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LAPD advance with guns and tear gas against L.A. protesters
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Shame Shame Shame: What American Justice Looks Like

Today in our deportation police state: ICE goons in combat gear like they're on recon in Fallujah abduct 4th-graders and dishwashers at taco joints; Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a big-time human trafficker; and tear-gas-and-assault-rifle-laden National Guardsmen roam L.A. in a "massive overreach of authority" by a racist, flailing "chaos-junkie" - "BRING IN THE TROOPS!!" - intent on using Americans' righteous anger as a pretext for the unbridled despotism he hungers for with tanks and Marines on the way.

The festering authoritarianism has been escalating for weeks as public opinion turns against a rancid regime's blundering "policies," from a big ugly bill cutting vital services to sowing fear by abducting the guiltless brown people who do much of this country's work as their families and neighbors weep, grieve, and protest. "You’re going to see (more) enforcement than you’ve ever seen," bragged racist ghoul Tom Homan, who admits many victims have committed no crime except paperwork failures. “We’re going to flood the zone." Facing a malign, doubled quota of 3,000 arrests a day - 'cause these are numbers not humans - Deputy Chief Nazi Stephen Miller reportedly just "eviscerated" minions too focused on finding alleged criminals, "screaming" they need to go after more innocents: "(He) wants everybody arrested. 'Why aren’t you at Home Depot? Why aren’t you at 7-Eleven?"

With many Hispanic workers concentrated in a few fields - construction, restaurants, landscaping, farm work - ICE thugs have in fact doing often-brutal sweeps of those workplaces. In Tallahassee, a horde descended on the site of a college student housing complex to terrorize - "GET ON THE FUCKING GROUND!" (and stop building stuff amidst a housing crisis) - and arrest about 100 people; neither ICE nor the company seems to have any idea why they targeted the site or who they abducted. The resulting mayhem is often similarly, simultaneously inept and terrifying, from the so-called DOJ quietly deciding to allow ICE goons to do warrantless searches if they suspect the presence of any dreaded "alien enemy" to Homeland Security releasing a list of immigrant “sanctuary” jurisdictions so riddled with mistakes they later said oops never mind and took it down.

Still, the mindless rupturing of families and communities soars. ICE agents arrested 4th-grader Martir Garcia Laura, 9, of Torrance, CA, when he and his father went to a scheduled immigration hearing; each is now detained in separate facilities.In Milford, MA, they arrested high school honors student Marcelo Gomes Da Silva, who came here from Brazil at age 5, on his way to volleyball practice; he was released after families turned out to declare, "Hands Off Our Kids." In Tucson, residents complained goons were pretending to be Tucson Electric Power workers to ensnare a longtime neighbor from Honduras (TEPtold the goons to stop); ICE lurk outside courthouses to grab immigrants whose cases are abruptly dismissed as organizers take shifts to warn them it's a trap; while there, ICE were so eager for victims they mistakenly detained a deputy U.S. Marshal. Atypically, they let him go.

Many others still languish. In D.C., Chief Judge Boasberg of the U.S. District Court is still trying to keep alive and get habeas corpus relief for the 130 mostly innocent Venezuelans summarily disappeared to El Salvador's hellish CECOT, comparing their plight to Franz Kafka's The Trial in which K., like them, never gets one. Even more bizarrely, ICE atrocities have "reached the art house film phase of ironic cruelty" with the news of eight immigrants - from Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Cuba, Mexico, South Sudan - originally banished to Sudan until a judge said nope not on my watch and halted the flight, thus stranding them and the 11 ICE agents who kidnapped them in an airless shipping container at a US Navy base in searing, malaria-ridden Djibouti; the brilliant move by the sages of our police state was so rash and random they didn't even get any shots, so there are a lot of bathroom trips.

Echoing authoritarianism from Nazi Germany to McCarthy's Red Scare, the stupid, baneful, xenophobic fear-mongering keeps coming: Foreign students banned, foreign scientists harassed, research destroyed, universities assaulted by the moronic likes of Ice Barbie who, straight-faced 'cause her face can't move, charges Harvard is "coordinating with Chinese Communist Party officials on training that undermined American national security." Asked on Fox News to "lay out" the Marxist threat, she babbles, "Oh, they absolutely. Harvard has perpetuated Communist China priorities and students on their campus...participating in para-military activities that supported them and feeding information back to our enemy which is Communist China," and look even their leader's daughter has a degree from Harvard and a "They Died Hungry" sign decrying genocide and what the fuck.

Seeking to cover up their hateful ineptness, they also quietly brought back Kilmar Abrego Garcia (sans fake MS-13 tattoos) more than two months after illegally shipping him to El Salvador. In a bravura deflection, they then threw a wild concoction of after-the-fact, Godfather-level charges at him, claiming he was part of an international trafficking conspiracy who over a decade hauled thousands of "illegals" from Texas into the rest of the country - children, women, men, for good measure "many of whom were MS-13 members" - to "further the aliens’ unlawful presence in the United States." The indictment stemmed from a 2022 traffic stop by the Tennessee Highway Patrol for speeding in a vehicle with eight individuals and no luggage. He claimed they'd come from a construction site, and the officers let him go without a charge or a ticket. Now, if convicted, he faces 10 years in prison for each "alien" transported.

His lawyer says the regime is "playing games" with the courts. "They'll stop at nothing, even the most preposterous charges imaginable, just to avoid admitting they made a mistake," he said. "This is an abuse of power." Though Abrego Garcia is the only "conspirator" named in an alleged "conspiracy" and the regime tossed in other grisly claims - murder, minors, drugs - absent from the indictment, Pam Bondi trumpeted at a presser, "Abrego Garcia has landed in the United States to face justice.” Asked what had changed since the traffic stop, she said, "Donald Trump is now president...Thanks to the bright light that's been shined (sic) on Abrego Garcia, this investigation continued with actually amazing police work, and we were able (to) stop this international smuggling ring." Too stupid to comprehend irony, she added, "This is what American justice looks like."

Not quite, say over 70 judges, lawyers and law professors who've filed an ethics complaint against Bondi with the Florida Bar accusing her of “serious professional misconduct that threatens the rule of law" and political bias that weaponizes the DOJ, from firing a lawyer for telling the truth about a deportation made "in error" to threatening lawyers who fail "to zealously pursue the President’s political objectives.” And Bondi continues to offend: The indictment led to the abrupt departure of Ben Schrader, a longtime federal prosecutor in Tennessee, most recently the chief of the criminal division, who charged that the case against Abrego Garcia was pursued for political reasons, period. For 15 years, "The only job description I’ve ever known is to do the right thing, in the right way, for the right reasons," he wrote in his resignation letter. He didn't need to add, No more, with ghouls and lackeys in power.

And for now, they are. They are orchestrating massive, mindless, vicious assaults on brown people, sowing fear, terrorizing communities, rupturing families, disappearing the nice taco guy who daily dices the red chilis in a nationwide campaign of "pure public intimidation," cosplaying as soldiers in a racist, inequitable war, "cruelty disguised as policy." Last week they raided the Taqueria y Birreria Las Cuatro Milpas, a south Minneapolis taco joint in a majority-Latino neighborhood rocked five years ago by the police murder of George Floyd. A phalanx of ostensibly law-and-order federal acronyms - FBI, ATF, HSI, DHS, DEA - gathered in full combat gear, camo fatigues, guns, masks, with their flash grenades, tear gas, zip ties, stationing their squat HSI Bearcat armored car with mounted sound cannon in front of the popular restaurant, below its awning breezily urging, “Make Tacos, Not Walls.”

A crowd of wary residents began to assemble. Police, who weren't notified of the feds' action, hastened to clarify it was "not related to immigration enforcement" but what Homeland Security called “a groundbreaking criminal operation" to "confront complex, multidimensional threats" - drug smuggling, money laundering, trafficking. There were no arrests, but people were pissed by the "small-dick Nazi energy" of so much kitted-out law enforcement in the hood. "Imagine needing all that military gear to protect yourself from taco-makers," said one. "This is an intimidation campaign." Also: "That armor isn't designed to handle guacamole...DO YOU FEEL SAFE YET, CITIZEN?...Great to see a Mexican restaurant in Afghanistan." "We are a whisper away from Jim Crow," warned A.G. Keith Ellison. “If they want to inflict fear (and) discourage cooperation, they achieved both those goals."

In San Diego, it was both worse and better. At dinnertime last Friday, having gotten a tip about possible undocumented workers just like at Hell-a-Lago - a tip from 2020 that resurfaced months ago - ICE stormtroopers kitted out in full, bulky, combat gear stormed the popular restaurant Buona Forchetta in South Park for alleged "violations of hiring and harboring illegal aliens and false statements." After their big-bang entrance, they handcuffed the entire staff of about 20 before arresting four workers for the crime of trying too hard to find a job. Outside, meanwhile, over 250 angry residents gathered to protest "cops cosplaying like they were taking down Osama bin Laden" under the false pretense of "safety" against, not criminals but a community's wait staff and health aides and abuelas watching the kids. "This isn’t safety," said one City Council member. "It’s state-sponsored terrorism."

"Someone must have told these guys they were gonna be invading Fallujah," marveled Rachel Maddow of agents "in full battle rattle with helmets and long guns and flak jackets and goggles and masks...This was bananas. The whole neighborhood came out to say, 'This is what you're coming to save us from? The terrible menace of, like, the nice waiter at our favorite restaurant?’" As a GoFundMe launched to raise money for those abducted and DHS insisted they're "working day and night to remove murders (sic), pedophiles and gang members from our communities," the furious crowd confronted goons who, unclear on the ethics of shooting middle-aged white people, set off flash grenades and nervously backed away. "Shame shame shame!" yelled residents chasing them to an unmarked Gestapomobile. "Yeah, back up! Get the fuck out, you fucking Nazi cowards! Go!" Go, San Diego!


- YouTubewww.youtube.com


Now there is the "immigration enforcement operation” in the largely Hispanic Paramount area of L.A, quickly spiraling into martial law. It began peacefully at Home Depot, just like Goebbels wanted, with ICE hauling out people - "workers, fathers, mothers being terrorized" - arresting over 40 and cuffing them in the basements of federal buildings. As crowds of protesters grew, agents in full tactical gear escalated to tear gas, pepper spray, flash grenades, "non-lethal" rubber bullets. They corralled groups holding Mexican flags chanting, "Fuera ICE!" - ICE, get out - manhandled and arrested a union president, tossed a tear-gas cannister at two female ACLU attorneys who asked to see a warrant. As usual, they attacked randomly, not criminals like they keep absurdly claiming. "That's never, ever, ever been the case," said one L.A. Council member. "When they come for one of us, they come for all of us."

When Trump took the rare move of asserting federal control over California's National Guard - an act the GOP and Nazi Barbie had decried in the past as an attack on states' rights and razor wire - Gov. Gavin Newsom blasted it as "purposefully inflammatory." With LAPD and county sheriffs serving as safety but not ICE enforcement backup, he insisted, the presence of the Guard was "not to meet an unmet need, but to manufacture a crisis." "They want a spectacle. They want the violence," he said. "This is not the way a civilized country behaves. It is completely deranged behavior." It is also, says a former US Army War College professor, a legally dubious, "crazy broad," "massive overreach of POTUS authority" essentially functioning as "a show of force against a powerful blue state that (MAGA) have cast as an existential threat to the rest of America" - the "stuff of dictatorships throughout history."

Dems agreed calling out the Guard is "a completely inappropriate and misguided mission" aimed at "sowing more chaos and division." Particularly ominously, Trump's memo vaguely asserts the right to employ "members of the regular Armed Forces as necessary" against protests he calls "a form of rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States.” He doesn't name LA or California - Lincoln, invoking the Insurrection Act, specified it targeted rebel southern states - paving the way to use the military against protestors anywhere on American soil, a "dangerous precedent" when "forces are there to aid/abet the actors provoking the community in the first place." Typically for this evil clown show, troops also came "wildly unprepared"; photos show them sleeping on concrete floors, having arrived without plans for food, water, lodging or bathrooms, expected "if you actually want law and order instead of chaos."

But who needs toilets amidst MAGA's frantic rhetoric about "a dangerous invasion facilitated by criminal cartels," aka dishwashers and carpenters. Kash Patel: LA is "under siege by marauding criminals.” Drunken Hegseth: "Assaults on ICE (are) a huge NATIONAL SECURITY RISK." As usual "world-class hater" Goebbels wins the hysteria prize: Protests are "an insurrection against (US) laws and sovereignty," LA is "occupied territory" in "a fight to save civilization," California "conspired to facilitate the invasion of the United States.” The Mad King raved "a once great American city" has been "occupied by Illegal Aliens and Criminals" with "insurrectionist mobs...swarming." But once his flunkies "put an end to these Migrant riots, the Illegals will be expelled, and Los Angeles will be set free.” Meanwhile, evidently admirably unfazed by said "insurrection," he attended a UFC fight in Newark later that night.

As to inconvenient truth: "L.A. is not a war zone." Kai Ryssdal, “I live in Los Angeles. The president is lying.” Another: "This is beyond delusional. It needs its own terminology for how devoid of reality it is...I am out doing errands. L.A. is like it is on any other day, with a few hundred protestors in a couple of spots in a city of nearly 10 million." In A Letter to Home from A Weary ICE Agent, Peter Birkenhead writes he and his "brave compatriots, fresh from a six-week Patriotic Abduction training course at a strip-mall karate studio," await orders to confront "a force of (up to) 11 or 12 of the enemy cleverly disguised as “dishwashers,” “nannies,” and “landscapers"....armed only with hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of high-capacity automatic rifles, rubber bullets, smoke bombs, tanks, helmets, Kevlar vests and night-vision goggles" to protect them from a possible small stone "hurled our way by a weeping child or hysterical mother as we pry their loved ones from their dastardly hands."

The bottom line: "Everything that’s happened over the past six months has been a response to an imaginary crisis. There is no immigrant invasion. No trade crisis. No scientific or governance crisis. Just people completely high off their own supply trying to fundamentally reorder society. None of this had to happen." In this, Trump - "Looking really bad in L.A. BRING IN THE TROOPS!!!” - has "turned to a familiar script," "casting the sprawling city of L.A. in shades of fire and brimstone, a hub of dangerous lawlessness that required urgent military intervention (to) be contained." Such rhetoric is "an authoritarian trick," says fascism scholar Ruth Ben-Ghiat: “You create a sense of existential fear that social anarchy is spreading, criminal gangs are taking over. This is the language of authoritarianism all over the world. What is the only recourse to violent mobs and agitators? Using all the force of the state."

As images emerge from social media of brown restaurant workers, likely soon to be abducted, helping wash out the eyes of sheriffs' deputies hit by tear gas - and as TACO man memorably, patheticallyfalls - the Marines are pointlessly sent to add to the fear and lies. Remember, notes Aaron Reichlin-Melnick of the American Immigration Council, "In order to build a mass deportation machine to round up and deport 4% of the entire goddamn population, you must first build the police state." As it accrues, it behooves us to maintain calm and clarity on what is and isn't real threat. From Connor Simon last month after ICE raided his Pennsylvania pizzeria: "It’s really hard to fathom that the guy making my pizza for 25 years is a gangster and terrorist, and the person who shows up in an unmarked car wearing a mask and body armor come to take him away is somehow the good guy.”

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Sea turtle with school of fish French Polynesia
News

Analyses Expose Ocean Protection Failures Before UN Summit on 'Unprecedented Crisis'

Ahead of the third United Nations summit on oceans, scheduled for next week, multiple analyses have highlighted how humanity is failing to address the multipronged emergency faced by the world's seas.

"The ocean is facing an unprecedented crisis due to climate change, plastic pollution, ecosystem loss, and the overuse of marine resources," Li Junhua, secretary-general for the 2025 United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3), toldU.N. News.

UNOC3 is co-chaired by Costa Rica and France, and set to be held in the French coastal city of Nice June 9-13. Its theme is "accelerating action and mobilizing all actors to conserve and sustainably use the ocean."

"Only $1.2 billion of finance is flowing to ocean protection and conservation—less than 10% of what is needed."

One of the new analyses—The Ocean Protection Gap: Assessing Progress Toward the 30×30 Target—was commissioned by the Bloomberg Ocean Fund and produced in partnership with nature groups, including WWF International.

The report, released Thursday, focuses on the 30×30 goal from the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which is a commitment to conserve at least 30% of the world's land and ocean by 2030. The document warns that right now, "just 8.6% of the ocean is protected, with only 2.7% assessed and deemed effectively protected—a far cry from the 30% target."

Additionally, "only $1.2 billion of finance is flowing to ocean protection and conservation—less than 10% of what is needed," the report notes. It urges governments behind the framework to boost funding, including honoring their pledge to "provide at least $20 billion by 2025 and $30 billion by 2030 in international biodiversity finance to developing countries."

Calling the analysis "a wake-up call," Pepe Clarke, oceans practice leader at WWF, stressed that "we have the science, the tools, and a global agreement, but without bold political leadership and a rapid scaling of ambition, funding, and implementation, the promise of 30×30 will remain unfulfilled. Conserving 30% of our ocean by 2030 is not just a target—it's a lifeline for communities, food security, biodiversity, and the global economy."

🚨In a timely comment piece in @nature.com ahead of #UNOC3, leading ocean scientists make the case for protecting the High Seas from all extraction. @profcallum.bsky.social @ubcoceans.bsky.social @marklynas.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/d41...

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— Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (@deepseaconserve.bsky.social) June 4, 2025 at 12:07 PM

Another new report, released Thursday by the U.S.-based Earth Insight in partnership with groups from around the world, details "the global expansion of offshore and coastal oil and gas development and its profound threats to marine ecosystems, biodiversity, and the livelihoods of coastal communities—drawing on regional case studies to illustrate these threats."

The analysis found significant overlap between fossil fuel blocks—sites where exploration and production are permitted—and coral, mangroves, sea grass, and allegedly protected areas. It calls for halting oil and gas expansion, retiring blocks not already assigned to investors, ending financial support for coastal and offshore fossil fuel development, investing in renewables, ensuring a just transition, restoring impacted ecosystems, and strengthening legal, financial, and policy frameworks.

Last week, Oceana released another analysis of fishing in France's six Marine Nature Parks in 2024. The conservation group found that over 100 bottom trawling vessels appeared to spend more than 17,000 hours fishing in these "protected" spaces.

"Bottom trawling is one of the most destructive and wasteful practices taking place in our ocean today," said Oceana board member and Sea Around Us Project founder Daniel Pauly in a statement. "These massive, weighted nets bulldoze the ocean floor, destroying everything in their path and remobilizing carbon stored in the seabed. You cannot destroy areas and call them protected. We don't need more bulldozed tracks on the seafloor. We need protected areas that benefit people and nature."

Nicolas Fournier, Oceana's campaign director for marine protection in Europe, urged action by French President Emmanuel Macron.

"This is a problem President Macron can no longer ignore," said Fournier. "France needs to go from words to action—and substantiate its claim of achieving 30×30 by actually protecting its marine treasures from destructive fishing."

As #UNOC3 approaches, it's clear: a #FossilFreeOcean is no longer optional, but a moral and legal imperative. The fight for our oceans is urgent! Read more: bit.ly/3HtViJl

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— Center for International Environmental Law (@ciel.org) June 5, 2025 at 11:02 AM

Greenpeace has also recently called out the "weaknesses" of French marine protections—and then faced what the group condemned as retaliation from the government: Authorities blocked its ship, Arctic Sunrise, from entering the port of Nice.

"Arctic Sunrise had been invited by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs to participate in the 'One Ocean Science Congress' and in the ocean wonders parade taking place right before the U.N. Ocean Conference," the group explained in a Tuesday statement. "Greenpeace International had intended to deliver the messages of 3 million people calling for a moratorium on deep-sea mining to the politicians attending the conference."

Greenpeace International executive director Mads Christensen denounced the "attempt to silence fair criticism" before UNOC3 as "clearly a political decision" and "utterly unacceptable."

"France wants this to be a moment where they present themselves as saviors of the oceans while they want to silence any criticism of their own failures in national waters. We will not be silenced," Christensen declared. "Greenpeace and the French government share the same objective to get a moratorium on deep-sea mining, which makes the ban of the Arctic Sunrise from Nice even more absurd."

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Nippon Steel And US Steel Take Legal Actions Against U.S. Government
News

Trump Greenlights US Steel Merger Despite Union Warning of 'Corporate Sellout'

President Donald Trump on Friday signaled broad approval for Japanese steel giant Nippon's bid to purchase U.S. Steel, a reversal of his campaign-trail opposition to the merger that came a day after the United Steelworkers union implored the president to uphold his pledge to scrap the proposed deal.

In a post on his social media platform, Trump announced a "planned partnership" between U.S. Steel and Nippon, prompting confusion about the specific terms of the deal. U.S. Steel's stock jumped over 20% on the news, and both companies applauded the announcement and praised Trump.

The president wrote that U.S. Steel "will REMAIN in America" and keep its headquarters in Pittsburgh.

One unnamed person familiar with the merger negotiations told the Financial Times that the president's post was "considered 'tacit approval'" of the $15 billion takeover deal that was first announced in late 2023. The Biden administration blocked Nippon's proposed acquisition of U.S. Steel earlier this year, and Trump opposed the merger during his 2024 presidential campaign.

Former U.S Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) called Trump's reversal "a betrayal of American workers.

United Steelworkers international president David McCall said in response to Trump's announcement that "we cannot speculate" about the details of the arrangement. But he reiterated the union's concerns that "Nippon, a foreign corporation with a long and proven track record of violating our trade laws, will further erode domestic steelmaking capacity and jeopardize thousands of good, union jobs."

Last month, Trump ordered the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to conduct an internal review of "potential national security risks associated with the proposed transaction." Reutersreported that the committee, which submitted its review on Wednesday, was "divided in its recommendation," but "most panel members believe any security risks posed by the deal can be addressed."

McCall on Thursday responded to the panel's recommendation with a scathing statement, warning that "allowing the sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon, a serial trade cheater, will be a disaster for American Steelworkers, our national security, and the future of American manufacturing."

"It is simply absurd to think that we could ever entrust the future of one of our most vital industries—essential to both national defense and critical infrastructure—to a company whose unfair trade practices continue to this day," said McCall. "For decades, Nippon has been dumping its products into our markets, costing us thousands of good, community-supporting jobs and undermining our steelmaking capabilities."

"Now, as it continues to make flashy promises about proposed investments, it remains clear Nippon is simply seeking to undercut our domestic industry from the inside," he continued. "President Trump has publicly pledged to block this sale since January 2024. We now urge him to act decisively, shutting the door once and for all on this corporate sellout of American Steelworkers and defending U.S. manufacturing."

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​Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir,
News

UK, Other Nations Sanction Ben-Gvir and Smotrich for 'Inciting Violence' Against Palestinians in West Bank

The foreign ministers of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom on Tuesday announced sanctions and "other measures" targeting two far-right Israeli cabinet ministers, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, for "inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank."

In a joint statement, the countries accused Ben-Gvir and Smotrich of being complicit in Israeli settler violence against Palestinians.

"Settler violence is incited by extremist rhetoric which calls for Palestinians to be driven from their homes, encourages violence and human rights abuses and fundamentally rejects the two-state solution. Settler violence has led to the deaths of Palestinian civilians and the displacement of whole communities," according to the statement. "Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have incited extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights."

Within Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government, Ben-Gvir is the national security minister and Smotrich is finance minister.

The two are now subject to an asset freeze and travel ban, the U.K. government said.

Last year, the outlet Al Jazeera put the number of settlers, Israeli citizens who live on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, at over 700,000.

Also last year, the United Nation's International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion stating that Israeli settlements "and the regime associated with them" were established and continue to be maintained in violation of international law.

A U.N. report from last month found that Israeli settler violence is on the rise and has reached its highest rate in at least 20 years.

The statement from the foreign ministers indicates the sanctions are applied to Ben-Gvir and Smotrich in a personal capacity and that the announced measures "do not deviate from our unwavering support for Israel's security."

"Today's measures focus on the West Bank, but of course this cannot be seen in isolation from the catastrophe in Gaza. We continue to be appalled by the immense suffering of civilians, including the denial of essential aid," according to the statement. "We will continue to work with the Israeli government and a range of partners. We will strive to ensure an immediate cease-fire, the release now of the remaining hostages and for the unhindered flow of humanitarian aid including food."

The move comes after some escalation of pressure on Israel by the U.K. and some other western countries.

"The U.K. has finally sanctioned Smotrich and Ben-Gvir. Good. Now sanction the entire Israeli government and military officials. Genocide, war crimes, apartheid, ethnic cleansing, mass displacement, and land theft aren’t just the agenda of two extremists—they're official state policy," wrote Zarah Sultana, a lawmaker in Britain's Labour Party, on Bluesky on Tuesday.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called the move by the western nations "unacceptable," according to multiple outlets.

Ben-Gvir posted a statement on X on Tuesday that said: "While the European colonial countries fantasize that we Jews are still their subjects, the streets of their famous cities are being taken over by radical Islam. But their campaign of appeasement for the Hamas terrorists will not save them. When they finally wake up, it will be too late!"

Smotrich also responded defiantly to news of the sanctions on Tuesday.

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A protester holds a sign reading: "ICE: Out Of Our Communities" as burning Waymo cars line the street
News

California City Cancels 'Divisive' ICE Contract Amid Los Angeles Protests

Citing a need to protect "community trust," the city of Glendale, California announced Sunday it was terminating its contract with immigration officials and would no longer detain immigrants in a local jail.

The decision was announced as Los Angeles, which borders Glendale, erupted in protests over raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which said Saturday that it had arrested 118 immigrants.

The weekend protests captured the nation's attention as the Trump administration deployed the National Guard and the Los Angeles Police Department authorized the use of "less lethal munitions," including tear gas and rubber bullets.

Protesters have carried signs reading, "ICE: Out of Our Communities," "ICE = Terrorism," and "History Will Remember."

Glendale officials insisted in their statement released on Sunday that "the decision to terminate [the ICE] contract is not politically driven," but several observers noted that the announcement was made as the unrest escalated and solidarity pro-immigration protests across the country were organized.

"The city recognizes that public perception of the ICE contract—no matter how limited or carefully managed, no matter the good—has become divisive," said Glendale officials, adding that the decision to end the contract "is rooted in what this city stands for—public safety, local accountability, and trust."

Authorities added that Glendale police do not enforce immigration law and are "fully compliant" with Senate Bill 54, also known as the California Values Act, the 2017 law that made California the nation's first sanctuary state.

The law prohibits local and state law enforcement from allowing federal immigration authorities to utilize space in their facilities, but 82 immigrants have been housed in the Glendale City Jail since January after being detained by ICE.

A city spokesperson told local news station NBC4 that the immigrants have spent between six and 12 hours in the jail, and city officials said Sunday that the police have ensured "access to clean accommodations, on-call medical care, family visitation, and legal counsel."

But Sarah Houston, an immigration lawyer with Immigrant Defenders Law Center, told city councilors at the meeting last week that her client had been held without food for nine hours.

"After the horrific raids and violations this weekend, it is all the more important that our local communities stand together to protect our immigrant brothers and sisters as intended in the California Values Act," said Houston.

Other California cities ended their contracts with immigration authorities after the law was passed, but Glendale's police chief at the time, Robert Castro, opposed the measure and maintained the ICE agreement, which had been in place since 2007.

The Los Angeles Timesreported that "the city manager warned against nixing the contract in a bid to maintain a good relationship with federal authorities."

Andrés Kwon, a senior policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, told the Times that it was "shocking" that Glendale has had the contract.

"Ultimately and effectively, this Glendale contract with ICE is helping the Trump administration carry out its mass deportation agenda that is racist and has abused countless peoples, constitutional, civil, and human rights," said Kwon.

"With a population that is more than 50% immigrant, the city of Glendale should be a beacon for immigrants' rights," Kwon added. "As we've witnessed masked ICE and federal agents abducting Angelenos, locking up entire families in basements, and separating families—how could the city of Glendale ensure that the Angelenos it held for ICE weren't unconstitutionally detained?"

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U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio points while speaking at a podium
News

Rubio, Trump Accused of Criminal Obstruction for Sanctioning ICC Judges

Human rights defenders on Friday accused U.S. President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio of criminal obstruction after Rubio announced sanctions targeting four International Criminal Court judges who authorized an investigation into torture allegations against American troops in Afghanistan and arrest warrants for fugitive Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Rubio sanctioned International Criminal Court Judges Solomy Balungi Bossa of Uganda, Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza of Peru, Reine Adelaide Sophie Alapini Gansou of Benin, and Beti Hohler of Slovenia "pursuant to President Trump's Executive Order 14203." The order was issued in February and sanctioned ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan and accused the Hague-based tribunal of "baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel."

"Have Marco Rubio's State Department lawyers read him Article 70 of the Rome Statute on obstruction of justice?"

"These four individuals have actively engaged in the ICC's illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America or our close ally, Israel," Rubio added. "The ICC is politicized and falsely claims unfettered discretion to investigate, charge, and prosecute nationals of the United States and our allies."

Two of the sanctioned judges authorized a probe of U.S. war crimes in Afghanistan. The other two green-lighted warrants for the arrest of Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, his former defense minister, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, including weaponized starvation and the murder of Palestinians—at least 54,607 of whom have been killed since Israel began its assault and siege of Gaza following the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

The ICC's Assembly of State Parties—the court's governing body—said in a statement Friday that the U.S. sanctions are a "regrettable" effort to "impede the court and its personnel in the exercise of their independent judicial functions.

Kenneth Roth, a professor at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and former director of Human Rights Watch, on Friday accused Trump and Rubio of "obstructing justice under Article 70 of the Rome Statute," the treaty establishing and governing the ICC.

Christoph Safferling, director of the International Nuremberg Principles Academy—a Germany-based foundation "dedicated to the advancement of international criminal law and related human rights"— said Friday that 80 years after the the Nuremberg Trials of Nazi war criminals, "obstructing the ICC is an affront to the commitment to justice and the rule of law."

"The court carries forward this legacy and calls for our steadfast support in the fight against impunity," Safferling added.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said Friday that he was "profoundly disturbed" by the U.S. sanctions.

"Attacks against judges for performance of their judicial functions, at national or international levels, run directly counter to respect for the rule of law and the equal protection of the law—values for which the U.S. has long stood," Türk added.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the European Union "deeply regrets" the Trump administration's move.

Slovenia's Foreign Ministry said that "Slovenia regrets the announced sanctions by the U.S. government against four judges of the International Criminal Court, including a judge from Slovenia," and "rejects pressure on judicial institutions and influence on judicial operations."

"Courts must act in the interests of law and justice," the ministry continued. "In the current situation we will support the judge, who is a Slovenian citizen in carrying out her mandate." Due to the inclusion of an E.U. member state on the sanctions list, Slovenia will propose the immediate activation of the blocking act."

The E.U.'s blocking statute is meant to protect businesses in the 27-nation bloc from adverse consequences of foreign—particularly U.S.—sanctions.

During the first Trump administration, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sanctioned then-ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and Prosecution Jurisdiction Division Director Phakiso Mochochoko for investigating U.S. war crimes in Afghanistan. This, even after the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber II announced it would not grant a request by Bensouda to open an investigation into the alleged torture of prisoners held in U.S. military and secret CIA prisons in Afghanistan, Poland, Romania, and Lithuania.

In 2021, Khan angered human rights defenders by announcing he was seeking approval to resume an investigation into potential war crimes in Afghanistan committed by the Taliban and the Islamic State—but would exclude alleged crimes perpetrated by U.S. forces.

U.S. and Israeli officials often note that neither country is a party to the Rome Statute. However, the court has affirmedr its jurisdiction "in relation to crimes committed on the territory of Palestine, including Gaza," as well as "over crimes committed by Palestinian nationals inside or outside Palestinian territory."

Responding to the U.S. sanctions, Amnesty International secretary general Agnès Callamard said Friday that "this is an attack against international justice and the fight against impunity."

"Governments who believe in a rule-based order must take all necessary measures to protect the four judges against the impact of the sanctions," she continued. "They must assure the ICC of their full support. They must voice their commitment to the independence and impartiality of the ICC clearly and loudly. They must implement all arrest warrants and support the ICC in all its investigations."

"International justice is a battleground. It has been so from the very beginning," Callamard added. "Victims know so all too well. We will keep fighting and resisting all attempts to derail, undermine, destroy the search for justice and the rule of law."

In April, the ACLU filed a lawsuit in a Maine federal court on behalf of Matthew Smith, co-founder of the human rights group Fortify Rights, and international lawyer Akila Radhakrishnan arguing that Trump's sanctions against Khan violate their First Amendment rights.

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