Ben Lewis

don't be a dick

[Ted S @ClearReason]

11,000 Arab doctors work in Israel.

Fewer than 10,000 Jews live across the entire Arab world.

Guess which country gets lectured about coexistence.

[Masih Alinejad @AlinejadMasih]

The heartbreaking story of two young sisters who protested in Iran and were reportedly sexually assaulted in detention.

Twin sisters Taraneh and Romina Rahimi were just 20 years old. One dreamed of opening her own equestrian club. The other worked in a shoe shop.

Today, one is facing execution. The other has been sentenced to 25 years in prison.

The sisters, from Isfahan, were arrested in the middle of the night. Security forces broke into their home, tied their hands and feet, put bags over their heads, and took them away.

For four months, no one knew where they were.

Their mother spent night after night searching outside courthouses, prisons, and hospitals, desperate to find her daughters. When she finally saw them in Dowlatabad Prison, both had bruised and swollen faces. Parts of their hair had fallen out or had reportedly been ripped out.

Taraneh said that while held in solitary confinement, she could hear her sister screaming and crying as she was tortured. Interrogators repeatedly struck Taraneh’s previously operated knee and threatened to sexually assault her sister if she refused to sign forced confessions.

According to Taraneh, a prison medical official told her: “You’re going to die anyway. What difference does it make whether you die with a broken leg or a healthy one?”

A complaint alleging sexual assault during detention was formally filed. Yet the court did not hold even a single hearing to investigate the allegation. Instead, the two sisters and other defendants in the case were handed death sentences and decades-long prison terms.

Confessions extracted under torture. Lawyers given just ten minutes to review an 8,000-page case file. A judge who insulted the defendants more than 20 times during the proceedings.

Two young irani women had dreams and that is why they joined the January uprising to demand Freedom. Now one faces the gallows and the other could spend the best years of her life behind bars.

Be their voice.

#TaranehRahimi #RominaRahimi

[Masih Alinejad @AlinejadMasih]

This woman is about to be executed in Iran.

Her name is Taraneh Rahimi. 20 years old. From Isfahan.

Her crime? Joining the January uprising and stopping the beating of another protester.

Sentence: DEATH after being tortured with electric shocks and threatened with rape in prison.

Despite Taraneh's deteriorating health, an official in the prison's medical unit told her:

"You're going to be executed anyway whether you die from the pain in your leg or die paralyzed, what does it matter?"

Be her voice before try he hang her!

#StopExecutionsInIran

[Masih Alinejad @AlinejadMasih]

In Iran, a woman named Ahoo Daryaei harassed by morality police over her “improper” hijab fought back. She stripped to her underwear and walked through University, turning her body into a weapon of protest against a regime that arrest and kills women for showing their hair.

They didn’t just arrest her. They forcibly confined her to a psychiatric hospital.

Now, according to a friend of Ahoo, she was released after 18 days, She remains under security surveillance, is denied access to a phone, and is being forced to take psychiatric medication that her family says has affected her memory and alertness.

This is what resistance looks like but under Islamic regime, when a woman refuses to obey, the regime doesn’t just punish her, it tries to convince the world that resistance is insanity.

Be her voice.

[Masih Alinejad @AlinejadMasih]

URGENT: Sepehr Amirzadeh, a young medical student in Iran, has reportedly been sentenced to death after treating wounded protesters.

I am calling on every doctor in Iran and around the world: please help save your fellow future doctor.

His name is Sepehr Amirzadeh. He is a medical student. He reportedly faces execution in Iran.

His “crime”? He treated wounded protesters during January uprising. He tried to save lives.

When people were bleeding, Sepehr did not ask about their politics. He did what medicine demands: he helped the wounded.

For that act of humanity, security forces raided his home, arrested him and now he may be sent to the gallows.

Doctors of the world, please do not let him face the executioner alone. Be his voice. Save Sepehr.
#SepehrAmirzadeh
#StopExecutionsInIran

[Hen Mazzig @HenMazzig]

Nöam, an incredibly popular kosher restaurant that serves Italian and Mediterranean food in Montreal, was burned down last night at 3 am.

It looks like arson, and police are investigating a possible suspect seen walking away from the scene.

We can't say for sure the motive was antisemitic yet, but the signs certainly suggest it.

[Elica Le Bon الیکا‌ ل بن @elicalebon]

THIS IS A CALL TO ACTION.

Alireza Sepahi was supposed to be hanged among the other two protesters, who were since executed.

While being transported to his execution, Alireza became extremely distressed and suffered a heart attack.

He was taken to the hospital and treated. You might ask why they didn’t just let him die. The cruelty is unfathomable. The point is not for him to die. The point is for people to see him being killed by medieval style torture to prevent future uprisings.

Once recovered, his execution will resume.

The only way I can see this being prevented is if @realDonaldTrump demands that the regime overturn his death sentence.

Please join me in asking the President to save #alirezasepahi

The Iranian people aren’t just protesters. They are the ONLY force that can topple the regime.

The future of the Middle East, and the rest of the world, lies in their hands.

[Garry Kasparov @Kasparov63]

"A car" did it, NYT? Was it self-driving? Autonomous?

[Masih Alinejad @AlinejadMasih]

A car didn't kill people.

An Islamist terrorist did.

He drove into an LGBTQ Pride event. He killed a person. He injured more than a dozen others. He targeted people for who they are and who they love.

Say it. Don't look away. Stop being politically when it comes to Islamist terrorist.

I know it's uncomfortable. I know some of you will scroll past this. I know some of you will find a reason to change the subject, to talk about the vehicle, to say "alleged," to soften, to qualify.

But we grew up under a regime that hangs gay men from cranes. I have no patience left for people who refuse to name what kills us.

Islamist terrorism is real. It targets women. It targets LGBTQ people. It targets freedom itself. And the moment we stop saying that out loud, clearly, without apology , is the moment we become complicit in the next attack.

[Mark Penn @Mark_Penn]

Good or Bad Deal — you decide

1. Permanent end of hostilities (ensuring territorial integrity of Lebanon).

This goes to Iran and they have negotiated Israel (not a signer) out of Lebanon without any guarantee of an end to rockets from Hezbollah.

2. Agree to refrain from interfering in “internal affairs.”

This goes to Iran — it says they can kill as many people as they like and we can’t help them.

3. Final deal in 60 days but can be extended

This goes to Iran — opens door to endless negotiation with no resolution.

4. Blockade is ended but limited shipping (up to past traffic) allowed in Strait by Iran and US agrees to remove its forces from area in 30 days.

This goes to Iran because there is 60 days to final deal but our military has to leave in 30 days before there is a deal.

5. Commercial shipments resumed and Iran has 30 days to demine and will meet with Oman to determine future use of Strait consistent with international law and rights of neighboring states.

Goes slightly to Iran as international law would be toll free but it also adds the rights of neighbor states which they will say allows them to charge service fees.

6. US agrees to organize a fund of at least $300 billion for Iran.

This obviously goes to Iran.

7. All sanctions on Iran eliminated.

This obviously also goes to Iran.

(2nd Half of Deal in Next Post)

[Haviv Rettig Gur @havivrettiggur]

You’re darn tootin’, as the kids say, that Israel needs to make sure its nuclear deterrent is up to spec.

Is that racist?

It’s funny, because throughout the Arab and Muslim world, Israel’s nuclear deterrent never made anyone fear it might actually use a nuke in a fit of ideological pique. No one‘s fundamental policies changed when they believed Israel had developed nukes.

Because everyone understands in the region that it’s actually a deterrent, and nothing more.

Whereas Iran’s nuclear program caused a great shifting of Arab loyalties and fears, a reordering of regional power dynamics. Because no one in the region is ever really sure they won’t use it.

Mehdi wants you to believe this difference reflects Western racism. Or something. Easier to shout “racism” than to deal with the simple truth — that the Iranian regime is an imperialist martyrdom cult that its own neighbors think might actually use a nuke.

Mehdi doesn’t actually think I’m racist. It’s just the only cheap shot he has left to cover for the butchers of Syria and demolishers of Yemen, for mass-murdering religious fanatics who have driven their own country into the ground in pursuit of nukes that maybe, just maybe, it is perfectly capable of using offensively.

[Haviv Rettig Gur @havivrettiggur]

"What I find truly astonishing is that Hezbollah has American blood on its hands on a scale ISIS never came close to matching... How does a U.S. president end up granting political legitimacy and strategic cover to a group responsible for killing so many American servicemen and civilians?"

[Haviv Rettig Gur @havivrettiggur]

And when they say, "no thanks, we're gonna go ahead and keep trying to destroy you, because God said so?"

What then?

[Hirundo AI @hirundo_ai]

Security without sacrificing capability is the whole game.

Proud to show what targeted weight-level defenses on @googlegemma 4 can do — especially at small-model scale.

Check out the model here: https://t.co/wJKxoc730B

[Google Gemma @googlegemma]

Case study time! Hirundo trained Gemma 4 E4B to resist adversarial overrides while overcoming the alignment tax:

- Weight-level defense based on Gemma 4 architecture
- Stronger security posture than models over 100x its size
- Preserves utility across benchmarks

[Masih Alinejad @AlinejadMasih]

They hanged him💔

The regim Executes 21-Year-Old karate athlete at dawn Thursday in Prison after Iran’s Supreme Court upheld a death sentence on charges of “enmity against God.”
His crime?
Joining nationwide protests in January 2026.

Security forces reportedly surrounded his body after the execution and buried him under heavy security, preventing any public mourning.

The United States and the international community must make clear: there can be no normalization, no meaningful engagement, while this regime continues to execute young men and women for demanding freedom.#StopExecutionsInIran

[Sana Ebrahimi Ledene @SanaELedene]

Hesam Alaadin, 40 years old, was arrested by Iran’s terrorist regime.
His “crime” was owning a Starlink terminal and daring to access free, uncensored internet.
@elonmusk
After a month of detention, he died under brutal torture. He was murdered for accessing the internet.
Something that the “people of the free world” cannot even imagine.

Starlink is not just satellite internet. It is a lifeline for people fighting tyranny. The mullahs fear it because it breaks their monopoly on information and control.
This is the human cost of authoritarian panic.

Elon Musk, the world is watching how you fight back against regimes that hunt people for using your technology.
Suspend all the regime officials' accounts on X.

[Ben Lewis @UKBLewis]

So many hot takes, so many correct answers

[Eyal Yakoby @EYakoby]

Sen. John Fetterman to Democrats:

— Stop calling Trump an autocrat
— Don’t force a govt shutdown
— Accept Trump’s help on crime
— Stand with Israel against Islamism
— Mamdani “doesn’t reflect our party”

[U.S. Senator John Fetterman @SenFettermanPA]

As a Democrat, I’m deeply proud to stand with Israel through the horror of 10/07.

I’m deeply proud of our military and what they’ve accomplished in Epic Fury.

Picking country over party is never wrong.