Sara لاbib

Lawyer (economic & international law). Policy Analyst. Writer. Immigrant. From Africa to Europe to Africa to Europe again. 🇪🇬🇧🇪🇫🇷@saralabib.bsky.social

[Sara لاbib @SaraLabib]

New Substack piece, fresh off the proverbial press. Please give it a read and let me know what you think: The Banality of Zionism https://t.co/PEwVlMqDOU

[Drop Site @DropSiteNews]

🚨🇱🇧 Since the April 17 “ceasefire,” Israeli forces have killed at least 1,232 people and wounded 3,189 others in Lebanon.

According to Cradle Media’s running tally, Israeli attacks on Thursday alone included:
▪️ 30 drone strikes
▪️ 43 airstrikes
▪️ 7 instances of artillery shelling

The overall toll since the war resumed on March 2 has now risen to more than 3,526 killed and 10,733 wounded.

Despite the scale of the bombardment, Kaja Kallas the European Union’s top diplomat and foreign policy chief, describes the violence as “skirmishes” and warn only against a “return to full-scale hostilities.”

Jeremy Scahill told Sky News yesterday that a “ceasefire” announcement simply gives Israel’s PM Netanyahu an international stamp of legitimacy on his ongoing war of annihilation – which continues regardless of any announcement.

[Mouin Rabbani @MouinRabbani]

Nearly 5,000 staff, students urge Belgium’s universities to cut Israel ties
A letter representing more than 10 percent of the Belgian professoriate calls for end to all collaborations with Israel.
https://t.co/zs9qOUSxDk

[amnestyfrance @amnestyfrance]

Des armes à destination d’Israël transitent par la Belgique. Pourtant la Belgique avait suspendu totalement son commerce des armes !

FedEx Belgique opère en toute illégalité ces transits via l’aéroport de Liège.

@amnestybe rejoint la plainte en justice déposée à son encontre.

[The Cradle @TheCradleMedia]

Israeli firm BlackCore deployed sophisticated cyber operations to sabotage left wing candidates in France
——
A sophisticated cyber espionage and defamation campaign orchestrated by the Israeli firm BlackCore targeting left-wing, pro-Palestinian candidates from La France Insoumise (LFI) has sent shockwaves through the French political establishment. According to Middle East Eye, the covert operations, which struck during the March municipal elections in Marseille, Toulouse, and Roubaix, utilized automated fake accounts, localized smear advertisements, and highly sensitive data leaks, including the personal tax information and passwords of LFI MP François Piquemal.

Victims and security analysts have condemned the operation as an unprecedented assault on French democratic sovereignty, designed specifically to penalize LFI candidates for their vocal opposition to Israel's genocide in Gaza.

The digital footprints of the interference lead back to technology firms based in Tel Aviv, raising critical questions about foreign state involvement. In Toulouse, where Piquemal narrowly lost his mayoral bid to right-wing incumbent Jean-Luc Moudenc, the cyber onslaught coincided with an intense domestic pushback from local branches of the pro-Israel lobbying group Elnet and the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions (Crif).

Despite an investigation by France's digital interference watchdog, Viginum, allegations have surfaced that the French state has attempted to redact and shelve the findings to avoid a major diplomatic rupture with Tel Aviv, while Paris prosecutors have opened an independent criminal probe into organized election destabilization.

The high-tech sabotage is widely viewed by intelligence experts as a dangerous "dress rehearsal" for deep-seated interference ahead of France's 2027 presidential election. Security analysts note that while French intelligence historically braced for Russian disinformation, the threat from Israel has caught the state off guard.

As right-wing forces like Jordan Bardella’s National Rally pivot toward pro-Israel stances to gain international backing, LFI officials warn that the lack of robust independent monitoring bodies leaves France's upcoming national ballots highly vulnerable to sophisticated foreign manipulation.

[Trita Parsi @tparsi]

While Europe still debates whether to end its Association Agreement with Israel, as if there is much to debate, Israel continues to happily commit war crimes in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon.

This was South Lebanon today.

First, Israel bombed a father and his daughter. Then, when the medical team arrived, they bombed again. A double tap. A war crime.

Designed to maximize civilian casualties. That is, terrorism.

[Amnesty International @amnesty]

Not in line with Israel’s values and norms?

That’s not true. Let´s stick to the facts.

While the hundreds of Global Sumud Flotilla activists unlawfully detained by Israel are en route back to their countries, Palestinian prisoners will have to continue to endure unspeakable abuse.

Israel has a long history of incarcerating Palestinians without charge or trial. Its systematic use of administrative detention – detaining Palestinians without charge or trial - is a cornerstone of Israel’s system of #apartheid. Torture and other ill-treatment of Palestinian prisoners have been a cruel reality for decades and only increased in the last 3 years. Over 9,000 Palestinian men, women, and children are currently held in Israel’s prisons. More than a 1,000 are from Gaza and subjected to enforced disappearance or held incommunicado in military facilities and denied access to lawyers or contact with their families.

Amnesty International and other human rights groups have continuously documented a pattern of Israeli authorities inflicting torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment against Palestinians, including through the denial of medicine, food, clothing and sleep, continuous beating, cuffing and blindfolding, dog attacks, rape and other sexual violence, among other abuses. In yet another display of double standards, third states have remained unmoved to the repeated calls to act to bring an end to Israel’s abuses against Palestinians in custody. This must end.

[Drop Site @DropSiteNews]

🗞️ Naftali Bennett, who hopes to unseat Netanyahu in Israel’s next election, published a detailed plan Tuesday to fix Israel’s “hasbara disaster” — proposing a “powerful national hasbara authority,” a “consciousness war room,” and an international alliance against disinformation.

Bennett blamed the crisis on “a failed minister who sold out Israel’s security for likes on TikTok” — a reference to National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, whose video of detained flotilla activists prompted rebukes from both Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Sa’ar today.

The proposal comes as Israel faces: a UN Human Rights Office report documenting systematic torture and rape of Palestinian prisoners; an ICC prosecutor seeking secret arrest warrants against senior Israeli officials; a New York Times investigation into sexual violence against Palestinian detainees; the unlawful boarding and detention of a humanitarian flotilla in international waters; the killing of hundreds of civilians including 5 paramedics in southern Lebanon, and the ongoing genocide and silly killings and deliberate starvation and humanitarian restrictions in Gaza— all in the past week.

Bennett says the problem is the messaging in Israeli propaganda, not the conduct. His full plan is below 👇

[Marc Botenga MEP @BotengaM]

The EU has no Middle East strategy because *checks notes* there's too much going on in the Middle East. You can't make this up. This is the EU foreign policy chief. In 2026.

[Amnesty International @amnesty]

By putting the EU-Israel trade deal before human life, the EU puts profit before people. Italy and Germany continue to block the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement.

But change is vital. One million people in Europe, 75 NGOs, 400 diplomats and officials, Belgium, Ireland, Slovenia and Spain are calling for the suspension of the EU-Israel trade agreement.

Sign our petition: https://t.co/FFkyDMUSOF

Demand @giorgiameloni and @bundeskanzler show integrity and stop greenlighting Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and unlawful occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory and apartheid over all Palestinians.

Humanity must win.

[David Issacharoff @davidiss]

Magyar confirms that Netanyahu was lying when saying he was invited to Budapest. Today the incoming PM said per @business that Hungary under him will "have a legal obligation to enforce the ICC rulings and I'm sure [Netanyahu] knows this"
https://t.co/JaTL84qvDg

[Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand]

Wow, France seems to have withdrawn - for now - the dystopian "Loi Yadan" that effectively outlawed criticism of Israel and support for Palestinians (source: https://t.co/xiw4nxvlQk)

France's government has confirmed that the parliamentary vote scheduled for tomorrow will NOT take place. Likely because the bill provoked such an outcry in France (and rightly so, read my previous post on it 👇) that they couldn't round up the votes.

We're not out of the woods yet though: the government has already announced it will bring back a similar text as a "projet de loi" (government bill) - as opposed to the current "proposition de loi" - in late June. Moving from a "proposition de loi" to a "projet de loi" is a way for the government to have more control to pass the law.

So this looks like a tactical retreat to try to force the same text through in June (before summer recess) using every procedural lever the executive has at its disposal.

[Mohamed Awad @Awad_Mohamed_]

🔴 Ce matin nous avons hissé le drapeau de la Palestine sur la mairie de #LaCourneuve.

N’en déplaise à Caroline Yadan et les soutiens du génocide.

تحيا فلسطين 🇵🇸

[Nassreddin 🍉 نصر الدين @Nassreddin2002]

Germany is very low… for its population size

Not that I think only a few Germans agree

It’s rather that almost no German organisations dare to share the petition because the political elite class portray any attempts at rightfully sanctioning Israel as “aNtI-sEmItIsM”

[Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt @FranceskAlbs]

Some states say they can’t act on Israel's genocide because "the ICJ hasn’t ruled''. But it has. In July 2024 the ICJ found the occupation illegal, ordered it dismantled, and banned aid or assistance. Keeping trading with and arming Apartheid Israel means one thing: complicity.

[Middle East Eye @MiddleEastEye]

French lawmakers set to push bill criminalising speech on Israel, with penalties of up to five years in prison

[liam cunningham @liamcunningham1]

Sign sign sign!!!!!

[Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand]

France is on the eve of voting one of the most shameful laws in its history: it would effectively outlaw criticism of Israel and criminalize any speech seen as even remotely sympathetic to whoever the French government chooses to designate a "terrorist group."

In effect this law would turn France's foreign policy into unchallengeable dogma backed by prison time. You could literally be sent for 5 years in prison if you, for instance, call what France says are "terrorists" a "resistance group."

Think for instance Nelson Mandela during the apartheid (the ANC was on every Western terrorist list) or, heck, France's own Résistance against Nazi Germany - designated as "terrorists" by the Vichy regime and the Nazi occupation.

It's frankly absolutely insane.

The new law is called "loi Yadan" after its author Caroline Yadan, a MP who represents French expatriates living in Israel. The U.S. has congressmen paid by AIPAC: France has cut out the middleman entirely, we have MPs whose constituency is literally in Israel.

The law has already passed committee and heads to a full parliamentary vote on April 16th - 3 days from now - under a very unusual fast-track procedure. Seven of eleven parliamentary groups have said they'll vote yes and the law is expected to pass.

What does the law say? Let me quote from it directly (full text here: https://t.co/m03R4z0gX6):

1) Article 1 introduces the concept of "implicit" provocation to terrorism and punishes it with five years imprisonment and a fine of €75,000

That's the one I was speaking about. Under this provision, describing anyone France designates as terrorist as a "resistance movement" - the way France describes its own Résistance against Nazi occupation - could effectively become a crime.

The key concept is what does "implicit provocation to terrorism" mean? Nobody knows. And that's the point. It means whatever a prosecutor wants it to mean: a perfectly good case could be made that, for instance, quoting international law on the right of occupied peoples to resist with respect to Hamas is, in fact, "implicit provocation to terrorism."

France's most famous anti-terrorism judge, Marc Trévidic, says he has never seen anything like it in his entire career (https://t.co/CytQnuK3hS): "Implicit provocation to terrorism: do you realize what that means? Becoming a censor of other people's thoughts, trying to guess what a person really meant."

2) The same article also expands the terrorism apology offense to include "minimizing or trivializing acts of terrorism in an outrageous manner."

This is even crazier: until now, "apology of terrorism" meant actually expressing a favorable judgment of "terrorist acts" (which is already insane because, as we all know, one person's terrorist is another's freedom fighter).

Well, under this new provision, a judge could decide that providing context, explaining root causes, or insufficiently condemning an act amounts to "trivializing" terrorism - and that would now be punishable with 5 years in prison.

So, for instance, a history teacher explaining the origins of Hamas or Hezbollah is providing context - but a prosecutor could argue that contextualization is trivialization. The same reasoning could apply to a journalist, a researcher, or anyone on social media who says "yes, it was terrible, but here's why it happened." The "but" becomes a crime, as it is trivialization.

3) Article 4 expands Holocaust denial law

Under current French law, denying the Holocaust is already a crime. This provision extends that crime by specifying that contestation of crimes against humanity now includes, "whatever its formulation, a negation, minimization, or outrageous trivialization" of those crimes.

Again with "outrageous trivialization"! In this instance the very authors of the text - Caroline Yadan and her colleagues - explain their reasoning explicitly in the law's preamble (https://t.co/rIiYQbbk23): "Comparing the State of Israel to the Nazi regime would thereby be punishable as an outrageous trivialization of the Shoah."

So while the provision is written in general terms, its architects are openly saying what it's for: making it a crime to draw any parallel between Israel's actions and those of the Nazis.

4) Article 2 creates a brand new crime: calling for the destruction of a state.

The law adds to an existing 1881 press law a provision punishing anyone who "publicly, in disregard of the right of peoples to self-determination and the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, calls for the destruction of a state recognized by the French Republic." Five years imprisonment, €75,000 fine.

The qualifiers about self-determination and the UN Charter are meant to sound reassuring. But what does "destruction" mean? In practice, if you advocate for a one-state solution where Israelis and Palestinians live as equals, you are de-facto calling for the "destruction" of the state of Israel. Well, that would now be punishable by 5 years in prison 🤷

There you go. Absolutely insane: if this new law passes, and it unfortunately very much looks like it will, France - the country that gave the world the Declaration of the Rights of Man, the country whose national identity is built on the Résistance - will have made it illegal to use the word 'resistance' about anyone the government doesn't like. Jean Moulin would be prosecuted. De Gaulle would be prosecuted.

The only people who wouldn't be prosecuted are those who stay silent. Which, of course, is the whole point.

[Rima Hassan @RimaHas]

Ce que vous devez savoir sur la criminelle de guerre Golda Meir, présentée comme une humaniste par @jnbarrot :
1) elle vivait dans la maison qui a été volée à la famille palestinienne Bisharat expulsée en 1948 de Jérusalem.
2) elle a empoisonné les terres palestiniennes en Cisjordanie
3) elle a encouragé les politiques de colonisation et de d’occupation
4) elle a déclaré, tout comme l’extrême droite israélienne actuelle, “Les Palestiniens n’existaient pas. Ce n’est pas comme s’il y avait eu en Palestine un peuple palestinien qui se considérait comme tel, et que nous étions venus les chasser. Ils n’existaient pas” (1969)