Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s visit to Israel on Thursday was overshadowed by the massive protests in the streets, which demonstrators termed the “Day of Resistance to Dictatorship.” Austin had planned to visit the Ministry of Defense in Tel Aviv, but instead was trapped at Ben Gurion Airport, where he […]
Elite Israeli Reserve Military Units Pass around Petitions calling Religious Parties Corrupt Parasites, threatening to go AWOL if Netanyahu guts Judiciary
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Israeli newspaper Arab 48 reports that protests against the government of Binyamin Netanyahu’s plans to gut the Israeli judiciary are now spreading in elite military reserve units. A petition circulated in their ranks saying, “As long as these dictatorial and methodical pieces of legislation continue, with the aim of […]
South Africa downgrades Israeli Embassy over Ongoing Apartheid (and they should know)
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Middle East Eye reports that the South African parliament has voted to downgrade the Israeli embassy in Pretoria to liaison status. The resolution was introduced by the tiny center-left National Freedom Party, which has only two seats in parliament. Its passage was assured, however, when the African National Congress […]
Iran discovered to have 10% of World’s Lithium Deposits, in Good News for China’s EV Industry
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Indian Express reports from Iran’s PressTV that the country has discovered a deposit of 8.5 million tons of lithium in the Qahavand Plain of western Hamedan province. There are only 89 million tons of lithium in the world in known deposits so far, with the bulk of them in […]
37 Israeli ‘Top Guns’ Boycott Training to Protest Gutting of Courts; Most El Al Pilots decline to fly PM to Italy
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Israeli Air Force, like its other armed forces, heavily depends on reservists. That was why Egypt was able to surprise Israel in the 1973 War, which they launched on the holy day of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, when reservists were with their families. The reservists are required […]
250,000 Israelis Rally against Netanyahu, Warn of Dictatorship and ‘No Liberty in an Occupation State’
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – WAFA reports that on Saturday evening some 250,000 Israelis are estimated to have come out in numerous cities to protest plans of the government of Binyamin Netanyahu to gut the judiciary. It is the ninth week in a row that rallies have been held, and they appear to be growing […]
You’re all Palestinians Now: How Harsh Apartheid Policing is being Turned on Israeli Protesters
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Israel’s Apartheid state, having honed its instruments of repression against its occupied Palestinians, whom it keeps stateless and without rights, is now turning those tools on the Israeli public itself. Yesterday, Friday, buses full of Israeli protesters attempted to head to Huwwara near Nablus in the Palestinian West Bank to […]
Humanity put out more C02 than Ever Before last Year, but Green Energy Kept the Annual Increase Small
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – This is a bad news, good news story. Cathy Bussewitz at the Associated Press reports that carbon dioxide emissions reached an all-time high in 2022, of 36.8 gigatons. That is more CO2 spewed into the atmosphere by humanity in just one year than ever before. CO2 emissions were up nearly […]
Israel’s Ahmadinejad: Smotrich calls for Palestinian Town to be Wiped off the Map
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Israeli minister of finance, Bezalel Smotrich, who is also the civil administrator of the Palestinian West Bank in the Defense Ministry, called Wednesday for the Palestinian town of Huwwara to be “wiped out of existence.” Smotrich was at a conference held by the financial newspaper TheMarker, and was asked […]