Iran Launches Drone Attack Against Israel Over Consulate Bombing

By Jessica Corbett

"Netanyahu will use it as the pretext for another provocation, because he's bent on starting this war," one writer predicted.

Iran on Saturday launched several drones and missiles toward Israel in retaliation for the nation's deadly bombing of the Iranian consulate in Syria earlier this month.

According to CNN, this statement from Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps was read on Iranian state-owned Press TV: "In response to the Zionist regime's crime in attacking the consular section of the Iranian Embassy in Damascus, the IRGC's air force hit certain targets in the territories of the Zionist regime with dozens of drones and missiles."

"The United States should avoid taking any military action in connection with the Israel/Iran conflict."

Israeli and U.S. officials also confirmed the IRGC launch, estimated by Israel to involve over 100 drones.

"A short while ago, Iran launched unmanned aerial vehicles from its territory towards the territory of the state of Israel," the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement. "The air defense array is on high alert at the same time as the air force planes and navy ships that are on a mission to protect the country's skies."

"The IDF is monitoring all targets," added the IDF, which has been waging war on the Gaza Strip since a Hamas-led attack on Israel October 7. "We ask the public to adhere to and follow the instructions of the Home Front Command and the official IDF announcements regarding the matter."

Iran's drone launch by comes after Iranian officials have reportedly been sending a message to the Biden administration through back channels: "We will attack the forces that attack us, so don't fuck with us and we won't fuck with you."

Further fueling fears of a new regional war, U.S. President Joe Biden said Friday: "We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel."

An American defense official said Saturday that "U.S. forces in the region continue to shoot down Iranian-launched drones targeting Israel... Our forces remain postured to provide additional defensive support and to protect U.S. forces operating in the region."

As the death toll in Gaza has mounted—the Israeli assault, which the International Court of Justice has determined is plausibly genocidal, has killed at least 33,686 people—Biden has faced intense pressure to condition or even cut off military aid to Israel.

In response to Iran's attack on Israel, Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director at Democracy for the Arab World Now, said in a statement that "the United States should avoid taking any military action in connection with the Israel/Iran conflict or further entangle U.S. armed forces in unauthorized and dangerous fighting in the Middle East."

"The Biden administration should call on Israel to immediately announce a cease-fire in Gaza and to refrain from using U.S. weapons in any further unlawful attacks against other countries' embassies and diplomatic facilities," she added.

On top of the nearly $4 billion in military aid that the U.S. gives Israel annually, the Biden administration has been shipping arms to the IDF since October and pushing for a new package worth over $14 billion that requires congressional approval.

U.S. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) said Saturday that "in light of Iran's unjustified attack on Israel, the House will move from its previously announced legislative schedule next week to instead consider legislation that supports our ally Israel and holds Iran and its terrorist proxies accountable."

Late Saturday, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Shucker (D-N.Y.) released a statement commending the Israeli and American troops who stopped most of the missiles and drones, condemning Iran's attack, and saying that "it is even clearer that the best way to help Israel is for the House to quickly pass the Senate's bipartisan national security supplemental next week."

Appearing on Al Jazeera Saturday, Sultan Barakat, a professor at Hamad Bin Khalifa University, suggested that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attacked the Iranian consulate to secure more U.S. weapons and try to silence anti-war critics.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation's largest Muslim civil rights group, argued that "the Biden administration emboldened the far-right Israeli government to manufacture this crisis by repeatedly giving it carte blanche to violate international law without any accountability—from murdering journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, to expanding illegal settlements, to committing a genocide in Gaza, to bombing an Iranian Embassy complex in Syria."

Sana Saeed, a media critic with AJ+, said on social media Saturday that there will be "lots of incoming analysis for the next several hours, but there's really just one thing to know: None of this was inevitable nor did it start with Iran. This is U.S.-Israeli belligerence; this is Joe Biden's foreign policy and Israel's war expansionism as it conducts a genocide."

Trita Parsi, an expert on Iran and the Middle East and EVP at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, also weighed in on social media, pointing to a specific example from over 25 years ago "that shows that the Iranian retaliation against Israel could perhaps have been evaded."

"The U.S., U.K., and France prevented the U.N. Security Council from condemning the Israeli attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus despite it being a flagrant violation of international law," Parsi highlighted. "The Iranians have hinted that had the UNSC strongly condemned Israel, Iran might have refrained from retaliating against it."

"Certainly, the 1998 episode does not prove that Iran's retaliation against Israel today could have been prevented. But it does suggest that there was an opportunity to de-escalate that the U.S./U.K./FR ignored or dismissed," he added. "Then again, that fits perfectly with Biden's record of the past seven months as opportunity after opportunity to de-escalate and end the war in Gaza has been actively dismissed by him."

This article originally appeared in the Common Dreams on April 13th, 2024.

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'We Cannot Let the Warmongers Win': US Progressives Reject Calls for Attack on Iran

By Jake Johnson

Progressives in the U.S. Congress on Sunday urged the Biden administration to resist calls for an attack on Iran following the country's retaliation against Israel for the deadly bombing of Tehran's consulate in Syria earlier this month.

Senate clears gallery, passes bill to arm Tennessee teachers

BY: JESSICA HOLDMAN 

Minutes after clearing the gallery of people opposed to pro-gun legislation, the Senate passed a bill Tuesday allowing teachers to go armed at school.

The bill’s passage came a little more than a year after six people, including three 9-year-olds, were killed in a mass shooting at The Covenant School, a private Christian facility in the Green Hills neighborhood of Nashville.

The mass shooting in late March 2023 brought cries for gun control and even a measure to close the autopsy records of children. But Covenant parents opposed the measure to let teachers be armed, which includes a requirement they go through 40 hours of yearly training, psychological evaluations, background checks and approval by the local law enforcement agency and school officials.

The House version is awaiting action after going through committees in April 2023.

About 45 minutes before the Senate vote, Lt. Gov. Randy McNally cleared the gallery as the public hissed, snapped fingers, then started hollering.

Most of the Covenant parents in the gallery opted to leave after the uproar in reaction to comments by Senate Minority Leader Raumesh Akbari of Memphis, who pointed out, “A teacher is not allowed to put a rainbow flag on her desk, but she’s allowed to carry a gun.” She was referring to a House-passed bill restricting flags in schools.

Covenant parents were so shaken by the gallery’s clearing they needed time to gather their emotions afterward.

“As mothers, we’re very disappointed at how things went today, and we can absolutely do way better,” said Covenant parent Mary Joyce.

Yet Covenant mother Melissa Alexander said the group is continuing to have “productive conversations” with lawmakers in an effort to bolster students’ safety. She declined to say what measures the group is supporting.

“All we can do is keep showing up and sharing our stories,” Alexander said, noting she believes her child was spared in last year’s shooting because the teacher made sure students were quiet.

When the Senate floor debate resumed, Sen. London Lamar, D-Memphis, chastised Republican colleagues as she held her baby.

“It is really hard as a new mom to stand here and talk about a piece of legislation that puts my son’s life at risk,” Lamar said.

She noted that some senators had joked as troopers cleared the gallery, in what should have been a somber situation.

Senators turned down amendments that would have prohibited unlicensed staff from being armed at school and would have required de-escalation training.

Democrats argued that the bill could create a situation in which a teacher could shoot a student, whether accidentally or on purpose to break up a fight.

Criticism also centered on provisions in the bill that would keep parents from knowing whether their children’s teacher was carrying a gun. In addition, sheriff’s offices and school districts would be immune to lawsuits in cases of teacher-related shootings.

“What I’m worried about as a parent, I want my child’s teacher to stay with the children and not get involved with a counter-offensive,” state Sen. Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville, said during debate.  

Sen. Paul Bailey, the bill’s sponsor, countered that confidentiality would ensure that someone who wants to commit a school shooting wouldn’t know whether the school personnel they encounter are armed. He also said the training requirements should avert accidental shootings.

Sen. Ken Yager, a Kingston Republican who supported the bill, also argued that the measure is needed in rural areas where counties might have only two deputies on duty.

“We are not trying to shoot a student but trying to protect a student from an active shooter,” Yager said.

This article originally appeared in the Tennessee Lookout on April 10th, 2024.

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Will SC have a Supreme Court of all white men or will legislators push to diversify?

 BY: JESSICA HOLDMAN 

COLUMBIA — South Carolina lawmakers could make moves to diversify the state Supreme Court. Or it could become the only all-male, all-white high court in the nation through at least 2028, the next time an opening is expected.

Three female judges — including two women of color — are among six candidates vying to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Chief Justice Don Beatty, the only Black justice on the state’s high court. The other three candidates are white men.

DeSantis OKs bills halting police civilian oversight, stopping bystanders from getting close

BY: JACKIE LLANOS 

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed two bills Friday morning that would prohibit civilian oversight boards from investigating police misconduct and stop people from getting too close to first responders doing their jobs.

The governor received both bills (HB 601 and SB 184) on Wednesday and held the signing ceremony on Friday in the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office in St. Augustine. During the ceremony, DeSantis portrayed the bills as efforts to protect law enforcement officers from people who wanted to abuse them publicly.

“They’re not free to use law enforcement as political piñatas,” DeSantis said, referring to the civilian police oversight boards. “They’re not free to create false narratives. They’re not free to try to make it miserable to live or to work in uniform, and these things are highly political.”

In Florida, there are 21 such boards and half of them were formed since the protests over the murder of George Floyd in the summer of 2020, according to a 2022 report. The boards are in cities including Miami, Tallahassee, Orlando, and Tampa.

Under HB 601, which will go into effect on July 1, the boards won’t be able to investigate complaints against law enforcement officers or correctional officers. Instead, sheriffs or chiefs of police will have the power to appoint overnight boards composed of three to seven members.

Equal Ground, a social justice organization aimed at protecting the rights of Black Floridians, bashed DeSantis’ approval of the bill.

“By banning independent citizen review boards, Gov. Ron DeSantis and legislators in Tallahassee are once again taking away the freedom of countless Floridians, whose voices are being silenced and whose safety is now at risk,” wrote Genesis Robinson, interim executive director of the group, in a statement.

He continued: “We know that civilian review boards are often the last line of defense for Black people to hold rogue law enforcement officials accountable for misconduct. Disbanding police review boards contradicts the ongoing efforts to reform policing practices and address systemic issues within law enforcement.”

But DeSantis and the main sponsor of the bill, Republican Rep. Wyman Duggan of Duval County, insisted that the law wouldn’t abolish the boards and that they could still discuss law enforcement policies.

“What they cannot do is use them as a vehicle to persecute our law enforcement officers, which to many of these organizations is the only utility that they think that organization has. So, when you hear people saying that these boards and commissions are being prohibited or abolished, that’s not true,” Duggan said during the bill signing.

However, the oversight boards can’t subpoena witnesses and documents, and none have any actual disciplinary power.

Protest

During the legislative session, HB 601 prompted a protest from activists infuriated with the move to strip civilian oversight boards of their power, of which the activists said the boards had little to begin with.

The other bill DeSantis signed Friday prohibits people from getting within 25 feet of a first responder “engaged in the lawful performance of a legal duty” if the first responder has warned the person to stay away. The infraction would be a misdemeanor. SB184 also garnered backlash from groups such as the First Amendment Foundation, which called the bill blatantly unconstitutional in a statement Thursday.

“We appreciate the importance of protecting first responders but are concerned that the bill prevents citizens from going near or filming first responders within 25 feet if told not to approach,” the First Amendment Foundation wrote. “This bill would undermine citizen journalists and could allow for undocumented police misconduct.”

This article originally appeared in the Florida Phoenix on April 12th, 2024.

See additional posts about civilian review boards in Florida:

Civilian boards overseeing police in FL are in jeopardy and could be dissolved, 1/22/2024

FL activists protest proposal that would abolish civilian review boards, 2/22/2024

Please support the news you can use and visit The Brooks Blackboard's website for more news!   

Take a look at my brief bio about my writing life and on social media:

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Students for Justice in Palestine files civil rights complaint against UNC-Chapel Hill

BY: JOE KILLIAN 

UNC-Chapel Hill is facing a federal complaint filed on behalf of students and faculty members who say the university has systematically discriminated against Palestinian students and their allies in the wake of the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel and subsequent Israeli attacks on Gaza.

Palestine Legal filed the complaint with the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Justice April 5, on behalf of graduate student Kylie Broderick and professor Elyse Crystall, a member and faculty advisor to Students for Justice in Palestine respectively. In a letter and 95-page collection of exhibits, the group outlines what it says is preferential treatment of Israeli students and their allies and targeting of pro-Palestine students and groups from the attack late last year, through campus protests around the conflict and continuing to the current day.

The group is asking for an investigation into discrimination that may violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The complaint is one of a number of such complaints Palestine Legal has filed on behalf of students and faculty involved in protests revolving around the most recent Hamas-Israel conflict. In the last few months the group has taken action against Emory University in Georgia, Columbia University in New York and Vanderbilt University in Tennessee.

In the complaint against UNC-Chapel Hill, the group said the discriminatory treatment began shortly after the October 7 Hamas attack.

“On October 10, 2023, the Dean of Students’ office sent an email to all current and former students whose birthplaces were listed ‘in or around Israel’ in UNC records to extend support and resources—including mental health counseling and academic accommodation,” wrote Zoha Khalili, senior staff attorney with Palestine Legal, in the letter. “According to students we have spoken with, several Palestinian students received this message because their birthplace was listed as Israel. No other Palestinian students reported receiving this message.

On October 12 and 13, the group wrote, then-Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz and Chief Diversity Officer Leah Cox met with members of North Carolina Hillel for two hours. They then sent follow-up letters to the campus saying “senseless acts of terror in Israel by Hamas are horrifying.”

University administration sent no similar messages acknowledging “the indiscriminate killing of Palestinians by the Israeli government,” the letter said. Similarly, the group said, the administration said there is “no place for antisemitism or prejudice on our campus” without similarly condemning racism against Muslims, which was also on display as the conflict took shape or offering the same support and resources to Palestinian students who were impacted.

“By reducing the issue to one that affects students based on their religious identities, the chancellor omitted the ways national origin also shapes how people, particularly Palestinians, are affected by the indiscriminate killing of Palestinians, irrespective of their religious affiliation or lack thereof,” the group wrote in its complaint.

In a written statement to Newsline Tuesday, a UNC-Chapel Hill spokesman said the university “has not been notified by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) about a complaint filed by or on behalf of Palestinian students.”

“We will cooperate fully with any requests for information from OCR,” the statement read. “And remain committed to promoting a safe and equitable environment to all members of the Carolina community that is free from harassment and discrimination.”

Objections to comments by UNC-Chapel Hill trustee 

The eight-page complaint also alleges the university has ignored bullying and harassment of Muslim and Palestinian students and those protesting against Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and attacks on Gaza.

University leaders and members of the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees mischaracterized on-campus protests on the issue, the complaint alleges, singling out UNC-Chapel Hill Trustee Marty Kotis specifically.

Kotis, like all members of the board of trustees, are political appointees of the North Carolina General Assembly’s Republican majority. He is also a former member of the UNC System Board of Trustees, whose members are overwhelmingly conservative.

“Kotis said in an October 12 email referencing the campus rally for Palestine that had been held that day that ‘it’s been reported that some of the speeches today were given in Arabic and the need [sic] to translate those to ensure there were not calls for or threats of violence,'” the group wrote in its complaint.

 Marty Kotis, member of the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees.

The group cites similar emails expressing concern about the use of Arabic from Frederick E. Seller, vice president for Safety & Emergency Operations for the UNC System and former State Rep. Jon Hardister.

“The baseless association of the Arabic language with threats reflects longstanding anti-Arab and anti-Muslim tropes,” the group wrote in its complaint.

References to needing a “threat assessment” were particularly disturbing because students involved in the protest movement had reported receiving their own harassment and death threats online, the complaint reads.

Shortly after the cited email, Kotis called for the university to investigate Students for Justice in Palestine, to end any official university recognition and funding of the student group.

Speaking to Newsline Tuesday, Kotis reiterated his stance, citing the fact that the group recently disrupted a board of trustees meeting. Kotis said he wasn’t surprised to find himself cited in the group’s complaint.

“If I’m at odds with people who call America a colonizer nation or call for death to America, great,” Kotis said. “I’m happy to be at odds with a group that wants to wage a global intifada on American soil because I’m completely opposed to their ideology.”

This article originally appeared in the NC Newsline on April 10th, 2024.

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DeSantis signs tougher penalties for retail theft, ‘porch piracy,’ into law

BY: MICHAEL MOLINE 

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation Wednesday boosting penalties for retail theft, including sanctions for “porch pirates” who steal deliveries from outside people’s homes.

The governor’s office pointed to reports from retailers estimating losses as $112 billion during 2022, with hot spots in New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C.

Senate committee advances changes to juvenile law reform measure

By William Ford

A Senate panel recommended several changes Wednesday to resolve differences on separate juvenile justice reform bills that have been moving through the General Assembly.

The Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee advanced House Bill 814 to the full Senate with a few provisions that coincide with the Senate version of the legislation — including that children ages 10 to 12 could be sent to juvenile court if charged for a third-degree sex offense, aggravated animal cruelty and certain firearm offenses.

Louisiana might tap into state savings to build more juvenile correctional facilities

Louisiana legislative leaders are giving thought to withdrawing money from a state savings account to build and refurbish juvenile justice facilities around the state. 

Rep. Julie Emerson, R-Carencro, filed legislation this week to allow lawmakers to withdraw up to $400 million from Louisiana’s Revenue Stabilization Trust Fund before July 1, 2025. Juvenile justice campuses would be prioritized if they tap into the money, said House Speaker Phillip DeVillier, R-Eunice, and state Rep. Jack McFarland, R-Jonesboro.

World Marks Six Months of 'Relentless Death and Destruction' in Gaza

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres reiterated his call for an "immediate humanitarian cease-fire, the unconditional release of all hostages, the protection of civilians, and the unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid."

 Peace and human rights advocates on Sunday renewed calls for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and an increase in lifesaving  humanitarian aid for its starving people as the embattled enclave  marked six months since the start of Israel's genocidal retaliation  for the October 7 attacks.