UNRWA remains the backbone of humanitarian assistance in Gaza, providing food, medical care, education, clean water, and psychosocial support to more than a million Palestinians caught in an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. Efforts to dismantle or delegitimize the agency threaten to deepen civilian suffering and undermine the delivery of lifesaving aid.
Today’s podcast guest is Dr. Dania Arayssi, a Senior Research Fellow at the New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy and a scholar of Middle East political economy and participation. She also serves as an adjunct assistant professor at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, and teaches at George Washington University. Her research focuses on Middle East politics, with particular expertise in Syria, Lebanon, Iran, and Hezbollah.
In this episode, we discuss the fragmentation of the order and power that used to exist in the Middle East, the efforts of Iran to spread their influence and power in an attempt to hold on to the old order, the possibility of a NATO-like alliance in the Middle East, and the potential for security arrangements like the Mecca Agreement eventually encompassing Israel alongside its neighbors.
Listen now; link in bio.
The Netanyahu government`s policies of dispossession, widespread destruction, displacement, killings, and terror against Palestinian civilians betray the moral inheritance of Judaism. They endanger Jews worldwide by creating the poisonous impression that all Jews are complicit in Israel’s atrocities and giving unprecedented rise to antisemitism.
Sudan is facing one of the world`s worst humanitarian catastrophes, yet millions of civilians remain without adequate protection. Since the conflict erupted in April 2023, tens of thousands have been killed, more than 10.5 million people have been displaced within the country, and millions more have fled across borders.
Israel’s next election will decide far more than who governs. It will help determine whether the country can reclaim its democratic foundations, restore its international standing, and fulfill its founding promise—or continue down a path that endangers the very future its leaders claim to defend
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Human Rights Watch’s 2026 assessment documents an intensified crackdown on independent media, political opponents, and civil society, alongside widespread reports of torture and ill-treatment committed with impunity. Repression also reaches citizens abroad: Human Rights Watch reviewed eight convictions issued between July 2025 and March 2026 that sentenced exiled critics to six to sixteen years in prison in proceedings raising serious due-process concerns. For precision, frame either case as “grave abuses that deserve far greater public attention,” rather than “abuses nobody is talking about.” UN bodies and human rights organizations are documenting them; the stronger argument is that abuse persists despite that scrutiny.
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At least 2,707 people were executed across 17 countries in 2025, according to Amnesty International, marking a 78% increase over 2024. The figures exclude thousands believed to have been executed in China, where execution statistics remain secret. Iran, Saudi Arabia, and other countries continue to use capital punishment, including for drug-related offenses and cases involving serious concerns about fair trials. Amnesty warns that executions are also used to silence dissent, intimidate political opponents, and reinforce state control. The broader concern extends beyond criminal justice to the concentration of unchecked government power. When governments can take lives through flawed or politically influenced judicial systems, the consequences are irreversible.
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www. jpost. com/opinion/article-912244
The death penalty is an ABOMINATION. - The members of L’chaim! Jews Against the Death Penalty lchaimjewsagainstthedeathpenalty.substack.com/p/why-21st-century-judaism-must-reject?r=1vxpzi&utm...
An estimated 25 million unsafe abortions occur worldwide annually, according to figures cited by Amnesty International, exposing millions of women and girls to preventable health complications and death. Amnesty warns that criminalizing abortion does not eliminate the practice. Instead, restrictions can push vulnerable women toward unsafe procedures, particularly those who cannot afford private healthcare or travel abroad. The consequences extend beyond reproductive healthcare. Restrictive laws can deepen economic inequality, expose medical professionals to prosecution, and discourage women from seeking emergency treatment. The central human rights question is whether governments can protect women's health and dignity while denying them access to essential reproductive care.
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Sorry...nope...abortion is not healthcare
I've said it before, and I'll keep saying it until this nightmare regime is gone. To the Pro-Life hypocrites: > "Life begins at conception." SO WHAT? That is not the point, and was never the point. The POINT is that "life" cannot develop into a human being without using a woman's body/organs to do so. NO ONE has the right to force a person to use their body/organs to sustain a life, if it goes against their will. You would not want to be forced to use your body to keep anyone else alive. Women are NOT society's incubators! If you really care so much about the unborn, remove them and put them in YOUR body, or an artificial womb. >Consent to sex, is NOT consent to pregnancy! & Birth control is not always reliable. Why don't you opinionated MEN take some responsibility for making sure your partner doesn't get pregnant? If you don't, then STFU. > "Abortion is murder." No it is not. Your "beliefs" are not facts. The FACT is that you have to actually be a living human being in order to be murdered. A zygote/embryo/fetus (z/e/f) is a cluster of cells using a woman's body to develop. A woman is an actual living, breathing, human being with sentience, and free will, and the right to self-determination. A fetus is not given a birth certificate, and not given a death certificate either. Until the fetus is viable, it is part of HER body, not yours! Mind your own business! > And btw... for the bible thumpers -- Jesus was Jewish. Jewish law says that the fetus is NOT a baby until it exits the womb and draws first breath. [See the graphics below if you want more on that.] Jesus said nothing about abortion, but he did often chastise the arrogant and judgmental. Worry about the plank in your own eye before throwing stones at people you know nothing about. Also, Mary was given a CHOICE!! And the OT God certainly didn't flinch at dashing pregnant women on the rocks (Hosea), or drowning innocent babies, etc. etc. YOUR religion is YOURS, not everyone else's. > A favorite reich wing LIE is that "rape is an exception." No, not in reality. In reality, rape kits don't get processed for months, if ever, ESPECIALLY in "red" states! Rapists hardly ever get prosecuted in this country. Women who have been traumatized by their attacker, are victimized again by the system. You have no idea how difficult it is for a rape victim to get an abortion in restricted states. AND forcing a rape victim to give birth is cruel and inhumane. Sure, a FEW women are strong enough to do so, but MOST are not! All that empathy for an "innocent" fetus, but NONE for the woman? Shame on you! > Why is "child marriage" still allowed in over 30 states? Giving a dirty old man a license to rape a child is just disgusting! You have NO idea what pregnancy does to the body of a young girl. You waste empathy on a fetus, but turn your backs on actual children! You support and vote for sex-trafficking, pedophile/rapists, and you think you have some kind of moral superiority? NO. You should be ashamed. > Another favorite reich wing LIE is that "emergencies" are exempt from these ridiculous restrictions. NOT IN REALITY! You let politicians and lawyers dictate what doctors are allowed to do, so WOMEN DIE!! Ectopic pregnancies kill women, if they are not treated right away! Women develop all kinds of life threatening problems during pregnancies. ALL medical emergencies should be treated without having to consult administrators and lawyers, or TRAVEL to another state!! The time it takes to do so, costs women their lives! You have empathy for a fetus, but NONE for a woman bleeding out in a hospital parking lot in restricted states? Not very pro-life for women, are you? Misogynists! > FACT: The overwhelming majority of abortions take place in the earliest stages when the zygote/embryo is very tiny. "Late term abortions" are ONLY done if there is a life-threatening emergency! And if the infant is viable, it is placed in an incubator, NOT A TRASH CAN! Spreading lies is a sin! > Don't all you reich wingers complain about government interference in your personal lives? Yet you are perfectly ok with the government dictating what can happen to pregnant women? Hypocrites. > You conveniently feign concern for the unborn, with no risk, no cost, no trouble for you. But when the child IS born, you wash your hands and turn your backs. You would rather have tax dollars spent on bombing girls' schools, than feeding poor children. And you feel zero empathy for frightened immigrant children being shoved into concentration camps, and deported without representation & without due process. Not very "pro-life" at all. > Do you own a gun? Do you advocate for "stand your ground" laws; conceal carry, etc.? So you defend your right to kill a human being if you feel "threatened?" But a woman who has an unwanted life growing inside of her own body, threatening her well-being, has no right to defend herself? She wants to expel the perceived "threat" to her well-being, and you call it murder! You polish your guns and use them whenever you "perceive" a threat, and it's called self-defense! HYPOCRITES!! > And you certainly don't care about school children being shot in their classrooms! So 'pro-life' means nothing if you're 'pro-guns!' > Aren't you also in favor of the death penalty? You salivate over the possibility of public executions? Ha! So 'pro-life!' None of you are truly "pro-life". You are pro forced birth and cruelty to women and children. I'm starting to believe that the only reason the GOP (Guardians Of Pedophiles) are so in favor of forced birth is so they have a new supply of children to traffic and rape. Disgusting.
It's way more unsafe for the baby that is literally ripped apart to death.
