutes of the meeting. I noticed this. Noticing things is the only part of my job that is not water glasses. February 27, 4:00 PM EST: "Not happy with the pace." — President Trump, to reporters. Not happy with the pace. We had achieved zero stockpiling. Full IAEA verification. Irreversible fuel conversion. Inspector access. And the phrase "never, ever," which took eleven days and cost me two hundred and twelve trips down a forty-seven-meter hallway. Every American president since Carter has failed to get Iran to agree to this. Forty-five years. Not happy with the pace. February 27, 9:47 PM EST: The Foreign Minister's flight departs Dulles for Muscat. I am in the seat behind him. He is reviewing Slide 14 on his laptop. The implementation timeline. Vienna technical sessions. The signing ceremony. The pens. I fall asleep over the Atlantic. I dream about water glasses. February 28, 6:00 AM GST: I wake up to push notifications. February 28: "The United States has begun major combat operations in Iran." — President Trump. Operation Epic Fury. Coordinated airstrikes. The United States and Israel. Tehran. Isfahan. Qom. Karaj. Kermanshah. Nuclear facilities. IRGC bases. Sites near the Supreme Leader's office. Israel called their half Operation Roaring Lion. Someone in both governments spent time choosing these names. Epic Fury. Roaring Lion. I spent eleven days on "never, ever." They spent it on branding. The President said Iran had "rejected American calls to halt its nuclear weapons production." Rejected. Iran had agreed to zero stockpiling. Iran had agreed to full verification. Iran had agreed to "never, ever." Iran had agreed to everything in a fourteen-page document that I typed in Times New Roman. The President said they rejected it. I do not know which document the President was reading. I know which one I typed. February 28, 18:45 UTC: Iran internet connectivity: four percent. — NetBlocks, confirmed by Cloudflare. Ninety-six percent of a country went dark. You cannot negotiate with a country at four percent connectivity. You cannot negotiate with a country that is being struck. You cannot negotiate. This is not a political opinion. This is a logistics assessment. February 28: The governor of Minab reported forty girls killed at an elementary school. I do not have logistics for that. There is no slide for that. The water glass chart does not cover that. February 28: Lockheed Martin: up. Northrop Grumman: up. RTX: up. Dow futures: down six hundred and twenty-two points. Gold: five thousand two hundred and ninety-six dollars. An analyst at AInvest published a note titled "Iran Strikes: Tactical Plays." The note recommended positions in oil, defense stocks, and gold. The most expensive cashew I have ever eaten was nineteen dollars. The most expensive pen I have ever ordered was six hundred and thirty dollars. The math suggests I have been working in the wrong industry. Defense stocks do not require water glasses. Defense stocks do not require eleven days. Defense stocks require one morning. February 28: Israel closed its airspace and its schools. Iran launched retaliatory missiles toward US bases in the Gulf. The Supreme Leader promised a "crushing response." Israel's defense minister declared a permanent state of emergency. Everyone is using words I recognize in an order I do not. I recognize "permanent." I recognize "emergency." I do not recognize them next to each other. In diplomacy, nothing is permanent and everything is an emergency. In war it is the reverse. February 28: The Foreign Minister has not made a public statement. The briefing card is still in his breast pocket. It still says "within our reach."

Truly unbelievable scenes in Golders Green London — Jews and Iranians standing together

'Terror Was Needed to Make Arabs Leave': What the Israeli Army Did in 1948, Revealed haaretz.com/israel-news/is…

Christian roots

I asked Minister Don Farrell a simple question: Should we fund legal help for women fleeing violence and families in crisis? Community Legal Centres tell us 7,500 people are turned away each year. The Minister's response tells you everything you need to know.