This week, the shooting deaths of two Israeli embassy staff members in Washington, D.C., sparked immediate attempts by the Israeli government, Zionist organizations, and the U.S. government to frame this act as antisemitic violence. However, journalist Ken Klippenstein revealed that the alleged shooter, Elias Rodriguez, explicitly linked his actions in a manifesto to Israel’s ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing in Gaza, without ever mentioning Jews or Judaism. This calculated misrepresentation aims to distract attention from Israel’s abhorrent violence in Gaza and criminalize civil society movements advocating for Palestinian liberation by associating them unjustly with antisemitism and political violence. It is possible to condemn acts of political violence and resist these dangerous efforts to silence dissent and conflate legitimate opposition to Israel’s criminal actions with bigotry.
In an extraordinary development, the governments of France, the United Kingdom, and Canada jointly demanded that Israel cease its devastating violence in Gaza. Traditionally deferential to U.S. leadership regarding Israeli actions, this joint statement signals potential geopolitical shifts amid the chaos unleashed by Donald Trump’s tumultuous second term. France may be trying to steer the European Union toward a new stance on Israel and Palestine, while the U.K., under Keir Starmer, possibly losing faith in American stability, seeks closer ties with Europe. Canada, facing aggressive rhetorical and economic pressure from the Trump administration, similarly hopes to strengthen its alliances with the U.K. and the EU. Israel’s ongoing atrocities in Gaza may be emerging as a significant wedge issue, driving the growing U.S. isolation on the global stage.
Meanwhile, the situation in Gaza is catastrophic. Tens of thousands of Palestinians, including countless children, face starvation as Israel’s military forces relentlessly target civilians forced to flee southward again. Gaza’s infrastructure and neighborhoods continue to be reduced to rubble, with Israeli officials openly advocating for the ethnic cleansing of the territory. It is critical that we trust our eyes and ears, refusing to be gaslit into disbelieving the courageous reports emerging from Palestinian journalists and civilians. What we witness is nothing short of wholesale slaughter and ethnic cleansing. Stay involved, keep organizing, and continue advocating for an end to this madness.
Must read: Israel’s aid plan for Gaza is a key part of its strategy to expel Palestinians
Qassam Muaddi: Israel’s plan to handle the distribution of aid in Gaza via a U.S. private contractor is a key part of its plan to ethnically cleanse its population. Here’s how.
Catch-up
🚨 Michael Arria: Pro-Israel groups and lawmakers are calling the killing of two Israeli Embassy staffers in Washington, D.C. an antisemitic attack and have attempted to blame it on the campus Gaza protests of the past 18 months.
🇺🇸 Craig Mokhiber: Donald Trump’s tour of the Gulf hinted at possible changes in U.S. foreign policy, but Israel’s escalation of the genocide in Gaza makes clear its destructive fundamentals are essentially intact.
🏥 Tareq Hajjaj: The Israeli army is besieging yet another hospital in north Gaza, following the same playbook it has used throughout the genocide in Gaza. According to witnesses, those trapped in the Indonesian Hospital are scared to move out of fear of being shot.
✊🏼 Not In Our Name TU: The Gaza genocide is nearing its final, most brutal phase, and Israeli universities are providing intellectual, logistical, and technological support. The academic boycott of Israeli institutions is the minimum that justice demands.
👨🏼🎓 Michael Arria: Student protestors across the country are adapting their strategies to Trump’s crackdown on the pro-Palestine movement, but it’s safe to say the activism is not slowing down.
🤱🏼 Mariam Khateeb: The war in Gaza is not only the story of rubble and airstrikes. It is the story of the girl getting her period under bombardment, the mother bleeding in silence and miscarrying on cold floors, or giving birth under drones.
🇺🇸 Jinan Chehade: The Trump administration’s assault on Palestine activism may seem unprecedented, but the parallels to the post-9/11 “War on Terror” are chillingly familiar. However, this attempt to quash dissent will fail, because you cannot deport a movement.
🍞 Michael Arria: International aid organizations are calling an Israeli-U.S. plan to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza a “politicized sham” and a “blueprint for ethnic cleansing.” Meanwhile, the UN warns 14,000 babies could die within days if Gaza does not receive aid.
👨🏼⚖️ Anna Feder: Anna Feder is suing Emerson College for firing her over her Palestine activism. She says she will never stop advocating for a free Palestine.
Thank you Dave Reed, you write: “Ken Klippenstein revealed that the alleged shooter, Elias Rodriguez, explicitly linked his actions in a manifesto to Israel’s ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing in Gaza, without ever mentioning Jews or Judaism.”
9/11 Bibi Flashback compliments of ABBA SOLOMON
May 24, 2025
Common Dreams
“After the 9/11/2001 attacks, journalist James Bennett contacted Benjamin Netanyahu, then out of office.
That evening, I tracked down Benjamin Netanyahu, the once-and-future Israeli prime minister, to ask what the attack meant for U.S.-Israeli relations. “It’s very good,” he replied, with startling enthusiasm. Then he caught himself. “Well, it’s not very good, but it’s going to generate immediate sympathy.”
“The poisonous identification of Jewish identity with the Jewish supremacist state of Israel—with its knee on the neck of Palestinians—to proclaim Judaism cognate with murderous nationalism—has its victims. Today, Zionist partisans in the United States of America, in and out of government, have their “bloody shirt.” Mazel tov!”
Netanyahu and Trump have lost the plot. Trump wants parades, camels, expensive gifts, and billions in bribes. Netanyahu has his handout demanding favors. This is not a marriage madr in heaven or how you win friends or influence your enemies:
*Israeli troops fire warning shots as international diplomats visit West Bank
A group of diplomats came under fire while visiting Jenin, a city in the Israel-occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Authority.
* North Korea urges US to abandon ‘military threats against others’
In its “2025 Worldwide Threat Assessment” released Friday, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DFİ), said that “in return for support for its war against Ukraine, Russia has been expanding its sharing of space, nuclear and missile applicable technology, expertise and materials to North Korea, China and Iran.”
*The Trump administration is rallying around Israel, but not Netanyahu
Israel sees Thursday’s shooting as a new front in a regional war. The White House views it through a domestic lens.
Not sure why it matters to people whether the DC murderer was inspired to do so by antisemitism or by outrage over Gaza. I read his manifesto— it’s fine but then he went and murdered two people. Maybe he should have created a blog instead. That is what is important here—he is a murderer. Yet I see people earnestly using this cold blooded killer to make the point that antisemitism and being anti- genocide are two different things. Well, yes, they are, but we can and have made that case just fine without caring what some mass shooter wrote. He probably killed people so his manifesto would be read. That presumably was his theory of how murder would help people in Gaza.
And yes, some in the Zionist side are using his actions to smear the anti- genocide movement, How does it “unsmear” us to point out that his manifesto isn’t antisemitic? Would we be antisemites if he was? Why are people pointing out that “ well, actually, he is anti- genocide without being antisemitic”, just like us. Great argument.
The rest of us are anti- genocide without being antisemitic and we don’t pick up a gun and shoot people.
And yes, I do see a number of people on “ X” getting into this argument about the killer and how people say we are antisemitic because of this killer’s actions and how this is refuted by the fact that the manifesto isn’t antisemitic. It makes me want to bang my head against the wall, but that wouldn’t prove anything either.
The lone shooter and the two murder victims are not as interesting as their involvement in setting up Gaza aid. 16 hours ago Haaretz published an exposè about the PM’s office taking over the Gaza humanitarian aid system with a no-bid US based organization that has no previous experience or source of funding. Netanyahu’s insiders cutout the IDF and its planners who had previously been in charge. The Foreign Office and US administration were part of setting up this hairbrained scheme. Today the JPost reported the head of the organization had suddenly resigned. Haaretz reported:
“How Netanyahu’s Office Chose a U.S. Firm With No Aid Experience to Run Gaza Food Project Behind Israeli Army’s Back
Without a tender or proper procedure, a team led by the prime minister’s military secretary recruited an obscure, inexperienced company to coordinate humanitarian operations in Gaza. Though the company presents itself as American, Israeli figures are also involved – and many questions remain unanswered”
“SRS describes itself as a U.S.-based company. One of its executives, Phil Reilly – a former senior CIA official – also represented another company in Israel called Orbis, which provided research to the Israeli government about humanitarian aid in Gaza.
In the meantime, a company called UG Solutions has begun recruiting U.S. military veterans with at least four years of combat experience for security assignments and humanitarian efforts. Preference, according to the notice, will be given to Arabic speakers fluent in Egyptian, Jordanian, Iraqi, or Lebanese dialects.”
“American businessman Jake Wood, who heads the foundation, claims it operates independently from SRS. Still, both entities were registered in the U.S. by the same lawyer, James Cundiff, and until this month, shared the same spokesperson.
According to Wood, the foundation plans to raise funds to support SRS operations. However, it remains unclear where the substantial budget will come from – money intended to feed one million Gaza residents and hire roughly 1,000 armed security personnel, according to the company’s document. Wood said the foundation had received a small contribution from a non-Israeli businessman but declined to name him.
Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., Yechiel Leiter, recently revealed in an interview with PragerU that Israel was involved in establishing the foundation.”
Focusing on the death of noncombatant Palestinians is simple enough and every dead human being is worthy of focus, let me attempt to inject some analysis as well.