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A Beacon Of Hope and Woke Bullshit
Citing the value of “keep(ing) the flame of democracy burning," the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado for her “tireless work promoting democratic rights for (her) people." Machado called the award an “immense recognition of the struggle of all Venezuelans." With their usual grace, MAGA-ites blasted the choice of "some lady in Venezuela" and not a mad king terrorizing brown people, siccing troops on his citizens, and murdering fishermen. America: Fuck that guy.
Machado is a key but divisive figure in Venezuela: She's been called "the smiling face of Washington’s regime-change machine" and CAIR has blasted her for supporting Israel's right-wing Likud Party and anti-Muslim fascists. She's also faced years of political persecution under Maduro’s regime while building a powerful grassroots democracy movement from a once-fragmented opposition. A 58-year-old industrial engineer, she was blocked by the courts from running against Maduro in 2024; facing death threats and bogus charges, she has been living in hiding since then.
The Nobel Committee praised Machado as "a brave and committed champion of peace" struggling "to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.” They also called her a symbol of civilian courage and "a beacon of hope for Latin America." Possibly sending a message to those of us facing growing autocracy, they affirmed the value of “keep(ing) the flame of democracy burning during a growing darkness" and said she "has shown that the tools of democracy are also the tools of peace.”
International leaders praised Machado's "tireless struggle for freedom and democracy (that) has touched hearts and inspired millions"; the EU Commission's Ursula von der Leyen called the award a tribute to her courage and “every voice that refuses to be silenced.” She joins the ranks of other distinguished women honored in recent years for championing human rights, including Iran's Narges Mohammadi, Myanmar's Daw Aung San Suu Ky - both still imprisoned - Tawakkol Karman of Yemen and Liberia’s Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Leymah Gbowee, joint recipients in 2011.
Announcing this year's award, the Nobel Committee seemed to especially take note of and aim at the looming threat posed by Trump. "When authoritarians seize power, it is crucial to recognize courageous defenders of freedom who rise and resist," they wrote. "Democracy depends on people who refuse to stay silent, who dare to step forward despite grave risk, and who remind us that freedom must never be taken for granted, but must always be defended - with words, with courage, and with determination." (And, sometimes, blow-up animals costumes."
Told the news before the announcement in an emotional, early morning call from Kristian Berg Harpviken, Director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute, Machado sounded shocked and tearful. "Oh my God, Oh my God," she repeatedly exclaimed. "I have no words." She quickly added, "I hope you understand this is a movement, this is an achievement of a whole society. I am just, you know, one person. I certainly do not deserve this." Harpviken graciously assured her that both she and the movement did deserve the honor.
In grotesque contrast were the denizens and Narcissist-In-Chief of MAGA land, outraged the prize was not awarded to a racist, lying, vindictive despot who's busy threatening political opponents, ordering violent roundups of immigrants, deploying his military against cities whose leaders disagree with him, cracking down on dissent and undertaking extrajudicial killings of fishermen in the Caribbean who may not have done anything wrong while boasting about "ending" several imaginary wars and whining that not winning the award would be "a big insult to our country."
Somehow, shamefully, some mainstream media took seriously Trump's longtime, petulant claim to deserve what many consider the world's most prestigious prize - for many, proof of how low American media have fallen during the reign of a guy who still boasts about his "perfect score" on a basic cognitive test that requires naming a camel and lion, who is arguably more likely to win a Heisman Trophy or Miss Teen U.S.A., and who now joins the estimable ranks of Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, Mao Tse-Tung, Pol Pot, Saddam Hussein, Putinm, and "all the Kims" to rightly fail to win a Nobel.
With discomfiting, possibly strategic generosity, Machado later dedicated her prize not only to "the suffering people of Venezuela," but to Trump for "his decisive support of our cause." Trump giddily twisted that mention into claims he'd “been helping her along the way,” she accepted the prize "in his honor," and he was "happy because I saved millions of lives." Still, MAGA officials and fans were pissed, and a White House statement charged the Committee "proved they place politics over peace" by rejecting Trump, who "has the heart of a humanitarian."
Supporters called the decision "unbelievable," "a disgrace," "an utter joke," "woke bullshit." "They hand it to someone nobody's (aka I've) ever heard of," said one. "The prize is garbage now, a Crackerjacks prize." Right-wing activist Laura Loomer called the choice "an absolute joke." "Everyone knows President Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize," she said. "More affirmative action nonsense." From The MAGA Voice: "Some random person that nobody knows... TRUMP COULD HAVE CURED CANCER" (if he hadn't halted cancer research.)
"Dear Snobs, Accredited Clowns and TDS-driven socialists of the European elite," wrote one Sebastian Adlercreutz, whose bio reads, "No woke lefties...Jesus is my Lord." "You have yet again managed to turn the Nobel Peace Price into a worthless trinket." Several GOP Reps raged online: One argued, "The Nobel Peace Prize does not deserve Trump," one proposed Congress give Dear Leader their own Nobel Peace Prize - it's unclear how that might work - and one thought they should create their own Trump Peace and Prosperity Award as a sort of participation trophy.
"TOTAL FIX," fumed a Truth Social post evidently from Trump. "Norway - a tiny country with expensive fjords and weak politicians - has the nerve to lecture AMERICA...Their leader (is) a LIBERAL lightweight and globalist puppet, a clowen in Oslo's palace, and his Nobel cronies are a disgrace." Announcing 100% tariffs on Norwegian goods, it charged "they RIGGEDED the nobel to embarass ME" and declared, "We will FIGHT. We will EXPOSE them. Norwegian Marxists will not humiliated AMERICA and get away with it!" Eventually, it turned out the post was a parody. We think.
Oct 10, 2025
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Lancet Study Warns Cancer Deaths Could Surge Nearly 75% by 2050
An ominous new study in the Lancet medical journal projects that deaths from cancer will surge over the next two-and-a-half decades, with lower-income countries set to be the hardest hit.
The study, which was released on Wednesday, estimates that there will be 18.6 million cancer deaths and 30.5 million cancer cases in 2030. The estimated number of cancer deaths would represent a nearly 75% increase from the estimated 10.4 million cancer deaths in 2023.
The study explains that the forecasted death increases "are greater in low-income and middle-income countries" than in wealthy nations, and that most of the projected increases are likely to come from an older population, not a rise in the lethality of cancer overall.
All the same, the study warns that the total increase in cancer cases and deaths will put a strain on global health systems.
"Effectively and sustainably addressing cancer burden globally will require comprehensive national and international efforts that consider health systems and context in the development and implementation of cancer-control strategies across the continuum of prevention, diagnosis, and treatment," the study says.
Meghnath Dhimal, chief research officer at the Nepal Health Research Council, who worked on the study, told Euronews that the projections showed "an impending disaster" for low-income nations. Dhimal also said that these nations needed to do more to improve their citizens' access to cancer screenings and treatments to prevent their systems from potentially being overwhelmed.
"There are cost-effective interventions for cancer in countries at all stages of development," he said.
Dr. Theo Vos, a researcher at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation who helped author the study, told Euronews that the incidence of cancer could be significantly reduced by lowering tobacco use, unsafe sex, obesity, and high blood sugar, among other factors.
"There are tremendous opportunities for countries to target these risk factors, potentially preventing cases of cancer and saving lives," Vos explained.
Sep 25, 2025
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Top French Economist Says Ex-Prime Ministers Should Have Embraced Wealth Tax
On the heels of France losing yet another prime minister, Politico on Tuesday published an interview in which world-renowned French economist Gabriel Zucman argued that the recently departed leaders should have supported his proposed wealth tax.
Zucman, who leads the EU Tax Observatory and teaches at French and US universities, has advocated for imposing a wealth tax of at least 2% for the ultrarich in France and around the world. However, Sébastien Lecornu, who resigned as prime minister on Monday, after less than a month in office, did not embrace that approach, the economist noted.
Former Prime Minister François Bayrou also didn't support the "Zucman tax." He was in the post when the French National Assembly voted in favor of a 2% minimum tax on wealth exceeding €100 million, or $117 million, in February—and when the Senate ultimately rejected the policy in June. He resigned in early September, after losing a no-confidence vote.
Before both of them, Michel Barnier was prime minister. He resigned last December, also after losing a no-confidence vote. He, too, didn't embrace the tax policy, despite polling that shows, as Zucman put it, "there is a very strong demand among the population for greater tax fairness and better taxation of the ultrarich."
"The executive has so far remained completely deaf to both parliamentary work and popular democratic demands," Zucman told Politico's Giorgio Leali. "They didn't try to have a real dialogue with the opposition on this."
"The very wealthy individuals affected by this measure, and the media outlets they own, have spoken out very vehemently on the subject in an attempt to discourage the government from engaging in any form of reflection or discussion," he added.
On social media, Leali shared a quote from Zucman tying the former prime ministers' attitudes on the tax proposal and broader budget fight to the country's current political crisis—in which "increasingly isolated" President Emmanuel Macron faces pressure from across France's political spectrum to hold a snap parliamentary election or resign.
As Reuters reported Tuesday, "Resignation calls, long confined to the fringes, have entered the mainstream during one of the worst political crises since the 1958 creation of the Fifth Republic, France's current system of government."
Even Édouard Philippe—who, as France 24 noted, was "Macron's longest-serving prime minister from 2017 to 2020"—is urging him to step down, saying that the president must help France "emerge in an orderly and dignified manner from a political crisis that is harming the country."
After the anti-austerity "Block Everything" protests across France on September 10, Mathilde Panot of the leftist party La France Insoumise (LFI) announced that 100 members of Parliament endorsed a motion to impeach Macron.
LFI founder Jean-Luc Mélenchon said Monday that "following the resignation of Sébastien Lecornu, we call for the immediate consideration of the motion tabled by 104 MPs for the impeachment of Emmanuel Macron."
"Emmanuel Macron is responsible for the political chaos," he said, calling out "those in power" for failing to respond to not only the demonstrations on September 10 but also the union mobilizations on September 18 and October 2.
"The president is rejected by public opinion, which desires his departure, and he has lost the support of ALL the parties in his political coalition," Mélenchon added Tuesday. "Why does he remain? A return to coherence for the country requires his departure and a return to the voice of the people."
Oct 07, 2025
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GOP Leaders Smear Upcoming 'No Kings' Marches as 'Hate America Rallies' by ‘Terrorists’
Multiple Republican lawmakers on Friday lobbed smears against the upcoming "No Kings" rallies scheduled to take place on October 18 across the US.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) described the "No Kings" events as "a hate-America rally," which he said would include "the Antifa crowd, the pro-Hamas crowd, and the Marxists."
"They're all going to gather on the [Washington] Mall," Johnson continued. "We've got some House Democrats selling t-shirts for this event. It is an outrageous gathering for outrageous purposes."
Mike Johnson: "This hate America rally that they have coming up for October 18? The antifa crowd, the pro-Hamas crowd, and the Marxists, they're all gonna gather on the Mall. It is an outrageous gathering for outrageous purposes ... all this has gotta come to an end." pic.twitter.com/9du1GED0z2
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 10, 2025
Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) echoed Johnson and linked the "No Kings" marches to the continued federal government shutdown, claiming Democrats were refusing to vote to fund the government "to score political points with the terrorist wing of their party, which is set to hold... a hate-America rally in DC next week."
Emmer: "This is about one thing and one thing alone -- to score political points with the terrorist wing of their party, which is set to hold a hate America rally in DC next week." pic.twitter.com/FKnIpFMSUY
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 10, 2025
Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), during an interview on Newsmax, described the October 18 protests as "a Soros paid-for protest" filled with "professional protesters" and "agitators," and threatened those who attend with a deployment of armed forces like the ones President Donald Trump has imposed on cities including Chicago and Memphis.
"We'll have to get the National Guard out," he said. "Hopefully it will be peaceful. I doubt it."
Sen. Roger Marshall: "October 18 is when the protest gets here. This will be a Soros paid-for protest for his professional protesters. The agitators show up. We'll have to get the National Guard out. Hopefully it will be peaceful. I doubt it." pic.twitter.com/UkxskdA2mT
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 10, 2025
Joe Walsh, a former Republican congressman from Illinois who broke with the party over its refusal to hold Trump accountable, expressed disgust with linking the "No Kings" marches to terrorists.
"Looks like everyone in my former political party has signed on to the Donald Trump/Stephen Miller game plan, which means calling Democrats 'terrorists,'" he wrote in a post on X. "Terrorists? Despicable. Shameful."
The October 18 "No Kings" rallies are a sequel to nationwide demonstrations that took place this past June and drew an estimated 5 million people across over 2,100 cities and towns.
Contrary to the Republican lawmakers' claims, these protests were overwhelmingly peaceful demonstrations against what organizers described as "the gross abuse of power that we’ve seen consistently from the Trump administration."
Ezra Levin, cofounder of progressive organization Indivisible, one of the groups behind the "No Kings" marches, vowed on Thursday that the upcoming events will be "the largest peaceful protest in modern American history."
Levin also remained defiant in the face of baseless claims that his organization funds violent rioting.
"Trump and Miller can lie, smear, and threaten all they want," he said. "They will lose."
Oct 10, 2025
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Man Wrongly Imprisoned for Decades Finally Freed—And Gets Immediately Nabbed by ICE
A man who spent more than four decades in prison for a murder he didn't commit was finally freed earlier this month—only to get immediately apprehended and detained by federal immigration agents.
As the Miami Herald reported on Sunday, 64-year-old Subramanyam "Subu" Vedam was released from prison on October 3 after having had his murder conviction vacated when a court found that prosecutors had concealed evidence that would have seriously undermined their case against him.
Vedam's freedom was short lived, however, as he was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, who justified his detention by citing a decades-old deportation order that was based largely on a murder conviction that has since proven to be false.
He is currently being held at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center, an ICE facility in central Pennsylvania, where he is being processed for deportation.
Vedam's family, which had expected to welcome him home after his release, put out a statement demanding justice and calling on immigration courts to intervene on his behalf.
"This immigration issue is a remnant of Subu’s original case," the family said. "Since that wrongful conviction has now been officially vacated and all charges against Subu have been dismissed, we have asked the immigration court to reopen the case and consider the fact that Subu has been exonerated. Our family continues to wait—and long for the day we can finally be together with him again."
Vedam was born in India but was brought by his parents to the US when he was just 9 months old.
In 1982, he was arrested and charged with the murder of a friend, whom prosecutors alleged he shot with a .25-caliber pistol. However, the Pennsylvania Innocence Project three years ago uncovered evidence that prosecutors had covered up a report from the FBI on the case, which suggested "that the bullet wound in Kinser’s skull was too small to have been caused by a .25-caliber bullet," wrote The Miami Herald.
Before his wrongful arrest for murder, Vedam had pleaded guilty to intent to distribute LSD when he was 19 years old, although his family insists this was a youthful indiscretion rather than evidence of hardcore criminality.
Vedam's niece, Zoë Miller Vedam, told the Miami Herald that deporting her uncle back to India would be unjust, especially given that he has no memory of that country.
"He left India when he was nine months old," she emphasized. "None of us can remember our lives at nine months old. He hasn’t been there for over 44 years, and the people he knew when he went as a child have passed away. His whole family—his sister, his nieces, his grand-nieces—we’re all U.S. citizens, and we all live here."
A report in the Centre Daily Times published in early October described Vedam as a "model inmate" who "designed and led a prison literacy training program, raised money for Big Brothers Big Sisters, tutored hundreds of inmates and was the first person in the prison’s history to earn a master’s degree."
Oct 12, 2025
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Fetterman Joins GOP to Kill War Powers Resolution Against Trump's Extrajudicial Venezuela Bombings
With Democratic Sen. John Fetterman joining Republicans in opposing a measure to rein in President Donald Trump's ability to unilaterally bomb ships in the Caribbean Sea, the US Senate narrowly failed to advance a war powers resolution Wednesday.
Since the beginning of September, Trump has conducted four strikes on vessels off the coast of Venezuela which the administration has alleged, with little evidence, are carrying "narco-terrorists" spiriting illegal drugs to the United States.
Trump has also deployed thousands of sailors and marines to the Venezuelan coast and is reportedly considering strikes on the Venezuelan mainland, which has stoked fears within the country and across Latin America of another regime-change war.
In a quote to Responsible Statecraft, John Ramming Chappell, an advocacy and legal fellow at the Center for Civilians in Conflict, said that even if the ships attacked by Trump do contain drug-runners, the strikes carried out by Trump have been "summary executions and extrajudicial killings" that are "manifestly illegal under both US and international law."
But by a 51-48 vote, largely along party lines, the Senate opted not to discharge a resolution introduced by Sens. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.) from the Foreign Relations Committee that would have halted Trump's ability to carry out more strikes without congressional approval.
"The president has used our military to strike unknown targets on at least four occasions, and he is promising more," Schiff said in his speech introducing the resolution on the Senate floor. "With at least 21 people dead, and more killing on the way, with the president telling us that strikes on land-based targets may be next, we ask you to join us and reassert Congress' vital control over the war power."
Kaine added: "Americans want fewer wars—not more—and our Constitution clearly grants Congress alone the power to declare one. Yet President Trump has repeatedly launched illegal military strikes in the Caribbean and has refused to provide Congress with basic information about who was killed, why the strikes were necessary, and why a standard interdiction operation wasn't conducted."
Two Republican senators, Rand Paul (Ky.) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), joined Democrats in voting to advance the resolution.
Paul, a libertarian who is typically more skeptical of foreign interventions than others in the GOP, has been an outspoken critic of Trump's assertion of unchecked authority to bomb ships and the lack of evidence provided.
He previously sparred with Vice President JD Vance online after Vance said, "I don't give a shit" that striking unarmed civilians without due process is a "war crime" under international law.
On the Senate floor, Paul said: "Perhaps those in charge of deciding whom to kill might let us know their names, present proof of their guilt, show evidence of their crimes... Is it too much to ask to know the names of those we kill before we kill them?"
Paul previously said in an interview with Bloomberg: "I think it might lead to regime change. And some of the more skeptical among us think that maybe this is a provocation to lead to real regime change, a provocation to get the Venezuelans to react so we can then insert the military."
Murkowski added: "We all want to get rid of the drugs in this country, absolutely. But the approach that the administration is taking is new, some would say novel, and I think we have a role here."
Even with two Republican defectors, it was not enough for the resolution to advance, especially with an assist from Fetterman (Pa.), the Democratic Party's leading war hawk, who joined Republicans in voting the motion down.
It's the second time in a matter of months that he's voted against imposing a congressional check on Trump's ability to carry out acts of war. In June, he was also the lone Democrat to vote against a Senate resolution to require congressional approval for future strikes against Iran, even as the president made regime change threats.
Nick Field, a correspondent for the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, noted that "voting against a war powers resolution seeking to curb Trump's executive powers" was "not how John Fetterman campaigned in 2022, 2018, or 2016," when he acted as a strident opponent of everything Trump stood for.
Fetterman has not publicly commented on his decision to vote against the resolution. His office did not respond to a request for comment from Common Dreams.
Despite the vote's failure, Schiff said it likely will not be the last attempt to limit Trump's war-making authority. Similar resolutions were introduced late last month in the House of Representatives by Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Jason Crow (D-Col.).
"Sadly, as these strikes get worse, support will only grow for another War Powers Resolution to stop them," Schiff said. "Let's hope by then we are not in a full-fledged war."
Oct 09, 2025
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Raucous Mamdani Rally Reveals Political Battle Stretches Beyond New York City
"We are here tonight because we are ready to turn the page on the cynical, broken, politics of the past,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Oct 14, 2025
Standing at a podium that displayed the words, "Our Time Has Come," Democratic New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani and allies made clear on Monday night that the sign referred not only to working people across the five boroughs, but to people across the US whose interests have been abandoned by the political establishment in favor of corporations and billionaires.
Speakers at the rally included leaders who have emerged as targets of the Trump administration, such as New York Attorney General Letitia James, and people who have worked in government at the federal level, in the case of former Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan, and their comments suggested a focus that goes beyond the city and its upcoming election on November 4.
Khan, who spearheaded the Biden administration's efforts to protect Americans from corporate greed in the form of "junk fees" and megamergers, spoke out against "modern-day robber barons," and made clear that both major political parties are to blame for an economy where corporations and the ultrarich "wield extraordinary power."
"They hold enormous control over our paychecks, our bills, our time, and our futures," said Khan, who has sharply criticized the Trump administration for settling with Amazon in a customer deception case and for letting oil executives "off the hook" in a price-fixing scandal.
"But the good news is that nothing about any of this is inevitable," added Khan.
Mamdani has centered his campaign on making the city more affordable by expanding his fare-free public bus pilot program, providing universal no-cost childcare, and establishing a city-run network of grocery stores to compete with for-profit companies—and has reached out to New Yorkers from all walks of life, spending a day walking the length of Manhattan as well as using social media to engage with voters.
With top Democrats like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (NY) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (NY) refusing to endorse the party's candidate to lead the largest city in the nation, the mayoral race has teed up one of the latest battles between the party's progressive wing and the entrenched establishment—one that will hopefully send a resounding message to the party's leadership, said Khan.
"The days of Democratic leaders choosing to ally with titans of industry over working people are over," she said.
Despite his decisive loss in the Democratic primary in June, disgraced former Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo is running as an independent and is trailing Mamdani by double digits as he strives to make the state Assembly member's support for Palestinian rights a centerpiece of the campaign.
The tactic, also employed by Cuomo during the primary, has proven unsuccessful so far, with polls showing that support from the city's Jewish voters helped Mamdani win in June by more than 13 points. At the rally on Monday night, the crowd at one point erupted in cheers of, "Free, free Palestine!"
Mamdani turned his attention to Cuomo's enthusiastic participation in the oligarchic political system that's seen the former governor court the wealthy, including billionaire financier Bill Ackman, and tell rich donors in the Hamptons that he expected help from President Donald Trump to win the general election.
In the city and nationwide, Mamdani said, "we are an existential threat to billionaires who think they can buy our democracy."
The mayoral campaign represents “a choice between a mayor for those straining to buy groceries or those straining to buy an election," he said.
The state lawmaker condemned the president's anti-immigrant escalation, which has been on display in recent weeks in cities including Chicago and Portland, Oregon, and his attacks on protesters who hold anti-fascist views as well as left-wing groups that dissent against the president's agenda.
"We are in a period of political darkness,” Mamdani said. “Donald Trump and his [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] agents are snatching our immigrant neighbors from our city right before our eyes. His authoritarian administration is waging a scorched-earth campaign of retribution against any who dared oppose him.”
"And again and again," he added, "Trump has broken the promise he made to the American people that he would fight for the working class by taking on the cost-of-living crisis."
James joined the rally in her first public appearance since she was indicted by Trump's personal-attorney-turned-federal-prosecutor, US Attorney Lindsey Halligan, last week on allegations of bank fraud. Having successfully prosecuted the president for fraud, James has been a top target of Trump during his second term.
Along with defiantly speaking out against the indictment, which she called the weaponization of "justice for political gain," James said that as mayor, Mamdani would come to the defense of freedoms and institutions that are under attack across the US.
JUST IN: New York Attorney General Letitia James raises her fist in the air after being criminally indicted for bank fraud.
“We are here tonight because we are ready to turn the page on the cynical, broken, politics of the past,” she said at Zohran Mamdani’s rally.
lol. pic.twitter.com/FFSLJupvtl
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) October 14, 2025
"We are here tonight because we are ready to turn the page on the cynical, broken, politics of the past,” said James. "We are witnessing the fraying of our democracy, the erosion of our system of government... This, my friends, is a defining moment in our history."
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Ceasefire Sparks Fresh Calls for Global Media Access to Gaza
Press groups are also demanding justice for the more than 200 journalists slaughtered in Palestinian territory over the past two years.
Oct 13, 2025
Since a fragile ceasefire in the Gaza Strip began on Friday, press freedom advocates and critics of Israel's genocidal assault have issued new calls for international media access to the decimated Palestinian territory, including the largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy group in the United States.
"We encourage American and international media outlets to demand direct, unsupervised access to Gaza in the wake of the ceasefire agreement," the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said in a statement on Monday, as Hamas returned 20 hostages taken on October 7, 2023 and Israel released over 1,900 imprisoned Palestinians, most of whom were taken captive by Israeli forces over the past two years.
CAIR urged reporters to demand access to "the 1,700 Palestinian men, women, and children going free after Israel occupation forces abducted them from Gaza, held them without charge, and reportedly subjected them to torture in prisons run by Itamar Ben-Gvir," the country's far-right minister of national security.
As Drop Site News' Ryan Grim noted on social media, some Palestinians are already speaking out about the torture they endured:
“Although many media outlets will understandably cover the release of Israeli hostages, it is important to also cover the stories of Palestinian civilians who were kidnapped and other Palestinian hostages who may not go free, such as Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya," said CAIR. "Ignoring Palestinian suffering would give the appearance of bias and create a warped, one-sided image for the public."
"It is particularly critical for American journalists to overcome the Israeli government's attempts to hide the aftermath of the US-funded devastation in Gaza," CAIR added. "Reporters must immediately receive access to Gaza so they can see and report on the consequences of the genocide for themselves."
Unsuccessfully pursuing a Nobel Peace Prize, US President Donald Trump announced last Wednesday night that Israel and Hamas had agreed to the first phase of his proposed plan for Gaza. On Monday, Trump addressed Israeli lawmakers. He also signed a peace deal document, as did Egyptian, Qatari, and Turkish leaders.
A report published last week by the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and the Costs of War Project at Brown University found that the Trump and Biden administrations provided at least $21.7 billion in military aid to Israel since October 2023. The two-year Israeli assault—widely decried as genocide—has killed at least 67,869 Palestinians and wounded 170,105, the Gaza Health Ministry said Monday. Thousands of people remain missing, and experts believe the true toll is far higher.
Among those dead are hundreds of Palestinian journalists, who have worked to not only survive Gaza but also share stories from there over the past two years, as Israel has largely prevented any international reporters from entering the territory.
The various tallies of journalists slaughtered in Gaza go up to at least 271, which includes Saleh al-Jafarawi, a Palestinian reporter and content creator killed on Sunday. According to The New Arab:
Reports in Arabic media state that the armed militia was affiliated with Israel, and members of the group had been killing displaced Palestinians who were making their way back to their homes in the aftermath of the truce.
When he was found, after being announced as missing early on Sunday, he was wearing a press jacket.
The reporter had amassed a large following on social media for his fearless dispatches from on the ground, despite himself being displaced, starved, and his home bombed.
As Middle East Eye reported Monday, the slain journalist "was buried the same day as his brother Naji al-Jafarawi was released from an Israeli prison as part of an exchange of captives."
After Saleh al-Jafarawi's death, multiple social media users shared a video of him welcoming the ceasefire that started on Friday.
Jonathan Dagher, head of the Middle East Desk at Reporters Without Borders, or Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF), said in a Friday statement that "the relief of a ceasefire in Gaza must not distract from the absolute urgency of the catastrophic situation facing journalists in the territory."
Over 200 journalists have been killed by Israeli forces, "and the reporters still alive in Gaza need immediate care, equipment, and support," he noted. "They also need justice—more than ever. If the impunity for the crimes committed against them continues, they will be repeated in Gaza, Palestine, and elsewhere in the world. To bring justice to Gaza's reporters and to protect the right to information around the world, we demand arrest warrants for the perpetrators of crimes against our fellow journalists in Gaza."
"RSF is counting on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to act on the complaints we filed for war crimes committed against these journalists," added Dagher, whose group has filed five complaints with the tribunal since October 2023. "It's high time that the international community's response matched the courage shown by Palestinian reporters over the past two years."
The board of the Foreign Press Association in Jerusalem also released a statement on Friday. It said that "the FPA welcomes the agreement between the warring parties on a ceasefire in Gaza. With the halt in fighting, we renew our urgent call for Israel to open the borders immediately and allow international media free and independent access to the Gaza Strip."
"For the last two years, the FPA and its members have asked, through all channels, to be let into Gaza to report on the reality of the war. These demands have been repeatedly ignored, while our Palestinian colleagues have risked their lives to provide tireless and brave reporting from Gaza," the group continued.
Israel's Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in a related case next week, "but there is no reason to wait that long," the group added. "Enough with the excuses and delay tactics. The restrictions on press freedom must come to an end."
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3 Palestinian Children Injured by Likely IDF Unexploded Ordnance in Gaza
Experts say it could take more than a decade to clear the Gaza Strip of Israeli bombs that did not detonate upon impact.
Oct 13, 2025
Three more Palestinian children were injured Monday in the Gaza Strip by what was likely Israel Defense Forces unexploded ordnance, a danger that United Nations experts say could take more than a decade to defuse.
Gaza Civil Defense said in a statement that the three children were "injured with varying degrees of wounds due to the explosion of a suspicious object from the remnants of the Israeli occupation near Al-Shifa Hospital"—which was repeatedly bombed, besieged, and invaded by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops.
The children were reportedly playing with the object when it exploded. Children are particularly vulnerable to death and injury from certain types of unexploded ordnance (UXO), which can appear similar to toys. This is especially true of cluster munitions, which the IDF denies using in Gaza.
However, the IDF's history of using such weapons—which are banned under the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, to which Israel is not signatory—and reports by human rights groups and others suggest the denials could possibly, like so many other Israeli claims, be lies.
In past wars, IDF troops have dropped toys and other civilian objects booby-trapped with explosives that killed and maimed children and others. Gaza Civil Defense reported earlier this month that IDF troops have left such toys behind during their current withdrawal from Gaza.
According to the Gaza Government Media Office, Israeli forces dropped around 200,000 tons of explosives on Gaza during what dozens of nations, United Nations experts, genocide scholars, jurists, human rights groups, and others say was a genocidal war. Warfare experts have said the IDF assault on Gaza—which killed or wounded more than 247,000 Palestinians including at least 64,000 children—was, in the words of one US historian, "one of the most intense civilian punishment campaigns in history."
Of those 200,000 tons of explosives, experts at the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) and elsewhere say that up to 10% failed to explode upon impact. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported in May that the IDF was aware of 3,000 unexploded bombs in Gaza, and that older bombs used by Israel had a dud rate of up to 20%.
The Gaza Ministry of Health, UNMAS, and the Gaza Protection Cluster—a group of humanitarian organizations including the United Nations Children's Fund, and Save the Children—have reported that at least scores of Palestinians have been killed or wounded by IDF UXO in Gaza since October 2023, including numerous children.
UNMAS officials have also warned that in addition to UXO, hundreds of thousands of tons of asbestos exposed by IDF bombardment—which has destroyed or damaged 90% of all homes in Gaza—pose a serious and potentially deadly health risk.
Monday's incident at Al-Shifa Hospital came as 20 Israeli hostages held by Hamas since the October 7, 2023 attack and nearly 2,000 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel were released in an exchange that took place three days after a tenuous ceasefire went into effect.
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