𐤊𐤀𐤓𐤉𐤌 - Karīm

unapologetic - plant based - believes we can do better.

[Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand]

There's one interesting dimension of the US's sanctions on the ICC 👇 that, as far as I saw, no media caught.

The US has sanctioned many ICC officials over the past few years but Abdoulaye Seye - one of 2 persons sanctioned this time (the other being ICC President Tomoko Akane) - was the first non-elected one.

So there is something quite unique about his case.

Seye's role at the ICC? Senior Trial Lawyer and Head of the Team handling the Situation in the State of Palestine (I know, quite a mouthful): in other words, the guy is the ICC's lead lawyer on the Palestine case.

Already, that alone should make it absolutely obvious that these sanctions have nothing to do, as Marco Rubio wrote, with "protecting Americans" but everything to do with protecting Israel.

But that's not the only thing special about Abdoulaye Seye.

See, ICC judges are elected officials: they serve non-renewable nine-year terms, and these terms are staggered so that one-third of the bench (6 judges out of 18) comes up for replacement every three years. All 124 member countries vote by secret ballot.

And that's where things get interesting: the next election is coming up in December this year and Seye is actually candidate to becoming a judge, proposed by his country of Senegal (https://t.co/z8fNaXMqME).

There are 14 candidates running for the 6 judge seats (https://t.co/6D2AXA7tCF) and Seye is the only one sanctioned by the U.S., which actually puts him at enormous practical disadvantages versus the other candidates.

For one thing, very concretely, the election takes place at the UN in New York, and being on the US sanctions list means being physically barred from entering the United States.

And it's not just about the vote itself. The whole campaign plays out in New York over months: in particular during the UN General Assembly in September, the High-level meetings, the candidate public roundtable interviews on November 4–5, and the Assembly of States Parties (ASP) session in December. That's where candidates meet delegations and lobby for votes.

The other 13 candidates will be freely doing this. Seye cannot do any of it.

So there is actually a huge election meddling angle to this: with these sanctions, the US is effectively rigging the race by banning one candidate from the entire campaign trail.

Perhaps more importantly, it also re-raises the question of whether the US is a fit place to host international institutions at all.

It's painfully obvious that a host country that weaponizes its territory to influence elections at international institutions (which, in the case of the ICC, it doesn't even belong to) is not an appropriate ground: for their own survival, these institutions should be as far away and as insulated from the US as possible.

It also raises the crucial question of how the rest of the world should respond.

The insanity here is that almost no other country globally - be in the West or the Global South - stands with the US on this, save for a handful of exceptions (like Israel). Yet they all behave like deer in the headlights (or, as we say in French, like "ostriches burying their head in sand") and do absolutely nothing concrete about it besides meaningless "we're preoccupied" statements.

The EU's behavior is particularly egregious in this regard. They too host a number of international institutions, such as... the ICC! ICC bench elections may be occurring in NYC but it's in The Hague, Netherlands, that the institution is physically located (I visited the place last year with my daughters: https://t.co/WyUgXUylj8).

So, given that they oppose these sanctions and literally host the court, you'd expect the EU to take some measures to protect the institution and the officials targeted by the sanctions.

All the more because they have a tool designed EXACTLY for this purpose: the so-called "blocking statute", a regulation that prohibits EU entities from complying with extraterritorial US sanctions.

On its own website the EU describes it as "an important achievement of unified EU action to protect EU operators, whether individuals or companies, from the extra-territorial application of third country laws" (https://t.co/W3IbD6Ummg)

It's perfect: activate the blocking statutes, and European banks can no longer close ICC officials' accounts, cancel their credit cards, or freeze their transactions just because Washington says so.

It's exactly what China did (they have their own "blocking statute") when the US started sanctioning Chinese refineries to prevent them from buying Iranian oil (see ): they activated their blocking statutes, making it illegal for Chinese companies to comply with these US sanctions and there is jack shit the US can do about it. It's a very powerful legal tool.

Yet, incomprehensively, the EU refuses to activate it. The blocking statute sits there, purpose-built but completely unused, while European companies have no choice but to enforce America's sanctions.

It's insane: the EU literally standing by while Washington destroys the lives of people on European soil - they oppose it, have the perfect tool to fight it, but they stand by. Again: incomprehensible.

All the more incomprehensible because it's actually a golden geopolitical opportunity for Europe: if Europe wants to be taken seriously as an independent actor on the world stage - as it keeps saying it does - there is literally no easier win than this. Activate a tool you already have, protect an institution you already host, defend a principle you already claim to believe in.

The fact that even this is too much unfortunately tells the rest of the world everything it needs to know about what European "sovereignty" actually means in practice.

[Sean @seanhhm]

Imagine you, a Canadian citizen, got murdered by Israel and all your country did was write a tweet.

[liam cunningham @liamcunningham1]

The Zionists are putting numbers on the Palestinians. Remind you of anything?
This is a report from an Israeli newspaper.
Still silent?

[Apu @Apu_elrojo]

En Finlandia gobierna la derecha en coalición con la ultraderecha. Han aplicado los típicos recortes sociales que tanto les gustan y han hundido la economía.

En España ocurrirá lo mismo si gobiernan PP y VOX. Avisados estamos.

[Parody Jeff @Parodyjeffx]

Did you know Europe has its own AIPAC ?
It’s called ELNET.

Millions of euros spent. Politicians flown to Israel. Deals behind closed doors. An entire influence machine engineered to keep Europe chained to Israel.

And almost no one in Europe even knows it exists.

[𐤊𐤀𐤓𐤉𐤌 - Karīm @kgoldpapi]

And we choose to k*ll all of them.

[🤠 @heavensbvnny]

I just want you to remember. That we live in a world where octopuses dream, otters have a favorite shell that they carry with them all their lives, cows have best friends, and bees have different "dialects" of dance depending on the region. Cats purr at a frequency that accelerates bone healing, the forest grows flowers first after a fire, and dolphins give each other names and respond to them. Penguins make proposals by giving each other the most beautiful pebble

[Kacee Allen @KaceeRAllen]

Conspiracy Theorists Win Again.

[‏ً @omgsidewalks]

Corporate jobs are 95% saying “sounds good” to things that sound awful

[Helena Villar @HelenaVillarO]

En medio de un terremoto con víctimas mortales, a la Cancillería de Colombia le parece que la prioridad está en reconocerle a Israel más territorio.

[Shaiel Ben-Ephraim @academic_la]

It’s now official: Hamas agreed to disarm. Israel refused to withdraw. The hostages were an excuse. Hamas was an excuse. Genocide is the goal.

[Mario @PiedrafitaMario]

Esto ha ocurrido en la toma de posesión del presidente de Colombia.

Para que se entere todo el mundo ya de qué va esto.

[Nicolás González Casares @nicogoncas]

Spain treated every single person with dignity and respect on this tragic situation.
We defend human rights.
We are not US. Of course we are not genocides as Netanyahu.
We are spanish and we are proud of who we are.

[Thomas Massie @RepThomasMassie]

2 weeks before migrants from Morocco invaded Ceuta, the GOP passed a bill with $40 million for Morocco and a committee report advising:

Spanish-administered cities of Ceuta and Melilla are located in Moroccan territory and remain the subject of Morocco's longstanding claim.

[Pedro Sánchez @sanchezcastejon]

La solidaridad y la empatía son opcionales.

El respeto a los tratados europeos y a los datos, no.
👇🏼

Número de entradas irregulares entre 2021 y 2026 según Frontex:

Por Italia: 478.600
Por los Balcanes occidentales: 340.600
Por Grecia: 259.800
Por España: 234.760
Por la frontera oriental: 48.000

No es tiempo de dividir. Es tiempo de seguir construyendo una UE fuerte y unida.

[Artur Nadolny @ArturNadol7566]

0.001% TAX

A junior auditor at @PwC in Luxembourg is getting ready to leave his job. Before he goes he goes looking for some training documents to take with him.

Instead he finds a folder that anyone in the company could open. No password. No warning. Just sitting there.

Inside are hundreds of secret deals between the Luxembourg government and some of the biggest companies on the planet. Deals that let them pay next to nothing in tax.

His name is Antoine Deltour. He copies 30,000 pages. That is the whole story. He copies a folder.

Let me explain what was actually in it, because this is where it gets interesting.

Between 2002 and 2010, PwC alone helped broker 548 of these secret tax agreements, known as tax rulings, for over 340 companies. Apple. Ikea. Pepsi. Disney. Deutsche Bank. AIG. Koch Industries. Skype. GlaxoSmithKline. Coach. Abbott Laboratories. Household names, every one of them.

The trick was simple. Companies moved profits through Luxembourg shell structures and Luxembourg quietly agreed in writing to look the other way on tax.

Some of these companies ended up paying an effective tax rate under 1 percent. In some cases as low as 0.001 percent. On billions of dollars.

Who was running Luxembourg for almost 20 years while this machine was built and protected? Jean-Claude Juncker, Prime Minister of Luxembourg until 2013.

Deltour did not leak straight to the world. In 2012 he passed the documents to French journalist Edouard Perrin, who used them for a TV documentary.

PwC noticed and filed a complaint with the Luxembourg courts. Then in November 2014, ICIJ @ICIJorg pulled together over 80 journalists across more than 30 media outlets in 26 countries and published the full scale of it as LuxLeaks.

The timing could not have been worse for Juncker, or depending how you look at it, could not have been better. He had just been elected President of the European Commission days before the story broke. The man who ran the tax haven for two decades was now running Europe.

A month later ICIJ dropped LuxLeaks 2, showing the other Big 4 accounting firms Deloitte, EY and KPMG were running the exact same playbook. This was never one bad apple. It was standard practice.

Juncker faced a no confidence vote in the European Parliament over it. He survived. Deltour was not so lucky.

December 2014, Luxembourg charges him with theft, violation of trade secrecy and fraudulent access to a computer system. He is facing up to 5 years in prison and a fine of 1,250,000 euros. For opening an unlocked folder on his way out the door.

April 2016, the criminal trial. Deltour and his colleague Raphael Halet, another former PwC employee who leaked a second batch of documents, are both convicted. Deltour gets 12 months suspended and a 1,500 euro fine. Perrin the journalist is acquitted.

Deltour appeals. Loses. Appeals again. Finally in May 2018 the Luxembourg Court of Appeal fully recognises him as a genuine whistleblower under European Court of Human Rights standards and acquits him completely.

Halet's fight took even longer. He lost his Luxembourg appeals and only won at the European Court of Human Rights Grand Chamber in 2023, nearly a decade after he first spoke up.

The European Commission that Juncker went on to lead never opened a single formal investigation into a single LuxLeaks tax ruling. Not one. It did chase Starbucks, Fiat and Amazon over separate deals, but the mountain of paperwork Deltour handed over sat there untouched.

So that is the LuxLeaks story. Build a tax avoidance machine for 20 years and get promoted to run the continent. Copy the evidence of it and spend most of a decade fighting to stay out of prison.

@BBCNews · @ICIJorg · @Reuters · @lemondefr and others.

[Dr Rahmeh Aladwan @doctor_rahmeh]

23,380 American jews serve in the IOF.
15,000 American jews serve in the US army.

2069 British jews serve in the IOF.
180 British jews serve in the UK armed forces.

1542 Canadian jews serve in the IOF.
680 in the Canadian army.

4200 German jews serve in the IOF.
300 in the German army.

Statistics are interesting.

[𐤊𐤀𐤓𐤉𐤌 - Karīm @kgoldpapi]

It's(Israel) coming home 🗣️

[Dr Rahmeh Aladwan @doctor_rahmeh]

United Kingdom of 'israel' (Andy Burnham's) Cabinet in full:

• John Healey (Chancellor)
Labour Friends of 'israel' (LFI) parliamentary supporter. Opposed recognition of Palestine.

• Louise Haigh (First Secretary of State)
Labeled Gaza a genocide. Accepted up to £50,300 in office and staffing backing from Labour Together (pro-'israel' think tank).

• Ed Miliband (Foreign Secretary)
Personal family ties to 'israel'. Self-described 'friend of "israel"'. Opposed BDS.

• Wes Streeting (Defence Secretary)
20+ year LFI member. Received funding from pro-'israel' lobby (£30k+). Introduced IHRA into NHS. Mentored by Peter Mandelson. LFI funded delegation trip to 'israel'.

• Shabana Mahmood (Home Secretary)
Defended and appealed to protect proscription of Palestine Action. Commended police for enforcement actions (mass arrests) against public.

• Yvette Cooper (Health Secretary)
Instigated the initial proscription of Palestine Action. Accepted over £215,000 from the 'israel' lobby.

• Lucy Powell (Education Secretary)
LFI member. Condemned anti-Zionist campus movements. Funded trip to 'israel'.

• Angela Rayner (Housing Secretary)
Accepted a £25,000+ donation from pro-'israel' lobbyist Trevor Chinn. Vocal opponent of BDS.

• Miatta Fahnbulleh (Energy Secretary)
Defended the continuity of UK military component licensing and exports to 'israel'.

• Angela Eagle (Environment Secretary)
Long-term LFI supporter. Voted down parliamentary motions for weapons embargoes.

• Pat McFadden (Work and Pensions Secretary)
Former LFI Vice-Chair. Funded trip to 'israel'.

• Jonathan Reynolds (Business and Science Secretary)
Longtime LFI Vice-Chair. Signed off on and maintained existing arms export licences to 'israel' (Trade secretary). Funded trip to 'israel'.

• Alex Norris (Justice Secretary)
Member and parliamentary supporter of LFI.

• Heidi Alexander (Transport Secretary)
Defended the UK's continuing export of F-35 fighter jet components to 'israel'.

• Lisa Nandy (Culture Secretary)
Stated that boycotting 'israel' can be used to whip up hostility. Opposed full bans on arms sales to 'israel'.

• Emma Reynolds (Chief Secretary to the Treasury)
Prominent LFI supporter. Funded trip to 'israel'.

• Ellie Reeves (Attorney General)
LFI member. Backs directives limiting public sector procurement boycotts.

• Douglas Alexander (Scotland Secretary)
Deep historical ties to LFI. Addressed official LFI annual receptions alongside 'israeli' ambassadors and supports anti-boycott platforms. Funded trip to 'israel'.

• Stephen Kinnock (Wales Secretary)
Voted in favour of proscribing Palestine Action.

• Chris Bryant (Northern Ireland Secretary)
Long-term LFI parliamentary supporter. Funded trip to 'israel'.

• Kanishka Narayan (AI Minister)
Declined to support parliamentary calls for asset freezes or direct state sanctions on 'israeli' officials.

• Bridget Phillipson (Women and Equalities Minister)
Longstanding LFI member. Funded trip to 'israel'.

• Hamish Falconer (European Relations Minister)
Former Labour Together consultant. Defended continuing F-35 jet parts trade with 'israel'. Campaigned against emergency party motions labeling actions a genocide. Refused to investigate British dual nationals serving in the IOF.

• Matthew Pennycook (Housing Minister)
LFI parliamentary supporter. Voted against independent sanction proposals. Funded trip to 'israel'.

• Anneliese Midgley (Chief Whip)
No known links.

• Alan Campbell (Leader of the House of Commons)
Long-term LFI supporter. Funded trip to 'israel'.

• Baroness Smith (Leader of the House of Lords)
LFI parliamentary supporter. Reaffirmed total alignment with 'israel' in official House of Lords statements. Funded trip to 'israel'.

-

This is what a captured state looks like.
Britain is not independent or sovereign.
Free Palestine. Free Britain.

[Akor’ebirungi @ErnestAkor]

At least here in Uganda we pretend to vote first.

[Hammam Farah @HumHum83]

I searched a Gaza war crimes archive for my family.

I quickly realized I wasn’t using it the way most people would. I wasn’t browsing it as an activist, researcher or journalist.

I was looking for my family.

My heart sank as I filtered the archive by the dates we lost them and searched for someone I loved.

I found footage I hadn’t seen before of the bombing of the Church of St. Porphyrius, where my cousin Soliman was killed.

I searched for the day my great aunt Elham was murdered, and the day Nahida and Samar Anton were killed by Israeli snipers at the Holy Family Catholic Church.

Eyewitnesses told us Elham was crushed by an Israeli tank. I have graphic photographs of her body that were sent to me by church workers in Gaza, but I found no footage of what happened.

It made me wonder how many people died without leaving behind any visual record.

The realization stayed with me.

Here was a digital graveyard where pieces of my own family history are preserved for journalists, historians, truth seekers and, undoubtedly, those seeking to exploit or consume human suffering.

I know I won’t be the only person to experience this. Other Palestinians searching for loved ones almost certainly will too. But it struck me that this is a form of grief that could scarcely have existed before our time.

It’s a form of grief I never imagined could exist.

[Israel Exposed @xIsraelExposedx]

Over 115 million website requests in 10 days. People are seeing what israel did, that is for sure.

It is a big weight off our shoulders to know that many website mirrors now exist around the world, and that this archive can never be deleted.

Thanks to all those who helped get the word out & who downloaded copies/ are seeding this project on torrents.

We are working on uploading the remaining footage to the live site in the coming weeks.

https://t.co/CvAhZusa6H