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Tal Mitnick and Sofia Orr — two Israeli teenagers who are in prison for refusing to serve in the Israel Defense Forces — sent a letter to President Joe Biden, beseeching him to use his power to stop Israel’s war on Gaza, including through placing conditions on military aid.
In the face of increasing skepticism in Washington around Israel’s planned invasion of Rafah, where some 1.4 million displaced Palestinians take refuge, the America Israel Public Affairs Committee spent this week lobbying Congress to support the operation.
In talking points sent to congressional offices on Tuesday and reviewed by The Intercept, AIPAC argued that invading Rafah is the only way to take out Hamas, and that Israel had “no other option.”
One of the largest schools in the California State University system will pursue an investment strategy divested from “corporations & funds that profit from genocide, ethnic cleansing, and activities that violate fundamental human rights.” The announcement from Sacramento State late Tuesday night came nine days into a protest encampment on the school’s campus, as students called on their university to cut financial ties with Israel.
Rolling its tanks this week into Rafah, in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military moved swiftly to take control of the Palestinian side of the border crossing with Egypt. The takeover severed the only corridor connecting Palestinians in Gaza to land not controlled by Israel. In a gratuitous symbolic act, an Israeli tank bulldozed the “I love Gaza” monument greeting visitors as they cross into the territory from Egypt.
A vulgar Instagram account frequently degraded female prison employees at the Federal Correctional Complex in Lompoc, mocking their bodies after pregnancy.
Its posts made light of suicide, including one with a “Training Day” meme: “When you cut an inmate down, they have to be your slave in the afterlife.”
THE Evergreen State College, in Olympia, Washington, reached a deal with students to work toward divesting from “companies that profit from gross human rights violations and/or the occupation of Palestinian territories.” It is one of the few schools to reach deals with students protesting Israel’s war on Gaza as demonstrations spread to more than 154 campuses nationwide.
In the early hours of April 30, Columbia University President Minouche Shafik announced that negotiations with student protesters had failed. She ordered the students, who were demanding that the school divest from Israel, to disband their encampments and end their protests.
Students arrested during the police crackdown on protests at universities in New York City last week were denied water and food for 16 hours, according to two faculty members at Columbia University’s Barnard College who collected reports from students who were inside.
Other students reported that they were beaten by New York City Police Department officers after their arrests and taken to the hospital for injuries before being returned to central booking. Photos of the injuries were provided to The Intercept.